Book 8 Chapter 4
제178화
“What is that… is that really a person?”
Aki, perhaps thinking she would soon have to dance like Ren Arong, suddenly centered herself perfectly along a straight line from head to toe.
Heavenly Flower Sect's basic form stance!
And the Heavenly Flower Sect's basic form performed with a battle cry!
“Eeyat, ee-yat! Ee-ya-aat! Cheon! Hwa!”
It was an exemplary and upright posture that perfectly suited her cute appearance.
Soon, Aki, having simply finished her demonstration of the form, bowed slightly, clasping her hands towards the audience.
“He-llo-e-ve-ry-one.”
Celine and I had already given a million and twenty-one tearful standing ovations… and then cheers, tremendous cheers, erupted from all sides.
“Wow, look at that fair skin!”
“She’s so cute, I feel like I'm going crazy because of how cute she is!”
“You cowards! You should bring a person, what do you do bringing an angel?!”
While the faces of the South Village residents turned pale, everyone in this village was bursting with shouts of emotional cheers.
Ren Arong and Aki stood facing each other.
Judging by her surname Arong, she seemed to be a child from an influential family in the Indigo City <Aristapo>, and I didn't like how she looked down at Aki and smirked.
“Alright then, Grape Boys and Girls, please take your seats.”
Ren Arong sat down with a dancing-like movement.
Aki unnecessarily jabbed her fists, swish, swish-swish, then sat opposite her.
“Show them, Aki… show the power of the True Dragon to that uncivilized human brat…”
Then Valencidius, who was standing nearby, narrowed his eyes and said.
“Why do you have the expression of a black mage consumed by the abyss, Rain Ludwig?”
“Shut up.”
“Fine. There's nothing to see anyway, I'll go scout the surroundings. Just in case Zernix tries another prank.”
Even though he seemed uninterested, it looked like he wanted to protect this festival.
By the time Valencidius left, grape juice was already swirling with an inviting color in the two glasses on the table.
The witch, who had poured equal amounts into each glass, said.
“Then, first glass, please begin!”
The rules were simple.
Both representatives drink the grape juice simultaneously at the host's command.
They drink up to three bottles, and if both sides drink all three, the one who performs the most beautiful dance to the villager's song wins.
“Wait… what? Dance? What kind of dance?”
Startled by the witch's explanation, I glared at Florena, and she winked at me, telling me not to worry.
“Aki just standing there is a dance in itself. Why would she need to perform some barbaric dance?”
No, even so.
Can we really just brush it off this simply?
“Yes, the first bottle! Already the grape children's faces are starting to turn red! Will they really be able to drink all three bottles?”
I tried to protest, but my voice was completely drowned out by the enthusiastic drumming of the drums and gongs and the singing of the villagers from both sides.
“I love grapes~ I love grapes~ Give me grapes~ Give me lots and lots~!”
Laughter erupted from various parts of the stands. Not a few people were swaying their shoulders and singing along to the folk song with the villagers.
“But is that really grape juice?”
“Of course it's grape juice, what, is it poison?”
“No, but why is that dancer kid's face so red?”
I pointed at Ren Arong, who had just finished her second bottle.
“Ugh…”
Wasn't she holding her forehead and groaning, as if her head was spinning?
That, no matter how you look at it, was a movement steeped in drunkenness. Then Florena burst out laughing, "Puhahah," and pointed to the other side.
“Don't be fooled, she's just messing around! Showmanship, showmanship!”
“If that's showmanship, then she should be a clown, not a dancer.”
“Then what's that? If it were alcohol, she wouldn't be that lively.”
Indeed.
On the other side, Aki, who had long since finished her second bottle, was excitedly shaking her glass at the witch.
“More-please-! More-please-! Gra-pe-fla-vored wa-ter, more-please!”
Was I momentarily captivated by that sight? Or was she too lively for me to think any further?
When I regained my senses, the third bottle had already filled each glass.
And villagers carrying trays were moving through the crowd, distributing glasses to people.
“Please don't drink them right away. Please wait a moment.”
What they were asking them to wait for was clear.
The moment when three suns would hang over the horizon where the gracefully undulating ridges in the west, where the Red Mountains ended and the plains began.
Because at that moment, the twilight grass would begin to emit a faint light.
“Alright, now!”
The moment that command rang out, everyone, along with the grape boy and girl, heartily gulped down their drinks.
Simultaneously, amidst the last twilight of the year, the twilight grass opened its flower buds one by one, coloring the world in dazzlingly vibrant hues that were blindingly brilliant.
Purple flowers, pink flowers.
Golden flowers, reddish-brown flowers, and pearl-colored flowers…
Petals holding the colors of twilight dizzily bathed the sight, scattering their pure white seeds throughout the air.
“And now! Since both the boy and girl have finished their grape juice, there will be a dance battle!”
The problem was with the grape boy. Ren Arong, who had struggled to drink the third bottle of grape juice.
Amidst those flower seeds, she began to perform a celestial mist dance, all while letting out a happy, drunken laugh…
Then she sprawled out on the flower field, roaring with laughter.
“Oh, what is happening! If the grape girl from the North Village doesn't collapse, then the North Village will win!”
Feeling that something was utterly strange, the witches from both villages rushed to the central table and examined the grape juice bottles.
The first bottle was fine.
The third bottle was also fine.
The problem seemed to be with the second bottle, as the mouths of the witches who picked it up simultaneously dropped open.
“This… this is the strongest one from our village. Why is it here?”
“The one where even adults lose their minds after one glass?”
“Yes, that one! But how is your village's grape girl so perfectly fine?”
Yet, strangely, Aki showed no sign of drunkenness whatsoever. Such worries were a luxury for an absolute lifeform.
It was then that Aki, who had sprung up and was energetically showcasing the Heavenly Flower Sect's martial arts to the audience, suddenly met my gaze.
Then, she abandoned the dance and the 'grape girl' role, dashed across the flower field, and rubbed her face against my leg, hugging me.
“A-ppu.”
Pipi landed on Aki's head and playfully pecked her crown.
“Appu, appu, appu.”
Then, Pipi landed on the flower field and began to perform the Pipi Dance for the first time in a while, and Aki, seeing this, also bounced around, spinning around me.
“Woohahahahaha!”
“Is that also a dance?”
“She's really incredibly cute!”
It was only at that moment, as joyful laughter filled the flower field, that I truly understood. Only at that moment could I smile.
It wasn't just this flower field that was beautiful.
It was because my friends were with me in that moment, in that space, that it remained such a distant yet beautiful memory…
Just as Aki and Pipi are by my side now.
“Aki, you have to finish showing your martial arts. People are waiting.”
“A-lri-ght.”
Watching Aki showcase her martial arts in the world of twilight, I slowly emptied the glass I had received earlier.
A zesty taste moistened my mouth, and then the sweet fragrance of grapes spread throughout my body.
At that moment, as I smiled with a hint of tipsiness, I don't know how… but it felt like I was hearing voices that shouldn't be heard.
- Rin, over here! Look at these flowers! Don't they look just like twilight?
And their laughter too.
The laughter of those who, in this place where I wasn't, in a time when I wasn't there, had seen the same scenery and smiled, concealing their sorrow.
Could this dreamlike twilight have momentarily blurred the boundaries between past and present?
- Rin, later, when you're left alone, the memories from this place will help you remember us.
Just then, Aki turned to look at me, smiled brightly, and waved her arm, so I had to pull my conical hat deep down to my eyes to hide the dewdrops glistening in the twilight.
Just as I had done 300 years ago, to hide a shy smile in front of Rista, Cies, and Fride.
Like that day 300 years ago… feeling the warmth of Pipi playfully pecking my ear.
“Pipi, those guys must have really loved this festival.”
There was plenty of alcohol that Cies loved, and it perfectly catered to Fride's taste, who absolutely doted on children…
“What about Rista?”
“Rista, cries, laughs, laughs, cries.”
“Rista, needless to say.”
Because she's a woman who always warmly illuminates everything around her like a bright sun, she must have filled the hearts of everyone who came to this festival with overflowing joy.
Was it a hallucination?
Or was I going mad?
Standing in the middle of that flower field, I thought I caught a glimpse of them, clapping and laughing at Aki's dance.
- These flowers will whisper it. That our story, this event we shared here today, is no mere legend.
Yes, ah, you were truly right, Fride.
When I wiped away the tears that blurred my vision, their figures had vanished.
Instead, amidst countless cheers, Aki's image, dancing and scattering flower seeds, was etched deep into my retina.
‘Aki.’
I wished this scenery of today would remain deep in her memory too. To be a pillar of support as she lives through the time of immortality.
This time.
This short time we shared together.
I pray that it becomes a lamp illuminating your path, when someday you too will be left alone in the time of immortality, just like me…
‘Just as that mere five years of time sustains all the years of my life, left alone.’
So that if someday you return here, nature can show you my form, just as I met them again today.
***
“It's all finished.”
A moderately famous painter from the Northern Republic freshly rendered Aki's face in a painting of her wearing the grape girl outfit.
Since she absolutely wouldn't sit still, he had to draw her face while she was asleep last night…
Now, with the power of printing, Aki's face will be featured on all wines submitted this year.
I didn't want to draw attention, but since it would be black and white printing anyway, Aki's red hair and golden eyes wouldn't show, so there was nothing to worry about.
Anyway, I'm planning to enter the 'World's Best Martial Arts Tournament'.
“Aki, you were truly, incredibly cute.”
“Thanks to Aki, those Rkol rascals had their noses thoroughly smashed! It was such a relief.”
On an early New Year's morning, the villagers who came out to the pier to see us off had a regretful air about them.
They asked if we could stay a little longer, but I declined as this village was prosperous and hadn't suffered wartime damage, so there was nothing for us to help with.
More than anything, intoxicated by the memories of the twilight flower field, I felt that if I stayed just a little longer, I might never be able to leave.
“Are you really sure you don't need any special reward?”
Florena asked in a voice mixed with a yawn, so I thought for a moment about something, then replied in a somewhat lonely tone.
“Just sell a lot of it.”
“Huh?”
“Sell that wine far and wide across the world, so that Aki can remember today even after decades. And protect the flower field too.”
That label will be proof for Aki. Proof that she came to this flower field with me yesterday.
A humble offering of flowers, one might say, dedicated to the immortal child.
Then Florena waved her hand dismissively and said.
“Even if you don't want to sell a lot, it'll sell like hotcakes. Just yesterday, so many reservations were made… I think this year will be really hectic.”
“That's a relief.”
“If you're traveling, stop by later with Aki. I'll give you a bottle with the first label produced as a gift.”
“Yes, if the opportunity arises.”
Of course, that opportunity would never come.
If the journey is successful, Aki won't be by my side when I return here. Aki must live with her own kind.
Feeling my arm, which held the soundly sleeping Aki, somehow fall with a lonely weight, I stepped onto the skiff.
“Then, we'll be going. Everyone, please be happy.”
As I carefully waved Aki's sleeping arm, the villagers sent enthusiastic cheers towards our boat as it slid across the water.
The day I reach <Hwayeommanri>, I will have to part ways with Aki like this. What kind of expression should I wear then, what words should I say…?
I thought I should start practicing now. With a somehow indelible bitter smile, I placed my hand on my chest and spoke to the dragon's soul.
“Because I promised you that, Alakish.”