233 – Black Footprints (8)
Lyria handed me the black letter.
As I received it, my heart began to race.
“Lyria, did this come flying into the mansion’s fireplace?”
“Yes.”
In that case, Amarilis’s letter wasn’t meant for me, but rather for this mansion.
“Then, I’ll leave Stitch here, so if another letter like this comes, please send it to me right away.”
“I’ll be sure to!”
Lyria nodded and left the room.
I put Priscilla back in her scabbard and picked up the letter. It was the first time I had checked the contents of a letter as soon as it arrived. What could it say? Most of Amarilis’s letters were filled with inconsequential daily life updates. There were few messages that seemed to hint at my future. I hoped that this one would also be filled with nothing but daily life updates.
I carefully tore open the envelope and unfolded the letter.
“….”
There, I found an incomprehensible sentence that shattered my expectations.
[I heard that you went to Claridium. I don’t understand. That place is already a ruined city. The once-brilliant civilization has vanished like a dream, and now it’s a place filled with nothing but wild dogs, rats, and rotting corpses. What joy could you possibly find there?]
What in the world did this mean? Claridium was destroyed? It wasn’t as if a war had suddenly broken out, but a city that was considered one of the most prosperous on this continent had already been destroyed? How? Why?
If I told anyone this, they would surely laugh at me, calling me crazy.
This was nonsense. If it had been destroyed, or if there had even been signs of its destruction, many people would have known about it, and Eternia would have been the first to inform the art students.
The really big problem was that I couldn’t just dismiss it as crazy talk. Until now, hadn’t Amarilis accurately predicted major events that had threatened my life?
***
Hailey, who had been mixing pigments and oils to create paints, stopped what she was doing and asked.
“What? Something happened to Claridium?”
“Yes, I was wondering if you had heard anything new lately.”
She said as she tied her long, loose hair back.
“No, why?”
“Are there any potential threats there? Like, are they doing any dangerous research or something?”
“Hmm….”
Hailey squints and stares at me suspiciously.
“…Senior?”
“Why are you asking that all of a sudden? Are you worried about something happening to Claridium? Or rather, are you hoping something happens?”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, I see. You, the newbie, don’t want to go to Claridium. Right? You were the same before the Special Forces Competition. You kept asking if you really had to go there.”
“…?”
“Hey! Xenia, come here!”
Xenia, who had been tending to the flowers in the distance, came running over without even taking off her apron, watering can in hand.
“What, what? I’m busy, what is it.”
“The newbie doesn’t want to go to Claridium!”
Xenia put her hands on her hips and glared at me with a fierce expression.
“Are you kidding me?”
Just then, Lilyt came into the greenhouse for class, and Xenia shouted loudly.
“Hey! Close the door! We have to discipline this kid.”
Lilyt was so startled that she slammed the door shut and froze in front of it, sensing the seriousness of the situation.
“I’m not saying I won’t go, Senior.”
Xenia spoke to me as if she were scolding me.
“I bragged so much about you to the upperclassman waiting for you at Claridium. I told him that the jewel of the Art Department was coming, so he bought pretty clothes, got a haircut, and has been waiting at the port without fail. You know? But you dare say such a thing?”
“….”
“Hailey, right? He even spent all the pocket money he had saved up to buy you dried fruit, jerky, bread, cheese, and all sorts of things, and he’s been starving himself because he has no money for food. How can you say something like that!”
When I looked back at Hailey, she suddenly had a mournful expression on her face, like the heroine of a tragedy.
“…Since the newbie won’t go… I guess I’ll have to throw it all away….”
Then she dipped her hand in the watering can, wet it, and drew tears on her face, pouting her lips.
Everyone here knows that she’s the daughter of one of the most prestigious families in the Empire, and the Academy provides all her meals. The upperclassmen were expressing their disappointment half-jokingly, half-threateningly. But I never said I wouldn’t go….
“I have no intention of leaving you seniors behind. I just want to make sure how safe it is.”
“Is that right? Are you sure?”
Amarilis’s letter had not mentioned that it would be dangerous to go there. She had simply wondered why we would go to a land that had already been destroyed.
It is said that even when a rich man falls, he can still live comfortably for three years. By Amarilis’s description, it would take at least a dozen years for such a prosperous city to fall into ruin. Perhaps Amarilis had looked too far ahead. Even if we went there for fun and came back, Claridium wouldn’t change much.
Xenia asked Hailey.
“Hey, is Claridium dangerous?”
Hailey replied.
“Yes, since the newbie seems to be worried, I’ll explain it to her kindly. First of all, it’s one of the safest cities in the world from demons. It’s safe to say that it’s at the forefront of research on demons. You must have heard about it often.”
Hailey pulled a chair right up next to me and sat down, her thighs pressed against mine. Then she put a piece of paper on the easel and started to draw something with a brush.
She drew a large letter ‘C’.
“Now, let’s say this is a map. And what’s attached here is Claridium.”
Then, he drew a point in the middle of a round dried-up part of the picture. That point was Claridium.
“So, Claridium is a small peninsula surrounded by the Empire, the Kingdom of Malia, and the sea. And another peninsula wraps around Claridium like a rampart.”
“…”
“In the first place, demons have been completely eradicated from that area, and even if airships come flying over the sea, they have to pass through other countries to get there. What could possibly happen because of demons? Something like that would never happen.”
“What about relations with the Empire?”
“Claridium is so friendly with the Empire that a third of its population is made up of people from the Empire. Trade and research exchanges are also very active. And, I can’t mention my family for personal reasons, but, ahem! If I go with you, the Empire will never be a threat. I guarantee it.”
“Is there anything else?”
“Let’s see. Something that would scare our new recruits… Ah!”
Hailey slapped her thigh as if she had just thought of something.
“The main tournament for the Exchange War is held there.”
“…”
“There will be quite a few demons being raised for the main tournament of the Exchange War. Of course, they are all within the range that can be handled by students, but if I had to name one, that would be the most dangerous thing. If there’s anything our new recruits are afraid of, their seniors will scold them.”
Hailey pats me on the back. She was desperate to send me to Claridium.
“……”
“So, you’re going. Right?”
From noble mtl dot com
Jenia and Hailey look at me expectantly with their sparkling eyes.
If it had been a northern city, the word “annihilation” would have seemed plausible. However, Claridium is known to be as safe as the capital of the Empire, so I’m confused. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t imagine what kind of disaster would lead to the destruction of a thriving metropolis.
The city will not collapse because of the demons being raised for the Exchange War. After all, Eternia and other major cities also raise demons.
War? Even that is ultimately a fight to change the flag hanging from the castle, not to completely destroy the city.
The only clue, if you can call it that, is that artists have been migrating to Ligved in droves.
Is it really necessary to go out of my way to find out? There’s no better way than to go and see for myself.
I said to my seniors.
“Yes, of course I’ll go.”
***
Kalios was still waiting for me in the forbidden forest.
I told him that I had satisfied Trisha and that I had succeeded in communicating with Priscilla afterwards, but he didn’t show much reaction.
Instead, he sat on a rock, sharpening a piece of wood into a point and making a harpoon with his own hands, and asked me an unexpected question.
“Boy, have you ever heard of Tytirian?”
“This is the first time I’ve heard of it.”
“Hmm.”
“My knowledge is not extensive. I don’t just skim through my lessons…”
“That may be so. It’s a place that’s hard to know about unless you delve into ancient texts. Humans have no interest in dwarves anymore.”
“Is it a place where dwarves live?”
“That’s right. A tenacious race that causes all sorts of disasters, yet still manages to survive.”
“This is also the first time I’ve heard that dwarves cause disasters.”
“There’s a saying that when disaster strikes, you should first blame the dwarves and the wizards. Haven’t you heard it?”
“This is the first time I’ve heard it.”
Kalios stroked his white beard with a complicated expression.
“Times have changed so much.”
“….”
“If you trace the cause of a disaster back to its source, you’ll usually find a dwarf at the starting point.”
“I didn’t realize they were such a notorious race.”
All I knew about dwarves was that they were good at digging tunnels and had a knack for craftsmanship.
“Of course, they are. Since their interaction with the surface world has been severed, most humans wouldn’t know if their calamity was caused by the dwarves or not.”
“….”
“Dwarves, more so than any other race, have an insatiable lust for conquest beneath the earth. They dig endlessly, and sometimes they unearth extraordinary things. Ancient cursed swords, gems from other dimensions, demonic artifacts, the beating hearts of the earth that can cause earthquakes. If you were to travel to a dwarven kingdom, you would be astounded by the incredible and bizarre treasures they’ve collected. You would wonder if they truly belong in the same world as us.”
“Since they’ve cut off contact with humans, I suppose they have it all to themselves.”
“Not to worry. Dwarves are terrible at handling it. They just become obsessed with the superiority of owning something unique for the sake of it, and they hoard it away in their dark corners.”
“….”
“And it’s not as if dwarves have cut off all contact with humans. They still maintain a strong relationship with the monks of the Tytarian Plateau.”
“Have they brewed an ale that suits the dwarven palate?”
“That would certainly be one way to earn their respect, but no.”
“What’s so special about them, then?”
“Very few of the dwarves’ excavations are beneficial to the world. Most of them are things that were buried deep underground for a reason. Some of them corrupt the soul, pollute the earth, or are filled with nothing but pure malice toward living creatures. There have been cases where entire kingdoms have had to relocate because hundreds or even thousands of dwarves died and they couldn’t find a way to contain it.”
“….”
“After suffering a disaster, the dwarves will bring anything they can’t handle to the surface and entrust it to the Tytarian monks.”
“Can they do that?”
Kalios nodded.
“The monks are immune to the influence of cursed swords. Even a gem possessed by a demon becomes just a stone in their presence, and a sword containing the heart of a dragon is just iron to them.”
“Why is that?”
“There is only one thing that they train in. What do you think it is?”
“…Sealing techniques?”
“No. Their souls. Through the same meditation that you do.”
“…?”
“They simply refine their souls, continuing the practices of the ancient monks who came before them. They don’t specialize in weaponry or magic, and they’re made up of orphans and wanderers, so bloodline doesn’t matter.”
“Can they really do it with just that?”
“Monks are empty vessels, so they can’t be possessed. It’s like when a robber breaks into a house and finds nothing to steal, so he just leaves. Do you understand how much power comes from being in control of your own soul?”
“….”
“Worldly humans accept everything that comes their way, but monks choose what to accept and what to let go of. They can accept spiritual energy while letting go of toxins. They can look at a flower they’ve seen a thousand times and still be captivated by its beauty, and they can stand firm as steel in front of a cursed sword filled with malice toward humanity.”
“….”
“That’s why you needed to learn the ways of the Tytarian monks before anything else.”
“…!”
“Whatever the catalyst was, you’ve learned how to let go of what you don’t need.”
“I don’t know how I managed to do that, and I still have a long way to go.”
“The important thing is that you’ve taken the first step. Now, shall we summon your cursed sword?”
I quietly closed my eyes and called upon the cursed sword as I always did.
A blinding light shot out from my hand. I opened my eyes and looked down at the sword in my hand.
Something was different. The sensation in my body was completely different from before.
The pressure on my body from the cursed sword felt lighter, and the terrifying speed at which it drained my energy upon summoning had also slowed considerably.
And then, the glow of the sword was more vivid than before.
Kalios, who had been watching this, nodded with a satisfied expression.