145 – The Secret of the Lighthouse
I knocked on the door of the old lighthouse, and after a while someone opened the door with slow footsteps.
“Hello. Are you Mr. Dellan, the lighthouse keeper?”
Obviously a kind, unknown soldier said it was an old man, but no matter how you look at it, it was a sturdy grandfather. Was it a sign of friendliness?
“Yes, I am Delan. To come to a lighthouse like this with a beauty. It’s so amazing.”
I smiled at the friendly smile and responded politely.
“We are Transcendence Academy students. I read a book about the lighthouse here in the library, and stopped by during vacation because I wanted to see the lighthouse in real life. If you’ll excuse me, may I take a look inside?”
Delan made a shocked expression at my words. However, he quickly changed his expression and smiled happily.
Anyway, I had such a suspicion that we might be the lighthouse keeper’s monumental first guests.
“I came here because I wanted to see this lighthouse… ? Oh god, of course it’s possible. It’s cold, come in quickly.”
The inside of the lighthouse along Delane was a cozy room. There was an old bed, a table, a bookshelf lined with books, and firewood was stacked against one wall.
It gave me a strange feeling that there was a space full of warmth inside the lighthouse made of cold stone.
Perhaps it was impossible to place a fireplace because of the smoke, but a temperature control artifact that looked like an old stove that seemed to be a substitute stood out.
How did you survive without it? Perhaps noticing that my gaze was focused on the artifact, Delan answered my small question with a friendly explanation.
“I heard that even a few hundred years ago, houses were built outside the lighthouse because of the cold. I don’t need it right now thanks to this temperature control artifact.”
Delric, who was stroking the artifact carefully as if it were a child, asked.
“Would you like some hot tea?”
At Delan’s words, I looked at Navier. As if he had noticed the meaning of my gaze, Navier replied in a friendly voice.
“Thank you guys. Thank you.”
“Then relax and watch.”
Me and Navier looked around while Delan prepared the tea. There was nothing particularly special about the room.
I didn’t check under the bed, but if Delan wasn’t hiding a secret secret, I wouldn’t know. It was unlikely that the secret of the lighthouse was hidden in such a place.
After leaving the room, there were stairs leading to the top of the lighthouse. True to its name, the lighthouse has a very high ceiling. Unlike the lighthouse, which seems to have been made of stacked stones, the stairs were unexpectedly made of iron.
It seemed that the wooden stairs could not stand the test of time and were replaced with iron. Is there a secret hidden in this place to find Shin’s fountain pen?
As if Navier had found something about her while looking around, she said in an interesting voice.
“There is something unusual about the wall here.”
“Something unusual?”
Moving closer, Navier observed the wall she pointed to. It looked like someone had carved it into the walls of the lighthouse. The contents were pieces of people and sheep going somewhere.
When I turned my head and looked around, there were more pieces like this on the wall. 4 In total. The contents of the pieces were all different. I was a little concerned to think it was just a decoration.
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Navie, who did not know that the lighthouse had secrets, just looked at it curiously, but I carefully observed them.
For some reason, I felt like Navier was peeking at my side profile with her sidelong glance, but she ignored it, thinking it would be awkward on the way back if she just turned her head and met her eyes.
“… I don’t know what.”
“That was built hundreds of years ago while repairing the lighthouse.”
I didn’t expect to hear an answer to my muttering to myself with a sigh. Delan handed us a wooden cup filled with hot tea and continued his explanation.
“It is said that there was an earthquake a few hundred years ago and the lighthouse was repaired. That’s what I heard from the former lighthouse keeper. All kinds of stories come down. Some even say that someone tried to raise chickens here and failed, and that the stairs collapsed and the lighthouse keeper died by banging his head against the wall over there. Oh, don’t worry now. They replaced the stairs with iron a hundred years ago.”
Following Delan’s gaze, a wall a little darker than the others came into view. I felt uncomfortable and took a sip of tea. It tastes weird
“Well, but why is there a lighthouse in a place like this? There is a sea, but ships cannot sail there, and there is no port around here, right?”
At Navier’s question, Delan smiled awkwardly.
“That… Actually I don’t know either. I don’t know why, but that just didn’t come through. I’m sure the word got cut off somewhere. Is it from the person who banged his head against the wall?”
Delan smiled regretfully.
“A lighthouse has existed here since time immemorial, and someone has continued to be a lighthouse keeper. It became a tradition that one person from Lake Village would maintain the lighthouse for life. I am following in the footsteps of my late father and maintaining that tradition.”
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Nabie asked with an expression that he did not understand.
“Has anyone ever had any doubts? Maybe this lighthouse doesn’t really mean anything….”
Judging from the slurred speech, it must have been belatedly that he realized that he had said something rude. When Navier apologized, Delane smiled bitterly.
“Someone must have doubted. But countless people have lived here as lighthouse keepers. The reason for the existence of the lighthouse has not been communicated, but only the desperate need to ensure that the lighthouse does not go out has been conveyed to this day. Even if you don’t understand it, someday this lighthouse will tell someone why it exists.”
I don’t know the exact reason because I didn’t set the lighthouse in detail. Again, it may be that probability works at will, and there is a reason to turn on the lighthouse every day. Desperate. Maybe that will be a hint to unlock the secret of the lighthouse.
Drank tea again. It’s still a strange taste. I managed my expression so as not to frown in front of Delan, who gave me the tea.
Butterfly’s eyes widened slightly as she drank tea with me.
“This is lemon balm tea, right?”
“That’s right, a charge that helps with mental health. It’s lonely sometimes when you’re alone at the lighthouse. When I’m really tired, I sometimes go out to town.”
“This is a car I like quite a bit. I like the taste.”
Before our heated conversation about tea ensued, I asked Delic.
“Can I go upstairs?”
“Sure! The most beautiful place in the lighthouse is the summit, of course you have to climb it.”
I set down the glass I was holding on the side of the stairs and followed Delic up. The cold winter wind blows by. Under the lighthouse, the sound of the waves in the sea was loud enough.
The top of the lighthouse was a little different from what I had imagined. There was a lighthouse inside, like a pizza-making furnace in an open space, and where the light came out, there was a shiny reflector that looked like the shell of a giant insect.
There were a total of four reflectors that could be overlapped. However, each was different in shape and size. Since there are handles on both sides, it seems that the angle and position are adjusted with those.
“Ugh, disgusting.”
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Navier was disgusted by the insect’s shell-like appearance. You hate insects with a butterfly in your name… I’ll use this as a joke later.
“It’s a special reflector that has been in the lighthouse since long ago. The replacement ones are in the basement storage, but they’ve been in use for hundreds of years with careful maintenance. Of course, I hardly ever use it, so it’s fine, but… How would you like to take control?”
I asked, scratching my head at Delan’s suggestion.
“Are you okay?”
“It doesn’t matter. No one knows how to handle these reflectors. Several lighthouse keepers have tried, but all have failed. Now I just leave the lamplight fire burning.”
Then there is no reason to refuse. I worked hard to move the handle and move the reflector, but there was no coincidence that the hidden place of Shin’s fountain pen appeared, only the intensity and number of lights changed.
Then, the secret of the lighthouse was likely to be a piece of the wall after all. Just in case, I asked Delan to go down to the basement and check every nook and cranny, but there was no particular result except for the old insect corpse.
As I sighed and went up to the first floor where Navier was waiting, I inadvertently caught my eye on the bookshelf. Among the old books, a book with torn and cracked leather caught my eye, as if it had been on the bookshelf for a long time.
“This is… ?”
Pointing at the book on the bookshelf, Delan smiled happily.
“Because I am a student, I am very curious. It’s a Bible that has been on the bookshelf for a long time. It’s probably hundreds of years old. I don’t believe in religion, so I’ve never read the contents… I heard from my father that this book was left by a former lighthouse keeper and should not be thrown away.”
Looking at the piece of wall again won’t change anything. I asked with anticipation that some lighthouse keeper might have left a note in an old book.
“Can I check it out?”
With a smile and a nod, Delan started a conversation with Navier about lemon balm tea that he hadn’t finished.
I carefully took the book out of the bookshelf. Even if the exterior is damaged, the contents can be identified.
There are dots on the side that look like ink from a long time ago. Management is the worst
Carefully opening the book and examining the pages, I soon found something strange.
This book.
The order of the pages was out of order.