The monastery coughed and spat out the regressor and me. The children, unaware that we had nearly died, were still running around the fields. Azi was rolling about with Remme’s hair tightly wrapped around him. Remme let out a mournful cry as her fur became tangled.
“Baaah. Who brought this dog here? If you bring him, you have to take responsibility!”
“Woof woof! Me shepherd sheep! I take responsibility for sheep!”
“Biting isn’t responsibility! Let go!”
Remme, the King of Sheep. The king of the sheep that followed the shepherd.
In truth, sheep are timid and foolish. That was why, since ancient times, humans had driven flocks of hundreds of sheep with nothing more than a wooden staff and a single dog. As long as they could find a field full of food, sheep did not particularly care whether humans guided them or dogs herded them.
Perhaps the clergy found that foolishness endearing, because sheep had become beasts that were invariably mentioned during the Eucharist.
I could have ignored her and walked on, but since we had run into each other, I ought to at least say hello. It wasn’t as though my relationship with the sheep was particularly distant.
“Sheep. What are you doing here?”
“Can’t you see? I’m being tormented by a dog, human! Hurry up and pull this dog off me! Before all my fur is mussed up!”
“Zzz.”
“Wake up! Your drool is tangling my fur!”
Even as she twisted her body around, Remme couldn’t shake Azi off her fur.
Wolves were the natural enemies of sheep, while dogs were the sheep’s guides. Their duties were diametrically opposed, but they had one thing in common: both sent sheep wherever they did not want to go. Sheep and dogs stood in a complete hierarchy.
After pulling Azi off, I asked Remme,
“No, I mean, why did you come to the monastery? There aren’t many sheep living here.”
“To receive service!”
Remme spoke as she struggled to untangle the places Azi had licked.
“I have soft and fluffy fur! But when the wind blows, when it gets wet, or when dirt gets on it, my fur clumps together and feels stuffy!”
Remme fiddled with her fur. No matter how much of a beast’s king she was, she couldn’t groom her own fur. With Remme’s tiny hands, she couldn’t even reach all of the abundant white hair that fell nearly to her knees.
“That’s why I travel around. Looking for humans who can groom my fur!”
“You came here looking for someone to groom your fur?”
“Baaah! That’s right! The human children here have small, weak hands, so they can groom my fur without hurting me!”
“I’m sure people elsewhere could comb it well enough too.”
“It’s not about skill. What matters is the heart with which they serve me! Other humans just grind their combs against me and try to cut my fur, so I don’t like them!”
“Why? Just cut it.”
“I can’t cut it! Humans try to tear my fur out!”
The fur of the King of Sheep was both soft and tough. Among the beast kings, who were beings of concepts, she was a beast with particularly special fur, and it could not be cut by ordinary means. If one tried to cut it with scissors, the fur would only be chewed up instead.
Then the regressor stepped forward and made a suggestion.
“Want me to cut it?”
“Baaah? You?”
“Yes. I think my Cheonaeng could cut your fur.”
“Not a chance. Human blades can’t cut my fur. I’m a sheep. I don’t like pain!”
Remme stubbornly rejected the regressor’s offer. But then, the children gathered up the fur that had fallen while they were combing it and held it out to the regressor.
“This is fur left behind by the Apostle of the Young Sheep.”
“If you cut this, we’ll acknowledge you!”
“It won’t be easy, you know? Sometimes we use this to make string figures, but once it gets tangled, we can never untangle it! That’s why we pile it up in one corner of the dormitory!”
The innocent children approached the regressor without even knowing fear. It was a moment that proved fear was something learned rather than innate. If they had been able to sense it instinctively, they would never have approached the regressor with his fierce expression.
Regardless of his looks, the regressor did not particularly dislike innocent children. He had two of them pull on the sheep’s wool, then lightly drew Cheonaeng. Ting—the lock of Remme’s fur was severed with only the faintest sound.
“Wow! It cut!”
“Amazing! Even when we used scissors and a saw, it wouldn’t break!”
“Wonderful! We’ll give you the opportunity to shear the Apostle of the Young Sheep!”
As the children chattered, Remme responded suspiciously.
“Baaah? Is it all right? All right, then. I’ll give you the opportunity to cut my fur. But you only get one chance! If you pull it out, I’ll ram you!”
Remme waddled over, lifted her own head of hair with both hands, and held it out to the regressor. Even before an enormous mass of fur large enough to hide a person, the regressor remained composed.
Feeling uneasy for no particular reason, I asked,
“Mr. Shae, can you really cut it?”
“Of course. You saw it earlier, didn’t you? Cheonaeng can cut even the fur of the King of Sheep.”
“No, I don’t mean that. Do you know how to cut hair, Mr. Shae? You don’t seem to have much dexterity.”
“What are you talking about? How do you think I trim my hair while traveling? I cut it myself.”
“Oh, so that’s why your hair is…”
“Want me to shave your head clean?”
“Just cut it. Remme’s waiting.”
The regressor grumbled as he compressed and heated Cheonaeng. The blade, shimmering with heat haze, passed gently through Remme’s hair.
Swish, swish. He caught the fur with his qi and sliced through it at an angle with Cheonaeng. Clumps of Remme’s fur fell away. Each clump seemed to contain more hair than an ordinary person, yet even after dozens of cuts, there was no sign that Remme’s fur would end.
The snow-white hair falling like snow held an inexplicable fascination. I, Azi, and the other children all watched the scene without looking away.
The one actually receiving the service, Remme, showed no gratitude whatsoever and merely licked her lips. She shifted her body this way and that as she spoke.
“Baaah. I’m bored. You lot, bring me some grass to chew.”
She acted as though she had become a grand master. Perhaps I wasn’t the only one who thought her attitude insolent, because Azi, who had been watching, suddenly barked at Remme.
“Woof woof! Stop!”
“Baaah!”
“Don’t move! You’ll get hurt! Both you and the human!”
“B-Baaah… It’s all right to pull up a little grass…”
Remme, slightly frightened, watched their faces and quietly folded her hands together. In any case, thanks to Azi, cutting her fur became much easier. After shearing Remme for nearly an hour, the regressor used the heated Cheonaeng to curl up the ends of her hair, then dusted off his hands.
“Hmm. How is it? I cut it pretty well, didn’t I?”
It would have been wrong to say otherwise. The regressor’s skill was considerable. Not only was it cut quite neatly, but the way he had improvised the curls at the end would have been impossible without a sense of style and aesthetic judgment.
Remme, who had been buried beneath messy fur, had now become a pretty young woman with lovely long hair. The children marveled at how completely different she looked.
“Wow! She’s pretty!”
“The Apostle of the Young Sheep is much cleaner and prettier now!”
“I like the fluffy Apostle of the Young Sheep too, but she looks much more comfortable now!”
Remme herself showed little reaction and only kept glancing at Azi. One couldn’t expect a sheep to have any aesthetic sense. At most, she probably felt a little less stuffy.
The regressor shook off the remaining fur with a confident voice.
“Good enough?”
“When did you learn how to do this?”
“I told you. I used to cut my hair while traveling alone.”
*I put some thought into cutting my hair because I wanted to look like a proper person. That’s what made it possible. Thanks to the Seven-Colored Eyes, I could even look down at the back of my own head.*
I had thought he simply didn’t care about things like that at all… But perhaps that wasn’t true. Even judging by the Manhanjeonseok and Renee’s pocket, he was surprisingly good at taking care of his body and surroundings. Well, if you can take care of something, it’s better to do so.
“And it was easier thanks to the Saintess’s blessing.”
“What? The Saintess’s blessing? What does that have to do with this?”
“Huh? You don’t know? It’s the Saintess’s blessing.”
“What effect does the Saintess’s blessing have? I don’t feel any particularly special power.”
“Heh-heh. So you don’t know everything after all? Well, when would you ever have received a blessing?”
Perhaps because he had successfully sheared the sheep’s wool, the regressor spoke with a slightly boastful tone.
“The Saintess’s blessing differs according to the authority each one possesses. The Saintess of Steel grants the power to realize one’s will, while the Saintess of Causality grants the knowledge to discover what one desires. The Saintess of the Sun illuminates the road ahead. And the Saintess of the Sky… grants good fortune.”
“Good fortune?”
“Yes. Whatever you do turns out well, and even when an obstacle stands in your way, you find an easy method of overcoming it. Fortuitous opportunities fall right in front of you without your even realizing it. The blessings of the other Saintesses are definite, but somewhat limited. The blessing granted by the Saintess of the Sky is far more vague and far-reaching. Like a goddess of fortune.”
Good fortune? What kind of good fortune? Luck existed, but even so, it was only probability.
“Look at today. It’s a trivial matter, but barely any stray fur remains after shearing the King of Sheep. I only learned this by watching someone else, so I’m not particularly skilled. The fact that it turned out this well is thanks to that blessing.”
“That can’t be true… Cutting hair is simply your own ability.”
“Come on, take the compliment.”
“It’s not a compliment. It’s strange that you believe in the Saintess’s blessing, Mr. Shae. What are you, some kind of cultist? You believe what you did with your own hands was the work of a Saintess’s blessing?”
I couldn’t say that the Saintess’s blessings possessed no power whatsoever. They truly did have the power to see the future. But attributing the results of one’s own actions to a blessing was even stranger.
“And think about it again. If the blessing is really that incredible, why would it help you with something as trivial as shearing Remme’s fur? That’s just a way to pass the time.”
“Who knows? We may find a use for the neatly cut fur of the King of Sheep.”
“What would you use fur for when we’re not even going to turn it into cloth right away…? In the first place, the command given by the Saintess of the Sky was to defeat the Ancient Evil, wasn’t it? No matter how precious that fur is, I don’t see how it could stop the Ancient Evil. Are you planning to give it to someone as a present?”
“There’s no harm in holding on to it. And we might find an occasion to give it as a gift.”
“What? In this monastery, where Remme’s fur is lying everywhere?”
Besides, this was the barbaric land untouched by civilization. Even if we sold it, there would be no one to buy it. Were we supposed to barter it with the barbarians? Well, if one looked at it that way, it might have some use, but they hardly had anything to give us in return.
That was when it happened.
“Greetings! Is the nun here, by any chance?”
Someone’s booming voice rang out. It was so loud that the sheep, the children, and even Remme jumped in surprise.
In the civilized world, making a commotion at someone else’s home was considered an intrusion. But this barbaric world was different. A barking dog did not bite, and threats always approached without a sound. Making one’s presence known was, rather, a sign of friendliness.
“You are of the Toin Tribe.”
Yegcheria, her face once again covered by a veil, came out to welcome the huge brown-skinned man.
“They say that all beings beneath the heavens are children of the Heavenly God, but not all children are filial. I have heard that our Toin brothers do not worship the Heavenly God, but instead revere the Earth Mother Goddess. As a servant of the Heavenly God, I welcome visitors of every kind, but would it be all right for us to continue this meeting?”
The Toin Tribe. An immortal race whose bodies had acquired properties similar to earth by absorbing earthen vessels. They had once been the natives of all nations, and followed a somewhat different faith in which the concept of the Earth Mother Goddess had been corrupted.
That was also why there was only one monastery in this vast barbaric land. In a land overflowing with vitality, weeds grew everywhere—weeds that could not be uprooted even by the Heavenly God’s wind.
Still, perhaps this Toin was somewhat enlightened, for he showed the nun proper respect.
“That’s right! I came here to meet you in the first place!”
Yegcheria spread both arms wide and welcomed the immortal.
“Welcome! Even in this distant land of barbarism and heresy, seeds of faith carried on the wind are bound to take root! I, Yegcheria, sincerely welcome your repentance, brother!”
“Haha. I have no intention of believing in the Heavenly God, though!”
“Of course, that’s all right! The fact that you came here at all is already a most hopeful sign! Why don’t you start by reading the Bible?”
“No, I really don’t. I merely came to receive that… What was it called? A sacrament?”
“A sacrament?”
“Yes. The sacrament of matrimony, I believe. I heard that in the countries above, people receive a priest’s blessing when they marry. My bride came from a distant land, and if possible, I wanted to follow her customs!”
The immortal laughed heartily as he explained his circumstances. He had brought back a woman to marry from a faraway place, but their village customs were so different that they had encountered some conflict. If possible, he wanted to receive the sacrament at the Monastery of Blood so that no one could raise any objections.
He intended to use the holy sacrament as a means to an end, but Yegcheria did not care about such a trivial motive. If anything, she seemed even more delighted, clasping her hands together in rapture.
“Ah…! This is true repentance through love! I have not yet had the honor of meeting your sister, but she must be a truly devout woman! Very well. I shall make preparations so that we can bless this sacred union at any time!”
“Hmm. I would appreciate it! I brought some leather and meat, so, uh, what was it? I’d like to make an offering!”
“I gratefully accept your donation!”
“And I’m sorry to ask this, but could you give me some token proving that this monastery has promised to perform the sacrament? It would be awkward to return empty-handed.”
“Of course. As it happens…”
Yegcheria looked this way with a broad smile on her face. The children, who were neatly gathering Remme’s hair, happened to catch the nun’s eye.
“We have some sheep’s wool that would make an excellent token.”
And at that moment, I felt something chill crawl over me.
Discomfort, perhaps. It felt like gambling on a meticulously arranged board. Like dancing when it had already been decided which card I would draw and which card would appear.
The world was fitting together strangely. In this barbaric land, wool and leather were necessities and wealth—precious goods beyond comparison. If it was the fur of the King of Sheep, there was no need for comparison at all. Simply carrying it with us would earn us treatment as honored guests.
Such a wonderful opportunity had appeared right away? As though it had been deliberately flaunted before us?
Come on, surely not. It had to be a coincidence…
…I wanted to say that, but—
“Hughes.”
“Mr. Shae noticed it too?”
“Yes. I know. That immortal…”
The regressor, like me, recognized the identity of that immortal and was overcome by a strange impression. It was too strange to dismiss as a simple coincidence, yet too unfathomable to attribute to the Saintess’s blessing…
“Oh? Teacher. And boy! Long time no see! What a strange coincidence, meeting here!”
The immortal Rasi, my fellow student whom I had met in Tantalos, recognized me and the regressor and waved at us enthusiastically.