Episode 40
Were crow masks familiar in this country?
Loki thought of the frozen earth. Come to think of it, the Nordin had a custom of donning beast masks when hunting to conceal their appearance and scent.
Seeing that, it wasn’t as if such things were entirely absent on the continent either.
Yuan offered an answer to satisfy Loki’s curiosity.
“A monk I know enjoys wearing something similar. It’s not quite a mask but rather a face mask, if you will… I’ve heard it’s a tool used for treatment. I’m not well informed, but I understand healers and herbalists wearing such masks are common in the royal capital. They say it’s a tool to prevent the plague spreading these days, or something like that?”
“…….”
“By the way, are you enjoying your journey? I only ever travel around these parts, so I have a certain longing for the outside world. Do you perhaps have any interesting tales of adventure?”
“…Well. I haven’t been traveling for very long either… Though I did experience something like a horror film, surrounded by zombies.”
“……?”
“I’m joking.”
Watching Loki speak so frankly, Yuan smiled bitterly.
He was someone who enjoyed reading expressions and conversing with people. But because the crow mask hid Loki’s face, he couldn’t experience that enjoyment.
Yuan turned his gaze and spoke to the hooded girl, Saellet.
“You must be happy, young wife. Traveling with your husband.”
“…He’s not my husband.”
“Oh? Ah! Your older brother, then? A family trip?”
The girl ignored him.
Seeing Saellet sitting there sullenly, Yuan broke into a cold sweat.
‘What a difficult family to talk to.’
It was just as Yuan let out a sigh.
A monastery came into view atop a hill a short distance away.
“Ah, I can see it now. That’s the place!”
At Yuan’s words, Loki turned his head, and Saellet glanced ahead with a flick of her eyes.
A vast farm surrounded the area.
In the midst of it, the monastery was visible. However, perhaps because it hadn’t been maintained, it looked quite dilapidated.
The fields that should have been lush and green were withered to a brown hue, and the bell peppers visible here and there were rotten or covered in mold.
It felt almost like a derelict building.
“It’s a gloomy place.”
“Haha! It may look like that, but it is a holy place devoted to His Holiness Azellan. Even ghosts would be frightened and flee.”
At the mention of ghosts, Saellet flinched, but no one noticed her reaction.
“Moreover, the person living inside is a very kind priest. I owe him a great debt myself. In the past, he even took in and raised children who had nowhere to go, but after that incident, he….”
“That incident?”
“…A plague broke out in the monastery. After that, all the children died.”
Yuan’s voice trailed off, and he fell silent for a while.
Wearing a pained expression, he only smiled upon arriving at the monastery before speaking to Loki’s party.
“We’ve arrived! I’ll go unpack my things. I’m sorry, but could you call the priest for me?”
Yuan addressed Saellet rather than Loki.
As Saellet blinked and stole a glance at Loki beside him, Loki was simply looking at her without so much as twitching.
As if curious how she would react.
She frowned at him. And while she stood with her arms crossed, pretending not to hear Yuan, Yuan spoke to her again.
“I’m sorry, miss. For the priest’s sake, could you please open the door?”
“…Why should I?”
“Well… it’s because you resemble a child named Emma who used to live with the priest. If that child had grown up, she would be exactly your age. It would be a great comfort to him.”
Yuan had even stopped unpacking and clasped his hands together to plead.
Feeling pressured by that display, Saellet stole a glance at Loki before moving her feet and walking toward the monastery’s entrance.
She grumbled inwardly, as if wondering why she had to humor a human’s request.
She knocked on the door with her fist.
Knock! Knock!
There was no response.
Just as Saellet tilted her head in puzzlement, her long ears twitched.
From inside, she could hear the old man’s muttering soliloquy along with the sound of footsteps. Strangely, the footsteps were forceful and fast.
The door burst open, and an old man came out.
It was an old man wearing a yellow-brown robe that dragged on the floor.
“It’s been a while, Yuan! Today, let’s have a meal togeth—!”
At his footsteps, filled with anticipation, and his energetic voice, Saellet tilted her head in puzzlement. But the old man, unable to continue his words, stared blankly at her.
“…Em…ma?”
The old man put on a surprised expression.
The eyes filled with longing and heartache trembled faintly.
Though she had felt curiosity at that sight, Saellet froze on the spot at the old man’s next action.
The old man was reaching out his hand toward Saellet with a stiffened face.
***
Smack!
Saellet reflexively struck his hand away. Even so, she shrank back in fear.
Because the moment she struck his hand away, the old man’s expression grew grave.
As if shocked, his eyes widened and his lips could be seen trembling. The old man looked at his rejected hand, then reached out to Saellet again.
At the old man’s reaction, Saellet inadvertently lost her nerve.
Her mind went blank. Without even thinking to use her divine techniques or move to avoid it, she could only squeeze her eyes shut at the approaching hand.
After a moment, Saellet felt no sensation at all. She couldn’t feel the hand reaching out to her; all she heard was the old man’s groan.
“……?”
Saellet slowly opened her eyes.
She saw Loki standing beside her as if to protect her.
“…What do you think you’re doing?”
Loki had roughly snatched the old man’s hand.
A killing intent radiated from his grip, and the old man’s gaze sharpened.
The old man rotated his hand in a circular motion, slipping free from Loki’s grip and in turn snatching Loki’s arm. Then he stretched his other hand toward Loki’s head.
It was far too fast for an ordinary person—let alone an old man—to execute, but it was blocked once again by Loki’s hand.
“…What!”
Just as the old man’s face contorted in shock, Yuan’s voice rang out.
“…What on earth are you all doing?!”
Loki and the old man looked at the merchant Yuan.
***
Loki and Saellet were led into the parlor. Loki was seated in a chair, and Saellet looked around her surroundings with curious eyes.
“…I’m sorry! I just wanted to make the priest happy… but I’ve ended up causing trouble instead.”
To them, the merchant Yuan bowed his head and offered a sincere apology.
Loki pointed at Saellet, who was standing blankly beside him.
“If you’re going to apologize, you should apologize to her, not me.”
“…Ah! Y-yes. I-I’m sorry! Miss. I was trying to make the priest happy, but it turned out like this.”
Only then did Saellet come to her senses, shaking her head side to side without realizing it.
“…I’m sorry.”
At that moment, the old man was bringing tea.
“You look so much like a child I knew that I made a mistake. Even though I made her grave with my own hands. How startled you must have been…”
Feeling the old man’s gaze, Saellet jumped and hid behind Loki.
At her rabbit-like timidity, Loki sent her a strange gaze, and she flinched and averted her eyes.
“Ah, um… well…”
Saellet also seemed surprised by her own unconscious action. She looked at Loki with eyes that seemed afraid of being scolded.
Loki pressed his hand on Saellet’s head.
“You should apologize too.”
“……?”
“You hit that man’s hand, didn’t you?”
“I… did nothing wrong.”
“It was a misunderstanding. Apologize. He apologized to you as well.”
It was a low, cold voice, but it held warmth within.
Saellet had no intention of apologizing, but Loki’s words made her feel as if she should. Avoiding the priest’s gaze, she muttered softly.
“…Sorry.”
“It’s quite all right. Rather, I am the one who is sorry, miss.”
The priest, Alex, gave a bitter smile.
Because Saellet’s behavior made him feel as if he were deeply despised.
Yet he couldn’t help but find it strange.
Somehow, that girl felt familiar.
Where could he have met her?
As if there were a connection from long ago….
‘That can’t be right.’
He placed the tea on the table and looked at Yuan.
“Ah, what did you do with the daily necessities? Yuan.”
“If you mean those, they’ve already been moved to the storage. If anything is lacking, please come find me at the village again. I’ll bring plenty of goods.”
Alex seemed pleased by Yuan’s genuine smile and clapped his hands.
“I was just about to have dinner, as it happens.”
At that, Yuan flinched in surprise. That reaction was so conspicuous that Loki and Saellet couldn’t help but be puzzled.
“Stay and eat before you go.”
“I-I already ate dinner earlier! Besides, since there are guests here now, dinner should be with these people…!”
“Still, eat just a little before you go.”
“Ah! Thomas next door happened to order some new items. I have to deliver them…!”
Though the lie was obvious, Alex put on a disappointed expression as if he hadn’t noticed.
“Is that so? Then… what would you guests like to do?”
At Alex’s words, Loki nodded.
He himself didn’t need to eat anything, but Saellet had to eat something.
“…We gratefully accept.”
“Thank you. Then let’s prepare the meal!”
Alex was delighted at Loki’s acceptance.
Yuan hurriedly packed his things. His appearance looked like a desperate struggle to flee.
“Yuan.”
The startled Yuan broke into a cold sweat.
“Next time, you must eat with me.”
“…Ah, of course! Those tasteless… delicious bell peppers are always welcome! Memories of eating them with you when I was young come flooding back!”
“Is that so? Ah! Speaking of which, I harvested some not long ago.”
Alex held out a basket filled with bell peppers. Inside were wrinkled, colorless bell peppers.
They did not look fresh.
“They aren’t very good ones, but take them. Your wife is expecting a child, isn’t she? Won’t you eat them with your wife?”
“…Thank you ever so much.”
Yuan, having received the peppers, slumped his shoulders.
After Yuan disappeared, Loki and Saellet were treated to a meal by Alex.
Simple foods were placed on a long table large enough for several people to sit.
Though it would be shameless to complain while being helped and hosted….
“…This is severe.”
…Loki unwittingly let slip.
Before his eyes were dishes dyed green.
From bell pepper salad… grilled bell peppers, pickled bell peppers, bell pepper soup, and for dessert, even bell pepper sandwiches… At any rate, everything was made of bell peppers.
Loki was not one to be picky, yet faced with bell pepper dishes spread out to a grotesque degree, he unwittingly sealed his lips. Saellet, beside him, also seemed flustered, her mouth hanging agape.
“Haha! I suppose I’ve prepared too much. It’s been so long since guests came… Today’s aren’t very fresh, but tomorrow I’ll prepare proper ones!”
Loki looked at Alex.
His pleased smile looked exactly like a doting grandfather happy to meet his grandchildren.
Seeing such an expression, it was hard to refuse.
Loki picked up his fork, stabbed a piece of bell pepper, and put it in his mouth.
A bitter taste and a fishy smell assaulted his nostrils through the tip of his tongue.
Saellet, who had been watching his reaction, also took a bite of a bell pepper piece.
In that instant, tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and her hair stood on end like a hedgehog’s for a brief moment. She coughed and sought water, gulping it down before furrowing her brow.
“…It’s gross.”
At those words, Alex burst into laughter.
“Haha, do you dislike bell peppers? You look so much like the Emma I knew.”
No, rather than disliking bell peppers, it’s just that these taste strange, but…?
Loki thought to himself.
‘Now I know why that merchant ran away.’
Alex, for some reason pleased, didn’t wipe his smile away as he picked up a piece of bell pepper with his fork and chewed.
Frankly speaking, the taste was atrocious. If it were his former self, he had been confident in bell pepper dishes, but these days his skills had become terrible.
Even now, the food he was chewing was terribly tasteless.
But….
It’s delicious.
Looking at Loki and Saellet, Alex was overcome with warmth in his heart.