Side Story 3: The Azure Knight and the Ashen Witch
Chapter 4
Toxins.
People really died because of that.
And there were people who accepted those deaths as if it was nothing.
I clenched my fists, then forced a smile. A bright, refreshing smile. It was my specialty, according to someone.
“I see. But Mr. Gushu, this might sound a bit harsh, but it would be better to cremate the body in this environment.”
But Gushu just shrugged and continued digging.
“You’re right. But the person who died was the one who was in charge of cremating the bodies. A kind of undertaker, you could say. He’s been cremating bodies for about two years. And now it’s his turn. He went earlier than expected.”
“….”
Gushu smiled wryly.
“Well, don’t make that face. We can always find someone else to cremate the bodies.”
“…I see…”
I borrowed a shovel from a villager and helped Gushu dig the hole. And then, after helping him move the body and bury it, I finally returned to the guard zone.
My pocket watch was past midnight when I arrived.
“Aaaaah! You went off to have fun without me! You traitor!”
Ariel, who had somehow managed to stay awake and watch Enzhe Lopetrefer, started whining the moment she saw me, her face filled with indignation.
I watched Enzhe Lopetrefer, who was sitting in the same position as she had been in the morning, then told Ariel what I had seen and heard.
“Someone died because of the toxins.”
“….”
Ariel’s whining suddenly stopped. She then pouted and said,
“…It’s the Wasteland, what can you do?”
She mumbled, as if trying to convince herself, her eyes squeezed shut,
“People die all the time in the Wasteland. That’s why they send criminals here. But the toxin problem… it’s okay if you have holy water. If you have holy water…”
I looked at the empty holy water vials scattered around Ariel. There were at least ten of them, scattered everywhere.
“…Anyway, don’t think about it too much. Senior Soran said she’s seen a lot of people die too. It’s just a common occurrence here.”
Ariel mentioned Soran Halo’s name again.
I tried to recall her face, which was vaguely etched in my memory.
“Soran Halo managed to survive this place.”
“Well, she’s a genius!”
Ariel’s face lit up at the mention of Soran Halo’s name. I could tell from her voice alone that she admired her.
“Even a genius couldn’t change the Wasteland.”
I chuckled, wanting to tease her. But Ariel, her expression serious, said,
“Of course not! It’s so difficult to purify this toxin-filled land…”
“…Really?”
“Yes! But that’s what Senior Soran is researching!”
Ariel, a mage even if she was an embezzler, said with passion.
“Wasteland purification and barrier expansion! It’s her lifelong dream! If this research succeeds, she could become the Minister of Magic!”
Ariel continued to boast about the “great Senior Soran” for a while, and I regretted bringing up Soran Halo’s name.
‘Come to think of it, she was a genius too.’
The thought suddenly crossed my mind.
I tuned out Ariel’s chattering and looked at Enzhe Lopetrefer. It was always the same sight, no matter what I was thinking.
Enzhe Lopetrefer was a genius. She might not have been interested in magic research, but she had one of the greatest talents in the empire.
But no matter what talent she possessed, her final destination was this gray world, devoid of hope. And she had brought this upon herself.
Enzhe Lopetrefer had never used magic for anyone else. And she probably never would. Even now, forced to kill monsters as punishment, she refused to use magic.
Enzhe Lopetrefer wouldn’t use magic for anyone else, and now, she wouldn’t even use it for herself.
She would eventually be killed by a monster if she continued like this. Or she would slowly succumb to the toxins in the Wasteland. Or, if she was lucky, Soran Halo’s research would succeed and save her life.
Would Enzhe Lopetrefer still be staring at the empty sky, even then?
Three months passed.
The ruins, where the collapsed buildings were scattered haphazardly, had been peaceful since the day we had defeated the black smoke monster.
Enzhe Lopetrefer sat on the broken sofa I had found for her, her blank eyes staring at the sky, as always.
Ariel Sotetis would take naps, read books, and occasionally drink holy water.
I would pass the time watching them, and when I got bored, I would leave Ariel in charge and wander around the Wasteland.
Almost 100 days of this monotonous, uneventful life had passed.
Three months. It might have been a short time, but during my time here, I had come to understand why the residents of the Wasteland looked so lifeless.
It wasn’t because of the monsters or the toxins. It was the opposite. It was because there was nothing here.
There was no barrier to protect them, no delicious food to fill their stomachs, no clean water, let alone alcohol, no books to read, no clothes to wear, the sun didn’t rise in the sky, and it didn’t rain.
It wasn’t that the people were dead. It was this land, this sky, this village itself that was already dead, a dull, lifeless gray.
So I, who had unconsciously given up, never expected or imagined that there would be any change in this dead village.
Until that child came to us.
“My name is Aik. Nice to meet you, Sir Knight, Mage, Princess.”
The boy, who introduced himself as Aik, had messy brown hair that suited him well.
He was the first visitor we had had since the children, who had quickly grown tired of their “adventure game,” had stopped coming. And I didn’t recognize his face, even though I had been wandering around the Wasteland for the past three months.
“I’ve settled in the north district.”
Was there even a habitable place in the north district?
I had thought it was just a swamp filled with stagnant water.
And I had been a little surprised when I first saw Aik. He had a healthy complexion, unlike the other residents of the Wasteland. In other words, he seemed alive.
“Here, have some.”
Aik, approaching us with large strides, opened the red bundle he had been carrying.
“C-cookies!”
Ariel’s gasp was so loud that it was almost comical.
As she had said, the red bundle was filled with cookies.
Was this child really offering us cookies, even though we had just met?
Ariel and I, confused, just looked at each other, not touching the cookies. Aik smiled, his face brightening.
“You don’t have to think it’s strange. I’m friends with the guards, so they sometimes give me food like this.”
“R-really?”
“Yes!”
Aik nodded vigorously.
“And there was a festival inside the barrier today! That’s why I got so many cookies!”
“What?! A festival?! There’s a festival today?!”
“…But why are you giving them to us?”
I asked, holding Ariel back with one arm as her eyes sparkled.
Even if he had received a lot, why would he go out of his way to find us and offer us cookies?
My mouth was watering just from the smell of the cookies, as I had been eating nothing but porridge for the past three months, but honestly, I couldn’t believe it.
But Aik just tilted his head, as if my question was strange.
“It’s a festival, so it’s good to share!”
Aik smiled. He was dirty, but he was actually quite handsome.
“Thank you for always protecting us, Sir Knight, Mage, Princess.”
He said, offering us the bundle again.
I, unable to shake off my bewilderment, reluctantly took a cookie and put it in my mouth.
“Wow! I-it’s delicious!”
Ariel practically screamed as she stuffed her mouth with cookies.
“To think such delicious food exists in this world…! This is unbelievable!”
I didn’t cry like Ariel, but the cookies were definitely hundreds of times more delicious than the food here. Honestly, I might have cried too, if I hadn’t had any shame. It had been three months since I had last had “normal food.”
“The princess over there, come try some too!”
Aik, watching us with a happy smile, spotted Enzhe Lopetrefer in the middle of the ruins and called out to her. But Ariel and I knew that he wouldn’t get an answer.
No matter how much Aik shouted at the dark green sofa, the black-haired woman sitting there wouldn’t turn her head.
“Aik, that person…”
I started to explain, but I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Aik, instead of giving up on Enzhe Lopetrefer, stood up and walked towards her, carrying the bundle. He then offered her the red bundle with a smile, just like he had done to us.
“Try some! They’re delicious!”
He had just shared some cookies.
But strangely, Aik had a strong life force, something we had never seen here.
And then, Enzhe Lopetrefer’s gaze fell on Aik.
Her black eyes, which had been staring blankly at the sky for the past three months, started to move, looking at Aik’s smiling face and the red bundle in his hand.
And then, her thin, white fingers, like dry twigs, reached out and took a cookie.
“It’s good, right?”
Aik smiled at Enzhe Lopetrefer, who was munching on the cookie.
But Ariel and I couldn’t smile.
“W-why is she… acting like that?”
Ariel voiced the question I had been thinking.
Enzhe Lopetrefer had reacted to something.
She hadn’t said a word, she hadn’t even thanked him, she had just eaten the cookie as if she were chewing gum, but the fact that she had reacted was shocking.
“Here, have some more!”
Aik, oblivious to what he had done, happily placed a few more cookies in Enzhe Lopetrefer’s hand and left the ruins, saying, “Then have a good day!”
“Hmm, so she’s human after all? No shame in the face of delicious food.”
Ariel, who didn’t like to think about complicated things, dismissed it as a simple incident and went back to what she had been doing.