Chapter 30 - The Tree in Memory (2)

In the end, all that remains is memory.

Perhaps that is why humans are so obsessed with leaving traces behind.

Because when they look at traces left behind like scars, memories of that day must come to mind.

But the boy had never been able to raise even a single memory bearing his mother's name.

Perhaps that was why he kept forgetting.

"It would've been nice if my mother had one of these too."

[...]

A low hill that could only be reached through the mansion.

Beneath the tree the voice said it remembered, the family graveyard of the Heinal Family lay enshrined.

It felt like a place he should not be, but the boy had to come.

Because that was the contract.

"..."

Looking at the rows of white headstones, the boy thought of his mother.

The woman who had protected the young boy alone amid the poison of the back alleys had finally collapsed.

It had been a destined ruin, and the beginning of another tragedy.

Perhaps the saddest tragedy in this world was the reality that a poison one could not bear to overcome had to be passed down to one's child.

The boy who held a star had grown up feeding on the poison that even his mother's tears had not been able to dissolve.

"Looks like they don't take very good care of this place."

The nearest white headstone.

The headstone that looked the newest among those here was covered in leaves that had been rolling around on the ground.

"..."

For some reason, the boy raised his palm and brushed the headstone off.

With every touch of attention, the headstone regained its shape and revealed a name that had been fading into oblivion.

"It's only proper manners to greet the owners of the land."

[I didn't say anything.]

Feeling needlessly awkward, Vlad made an excuse for what he had just done, but the voice already understood.

Everyone had moments when they suddenly wanted to do something unfamiliar.

"Then I'll pray."

[Mm.]

"Take a good look while you can. We came here instead of looking at the knights we were supposed to watch."

[Thank you.]

Just as he had when praying for Rhimann, Vlad drew his sword and held it upright toward the tree on the hill.

The gently blowing spring breeze tousled the boy's blond hair.

The white headstones stared quietly at the boy's prayer, but Vlad simply offered it in silence.

Though it was an action meant to account for any possible eyes on him, inside, Vlad was clumsily reciting the prayer he had learned from the young acolyte.

It was a prayer for someone this place had made him remember.

[...]

Under Vlad's consideration, the voice was looking at the tree from its memory.

Things rose up like foam.

Back then, that tree seemed a little smaller.

When was back then?

It felt as though it had come here with someone.

Who was it?

It could not remember.

The voice felt as though it were trapped in a thick fog.

It was floundering, trying to find the edge of a memory that seemed close enough to grasp if it reached just a little farther.

[... May I borrow your body for a moment?]

"If it's only for a moment."

And instead of recovering its memory, the voice could feel something looking at it from within the faint fog.

There was something up ahead.

"Then."

As he always did, Vlad relaxed his entire body, closed his right eye, and opened his left.

Then his vision soon began to recede, and he entered a sensation as though he were looking at himself.

[Hmm.]

A world seen through another person's eyes, not his own.

"... What is that?"

[It seems to recognize me.]

There was something visible through that place.

A low hill, and a tree embracing the headstones.

HISSS.

And there was something enormous coiled around that tree.

It was a pure white snake giving off a brilliant glow.

[It is a spirit.]

"..."

Looking at the white snake as large as the tree, Vlad was simply trying to maintain his composure.

His lips were drying out.

'I've been seeing way too many strange things lately.'

Feeling his heart beat in a different way than it had with the Deathworm, Vlad quietly swallowed.

A being called a spirit, which had not been allowed in his own world.

He was now seeing it through the World of voices.

Joseph's intention to show Vlad the wider world might have been working better than ever right now.

"It looks like it's looking at me."

[It is looking at me inside you.]

The white snake looked down at Vlad while coiled around the tree.

Its figure, as enormous as the rooted tree, instead made it feel less real.

"..."

But even while looking at the snake giving off an immense presence, Vlad felt no pressure at all.

The white snake had probably intended it that way.

"It's coming down?"

[I don't think it will bite.]

Slowly, it climbed down the tree and passed between the headstones.

HISSS.

The snake was slowly approaching Vlad.

But even though Vlad was looking at something unfamiliar and enormous, he did not feel threatened at all.

It will not harm me.

The snake's brilliant eyes made him certain of that.

Because the snake's round, curved pupils were like those of a host welcoming someone dear.

The white snake approached.

Their eyes met.

The tree embracing the headstones was shaking its branches.

A warmth like the energy of spring flowed throughout the hill.

It was a wonderful world.

"Who are you?"

But in that instant, a voice came from behind him.

"Hm?"

At the sound of someone calling to him, Vlad accidentally opened his right eye.

HISSS.

And so he returned to his own world.

"Huh?"

The white snake that had filled his vision until just a moment ago scattered like smoke.

With a single blink, the World of voices vanished without a trace.

Having returned to his own world, Vlad felt as if he had been dreaming.

"May I ask who you are? This is not a place anyone outside the Heinal Family is allowed to enter."

"..."

Vlad rubbed his left eye, which still would not focus, and turned around.

"Mm."

[Hmm.]

At the edge of his vision, which had finally come into focus, stood a young woman.

She was a woman with aquamarine hair.

She was so beautiful that even Vlad, who had spent his whole life seeing gaudy prostitutes, let out a small sound of admiration.

"If you do not answer, I will call the others."

"Ah, I am..."

Vlad gathered his thoughts, still not fully returned to himself, and tried to think of what to say next.

Normally, excuses would have poured out of him as smoothly as running water, but Vlad had just seen a sight difficult to understand, and needed time to organize his thoughts.

"..."

And that naturally made Vlad look like a boy unused to the ways of the world.

His striking hair color, likable face, and, though unintended, innocent-looking behavior slowly eased the wariness of the aquamarine-haired woman.

"... I came to pray."

"To pray?"

"I was looking for a quiet place to offer a prayer, and ended up coming here. I'm sorry."

Seeing that the woman was still looking at him with suspicious eyes, Vlad quickly searched his clothes and took out his identification plaque.

"And I am not a suspicious person. I am Sir Jager's squire."

"Hmm."

The woman accepted the identification plaque Vlad handed her and examined it carefully.

A church identification plaque that showed no signs of forgery.

It looked newly made, but the church emblem engraved on it with precision was certainly that of a properly issued identification plaque.

And then she casually turned the identification plaque over.

'Hm?'

The woman found a special mark there.

'His guarantor is... Priest Andreas?'

The name written on the back of the identification plaque was Priest Andreas, widely known in the nearby region.

A highly respected priest who was said to seek out places of suffering instead of worldly honor, to the point of refusing appointment as a bishop.

And the boy he had guaranteed.

The aquamarine-haired woman looked at Vlad with startled eyes.

In a way, this identification plaque was more precious than noble blood.

"... Very well. You are not a suspicious person."

"Ah. Thank you."

Vlad carefully put the identification plaque the woman returned back into his clothes.

The way he treated a precious thing with care made the boy seem even more innocent.

"I'm sorry."

Vlad thought.

What he was doing now, standing among the graves of nobles, was definitely rude.

So if this woman here happened to say the wrong thing, Joseph might be put in a difficult position.

And if asked why he had done it, he would not have any proper answer to give.

"May I help you?"

"Pardon?"

"Aren't you a maid here? Didn't you come to tend the graves?"

So Vlad decided to try to silence this woman.

By offering a small favor.

At Vlad's words, Alicia's eyes went round.

It was a shock.

It was also the first time in her life.

'How dare he!'

To her, a noble young lady and now in the position of Family Head, what Vlad was doing was beyond rude enough to deserve punishment.

However, there was a reason the quick-witted Vlad had acted this way.

No, rather, because he was too quick-witted, he had made this mistake.

Alicia was currently wearing plain clothes of the sort maids would wear.

Moreover, in both hands she was holding a bucket and tools suited for wiping down headstones.

Because, just as Vlad had said, she had actually come up here intending to tend her parents' headstones.

It was also the only time Alicia, who had no one to rely on, could find peace of mind.

So it was an outfit anyone would have no choice but to misunderstand.

"Actually, I cleaned up a little in advance. There were leaves piled up."

"... You cleaned?"

At Vlad's words that he had cleaned her parents' headstones, if only a little, Alicia had no choice but to let her anger subside for a moment.

Why would someone with no connection to them clean someone else's parents' headstones?

"It felt like it was proper to greet the owners of the land."

"Ah..."

Listening to Vlad's words, Alicia found herself nodding before she knew it.

For one thing, the atmosphere the boy gave off was quite convincing, and the existence of the identification plaque he carried added trust.

On top of that, though she did not know why, the hill felt far too warm today.

Alicia was mistaking that comforting feeling as something coming from the boy.

"I'll help."

"Hm?"

Alicia stared blankly at Vlad as he took her bucket and went up toward the headstones.

The blond boy pulled weeds and wiped the headstones with skillful hands, as if he had done a great deal of work somewhere.

Watching his exaggerated movements, as if he were trying to show that he was working hard, Alicia ended up letting out a small laugh.

"So I have a favor to ask. Could we just quietly let today's matter pass? If Sir Jager finds out about today, I'll end up getting beaten."

"... Depends on how well you clean."

Seeing Alicia turn her head primly aside, Vlad inwardly frowned.

'Pretty ones never let anything slide easily.'

Having lived among flashy prostitutes and seen the famous beauty Madam Marcella every day, Vlad felt no particular stir even with Alicia right beside him.

He only hoped Joseph and Jager would not find out about today's incident, and so he simply wiped the headstones with all his effort.

Because the methods he had used in the back alleys could no longer be used.

At least while the daytime sun was up.

"I won't tell."

"Thank you, really."

Unlike Vlad, who was grumbling inwardly, Alicia was looking at him with a feeling of great freshness.

The way he showed no favor or attraction toward her at all.

Even the shocking incident just now, when she had been mistaken for a maid.

To Alicia, Vlad was the first type of person she had ever seen in her life.

"..."

Watching the back of the unfamiliar boy silently wiping her parents' headstones, Alicia's expression softened without her realizing it.

On the hill she had climbed to find rest, Alicia was able to let go of the anxiety that had been building inside her for the first time in a very long while.

The boy's blond hair reflected the gradually deepening twilight and glowed faintly.

It was a wonderful color.

* * *

As Vlad was descending the hill with Alicia beneath the fading twilight, he suddenly felt as though someone were calling him and turned around.

"...?"

But there were only the neatly cleaned headstones and the tree standing there as if it had always belonged in that place.

If Vlad had looked at that place through the World of voices rather than his own world, he would have seen a slightly different scene.

Just because something cannot be seen does not mean it does not exist.

Just as unseen memories still exist inside one's heart.

HISSS.

The white snake coiled around the tree.

And sparkling fireflies approaching the snake, lighting the hill as it grew darker and darker.

Today, in someone's world, tiny stars were shining not in the night sky, but on a low hill.