Chapter 71 - The Grave of Bones in the Cave

The creatures that had emerged from the river were monsters commonly found near water: water ghouls, kelpies, giant poisonous toads, lizardmen, and the like.

Their sudden appearance had left sixteen people dead or injured. The toll was relatively low only because the recent waterworks project had been completed. Many people used to visit the Tessel River to bathe or fetch water, but now that the water supply reached their neighborhoods, they no longer needed to go all the way to the river. Otherwise, several times as many people would have died.

“Hmm...”

Sherin, who had come by carriage to inspect the riverbank herself, frowned at the monster corpses strewn across the ground.

Monsters invading by way of the river. This was a truly ominous sign. Pales's greatest advantage over other regions was precisely that it was safe from monsters. Unlike elsewhere, where villages and farmland had to be enclosed within palisades, here they could lay out vast fields across the plains—an enormous advantage indeed. Nor did people have to carry weapons to defend themselves whenever they went into the woods for timber or traveled between villages and towns.

The moment it lost all that, this land would fall from an earthly paradise to just another somewhat prosperous Pendian domain. For Sherin, who would one day have to use this place as her base to rule all of Pendia, that was unacceptable.

'Build a fence along the entire river and station guards... No, that's absurd.'

The Tessel River was far too long to defend that way. It would probably take tens of thousands of soldiers, and half the trees in Pales would have to be felled to build the palisades.

That left only one option: discover why something that had never happened before had suddenly begun, and eliminate the cause. To that end, Sherin returned to the count's castle and summoned all the domain's senior officials.

“Thank you all for assembling so quickly. I trust everyone has heard what happened?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Count Pales and the others looked visibly somber. They were no fools; they understood perfectly well what this meant. Unless they found some way to resolve the crisis, Pales would surely decline. That decline would merely bring them down to the level of the ordinary domains just across the river, but even that prospect filled them with dread.

“First, we must determine the cause.”

“Forgive me, Your Highness, but as one who has mastered the principles governing all things, I believe the cause may be related to the wastewater we have been sending downstream through the sewers.”

Orum, Count Palatine Tenon, spoke in his characteristically self-important tone.

“So you think so too?”

“Yes. Previously, the magical-device workshops were far from the river, so we disposed of their waste nearby. Since the sewer system was completed, however, we have been sending most of our waste down it. There is a strong possibility that this has had some effect on the monsters farther downstream.”

The riverside residents had been dumping ordinary refuse and sewage into the water in large quantities for ages, so that was hardly likely to have a sudden effect. This was the only major recent change. It was a reasonable argument, and the others nodded.

“Then we must stop the magical-device workshops from disposing of waste that way.”

“I do not believe that alone will solve the problem.”

Sherin shook her head at the magistrate's suggestion.

“The count palatine's opinion is still only a hypothesis. We must go downstream ourselves and identify the precise cause. More fundamentally, the time has come to investigate and establish exactly why monsters have never entered by way of the river before.”

Until now, no one had ever wondered why monsters did not enter through the Tessel River. It had simply been that way since time immemorial. But now that the natural order no longer held, they needed to investigate properly, identify the cause, and prevent a recurrence.

“I will dispatch a survey party to investigate the lower river, with a hundred soldiers to escort them.”

Everyone nodded at Sherin's announcement. An army cost money even when it sat still, but moving it cost even more. There was no reason to mobilize a large force needlessly. At her next words, however, their nodding heads ground to a halt.

“And I will accompany the survey party myself.”

“Pardon?”

“Your Highness, surely you need not undertake such arduous work yourself...”

“It is dangerous! If anything should happen to you...”

“I am the finest mage in this land. The head of the Society is no less skilled, but at his age, I imagine such a long journey would be difficult.”

Sherin crushed the objections that followed with a simple challenge: “Then bring me a mage more accomplished than I am.”

“You are absolutely right, Your Highness.”

Orum nodded with a smile. He apparently had no desire whatsoever to leave the comforts of Pales.

Then her maternal uncle, Count Pales, spoke.

“I would never presume to oppose your wishes, Your Highness, but might we send several skilled mages in your place? Pales cannot do without you.”

Hearing the very words she had spoken to Shan not long ago, Sherin bit her lip awkwardly. After taking a moment to choose her words, she answered politely.

“Thank you for your concern, Uncle. But this is something I must handle myself. If we cannot resolve it quickly, our domain will collapse.”

Most of the domain's troops were currently patrolling the riverbank in preparation for further monster attacks. Even then, a shortage of men left gaps all along the line. They could not keep managing the situation this way indefinitely. When Sherin explained that a prolonged delay would spell disaster at a time when they needed to develop as quickly as possible, the count gave a quiet sigh and nodded.

“... I see. Then it cannot be helped.”

As his support for all of Sherin's policies thus far made clear, the count had no intention of undermining her authority by opposing her. He had spoken up only out of concern for his sole niece. If she intended to go herself despite the danger, all he could do was obey. Before he was her uncle, he was her subject.

* * *

With no telling when the monsters might appear again, the survey party was assembled in no time. It consisted of Sherin and several maids to attend her, mages with extensive knowledge in their respective fields, elderly fishermen who had fished the river for years, and priests well versed in ancient scripture. A mixed force of roughly a hundred Altoan mercenaries and armed soldiers directly under the count would escort them.

Lord Guardian Shan Barendil was to command the force, though by now everyone in the know understood that his chief squire, Roden, was its commander in practice. It was also widely known that this chief squire was like a brother to Shan. Neither knights nor even nobles dared treat him lightly as a mere squire and merchant's son.

Two days after the meeting, the force departed Pales Castle and headed southeast, following the river downstream. Traveling by boat with the current was incomparably faster than going overland. At the elderly captain's direction, the boatmen worked their oars, steering this way and that to avoid the rocks scattered along their route.

Standing at the bow in the cool autumn breeze, Shan spotted Sherin approaching from behind.

“Your seasickness seems to have improved.”

“Fortunately. The medicine seems to be working.”

Sherin had begun showing signs of seasickness barely ten minutes into their journey downstream. She had been fine when they crossed the river before. Apparently, the increased speed from traveling with the current was to blame.

Shan warned her as she approached.

“Be careful. It rocks more toward the front.”

“Don't worry. I can manage this much... Oh!”

Sherin had been walking with a shrug when she stumbled. Shan closed the distance in a few swift strides and caught her by the shoulders. As soon as she recovered her balance, he stepped away again. Getting too close in front of other people could give rise to awkward misunderstandings—such as the rumors of an improper relationship that had circulated in the capital, Hasra.

In fact, those old rumors had already spread throughout Pendia, fueled by the widely known story of Shan storming into the capital to rescue her. Her enemies in Conrad's and Elvin's factions had maliciously spread word that the princess had taken a lowborn Altoan knight to bed and used him as she pleased. Even if she later married a respectable nobleman, they said, she would give birth to a horned Altoan child.

Of course, no one dared discuss such things openly within Pales. However powerful a knight Shan had become, and even with his title of Lord Guardian, a union between an Altoan knight and a Pendian princess descended from Emperor Baren was utterly unthinkable.

“More importantly, will everything be all right with your work?”

“As I said before, I have considerably more breathing room now. Kalion will probably handle most of it.”

Since coming to Pales, Roden's father Kalion had distinguished himself as an official serving directly under Sherin. It was only natural; the leadership and administrative skills he had once used to direct the capital's merchants had not deserted him. Recently, he had even been promoted to administrator and granted the rank of esquire.

“I'm glad to hear that.”

Shan felt immense pride at seeing his former patron's abilities recognized. It would have been heartbreaking if Kalion ever came to regret supporting him.

Indeed, at a small gathering held recently to celebrate his promotion, Kalion had said as much to Shan.

[“Even looking back on it now, choosing to sponsor you was truly the best decision of my life, Sir Shan.”]

[“Was it?”]

[“Even without you, I would still have been living as a jeweler in Hasra. Naturally, the robbers would have attacked me during the princes' rebellion... And I doubt anyone would have found a mage and priest capable of saving me and performing that operation. I would have died alone in my ruined mansion.”]

His life now was practically a second life, gained because he had supported Shan, Kalion had said, thanking him with a smile that filled his wrinkled face. Merely remembering it filled Shan's heart—and his body—with satisfaction.

He wanted everyone who cared for him to be happier. Ever since Roden first taught him to yearn for a better future, Shan's wish had never strayed from that.

It had begun with Roden, then grown to encompass the Altoan acrobatic troupe that had tried to accept him as one of their own, Kalion and the people of the Wievers mansion, his companions in the Green Eyes expedition, Sherin, and even the people of Pales, who worshipped her and held him in awe. The boy's once-tiny circle had gradually expanded, and with each addition, the goal he had to achieve grew greater. Fortunately, his small body was growing too, and with it, his ability to achieve that goal.

Even now, it continued to grow.

* * *

“Hmm, that smell...”

They had been traveling for several hours, occasionally chatting and eating, when Sherin murmured and lightly covered her nose. As they reached the lower river, patches of the once-brilliant blue water turned murky and gave off a foul odor. That was only natural: this was where all the sewage produced by Pales's hundred thousand and more residents ended up. Fortunately, the Tessel River was so large that the smell was not particularly strong.

“I believe this would be the best place to begin our investigation.”

“Then let us all disembark. It is nearly nightfall anyway. We should stay nearby tonight and begin investigating tomorrow.”

Sherin nodded at the mage's suggestion and ordered everyone ashore.

The survey party disembarked from their boat, which had anchored by the riverbank, and took lodgings in a nearby large village. The villagers were beside themselves with astonishment to learn that Count Pales's niece—the effective ruler of their land—had come to visit.

“W-we have nowhere fit to accommodate someone of your standing. I don't know what to...”

“That will do. Somewhere to lay my head is all I need.”

Fortunately, although the village chief's bed was a crude affair consisting of a cloth draped over a heap of hay, it was not crawling with fleas or lice. The village had always enjoyed plentiful water thanks to its proximity to the river, and lately its people had been able to use the new water supply freely as well.

“Fifth squad, you will stay here. Do not inconvenience the residents.”

“Understood!”

Roden kept a hawk's eye on the soldiers' discipline. Well aware of how thorough and exacting he was, none dared misbehave. They ate and went to bed in good order.

That night, a piercing scream brought Shan bolt upright in bed.

“A monster!”

He ran toward the night watchman's cry and found an enormous, human-shaped mass of water, roughly three meters tall. Several soldiers were thrashing inside its belly, their faces contorted with distress.

“Ugh!”

“Watch out!”

The mass of water swung an arm at the soldiers, sending spray splashing across their shields. Shan realized it was a river spirit: an incorporeal monster that physical attacks could not destroy...

Green light flashed through the darkness as Shan rushed forward and swung his sword. Empowered by his spirit—his resolve to seize a substance that did not exist—Guardian of the East cut through what should have been impossible to cut, cleaving the spirit's body. Water gushed from its belly, spilling the struggling soldiers out with it.

“Gah! Cough, cough!”

“Pull them out!”

At Shan's order, the soldiers behind him quickly dragged their coughing comrades clear.

Perhaps enraged at losing the prey within its body, the spirit let out an eerie, resonant groan, raised its arm, and slammed it down. Of course, an attack that could not even kill an armed soldier in one blow was hardly going to hurt Shan. He sidestepped it easily and slashed his sword through the creature again and again. He severed both legs to bring it lower, sliced its upper body from its lower half, cut off both arms, and finally took off its head. Only then did the writhing spirit disperse completely, soaking the ground.

'It's over.'

Only when Shan sheathed his sword did the soldiers seem to grasp what had happened.

“What? Is it dead already?”

“That's our Lord Guardian for you...”

“I couldn't even see his sword move.”

They seemed deeply impressed by how quickly he had dispatched a spirit that had left ordinary soldiers helpless. In truth, spirit-type monsters like this were simply a particularly poor match for soldiers.

A short while later, Sherin emerged from her bedroom. After hearing what had happened, she frowned and cast a spell to extract ectoplasm from the water the spirit had inhabited.

“It's fortunate we happened to stay in this village. Otherwise, an entire village of several hundred people might have been wiped out.”

“It probably was not a coincidence.”

“Pardon? Oh...”

“Yes. The more powerful a monster is, the more it tends to be drawn to powerful magical devices.”

Shan remembered the hypothesis he had once heard from Zerpo, an explorer with Green Eyes. The others probably thought of Guardian of the East when they heard her words, but Shan and Roden knew she meant A Thousand Forms, which he still wore wrapped around his upper body.

“In any case, we really must find the cause quickly. Monsters are continuing to make their way upriver.”

Given that none of the monsters they had encountered so far was suited to living on land, an overland route could be ruled out. Looking anxious, Sherin said they had to search the lower river and discover the cause as quickly as possible.

* * *

The next morning, the survey party left the village and headed straight for the lower Tessel River. There, Sherin and several other mages repeatedly cast spells upon the river while discussing all manner of incomprehensible things. They seemed to be employing various methods, from spells that analyzed the water's composition to ones that detected living creatures. After spending a considerable time at it, however, they concluded that there was little more they could learn here.

The survey party boarded their moored boat and continued downstream. Before long, they reached the Blade Mountains, which hemmed Pales in to the north and east. Though a few branches had split off along the way, the Tessel River had maintained its main course until it struck the mountains and divided into dozens of smaller waterways.

“Most of these branches form lakes of various sizes, but some flow into the Blade Mountains, emerge on the far side, and create marshes.”

Sherin considered the elderly captain's words for a moment before asking,

“Among the rivers flowing into the mountains, which have caves that lead through to the other side?”

“Forgive me, but that much I cannot say...”

“Then let us find them. Judging by the circumstances, the monsters must have come from the marshes beyond the mountains. If something has gone wrong, it is probably somewhere in between.”

Some of the monsters they had seen could not live entirely underwater. They dwelled near water but still had to breathe and set foot on land. Such creatures could never have crossed through passages completely filled with river water.

Sherin then divided the survey party into several groups and had them investigate the branches flowing into the mountains. Before long, one group discovered a passage large enough for people to enter. Shan did not quite understand the details, but apparently they had used some spell for tracking monsters to locate a route the creatures traveled frequently.

“Here it is.”

The cave, with the river running right alongside it, looked about thirty meters wide and six meters high. More water had probably flowed through it in the past, but changes in the terrain seemed to have reduced the flow, leaving the cave naturally exposed.

After several hours of waiting and watching, the survey party determined that the monsters were emerging chiefly from the branch that entered this cave.

“The currents in the other branches seem too fast for them to swim against. This one flows relatively slowly, which appears to be why the monsters are coming up this way.”

“Then we need only block this passage...?”

Sherin nodded and murmured to herself at the mage's report.

Finding a possible solution was encouraging. Instead of stopping there, however, she ordered a thorough investigation of the cave's interior. They still did not know why monsters had suddenly begun emerging when none had come through before.

Fortunately, the survey party had prepared for various contingencies and brought equipment suitable for exploring a cave. They readied several magical lamps and stationed fifteen soldiers and one knight outside to guard the horses they had ridden there.

“Wait here a little while, Arwin. I'll be back soon.”

At Shan's reassurance, Arwin shook her head in displeasure, but did not make too much of a fuss. Apparently, she was willing to tolerate it since, unlike before, she was not being left entirely alone; there were servants beside her to attend to her needs.

Leaving some of their number outside, the survey party entered with lamps in hand. Human shadows writhed grotesquely across the dark cave ceiling like the shadows of monsters.

“It's dark...”

Unlike the others, who looked uneasy, Shan remained calm. His two glowing green eyes could see perfectly through the darkness ahead.

With Shan in the lead and the river branch running beside them, the survey party walked deeper into the cave for about an hour. Along the way, they also killed the occasional monster that sprang from the water. They finally stopped upon reaching a large open space.

“What is this...?”

A soldier murmured in a trembling voice at the sight before him.

There lay an immense grave of bones, so vast that they could not even begin to guess how long it had been accumulating.