Madan no Ou to Vanadis - Volume 17 - Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2 – Those Fumbling Onwards

At the time when Elen looked at the violet sky above Boroszló Plain, Tigre witnessed the very same phenomenon without any prior notice whatsoever. It happened in an area blanketed by grasslands, several days from Lebus. Tigre had been walking on the road while leading his horse, but when it occurred, he unconsciously clenched down on the Black Bow in his left hand, and extended his right towards the quiver hooked to the horse’s saddle.

The unusual phenomenon disappeared all too quickly, allowing the sky to regain its previous azure. Tigre relaxed his tension after slowly counting to three in his mind, but by then sweat had already started to gush out from all pores across his body.

“Are you okay, Mr. Tigre?”

The one calling out to Tigre was a roughly ten years old girl, wearing a pelt above her linen clothes. Her chestnut-colored hair had been tied into a somewhat short twintail.

Tigre pulled himself together, and cautiously asked the girl, “Did you see it? The sky…”

“Turned violet? Yeah, it’s creepy, isn’t it?”

Tigre blinked several times at her response. The girl’s ─ Lena’s way of speaking gave away that it wasn’t her first time to observe this phenomenon.

“Did you happen to witness something like this in the past?”

Lena nodded her consent, walked several steps ahead, and said to a man, “Hey, Daddy, you’ve seen it many times as well, haven’t you?”

The man kept walking, only turning his head in her direction. His tough body build was hidden underneath a deer pelt, laying atop the same type of linen clothes Lena wore. The lower half of his face was covered by a thick, black beard. He held a bow in his right hand, and game ─ three rabbits and one pheasant ─ in his left.

“Lena, Mr. Traveler must be tired. Don’t bother him too much, okay?” His voice was tinged with rebuke.

Lena fell silent, pursing her lips.

As for Tigre, he wanted to ask the two about more details, but decided to let it rest for the moment. After all, he had no interest in thoughtlessly stirring up a quarrel.

The man’s name was David. The two had said that they were hunters living in a nearby village. Tigre had met this pair of father and daughter one koku ago, just around noon, when he had passed through a forest where the two were taking a rest.

Naming himself Tigrevurmud without mentioning his family name, he had told them that he was a traveler. Giving them his family name would have been equal to identifying himself as a noble, which would just make them wary unnecessarily. He had also told them that he was a Brunian to avoid being suspected for his Brunian accent. Then he had asked whether there were any villages nearby, which welcomed travelers, as he was on his way to meet an acquaintance in Lebus.

“It’ll be plenty as long as I’ll be able to find shelter for one night. I’ll depart as soon as dawn breaks. Also, I’ll pay extra if they can sell me provisions, water, and arrows.”

David had been vigilant of Tigre, but Lena pleaded for Tigre with her eyes as her curiosity and kindness had apparently won over her caution.

David had sighed, saying, “You can use the storehouse next to our place,” just to add after a short pause, “But, it won’t be for free.”

Tigre had noticed how his eyes rested on the Black Bow. Accordingly, Tigre had asked them to give him around half a koku, and brought down a pheasant in the meantime. David closely observed the youth’s archery skills whereas Lena loudly praised him, excitedly clapping her hands.

Seeing the joy of the innocent girl reminded Tigre of Titta whom he had left back in the capital. He had believed that she’d be fine as she had Gaspal and Gerard at her side, but now he wondered whether she might be truly safe over there.

“Our village should be around one koku away from here.” Lena informed Tigre.

Apparently it was a rather simple settlement. And probably because he had just thought about Titta, the scenery of the villages dotting his own territory crossed his mind, causing anxiety rather than nostalgia to well up within him.

──The many, unusual phenomena occurring all over Zhcted are probably occurring in Alsace as well. No, I’m sure they do. The demons mentioned that they’d remold the world. It’s kinda impossible for that to be limited to Zhcted alone. Some kind of phenomena must be taking place in Brune, the distant Asvarre and Sachstein, as well as Muozinel at this moment, too.

Lena walked up to her father, and asked worriedly, “Are Mr. Gleb and the others going to be okay? I wonder whether they’ve already healed up.”

“It’ll be alright. They might still be sleeping, but they’ll have improved by tomorrow.” David’s expression as he gently caressed the head of his daughter was hard.

The remark just now apparently had the aim to give Lena a peace of mind.

Bothered by it, Tigre asked, “Did something happen?”

Lena looked back at Tigre, about to reply, but seemingly recalling her father’s earlier scolding, she held her tongue, quietly looking up to her father. David had kept his silence, obviously brooding about something, but soon spoke up.

“Several villagers have fallen ill… Didn’t you hear elsewhere about rashes similar to blue pockmarks appearing on people’s necks and the backs of their hands? As soon as something like that occurs, the sick person starts to get a fever, and collapses, becoming unmoving as their face and hands stiffen up.”

“I’m terribly sorry, but it doesn’t ring any bells.” Tigre shook his head as he heard about this illness for the first time.

“It’s said you catch the disease if you look at the fairies on the fields and in the forests──”

“Lena,” David cautioned his daughter, preventing her from speaking any further. “Fairies and their ilk are chimeras. I for one have never seen one so far.”

Tigre gave his utmost effort to not show the agitation raging within him on his face while listening to David.

──That illness is definitely linked to the abnormal phenomena. But, how should I explain this? Even if I mention Tir Na Fal here, it’ll only confuse the two, I’m sure.

Besides, Tigre was unable to heal the illness, and thus limited to praying that it wouldn’t get any worse.

──Are these things going to cease if I stop Ganelon?

He assumed that this should be the case, seeing how things had developed into this direction as a byproduct of Ganelon trying to allow Tir Na Fal to descend on the surface.

After making two breaks, Tigre and the two arrived at the village just as the sky began to darken with the sun sinking in the west. The village itself was surrounded by a simple fence with two square, stone pillars towering at either side of the entrance. The pillars were around one head taller than Tigre, and had patterns carved onto their surface.

Thinking that they might be some charm against evil spirits of sorts, Tigre scrutinized them.

It isn’t unusual for villages to put up such things.

But, he immediately realized that he had been wrong. Both of the pillars had only carvings on three of the four sides.

“It’s said to be a carving of an ancient god from several hundred years ago or something like that.” Lena explained to Tigre with an expression free of any worry.

According to her, these pillars had been around since before the village was founded, but she didn’t know what god they depicted either.

──Tir Na Fal, I reckon. Only three sides of the pillars having carvings on them must stand for her representing three goddesses in one. God of War Triglav is considered to also possess three faces, but as far as I can see, the carvings on the pillars show bulgings at the chest, symbolizing women. I guess it means I’m getting closer to Lebus…to Zagan.

Many ruins of buildings, where ancient gods had been worshiped, remain in Lebus. A temple dedicated to the demon Baba Yaga can be found over there as well. It wouldn’t be strange for stone pillars with carvings of Tir Na Fal to be strewn across the region. However, Lena said that she only knows about these pillars depicting a god, but not which. Very likely the same applies to most of the other villagers, Tigre judged. If they were going to hide that this is supposed to be Tir Na Fal, it’d make no sense to mention that a god had been carved onto these pillars in the first place.

Tigre pulled his eyes off the pillars, and let them wander across the landscape visible from his location.

“It’s a village with a gentle and calm atmosphere.”

At that moment, a villager who had spotted the group, called out to David in a friendly manner.

“Yo, David. Get back just now? ──The guy with you is?”

“A traveler, he says. I’ll let him lodge in the storehouse next to my home for the night.” David replied.

Lena added with a smile while flapping her hands, “He’s a nice person. He even shot down a pheasant with ease!”

Tigre bowed in the direction of that villager.

“I will not do anything to cause you trouble. Of course I have also promised to not stroll through the village on my own accord. Could I have you let me stay here for just one night?”

Tigre finally felt that he had gotten close to Lebus. Thus he believed that he ought to tread carefully from here on out, paying close attention to his stamina and physical condition. As such, the question whether he’d be able to pass the night under a roof while protected from the cold wind was extremely important.

“Well, sure is troublesome to camp out during this season.” The villager confronted Tigre with an amiable smile, and then pointed into a part of the village with a finger. “Ain’t like I don’t trust you ’bout not strollin’, but let me tell you just in case. Stay clear from that place. We keepin’ the sick there.”

Tigre grasped that this was likely the place where they were treating the people with the pockmarks. He bowed politely, expressing his thanks.

After bidding farewell from the villager, Tigre started to walk after father and daughter. Probably because the sun was about to go down, almost no villagers were out on the streets. Light leaked through the small windows of their homes, and smoke billowed up through the little gaps built into the thatch roofs. Tigre thought back on the villages in Alsace. Of course, Alsace’s villagers constructed their houses differently, but he felt like there wasn’t all that much difference in atmosphere between the two.

Eventually they arrived at David’s home. It had a thatch roof just like the other buildings, and mortar plastered onto the walls which were a combination of wood and earth. Next to that house stood a storehouse made in an older style. A bar had been lowered on the door.

“This is going to be your roost. But, could I have you help out for a moment before that?”

The help requested by David was to prepare the rabbits and pheasant. Tigre borrowed the necessary tools and a working place, skillfully dismantling his game while David dealt with the rabbits. Evaluating Tigre’s work, it was done well enough to elicit an approving grunt from David.

“Wait a moment.” David said after the work finished, and disappeared into the house, but came back almost immediately.

He was holding a hemp sack and arrows in both hands.

“How many do you need? I’m going to share some with you.”

Tigre thanked him, and picked up food for three days and several arrows, before handing David some silver and copper coins.

Suddenly Tigre felt a pang of discomfort. Pondering about the source for a moment, he immediately noticed what was irking him. David having a thick cloth coiled around his neck while wearing gloves on both hands had caught his attention.

──It’s probably not because it’s cold, seeing how he’s taken off the deer pelt. Leaving aside the neck cloth, it should have been easier to process the rabbits without gloves. I wonder whether he dislikes getting in touch with animal blood so much.

Afterwards, Tigre and David left the house, and headed over to the storehouse. Lena was baiting the horse Tigre had pulled along. After getting David to remove the bar, Tigre stepped inside the storehouse, just to have his nose assailed by chilly, dusty air.

As he surveyed the interior by holding up the lamp, he found the storehouse to be carelessly crammed with old, worn farm tools, hemp sacks, and wooden buckets, but no windows.

──This place should protect me from the wind.

It didn’t look like he’d have any problem spending a night here.

Tigre boldly called out to David who had turned around and was about to leave the storehouse, “Did you happen to see the violet sky many times?”

After casting a glance at Lena who was brushing the horse, he turned around, and lowered his voice by a degree, probably so as to not let his daughter hear what he was going to say, “Do you know anything about that sky?”

“No, but…”

Tigre told him that he had come here from the capital where all kinds of unusual phenomenons were also taking place.

“So, I just thought, if you knew something…”

David responded with a heavy sigh.

“I’m the one who wants to know just what the heck that eerie sky is about. I think it was close to one month ago that I saw it for the first time… Back then, it wasn’t as though everyone in the village had seen it. That’s why I thought I made some kind of mistake. But then weird things started to happen around the village,” David explained. “People claiming to have seen fairies in the forest and on the fields started to show up, just to collapse a little later. Several people talked about the cemetery at the village’s edge having been devastated and how they had seen people who were supposed to be dead walk around. We called over a priest from the neighboring village and had him offer prayers, but to no avail.”

Tigre knitted his eyebrows. This was a piece of news he hadn’t heard of so far. When he considered all these events in combination with the sky turning violet, he could immediately tell that the situation was obviously growing worse. Tigre wavered whether he should tell David about Tir Na Fal.

But, in the end he reassessed to keep it to himself as it’d only spur on David’s worry and uneasiness. Tigre’s face turned bitter as he bit down his vexation.

Seeing the youth, David continued speaking with an expression mixed with fatigue and bitterness, “Yours ain’t the face of someone looking for a safe place to get away.”

“I’d love to tell you otherwise, if only I knew a safe place, but…”

“No, it’s just if you were going to run──” David shifted his eyes, gazing at Lena who was caressing the horse’s snout, “I’d considered asking you to take her along with you.”

Tigre could only answer, “Sorry.”

If it came to places with someone whom he could trust enough to take care of the girl, Lebus’ governmental residence would be the first choice. However, Tigre didn’t have that much spare time to take her all the way.

“Don’t worry. It was silly of me to mention it to a passing traveler. Please forget I said anything.” He closed the door after him.

Him not locking the door with the bar from outside was likely his own way of showing faith in Tigre.

Tigre sat down on the floor, leaning his body against the wall, and breathed out in relief.

“I had wondered what was going to happen, but this sure is a big help.”

Not only had they allowed him to stay the night in the storehouse, but he was even able to replenish his food and arrows. Above all, Lena’s bright personality and David’s loving concern for his daughter cheered Tigre up.

I must return this world to normal as soon as possible so that these kind people can live here without constantly feeling anxious.

Depending on the lamp’s illumination Tigre produced a leather bag with water and food out of his luggage pouch. His dinner was hard bread, dried meat, cheese, and dried apples. He drank his water while alternatively tearing off a piece of bread and meat. After finishing those, he slowly enjoyed the sweetness of the dried apples of which he had only few left now.

Food during travels only consisted of things that could be preserved for a long time. Even if you could take down a bird or rabbit every once in a while, you’d end up eating the fresh meat on the spot, burying the rest.

──Man, I have a craving for the bread and wheat porridge Titta always makes for me…

The maid, who had supported him from early childhood, was fully aware of Tigre’s taste in food. During this season, it would be well-baked bread with butter or wheat porridge with fragrant, finely-cut winter herbs. Fish soup would also work.

──I must simply be tired… Guess I should quickly get some sleep.

Finishing his dinner, Tigre lied down, covering himself with his overcoat, and soon started to snore.

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————— End of Part 1 —————