Chapter 226 - Black Footprint (1)

One thing I could tell from the smell of blood was that this wasn't a normal person. Who would think of using blood as a substitute for ink? Then again, continuously sending letters to someone with no connection wasn't normal behavior either.

The contents of the letter were written in white stone powder that fell like dust. Blood and stone powder. What kind of person was this? Did they live in a place detached from civilization?

Yet for such a thing, the handwriting was neat and elegant like that of a noble.

The content of the letter was affectionate yet extremely monotonous. It said that where they live, silver flowers bloom to welcome spring, and the starlight was so bright that one could see even in the fog.

Throughout reading, a strange sense of discomfort didn't disappear. It was no different from being watched by an unknown person.

Moreover, this woman knew my private information.

[You must be lonely now that the guardian you trusted and relied on has left. Don't worry too much, they will return someday.]

The guardian she referred to must be Teacher. She knew that Teacher had left. Perhaps she was someone connected to Teacher. A maid? A butler? Someone from the Magic Academy was also quite possible.

I checked another letter. It contained Amaryllis's bizarre daily life.

[There must be many mages in Eternia. I have many mage friends too. I know the princess of the kingdom, a great archmage, and a mysterious scholar holding ancient secrets. Yesterday, my old friend Nocturne visited. She was a mage among mages. But the dazzlingly beautiful girl in my memory was gone now. Her hair had all fallen out and all her teeth were gone. There's a hole protruding like a crater in her abdomen, and green gas comes out of it. I wonder what happened.]

I opened another letter.

[I had an ominous dream. The faces of all those attending your entrance ceremony had turned into ghouls. I was so startled that I couldn't sleep for a while. I wonder why I had such a dream. Maybe it's because I saw a corpse on the street yesterday, or maybe it's just because it rained. I'm easily swayed by superstition. I paced around the house all day, anxious. Don't go to the entrance ceremony, come to Meihen. Stay there with me.]

This message seemed to accurately allude to the events of the entrance ceremony. 

When was this sent? 

And how did this woman come across news of me? Why on earth…?

I opened another letter. And there was a story about the princess written there.

[...Barbisia is a land where sorrow flows. The duchess’ sorrow will resonate with that land. And you will be caught up in it too. That woman is destined to fade away in a few years, so hide for a little while. The Mist City can hide you.]

She even knew about Bibi's situation. The hair on my arms stood on end. These expressions that seemed to know my future in advance were very unsettling.

I couldn't determine what this was yet.

While she accurately knew past events from the current point of view, there wasn't a single letter predicting future events. It might simply be an attempt to deceive me.

Sometimes the letters contained cruel, unrealistic, and gloomy stories, like fables adapted as personal experiences.

[...Nocturne has no lower lip, and her tongue is decayed, making it difficult for her to speak. But I listened to her story all night long. As I listened to her old tales in detail, I could feel that the soul of a blooming young girl still dwelled within her. She hoped that no one would remember her because of her ugly appearance. I prayed for her all night long.]

When roughly sorting through the information written in the letters, the Mist City of Meihen where Amaryllis lived seemed almost no different from places like Barbisia. What she described were beings neither magic creatures nor humans. They might be beings born from delusions.

I gathered all the letters. I needed to find out this woman's identity. After all, this being was a potential threat to me.

***

Cecil looked at me with a bored expression, hugging books with both arms.

"Ah, I think I know. I'll say it for you. You need help. You have a favor to ask. Can you look into something for me?"

"..."

"And my answer is... Sorry, I'm busy, gotta go!"

Then she turns around abruptly. I quickly grabbed Cecil.

"I need help."

Cecil sighs deeply.

"Haa, you could come visit just once without having business, you know?"

"..."

"Just because you thought of me, because you were curious about something, because you wanted to eat together and talk while passing by. You could visit for reasons like that too, you know?"

"Would you believe me if I said I'm pretending to need help but actually came to see you?"

"No!"

Cecil raised her voice, so I put my finger to my lips to caution her. This was a library.

"...Cecil, I desperately need your help. I came to borrow your day."

"...You're just going to use me?"

I fumbled in my pocket and took out what I had prepared.

What I handed her was a flower petal candy.

Cecil snatched it as soon as she saw it and put it in her mouth.

Then, with one cheek bulging, she said, "It tastes good, but I won't fall for this."

"What else do you need?"

"...A souvenir."

"What kind of souvenir?"

"Buy me a souvenir from Claridium."

I thought she seemed prickly, but this was what she was aiming for. Actually, I would have bought it if she had just asked.

"That's a condition I can handle. Alright."

That wasn’t a problem at all.

"Something one-of-a-kind. With a heartfelt handwritten letter included."

It's a bit demanding, but not impossible to get.

"Alright."

"Deal."

Cecil extended her hand for a handshake. We shook hands splendidly like diplomats who had just concluded a treaty.

"So what kind of help do you need?"

"I want to investigate a region called Meihen. And a place there called the Mist City."

It was the place Amaryllis kept adding as a refrain at the end of her letters, inviting me to visit.

"Hmm..."

Cecil rolls her eyes upward, lost in thought for a moment.

"The Meihen region and Mist City?"

"Have you heard of them?"

"Unfortunately, not at all. If I haven't heard of it, it's probably not a big city or a famous place. It's likely to be a remote area only known to locals or a place that's fallen and been forgotten."

"Let's start by searching the maps."

"Okay. You get 'World Map Recorded with Daughter' and 'Dalton's Continental Travelogue'. I'll bring all the materials recording geography from a hundred years ago."

"Got it."

"Wait."

Cecil stopped me from leaving by placing her hand on my chest.

"You know tomorrow is the day we're meeting, right?"

"Yes. I've already ironed my clothes, is there anything else I need?"

Cecil slightly raised the corners of her mouth and gently smoothed my bangs.

"Just come looking handsome."

Cecil tapped my chest again and turned to leave first.

***

"Nngh..."

Cecil, sitting across from me, stretched.

"Sleepy?"

With her body tension released, Cecil slumped in her chair like a mollusk.

"No. I'm drained because we haven't found anything."

We had spent a full five hours since midday, but there was nothing noteworthy to show for it.

Cecil sighed and said, "There are so many cities with fog that the name 'Mist City' is meaningless."

Meihen didn't exist anywhere on the maps. Cecil had thoroughly searched even past place names but couldn't find any place with exactly matching alphabet, though she found some with similar pronunciations.

"Want a snack?"

Cecil silently extended her hand. I put a flower petal candy in her hand.

She immediately put it in her mouth and chewed.

"Can I rest for a bit?"

"Sure."

I couldn't keep Cecil all day, so I had to wrap it up around here.

"Let's just investigate the new frontier and the west coast and then finish."

Cecil rolled her feet under the table, perhaps bored.

While idling like that, she casually placed one of her feet on my thigh.

"..."

Cecil's lips twitched amusedly as she watched my reaction.

"It's because my legs are swollen."

Because of that, my concentration wavered and I briefly took my hands off the book. I also put a candy in my mouth and, to cool my head, asked Cecil something I was curious about, "Are you getting along well with Trisha these days?"

"Hmm, why?"

"It seems like you're not hanging out together these days."

"Just, you know."

Cecil slightly avoided my gaze. It was an ambiguous attitude, neither affirming nor denying.

Cecil didn't seem to have any intention of asking about my relationship with Trisha. Even if she knew my identity, there must still be many questions.

Before I could continue my questions, Cecil changed the subject, "I'm curious, why are you suddenly so keen on finding this Meihen region?"

"I received a suspicious letter from a place called Meihen."

"...What kind of letter?"

"It's not particularly threatening and is friendly towards me... but I think I should investigate it anyway."

"Is Meihen written as the address on the letter? Did the sender write it directly?"

"Yes."

"Uh... wait, did an agent deliver it to you directly?"

"Well, it was received while I was absent, but I don't think so."

"Then it must be Stitch?"

"I guess so. Why?"

"If it's a Stitch, there's a way. It flies on the wind, so during warm seasons, pollen sticks to it. If we collect that and analyze the vegetation, we might be able to identify the approximate route and region."

Since plants grown in different parts of the continent were different, the pollen that stuck would be different too. Just identifying the region would make the search much easier.

It was an ingenious method.

"I'm glad I came to you."

Cecil put on a smug expression and placed her remaining foot on my thigh.

"Where else in the world could you find such a perfect friend? Right? Give me the letter."

I rummaged through my bag and selected the ones that had been fully preserved without going into the fireplace, and handed only the envelopes to her.

"Here."

Cecil brought the paper to her nose once and said, "Hmm, good. I'll leave this with my friend in the Alchemy Department for now. If I say it's a request from our Damian, the results should come quickly. Probably."

"Thank you."

Cecil stretched again. She seemed to have accumulated quite a bit of fatigue.

"Is it over now?"

"Yes."

"I... my legs hurt so much, so I'll stay like this for a little longer."

"..."

***

The next day, I went to find Liria to pick up the tailcoat I had left for alterations.

"Liria, are you there?"

I knocked on her door but there was no sound. She must be cleaning somewhere or out.

Since Cecil was waiting outside the mansion, I opened the door in a hurry.

As I opened the door and entered, a strong scent of herbs wafted over me.

Looking towards the desk, I saw Liria sleeping face down. Books were scattered here and there, and reagent samples and hand-written recipes decorated the walls.

Liria's room, which I hadn't seen in a long time, had changed a lot in the atmosphere.

"..."

Among them, I noticed materials about the Eternia entrance exam scattered here and there.

I wondered why she was studying so hard, but was she preparing for admission?

I felt solemn for a moment. Even during the short time we were apart, she had been struggling to build her own life.

I took out all the gold coins in my pocket and put them in a pouch. Then I placed it at Liria's bedside along with a note. Preparing for admission would involve many expenses like material costs and textbook fees.

I picked up the neatly folded tailcoat on the side table and quietly went outside.

***

Cecil was standing in the courtyard, looking up and admiring the appearance of the mansion. It looked unremarkable to me, but Cecil couldn't take her eyes off it, finding it so interesting.

"What are you looking at so intently?"

Cecil glanced at me once and then looked back up at the mansion.

"It's just fascinating."

"The mansion?"

"No, that Candy is Damian, and Damian was the disciple of an archmage. Seeing it with my own eyes makes it feel even stranger."

"Shall we go?"

Cecil stopped her admiration and came to my side. Then she walked to the carriage, matching her steps with mine.

"I just received a message by Stitch a little while ago."

"What is it?"

"What you asked for. The results are in."

"What did they say?"

"Apparently, pollen from tree species that grow in the far north, the northernmost part, was found."

"..."

"The sound of Meihen is quite different from northern place names, so it's a bit suspicious. There's also a possibility that the sample was contaminated."

Cecil limited it to the north and couldn't include places beyond that in her expected range.

But I could understand.

Now everything fits perfectly. A place where humans couldn't live in their right mind. A magic sword that suddenly came looking for me. A place where one had to write with blood and stone because there was no ink. A place name that didn’t appear even if one searched all the maps of the entire continent.

Everything was pointing to the Land of Death.

Meihen and the Mist City existed beyond the Land of Death.

***

Liria, hugging cleaning tools with one arm, knocked on Damian's door.

The knock echoed emptily through the empty room and corridor. Disappointed, Liria sighed.

"He's gone..."

Her main job wasn't to act spoiled towards Damian but to assist him. She pulled herself together and entered the room to finish what she had to do.

First, she opened the window and tidied up the clothes that had been hastily thrown off and the messy blanket.

Then she stood in front of the fireplace and spread a large cloth on the floor. Next, she took a rake and scraped out the ashes thoroughly.

In between, she muttered to herself, imagining the day Damian would return, "Still, he'll come back today..."

Then there was a sound not of the rake scraping the fireplace floor but of something tearing with a rip.

"...?"

Sensing that something was wrong, she put her hand into the half-scraped ash pile and rummaged through it.

She found a black letter that had been torn into several pieces by the rake, which she hadn't noticed as it was buried in the ashes.

"Eek!"

Realizing her mistake, Liria screamed.

She hurriedly unfolded the letter to check the extent of the damage and read the contents.

[...Nocturne looked in the mirror and hid in a cave, sobbing for days. Why is God so cruel to us?]

[...Poor Nocturne. She can never go back now. To comfort her, I sometimes talked about you. I don't know what she thought, but whenever I talked about you, she always stopped crying and listened.]

[...Nocturne still cries for a long time when she sees the past body left behind like a shell. To comfort her, I gave her a new name.]

[...Poor Priscilla. May the goddess' blessing be with her.]