Chapter 231 - Black Footprint (6)

"Do you think they'll attack us?"

"No, I think they just like us!"

I was newly aware that spirits were both my strength and weakness. Even though spirits were surrounding us like an escort, I couldn't even sense a hint of it. My training was still lacking.

If they had strong spiritual power that could harm people, I could see their form, but that was all.

"But where are we going?"

"We're going to Rigved."

"What are we going to do there?"

"To play with you."

Trisha's eyes grew bigger.

"Really? Are you really going just to play with me? Nothing else?"

"Yes."

"Damian, you've really decided to serve me! I'm so happy! Come here! I'll give you a hug!"

Trisha spread her arms, all excited. Honestly, I didn't expect her to be this happy.

"Let's restrain ourselves a bit since there are eyes watching."

"It's only those crows watching anyway!"

"What if they're spirits controlled by someone?"

"Well, maybe the blonde?"

Trisha never called Luna by name. Luna was always “the blonde”. Luna, on the other hand, called Trisha's name clearly, mind you.

"That could be the case."

"I suddenly don't like the crows."

"They might be following us because they're glad to see us. Luna lets spirits roam around the campus, so you might have encountered them without knowing."

I explained it nicely to Trisha, but actually, I wanted to ask about this too.

Why are the spirits gathering abnormally? Could it be some kind of message for me?

"I don't like it. It's just the two of us playing, why is the blonde interfering?"

"It's just my vague guess, it doesn't necessarily have to be Luna. Unless we ask the crows directly, we won't know. They could have been sent from the labyrinth to protect you."

"...Alright. Let them do as they please!"

Trisha agreed surprisingly quickly. I thought she would keep asking questions as usual, but this made me a bit suspicious.

Trisha lost interest in the crows and hummed a song while admiring the scenery outside.

"A pair of sparrows are looking for a place to love. Hmm hmm—"

Then she took off her shoes and rolled down her knee socks, tossing them aside. It was familiar. This was what she always did when riding in a carriage.

Meanwhile, I was pondering how to satisfy Trisha. 

Dinner? A play? A party... that's not possible since we're not invited anywhere. 

I also wondered if Trisha would be satisfied enough with such ordinary things. She didn’t seem to be a child with much vanity.

"The watermill already has another sparrow. Hmm—"

I couldn't think of anything suitable to kill time. Maybe it was because I wasn’t keen on this situation where I had to go on a date while the misunderstanding with Luna hadn't been resolved.

I wanted to run to her even now, but what was the use? Luna would avoid me for a while. All I could do was wait.

"There's another sparrow at the windmill too—we lie down in the barley field and share our love—hmm hmm."

"Who taught you that song..."

While I was distracted by the strange song, Trisha tried to remove the disguise artifact from her finger.

I snapped back to attention and stopped Trisha.

"What are you doing?"

"Why? I always take it off inside the carriage."

"What if those spirits are Luna's spirits?"

I couldn't be certain, but with such a large number of spirits, there was a high probability that they were Luna's spirits. And if they weren’t Luna's, it could be an even bigger problem. It would mean someone unknown was monitoring us.

"It doesn't matter."

"What do you mean?"

Trisha spoke coldly and curtly, "I saw her before at the Philaion Library. She's working as a librarian there. She's involved with the labyrinth too, so what's the difference?"

"..."

"What would she do knowing my true appearance? Just admire how much prettier I've become?"

Luna wasn't the type of person to take advantage of Trisha. Listening to Trisha's words, it seemed reasonable.

And above all, Trisha's own will to remove her disguise seemed too firm.

"Are you sure it's okay?"

"I don't want to spend my precious time worrying about others' eyes. I'm sick of it now!"

"..."

"I can't even go out freely... what's the use if I have to be monitored and worry about others' eyes even when I do go out!"

Trisha seemed determined and just took off the artifact.

This wasn't an impulsive act. It was clearly an explosion of emotions that had been accumulating for a long time.

I changed my mind too. It would be better to go to Rigved another time.

I asked the coachman to change our route. I didn't think anything we did in Rigved would be particularly enjoyable.

If provoked wrongly, she might run around Rigved in her true form, so this was much safer.

The carriage changed its route and started heading towards the Eternia riverbank.

A wide-open scenery unfolds outside the window.

The winding river and the beautiful shimmer reflected the sunlight. The weather had become warmer, and the forest embracing the riverside had become even greener.

The recent flood had made the sandbar thicker and smoother.

Trisha unconsciously turned her gaze to the window and then buried her face, letting out an exclamation.

"It's beautiful!"

Trisha stopped singing and admired the riverside scenery. At the beginning of the semester, when we commuted from Silveryn's mansion, we passed this road every day. And we have quite pleasant memories too.

As the carriage stopped abruptly at the riverside where people rarely pass, Trisha looked puzzled.

"Why are we here?"

"I changed the plan."

"Are we going to play here?"

"Yes. I changed the plan. In Rigved, we'd have to be conscious of people's eyes, right?"

I got out of the carriage and held out my hand to her at the door. She peeked out with just her eyes and looked around. Although she was used to living in hiding, when it came to actually coming out in her true form, she instinctively tried to cover herself.

"Should I... get out?"

"There's no one around."

"Really?"

"And there's a secret place nearby where we won't be seen by people."

If we moved a little further along the winding road, the carriage would turn beyond a steep hill, and the riverside scenery would be blocked by forests and hills. My plan was to quickly run to that place where the view was blocked.

She showed anticipation.

"Okay. Okay!"

"The problem is that the carriage can't enter, so we'll have to run a bit."

If the carriage entered, it would probably get stuck in the sand and wouldn't be able to move.

"A bit?"

"Yes, a bit."

"Sounds fun!"

A mischievous smile settled on her face. And she stretched out her arm to hold my hand. I interlocked our fingers and held on tight so I wouldn't lose her.

I checked again if there were any passing carriages nearby and gave the signal. She swallowed hard and nodded with a tense face.

"One, two, three!"

And Trisha and I ran together across the flat ground like an arrow.

"Kyaah!"

The river wind swept past us once. While concentrating on running, I glanced at Trisha once. She was running well, holding her skirt and with her hair flying.

"Puhah, hahaha, ahahaha!"

Trisha suddenly bursted into laughter while running, for some reason.

I looked ahead and ran again. Then suddenly, our interlocked hands got caught on something.

Looking back, Trisha had tripped and fallen face-first on the ground. Fortunately, she didn't seem to be hurt as she fell on soft sand.

"Oh no! Shh shh."

I hear the coachman's voice from afar. We can't see him now, but he might run into us when he came around the bend.

In a hurry, I picked up Trisha and ran.

Trisha brushed away the white hair covering her face. With one cheek covered in sand, she was still laughing brightly, all excited.

"Ahahaha! Ah, it's so funny!"

Like that, I put her down on the white sandbar far away from the carriage road and caught my breath for a moment.

She couldn't hold back her laughter and lay diagonally on the sandy ground, her body shaking.

"What is it? Let me laugh too."

"It's just funny!"

"This?"

"Puhuhub, Damian you idiot, idiot."

Without warning, I immediately hoisted Trisha onto my shoulder.

"Kyaah! What are you doing!? You idiot!"

Trisha slapped my back. But there was no strength in it, so it didn't hurt at all.

I ran straight into the river water like that and plunged in.

***

We enjoyed swimming for a while and then came out.

Both of us had jumped in with our clothes on, so our bodies were heavy. Trisha followed me, waddling like a drowned rat.

She squeezed the water out of her white hair like wringing a towel and said, "But this place is really nice. The sunlight and sand are warm, there's no one watching. And the water is so clear."

She ran to a suitable spot and just sprawled on the sand.

"We need to dry our clothes. What are you doing?"

"The sand is so warm! I want to dry like this."

"Suit yourself."

I took off my top. Trisha stared at my body for a moment and then started taking off her clothes too.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"You're taking yours off too!"

I turned my eyes away in embarrassment, but when I looked again, she was wearing shorts and a camisole, so it wasn't particularly indecent. Of course, her white skin was exposed more nakedly than before.

I summoned Ppiyak and put it on Trisha's belly. It seemed to have come from sleep, nodding off drowsily in the sunlight.

"Are you going to keep lying like that?"

"You lie down too!"

"I need to soak in the water a bit more."

"Come back soon!"

I jumped into the water again.

While I was swimming alone in the river, Trisha shouted from afar, "Dami-an!"

"What!"

"There are wild horses over there!"

A herd of wild horses was grazing where she pointed. It was unicorns before, but this time it was wild horses.

"Don't startle them!"

"I'm going to feed them!"

She's not listening at all.

Trisha went to a place where weeds were growing, squatted down, and started plucking grass.

After leisurely swimming again, Trisha called me again.

"Huaang! Damian!"

"...?"

"Come here! Quickly!"

She wasn’t making such a fuss just from plucking grass, and it wasn’t like she got kicked by a wild horse. 

Did she get bitten by a bug?

I hurriedly swam out and approached Trisha without even drying off.

Trisha made a crying face and held out her palm to me. It was covered in something like clay.

"Huaang. This got on me!"

Suddenly, a foul smell hit me. She must have touched horse dung while plucking grass.

"..."

"What should I do!? Ugh!"

"Come here."

Do I have to do even this? I grabbed Trisha's wrist and dragged her to the riverside. Then I put her hand in the water.

"Now, shake it to make everything fall off."

"...Okay."

Trisha wiggled her hand as I said. As the contaminants slowly washed away, she said something strange while watching the minnows swimming nearby, "Fish, eat a lot."

"..."

I should be used to this mindset by now...

***

We finished playing in the water and laid down on the sand together to dry our bodies. I went ahead and enjoyed sunbathing wearing only underwear.

Trisha, who was next to me, casually put one of her legs on top of mine.

When I pushed it back to its original position, she gently put it back, crossing our legs.

My mind became peaceful. It seemed like it was a good decision not to go to the bustling Rigved and play here instead.

It was certainly a good time, but I still couldn't understand why Callios specifically pointed out Trisha and told me to play with her.

"Trisha."

"Yes."

"Are the white crows still there?"

"Hmm... No! They've all disappeared now."

"Really?"

Maybe they were spirits unrelated to Luna after all.

"Yes."

"And the professor called you a disaster collector. Why is that?"

"That? Because I used to bring disasters wherever I went!"

"Even unintentionally?"

"No, I intended all of it. I deliberately caused trouble everywhere."

"Why did you do such a thing?"

"Because no one got angry at me. I wanted to test how much they would endure."

"So you were ill-mannered?"

"No. I was so angry that they wouldn't get angry at me!"

"I don't understand."

"It's exactly as I said. I wondered a lot why they wouldn't get angry at me. Was it because I was a scary person? Were they afraid I'd retaliate when I grew up? Was it because I was precious? It was none of those."

"..."

Trisha's expression darkened a bit.

"It was just because they pitied me. Because what I had to shoulder in the future was too heavy and painful. Because they felt like they had dumped the most important duty in this world on me. They accepted everything and couldn't get angry because they felt sorry."

"Those important people? You mean people like Professor Callios?"

"Yes. But I don't cause trouble anymore. Because I'm a lady now!"

I wondered what kind of burden she had to shoulder that made people like Callios feel indebted. And to this infinitely delicate and pure girl. It was unbelievable. 

What on earth is the identity of this woman lying next to me?

"...What exactly are you?"

"A goddess?"

"That's blasphemy."

"A goddess who came to torment Damian!"

"What does our goddess want to be when she grows up?"

"I want to become a mother soon!"

It felt like dark clouds had suddenly covered the peaceful sky.

Trisha's wish was exactly the same as what Lisa from the past wanted.