2001 The Children of Bottle

by Ryohgo Narita

  “Really… It feels as if this village is stranded a hundred years in the past, or even further back,” Sylvie murmured to no one in particular, as she gazed at the decoration in her hand.

  The ornaments Elmer had prepared had been made quite cleverly; he’d brilliantly re-created decorations that were used in New Year’s events in countries around the world. They were putting these up according to instructions from the castle’s girls, but the girls seemed to be getting directions from Elmer somehow, so their words were practically his.

  However, the girls didn’t talk much about themselves. On their first night at the castle, Maiza had told them, “If you’d like, you can return to the village. I’ll talk to Elmer for you,” but they’d only shaken their heads slightly.

  They still didn’t even know the girls’ names.

  Sylvie had thought that if they were going to be living together for more than a month, that wasn’t right, and she’d been considering how to get to know them better. She’d meant to establish some sort of connection that day and make friends with them, but the chance just wasn’t presenting itself.

  An odd sense of loss enveloped her. However, when it was close to noon, her chance abruptly arrived.

  “Um…Master Elmer says that if boiled river water will do, we can prepare a bath…”

  As Sylvie was gazing at the kadomatsu, odd objects like miniature trees decorating the entrance, a voice abruptly addressed her from behind. When she turned around, one of the sacrificed girls was standing in the light that streamed through the window, looking nervous.

  “Tell him to tell me things like that in person.”

  “Y-yes, I’m very sorry…”

  “It’s nothing you should apologize for. Also, there’s no need to stick on Master for somebody like Elmer. Or for the rest of us, of course.”

  Smiling gently, Sylvie went over to the girl and bent down a little to her eye level. Then, tilting her head slightly, she asked the girl a question.

  “My name is Sylvie. Sylvie Lumiere. If you wouldn’t mind, could you tell me your name?”

  The words seemed to vaguely bewilder the girl, but possibly because Sylvie’s smile had set her at ease, she timidly began to speak.

  “Um…I’m called…Fil…ma’am.”

  “I see. Thank you, Fil! You don’t need to be so polite, though. You can just call me Sylvie, too.”

  At that point, Sylvie noticed something. She really should have picked up on it at the very beginning, but the odd atmosphere that hung around the entire village had captured her attention.

  “Fil… You can speak English?”

  “Y-yes. Master Elmer said I might need it later…”

  True, when she listened carefully, her pronunciation was often a bit awkward, but it caused no obvious problems in conversation. When she considered it from that angle, it meant that Elmer was teaching her words with a clear goal in mind.

  “Don’t tell me he’s planning to spirit you away from this village…?”

  However, if the story Elmer had told before had been true, it was very likely that the girls were being subjected to some sort of discrimination here. In that case, taking them away from the village might not necessarily be the wrong decision.

  “Well, you’re the ones who should have the final say there.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Oh, no, I’m just talking to myself. Don’t mind me.”

  Sylvie shook her head, then looked at Fil quietly.

  When the girl found herself the target of someone else’s gaze, her eyes swam for a short while, as if she was troubled. After a moment’s pause, she said “Excuse me,” and made to leave. However, Sylvie began to walk slowly after her, matching her pace to the girl’s.

  “Um…did you need…?”

  “Listen, since we’ve got the chance, I thought I’d like to hear more about you. Would you come walk in the courtyard with me?”

  At that question, the girl stopped walking and fell silent for a short while. The silence lasted a bit too long for simple hesitation, but after a short while, she slowly raised her head and answered Sylvie, her face expressionless.

  “All right. I’ve just received permission from Master Elmer.”

  Just?

  Bewildered, Sylvie didn’t know what the girl meant. However, at the time, she thought she’d probably made some grammatical error since her English wasn’t perfect yet. Sylvie brushed it aside.

  She didn’t have the slightest suspicion that those strange words had revealed the girl’s true nature…

  A few moments earlier The village Headman’s residence

  “All right then, Father. I’m going.”

  About the time the sun had begun to shine on the south side of the village, Feldt, the headman’s son, spoke solemnly.

  “Do whatever the hell you want.”

  Dez, the village chief, gave him a surly response. All that sat in front of him were dishes that had been there since breakfast, and a cup filled to the brim with water.

  There were several people in the house besides the father and son: the influential villagers who’d assembled for the meeting the other day. In a village of this size, influential didn’t mean they played any particular roles. They simply had more of a say than the other residents did.

  In contrast to the headman, the villagers turned worried eyes on Feldt as he headed for the entrance. As the boy set his hand on the doorknob, the man who seemed to be the oldest in the room spoke to him.

  “Are you really planning to go?”

  “If a large group of us went, we’d just put them on their guard. Besides, if we’re only going to reconnoiter, it’s more efficient to send small numbers.”

  “That’s still no reason for you to go, young Feldt. You’re the headman’s son…”

  “There’s no help for it. No one else wants to do this… In any case, if they spot me, I might be able to negotiate with them.”

  “…True, you seem braver than we would be if we went, but—”

  The villagers still seemed uneasy, and Dez spoke to them crossly from his seat at the table farther back in the room.

  “Leave him.”

  “Headman, you don’t have to say it like that!”

  “Your son is taking your place because you’re spineless—”

  All the villagers in the room denounced their leader, but Dez was completely unapproachable.

  “Then why don’t you go?” he spat.

  “Gkh…”

  “Stop it, Father.”

  On that note, Feldt nodded to the villagers, then wordlessly set off under the wintry sky.

  As if to follow him, the villagers made for the exit. All of them were muttering—“His son’s a good kid, but…,” “Ever since his wife died, he couldn’t be lazier,” “This when he can’t so much as wash the dishes if his son’s not around,” “It’s too hard on Feldt, poor boy”—and they glared at the master of the house as they went.

  “Hunh.”

  As if to say he didn’t care, the headman knocked back his glass of water—and, after making sure everyone had left the room, he smiled quietly. He just gazed into space and smiled.

  Although he wore a smile, his expression didn’t betray a hint of emotion. If there had been anyone to see, the terror of it would have either frozen or repulsed them.

  All except for one person: the smile junkie they called a monster.

  Morning.

  Today will be hard all day.

  I already know that.

  We have to put away the Christmas decorations, and we also have to start getting ready for the festival to celebrate the new year.

  However, this year isn’t like the previous years. There are more people.

  The people who came from outside this forest. I’ve learned they were Master Elmer’s old friends.

  They’re kind to me. At first, this hurt so much I couldn’t stand it.

  Things are a little different now, though. That’s because I’ve decided to think that may
be, just maybe, they’ll stay with me forever.

  That feeling will probably come to nothing. Still, at the very least, I can dream until then.

  I’m already more than used to painful things. Even if they were to leave this forest, everything would just go back to the way it was. Those first days, changeless days. No dreams or hope, only repeated oblivion, and gradually, I’d stop thinking entirely—

  I’m starting to feel bad, so I won’t let myself think on it any further.

  I simply make preparations for the “New Year,” or whatever it is, in silence.

  We used these kadomatsu decorations last year, too. Apparently they’re actually supposed to be made of “bamboo” and “pine trees.” Master Elmer once said, “Someday I’ll show you the real thing,” but…I really don’t think he’ll be able to.

  My oldest memory rises in my mind.

  Somewhere that isn’t here—probably near the place where I’m always reborn.

  In that white room, surrounded by walls and a floor made of a substance that isn’t stone or wood, that person speaks, stroking my hair:

  “That forest is your glass bottle; it is your flask. You girls can’t leave it and live. That is what you are…”

  I understand the meaning of those words all too well now.

  No matter how we dream, no matter how we hope, in the end, we’re all—

  “Hello there.”

  Someone speaks to me, and I turn around.

  Outside the shack on the outskirts of the village, Master Feldt is standing in front of me.

  “Oh…,” I say.

  “I’m on my way to the castle.”

  As he speaks, Master Feldt gazes into my eyes. His face is expressionless.

  “What do you think?” he continues. “You and the others. What do that demon’s companions—?”

  He breaks off in midsentence, looking down. “I’m sorry. It’s nothing.”

  Maybe he sees my confusion. Master Feldt covers his face with his hands, looking troubled. Averting his eyes, he eventually speaks to me again.

  “It’s all right. I know what I said the day before yesterday, but—I’ll make it so you won’t have to be sacrificed.”

  “What…?”

  I’m even more perplexed. What on earth is he saying?

  “Up until now, we’ve just been under that demon’s thumb, but… Before February, when you’ll be sacrificed, I’ll run the castle’s demons out of this forest, I swear it. And then…I’ve always been too afraid of my father to do anything, but if I chase the demons out, I think I’ll be able to be braver, too. So I’ll do as much as I can to make sure the villagers don’t bully you anymore.”

  Master Feldt nods vigorously. At that point, I really have no idea what I should do.

  By “demons,” of course he means Master Elmer and the others. If he chases them out…it would immediately shatter the wish I’d had a moment ago. However, what Master Feldt just described would be enough to take its place.

  “Later, then.”

  With that, Master Feldt leaves.

  …What should I do? Is it all right to let the surrounding situation sweep me along, to simply wait for the results? Or should I act, somehow? If I do act, what should I attempt to do?

  The bewilderment makes me raise my head. If only, if only—if only Master Feldt had smiled at me even a little just now. If he’d smiled with no guilt, the way Master Elmer did, I might be able to see some sort of hope in this village, and yet…

  With my petty excuse, in the end, once again, I choose to let the current carry me along.

  The truth is, even I want to smile.

  However, right now, I can’t smile from the bottom of my heart. Faking a smile would be like blasphemy toward Master Elmer, and even though I would like to pretend, I can’t.

  Once again, I stop thinking—and concentrate on straightening the kadomatsu in the castle entryway.

  Noon The old castle The garden

  Sylvie and one of the girls—Fil—were enjoying a walk in the garden under a blue sky. Despite the strong sunlight, the cold was intense, and white breath misted through the air in time with their steps.

  Elmer seemed to have cleaned the garden up. It wasn’t at all overgrown, and it was arranged fairly neatly around the path that led from the main gate to the castle’s interior.

  As they walked through the garden, Sylvie spoke to Fil about various things. She was trying to learn anything she could about the girl, and about Elmer’s objective, but none of her attempts bore much fruit. Fil didn’t seem to want to say much about herself. No matter what she was asked, the girl looked down with mild distress and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t really know, either.” It seemed more as if she really didn’t know what she was, rather than that she didn’t want to answer.

  Just unilaterally asking questions seemed mean, so she tried to guide the conversation to the girl’s interests as well, but Fil never spoke to her proactively in the first place.

  However, at the end, just once…the girl said something that caught her attention.

  It happened when Sylvie mentioned the other girls in the castle.

  “Come to think of it, you and the other girls all look a bit alike. Are you sisters?”

  At that casual question, Fil’s expression grew more unsettled than it had been at any point so far. Then, after brooding for a little while as if choosing her words, she tilted her head and spoke quietly.

  “Um…I don’t understand it very well myself, but…I’m the only one in this castle.”

  “Huh?”

  What could she mean? It seemed odd, and Sylvie was about to ask—but was forced to suspend her question because, out of the corner of her eye, she had spotted a small figure crawling in a corner of the garden.

  However, she didn’t turn that way immediately. Directing an unchanged smile at the girl, she murmured, “Listen, Fil. The wind’s picked up. Shall we go in?”

  “Yes.”

  The girl didn’t seem to have noticed the newcomer, and she agreed to Sylvie’s suggestion without question.

  Then, without a look back at the garden, the two of them disappeared into the castle.

  Only the figure remained, alone in the cold wind.

  “Hmm. To think this place would house the entrance to a subterranean tunnel.”

  “It seems to be a secret passage. I didn’t think the castle would have something like this.”

  Nile and Maiza had been thoroughly exploring the castle and discovered a stairway leading down from the castle’s apparent library. Although they’d called it a library, it was only a cramped room lined with bookshelves. Nearly all the volumes had crumbled to dust. For that reason, it had been easy for them to discover the mechanism that moved the bookshelf.

  “Want to go down?”

  “Wait a minute. Before that, let’s check through the books in here.”

  Restraining the impatient Nile, Maiza picked up the few references that remained. Those books had been badly weathered, too, but after they scanned the places where they could make out the letters—Maiza and Nile looked at each other.

  “…I recognize these documents.”

  “Let me just say this: Me too.”

  The book they’d picked up was, by coincidence…well, apparently it hadn’t been a coincidence at all. Going from the titles on the covers of the other books that were lying around, Maiza made a confident declaration.

  “Most of these books…have to do with alchemy, don’t they? And particularly with—”

  Behind his mask, Nile’s eyes narrowed at the conclusion Maiza had drawn.

  Did they notice me?

  Palms sweaty, Feldt hid in the shadow of a shrub, holding his breath.

  The gate had been carelessly left open, and he’d managed to sneak into the garden without being spotted. However, immediately afterward, one of the girls who’d been offered as a sacrifice and a woman—one of the outsiders who’d arrived in the village the other day—had come out into the garden tog
ether.

  For a little while, he’d watched them from behind a tree beside one of the gateposts, but they were discussing something, and they were getting closer to him as they talked. Deciding that they’d see him if he stayed there, when the pair looked the other way, Feldt took the opportunity to move to the shadows of the trees in the corner of the garden.

  However, when he checked on them again, the pair was standing right where they’d been before. They spoke to each other briefly, then turned and went back into the castle.

  Had they seen him there and gone to call their companions?

  Nervously, Feldt stopped moving, determining to keep an eye on things from here for a while.

  “Still…this place is even gaudier than it was last year…,” he murmured, observing the castle’s exterior from the shadows of the trees.

  Curious ornaments were displayed in every window, and the overall design scheme was based on the contrast between red and white. The colors clashed badly with the stone castle, and the incongruity made the building seem especially absurd. However, the ludicrous sight would probably sink deep into the villagers’ minds as something horrible.

  At the entrance were two strange objects fashioned from trees that grew in the woods. Sticks that had been trimmed to have angled tips stood perpendicular to the ground, with bundled pine needles tied around their bases. Depending on how one looked at them, they could be weapons or traps, or some sort of sorcerous idols, and a peculiar unease hung over Feldt’s heart.

  Just as Feldt gulped, and the tension inside him reached its limit—

  “Excuse me.”

  A voice spoke behind him, and cold electricity ran down the boy’s back.

  The sweat on his palms dried up in an instant. Not only was he incapable of turning around, he was struck by the sense that even his breathing had jumped free of the current of time. His consciousness reeled so violently it felt about to explode, but his body wouldn’t follow it. His heart had been disturbed too abruptly, and its connection to his physical nerves seemed to have been broken.

  Behind the completely immobile Feldt, someone addressed him kindly, as if to release him from his paralysis. The clear voice belonged to a woman, and it warmly embraced his back.