I kept quiet and listened to him muse.
“Half-elves have to choose one or the other eventually. The elves’ way of life, existing in the woods, living eternally with the water and the soil as something like the fae; or the humans’ way of life, burning bright as a roaring fire, and vanishing with the wind.”
Menel said that choosing was the fate of all who were born between two races like that.
“I’ll disappear into the forest, become an old tree like those ones, see where the things you’re gonna have achieved end up. Then, I’ll slowly wither and fall, and return to the great circle. Sounds good to me.” He laughed. “You said ‘only in dying is there life’ before, right, in one of your sermon things? You know, that one where you were really uncomfortable and awkward.”
“What?! That’s so mean, I did my best! But yes, I did say that.”
“Life’s long, so the way I was thinking of it, I’d just collapse and die someday and that’d be that. I didn’t really feel it before, but I’m finally sort of getting what you meant.”
Life always comes back to death in the end. So starting to think about “how you want to die” inevitably comes back to “how you want to live.”
“I want to see where your achievements end up. And to do that, I’ll even change the way I live my life if I have to.” He gave me an awkward smile. It made my chest tighten.
“I might not be able to do anything that big, you know.”
“You kidding?” Menel couldn’t help a small laugh and a shrug. “What do you think you’ve done since you met me? You killed a wyvern barehanded, you killed a chimera, you’re all the rage with the troubadours, with several adventure stories to your name, and just now you hunted down a General-class demon and beat it one on one. You’ve made legends already. And I’ll bet you’re gonna have that same vacant look on your face when you make some more.”
He slapped my back roughly.
“I’ll fight beside you, and if I survive all the way to the end, I’ll wrap things up by vanishing into the depths of the woods. Of course, I’ll make sure to say something awesome and memorable before I disappear.”
“You’ll become legend.”
“Both of us will. Not bad, huh?”
“Yeah.”
That sounded like it might be a fun blueprint for the future. It was, of course, always possible that one of us would die in battle, and if it came to that, I didn’t know which of us would pass away first; but if we survived, I would definitely pass away before Menel. There was no way around that.
The thought felt kind of lonely, and I started to feel sorry for having to leave him. But if he could smile like that as he imagined the future, as things went, that had to be “not bad.”
“Say, Will. How do you wanna go?”
“Well, I’m not as decided on that as you.”
Menel’s eyes went a little wide as if he found that surprising. “Knowing you, I thought you’d have it all planned out.”
“The thing is...” I sighed heavily. “I do think about it, but everything just changes so fast!” I shouted it out in frustration. “I left my home, right, and the next thing I know I’m a paladin! And I blink again and I’m a feudal lord with everyone supporting me! And apparently Bee’s songs have reached the continent to the north too now... At this pace, there’s no way I can imagine where I’m gonna be in ten years’ time!”
Menel burst out laughing. “Human lives are short and intense, but you really take that to an extreme. I guess that’s a hero’s fate.”
“I’ll take being a hero if I have to. I just wish I could draw up a proper plan for my life...”
“A hero who plans out his life? That’s so unfitting it’s kind of funny.”
“So mean!”
We made jabs at each other for a while and laughed together. Then, unexpectedly, Menel stopped walking. As if checking something, he stared at the space between two trees, where there was nothing except total darkness.
“Here it is.” The silver-haired half-elf reached between the trees. When he did, they receded, as if giving way to him. Then the space shimmered, like the surface of water, or the air in scorching heat, and wind blew through.
Led by Menel, I took a single step forward into the shimmering space. For an instant, I felt a strange sensation similar to resurfacing after being underwater, and then, all at once, my field of vision widened.
“Huh...?”
There were no trees around me in either direction, and there was no gloom or darkness. I looked up and saw that bright sunlight was pouring down from the summer sun hanging in the middle of the sky. The summer sky was clear overhead, with cumulonimbus clouds far in the distance. I lowered my gaze. The road snaked gently off to the horizon, and on both sides was a series of partitioned fields, creating a patchwork of beautiful, natural colors. A gust of wind blew, and the vast fields of wheat swayed.
“Wait. This... is...”
No way.
“We’re out of Beast Woods. This is Wheat Road.”
“In one day?!”
I looked around as I said it, but this was definitely the Wheat Road I was familiar with. But that domain was in the deepest part of the woods. It was dozens of kilometers through the woods as the crow flies—maybe hundreds, I had no idea—and we’d traveled that rough road in a single day?
“That’s what a Fairy Trail is. It’s not like we can go anywhere with it, though. Just the places I know.”
“If you could, you’d be a weapon of war. Wow... the woods’ secrets are scary.”
I remembered what Blood had taught me: Never get in a fight with an elf in a forest.
Then, after taking one more step forward, I suddenly realized. “Isn’t this where I met you, and where we came out of the woods with Bee and Tonio, too?”
“Yeah, it is.”
There was a rush of wind. I heard the ears of wheat rustling in the field.
“It’s already been two years since we met, huh...”
I’d set off from the city of the dead, made friends, toppled a wyvern, become a paladin, and defeated demons and a chimera, and my efforts hadn’t ended there, either. Long and yet short, it had been a whirlwind period of my life.
By the solstice system, I was seventeen.
The wisteria hanging from the pergola swayed in the breeze. We were in the courtyard of the lord’s mansion at the center of Whitesails, the city that was the gateway to the continent of Southmark. Flowers of bright colors blossomed in full glory under the mansion’s windows, surrounded by the brilliant white of its walls.
“Thank you very much for your trouble.” Under an arbor in the courtyard, His Excellency Ethelbald, Duke of Southmark and feudal lord of Whitesails, spoke to us in a solemn tone. The gentle sunlight of early morning surrounded us. “I expect you’re getting tired of hearing that from me,” he added, a smile crossing his face as his expression relaxed.
I wasn’t very good at coming up with witty responses, so while I was still thinking of what to say, Menel replied casually, “You got that right. Sending us to work every time something comes up...”
“That would be because the paladin is my retainer, after a manner at least.”
“And what about me, who isn’t your retainer? You’ve got me running around doing work for you as well, here.”
“If I mobilize Sir William, I get a second hero tagging along for free. Truly good value.”
“I’m not a freebie you got at some street stall.”
“But you are the dear friend of the paladin.” Another response shot back. “Just as a friend fights for his friend, so a knight fights for the people and his liege. Am I wrong?”
“Service, devotion, fealty... Sure, they sound attractive, but what’s the reality like? If you put too much burden on someone, he’s gonna grow unhappy with you. And once you start to suspect he resents you deep down, it’ll be hard to count on him when it really matters. Isn’t that how things work? I wonder what’s gonna happen when you have to go up agai
nst something scary without this hero to help you.” Menel pointed at me with an exaggerated motion.
Menel had no direct allegiance to Ethel, and he had nerve and no restraint. He would be frank with anyone, even a member of the royal family.
I couldn’t remember clearly what had gotten Ethel and Menel talking, but conversation between the two of them had become more frequent at some point during the past two years, and now they spoke quite a lot.
“Heheh. Indeed, indeed, the thought of my paladin running off is certainly scary. In that case, I had better keep him well compensated to make sure I keep him, hadn’t I?”
“Yeah, see, exactly. That kind of attitude’s important. Then this guy can feel good about showing you loyalty.”
Ethel laughed graciously. It looked like he was quite enjoying his exchange with Menel. That aside, I was coming to the frightening realization that some haggling about how I should be compensated had apparently been occurring just under the surface of their discussion. By the time I became aware of it, the flow of the conversation had already shifted to me receiving a reward.
“I shall see that money and items of your request are sent to you later. Now then, that aside, Sir William...”
“Y-Yes, what is it?”
“I have something I want to talk to you about. I would like you to give me Meneldor here.”
“Huh?”
From Ethel’s face alone, it was plain to see that he was serious, and his solemn tone removed all doubt.
“He is a skilled elementalist and a spectacular hunter. And not just that—he is a half-elf, slow to age, and he has no reservations about speaking his mind. I want him. I dearly want him!” The duke sounded like he was greatly enjoying himself.
I gave a half-laugh, half-sigh as I thought about what to say. “Your Excellency, Menel is not an object. As much as you say you want him, he is not mine to give.” I paused. “If he were to say he’d like to serve Your Excellency, then that would be another matter, but—”
“I serve no one,” Menel said, interrupting. “Like hell I’m gonna be bartered around like some dog or cat.”
Although Ethel had been demoted to commoner status, he was a member of the royal family. But this made no difference to Menel, who flatly rejected his offer, closing his jade eyes and waving a hand in front of his face to show he wasn’t remotely interested.
Ethel sighed upon seeing Menel’s reaction. “Dear, dear. What a shame. I can never have enough talented people, you see.”
The Duke of Southmark was from the northern continent of Grassland. Brother to the King of the Fertile Kingdom, he was in charge of expanding the kingdom into Southmark. He probably had a lot of difficult things to deal with and was always short of people and resources.
“I just need one more ship, I just need one more trustworthy, competent official... I am sure you too must have thoughts like these.”
“Yes. Especially recently... I’ve started to understand what that feels like.”
After being pushed into the position of lord of the region of Beast Woods and doing all kinds of work to develop the area, I’d developed a close familiarity with that kind of difficulty.
“I see. How is the river port?” asked Ethel.
“Fortunately, it’s going okay with everyone’s help, but there are a few issues...”
“Hm. Let’s hear them. Perhaps I can give you some advice.”
“Not very generous of you,” Menel said. “Only advice?”
“Material support as well. That is, if you are willing to take it in place of the reward I mentioned earlier...”
“Tch.”
The two of them smirked at each other. Then, from the entrance to the courtyard, I heard gravel being stepped on and the sound of heavy breathing.
Walking towards us while wiping copious amounts of sweat off his face was Bishop Bart Bagley, the man in charge of the main temple of Whitesails. He had a portly body and was wearing loosely fitting priest’s robes with gold and silver thread woven in. His movements exuded impatience, and he had a sternness to his expression that came from his quick-to-anger personality and the stress of his daily responsibilities.
As usual, he was a person who, to put it politely, did not impart all that positive an impression—but even so, I respected him.
He stopped in front of the arbor, gave a bow to Ethel, and then turned his gaze on Menel and me and gave us a long, searching stare. “Hmph. Returned victorious, I gather. I was expecting all the flattery from people calling you a hero and a peerless, brave warrior to have gone to your head and earned you a crushing defeat or two by now.”
I bowed to him. It was because he was someone who would speak like that to me that I continued to respect him as much as I did. I returned a full smile to him. He blasted air out of his nose and turned the other way.
As Ethel watched us, he let out a chuckle and said, “Thank you for coming, Bagley.” Then he composed himself, and his serious face was back. “Well then, let us hear your report of the incident.”
◆
“The fire of dark disaster shall catch in the mountains of rust. That fire shall spread, and this land may all be consumed.”
After we finished giving our account of the incident and the killing of the demon responsible, we then began to speak of the prophecy. Silence immediately descended upon the table under the arbor. Not reporting it hadn’t been an option.
“Those were the words the Lord of Holly used.”
“The Lord of the Woods said that...” His Excellency grumbled to himself and massaged his temples. “Beasts, then demons, and no sooner had I begun to think things had settled down than we face the unidentified threats of a ‘fire of disaster’ and ‘lord of miasma and wicked flame.’ The story I heard from you in the past, of the demons’ High King sealed in a city of the dead, also concerns me. The trouble never ceases, it seems. Good heavens, this continent. It never bores.”
I could sense considerable tiredness in him. Since becoming a paladin, I’d seen him forced to do a lot of work responding to demon plots, damage caused by beasts big and small, and all kinds of other things. He provided aid to settlements that had suffered real damage from attacks. He negotiated with the mainland to coax aid out of them. He had knights patrol areas to prevent damage before it happened. He employed adventurers on a temporary basis to hunt down and kill the causes of these problems. He took care of the documents necessary to carry out all of that. He actually traveled to the affected areas and provided consolation and on-site instruction. And of course, he couldn’t neglect normal city governance, either. I had never seen Ethel relaxing and enjoying a break.
Out of consideration for the duke, the bishop asked in his place. “Hunter, what level of power does this Lord of the Woods have? Can his so-called prophecy be trusted?”
“I have a name, old man.”
“As do I, boy.”
The two of them glared at each other and tutted. These two did not get on very well.
“U-Um, both of you, try to get along...”
“Hmph. Get along with this lout? You must be joking.”
Menel snorted. “You got that right. I hate self-important guys like him.”
The two of them openly displayed their displeasure of one another, Bishop Bagley by crossing his arms and looking down on Menel, and Menel by resting his chin on his hand and drawing his eyebrows together. It felt really uncomfortable that my friend and the person I respected hated each other’s guts so much.
As I wrung my hands, Ethel smiled brightly at the pair. “But I’m sure you’d both agree that as a business partner, the other is more than suitable, yes?”
“Well, indeed. I am not ignorant of his talents.”
“Wouldn’t even be in the same room as him otherwise.”
Neither of them sounded happy about it. His Excellency glanced in my direction and winked.
“Fine, whatever,” Menel said. “This is business. I’ll answer. Have a look at this.” He took a map out of the le
ather bag he’d been carrying and spread it out on the desk. We had obtained this map from Tonio, a merchant we were on friendly terms with. It was a detailed, pretty carefully crafted map of this area as it had been during the Union Age. Being two hundred years old, the map had changed quite a lot, and it was covered from corner to corner in Menel’s corrections.
He traced a finger across it as we all peered over. “So, first off, when I say ‘Lord of the Woods’—there are leylines around there which are like conduits for the mana in the earth.” He drew several invisible lines with his finger, probably representing the leylines, and then pointed at the spot where many of them crossed. “Where they meet, you have a Domain, and ‘Lord of the Woods’ refers to its lord. As for what a lord actually is, it varies. It can be a great fae dwelling in a tree or a boulder, an old wild animal that had its den in the Domain for a long time and gained intelligence, or a bunch of other things.”
Pausing for breath, Menel brushed his silver hair back behind his ear. “Not only do they live far longer than one or two hundred years, they’re directly connected to the leylines. They store up a lot of memories and knowledge, and are constantly drawing mana into their bodies from all the areas the leylines connect them to. The lord is the woods’ heart, its brain.”
This world was made up of Words. When the trees rustled, or sunlight filtered through the trees leaving patches of light and shadow, a skilled sorcerer could pick out faint Words from the fluctuation in mana and interpret them.
Of course, there was a limit to how much information a sorcerer could read from something like that. Even magic users as great as Gus, who had raised me with Blood and Mary and was known as the Wandering Sage, couldn’t learn all there was to learn just by listening to the rustling of trees. But Gus had also told me that was because we humans read Words within the framework of human thought. If it was a being much closer to Nature, then...
“The Lord of the Woods isn’t as powerful as the gods, who can even read the unwritten future to an extent, but... if this is coming from him, you can bet there’s a damn solid basis behind it.” Menel’s tone was firm. “It’s less a prophecy and more, uh, an educated prediction.”
The Lord of the Rust Mountains Page 3
