Chapter 115 - <4>
The next morning, Franz, who had been exhausted and sleeping soundly, was uncharacteristically woken up by Ritz. He looked around with sleepy eyes to find that Anna, who was usually the one to wake everyone up, was already gone from the hut. Edward, who was fully dressed, gave Franz a strange smile as their eyes met.
"What time is it?"
Still half-asleep, Franz rubbed his eyes and asked Ritz.
"Not even six yet."
"Six? Let me sleep a little longer…"
Back in Sears, he wouldn't even have been awake at this hour. Besides, he was exhausted from the journey here. He still needed more sleep.
"No."
"Why?"
"Why? You… can't you feel this presence?"
"Presence?"
Only then did Franz notice the strange presence. It wasn't just a presence; he could hear the hushed murmur of a large crowd of people surrounding the hut. Wondering if something had happened, a sense of tension returned even to the normally grouchy morning person, Franz.
"What on earth is going on?"
"Something big."
Despite his words, Ritz looked fed up as he crossed his arms and sighed deeply. Given Ritz's reaction, it seemed there was no danger. Confused, Franz glanced at Edward, who beckoned him over with a small gesture. He quietly moved to his side.
"Take a look outside through this gap."
As he was told, he looked outside through a gap in the hut and was left speechless. The hut was completely surrounded by beastfolk. He instinctively recoiled and turned back to Edward.
"Is it a surprise attack?"
"…Franz, look at their faces."
When he was told to do so, he looked at their faces again and saw that they were all surrounding the hut with expressions full of hope and joy, looking happy. It seemed there was no danger after all.
"Why is this happening?"
Just as Franz muttered in a daze, the hut door opened and Lef and Anna came in. In Lef's hands were a large water bucket and a pot, and in Anna's hands was a cloth that was likely clothing. As soon as they entered the hut, they hurriedly closed the door.
"It's amazing out there."
Anna said, her cheeks flushed, her face still showing the excitement of the moment.
"Almost everyone in the village has come."
"! The entire village?"
"Yeah. It's a huge crowd."
"You've gotta be kidding me…"
Ritz held his head in his hands. It seemed he understood the meaning of this crowd. Lef, after setting down the water bucket and placing the pot on the stove, came forward and sat before Ritz, looking extremely apologetic.
"I'm sorry. I never thought it would come to this."
"The beastfolk's adoration for the spirit clan is something else."
Ignoring the two's bitter expressions, Edward laughed as if it had nothing to do with him. It seemed this commotion was the second act of yesterday's village-wide welcome.
"Can't be helped. We can't stay holed up in here forever."
Sighing, Ritz stood up.
"Anna, is that the outfit you mentioned?"
"Yep. They said they remake them every year for the New Festival Month, so they had a lot. I borrowed a few of them."
Anna cheerfully unfolded a robe that looked soft to the touch, mainly white and silver. The robe was a familiar shape, the same as the one his master often wore. In other words, it was a spirit user's robe, well-known in the Yuresla Kingdom.
"They're costumes for the person who plays the spirit user in the New Festival Month festival every year."
I see, a custom unique to a clan that reveres the spirit clan. Without waiting to see if Franz understood her explanation, Anna was holding up the robes one by one to Ritz's face, then folding them.
"When I said we didn't bring many clothes since we're traveling, they were happy to lend them to me. They offered to lend me some clothes too, but they said even the children's clothes wouldn't fit."
As she spoke, Anna happily held the robes she had brought up to Ritz. Having been played with like a dress-up doll by the queen at the royal palace, she seemed to have become quite good at fittings. For the Anna who had said, with pride, that she didn't even know the different types of cloth when they started their journey, this was quite a progression.
"Yeah, that looks cool."
Anna said and picked out one. When she actually held it up to Ritz, it surprisingly didn't look out of place. The minister's formal military uniform was a mix of a uniform and a robe anyway, so perhaps he was used to seeing it.
"Well now. It suits you quite well, doesn't it?"
Perhaps thinking the same thing as Franz, Edward said to Ritz in a tone that wasn't entirely a joke.
"Shut up."
Ritz, who was having the robe held up to his body, looked as grumpy as ever. He remained silent, letting Anna do as she pleased. Eventually, Anna seemed satisfied and offered Ritz one from the several she had.
"How about this one?"
"Whatever, I don't care anymore."
Ritz replied to Anna's bright question with a sigh. But Anna wasn't discouraged by such a half-hearted reply. She placed the robe in Ritz's hands and began to search through her other bundle of items.
"And this, too. They said different people play the part, so they had all sorts of colors. Blonde, red hair. I'm glad they had a black one."
What Anna held in her hands was a long, black wig. The moment he wondered what it was for, he remembered Ritz's appearance from last night.
"Ah."
He finally understood why Ritz had worn the cloth to cover the back of his head when he appeared before the beastfolk yesterday. This was his plan to change his atmosphere. Anna smiled brightly at the now-understanding Franz.
"I was curious about why he wore that cloth yesterday, too, so I asked him this morning."
If he hadn't had a wig, he probably would have used that cloth to make it look like he had hair underneath.
"I brought the wig secretly. It would be a problem if they asked me where I got it."
"Thanks."
Still, a robe alone should have been enough for a disguise; bringing a wig seemed a bit much.
"Why the wig?"
When he asked frankly, Ritz answered with a completely serious expression.
"In my clan, only my old man and I have short hair. Long hair looks more the part, right? Besides, they seem to think power resides in the hair."
When Ritz said "they," he was apparently referring to the spirit clan.
"Does that mean the one long lock of hair you have has a special meaning, Ritz?"
Asked that by Anna, Ritz fell silent as if caught off guard. Then he slowly averted his gaze from her and let out a self-deprecating smile.
"Well… yeah."
Sensing the air had grown heavy for a moment, Ritz brightly changed the subject.
"Franz, you go ahead and eat. You're the star of the show today."
"Huh?"
He furrowed his brow, wondering why the spotlight had suddenly turned on him. Ritz patted the shoulder of Franz, who was still sitting down.
"Do your best, spirit user's apprentice."
"Ah…"
He remembered. He had been made Ritz's apprentice. That meant that if the villagers asked to see spirit magic today, it was Franz's turn to perform.
He thought about throwing a sarcastic remark at Ritz, who had created this situation, but there was some room for sympathy for the man who was reluctantly putting on the robe.
"We shall eat first."
Leaving the gluttony combo behind, Edward said as he patted Franz's shoulder.
"It seems things will get complicated if we miss breakfast."
Indeed, if they missed this meal and couldn't get away from the villagers, there was no telling when their next meal would be. They had said there would be a welcoming feast for dinner, but who knew what would happen with even that?
"…Yes. I will eat."
He hurriedly got up from where he had been sleeping and quickly got ready. Unlike Ritz, there was nothing different about his usual appearance, so it was easy. Once that was done, he immediately started on the bread and soup Lef had brought, along with Edward.
As he ate and watched, Ritz, who had finished putting on the robe, was now having accessories put on him by Anna. What a pity. In the few months he had been in the Royal Capital, Anna seemed to have learned how to put on accessories as well. And yet, during their journey, she remained in her usual plain attire.
"Ritz, sit here."
As if for the finishing touch, Anna gently combed the hair of Ritz, who had sat down cross-legged with a sulky look on his face. Her hand movements, likely honed from tying the children's hair every day at the orphanage, were fluid and confident, and somehow gentle.
Anna skillfully placed the wig on Ritz, who was staring off into the distance with a dazed expression, and combed his hair again to blend it with his own. She occasionally stroked Ritz's hair with her hand, smoothing down flyaways and tucking them into the long hair.
His sullen figure, having his hair fussed with like a small child, was less pitiful and more in the realm of comical.
"…He seems to be having a hard time, Ritz."
When he muttered to Edward, Edward looked back at Franz with a knowing smile.
"You think so? He looks happy to me. At least for this moment."
"E-d-ward."
Ritz called Edward's name in a considerably low tone.
"So you heard me, you with your devilish hearing."
"My ears aren't long for nothing."
It seemed there was some secret there, but Franz didn't particularly want to know, so he decided not to pry and continued to eat in silence.
"Done!"
A short while later, Anna clapped her hands in satisfaction. Franz, who had been on the verge of nodding off from sleepiness while eating, looked up to see a long-haired, robed Ritz standing there with a grumpy look on his face.
"What do you think? I think it looks good."
Anna said with a cheerful, happy smile. Next to him, Edward had also stopped eating and was looking at Ritz.
His long ears, which had been half-hidden by his messily cut hair, were now clearly visible outside the straight, jet-black hair. Because he was tall, the white robe suited him well, as if it weren't borrowed at all. It was strange how his grumpy face just made him look difficult to please.
He wore a robe and a wig. It was just that, yet Franz felt a different kind of impression from Ritz than he had before.
Right, Ritz is of the spirit clan.
He had heard stories about him being one hundred and fifty years old, or how his appearance had barely changed in forty years. But those were all things Franz didn't understand as a reality. But seeing him like this, the fact that Ritz was of a different race suddenly appeared before him with a sense of reality.
"I'm not a freak show."
Ritz's usual rough tone brought him back to his senses.
"Damn, I can't stand this. First a minister, now this?"
Grumbling, Ritz sat down heavily near them. When he opened his mouth, no matter how well his appearance was decorated, he was completely unchanged, which was a bit of a relief. One person being an enigma was enough; his master was more than sufficient.
"Lef, can I have some?"
Ritz called out, and Lef, who had apparently been captivated by Ritz's appearance, snapped back to reality.
"Yes, Ritz."
"Thanks."
Lef efficiently handed Ritz some bread with a texture and sweetness he had never tasted before, and a refreshing soup.
"Wow… Ritz, you really are of the Clan of Light. I knew it, but sometimes I thought maybe you weren't. This is really amazing."
Come to think of it, Lef was also a beastman who deeply respected the spirit clan. Moreover, Lef had a past where he had almost strangled Ritz, but had stopped just because Ritz was of the spirit clan.
"Reluctantly, I am, so it can't be helped."
Ritz accepted the food and began to eat while grumbling. Anna, who had neatly folded the robes he wouldn't be wearing today in a corner of the room, also ran over.
"I want some too!"
"There's a portion for you too, Anna."
By the time the unusually somber meal, brightened only by Anna, was over, the clock had already passed seven. There was no sign of the people surrounding the house going home.
"…I guess I have no choice but to go."
Eventually, as if he had made up his mind, Ritz slowly stood up. After standing and stretching widely, he gave Franz a look. He knew what it meant without being told. It meant 'follow me.'
"Are you ready, Franz?"
"…Yeah."
He didn't want to go, but it couldn't be helped now. He picked up the lamp Anna had left by the stove last night and called out a somewhat careless voice into the stove.
"Sara, let's go."
He had taken out his frustration on Sara since he couldn't on Ritz, but the not-so-bright Sara didn't seem to notice at all. She happily emerged from the stove.
"Fra-kee, Fra-kee!"
Her small, fiery body sparkling, Sara entered the lamp as Franz had told her to.
"Sara-chan really likes you, Franz."
Anna nodded with a knowing look after swallowing a piece of hard bread.
"Well, yeah."
To Sara, her master was still Franz. Though Sara seemed to have completely warmed up to Anna, Franz, who handled fire spirits, was still in a different league.
As soon as he saw that Franz was ready, Ritz impatiently ran his fingers through his now much longer hair and looked at Lef.
"Look after Ed and Anna for me."
"Yes."
"Alright. Time to fire myself up."
Ritz took a deep breath while facing the door, then lightly slapped his face with his palms and turned around. The expression on his face was not Ritz's own. His eyes were calm and incredibly serene.
He was a truly skilled man. Franz couldn't possibly imitate him.
"Well then Franz, shall we go?"
Ritz smiled with a refreshing brightness. This Ritz was different from the usual one, possessing an even more unassailable atmosphere. Seeing that expression, which Franz realized was common to Orphe, the current Ritz, and Edward, he understood for the first time.
That unassailable smile was what he was worst at dealing with.
Sighing, Franz nodded.
"…Yes. Master."
It had been a while since he had said those words, and he suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia for Orphe. But this was no time to be lost in sentiment.
"Do your best!"
With Anna's cheering at his back, Ritz opened the door. Following Ritz, who walked out with a dignified stride, Franz was also exposed to the gazes of the people who had all turned towards them at once.
It was daunting to think he would be surrounded by those eyes filled with pure hope and admiration, but it couldn't be helped.
He told himself this was the path he had to follow to learn the truth about his master Orphe, also known as Artis Ozmand, and Franz took a step forward.