Chapter 121 - <10>
The rain continued to fall.
Kneeling by the hut's window and staring blankly outside, Anna was chewing on her boredom.
The window was a simple affair, just a square cutout in the hut's wooden wall, propped open with a small twig; there was no glass. In a region where it rained so rarely throughout the year, this was apparently sufficient. As a result, the rich scent of wet earth and of green leaves swaying under the raindrops filled the air.
"Aaaah."
A sigh escaped her. She had recently realized that, like Ritz and Edward, she was the type of person who couldn't stand having nothing to do. In situations like this, she was a little envious of Franz, who was so accustomed to embracing boredom.
"Don't sigh so much. Won't your good luck escape?"
Edward said in a listless voice.
"Did it?"
"I heard Ritz say that to you once."
"Oh, you're right."
She chuckled shyly, but her boredom didn't go away. With a sigh, Anna slowly stood up. She had been kneeling for so long that her knees had started to hurt. The window, made for beastkin to sit and look out, was too high for Anna to do the same.
Rubbing her knees, which now bore the imprint of the mat's weave, Anna sighed again.
Even if it meant being a spoiled brat, I wish I had gone with Ritz and the others, she thought. Staying behind might be important, but she never imagined it would be this boring with nothing to do. She had thought that if she stayed in the village, she could help with some work or play with the children.
And then, this rain.
The rain at the start of the rainy season was heavy and long. And since this land was originally very dry, on the first day of rain, everyone was supposed to stay in their homes and thank the Water and Earth Spirit Kings for the visit of the water spirits. After that, they would all relax inside their homes.
Unlike in the Royal Capital or Vishnu, the people of this village didn't work on rainy days, Laisa had told her.
But Laisa was gone now. After the rain started and she returned here, she had taken care of them in Lef's place for a while, but she had to perform the rain ceremony and had gone back to what would become her home, Lef's house.
To the beastman clan, the water spirits were their 'Mother.' In this harsh, rugged land, plants could not grow without the gentle, enveloping power of water. In contrast, the earth spirits, with their severity and broad-mindedness, were considered the 'Father.'
For this reason, the ceremony to worship water was performed by women, and the ceremony to worship the earth was performed by men. So Laisa, as the new daughter of Lef's family, had to perform the ceremony.
"Water spirits, huh?"
Anna stared blankly at her own palm. The water spirits were always with her. She had never thought of them as a 'motherly presence' like the beastman clan did. To Anna, the water spirits were friends. The Water Spirit King was another matter, but she had never considered worshiping the water spirits.
It was amazing that there were so many different races, and that they all had different ways of thinking.
Come to think of it, for Anna, using water spirits was the same as using the same power as her adoptive father, and while she was at the church, she had thought of it as an unbreakable bond between parent and child. But now that she was far from her adoptive father, she wondered for the first time what this power of water meant to her.
"Are you thinking about something difficult?"
She realized she had plopped down on the woven mat on the floor.
"Ehehe. I guess I was just spacing out."
"You were thinking about the water spirits, weren't you?"
"Huh? How did you know?"
Surprised, she asked, and Edward pointed with a puzzled look.
"Isn't that a water sphere in your hand?"
"Oh, you're right."
Anna looked at the water spirit she had shaped in her palm in surprise. When had she summoned it? She hadn't noticed at all.
"Was I unconscious?"
"Yes."
"That's amazing."
Edward's cheeks softened in amusement, but for Anna, it was no small matter. This was the first time she had ever summoned a water sphere without even being aware of it. Feeling a sense of the uncanny, Anna knelt again and looked outside.
She could feel that the power of water had become incredibly strong. Not only had the rainy season begun, but the people of the beastman clan were all offering prayers to the water spirits at once, which might be increasing the spirits' power.
Ritz, the false spirit user, had once said that spirits are the source of life in this world. As long as there is life, prayers will surely be answered. Anna had experienced a situation where the power of water became strong and overflowed only once before.
That was a trap in the labyrinth created by Orphe, so it was a special situation, but she had learned for the first time that such things could happen in reality too.
"The rainy season, huh…"
She tried muttering it aloud, but her voice was a whisper and was drowned out by the sound of the pouring rain. The sky, which had been darkened by the rain, was now on the verge of turning completely black.
The sun would be setting soon.
Then, all she could do was eat dinner and go to bed. All Anna had done today was eat, walk a little, and then eat and sleep again. It was boring beyond belief. She tore her eyes from the window and looked at Edward, who was reading a book.
The cover read 'History of the Luciana Kingdom Federation.' That wasn't originally Edward's, but Franz's. It had apparently been left behind when he had tossed aside his unnecessary belongings to go to the cave.
Seeing Edward, who usually got involved in everything, like that, she somehow felt a sense of resignation. It was true, all she could do was read a book and kill time until the three of them returned.
For now, she decided to follow Edward's lead and read the 'Luciana Kingdom Federation Tourist Guide' she had purchased herself until dinner. Just as she turned her eyes one last time to the village of Red Valley, its view obscured by a curtain of rain as darkness fell, Anna noticed something strange.
"Huh?"
In the middle of this rain, several people were running around, soaking wet. What's more, they were occasionally shouting. For Anna, who only knew the gentle beastman clan, it was a surprise, but for Anna, who grew up in a farming village, she knew well what it meant when all the villagers were outside in the rain.
Some kind of emergency had occurred.
"Ed-san, something's happened."
She turned around, and Edward's hand, which had been turning the page of his book with a disinterested look, stopped dead. The next moment, he had closed the book and was slowly standing up. He was probably trying to look serious, but the faint smile on his lips was impossible to miss.
"Let's see, let's see."
He said this in a calm tone and stood next to Anna, peering out the window. The window was small, but not so small that two people couldn't look out at once, so she and Edward pressed their faces together and looked outside.
At first, it had been mostly men who had come out of their houses, but now there were women mixed in as well. It seemed that everyone who could move had gathered. This might be a big deal.
"I'm going to go see what happened!"
Anna said this as she headed for the door. If something had happened, the bored Anna could lend a hand. If a situation requiring many hands was unfolding, there would be something she could do.
Besides, if people were in trouble, what was she doing not helping when she had free hands?
With strong resolve, she turned back and was about to say "I'm going!" to Edward, but Edward was much closer than she had thought. He was almost right next to her. Surprised, she swallowed her words, and Edward smiled and spoke to her.
"Even an old man like me can be of some help. Anna, I'm going with you."
"Ed-san…"
Certainly, Edward probably wanted to help people. She understood that very well. But she was sure that wasn't all there was to it.
After all, Edward loved incidents.
And, though she couldn't say it out loud, it was a fact that he was getting on in years. Since Ritz had told her to be careful because Edward was an old man, it was her duty to consider his health.
"But Ed-san, it's raining, you know? Won't you catch a cold?"
"You think I would catch a cold?"
"Yes. If you get sick or become bedridden because of it, I'll feel bad for the Queen too."
"…Well, yes."
"The Queen asked me to look after Ritz and you, Ed-san."
But when she said that, Edward's face contorted strangely. He seemed very troubled. But she couldn't understand why he looked so troubled. After a moment of silence, Edward smiled with his usual gentle expression.
"Hmm. To be worried about so earnestly by you, Anna, I feel quite pained myself."
"Then, I'll go!"
She said with a smile and placed her hand on the door.
"However…"
At the same time as his words, Edward's somewhat bony but strong hand covered hers on the door.
"One cannot abandon others in the name of self-preservation. Is that not so, Anna?"
At his powerful declaration, Anna was deeply convinced. Edward was right. If she put herself first, she could never help anyone.
When he put it that way, holding Edward back for something as trivial as catching a cold seemed wrong. And since she didn't know what was happening, she shouldn't waste the goodwill of someone who wanted to help.
"I understand, Ed-san. Let's go!"
"Let's go."
The moment they opened the door, a spray of water flew up violently to their feet. The rain had become quite heavy. Taking a deep breath, Anna dashed out into the misty rain toward where the villagers were gathered. Edward followed behind her.
Spotting the particularly large figure of Adlif in the crowd of giants, she ran up to him.
"Did something happen?"
When she looked up and asked, Adlif, who seemed to have had trouble seeing her until now, finally noticed her and gave the soaking wet Anna a surprised look, then slowly raised his gaze to a point above her. And he shrank back apologetically.
"Honored guests, to come out in such rain…"
Those words were clearly not directed at Anna, the questioner, but at Edward standing behind her. Noticing this, Anna looked back at Edward. With a silent nod, Edward took over the questioning for her.
"You all seem to be in a hurry. If there's anything we can do to help, please let us know."
"No, it's a village matter…"
"But we are greatly indebted to you all. If there is anything, we would like to cooperate."
At Edward's calm and compassionate words, Adlif shrank even further in apology.
"We will bring you dinner properly. Really, to have the former king of a neighboring country and a friend of the Clan of Light help us…"
"Father."
It was Laisa who spoke to the apologetic Adlif.
"Father, let's accept their help, shall we?"
"But Laisa…"
"We've searched this much and still haven't found them. Maybe they're hiding in a place we beastmen can't find from our perspective."
Though soaked by the rain, with water dripping from her long hair, Laisa said this with a dignified air. Her brown eyes, peeking out from under her bangs that were plastered to her forehead, further enhanced her dignified appearance. Adlif fell silent for a moment with a troubled look, then, as if having made up his mind, he straightened his massive, hunched body.
"Understood. Everyone, I know this is an imposition on our guests, but is that alright?"
Adlif asked as he looked around at all the villagers. His voice no longer held any apology or confusion. Once they made a decision, they were a people who did not waver.
There was no one who would not agree with the proposal of their respected chief. When the beastmen all at once indicated their agreement with the chief, Adlif turned back.
"I am truly sorry about this village matter. Several children have not returned since this afternoon."
"!"
Anna turned pale. In this rain, children haven't returned?
"How old are the children?"
Pushing past Edward, Anna looked up at Adlif and asked with fervor. Adlif seemed to be taken aback, but Edward intervened, and Adlif finally explained to Anna, who was far below him.
"Three to five years old."
"They're that young?"
She couldn't help but press Adlif in a loud voice. Three years old was still just a small child. For a child that young to be missing since the afternoon. That's what Anna thought, but Edward tapped her on the shoulder from behind, and she turned around.
"Anna, they're three to five in beastman years, you know?"
"Oh…"
Right, a three-year-old beastman was like a six-year-old human, and a five-year-old was about ten. Anna aged at half the rate of humans, but they were the opposite, aging twice as fast.
"But for children of that age not to come back is a problem. Why didn't anyone notice?!"
When she pressed Adlif, he let out a small sigh. He seemed to be reflecting. Laisa, standing next to him, also looked down with a pained expression. The disappearance of the children wasn't their fault, yet they were grieving as if it were their own.
Anna gasped in realization. She realized that she might be saying something terrible. To speak like that to people who were heartbroken over the missing children was just blaming them.
So, she bowed her head honestly.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know anything, and I said something terrible."
"No, it's alright. We were careless too. Today was the first rain, a day of prayer to the spirits."
The beastman clan was devout. It couldn't be helped that prayer to the spirits would take precedence over everything else. Anna also grew up in a church. So she understood well the feelings of those who prayed deeply.
With Anna silent, Edward continued the questioning.
"Where were they last seen?"
"By the river. Laisa said they were still in the river when she spoke with the two of you. They said they were going to do a little exploring since it was the first rain in a while…"
"The river…"
Edward groaned.
"They replied when I told them to come home soon, so the adults just came back."
"I see…"
Anna had also looked after children at the orphanage. If they said, "We'll definitely be back, trust us," Anna would trust them and wait at the orphanage. The villagers were probably the same.
Anna looked up at the sky. The rain was so heavy that she couldn't keep her eyes open for long because of the raindrops. This downpour, unique to the beginning of the rainy season, had been going on for several hours now. The river's water level must have risen considerably.
"Naturally, we searched the river first, but we couldn't find them. And if they were in the river, they wouldn't be alive now. The current is fast, and the water level is high."
"Don't… you can't give up!"
"But the river has risen so much that we can't cross it anymore. Even if they were on the other side, we have no way to rescue them."
"That's why we're searching everywhere but the river. They might have walked off somewhere, excited about the rain."
Laisa supplemented Adlif's words.
"We haven't given up."
We will definitely find them. That resolve was written on Laisa's face, down which the rain streamed in rivulets. In that case, she would cooperate with all her might.
"Ed-san, can I use the Water Dragon?"
She spun around and asked Edward.
"…The Water Dragon?"
Edward muttered this and furrowed his brow. He pinched the bridge of his nose as if deep in thought. Seeing him, she understood. If she brought out a spirit, the beastmen would know she was a spirit user. Then their attention would turn to her, and she might get caught up in something troublesome.
They had told them that only Ritz and Franz were spirit users. If she now said there was another one, it would mean they had been lying all along. The simple, straightforward people might get angry at being deceived, and instead of blaming Anna herself, they might blame Ritz, who was acting as the spirit user and was clearly the center of the group.
Or perhaps Lef, a resident of this village, would be blamed for keeping secrets. If that happened, would she be able to stand before the villagers and defend Ritz and Lef? Did she have that resolve?
The answer was "yes."
But even so, if it could save the children's lives, Anna thought it was a small price to pay.
Perhaps Ritz had left her and Edward behind in this village to prevent her from using her spirits, but she was sorry, the children's lives took priority over Ritz's wishes.
"Ed-san!"
When she called his name with force, Edward looked at her with his clear, light blue eyes.
"…What will you use it for?"
"I'll have it search the area around the river thoroughly again. It's dangerous for people, but the Water Dragon will be fine even if it's hit by the river's water or a big wave. Because it's originally water!"
The Water Dragon could cross the river to the other side. If it found the children there, she would figure out a way for them to ride on it and go get them. She explained this emphatically.
Edward, who had been listening silently, broke into a faint smile.
"That's just like you, Anna."
"So…"
"Yes. You may use it. I will think of a way to follow up. Besides…"
Edward shrugged lightly.
"Don't you think everyone can hear you when you talk about the Water Dragon so loudly?"
"Oh…"
When he said that, she looked back and saw that the beastmen were staring at her and Edward's exchange with wide eyes. It seemed she had unconsciously spoken in a loud voice again. Come to think of it, beastmen had much better hearing than humans.
"So… it's okay, right?"
"It should be fine. It's not like you would stop even if I tried to stop you."
Edward gave a permission that was somewhere between a wry smile and a sigh. Just as Anna knew that Edward was an incident-loving fun-seeker, Edward understood her personality.
To focus her mind, Anna took a deep breath.
In this heavy rain, there was no need to prepare water. On the contrary, with the water spirits' power growing to a frightening degree, there was nothing to hinder her from summoning the Water Dragon. However, because of this overly strong power of water, it would be better to take every precaution.
Anna quietly clasped her hands in front of her chest. The rainwater dripping from her bangs continuously wet her fists, but she didn't mind at all.
"O water spirit who governs healing and peace. Share with me your mercy and kindness."
She was chanting as she always did, but her power was growing at an astonishing rate. Realizing that this was what it meant for the spirits' power to be strong, Anna released the brimming power into the vast puddle spreading before her.
"Water Dragon, come!"
The next moment, the Water Dragon emerged from the rainwater covering the ground with a huge splash. Along with the raindrops, a completely different, clear water scattered all around.
"Ooh!"
The beastmen cried out in unison. Some were so terrified that they prostrated themselves on the ground. But now was not the time to worry about them.
"Water Dragon, over here!"
When Anna called, the Water Dragon, which had once ascended into the sky, swooped down to her in one go. It was a sight like a waterfall forming in the sky and water rushing down all at once. Then, the Water Dragon, like a well-tamed pet, rubbed its massive face against her.
"Listen, I want you to go see if there are any children from the upstream to the downstream of this village. And if you find any children, I want you to tell me… can you do that?"
Anna spoke to the Water Dragon, stroking it gently as if admonishing a child. Although she had once been afraid to summon the Water Dragon because it had taken a human life, she could now treat it properly as a friend who understood her feelings.
She had firmly etched Ritz's words, "As long as you don't make a mistake, the Water Dragon will never make a mistake," into her heart. She would never lead the Water Dragon down the wrong path and make it an object of fear.
As if in response to her thoughts, the Water Dragon circled her slowly once, then looked at her again. And it let out a low, long roar. She could see the beastmen flinching and ducking in unison. Some even screamed.
To a stranger, the Water Dragon's roar might just be scary, but to Anna, it strangely sounded like, "Got it. Leave it to me."
"Do your best, Water Dragon!"
When Anna said that and gently stroked the Water Dragon's head, it let out another deep, low voice and shot up into the sky. Its transparent body, like the clear water itself, disappeared into the cloudy sky. Anna somehow sensed that it would start its search from upstream.
"Now, let's search! There's no time to waste!"
Anna spun around to face the beastman clan and said cheerfully.
"Leave the river to the Water Dragon, and everyone, please search the forest!"
"Understood."
Adlif, the first to recover, nodded gravely.
"Did you all hear that! The Spirit User-sama has spoken. Search without giving up!"
Those words were incredibly effective. The beastmen scattered all at once with a war cry-like spirit. Their athletic ability was on a different level from humans, so their figures disappeared from sight in an instant. Only Adlif and Laisa remained.
"I did not know you were a Spirit User-sama…"
Anna smiled at the apologetic Adlif and Laisa and declared.
"Don't worry about that, let's find the children!"
"That's right. With the help of the Spirit User-sama, we can't give up."
"That's right, Father. Let's do our best!"
In the ever-increasing rain, the entire village began its search for the missing children. Unaware that the river was on the verge of a disastrous situation.