Chapter 174 - <17>
Several days after the incident was resolved, Kamala's funeral was held in the Birdfolk's holy land, a decision made possible by the efforts of Edward and Ritz, and by accepting the wave of sympathy for Kamala that had swept through the residents of the entertainment district.
Even the anti-liberation faction of the Birdfolk, who had initially been staunchly opposed, relented in the face of Anil's plea that she was “already being punished enough by no longer having a winged one to carry her soul.” Thus, they permitted the funeral to be held in the holy land.
In the land of the Birdfolk, it seemed that burying the dead without having their corpses carried away by winged creatures was considered a significant punishment. As a realist, Franz couldn't grasp the meaning of inflicting a penalty on how a body was handled after death. But it was a tradition and a culture that their clan had cherished and protected. Therefore, it was not his place as an outsider to interfere.
He understood that. He understood, but Kamala was gone.
In recognition of their presence at her death and their efforts in arranging her funeral, the party was invited to attend. This meant they were permitted to enter the holy land.
In place of Franz and Anna, who were still dejected after Kamala's death, Ritz and Edward had been busy interacting with the Birdfolk. Ritz, in particular, had earned a certain degree of trust by involving himself in the city's reconstruction efforts. Normally, there would have been considerable opposition to an outsider entering the holy land, but thanks to him, they were guided there without issue.
However, Anil's handling of Kamala's funeral suggested that this would be their first and last time entering the sacred grounds.
On the day of the funeral, the group ascended to the highest point in Tashkur for the first time.
Several levels above the assembly hall was an old, fortress-like structure. Going even higher, they reached the residence of the elders, which had three connected roofs. And higher still, the distinctive Twin Towers, clearly visible even from a great distance, came into view.
The towers soared into a winter sky so clear and blue it was almost frightening, devoid of a single cloud. They exuded a solemn atmosphere that transcended human understanding.
Up close, the Twin Towers were not towers at all, but massive monuments. Carved into the sculptures, which possessed an overwhelming presence, were the winged Wind Spirit King, the birds that surrounded him, and the praying figures of the Birdfolk.
And at the very highest point of the sculptures was the figure of the Goddess Eneonea, her arms outstretched toward the lowly earth in an embracing gesture. Carved into the enormous tower, the Goddess Eneonea looked down upon the city of Tashkur spread out at its base with an expression of deep compassion.
On the opposite side of the Twin Towers was a plaza that offered a view of nothing but mountains as far as the eye could see. At the center of the cliff's edge stood a stone monument about a meter high. A shining gem was embedded in its center, and some kind of script was carved into it. The monument was identical to those of the Beastkin and the Fire Clan. It was now clear that all the demi-human races possessed the same kind of monument.
"Franz, Anna, are you two okay?"
As Franz was gazing blankly at the scenery, Ritz spoke to him from behind. As always, Ritz casually slung his arms around Franz's and Anna's shoulders. Anna immediately reacted with excessive force, batting his hand away.
"...Anna?"
"Oh, ah, sorry. Heheheh, I was just thinking."
Laughing to brush it off, Anna hurried over to Edward's side. Left behind, Ritz let out a small sigh, a wry smile on his face.
"...Guess she's come to hate me, huh."
"Who knows."
"When I met with Kamala, I ended up asking her a bunch of stuff. If that's the case, it's no surprise she thinks I'm a hopeless guy."
"..."
"It's a miracle I was able to fool her for so long."
"Well, maybe so."
Unsure of what to say, Franz was evasive. But he knew Anna was troubled for a reason different from what Ritz was thinking. Kamala's question had likely thrown her own feelings into chaos. Were her feelings for Ritz familial love, or romantic love? Where did this feeling of him being important to her come from? Being suddenly confronted with such a question, Anna was undoubtedly agonizing over it.
Besides, the words Kamala had thrown at Franz weighed heavily on him as well.
'Your sorrow is for you to heal. I will never be saved by you.'
Franz chewed on those words.
My own sorrow is for me to heal. In that case, what he needed to do was look within himself and better himself. Time and again, he was made to realize his own weakness, and his attempts to do something about it always missed the mark.
But if it was for the sake of improving himself, then perhaps he could manage to look within himself, even if only little by little. The arrogance of trying to lift himself up by saving others. Before he did that, he had to lift himself up on his own.
So that he could do the absolute most he was capable of, without being consumed by a sense of powerlessness.
Anil called out to him, pulling him back from the edge of his thoughts. It seemed it was almost time. They were called to the center of the plaza, where the attendees were extremely few, and they lined up as instructed. The strong wind whipping across this place was terribly cold, but it felt more fitting for a ritual like a funeral than any other setting, and Franz stared straight ahead.
There was nothing higher than Tashkur around them, yet because the air was so clear, the distant mountain range seemed much closer than it actually was. Despite the air being so clear and beautiful, the mountain range was so high that he couldn't see its peak.
He had a vague sense that this mountain was part of the same range that was clearly visible from his hometown, Saradio. This continent was a giant island, with that mountain range at its center.
Before he could start shivering from the cold, he heard the sound of bells. Looking in that direction, he saw people dressed in attire similar to Anil's, but in a different color scheme. The person leading them held an instrument with many bells, and the second person carried a flute. The others also held instruments he had never seen before.
Watching them, he was suddenly reminded of the prayer to the Wind Spirit.
The Wind Spirit governs freedom and harmony. Freedom is the flapping of wings, and harmony is music.
Appearing with a music that possessed a unique high tone that could not be drowned out by the strong wind, and an echo that resonated long among the mountains, they stood before the attendees, who numbered less than ten even with Franz's group included. Most of those involved in the incident were residents of the entertainment district, so they had not been permitted to enter this holy land.
Whether it's a holy land or not, what's the point of mourning the dead if you don't call the people who grieve their death? Franz had thought resentfully, but since it was a special circumstance for them to even be here, he couldn't complain.
Before long, the man with the bells and a woman holding a small, unfamiliar percussion instrument began to let their clear singing voices ring out, as if piercing the sky. Franz was nearly captivated by the beautiful melody, but upon hearing the lyrics, he hurriedly took out something to write with.
What they were singing was related to the legends of the Birdfolk.
O wind that blows through. Carry our voices, and deliver them to the Wind Spirit King.
We are the clan of the sky, born of the wind. The people of the wind, who serve the sky, yet possess no wings.
O Spirit King, now we stand before you, before your stern and gentle eyes,
As one who casts off this heavy flesh to soar the skies once more.
Grant your blessing upon the path of Kamala, the faithful guardian of the wind.
O Spirit King who guides us, from your land in the heavens far above our own.
Guide the winged ones, who carry our wingless bodies and souls,
To the land in the heavens far away.
The song of prayer echoed and faded away, as if absorbed into the heavens. The melody almost made his heart melt into the sky, but the clear, ringing sound of a bell brought him back to his senses. The elders were lined up before him, with Anil standing in front of them.
Anil presented a wooden box to them. Inside lay Kamala, burned to the bone by those fierce flames. The elders received it, scattered the contents before the stone monument, and one of them blew a high-pitched note on a flute toward the heavens. Then, from out of nowhere, birds began to gather.
The birds pecked at Kamala's scattered bones, carrying them away one by one, flapping their wings powerfully as they flew off. Kamala's bones, which had turned a sooty color instead of white, disappeared into the deep blue sky. The sight was simply a fantastical and beautiful spectacle.
Eventually, when not a single one of Kamala's bones remained, the elders offered a prayer that the deceased would safely reach the land in the sky, and the ceremony concluded.
Edward stopped the elders as they were about to leave.
"May I ask one thing?"
"...What is it?"
"In which direction does the land in the sky lie?"
That was the same as directly asking where the Spirit King, who was said to reside in a high place, lived. Franz thought it would be useless to ask about a legend, but one of the elders pointed clearly in a single direction.
"The direction where the Eye of the Spirit King lies is the land where the Spirit King resides. In other words, the mountain you see straight ahead when standing before the monument is the land where the Spirit King resides."
"I see..."
The elder pointed to the incredibly high mountain range that Franz had been looking at earlier, the top of which was completely invisible. That meant that mountain range must hold some kind of significance. As Franz pondered this, the elders departed.
Kamala's few Birdfolk acquaintances also left, leaving only Franz's group of five and Anil at the funeral site. With his formal Birdfolk attire fluttering in the strong wind, Anil bowed his head deeply.
"Thank you very much."
"...We couldn't do anything. We are not in a position to be thanked."
"Even so, please let me say it. Thank you for being with my sister at the end."
"Anil..."
As no one could utter a word, Anil murmured while looking up at the great mountain range located far in the sky.
"This is just between us, but those bones aren't only my sister's. I mixed in Barat's bones, too. They said they never wanted to be apart, so I didn't want to bury them separately. It might be a nuisance for Barat, who was afraid of my sister, though."
Anil smiled faintly, then reached into his pocket and took out a small bottle that fit in the palm of his hands. Inside were bone fragments similar to the ones from before.
"I'm going to take these, along with Baradi's bones, to Barat and Baradi's father's hometown. With my sister, too."
Tears glistened on Anil's cheeks as he turned to face them with a smile. He had lost his father, his father-figure, and his sister. It was heartbreaking to think of his state of mind. But Anil was smiling with determination.
"When spring comes, I'm thinking of guiding all of you down and then leaving this place. I'll deliver this to Baradi's hometown, and then I want to travel around Sarnia. Tashkur is a peaceful and beautiful city, but for my sister, it was a small one. If my sister had been a person of Sarnia, I'm sure she wouldn't have had to kill anyone over something like this. The thought of that makes staying in Tashkur unbearable."
With that, Anil carefully placed the bottle back in his pocket.
"After I've seen Sarnia, if I still think this place is the most wonderful, I'll come back to Tashkur. Until then, it's goodbye to this place as well."
Wiping away his tears, Anil smiled. Just like Kamala, his strong-willed eyes showed an unshakeable resolve.
Franz had a sudden thought.
Perhaps becoming strong meant accepting things. Perhaps strength was accepting the facts and then doing what must be done.
"Ah..."
Anna let out a small voice. When he turned around, he saw Anna looking up at the sky.
From the deep blue sky, white flecks were falling, dancing in the wind.
"Snow?"
Franz murmured softly at the strange phenomenon occurring under a cloudless sky, and Anil gently caught one of the falling flecks in his palm. It immediately turned to water and vanished.
"They're wind flurries. They're also called a gift from the land in the sky."
"A gift from the land in the sky..."
Had Kamala, carried to the heavens by the winged ones, reached that land in the sky?
Franz gazed up for a long time at the flurries dancing in the strong wind that blew across the blue sky.