Chapter 47 - <13>
A day had passed since the storm-like tragedy, and the companions, the drivers, and the inspectors had all regained their composure.
Their departure for the capital, which had been delayed, was set for tomorrow, and the inspectors and drivers were busy with preparations.
Immediately after entering the mansion, the inspectors had secured several servants who had been there and decided to take them to the capital as witnesses.
To transport those servants, one carriage had to be cleared. The transfer of luggage to free up that carriage was apparently being done as a joint effort between the drivers and the inspectors.
In addition, Stewart's body, which had been sleeping as if dead ever since, was also to be transported to the capital. Anna didn't ask where that body, which would likely never wake up, was being taken.
She knew that wherever it was, he would continue to wander that labyrinth.
The servants knew nothing of the conspiracy, but they were very familiar with the faces of the guests who had visited the mansion. It was said that this would be useful in unraveling the truth behind the rebellion of former Crown Prince Stewart in the future.
Anna was walking alone along a small path in the forest.
The deserted village had been Laria's illusion, so it was no longer anywhere to be found. But Laria's mansion alone was real. However, its splendor was an illusion, and all that stood there was an ordinary two-story mansion.
Drinking water and food had been secured by searching inside the mansion, they said. Stewart had lived in luxury, and there was enough food inside the mansion for everyone to reach the capital quite full.
Fortunately, a well was found behind the mansion. There were no problems.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, all Anna helped with was carrying out food and water and some minor chores. Even though she offered to help, the inspectors and drivers politely declined with smiles and worked desperately at their tasks.
They seemed to be tormented by the regret of not being able to do anything in this major incident, and Edward had said it was better for them if she didn't help. That's why Anna still had nothing to do.
Passing through the small path in the forest, Anna reached a small hill behind the mansion. On the treeless hilltop, the wind was strong, gently swaying her single braid.
The sun was about to set, a somewhat melancholic time of day. Anna gazed at the two new graves lined up before her.
Marking the graves were a crescent-shaped sword and a twisted staff.
This was the grave of Raven and Laria.
Afterwards, the drivers, Ritz, Edward, and Franz had dug the grave and carried the two bodies here.
Making the grave here had been Anna's selfish request. For the two who had died and could not return to their homeland, she wanted to at least show them the sky that connected to it.
After the drivers returned, Anna conducted the burial ceremony. Having been a church ward for a long time, she was well-versed in funeral rites.
However, it was a truly modest funeral of the Goddess and the Water Spirit, conducted in a small church, so she wasn't sure if this was right.
But that was all Anna could do.
Anna knelt on the spot and clasped her hands. Then she offered a prayer to the Goddess. The Goddess watched over this entire world, so surely she would gently guide even those of the Clan of Darkness to a peaceful land of the dead.
"I'm sorry this is all I can do for you."
Anna softly spoke to the two graves.
"I wish I were stronger…"
A sigh of regret escaped her. If she had been stronger, there might have been some other way.
If she could use more powerful techniques, she might have been able to repel the darkness and extinguish the flames.
Extinguishing flames should be a characteristic of water spirits, yet both in Franz's case and Laria's, Anna hadn't been able to master her water spirits properly.
This time, all she had really managed to do was open a hole in the ceiling, which could hardly be called helpful.
"I have to study much, much more…"
The realization of her own inexperience deeply permeated Anna's heart.
Her lashing out at Ritz for cutting down Laria had been born from her own frustration. She herself had created a situation where there was no other choice.
That's why she felt bad about what she'd said to Ritz.
Anna looked at her own hands. Compared to Ritz's hands, which always gently stroked her head, how small they were. And how useless.
She didn't have the courage to wield her power for her companions like Ritz did. This wouldn't do.
In the first place, she had never even considered using any water spirits other than the Water Dragon. While Laria had used various techniques with a single fire spirit, Anna had relied solely on her Water Dragon.
As a spirit user, Anna earnestly wished to grow stronger.
She couldn't just keep relying on others.
If she didn't become stronger, she couldn't save people.
"I'll work hard enough to be able to save you, Laria-san… so next time you're born, please don't be a bad person."
Kneeling before the grave, Anna clasped her hands before her chest.
"O Goddess Eneonea, who governs the blessings of the sun, and O Water Spirit King, who governs healing and peace… in your names, grant these two a peaceful slumber…"
A hand was suddenly placed on Anna's shoulder. Surprised, she turned around to find a familiar smile.
"! …Ritz!"
"Yo!"
What greeted Anna's eyes when she turned was Ritz holding an armful of flowers. And in Franz's dirt-covered hands were also flowers. Had he fallen somewhere?
"What's with the flowers?"
She stood up and asked, and Ritz laughed.
"We just looked around a bit. Right, Franz?"
Franz nodded at Ritz's conclusive statement. For flowers just picked up from around here, Franz was quite dirty. Anna could tell he had gone to considerable trouble to find them.
More than anything, she was happy that they had remembered her words about wanting to decorate the graves with flowers. It made her heart warm.
"Thank you!"
The flowers she gladly accepted were not flashy and eye-catching like those for sale, but they had the modest and resilient beauty of wildflowers.
Somehow, their appearance seemed to suit the two of them well.
An assassin and his partner, a dark spirit user… both were existences from the shadows of the world.
But she was able to smile a little, thinking that if Laria were alive, she would have insisted that expensive flowers like roses suited her.
She looked at the flowers and sniffed their faint scent. But the stronger scent was that of the earth. Looking closely, she saw that all the flowers had roots.
"Are you going to plant these, Ritz?"
"Yeah. We won't be coming back here again."
"Oh…"
She had only stopped here because she had fallen into Stewart's trap on her journey.
Now that the deserted village had vanished, she realized for the first time that once she left this mansion, she might never find the location of this grave, let alone the mansion itself, again.
"So, if we plant the flowers, they'll always be here, right?"
"I see… you're right."
Anna murmured this with deep feeling. Ritz, with his long years of experience, knew this and had brought the wildflowers up by the roots.
"Let's plant them."
Franz prompted Anna, who had been absentmindedly thinking while holding the flowers. He placed the few stalks he held on Laria's grave and dug a hole a few centimeters deep.
"Okay."
Anna also crouched down again and helped. Of course, she also dug a few centimeters into Raven's grave and planted the flowers Ritz held.
A touch of color, however small, was added to the barren graves.
"I wonder if these will grow properly?"
"I hope they do."
Ritz, who had finished planting and lightly dusted the dirt from his hands, muttered this while still crouching. The flowers, having been picked a while ago, were drooping a little. That was probably the most he could say.
Franz also nodded. Anna wracked her brain, wanting to somehow keep these flowers alive, and then looked up.
"A little challenge."
Anna clasped her hands again.
"What are you doing?"
Anna smiled at the suspicious Ritz.
"Just watch."
Anna closed her eyes and slowly concentrated. Like Franz did, she slowly formed the image of water overflowing in her palm.
Then, a sphere of clear, sparkling water appeared on her hand.
"Oh, a water sphere."
Ritz said in an impressed tone.
"Yeah! I did it!"
So Anna could do it if she tried. She hadn't been able to grow because she hadn't tried before. She would try to work harder from now on.
She gently placed the sphere of water that overflowed in her palm on the ground, and the water spread out as if absorbed by the earth.
"You have to water flowers after planting them or they won't take root. What do you think? Will they take root?"
"It'll be fine. They'll take root eventually."
Ritz said this and once again clasped his hands before the two graves. Franz followed suit. As Anna watched them, she noticed a faint change in the flowers.
"Look, look!"
Ritz and Franz, who had raised their heads, stared at Anna.
"The flowers, they're starting to bloom!"
"Eh?"
Their gazes simultaneously turned to the flowers and remained fixed there. The flowers before them gradually began to lift their heads and open.
"…That's amazing."
Ritz also said nothing else and watched the flowers. Eventually, the flowers bloomed with a splendid brilliance.
"They'll be okay now, right!"
When she asked this happily, Ritz and Franz smiled and nodded. Perhaps the healing power contained in the water had had some effect on the flowers.
Gently touching the soft petals, Anna smelled the scent of the flowers. It was a refreshing fragrance.
Looking to the side, she noticed Ritz watching her with a gaze very similar to Anton's when he watched over her.
He seemed like a real father. But it felt a little different from a father. If Anna had an older brother, would he feel this warm?
"What's wrong?"
When Ritz asked her curiously, Anna shook her head. Suddenly, she remembered. Ritz cherished their current relationship and wished not to show his past self as a mercenary.
Certainly, Ritz as a mercenary was scary. She had trembled a little when she saw him in the labyrinth.
But the Ritz now wasn't scary at all. Even when he cut down Laria before her eyes, it was to protect them, so she didn't want to resent him or be afraid of him.
Anna closed her eyes.
When she was in Vishnu, she was a caretaker at the orphanage, and all she had to do was look after the children, and she never thought about her own growth.
But now, with Ritz watching over her and her fellow traveler Franz, she felt she could continue to grow forever.
Because of the two of them, the current Anna existed, and the future Anna would exist.
"Ritz, Franz."
When she called out to them, the two of them looked at Anna. Anna gave them her biggest smile.
"I love you both. Thank you."
"W-What's this all of a sudden…"
She had only conveyed her honest feelings, but Ritz got flustered and embarrassed. It seemed he wasn't good at being thanked.
In contrast to Ritz, Franz stared at Anna silently. He was probably thinking about various things too, she thought.
"…Right, let's go have dinner."
Anna and Franz watched Ritz's back as he walked down the hill, embarrassed. After Ritz was out of sight, Franz opened his mouth.
"I thought Ritz was irresponsible, careless, and thoughtless, but he's been carrying a lot on his shoulders."
"Yeah."
Anna just said that and nodded.
"I'm a little envious that Ritz has that kind of personality despite everything."
At Franz's words, Anna listened silently. Franz was surely thinking about various things. She wanted to hear about them.
They were probably both naive about the world.
"I wonder if I can live a detached life someday too?"
"So you can seem irresponsible, careless, and thoughtless?"
"No, that's not what I…"
Anna burst out laughing at Franz as he tried to correct himself.
"Just kidding~"
Franz glared at Anna, but she could see him visibly relax when their eyes met. Franz, too, was thinking about various things.
Anna was the same. In the same way, she also admired Ritz a little.
He didn't talk about it, but it seemed Ritz had a lot in his past. But she knew the warmth in his adult gaze as he properly protected and watched over Anna and Franz.
Someday, she hoped she could become someone who could help Ritz.
"Franz, let's go eat. Ritz, Ed-san, and Kenny-san are all probably waiting."
"…You're right."
Franz muttered and touched the jewel he always wore. Anna also gently touched her own jewel.
If not for this, their journey would not have begun. She would not have met so many people like this.
Anna smiled at the still-pensive Franz.
"Franz, hurry, hurry!"
Franz hurriedly followed Anna as she started to run down the hill.
…The wildflowers blooming on the two remaining graves swayed gently in the night wind.
This concludes volume 4. A mix of comedy and, I'd say, a more serious flavor. How was it? I hope you enjoyed it.
Now then, usually this is where we'd have our Dinner on the Road, but not this time.
Instead, the next volume, volume 5, will be three short stories for the first time since volume 1.
Starting in volume 5, the group will finally enter the Royal Capital Sears. And what stands in their way there is… their livelihood?
Volume 5, like always, will start in two days.
Look forward to it!!