Chapter 153 - Episode 4: The Haunted Fort (3)
Marcelo-san arrived.
Or rather, he jumped here via Teleport.
"Flora is watching us from the tower. Mel will give a signal once she reaches the target, so please do your best until then."
This time, Marcelo-san gave the instructions for adjustment.
"Just what exactly am I illuminating?"
"A single building, apparently."
"A building?"
"Yes. Most likely, the one she wants us to save is the person inside, wouldn't you say?"
Wait a minute. That's a tall order.
"Um, is that person still alive today?"
"Who knows? Since it was Henry-sama's first campaign, that would be nearly fifty years ago. If they were ill or something back then, it might be difficult."
Forget being ill; if they were over thirty at the time, they'd likely have reached the end of their natural lifespan even if they were healthy. I've never met anyone who lived past eighty. At most, people live into their seventies. Henry-sama and the others are supposedly over sixty, but they're abnormal people worthy of being called heroes.
Could we really save them?
"I found it. It's the building next to the church."
Mel returned.
"Is the light no longer needed?"
"It's fine. Let's contact Flora."
When Marcelo-san waved his torch, the flame atop the tower also went out. The ghost didn't disappear; she remained standing there. Her smiling face vanished, and she returned to the same expressionless state she had when she first appeared.
I wonder... she must have heard the conversation between Marcelo-san and me.
"It was right next to the church. There were lots of children there. They were all asleep."
I see, an orphanage. If the residential area next to the church is an orphanage, it's the same as in Nakanohara.
"Was the ghost afraid of the children in the orphanage being exposed to the fires of war?"
"I want you to save them. If you save them, I'll tell you."
Can I take this as an affirmative response to Marcelo-san?
"We won't know about the events of that time unless we ask Henry-sama and the others. They should be arriving soon, so let's have them tell us."
Henry-sama brought everyone along. Immediately, we had him tell the story of that time in front of the ghost.
"The battle back then was divided into three stages. First was the field battle, then the occupation of the village, and finally the siege of the fort."
Apparently, the field battle was out of the question. The numbers were fundamentally different. Without even a light skirmish, the enemy seemed to have scattered and fled. Most of them were likely peasant conscripts.
The problem was the battle for the village and the fort; one couldn't reach the fort without breaking through the village. The village, surrounded by stone walls, served as an outpost for the fort.
"It is the policy of Sertoria. No matter the sect, we never lay a hand on a church."
Through prior negotiations, the church priests and the orphans managed by the church were reportedly evacuated. Afterward, they conducted a river-crossing battle from the opposite bank toward the fortified grassland between the village and the fort. Having succeeded in severing the connection between the village and the fort, the village was apparently occupied without bloodshed. While it seems there were considerable casualties on one side, the village itself was safe.
"Therefore, the orphanage is safe. By the time the siege of the fort began, the villagers were all living in their own homes. Of course, soldiers were stationed for surveillance and their movements were restricted, so they were inconvenienced."
In that case, it should be fine. The ghost should be satisfied too.
"Next, let's have her see the actual thing."
"The actual thing?"
According to Marcelo-san, the ghost won't be convinced by words alone.
What should we show her? The orphanage itself is visible. The children from back then would be quite elderly now. There might not be a trace or shadow left of how they looked as children.
"For now, shall we go to the orphanage together? If we wait a little longer, the early morning prayers will begin."
"What are you going to show her?"
"Records. The church should have records of admissions and departures. If the village was occupied without bloodshed, they shouldn't have been lost. We'll show those records to this ghost and have her confirm that the orphanage was safe. We will move forward the time that has remained stopped for her."
As expected of a specialist. The records of the church and orphanage are more accurate than the family registers filed at the town hall. If she reads those, the ghost will surely be convinced.
"Well then, shall we drink?" Henry-sama said as he sat down on the spot, and wine was produced. It seemed the tension had eased now that there was a prospect of her passing on. Marcelo-san was also smiling. For the time being, everyone sat down.
"Um, what should we do about the ghost?"
"She should drink with us."
She's going to drink?
Thinking I'd give it a try, I handed her a bowl filled with wine, and to my surprise, she began to drink.
"Oh, so you can hold your liquor. Well, drink up."
As encouraged, she sat down next to me and drank. It would be a problem if she got drunk, though... Or do ghosts not get drunk? Dune was watching with interest. Surely she doesn't intend to have a drinking contest between a spirit and a ghost.
Fortunately, the silent ghost didn't challenge the drinking contest queen, Dune, and it ended with everyone emptying about two bottles of wine. Beatrix's eyes looked a bit suspicious for some reason, but it should be fine.
"It's about time. Shall we go?"
At Marcelo-san's words, everyone stood up. The ghost also stood up and followed us on the path to the village. Beatrix had passed out and was being carried on Will's back, but there shouldn't be any problems.
"It seems the ghost understands too."
She's following behind us.
"No, she's likely following behind Jeanne."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, a ghost only trusts those they have acknowledged. In this place, I believe it's only Jeanne."
"She's quite taken with you, isn't she?" he laughed, oblivious to my feelings. But why would she trust me, someone she just met?
"Can you understand what I'm saying?"
When I asked, she nodded. Perhaps because of the alcohol, the variety of her expressions seemed to have increased. She might be drunk.
"Why me?"
Suddenly, she reached out and touched my neck.
"Eh? What?"
I thought her hand was quite cold, and then the shell pendant I received at the beach was pulled out from my collar.
"Is it... because of this?"
Because she cares about the children of the orphanage, she recognized the pendant made by one of them. And so, she felt I could be trusted...
"That pendant was given to you by a child from the orphanage, wasn't it? I was watching. At first, you called out to a child who was playing alone and encouraged them to play with everyone else. I understand well, as I am also from an orphanage. When there's a caring person like you around, children who have just arrived are greatly helped."
Come to think of it, Marcelo-san was also from an orphanage.
I was born and raised in an orphanage and served as an acolyte, so I thought of it as a natural duty, but if it resulted in the ghost trusting me, then that was good in its own way.
"Perhaps the ghost was also from an orphanage and fulfilled such a role."
"But why would a girl like that be in a siege..."
"She might have been employed as a servant. I don't know when or how she died, but there's a high possibility she passed away during the siege or just before it."
Henry-sama and Eleanor-sama hung their heads. It's likely because they involved civilians.
However, if they weren't using catapults and were just charging in with cavalry to break the outer walls and main gate, it's unlikely that the people working in the manor would die so easily...
"The ghost has no external injuries. If she had died from a wound, the clothes on the injured part would be torn and the wound would be visible. At the very least, it wasn't caused by a weapon or attack magic. She isn't emaciated, so it wasn't starvation from a food shortage. Her body isn't bloated, so it doesn't seem to be drowning. Since she's wearing white clothes, there's a high possibility she died of illness."
Apparently, ghosts who were killed tend to emphasize their cause of death. Especially ghosts who died on the battlefield; they might be wearing armor or be headless, so their appearance is supposedly quite... something.
"But why in the tower..."
And why was she staring at the sea?
"A servant wouldn't go up to the main gate during a siege. But they might be able to go up a tower near the sea where there are no enemies. Besides, the places from which the orphanage is visible from the fort would be the watchtower of the main gate or the top of a tower. I don't know the reason she was looking at the sea. It might be related to what she's going to tell us."
"Is that so?"
When I asked the ghost, she looked away. Tsk, she didn't take the bait.
We went to the orphanage and knocked on the front door. Even if it's an orphanage, it's a church facility. We couldn't just barge in with a large group. I felt bad, but I asked everyone to wait outside and decided to go in with Marcelo-san and the ghost.
A female priest came out. She was a different person from the one I met at the beach.
"How can I help you?"
"I'm truly sorry for the late hour. Actually..."
I explained the situation and introduced the ghost.
"Oh my..."
She looked like she was about to faint, but Marcelo-san supported her. After that, although quiet, it became a bit of a commotion.
I spoke to the teachers at the orphanage and introduced the ghost. As expected of priests, they seemed flustered at first, but they grasped the situation and brought out the ledger containing the records of the orphans.
When we showed it to the ghost, she seemed satisfied.
"They were saved. Thank you."
Saying that, she smiled brightly, said "See you tomorrow," and vanished.
"Eh? Tomorrow again?"
"There must be a continuation. Shall we rest in preparation for tomorrow?"
For some reason, Marcelo-san seemed to be having fun.
Since the ghost had vanished, there was no point in staying with the orphanage teachers. The teachers had their early morning duties. We decided to visit again at dawn to examine the details of the records, and after offering our polite thanks, I explained the situation to everyone waiting outside, and we returned to the fort.
The next day.
I had Dune and Mel go back for a while, asked Henry-sama and Eleanor-sama to refrain from coming, and went to the church with only the Marcelo Company. The children seemed to remember us; they waved while watching from a distance.
Unfortunately, there was no fluffy form, so I had Beatrix and Will distribute the sweets provided by Henry-sama, and had them ride on Paul-san's bowl.
The investigation team consisted of Marcelo-san and me. Since the ghost looked to be in her late teens, we went back through the records from the fall of the fort to twenty years prior and copied down the names and ages of the orphans. Afterward, we joined up with Henry-sama and the others, went to the town hall to check for those still living, and began identifying the person who seemed to be the ghost's true identity.
Henry-sama and Eleanor-sama were there. For the investigation at the town hall, the village chief himself was present, and all the town hall staff cooperated.
We had the town hall call in those who were orphans at the time or worked at the fort and were still living in the village, and showed them the portrait of the ghost that Beatrix had drawn. Through that process, the ghost's identity was revealed.
The ghost's name was Fiona. She died at the age of seventeen. She was born on a certain island in Uminohara and moved here with her family. Her father was apparently a knight serving the lord of the island. I don't know why they moved. They might have been defeated by Sertoria and fled. There are several islands in Uminohara, and it's said that each relatively large island had its own lord. The third king conquered them, and the islands became part of Sertoria.
In any case, they moved here. Afterward, she served as a servant for the former lord, primarily as a lady-in-waiting for the Okugata-sama, but it seems she was also tasked with looking after the orphanage. Records of her visits remained.
Donations to the orphanage are mostly made in the name of the Queen or the Okugata-sama. She must have been acting as a representative. The ghost seemed to be a caring person and was apparently beloved by the children. Later, she fell ill at a young age. It seems she passed away just around the time the river-crossing battle began. I wonder if she died while worrying that the orphanage would be exposed to the fires of war during the battle for the village. Her family apparently fled to the continent following the former lord.
Her grave was behind the chapel of the fort. Both her birth and death years matched the records at the town hall. I asked Henry-sama for permission to offer flowers.
Since it was in the midst of battle, the prayers were likely a simplified version. It's even doubtful if a priest was present. Marcelo-san's speculation is that her soul, which had wandered with lingering regrets, became visible to people as a ghost following the fall of the fort.
We did as much as we could during the day. It seemed she was looking toward the horizon from the tower, but we couldn't figure out why. All that's left is to wait for her to appear at night. I don't know what she'll tell us, but it must be something related to the sea.
"They were saved" served as the conclusion to her words "I want you to save them." All that's left is to hear the content of her words "I'll tell you."