Chapter 157 - Sixth Story: To Uminohara ③
Paul-san, with a rope tied around his body, emerged from the seawater pond.
In his mouth, he was holding Marcelo-san's silver knife.
Since I had submerged four [Light] orbs at full brightness into the pond, he didn't seem to have gotten lost.
"As expected, it was connected to the sea. It came out into the ocean further outside the rocky shore. The exit hole was small, barely enough for one person to pass through. Most likely, an octopus that wandered in became a monster here."
Apparently, there were large fish and shrimp. The entire pond is like a trap for catching fish.
"It's like a fish preserve. If we set nets, we could catch as many fish as we want."
After deciding to catch fish and shrimp and have a village-wide banquet once the octopus was transported, we decided to check the stone chest on the altar.
Paul-san crossed the pond by using [Wind Barrier] as a lid.
Eleanor-sama easily moved the quite heavy lid, and when she checked inside, a single crystal rod about the size of a thumb came out.
"It has a beautiful shape, though."
Henry-sama also seemed underwhelmed.
Beautiful hexagonal ones are rare and expensive, but this one is quite small. It's incomparable to ten gold coins. I'm sure the Marcelo Company sells clusters of five or six larger hexagons for a few silver coins. Spheres are far more expensive.
"Does that mean it's above?"
"Most likely. We'll probably use this crystal."
Somehow, it's starting to feel like a real fairy tale development.
Carrying the box with gold coins and the crystal, we returned to the intersection of the paths.
When Paul-san collapsed the ceiling with earth magic, a large stone fell with a thud.
If a person had been digging straight up by hand, they would have died.
A vertical hole leading downward had opened where the stone fell from.
It fit perfectly and went rolling down just like that. When I went to check with Paul-san, it had fallen into the pond.
"To think there was such a mechanism. Just what is here?"
The Bishop was also surprised.
"Perhaps even the octopus was something planted here."
According to Eleanor-sama's explanation, once an octopus becomes a monster and grows large, it can no longer get out. As for food, fish wander in, so it never runs out. If you plug the exit to the sea, throw in a captured octopus, and then pull the plug from the outside after it grows large, one monster guardian is ready.
But even if that were the case, what could be the meaning of the octopus guarding just one crystal?
I sent a Firefly toward the hole in the ceiling. The hole should be extending toward the rocky shore. I illuminated the direction the hole extended with maximum light to see what was happening.
Since nothing changed, we decided to go up using Paul-san's [Wind Barrier].
As we proceeded through an unremarkable cave, we indeed came out into a wide space. There is an altar here as well.
Light was shining onto the altar from the right side as seen from the entrance, and there was a hexagonal hole in the middle.
The person who made this has read too many fairy tales.
"Oh! There is a hole in a place like this! It's a hexagon! A hexagon!"
While listening to the Bishop's joyful voice, we all took turns looking in the direction the light was coming from, and we could see the sky through two vertically aligned holes.
Eleanor-sama, having finished examining the altar, put the hexagon into the hole. About half of it was buried in the hole, and the part sticking out of the hole was visible.
Unfortunately, the light shining from the hole was not hitting it directly.
Now, something should happen, but of course, it's not that easy.
"Nothing is happening."
Wilson-san poked the hexagon.
"It's a matter of what to do with this crystal."
Eleanor-sama was gazing at the altar.
"Is this the right thing to insert into this hole?"
I asked, and apparently, the hexagon is correct.
"Since they went as far as planting an octopus to guard it, this must be it."
Paul-san said so too, but...
"Jeanne. Please try illuminating this crystal."
Told by Eleanor-sama, I illuminated it from various angles, but still, nothing happened. Even when I changed the orientation of the hexagon in various ways, it was still no good.
"Could it be that the timing is wrong?"
Marcelo-san said that holes where light shines onto such altars are often made to align with the summer or winter solstice.
Assuming there's a hole due south, the upper hole would be for the summer solstice and the lower hole for the winter solstice.
In other words, at those times, the sun would come directly in front of the hole and illuminate it with strong light. However, unfortunately, it is now November. The winter solstice is a month away.
"In that case, let's investigate the angle connecting this crystal and the hole, and the angle of tomorrow's sun, and then come back again on next month's winter solstice."
Paul-san tried to wrap things up, but...
That wouldn't make sense.
"But is there a need to hide it with such a mechanism?"
In the first place, we wouldn't make it in time for the family's crisis.
Everyone started saying that was true too, but even so, we didn't know what to do.
Everyone just stood there with arms crossed, groaning.
"Perhaps this altar and the crystal themselves are the legacy."
Marcelo-san suddenly spoke up.
"It's common for an altar to be a sundial. They knew the seasons accurately and knew when to sow seeds or harvest. In other words, this is just an altar and not the main thing."
Does that mean there's another place elsewhere?
That's a hassle.
I pulled it out of the hole and examined it while illuminating it with [Light].
It looks like an ordinary crystal.
"Hey, what's on the other side of the hole?"
This time, Mel spoke up.
"Isn't it the sea? It might be a cliff."
As Paul-san said, it might be in the middle of a precipice.
Otherwise, if it were on the ground, it might get blocked by some chance.
"Shall I go and see?"
Mel suggested.
"How do you intend to go?"
Without answering the Bishop's question, she took her spirit form and flew to the other side of the hole.
I took the hand of the Bishop, who was almost fainting from shock, and led him to a corner.
After apologizing for keeping it a secret until now, I confessed that I was personally friends with a wind spirit.
The content of a personal confession cannot be spoken to others by a priest; this should be enough to keep him quiet.
Since everyone was pretending not to notice, the Bishop seemed to have understood.
"Priest Jeanne. May the Goddess's blessing be upon you."
After a few exchanges, he said the promised line and established the confession.
After a while, Mel returned.
She was a bit excited.
"I found out!"
When I asked what it was like, she said there was a shrine above.
"A shrine?"
"Yes. This place sticks out into the sea. It's sea on three sides. A precipice. A small shrine made by digging into a rock shelf in the middle of that precipice. But there's no wall in front. That's why light comes in here."
Certainly, if there were a wall, light wouldn't come in.
"And you know what? There was another shrine on the precipice. Right below here. There was no entrance so I couldn't go inside, but I'm sure there's something behind the shrine."
When I asked how high it was, she replied that it was probably about the same as the middle hole.
I see, I've got it.
"The middle hole was echoing with the sound of waves. I think the wall is thin. Could it be that the stone that fell earlier would have rolled straight into the middle hole if we hadn't dug the lower hole? And then it would have hit the wall..."
Surely, the round stone that fell from the hole above would break a wall thin enough to transmit the sound of waves.
And then, we could come out behind the shrine that Mel found. I'm sure there must be something there.
We all went immediately.
Since the round stone could no longer be used, Paul-san tried to break it with magic, but it wouldn't break.
"This is no ordinary rock."
When Eleanor-sama examined it, it seemed a powerful magical barrier had been placed.
Everyone looked at Henry-sama.
There would be no one else who could break rock with a sword.
"Will. Give it a try."
Will, who was nominated by Henry-sama, took Henry-sama's silver sword. It's apparently a masterpiece that defeated the Demon Lord.
"Jeanne. Cast [Defend] on me."
I harden her body so she won't get hurt.
I wonder if, surely...
She steadied her breathing, and as soon as she drew the sword, with a shout of spirit...
No, she charged.
As expected. I wonder if she even used the sword she drew...
There was a sound of a violent collision, and at the same time, the rock crumbled away.
"Splendid. To think you would charge with such momentum against a rock."
Even Henry-sama was wide-eyed.
While everyone was applauding, Will raised her hand in response.
The moment she turned around and stepped inside, she let out a scream and vanished.
What!
When I hurriedly went to see what happened, she had fallen into a hole and was lying there.
"Kyaa!"
When I hurriedly pulled her up, she was just unconscious.
It seems she hit her head when she fell. A bump has formed.
I recovered her with [Heal], and after having the Bishop examine her as well, she received a verdict of no problem, but...
"Between that charge earlier and this, should I say she's amazing, or is she a bit... well, in any case, she is a rare individual."
I decided to pretend I didn't hear Henry-sama's subtle critique.
When we went inside, it was like a hidden room.
The hole Will fell into must have been designed for the round stone to fall into.
Marcelo-san said that the sound of waves had been reflecting in this hole and echoing against the rock wall.
If it weren't for Mel, we wouldn't have noticed.
After having a floor made with [Wind Barrier], we went further in and, as expected, there was an altar.
This time, the hexagonal insertion slot was nowhere to be found.
When we all searched around, the insertion slot was found.
It was on the back of the altar. It seems it's inserted horizontally rather than from above.
It looks like a round hole, but the back is hexagonal.
Will inserts it. Nothing happens, but when she gives it a turn, there's a click.
Finally, something happened.
As we were pushing and pulling here and there, the top plate of the altar opened like the lid of a box.
Apparently, the hexagon was a key.
Inside, there were several rolled-up pieces of parchment.
They were densely covered with writing.
"That should be enough for today. We'll continue after we've confirmed the contents of these parchments."
Eleanor-sama is probably right.
Once we returned to the church, we transported the octopus, which had been cut up by all the priests, to a hut near the rocky shore that would serve as our base.
We also caught shrimp and fish, called the villagers, and had a banquet together.
Henry-sama and the others seemed to be famous thanks to the octopus exterminations they do from time to time, and they were receiving greetings from various people.
The previous lord was a kind person who cared for his people, so even after it became Sertoria, he put a lot of heart into things.
Henry-sama and the others, who usually hide their identities, apparently reveal their status on the islands around here.
They seem to exchange drinks and listen to stories not only from the village head but also from the general public at banquets.
The islanders, being fishermen on small islands, originally had almost no status differences, so there was resistance at first.
The turning point for the islanders' attitude was when, during the battle in the eastern part of the Royal Capital region, the former lords of the islands who had holed up in the fortress were allowed to escape without being killed. Whether they gave up on the former lords or abandoned them... Gradually, those who resisted disappeared, years passed, generations changed, and now they invite them to banquets after octopus exterminations.
This time, Fiona's ghost is also here.
The elderly people who had heard the story secretly from the Bishop also felt nostalgic and joined in the excitement.
The next day, while Eleanor-sama and the others were investigating, Fiona showed me around the island for the whole day. Riding on Paul-san's bowl, we saw the rocky area connected to the octopus pond and the shrine Mel found from the outside. Since it was in a hollow in the precipice, it was designed so that you wouldn't know just by looking from a boat.
Around the time we were eating dinner back at the inn, there was word that they had roughly deciphered it, so we decided to listen while eating.
"That upper altar where you insert the crystal was indeed for accurately knowing the summer and winter solstices. Also, the method for raising and defeating octopuses and recipes for preserved food were written there."
What is she saying?
Fiona is also dumbfounded.
In a family crisis, the method for raising octopuses doesn't matter at all.
"I see. So what was the main thing?"
The Bishop asks.
"The method for raising and defeating octopuses. Raising octopuses is for making them into dried food to sell to the continent. As for how to defeat them, it seems good to make a sleeping potion and scatter it in that fish preserve, and it seems you blend medicinal herbs and mushrooms that grow on the island."
"Now, now, Eleanor-sama, you're being mischievous. Even though I am old, I won't be fooled so easily."
Somehow, this exchange has already happened once.
Eleanor-sama is also troubled, but it's certainly a good medicine.
In the end, Wilson-san and Marcelo-san explained that Eleanor-sama's story was correct, and the Bishop finally decided to believe it.
However, if it's true, it's true, and there's a problem.
Fiona has frozen up at the anticlimactic nature of the story.
She probably couldn't get the sense of achievement needed for a ghost to ascend.
"Fiona. Thank you. Thanks to you, one risk of the islanders starving has been reduced."
She is nodding quietly at Eleanor-sama's voice. She seems to have returned to how she was when we first met. There is no life in her eyes like when she was about to depart.
"I told you, but I wasn't useful to Jeanne, who helped me."
She muttered.
This is bad. She'll go back to the way she was.
"Thirty gold coins were found, and a way for the villagers' lives to stabilize was found. For me, a priest who is obligated to receive donations, it's the best reward."
"That's right. If it's okay with Fiona, I intend to set up an entrance to the hole outside the church so that the villagers can freely use the sundial, the winter and summer solstices, and the octopus fishing. If we do that, as Priest Jeanne said, it will be a wonderful devotion."
The Bishop is also supporting her, but it's not going well.
If the intention to ascend disappears from Fiona, it will become a forced measure. If things go poorly, it'll be an extermination.
"Fiona, listen to me."
Wilson-san began to speak.
"The parchment also contained recipes for preserved food from captured octopuses. It's said to be extremely rare for such things to remain. Then, why were they left? Pickled and dried octopus would sell for a high price if taken to the continent. However, this island was subordinate to the lord of the Uminohara district, and if that were known, there was a high possibility it would be seized as tax in kind. In other words, smuggling."
Now that it's Sertoria, there are no status differences, but of course, there were in the past. The collection of taxes from commoners was harsh, and they were apparently collected under various pretexts.
Wilson-san's story continues.
"Even if an octopus that appeared outside was defeated, it would immediately become a rumor, and in the end, it would be seized by the lord on the opposite shore. In Fiona's family, they were secretly raising octopuses in an artificial cave. After defeating them, they processed them and gained profit through smuggling. That was probably led by the lord and was also returned to the islanders to some extent. Naturally, it was a secret of the island. That's why this parchment had to be kept in a safe place."
According to Wilson-san's story, the islanders knew how to make the preserved octopus food. Apparently, Fiona's father taught them when he left the island. As proof, a considerable amount of pickled and dried octopus was always kept at the village office, waiting for the time of shipment.
The islanders at that time could not read. It would have been meaningless to give them the parchment. I wonder if they kept the fish preserve in the cave a secret because they intended to return eventually...
Now that it's Sertoria, even if it becomes public, it won't be newly seized as tax revenue. It's apparently being traded appropriately as a kingdom-certified export item.
The territory of old Sertoria was a collection of small lords until the current royal family unified it. Such small lords used to collect taxes by creating pretexts. Since the households were small, even a small tax increase would affect their lives. Concerned about that, the lord of the island apparently took the lead in smuggling.
Wilson-san concluded by saying that Fiona's father and those he served must have been good lords for the village. They had their hands in such crimes, so to speak, to protect the lives of the poor.
He finished his story, but...
"If the people of the village already knew, it was meaningless to tell Jeanne, who helped me..."
He delivered the finishing blow.
Even the heroic tale of ancestors protecting the people seems irrelevant.
Fiona has become increasingly pale.
This is bad, I wonder if, surely, it won't be a joke if she becomes a vengeful spirit at worst.
"Can't Fiona ascend?"
Beatrix asked in a carefree voice. Why is she so relaxed?
"That's right. The person themselves must feel that they have achieved their goal. If it stays like this, it will be a forced ascension that she doesn't want, which is the same as extermination. It's meaningless unless she ascends with a peaceful feeling."
"Can't she go to heaven?"
"I don't know. She might lose her ego and wander in this world. If that happens, she'll be no different from a monster."
As a priest, I hate that. And a forced ascension, if the person resists, involves attacking with [Holy] to weaken them first. It leaves a bad aftertaste.
"Then why don't you stay together for a while longer?"
"Hah?"
What is she saying? Is this mage an apostate?
"You want to go to the other side of the horizon too, right? Well, that might be impossible, but you can just spend some time together and have various experiences. Your life ended at seventeen, so it might be okay to spend your remaining years leisurely as a ghost."
Hey. You don't call those "remaining years."
She said something outrageous, but Fiona, who had been looking down, raised her face.
"Is it okay?"
A bit of life returned to her eyes.
"It's okay, it's okay. Among our friends, we have spirits, a Revenant, and a small bird. At this point, one or two ghosts increasing won't be a problem."
"Umu. The house we live in is called the Ghost Mansion, but there are no ghosts. It would be just right if a real one came."
Will jumped in, and the conversation proceeded toward living together.
What about the people who are scared?
"Even a ghost is the same as a human; if you try to get along, you can. In short, it's just a matter of getting used to it, getting used to it."
The mage who knows no fear says something quite carefree.
Marcelo-san, who had a stiff expression until just a moment ago, is also smiling.
"Fiona. How about it?"
When the Bishop asked, she bowed her head to me, saying, "I look forward to working with you." Her complexion is good, and strength has returned to her eyes. Perhaps because she is shy, I feel her face is a bit red.
In the end, I was told by the Bishop, "I'm counting on you for Fiona."
Now that it's come to this, I can't refuse.
The person herself wants it too.
In short, it means I should take her here and there until she is satisfied.
It can't be helped. This is also a priest's duty.
"Well then, Fiona. I'll be counting on you for a while."
When we hugged, Fiona's body felt somewhat warm.