Chapter 83 - The Primal Ruins
Today, we are exploring the Primal Ruins.
Since we were going anyway, we decided to all go together, matching it with Beowulf and Will's day off. There were eight of us in total, including Paul-san and Robinson-san.
With Beowulf and Will there, we could get speed with four people rowing. Beowulf has received river crossing training in the guards, and Will can do anything that involves moving her body. We also prepared lunch. We even bought offerings for the Goddess. We were fully prepared.
We launched the boat onto the lake and set off while being seen off by the goblins. Altocumulus clouds were floating in the sky, very much like autumn. There was a bit of wind, but it wasn't a problem for a four-oar boat.
The mist was drifting around the middle of the lake, so we headed straight for its center.
We arrived near the mist in about two hours. As planned, I sang a song praising the Goddess. Since there was mist, it felt somewhat chilly.
Perhaps everyone was nervous; except for the four rowing, everyone was gripping the edge of the boat.
For some reason, only Lyudmila was leaning out of the boat and looking at the water surface.
"Lyudmila, what's wrong? Are there fish?"
Beowulf called out, but she answered without even raising her face.
"There's nothing. I'm just looking at the water surface."
Well, that's fine. A researcher must have something on her mind.
While we were doing that, we plunged into the mist. The moist mist clung to our bodies, and we were completely covered.
It was a very thick mist. We could barely see inside the boat, and the surroundings were pure white. Looking up, we couldn't even tell the position of the sun.
Is it like this all year round...
I felt once again that it wasn't a natural mist.
"We can't see anything. Is it always like this?"
"It was like this when I came before too."
"At this rate, we won't be able to see an island even if there is one."
"Whether there is one or not, we won't reach it anyway."
"You don't know that. Jeanne is here. We even bought offerings."
Just because I'm here doesn't mean anything will change, but it's true that there's one active priest.
"Ah, the mist is clearing!"
We must have rowed for half an hour. Just when it was getting cold, Beatrix spoke up. The front became bright, the mist surrounding us thinned, and the warmth of the sun returned.
"I don't see an island."
Just as Beatrix said, we could see the distant shore. The sun was on the left. Before entering the mist, it had been on the right. It seemed the boat had turned halfway around without us noticing. The legends were correct.
"Lyudmila, did you find anything?"
I stopped my chanting and called out to Lyudmila, who was still sticking her face over the side and looking at the water surface. This time she turned toward us and crossed her arms.
"I don't know. But it seems it wasn't just the boat that turned."
Apparently, Lyudmila had been dangling a string with a piece of wood tied to it from the edge of the boat. She had been observing the piece of wood floating in the water. According to Lyudmila's argument, if only the boat had rotated, the distance between the boat and the piece of wood should have changed. However, it didn't change.
"The water surface must have moved together with it."
One of Lyudmila's theories was formed.
In that case, we rowed with two oars from near the mist. We decided to tie a rope to one oar, throw it into the lake, and proceed while pulling it. The rope was long enough that if hung from the roof of the Ghost Mansion, it would reach the ground. If the water surface was moving within a range narrower than the length of the rope, the rope should have crossed the boat. The result was that it didn't cross. Is the water surface moving over a range wider than the length of the rope...
We also tried tying a weight used for securing the boat to the rope and sinking it in the water to see if the rope would twist, and changing the direction we were heading while in the mist, but everything ended with the same result.
It's not a simple change of direction.
When Bonnie threw a stone with a sling, it came flying toward us from inside the mist.
There was an opinion that it might be [Teleport], but Beatrix and I gave our opinion that it felt intuitively different. After all, both of us have jumped many times with Marcelo-san. We didn't have that sensation of the world going pitch black for an instant.
Just as we were about to conclude that the barrier created by the Goddess was amazing, Paul-san added a word.
"Do you all know the Hand-holding Song?"
Of course we knew it. We sang it often at the orphanage. It was a song we all sang while holding hands during play or on excursions... though excursions only meant going to the banks of the Nakanohara River or the eastern fields by the main gate.
He told us to sing it, so we all sang.
"When light is seen from the window
The four gates open their mouths, and the gray bird spread its wings
At the southern gate, it is roasted; at the northern gate, it is drenched
At the eastern gate, it is blown away; at the western gate, it is buried
The one from above was a white bird; the one from below was a black bird
Hold hands with the gray bird, and if you let go, it's goodbye."
"There's a rumor that the secret of the Primal Ruins is hidden in this song."
He started saying something outrageous. He said it's rumored that a secret is hidden in a song that all children have been able to sing since long ago—meaning almost everyone, including adults, knows it. If that's the case, wouldn't it not be a secret anymore?
"That kind of story often appears in fairy tales, doesn't it?"
Beatrix was laughing. Well, she'd want to laugh.
"In other words, the author of this song imitated a fairy tale?"
Will, I think it's the other way around.
"I said there is one Primal Ruins but three fakes, right? If you combine one and three, that's four. The song says there are four gates. If the gates are the entrances to the ruins, wouldn't the numbers match? One of them might be the ruins here."
"Even if that's the case, what does the song mean?"
"That is completely unknown."
I feel like it's a meaningless discussion.
"Assuming there are four ruins, is the ruins here the northern gate that gets drenched?"
Beowulf's point might have some merit. After all, it's in the middle of a lake.
"That might be so. In any case, the problem is the very beginning."
"When light is seen from the window... the four gates open, right?"
"That's right, Bonnie. 'Opening their mouths' probably means the gates open."
"Then, it means if we come here when light is seen from the window, we can go inside."
"I think it's as Beatrix says, but we don't know when that time is. Including where the window is."
Everyone became serious. Looking at Beowulf, she was tilting her head as if she didn't understand at all.
"In fairy tales, it's usually when a certain treasure is placed in a designated spot and the treasure shines and light hits it, or when the morning sun is seen from the window of a stone ruin during the summer or winter solstice, right?"
I've read many of those kinds of fairy tales. If the author got hints from actual legends, wouldn't it be close?
"Since light shines from a window, isn't it when the morning sun rises?"
"Even at dusk, if you light a lamp, light shines from the house window toward the outside~."
Everyone started speaking at once.
"For now, nothing is known. We don't even know if the song really hides a secret."
It's a circular argument.
"I might know~."
It was Bonnie.
"Maybe we just need to get drenched? Like swimming or something."
"I tried that too. I just went into the water and came back."
In his youth, he apparently tried everything he could think of together with the owner of the Mountain Bounty Pavilion. He said he tried to proceed while blowing away the mist with wind magic, but the mist here doesn't move even with Paul-san's wind magic. Just to test it, Beatrix released a [Fire Ball], but it disappeared the moment it touched the mist.
"It's a barrier created by the Goddess, after all. It won't be broken easily."
It ended with a very simple conclusion.
"That aside, what should we do with the offerings?"
As a priest, that's my concern. Since we bought them, I want to offer them.
"Ah, that's fine. You brought the raft, right? If you just put the offerings on that and let it flow toward the mist, they'll be accepted."
"?"
The raft was a small thing about the width of a person's chest, made by combining wooden sticks and boards. Paul-san had brought it for us. He said that church priests sometimes float offerings, and they never come back.
When we actually floated the raft on the water, put the offerings on it, and pushed it toward the mist, it didn't come back.
"Shall we try chasing it?" said an impious wizard, but "I chased it but couldn't catch up," replied an even more impious wizard.
In any case, since we also put a wooden tag with our wishes on it, it's fine as long as it was accepted.
Wait a minute...
"Since it's the Hand-holding Song, let's try holding hands."
When singing this song at the orphanage, everyone, including the teachers, had to hold hands. You don't hold hands to sing the song; you sing the song when you have to hold hands.
"It says 'if you let go, it's goodbye,' right? Doesn't that mean if you hold hands, it's 'hello'?"
"Come to think of it, it is the Hand-holding Song," everyone nodded.
"Then, shall we all hold hands and proceed while singing the song?"
At Paul-san's lead, everyone got excited saying "Yeah, yeah," and tried holding hands, then suddenly realized.
"So, who's going to row?"
Will...
I might not have wanted to be told that by you of all people...
In the end, my brilliant idea was blocked by the technical wall of losing the rowers and was not realized. We had a strategy meeting while eating lunch.
The opinion even came up that we should all hold hands and swim. However, we didn't know such a swimming style. Also, a cautious view was expressed: what would we do if we abandoned the boat and swam and it was a failure? If the boat was carried far away by the wind, we would drown.
Reluctantly, we decided to go home for the day and try again after making sufficient preparations. I don't know what kind of preparations, but Paul-san and Lyudmila were talking happily about something, so I'm sure it'll work out somehow.
On the way back, the topic of where the remaining three were also came up. Apparently, there's a rumor about only one of them. It's said to be the temple of the Ruined City. There's a story that there's a vast catacomb. If the gate here is the northern gate, it probably corresponds to the western gate that gets buried... I somehow understood.
"If that's the case, the center would be the border with Engrio. Nothing like that has been found yet, but something might be found eventually."
"Is there something in the center?"
"In these kinds of things, it's standard for something to be buried in the center."
I don't know if the Goddess would follow the standards of mere humans, but I would like to go.
"Was there no such legend in Robinson-san's country?"
"I haven't heard anything. I was just taught about it for the first time just now."
It seems he didn't even know the Hand-holding Song itself.
"Could it be that it's only a story in Sertoria?"
"There's the Border Forest south of Nakanohara, right? It seems people around that forest in other countries know it too. In Sertoria, everyone in the country knows it because the first king was from Nakanohara."
He explained by naming various places. Hmmm. Everyone nodded, but except for Paul-san, they were all people with no sense of the local geography. It didn't get lively. That topic ended right there.
It ended up being vague, but I think it's good just to know that there are mysterious powers in this world. People fear such powers. That fear becomes awe toward the Goddess who created everything, including those things, and leads to faith.
"After all, the power of the Goddess must be beyond the measure of us humans."
I tried to wrap it up nicely like a priest, but...
"Since Jeanne has finally come up with a clue to break the barrier, let's definitely break through next time!"
I decided not to see everyone nodding at the words of the crazy wizard who was renewing his determination.