13 - The Witch of Waiyakku Valley
The bottom of the ravine, flanked by sheer cliffs on both sides, was a slightly mysterious place. Outside the ravine there were only trees that had already shed their leaves, but the trees at the valley bottom were thick with deep green foliage, and it was a bit too warm to be called early spring. Looking up at the sky, the rock walls were hazy white, their tops invisible. Rather than clouds, it was probably dense fog. The path here had been shrouded in thick fog as well.
...How wide is the gap between these cliffs, anyway? It'd be tough to build a bridge. It's so vast.
I was looking around restlessly, full of curiosity about everything, but Leonardo seemed to find nothing unusual about it at all, and kept his horse moving while staring straight ahead. After passing through a grove that was nearly a forest and reaching the cliff on the opposite side, a single house built against the cliff came into view. Though it was a house in a remote place at the valley bottom, it even had a small garden, a field that looked like a vegetable patch, and outbuildings that appeared to be a livestock shed and a storehouse.
...A house finer than our village chief's.
That was the first thought that came to mind. The village chief had boasted that his was the finest house in the village, but it was a "fine" house that fell short of even this solitary dwelling at the bottom of the valley.
When we reached the house, Leonardo dismounted from his horse. Without hesitation, he opened the fence gate on his own and entered the grounds, horse and all.
"Pardon the intrusion..."
I muttered quietly in Japanese, as if to cover up the awkwardness of trespassing. Because I was wearing a mask, my small voice was not picked up by anyone.
When we came before the house, the horse was unhitched from the cart. The cart's knight, who had accompanied us this far, also seemed to be unloading the luggage and returning to the fortress.
"...I'm sorry."
Seeing off the knight as he rode away, I looked up at Leonardo's back and apologized in a small voice. Leonardo, suddenly apologized to, looked down at me with a puzzled expression.
"Leonyaldo-san, really, work, want to go back. My fault, can't go back. I'm sorry."
In trying to comfort me after I had cried shamefully like a child, Leonardo had ended up picking me up, and because of that, suspecting infection from the disease, he had to seclude himself in the valley. It was a situation that might have been avoided if I hadn't carelessly lost control and started crying. As a knight, he was someone who should be at the center giving orders at the fortress, and I feel terrible for confining him to a remote place far from that center. I truly do feel sorry.
...Though I also think it's a little reassuring not to be alone. I'm sorry.
Guilty yet reassured. Feeling deeply conflicted, I gazed at Leonardo's face.
"...Well, I do need to talk with Tina properly, after all. I'll just think of it as having the time for that now. As for the fortress, it'll be fine leaving it to Alf."
"Talk?"
"About what comes next for Tina, about Lord Saromon... there are various things we need to discuss."
Seeing Leonardo count off on his fingers the matters that needed discussion, I was struck by how this man truly intended to take responsibility for my life. It may be rude to say this, but for me, carrying memories of having lived in modern Japan where nuclear families had become the norm and individualistic people had increased, I could not understand Leonardo's all-too-resolute commitment.
Leonardo called me "the child of my benefactor," but in short, I was just a stranger.
Normally, after the death of the father who was one's benefactor, one would give some suitable explanation and cast the child aside.
...You seriously meant to look after a complete stranger, Leonardo-san. It's a help to me, but is that really okay? Taking care of a single child is quite a demanding thing, I think.
Of course, since I'm not just a child, I can at least manage to be obedient and follow instructions. But beyond what I can do myself, I would surely become an obstacle to him.
...I wonder if Leonardo-san is married or something? If he suddenly brought a child home, his wife would be furious, absolutely.
Even if he isn't married yet, if he has a lover, suddenly becoming responsible for a child would cause all sorts of problems. I wonder if Leonardo has thought that far ahead.
As I gazed at Leonardo with growing worry, he noticed my gaze, stopped counting up matters to discuss, and gently ruffled my hair.
"Aurelia, I have something to discuss..."
I thought he had knocked, but without waiting for a reply from inside, Leonardo opened the door. He had seemed certain someone was inside, but more than anything, I was shocked by his rudeness. Could they be on such close terms that it was acceptable to open the door without waiting for a reply? I wondered, and then realized.
...No, that's not okay. They said witch... or wise woman, so she's a woman. Visiting a woman's house and opening the door without waiting for a reply is a breach of manners.
I looked up at Leonardo in surprise, and he tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
"...Huh? She's not here? Usually by now a plate or two comes flying with a 'Don't open it yourself!'"
...You knew you'd get yelled at and did it anyway?!
That makes it even worse, I fumed internally, but Leonardo, not noticing my expression, stepped inside the house. As for me, I felt resistant to entering someone else's house without permission, so I only peered inside from the entrance.
The house that had seemed finer than the village chief's from the outside felt surprisingly cramped when looking inside. I suspect it's because things are packed in with barely any room to spare. The image that comes to mind is perhaps a traditional herbal medicine shop. Shelves with small drawers covered the walls, and boxes of various sizes were placed on the floor. Some boxes were slightly askew with their contents spilling out, so perhaps the owner of this house was not good at tidying up.
...The smell of plants. What is it? Herbs, maybe?
It was a scent different from dried grass or flowers. When I traced the source of the smell and looked around the room, several plants were hanging near the walls.
...Dried flowers, you make them like that, right?
I remember them being displayed in the heroine's room in an old shoujo manga. I have a feeling there are methods now using microwave ovens, but in this world with no television or refrigerator, they must have to use the old-fashioned way.
"...Strange. The Sedovara Church should have sent a new disciple three months ago, so even if Aurelia is absent, the disciple should be here..."
Having quickly finished searching inside the house, Leonardo returned to the entrance, and I also stopped my indoor observation. It would be wrong to ogle the inside of a house whose owner was absent too much.
...What's the Sedovara Church? A religion?
As I tilted my head at the unfamiliar word, a black shadow momentarily crossed my face. The next instant, dense green objects fluttered down all around.
"Huh? Huh? What?!"
My eyes unconsciously followed the moving objects, and my gaze shifted to the green things scattered on the ground. The green objects that had fallen and come to rest on the ground were plant leaves, though I didn't know their names. I stared at several types of leaves with different shapes, then looked up to where they seemed to have fallen from. There, looking up, I saw Leonardo with a wicker basket woven from what looked like bamboo or rattan on his head.
...Ah, I see. He got ambushed the moment he came out of the house.
Seeing Leonardo's shoulders trembling, I understood that this was likely retaliation for entering the house without permission. At least, no basket came falling down on me, who had not entered the house.
I stepped back a few paces from the entrance and looked up. I had thought it was a single-story house, but apparently there was a second floor. A stern-faced old woman was looking down at Leonardo, who had the basket on his head.
"She ran away in a month."
I couldn't understand what the words that slipped from the old woman's thin lips meant.
...Huh? What language? What country's words??
I felt like I had heard it somewhere before, like there were occasionally words I could make out, but the language the old woman was speaking was not the language of this world that I had been hearing all this life.
...Maybe it's a foreign language of this world? This is troublesome. I'm still barely managing to catch the words of this country's language as it is.
Not knowing how to address the old woman, I decided for the time being to gather the scattered plants around Leonardo. I took the basket from Leonardo's hands and placed the collected plants onto it. Leonardo seemed to have started complaining to the old woman in a language I didn't know, but there was no way I could interject, so I silently gathered the leaves.
After a round of verbal back-and-forth was finished, prompted by Leonardo, I stepped properly inside the house. As I was looking around the room with the basket in my arms, the old woman from earlier appeared from the back.
...What language is it?
After returning the basket to the old woman, I was guided to the table, which brings us to the present. Leonardo and the old woman were talking, but they were using the language of some country, and I had absolutely no idea what they were discussing. It wouldn't do to interrupt their conversation, so I sat politely for a while, but I was thoroughly bored.
...I'm not a child, so I can sit still.
But boredom wins. Normally I could eavesdrop and grasp the flow of the conversation, but since I couldn't understand the language, I couldn't do that either. What could I do right now that wouldn't disturb the two of them? I thought, and decided to secretly observe the old woman.
I couldn't tell her age. I could tell she was elderly because there were wrinkles not just on her face but even on her hands and fingers, but her back was perfectly straight, and she was tall. Her red hair mixed with white was beautifully braided and pinned up. Judging by the stray hairs, her hair texture was probably soft, fine cat fur. Fluffy red hair adorned the nape of her neck.
...When they said witch, I imagined a disheveled old woman who didn't care about her appearance. I'm sorry.
Seeing the old woman Aurelia, who was nothing like the witch image from picture books, I understood the correctness of Alf, who had said she was not a "witch" but a "wise woman."
...She has the atmosphere of a strict vice principal, Aurelia-san.
Aurelia's posture as she sat with her back straight was beautiful. The way she occasionally lifted the cane propped against the table and struck Leonardo was resolute.
...I feel bad for Leonardo-san, but I thought it was kind of cool.
As I sipped the herb tea that had been served and gazed into Aurelia's brown eyes, Leonardo and Aurelia simultaneously turned their gazes toward me.
"I can not speak English."
The words that suddenly came out of my mouth were an English sentence I had come up with in middle school in my previous life. It was a half-joking English sentence I had laughed about with a classmate, thinking "With this, even if I run into a foreigner on the street, I can escape!" It should be noted that there was never an occasion for it to actually be used.
Leonardo blinked at my sudden outburst, and even I found it strange that this pseudo-English had suddenly emerged. Why had English, which I hadn't even used in my previous life, suddenly come out? As I was thinking this, the reason became clear when Leonardo and Aurelia resumed their conversation.
...Aurelia-san's words, occasionally words that sound like English, like "She" or "Family," are mixed in.
Though I could barely catch any of it. Even so, my ears occasionally picked up words that resembled English vocabulary I had learned in my previous life. Because of that, the image training from my previous life, "in case I encounter a foreigner on the street," must have suddenly kicked in.
...It didn't have to kick in right now, of all times.
I was definitely thought of as a strange child. Until just now, Aurelia hadn't paid me the slightest attention, but now she had begun glancing my way repeatedly. I must not make any more strange blunders. Resolving this in my heart, I decided that, boring or not, I would play the part of a doll until the two of them finished their conversation.
[Author's Note] The English in the story relies on Google Translate. Even if it's wrong, please don't mind it and just go with the flow. In the sense that Tina can't hear or understand it anyway, it's the same either way.
Before translation, it becomes "She ran away in a month." Since the protagonist Tina cannot understand it, (abbreviated)