349 - The Divine King's Coffin
"The reason you incurred the spirits' resentment is because you exposed something they wanted to keep hidden."
I blink for a moment, told something that I could not immediately think of anything matching. As I tilt my head and look at the Divine King, he pursed his lips with a face that looked like he might burst into tears at any moment. It was my first time seeing an adult man make such an expression, and it deeply unsettled me. I had no conscious awareness of it, but there was no doubt that I was the one who had made him make that face. My chest filled with apology, and it made me want to cry too, caught up in the feeling.
"Thank you, Tina."
As I inwardly panicked, wondering if there was some way I could comfort him, the Divine King thanked me. It felt like the first time he had called me by name. Even though I had made him look like he was about to cry, he thanked me, which left me even more confused. As I could only look bewildered, the Divine King lowered his blue eyes and began inspecting the cuts on his abdomen and legs. There seemed to be shallow wounds that could be left alone and deep wounds that needed treatment, and the deep ones had been dressed with leaves.
"You spoke a truth that no one was able to tell me."
It was painful but necessary information, the Divine King added, thanking me again. What I had told the Divine King was nothing more than the fact that both of his eyes were present. I wondered what part of that was such a hard truth to convey, and then I vaguely realized something.
...Since the one eye that was supposed to have been left with his lover is with the Divine King-sama, that means no mark was left on his lover.
That meant the Divine King had no way to search for his former lover. Since I only knew the Divine King with both eyes intact, the lost eye must have returned to the Divine King sometime within the last few years, not recently. The Divine King had probably been continuing his futile efforts for a very long time. The spirits around the Divine King knew this and yet did not tell him the truth.
...The spirits kept silent because they did not want to make the Divine King-sama wear that expression.
Seeing the Divine King's face, so full of bitterness that he truly seemed about to cry, I understood the spirits' feelings upon learning of their own failure. A careless human child had ended up telling the Divine King what they had kept silent about because they did not want to make him wear that expression. It was only natural they would want to take their frustration out on someone.
"Don't make that face. There's no need for you to cry. This is information the spirits around me kept hidden because it would cause me pain."
Rather, it helped me to be told, he said with a weak smile as he stroked my cheek. The expressionlessness from our first meeting was completely gone. The man before me was not some figure from myth, but a single person exhausted from searching for his lover.
"It is indeed a painful truth, but it was something I had to learn eventually. ...You being suddenly returned last year, that was the spirits' doing, was it not."
They must have interfered because they did not want me to hear this, the Divine King informed me. It seemed it was neither my fault nor the Divine King's.
"...I see. So she truly is nowhere in the world to be found anymore. Her very existence has been lost. The fact that my eye, which I should have given to her, has returned means there is no point even if I find her reincarnation."
In this world, the souls of the dead make a long journey to the domain ruled by the death god Uaksu, where they await purification of their souls. The fact that the mark the Divine King had placed had returned meant that the woman's soul he had been searching for had been thoroughly washed clean, and even if it was the same soul, it had become a completely different person from the one the Divine King knew. He had simply taken too long to find her.
"It is my fault for wishing to know, and I have done you wrong. Because of me, you incurred the spirits' resentment."
...Huh? Does that mean I am still going to be attacked by spirits from now on?
I could not help but cling to the Divine King as he spat out such terribly ominous words with a solemn expression. I had thought it might be a one-time attack since he had called it taking out frustration, but being told I would continue to be attacked was a problem. This time, the Divine King had stopped the spirits on the spot and had even treated my wounds, but I could not count on the same thing happening next time. The spirits would not necessarily attack me only when the Divine King was present.
"They have taken offense, but the spirits also understand. That it was something that had to be told eventually. And you fulfilled that role on their behalf. I will not allow such a severe attack to happen again, but things like what happened last year will likely cease."
...Last year?
"You were called by the spirits, were you not."
Oh, that is right, I recalled. Last year, just as I was growing tired of the quarrel between Alf and a formally dressed man who said he was from the Menhishumi Church, I was snatched away by spirits. The Divine King himself had said that he would not allow the political exploitation of a Spirit's Favored Child who was a soul from another world. The fact that the spirits no longer sought help from the Divine King might mean I would no longer be suddenly snatched away by spirits like last year.
...That would probably make my guardians happy, I think.
Kidnappings by spirits could not be prevented no matter how many knights surrounded one. Since I would suddenly disappear, my guardians worried. Having the disappearances themselves stop was probably for the best.
"If that is how you choose to interpret losing the spirits' protection, then so be it. However, do not inform those around you of this."
...Why not?
Would it really be so bad to tell my guardians that I would no longer be kidnapped by spirits? Thinking of Leonardo and the others' worries, the news that the kidnappings would apparently cease with the Divine King's seal of approval was something I wanted to rush back and tell them right away.
"If the spirits no longer interfere, there will be humans who grow greedy. Humans are creatures of avarice, after all."
...So you are saying I should keep quiet about it for my own protection, since anyone who lays a hand on a Spirit's Favored Child might suffer the spirits' retaliation.
I nodded and said I understood, then confirmed one thing. I understood that it was better not to spread it too widely, but I still felt it might be good to tell my guardians at least.
...May I at least tell Leonardo-san?
"If you believe that person can keep a secret, then tell him. ...Yes, I suppose so. He is an honest man to the spirits' liking."
I peered at the Divine King's profile as he turned his gaze toward Leonardo, as if to say this man would be fine. The look of being about to cry had subsided, but now he seemed to be forcibly suppressing his emotions, his expression approaching the blankness from the beginning.
...Are you alright?
The person he had been searching for all this time was gone. She might have been reincarnated somewhere on earth, but the vestiges of the woman the Divine King had loved were lost to the extent that his mark had been washed away. Even if he managed to find the person with the same soul, her heart would now be completely different.
"I am a little down, but I am finally satisfied. I think I will move on to the next life as well."
Hearing "next life," what came to mind was the Divine King's death. Before, the Divine King had said that if he found the person he was searching for, he wanted to spend his life with her and live out his natural span. Since there was no longer anyone to spend that span with, he intended to end it alone.
...That is a little sad.
He had traveled alone for years, decades, centuries, and at the end of it all, a child he had just met had crushed his hopes that the person he sought was already lost. On top of that, setting off alone toward a new life felt even sadder.
"There is no need for you to be sad. People must all die someday. I simply lived a little too long. ...However, yes. I will take advantage of that guilt of yours and make one request."
...A request?
"Dispose of my remains for me. They are no longer needed."
...Remains?
I could not help but repeat the word, wondering if I had misheard. When one said remains, one meant a corpse. Saying "my remains" meant the Divine King's body was somewhere.
"It was impossible to travel for so long in human form."
Apparently, he had been searching for his lover using only his soul, while his body was hidden somewhere in this world. This was probably why he had eaten in that strange way, extracting only the flavor from the egg sandwich. In his current state, the Divine King had no physical body and could not digest anything. The reason he felt hungry back then was because he had spoken with me. After going so long without interacting with anyone, he met me, exchanged a few words, and remembered what it felt like to be human. Thinking about it that way, the more we talked, the more the Divine King regained his humanity compared to his expressionlessness when we first met.
"If I cannot be reunited with her, then I have no need for a physical body any longer. It is nothing but a lump of flesh, completely meaningless."
I understood what he meant, but the request was a little too difficult. There was no way I, a shut-in, could find and dispose of the Divine King's remains when I did not even know where they were.
...I do not think that is a wish I can fulfill.
"If it is difficult in your generation, then ask your child to do it."
...Even if I left it as a task for my child, it would still be too difficult.
I asked if I could at least seek help from others. It was clearly impossible for me alone, and that would not change even if I passed it on to my descendants. That meant I would need to borrow the hands of others to fulfill the Divine King's wish.
"You may seek help, but only from those you can trust. There will certainly be those who try to make use of the Divine King's physical body."
...It is just remains, is it not? Can it even be used?
"If someone takes my body hostage, many spirits will be forced to obey that person."
No matter their true feelings, the spirits apparently could not bear to harm the precious Divine King's body, and so they would obey whoever held his remains. Even knowing that if that body returned to the earth, a new Divine King would be born on the earth, as long as the body existed, to the spirits, the remains were the Divine King. For the sake of their precious Divine King, they would follow even commands that went against their will. That seemed to be the relationship between the spirits and the Divine King.
"If there are blood relatives still remaining in the Divine King's Domain, they will gladly cooperate. A generational change of the Divine King would occur simply by disposing of the remains."
For Remihio's family in the Divine King's Domain of Quebia, that would certainly be a welcome development. They worshipped the Divine King as their own king, and even affixed "provisional" to the currently ruling monarch. Their devotion to the Divine King was surely stronger than anyone else's.
...Do you have any clues at all?
"Yes. You have seen it before as well."
I followed the Divine King's arm as he lifted it smoothly, and the scenery switched to the "Seat of Spirits." There was Christoph performing the rites, and Ethelbert watching over him this year.
...He moved me again.
I had intended to finish my business with the Divine King and return to my guardians as quickly as possible this year, but it seemed an immediate return had become impossible. To go back to the Itsurateru Church from the Seat of Spirits where I was now, it would take time to walk back from the underground to the castle, time to board a carriage from the castle, and even more time just to travel by carriage to the Itsurateru Church. This time, before we parted, I would have to ask the Divine King to send me to the Itsurateru Church. At the very least, I could not afford to be suddenly dumped out like last year.
"My remains are contained in that coffin."
...Coffin?
I wondered if there had ever been a coffin in the Seat of Spirits. I looked around the room, but all I saw was the massive Seat of Spirits, and Christoph and Ethelbert performing the rites. There was nothing that I would imagine when hearing the word "coffin."
...No, wait. There was.
If I had been told it was a coffin from the start, I would have realized immediately. Just like with the Spirit's Favored Child, "Seat of Spirits" was simply a name given by the people of the present day. The massive crystal, shaped like a chair with crystal ornaments on both sides like armrests, slightly wider than a bench, with a flat surface that had been used as a table, was in truth a coffin. A time-honored coffin that had protected the Divine King's remains since the age of myth.
...I was using a coffin as a table to eat snacks and play Reversi!
I felt like clutching my head over my past actions, thinking how blasphemous it was. Since I had been told it was a seat, I had wondered if using it as a table was bad, but knowing it was actually a coffin made it even worse.
...Huh? Wait. Does that mean what I glimpsed last year...?
Last year, when I was thrown out of the Seat of Spirits, I had seen something like a black shadow inside the crystal. I had sensed something ominous about the shadow that looked like a knotted wooden stick and abandoned the thought, but now that I knew what was contained inside was the Divine King's remains, I understood the identity of that shadow whether I wanted to or not. That was the Divine King's arm. What had looked like knots were probably the joints, like elbows and wrists.
"You only need to break that coffin. It is an old thing whose time was forcibly stopped. If you return it to the normal flow of time, it will likely crumble on its own."
...I cannot break a crystal that big with my strength.
Rather, now that I knew remains were contained inside, I felt resistance toward the act of "breaking" the coffin. No matter that it was at the request of the remains' owner, it was not just blasphemous; it was something else entirely. (T/N: The source uses the Japanese double-dash —— here to indicate emphasis, rendered as a semicolon in English for flow.)
"The method of destruction is simple. It would be difficult for a person of this world, but a soul from another world has no conditioning regarding the Divine King. Simply attack it while thinking from the bottom of your heart, 'This thing is unnecessary,' and it will break."
It seemed it was not as sturdy as its crystal appearance suggested. Or rather, it was protected by some kind of power, and it would be more accurate to say that power did not work on souls from another world. Apparently, a Spirit's Favored Child could smash it easily.
...If it is that easy to break, could I go and break it right now and complete the request?
"It is not only that coffin that needs to be broken."
Just as I thought it would be simple and workable, the Divine King let slip some ominous words. I had thought this would end with destroying the Seat of Spirits before me, but apparently the coffin that needed breaking was not just this one.
...They are remains, are they not? What do you mean it is not just that coffin?
"My body is divided into six parts: both arms, both legs, the torso, and the head." (T/N: The source uses a Japanese colon here, rendered as an English colon.)
...Why is it in pieces?! It is the precious Divine King-sama's body, is it not?!
I wanted to ask what the people of that time had done, but that was entirely my misunderstanding. Not a single person of that era had laid hands on the Divine King's remains. Or rather, since there had been no souls brought from another world back then, there was apparently no one who even thought of harming the Divine King. Except for one young man who had committed a sin.
"I was quite wild back then myself, you see."
It would not have stopped unless he went so far as to cut off his limbs, the Divine King said, gently averting his eyes from me. I had been wondering who the culprit was, but it seemed there was none.
...Wait, the victim was the perpetrator?!
I had thought the young man who committed the sin had done it, but it seemed the one who had cut the Divine King's remains into pieces was the Divine King himself. I was troubled by him revealing such a gruesome story about cutting his own body apart with the same lightness as saying he had been wild in his youth.
...I recall there being a myth about the goddess Itsurateru cutting off the limbs of a young man who had committed a sin?
"That story has been distorted as it was passed down. The one who cut him was me, and the one who cut me was a sword borrowed from the goddess Itsurateru. They were probably mixed together."
...The truth of the myth is too gruesome!
I wanted to raise my voice in protest, saying this was not content for a child's ears, but since I had been told not to speak, I could not even do that. I felt like I would explode if I did not vent my exasperation somewhere, so I kicked the floor in frustration... and suddenly, the sensation of the floor vanished.
...Huh?!
The floor I should have been standing on disappeared, and my viewpoint shifted. A moment ago, I had been watching Christoph's back as he performed the rites from a short distance away, but now Christoph's face was right in front of me. The moment our eyes met, the sensation of ground returned beneath my feet. It felt like stepping off a ledge. The floor where my knees buckled was transparent crystal. Cracks emitting white light spread from where my knees had landed, and the floor sank. What I had thought was a transparent crystal floor was the flat surface of the Seat of Spirits. It also seemed to be the lid of what the Divine King called a coffin.
The Seat of Spirits, split cleanly in two with me still on top, vanished into sparkling particles of light. I ended up falling from a slightly awkward height, but I had no bruises or anything. Or rather, I was probably unharmed thanks to being caught by the Divine King's arm, which looked like a knotted wooden stick that appeared for just an instant. That Divine King's arm also vanished into white flames at the same moment I sat down on the pedestal that had lost the Seat of Spirits.
...Um? Does this mean the first disposal of the Divine King's remains is complete?
Either way, I thought that Divine King was far too rough with each of his actions. Or perhaps this was also the spirits' doing. Either way, I had been left hanging at a rather incomplete point for ending a conversation once again.
I tried to exhale a sigh to help myself understand what had happened to me in order, but my throat twinged with pain. While with the Divine King, I had not felt any particular pain, but the moment I was thrown outside, the pain in my throat returned, making me realize that angering the spirits was a reality. Moreover, it was not only my throat that hurt. The countless cuts on my arms and legs that the Divine King had treated began to throb and assert their presence.
"......!"
I endured the pain, pressing my lips together. I felt like crying from the pain, but I had been warned that doing so would make my throat worse. I am not a child, I told myself as I silently bore the pain, when I heard Christoph's voice from above, sounding confused.
"Christina, is that you?"
If I raised my face, my throat would hurt. However, I could not ignore being addressed, and I was a sudden intruder this year. It would be best to clarify my identity immediately. My entrance could only be described as suspicious, but I was not a suspicious person.
"What happened, Christina?! What about those injuries? And your hair has been cut, has it not?!"
Immediately, Christoph's hand reached toward my arm as if to check the wound, stopping just before contact. I think he realized it would hurt to be touched. To be honest, right now I only wanted to be touched by someone who would treat me. Or, Leonardo specifically. Everything hurt too much, and I wanted to wrap my arms around Leonardo's thick neck and be carried. Countless cuts were carved into not just both my legs but my entire body, making even moving my feet seem daunting.
Now then, how should I answer, I wondered. I could not speak, and if I could convey my thoughts in writing, that would be fine, but there was no paper or pen here.
...Did he bring liquor behind the pedestal again this year?
I turned my gaze toward the back of the pedestal, thinking I could use liquor as ink and write letters on the floor. Even a small movement made the cuts hurt, but I could not stay seated on the pedestal forever, so I lowered my feet to the floor.
"......!"
I tried to stand and walk, but a wound behind my knee throbbed sharply, and I ended up sitting down on the spot. It seemed I would not be able to walk freely until these deep wounds closed.
"Christoph-sama, are you alright?!"
"There was a tremendous noise, what on earth happened?!"
The sound of armor clattering came as Silver-White Knights flooded into the area. Normally, no one other than the king was allowed to enter the Seat of Spirits, but if it was clear something abnormal had happened, they could not afford to worry about that. In this case, the abnormality was the loud noise that had echoed when the Seat of Spirits split in two.
And before the Silver-White Knights who had flooded into the Seat of Spirits stood me, who should not have been here today. It could not be helped that the Silver-White Knights judged me as a suspicious person.
...This is a mess! You idiot, Divine King-sama! Send me back to where I was!
I cursed at the Divine King who was no longer here, surrounded by Silver-White Knights. I thought I should answer the knights' inquiries quickly, but my vision was starting to spin. For now, to get the knights to calm down, I decided to lose consciousness.
This was the conclusion of the Divine King-sama's search, the true nature of the Seat of Spirits, its contents, and how things would proceed afterward. I feel like I can see the conclusion coming for the spirit-related matters. Myths are generally gruesome things (biased opinion).
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.