402 - Gardener Boy's Perspective, Red Hair and Unsettling Rumors
Ever since I was suddenly hired to work at the castle as a replacement for the gardener who 'disappeared,' the seasons have been passing quickly. I kept myself on edge, thinking I had to get used to the castle's atmosphere before the end of spring, and it was around mid-summer when I finally had enough leeway to exchange a few words with the other servants. Since I was hired as a gardener, I never enter the castle itself. Still, I was able to learn a little about what went on inside from the servants' gossip.
The work inside the castle was apparently suffocating. When the lord was away, you could let your guard down a little, but when the lord was present, you had to work while staying in the shadows as much as possible. Apparently, it was an iron rule for servants working in the castle that you must never show yourself unless called. You had to anticipate the master's schedule, and when the master moved rooms, you had to have the destination room prepared and comfortable. Not a moment's delay was permitted, and once the room was ready, you had to withdraw promptly. They said you must never let the master see a servant, not even from behind. If you were seen by the master, that counted as a servant's negligence. Being charged with the crime of 'showing your shabby appearance' within the master's field of vision and being disposed of was not uncommon. Working as a castle servant paid well, but it was a job that kept you constantly on edge.
...Even if there was some danger, it was a good job for earning money for Mother's medicine.
It was a workplace full of tension where you could never relax, but the pay was good. On top of that, since the employer was the castle lord, there was no way I could quit of my own volition. If the lord found a skilled gardener to replace me, I might be given leave, but aside from that, there was no way to leave the job on good terms. If I were fired because my work wasn't satisfactory, at best I'd be banished, and at worst I'd end up sharing the fate of my predecessor. That was what it meant to work under a noble. The pay was good, but it was a workplace where you were constantly living with the risk of death.
...It's getting cold now.
Whether thanks to working hard from summer into autumn, I continued to be employed as the gardener of Augusta Castle. I knew it was a dangerous workplace, but the chance of catching the master's eye was far lower than for the indoor servants. And while this was a workplace where no amount of lives would be enough given when a noble's displeasure might fall upon you, there were advantages to being close to the nobility.
...They have their own personal pharmacist from the Sedovara Church, after all. That's the castle of a noble lord for you.
According to town rumors, the Sedovara Church had been acting strangely lately. It wasn't unusual for small villages to lack a pharmacist, but even in towns that had Sedovara Churches, the number of pharmacists was decreasing, and there seemed to be towns where pharmacists had disappeared entirely. However, Augusta Castle had Gaspar, their personal pharmacist. Even if the number of pharmacists at the town's Sedovara Church dwindled, as long as Gaspar was available, I could have him compound medicine for my mother.
...He said he'd compound it as long as I brought the ingredients, so Gaspar-san's a good person, isn't he.
Working for a noble was suffocating, but since I could receive the benefit of a pharmacist, this was a workplace I couldn't afford to be fired from.
...Let's see, Leese stems, dried Panyan skin? And then...
I lowered my eyes to the list of medicine ingredients Gaspar had handed me, deciding the order in which to visit the market stalls. Leese was a flower that bloomed in summer, so I couldn't collect it now. That meant the best option was to rely on the Sedovara Church, which would likely have dried stock preserved as medicine ingredients. But I wondered if the Sedovara Church, bereft of pharmacists, would still have medicine ingredients left.
...This is a problem. I have a pharmacist, but I might not be able to get the ingredients.
I didn't know where the pharmacists had gone, but there was no way they would leave medicine ingredients inside an unmanned facility. Even if they had been left behind, they would be stored securely under lock against theft.
...In that case, I hope I can find a merchant who supplies ingredients to the Sedovara Church.
Leese stems weren't food, but they could be sold to the Sedovara Church. Someone might have preserved some privately to earn a little extra for their livelihood.
...First, the market.
I walked through the market near noon, searching for the ingredients Gaspar had specified. Since what I was after was medicine ingredients, I didn't need to rush through the market from early morning. Even if I were shopping for food supplies like vegetables or meat instead of dried goods, I didn't need to rush. Thanks to the wages from my castle job, my purse was warm. I could buy things even if they were priced a bit high, so I could take my time going around later and buy high-priced leftovers that hadn't sold.
...Is that cart over there?
In the central square of the market, I spotted an unfamiliar horse-drawn cart. I'd gone through the market from corner to corner, and I'd managed to get my hands on Panyan skin, but I couldn't find Leese stems. When I asked the dried goods shop owner, it seemed a traveling merchant who regularly bought herbs and textiles had come to town, so the Leese stems had been sold to him. Since the Leese stems couldn't be sold as food, and the Sedovara Church wouldn't take them anymore, there was no point keeping them on display forever. Selling them to a traveling merchant was a natural choice for the shop owner.
"Welcome. Need something?"
As I approached the cart, a mercenary who seemed to be a guard glared at me. I instinctively stepped back half a pace, and as if to make up for the mercenary's lack of friendliness, a red-haired merchant immediately poked his face out from the cart. This time, the face belonged to a kind-looking young man with red hair.
"Are you the merchant who bought the Leese stems?"
"Ah, yeah. The dried goods shop asked me to take some Leese stems off their hands earlier, so I bought them, but..."
To the red-haired merchant who flashed a likable smile, I immediately started negotiating to buy the Leese stems. I expected him to see me coming and jack up the price, but the red-haired merchant was either kind or stupid, because he sold them to me at the same price he'd bought them from the dried goods shop. I worried, as an outsider, whether he could make a living that way, and the red-haired merchant laughed apologetically.
"If you're looking for Leese stems, that means you know a pharmacist who can compound medicine, right? I can't say this too loudly, but if you have a connection, it's better to have the ingredients."
"...Does that have something to do with the rumor about pharmacists disappearing?"
"Oh. You've got good ears, customer. You've already heard that rumor?"
Warning me not to spread it around too much and stir up anxiety, the red-haired merchant told me about what the Sedovara Church was doing outside the town. Apparently, the rumor that the number of Sedovara Church pharmacists was decreasing was true. I'd been reassured because Gaspar was at the castle, but it seemed the pharmacist who'd been in this town was already gone. Not just this town, but the surrounding villages and towns had no pharmacists either. The only Sedovara Church in the territory that still had a pharmacist seemed to be the one in the city of Augusta, where Augusta Castle was located.
"Is it like that everywhere?"
"No, I think the Augun territory still had pharmacists in its towns too. In that case... well, never mind."
The red-haired merchant trailed off, but I could guess what he'd been about to say. The lord of the Augun territory was someone you only ever heard good things about. If a territory was ruled by someone like that, the pharmacists probably found it comfortable there. I didn't know what had happened to make the pharmacists leave the Sedovara Church, but I thought the pharmacists of Augun territory would hold out and not abandon that land until the very end.
...Abandon?
The word had come to me naturally, but it fit strangely well. We had been abandoned by the Sedovara Church.
...Why? Why did the Sedovara Church suddenly...?
The Sedovara Church, which enshrined the god of medicine arts Sedovara, would grant anyone the blessing of medicine arts as long as they paid the price. In the Zugall Empire, few commoners could afford that price, so the only ones who could receive the blessings were nobles and the wealthy, but even so, the Sedovara Church had taken root in towns everywhere. They wouldn't pull their pharmacists out just because few people could use their services.
"Hey, you. If you travel around, do you know why the pharmacists disappeared?"
"...About a year ago? It's because a little girl was kidnapped from the Sedovara Church in the neighboring country."
Apparently, a girl who was helping out at the Sedovara Church in the Kingdom of Ivizia had been kidnapped. Naturally, the kidnapper's trail was investigated, and it seemed the culprit was determined to be someone from the Zugall Empire. The Zugall Empire had been kidnapping people from other countries and making them slaves since old times, so it was probably inevitable that they'd be suspected in cases like this.
"They say she was snatched from inside the Sedovara Church facility, so until the girl comes back, the retaliation will continue, won't it?"
"What... That's a real pain for us. There are people who'd be in trouble without the medicine the Sedovara Church makes."
"Don't tell me about it... Go tell that to the idiot who kidnapped a girl from inside the Sedovara Church."
"What kind of idiot would do something so reckless?"
People who didn't rely on the Sedovara Church regularly, or who couldn't afford to, might not understand, but for me this was a huge problem. My mother's medicine was compounded at the Sedovara Church. Gaspar had agreed to compound it as long as I brought the ingredients, but that didn't mean he'd keep agreeing forever. I wanted the Sedovara Church to send the pharmacists back as soon as possible.
"What kind of girl was she? The one who was taken?"
I asked about the kidnapped girl not out of particular interest. It was just a conversational flow, a piece of information I wanted to know if the red-haired merchant did. I'd keep it in mind, but I had no intention of seriously trying to find her.
"Her name is Christina. A girl with black hair and blue eyes. Her face is just cute... so I hear."
"...Black hair, blue eyes, a cute girl? And her name is..."
When I heard Christina, a face came to mind. The face of a girl at Augusta Castle who had grabbed my clothes back then, mistaking me for 'Teo' even though I wasn't him. The castle servants called her 'Sistina-sama,' but only the black-haired maid called her 'Tina-sama.' And 'Tina' was a nickname for both 'Sistina' and 'Christina.'
...Come to think of it, Sistina-sama was brought here from somewhere else, wasn't she? And the previous gardener, why was he disposed of...?
The timing of Sistina's arrival and the previous gardener's disposal were close. It was hard to believe they were completely unrelated.
About Sistina, I only knew the level of rumors exchanged among the servants. She was supposedly the niece of the castle lord Edgar, kidnapped as a young child and gone missing, until she was found last autumn. Having fallen ill both in mind and body from her long confinement, she was now recuperating at Augusta Castle to heal her heart and body. None of the servants knew where Sistina had been before coming to Augusta Castle.
...Huh? Sistina-sama, could she be...?
I couldn't remember how I'd ended the conversation with the red-haired merchant and come back. My head was too full of the possibility I'd realized, and I think I gave some vague answers. I quickly paid for the Leese stems, and the red-haired merchant was surprised that I was paying in cash. Apparently, even in a town, it was rare for someone to buy goods with cash.
...What did I say back? I didn't say anything careless, did I?
I think I answered that the pay was good because I worked at the castle. I meant to answer that. I think he was surprised that someone so young worked at the castle. And I think I ended up telling him that since my predecessor had suddenly quit, I was hired on short notice.
--And talking about that girl outside was bad too.
Suddenly, the words of the men assigned as Sistina's guards came back to me. They had been suspicious of my presence, realized I was the new gardener, and started chatting about the previous gardener.
--That gardener was unlucky, wasn't he.
That it was bad to talk about Sistina outside. Now that I thought about it, it wasn't my imagination at all. The previous gardener had met Sistina, and was disposed of because he'd talked about her outside the castle.
...Am I okay? Am I okay? I didn't say anything weird, did I!? I didn't say anything about Sistina-sama to that merchant, did I?
The red-haired merchant had been talking about a girl named 'Christina.' Not Sistina. I definitely hadn't carelessly said something like 'Isn't that Sistina-sama at Augusta Castle?' I wanted to believe that.
...But if Sistina-sama was the girl taken from the Sedovara Church, then if they returned Sistina-sama, would the pharmacists come back?
The kidnapped girl goes back to her original home. That was clearly a good thing no matter how you looked at it. And if the girl went home, the Sedovara Church's retaliation would end, and pharmacists should return to the towns and villages. That was how it should be, how it ought to be.
...No. If I talk about Sistina-sama outside the castle, I'll be killed...!
There was already a precedent, so there was no doubt about it. If I leaked information about Sistina to the Sedovara Church, I'd be killed. And more than likely, my mother would also be killed as an example and revenge by the castle lord. My relatives were cold, but my uncle and aunt might also get dragged into it.
I remembered the contents of the hole I'd been ordered to dig and refill, and I squeezed my eyes shut, covered my ears, and pressed my lips together tightly. My conscience ached, and I felt sorry for Sistina who had been taken, but my own life and my mother's life were more important. Besides, I had Gaspar. Even if the Sedovara Church pulled out their pharmacists, the castle still had one. There was no need to quickly appease the Sedovara Church's anger. Even if pharmacists disappeared from every Sedovara Church in the Zugall Empire and innocent people were abandoned by the god of medicine arts Sedovara, I could still get my mother's medicine.
...It can't be helped. It can't be helped. I don't want to be killed. I'm scared of dying. Anyone would hate it. It's not just me. Anyone would make the same choice. It's not my fault.
Repeating the excuse that it couldn't be helped over and over, I told myself that. My mother found it suspicious that I'd come home and crawled under my blankets without even saying 'I'm home,' but there was no way I could tell her the reason.
The next morning, though my head felt heavy, I went up to the castle and handed Gaspar the medicine ingredients, saying I'd gathered what he'd asked for. Around evening when work ended, it seemed the compounding was done, and Gaspar specially came to the gardener's hut to deliver the medicine.
"Thank you, Gaspar-sa..."
I bowed to thank him for the medicine I'd received, and then I noticed something.
...If Sistina-sama is Christina, then Gaspar-san might also really have a different name, couldn't he?
I realized that possibility, but I pushed the question down into my throat, leaving it as a question. Like with the conversation with the red-haired merchant, it wasn't something I should point out out of idle curiosity, and even if I was curious, I knew well enough that pointing it out would be a bad idea.
In the end, I only thanked Gaspar for the medicine. If I said something stupid, it would put a noose around my own neck. I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.
I decided not to think about Sistina. I forcibly sorted out my thoughts, telling myself it was something unrelated to me.
Eager to escape the emotionally uncomfortable castle as quickly as possible, I hurried home as soon as the day's work ended. Though the gardener's hut had been set up for me to live in, I was allowed to commute because my mother was sick.
"Oh, there you are. Black hair, black eyes, coming out of the castle... I heard you were an adult, but you're still just a kid, huh."
The man who blocked my path, saying he wanted to talk a little, was a red-haired man with an eyepatch. Since he'd called out to me in town saying he wanted to talk, I figured he was just a rough-looking man, but if I'd encountered him outside town, I'd have run away thinking I'd run into bandits.
"Who are you? I don't know any bandits..."
I didn't know any bandits. I wanted to say that and run away, but he was blocking the road so I couldn't. As I was wondering how to get out of this, the man who looked nothing but a bandit grinned, the corner of his mouth lifting.
"...I heard yesterday at the market, when we talked about the Sedovara Church, there was a guy who reacted strangely."
If I honestly told him what he wanted to know, my business with him would be done quickly. Saying that, the red-haired man who called himself Chuck stepped closer to me.