441 - Leonardo's Perspective: Enomena Bulbs and the Vanished Imp
While I was hearing about the situation outside from Albert, Tina and Bertrand seemed to be deepening their silent communication. I had thought there was something moving in the corner of my vision from time to time, but when Albert and I settled on our immediate direction and I turned my gaze, Bertrand was making a strange face unlike any I had seen before. At first I thought he was making a funny face to get Tina's attention, but when I looked at Tina, she too was making a funny face to rival his. Apparently this grandfather and granddaughter had been having a silent staring contest beside us while we were discussing matters.
...Right. Before she knew he was her grandfather, Tina had been fond of Bertrand-dono.
If you do not consider Tina's current age, it is a truly childish game. Tina came to me when she was eight, but she had never made funny faces and had a staring contest with me. I think of staring contests as something you do with infants or toddlers, but Tina does not seem to have any aversion to it as a childish game right now.
Once she realized I had seen her funny face, Tina looked a little sheepish and put on a composed expression, but when she looked at Bertrand, there was a familiarity in her eyes that had not been there before. It seems that by playing together in the staring contest, she is starting to truly feel that Bertrand is her grandfather.
"Want to try sitting next to Bertrand-dono?"
Since she seemed to already be warming up to Bertrand, I suggested Tina sit beside him. Bertrand straightened his back slightly at the recommendation, but Tina looked back and forth between me and Bertrand, then moved onto my lap. She is starting to get familiar with him as a grandfather, but it seems she is not yet ready to leave my side. Bertrand's face, disappointed that Tina chose me after comparing us, was truly ferocious.
"Christina, you are fifteen now. It is not proper to sit on someone's lap forever."
"I am Tina, you know. When did I turn fifteen? My birthday has not come yet."
As Tina stuck out her tongue, I felt the bond with Bertrand that had barely begun to mend widening again in an instant. I knew Tina's memories were missing, but I did not think even her own age had become unclear. I tried asking Tina how old she thought she was. After looking like she was thinking for a moment, Tina tilted her head and said, about nine?
...The memory confusion is more serious than I thought.
Around age nine, Tina had just been taken in by me, and she did not know about Giselle's existence in the capital. But Tina remembers Giselle as a White Knight. I think she just mistakenly feels like she is nine mentally, and her memories up to now are mixed together. I do not know the method, but according to the spirits, we need to bring back the contents (Tina) that are supposedly hiding somewhere.
Bertrand furrowed his brow at Tina, who claimed to be nine and showed no sign of getting off my lap. Reason will not reach the current Tina, and he probably also realizes that if he yells at her, she will hate him again. His face clearly shows his internal conflict.
"...You. Become my adopted son, or become Christina's husband."
He must have learned that if I am around, Tina treats him like a proper grandfather. Bertrand seems to have started considering either adopting me or having me marry into the family as Tina's husband, as a plan to get Tina back. Especially in the case of marriage into the family, the succession issue would also be resolved. With me already holding meritorious deeds and Tina capable of earning her own, the transfer from Merit Peerage to Loyalty Peerage would be as good as decided.
"Being able to stay with Tina as family forever is certainly appealing, but..."
Taking the sister I have raised since she was eight as my wife... as a brother, and as a person, I am not sure about that. If we were attracted to each other romantically, then maybe such a thing could happen, but in our case it would just be a means to stay together forever. I know there is no one else who could replace her as family, but I also know that binding each other like that would be wrong.
Ideally, Tina would find someone she likes, get married, and from there her family would grow. As Tina's brother, as her uncle, I would be happy just being able to be involved in Tina's family.
...Somehow, I feel resistance to it.
I want Tina's family to grow. The children Tina bears would be my nephews and nieces. I am aware of that feeling, but when it comes to my own family increasing, I feel a slight resistance. For some reason, I have an aversion to family besides Tina.
...Well, when I say my family, it is just the mother who sold me and my little sister.
I almost recalled the fact that I do not even know my father's face, but for some reason Rannvald's face came to mind. Rannvald, who was oddly favorable toward me, had features similar to mine. If someone said we were blood-related, eight out of ten people would probably believe it.
...So that is why I feel so awkward around Rannvald-sama.
I think I am afraid of beings connected to my original family. I am aware that I have a longing for family, but I am passive about increasing my own family. I once tried looking for my original family, but it was really just a token effort. I did not search very earnestly. Perhaps this is connected to what the Divine King said, "Never speak your true name." My original family naturally knows my name. It seems my name needs to be hidden from the spirits. As a result of some mysterious power at work, it would not be impossible that I have unconsciously been keeping myself from approaching my original family. Being with Tina, who is frequently taken by spirits, makes me think such mysterious things can happen.
We settled on heading for the Augun territory once we left the cave, and finished packing. Since there was not much temperature change inside the cave, I had almost forgotten, but it seemed it was already autumn outside. Reducing luggage is a trick for traveling, but not letting your body get cold is also one of the tricks. It adds to the luggage, but we need coats to keep Tina from catching a cold.
When I headed for the treadle sewing machine to make Tina a coat, the spirits appeared as usual. These spirits cheerfully make Tina's clothes for me, but since Camille and the others do not suspect that spirits are making clothes, they think I am the one making Tina's clothes. I can handle sewing on buttons and small repairs, but I have never made a girl's dress. Making Tina's clothes is impossible for me. But since we are about to leave the cave anyway, there was no particular need to clear up this misunderstanding. Even if they go on believing that the clothes the spirits made for Tina are clothes I, her brother, made for his little sister with all my heart, there is no problem. Though I do have somewhat complicated feelings about it.
"We have to say goodbye to Grandpa Camille too, do we not..."
Tina, wearing a light coat, hugged Camille with seeming reluctance. Tina had grown quite attached to Camille, but Bertrand's face behind her had become quite amusing, so I gently pulled Tina away. It seems he does not like that someone other than himself is being called 'Grandpa' by Tina. While she does not dislike Bertrand as much as the previous Tina did, the current Tina still was not calling Bertrand 'Grandpa' either. That is probably part of why Camille being called 'Grandpa Camille' by Tina bothers him.
"Ah, right. I heard from Geo that you like Enomena flowers."
...He is mixing up Jin and Leo again.
Camille, who nimbly gets my name wrong every time, seems to remember the flower's name correctly. He took a plain bag from his breast pocket and placed it in Tina's palm.
...Huh? What is this?
It was a perfectly ordinary bag, but a spirit in the form of a little girl was clinging to it. Stroking the contents of the bag along with the bag itself as if cherishing it, she then moved onto Tina's shoulder and whispered something. Unfortunately, Tina cannot hear spirits' voices, so Tina paid no attention to the spirit.
"Inside this are Enomena bulbs that I did a little breeding improvement on."
"Enomena? I was just thinking of growing them. I have an empty pot."
Tina's words about taking good care of them suggest she has memories from age thirteen, when she returned from the capital. The pot that held the Enomena flowers I gave her at the Spring Flower Festival, she said was her treasure and brought it all the way from the capital to the city of Grenore. She had asked Bart to prepare bulbs so she could plant autumn-planted Enomena. But right after that she was kidnapped, so the pot she called her treasure does not even have soil in it yet.
...Are these really Enomena that have only been 'a little' 'bred and improved'?
The fact that the spirits seem interested in them leaves me a bit uneasy about simply letting her grow them. Whether it is really okay to bring them back to Grenore and cultivate them.
Watching Tina regret saying goodbye to Camille, I took care of my own farewells. One way or another, ever since coming to the cave, the spirits here had been helping us all along. I thought I should at least offer them thanks, and turned my face toward the passageway, but the number of spirits out was surprisingly small. I had thought they would be swarming around as usual, but there were only a few imps serving as guides. And even those imps seemed strangely off. Except for one imp, they were covering their eyes and ears as if frightened by something.
"...I owe you all as well. Thank you."
I thought something was strange, but I said what I wanted to say. Please also pass it on to the spirits not here at the cave exit, I added.
--Hey, hey. Actually, I am not supposed to say this, but.
"Hmm?"
As one imp opened its mouth, the other imps' behavior changed. They shook their shoulders as if trying to silence the imp, dove into the shadows of rocks to hide, growing even more frightened.
...They are watching.
When the imp spoke, I felt the surrounding air shift restlessly. Probably the only spirits visible in the area were the imps, but other spirits were likely lurking everywhere while hiding their forms. It felt less like they were watching me or Tina, and more like they were keeping watch on the imp.
...What is it? What is it trying to say?
The other imps were trying to stop the imp that was about to say something, and the other spirits were probably watching from a distance. Even stopped by its companions, the imp's resolve did not seem to change.
--On the night of our festival, the human child stays at the hearth. When that happens, you know...
What I heard was that the hearth is the exit. Before it could finish everything, the imp's body was enveloped in white flames and vanished. Nothing remained behind. The other imps, as if they knew this was going to happen to their suddenly vanished companion, slumped their shoulders and began to cry.
...Something about this is strange.
I have seen a spirit disappear before my eyes before, but that was before the Divine King. The spirit of the Enomena in a red dress had vanished by diving into the Divine King's chest, with light scattering around. What just happened before my eyes now seemed similar, but different.
"What happened? Where did that imp go...?"
--That one is gone.
--That one is not here anymore.
--Our secret.
--Because he told a person, he disappeared.
--He is not anywhere anymore.
--He will not be born again.
Gathering the words of the imps who began crying loudly, this is what it must mean. That imp disappeared because he told me a spirit's secret. The difference from the Enomena spirit who disappeared before the Divine King is that even if the Enomena spirit lost its individual consciousness, it did not return to nothingness, but the imp will never be born again. The imp told me a secret, and for that, he will never be born again.
...On the night of our festival, the human child at the hearth, huh.
I do not know when the spirits' festival is, but 'the human child' must mean Tina. If Tina stays by the hearth, something seems to happen. This is information that an imp taught me at the cost of its own existence. I cannot let it go to waste.
As if telling us to go now, we were driven by the imps mourning their companion's death into Albert's carriage. Tina quickly followed and sat down beside me. Tina brought the small backpack the spirits had made to her side and put the bulbs she had just received from Camille into it. Tina's bag should be stuffed with cocoa bottles and a change of clothes, but it seemed there was at least room for one bulb.
...No, considering the cocoa bottles seem to hold an endless amount, maybe this bag holds more than it looks?
While I was thinking such things, the boat carrying the carriage began to move. When we came to the cave, I had started feeling spirits' presence the moment we passed through the gate, but the presence disappeared only after we started going down the river. If I am not mistaken, the range at which I can sense spirits has expanded.
...It is quiet.
Having been in the cave from the month after summer until now, I seem to have gotten too used to an environment surrounded by spirits. I can hear the wind rustling the leaves of the trees and birds singing, so it is not that it is silent, but it feels strangely quiet. Even looking out the carriage window, I could not see any spirits sitting on tree branches or playing in fallen leaves.
...What a strange feeling.
Before, I would have just thought the wind was sending fallen leaves swirling, but now I cannot help wondering if spirits are playing in the fallen leaves. While in the cave, spirits were so close that I kept finding myself looking for them, as if they might be anywhere.