499 - Changes Around the Dawn Tower
"...Where are we?"
I was sure I told the earth spirit to take me to Camille. I had fully expected to emerge at the cave where Camille supposedly lives, but as far as I can see, there is nothing that looks like a cave entrance. Far from a cave, it is an open area with nothing around it.
Then where am I? I began to observe my surroundings, seeking information. Low grass grew on the black ground, and a lake and a grove were a short distance away. Further beyond, I could see forests and plains, so I believe this place is at a high altitude. It is precisely because I am in a high place that I can see so far.
"I feel like everything is sort of grayish, isn't it?"
Since the season is spring, young leaves should be budding on the trees, but for some reason, the overall color palette is dark. The surroundings are bright and the area is open, but I felt a sense of loneliness and found myself clinging to the arm of Leonardo, who was beside me. I know it is childish behavior, but there is no one here I need to deal with while wearing the mask of a lady. It should be fine to be my true self.
It is bright and warm, yet for some reason, it feels desolate. The wind blows and carries a faint scent of flowers, but a strong sense of loneliness prevails. It is a place that makes one feel terribly lonely and anxious.
"Leo, look, a huge tree."
Wondering if there was anything that could serve as a landmark, I looked behind me and found it. Standing behind us was a tree so colossal that the phrase "looking up at it" felt almost cute. Even if thirty Leonardos stood with their arms outstretched and joined hands, they probably could not encircle the trunk. It was that large.
"A tree this big seems like it could have existed since the age of myth...?"
I do not know any myths that fit. I had plenty of books and time at the castle lord's manor, so I thought I was quite the reader in this life, but no myths featuring a giant tree came to mind. Then I wondered what this tree was, and it occurred to me. A tree this massive. To support the trunk, the roots would need to spread strongly and widely.
...In other words, is this the main root of the ones that grew at the border?
As I looked up at the great tree with my mouth agape, I heard Leonardo's suspicious voice beside me. He asked if this was perhaps the Dawn Tower.
"...Does this tree look like a 'tower' to you, Leonardo-sama?"
"No, it looks like a tree to my eyes as well."
At Leonardo's words, my consciousness returned slightly to reality. I was surprised by the absurdly large tree, but when I calmed down, a tree was just a tree. Just because a tree had taken root in the ground and grown, there was nothing inherently shocking about it.
"I believe I asked to be taken to Camille-san's place..."
"That means Camille is likely nearby. The Dawn Tower was outside Camille's cave."
"...Huh? Then does that mean...?"
"There should be an entrance to the cave nearby. The spirit did not make any mistake."
According to Leonardo's explanation, the Dawn Tower is apparently near the summit of the Erath Mountain Range. I was taught at the Menhishumi Church that the Erath Mountain Range is covered in snow all year round, but I frowned at the surroundings, which looked nothing like that.
"If you say it is normally covered in snow, then I understand why there is nothing around. But..."
"The state of things has changed too much. It should have been covered in snow even in summer..."
Far from having snow, there is even low grass. Considering the wind is carrying the scent of flowers, wild flowers must be blooming somewhere. If this is near the summit of the Erath Mountain Range, it is too different from the stories I heard.
"At that time, was the tower a 'tower'?"
"Yeah. It seemed to be wrapped in a transparent tree, but the tower was a 'tower'."
"Leonardo-sama, normally people would not think something 'wrapped in a transparent tree' is just a tower..."
For now, from Leonardo's statement, I was convinced that this anomaly had already begun two years ago when Leonardo visited the Erath Mountain Range. The situation seems different from when Leonardo saw it, but it is only a difference of whether it is transparent or not. Inside the giant tree, the 'Dawn Tower' Leonardo spoke of likely exists.
"Is this also an effect of the spirit world and this world connecting?"
"Come to think of it, spirits were visible in this place two years ago as well."
As Leonardo spoke, recalling that he also felt the range in which spirits were visible had expanded when leaving the cave, I reached out and pulled on his unshaven beard. A short scream of pain was heard, and Leonardo's gaze dropped, so I glared back. Apparently, just by hitting Leonardo, various things seem to connect through the dust that comes out.
...Leonardo-san, you are the one who needs 'Hou-Ren-Sou'! Report, Contact, Consult!
I will have to report this to Alfred once I return to the detached palace. If the target of criticism shifts from me to Leonardo even slightly, my lecture time will be shortened.
As I gazed at Leonardo's face in exasperation, his atmosphere suddenly tightened. It seems the topic is changing. I tilted my head and looked up at Leonardo, and he began to say that we should return to the detached palace for now.
"An abnormal situation clearly beyond expectations is occurring. I am uneasy about having Christina accompany me as it is."
"...We do not know anything yet. If I return to the detached palace now, I will be locked up there until several people who can hear the spirits' voices, as a replacement for me, appear."
"Alfred-sama would not let that happen."
"I am being told exactly that by Alfred-sama. That I, who can hear the spirits' voices and secure their cooperation, am too convenient to be left unattended."
I even told Leonardo that if I were left unattended, there might be those who would think to kidnap or confine me again to use me as a tool. I think Alfred overthinks things a bit, but the possibility is not zero. In fact, although the purpose was different, I was once kidnapped to the Zugari Empire.
"Since Kalisa is here, he cannot truly lock me up, but that is exactly why Alfred-sama's mental distress seems like it will be immense..."
If that is the case, rather than being locked up by Alfred, it is better for me to confirm what needs to be confirmed with my own eyes and then voluntarily shut myself in as usual. If I shut myself in of my own accord, Alfred only needs to worry about my health, saying, "Get some fresh air once in a while," but if Alfred locks me up, he loses even the right to worry about my health. If you do not lock me up, I can breathe the outside air as I please, I would say.
"In short, I think it is only a matter of feeling, but I think it is completely different."
"Is that... a decided matter?"
"Leonardo-sama, can you leave people who, as far as is currently known, are only three in the country, can hear the spirits' voices, and can use spirits to deliver voices to far-off places or move in an instant, unattended, even if they have guards?"
I continued by asking if he thought any ruler or person of power, knowing such people existed, would not move to secure them. Even Leonardo nodded. Because the person who wants to secure me is Alfred or someone on Leonardo's side, what Leonardo and the others basically think about is 'protection'. If the conditions were reversed, and the talent they wanted to secure was not within their own circle and was walking right in front of them, anyone would move to 'attack' by securing or seizing them.
"...Even if I actually end up being locked in the detached palace, I do not think it will be for that long, so it will be fine."
At the word 'locked up', Leonardo's expression turned slightly grim. Since the person locking me up is Alfred, he did not show that much disgust, but unpleasant things are still unpleasant. I reached out to smooth the wrinkle between Leonardo's brows, but it seems I still lack the height. Since it felt like my hand might start to hurt, I stroked his cheek with my fingertips.
"Is there any basis for saying it will not be for that long?"
"There is. It seems there are several people in the Empire who can hear the spirits' voices, so there is a possibility they will be found in the Ivizia Kingdom as well. In the first place, if this anomaly subsides, the forms of the spirits might become invisible again."
If that happens, both information gathering using spirits and means of communication will become unusable. It should just return to the state it was in until a few days ago, and the reason for wanting to secure me should return to just being a 'reincarnated person who can read Japanese'.
"For that reason, please bear with me a little longer so that I can voluntarily shut myself in the detached palace."
"...Well, coming this far, the culprit is undoubtedly Camille, no matter how you look at it."
The appearance has completely changed, but if it is Camille's doing, it probably is not that dangerous, Leonardo nodded with an easy-to-read face reluctantly. He said we should first find Camille and hear the story.
I strolled around while observing the surroundings, looking for the entrance to the Dawn Tower or the entrance to the cave that Leonardo said he used to enter and exit. Even if the area were covered in snow, there would be no landmarks, but even with the snow gone and the plains spreading out, there are no landmarks. If there is anything that could serve as a landmark, it would be the giant tree and the lake. However, while these might be landmarks for the summit of the Erath Mountain Range, they are not landmarks for searching for an entrance while standing in this spot.
"It has become like a small forest."
I asked Leonardo while stepping into the forest if it had always been like this. It seemed Leonardo had not noticed it when he came before, and he looked around in admiration, wondering if such a place existed.
"...Koku-maro?"
Koku-maro, the black Shiba I brought as a guard, had been sniffing the ground, but suddenly stood his tail straight up. Apparently, he discovered something. I followed the black Shiba as he began to move in a straight line toward the source of the scent, since there were no other known destinations.
The black Shiba stopped at a place just a little way into the forest. On the black soil where low grass grew, a scrap of dyed silk had fallen.
"A scrap of cloth... there is no way it should be in a place like this, right?"
Even for a scrap, it was beautifully dyed silk. It would not be strange for it to be carefully kept and used for small items or patches, even if a full garment could not be made.
Once I noticed it was strange, the oddities of the surroundings were noticed one after another. The green of the fresh foliage, and the black of the trees and soil. Basically, there should only be these two colors, but different colors were occasionally mixed in the surroundings. As I approached to confirm their identity, I discovered fur dyed purple and a blue jacket.
"Could these be from the people who were stripped at the border...?"
"Christina."
Are these the clothes of the men captured at the border? Just as I realized that, Leonardo called my name. Wondering what it was, I turned my face toward him, and Leonardo, who had grabbed the collar of the nursery fairy on his shoulder, pressed it against my face.
"...Leonardo-sama? What is this?"
"Keep it on for a while."
Close your eyes and keep the nursery fairy pressed to your face. He continued by telling me absolutely not to open my eyes until we moved locations, and then my body was lifted up. Since I was blindfolded, it seemed Leonardo intended to carry me. Wondering what on earth he was hiding from my eyes, I secretly opened one eye. Just by pressing a nursery fairy to my face, my vision could not be blocked.
...What is he hiding...?
In the vision I confirmed with one eye, though it was hard to see, a black object that seemed to be a human arm was rolling around. The rest was the same as before. Once I noticed, my eyes found the oddities one after another. In the vision where I felt it was strange that there were colors not found in the forest, things with shapes unnatural to be thought of as soil or trees were rolling around in heaps.
...Maro! It is fine to sniff the things rolling around there, but absolutely do not lick them!
Once I noticed, it was a gruesome sight. Human limbs were scattered here and there in the forest. Moreover, they were not just corpses. They were corpses discolored black like mummies.
"...What happened?"
"I told you not to look."
"You did not tell me that, you only told me to keep Kalisa on me."
When I replied that I had not broken the instruction, I heard Leonardo's sigh from above. He was probably relieved that I was returning sophistry even in this situation. Or he was exasperated.
--It has come.
"Eh?"
At the voice that suddenly sounded from above, Leonardo's feet stopped. From the way the voice resonated, I think it belongs to a spirit, but Leonardo set me down on the ground, perhaps because his sense of vigilance was stimulated. The nursery fairy also returned to my shoulder, as it would be troublesome to have my vision blocked if something happened.
--Just as Camille said, it has come.
--Just as Camilo said, it has come.
--The one who stole the King's body, shall we kill them?
--The one who stole the King's body, shall we crush them?
--The one who stole the King's body, shall we tear them apart?
The words that could be heard buzzing were all terribly ominous. The words 'stole the King's body' were concerning, but it did not seem like a time to question them. I could feel the malice directed toward us vividly on my skin. The black Shiba stood in front of me, and Jean-Jacques stepped forward right beside him. I do not know if guarding the front against spirits is effective, but it was a natural action as a guard.
However, this time it was a failure. Jean-Jacques reacted to the malice directed from the spirits and drew the sword hanging at his waist. At that moment, tree roots appeared from the ground, entangled Jean-Jacques's body, and disappeared.
"Nuwa!? Jean-Jacques...!?"
"Calm down, Tina. If it is Jean-Jacques, he will probably be discovered by the Black Knight at the border. ...Probably naked."
"...Eh? Is that how the mechanism works?"
When I asked for an explanation of how that happened, Leonardo told me about the content he had been experimenting with at the border for the past few days. Apparently, if one draws a sword and takes an offensive action within the Zugari Empire, they are grabbed by tree roots and thrown outside the border. Leonardo also said that the clothes coming off during that process is probably a coincidence. He said that if the distance carried is short, the clothes might tear a bit, but they do not become completely naked.
--That is right, violence is not allowed.
Let us get along, said a spirit in the form of a beautiful woman who appeared before us. The reason I knew at a glance that she was a spirit despite having the form of a woman was that the size was different. Her height exceeded three meters.
"...I think the atmosphere is a bit difficult for getting along."
The ominous remarks of the previous spirits aside, I was too concerned about the human corpses scattered throughout the forest. After being shown such things, I could not honestly get along.
"Are the corpses everywhere people of the Empire?"
--Yes. Those were the children who were no good.
--The children who could not stop fighting and get along.
--Even though we wanted to get along with those children too.
--It is a pity.
--It is a shame.
As if overlapping with the previous spirit's voice, several spirits in the form of women appeared and gave their critiques of the people who had become corpses. What I roughly understood from their remarks was that those who tried to harm others are captured by tree roots without question. After that, it seems the tree roots test the captured humans during the process of carrying them out of the country.
Those who took an offensive posture as self-defense or reflex, but released the offensive posture once they found it safe, are carried far away, in this case to around the border. And as for those who did not release the offensive posture and further attempted to attack, they were apparently carried to this forest and made into nutrients for the forest. The fact that limbs are detached is the same principle as the men being thrown out of the country naked. The difference is that there are humans who only had their clothes removed thanks to being carried with some care because the spirits had the will to keep them alive, and nutrients who were carried roughly with clear murderous intent.
I did not know to what extent this 'selection' by the spirits had been carried out, but in a sense, the current Zugari Empire had become a safe land for those who did not have the power to fight.
"...I heard that the Emperor of the Empire is missing."
--Emperor?
--The only King is the God King.
--Ah, but on the surface where the King is absent, the children of humans lived while imitating the King, didn't they.
--Emperor is that. The name of the human who was imitating the King in the human settlement near here.
From the spirits' perspective, the Imperial Capital Tralbach, which is halfway up the mountain starting from the summit of the Erath Mountain Range, is a 'nearby settlement'. I think it would take several days to descend the mountain range on human feet, but the difference in perception in this area is likely a difference as biological beings.
--That child is over there.
--Since the shape remained, we decided to decorate it beautifully for the occasion.
When prompted to look, I turned around and saw the corpse of a withered old woman entangled as if being swallowed by three trees. As the spirits said 'the shape remained', she was intact and still wearing a high-quality dress with fur.
"...The Emperor was dead."
"The end of the Empire..."
This has become a problem, Leonardo held his head. I think it was not a very healthy country, being ruled by fear, but a single nation has perished. If the ruler who had been suppressing them until now suddenly disappears, the lives of the people will be disrupted. The joy of liberation from the Emperor will only be for a moment, and soon war will break out among the nobles aiming for the next imperial throne. If that happens, it is the people who will be drafted into the war. This country will be in chaos from now on.
Collapse was already imminent from the start, but there is a huge difference in the impact on the people between holding out just before the end and completely collapsing. I think now is the time for the lords of various regions to show their skill, but that cannot be expected in the Zugari Empire. Rather than protecting the lives of the people, they will likely send the people to the battlefield to become the Emperor themselves.
"...Christina."
"Yes, what is it?"
Leonardo, who should have been worrying with his head in his hands, called my name with a strained voice. He was probably conflicted. Whether it would be alright to use me conveniently, like Alfred does.
After agonizing over it and weighing the lives of the people of an unrelated neighboring country against me, the scale in Leonardo's mind seems to have tipped toward the people of the neighboring country. It is a questionable judgment for a knight of the Ivizia Kingdom, but when considering treating someone's life and me as tools, Leonardo chooses life over me. If it were one or two lives, or if my own life were at stake, the result might have been different, but in any case, Leonardo's current choice is to reduce the sacrifice of the innocent people born in the Zugari Empire. If that is what Leonardo wants to do, I am fine with it too.
"Can you ask the wind spirit to send word to Carlotta-sama? It is most reassuring to leave it to her."
Since the news of the Emperor's passing should be sent quickly, I had the wind spirit deliver the first report. While waiting for a reply from Carlotta, I distributed sweets to the spirits to draw out as much detailed information as possible. I was in charge of extracting information from the spirits, and Leonardo continued searching for the cave entrance. He seemed to be trying to find the entrance to the cave from the position where he had seen the Dawn Tower before based on the shape of the mountain, but it was difficult because the snow had disappeared and the scenery had completely changed.
As for me, I summarized the ornaments and the color of the remaining hair worn by the corpses scattered in the forest, and prepared to deliver this as information to Carlotta. Since there seem to be many nobles among the people who became corpses in the forest based on their attire, the information that they died will be useful to Carlotta.
...Regardless of the form, was it a good thing that dangerous people are being eliminated by the spirits?
If ambitious and bellicose people are eliminated in advance by the spirits, the confusion in the Zugari Empire after losing the Emperor might be smaller than expected. I thought that people aiming for the Emperor's successor might start wars with neighbors, but the people who had the possibility of starting wars have already been made into nutrients for the trees in the forest. If the information is passed to Carlotta early, she might unexpectedly restore things quickly.
"...I guess this is it?"
I entrusted the information I extracted and summarized from the spirits to the wind spirit, with sweets as a reward. As expected for being within the country, the reply from Carlotta was fast. I thought she was surprised by the news of the Emperor's passing, but she immediately asked for more information, so I unhesitatingly dumped the future of the Zugari Empire onto her. Carlotta will probably manage somehow.
I saw Leonardo returning from a distance, so I stood up from the rock I had been using as a chair. Following the sign of my movement, the black Shiba also raised its hips.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, I found a human figure among the trees, and my gaze was drawn there. They were wearing a black hood deep over their head, but I recognized the bridge of the nose and the outline visible beneath the hood. As a final blow, brown hair braided into pigtails was also peeking out.
"...Jasper?"
Thinking it was impossible, my feet instinctively turned toward the human figure.