512 - Anschelique's Perspective: The Runaway Princess and the Children of the Spirit Territory 3
We finished lunch with the sandwiches we all made together. Perhaps it was because I helped make them, or maybe it was because they used fresh, high-quality vegetables and eggs, but it was the most delicious sandwich I had ever eaten. As I watched Tina drink goat's milk, making little white whiskers, the small girl perched on Tina's shoulder suddenly looked up and began to pay attention to the window. Following her gaze, I saw the black hair of Taro and Jiro.
...Why are they hiding?
I had heard that Taro and Jiro were brothers, though there was an age gap between them. My own family has many cousins born to my uncles and aunts, so I understand that a one-year difference is significant for small children. Taro and Jiro, being two years apart, had a clear difference in height. Despite this, the height of the black hair visible from the window was the same. This meant that Taro was intentionally bending his waist to hide from the window.
"Taro-sama and Jiro, why are you hiding?"
"Heh!?"
"Unya?"
I had simply spoken the question that came to mind, but Christina's eyes darted around, and Tina blinked blankly. Though they reacted differently, Christina picked up Tina's cup as if nothing had happened, and Tina, faster than she could grab onto Christina, kicked off her chair and charged toward the window. From the force of it, the spirit in the form of a small girl tumbled off Tina's shoulder.
"Tina too!"
"Uwah!?"
"We've been noticed..."
Opening the window with force, Tina climbed right over the window frame. I didn't have time to stop her, thinking it was dangerous. It was truly an instantaneous action. The moment Tina crossed the window frame, she leaped at Taro with almost an attacking momentum. Taro, perhaps accustomed to Tina's eccentric behavior, caught his younger sister's body without difficulty.
"Tina too! Going!"
"Ehh? Tina always takes a nap after lunch, right?"
"Easier to leave her behind..."
It is a hassle to take a younger sister who immediately falls asleep along for play. That is likely what Jiro meant. At Jiro's carefree remark, Taro quietly averted his eyes, and Tina's cheeks puffed out roundly.
"Tina too! Going! Nooo!"
As Tina began to cry loudly, saying she was going, Jiro covered his ears with both hands, but Taro's hands were occupied holding Tina. As a result, Taro, who was forced to listen to Tina's loud crying at close range, was nothing short of a victim of misfortune.
"...Taro-sama, Jiro-sama, perhaps you should just give up and take her along with you."
Since there are nannies, it will be fine even if Tina falls asleep on the way, said a maid as she carried the spirit that had fallen from Tina's shoulder. The spirit leaped from the maid's palm onto Tina's head and began to stroke her head soothingly. Whether some kind of miracle occurred because of that or not, Tina's crying grew quieter. The spirits who had gathered around, thinking they should cover Taro's ears instead of Taro himself, looked relieved.
"Shelly, you go along too."
"I am as well?"
"Because in the city, there are children who are 'the same' as Shelly, yet 'different'."
I tilted my head, wondering what 'the same' yet 'different' meant.
While I was wondering, it seemed my accompaniment had already become a decided matter for Christina. The hat-hanger came over on her own feet and placed my hat on top of my head.
Since I was going too, Taro returned to the backyard once. There seemed to be a storage shed in the backyard, and he returned pushing a small cart.
...I thought carts were things pulled by horses or donkeys?
Apparently, it was just that I was ignorant. The cart Taro pushed from the storage shed was not pulled by a horse or a donkey, but rolled along the path on its own. Taro only pushed it at first, and once he loaded me, Tina, and Jiro onto the bed, Taro himself climbed on last. Then, the cart began to run on its own with a rolling sound.
...Low looks like he's having fun.
Looking up, the white owl (Low) was flying in the sky with wings spread. Considering how comfortably the white owl was flying, the cart must be running at quite a speed. Despite being on a fast-moving cart that ran by itself, strangely, I felt no fear.
"...Uwah. So many buildings! This is my first time in a city!"
The cart proceeded smoothly through the forest, and after about fifteen minutes, we came to an open area. Rather than an open area in the forest, it was a distinct city. There were buildings of various sizes, and a castle could even be seen in the distance.
"Even though I call it a city, only spirits and children live here."
Incidentally, there are more spirits than human children, Jiro said, pointing ahead. What was at the end of his finger was a bakery. The sign hanging in front of the shop had 'The Golden Spoon' written with a picture and text indicating a restaurant, but since the wonderful smell of freshly baked bread was wafting over, I could only think of it as a bakery. Inside the shop, which was swarming with spirits, a boy slightly older than me was working. He was carrying freshly baked bread with both hands and filling the shelves with products, but spirits were buying the bread as soon as he filled them. Regarding spirits, I had the perception that they were beings with whom human common sense did not apply and who were a bit difficult to deal with, but the spirits here seemed to have the concept of shopping. They were handing something to the bakery boy and receiving bread.
"The bread we ate earlier is from that shop."
"The bread for the sandwiches. It was very delicious."
"Then, let's tell him that later. I'm sure he'll be happy."
The bakery boy apparently reproduces his parents' bread-making by imitation. Since he wasn't formally taught how to make bread, he is reportedly repeating trial and error every day.
It felt a bit strange that from childhood, and moreover, bread that is a product is sold while still in the trial-and-error stage, and that it is established as a business. When I conveyed this question as it was, Taro looked troubled. He said that because the bakery boy had to leave home and come to this city before he could inherit the family bakery or undergo formal training, it couldn't be helped that it was a bit strange.
"Even so...?"
The large number of spirits was mysterious, but every human I encountered was a child. In terms of gender, there were slightly more boys, and there were no adults of either gender. For now, the oldest is probably the bakery boy. In any case, it was a bit different from the state of the city I heard about from my guard (Low). According to Low, it wasn't as if adults weren't seen at all.
"Taro-sama!"
"Taro-chan-sama! Ah, there's a girl! A new child?"
...A new child?
I thought to myself that I had been told that before, while observing the children who gathered around the cart. The cart also seemed to be aware of the children's approach, as the wheels slowed down even though no operation was being performed.
"Is Mother Christina not here today?"
"Christina-sama has a baby in her tummy, so she can't come for a while~"
"Ah, it's Tina! Tina is here!"
"Eh!?"
The children gathered around the cart spoke to Taro one after another. One of them found Tina sleeping in the cart and covered their mouth with both hands. Just as I thought they were being considerate of Tina, who had eventually fallen asleep from the rocking of the cart, the boys peered timidly at Tina's sleeping face. After holding their breath to confirm that Tina was truly asleep, they let out a sigh of relief.
"Tina gets angry quickly."
"Tina monopolizes Christina-sama and is mean."
"Tina's mommy is Tina's! she says, and then she cries immediately."
Apparently, the reason the children lowered their voices was not out of consideration for the napping Tina. It gave the impression that they were simply troubled if she were awake. Because he knew she was disliked in the city (here), Taro probably tried to leave Tina at home. Even if there was the reason that it was Tina's nap time, that didn't seem to be everything.
"Taro-sama, who is that child?"
"A new child?"
"She's not younger, right? Are we getting an older sister?"
The children's interest shifted from Tina to me. I must be rare as a face they've never seen. In an instant, I was surrounded by children, and again, the absence of adults bothered me. There are children and spirits, but only adults are missing.
"...In this city, there are only children and spirits. The only adults are Mother and the others."
"Even though it's such a large city?"
It is a strange story that despite there being a castle, the only adults are Christina and her group. In the castle (my home), besides my grandparents and parents, there are many adults such as civil officials, ladies-in-waiting, and servants. Rather, the number of children is smaller. And yet, there are no adults in this city.
"The city itself is large, but... this city is technically 'ruins'. It's a city that was abandoned about ten years ago... Shelly, do you know where the city (here) is?"
"I do not know. Low brought me here."
I feel like he said he chose a safe place for my first outing, but I hadn't asked for the specific location. I was guided to Christina's house, which looked like a single house in the forest, and after that, I came to this ruined (?) city by cart, but no one should have mentioned the place name.
"This is located halfway up the Erath Great Mountain Range... it's a city that was called the Imperial Capital Tralbach until ten years ago. Before, it was called the Zugall Empire, but the Emperor went missing and it split into three... no, maybe four countries now."
"I know that story. It's the story of when the 'Holy Bell at Dawn' rang throughout the world and the spirits returned, right?"
Since it happened when I was too young to remember, I had only heard it as a story. It seems the world changed greatly shortly after I was born. Until then, spirits lived apart from the world where humans lived, but with the return of the Divine King of myth, the spirits returned to the world again, or something like that.
For me, it was already a world overflowing with spirits by the time I became aware, but it seems that a short while ago, spirits were nothing more than existences in stories. Hearing that, it felt somewhat mysterious. There are humans who cannot see the spirits that are natural for me to see. Rather, they say that was the norm.
"...The children in this city are children who were feared and abandoned by their parents because they could see spirits or talk to them."
Feeling pity for the children abandoned by their parents, the spirits apparently delivered them to Christina. They say Christina's house is in the safest and most protected place in the world from the spirits' perspective. They delivered human children abandoned by their parents there, and the children came to be raised by Christina, who is human.
The children were raised at Christina's house only for the first two years. As spirits overflowed the world and one, two years passed, it became physically impossible for Christina to raise the number of abandoned children being sent from all over the world. Therefore, they apparently thought of using the former Imperial Capital Tralbach, which had become ruins. After all, the entire city, including the castle, had become uninhabited and empty. There was no place more convenient for children sent from all over the world to stay.
"Did they not try to lock up children who can talk to spirits, like my father did with me?"
"The only people who can find value in children who can talk to spirits from an early age... are people like Shelly's father or grandfather, who have jobs where they stand above others."
If the parents were humans who could talk to spirits, they might accept them as being the same as themselves. In the adult generation, there are those who cannot see the forms of spirits, and even those who can see them, few can talk to them. My father is the same. Father can see spirits, but he still cannot hear their voices. Because my father could see spirits and was in a position to find value in children who could talk to spirits, there was no chance of me being abandoned, but—
...Indeed, we are 'the same' yet 'different'.
I understand the meaning of the words Christina said in the house in the forest. The children of this city are 'the same' as me in the sense that they can talk to spirits, but the way they are treated by their parents is completely 'different'. The parents of these children feared them and chose to abandon them, but my father was different.
Father gave me an entire detached palace, allowed me freedom within the palace, and in exchange, forbade me from leaving the palace. Until now, I thought 'that' was normal, so I had no complaints, but the other day I finally learned that my younger sister, just below me, lives a different life. I heard that my sister sometimes goes out to the city under the guise of 'errands'.
There, for the first time in my life, I felt 'dissatisfaction'. Why, when we are sisters?
The purpose of trying to 'run away from home' this time was to spite my father. It's not that I actually thought about leaving home for good. Because he knew that, the white owl probably carried me to Christina's house. From the spirits' perspective, the safest place in the world is just right for my refreshing outing.
Taro seems to be looking around the city of abandoned children on Christina's behalf. He comes almost every day to see if they are running short of food or are in trouble. Every child he meets runs to Taro with a smile, and with a ball one of them brought, a game called 'baseball' began.
It was apparently a game Jiro suggested. It's a game where you hit a ball with a wooden stick called a bat and fly it far away. Jiro said it's not a 'game' but a 'sport', but it's a game. Only a few children could play the 'way to play' as Jiro explained, and most children just threw the ball back and forth in groups. Since I was counted among the older ones in this city and my arms and legs had grown, I could play the 'way to play' as Jiro explained.
Swinging the wooden stick to hit the ball and running around the plaza where the game was being played. It's a game I cannot do in the detached palace. Rather than cannot do, I had never even thought of such a game. Anyway, I swung my arms and legs with all my might and moved around with full power. It was a game where I didn't understand what was interesting just from Jiro's explanation, but once I tried it, I felt refreshed. Moving my body with all my might might have been good. While running around, the hazy feelings toward my father disappeared as if they were a lie.
"This is very fun!"
"Are you satisfied?"
"Yes, very much!"
"Then—
it's about time you went home." At the words that followed, I turned around in surprise. It was a voice I recognized, but it was also a voice that shouldn't be heard in the city (here).
...Eh?
The question that should have leaked from my mouth disappeared before it became sound. Standing behind me was Father, who should not be in the city.
The moment Father's hand was placed on my shoulder, I was attacked by an intense drowsiness. I could no longer keep my eyelids open and surrendered to the sleepiness. As I collapsed toward Father from my head, there was one dissonance in my darkening vision. Father's hair, which was long when we exchanged greetings this morning, had been cut short.
The next morning, when I woke up in my own room in the detached palace, I was lectured with heartfelt grievances by the human version of Low. He said that since I fell asleep as I was, I must have enjoyed the outing very much.
Low had received a thorough lecture from Father, who noticed my running away, and had easily seen off my outing. He had apparently almost had his ribs broken again by Father's guard, who told him, "To be talked into it by a young girl (child), your training is insufficient." The reason it was 'almost' broken, and not broken, was that training his body in Grenore this time had paid off. The ribs protected by thick muscles successfully weathered the iron-fist punishment by the silver knight.
And, as if in place of those protected ribs—Low's hair had also become a bit shorter. When I pointed out that he 'made' it match Father's, Low said he 'was made' to match. I wondered if it was a strange way of speaking, but that was all.
I ate breakfast and had my afternoon lessons moved to the morning to finish them early. Since the weather was good today, I 'passed through the door' thinking I would play 'outdoors' in the afternoon. I thought I would go out to the garden, but today it seemed to 'lead' to the living room. On the lap of Christina, who was sitting in a chair as if buried in cushions, my uncle's black head was resting today. When our eyes met as I appeared in the living room, my uncle's black eyes narrowed as if exasperated.
"...See. She's Alfred-sama's daughter. There's no way she'd be satisfied with a single runaway. She's already gotten a taste for it and come to play. It's decided that for some reason I'll be forced to listen to heartfelt sarcasm again later."
Saying that there's nothing he can do about hair given to spirits, my uncle buried his face in Christina's lap. Apparently, the uncle and his wife are having their lovey-dovey time. My uncle is muttering with his head on Christina's lap about how he was complained to by Father until late last night, and how he was told almost the same things by Father's guard. Christina was stroking his head with a wry smile.