513 - Perspective of the Boy from the Pioneer Village: The White Owl Spirit and the Ancient Tree Spirit
I didn't make it in time for April Fools' Day... orz
The atmosphere in the village has been strange for a while. I don't know exactly when it started, but even I know what triggered it.
An old oak tree stood on the outskirts of the village. The adults, wanting to expand the fields, had cut down that ancient tree. The atmosphere in the village turned dark from that moment on.
The spirits that used to play in the shade of the trees and in the furrows of the fields hid themselves, and the adults who cut the ancient tree fell ill and were bedridden. Mother told me, "Don't go near them, or you'll catch the illness," but I don't think it's an illness. On the right leg of Uncle Tom, who said his leg stopped moving, there was a black bruise like a tree leaf, and on the left shoulder of Mr. Pons, who said his arm stopped moving, there was also a black bruise. The leaf-like bruise, though I call it a leaf, isn't a leaf. It's like the thick stem part that remains when you play by crushing dried leaves. It looked exactly like a human palm. And a very small person at that.
...Ah, there it is again.
At the base of the ancient tree, I find the figure of a thin old man. He's some old man I've started seeing a little while ago. He is so small that it's hard to believe he's an adult, and if he stood up, he'd probably be the same height as me, or maybe even smaller. Just like his short stature, his palms are small. They are exactly the size of the black bruises on the adults who are bedridden with illness.
When I told Mother about this, she got angry and told me not to go near the ancient tree. When I told Father, he gathered the other adults at the village meeting hall and started some kind of discussion.
Father told me after he returned from the meeting hall that other children from different houses had also mentioned the old man leaning against the ancient tree. It seems some of the adults had noticed that something was there, and Father was one of them.
Apparently, the anomaly in the village isn't an illness, but is caused by the spirit of the ancient tree. That was the consensus among the adults, and they decided to seek help from someone more important than the village chief. Since the village chief was bedridden with illness, his daughter wrote a letter, and Uncle Dan, who was said to have been a Black Knight in the city long ago, decided to deliver the letter on one of the only three horses in the village.
"Teo, you can wait at home with Rosario."
"No. I'm staying with Father."
Until help arrives from the city, it's probably best to keep watch over the ancient tree and the old man. That was the talk among the adults, and they decided to take turns watching the ancient tree and the old man. Tonight's watch is Father, and when the moon reaches the zenith, he will switch with Uncle Ignis from the house next door. Then, around the time dawn begins to break, he'll switch with someone else again. I'm sleepy and scared, but keeping watch is the job of the village men. Since I am one of them, I decided to do the same job as Father.
...Huh?
I was watching the old man of the ancient tree while rubbing my sleepy eyes, but I felt something out of place beyond the ancient tree, deep in the forest, and shifted my gaze. In the forest enveloped in the darkness of night where the moonlight doesn't reach, I saw a single point of white light.
As I stared at that light, I could tell it was gradually approaching. Normally, one might be scared, but strangely, I didn't feel that way. Far from being scared, a warm feeling spread through my chest, as if something very wonderful had come.
As the white light drew near, it changed into a faint shadow. When it got close enough for the outline to be visible, I realized it was neither a white light nor a shadow, but a single white owl. Though I call it an owl, it wasn't a bird owl. A woman standing on two legs was wearing a white cloak shaped like an owl.
"Who is..."
I wondered who that was. When I looked up beside me to ask Father, my mouth was covered by a large hand. It probably meant to be quiet. I had forgotten for a moment because of the appearance of the white owl, but Father and I were supposed to be watching the old man of the ancient tree. It might be better not to make a sound so as not to be noticed by the old man.
I shifted my gaze back to the white owl from Father, who had his mouth agape. Her eyes were hidden by the owl's beak, but I could see the line of her jaw and the shape of her lips. From that outline, I could tell that an incredible beauty was hidden beneath the beak.
...She's holding something. A baby?
The white owl beauty was holding a white bundle inside her feathers. Judging by the way she held it and its size, it must be a baby. Since it's a baby held by a woman, I wonder if it's the white owl beauty's child.
When the white owl beauty opened her mouth, the old man of the ancient tree jumped up in surprise. I had only ever seen him sitting in a crouching position, but when he stood up, his height was indeed smaller than mine.
After the small old man exchanged a few words with the white owl beauty, he began to wail while pointing at the stump. I had a feeling, but as expected, the fact that the ancient tree was cut down must have been the reason the old man came to this village. After the white owl beauty patted the old man's shoulder as if to comfort him, she stepped a little distance away from the stump. Then she lifted the hem of her white garment and walked in a circle around the stump.
...What is it?
White light is born from the white owl beauty's footprints. I became motionless, staring at the white owl beauty, wondering what on earth was happening, and escaped from the arms of Father, who had frozen. I approached and peered at the footprints. Perhaps the white owl beauty has no weight, as there were no footprints where her feet sank into the soil, but instead, white mushrooms in the shape of feet were lined up on the ground.
"Whoa!?"
Strange mushrooms, how interesting. I accidentally poked one with my finger, but that seems to have been a mistake. Mushrooms began to grow from my finger that touched the mushroom, and in an instant, they spread from my finger to my palm. Panicking at the mushrooms that increased beyond the number of my fingers, I tried to brush them off with my other hand, but this time mushrooms grew from the other hand too.
"Wa-wa!? What is this? What is this!?"
When I turned to Father for help, Father was still frozen. His gaze was fixed on the white owl beauty, but that gaze was right behind me. Just as I thought I heard a voice with a slightly troubled ring from behind, a white hand brushed away the mushrooms growing on my hand.
"I know children are bundles of curiosity, but I think it's dangerous to touch everything without thinking."
"Did I get them all?" the white owl beauty said, inspecting my hand with the hand not holding the baby. The mushrooms that had spread from the fingertips to the palm in an instant were no longer growing anywhere.
They were mushrooms that increased just by touching, but they didn't grow on the white owl beauty's hand. It seems they were mushrooms that only grew on my hand. Shifting my gaze, I saw the old man of the ancient tree suppressing a laugh behind the white owl beauty. My failure seemed to be amusing to the old man of the ancient tree.
"...Now, instead of the treatment fee for the full-body mushroom-sprouting disease, I'll have you carry a message."
"A message? To whom? Father?"
When I turned and pointed to Father, saying he was right there, the white owl beauty laughed. She said Father would be fine, but someone more important in the village would be better.
"Please deliver a message to the elder. I believe he should be suffering from an illness, with a spirit's handprint on his chest..."
"Ah, that elder? Then I know. It's the village chief."
"Then, please deliver the message to that village chief."
The white owl beauty's talk was easier to understand than the stories Father tells. I think it's because she spoke in words closer to the words children use than the words adults use.
According to the white owl beauty, the old man of the ancient tree was indeed the spirit of the old oak tree. Just as he appeared as an old man, he had been almost withered, so he wasn't angry about the fact that he had been cut down. Rather, he seemed to have confidence in himself as lumber, to the point of pitching to the white owl beauty that they should use the lumber made from him to create furniture to be offered to the Divine King.
Then, as for why he did something like spread illness in the village, it seems the cause was the attempt to remove the stump. Right next to the stump, a thin, small sapling had grown.
"It might be the way of the world for a withered self to be removed, but he says he cannot bear to see a newborn sapling be killed."
"Cannot bear...?"
"...It means he doesn't want a newborn younger brother or sister to die."
"That's no good. You have to protect your younger sister."
"Yes, that's why..."
Younger brothers and sisters must be protected. That is the role of the older brother or sister born first. When I answered with my chest puffed out, the white owl beauty patted my head. The baby held by the white owl beauty might have younger brothers or sisters. As the mindset of an older brother, it seems I touched the white owl beauty's heartstrings.
"The oak tree grandpa says he doesn't want to move from this place in order to protect the sapling."
Therefore, the white owl beauty says to give up on cultivating the area enclosed by her footprints. It cannot become a field, but instead, when they are tired from working in the fields that can be made around it, they can sit in this place and take a break. If they do that, the ancient tree will protect this village as long as it has life, and after the ancient tree withers, the sapling will protect the village as its successor.
"...Please convey this story to the village chief."
This is not a 'request' from her, but a 'contract' with a spirit, the white owl beauty concluded. No reply from the village chief is necessary, and the moment the message is delivered, the contract is formed, and the village chief's illness will likely be cured.
When I accepted the role of messenger, saying I would just convey it, the white owl beauty suddenly disappeared. Not leaving slowly as when she appeared, but truly suddenly. I blinked and tilted my head, wondering if the beauty who had been before my eyes until just now was an illusion. Feeling unable to believe it, I looked back at Father who was behind me, and Father seemed to have returned to his senses. After repeating opening and closing his eyelids just like me, he hurriedly picked me up.
After switching the watch with Uncle Ignis early, I was carried to the village chief's house while being carried on Father's back. Since it was late at night, I felt it could wait until tomorrow, but Father judged that it would be better to convey it quickly given the village chief's condition.
Despite it being midnight, we knocked on the door of the village chief's house, woke the people inside, and with little explanation, I was taken to the bedside of the bedridden village chief. When I conveyed the message from the white owl beauty to the village chief, I could tell that the village chief's breathing, which had been painfully pressing his chest, suddenly became lighter. The greasy sweat he had been sporting vanished as if it were a lie, and by the time I blinked three times, his face had changed to a refreshed look.
It became exactly as the white owl beauty had said.
When morning came and I went to see the ancient tree led by the village chief, the marks of footprints remained around the ancient tree just as I saw last night. Last night they were certainly mushrooms, but strangely, the white owl beauty's footprints had changed into glossy white stones.
A few days after it was proven that it wasn't a dream seen by me and Father who dozed off during the watch. Uncle Dan, who had gone to the city to seek help, returned to the village bringing five Black Knights. I had heard that knights in black armor are 'Black Knights', but one of the knights seemed to be a slightly different knight called a 'Spirit Knight'. Father and the others tilted their heads, wondering what the difference was, but I understood the difference immediately. Because a spirit was sitting on the Spirit Knight's shoulder.
"I have come to investigate the ancient tree that was the subject of the petition—"
That was the start of the difficult talk among the adults. While wondering why I was called to such a place of adult talk, I tried my best to listen to the 'adult conversation'. The white owl beauty had broken down the words so that I could understand, but these adults are no good. They only spoke in words they understood, and I didn't understand the meaning at all. I tried my best to listen, but it was full of difficult words.
"Teo... as for this child's name. I heard that Teo heard the story of the ancient tree spirit and the white owl spirit."
The village chief conveyed the white owl beauty's story as it was to the Black Knights, and the Black Knights' gazes would descend toward me occasionally as if to confirm. I answered as I was asked, and just as the talk was coming to a conclusion that the white owl spirit had apparently settled things with the ancient tree spirit, Father, who had been watching the turn of events in mostly silence until then, opened his mouth.
"...Ah, that's right! I finally remembered."
It's that child, that child. Not a spirit, but a human girl, Father said with a refreshed face. Since that night, Father had often been silent as if thinking about something, but he finally seemed refreshed.
"It's the girl I saw at Gurnol Fort before. Look, the one who was guiding at the Memorial Service..."
To Father, who said he was surprised she had become so beautiful, the Black Knight looked convinced as if he had someone in mind, and the village chief's daughter jumped on Father's words. She asked why he didn't stop her if Tina-chan had come to visit.
I know the name 'Tina-chan'.
Because it's a name that occasionally comes up in the stories of Mother and the village adults as a girl who took care of me when I lived in the city.
"Well, if Christina-sama came, it's probably really okay now. Let's just confirm the ancient tree in question and head back..."
"Chris... who? That's Tina-chan."
"That Tina-chan is Christina-sama. She is currently the wife of the territorial lord..."
"Isn't it the other way around? Christina-sama is the lord, and Theodore-sama is her son-in-law, right?"
"No, the lord of Gurnol is Theodore-sama..."
As the adults' conversation finally became confused, saying this and that, I quietly slipped out of the circle. The current situation of 'Tina-chan', whom the village adults love, seems to be quite complex.
Leaving Father at the village chief's house, I returned home alone. On the way, I was spoken to by villagers asking if the Black Knights' talk was over, so I answered, "The talk is over" and "They are currently excited about 'Tina-chan's' current situation." When I answered this way, the adults threw down the farming tools they were carrying on their shoulders and headed for the village chief's house. Apparently, the adults are curious about 'Tina-chan's' current situation. From halfway through, it became interesting, so before being spoken to, I told the adults that the Black Knight was telling the village chief about 'Tina-chan's' current situation.
The mistake was telling this story even to Mother. Even Mother went to the village chief's house to hear about 'Tina-chan's' current situation, and I ended up waiting for my parents to return home while starving.
This is Tina from a mob's perspective afterwards. I wonder if she'll eventually become a resident of a fairy tale, something like that.
Teo is a common name (in-story setting) (I'll keep the truth that it was because thinking of one was a pain to myself)