kscans

Chapter 115 - Little One and the Seaside Forest

"We’re finally at the borderlands."

Mountains and a faint touch of green were visible in the distance. That area was likely the end of the wilderness. It still looked like it would take a full day. They had passed the boundary between the desert and the wilderness yesterday, and Little One's carriage had retracted its skis and was now operating normally. They had arrived sooner than expected, but the real work started now. While heading for the Lord's Forest, Little One wanted to find Sasha's hometown.

"Large mountains to the west, and a location where salted fish arrives… The ‘salted’ part means the sea is far away, but dried fish seemed to be common, so it must be in a tricky spot, huh?"

"Sasha's village?"

Chihaya looked at his muttering sister with an exasperated expression.

"Let's head to the seaside forest first. If the village is on the way, we can ask around. But honestly, Sasha's village is probably…"

Little One’s face grew serious at Dorfen's words as he frowned. It was highly likely that Sasha’s village had been destroyed. According to her own memories, their houses had been set on fire, and the beast-humans who fled were captured one by one. Beast-humans have extremely high physical abilities. Therefore, slave traders first capture the children. If the children are taken hostage, the adults are easily captured. It is a cowardly method that takes advantage of the deep and devoted affection of beast-humans. The female-centric beast-humans cannot abandon their children. To them, it is synonymous with death. The mothers might have been saved if they had abandoned their children. But that was not an option. Their hearts would die.

Sophie's Choice, was it? There was a story like that. Sophie, imprisoned in Nazi Germany in the past, was told to choose whether her son or daughter would be sent to the gas chamber. After agonizing deliberation, she let go of her daughter's hand. The contradiction of abandoning her child to save her child. That became a wedge in her heart for the rest of her life, a story of deep-seated anguish.

It was surely the same for the beast-humans. The regret that clung to Sophie for her entire life for abandoning her child, and the anguish of the beast-humans who were enslaved because they could not abandon theirs, both stemmed from love. Both were right, and no one could object. If there was someone who could, they would have to be a rationalist with a truly mechanical, iron-like heart. Little One sincerely hoped she would never become friends with such a person.

"Well, it’s a bit late now, but if Sasha wishes for it, I want to let her have a homecoming. I just want to confirm, you see."

Muun. Little One rested her chin on the windowsill, her brow furrowed. Watching her with a fond smile, the carriage continued on its way towards the mountain range.

"Oh, there’s still snow. And it’s so deep!"

The next day, upon arriving at the foot of the mountains, which were mottled with green like a savanna, Little One was ecstatic at the sight. In Frontier, which was in the south, snow rarely fell, and when it did, it wasn't much. Little One had gathered up the snow that would melt and disappear the next day to make snowmen and snow bunnies. Well, a fair amount of dirt got mixed in, creating a marbled pattern, which was also a fond memory.

Her eyes wide at the snow that came up past her knees, Chihiro excitedly left footprints, saku saku.

"Uhyaah! It’s already gotten quite warm, but this is amazing!"

Gyuggyu. She packed a snowball and threw it at Chihaya.

"Wap! That’s cold! What are you doing?"

Brushing the snowball off his cheek, Chihaya scooped up some snow with his hand and threw it right back at Little One.

"Hyaah! It’s cold, it’s cold!"

Her cheeks bright red, Little One hopped around, scooping up snow with a windmill motion of her arm and throwing it. Chihaya, not to be outdone, threw back, and the two of them were quickly covered in snow. Babababa. As they pelted each other with snow, Dorfen, who had stepped in to stop them, also got covered.

"Please stop, wah!"

Flustered, Dorfen slipped and fell right there. Hyrulia, holding a towel, rushed over and gave the twins a sharp look.

"It seems you two have an abundance of energy. How wonderful."

At her graceful smile that formed a perfect arc, a chill ran down the twins’ spines. Of course, it goes without saying that they were immediately thrown into the bath. The two of them were covered in dust from crossing the desert, and Hyrulia had been nagging them about it for a while. Since they would just get dirty again as long as they were in the desert, they had only bathed the bare minimum, so now they were prime targets for Hyrulia to scrub clean. After a thorough washing and being dressed in proper attire, Hyrulia looked satisfied.

"From here on, you are goodwill ambassadors. Is that clear?"

""Yes…""

"We’re still in the borderlands, though," Little One grumbled, but Hyrulia ignored her. The Frontier party planned to head to the country of Claudia via the seaside forest. A messenger had already been sent ahead, so to the outside world, the twins were goodwill ambassadors. The borderland where the seaside forest was located was Claudia’s territory. Being far from the central region, it was a land that had developed its own unique culture.

Claudia, huh. I wonder what kind of country it is.

Ignoring the waku teka excitement of Little One, the journey continued without passing through any villages or towns, and they arrived directly at the seaside forest.

"Um…?"

"…………"

The place they arrived at was a sheer cliff. The forest was located halfway down the cliff, which must have been three hundred meters high. Or rather, it was more like a cave than a forest. A mysterious space dense with countless budding ferns and moss. It seemed the Lord of the Forest was the one who had brought all sorts of things into it to form a nest, but.

"...A swallow?"

A familiar black and white form. The swallow, with a vivid vermilion streak by its eyes, silently stared at Little One. It was about three meters long in total.

Is it a roc, nyo? No, it’s still too small. Rocs are creatures that eat elephants.

Because of the location, only Dorfen and the twins had descended the cliff. The Little One Squad was waiting on top of the cliff, ready to act immediately if needed.

"Um, I came to make a pact?"

"As you wish."

Aya? They don't seem very enthusiastic?

The Lord’s children scattered around them also remained perfectly still and quiet. Puzzled by the emotionless monsters, Little One turned on her heel.

"Are you not making a pact?"

"You don't seem to want to. If you have a reason, I'll listen, and if you don't want to talk, that's fine too, nyo. The pact isn't mandatory, so you decide. I'll stop by again on my way back."

With those words, Little One left the cave. The Lord of the seaside forest stared after her in a daze, its eyes wide. Little One was unaware of the astonishment in its eyes.

"You didn't make the pact?"

"Yeah. They just didn't seem into it for some reason."

"Is that even possible? Isn't the golden magic a source of invaluable vitality for monsters?"

Accepting the tea offered by Adonis, Little One wore a troubled expression.

"Hmm, it’s hard to explain, but I can just tell, you know. The Lords are very expressive with their emotions."

That was right. In the past, they had conveyed their resignation and sorrow, like with King and the others, to Little One without her realizing it at first. She felt a similar sensation from the Lord of the seaside forest.

If she had to put a name to it, it was "Fear."

Upon seeing Little One, the swallow Lord was frightened and had closed off its heart. That was why Chihiro had left the cave without saying anything more.

"Hooown…" Lost in thought, Little One aimed for one of her destinations, the royal capital of Claudia.

Passing through there, she intended to head to the forest in the plains on the other side of the mountains. After that, she would visit the seaside forest one more time.

With such thoughts, the Mononoke Carriage moved forward.

Little One did not yet know that the answer lay ahead, and that a piece of the truth lay sleeping in the forest of the plains.

"You should have told me sooner!!"

A short time later, Little One's familiar scream would echo through the mountains.