Chapter 1 (2/2)
Sorey involuntarily raised his hand to his chest. Of course, just touching his wallet
wouldn't change the fact that it contained far, far less than a thousand gald any.
”I don't have that much....”
Sorey stammered. Rose then asked, ”Okay, how about I buy something from you?”
”Something that's worth money....?”
His hand still on his chest, Sorey tilted his head thoughtfully. He reached back to the
pouch hanging behind his waist just to see what was there, and something brushed his
fingertips.
”How about......this?”
Rose and Mikleo's eyes widened when they saw what he took out.
”Wow, that's unexpected! That's a great pipe~!”
Taking the pipe from him, Rose scrutinized it intently.
”It's been well cared for, hasn't it? It's old, but there are no scratches here at all. This thing
has got to be worth more than a thousand gald, we've got to get it properly appraised....”
”No, it's okay! More importantly than that, please help!”
Sorey looked at Rose as if he was urging her to go.
”Nnnghh...okay, then!”
Lightly jumping up the stairs, she began to talk to the soldier guarding the back door.
Sorey watched her go, wistfully, and Mikleo watched him in silence.
The pipe Sorey just gave Rose was a farewell gift from Gramps, Sorey's foster parent.
Though he had forbidden Sorey from coming down to the Lower World right to the end,
he gave his favourite pipe to Mikleo and asked him to give it to Sorey as the latter was
about to leave the village alone without telling them.
Rose gave them a wave a few moments later. Transaction successful, apparently.
”All right. Let's go, then!”
Mikleo said to Sorey with clearly intentional exuberance, giving him a push in the back.
”Mmm.”
Sorey closed his eyes once, lightly. When he started walking forward again, he was
looking straight ahead once more.
---------
Alisha was standing next to the shrine's altar talking to Maltran, the head organizer of the
festivities, when she noticed someone approaching. As she realized who the new guests
were, her face melted into a smile like a flower coming into bloom.
”Sorey!”
Alisha immediately ran to him.
”Welcome to our city! Are you here for the Trial of the Sword!?”
There was a joy in her expression that wasn't just because she was happy to meet him
again.
It was because she had been hoping and hoping, against all odds, that if there was anyone
who could pull the holy sword out of the altar and become the Shepherd, it'd be someone
like Sorey.
Sorey shook his head no, however.
”I'm here to tell you that you're in danger, Alisha.”
”Huh.....?”
The princess inhaled sharply, and Sorey explained why he was there.
How Lunarre appeared in Elysia after Alisha's departure.
How a mysterious group of a.s.sa.s.sin appeared and told them to come here after they had
followed Lunarre all the way to the capital.
After Sorey finished his story, Alisha's face darkened and she whispered, ”I see...”
”What that mysterious group said is true. There are many people who do not think well of
me. I cannot afford to be craven because of that, however.”
”But, Alisha.....”
”Thank you, Sorey. I am truly grateful for your concern.”
The strength of Alisha's resolve rendered Sorey speechless.
His friend was already prepared to face danger by herself, right here before his eyes.
There was nothing more to be said.
”The last ceremony of the festival, the lighting of the Flames of Purification, will begin
soon. Please do stay and watch it to the end.”
Alisha said, then headed to the altar with Maltran.
Mikleo had been watching everything quietly. Sorey leaned close to him and whispered.
”So that's the resolve of a statesman.....”
”It's incredible....”
It made him sigh deeply without thinking.
”Well, we've came this far. Let's have a look at the Festival of the Holy Sword, shall we?”
All right, Mikleo agreed, and both of them also headed to the altar.
Peering at it from the side hall, both Sorey and Mikleo cried out all at once.
”Huh!?”
They weren't surprised at seeing the holy sword buried deep into the dais, the symbol of
the altar.
They were surprised because a long-haired woman was sleeping on it, as if she had
collapsed onto the dais and stayed there.
”Mikleo! That's......is that the Lady of the Lake!?”
”Looks like it....”
”No one here can see her, that means she's got to be a Seraph!”
Sorey said excitedly. She was the first Seraphim he had met ever since leaving Elysia.
And what's more, she was a person the legends told of.
”This is amazing! The legends are real!”
”Indeed. It must be that you can't pull that sword out unless you talk to her. So that's why
normal people can't do it.”
Mikleo agreed, then continued.
”She's sleeping really soundly with all this noise, though.”
The altar was filled with the groans and shouts of partic.i.p.ants trying to pull the sword
out. Despite this entire racket, the Lady of the Lake was still sleeping soundly,
comfortably. She was something, all right.
”Try talking to her, Mikleo!”
”Me!? But, it's....”
As Mikleo hesitated, the last challenger stepped down from the dais. In return, Maltran
and Alisha appeared on top of the podium.
The voice of Maltran, Highland's 'Blue Valkyrie' rang through the room majestically.
”My people of Dame du Lac! This long-awaited Festival of the Holy Sword had been
held off for many years, with our world in turmoil. This year, however, Her Highness
Alisha has granted us her understanding and complete cooperation, and that is why we
are able to hold the festivities today!”
Urged by Maltran, Alisha stepped forward.
”Strange things have been happening as of late. Cases of unnatural events, pestilences,
bad harvests, and political instability with our neighbours. I believe, however, that it is
precisely in times like this that we must not neglect our customs and traditions.”
The gathered civilians all gave her a loud applause at the end of her dignified speech.
Alisha nodded at them in return and glanced at Maltran, who took a torch from a retainer
at her side and waved it theatrically.
”Now come, Lady of the Lake! Come, and show us your power!”
She said, throwing the torch into the pyre stacked behind her.
The fire quickly consumed the stacked logs, turning into a roaring blaze.
The noise of the fire woke up the Lady of the Lake, who got up and corrected her posture
as if she was embarra.s.sed to be caught sleeping late, then looked around her as if she
wasn't entirely sure what was going on. Alisha, of course, didn't notice her antics as she
resumed her speech.
”Lady of the Lake! Purify our sorrows! Purify our sins with your inferno!”
She threw an offering into the fire, making it burn brighter and brighter. Lit up by the
light, the Lady of the Lake turned her head downwards, a strangely somber expression on
her face. Both Sorey and Mikleo looked at her.
”Why does she look so sad....?”
”Who knows....? Because no one ever talked to her even though she's been right there all
along, maybe?”
”No one, huh.....”
Sorey leaned forward and peered at her.
With the offering burnt, the rite of the Purification Fires was over. Maltran spoke up
solemnly, heralding the end of the festivities.
”Hear me, people of Dame du Lac! Let us pray together! May this ceremony bring us
peace and prosperity!”
Everyone cheered and clapped at the sound of her authoritative voice----however,
”Prayers!? To h.e.l.l with your d.a.m.ned prayers!”
A man pushed his way through the crowd, approaching the front of the podium.
”Will praying bring back our jobs!? Can you answer me that!?”
The man shouted, glaring at Alisha.
”The entire reason the cabinet's withholding exclusive trade agreements for crops and
weapons is because they're going to start a war, right!? Are you going to let us die like
dogs!?”
His aggressiveness sent a wave of uncertainty rippling through the crowd of festivalgoers,
who had all been enjoying themselves before. Their faces darkened with anxiety,
and conflicting whispers of 'but....' and 'he has a point....' began to spread from corner to
corner.
”This isn't a very good turn of things....”
Mikleo frowned. Beside him, Sorey stared at the Lady of the Lake. She had been glaring
at the sky ever since the man appeared, looking as if she was afraid of something.
”You're only doing this to justify the cabinet's ego! We're not falling for this farce!”
The man's shouts began to get to people's hearts, and murmurs in his support increasingly
grew louder. A guard standing below the dais started, as if he sensed danger, and thrusted
the spear towards the man, bellowing.
”Silence! Do not disturb the festival!”
Though Alisha had been enduring this entire dialogue without a word, even she couldn't
stay silent at that.
”Stop!”
Before she could even finish saying it, however, the soldier hit the man with his spear.
That was the start.
The crowd exploded in rage. Fueled by their discontent, they came rus.h.i.+ng in, fists raised
at the guards. Both sides soon joined the fray, turning the scene into utter pandemonium.
”This is bad.....!”
Sorey was about to run to protect Alisha when Mikleo noticed a guard running outside the
shrine, mixing in with the insurgents. On a closer look, it was apparent that he was the
guard who caused all this by attacking that man. Somehow, the citizens he was supposed
to be fighting were helping him get away from the shrine.
”That's it! They've planned for this all along....all this violence!”
Sorey stopped mid-run at the sound of Mikleo's voice, then turned to Alisha and shouted.
”That guard!”
Alisha immediately spun toward the direction Sorey was pointing to and saw the guard
just as he got away. Maltran, also looking at the same thing, narrowed her eyes icily.
”This is the minister's handiwork, no doubt about it.”
”He'd go so far as to get citizens involved with their power games!? Is he so far gone!?”
Alisha bit her lips. An insurgent ran to her, fists raised.
”Is there truly no other choice....!?”
Alisha's face crumpled in anguish. Then, she turned to strike back at the insurgent.
As angry cries and screams filled the shrine, a voice reverberating with extraordinary
purity rang through the halls.
”This cannot be! You cannot give yourself to aggression!”
It was none other than the Lady of the Lake, standing on the top of the podium. It looked
like she was trying to talk to the citizens, but n.o.body could hear her voice.
And yet she continued.
”Please, calm your hearts! If this keeps up, a 'h.e.l.lion'....a h.e.l.lion would be born!”
Of course no one heard her, even if she had waited there alone for so long----or so it
seemed.
”A h.e.l.lion!?”
The Lady of the Lake turned to Sorey and Mikleo at that. At the same time, an insurgent
raised his face upwards and wailed as if he was a beast.
”What is that!?”
Alisha exclaimed in surprise. She turned to Sorey and Mikleo.
”This is....!”
It was right there in plain sight for Sorey and Mikleo. A swirling black fire, rising to
engulf the man as he cried out, turning him from man to something else.
The man stopped shrieking then, spinning to face Sorey and Mikleo.
His face was no longer human, but a monster covered in bristling fur---a werewolf.
”Did he turn into a h.e.l.lion.....”
Sorey gulped, staying on his guard.
Mikleo remained alert, too, as he looked around the shrine-turned-battlefield.
”The Malevolence is born from the wicked hearts of Man, and from the Malevolence the
h.e.l.lions are born....more h.e.l.lions are going to appear if this isn't stopped!”
Sorey turned and cried out to the Lady of the Lake, standing there on the podium, her
head hung low.
”Lady of the Lake!”
The Lady of the Lake started with a jolt. Then she turned to Sorey.
Alisha turned to look at him in surprise, too, but he paid it no mind.
”Lady of the Lake, can't you do something!?”
”You have the power of purification, right!?”
Mikleo shouted, too, and the Lady of the Lake widened her eyes as she saw him, as if she
had frozen to the spot.
”Can.....both of you.....?”
Can both of you see me?
Sorey nodded at the question she wasn't able to articulate.
It was then that the werewolf made its move.
Rus.h.i.+ng it with a speed far surpa.s.sing that of ordinary men, it brought its claws down on
Sorey. He dodged, rolling, and its claws connected with the pyre instead.
With a terrible sound, the pyre collapsed. The fire roared, rising up into a conflagration,
sparks flying everywhere. Tendrils of fire rose to the ceiling, burning darkly. The black
fire soon spread to the ceremonial banners hanging down from the ceiling, filling the
shrine with screams.
”Mikleo! Put out the fire!”
”You can say that dark fire is the same thing as the h.e.l.lion itself! I only know what to do
with ordinary fires!”
Mikleo produced his staff and called forth a surge of water with the Celestial Artes,
directed it on the roaring fire.
Standing in front of Mikleo and protecting him, Sorey looked around the room.
”It's getting worse, Mikleo....! The h.e.l.lions just keep popping up!”
”Huh.....!?”
Mikleo quickly scanned the room, too. Indeed, several more werewolves have appeared
while both of them were preoccupied with the flames, rampaging through the shrine.
”It's not just the violence, the fear and the confusion here are also giving birth to the
Malevolence......!”
”If this keeps up.....!”
Sorey turned to the Lady of the Lake for help, but she only shook her head sorrowfully.
”The power of purification is not for me to use, but for the one who takes out this sword,
one who becomes a blade for me to wield.”
”Then!”
Sorey immediately leapt to the dais and reached for the sword embedded in it.
Both Mikleo and Alisha exclaimed in surprised at his sudden action.
”Sorey!?”
His fingertips were about to touch the blade when---
”Please wait!”
Looking up, he saw the Lady of the Lake standing before him with sorrow written on her
face.
”To become my sword is to become my vessel, and there will be a fate that you must
bear.”
The black fire swell and rose. The heat was so strong that it felt like it could burn their
throats off, but the Lady continued speaking as if it was nothing, quietly, as if she was
admonis.h.i.+ng herself.
”In return for wielding the power of purification and abilities far greater than that of the
average man, there will be those who find you terrifying, and there will be times when
their terror wears down your heart. And you will have to face terrible decisions, too, in
order to save mankind and Seraphim alike from the h.e.l.lions....”
The Lady of the Lake stopped speaking then, clasping her hands together over her chest.
As if she was praying.
”It will a lonely battle, lonely beyond imagining.”
The Lady cast her eyes downwards, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with the colors of sadness. Sorey looked
straight ahead at her.
”Is that the fate of the Shepherd....? Are you saying that he has to accept that right now!?”
Mikleo objected as he battled with the flames. It was a fate revealed to them for the first
time, and in terrible circ.u.mstances like this, too.
That's just like intimidation tactics!
”Yes. That's why.....”
The Lady pressed her hands together more tightly, as if she could hear Mikleo's inner
voice. Her fingertips were white.
Sorey stared at the Lady as she stood before him, hands clasped together.
He was being forced to make a terrible choice, but his heart was calm.
After all, he'd finally found it. Found the path he'd been searching for all this time.
”May I ask for your name?”
”Huh?”
The Lady of the Lake looked up to find Sorey's gentle gaze meeting hers.
”Oh, um, of course. It's Lailah.”
”Lailah.”
Sorey said, softly. A lonely name called by no one for who knew how many decades, he
thought.
”I want to travel the world and visit all its ancient ruins. It's because I believe, you see,
that somewhere in times long past lies the knowledge of how humans and Seraphim can
live together in happiness...that's what I believe.”
Both the black flames and the h.e.l.lions' onslaught were bearing down on them, but Lailah
didn't move at all. She listened intently, so as not to miss a single word of Sorey's quiet
voice.
”That's my dream. To find a way for humans and Seraphim to live happily together. If
purifying h.e.l.lions means saving humans and Seraphim both, that's got to be connected to
the dream I'm chasing somehow. Or at least I think so.”
”Sorey.....you're.....”
A light of anguish s.h.i.+vered through Mikleo's eyes. He looked at Sorey's face and could
see an unyielding resolve there, as plain as day. It was easy to see for him. They had been
together for that long, together ever since they were born.
Sorey took a deep breath. His throat felt like it was on fire.
His heart, however, was racing, the heat soaring up in his chest from finding a bridge to
his dream at last was far stronger than any fire could be.
”I'll become the Shepherd! I'll give this body as your vessel, and I'll bear that destiny!”
As he made that dauntless declaration, Sorey grabed the holy sword.
Lailah put her hands on top of his.
”I have long been waiting for this day. For a person with a heart so pure that the
Malevolence cannot form.”
She said, somehow sounding as if she was on the verge of tears, and light swelled from
her hands. An intense pain shot through Sorey's left hand at the same time. Then Lailah
gently released her hands from his, and on Sorey's hand was a mark of the dragon.
The mark of the 'Shepherd' shown in the Celestial Records.
”Now, Sorey-san! Take the sword!”
”All right!”
Sorey gripped the handle of the holy sword once more, gathered all his strength together,
and pulled the sword out all once.
He closed his eyes. Something hot, something burning, was rus.h.i.+ng from the blade to his
very core. At the same time, he could feel the air around him shaking.
Everyone in the room turned to the epicenter of the strange tremor to see a young man
taking the sword out of its altar : the birth of the Shepherd.
”Sorey, did you really.......!?”
Alisha stared, unable to take her eyes off him, forgetting how to blink.
”Haaaaah!”
Sorey swung the recovered sword at the black flames. At the same time, Lailah released a
number of paper slips into the air as if in response to his attack. The paper slips turned to
silver fire, disintegrating the black flames before they, too, quietly faded away.
”The fires are gone....!?”
”What the h.e.l.l!? He just swung that sword....!”
”O Great Shepherd! My Lord! That person, he's the Lord Shepherd come!”
The crowd began to buzz with talk of Sorey the Shepherd, one person after another. They,
too, were unable to take their eyes off him.
Sorey readied his sword once more, looking up at the pyre above the podium. His attack
had removed most of the black fire, but it stilled roared in the big bonfire, burning,
thundering.
He came to stand before it. Werewolves appeared out of nowhere, and even h.e.l.lion
slimes no one had noticed before surrounded him, one after another.
”Let's do it, Sorey-san!”
”Yeah!”
In response to Lailah's voice, Sorey swung his sword in a great arc. Lailah's paper slips
danced in the wind together with the sound of rending air.
As the paper slips turned into silvery white fire, they surrounded the werewolves rus.h.i.+ng
in to attack them.
”Gyaaa!”
The werewolves writhed in pain, falling to the ground and returning to human form.
”This is the power of purification....”
”Yes. My fire can purify a 'h.e.l.lion' and free the person engulfed by the Malevolence.”
”Malevolence....I see. So there's just that much 'malevolence' tainting this world, then.”
”Huh....?”
Lailah asked as she aimed for a slime sneaking behind their backs with silvery fire.
”Sorey-san, don't tell me that you can already see the Malevolence!?”
”Yeah....I think so. Is it that thing looking like a black fog hanging here and there?”
Lailah was speechless to hear his answer. Sorey could see the Malevolence, indeed.
Even if he had become the vessel and everything, it was hard to believe that he could get
used to it enough to see the Malevolence so quickly.
”Sorey-san, if it's you....!”
”Huh?”
Just as Sorey turned to the sound of Lailah's voice.
Raaaaaaaaaaahh!!
The black flame in the pyre shook as if it was alive and with a mind of its own, surging
forth to engulf Sorey.
”......!!”
”Sorey-san!”
Sorey couldn't breathe in the midst of the searing flames, and he fell to his knees. Lailah
immediately cast a healing spell on him, but he still couldn't stop heaving.
To make matters worse, the slimes had also entered the fire, heading straight on top of
Sorey. They didn't like the heat any more than he did, it seemed.
”Nnnngh! I'm not going to sit here and let you kill me!”
Using the sword as leverage, Sorey tried to stand up. Lailah whispered to him.
”Sorey-san, it's time to show them the true power of the Shepherd.”
”The true power of.....”
”I shall give you my true name.”
Lailah softly whispered her true name into his ears.
”That's......your.....”
”Please say that name. And then draw all the flow of power into yourself, envelop your
body with it. That's the true power of those who call themselves Shepherds!”
”All right! I'll give it a try!”
Using every ounce of strength he had left, Sorey stood up, held his sword high and cried.
”Foes Maema!!”
The mark of the dragon appeared on Sorey's left hand again in that instant, and the same
mark also glowed on Lailah's left hand. Her body turned into a wisp of light that soon
grew to encompa.s.s Sorey.
Sorey's body twitched in this s.h.i.+ning light. As if following its unspoken guidance, a
change was occurring in him, too. His light brown hair turned gold, a color like that of
light itself, growing out behind him like a surge of water that couldn't be contained. His
blue clothes turned white, embroidered with gold, his earrings and hair ornament dyed
with a red reminiscent of Lailah's fire.
As the light surrounding him finally faded, his eyes slowly opened.
Those eyes, once s.h.i.+ning with the green of verdant forests, now burned with the red of
blazing fire.
”This is....!?”
In the midst of flames, Sorey looked at himself on impulse, tugging at his own long hair.
”This is called 'Armitization!”
Lailah's voice rang from inside his head.
”Now, Sorey-san! Use the fire of purification!”
”All right! Let's purify everything at once!”
Sorey lifted his sword. What was once the holy sword had turned into a ma.s.sive blade,
bigger than the entire length of his body.
”Let's go, Lailah!”
”Let's go!”
Sorey swung at the slimes as they readied to attack, as well as the fire surrounding him.
Raaaaaaaarr!!
The pyre sundered with a loud roar. Cleaved in half, the fire no longer rose up, quietly
fading away. All the flames faded away from the shrine, and Sorey quietly landed on the
floor.
”Sorey......!”
Mikleo called him, the joy in his voice strangely unconcealed. Sorey returned it with a
smile.
”Sorey....have you really......?”
Alisha staggered towards him. The shrine was quiet, as if someone had doused the entire
crowd with water.
”Mmm. I've become the Shepherd.”
Sorey's answer was short, but the quiet shrine erupted into cheers at it, drowning out
everything else.
For the first time in decades, a Shepherd was born.
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