zChapter 39 - Arc 2, Crescent Moon (1/2)

The next day, Ernst took a look at the fields encircling Eitt Village.

Even though the snow around the estate was deep after the New Year had passed, Ernst really didn’t see any snow near Eitt Village. Instead of snow, there was the terrible sight of dust clouds kicked up from the cracked, parched fields.

“It seems that it would be immensely difficult to grow crops on fields such as these.”

“We can choose to grow things which don’t need much water, like wheat and millet… and during summer, we can’t grow anything other than potatoes and tomatoes.”

“Was the land here like this in the past, as well?”

The villagers had given Ernst a piece of cloth, and Ernst brought it to his face before he opened his mouth.

“No; when I was a child, the land used to be a little better. The entire village used to be able to eat well on the animals we hunted and the crops we grew.”

The elderly villager swayed as if he was being flapped around by the wind. Targes stabilized him with one hand.

Ernst also lost his footing when a gust of wind blew against him. Ganche nonchalantly went to stand upwind of him.

“Humm. Then in that case, approximately when did things become like this?”

“Let me think… when I was an adult, my mother left the village to work, so around that time, I think. That should be about 100 years back or so, I think.”

Ernst bent down, grabbing some of the soil to take a better look. The clod he had picked up crumbled at the slightest pressure, bits and pieces of it being carried away by the gusts. It didn’t look as if it contained a single trace of moisture.

Just like the sky before it began to snow, dark and gloomy clouds covered Ernst’s heart. Was it impossible to wish for lands abundant with flourishing greenery in Meissen? Ernst wished there was someone he could ask that to.

He stood, letting out a small sigh, and accidentally locked gazes with the villager, who looked at him in shock. Why did he look so surprised? Ernst wondered, completely puzzled, but both of the villagers who had come to guide him only just stared at him with wide eyes.

“What is it?”

“Uh… no… that is…”

They avoided answering Ernst’s question, their eyes darting around like they didn’t know where to look.

Though he still didn’t really know why, Ernst stopped pursuing the matter. Instead, he asked them to guide him to the forest which served as the border to Grude Continent, the Weiss Forest.

Although the dry land extended even up to the outskirts of the forest, the deep color of greenery in Weiss Forest showed how abundant it was, even when viewed from afar.

Strangely enough, there was a clear boundary between the inside of the forest and the outside, as if a line had been drawn to separate them.

The dusty land which held no water, after crossing that single boundary, became a dense forest.

“So there are plants and greenery in this forest.”

“Yes. In the forest, there isn’t a single thing that withers.”

As they proceeded step by step into the forest, the wind lessened until it came to a still.

“This forest is very quiet.”

“The wind is always blowing around outside like that. I also feel that it’s very calm and quiet in this forest.”

“But if you prick your ears, you’ll be able to hear the sounds.”

“The sound of the wind?”

“No, the animal cries. The calls of the birds and deer, for example. At night, you can hear the wolves howl.”

At those words, Ernst unwittingly paused his steps. The phobia of wolves he had developed during his stay in Rintz fief made his small body tremble with fear, even now.

“There are… wolves, here?”

“They’re around wherever there are deer, aren’t they? Since they’re good food. Besides, if there weren’t wolves, we’d be in trouble.”

Ganche softly placed a hand on Ernst’s shoulder. Encouraged by his warm hand, Ernst started to walk forward again.

“Why would you be in trouble?”

“This was back when I had left the village and gone to Meridie fief to work, but… in that land, because wolves had hunted their livestock, they killed all of the wolves. Because of that, deer started overcrowding the forests and mountains, and they ate all of the trees until there was nothing left. When I was working over there, they even started going for the crops, so we had to go and fight against the deer. The deer were like pests attacking the fields all year round, even coming to attack at night… we couldn’t hold up against them.”

So that was why…

Ernst had thought that it would be a good thing if there weren’t any wolves, because that would make crossing the forest very easy to do.

But if there weren’t any wolves, there wouldn’t be anything to weed out the deer. No matter if it were a plant or an animal, it would never be good if there were too much of it, and neither would it be good if there weren’t any at all.

Ernst stopped in his tracks, looked around at the quiet forest. As the villager said, if you used your ears, you could hear the birds singing and the deer crying shrilly.

He heard the rustle of the leaves. There were insects, too.

“In this forest, if there weren’t wolves then the deer would eat the young trees, too, making it much harder for us to get firewood. Even deer like the young trees better than the mature, giant trees – they’re probably softer and taste better.”

When Ernst looked carefully, he saw that the bark of the trees looked like they had been peeled off by the deer. But it wasn’t enough to the point of felling the tree. Before the deer could kill the trees, the wolves thinned out their numbers.

Ernst quietly breathed in the air of the forest. It had the deep scent of greenery. It smelled like the scent Ernst loved the most.

There was nothing created by nature which didn’t serve some purpose. The lives of all living beings were interconnected.

The villagers explained to Ernst as they advanced through the forest. The further they went, the bigger the trees became. Some of them were so enormous that it would take ten Kleber people holding hands to encircle them.

“In the Grude Continent, would trees like these be considered normal?”

Ernst turned back, asking this to Ganche.

“Not quite. In Grude, a tree like this would still be considered a young.”

At Ganche’s words, the villagers stopped in their tracks.

“Then… the trees here are going to grow even bigger than they are now…?”

They looked up at Ganche, lost expressions on their faces.

“Well, I wonder… Grude Continent is always at a hot temperature, and unlike this land, there is no winter season where it becomes colder, so it might be that the trees won’t grow as much.”

Ganche forced a smile, his masculine brows furrowed. Though he had said those things to calm the villagers, Ganche himself probably didn’t know whether his words were true or not.

Just two hundred years ago, no one would have imagined that the trees in Weiss Forest would grow to be so gigantic, or that Eitt Village’s fields would dry up like this.

Just what would they become one hundred years from now? In this world, not a single person would possibly know.

Ernst slowly walked through the woods. The trees were big, the leaves were big, and the ground he stepped on was soft. There weren’t any places that felt like rock beneath his feet, which was what the ground around Iben Village and Mount Ekze had felt like.

The terrain here was gentle and easy on the feet. Some leaves might have fallen every now and then, so there were large dead leaves that had fallen on the ground. And there was probably moss, too. A soft and full cover of plants blanketed the ground, hugging Ernst’s ankles.

Ernst heard a light voice in the air, one which he had previously heard in the villa.

“That voice, does it come from a little bird?”

When Ernst asked this question, the villager nodded.

“It should be a little bird, though its size isn’t so little.”

“Humm. So there are Grude birds, too.”

“It looks the same as a little songbird you might find in Meissen. But, its size is… about the same as a chicken. It’s delicious when you roast it.”

“Are you able to hunt the birds?”

“We can. The deer, though, are completely impossible for us. The blades of our weapons can’t even cut it.”

“I wonder – what would you say is the success rate of your hunting? Every time you go out to hunt, will you always be able to bring something down?”

After pondering over Ernst’s question, the younger villager responded.

“Our weapons aren’t very good, is the thing… even though we do maintain them, they’re old and worn out… once a blade breaks, we aren’t able to repair it ourselves. As such, there are many times where we go out to hunt but aren’t able to bring down anything. About once every three times, we’re able to catch a bird or a rabbit… it’s not possible to fill the stomachs of everyone in the village with that.’

So they have to eke out a living using those dried-up fields, the food they can just barely manage to hunt down from the Weiss forest, and the money from their migrant workers. Judging by the looks of Eitt Village, if they were no longer able to depend on any one of those three, they wouldn’t be able to survive.

They quietly delved further into the forest. Weiss Forest had many animals. They were all animals that had either come from Grude, or were affected by its influence. In other words, the forest abounded with gigantic, dangerous creatures.

As the villagers explained this to Ernst, their voices were naturally very quiet and low so as to not attract attention.

Everything in the Weiss Forest was enormous. Massive tree trunks rose up into the sky, their branches spreading out far above Ernst’s head. Even the fallen leaves on the ground were so big that they were taller than Ernst.

Even though the forest was dim, sunlight still reached the roots of the plants. Several kinds of grass sprung up from the ground, mixing in with the deep layer of moss.

Ernst grabbed some of those pieces of grass, looking over them carefully. He pulled out some moss and sniffed it.

“Milord?”

Ernst looked over his shoulder and saw that the villagers had stopped in their tracks. He stood up.

“Are you able to harvest anything from this forest other than animals?”

“Uh… um…”

Not understanding what Ernst was asking, the villagers awkwardly shook their heads.

“What I mean is, do you eat any nuts, or any grass like this kind here?”

He simplified his words.

“Oh… tree nuts. We used to eat them in the past, but they’re all the way up there at the top, aren’t they? We can wait for them to fall naturally, but that’s also very troublesome… the amount of labor it takes to eat them is just too much.”

Ernst looked up at the top of the tree, where the villager was pointing toward. There was certainly something growing there. But from this distance, it looked like its size would be the same as a small rock if it were right in front of him.

“What about the grass?”

“You mean this grass? This stuff isn’t edible. I’ve seen deer eat it before, so I decided to try it out once, but it was far too bitter… it isn’t something we can eat.”

When the villager spoke, Ernst stayed quiet and nodded.

Since Ernst had said that he wanted to see where they drew their water, the villagers guided him to the river. It was a small stream with only a little bit of water trickling through it.