CH 166

Chapter 166

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : To The Swamp, Part 4 — Spirit Of The Wind

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

「I will go to contact Miliazar-dono. Kikyō, go to Fenna-dono and Kazas-dono to check on their safety.」

「Hah!」

Kikyō quickly disappeared. Azusa then turned to Kaede.

「Kaede, you are to guard Miranda-sama.」

「Yes.」

「Be mindful. The order of Miliazar-sama is that the safety of Miranda is paramount. The rest of them, abandon them if the situation warrants.」

「I know what to do.」

Kaede nodded expressionlessly. Kaede’s age is almost the same as Lisa’s, but she has no hesitation. Kaede is a genuine Kunoichi, raised as a Mouthless from birth. Even if she’s told to marry a magical beast, she would do it without hesitation if she was ordered to do so, which is why she was on this important mission at her age. Kaede was an excellent person compared to all the Mouthless of her generation, or even all the current Mouthless, including the magic eye.

Azusa, however, wasn’t a genuine Mouthless; she had been sold into slavery when she was 12, but Kuchinashi had found her and bought her up. Since then, she has become one of the most skilled users among the Mouthless, but her senses are closer to those of an ordinary human being. To put it simply, she is compassionate. Furthermore, even though Kaede’s mother was among the Mouthless, she wasn’t allowed to call her mother even once. Even though she’s a Mouthless, she is rarely that strict, but Kaede’s mother was special.

Kaede, however, didn’t complain at all, but went through the rigorous training without a word. Azusa, who had been in charge of Kaede’s education since she was a child, took pity on her and had feelings for her that were close to those of a younger sister or daughter. That doesn’t mean Azusa has never added a hand to the training or the mission. That Azusa grabs Kaede firmly by the shoulders and orders her to look her in the eye. She knows it’s cruel, but she has no choice but to do so, the fate of the Mouthless.

「Especially that Alfiris girl or whatever she is called. She is dangerous. If she tries to harm Miranda-sama…」

「Don’t worry. I’ll deal with her.」

Azusa nods silently to Kaede, who answers immediately, and adds.

「But if you find it impossible, take Miranda-sama with you and escape. You are the next Kuchinashi candidate. And Miranda-sama——」

「Don’t worry, I know everything by heart. Don’t worry, Azusa-onee-sama」

Kaede’s expression relaxes a little. When Azusa confirms that Kaede isn’t fazed by this expression, she pats Kaede’s head as if reassured.

「We’re on a mission, Onee-sama.」

「That’s okay, I’m the one who is questioning the current Mouthless organization. An organization whose own parents and children can’t even come forward is ridiculous.」

But Kaede made no response. Gently stop Azusa’s hand from patting her own head and removes it from her head.

「I will be off then.」

「Yes, be safe.」

「You too, Onee-sama.」

And so the two Kunoichi left the place.

＊＊＊

And then nothing happened until Alfiris and the others arrived at the village of Euthy. No, too little happened. Not a single beast, not even a single cry could be heard. But both Lisa and Miranda knew why. It was all Alfiris’ fault.

The first horse that Lisa brought with her was also frightened and went berserk when he saw Alfiris. Except for Aerial, it was Alfiris who was the friendliest with the horses, and the horses would even come to Alfiris when they had free time. But this time, as soon as he saw Alfiris, he changed direction and tried to run away. But when Alfiris grabbed the reins, the horse became unusually quiet this time.

After that, nothing. There really was nothing. They were taking a break when the sun was just above them. They rode their horses until the sun went down and finally they didn’t see a single beast. Perhaps they had avoided Alfiris. Since they’re following the landmarks left by Aerial (the special glowing paint that Miranda had given her), they were moving quite slowly and should’ve been easy to aim at for the Magical Beasts, so the other side was surely avoiding them at first.

But the absence of assaults was in itself a good thing. Alfiris and her group were able to proceed faster than expected and followed the landmarks, eventually coming to a dead end in front of a large tree. The arrow that should have been painted with paint was gone, and a circle was painted in its place.

「I don’t know what that means.」

「Hmph. This is the entrance.」

Alfiris dismounts her horse and examines something.

「I see, fairy wards. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, and if you’re not very careful, you won’t even notice it.」

「How do we get in?」

「You can’t get in unless they open it. Unless, of course, you break the wards. Maybe we should force it open.」

「If we did that, the fairies would be upset.」

「Then you just have to force them to do what you say.」

Just as Alfiris was about to say something disturbing and Miranda was about to say something, the tangled roots of a tree untangled and a path was made. A fairy comes out of it.

「Alfiris-sama and her group, is it? We have heard about you. The fairy village of『Schutim』welcomes you.」

「Heh, I didn’t realize you were welcoming us. Saved me the trouble of breaking it down.」

「…Let’s go.」

With Alfiris grinning and sneering at her, Miranda walked quickly on her way. She felt that it was useless to say anything to Alfiris right now, and she didn’t want her to have to deal with fairies too much. In fact, the fairies were frightened to see Alfiris, and so were Miranda and Lisa. To be honest, both of them were afraid of the current Alfiris. Only Kaede, who didn’t know the previous Alfiris, remained aloof.

They walked down a dark path made of tree roots and eventually saw a light. They thought it was walking toward the ground, but apparently not. It may be a kind of『ward』or『castle』of sorts.

「Muh, you’re all here.」

After passing a path of tree roots, they came to an open area. There stood Aerial. Aerial was concerned about Nia, but she was probably more worried about Alfiris. Also, there is no denying that after sending Nia off safely, she had nothing in particular to do, and to be honest, she was bored out of her mind.

Miranda rushed over as soon as she saw Aerial.

「How’s Nia doing?」

「…For better or worse, I guess.」

「What does that mean?」

「It is faster to listen to the chief here. Let me show you around.」

Miranda starts walking alongside, with Aerial in the lead. Lisa and Alfiris follow a short distance behind, pulling their horses.

Watching Alfiris, Aerial quietly chats to Miranda.

「What happened to Alfiris?」

「You understand?」

「It was only natural for them to be emitting such a disastrous intent. Even the fairies were frightened.」

Miranda looked around and saw fairies glancing at her from behind trees as if they were looking at something terrible. But every time Alfiris looks in their direction, they all run away.

Alfiris was amused by their reactions, and looked around the area with a giggle.

「What’s wrong with Alfiris? She’s like a different person, you know?」

「… Perhaps the Curse Marks are still out of control.」

「The Curse Marks? I didn’t hear it was that nasty, right?」

She and Aerial had been living together for many days in Phalanx’s dwelling, so in a manner of speaking, Alfiris had explained to them about the Curse Mark. But she suppose this means that Alfiris also didn’t tell them the whole story.

「（Or, maybe she doesn’t even know.）」

Miranda looks back at Alfiris with concern. When she noticed the look, she waved her hand smiling at her. If it were Alfiris, she wouldn’t have done such a thing.

「She really was a different person.」

「I never heard of a Curse Mark like that either. I knew it was dangerous, but I didn’t know it could affect Alfiris’ personality. If that were the case…」

「If so, then what?」

「Uwah!?」

Aerial shouted out unintentionally. No wonder. Alfiris, who would have been 15 meters behind them just a few moments ago, was behind her during Aerial and blew into her ear.

It’s not normal for Aerial not to notice the presence of the approaching Alfiris.

「W–When did you?」

「Nhn? It’s just short-range teleport, though?」

「I’ve never heard of anyone dealing with that kind of magic so easily.」

Miranda gives Alfiris a suspicious look. But Alfiris just shrugged her shoulders.

「You can’t help it if you can.」

「What do you…」

「That’s not the point. I thought you had arrived.」

Alfiris pointed to a small fountain. There was a large leaf floating in it, on which Nia was lying. Nearby, Nia’s body was gently enveloped in a pale blue light as Euthy seemed to be frantically working his magic.

Beside her sat one more woman. Her green hair was long enough to stay on the ground, and it was flowing in rich, radiant strands over the leaves. She was also very beautiful to look at, with strong-willed eyes in a seemingly calm exterior. She had four wings on her back, which indicated that she was not human. But being as tall as a human, she was too big to be a fairy.

As Miranda and others stood by the fountain wondering what to do, the woman suddenly floated in the air and flew toward them.

「Welcome to Schutim, dear guests. I heard that Euthy has been a great help to you all on this trip. On behalf of all the fairies in our village, I would like to thank you.」

「Ah, no-no. We’re the ones who’s always taking care of her. For her…」

「Oh my, you are funny. But you still are, aren’t you?」

Hohoho, the woman laughs lightly. Whenever she laughed, her feathers swayed as if they were flowing, and it was very beautiful. She also seemed to smell sweet and pleasant. The woman turns around to face Euthy. Euthy was lying on her back, gasping for breath, perhaps tired from overuse of magic.

「Euthy, come here.」

「I–I can’t–po.」

「Where will I learn such slang again? But if you’re not here in 10 seconds, you’ll be punished. 10, 9,…」

「D–Demon～」

Euthy flies in, wobbly with fatigue, and they all thought she’d have 10 seconds to spare.

「8, 1, 0.」

「Wai— You just miscounted!!」

「I am the rule here. If I say black, white things are black. If I say you are punished, you are punished.」

「Such unreasonableness…」

「That’s how the world works. If you talk back to me any more, I’ll make you a casserole, okay?」

「N–Noooo————」

The woman grabbed Euthy with a shrug as she tried to run away. Miranda thought it was a scene she had seen somewhere before, but she was more distracted by the woman’s lighthearted laugh and the way she said this.

「Uhh, who the hell is she?」

「Oh, I haven’t named myself yet. I’m the head of Schutim, my name is Winthia. Pleased to meet you, ladies.」

The woman who identified herself as Winthia smiled lightly and gracefully, but in her hands, which were just barely tightened, Euthy was limp.