Chapter 5

It was when Ries had just come to the orphanage, when he was still about the same height as me.

Thanks to all the attention I gave him, he had finally started to warm up to me.

"Hey, Ries. Let's go to the festival tomorrow night."

"…Festival?"

I invited Ries with a full smile.

In our territory of Alrweil, it is a tradition to hold a grand harvest festival once a year, where all the residents work together, led by the lord. This year, I would be involved in the preparations, but back then, I was just a little kid, so I just enjoyed it. I went to the festival with Ries.

Of course, we couldn't go out at night alone, so Uncle Alan, our guardian, was with us, along with the other children from the orphanage.

We watched the performances, ate delicious food from the stalls, and had a lot of fun.

Back then, I held Ries's hand without any hesitation and walked around this dark path, chasing after the lights.

Even Ries, who always had an unfriendly expression, seemed to be enjoying himself, though it was hard to tell.

"How nostalgic."

Even in this situation, thinking about little Ries's shy smile made me relax for a moment.

"But it's unusual for you to bring up such an old story."

"…This year, I just thought it would be good to take that little fox with us. There are many sweets sold at the festival that you can't get anywhere else, so he would be happy."

Ries's expression, as he said this matter-of-factly, was hidden from me since he was behind me.

But I finally realized it.

Is this… Ries's way of saying, "Wol will be fine, so don't worry," and trying to encourage me?

"Yes, but before the festival, we need to go back and have a proper party. Let's start with that."

But thank you, Ries. I secretly reached out my fingertips to his free hand.

Just holding hands a little bit should be okay, right?

But before our fingertips touched, Maro let out a high-pitched "Ah!"

I quickly pulled my arm back.

"? What's wrong, Sue?"

"N-nothing! What's the matter, Maro?"

Turning my head, I saw Maro staring intently at the rock wall with round eyes.

Following his gaze, I saw a message written in black ink, though the lines were wobbly. According to Maro, it was probably left by the author of the picture book.

"'From here on, it's dangerous. Proceed with caution. Do not be misled by nightmares'… It seems to be a warning."

Ries, who read it aloud, placed his hand on his chin in thought.

"Sue, can you check the contents of the book? If we are to proceed, it would be better to have as much information as possible."

"Indeed. Maro, can you get the book out?"

"Here you go."

We stopped for a moment at Ries's suggestion. I took the lamp from him and reread the picture book that had appeared. The open page showed a scene where the siblings had been in the cave for quite some time and were approaching the final stages.

"Even when terrifying venomous snakes approached, or when they were surrounded by a pack of black wolves, the brother worked hard to protect his sister. The sister also helped her brother, and together they overcame the dangers that came their way.

The bond between the siblings was very strong, and they always helped each other and moved forward, no matter what.

And they were just a short distance from their destination.

However, just as they were about to reach the innermost part where the Lustrous Stone was, the rock wall crumbled with a rumble, and a black mist covered the area. It seemed to have overflowed from the collapsed area.

It was… a demonic mist that showed nightmares.

When they touched the mist, they lost their strength, and in the obscured vision, the siblings lost sight of each other. They were shown sad and painful hallucinations and crouched down on the spot."

This is quite a harsh development for a children's book… I frowned.

There were many points in this scene that caught my attention.

"Are the venomous snakes mentioned here the small snakes we saw earlier? They seemed like ordinary, non-venomous snakes. And the pack of black wolves… could they be a lot of bats…?"

"Probably exaggerated to make the story more exciting."

I agreed with Ries. These kinds of children's adventure tales are more engaging when they are more dramatic, so they are often embellished.

"If that's the case, then this demonic mist… is it also a fabrication?"

Before I could ask, Maro firmly stated, "No, I think that part is true."

"The residue of a demon is definitely creating this mist. The demonic envoy… here it's a black mist, but in the case of the spirit user disappearance incident in the capital, black butterflies were showing hallucinations to people. One of the essential traits of demons is to mislead humans."

"To mislead humans…"

I traced the illustration in the book with my eyes.

At the edges of the page, a boy and a girl were depicted huddled up in a black space, looking distressed. They were being tormented by nightmares.

Although the specific nightmares are not described… what kind of hallucinations would I see?

"Wol might have been caught in this mist as well. In any case, now that we've confirmed it, we should hurry on."

"Here, I'll return the book."

After the book disappeared from my hands, we were about to resume our walk. But at that moment, something like sand started falling on my shoulder.

"Eh—!" I looked up just as Ries sharply called out, "Sue!" and pulled my arm hard.

"Kyaa…!"

A part of the ceiling that had collapsed was about to land right where I was standing.

A deafening roar echoed.

I feared the entire cave might collapse, but it seemed only that part had fallen due to some vibration. Still, there were rock chunks the size of fists rolling around, so I would have been in danger if hit.

"Thank you, Ries. You saved me."

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine… Ah, Maro!"

The shock of being pulled made Maro fly off my shoulder. I gently released Ries's arm and rushed to where Maro had landed on the ground.

In the middle of this, I suddenly realized something.

This situation is similar to the flow in that picture book. If that's the case, what will happen next is—.