[164] Late Lunch (2)
"Haa… anyway, I never thought a day like this would come. Maybe now I can live a slightly different life?"
The wound wasn't healed, but at least the shell had been broken. What remained was to carve out a life while vividly feeling the pains of the past.
"What will you do from here? I heard there are trackers after you."
Freemon said,
"We're leaving. We started as mercenaries, so we'll live as mercenaries. The subordinates will want that too. Of course, in this country we got absurdly branded as a band of thieves."
Sadness clouded Marsha's eyes. Mercenaries are people who fight. She, too, could smile while burying her comrades' deaths in her heart because she was always ready to die at any time.
She had never fought for a grand cause or some shallow justice. But she was always upright and never avoided enemies who came to pick a fight.
Marsha at least wanted to grant them the title of "brave warriors." She didn't think they should be buried with a "thieves' gang" tag like this.
Understanding how she felt, Tess offered words of comfort.
"Honestly, a thief and a mercenary are separated by a hair's breadth. In a sense, so are a knight and a mercenary. They're people who fight and are buried for their own convictions. Politically out-competed sides are called evil, but one day the tide can turn."
Rian's thoughts were similar. Sirone and Amy, who honed scholarship, might not know, but it was something anyone aspiring to be a knight had to be prepared for.
"Our house had a time when we were threatened too—for keeping neutrality. Come to think of it, Tess, your father must have it hard as well."
"Sure. Here he's a hero, but in the colonies he's treated as an invader. In the end, that's how it is. That's politics."
Marsha smiled. She knew Rian and Tess were bringing this up for her sake.
She still doubted the world, but she'd come to believe, in her own way, that sincere people existed.
'They're warm kids. Fitting friends for Sirone.'
Like a lazy cat, Marsha flopped forward, propping her chin on the table. Immersed in peace for the first time in a while, she lifted her fork to point at Sirone.
"But what about you all? Gonna go sightseeing hard from now on?"
"Ah, we're going to the Kergo ruins."
"Kergooo? What are a young man and woman going there for?"
"Well, the thing is…"
Sirone told her why they had come to the island. Listening with interest, Marsha nodded as if surprised.
"Hooh, so there was a secret like that at the ruins. Honestly, I was off-island, so I didn't know the details. Freemon, did you know?"
"To a point. I heard from the natives."
"Hmm, I see. So you want to enter the Kergo autonomous district?"
"Yes. But the difficulty of the Rooms of Achievement and Sacrifice is so high, I'm not sure we can pass."
"If you can't get in, then that's that?"
"Probably. I do have one thing in mind, but it isn't certain."
At that, Freemon spoke.
"If it's that, we can help."
"Huh? The Rooms of Achievement and Sacrifice?"
"No. Even without going through there, you can enter the autonomous district. Falcoa seems to have traded with the Loop on that side. If you show a pass from the Freemon organization, they'll let you in. For that kind of thing, he was pretty capable."
Sirone's party stared blankly. It was the first they'd heard that you could enter the natives' autonomous district without taking the trial.
Amy tilted her head and asked,
"In that case, isn't it a different route? If two routes exist from the start, there's no need to set up a trial gate."
"I don't know about that. What's certain is that both routes arrive at the same place. We've already confirmed that with people who entered by passing the trial."
Hearing this much, Sirone also found it odd. He'd expected that, at minimum, passing the trial gate would send you to a different zone.
"If it's the same place, but one requires the trial no matter what—why do that?"
Tess said,
"Who knows. Maybe it's tradition. The older a culture is, the more of that stuff remains. Another hypothesis is they do it to avoid people's suspicion."
"How does that help?"
"It implants the impression that there's nothing special in the autonomous district. In fact, just from what we've heard, our expectations for the Rooms of Achievement and Sacrifice have dropped, haven't they?"
Freemon wrapped up,
"In any case, you can just verify it yourselves. If needed, we'll make you a pass. We can do it right away."
"Yes, please."
Sirone decided to accept it for now. He hadn't decided which route to use yet, but the more ways to approach the natives' autonomous district, the better.
After calling a subordinate and ordering them to issue the passes, Freemon spoke to Sirone's group again.
"Getting in won't be a problem, but you'll need someone who can speak the native language. None of our subordinates can."
"Huh? Then how did Falcoa do business?"
"Since landing on the island, Falcoa built his own power base. Strictly speaking, the old mercenary corps didn't suit him. Of course, now that he's dead, that private outfit will collapse, but at the time he often mingled with smugglers on that side. One of them must've been an interpreter."
"Hmm, in that case, we'll have to find an interpreter too."
Yuna raised her hand timidly.
"Um, I don't know if I should say this, but…"
"Hm? It's fine. Say anything."
"Actually, my brother can speak a little Kergo."
Amy perked up.
"Oh? Jis can? How did he learn?"
"Since he was little, my brother did all sorts of work to look after me. Before he became a harbor tout, he did tourist part-time jobs and such. I think he learned then."
Freemon said,
"Good. Then we'll ask Jis. We want to help, but now that Marsha's returned, staying on the island is dangerous. The Mage Association is still chasing us."
Sirone nodded readily. He didn't want to burden Marsha, who was being hunted at a national level, any further.
With that, the conversation came to a close, and before sunset Sirone's party left the building.
Marsha buckled teleportation-capable bracelets onto them.
They were simple to use. The bracelets had their own Spirit Zones, so you just envisioned coordinates as if you were casting a spell.
Sirone examined the bracelet Marsha had fastened on him.
People used them without thinking, but linking a magic device with a magic circle was a truly outlandish idea.
A technique impossible without connecting two Spirit Zones separated across different spaces.
It could be thought of as what Marsha's Spot would look like when viewed from outside.
In other words, a person in the Spot would see only a single hole opened in space, but from the outside, you'd discover two Spots—an entrance and an exit.
"The labyrinth of spacetime. Maybe this world is already inside some vast secret."
At first, he'd thought it was a special incident that happened to him alone. But it turned out she was a disciple of Alpheas.
Digging further, he learned it was connected to the Kergo ruins.
Moreover, spacetime magic was even now being grafted onto magic devices somewhere and spreading across the world.
Sirone suddenly felt fear. Perhaps, just as the headmaster had said, he was now trying to seek something he should never know.
While Sirone was lost in thought, Marsha came over and offered a final caution.
"There'll be a carriage waiting at the foot of the mountain. We might see each other once more before you leave, but in any case, be careful. And when you get back, make sure you find a healing mage and get treated."
"Got it. Thanks for looking out for us."
"Hoho! What are you saying—between us?"
Marsha covered her mouth and swatted Sirone's arm. She no longer needed to hide herself, yet she wasn't much different from when they first met. Maybe she had lived by holding up the shield of lies to reveal herself.
"We'll get going. If we can't meet on the island, contact me at the magic school."
"Don't worry. Marsha Clay can find you anytime, anywhere."
Rolling up her sleeves, Marsha spoke briskly. As expected, she knew how to lift someone's spirits.
Freemon stood at her side, assisting. It might have looked too lopsided to call them friends, but in a way, the dynamic suited them.
When Sirone entered the forest, Marsha, who had stood there a long while, asked,
"The Kergo ruins, huh. Will they be all right?"
"Probably… they won't."
Marsha knit her brows and looked back at Freemon. But, as always, Freemon said what needed saying calmly.
"But they'll overcome it. They're strong kids."
With a pained smile, Marsha looked up at the sky. The sound of teleportation born in the forest split the firmament.
By the time Sirone's group returned to the villa by carriage, evening had already come.
Jis, pacing the living room with his aching body, turned around the moment the door opened.
"Ah…"
Tears welled in Jis's eyes. His one and only little sister, Yuna, was entering the villa without a scratch.
"Oppa!"
"Yuna!"
Jis, on the verge of tears, embraced Yuna. The siblings clung to each other and wept their hearts out.
It had been a truly grueling ordeal for them. Even Sirone—whose mental fortitude yielded to no one—had more than once wanted to fall to his knees before such a formidable foe.
Having been harmed by such people, it was easy to feel just how lost and stifled Jis and Yuna must have felt.
"Are you okay? You aren't hurt anywhere?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. The oppas and unnies saved me. Oppa, what happened to you? How badly did you get hurt to be wrapped in bandages?"
"I'm fine. If you're back, nothing hurts at all."
In truth, even walking was hard for Jis. But he couldn't show it to Yuna. The fear she must have felt surely outweighed the pain he'd suffered many times over.
With eyes full of emotion, Jis looked over at Sirone's party. Then he bowed so deeply that his overflowing sincerity all but spilled out.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! I'll never forget this debt."
Tess patted Jis's shoulder as if to say it was fine. He had something to tell him—thanks to what he'd heard from Freemon—that could wait.
"Hoho! You can forget this all you want. As long as you remember what I said when we set out. If you're really grateful, you'll show it in your actions from now on, right?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Not understanding Tess's words, Jis blinked. Not only Sirone's party, but even Yuna was smiling at him.
After putting the exhausted Yuna to bed, Jis came back to the table. Sipping an herbal tea, he resumed the paused conversation.
"So, you're going through the Kergo ruins to enter the autonomous district. And you need an interpreter."
"Yeah. From what Yuna said, you can do it, right? I wanted to know what level you're at."
"For everyday conversation, no problem. I can guide you. Hmm, but entering the natives' autonomous district is…"
Jis stroked his chin with a subtle expression.
"What's wrong? Your face doesn't look good. Is there something bothering you?"
"No, it's fine. I'll guide you as much as you need. But I don't know what business you have there—the place is special. Not because it's secret, but because the Galliant government strictly controls entry. Are you sure about this?"