episode_0003

It was a truly long, long travel story.

No matter where Tia opened the book, she read the words with interest.

“They say there’s a Land of Flowers at the far eastern end of the world? Flowers bloom everywhere, and the people are as beautiful as flowers! Everything is abundant, so there’s no need to work either.”

“Ha. That sounds like a desirable place. I want to live there—.”

“But it seems you have to cross a large desert and high mountains. Even by boat, it takes two years.”

“Ah. Then I’ll give up. These damn mountains are enough for me.”

Thanks to her, I could lie comfortably and enjoy the stories of the world that Tia told.

Whether the stories written in the were truly factual, or merely someone’s tall tale, I didn’t know.

Still, it was quite enjoyable to close my eyes and imagine a fantastic country like the ‘Land of Flowers’.

A book is like a miracle.

Just by reading, it allows you to vividly experience those far-off places that you could never reach, as if they were right before your eyes.

For us, destined to be born and die in Dragonage like our ancestors, this was the only way to escape the mountains.

Tia, who had been chattering for a while, suddenly stopped speaking.

“Ritsu.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you want to go?”

“Where?”

“To the Land of Flowers.”

I rested my head on my arm again and closed my eyes.

“…If we can go.”

“We can just go, can’t we?”

“It says so in the book, doesn’t it? Two years by boat. A very distant place, requiring passage through deserts and mountain ranges. It would surely require a lot of money, and it would be dangerous too. More than that, if we go that far, how would we ever come back?”

It was nonsense. Like Joseph Uncle’s passionate speeches.

We aren’t extraordinary people like the adventurers in that book.

We’re just ordinary children born in a small village deep in the mountains.

We grew up destined to simply plow fields, gather medicinal herbs, marry, have children, grow old until twilight, and then be buried under a pine tree with our names carved on it.

The Land of Flowers is a dream-like story.

“…….”

Tia, who had been silent, closed the book.

It was too dark to see her expression, but somehow her eyes seemed even clearer.

And then she said something even more incomprehensible.

“Ritsu. Let’s go up the mountain. Now.”

“…What?”

“It’s okay. Dawn will break soon. Even just for a moment, I want to feel the breeze.”

No matter what, it’s too late now… or should I say too early?

Anyway, climbing the mountain right now doesn’t seem like a good choice.

If the Village Elder-nim finds out, we might get a huge scolding…….

……Such worries were unnecessary. Tia had no intention of asking for my permission anyway.

Clack!

She grabbed my hand and opened the back door. Before I could stop her, we were already rushing through the cold night air.

The pre-dawn forest is dark and dangerous.

The villagers always returned to the village before sunset, and the Village Elder-nim didn’t allow anyone to enter the forest at night.

But in front of me, her reddish-brown hair swayed gently.

Tia’s scent of sweat mixed with the fragrance of dew-kissed grass.

And this hand, tightly clasped and like the sun, seemed to know exactly where to go.

Strangely, I wasn’t out of breath.

Even though we were climbing the mountain at an incredible speed.

My legs were fine, and my breathing was comfortable.

How long did we run?

Rustle—.

Tia, who had been leading me, finally stopped.

“We’re here!”

The first thing that met my eyes was the beautiful purplish night sky.

Descending from there, it shifted to violet, then orange, and further below, an even deeper crimson.

Between the sheer cliffs.

The sunlight rising from the mountain mist far away was exactly like Tia’s radiant hair.

The cold morning air settling down cooled our heated breaths.

Such a beautiful place… was it in this mountain?

As I watched the marvelous scenery of the sun rising, I couldn’t possibly speak.

Tia brushed her side hair back and wiped away sweat.

“Huff— huff—. How is it?”

“It’s beautiful.”

My two eyes simultaneously took in the morning sun and Tia standing in front of it.

Blindingly beautiful.

Whoosh.

A pure white hand stretched out forcefully towards the sun. Sunlight filtered through the small, slender gaps between her fingers.

“I feel like I can grab it.”

She said that.

“If I keep… keep going towards where that sun rises, I’ll eventually reach the Land of Flowers, won’t I?”

As if possessed by something, Tia walked forward. As if she were about to grab that crimson ball of light at any moment.

“Tia!”

I snatched her outstretched hand. She looked back at me, surprised.

“Beyond this… is ‘the line’.”

At those words, her small shoulders flinched.

The line.

When we were young, we roamed the forest together.

Even then, Tia always went ahead of me. Even as the sun set, she wouldn’t think about returning to the village, constantly pestering me, ‘Just a little further, just a little further’.

It seemed that this was also why the old adults paired us together. When Tia tried to take a dangerous path, or when night approached. Only I could stop her.

Though not explicitly drawn, there was an implicit ‘line’ in our village. A boundary line beyond which one shouldn’t go, due to the danger of bears or wolves.

When Tia stepped on that line, I immediately shook my head. “Let’s go back now.”

Then, she would wistfully stare blankly beyond the line for a moment, before eventually taking my hand again and returning to the village together.

However, all that is old news.

We, who had grown up so much, could now climb the mountain with such ease. There was no reason to wander until it got dark either. When I was young, that ‘line’ felt infinitely wide, but now it was merely such a ridiculously small cage.

Even so, Tia never crossed the line. Because I told her not to go beyond it.

“If we don’t go down now, the village will be in an uproar, thinking we’ve disappeared.”

“…You’re right.”

“Wasn’t today the day you were going to teach Marie how to spin thread?”

“…Yeah. I have to teach her.”

“Then let’s go back now.”

I didn’t apply any force. Tia’s gaze still lingered on the east, but just as always, she would eventually turn her head this way.

A brief silence fell. A moment later, Tia turned towards me.

“Let’s go.”

Holding hands together. We descended back to the village.

***

A week passed after that.

It was an unchanging routine. Tia borrowed another bandage yesterday. I didn’t want to see my hand get crushed like last time, so I just let her take it on credit.

Still, seeing bandages wrapped around her thigh and palm, it was a relief that the bandages I gave her were being put to good use.

When Tia wasn’t working in the fields or tending to livestock, she would go up to the mountainside by herself to train.

The ‘training’ she did referred to sword training. Two years ago, Tia met Teacher Vincent-nim through Joseph Uncle’s introduction, and thereafter, she regularly went down once a week to receive sword lessons.

At first, I thought she had started it purely out of interest. She liked physical activity so much, and there was no law saying women couldn’t wield swords. I thought learning swordsmanship for self-defense wouldn’t be bad.

But it seemed Tia was serious.

She seriously learned swordsmanship, and after about a year, she even obtained the ‘Priscolla’ qualification. To borrow Teacher Vincent-nim’s words, he said ‘for a girl her age—he particularly emphasized this part—to be a Priscolla was unprecedented’. It seemed her talent was that exceptional.

Until then, I had simply thought, ‘Tia really is a genius,’ and told her to work even harder.

Half a year ago.

Someone visited the village. It was someone like a ‘Knight’, only ever heard of in tales. He introduced himself as someone from a certain knight order, and then abruptly requested to take Tia to Deseo.

He said that the Defensive Swordsmanship Association of Deseo had heard rumors about Tia and developed a great curiosity. Teacher Vincent-nim, as well as the mercenary uncles, said it was such a highly reputable association that they insisted she absolutely had to go, saying she shouldn’t miss this opportunity.

However, it wasn’t an easy decision for a girl who had only ever lived in the village to suddenly have to leave her hometown. The village elders discussed this for a long time, and in the end, it was decided not to send her to Deseo.

‘It can’t be helped,’ she said. Tia said that and smiled. Tia’s mother had passed away when she was young, and now the villagers were helping her. She said it was right to follow that decision.

However, from then on, Tia changed slightly. She devoted herself to her training even more diligently than before. She picked up a sword that felt quite heavy even for me, and swung it again and again.

Whoosh—! Swish—!

If I went up to the apothecary’s shed and looked up, I could see Tia swinging her sword near the mountainside cliff.

With a scarecrow roughly made of straw and wood set up in front of her. She swung her sword in the exact same stance, without the slightest bit of disarray.

From morning until noon. Except for brief rests, she never left that spot, continuing on and on.

Whoosh—! Swish—!

The girl who always smiled brightly, was cheerful, and loved to play pranks. For that time, she pressed her lips together and swung her sword with a serious gaze. Its power was almost chilling.

As if there was something in front of her that she desperately wanted to cut down.

“…….”

Boiling—.

While blankly watching Tia, I snapped out of it at the sound of boiling water.

“I almost forgot.”

Today is the day to prepare medicine. The elderly had many ailments. Naturally, it was my duty as the apothecary to take care of this, and I regularly prepared medicine for them on set days.

Carrying the brewed medicine, I headed towards the Village Elder-nim’s house.

Even though lunch was over, people were still gathered and chattering.

“No, I’m telling you, we still need to open the road—.”

“What’s the point of talking about it when nothing’s going to change anyway?”

“It’s something that already caused a fuss once, so it’s hardly going to change.”

“It’s because things have really escalated now, isn’t it—. Young unmarried women or bachelors don’t come anymore—.”

Sometimes, they would gather like this and chatter loudly. Since there was nothing remotely interesting happening on this mountain, where only about 50 people lived, they passed the time with such idle chatter.

It was better this way. Since they were gathered in one place anyway, it saved me the trouble of going door-to-door to deliver the medicine.

“Alright, alright, I’ve brought the medicine.”

When I suddenly cut into the heated discussion and presented the medicine bowls.

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

“Haha. You work so hard.”

“No, it’s nothing. It’s just what I’m supposed to do.”

“Thanks to Ritsu, we’re still alive and well…….”

The elders’ mood became warm again.

Carrying the last remaining ‘strong medicine,’ I opened the door to the Village Elder-nim’s hut. A massive body sitting quietly in the lightless shadow. A silent breathing, with almost no movement.

It was the Village Elder-nim of Breezedon.

“I’ve brought the medicine.”

There were only a few people in this village who could enter the Village Elder-nim’s house so easily. Among them, perhaps I was the only one who could now have a private conversation with the Village Elder-nim.

I placed the bowl in his frail hands and gently guided his hands to his mouth.

Very slowly and gradually. The Village Elder-nim quietly drank the medicine and weakly set the bowl down.

“…Thank you.”

“How are you feeling?”

“…Ahem.”

The meaning was roughly conveyed with just that short cough. Not good, but not terribly bad either. It probably meant that the weather had been somewhat gloomy lately.

I decided to quietly withdraw, thinking that engaging in further conversation would only unnecessarily drain his energy.

That’s when it happened.

“Ritsu.”

The Village Elder-nim called out to me, stopping me.