episode_0010

People sliced meat and held a drinking party.

Everyone was chatting and playing noisily, but Tia was nowhere to be seen.

As I walked around, I saw a small, huddled shadow behind the house.

“Tia.”

“…”

“Why are you like this?”

“…”

Tia had buried her face and was trembling.

I thought I knew why.

“Is it because you saw the birth?”

She nodded quietly.

Perhaps her heart wasn’t ready to witness the birthing process directly.

Only women could assist the mother.

Men could never go near, and even Uncle Marvin, the husband, couldn’t enter the house.

It seemed Tia, being a woman, had inadvertently helped with the birth.

Since she saw the mother in pain and the blood bursting forth unfiltered when the baby came out… she must have been deeply shocked.

She spoke in an anxious voice.

“Aunt Olivia… looked like she was going to die… She seemed so hurt and exhausted…”

“That’s right. She overcame it well.”

“If I have a baby someday… will I be like that too?”

“Probably.”

“I’m scared. I don’t want to… It’s so agonizing that I can’t even breathe properly… and I might die… Why do we have to risk our lives to have babies?”

I couldn’t give her an answer.

Because I am a man.

While I felt like I understood her feelings, I couldn’t readily say I did.

“I was so scared Auntie would die… but the men just laughed and chatted…”

“That’s because men and women are different.”

“-I don’t like that. I can’t understand it.”

Tia hugged her arms tightly.

Unlike the ordinary girls in the lower village, her arms were ‘trained’, with prominent curves.

Still, compared to my arms, which had never properly held a sword, hers were incomparably thin.

She is stronger than me. Even more powerful.

However, the inherent limitations of being a woman were becoming increasingly apparent as she grew older.

Last autumn, Tia had ‘almost’ received her first request.

Since she had received her Priscolla qualification and even an invitation from the association.

She thought it was a bit early, but expected to be able to go out for odd jobs like subduing wild beasts and had high hopes.

However, even those trivial odd jobs never went to women.

A boy her age, who had only just joined three months prior, was selected, pushing Tia aside.

The reason given was that strength, rather than excellent swordsmanship, was more necessary for hunting beasts.

How much her pride must have been wounded then was difficult even for me to fathom.

Although she is diligently training to build strength now.

Even so, she could only ever be slightly stronger than me, ‘who had just lived as a man.’

Even if she didn’t show it outwardly, Tia must have resented being born a woman.

“It’s unfair…”

“Tia. Then, why don’t we go ask?”

I pointed towards Aunt Olivia’s house.

“Why Auntie made that choice. Let’s hear her story directly.”

“…”

I took Tia’s hand and went to Auntie’s house.

Aunt Olivia, when we met her again, had a gaunt appearance, having lost a lot of weight.

It was a surprising change, to the extent that one would wonder if a person could change so much in a single day.

But her haggard face somehow seemed to contain a sense of relief and joy.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

“I’ll make you some medicine to help you recover your energy.”

While I was calmly making my diagnosis.

Tia approached Aunt Olivia.

And then, hesitantly, she asked why she had a baby.

Auntie lay quietly and listened to her story until the end.

She must have been tired herself, having just given birth. Yet she smiled without a hint of exhaustion.

“I understand, Tia. I was anxious too… to the point where I thought I would die… It was so hard. But when a baby formed in my body, and when I gave birth… I felt an unspeakable gratitude, more than fear…”

A pale hand stroked Tia’s red hair.

“That, my dear, is called ‘love’. Liking a man. Wanting to be with this man for your whole life… liking him so much that your heart tingles… feeling like you love him to death… That, is something only we women can do.”

“…”

“I finally got to meet the child who would connect him and me… How could I not be grateful?”

The newborn was wrapped in a swaddling cloth.

It was small enough to fit entirely within one hand.

Honestly, I couldn’t say it was pretty. Its whole body was wrinkled, making it look like a huge lizard that hadn’t shed its skin.

But for that tiny thing to be the ‘bond’ that connects people.

It felt strangely wondrous.

“Rina had you with that same feeling. She truly loved Albert.”

“Mom… she was like that too…”

“Later, if such a person comes into your life, Tia, you’ll understand. That feeling of wanting to bear the child of the one you love.”

Tia nodded quietly.

She had an expression of having found some answer in Aunt Olivia’s words.

“Please give our baby your blessing, Tia.”

Her red eyes turned to look at the newborn.

Tia carefully lifted the baby as if embracing a cute puppy.

Aunt Olivia’s words were right.

The natural gesture of holding it close to her chest.

That gaze, looking down at the baby so lovingly, was clearly… something only a ‘woman’ could do.

“May the Divine Dragon-nim’s grace always be with you.”

Tia gently kissed the baby’s forehead.

***

Tia and I went back up the mountain.

Tia left under the pretext of practicing swordsmanship, and I, under the pretense of digging for medicinal herbs.

We met halfway up the mountain and crossed the boundary line.

Outside the line, it was truly untouched nature.

As we walked through the dense and lush forest along paths where deer passed, we would even feel the illusion that we were the only two people in the world.

When we encountered tall rocky hills, I would lend her my shoulder, and Tia, who climbed the rock first, would pull my hand up.

We took off our shoes and crossed streams.

When we found a sunny spot, we rested leisurely.

The deeper we explored, the greater our discoveries.

When we found flowers, grasses, and mushrooms we’d never seen before, we’d bring them back to the apothecary and search through books with Tia all night long.

It was a continuous series of wondrous events.

We realized how narrow the world we had lived in until then truly was.

The vast nature of Dragonez was immeasurably vast, and if we wished, we could go anywhere.

And I realized.

That this very moment, crossing the mountains with Tia, was happiness.

“Hurry up-! Ritsu!”

Tia would run off on her own and fall into a stream, then take off her wet clothes to dry them, and I would hear a chilling warning that she’d hit me if I looked back since she was naked.

While I was straining my mind not to look at Tia, she kept tickling my back and bothering me.

Anyway, we kept moving while stuck together like that.

We had no other choice.

Because in the unfamiliar, unknown forest, we could only rely on each other.

“Pant. Pant.”

Watching Tia enjoy herself while breathing heavily, I once again felt that my choice had been right.

A bird that had escaped its cage and was flying freely in the sky.

Brizden was too small a world to confine her.

It was slowly time to return.

Tia didn’t make a regretful expression like before. She immediately ran to me and took my hand.

“Hey, Ritsu.”

“Hm?”

“Can we go to just one more place for the last time? It’s close by. It’ll only take a moment-.”

It was unexpected. She had never acted so spoiled.

Still, since we had time, I decided to grant her request.

“Alright. If it’s just for a moment.”

Soft footsteps. Soft footsteps.

With the setting sun beside us, we climbed along the ridge.

Tia’s footsteps were light.

She stepped lightly on the rocks, as light as a quail’s down feather.

A stream seemed to be trickling somewhere, and just as Tia said, an open area soon appeared.

Where could this be?

Ancient trees were beautifully intertwined around an emerald-colored lake.

It was as if… it were a secret garden, hidden in a place untouched by human hands by the Divine Dragon-nim, the master of Dragonez.

Being a high-altitude area, the surroundings were thick with cloud mist.

I walked on the moist grass and looked around the lake.

It was mysterious and beautiful.

It felt like standing on a piece of untouched nature that had broken off.

Tia put her hands behind her back.

“It’s the ‘Lake of Promises’.”

It was a name I had never heard before.

No, I had never heard it from anyone.

“There’s a legend here. If a man and a woman who visit this place pledge their love before the lake, their vow will be fulfilled.”

“…Really?”

“You thought I just made that up, didn’t you?”

She caught me.

People wouldn’t even know if such a lake existed, so how could there be such an absurd legend?

Of course, I thought Tia had made it up on the spot.

“But it’s true. My mom and dad met that way.”

Perhaps she wanted to look towards where her parents were?

Tia looked up at the purple sky.

“When my dad, who was an adventurer, was young, he accidentally came to our village, met my mom, and fell in love. My mom brought him to this lake and swore an oath to the Divine Dragon-nim, saying, ‘Please let our love be fulfilled when our journey ends.’”

It was a story about Tia’s parents’ past that I had never heard until now.

“And so, my mom and dad traveled the world for three years, returned to this lake, confirmed their unchanging love here, and then held their wedding in the village.”

“I see.”

“Of course, my dad suddenly disappeared one day. But Mom loved him until the day she died.”

Tia, sitting before the lake, put her hand into the water.

Gentle ripples rose on the surface.

“I want to find my dad. Whether he’s still alive somewhere, or if he’s passed away. I just want to know that much. So… when I get a little older, I’m going to leave this village and travel.”

Hearing those words directly from Tia’s mouth, my heart tightened.

I knew it. That I couldn’t hold her back.

Because the more I held her back, the unhappier Tia would become.

So, I should let go of those who are meant to leave.

I… must remain in this village.

I had always thought that I was the only one who could send Tia off.

Because I knew Tia better than anyone.

That role should rightfully be mine.

When the time comes, we will walk different paths and live different lives.

Nothing in this world can obstruct your path.

Not even I, who has been with you for so long.

Although I had resolved myself to this.

Although I had slowly sorted out my feelings within my heart.

“…”

Why did my heart ache so much, and why did my eyes well up?

Trickle.

Tia, having let the water flow, stood up.

Slowly, she moved her steps and came closer to me.

“Ritsu.”

I felt like my breath would stop.

Brilliant sunset light spread through the cloud mist.

Thousands of rays of light colored Tia.

The girl standing before me was not the Tia I knew as a childhood friend, but like a beautiful goddess from a legend.

“I’ll… come back. Definitely. So…”

Tia looked up at me.

“Can you make a promise with me?”

“…”

Tia.

What dreams you are having, I still don’t know.

If only you can be happy.

I hope you forget this prison-like village and leave to find true freedom.

But… if this world dares to allow it, I want to be with you for my entire life.

I want to babble endlessly, even about trivial things, and I want to always make your small lips smile.

I want to see your bright smile up close.

So, I will gladly confess.

That I want to be with you.

“I promise.”

A soft rustle.

Tia hugged me.

So close that our breaths touched.

A heat as hot as the sun enveloped my body.

It instantly melted my tightening heart and burned away all my thoughts.

Soft lips.

The scent of a ripe apple.

Two small hands grasping the back of my neck.

The shy and innocent kiss felt like an eternity.

“…”

Tia, who had lifted her heels, came back down.

That warm breath delivered through her lips still surged hotly within my body.

She was this beautiful.

Her shy expression.

Her hair dyed by autumn leaves, her eyes holding stars, her skin softer than silk.

Even her voice, as gentle as the morning breeze.

“Tia.”

Perhaps this is the only time.

I slowly took out the ruby necklace I had been keeping, wondering when to give it to her.

My hands gently wrapped around her beautiful neck, fastening the leather cord at the nape of her neck.

Click.

The small ruby raw gem that fell on Tia’s chest rose and fell with her breath.

In the very bright red light of the sunset.

We held each other’s hands.

And then we knelt before the lake and prayed devoutly.

O Divine Dragon-nim, please fulfill our vow.