The Lighthouse’s Secret

I knocked on the door of the old lighthouse, and after a moment, someone opened it with leisurely footsteps.

,Hello. Are you by any chance Mr. Dellan-ssi, the lighthouse keeper?

A kind soldier whose name I didn’t know had definitely said he was an old man, but no matter how I looked at him, he was a robust grandfather. Was it a sign of friendliness?

,Yes, I’m Dellan. To come to this kind of lighthouse with a beauty. How amazing.

I smiled back at his good-natured smile and replied politely.

,We’re students from Transcendence Academy. We read a book about this lighthouse in the library, and we thought we’d stop by during our vacation because we wanted to see the lighthouse in person. If it’s not too much trouble, could we take a look inside?

Dellan looked shocked at my words. But he quickly changed his expression and gave a pleasant smile.

I had a suspicion that we might be this lighthouse keeper’s monumental first guests.

,You came all the way here because you wanted to see this lighthouse…? Wow, of course, you can. It’s cold, come in quickly.

The inside of the lighthouse, which I followed Dellan into, was a cozy room. There was an old bed and table, a bookshelf filled with books, and firewood stacked on one wall.

It gave me a strange feeling that there was a warm space inside the lighthouse, which was made of cold stone.

Perhaps because they couldn’t have a fireplace due to the smoke, a temperature control artifact that looked like an old stove, seemingly as a substitute, caught my eye.

How did he survive without that? As if noticing that my gaze was lingering on the artifact, Dellan resolved my small question with a kind explanation.

,They say that only a few hundred years ago, they built a separate house outside the lighthouse because of the cold. But now, thanks to this temperature control artifact, it’s not necessary.

Dellan, caressing the artifact as if it were his own child, asked.

,Would you like some warm tea?

At Dellan’s words, I looked at Navier. As if understanding the meaning of my gaze, Navier replied in a gentle voice.

,We’d be grateful. Thank you.

,Then make yourselves comfortable and look around.

While Dellan was preparing the tea, Navier and I looked around. There wasn’t anything particularly special in the room.

I didn’t check under the bed, but unless Dellan was hiding a secret, I didn’t think the lighthouse’s secret would be hidden in such a place.

Leaving the room, there was a staircase leading to the top of the lighthouse. As befitting the name lighthouse, the ceiling was quite high. Unlike the lighthouse, which seemed to be made by stacking stones one by one, the stairs were surprisingly made of iron.

It seemed that the original wooden stairs couldn’t withstand the passage of time and were replaced with iron. Could the secret to finding the Pen of God really be hidden here?

Navier, who was looking around, seemed to have found something and said in an interesting voice.

,There’s something unusual on this wall.

,Something unusual?

I approached and observed the wall that Navier was pointing at. It seemed that someone had carved something inside the lighthouse wall. The content was a carving of people and sheep heading somewhere.

Turning my head and looking around, there were more carvings like this on the wall. Four in total. The contents of the carvings were all different. It was a little unsettling to think of them as mere decorations.

Navier, who didn’t know that the lighthouse had a secret hidden within it, was just looking at them as if they were amazing, but I carefully observed them.

For some reason, I felt like Navier was stealing glances at my profile, but I pretended not to notice because I thought it would be awkward on the way back if I turned my head and made eye contact.

,…I don’t know what it is.

,That was made during the lighthouse’s repairs a few hundred years ago.

I didn’t expect to hear an answer to my mumbling sigh. Dellan handed us wooden cups filled with warm tea and continued his explanation.

,They say there was an earthquake a few hundred years ago, and the lighthouse was repaired. I heard it from the previous lighthouse keeper. All sorts of stories have been passed down. Someone tried to raise chickens here but failed, and the lighthouse keeper died after hitting his head against that wall when the stairs collapsed. Ah, don’t worry now. The stairs were replaced with iron a hundred years ago.

Following Dellan’s gaze, a wall that was slightly darker than the other walls came into view. I felt uneasy for no reason and took a sip of tea. It has a unique taste.

,Um, but why is there a lighthouse in a place like this? There’s a sea, but ships can’t travel, and there’s no port nearby, right?

Dellan gave an awkward smile at Navier’s question.

,That’s… I don’t really know either. I don’t know why, but that alone wasn’t passed down. Surely the story must have been cut off somewhere. Maybe from the person who hit their head on the wall?

Dellan smiled regretfully.

,The lighthouse has existed here since ancient times, and someone has continued to be the lighthouse keeper. It became a tradition, and one person from Lake Village would manage the lighthouse for life. I’m continuing that tradition, following in my late father’s footsteps.

Navier asked with an uncomprehending expression.

,Has no one ever doubted it? This lighthouse might not actually mean anything….

Judging by the way she trailed off, she must have realized belatedly that she had said something rude. When Navier apologized, Dellan gave a bitter smile.

,Someone must have doubted it. But countless people have lived here as lighthouse keepers. The reason why the lighthouse exists hasn’t been passed down, but the earnest desire to keep this lighthouse from going out has been passed down until now. Even if it’s an incomprehensible act, someday this lighthouse will tell someone the reason for its existence.

I don’t know the exact reason either because I didn’t set the lighthouse’s detailed settings. Perhaps the plausibility has acted arbitrarily again, creating a reason why I have to light the lighthouse every day. Earnestness. Maybe that’s the hint to solving the lighthouse’s secret.

I drank the tea again. It still has a unique taste. I managed my expression so that I wouldn’t frown in front of Dellan, who had given me the tea.

Navier, who drank the tea after me, widened her eyes slightly.

,This is lemon balm tea, right?

,That’s right, it’s tea that helps with mental health. It gets lonely sometimes when I’m alone in the lighthouse. If it gets too hard, I sometimes go out to the village.

,I like it quite a bit too. It tastes good.

Before the passionate conversation about tea could continue, I asked Dellan.

,Would it be okay if we went up to the top?

,Of course! The best place in the lighthouse is the top, you should definitely go up.

I put the cup I was holding down next to the stairs and followed Dellan up. The passing winter wind is chilly. The sound of the waves at the bottom of the lighthouse was almost deafening.

The top of the lighthouse was a little different from what I had imagined. In an open space, there was a lighthouse fire inside something like a pizza-making oven, and where the light escaped, there was a shiny reflector that looked like the shell of a giant insect.

There were a total of four reflectors that could overlap. However, each one had a different shape and size. Judging by the handles on both sides, I guess you adjust the angle and position with those.

,Ew, it’s gross.

Navier was disgusted by the appearance of the insect’s shell. To dislike insects when her name has butterfly in it… I should use this as a joke later.

,It’s a special reflector that’s been in the lighthouse since a long time ago. There are replacements in the basement warehouse, but I’ve been managing it diligently and using it as is for hundreds of years. Of course, it’s intact because I hardly ever use it… How about trying to control it?

At Dellan’s suggestion, I scratched my head and asked.

,Would that be okay?

,It doesn’t matter. No one knows how to handle this reflector. Many lighthouse keepers have researched it, but they’ve all failed. Now I just keep the lighthouse fire lit.

Then there’s no reason to refuse. I diligently moved the handle to move the reflector, but only the intensity and number of lights changed, and there was no coincidence that the place where the Pen of God was hidden appeared.

Then the lighthouse’s secret was most likely the carvings on the wall after all. Just in case, I asked Dellan and went down to the basement warehouse to check every corner thoroughly, but there were no particular results except for old insect carcasses.

Sighing, I was going up to the first floor where Navier was waiting when I inadvertently caught sight of the bookshelf. Among the old books, there was a book with torn and cracked leather, as if it had been on the bookshelf for a long time.

,This is…?

When I pointed to the book on the bookshelf, Dellan smiled pleasantly.

,You’re curious because you’re a student. That’s a Bible that’s been on the bookshelf since a long time ago. It’s probably a few hundred years old. I don’t believe in religion, so I’ve never read the contents, but… I heard from my father that this book was left by a previous lighthouse keeper, so I shouldn’t throw it away.

Nothing will change even if I look at the carvings on the wall again. I asked with the expectation that a previous lighthouse keeper might have left a memo in the old book.

,Would it be okay if I checked it out?

Dellan, nodding with a smile, began a conversation about lemon balm tea that he hadn’t finished with Navier.

I carefully took the book out of the bookshelf. Even though the cover was damaged, I should be able to check the contents.

There are spots on the side that look like old ink splatters. The condition is terrible.

I carefully opened the book and looked at the pages, and I soon found something strange.

This book.

The order of the pages was a mess.