"Beast, Answer My Call!" V1 - Epilogue
The rumble of horses in the wind matched well with the smell of the air in Totokanta's early summer. It was nice and sunny — and in June, Totokanta was refreshingly dry, and smelled ever so green. The wind that was blowing from the Great Sky Mirror Lake in the east gently passed through the garden of the Everlasting family, which at one point had been reduced to a scorched field. Orphen had taken three days to repair it, but there were still traces of damage here and there.
The two horses neighed uncomfortably, almost at the same time. They were both chestnut mares, and were tethered to the carriage. The carriage itself had belonged to the Everlasting family, but Tishtinee had gifted it to Orphen.
"Are you ready?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm good."
Orphen was surprised when he was suddenly called out of his daze. At the front door, Tishtinee and Mariabelle came to see him off. For some reason, there was no sign of Cleao.
Orphen looked toward the two-horse carriage.
"I don't need much preparation to chase down those penny pinching thieves."
"Those dwarves, did they run off with that sword?"
Tishtinee raised her eyebrows with a laugh, as if she was talking about some silly prank. The beautiful furrows between her eyebrows were lined up vertically in a well-mannered fashion.
"Yes, of course. He's probably going to swap the Sword of Baldanders for gold somewhere. I was too careless. I'd mentioned in front of them how much they'd have to pay for a magical artifact like that."
Orphen scratched his head with a sigh, then added.
"By the way... Where's Cleao? I thought she'd see me off."
"She's—"
Tishtinee glanced at Mariabelle, who was standing next to her, and her mouth twitched. She mouthed a few words and shrugged her shoulders.
Orphen could somehow tell just from the movement alone what was going on.
With a wry smile, he spoke.
"... You're a wonderful woman, Tishtinee. But you're not a very smart mother."
"No?"
Tishtinee put her hands on her hips, a gesture that was the epitome of motherhood.
"No, I misspoke. You're a smart mother, you really are."
"Take good care of her, will you?"
"As long as she's a good girl, sure. If things get out of hand, I'll bring her back home."
Orphen then shifted his gaze from Tishtinee to Mariabelle. The woman, who looked like a slightly different counterpart of Cleao, was staring at him with her hands clasped together in front of her body. Orphen suddenly wondered if she was actually incapable of speaking, but she wasn't. Mariabelle took a deep breath, opened her pale lips slightly, and said just a few words.
"I really would've loved to marry you."
Her voice was as clear as the sound of glass. As Orphen flinched at the words, she put her slender arms around his neck and kissed him lightly on the cheek — and in that moment, Orphen suddenly remembered those words about her.
("poor girl is completely overwhelmed by all of this...")
Oh man — Orphen felt dizzy. The people in this house were more concerned about this kind of gossip than they were about their mansion being targeted by assassins.
However, thinking about it, maybe he'd been crazy for being so serious about it himself.
(I guess I'm the one who was overwhelmed by all this...)
Orphen thought about that as he smiled back at Mariabelle, who let go of his body with the same quickness she had hugged him.
The carriage passed through the city at a strolling speed, and then came out onto the street — it was obvious where Vulcan was going with the Sword. When it came to magic, these people would be single-mindedly heading to the Tower of Fang. If that were the case, he was headed north.
Orphen was thinking as he followed the road from north from Totokanta — the same wagon road used by Azalie's carriage a few days before. He was fidgeting with the leather reins, relaxing in the breeze.
The carriage had just passed the point where Azalie's carriage had stopped...
"This is that bastard Vulcan's sword. "
Orphen raised the sword in his hand as he looked down at Azalie, who was gasping for breath where she'd fallen.
"He's a fool, he doesn't know how to properly care for a sword, and he's been beating his brother over the head with it to boot. Did you know that man's head is harder than iron? Well, anyway, the sword's blade is all smashed up because of that, and it's more or less a useless piece of garbage. But Azalie, you probably broke at least a rib or two, and if you move too much, you risk damaging your internal organs."
"Are you... going to kill me?"
She — in Childman's form, of course, but with a face full of greasy sweat — asked him that. Orphen tossed Vulcan's sword behind him and picked up the Sword of Baldanders, which she'd dropped, instead.
"Kill you...? If I had been able to do that, I wouldn't have fled the Tower five years ago."
"You're different now than you were then."
"No, I'm not — Not by a long shot."
"What are you going to do with me?"
"............"
Orphen thought — or rather, pretended to think — for a little while, all the while holding the Sword of Baldanders in his hand.
Honestly, he'd already made up his mind.
"I'll leave that choice up to you."
Orphen then thrust the Sword in his hand right in front of Azalie's eyes.
"This Sword can change you as I wish, right? I clearly remember how you were five years ago — I'm sure I can change you back. Or you can live your life as Childman, in that form. The chances are slim, but it might even be possible that... if you want to return to your mutated form, you can. Ultimately, it's up to you. Whatever you choose to do with your life, I will fulfill that wish for you. However—"
Orphen continued in a lower voice.
"However, if you feel even the least bit guilty, don't ever show your face to me again, no matter what form you take. No matter what circumstances you found yourself in, you still killed Childman."
Azalie was silent for a while, her thoughts raging. Just as Orphen began to worry that she might pass out from the pain, she told him her wish.
"It's about time you showed your face. It's kind of boring being a lone coachmen."
Orphen called out to the carriage without looking back. The carriage was shaped like a cylinder split down the middle and laid on its side, with curtains separating the front and rear entrances. The carriage wasn't very large, but it could accommodate two or three people. The curtain at the front quickly opened.
"How long have you known?"
Cleao emerged from the gap in the curtains. He looked at Cleao in surprise, as if he'd been caught off guard, then answered in disgust.
"Tishtinee hinted at it. That I should take care of you."
"Then, why didn't you say hello?"
"Even if I called you out, you'd still be thinking about other things, right?"
"Yes."
Cleao nodded, seemingly without offense.
Orphen finally turned around and stared at the girl's face — Cleao was smiling, oddly, and seemed in good spirits. Like some sort of creature from another dimension, Orphen muttered under his breath.
"You're still up to something, aren't you? What are you hiding?"
"I'm not hiding anything."
Cleao threw a look of superiority, as if she were revealing the secret of a magic trick, then turned around and spoke.
"You can come out now."
"W-wait, is there someone else back there?"
Orphen screamed in shock, just before a young boy who almost looked like a child appeared from nowhere beside Cleao.
"You said you were going to teach me magic, didn't you? In which case, it's pretty terrible for you to just take off and leave town without even showing your face at the inn."
"B-but — Why are you in this carriage?"
"Huh? Didn't I tell you?"
Cleao wondered.
"I go to school downtown. We're in different grades, but I'm in the same classroom as Majic. I told him about you, and he said he knew you. I was so surprised."
"And..."
Orphen was at a loss for words, but Majic's girlish face flushed with a hint of redness as he defended himself.
"I've been talking to my father about it for a few days now, ever since you disappeared from the inn. He said that it'd be okay if I studied under a trustworthy sorcerer, and that Mr. Orphen was the only sorcerer I could trust, so..."
"Ahh, I get it, I get it. Bagup, you bastard—"
Orphen had no choice but to look up at the sky, hitting the reins in his hands. Wind seemed to be blowing down from right above them in the sky, which was high and clear in the early summer. As he pulled the reins through the scenery along the road, Orphen wondered if he should be thankful that he was no longer traveling alone.
The sky overlooking the street was sparsely strewn with clouds that looked like they could drop down over their heads at any moment.
Table of Contents
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Business Day Call of Reminiscence The Revenge of Shrimp Man Baldanders 'Hunting' Night Demon Witch |