Chapter 184 – Stopped Footsteps.
They didn’t have to go out separately. The Cattsy who came out as her guards disposed of her pasitilla’s corpse and took her back. After that brief commotion, the village went back to normal without anyone paying attention. And it was the same for them.
“Aren’t you tired of running every time you hear a scream?”
“But what if someone is late to help?”
“Take care of yourself when you have time to worry about that.”
“Merong! I’ll take care of it!”
Helena thought as she took Belka, followed by Krikaliev and Nausicaa, who shared her story. It might be quite difficult to adapt to this place. After Usher came to his senses, if possible, he wanted to return to Lantua, but unfortunately it was too difficult to cross the cloud zone again. The reason they were able to cross the cloud region was because of the wizard’s magic. Maybe there would have been a way to get back if he hadn’t hit Jude in the back.
If that happened, instead of treating Usher, the situation would continue to be abused only by them. She also told him that she helplessly watched her girl get ravaged and surrendered her own body to him, something she never wanted to go through again. It was Nausicaa’s voice that brought such Helena out of her thoughts.
“Hey, you know? How did Helena and Belka come to Parz?”
Wasn’t Nausicaa asking a sensitive question even though she had said it herself? Wouldn’t she be hated by them? She wiggled her fingers, glancing at her anxiously. If she thought just in case, she would look for Krikaliev, who would have been by her side.
“Hey. Ask for a penny cut. With a lot of margin left over, what?”
He was wrestling with a merchant who had piled up stones. He still can’t believe it, but he said he was also a wizard. But he couldn’t take them home either. But hasn’t he already helped them to the point of overdoing it? Nausicaa also treated her strangers kindly. When he suddenly sees her Belka, he meets her eyes as she looks up at him. The girl nodded her head.
“That’s right. He picked up anything that was rolling around on the floor anyway and is acting picky.”
Krikaliev, who happened to have successfully negotiated a bargain with the merchant and returned with a sack, seemed to have read their mood belatedly.
“Huh? What happened?”
“…Will you take me to Usher’s place?”
He looked at them alternately for a moment and placed honey chestnuts on Nausicaa’s head.
“Ugh! Hit me gently!”
“Ugh. Does she get impatient and asks? I thought you were going, Jeremiah.”
It wasn’t long before they reached Usher’s dugout. Even if it was on the outskirts, it wasn’t too far from the village. And when I entered the dugout, I could see Nausicaa bowing cheerfully.
“Uncle Remy! Long time no see!”
“Nausicaa? Why did Krikaliev bring you here?”
It seemed to her that she and Jeremiah already knew each other. When he asked curiously, Krikaliev put down a sack full of stones he had just bargained with a merchant in the market.
“It’s nothing special, I went out to play after a long time, and I came to find and deliver fragments sold at the market. I also saw the condition of the patient.”
“Ohhh. It just went well. I’m about to finish analyzing the fragments you gave me before.”
Their conversation piqued Helena’s curiosity. A fragment would mean a fragment of something, but an interpretation would mean a wall fragment or a relic with ancient text engraved on it.
“Can you interpret the ancient language?”
“It’s nothing special, because his hobby is interpreting ancient characters.
Usually when you think of ruins, you think of a holy place, but sometimes you can find the existence of ruins in other places. The reason why Lak Saria was famous and had a strong influence on other countries was because the relics of the Daemado era remained intact, and the power of the paladins following the orders of the demon king Bargazzet and the pretext of serving God. Most of the ruins collapsed and disappeared long ago and could not function properly, so they were just relics left as traces of a long time ago.
“However, all that can be obtained now are weathered items that occasionally appear on the ground. It is difficult to find meaningful artifacts.”
Jeremiah took out each stone from the sack that Krikaliev had brought and looked at it, saying it insignificantly, but even if it was just a trace left a long time ago, it was worth preserving in that it was a record of the past. People only know that there was an era of Tsushima, but there are many speculations about what happened in that era and how it was destroyed, and no one knows properly.
“Could you tell me a little bit about what you interpreted?”
“Hmm? Why did you say that… Oh, did you say alchemist? Then you might be curious. But it’s only part of it, is that okay?”
She just asked just in case, but when she said that Jeremiah would obediently teach him, Helena was rather suspicious.
“Can you just let me know?”
Usually, when it comes to the traces of the Tsushima era, most of them were trying to gather them with energy or keep them as their own secrets. In ancient times, when it was said that anyone could use magic, even if you were not an alchemist, you had to dream like a wizard at least once. Instead, it was difficult to find traces of it. Excluding the Holy Land, the ruins are not only scattered, but even if they are hard to access or easy to access, someone has already taken important materials.
The only thing Helena knew about the records of the Tsushima era was because she remembered stealing the alchemist’s data she had hidden in that way.
“It’s not even worth asking for in return. Most of the things that were scattered on the ground were sold as souvenirs by merchants anyway. It’s as if nothing was perfect.”
She says that if you want to see some strange rocks on the road, dig them up and dig them up, they are quite often relics, so in Parz they don’t even value them very much. Still, relics are relics, so it seems that merchants inflate the price as souvenirs to those who are not familiar with Parz.
“So what did you interpret this time?”
“Grunt, that’s it.”
“You said you’d tell me? Let me listen too.”
“…Place.”
Jeremiah opened his mouth, but his voice was too low to be heard properly. He thought he was just saying it, but he didn’t want to hear it. She tried to convince Helena, but Krikaliev spoke too fast.
“Speak a little louder. What was it about?”
“…Unter.”
“Ok?”
“It’s a counting count counter.”
Jeremiah’s words, which grew loud enough to be heard at the end of his urging, were truly meaningless words. After hearing his words, Krikaliev paused in silence.
“Did you say it took months to interpret it?”
“It’s been three months. It’s the first time I’ve seen the form and words, so I had a headache interpreting them because they seemed important.”
“…Wasted three months to bring out the ancient dark history.”
“Shut up! You’re the one who brought this!”
Watching the squabble, starting with Jeremiah picking up and throwing a stone at Krikaliev, who apparently interpreted the words, Helena turned her head. She was so absorbed in the story about the artifact that she forgot about it, but the reason they came here was because they wanted to tell Nausicaa the story of how they came to Parz. But it didn’t seem like she needed to explain.
“Did this kid come here to be treated for black throat disease?”
“Yes, because there was no proper cure in Lantua.”
While Helena was talking about her artifact, Belka was already laying her Usher in her lap, and Nausicaa was watching her exhaling Usher as if she was asleep beside him.
“Does Belka like this girl?”
“Yeah, I really like it.”
“I’m envious. Will I ever have someone like that?”
“Perhaps.”
She couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. She knew she wouldn’t be reciprocated, but she couldn’t help but feel envious when she saw her like that. It was then. Suddenly, Helena heard the boy’s low cracked voice, which she had never heard before.
“Bel…Ka?”
