Chapter 140 – Chapter 4: Where the Wind Stays – 1
I found out why the dead cannot speak.
People have a soul.
Although it can never be seen with the eyes, the soul is clearly stored in the heart.
If seeing, hearing, and feeling are what the body does.
‘Words’ can only be created by the soul.
Because the dead have lost their souls… I can’t speak.
Even though I’m looking with my eyes open. No sound comes out of the mouth.
Because the soul has disappeared.
So I couldn’t answer anything.
“Brother? Ritz oppa… !”
Even if Marie shakes me and calls me anxiously.
Even while watching the child’s meaningless actions, I couldn’t say anything.
My soul was broken.
Is this despair so heavy that you can’t even lift a finger, really death?
Because it’s so heavy and difficult. Are the dead unable to move?
If there is hell, it is here.
This pain pierces my heart with a sharp spear and makes it beat.
This moment when I can’t even scream and am I moaning like an idiot… If it’s not hell, what is it?
Even if it is alive, it is not alive.
I am… It was a skeleton.
A pure white skeleton that has lost all flesh and blood.
It’s a meaningless, lumpy bone that has lost its power.
It is a wooden doll that rattles in the hands of a small person like a pebble.
“Ritz oppa! Come to your senses!”
Marie’s anxious voice rang in my heart.
* * *
She couldn’t remember how she got all the way back to Brisden.
I only remember Marie holding my hand tightly and almost dragging me as we walked up to the village.
… That small child who is weak and has no stamina.
Ruyev, who was waiting for us, asked where we had been.
Marie followed me down to the general store, and the moment I opened the door and entered, she suddenly cried and said that she had become strange.
After hearing those words, Ruev just glanced at me with an expressionless face. He didn’t ask anymore.
Night has come.
We didn’t talk at all.
I just sat blankly in front of the crackling bonfire and just stared at the flames.
A long silence follows. As the night deepens.
It was when Marie curled up on the abandoned cart and fell asleep.
“Ritz.”
Ruyev spoke to me.
“Don’t you still want to talk?”
“…”
“As expected.”
He said as he threw firewood into the bonfire.
“He seems like the village chief’s son. “The one who doesn’t answer anything.”
“…”
“Get some sleep. “I will guard the night.”
“… Ruev.”
Luyev raised his head.
I called him without even knowing.
I, who thought I would never be able to speak, suddenly opened my mouth and said the first words.
It was a name I thought I would never call again in my life.
It was surprising, but not particularly surprising.
Even though I felt a sense of alienation, as if another soul of mine was forcing me to open my mouth.
At the same time, I understood the reason why I had to call Ruev.
“How could you… Did you find it?”
Ruev was silent for a moment in response to my question.
Eventually, he let out a deep sigh and answered.
“It was some time after I ran away from Brisden. It was winter and there was nothing to eat, so I rummaged through the trash heaps at Taildon Market to get something. But buried in that pile of trash was luxurious stationery that didn’t fit at all.”
Then, he took something out of his pocket.
It looked like just a note, but as he said, it was not ordinary parchment, but good quality letter paper used by nobles.
“Even though I don’t know how to read, I knew it was the same handwriting as the note left by the royal doctor who stopped by our village at that time. So, I asked a literate person to read the letter, and I learned that he was very worried that your illness had worsened and that he was telling you how to treat it. But… “I realized that something bad had happened to you, judging by the fact that the letter had been left in the trash pile and the content written on it.”
Ruyev held out a neatly folded letter.
I received it with trembling hands.
Although I hesitated.
My fingers ended up slowly unfolding the parchment.
The letters are visible.
[Tia! I received the letter safely! I’m so happy to hear news after a long time!]
[But I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the story about Ritsu being sick. Sorry. I hope you understand that I am replying quickly and without hesitation because I am worried.]
[First, Ms. Tia’s reasoning is correct. Based solely on the symptoms you provided, I think the problem was caused by the Embus remaining in the child’s body.]
[I don’t know exactly why it happened, but it seems to have become more toxic than when I treated it. In that case, there is a risk that people who are ignorant of medical science may be mistaken because it looks like they are really dead. Miss Tia will have to be good at persuading.]
[Anyway, if we lower the toxicity of Enbus, Ritsu will definitely be able to wake up. I’ve written down the treatment method below. If you follow the instructions exactly and prescribe it for about two weeks, you can quickly neutralize the toxicity. Miss Tia is really smart enough to surprise me, so maybe she can do it within a week?]
[One guideline. Protect the patient in an appropriately cool place.]
[Instructions two. Five times a day. The patient is asked to drink a mixture of salt and clean water in equal proportions…]
Below, a long treatment plan was written.
It wasn’t that difficult of a procedure. As the royal doctor said, with Tia’s skills, it was a task that could be completed within a week, or even three days.
[… You can continue to administer the same medicine until the patient shows significant signs of recovery. Never give up and keep looking at REITs.]
[I will send you another letter when I have the chance in the near future.]
[P.S.: I’m really sorry for not being able to visit in person due to various things suddenly happening in Deseo. Instead, I’ll send you some money, so I hope this helps.]
Lastly, the letter ended with the signature of the Deseo official stating that 500 gold pieces were enclosed.
“…”
I see.
Everyone was right.
The hypothesis that Tia came up with to save me, and even that theory… There wasn’t a single mistake.
Nevertheless, I ended up being wrong.
Tia always had unwavering confidence.
Her will was so clear that even the strong-willed elders had a hard time breaking her stubbornness and would always ask me to do something.
I mean, he was an incredibly hard-hearted guy.
But once the angel’s wings were broken, he never thought he would be able to fly again.
I’m sure I can do it. All you have to do is have faith…
The letter containing that belief was never delivered to Tia.
It ended up in my hands like this, skipping 100 days.
It has no meaning anymore. It became a lump of stiff paper and type.
“I found out that you had already died a long time ago and had been buried. But the letter says that you will definitely wake up, and I also heard that all the villagers have been captured… I thought something was strange. That’s why I dug your grave myself to find out for myself. As expected, you were alive, and I immediately brought you to my hideout.”
Ruyev said that he took care of me as written in the royal doctor’s letter.
Of course… It was not a treatment ‘as written’.
Not only did Luyev have no knowledge of medicine, but he lived in poverty, so he would not have had any medicinal materials, and since he was illiterate, it would not have been easy to obtain information.
Anyway, Marie and I put our heads together and tried it in our own way… It took a long time, but they say I finally woke up.
“In the meantime, I looked for the whereabouts of the ‘500 gold’ written in the letter. If that much money was flowing in from either Brisden or Taildon, you would never know. But no matter who I asked, they didn’t know anything. It appears that the letter was not intended for Tia in the first place, but was intercepted by someone else.”
“Posaoya.”
Ruev frowned slightly at my words.
“Posao…”
After repeating the name once, he stroked his chin while thinking deeply.
“I was suspicious of that pig for a long time, so I went to the general store once. But you know there was nothing there.”
“… “I went somewhere else.”
“Somewhere else?”
I couldn’t possibly say that was Tia’s house.
Rather, he had to answer another question.
“By the way, Ritz. That’s strange. How on earth can you say something so confident?”
“…”
He looked down at his palm.
To anyone else. I know I can’t talk about this ability to ‘see memories’.
The village chief has lived a completely secret life.
No one knew. Villagers too. Even I, my son, had no idea until I found out the truth.
The village chief is respected and feared by the villagers at the same time, but why did he try to hide this ability? I was able to guess to some extent.
Because that is the best way to protect Brisden and the village.
Lock the door tightly against the maddening outside world.
With his loved ones gathered in a peaceful well, the village chief willingly became a lid to block the wind.
But now that the village chief has disappeared.
All the villagers have left, and I am the only one left on this land. Ruev is sitting across from me. And there was only Marie, who was sleeping peacefully as if she didn’t know the world.
There was no reason to hide it anymore.
I already…
Because I lost everything I had to protect.
“I saw a memory.”
Ruyev wasn’t particularly surprised.
I made a short ‘hmm’ sound and asked again.
“I see memories… Does that mean you have seen the past?”
“Okay.”
“What past did you see?”
I closed my eyes.
It was an instinctive action in order to avoid recalling that terrible and painful memory.
Even though I did that.
There was extreme sadness in my voice.
“… Everything.”
