Chapter 336: The Pea, Once Again (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 336: The Pea, Once Again (3)
She had put Franz to sleep.
That was Arianne for you.
"I told him plainly to get some sleep."
Chase had just finished his conversation with Calian and was about to turn in for the night when Arianne found him. As they walked out to the terrace on the ship's highest deck, she told him the story—how she had gently put the severely seasick crown prince of the neighboring kingdom to sleep.
Hearing his fiancée's confident confession, Chase raised a hand to cover his face. A moment later, soft laughter leaked through his long fingers.
"Ah... honestly, Arianne."
"He was pale as a ghost and stubborn as a mule. That prince insisted he didn't want a Sleep spell, and I just so happened to have the medicine I used to give you. So I gave it to him."
Arianne was oblivious to the inner workings of a crown prince nearing the end of his turbulent teenage years. Had she known he was stubbornly refusing to sleep for fear of missing a whale, she probably wouldn't have given him tea with such a potent prescription.
"On the bright side, it's good that you've been sleeping better, Your Highness. It means I have medicine left over."
"Using that sleeping medicine on anyone but me could cause serious trouble. Don't do it again, Arianne."
"I won't. In any case, that prince will probably never drink tea from me again."
"If you offered it, he'd probably drink it."
After all, Franz was second only to Calian in his unwavering trust of those around him. Answering with a lingering smile, Chase tidied Arianne's bangs, which had been ruffled by the wind. It was a habit he had picked up from his mother, Louise.
As Chase fussed over Arianne, his own hair was fluttering just as wildly. Arianne, who had simply let him fix her hair, held something out to him.
"You should tie your hair too, Your Highness. It's distracting."
His hair, cut short after his visit to Kairis last year, had grown quite long again—long enough to be left down or tied back loosely. He wasn't growing it out because of any memories of Bern, but because Arianne had always liked his hair long.
What she handed him, however, was a bright red lace ribbon that would have suited her own hair perfectly. Seeing it resting on his palm, Chase burst into laughter again. Arianne, pretending not to know why, asked,
"Did you forget how? Should I do it for you?"
"Please. I'd like that."
It wasn't that he'd forgotten. He simply loved this moment—the dark night sea, the gentle breeze, and the soft touch of her hands in his hair. He turned his back to Arianne, sat down, and closed his eyes.
"Your Highness."
"Yes."
He answered the voice behind him immediately, but no reply came. Though his hair was free of tangles, Arianne simply continued to comb through it with her fingers. Instead of rushing her, Chase waited quietly for her to speak.
"There are so many things I have to do, and so many things I want to do," Arianne said after a while, her fingers still running through his silver-blue hair.
"I want to see the lemons grow on the tree we planted at home. I want to fill the new pond with fish and watch them grow. I want to learn more about my mother's work, drink more, have more fun, and stand before people more often."
"Yes."
"So, wait for me. Don't go through with a state marriage."
"I will."
"Marry me, later."
"Alright."
Chase turned to look at Arianne. The red ribbon, which she had tied into a neat knot, was now slightly askew.
"I will, Arianne."
Hearing his reply, as steady and calm as the waves, Arianne smiled. The wind had died down without her noticing. She nodded.
"Okay."
The wind ceased, as if time itself had stopped.
The gentle waves fell still.
A deep silence descended upon the vast sea.
Just like that, time had stopped.
* * *
It was said that its appearance was different from Sispanian's.
Brilliant scales the color of finely ground sapphire mixed with black pearl. A body several times thicker and longer than an oak tree that had lived for over a thousand years. A pair of black-pearl wings, their membranes so thin they looked as if they might melt in the sun or tear in the wind. And sharp, giant claws that could slice the continent's largest sailing ship to pieces in an instant.
That was the Sea Dragon Arnayzel, as described in the books.
It was said to look different from Sispanian, the protector of the continent, or Silestian, the young golden dragon of the Great Desert. Rather than a familiar dragon, it was more akin to a great blue serpent with the wings of a bat.
—Brother, you might as well consider that you've seen a whale.
This was no mere whale, shimmering with a mysterious light like moonlight sliced and starlight fragmented within the ice of the Senyu River. And yet, they knew. Not only Calian, but Franz beside him knew instantly. Even without the blue scales, the long body, or the translucent wings, they could tell.
It was a terror, a pressure on a completely different dimension from a human's Pier.
Who else but Arnayzel could exude such an aura in the middle of the sea?
Arnayzel was slightly different from Sispanian. It moderated its presence, concealing it from everyone but the two princes, though not completely. Because of that lingering aura, Alan appeared before Franz the moment Calian finished speaking. He was, after all, a mage unlike any other.
"Are you alright, Your Highness?" Alan had already enveloped the entire ship in a thick, white shield that dwarfed Calian's own.
"I'm fine." Franz nodded very slowly.
Alan nodded in relief and scanned the surroundings, but the massive whale had vanished. The oppressive pressure still lingered, however, so he remained tense as he asked, "Where is Prince Calian?"
Those words.
At Alan's question, Franz quietly closed his eyes.
"...Haaah."
A deep sigh, unfitting for the situation, escaped him. It wasn't a sigh of frustration or annoyance, nor was it because his own efforts had been rendered meaningless by his younger brother's already-dispersed shield.
"He's gone."
Calian had disappeared without a trace, right before his very eyes.
The sigh, then, was one of relief. It was confirmation that at least one other person could still speak Calian's name. In the brief moment before Alan had appeared, Franz had been forced to wonder if this was it—the 'forgetting' that Calian had been preparing for.
Alan seemed to guess what had flashed through Franz's mind—why he had closed his eyes with such an expression and let out that long, held breath. He nodded and opened his mouth to speak.
But no words came out.
Franz's slowly blinking eyes froze, half-open.
Just like that, time had stopped.
* * *
Is this what I got a second life for?
The absurd thought made Calian smile wryly.
He saw silver-blue hair and a bright red ribbon fluttering in the wind. He saw Arianne smiling at the crooked ribbon. He saw our Hina marveling at the green light glowing from beneath the ship. He saw Eila, looking largely uninterested, staring at the horizon, and Kyrie nodding at Rachel. He saw Euria looking up at the sky, and the one gazing back at her... Ah. So that's who my lackey is dating.
No.
That's not what's important right now.
He 'saw' all of it at once—everyone on the ship, frozen in place. He saw their voices and footsteps come to a halt. For such a fascinating experience, maybe living twice was worth it after all.
"Anyway, that's a relief."
Chase looked happy, so Arianne must have resolved her long-standing issue in her own way. Hina was clearly enjoying the late-night voyage. And though he didn't know how or why, time itself had stopped. That meant the Pea wouldn't have to wither from the shock of finding no one left to look after him, and Alan wouldn't have to be horrified for long by his son's disappearance. So, despite not understanding the situation, Calian decided to be relieved.
Considering everyone from Sispanian to the Mother Tree had taken such an interest in him, he wasn't particularly worried this time either. His feelings were more along the lines of, Silestian will probably show up once I set foot in the Great Desert, and, It's actually stranger that the sleeping will of Serenti didn't seek me out at the temple.
After all, one eventually develops an immunity to the exhaustion that comes from being too outstanding.
"Still," Calian said calmly, setting aside what he did and did not understand for the moment. "Of all places... underwater? Arnayzel."
His neck ached from looking up at the faintly visible underside of the brightly lit ship far above. He was surrounded by dark, motionless seawater, and beneath his feet were coral-covered rocks and pure white sand.
To put it simply, he was in an air bubble at the bottom of the ocean.
Before visiting the elven village, Calian couldn't even dip a toe in seawater, and while he was better now, this was still quite the invitation. The spitefulness of it rivaled that of the Mother Tree, who had summoned him into a red kaleidoscope filled with the dead.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know you hated the sea."
Calian immediately discarded his spiteful thoughts. What could he do if the dragon didn't know? Hearing the deeply dejected voice, he spoke to the space outside the bubble.
"I don't hate it. I was just afraid of it."
"Then that's a relief."
The air bubble expanded and contracted a few times, as if someone were wriggling with glee. The motion made Calian chuckle. The innocent reply, which completely ignored the part about him being afraid, was strangely amusing.
Whoosh!
Something shot past the air bubble.
Whoosh!
This time, an unfamiliar sensation brushed his arm. It moved at a tremendous speed, but it was still clearly visible to Calian's eyes, which could track movements faster than anyone else's.
A flash of light, like sapphire and black pearl mixed together. This was a different form from the giant whale's tail that had struck the sea. It was a large, luminous fin, possessing a beauty all its own.
Was it familiar or unfamiliar? He had seen the form countless times in books and on the fountains in elven cities. A race he had never met in person, their lower bodies covered in scales, ending in a giant, split fin.
"...A fish."
"No, it's not!"
"A big fish."
"I said no!"
It was a merman.
Arnayzel must have thought it would be difficult to converse in its true, massive form, for it had taken on this shape from stories and now spoke in an aggrieved voice. Forgetting to dart around Calian, it finally stopped to face him, as if to prove it was not a fish.
Right. If we're going to talk, we should at least face each other, Calian thought. With the basic conditions for a conversation met, he smiled brightly.
"Stop playing around and explain. Why did you call me?"
The merman looked like a young boy, even younger than Ririe from Evan's mansion. No, not a merman—the Sea Dragon. Arnayzel flicked his tail fin once and swam a short distance away.
"I was waiting for Sispanian, but Sispanian didn't come. But you smell like Sispanian. That's why I called you."
"If you mean Sispanian..." She came to Bridget Forest just a few months ago. Calian started to say, but then stopped.
Arnayzel had called him because he smelled of Sispanian. But the last person to meet Sispanian was Alan, not him. She had appeared because Alan had nearly destroyed the roots of the Mother Tree while fighting the 7th Circle mage, Adelia. So, shouldn't Arnayzel have called Alan? Or Franz, who had encountered Sispanian's will during the Roselita incident?
Instead, he had called Calian—the only one who had met Sispanian's true self. This meant the dragon hadn't sensed the arrival of her mere will. There was no reason to mention that Sispanian had visited without revealing her true presence.
"Why were you waiting for Sispanian?"
"Something strange fell into the sea. The thing Sispanian is looking for."
Calian's eyes narrowed.
"The Axis of Time."
Arnayzel's eyes went wide. "That's right!"
He nodded so vigorously that the displaced water rocked Calian's air bubble. Whether out of pure innocence or simply because Calian smelled of Sispanian, the dragon showed no suspicion as to how he knew of such a thing.
"Where is it?"
"I have it."
For a moment, Calian almost told him to just hand it over. He knew exactly where Sispanian kept the Axis of Time; he could return it for him. After all, he was the one who would eventually use it anyway. He nearly said it all.
But the words wouldn't come out. He couldn't speak.
Seeing Calian's mouth refuse to open, Arnayzel laughed. Calian had no idea what was so funny, but the dragon laughed long and hard, making the air bubble hum with the sound.
"So you're the child Danu met. She said there was a child touched by Serenti."
If that hand had actually touched me, I would have snapped its wrist, Calian thought, swallowing the words a former royal of Secritia should never utter. He simply nodded.
"Can you call Sispanian?"
"I can. Probably."
If he went to the stone chamber in the royal palace and called for her, she would probably come.
"Then tell her. Tell her that what belongs to Sispanian is here."
His thoughts ground to a halt.
Calian's calm expression froze over. It took a long moment to process what he had just heard.
A cold voice slipped from his lips.
"...What do you mean by that?"
Looking at Calian with his black-pearl eyes, Arnayzel said, "I borrowed the fragment's power for a moment because I was worried your companions would be shocked by your disappearance. Who do you think made such an amazing thing in the first place?"
Sispanian's power, which had supposedly restored the ruins of Bridget Forest. Arnayzel, who possessed the Axis of Time, was the one who had just stopped time itself.
Suddenly, Calian remembered his first meeting with Sispanian. He remembered the look on her face when he had mentioned the Axis of Time.
"So... that's why she..."
So that's why she looked after me like that.
He finally understood.
It was all because of the meddlesome guilt of a thoughtful ancient dragon who had encountered someone sent back in time by an object of her own creation.