Regarding Those Peculiar Companions (2)
There were three churches upon the Continent.
The Holy Body, the Holy Light, and the Holy Blood.
Each of the three possessed a single asymmetric force of its own—something that might well make a person wonder. Why, after all, would a religious order preaching faith necessarily have a transcendent powerhouse tucked away in its ranks?
The answer was simple.
Not every church had possessed a transcendent. Only the churches that did possess one had survived. It had been an age far too harsh for faith alone to keep a body of believers alive. In the thousand years since Arthur opened the age of humanity, countless churches had risen and just as many had vanished.
Only three remained.
And so the three churches poured their lifeblood into forging the strong who would ensure their continued existence. Of course, in the present day there were cases—like Yuel Razian—where a church simply drew talent in from outside, regardless of its own efforts…
The Holy Body Church was different.
For long ages they had raised the transcendent who would protect their order by their own unique method: by bringing a star from the sky above down into a human body. The Holy Body Church called this process Incarnation.
The one who possessed the most perfect flesh born through Incarnation.
The ideal pursued by every believer of the Holy Body Church—their idol and the object of their worship.
The Star Incarnation.
Najin recalled what he knew of the Star Incarnation and looked at the woman before him. That woman pressed flat against the wall, trembling violently, was supposedly that very Star Incarnation…
“I told you not to come near! Don’t come near! Stay there and talk!”
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? We ought to shake hands at least.”
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
Dropping even the dignified tone she had been putting on, the Star Incarnation screamed. Her face was pure revulsion. Whether she liked it or not, Yuel stretched out her hand. In the end the Star Incarnation squeezed her eyes shut and shook it.
“Mm.”
Only then did Yuel nod as if satisfied and return to her seat. The Star Incarnation finally clapped a hand to her chest and gasped for breath.
Why on earth is she like that?
-Beats me. The person sitting next to you would know, wouldn’t she?
Najin glanced at Yuel seated beside him.
“Do you not get along with the Star Incarnation?”
“What are you talking about, Najin? I maintain extremely amicable relations with the great warriors of the churches. If the great warriors were to quarrel among themselves it could spark a religious war—something that must be avoided with the utmost care.”
“……Don’t you like war?”
“I do. But a person cannot live doing only what they like. If the thing you wish to do is legal, so much the better; if it is illegal, you will be punished.”
Yuel nodded once, thoughtfully.
“Will you seize one great pleasure and then die, or savor small, ordinary pleasures for a long time? I prefer the latter. I would rather roll a piece of candy around on my tongue and let it melt slowly than crunch it all at once.”
She was right. She was right, and yet…
Hearing it from her makes it sound somehow…
Najin made a complicated face.
“The Star Incarnation over there seems to feel differently.”
He pointed. She was watching Yuel with every hair standing on end, like a bristling cat.
“Ah, it’s nothing important.”
Yuel shrugged.
“Seventeen years ago, in a duel, I cut off both of the Star Incarnation’s arms. A trivial matter.”
At those words the Star Incarnation shuddered hard. She rubbed her forearms with her palms and clacked her teeth together as if the old memory had returned; it did not look particularly trivial.
Judging by the context, it looks like I’ll be traveling with these two.
It did not look easy.
Not at all.
After the discussion, the Star Incarnation’s accompaniment was decided.
“High Priest.”
“Yes, Star Incarnation.”
“Do I really have to go?”
“Yes. You must.”
“Can’t I just… not?”
“No, you cannot.”
“Aah… why can’t I?”
“Because you cannot.”
“Aaaaaah, please, huh? Please…”
The Star Incarnation clung to the elderly high priest’s sleeve and dragged her feet, but he only shook his head firmly. She tried tearful tantrums; they bounced right off him.
“……”
In the end the Star Incarnation, Yuel Razian, and Najin boarded a carriage together bound for the Outer Land. The Star Incarnation climbed in wearing the expression of someone being hauled to a slaughterhouse.
“You two sit together. I’ll sit over here.”
Yuel and Najin took one side; the Star Incarnation pressed herself into the window seat opposite, fighting to put as much distance between herself and Yuel as possible.
And so the peculiar companionship began.
The entire time the carriage moved, the Star Incarnation did not stir an inch, staring only out the window. Her whole body screamed please do not speak to me, so Najin conversed with Yuel beside him.
“What exactly did you do to her?”
“We dueled, and I cut off her arms. That is all.”
“From her reaction you’d think you tortured her.”
“I have wanted to try that, but…”
Hic. Though she was looking out the window as if none of this concerned her, she was clearly listening; the Star Incarnation’s body trembled. Paying her no mind, Yuel continued.
“Ah—lest there be a misunderstanding, I am not saying I am stronger or superior to the Star Incarnation.”
“You said you cut off her arms in a duel.”
“I did. But that was not because I am superior to her. It was simply a matter of compatibility.”
Yuel indicated her own palm.
“My mystery is Deconstruction.”
The power to undo, dismantle, and scatter things.
“The Star Incarnation’s ability has extremely poor compatibility with my mystery. It is not that she is weak or that I am strong—only that our matchups are terrible.”
-I think I get it.
Merlin, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.
-I don’t know exactly what that kid’s ability is, but it seems like the kind of power that only works when everything is gathered into a single lump. So of course Deconstruction would be the worst possible counter.
In other words, human rock-paper-scissors.
“The Star Incarnation is strong. Traveling with her will be a great help to the mission. I will vouch for that.”
Najin glanced at the Star Incarnation. By pure chance she happened to glance his way as well, and their eyes met. She looked oddly pleased.
Don’t tell me she’s happy because she got recognized?
Apparently so. Looking a little less tense, the Star Incarnation turned her body toward Najin and Yuel.
“……Well. Things turned out like this, but.”
She held out her hand to Najin.
“Looking forward to working with you, brat.”
“Looking forward to working with you as well, Star Incarnation.”
Mid-handshake, Najin asked a question.
“Come to think of it, Star Incarnation—what is your name?”
An idle question, nothing more.
He knew the title of Star Incarnation, but he had never seen her personal name. No related description existed in any of the books either. Pure curiosity.
“My name?”
The Star Incarnation blinked.
“I don’t have one.”
As if he had asked something bizarre.
“Everyone just calls me Star Incarnation. Isn’t that my name?”
A transcendent who had been designated the Star Incarnation from birth and had lived nearly a hundred years as such tilted her head, as though the very word “name” were unfamiliar.
Najin felt something off, but he asked no further questions. Instinct told him this was not a place to dig lightly.
“Ah, by the way.”
The Star Incarnation cocked her head slightly.
“A month or two ago, Eurypylos asked about you. Wanted to know what the hell kind of guy you were, whether I knew anything. Did something happen between you and Eurypylos?”
The Lighthouse Keeper, Eurypylos.
At that name Najin’s expression grew complicated. Had something happened? It was not a question he could answer cleanly.
“Not yet.”
“Sounds like you’re saying there will be something later.”
“Depending on the situation, there might be.”
“Well, it’s not my place to tell you what to do, but.”
The Star Incarnation crossed her arms.
“Better not make an enemy of that old man. He doesn’t move unless he has to—but when he does move, he tramples thoroughly.”
“Tramples thoroughly?”
“Three hundred years ago? Three hundred fifty? Before I was born, so I’m not sure… but when Eurypylos decided to act, an entire country got wiped off the map.”
She shook her head as if the memory alone was exhausting.
“His standards are loose and he almost never steps forward, but every time he does, he pulls off something insane. Me and that lunatic over there can each hold our own, but…”
She drew a clear line.
“The Lighthouse Keeper is different. Just… different. In a certain sense, he might be the most terrifying transcendent of all.”
“Ah. I agree with that.”
Yuel, who had been listening, nodded.
“You can tell simply from the fact that the Lighthouse Keeper was excluded from this operation—he is a unique existence. Why do you think the Holy Light Church receives less interference from the Empire? Precisely because of the Lighthouse Keeper.”
Najin suddenly recalled something Merlin had once said: if the Lighthouse Keeper ever decided to burn his entire lifespan, he could stand alone against the whole of the Empire.
“He prioritizes his own safety above all else and cares for nothing beyond keeping his current post… but.”
Yuel stroked her chin.
“Put the other way, he is a man who will do anything to protect that.”
That was what centuries of accumulation were for. Najin nodded with a sour face. He himself still could not be certain. Whether he would clash with the Lighthouse Keeper or find him an ally was something only the situation would decide.
The Lighthouse Keeper himself had reacted that way, after all.
In any case, the carriage rolled onward.
Across the Continent, toward the Outer Land.
La Mancha.
A place that existed somewhere in the Outer Land.
Najin recalled what Anton Quijano had told him of the origin of “La Mancha.” La Mancha was a fictional land that appeared in the fairy tale The Knights of La Mancha—a concept akin to paradise itself.
A land where everything existed.
A place where every satisfying ending could be found.
A true utopia.
The fairy tale of the Knights of La Mancha had drawn influence from the chronicle of King Arthur, and Najin recognized at once where the place called La Mancha had taken its inspiration.
-Avalon.
Just as Merlin said, La Mancha was a place much like Avalon. The ideal land that could be reached only by going beyond the Outer Land, beyond even Kamran—the paradise at the end of the world.
In The Knights of La Mancha, La Mancha was the same kind of place as the Avalon spoken of in the legends of King Arthur.
There was, however, a slight difference.
If Avalon carried the dual notions of “the final land humanity must reach” and of “trial,” La Mancha was a land of rest free of any such secondary meanings. A paradise at the end of the journey where everyone could smile and rest in happiness. A beautiful stage befitting a happy ending.
That was La Mancha.
The name of the heaven that Alonso Quijano had desperately sought before he became Quixote, the Star of Contempt.
“So.”
Hearing the explanation, the Star Incarnation’s face crumpled hard.
“That thing up ahead.”
She stretched out a hand and pointed.
“Is the road that leads to heaven?”
La Mancha—the road to heaven.
There is a saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. If so, was the road to heaven paved with malice? Najin, Yuel, and the Star Incarnation looked upon the path that led to paradise.
A hell overflowing with malice waited there.
As if to ask how any road to heaven could be beautiful—as if to demand how a place reached by an easy path could ever be paradise—hell stared back at them.
“They’ve noticed us.”
Looking up at the sky, Yuel murmured.
Kang—she drew her sword.
“They’re coming.”
There was no need to ask what was coming.
Najin raised his eyes to the heavens.
Whales swimming through the sky. Whales that swallowed stars, falling toward them in a herd. At the head of the procession swam the largest and oldest of them all.
The whale that bore the palace of the Heavenly Meteor.
It was coming.
The tyrant of the sky, the master of the sky-whales, was coming.