The Frozen Egg and the Golden Wind
Sirin snapped back to her senses thanks to Amerin Devimeris's booming laughter. Judging by the veins standing out on her face, she was absolutely livid.
"So you're saying humans are nothing more than beasts of the wild!?"
"Yes."
"No...! That...!!! That's...! ...Urgh...!"
Her rage had climbed all the way to the top of her head; she clutched the back of her neck as if trying to keep it from exploding. Alberic and the vassals were listening with intense concentration, as though my words had struck them like a hammer.
"Ahahahaha!!"
I continued while Amerin held her stomach and roared with laughter.
"Which is exactly why environment and education matter."
Leaving the fuming Sirin behind me, I laid out the theory of the mixed nature of good and evil.
"Khff... I see. So humans are born with nothing but instinct, and only later—pfft—do good and evil take shape. Therefore both are always present in a mixed state... kuh..."
Amerin sipped her tea in a desperate attempt to hold back her laughter.
"Hah... So if one cultivates goodness one becomes good, and if one cultivates evil one becomes evil."
"Exactly. That resolves most of the contradictions in today's topic."
The theory that humans are innately good? Then what about those criminals over there?
The theory that humans are innately evil? Then what about the people who volunteer and devote themselves to others?
Instead of those two hypotheses, each riddled with colossal contradictions, I supported the theories of original blank slate and mixed good and evil for a simple reason.
They were realistic.
Sociopaths who grow up in decent environments, learn how society works, and practice dealing with people can end up almost indistinguishable from anyone else. Conversely, once-kind people who fall into bad circumstances, battered by the storms of society, can start acting irrationally.
"And lastly—ten people are said to have ten different colors. That's why I believe drawing lines in black and white is meaningless."
"Ahahaha! What a thoroughly realistic hypothesis~"
"I... I... s-see..."
Sirin's fury was finally ebbing; after turning my words over carefully she seemed to find them reasonable.
"That was truly fascinating. Well then, let's move on to the next topic."
The vassal suddenly called upon to propose a subject nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Uh... well... um..."
"Don't you have any topics prepared?"
"N-no... Forgive me."
"Then, next?"
"""...."""
The vassals fell silent.
"Haa~ Remarkable, Haren. You're only the second person ever to defeat me and my vassals."
"Pardon? The second?"
"And this time the numbers are larger and the minds sharper, too. Huhu."
She was sinking into memory.
"Haren! The first is sitting right beside you, you know?"
I looked at Alberic. He had thrown his head back in a strange pose, eyes closed, as if reminiscing.
"Yes... I recall the night when my bond with the Violet Star first bloomed."
"My, 'Violet Star'—how pretty~"
Alberic began his tale. While living at the viscount's house he had met the young lady of Marquisate Devimeris.
"I still remember the Alberic of those days. Coldly brilliant... clever... strong."
What? So this guy used to be normal?
"Yes... that was when I was rotting away..."
The succession struggle for the viscounty had left everything in chaos.
"I was the second leaf, jealous of the first..."
The eldest son of Viscount Bemil had no particularly sharp edges, and by custom he had ascended to the position of heir.
"Because of the worms that gnawed at that second leaf... the cradle itself began to rot."
Men of uncertain loyalty had goaded the second son for their own gain, and the house was dragged into a war of succession.
"What?! My friend! Why does your mighty pillar support nothing at all?"
"Uh... Haren?"
Amerin looked startled at the sight of the once-normal man striking a bizarre pose and speaking in that strange manner.
"Indeed, Golden Wind... my father, that mighty pillar, merely watched the rising flames with indifference."
The head of House Bemil, greedy for a better heir, had simply stood by while the two brothers tore at each other.
"Then... my friend... you have sailed through a storm-lashed voyage."
"Golden Wind, I thank you for your concern for Alberic..."
"Um... you two...?"
"From the collision of two swarms of worms, the tree... was rotting..."
The clash of the two factions had finally threatened to uproot the viscountcy itself.
"Watching the cradle that was also a tree decay... I, the gardener and the third leaf, could not simply stand by."
"How could one save gardens already rotting!?"
"Excuse me?!"
And so Alberic, the third son, had stepped forward to set things in order. He redirected funds, became a knight, cleared out monsters and demons rampaging through the territory, and encouraged the people. That was why they had started addressing him with the honorific "Sir."
"But then... my own leaf began to wither as well!"
"My friend, I know you! Are you not a brilliant star?! How could this be?!"
"...."
"The swarms of worms gnawed my leaves. And that was when I met the Violet Star."
Even while the head of the house was already burning too brightly for anyone to touch, Alberic had thrown himself in as a firefighter. But he had been so competent that both the eldest and second sons began to check him—and it was then that he met Amerin Devimeris.
"I see. So that was when you met Lady Amerin?"
"Eh...?"
The two men had been conversing solely in bizarre poses and strange speech. When the question finally turned to her and she saw Haren return to normal, Amerin was left speechless; the vassals stared at Alberic and me with equally thunderstruck faces.
"Ahem... yes. I was simply too curious about the man who had almost single-handedly restored Viscount Bemil's house."
"Ahh... it was a dark night with almost no moonlight, just like now..."
Amerin Devimeris, then the heir to the marquisate, had tested Alberic, and he had passed with perfect marks.
"He was truly remarkable. Just like you are now, Haren!"
"Hmph! And yet after all that you still insulted the Golden Wind in my presence, did you not?"
"Oh my, oh my... are you jealous?"
Wow. As the next marquis she doesn't give an inch even to Alberic.
"In any case, House Bemil returned to its proper form—thanks to Alberic."
He rebuilt a collapsing house alone? That guy really is a monster of talent.
"When I saw that, I decided I would take Alberic as my vassal."
Amerin Devimeris took a sip of tea.
"A third son of a viscount is usually cast out without territory and forced to wander as a knight. So I intended to claim him for myself."
Talent scouting, then...
Even now an intense hunger burned in her eyes.
'I will have him no matter what.' Then why didn't he go with her?
"In the end the third leaf withered and fell...."
"Ugh... he said he was sick to death of nobility and just ran off. After that he started talking and acting like this..."
"So the reason you're here is..."
"Because of Alberic, of course!"
Oof... this guy is thoroughly marked.
But... am I marked too?
The same lingering gaze she had been directing at Alberic a moment ago now seemed to settle on me as well...
"I have already spoken my heart, Violet Star... I have no such desire. The crimson thread has already snapped twice; return now..."
Which means this is the third time?!
Lady Amerin looked at me and chuckled softly.
"When my vassals went to recruit him he refused; when I went myself he refused. So this time we all came together! Huhuhu."
Alberic was Zhuge Liang.
I finally understood why Alberic wore that look of pure distress. He had clearly refused, yet they kept upgrading their approach and showing up again; the pressure must have been crushing.
"My friend... the star is so brilliant it will hurt the eyes."
"Golden Wind... you too have been exposed to the light..."
Yeah, I can see it... lasers are about to shoot out of her eyes.
"Haren? I'll be frank. I investigated your background."
"Yes... I rather thought so."
"Originally I only meant to look into what Alberic was up to, but can you believe it?! He was said to be close friends with a certain man."
"Hmph! It was a friendship like a radiant jewel between the Golden Wind and the Man Who Contains the World!"
"I was shocked! After wandering alone for over two years and sixteen months, he suddenly had a companion at his side!"
She knows the details way too well...
But sixteen months? Did she misspeak?
"So I looked into both of your tracks... and I was told you did nothing but drink at inns."
"Ah, so that's why you—"
"Haren... I saw you as filth that would soil the jewel. So I told Alberic not to travel with you anymore."
"What a profound insult, Violet Star!"
"I take no offense, my friend... she only feared that you shone so brightly a flaw might appear."
"Ahh... Golden Wind... you have my thanks."
Looking into Amerin Devimeris's eyes, blazing with that same intense hunger, I wondered—surely not...?
"But what do you know? Like attracts like, they say! No wonder Alberic calls you the Golden Wind!"
"Um, perhaps..."
"Yes!!! Haren!!! Won't you become my knight?!"
"I must decline."
"Kya~ That little push-and-pull is delicious~"
The heir to the marquisate was the type who stabbed first and asked questions later.
"Anyway! Let's leave it here for today, shall we?"
Hmm... looking around, we've been talking until an absurdly late hour.
The servants, maids, cooks, and even the waiters all looked exhausted, their eyes filled with desperate hope.
'Please!!! Please just go inside!!'
'Ahh... oh gods...'
'Mother... I miss you...'
If I kept talking to Amerin Devimeris any longer, tomorrow's food was going to taste terrible. Better to save the rest for tomorrow.
The vassals looked just as drained. The dark circles under their eyes...
None of which stopped the future marquis from beaming happily.
"Then let's meet again tomorrow~ my jewels."
""....""
Alberic and I both felt the world go dark.
"Haa..."
I had only gone to eat and come back with a massive burden attached.
"Pong!!"
"Thanks, Blanc."
Blanc used her power to work the tension out of my shoulders.
Ugh... that feels good...
I hadn't managed dinner, so I had asked for a sandwich; the cook's glare had been murderous. Eating the sandwich while receiving Blanc's massage let every knot of tension melt away.
Ahh, so refreshing~
Lying on the bed, all sorts of thoughts drifted through my mind.
A fight over rice bowls among interest groups called nobles...
Apparently the Pact of Life contained no clause that restricted that particular brand of nonsense. If such a vow had been forced into the pact, the nobles would have risen up at the overreach and the empire might have shattered.
"Haa... people really are the same everywhere."
Then a truly bizarre thought struck me.
Lady Amerin... she drank an awful lot of tea, didn't she?
The moment the gathering ended she vanished so fast...
Surely not...
I surrendered myself to the sleep that came flooding in.
The next morning Alberic and I were tormented by Amerin Devimeris once more.
"Hahaha! Good morning!"
"Ah, good morning, Lady Amerin..."
"Today as well the Violet Star is so dazzling that tears of blood gather in my eyes..."
At least she seemed aware that she was being too aggressive; after a moderate amount of conversation she left. Having escaped the future marquis's gaze, Alberic and I settled into a wine bar to talk.
"Golden Wind, do you intend to enter a fishbowl?"
"I do, my friend."
"Then I recommend the fishbowl called Maberian."
"Oh?"
Maberian City. A massive city of stone, one of the great hubs of trade because it sat at the junction of several major highways.
"There the grains of sand are clean, and their colors are many."
"I see... as expected of the Man Who Contains the World... a walking repository of knowledge."
"Heh... not at all, Golden Wind."
Goods were plentiful, the people decent, and the variety broad. Maberian City it was; we set our course.
"By any chance..."
"One year. One year in this lake."
"The time for twelve full moons to change, then..."
"Hmm? Is it not twenty-four?"
Huh? Twenty-four?
A year has twenty-four months?!
So that's why Amerin Devimeris said sixteen months yesterday...
"And soon the cold blessings will fall from the sky and every living thing will sleep... haa..."
Alberic shifted into another peculiar pose and shook his head regretfully.
"To see this beautiful world again one must wait another six full moons..."
When I had learned to read at the church I confirmed that the word "four seasons" existed here, but neither the church nor the villages kept calendars, so I had no way to track the dates. I had assumed the seasons changed every four months for a twelve-month year—but it was every six months.
My common knowledge is really lacking...
"My friend, does the fishbowl I am bound for contain a repository of knowledge?"
"Indeed! Golden Wind, of course it does! And since you bear the token of the heavens, you should be able to enter at once."
Ah, so even libraries screen their visitors.
The church travel permit was proving incredibly useful. Entering the library to gather history and other information would be wise.
We drank and chattered cheerfully, yet Alberic's torment was plain to see. Honestly, yesterday's events would have been burdensome even for me—but also deeply moving. For a leader and all her subordinates to come in person simply to recommend him...
Where else could one find a job like that?
And the leader herself, Amerin Devimeris, seemed like a rather fine person.
"My friend, I sense deep ripples in the lake of your heart..."
"Golden Wind..."
"Are you wavering? Do you not wish to fly with the birds that follow the Violet Star?"
"!!!"
As expected, Alberic had been thinking the same thing. I listened to his worries as the hours slipped by.
"You have my thanks... Golden Wind..."
"It is nothing, my friend."
Amerin Devimeris dropped by from time to time to greet us, and her vassals grew familiar with our faces as well.
Then, three days later—
"You are leaving... Golden Wind...."
"Yes... my friend. I must walk the world. My essence is the wind."
We stood outside the Armed Inn. Alberic had grown so attached that he had come all this way to see us off.
"Hah... may the blue vault of heaven walk with you on the road ahead."
"And with you, my friend."
Perhaps I had grown attached to Alberic as well. I wanted to ease his torment...
Ah! That line!
Alberic would understand it.
"My friend who struggles with doubt."
"Ahh... what is it?"
"Fate is a 'sleeping slave.'"
"!!!"
I stepped close to the wide-eyed Alberic and lightly tapped his chest with my fist.
"We can set it free."
"...."
"I cannot wish you a peaceful life, but I will hand you the 'key.'"
I parted from Alberic and set out on the road.
Fate is a "sleeping slave"...
And the "key."
That I... decide my fate by my own choice...
Hah...
Haren... truly a strange man.
My meeting with him had been most unusual.
An honorable knight who swept away bandits with overwhelming martial might and asked for no reward.
A storyteller who filled the road with varied and fascinating tales.
And finally, a sworn friend whose words and heart resonated with my own.
Had I, Alberic Bemil, ever grown so joyfully close to anyone before?
Warmth filled my chest.
Ahh... I see....
"Haha... hahaha!"
The viscount's house had never been my cradle.
"This place" was my cradle.
I had tumbled out of the frost-bound viscountcy.
And I had come this far.
For the first time I felt warmth.
I had been a frozen egg.
And the one who melted that ice and drew me out into the world...
My one and only "sworn friend."
A wind filled with the warm light of the sun itself.
The "Golden Wind."
"It is time to awaken."
Alberic set his feet in motion and sought out Amerin Devimeris. She was taking tea with her vassals in the dining hall.
"My, Alberic. Did you bid your dear friend a proper farewell?"
"Yes, I did, Lady Amerin."
""??!?!??!!?!???!!??!!??""
The entire party froze in shock at the sudden, impeccable noble etiquette in Alberic's speech.
"Uh... um... ah...."
"Lady Amerin, may I walk at your side?"
A moment of absolute silence.
Amerin steadied her startled heart and looked into Alberic's eyes. They shone more brilliantly than they had on the day they first met.
"Hah... huhu... huhuhu. I may have missed Lord Haren... but so what! Come, Alberic!"
"Yes. I shall serve you with all my devotion, my lord."
Alberic had chosen his fate.
The bird that hatched from the egg flew after the Violet Star.