The Khan Approaches
Then again.
I had once met a centaur before.
It was nothing like the beautiful ones depicted in paintings.
Disheveled hair and manes. Hide torn and stripped of its elasticity by wounds.
This centaur put instinct ahead of reason.
He had come from the steppe.
*
Why was I in this state? Well, bad luck, I suppose.
I was a captive. In the Empire, my status had been that of livestock.
I had become spectacle for imperial eyes in that station, yet I had never forgotten my home, he said.
An extraordinary warrior.
He had crushed a charging lion, throttled a bear to death, and defeated the bestiarii who called themselves monster hunters.
The closer he came to death, the more he fought.
Naturally, he too had bled. When he was dying, I had been there.
I had not thought like others: ‘That thing.’
‘He is dying.’
[Little one.]
Centaur tongue. A forceful word carrying the emphasis of wind. I could understand a little of it at least.
Because I had always treated him as human, and we had conversed.
“Are you returning home?”
I had thought my own words absurd. Returning to where? His home on the steppe?
Then how?
The centaur smiled as if he had taken a blow.
[Yes. With these fetters on my body, I cannot return. There is a land where all the winds gather. If it is only my soul, I can be carried there...]
I had not believed him. Perhaps he had not believed it himself either. Words were light things.
[Little one. Do not die like this. Go outside. Do not grow accustomed to this narrow world. Do not say you are slowly dying. Live a life that can be said to be lived.]
“I was born here.”
The centaur showed a look of conviction and laughed boisterously.
[Deciding the place of death is the greatest freedom a born being can possess. Understand? Find the earth you wish to be buried in. The places where one can die smiling are only those.]
At that moment I...
*
Vesta woke from sleep and slowly opened his eyes.
...Had I been sleeping?
How deeply I must have been lost. Falling asleep while riding a horse that shook violently.
I washed my face and rose.
Srrrk.
As I tried to stand, my body felt heavy. Upon looking, I found a thick blanket woven from lambskin wrapped tightly around me.
“Was this put on to prevent a cold?”
Even though winter had passed, the weather remained chill. Especially on the steppe, the daily temperature swing between day and night was enormous.
Without such thoughtfulness, my mouth might have turned.
I could not honestly like it, however.
‘In the end, I was sold.’
So far I had been treated well, yet an unease never quite left me.
After all, the situation could change like the flip of a hand.
[He is my prospective groom.]
...No way.
In Vesta’s mind, as he guessed the reason for the good treatment, that beautiful voice came to mind.
A voice as light as a spell, easy to dismiss.
Yet words were light things. Vesta barely brushed it aside.
‘They did not even tie my arms and legs.’
I did not know how much I had been paid, but to leave a slave bought at a high price in such a state.
I thought they must be guarding him in another way.
‘There must be people watching from outside.’
Vesta had no intention of running yet. Since the one who bought Vesta was a prairie elf, this place was obviously in the heart of the steppe.
‘Escaping in this condition is suicide.’
Even after freeing my arms and legs, it would be hard to leave the steppe. The steppe was not a land that could be crossed easily.
If I wanted to escape, I would need emergency rations, water, and basic equipment.
“Are you awake?”
“...Yes! There are no painful places.”
“Is that so.”
‘Her speech is extremely stiff.’
The girl treated Vesta respectfully. Her voice was flat, but I could sense she was taking care of me.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“I seem to need to return home. Could you lend me just one horse?”
“That is impossible.”
“I will return it. Truly.”
“That is impossible.”
“You said that if there is something needed, to speak of it.”
“......”
Of course, I thought she would not listen. Even if I tried to force the issue as a captive, the girl’s expression did not change much.
The girl did not sigh, but she gave an answer almost equivalent to refusal.
“Do I have to add the phrase ‘as long as the Khan permits’?”
The Khan would permit it? Stay quiet.
It sounded like that, in substance.
‘Ask or don’t ask.’
The atmosphere grew quite awkward.
“Are you thirsty? The Khan is waiting. You will receive tea at her residence.”
‘She did not wake me and waited until I woke up. I cannot read her.’
Or was she idle—
The words nearly sprang out to my face.
‘No way. Rather, it is better this way.’
I had many things to ask, and only the Khan could answer them.
“Yes. As for that permission, I will ask her myself.”
Vesta’s immediate answer made the girl’s eyes narrow in surprise.
“I know you are from the Empire. Imperial people usually fear the Khan, do they not? The golden clan?”
Golden clan. It meant the direct bloodline of the Great Khan. Indeed, after the imperial army that had sworn to conquer the steppe was killed in great numbers, that name had become one of terror.
Great Khan, Ergior, golden clan.
Those names had once been mythical.
Even though the generation that had lived the wars had passed into history, the feelings between the prairie elves and the imperial people had not been completely resolved.
But they had been diluted greatly as well.
Enough for a teacher-like person to appear.
Of course, Vesta was no teacher-like figure.
If it were not another elf.
“Should I fear them?”
“.....”
It was a short exchange of names, but Vesta remembered the Khan’s intense first impression.
Therefore he guessed.
She was a noble person. And her nobility did not come from mere appearance.
It came from her proud affirmation of herself, from her truthfulness without falsehood, from her unyielding uprightness.
Vesta had not had long conversations with her, but he had felt those things.
Sometimes, with just one meeting, one could see a person’s essence.
He was not the kind of person who would be flustered by questions.
Yes. It was certainly so.
*
As we passed several tents, a tent that looked particularly special caught the eye.
As we approached the tent, the eyes that had been sparkling like fireflies slowly opened one after another.
Wrrrr.
A growling like something boiling coldly. It was the warning sound of the hellhounds that guarded the Khan’s tent.
Even if they could not, more than ten dogs began to glare at Vesta.
They were large beasts; each one would tear a human apart with ease.
The dogs, smelling Vesta’s unfamiliar scent, prepared to bark fiercely. Before those could wake the dawn, the girl stepped forward.
“Shh.”
Srrk.
With her small body, one might think she could do nothing, yet with one gesture from her, the tail drooped. The dogs were astonishingly well-trained.
Kiiiing—
Vesta felt a glimmer of insight.
Had the girl trained these dogs? If so, she could not be a slave.
It was impossible for the Khan’s guard dogs to be trained by a slave’s hand.
‘Is she a person trusted by the Khan? She might be much higher than I thought.’
No matter what Vesta thought, the girl had done her duty.
The girl stopped before the entrance of the tent.
Beyond that was the Khan.
The girl spoke with a voice full of respect.
“Khan. I have brought him.”
—Now you have awakened. Yes, let him in.
“I will have someone fetch tea.”
—Please do.
The girl examined Vesta’s belongings once more, then led him into the tent.
“...Wow.”
It was a sight enough to relax the tension. Vesta could not help but let out an exclamation.
---