Holy City: Unexpected Journey [2]
People often picture the wilderness as a vast, empty plain, but in truth it is not empty at all. It simply contains far more of certain things than others. Gravel, dirt, and wind—these are the wilderness’s true abundance. They make up nine-tenths of the land, so they are everywhere one looks. Yet today seemed to be one of those rare days when the remaining tenth stood out. And even within that tenth, this particular sight belonged to an even smaller fraction. After all, it was exceedingly uncommon to see a party composed of a barbarian, a nun, and a vampire traveling together.
Yet Sister Celine did not appear to be aware of her own rarity. If she had been, she would hardly have been sitting primly, her small mouth working steadily as she chewed her food. Harnok’s improvised meal had, at least, produced some effect on the half-fainted nun; she had recovered enough strength to eat. And with that strength came the unwelcome realization that she was no longer wearing her armor.
While nibbling on the fragrant bread that was unmistakably Mother Maybon’s handiwork, Celine stared at Harnok with a contradictory urge to burst into tears. Every time the barbarian’s jaw worked around a strip of dried meat, his biceps and deltoids swelled explosively, flaunting their presence. Ordinarily those muscles would have been reassuring, but at the moment they were nothing more than cumbersome obstacles. Worse still, Harnok was simply too large. Standing well over two meters tall and built of solid muscle, the barbarian drew every eye whether he wished to or not. Add to that a bare torso covered in tattoos, a prominent scar across his face, and it became impossible for anyone to look away.
At this rate we might as well hang a sign around his neck that reads “I am Bahon tribe”…!
The more bread she ate, the more rapidly Celine felt her mood sink. It was as though the dough had been kneaded with melancholy instead of flour. She sighed again and looked at Harnok. Noticing her gaze, the barbarian flashed a wide, gum-baring grin and boomed a question.
“So, Sister, are you feeling better now?! I knew a bit of food would set you right! We did leave without breakfast, after all!”
Confronted by the barbarian’s guileless concern, Celine found herself closing her eyes and letting out a soft laugh despite herself.
Well, what’s done is done. It isn’t as though Harnok meant any harm.
“Yes, I do feel much better with something in my stomach.”
She opened her eyes, ready to suggest they get moving now that the meal was nearly finished, only for her expression to freeze. With her earlier gloom lifted, something she had previously overlooked came into focus. Bellarne was sitting between Harnok’s crossed legs, diligently sipping blood from a bottle.
“……Why is Miss Bellarne eating in that particular spot?”
“Hm? Ah! It will soon be noon, after all. I thought it best to shield her with my own body in case the same thing that happened last time occurs again.” Bellarne merely shrugged, her expression saying, Didn’t you hear him?
Celine felt the earlier melancholy crawl back up her spine—only this time it was deeper, thicker, and far more viscous. She had no time to examine the sensation, however.
“I see.” She nodded as though she understood, yet her eyes remained fixed on the vampire. “It looks as though Miss Bellarne has finished her meal as well. Shall we get going?”
Bellarne’s lips curved upward at the suggestion. Celine’s own mouth, conversely, began a rapid descent.
“Very well. Since our dear Sister insists, I suppose I’ll stand.”
Having drained the last of the blood, Bellarne rose gracefully and began brushing herself off with elegant little pats. The gesture looked like careful preparation against leaving any trace that monsters might follow, yet for some reason it irritated Celine. The time Bellarne spent pressed against the knight was steadily increasing in real time.
The knight is waiting— what are you doing?!
Once she had finished tidying herself, Bellarne clasped her hands behind her back and skipped lightly forward until she stopped directly in front of Harnok’s chest. Celine’s already frozen face hardened further.
“Why are you standing there?”
Bellarne gave a small laugh and tilted her head. Celine looked as though every drop of blood had been sucked from her body.
“Because the sun is at its strongest right now, and I can’t be exposed to it, remember? So the only option is to stay inside my savior’s shadow.”
“Ah. I understand.” Celine nodded once, then strode forward and planted herself firmly between Bellarne and Harnok. The situation had reversed. Bellarne’s voice turned icy.
“……What do you think you’re doing?”
“If Miss Bellarne should accidentally be exposed to sunlight, wouldn’t it be safer to have an extra pair of hands ready to support her? And if, by some chance, she loses the protection of Harnok’s shadow, we’ll need someone else to help.” Celine gave her long, glossy hair a light flick as she spoke. Bellarne’s mouth twitched, but the vampire could find no suitable retort. Celine’s reasoning was sound, and Harnok’s shadow was, after all, more than wide enough to accommodate two women.
“……Hah. Is that so? Fine.” Bellarne spun away from Celine. A bright smile bloomed on the nun’s face.
“Well then, let’s be off, Sir Knight!”
True to the nature of the wilderness, the wind was the loudest thing present. As expected of the frontier, no settlements could be seen in any direction. They had been walking for hours, yet the landscape remained unchanged. With her arms crossed against the wind that now reached even for her, the vampire spoke sulkily over her shoulder.
“Sister, didn’t you say we would soon reach a small territory?”
“J-just a little longer…!”
“The sun has already set, you know?”
“Th-that can’t be right……?!”
At Celine’s flustered reply, Harnok’s gravelly voice cut in.
“Sister, is something the matter?”
“N-no…! It’s just—the map clearly showed a small territory nearby, so why—why can’t I see it…? Huh…? B-but if I calculate the time it took me to reach the village, this should be the road back to the Holy City, so we should be seeing it by now……?”
“When you came to the village? Sister, did you travel on foot?”
“Pardon? Yes… Of course I did…? How could a horse keep running for long in this wilderness? There’s nowhere for it to rest, so it would tire out immediately. After crossing the wilderness I walked the mountain path alone, and then the bandits captured me……”
The nun’s lips stopped abruptly. For nearly five seconds her large golden eyes blinked rapidly before a single word fell from them, heavy as stone.
“Ah. The bandits.”
She had overlooked it. The journey she had taken included the period during which she had been held captive by bandits. Most travelers would prefer not to count such an experience as part of their itinerary, but the route the bandits had used to bring her to their cabin had not deviated all that far from the path to the village. Naturally—after all, they needed nearby settlements to plunder in order to survive. What she had overlooked most of all was that, while held captive, she had been transported not on her own two feet but inside a wagon that served as a prison.
“In other words, you completely miscalculated the travel time to our destination.”
“Uuuugh… Y-yes……”
The vampire chuckled at the nun, but Celine had no attention to spare for glaring. She was too busy clutching her head and trying to think of what to do next. Her eyes darted about until a sudden idea struck her; she whipped around to face Harnok.
“Th-that’s right! Harnok!”
“Hm?”
“H-Harnok, couldn’t you just carry us and run? We might still reach the destination before midnight!”
It was a reasonable suggestion. Though riding on Harnok tended to induce a certain amount of motion sickness—hence why they had avoided it until now—there was no room for such concerns at present. Harnok, however, scratched his chin with a troubled expression.
“Well…… I haven’t left the village much in eight years, so I’m not familiar with the surrounding geography. Besides, this is the wilderness; there aren’t any distinctive landmarks to use as reference. If we move too hastily we might end up even farther from our goal. And it’s night now, which makes it even harder to navigate.”
“Th-then what do we…… J-just a moment?! Night?! Did you just say it’s night?”
“Hm? I did. Is there a problem?”
“Not at all! That’s wonderful, Harnok!”
The nun nodded vigorously, then spun toward the vampire.
“Miss Bellarne!”
“Huh? Me?”
“You’re nocturnal, aren’t you?! Reading the surroundings should be no trouble at all! Please read the map so Harnok can reach our destination!”
Bellarne’s expression turned equally troubled; she began twisting a lock of her curly black hair around her finger.
“W-well…… Sorry, but while the knight has been gone eight years, I haven’t been active for over a hundred. Even with good night vision, what good is it if I can’t recognize anything……?”
“What……? You’re joking, right?! Then how did you raid the village before?! You must have recognized something to attack it!”
“That was because the scent of human blood was thick in the air around the village……”
“Th-then can’t we just follow the blood scent now?! If we smell a strong concentration of human blood, that’s probably the territory we’re heading for!”
“If that were the case I would have mentioned it long ago. Why would I have stayed quiet—blood scent?!”
Bellarne’s crimson eyes flashed as she snapped her head around.
“Wh-what is it……?”
“I smell human blood…… not far from here.”