287. Asphodel (2)
287. Asphodel (2)
- 1 -
Thomas Marco gazed over his devastated farm and let out a deep sigh.
'How could anyone start over on land like this...'
His land, half a day's journey east of Kishuker, had not escaped the wounds of the civil war.
The crops had been burned, the irrigation works smashed, and the once-fertile soil had lost its life force like the ash of the dead.
"Father! I fetched the water!"
His twelve-year-old daughter Lisa came running, a water jar cradled in her arms. A spark of hope shone in her clear eyes.
Thomas forced a smile. There was no need to show the children how hopeless it was.
"Thank you, daughter."
Lisa set the water jar down and asked with innocent eyes,
"Father, when can we farm again?"
Instead of answering, Thomas looked up at the sky.
In his eyes was a despair so deep he could not bear to show it to his family.
'Can dead land ever come back to life...'
Farming since the day he was born, and yet he could not be certain.
"Dear, let's eat."
His wife Matilda came out carrying a small table. Her face was full of fatigue, too, but her eyes alone still held hope.
Their four-year-old son Karl followed, clutching his mother's hem.
"What is it today?"
"Barley porridge with asphodel. The soldiers handed it out yesterday."
Matilda, who had answered Lisa kindly, unfolded the table she had brought.
As the family sat down for their humble meal, Karl suddenly jumped up from his seat and shouted.
"Papa! Someone's coming over there!"
Thomas turned his head and saw a figure approaching from afar.
He instinctively grabbed the nearest shovel. Ever since the civil war, rumors of looters raiding rural villages had been rampant.
"Matilda! Take the children inside! ...Huh?"
But this visitor did not look like a looter.
The figure had the form of a woman, but her skin bore a jade-like bluish tinge, and small flowers bloomed in her hair.
'No...'
Thomas swallowed his breath.
She was clearly not human, and in this world, the word for beings who were not human was universally one thing.
"...A monster!"
He shouted warily.
The approaching woman immediately halted and raised both hands.
"Human. Do not be afraid."
Her voice was exceedingly gentle, and her pale skin glistened in the sunlight.
She was a beauty anyone would feel goodwill toward.
Except for the fact that she was a monster.
"I have not come to harm you."
Thomas narrowed his eyes.
Her appearance didn't seem threatening, but he gripped the shovel even tighter.
He sensed his wife Matilda appear in the doorway, watching the unfamiliar visitor with eyes full of wariness.
'I have to protect them. No matter what.'
"What... are you?"
Thomas asked, thrusting the shovel blade forward like a spear.
"I am a resident of the forest. We have come to help the people of Kiza."
The dryad opened her hand to show him. In her palm lay several seeds and a small bundle of roots.
"Your land is sick. I can help."
Thomas still did not lower his guard.
Just then, his son Karl slipped out from behind his mother's skirt and stared at the dryad, eyes full of curiosity.
"Sister, is she a fairy?"
"Karl!"
When the child asked with wide eyes, a startled Matilda pulled him back.
The dryad smiled gently. Her smile was as warm as spring sunshine.
"You may call me that if you like, human child."
"Sister won't hurt us?"
Lisa asked cautiously, half-hidden behind her mother's skirt.
"I am a being who nurtures the forest and raises plants. I can help your farm."
Thomas and Matilda exchanged a glance.
The wariness toward monsters was still there, but their farm was in a desperate state.
At this rate, the family would starve.
They could go into debt or sell the land cheaply to weather the immediate crisis, but that would be selling away their future.
"How... would you help us?"
Thomas finally lowered the shovel.
Instead of answering, the dryad knelt and placed her hand on the ground.
From where her fingers touched, a blue light spread, and in an instant, a tiny sprout pushed up through the soil.
Matilda gasped.
"Th-this is..."
"It is our sorcery. We handle the power of life."
The dryad stroked the sprout as she spoke.
"We have come like this, to return life to your land."
"Good heavens..."
Thomas hesitantly approached and carefully touched the sprout.
It was unmistakably a living plant.
"Papa!"
He looked back at his family.
Thomas himself was still on guard, but the light of hope was already dawning in his family's eyes.
"Her Excellency the Knight Commander from Hysen came to the forest herself and asked for our aid."
The dryad added.
"The monsters of the forest have decided to emerge and protect and aid you all."
At the mention of Evangeline's name, Thomas's wariness softened a little.
The knight commander from Hysen with the blonde hair and green eyes.
She was already revered as a hero among the people of Kiza.
And she was not the kind of name a mere monster would simply drop.
"... For now, I'll hear you out."
Thomas finally nodded.
"... What an incredible thing..."
That evening, the Marco family witnessed an astonishing change.
The seeds the dryad had planted during the day were already sprouting, and life was returning to the devastated land.
"Father, what's happening?"
Lisa asked the startled Thomas, but Thomas could give no proper answer.
He did not know what was happening either.
But one thing was certain.
As promised, the dryad was breathing life into their ruined farm.
"What's this black flower?"
Matilda asked the dryad.
"It is asphodel."
"Asphodel? Asphodel blooms white flowers..."
"It's a special seedling developed in Hysen. A variety that grows swiftly and produces far more tuber stems usable as food."
Under the dryad's touch, one more asphodel grew even faster, and soon several tubers swelled like droplets.
The sight was somewhat grotesque at a glance, but for the Marco family right now, it was hope itself.
"They say the royal family of Hysen tried to control people with magic..."
Thomas, who had heard the recent rumors, cast one last look full of suspicion, but Matilda slapped him on the back and scolded him.
"That was talk of the former government. Now, Her Highness Queen Yurena is rumored to be carrying out such splendid governance."
"I-is that so?"
At last, their family accepted the dryad's help.
And within a few days, a miracle occurred.
The devastated soil recovered its life force as though by magic.
Their crops grew at a speed unbelievable even as they watched.
Thomas held his breath at the sight of seeds planted in the morning already sprouting by evening.
'Is this a blessing from God, or...'
What left his words trailing off was the black asphodel that had begun to cover the area around the farm.
Unlike ordinary asphodels, this flower possessed black petals and glowed faintly like stars in the night sky.
The rumors rode the wind and spread.
The dryad's aid expanded to the entire village, and wherever they passed, black asphodels bloomed.
In less than a single week, the whole of the Kiza petty kingdom was covered in a wave of black flowers.
- 2 -
The plaza in front of the Kiza petty kingdom's administrative office was packed with people.
A platform had been set up in the center, and on it stood Prime Minister Cromwell and Knight Commander Evangeline of Hysen.
"Today is a moment that will go down in the history of the Kiza petty kingdom."
Cromwell declared from the podium.
"On this day, we sign a formal pact with the residents of the forest."
The Marco family was among the crowd.
Those who had feared the monsters just a month ago were now witnesses who had directly experienced the changes brought by cooperation with the dryads.
"Papa! There are the fairy sisters who helped us!"
Karl pointed with his finger.
Thomas quickly pushed the finger down, but he watched the dryads walking up onto the platform.
Among them, the one who shone especially bright, the chieftain Mel-Uria, stood upon the platform.
At the sight of her, who was especially beautiful even among her kin, exclamations of wonder rippled through the crowd.
"People of Kiza."
Mel-Uria's voice reached every corner of the plaza.
"We, the residents of Tarendails Forest, are those who have long had to live hidden away in the misunderstandings of humans. But we have decided not to turn our eyes from your hardships."
Evangeline stepped forward.
The crowd watched with rapt eyes as her blue cloak caught the light under the sun and shone brilliantly.
"Through this pact, the three races, including the dryads, will be officially recognized as citizens of the Grakheizen Union. They will aid in restoring Kiza's land and contribute to maintaining your safety."
Cromwell stepped forward again.
"In return, once this work is stabilized, they shall be granted new positions befitting their merit. For a new Kiza, a stronger Kiza, we will advance together!"
He unfurled a scroll and signed it alongside Mel-Uria.
When Evangeline also signed as the mediator and witness of the pact, the asphodels planted around the plaza all burst into full bloom at once.
It was a sight as if bestowing a blessing.
"Long live Prime Minister Cromwell!"
"Lady Knight Commander Evangeline! We love you!"
"Chieftain Mel-Uria, thank you!!"
The cheers of the people resounded.
The initial anxiety and doubt had now transformed into hope and anticipation.
The pact ceremony concluded, and a celebratory event followed.
Humans and monsters mingling together was a sight unimaginable just a few weeks ago.
Evangeline briefly stepped back and watched over it all. Her eyes were filled with satisfaction.
"Master. The takeover of Kiza is nearly complete."
She whispered so, and smiled as her eyes met Mel-Uria's.
- 3 -
"Well done, Eve."
I listened to Evangeline's voice and slowly traced my finger over the map where the petty kingdom was drawn.
A feeling of satisfaction spread through my chest.
A map covered in the pattern of black asphodels.
If someone who did not know its true meaning saw it, they would think it mere romantic decoration, but...
"The 'internal affairs' there will soon be completed."
To me, it was proof that the plan was complete.
The Kiza petty kingdom was already in the palm of my hand.
'It's not simple food aid.'
I caressed the asphodel that had bloomed in my office.
These black flowers grew by feeding on my mana.
Meaning, those who ingested the asphodel would unknowingly take my mana into their bodies. Their bodies and minds would come under my influence.
I had planted one effect onto those who carried this mana.
A sense of kinship. The emotion I'd once felt toward Serilia just from sharing a past—I made them feel it too.
To create a world where monsters and humans coexisted in harmony, I had to regulate not only the prejudice of humans but also the instinctive hostility of monsters.
The black asphodel would serve as that bridge.
"It's going smoothly."
I lightly brushed the map with my finger.
Under the black petals covering Kiza, my influence was taking deeper and deeper root.
'Now, next is...'
The picture on the map shifted and moved northward.
The Kingdom of Kakia and the petty kingdom of Uland to its east came into view.
'Kakia is preparing a northern alliance, I hear?'
As if spurred by the Grakheizen Union, Kakia, Norn, and Zenota were all moving to build their own alliances.
Zenota and Norn were still creaking along, but Kakia was showing considerable progress.
If so, my next target was clear on its own.
"Uland."
Tok. Tok.
I murmured and tapped the map.
Just as the first kings of Kiza and Hysen had been brothers, the first rulers of Kakia and Uland had been sisters.
Now it was merely a past friendship, but.
Now they were slowly crumbling, with enemies on every side.
'Greed and lack are sure to create gaps.'
There, too, black flowers would soon bloom.
Tok-tok-tok.
- Master.
Just then, the sound of Esther knocking came through.
"Come in."
She entered the room with a serene posture and bowed her waist.
The green cloth embracing her voluptuous figure, and the insignia of the Holy Kingdom embroidered upon it in gold thread, glittered.
"A message came to me from the archbishop of the Holy Kingdom. They said a new saintess candidate has been selected."
Her voice was calm, but her eyes held a sharp light.
"They say it is a thirteen-year-old girl."
I approached Esther and reached up to lift her chin.
The aura settling in her white eyes was cold enough to scatter frost on its own.
"It's standard practice..."
"Yes."
The pain that left only traces. Rubbing her cheek against my hand, she whispered.
"She is the child who should have been my successor. Though for now, she is merely a candidate."
A bitter smile spread across Esther's lips.
It was clear she was thinking of that tradition of the Holy Kingdom—periodically selling off the 'saintess's bloodline' to the noble figures of other nations and selecting a new saintess.
"Do you want to save her?"
At my question, she was silent for a moment, before—
"Yes. Please, I beg you, allow it."
She spoke so and sent me a resolute look.