Chapter 154
Chapter 154
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 154
Chapter Title: Aurelinople
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When we arrived at Aurelinople, stars were beginning to peek out one by one in the western sky dyed a deep purple.
Perhaps because we'd come downriver on a pole boat, the city's spires—tinged a faint red in the twilight—had started coming into view around sunset.
There were many boats heading downstream but few going up, and those going up were mostly river galleys packed with armed soldiers crowding the decks.
They seemed to be troops dispatched to protect the riverside villages below the city from the crows, but strangely, around their necks they wore iron collars more akin to shackles than armor.
"Is that collar like a dog leash a trend in the Republic?"
To my question, Miria—who was poling the boat into midstream—replied.
"Serf soldiers. That's what marks them."
"Serfs?"
"People without citizenship. Without citizenship, you have to do whatever work the city government assigns you, no questions asked. Soldiering, menial labor... the kind of jobs free citizens avoid."
"For how long?"
"For however long, whenever, forever."
"Until citizenship is granted. But the number of serfs who actually become citizens? You could count them on one hand."
"What, they're not slaves or anything... No way the Papal Court would approve of that."
"Slave, slave, slave."
"It's just a matter of not calling them slaves. The Northern Republic is still better off because it's close to the Papal Court. Head to the Adrian Continent where they don't give a damn, and you'll be shocked."
Miria explained with a bitter sneer.
"I always thought the world regressed after the dragons vanished, but to think there was this kind of darkness behind it."
It felt like so much was twisted in ways I couldn't fathom.
The Republic had originally been famous for its Haltene militia system, where free citizens themselves took up arms in wartime. But now they were making slaves do it all?
That bastard who called himself Zernix... A chill sweat trickled down my spine.
"Don't make a sound from now on."
Miria cautiously poled toward the northern lock gate of Aurelinople.
Both of us were wearing tall conical hats "borrowed" from the witches of Oltaris and draped in witch robes, which made our movements clumsy as hell. Aki had taken quite a shock at dawn and was still fast asleep.
Not to brag, but my hair—which I hadn't properly tended for months—hung down to my shoulders. With the ponytail undone, I looked the part of a witch.
"Witch, ma'am."
"Witch, ma'am."
The people on the pole boats ahead and behind us, and those heading into the city along the riverbank road, bowed their heads in respect. To anyone else, we must've looked convincing.
No surprise there. In the Republic, witches held an incredibly high status.
Beyond the city's walls—along both riverbanks—countless stalls and shops sprawled out. The garish colors of the lanterns hurt the eyes.
Passing through the village, the elegant and beautiful walls of the violet city Aurelinople soon rose up in shades of purple.
*Beautiful Aurelinople, youngest of the seven great cities, the city that embodies the river's beauty.*
Lines from an old poem floated to mind.
Its walls were built without any masonry techniques, just using rocks and pebbles from the river, each stone different in size and shape. That very diversity created a humble yet antique beauty.
It was said to be the smallest of the seven great cities, but even so, it rivaled the Magic Capital Golden Rose—one of the Empire's top five—in scale.
"Welcome."
Serf spearmen guarded the iron grating over the waterway, but the lockmaster—an officer who looked like a free citizen, judging by the lack of collar around his neck—showed no hint of suspicion. When we each displayed our witch pendants, he bowed deeply and opened the way.
Not long after passing through the gate, a vast thoroughfare paved in purple marble unfolded before us. Amid drunken citizens noisily carousing outside taverns, serfs busied themselves lighting streetlamps in the gathering dusk.
Miria kept poling the boat along the massive Belisor Canal that bisected the city north to south.
"Where's the witch branch?"
"This city's huge. On foot, it'd take half a day. By waterway, a bit faster. We won't get there till late night."
As we left the bustling streets behind and quiet settled in, a small plaza opened up—not large, but in its center stood a domed temple, which was odd.
The crowd here was a far cry in refinement and attire from the earlier district; a fair number of neatly dressed people were entering the colonnade with hands clasped in prayer.
Then, bizarrely, Pipi fluttered up on its own and flew straight toward it. I barely managed to call it back.
"What's with you, Pipi? What's got you so excited about this place?"
Miria answered my question.
"You don't know? It's the birthplace of the Fire Dragon's Shrine Maiden. It's been converted into a memorial hall now, but tons of people come on pilgrimage."
"......What?"
"You named your sun parrot after the Fire Dragon's Shrine Maiden's own sun parrot, and you didn't know that?"
I drew in a sharp breath. My body froze to the gunwale, refusing to budge. I just mumbled vacantly, lips moving on their own.
*Does that mean this city... is Fride's hometown?*
* * *
With a scatter of jet-black feathers, a crow cut through the forest and alighted on the iron-masked man's forearm, cawing.
The feathers it shed formed letters in the air... The man read them carefully before summarizing the report for his mistress.
"Word from Aurelinople. The target's entered the city."
At that, the former shrine maiden—who had been sitting cross-legged atop the abandoned hermitage—opened her eyes.
Hundreds of jutsu crows clustered around her; their sheer number alone hinted at the immense magical power of their master.
The former shrine maiden let the pipe in her right hand droop as if it had grown too heavy, exhaling smoke like a sigh.
"*Of all places, it had to crawl into the one I least want to go.*"
"If you command it, I can go alone."
"No, never mind."
She shook her head skeptically at her subordinate's offer, then rose from the hermitage. The crows took flight in a frenzy, scattering jutsu feathers wildly.
"Tell them to stall as long as possible. We leave now."
* * *
"Welcome to the Friedergulus Memorial Hall. We appreciate your keeping a reverent silence."
Fride's birthplace—already treated like a holy site while she lived—had transformed into a sacred memorial after the great shrine maiden's death.
The worn desk she used as a child, the Dragon Scripture on the verge of losing its cover from overuse, a feather from baby Pipi...
Traces of that brilliant life were arranged chronologically, from childhood to old age.
They were such trivial things, so why did each one pierce my heart like a needle?
"Fride, Fride, Fride."
If I was like this, no need to describe Pipi's state.
I had to keep working to calm Pipi, who whimpered pitifully from the hidden folds of my witch robe sleeve.
The reason it didn't draw much attention was thanks to the witch guiding the visitors, explaining Fride's life.
"Born with deep faith and a compassionate heart from childhood, Fride became a witch at a young age, and three years later, the Fire Dragon Bell'Dakidun personally chose her as shrine maiden—bypassing even a vote in the Senate. This made her the only one in Republic history to earn the title Fire Dragon's Shrine Maiden."
She wore a yellow robe.
Witches mimicked the dragon legions, donning yellow, blue, or red vestments based on their duties.
Yellow for rites and governance, the blue Yukkien wore for民生 (民生:民生,民生民;民生), the red of Oltaris witches for demon-slaying.
*Note: 祭政 is rites and politics, 民生 livelihood, 滅惡 exterminate evil.*
"When the Long Summer came to the world, Fride joined Fake Warrior Rista's party and headed south, thwarting the breaking of the Lizard Lord's seal."
The spot the yellow-robed witch indicated with her broom handle showed a picture of "us." I'd thought I'd overcome it, but my eyes stung anyway.
Hero, Rista.
Shrine Maiden, Fride.
Bow Star, Kies.
Archmage, Lin.
The witch went on to point at Lin's portrait.
"Many survivors of the 'Antarctic War' testified that Fride and Archmage Lin were as close as blood siblings."
"......"
"Lin was the first and last casualty of Rista's party. Fride often said that without him, they all would have died."
Back then, I hadn't realized; back then, I'd have denied it if others said so... But after getting a little sister, I finally understood for sure.
How much Fride had cherished me back then. More than a blood sister, even...
The next portrait tugged even harder at my heart: Fride placing a conical hat on Tureina's head.
"After Lin's death, Fride took in his disciple Tureina, raising her with utmost care into a witch—and yielding the title of youngest witch to her own pupil."
Fride grinned goofily, while Tureina bit her lip primly. Maybe because that's when she earned her moniker as the Ash Shrine Maiden; the Pipi drawn above Tureina's head flapped its wings playfully.
My gaze dropped involuntarily to the floor; the painting was so vivid it made my vision blur...
As if that day, that moment I so desperately wished I'd truly shared, had been meticulously carved out and captured in a single frame.
"Fride and Tureina—the two greatest shrine maidens in Republic history—codified the Republic's direction into law in the postwar era after the legions departed, reformed its institutions, and established the Ten Witch Commandments."
The following images showed Fride and Tureina conferring, sorting documents, debating with human magistrates in the Republic Senate. Pipi was in every one.
"With the end of Tureina's era, the Republic began its slow fragmentation, but their great spirit remains with us to this day..."
The witch's continuing explanation fell on deaf ears. My head throbbed so badly I could barely stand.
No, that can't be right.
Manipulated Tureina?
That tomboy lived a life as great as Fride's before returning to the gods' embrace... What that bastard said back then was just sophistry to confuse me.
"Hey, is it really okay to stay here forever?"
Then Miria poked my side and whispered low.
"You said you had something to check... What are you checking here? We need to get to the witch branch quick."
I let out a long breath that might've been a sigh.
"We don't need to go find them."
"Huh?"
"They found us on their own."
As I finished saying that, over a dozen red-robed witches approached gracefully (unlike us), their long robes fluttering elegantly.
No need to make a fuss, and even if there was, I didn't want to here. Not in a place so vividly imprinted with traces of my old friend's life.
Unlike in Oltaris, they weren't possessed... but this was serious in a whole other way. The middle-aged witch who seemed to be the leader whispered politely.
"Dra Dum Gurhart."
With so many eyes already on us, what good was whispering? But I replied with the witches' greeting Fride had taught me three hundred years ago.
"Rami Ra Habentas."
The witches looked astonished that an Imperial knew and pronounced the phrase perfectly, but soon reverently traced the heptagram—the seven-pointed star symbolizing the Seven Gods of All Things. The middle-aged witch spoke.
"We are from the Aurelinople Witch Association headquarters. Will you come with us?"