Autumn Forest Adventure (1)
I’m so sleepy…
Pirel whined, her voice carrying that familiar childish lilt. Even if she was a bold and decisive girl, a child was still a child after all.
It was only natural. We had run without rest for over ten hours since our brief break last night. The old mare we rode still seemed tireless, but the two of us on her back had been reduced to complete exhaustion.
Rin had already fallen asleep inside my mind. As a being sustained by magic, every action she took was essentially the same as casting a spell, so she needed rest to replenish her circulatory system. Or so she claimed.
We were traveling south, circling around the Imperial Capital. We had long since left the farmlands near the city and entered a sparsely populated forest path.
Even though it was called a forest, it wasn’t like the rugged mountain trails I remembered from Earth. It was more like a dense stand of broadleaf trees covering wide, rolling hills that blocked our view.
We were following a path wide enough for three or four people to walk abreast through the trees.
I had started working at the brothel during the season when the wind began to turn chilly. Whether that was misfortune or good fortune, it had at least let me spend the winter in a warm room.
Now a full year had passed since then, and winter was approaching once again. The late autumn sunlight couldn’t pierce the forest canopy overhead.
It was chilly.
“And cold, and sleepy, and hungry.”
My black robe helped me endure it somewhat, but Pirel only had a short cape. It looked like the wind was slipping through to her small body.
I gently stroked my tiny, adorable mother’s head.
“Then shall we find a sunny spot between the trees, rest for a bit, and maybe catch a quick nap?”
“Yeah. I’ll guide Ashen Headwind over to that open spot without shade.”
“Ashen Headwind?”
I tilted my head slightly, not understanding what she meant.
“Oh. That’s this child’s name. Who do you think fed the horses and cleaned up after them? I knew all the names of Miss Opia’s horses.”
“I see. But why name her Headwind of all things? It sounds ominous.”
“The master said so. A ship sailing against the headwind actually goes faster the stronger the wind blows. And both people and horses grow stronger the more they endure hardship. I’ve never been on a ship, so I wouldn’t know… but you’re a smart kid, Kaira. You learned all sorts of useless knowledge back on Earth, didn’t you?”
Ah. She’s talking about tacking in sailing ships.
“Yes, that’s correct. So Opia’s father must have sailed before.”
“He was a big merchant, after all.”
Pirel proudly guided Ashen Headwind toward the clearing between the trees.
As I dismounted, I continued the conversation.
“But you can’t sail directly into a headwind. The best you can do is angle the sails to catch the wind diagonally and travel slightly off course. So if your destination lies directly against the wind, you have no choice but to keep changing the ship’s direction.”
“Heee…”
“If you’re not skilled, the ship might stall while you’re turning the bow. If you don’t change direction, you’ll just keep drifting off course. So you see, Pirel, headwinds and trials aren’t always good things…”
I trailed off, thinking of the hardships that had shaped who I was now. But Pirel, who had dismounted after me, simply beamed with a bright smile.
“You really know a lot of things, Kaira.”
“I am a mage, after all. And… I played quite a few games like that back on Earth.”
“That’s right, games. I’m a little jealous you have those memories. They sound fun—”
At that moment, a loud noise erupted nearby. We both turned our heads at the same time.
“This is…”
It was too loud and tearing to call it a simple bang. Maybe crack would be more accurate.
It was a sound I knew all too well.
The first explosion was followed by four more pairs in rapid succession—eight shots total—before everything fell silent.
“What… what is that sound?”
Pirel’s face showed clear confusion. Of course. A girl who had grown up as the childhood friend of a baker’s son in the market district would never have heard it before.
I had never had the chance to hear it in this life either… but it was far too familiar.
Even counting the time since I was born in this world, those memories were nearly thirty years old. But how could I forget?
“Pirel, that’s the sound of a gunshot.”
Pirel flinched in surprise and gently stroked the forehead of the fidgeting Ashen Headwind to calm her. She answered as if it were nothing special.
“A gun… that’s the scary thing buried deep in your memories, right? The dwarven invention that made destruction magic obsolete. On Earth, it was something anyone could use.”
“Well, it wasn’t exactly something anyone could use…”
Destruction magic.
Spells that detonated flames, fired bolts of lightning to electrocute surroundings, launched spears of glass forged from sand that shattered on impact, or shook the earth to swallow people whole—straightforward, destructive magic.
It was a school of magic that wasn’t even properly taught at the academy.
The reason was simple. Weaker destruction spells were less practical than swordsmanship, archery, or the gunpowder techniques passed down from the mountain tribes. Stronger ones required enormous materials, meticulous formulas, and…
Official state permission.
Not just anyone could pilot a bomber. Even if you could, it was useless without bombs. And if you dropped unauthorized bombs, you’d be punished.
Destruction magic was exactly like that.
The academy would teach spells to freeze water or set wooden sticks on fire. We even learned destruction magic that could rain ice shards on five or six people or create gusts of flame. But…
If I have enough mana to spit flames and give five people minor burns, I could cast Menelon’s Ice Sheet ten times instead.
The efficiency was terrible. In that same time, it was better to knock the opponent down and finish them with an arrow.
I had heard that military mages learned systematic destruction magic for war, but those were closely guarded secrets that required massive amounts of materials. In other words, they were spells you could only use if you carried around a huge supply of military provisions. Even if you learned them, you couldn’t actually use them.
That didn’t mean guns were cheap and easy to obtain, either.
Guns were also military equipment. They were too sophisticated and expensive to carry for self-defense, and they required an alchemist’s gunpowder.
While I felt a heavy unease, Pirel’s eyes were sparkling.
“Let’s go see!”
Without waiting for my opinion, she dashed off, leaving only those words behind.
She was much smaller than me—a girl whose growth was genuinely concerning—yet the way she trotted along with quick, light steps was adorable. Still…
“Pirel, it’s dangerous!”
It could be a hunter shooting at a large beast, or perhaps adventurers or bandits fighting each other. I tried to explain, but…
“I’ll just watch from far away, so it’s fine!”
My mother, whose mind had grown childlike again when time was rewound, answered like that and ran toward the source of the sound. Without slowing down at all.
“Sigh…”
Having too much energy can be a problem too, you know.
I ran after Pirel.
There was no way my body—belonging to someone who had spent all her time at a desk until graduating from the academy—could catch up to a energetic fifteen-year-old girl in her prime. I gradually fell behind, and then—
“Ah…”
I tripped over a tree root that had jutted out unnoticed and fell.
“Ouch…”
I brushed the dirt off my robe and the front of my dress, clutched my aching knee, and stood up. By then, Pirel had already vanished into the forest.
I called out to my mother in a clear voice.
“Pirel?”
No answer came back.
The sound didn’t come from very far, so she couldn’t have gone that deep…
I called again, my voice now mixed with a hint of anxiety.
“Pirel, where are you?”
Still no answer.
I let out a sigh and slowly walked deeper into the autumn forest, where fallen leaves were beginning to pile up. Searching for Pirel.
The soft crunch of leaves under my feet and the rustle of dry underbrush brushing against the hem of my dress and robe echoed around me.
The insects that had been calling for mates fell silent as they sensed my presence. Birds on the branches let out thin warning cries.
Amid those sounds, I couldn’t sense any trace of Pirel.
I was worried. No matter how young she looked, she had received my memories. Judging by how she had acted so far, she was still capable of deep thought. If she had found something, she would have called for me, or at least answered when I called…
I quickened my pace just a little.
I kept myself ready to cast whatever spell might be needed if something jumped out, my hand lightly resting on the hilt of my sword.
I hope I’m just being overly paranoid…
After walking a few dozen more steps like that, something long and black caught my eye. I stared at it for a long moment before stopping dead in my tracks.
A… person?
A figure wearing a black robe like mine—no, more like a long, pitch-black overcoat that fastened tightly at the front—lay collapsed on the ground.
A wide-brimmed fedora, probably his, lay fallen beside him.
It was frightening… but I decided to approach. Maybe this person had fired the gun. If he was injured, I might be able to turn back time to heal him.
When I got close enough to look down at the fallen man, I saw several guns scattered beside him.
I had never seen a gun in person in this world, but I recognized the shape immediately.
A primitive weapon with shortened barrels for better portability and two barrels side by side. You poured gunpowder down the muzzle, loaded the bullet, then created a spark with flint to fire it—an old firearm. It was a muzzle-loading flintlock pistol.
It looks almost exactly like the guns used in the modern era on Earth. No unnecessary dwarven decorations either. Perhaps an imperial replica…
This was no time to be thinking about guns. I cautiously approached the fallen man.
He was a middle-aged man with no color left in his face. I gently placed my fingers on his neck to check for a pulse.
…He’s dead.
He hadn’t been dead long. The sensation against my fingertips was slightly cold, but not as cold as the chilly outside air. He must have died after firing his gun at something.
Should I bring him back?
There were more guns inside his coat. They hung all over him like the magical tools inside my robe. The ones he hadn’t drawn were probably still loaded.
Whether he had been an excessively cautious traveler or had come here specifically to fight…
I would know once I looked.
That emblem of a fist and a ray of light—it’s the mark court inquisitors present when they stay at inns, requesting full cooperation for food and lodging.
I could revive him right now and ask what happened, but…
Reviving him would have to wait.
Pirel is in danger.
At that moment, I heard a faint sound.
It was a weak noise leaking out from behind a rock several dozen steps away from the fallen man.
“……!”
This sound…
No.
No, no, no, no, no no no no…
Please, please… let it not be what I’m thinking.
I stood up immediately and ran, stepping on the rustling fallen leaves. My hand stayed on the hilt of my sword.
It was a sound far too familiar. I had no choice but to run.
I couldn’t help but recognize it.
…Because it was a sound that had often come from my own mouth.
What leaked thinly from behind the rock was a terrified whimper, barely escaping the mouth of a girl whose lips had been covered.