The Boy in the Waves
Casio suddenly slapped a hand to his palm as if something had just dawned on him.
“I-I see! It’s said that a dragon priest’s words carry the power of dragons. Even the so-called nobles wouldn’t want to be cursed, so surely they’ll—! Hm.”
However mighty Winter Bell might be as the dragon who wielded the power of destruction, it was rude to speak openly of curses in front of the priest who served him. Casio clapped a hand over his mouth just as Airen and Jin, too, turned to Seherbian with startled expressions.
“Priest Sehebi, are you saying—”
“This child has been chosen as Winter Bell’s dragon priest.”
Seherbian lifted the child into his arms. The boy was so small that he could be hoisted without much effort. Seherbian’s tone was somewhat cool, but he still offered Airen a faint smile.
“This should be enough of an excuse. If the nobles don’t want to be cursed, they won’t press the matter any further.”
“Ha-ha-ha!”
Suddenly Airen burst out laughing. Still wiping tears from the corners of his eyes with his sleeve, he turned to Jin, who was kneeling beside him.
“What do you think, Jin? Still opposed?”
“……How could I oppose something a dragon priest does in Winter Bell’s name?”
Even the ever-upright Jin Veronica bowed her head this time.
The significance of a dragon known as the representative of the gods was enormous.
That much was obvious from Hestallion Empire, which had risen rapidly and flourished ever since Asubell had bestowed his blessing there.
As Seherbian stood with the slave boy in his arms, Mimir gave a soft chime as if whispering.
“Do you truly intend to make him your dragon priest?”
“…….”
“Master. That human cannot belong to you.”
A firm refusal.
Of course, Seherbian understood exactly what Mimir was worried about.
Of course this little one doesn’t have the qualifications to become Winter Bell’s dragon priest.
His sunset-colored eyes, empty of all emotion, looked coldly at the black-haired boy.
Not long after, Airen’s party received word from the ship’s steward that the storm clouds had cleared and a vessel bound for Hestallion Empire was ready for departure.
* * *
Flap, flap.
The flags snapped endlessly in the rough sea wind.
Embroidered with a snowflake and sword symbolizing Winter Bell, they were also the banner of the Winter Knights, the Varzian. Casio, who had drawn in the salty scent of the sea with one long sniff, murmured anxiously, “Are we really all right with this?”
“Let’s trust him for now, Knight Casio. Priest Sehebi already has a record of keeping everyone safe in Wyvern Nest, doesn’t he?”
“W-well… that’s true.”
Casio, reluctantly swayed by his commander’s easygoing voice, cast a furtive glance around.
Amid the tightly strung knights and the crew rushing about to manage the ship, the priest with crimson hair was crouched alone on the stairs, nodding off as he dozed.
It wasn’t exactly a reassuring sight, but what could they do? The ship had already left the harbor.
Casio let out a long sigh. In front of him sat a cat sparking with yellow electricity.
Myaaang!
“I had no idea Serpent liked spirits.”
“Ha-ha. If the information that they’re a fairy race is true, then it wouldn’t be strange at all.”
Airen, who had already summoned the lightning spirit Daisy in advance, laughed heartily.
Having answered the summoning in the form of a yellow cat as she had last time, Daisy was now lazily roaming the deck, her long tail swaying.
As Airen had said, fairies and spirits were very close to one another. They pursued the same ideals in loving nature, and any fairy was born with a natural affinity for spirits.
Fairies did not attack spirits. That was why Seherbian concluded that if a spirit mage were aboard the ship, their chances of safety would more than double.
Fortunately, even if that information hadn’t existed, veteran sailors who had crossed the sea for over twenty years were on board alongside Hestallion crewmen. The Hestallion imperial family had invited the Varzian, and in doing so they had provided both the ship and its crew.
If they hadn’t even been given that minimum of support, Airen would never have dragged his subordinates into a gamble with their lives.
Even so, the sailors who had spent years crossing the western sea all made puzzled faces at the claim that “Serpent is actually a fairy race.”
It was the sort of reaction that said they were hearing it for the first time.
“Mm. Please let Winter Bell’s blessing be with us on this voyage….”
As a member of the Varzian who followed Winter Bell, Casio muttered the same prayer-like phrase again and again in an effort to forget his unease.
All the while, he had no idea that Winter Bell himself was aboard the same ship, listening.
“Would you like to bestow a blessing?”
…….
Seherbian, dozing on the stair in a secluded corner, looked up at Mimir with a very annoyed expression.
……In the middle of summer? Why bother?
Winter Bell’s blessing was, in truth, intended to grant immunity to winter so one could endure the cold.
And the western sea, under this blazing sun, was currently in early summer weather; moreover, Hestallion Empire, their destination, was in midsummer for most of the year.
The blessing of Winter Bell, which was rarely welcomed to begin with, would be useless on this route.
As if in agreement with that point, Mimir fell silent for a moment before chiming again.
“We are about to enter Asubell’s territory. Master, would you like to leave a visitation message?”
“Ah.”
The dragon of summer, Asubell.
Asubell was the dragon who had entered into a guardian dragon contract with Hestallion Empire.
That was why, unlike Seherbian—whose influence never extended beyond the snowy lair of Blanconia and into Alferios Kingdom—everything in the surrounding sea around Hestallion Empire also fell within Asubell’s domain.
That was the reason the weather had been growing steadily more like summer.
Besides, among the Bells, it was customary to leave a message when crossing into another’s territory. Seherbian, who had forgotten that fact, started composing one a beat too late.
[Adrian.]
As soon as he entered the recipient’s name, Mimir automatically projected the field for sending a message into the air. Seherbian typed in the contents in the briefest possible form.
[I’ll be over there soon.]
The white staff blinked with light, indicating that the message had been sent.
At any rate, he had left a message before arriving.
Seherbian felt that was polite enough and stretched his arms with a long yawn. White gulls gathered like waves along the ship’s course, shrieking as they split across the sky and scattered.
It was a smooth voyage.
* * *
Alferios citizens, class six: Red Eye.
They were branded on the body and trained to respond only to orders. The slave seal carved into their flesh carried tracking and obedience magic. No matter what happened, they were forbidden to express emotion, forbidden even to raise a voice of their own will. Whether thrown into a trash heap or abandoned in a field teeming with rats, they had no choice but to live according to their master’s wishes.
Human, yet denied humanity.
Unable to escape their master’s grasp until the moment they died.
That was the life of a slave.
Smack!
The sound struck the boy’s ears, and he snapped his eyes open.
It was a noise that vaguely resembled the crack of a whip. He thought he’d been beaten for sleeping too long as a slave should not, and instinctively waited for pain, but strangely enough not a single part of his back or stomach—or anywhere else—hurt.
Once more, a sharp smack! rang out.
“……?”
The boy couldn’t make sense of the situation and simply stared blankly for a moment before suddenly sitting up. Even through his confusion, the one ingrained belief that he must not remain still compelled his body to move. But before he could even take a single step, the ground tilted beneath him. His already weak body slid along the slant like a sick duckling. On the floor that kept pitching as though in an earthquake, the boy braced himself against the wall and then noticed the window beside him, his eyes widening.
The sea?
The world visible through the little window was all blue. Only then did he realize why the floor had been shaking, and he fell into a daze.
A ship…!
That was right. While he had been unconscious, someone had moved the boy onto a strange ship. By the looks of it, they had already been sailing for quite some time; there was no land anywhere nearby, not even a shadow of it. Only the endless sound of waves striking the hull kept echoing, over and over, with a wet slap.
“You’re awake?”
“……!”
Startled.
The boy, still blankly listening to the waves, whirled toward the voice. A person wearing a robe with the hood pulled low over their head was sitting with their back against the opposite wall, as though they had been there all along.
A priest?
The priest, wearing a holy pendant, took a bite from a red apple in his hand and spoke with lazy ease.
“You were passed out in an alley dump near the port city. Do you remember?”
“…….”
The boy merely watched him warily, like a cat with its fur standing on end, and gave no reply. He had been raised as a slave and trained never to raise his voice under any circumstances.
“Looks like you do remember. This ship is headed for Hestallion Empire. We’re already nearly halfway there.”
The other man spoke in a nonchalant tone, but to the boy’s ears it was no different from a thunderclap. Eyes wide, the boy stared once more through the little window. Rolling waves and white clouds stretched on without end.
“If you go out the door and follow the stairs straight up, you’ll reach the deck. It’s the open space connected to the sea. You can see the ocean with your own eyes there, not through that little window.”
The priest in the robe went on talking while chewing his apple. Crimson hair, like cherries in color, spilled a little from beneath the hood.
Deck.
The boy, who had been looking out the window, lifted his head. His gaze met a pair of sunset-colored eyes that seemed not quite human.
“However, if you go back now, you’ll die.”
“…….”
“Barring a miracle.”
The priest smiled faintly.
“Still want to go?”
The boy didn’t hesitate. Without needing to hear another word, he shoved the door open and ran.
I have to go back! I’m not allowed to move without my master’s orders.
More than confusion over the unfamiliar situation, what terrified the boy most was the thought that he had stepped out of his proper place. He had no idea when the curse carved into his body might fall upon him and drag him into hellish agony, so he staggered up the stairs and ran down the corridor, nearly tripping over and over again. In the meantime, he was so quick on his feet that even the sailors who saw him tearing through the ship and tried to catch him had their hands slip away every time.
Bang!
When he burst onto the deck, he saw several people enjoying the sun with cold drinks in hand. One of them called out to him.
“Oh? You’re—”
But the boy ignored him and charged straight toward the railing.
It was the point in the opposite direction from where the ship was heading. The instant it felt as though he was leaping toward the blue sky, the boy plunged straight into the sea, where white foam broke around him.
“Someone’s fallen overboard!”
“A- a child, it looked like! Where’s the guardian? Is there no guardian?”
The deck erupted in chaos as people screamed at the sight of the sudden leap.
And before the guards could arrive, there was already one person racing to the rail.
“Damn it.”
It was Airen, who had happened to be holding a meeting on the deck with the others about the plans ahead when he spotted the commotion.
He immediately ripped off the outer coat that was getting in the way and flung it to the floor.
“Knight Cas! Keep Jin here.”
“What? No, boss—what are you doing now?”
“Wait. I’ll be back in a moment.”
After issuing the simple order, Airen stepped onto the railing and sprang upward like a hawk.