Prologue - Adel's Notes
Thanks in no small part to the High School Prodigies’ intervention, the battle between Mayoi’s self-governing dominion and Kaguya’s rebel forces ended in the latter’s victory.
Upon being freed from Mayoi’s spell, the people of Yamato returned to themselves, furious at how the Freyjagard Empire had violated their dignity.
However, that triumph came at a heavy price. Mayoi had brainwashed her side into mindlessly charging at their foes, and as a result, both sides suffered tremendous losses. Upon the war’s conclusion, the whole of Yamato echoed with the hellish groans and cries of rage from the wounded.
One of the Prodigies, Keine Kanzaki, quickly took charge of the relief effort. In addition to barking orders at all the Yamato physicians, she used her own skills to treat her way through the casualties. Thanks to her efforts, all those in need of urgent care were tended to in five days.
On the evening of the fifth day, she announced at the improvised infirmary set up in the town hall that it was safe to disband the emergency medical corps.
As soon as she did, the physicians working nonstop day and night lay down where they stood and slept like the dead. Not even Keine was immune to the ravages of exhaustion, and she also dozed off peacefully in her chair.
Lyrule, who’d been using her magic to assist Keine as she had back in the Gustav domain, went around draping quilts over the collapsed staffers.
“Whew.”
After hanging the final quilt over Keine’s shoulders, she sighed lightly. Her responsibilities had been far less stressful than the medics’, but she hadn’t been able to relax since Mayoi and Jade had attacked her and the Prodigies back at Azuchi Castle. Going through something like that was enough to exhaust anyone mentally and physically. Lyrule wished to curl up and pass out as much as everyone else.
However, she refrained from doing so.
After doling out quilts, she exited through the back. Then…
“Hnn!”
…she gave herself a light clap on the cheeks.
Drowsiness was clouding her mind, and she couldn’t have that. There was something she had to do, and now was the time for it.
Lyrule sat down against the pile of wooden crates behind the town hall and withdrew an aged journal from her pocket.
“This belonged to Adel…”
Adel was a merchant who’d died in Yamato making good on his obligation to its people. He was Elch’s father, and Lyrule thought of him as hers, too. Adel had taken Lyrule in after discovering her abandoned in the forest. It was because of his teachings that she was literate, despite being raised in a mountain village.
This journal’s original owner was very important to Lyrule.
Plus, Tsukasa had told her something after he’d read the diary.
“There’s some information in this journal that concerns you specifically.”
Had Adel written a message for her?
Had he left Lyrule a note as he died alone in a foreign land?
If so, she wanted to read it.
She needed to read it.
Lyrule had been busy since arriving in Yamato as an Elm ambassador. She’d been pursued, caught in a huge battle, and, until moments ago, occupied with the aftermath of that conflict. That wasn’t to say there’d been no chances to sit down and read the journal, but with so many responsibilities, she’d lacked the emotional energy to confront Adel’s death.
Now that things were at a lull, her mind was settled.
Lyrule could spend time reading of Adel’s death without worrying about anything else.
And so…
“Here we go.”
…she opened the journal and began tracing the path of her surrogate father’s life.
The contents were just as Tsukasa had described. Entries detailed Adel’s daily activities, thoughts about his food, transaction records, and sketches of things he spotted on his travels. From the look of it, Adel used the journal less as a formal account for his job and more as an idle time-killing method on the road, something to jog his memory later when he wanted to regale Winona with stories of his travels. The sketch-laden writings painted vivid pictures of the people, locations, and cuisine Adel had encountered during his trips to distant lands. Lyrule found herself engrossed, unable to stop reading. Before she knew it, her drowsiness was blown away to a foreign country of its own.
“…!”
However, all the writing’s wonder and delight were abruptly replaced with panic.
When Adel ventured to Yamato to forge inroads to new markets, he got lost in a deep forest. His supplies ran dry swiftly, he was attacked by poisonous snakes, and he had to hide for fear of drawing the attention of predators…
Reading from one entry to the next was like watching Adel wither away in real time, and each dedicated more and more length to the man’s love for Winona.
It tore at Lyrule’s heart, but she still couldn’t stop.
She knew that salvation lay a few pages beyond, after all.
Earlier, Tsukasa had explained that after Adel got lost in the forest, he was saved by a village of elves. After getting to know the villagers, he made connections there that allowed him to introduce Yamato’s then-emperor, Gekkou, to an elf woman named Hinowa, and the pair were later married. As their matchmaker, Adel earned the nation’s unwavering trust, and his quest to open the Yamato markets was successful.
Sure enough, that was precisely how it occurred in the writing.
Adel’s market trailblazing led to enormous profits for the Orion Company—his affiliate. The journal was filled with Adel’s gratitude for the elves and the Yamato people. There was no reason to think his words were untruthful, especially not after how he’d elected to throw in his fate with theirs. When the Freyjagard Empire brought its overwhelming menace to bear against Yamato, Adel stood with his friends and allies until his final moments.
“…”
When Lyrule remembered how Adel had died, her hand hesitated to take the next page. For turning it would begin the story of Adel’s demise.
Lyrule wasn’t about to turn back now, though.
Her adopted father had treated her as his own, and she loved him dearly. If he left some kind of message for her, she needed to read it.
After steeling her resolve, Lyrule turned the page…
Today, I was asked to adopt an elf baby.
…and went stiff.
Today, I was asked to adopt an elf baby.
I hadn’t returned to the elf village in ages, and when I visited, the village head couple made a request of me.
I owe them my life for accepting me into the village after Hinowa rescued me, and when I opened trade with Yamato, I had friendly negotiations with the two village leaders on more than one occasion. They’re good, honorable people, and I know better than anyone that they wouldn’t give up their child without good reason. So when they asked me, I wasn’t surprised or horrified.
Naturally, I did ask why they were doing this. Their reply was:
“The evil dragon is working to be reborn.”
The elves practice a religion called the Seven Luminaries, and the evil dragon is the enemy of their god, Yggdra. More than a thousand years ago, it invaded from another world and laid waste to civilization. But Yggdra and seven brave heroes she called in from a different realm were able to seal the menace within a cycle of rebirth. Then Yggdra transformed into a massive tree. She set down her roots to restore the war-ravaged land and passed along the teachings of the Seven Luminaries.
The Yggdra tree exists to this day somewhere deep in the village. Only the village heads are permitted to enter the sanctum, and yesterday, they told me that Yggdra issued an ominous prophecy. Apparently, the evil dragon has resurrected its followers and plots to have them destroy the seal so that it may descend upon us again.
According to the village-leader couple, one of their ancestors fought alongside Yggdra as her follower way back when. Ever since, a descendant of each generation has carried the seal within their soul, passing it from parent to child.
In other words, the seal rests within the baby.
Soon, the evil dragon’s followers will come after the child as part of their scheme to revive the dragon. Tearing her soul to shreds will undo the lock.
That’s why they need me to keep the baby hidden—to safeguard the world and the child.
Once I take the baby, they plan to abandon the village and travel with their kin to the New World south across the sea. They hope to draw the evil dragon’s followers’ attention away from the child. We don’t even have safe shipping routes across the southern ocean yet, and they know that one way or another, it’s a one-way journey.
I’m thrilled and honored they trust me enough to leave their beloved daughter in my care. To be honest, though, I’m having trouble accepting everything they’ve told me. It’s hard to see Yggdra and the evil dragon as anything more than fairy tales. They believe in those myths so strongly, they’re willing to relinquish their child and embark on a nearly suicidal journey… I’d be lying if I claimed it didn’t give me pause.
But at the same time…I know full well how important the elves of this village consider the teachings of the Seven Luminaries to be, and I also know how much they revere Yggdra. Their gratitude and fidelity have survived for more than a millennium, and piety like that should be held sacred. It would be the height of conceit to impose my values on them.
And so…I agreed to their request.
My son, Elch, was born not too long ago, and I promised the two village leaders that I’d show their daughter the same amount of love and that I’d raise her into a kind, upstanding adult.
For the rest of my days, I’ll never forget the looks on their faces.
Their lips were pursed tight, like they were fighting back a pain that threatened to tear them in half. Yet they thanked me for accepting their request all the same. They knew this was best for their child.
I’ll never be able to share with her just how much they loved her or the tears they shed that day. Her parents requested I tell her nothing of the elves. They wish for her to grow up as an ordinary girl.
They don’t want to leave her with such a heavy burden.
All they hope is for her to live a happy life.
I asked them for one thing: the child’s name.
I wanted to share their love with her, even if that was the only way I could.
At my question, the village leaders’ pained expressions turned to weak smiles, like they’d found salvation, and they spoke the name of their beloved daughter.
The word means a blessing from God in the language of the civilization the evil dragon destroyed.
Lyrule.
The girl’s name is Lyrule. She’s the daughter of my dear friends, and as of today, she’s a member of my family.
“…”
Lyrule stared in shock at the writing.
The story behind her birth was laid out, plain as day. It all happened so fast that Lyrule couldn’t process the information for a moment. Her mind was at a standstill.
The stiffness spread to her hands, and the journal tumbled from between her fingers.
“Ah…”
She stooped to pick it up. The moment she did, the moonlight illuminating her was blotted out by a shadow.
When Lyrule looked up…
“H-hello…Tsukasa.”
…she saw a heterochromatic young man standing there. Lyrule knew this boy.
“I came to speak with Keine about something, but I thought I saw you collapse,” he replied.
Tsukasa had come running over after misreading the situation. He gave Lyrule an awkward smile. “Judging by the state you’re in, I take it you read the journal.”
“I did.” Lyrule nodded and stood with the book in hand. “So when Adel said I was abandoned, that was a lie.”
“It would appear so.”
“To be honest…the possibility had already crossed my mind.”
“Had it?”
Lyrule bobbed her head.
The contents of Adel’s journal were a shock, to be sure. However, it wasn’t the kind of surprise that accompanied something wild and unexpected. It was the sort that followed a hunch Lyrule had carried for a long while.
Tsukasa and the other Prodigies had appeared in this world conspicuously close to Lyrule.
Her origins were unknown, but she looked like the people whose folklore seemed connected to the Prodigies’ arrival.
That strange voice had spoken to her.
And finally…Adel, the man who had found Lyrule, had a close connection with the elves she so resembled.
There was no way all of that was a mere coincidence.
“Adel and Ulgar were the ones who supposedly found me. It was probably easy for Adel to make it appear like he’d come upon me in the forest alone.”
“True enough. He likely hid you in the forest ahead of time, then took the village mayor with him to go ‘discover’ you. That way, his story about you being an abandoned child would seem more believable.”
“I wonder if he kept the story about my origins a secret from Winona, too?”
“I imagine he did, yes,” Tsukasa said. “She never acted like she harbored a secret. Based on the journal entries, I think Adel did everything in his power to make good on his saviors’ request to raise you as a normal girl. My guess is he believed Winona would show you as much love as she did her child, even without knowing the full context.”
“I…I see.”
Lyrule knew how sincere a person Adel was. Considering that the request had come from people who’d saved his life, she had little doubt that he would have done whatever he could to honor it.
Noticing Lyrule’s downcast expression, Tsukasa posed her a question. “Are you upset that he kept the truth from you?”
However…
“No.”
…Lyrule gave her head a determined shake.
She was a little curious about whether or not Winona knew the story, but no matter the answer, it wouldn’t change that their love was real. Lyrule was confident of that. If anything, Lyrule’s being a girl might have led Winona to take even better care of her than she had Elch.
And Lyrule felt the same way about Adel, too. He’d lied only to protect her. She could hardly blame him for that.
She had a pair of biological parents who birthed and protected her and another pair who raised her, and all wished for her happiness.
Thanks to their efforts, she grew up healthy and strong.
“I thought I was an abandoned baby, but…the truth is, there are so, so many people who care about me.”
It was an incredibly happy thought.
But at the same time…
“However, learning what they spent so much effort to keep hidden is… It’s a little scary.” Lyrule clutched her shoulders.
According to Adel’s journal, a huge tree deep within the elf village was seen as the literal incarnation of Yggdra, god of the Seven Luminaries. Talk of deities was typically written off as fable, but the Seven Heroes really existed, brought from some other world. And Lyrule had confirmed the existence of an entity that made contact with her to guide them.
Was the entity truly a god? Or was it just pretending to be one, like the Prodigies?
Lyrule didn’t know, but there was definitely something paranormal waiting for them.
Once they met with it, they would finally learn the evil dragon’s nature and get answers to the many other questions that had piled up. That would make it easier for Tsukasa and the others to determine their course of action. But at the same time, a conversation with Yggdra would likely reveal things that could spell the end for Lyrule’s chance at a normal life. No, actually…
…it’s more than just a chance.
Lyrule was certain.
Everything that had happened to her and everything she’d read in Adel’s journal hinted that she possessed a special role to play in the coming major events. It was frightening. Learning one’s existence was tied to the fate of the world was enough for anyone to feel lost and afraid.
However…
“I’d still like you to accompany us to the elf village, though.”
…even after hearing of her worries, Tsukasa asked Lyrule to join them.
“The evil dragon’s true nature is an essential piece of information, both for the world at large and for our own desire to learn if Neuro is trustworthy after he tried to keep the entity’s existence a secret.
“Yggdra, god of the Seven Luminaries, definitely has the answer. Both times she contacted us, it was through using you as an intermediary. I think it’s safe to assume that you need to be present for us to interact with her.
“I do appreciate your worry regarding the seal mentioned in the journal, the evil dragon’s followers trying to break it, and about life changing in huge, irreversible ways. However…I hope you’re still willing to fight through those fears and lend us your strength.”
Tsukasa offered no empty words of comfort or thoughtless encouragement. All he gave Lyrule were honest words and his determined gaze.
Upon hearing his voice and seeing his expression…
I’m such an idiot…
…Lyrule was overcome with regret.
If she wasn’t there, there was a good chance they wouldn’t be able to communicate with the presumably Yggdra entity who had spoken through Lyrule previously. They’d even discussed that issue on their way to Yamato. Yet, after all that, she was cowering in fear and hoping for sympathy. What was she doing?
Lyrule could whine all she liked, but Tsukasa’s reply was always going to be the same: “I know it’s a lot to ask, but please try to hang in there.” That was all he could say. The information they stood to gain from this meeting was essential, both for the world and the Prodigies. As the team’s leader, Tsukasa bore the weight of the hard decisions. His position didn’t allow him to indulge Lyrule’s hesitation, and he wasn’t the kind of person to compromise on his responsibilities. However, he wasn’t the sort to shrug off a necessary evil when others had to make sacrifices. On the contrary, Tsukasa accepted all the grudges and resentment and anguished over them more than those angry with him.
And Lyrule already knew all that. It was the whole reason she’d fallen in love with him.
Tsukasa was willing to sacrifice anything for the sake of others, and she wished dearly to be a shoulder for him to lean on.
But here I am…
Lyrule was bemoaning something Tsukasa had no power to fix and hurting him for no good reason.
Her brow furrowed in pained regret.
And in her heart…that regret turned to resolve.
She held Adel’s journal close to her chest. “Of course. I’ll be there.”
“I’m sorry about this; I really am. I know that having you learn more about the Seven Luminaries goes directly against the wish your parents made when they gave you to Adel, but…”
“Please don’t worry about it. Look…” When Tsukasa tried to apologize, Lyrule twirled her body like a dancer. After displaying herself in all her splendor, she added, “I’m not a child anymore.
“My mother gave birth to me, and my father entrusted me to Adel, who accepted me into his family, and Winona raised me.
“So many people showed me love and helped me grow into the person I am.
“Now it’s on me to become an adult worthy of all that care.”
Lyrule wasn’t a child who needed sheltering anymore. She was an adult who could protect others the way many did for her—even if that wasn’t what her parents wished for her.
All children had to leave the nest someday.
“And if I can do that by helping the people I care about, then all the better.”
No trepidation remained on Lyrule’s face.
Tsukasa’s expression softened a little…
“I’m glad to hear that. I really appreciate it. The plan is to set out tomorrow at noon, and it’s going to be a long day, so make sure to get your rest.”
…then he told Lyrule about the plans to leave Azuchi and departed in the direction of the town hall.
He needed to go tell Keine the same thing.
As Lyrule watched him go, a thought crossed her mind.
She hadn’t lied when she expressed a desire to aid the people dear to her…
…but it would have been more accurate to say the person she cared about.
Oh gosh.
Lyrule couldn’t help but laugh at herself a little. She had to feel better if she could come up with such bold thoughts.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login