While Eugeo was still stubbornly thinking in circles for a way to retreat, Kirito slapped his back —— with a force not enough to reduce his Life —— before exclaiming,
“Look, Eugeo, if Alice, who studies the most in the village, says so, then there is no doubt about it! Alright, then it’s decided, on the next rest day we’ll go search for the white dra…… erm, I mean, search for the cave of ice!”
“Then it’s better if the boxed lunch is made using the ingredients which lasts a bit longer.”
Looking at the bright faces of his both childhood friends, Eugeo sighed within his mind before responding “Yeah,” weakly.
Part 2
Apparently, the weather was good on the third rest day of the seventh month.
It’s only on rest days that children above ten, who have already been given the Sacred Task, were allowed to play around until the dinner as they did in their childhood. Eugeo and Kirito usually spent it doing things like fishing and practicing their sword skills with other boys, however, today they left their homes before the morning mist even disappeared, and waited for Alice under the old tree at the edge of the village.
“……She’s slow!”
Even though he had been waiting with Eugeo for only a few minutes, Kirito grumbled,
“I can’t understand why dressing has a higher priority than coming on time to girls. Maybe in two years she will be like your sister that had her clothes dirtied in the forest and refuses to wear it since then.”
“It can’t be helped, girls are like that anyway.”
Having said that with a bitter smile, Eugeo then suddenly thought about what would happen in two years time.
Alice would still be a child without a Sacred Task, people around her would still tolerate her preference of being together with Eugeo and Kirito. But since she was the daughter of the village chief, it had been partially decided that she had to act as a standard model for the other girls in the village. In the not so distant future, she would be prohibited from playing with boys, and no doubt she would have to take lessons not only in the sacred arts but also in conduct.
Then…… what would happen after that? Would she have to marry into someone’s house?, like Eugeo’s eldest sister Sulinea, If that’s the case, what would this partner think……?
“Oi, you look so absentminded. Did you sleep well last night?”
With a sudden stare from Kirito with his doubtful expression, Eugeo nodded in a hurry.
“Y-Yeah, I’m alright. ……Ah, there she comes.”
Upon hearing light footsteps, he pointed in the direction of the village.
Appearing through the thick morning mist was Alice, just as Kirito had said, her finely combed golden hair was tied with a ribbon, swinging on top of her spotless pinafore. Eugeo unintentionally exchanged glances with his close friend while trying not to smile, then they turned to shout at the same time,
“You’re slow!”
“You guys are just too early. Stop acting like children all the time already.”
Once she finished saying that, Alice pushed the wicker basket which was in her right hand to Eugeo and the water canteen in her left to Kirito.
Both of them reflexively took the items before turning around toward the narrow road stretching from northwards. Alice bent over to pluck an ear of a grass, straightened and pointed its tip toward the standing tall rocky mountain, she then energetically exclaimed,
“Well then…… summer ice searching party, let’s go!”
Why do we always end up as «The princess and the two followers»? While thinking this, Eugeo exchanged glances with Kirito again and ran after Alice who had already walked ahead.
The village had a road which ran through it from the north to the south, and while the southern side of the road had been tread firm by the traffic of humans and carriages that came and went all the time, its northern side, where almost no one lived, had a lot of tree roots and pebbles that made walking difficult. However, Alice lightly pranced through the rough road as if it was completely flat, proceeding ahead of the two as she hummed.
How to say it, she has good control over her body?, was what Eugeo thought. Several years ago Alice occasionally joined the sword practice played by the village brats, and her slim branch could hit Eugeo and Kirito countless times. That stick acted as if it could cut through the air, even if its opponent was a wind spirit. If she had kept practicing, it was possible that Alice could become the very first female guard of the village.
“Guard, huh…….”
Eugeo muttered in a quiet voice.
Before the Sacred Task of cutting the great tree was given to him, perhaps it had been his dream, though it was vague and extraordinary. All the village kids yearned to be selected as a guard, instead of the ugly stick made from the bark of a living tree, they would be given real steel swords, despite being used ones, and also attend a real school of sword arts.
That wasn’t all. Every fall, all the guards of every village in the northern region could participate in the sword arts tournament held in Zakkaria town to the south. If one could achieve a high ranking, they could become a sentinel —— being recognized as a real swordsman in both name and reality, and able to borrow the official sword tempered by the blacksmith workshop in the capital. However, the dream didn’t end there. If they could prove their merit among the sentinels, they could obtain the qualification to take the examination for the «Master Sword Academy», which had an ancient and honorable origin. After passing a difficult examination, and graduating from the school’s two years of learning, they could participate in the martial arts tournament which was held in the presence of the Norlangarth North Empire Emperor. Bercouli of the legend had been said to have won in this tournament splendidly.
Ultimately, a gathering of all true heroes from the entire Human World held by the Axiom Church itself, the «Four Empires Unity Tournament». Only the one who won the battle that even god could see clearly, the top of all swordsmen, would be bestowed the command by the god to protect the world, to fight against the demons from the Dark Territory, to be appointed the duty of a dragon rider, an «Integrity Knight»——
Until that point, it was already beyond imagination, but perhaps, there was a time when Eugeo had thought of that. Perhaps, if Alice left the village not as a swordsman but as a sacred warlock apprentice, to attend the school in Zakkaria or even the «Master Arts Academy» in the capital, at that time, by her side as the escort, with his body wrapped in a green and light brown sentinel uniform, the shining silvery official sword hung on the waist, was him……
“The dream is still not over yet.”
Suddenly, a whisper came from Kirito who was walking beside him. Eugeo lifted his face in surprise. Apparently, with just the sigh he had leaked earlier, Kirito could read all the meaning behind it. His instinct was as sharp as ever. Eugeo made a wry smile and muttered in return,
“Nope, it is already over.”
Yes, the time of dreaming was already over. In spring last year, the Sacred Task of guard apprentice was given to Jink, son of the current village guard chief. Even though his sword skill fell short of Eugeo’s and Kirito’s, and of course Alice’s. Eugeo continued talking in a tone mixed with slight irritation,
“Once the Sacred Task has been given, even the village chief can’t change it.”
“With one exception, right?”
“Exception……?”
“When the task has been accomplished.”
This time he made a bitter smile at Kirito’s stubbornness. This partner still wouldn’t let go of his great ambition to cut down the Gigas Cedar in his generation.
“Once we cut down that tree, our work will be beautifully completed. After that we can choose our own Sacred Task, how’s that?”
“That’s true but……”
“I was glad I didn’t get the Sacred Task to be a shepherd or farmer. Those are tasks which just don’t have an end, but ours is different. I’m sure there is a way, in three…
… no, two years we’ll cut it down, and then……”
“We’ll join the sword arts tournament in Zakkaria.”
“What? Aren’t you thinking of the same thing, Eugeo?”
“I can’t let Kirito look good alone anyway.”
After that talkative exchange, Eugeo had a strange feeling that it was no longer an unrealistic dream. The two walked while grinning, imagining the scene when they received the official sword, returned to the village, and made Jink and his gang’s eyes widen in jealousy; Alice who was walking in front of them suddenly turned around.
“Hey you two, what are you talking about in secret?”
“N-No, it’s nothing. Just wondering if it’s time for lunch yet, right?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“Didn’t we just start walking? Also, look, we can see the river now.”
When they looked toward where Alice’s ear of grass pointing to, they could see the shaking water surface at the road ahead. The source of the Ruhr river was on the Mountain range at the Edge, it flowed through the east of Rulid village, then continued south to Zakkaria town. At the point the road met the river, the road branched into two, the right path crossed the north Rulid bridge into the eastern forest, the left path stretched north along the river’s west bank. The direction they chose was, obviously, north.
Once Eugeo arrived at the junction, he knelt at the riverside, then submerged his right hand into the clear stream and made a rustling sound. It was indeed mid summer, the freezing water during the beginning of spring was now quite warm. It should feel really good if he could undress and jump into the water, but he couldn’t do so in front of Alice.
“This is not a temperature a block of ice could float in.”
Eugeo said and turned to his side, Kirito pouted before objecting,
“That is why we’re going to the big cave where the ice came from, isn’t it?”
“That’s all good, but we need to be back before the evening bell. Let’s see…… when Solus is in the center of the sky, we should start heading back.”
“It can’t be helped. If that’s the case then let’s hurry!”
Behind Alice, who was treading on the soft undergrowth, the two quickened their pace to chase her.
The tree branches protruding from the left side acted like a canopy, blocking the sunlight, there was also cool air rising from the surface of the river to the right, those helped the three walk comfortably even though Solus had already rose high up in the sky. The road along the bank which was about a mel wide was covered in short summer grasses, there were almost no pebbles nor holes to make walking difficult.
Eugeo wondered, why is it that they had never set foot beyond the twin ponds even once, although it was so easy to walk there.
The «Northern pass» in which the village rules forbade the children to go beyond was still far from the twin ponds. So even if they went anywhere else before that point, the adults shouldn’t be able to get angry, but facing going against the rules, yes —— it could be said that it was the uneasiness from the rules that made their feet unable to move when seeing the pass in front of their eyes.
Even though he and Kirito always had to listen to the complaints from the adults who were concerned about tradition, thinking about it, far from doing it, the two didn’t even think about breaking rules or Taboo. Today’s humble adventure would be the closest they had come near the forbidden act.
Eugeo started feeling a little anxious, he looked at Kirito and Alice walking carefree ahead of him, they were singing shepherd songs in chorus. Those two… don’t they have any fear or worry?, while thinking so, Eugeo sighed dejectedly.
“Hey, wait.”
He called out, the two still kept walking but turned around together.
“What is it, Eugeo?”
Alice tilted her head while asking in a slightly threatening and purposeful tone.
“We’re quite far from the village now…… Aren’t there dangerous beasts around here?”
“Eh―? I never heard about it though.”
Alice said while glancing at him, as Kirito lightly shrugged.
“Hmm…… the donetti whose huge long claw that grandfather saw, where did he say it was?”
“It was at the black apple tree to the east, right? But it was an old story from ten years ago though.”
“If it’s around here, it would be the four-eared fox. Eugeo, you’re such a scaredy-cat, aren’t you?”
During their ‘Ahaha’ laugh, Eugeo hurriedly refuted,
“N-No, it’s not about being scared…… We never went beyond the twin ponds before, have we? I just want us to be more careful.”
Upon hearing that, Kirito’s black pupils shone mischievously.
“Yeah, that’s true. Did you know? During the time the village was founded, sometimes the devils from the Land of darkness…… like «Goblins» or «Orcs» would cross the mountain to steal sheep or kidnap children.”
“What? Are you two trying to scare me? I know about it. In the end the Integrity Knights came from the capital and exterminated the Goblin chief.”
“——[Since then, on a sunny day, the silvery white dragon knight could be seen far above the Mountain range at the Edge.]”
Kirito hummed the final verse of a fairy tale that all the children in the village knew about, while turning to look up toward the north sky. Eugeo and Alice did the same, before they realized it, their vision was filled with a pure white rocky mountain, and over it was the blue sky where they were looking for something.
For a moment, they had the feeling they saw a small light glittering among the clouds, but they couldn’t see anything once they tried to focus their gaze. The three looked at each other before laughing in embarrassment.
“——It’s just a fairy tale, right? The ice dragon that lived in the cave was, surely, just a story he made up sometime later too, that Bercouli.”
“Oioi, if you say something like that in the village, the fist of the village chief is gonna fall on your head. The swordsman Bercouli is Rulid’s hero after all.”
Eugeo’s words made a smile float back to everyone’s faces again, and Alice hastened her stride.
“We’ll know once we reach there. Look, if you’re leisurely walking like that, we won’t be able to reach the cave before the lunch.”
——That said, Eugeo didn’t think they would reach the «Mountain range at the Edge» with half a day of walking anyway.
The Mountain range at the Edge was, as its name implied, the world’s edge; in other words, the border of the human country which consisted of the four empires of the north, south, east, and west; for Rulid village which located at the north most of the northern region, it was a place children’s feet could easily reach.
So, Eugeo was really surprised when, just before the sun reached the center of the sky, the Ruhr river, which had narrowed considerably, disappeared into the cave entrance which opened its mouth at the base of the steep cliff.
The deep forest which spread on both sides abruptly ended, in front of his eyes was the steep gray rugged cliff stretching upward. If he looked up, he could hazily see where the blue sky crossed the pure white mountain ridge in the distance, this rock slope was without doubt, the edge of the mountain range.
“We’ve already arrived……? This is, the Mountain range at the Edge…… right? Isn’t it a bit too soon……?”
Kirito, who appeared not to believe it either, said in a faint voice. It was the same with Alice, who whispered while her blue irises were still wide,
“Then…… where is the «Northern pass»? Did we passed through it unknowingly?”
It’s just as she said. It’s possible that the village’s children —— or maybe even adults have been passing through the pass without even knowing it. Thinking about it, about thirty minutes walk from the twin ponds, there was a place which had quite a bit of ups and downs, could that place be the Northern pass?
While Eugeo was looking around with his doubts, the unusually s
erious tone of Alice’s whisper reached his ears.
“If this is the Mountain range at the Edge…… then on the other side is the Land of darkness, right? If so…… we have been walking for just four hours, the same amount of time won’t even get us to Zakkaria. Rulid is…… really, at the border of the world……”
Eugeo stood there in confusion, We lived in the villages for so long but didn’t know where it’s located in the world? No —— could it be that even the adults didn’t know that the Mountain range at the Edge is this close? In the three hundred years of history, the one who came out of the wide forest spreading to the north of the village, aside from Bercouli, was us……?
Somehow…… it’s strange. Eugeo thought. However, he didn’t know why it was strange.
Everyday, at a fixed time, the adults eat breakfast like the day before, go to work in the fields or pastures, smithing or spinning workshops like the day before. What Alice said earlier, that four hours was not enough to reach Zakkaria, of course, all three of them had never been to Zakkaria before, I heard from the adults that it took over two days walking along the southern main road to reach the town. However, how many of those adults actually went to Zakkaria and came back……?
The whirlpool of depressing questions which manifested in Eugeo’s mind, was blown away by Alice’s voice,
“——Anyway, there’s nothing but to go inside after we’ve come this far. But before that, let’s have lunch first.”
With that said, she pulled the wicker basket from Eugeo’s hand, then lowered her waist on the short undergrowth where it changed to gray gravel. “That’s what I’m waiting for, my belly is starving.” With an encouraging voice from Kirito, Eugeo also sat down on the grass. The fragrant smell of the pie blew away his remaining doubts, all that he could remember was his stomach had started complaining in hunger.
Alice fought off the stretching hands of Eugeo and Kirito by slapping them while drawing the windows of each food in succession. After she had affirmed that all of them still had their surplus time remaining, she handed out the fish and bean stuffed pies, apple and walnut stuffed pies, and dried peaches. In addition, she poured Siral water packed in the water bag into wooden cups, this also has been confirmed not to have gone bad yet.