Chapter 47 - 4-11
In the city of Karnain, carriages run along the main thoroughfare. Compared to other cities, the roads are wide.
Looking down the street, the architecture of the Roma Church lines the way, as if competing in height. Churches, cathedrals, seminaries. Spires and bell towers stand in thick clusters, facing each other across the road.
Arches with solemn decorations, fences with delicate vine patterns, and bas-reliefs of frightening evil spirits. From a carriage running down the street, these things appear one after another and then vanish. In the city of Karnain, the main road is completely covered in cobblestones, and this paving extends to all the primary routes. When running on the stone-paved road, the carriage made a light, pleasant sound.
A snake is engraved on the crest of that carriage. In Siddim, this is a proof of high status. Without the permission of the royal family, one cannot incorporate a snake into their crest.
Not only that, a skull was also engraved on that crest. The skull is a design used by monks, and the only laypeople permitted to use it are the families appointed as "Guardians" by the Roma Church.
The Syllabus family are loyal subjects of the royal family and the lineage of the Guardians of the holy city of Karnain.
Larisa Syllabus is a daughter of such status.
She is a plump girl overall, and while the looseness of her neck is not ideal, the fullness of her cheeks, combined with her large eyes, is charming.
As Larisa gazed outside from the carriage, she noticed a boy running alongside the carriage, shouting something.
—Alf?
"Balkan, could you stop for a moment?"
Larisa's pride is her beautiful voice. Her voice is resonant and reaches in all directions.
The carriage stopped immediately.
Larisa reached out a thick arm from the carriage window and released the door latch herself. This is an act noblewomen rarely perform. It does not suit the strict family traditions of the Syllabus house. However, she was born with a kind of dignity that allows her to be permitted such uncouthness. Though she is only fifteen, there was a sense that the adults had entrusted her with the distinction between what is permissible and what is not.
The boy caught up to the carriage, his thin chest heaving, and for a while, he steadied his breath in a posture with his hands on his knees.
"Princess, it's me."
"Alf, is it?"
Larisa smiled at the boy as he looked up. It was Alf Cedar. He was an orphan whom her older brother, Ness Syllabus, had taken an interest in. He was a brisk child who frequented the Syllabus house, looking for errands that even a child could do.
She had heard that he became the disciple of a famous forest hermit.
"Princess, is it true the young master has returned?"
"Did you come to see my brother?"
"I came to see him."
"Get in." Putting friendliness into her casual tone, Larisa grabbed the boy's thin arm and pulled him up into the carriage.
It seems rumors that Ness D. Syllabus had returned home after suffering a mental breakdown were being whispered throughout Karnain. Alf had apparently heard them.
"I begged my teacher, and I think if it's the teacher, he can probably cure the young master. Anyway, I dragged the teacher all the way from the Great Forest Sea to the front of your mansion, Princess. I thought if someone I knew came along, they'd let me into the house. But nobody came. The teacher started getting irritated. So, I had no choice but to run and look for someone. I think the teacher is angry, so I'd like you to hurry a bit."
"There's no need to rush. The teacher... you mean that One-Eyed Zarko, right? Are you learning magic?"
"Nah. He hardly teaches me any magic. I learned one or two spells, and after that, he's just always angry. The teacher is scary like a demon. But he's a little kind to me. When I asked him to take off his eyepatch and show me, he did. I thought the eyeball would be crushed and look like bird poop, but it was kind of flesh-colored. He only has one eyeball, but the teacher is a great person. I think he'll understand the young master's illness."
"Now, Alf."
The way Alf spoke with excitement felt nostalgic to Larisa. "Listen, even Zarko-sensei might not be able to cure my brother's illness. Even if that happens, you mustn't be disappointed. He's a man, after all; complaining is not allowed."
"I get scolded by the teacher too, told not to complain. I hate it because everyone says that. Princess, is Big Brother Ness that bad?"
"He's not well. He's suffered a terrible forgetfulness, and he might have even forgotten about you. If he has forgotten, please forgive him, okay?"
"Princess, are you getting married?"
Rather than the sudden change in topic, Larisa was impressed by Alf's intuition.
—If I marry into the Reed family, I'll no longer be able to meet this child.
That was exactly what Larisa had been thinking.
"You've started asking things like that too, have you?"
"I'm at that age, you know."
Since he didn't look to be at such an age, Larisa laughed. When she put her arm around Alf's shoulder, Alf unhesitatingly wrapped his arm around Larisa's stomach and hugged her.
Eventually, they approached the mansion. Larisa looked out the window.
Near the mansion's gate, something covered in a black cloth was crouching.
The black cloth moved, a sun-burned face appeared, and a single white eye gleamed.
Larisa ordered the driver to stop the carriage. She stepped down from the carriage along with Alf.
"Teacher!"
Alf leaped at the One-Eyed Zarko as he stood up.
Despite having tried to look intimidating with his white single eye, Master Zarko immediately looked troubled and held up a single finger to his disciple.
"But Teacher!"
To the protesting Alf, Master Zarko held up two fingers. He was slightly mindful of Larisa.
"I'll be quiet, really, but before that, Teacher—"
To the still-insistent disciple, Master Zarko held up three fingers. His face was now one of desperation.
Alf closed his mouth dissatisfiedly.
"Master Zarko." Larisa guided the ragged mage toward the mansion gate. "Thank you for doing this for my brother. My mother will be pleased. Please stay a while; we shall prepare a feast."
"I am only here to examine the patient. I will leave immediately."
The mage was blunt.
Larisa took it as an attitude born of seriousness.
"You are the world-renowned Zarko-sama; it is a stroke of luck just to have you examine him. There is no way we could let such a person leave without an escort. If you say hospitality is a nuisance, then your expectations are simply naive. There is no way you will be able to avoid being hosted."
One-Eyed Zarko let a faint smile surface.
"You look as though you could become the head of the Syllabus house at any moment."
She didn't immediately understand what he meant.
One-Eyed Zarko was likely predicting that her brother's illness was incurable.
"It has been decided that I will marry into another house. If my brother is truly hopeless, my younger brother Scaff will inherit this house."
"Do not lose heart," Master Zarko said. "If you worry, you will lose to that worry."
"Teacher! I don't care about that, let's at least get some food!"
Master Zarko, looking flustered, made a stern expression and pointed his index finger at Alf.
Alf swallowed his words and puffed out his cheeks.
Her brother, Ness D. Syllabus, was in the courtyard.
His upper body was bare, exposing a magnificent muscular beauty. His lower body was clad only in knee-length underwear. He wore no shoes. Barefoot, he gripped a wooden pole and was practicing swings.
With one swing, sweat flew. The pole rotated with a smoothness that seemed almost mocking, drew an arc to the side, was swung overhead, and then brought down with a chilling whistling sound of cutting wind. He repeated this.
Looking at him like this, nothing seemed wrong. He was in a state of health that seemed almost wasteful.
In a sunny spot of the colonnade surrounding the garden, a round table and chairs had been set out.
Her mother was drinking wine at that table. In the adjacent seat, the elderly servant, Aunt Hari, was knitting. Though they differed in age by as much as a parent and child and shared no blood relation, they sat with their legs crossed in the same way, looking like close sisters.
Larisa guided the master and disciple into the courtyard.
"Mother, Zarko-sama has arrived. He is here to examine Big Brother."
"My goodness." Mother's eyes widened in surprise.
"Do you remember Alf Cedar? This child is the one who brought Zarko-sama. He says he is Zarko-sama's disciple."
"My goodness."
The mother, May Syllabus, deftly spun elegant words befitting a noblewoman and offered unabashed, flattery-like praise to appease the prickly Master Zarko. Even Master Zarko could not refuse the seat offered to him.
She warned Alf that if he didn't stay quiet, she wouldn't let him eat sugar candies, silencing him effortlessly. It was a masterful display of skill.
"I beg of you," Mother cautioned Master Zarko and Alf. "I beg of you, please do not show Ness any blades. That child has... something has happened to him."
"Do not be concerned."
Master Zarko nodded.
"Big Brother."
When Larisa called out, Ness, who had been swinging the pole as usual, quietly stopped his movements.
He turned a dead-serious face toward her.
"Alf! Look!"
Her brother spoke upon seeing Alf.
Apparently remembering Alf, he shouted and threw the pole straight up into the air.
The momentum was tremendous; the rotating, flying pole quickly became as small as a grain of bean. It was a beautiful blue sky. The pole seemed to stop moving as if staying within the blue sky, yet it continued to ascend further, gradually becoming smaller.
Not only Larisa Syllabus, but all the men and women in the courtyard looked up at the sky with their mouths open. The pole had been thrown so high that one could only be appalled.
After a somewhat tedious amount of time, the pole fell into the courtyard and bounced violently. Her brother was already dressed and sitting in a chair.
"That was amazing, young master!"
Larisa saw Alf's excitement-filled face stiffen as he looked at her brother.
"Alf, I'm hungry."
"Yeah—, young master."
"We're going hunting. Get ready."
"No one is going hunting," May Syllabus said, wiping her son's runny nose with a handkerchief.
Her brother did not hear his mother's words. He was looking at the one-eyed mage. "Siddim is now surrounded by enemies on all four sides, is it not?"
"That may be so, Ness. I wish to see your head. Alf wants to see it too. Do you mind?"
"I can hear the voice of God. Though I've never heard it before."
Her brother said this and closed his eyes.
Master Zarko stood up and approached the brother along with his disciple.
"Can you see it, Alf?"
"I see it. Something transparent is stuck all over his head."
"A nasty piece of magic."
Master Zarko rubbed the brother's head. Ness D. Syllabus let him do as he pleased, a somewhat comfortable smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.
Larisa exchanged looks with her mother and Aunt Hari.
"Will you be able to determine the cause?"
To the mother's question, the one-eyed mage turned around briskly. "Just bring me that bottle over there."
When Aunt Hari handed over the bottle of wine from the table, Master Zarko did nothing more than begin to chug it himself.
Meanwhile, Alf timidly reached his hand toward the brother's forehead, then immediately yanked it back.
"What did you see?"
"There was an old man who looked like a charred cinder," Alf said, looking up at his master. His complexion was somewhat pale. "I almost got bitten by that filthy old man."
Master Zarko did not admonish his disciple's language and sat in the chair clutching the wine bottle.
"Madam, young lady, and you, the lady servant, please listen."
—Ness Syllabus is under the curse of a certain person.
Master Zarko stated that this was what he could observe.
"Can that curse not be exorcised? Even by relying on the power of Tenshu-sama?"
The mother, May Syllabus, was sitting in the seat next to the mage. She asked, leaning forward.
"It is difficult. In my opinion, the Roma Church has not gathered enough believers to fully draw out that power. Or, the curse might dissipate once the lifespan of the old man who cast it runs out. However, by my estimation, there is a possibility that those old men will live a longevity that exceeds common sense."
"Then..."
Larisa stood beside her mother, placing a hand on her shoulder. Her mother's shoulder was trembling slightly. Larisa waited for Master Zarko's words, holding her breath.
"I'll go,"
Alf said. Alf was staring at Ness Syllabus's head, clenching his fists.
"The young master is smiling, but he's suffering. The young master can't even understand that he's suffering. Someone has to go, meet the black-skinned old man, and make him break the curse. That's why I'll go."
"You'll go? You?" One-Eyed Zarko said in a low voice.
"I'll go. Teacher, teach me magic."
"I believe I have taught you most of what is necessary. Learn magic from someone else. Madam," Master Zarko said to the mother. "Do you wish to save your son?"
"Of course."
"Then let us send Alf to the university in the city of Argis. You shall bear the expenses."
Looking closely, Alf was shedding tears while looking at the brother.
Even the carefree Larisa was surprised and hugged Alf. Looking down at Alf, who buried his face in her plump stomach, she thought.
—To make such a child shoulder someone else's fate.
It was pitiful.
Larisa shook her head to her mother.
May Syllabus could not hide her anxious expression. She began to look back and forth between Master Zarko and Alf with pleading eyes.
"The question of why the young master is the target is what should be noted," Master Zarko said, draining the wine. "Why Ness Syllabus had to be cursed. Could it be that the fate of Siddim and the world is involved here? It may be a foolish opinion, Larisa Syllabus, Madam."
For the first time, a soft light, as if caring for someone, appeared in One-Eyed Zarko's single eye.
"If my thinking is correct, the situation has likely surpassed the individuals of the young master and Alf. I believe it is a pity, but—"
To Larisa's surprise, her mother straightened her back and spoke.
"The one who is truly pitiful is my son, who bears a responsibility yet is unable to fulfill it."
"Does the young master bear a responsibility?"
"Yes. Ness is one who will be of use to the royal family and the kingdom." May Syllabus nodded. "As his mother, I know. My son possesses a destiny."
Looking at her brother, Ness D. Syllabus, he had fallen fast asleep before they knew it. He had a stupid sleeping face that made one think he was dreaming of paradise.