Ashes and Kingdoms

Message from translator: We’re at the end of Chapter 3, and might I say that this part is really cute. The interactions between Leena and Fin make my day （´▽｀）Also, I wanna thank everyone for reading and commenting so far. You guys also make my day!

That night, Fin suddenly awoke.

He blinked as for a second as he wouldn’t remember where he was. Ah, that’s right. I was lent a guest room in the temple for tonight.

The inside of the room was dark, but it wasn’t pitch black. Slivers of pale light shone through the s.p.a.ces in the storm shutters. He wondered why he woke up, and then understood when he suddenly heard laughter rise from a street far away. He would occasionally catch these sounds around the time he stayed in the orphanage in Nanaisーthe noisy sounds of men getting dead drunk in the bars that operate late at night.

Since Winea was a city that was much larger than Nanais, it was only natural that the nighttime racket would be more frequent. When he listened closely, he could make out a conversation that continued after the laughter had stopped, and that it was happening quite far away.

As he sat up on top of his bed, he had become completely awake. Fin sighed and turned his body to put his feet on the ground. He could no longer recall precisely when his sleep had become this shallow.

In order to avoid waking up his family who were sleeping in the same room, Fin quietly opened the door. He took with him just in case, the square lantern placed in the corner of the room, but he didn’t have the heart to light it and there wasn’t a need to do so. Outside was a moonlit night. In the end, he returned the square lantern back to its place and slipped out into the chilly night air.

The world was white.

The moon looked somewhat thinning; nevertheless, thanks to the sky being this bright, there was enough light. As expected, there was no human presence inside the temple. Fin was suddenly struck with an idea and quickly began to run.

When he exited out into the streets, he saw the lights from several bars, probably due to being in close proximity to the barracks. There were also several figures of people coming and going. But that wasn’t Fin’s destination. It was a given, as even if he did enter, Fin didn’t have a single copper coin on hand.

Fin single-mindedly headed to the top of the hill in the city at night as he continued to walk. Although he didn’t know the roads, he knew that if he continued to climb up the hill, it would be at the very topーhe knew he would reach the Temple of Deia.

The higher he climbed, the less human shapes and lights could be seen. That was a given since there would be no one visiting the temple in the dead of night.

Though saying that, it wasn’t like the temple was closed because no one was coming. Even if there was a stone gate, there was no gate door to close it off. Only the storehouse, where the priests would collect the offerings and valuables, was locked. There wasn’t a single person who would touched what belongs to the G.o.ds and bring destruction upon themselves. Though, there were only a few exceptions who would.

At any rate being that case, Fin had finally reached the Temple of Deia.

He had been trained when he visited the Temple of Nanais, but as expected, it was tough for his heart. Although the road wasn’t as steep as the one in Nanais, it was still long. His own rough breathing disturbed the silence, though it was fine as long as it wasn’t taken as a sign of disrespect towards Master Deia.

As Fin was slowly steadying his breathing, he pa.s.sed through the temple’s gate. Nothing particularly special happened, but it felt like the atmosphere had suddenly changed.

Maybe it was simply because there wasn’t any human presence at night, but this place was quiet and pure. Unlike the other G.o.ds directly connected to gaining profits in everyday life, Deia was of the highest n.o.bility; maybe this was expected as he was the sky G.o.d, or maybe it was because he was an existence separated from the transient world.

Naturally, there are some people who used the name ‘Deia’ as a sign of royalty or to protect their honor, but even so, he was something high above the clouds to the regular people; he wasn’t something with which they could directly get involved. Consequently, there weren’t that many humans who paid homage to the temple on a daily basis despite having the supreme G.o.d solemnly enshrined in such a place. The building also wasn’t covered in requests for the G.o.d or worldly desires, but there were many things there that were close to purity, like some kind of ideal of fantastic dream.

(Does Leena have that kind of personality because she was bestowed with Deia’s name, I wonder?)

Thinking of such, Fin finally realized what he was pursing by coming all the way here. He exhaled and shook his head in disappointment.

(No matter how late in the night it is or how high on the hill the temple is, there’s no way that she will come out in the middle of a city filled with these kinds of people. Get a hold of yourself. Since when have you gotten this pathetic?)

Unsteadily going out for a stroll in this city that he still hadn’t grasped yet in the middle of the night on a whim was such a careless thing for him to do.

Although he was scolding himself, Fin did take a rough look at his surroundings. As expected, there wasn’t a white light anywhere.

(Guess I’ll just go home.)

Disappointed, he dropped his shoulders, and it was in that moment when he turned on his heel.

He suddenly felt a presence behind him and reflexively turned his whole body around.

“Leena?”

He whispered in a low voice and strained his eyes to look for a shadow under the moonlight. Although there was no reply, there definitely was a presence. Cautiously, Fin crossed the courtyard and headed insideーwalking towards the inner sanctuary.

The moment he placed his foot on top of the stairs in the inner sanctuary, a warm wind gently touched his cheek. When he looked up, Leena was right there.

Without saying anything, Fin extended his arms and embraced Leena. His chest was filled, and words wouldn’t come out. The sensation of her existence permeated him even more strongly than the sensation of coming in contact with her body. Without breaking in or disturbing him, it simply and softly lay on top of Fin’s heart while engulfing his surroundings in a sun-like warmth.

By the time he realized it, Fin was sitting down on the stairs. Leena snuggled up to him, and with a smile, she stared at Fin with her golden eyes.

There was no need to exchange words as the gentle silence continued. Even during that time, Fin felt Leena’s presence warm his heart for him.

“It’s strange, huh.”

By the time Fin had finally opened his mouth, his mood had completely become better.

“You had said that you can’t use your own power, but just being together like this, it’s become quite….comforting. Thanks.”

“I created a connection. It’s because I wanted to see you.”

Once again, Leena’s way of speaking was difficult to understand. Fin tilted his head, but at the same time, the thing that was apparently the ‘connection’ shook inside his heart, conveying what Leena had meant.

It was weak and had no binding power, but through this magical connection created between the two of them, they could apparently protect and be protected by the other. Just as Fin’s mood had become calmer by being like this, Leena could appear, protected from the crowd of dark feelings in this city.

“Because you were calling, I heard you.”

Leena whispered as she softly leaned against Fin’s shoulder. Her weight could hardly be felt.

“That’s why I wanted to see you. The air in this place is very stagnant…..but if it wasn’t like this, I wouldn’t be able to appear. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. I also wanted to see you.”

After saying that, Fin suddenly realized, “Hey, isn’t this kind of like a secret meeting between lovers?” and blushed. It seemed that the feeling was also conveyed to Leena as it made her blink her eyes in surprise. Bewildered, she looked up at Fin. The two of them strangely became embarra.s.sed of each other and averted their eyes, bashful.

But, it didn’t last for long as Fin burst out into a small laugh. Feeling such modesty right now was quite comical. Plus, it wasn’t like they were being watched by someone or that this was a forbidden act.

In response to Fin’s laughter, Leena’s cheerful mood shook the ‘connection.’ When Fin turned to face Leena, he extended his arm and lightly brushed her hair.

“These few days……were really, intense. Iguros died. The whereabouts for some of the children are unknown….And the army corps that I came here to make a request, wouldn’t even pay me any mind. And Nanais…..”

Saying that much, Fin suddenly had a serious face.

“Can you, see the situation at Nanais? Nellis…..um, it seems like she had seen it.”

Leena shook her head a little and then looked in the vague direction of north.

“I can’t see it very clearly. But, it is certain that the north had become more and more darker. It looks like there’s barely any lights lit up by the humans left.”

As her tone was too indifferent, Fin unintentionally vented in a bitter voice.

“It’s fine either way to you, isn’t it? Doesn’t matter if it’s humans or the Beasts of Darkness that live in this world.”

He felt regret after saying that. His companion was a spirit, and it would be wrong to treat her like a human. Although, it was already plenty enough that she was willing to be an ally to Fin and Nellis. At least for now.

There wasn’t an expression on Leena’s face as she looked back. With her golden eyes, she stared at Fin like how one would look at a strange creature for the first time.

“Fin. To us, both humans and the Followers of Darkness look the same as any other living creature in this world. It’s not a matter of which race is just good, bad, or special, you know. In our eyes, there’s only people who look very pretty. We are attracted to pretty things; we become fond of them, and we want to cherish them.”

“…..I see. My bad.”

“Why are you apologizing? Fin, you didn’t do anything wrong though.”

Leena dropped her head in confusion. This conversation wasn’t going to go anywhere. Although Fin’s irritation, the guilt he felt for venting about it to Leena, and his self-loathing were transmitted through their connection, it appeared that she couldn’t understand what they meant. Fin gave a strained laugh.

He shook his head to say, “It’s nothing,” to Leena who still had on a strange face. After that, he suddenly succ.u.mbed to his curiosity and asked.

“Wait, are you perhaps implying that from you guys’ view, there are ‘pretty’ things among the Beasts of Darkness?”

“From what I know of, there aren’t,” Leena said as she looked far away. “Though, I have heard of pretty ones among even the Followers of Darkness before the Great War…….I’m sorry since I haven’t actually seen many humans or Followers of Darkness.”

“Hmmm…..is that so? To us, they‘re all terrifying, and the only relationship we have with them is kill or be killed. But, I guess it’s different in you guys’ eyes. There may be different ones among them, huh. Like the one that didn’t eat me.”

“……?”

“I happened to meet one that was scouting around outside of Winea. I was approached by it, and everything down to my soul seemed like it froze, but nothing happened. Even though I thought I would definitely be eaten, it just disappeared without doing anything.”

I felt like I was being laughed at. As expected, he couldn’t say that. He felt that it sounded too foolish. Even though he was conversing with a spirit.

Leena looked puzzled for a while, but it didn’t seem like she could guess his reasoning. In the end, this was what she said.

“I’m sure it’s because they thought that Fin was pretty.”

“……………..”

That was probably not it. No matter how you put it.

It had been a long times since he felt this fatigue as Fin fell exhausted on top of the stairs. “H, huh?” Leena was fl.u.s.tered.

“I, I’m sorry. Somehow, no matter how much time pa.s.ses, it doesn’t look like I will get better at conversations.”

“It’s fine,” Fin laughed and shook his head. “I’m already used to it. Besides, since I got this ‘connection’, I can get some understanding of your feelings. It’s really convenient, huh? But a power like this isn’t sealed?”

From Fin’s point of view, this was a nonchalant question, but it caused Leena’s face to suddenly stiffen. The warmth that was touching his heart was quickly pulled back in an instant. In a panic, Fin attempted to say, “I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you,” but before he could, the presence in his heart timidly returned once again.

“….Only this power. This was the only one left. Since it will be necessary.”

Leena whispered, casting her eyes downward. Then she bit down hard on her lips. As this was the first time he had ever seen such an expression, Fin was surprised. Leena closed her eyes.

“But, I won’t use it.”

Her grave tone declared as if to persuade herself, or even to challenge the seal itself. Then, she softly rose without a sound.

“Good night.”

Although this was a parting that they had exchanged many times so far, he had never heard it sound so painful before. Fin wanted to hold her back, but by the time he stood up, Leena’s figure was already gone.

Leena’s presence had disappeared, and Fin felt the abrupt chill of the nighttime breeze and shivered.

However, a sliver of a sun’s warmth still remain in his heart.