Vermillion

“Viesta, Granda, Visaniji, Tyuperosouno…”

The room was dimly lit by candles’ flickering flames.

“Viesta, Granda, Visaniji, Tuperosouno…” continued the old woman’s hoa.r.s.e, monotonous voice.

They were in Cronen’s house in Tahfu.

Aileen lay on the small bed still unconscious and suffering from a fever.

Four villagers were around the bed. Those four stayed wide awake while awaiting Kei’s return.

Anka, the village’s oldest shaman, was one of those four and sat in a chair close to the bed, doing what she could for Aileen’s fever-induced nightmares.

Ever since Kei left, she’d been chanting a healing mantra and carefully wiping Aileen’s forehead clean of sweat with a wet cloth. It was also her job to give Aileen a small dose of the potions left by Kei when her complexion suddenly worsened.

“…Anka-san, are you alright? It’s already very late, and I could take over,” Cronen shyly suggested from near the wall.

“It’s fine. This is nothing, so don’t worry,” she said slowly.

Somehow, Cronen looked a little disappointed as he backed off with an, “I see…”

Originally, Cronen’s job wasn’t to nurse Aileen, but rather to watch over her in case she was one of the bandits. However, after realizing that she was in no way part of the bandits and was actually on her deathbed he’d tried desperately to help care for her.

It was because, out of all the people there, Kei had asked Cronen alone to take care of Aileen. But Anka was caught up in her sense of duty and kept politely refusing his help.

The hunter Mandel, with his characteristically good looking features, leaned silently against the wall, ignoring the two who worried over Aileen as he stared blankly into the empty air.

One could never tell what he was thinking due to his p.r.o.nounced, chiseled features. However, right now he was more worried about Kei, who went to battle the bandits, than Aileen, whose life depended on the potions.

Since Kei was able to shoot down a bat in the dark it didn’t seem too reckless, but some part of him still wouldn’t settle down. After thinking that, he was reminded of the magnificent vermillion bow that Kei had. From the sound when it shot the arrow, he knew it was a very strong bow. His thoughts veered away from concern as he wondered if Kei would let him hold it once he got back. Once he thought about that, he became concerned for Kei’s well-being, then he thought about the bow again… He was stuck in an endless loop.

“…Haa.” A small sigh came from the corner of the room. A short distance away from the other three, the village leader, Bennett, sat silently staring at Aileen with his arms folded. Such a shame…

Bennett looked sour as Anka gave Aileen the little bit of potion that was left.

Summing up Bennett’s feelings in one word would be, ‘wasteful’. He had to witness such valuable High Potions go to waste delaying the inevitable on a girl dying of poison. If they had this much, then just how many lives could be saved from sickness or injury in Tahfu and even the neighboring villages, he thought, vexed.

Kei said that he would go and ask what type of poison the bandits used, but that was impossible, Bennett thought.

There was the problem of a numbers disadvantage, but moreover it was that his opponents were the infamous 『Ignaz Bandits』. They’d been docile these past few years, but there was a time when simply hearing their name was enough to make even seasoned soldiers flinch. Kei did have a good horse, so he should at least be able to run away, however, if his questioning turned into fighting then he probably wouldn’t be coming back alive, predicted Bennett.

And here potions were being wasted on a single girl.

Such a d.a.m.n waste… he thought with regret, as he stroked his beard.

Actually, he’d suggested to the other three that they stop giving Aileen the potions not long ago. He proposed they purposely let her die and pocket the rest of the bottles, and in the case that Kei did come back, telling him that all the potions had been used, so there was nothing they could do.

But it was rejected unanimously.

‘That boy will definitely come back!’  Anka baselessly declared.

‘That would be terrible.’ Cronen said without any other reasons.

And then Mandel refused by saying, ‘I would not be able to get away with lying to him.’

They all had their own reasons, but they all had a strong opinion, so he reluctantly gave up on stealing the potions.

Even so…

It was frustrating. Extremely frustrating.

His expression turned even more sour while watching Anka’s back as she gave Aileen the potion.

…Well, I suppose there’s no helping it.

Bennett lightly sighed again, but just as he did, the wind outside blew fiercely. ”Hmm?” But he quickly dismissed it as nothing more than the wind. But, he felt uneasy. Outside the parchment blocked window, something flashed by.

The parchment shook unnaturally.

Something—Cold air came in.

Abruptly, a sudden gust of wind blew through the room with a boom.

“Uuohh!?”

“What the!?”

There were various exclamations of surprise. The gust that entered the room proceeded to unnaturally extinguish all the candles.

The room went pitch black—they couldn’t see a thing.

Or, at least, they shouldn’t have been able to.

On the other side of the darkness, Bennett and the others were on alert.

A young girl innocent-looking girl dressed like an angel appeared.

“Whaaaa-!?”

“Who the h.e.l.l are you!?”

The men shouted in shock with trembling voices. But at the appearance of the girl smiling innocently, Anka shrieked, “G-ghoooooost!!”

“A spirit!? This is…?” It was as if she were a phantom or a monster. They vaguely felt that something was there; the thing’s weak appearance and the uncanny sensation Bennett felt made him question it involuntarily.

Then, before the four of them, the smiling girl began.

—En la nomo de miaj abonant oj, mi transdonu lian mesagxon—

Her speech was so polished, it did not match her feeling of innocence.
“Ooh, thank you, thank you…”

“Old woman, can you understand what it’s saying?” Bennet, who didn’t understand a word of what the girl said, asked Anka, who was on both knees while rubbing her hands together in grat.i.tude.

“As if I could know, it’s the spirit language, you know!”

Bennett almost slipped off his chair after hearing her answer. “You’re thanking it without even knowing what it’s saying?!”

“I’m just thankful for such a beautiful spirit coming here!”

Taken aback, Bennett was finally about to retort, but at that moment—

“[Can you hear me? It’s Kei. Anka-san, can you hear me?]” Kei’s voice resounded in the room.

“—Kei! Is that Kei!?” Mandel shouted with his eyes wide.

“[—There isn’t much time so I’ll be brief. I’m having the spirit I’ve contracted carry my message. The poison is ‘Enslavement Poison’. The antidote is the red pill. Anka-san, the antidote is the red pill. Please, one will be enough.]”

“Kei, are you alright!? Where are you?!” Mandel asked in the direction of the girl, but no one, neither the girl nor Kei, replied.

— Jen cio —

The girl only gave those short words.

The wind suddenly howled through the room again.

Silence enveloped the room and everyone was dumbfounded.

“…The red pill!” Anka said, the first one to come back to her senses.

“Cronen! Fire! We need light!”

“A-ah, I got it!”

Following Anka’s orders, Cronen ran out of the room hurriedly and quickly brought hot coals in from outside.

He lit a candle; a light source was secured.

Anka grabbed the small metal box of medicines that Kei had entrusted her with.

The box had three sections with various medicines. And there it was. It was definitely the right one. A red pill.

“Now, I’ll save your friend…!”

Anka raised the pill in trembling hands, parted Aileen’s lips, and gave her the pill along with some water.

In the end, Aileen—…

†                      †                      †

A short while later.

A man covered in sweat came running into Tahfu.

It was Kei.

Being a pure fighter, the recoil from using such magic put him nearly at death’s door, but he immediately sprinted full speed over several kilometers anyway, causing him to come in gasping and feeling twice as nauseous and fatigued.

His cheeks were cut up, his right shoulder was soaked with blood, and his face was as pale as a ghost. The guards on watch didn’t even call for the village leader, they just opened the way without a word.

Kei was staggering as he ran into the village. He ran off the gravel path and flew into Cronen’s familiar, small house.

“Aileen!”

Bang! When the small door to the room slammed open, four villagers crowding around a bed in the dim candle light snapped their heads around.

“H-how… is… Aileen!?” Kei gasped.

“Kei-dono, settle down.”

Anka stood up from the chair next to the bed and grabbed Kei’s hand, who breathed heavily, drawing him to the bedside. “Thanks to you…we saved her.”

Laying there, on the bed.

Aileen laid there with a relaxed expression and the slow breathing of sleep.

“…Aah.” Kei fell to his knees and stroked her hair with a sweet smile on his face.

He could feel her warmth through his fingers. She was alive.

—Thank G.o.d.

There were a lot of things to think about and a lot of things to regret, but somehow, Aileen was saved.
“Thank G.o.d… Thank—” At the same time that he sighed in relief, he slumped to the floor and was pulled along into the pleasant darkness of unconsciousness.

Afterword

The bandit(?)  section is finally over.

It’s the opening of their trip to a parallel world but it’s already over 100,000 characters (in j.a.panese)…

It seems that there were a lot of people concerned with Kei not seeing through Morissette’s lie, so I explained how the bloodl.u.s.t system works.

In Chapter 8 I lightly touched on the subject of needing a weapon, but the explanation was a little insufficient.

The reason that Kei couldn’t see through Morissette’s lie is because Morissette threw down his sword before prostrating himself. Therefore, hardly any bloodl.u.s.t was released.