Vermillion

Editor: ShinonomeResearchLabs, Proofer: Hakou

Amidst the bonfire, a twig exploded with a sharp crackle.

A blond young man sat relaxed on a log, humming a tune as he lazily chucked another stick into the undulating flames.

The melody of the tune was rather sorrowful and melancholy, as if in defiance of the cheery atmosphere that the crackling bonfire had so carefully created.

Having run out of sticks, the young man disappointedly checked the time from the sand in the trickling hourgla.s.s beside him and looked up.

" … " 

Across the firepit sat an old woman with a dark-skinned girl at her side.

"… Hey, ojou-chan." 

It was the young man with the wild smile―Alexei―that spoke up.

"Shouldn"t you be asleep about now?"

"… I"m not sleepy yet."

Edda, the girl with dark skin, replied while partially hiding behind Heidemarie, her hand tightly clutching the old woman"s own.

A feeble wind blew by. The young man"s radiant eyes were fixed on a shadow atop on carriage. 

There, a humanoid silhouette in a fluttering dress danced about like a shadow puppet.

"Man, this is great. Perfect for killing time."

Alexei nodded, while showing an innocent, childlike smile on his face at this rare source of entertainment. Then, he took a cursory glance at a certain tent, a quiet tent that doesn"t make any sound.

"But to think that, that guy was also a magician like her… "

" …" 

No one answered Alexei"s whisper.

Watching the dancing shadows, the bored young man resumed his humming.

"Hey, Alexei. Can I ask you something?" 

Heidemarie called out after Alexei had finished his song.

"Hm? What is it, basan?"

"That song has a nice melody… What"s its name?"

「これか。『GreenSleeves』って曲だよ」

"It"s called "Greensleeves." " (ED Note: For those that don"t know it, here.) 

"… Oh? It"s not a song of the Snowfield people?"

"Mhm, it"s the Plains people"s music."

Alexei lightly smiled and corrected his posture. Taking in a breath, he sang:

Alas, my love, you do me wrong,

To cast me off discourteously.

For I have loved you for so long,

Delighting in your company.

Greensleeves was all my joy

Greensleeves was my delight,

Greensleeves was my heart of gold,

And who but my lady greensleeves…
 

Pa.s.sion, sorrow, and a faint residual bitterness.

The deep, tenor singing echoed in the woods-gently though, as to not disturb those already asleep in the twilight hours of the day.

"Wow… "

Clap clap clap. Edda quietly applauded, with Heidemarie following, nodding all the while. 

"That"s a good song… I"ve never heard it before. So this is a song of the Plains people?"

"Well, it"s sung in the language of the Plains people, but the song itself has been pa.s.sed down by the Snowfield tribes. I"ve heard that it was left behind by a stranger who came to my clan from beyond the fog." 

ED Note: The furigana above "stranger" (denoted by me as a superscript for the bracketed words for lack of a better syntax) reads "étranger," meaning foreigner or stranger in French, in case you didn"t know already from the full t.i.tle, Vermillion; Étranger À L"arc Rouge.

"Beyond the fog?"

"… Étranger?"

"Ah, it"s a term for the Northlands, although there"s different regions to it."

Seeing the pair"s curiosity, Alexei picked up a branch sticking out from the bonfire, and, with a proud expression, began to draw a map on the ground.

"Even though it"s called the Northlands, that"s just from the perspective of the princ.i.p.ality. The place is actually composed of four different regions: north, south, east, and west. The north is just a white wasteland covered in snow. It"s said that the snow there does not melt even in the summer. In the center and to the south, there are many tribes. It"s cold in the winter, but it"s not that bad: pretty livable in fact. It"s got salt and fish for trade, and the region is prosperous enough for there to be friendly relations between the tribes. And then, the east―"

Alexei drew a circle around the indicated area and frowned.

"This area is called the Demon"s Forest… It"s a creepy forest filled with fog, no matter where you go, year-round."

Losing her previously carefree att.i.tude, Edda let out a frightened gasp.

"The Sage"s Hideout… The Forest Where the Demons Lives… there are many names for it. One thing is certain though: it"s a really bad place… "

"Why… why is it dangerous?"

Alexei paused for a while with a grim face before responding to the terrified Edda.

"… I heard this from my grandfather."

Rubbing his forearm in an effort to fend off the cold, the young man began.

"When my old man was young… he wanted to prove his bravery and all that; he was budding young man after all.  It seems he wanted to see how far he could go into the fog even though it was considered crazy to go in ten steps.

"Naturally, my grandfather had heard all the stories about the Demon"s Forest: orbs of fire that make you lose or sense of direction… monsters who imitate a human"s voice… Thus, as a countermeasure, he decided to bring a rope so as to at least not get lost."

Alexei mimicked the action of tying a rope around Edda"s waist.

"Like this, my grandfather attached the rope to himself. The other end was securely tied to a tree at the entrance of the forest, leaving enough rope in between for both entering and returning. After he had fastened the ropes and everything was ready, my old man went into the fog… " 

Folding his hands in prayer, Alexei paused for a while.

"But… it was right after entering."

Gulp… Edda swallowed her saliva.

"My grandfather… it seemed that he had wanted to p.i.s.s even though he had just entered."

"… Eh?" 

"Like I said, a p.i.s.s. It wasn"t enough to leak, but it was concerning nonetheless-it"s like that. But, in the Demon"s forest, where even crying children are silent, my old was not stupid enough to just stand there and go. Since he had entered, my grandfather decided to follow the rope back to the entrance. Thus, he got out of the fog and did his business. But afterwards, my old man noticed… "

Alexei"s light blue eyes flashed a glance at Edda.

"The rope, which had been meticulously tied with numerous layers of knots… it was unraveled, like a magic trick."  

"At the time, my grandfather was alone… he had just gone barely ten steps, in and out. No man, woman, or child who could"ve done anything in that time even if there were any around. While this already freaked my old man out, he noticed something even stranger… "

"… What is it… ?" 

"Somehow, the rope, which was brand new, looked terribly black and worn. And when he took the rope to examine it… "

Alexei showed a roughly three centimeter gap with his fingers.

"Hand marks this big… the rope was covered in it… As if a tiny child with dirty hands had been playing with it."

" … !" 

"Moreover, those hand marks-they weren"t just around the knot. If you had taken a closer look, you could trace them from the part where it unraveled… All the way until… till it reached the part that was tied around my old man"s waist. Then, realizing this, my grandfather exclaimed "no way!" and panickedly unraveled the rope around his waist. And then… "

"… And then… ?" 

"Like he feared, the hand marks came up to his waist, and my grandfather, already half crazy from fright, immediately stripped off his leather armor. And as he did that… " 

Alexei"s eyes seemed lifeless.

"At the back of the armor, those hand marks appeared one after another. Peta peta peta, peta peta peta peta… " (ED Note: Peta peta is the sound for the sticky sound the hands made on the armor.)

" … "

"My old man said that, if at that time he hadn"t come back for peeing…. If his whole body had gotten covered with those hand marks, he doesn"t know how he would"ve ended up."

A sprig in the bonfire exploded loudly.

" Is… is that really what happened… ?" 

Edda stuttered, her voice trailing off. Alexei simply confirmed with an "ahh," and gave a grave nod.

"It"s not like the rest of the story isn"t true, but if anything, the hand marks are real because I saw the actual thing as my old man had brought back the rope and leather armor with him."

"Eeeh?"

"He was so nervous about it that he"d thought about throwing it away many times, but because there"d be no evidence of it otherwise, my grandfather had reluctantly kept it. There was also a time when he encountered a terrible thing on his way back but… That"s a story for another time.  "

"Mou, that"s enough! That"s enough already!"

Edda shook her head about with a crying face.

"Well… that"s why the Demon"s Forest is dangerous and not something to mess with. Half of those who step in don"t return and even of those that do come back, most of them go insane. There are some genuinely unworldly monsters wandering around in that fog… "

Alexei shivered as he continued.

"That"s why I will never go into that fog, no matter what. Against those unG.o.dly beings that don"t belong in this world, what am I supposed to do… it"s scary. And that"s all. Rather, how did the conversation end up here anyway?

"The fog… you said something about the étrangers?"

"Ah, That"s right!"

To Heidemarie bringing the discussion back on track, Alexei playfully slapped his knees and replied in a cheerful voice, as if to erase any trace of the discussion that just occurred.

"Well, it is the Demon"s Forest. The only good thing about it is that the monsters inside can"t come out. In other words, whatever comes isn"t a monster-probably. According to legend, there are strangers who appear from within the forest without ever entering it. Somewhere, someone from a faraway place must"ve got lost in the forest and wound up near our tribe… "

"Where they the ones who left behind the song you sang?"

"That"s right. Well, that is, if you believe the legends. They"re rather old, and I don"t know if they"re true… "

The young man shrugged, being the type of person to not believe in anything until he"s seen it.

"… Well, that"s why ojou-chan, it"s better that you go to sleep soon."

Alexei addressed Edda with a bitter smile, who had been quiet for some time now.

"Obachan… "  

Edda turned to Heidemarie with a delicate, expecting look while pulling on the sleeve of her robe. 

"Alright, alright. We can sleep together tonight."

"Un… "

"Hahaha, good girls should go to sleep now. Don"t worry. Because the fog monsters can"t come out the Demon Forest, ojou-chan is safe."

"Un… Good night, onii-chan… "

With a tired expression, Edda crawled into her bed inside the covered wagon, her hand still clinging to Heidemarie.

"… Well then, looks like I"m free now."

The sand hourgla.s.s still stood where it was, vigilantly marking the time. Alexei, who was alone again with nothing to do, turned to the horse-drawn carriage in an effort to pa.s.s the time away.

"Hm, what the-? She"s gone?"

But, the shadow maiden who had been dancing just a while ago was nowhere to be found.

"Well then Edda, good night."

"Good night obasan."

Edda lay in the carriage, cuddled next to Heidemarie with a futon up to her head.

" … "  

Though the warmth of Heidemarie beside her was rea.s.suring, the story today was a bit too intense for young Edda.

What if a hand mark appeared outside the futon?

Driven by this unfounded fear, Edda found it too scary to come out. (ED Joke: Edda"s a hikikomori… )

However, as it was the early summer, the nights were not nearly so cold. If one stays inside a futon without raising their head, it will naturally become hot.

(… It"s alright, onii-san said that the ghost can"t come out of the forest… )   

Unable to stand the heat anymore, Edda encouraged herself and slowly poked her head out of the bedding, her eyes tightly shut.

A cool and comfortable night breeze gently caressed her cheeks. Edda inhaled deeply, enjoying the moist but fresh air.

" … "  

Gradually, drowsiness began to set in. After all, it had gotten pretty late due to the magic demonstration followed by Alexei"s story. While thinking of this, Edda gradually began to doze off.

Suddenly, she felt something.

Half awake, Edda opened her eyes.

Something… black jumped into sight.

And suddenly, small black hand mark appeared on the carriage hood. 

"Kya!"

Edda"s face stiffened as her eyes rolled back, fainting from fright. 

"… Mmmn… Edda, did you say something?"  

" … "  

"… Go back to sleep… "  

" … "  

After that, only the shadow spirit remained, dancing as she concluded her mischief. 

Author"s Note:

ちなみに、元々DEMONDALの開発会社は精霊語をラテン語にするつもりだったのですが、ラテン語が難しすぎて心が折れ、急遽もっとシンプルで例外規則のない、人造言語な（＝ネイティブがいないのでスタートライン的に平等）エスペラント語をチョイスした、というどうでもいい設定があります。

By the way, originally, the developers of Demondal wanted to set the spirit language as Latin, but it was mind-bendingly difficult, so they switched to Esperanto, as it"s a simpler language with no exception rules. Also, because it"s an artificial language, there are no native speakers, so there"s the added benefit of having the same starting line for everyone"s knowledge of the language. And there"s the irrelevant backstory behind the choosing of Esperanto.

It wasn"t like the author fell into despair learning Latin or anything, okay? It"s true! …Really!

Editor"s Note:

“Kelstein used psychic on Edda! It"s super effective!”

Annnnnd we"re back! Happy (very belated) New Years! We should resume a semi-weekly release schedule, but then again, if all the chapters were like this section then I"m kinda screwed… so note the sidebar! Please leave a rating or review on if you"re enjoying the story, and thanks for reading~

Also, I think I know how this is going to turn out, but here"s a poll: