novelraw Chapter 64 : Eden, the Garden (3)
Chapter 64 : Eden, the Garden (3)
Chapter 64: Eden, the Garden (3)
“Wahaha! Handsome brother, you’re so funny! I like you!”
“Hah? You’re out of your mind!”
“Kyaahaha!”
“Big brother! Play with me more!”
“Hah? Are you trying to kill me!”
“Kyak!”
Nike played well with the children. Maybe it was because they were on the same level. The children quickly tired out and fell asleep leaning against him.
Nike, also weary, closed his eyes and leaned against the wall of the carriage.
“The children… They really like the young man. Thank you. I’m not good at playing with them.”
Nike gave no answer. He seemed to have fallen asleep as well. Elena answered in his stead.
“Nike is just that charming. He captivates everyone, regardless of age or gender.”
“Haha! Is that so? What an enviable gift.”
Elena stroked Nike’s hair. Hestia glared at her hand with an unkind gaze.
“If only I had that young man’s charm as well…”
The coachman muttered bitterly to himself. Elena, acting on her professional instincts, inquired.
“What do you mean? It sounds like there’s a story behind that.”
“…The truth is, the children’s mother ran away.”
“What?”
The coachman drove slowly on. The road to Jibria was rough. The carriage jolted and rattled every few moments.
“Oh dear.”
“…”
Elena sighed, and Hestia quietly pricked up her ears. The subject of “mother” was something that deeply interested her.
“I thought I did my best. I raised the children without letting them lack anything… I truly loved my wife too.”
“And then?”
“…One day she ran away to start a new household with another man.”
Elena lowered her head in sympathy. Hestia’s brows furrowed. It was hard to believe.
Outwardly Elena looked pitying, but inwardly she was thrilled. Living in the Hall of the City God, when could she ever hear such raw, unfiltered stories?
Even in ordinary moments, there was no room for boredom. Indeed, life in the Hall was dull.
“Do you know what kind of man he was?”
“No. I don’t. I only heard… that he lives in Jibria.”
“Ah— I see.”
The coachman gripped the reins tightly. Whatever he wanted, finding his runaway wife was the only way to resolve it.
“I hope you can get what you seek. I’ll pray to the Sun God for you.”
“…Thank you. You must be from the Holy Land. You are very devout.”
“Of course I am.”
“Haha.”
While the coachman and Elena shared easy banter, Hestia suddenly blurted out.
“…She must have had her reasons. She must have.”
“…What?”
The coachman turned in disbelief. Hestia looked at him with a faint expression of blame.
“What did you just say?”
“…There could have been some misunderstanding. Or your wife might have had circumstances she couldn’t tell you about.”
“Hestia, surely not.”
As the coachman’s expression hardened, Elena stepped in to stop Hestia.
But Hestia didn’t back down. She looked utterly serious, as if someone had touched a conviction inside her.
She was so grave that the coachman didn’t even think to get angry. After a moment of thought, he sighed.
“…Maybe you’re right. Maybe I… couldn’t perform at night? Hahaha! Perhaps I should have eaten something good for my health!”
“…”
“…”
Elena looked at Hestia. Hestia had buried her face in her knees, looking depressed.
Elena’s eyes narrowed.
‘…This girl.’
She had discerned that Hestia was peculiarly sensitive whenever it came to mothers.
* * *
“Thank you for the ride.”
“Haha, not at all. It was on my way. I should be the one to thank you for playing with the children and looking after them!”
Nike and his group arrived at Jibria. Thanks to the coachman, the journey has been easier.
“Bye, brother~! See you again, okay?”
“Big brother, play with us again!”
“That’s a hassle!”
“Kyaahaha!”
The coachman’s family disappeared down an alley. The coachman had a sickle strapped at his waist.
Elena and Hestia silently watched his retreating back.
Everyone had their own story.
No one else had the right to interfere.
That was an individual’s life.
Clap! Elena clapped her hands to gather attention.
“Now then, I’ll rest in the shade. The two of you go and gather information.”
“Information?”
“About the Witch of Motherhood. There’s supposed to be a nest near this village. The people here must know.”
“Wasn’t Elena the one who knew!”
“The only thing I know is that Nike is adorable.”
“You’re out of your mind!”
Nike smiled and turned away.
Hestia followed him with a dark expression.
This village was similar to the one she had often roamed in the past.
Perhaps it was because of the Hebra territory’s distinctive architecture, but it didn’t feel strange.
Though it was her first visit, it gave her the illusion that traces of her past were everywhere.
The grain storehouses where she had played hide-and-seek, the streams full of frogs, even the dirty market. Everything was just as it had been years ago.
‘…No way.’
No, it was exactly the same.
If someone told her the village had been drawn and reconstructed years later, she would believe it.
‘But this is a different village, isn’t it?’
The village she had lived in was called Nephel Village of the Hebra territory.
This place was Jibria Village, also of the Hebra territory.
The locations were clearly different, and time had passed.
Yet how could they be identical? Hestia was confused.
She grabbed Nike’s sleeve.
“…Nike.”
“Ah? Tia.”
“Doesn’t something feel wrong here?”
Nike looked around at her words. He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.
“It’s strange.”
“…Really? What part?”
In situations like this, there was no one more reliable than Nike. He saw things others couldn’t.
“The people here. They’re all young.”
“…Huh?”
Nike pointed at them.
There was an old man selling fruit and an old woman chatting. A hunter had just returned from his hunt, and children were playing ball.
“What…?”
Hestia didn’t understand.
The village had people of all ages. What did he mean, they were all young?
Nike crossed his arms and sighed.
“Tia, are you stupid? They’re all kids!”
“...”
Sweat ran down Hestia’s back.
No matter how ridiculous it sounded, she knew Nike never spoke without reason.
‘All young…?’
Which meant… this whole village was wrong.
‘…Let’s calm down for now.’
Hestia swallowed hard. She tried to close her eyes and steady herself.
The opponent was the Witch of Motherhood.
The Sacrificial Mother, Dionea.
A monster among monsters, close to the fifth rank of witches. It wouldn’t be strange for her to do something bizarre on the scale of an entire village.
And if she had built her nest so close to the Holy Land, she must have grown even stronger.
‘…Or maybe she has some wicked plan.’
The Order of the Sacred Iron Chains had sent hunters several times, but none had ever returned. Now Hestia began to understand why.
The signs were ominous.
She looked at the villagers as Nike said. Outwardly, they went about their daily lives like any ordinary imperial village.
‘…Wait.’
But as she focused, oddities appeared.
The old man didn’t act like an old man.
Though he looked eighty, he skipped lightly when going to the next stall.
The bearded hunter, blood still on him, shyly crossed his legs and knocked at the hall door.
The boys playing ball kicked clumsily, as if they had never run before.
“…These people.”
They all looked like little girls.
She saw a bashful girl in the old man.
She smelled immaturity in the hunter.
The expressions of the old women were innocent.
Hestia’s pupils shook. Her reason and preconceptions crumbled.
“Tia.”
Nike grabbed her shoulders and shook her. He had called her several times already, but she was too shaken to answer.
“H-Haha…”
Her breathing grew ragged. She took a step back. The situation itself was frightening.
Everything in the village was too artificial, too unnatural.
“Tia. Wake up. Calm down! Calm down!”
“…Ah? Oh, y-yeah.”
Hestia touched her burning cheeks. She had embarrassed herself in front of Nike. Thinking of her mother had clouded her judgment.
“Let’s ask. This is our mission.”
“…Right.”
For now, it was only suspicion. She might be mistaken.
The best way was to ask directly.
“Hey!”
Nike approached the fruit seller.
“…Yes?”
The old man flinched. His weak voice and hunched shoulders made him look frail.
“By any chance, do you know the Wit— mmph!”
Hestia covered his mouth before he could say the word “witch” out loud. She stepped forward quickly.
“…We’re travelers. We’ve heard strange rumors in the area. Is it true?”
The old man already had a silver coin in his hand, pressed there by Hestia. A common way of buying information, just as her teacher Maximilian had taught her.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, um, it’s uh…”
The gossiping old woman shoved the fruit seller aside and appeared. She seemed to be his wife. She frowned and glared at Nike and Hestia.
“And who are you? Disturbing honest folk’s business?”
“…We’re not here to disturb you. We only want to ask something.”
Hestia replied calmly. But the old woman was unusually wary. Hestia noticed the odd tension.
“Are you picking a fight?”
When the woman got aggressive, Nike frowned. He never let open hostility pass.
Often enough, this kind of reaction worked.
“W-What do you want.”
When Nike pushed back, the woman shrank a little and answered. The fruit seller kept glancing at her nervously.
“…We’re asking about the strange rumors.”
Hestia asked again, calmly. The old woman pushed the fruit seller behind her and whispered.
“…Are you talking about the garden?”
“…The garden?”
She lowered her voice.
“The flower field. Go out the north gate and follow the stream, and you’ll find a hill covered in blue flowers. They say people have been disappearing there… but I don’t know much.”
“Disappearing… Who disappeared?”
Hestia frowned.
It seemed connected to the Witch of Motherhood. The location of her nest was becoming clear.
“Hahaha! Disappearing? They’re just foolish lambs straying from the flock. Someone’s taking them in and raising them. Why ask, foolish lambs?”
Suddenly the fruit seller burst into laughter.
The timidity was gone.
He laughed like a child, clutching his belly. The old woman pinched his thigh and covered his mouth.
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
“…Don’t mind him. His mind wanders sometimes.”
“Idiot I see!”
“…I see. Is there nothing else you can tell us? Who disappeared?”
Hestia turned away from the old man with discomfort and asked again. The old woman forced him to be quiet and hesitated.
“I don’t know. Please leave now. We have nothing else to say. I’m afraid if we say more, we might be in danger ourselves.”
“…I see.”
“Go on and leave this place. Don’t think of going there. Go back, miss. Shoo.”
“Hahaha! The more you say not to, the more people want to go! Isn’t that right, foolish lamb! Hahaha!”
“This crazy old man. Get inside! Go sleep!”
The old man’s outburst left the old woman groaning. It wasn’t the time to ask further, so Hestia turned away along with Nike.