Side Story 38. Anemone Smiled Brightly (14)
The holy land that was hosting the Harvest Day was full of energy.
As we stepped out onto the street, we wandered and looked around. Even though he’d eaten just a short while ago, Doomstone started showing interest in various foods he saw, like the freshly picked fruits and cookies made from recently-harvested wheat.
"Are all Crows big eaters? Or is it just you who eats a lot?”
To my question, Doomstone dropped a cookie in his mouth, swallowed, and answered, "Rather than people from my hometown eating a lot, don’t people from the Empire eat very little?"
It seems that all Crows eat a lot.
Doomstone pondered, then smirked. "I guess that maybe it makes sense since we have different levels of activities? Oh, come to think of it, the magician ahjumma next door said that our muscle tissue was naturally developed in a specific way, making us consume higher amounts of calories or something. Something like that.”
I also didn't understand all of the incomprehensible words that the magician said, but roughly based on what I heard, it seemed that a lot of food was needed to maintain the Crows’ innate power.
"When we talk, you often speak about the magician ahjumma next door. I guess you're close to her?"
"Yeah, my father is the chief, but there is no area in the village’s affairs where that ahjumma is not involved. She's a completely nosy, foul-mouthed granny."
Considering he called her a granny, their age difference seemed to be significant.
"Come to think of it, I heard that ahjumma is quite famous outside the forest."
"She’s famous?"
There were about five famous Crow magicians in the empire, but there was only one elderly female magician.
"Is her name Mirpa Ainsmall?" I guessed.
Doomstone’s eyes opened wide in surprise. "I suppose she really is well-known. I can't believe you knew who it was just from me saying that she’s famous."
"Of course! She’s a great madosa; there are only four great madosas in the whole world! And also, isn’t she a little too old to be called an ahjumma?”
I didn't know her specific age, but from my knowledge, she was at least 120 years old. It was fascinating that she’d lived up to this point because she was an active magician even during the advent of the Demon King 100 years ago.
"That's true. But when you call that ahjumma a granny, she always curses like crazy and beats me up like a dog, so calling her an ahjumma has become a habit."
"She hits you?"
A great madosa famed for being noble and wise? She curses and beats you like a dog?
When I was surprised, Doomstone grumbled, "That ahjumma is really strong. She’s probably stronger than my father. In strength, she would rank in the top three in the village for sure. I heard that when she was young, she was ignored for not learning martial arts and using magic instead, but now no one can say anything."
It's shocking that a great madosa was ignored. Still, it felt strange to hear such vivid stories about people in the past. It was as if I was in a fairy tale.
"Oh! What's that? A puppet?”
Doomstone seemed interested in the puppet shows on the street. The puppet show displayed the founding story of the Last Queen and the Traitorous Knight.
Honestly, ever since I was young, they played the same story every holiday to the point I was tired of it. So I knew everything that would happen without even needing to look at it.
"Oh, that. It's a puppet show where an actor moves a puppet and acts. The content of the play is about the black-haired knight who betrayed the last queen at the end of the Holy Kingdom’s era, the predecessor of the Empire."
In the story, the founder defeats the knight who betrayed the queen and offered his sword to her, but due to the wounds she'd suffered from the betrayal, the queen dies. In her last will, the queen asks the founder to lead the country, but her servants say they cannot follow the founder as he isn’t a member of the Holy Tribe, and they split up the country. In the end, the story ends with the Holy Kingdom being divided into three countries: the Empire, Republic, and Imperial State.
"Hmm... A black-haired knight at the end of the Holy Kingdom’s era,” Doomstone muttered with a strange expression.
"What? Is there something on your mind?”
"No, I don't know if it was at the end of the Holy Kingdom, but there was a person amongst my ancestors who went to the Holy Kingdom."
"Really? Then, is the traitorous knight from the Crow Tribe?" I smiled and joked.
"I don't know. Is that knight’s name perhaps Caron?"
I shook my head. "No, I heard it was Mordred.”
Although I wasn’t a historian, the name Mordred was embedded in my ear from hearing it in the play. Even now, the actor of the puppet show was shouting Mordred’s name, asking why he betrayed them.
Doomstone smiled lightheartedly. "Then I guess it's not him. Anyways, if it’s the guy my grandfather talked about, he wouldn’t have betrayed them. Rather, I heard that he was betrayed, so there’s no way he would be called a traitorous knight, right?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. When I was young, I saw a strange bracelet and a horn in my grandfather's drawer, and at that time, I was told the horn was from the Demon King, and the bracelet was a relic of a person named Caron.”
I see... Hold on. The horn of the Demon King? You have that in your house? Ah, his grandfather was the warrior. I often forgot that fact because we interacted so candidly with each other. Now that I think about it, it didn't seem to be particularly important.
"In fact, as a Caron, he shouldn't have left the village, but he said he didn't want to be stuck in the holy place where there’s nothing and ran away."
"Is Caron like a title, not a name?"
"Uh... No, it is a name, but there is a tradition of naming the holy place keeper as Caron from generation to generation. Well, it's a tradition that my father got rid of. Now he has set up a holy place management office with multiple people to take care of it."
After saying this, Doomstone pointed to a tent and asked me, "What's that? That cotton ball smells sweet."
The tent that Doomstone pointed to was a street stall operated by the temple. It was selling cotton candy at a low price, and this was a snack that was hard to come across even for nobles.
"That's cotton candy. It's a candy made of melted sugar that’s turned into threads, then clumped together."
To extract white cotton candy, you needed white sugar, which was very expensive. In addition, extracting sugar threads required magic, which made cotton candy even more expensive. Was the temple full of rotting money for it to sell cotton candy at such a low price?
"Oh! Is it edible?”
Watching the surprised Doomstone, I felt a little playful. "Of course~! It's a famous candy that feels like you're eating clouds!”
I didn’t like cotton candy very much because it just tasted sweet since it was only a lump of sugar. It was a popular snack in social circles that liked to exaggerate and chat about minor things.
"Really?!" Doomstone’s eyes glistened, and he looked back and forth between the cotton candy and me.
I couldn't hold back my laughter at the sight. "Puhut! Do you want to eat it that much?"
How cute. As he blushed slightly, Doomstone denied this, perhaps realizing from my laughter that I was making fun of him.
"No, I don’t!"
However, his gaze was still fixed on the cotton candy. If you want to eat it, you can honestly say that you want to eat it. Ah, was it because I teased him?
"Really? If not, there's nothing I can do. Should I just buy some for me?”
"Oh, no! That's not it..."
I smiled jovially at the flustered Doomstone. "It's tastier if we eat it together. Will you have some with me?"
Doomstone nodded vigorously with a bright smile, then coughed in vain. "Ahem! If you’re asking me, then I can.”
I smiled at the sight and approached the tent to buy cotton candy.
"Huh? Lutein ahjussi?"
In the tent run by the temple, the husband of the high priest couple was making cotton candy. Coincidentally, this was the same person who I was going to visit eventually.
Lutein ahjussi was hard at work stirring with a wooden stick and winding the sugar thread when he heard his name and looked at me. "... Who are you?"
Oh, right. I was wearing a wig, had a hat pressed down on my head, and was even wearing sunglasses.
I took off my hat and wig and slightly lowered my sunglasses, smiling with my eyes. "Do you recognize me if I do this?"
"That sky blue hair. Is it Lady Anemone?"
When Lutein ahjussi recognized me and grew surprised, I put on my sunglasses and hat again. Lutein ahjussi also had sky blue hair, so few people would distinguish me by hair color.
"It's been a while, Ahjussi."
To my greeting, Lutein ahjussi put aside the cotton candy he was making and held my hand, smiling brightly. "Ahahaha! I didn't know I'd meet you here, Miss! So Miss was safe! A person I know worried a lot."
"Oh my, and Ahjussi didn’t?" I asked mischievously.
Lutein ahjussi laughed pleasantly. "Ahahaha! Still the same as ever. Of course, I was worried, too."
Lutein ahjussi answered skillfully and looked around. "Did you perhaps come all the way here by yourself? Did General Glont-nim or Captain Don Clio-nim not come here?”
I pointed toward Doomstone and said, "He’s not Glont ahjussi or Don Clio ahjussi, but I'm here with a reliable escort, so don't worry too much."
Doomstone was a superman who would easily overpower them even if Glont ahjussi and Don Clio ahjussi, the captain of the White Tiger Knights, attacked at the same time. However, seeing that he somehow managed to get in a fight with Roland, the guardian knight of Arthemius, perhaps he would come at Don Clio ahjussi later.
"Uh-huh-huh, is that so?" Lutein ahjussi smiled and asked, but the smile seemed to contain distrust toward Doomstone.
Well, it would be odd for him to think that a stranger was reliable when he’s never seen them in a fight.
I beckoned for Doomstone to come closer. "This is Doomstone, my friend."
Doomstone bowed his head and greeted, "Nice to meet you. My name is Doomstone."
"This is Lutein ahjussi. He's such a high-level priest that he can even strive to be the cardinal."
At my introduction, Lutein ahjussi scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "Ahahaha! I am called Archbishop Lutein. Nice to meet you."
Lutein ahjussi shook hands with Doomstone and continued, "And it's not to that extent. Priests like me are overflowing in the holy land. And someone more prominent than me has already become the cardinal."
I was surprised by what Lutein ahjussi said. "Oh my, who is it?"
"He’s named Fernando. He is a man of great faith and also the head of a religious heretic inquisitor team. He became the cardinal.”
This was a bit unplanned. I thought Lutein ahjussi would, of course, become the cardinal. If I knew this would happen, I would have lobbied in advance. I made a mistake.
Perhaps having guessed what I thought, Lutein ahjussi smiled. "Uh-huh-huh-huh. Cardo Fernando is a man of integrity and has the admiration of many priests, so I stepped down."
Fernando, the heretic inquisitor, was also one of the most prominent hard-liners and amongst the temple’s top five battle priests. Since he had occupied the vacant cardinal position, the moderates and the hard-liners took up exactly half of the cardinal positions each.
"By the way, where is the Missus? You've always been together, but why is she away today?" I asked.
Lutein ahjussi replied with a warm smile. "My wife should be walking around with our granddaughter to enjoy the Harvest Day."
"Ah! Come to think of it, you said Unni had a baby, right?”
I also knew and got along well with Lutein ahjussi's daughter. She had a pretty weak personality, unlike ahjussi and ahjumma, but considering she got married and had a child, she seemed to be living well.
"Yes. Vibrio is already three years old. She's so cute that I don't think it'll hurt even if I spoil her a little."
"Really? I would like to meet her once."
I wonder if that child also has sky blue hair?
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