In the last month of winter, snow covered the ground like a white blanket. He moved and felt a childlike joy every time he looked in the footprints left behind by his tall boots.
After his conversation with Sivina and Ana, he went out into the front garden and came to the cart to wait for them to get ready. Their journey today involved four people, including Bart.
He would leave Yurine at the Virgo Cathedral and leave her for a short time, even though he did not want to do so, even though his mind and heart would remain there and he would worry constantly.
He remembered the last time he had been separated from her for a short time, the epileptic seizure and the aftermath. It was the first time he realized that Yurine cared about him.
Kigaro and Dimen, as Yurine's bodyguards, would be with her at all times during Yu's absence. Yu had ordered them never to leave Yurine alone, even if Leoral, still at the cathedral, insisted.
Kigaro and Dimen would have obeyed Yu even if the Pontifex himself had come against them. They had bonded during their migration and he was sure they would never let Yurine out of their sight.
“Are the ladies ready?” Bart asked.
“They are still preparing.”
“They need some time to recover from the shock.”
The two men beside the carriage were also dressed in black. The only difference was that unlike Yu, Bart had a beret on his head. Yu's ears were cold because he hadn't thought of buying a beret.
Now if someone else were to give him his beret, Yu would refuse it because he didn't want to wear what someone else was wearing.
But if the person who gave him his stuff was a pretty girl, he would have accepted it.
He should have taken the carriage so as not to expose his ears to the cold any longer. The carriage Yu had bought from Libra was also white and very comfortable inside, and the walls didn't let the cold in. He opened the carriage door and was about to get in when Bart stopped him.
“Mr. Valarfin.”
One foot was inside the cart, the other outside. He turned his head and looked at Bart. Instead of looking at him, Bart was looking at the brown horse tied in the middle of the two rinos pulling the cart.
“Can we talk?”
He pulled his foot back and closed the car door. He took a few steps in front of Bart and looked at the horse he was tending.
“Let's see what he has to say.”
Horse was a young female. She had brown hair and mane, but she had white hair on her chest, face and feet. Yu thought that the white on the horse's coat made her look more aesthetic than she really was. She was certainly prettier than the two rinos next to her.
“The horse that Lady Rie cared for grew and developed while she was away. Now I'm trying to get her used to rinos so she won't be afraid.”
“What's her name?”
"Virgo."
“I guess Rie was not good at coming up with creative names. But it's a good name.”
He liked the name Virgo. It wasn't because he was a Virgo, Yu didn't believe in horoscopes. To be honest, he didn't know why he liked it either, it just sounded good to him.
“Probably because the English version is cool.”
The word virgo, after which a city here was named, means spike in English.
“Did you take that horse now?”
“Uh, no. I thought the little lady would probably want it, so I started training her.”
“If there's no owner, I'll take the horse.”
He was not a person who liked animals and was not good with them. Nevertheless, he liked the look and the name of the horse. Although he was afraid of being bitten, he put his hand near the horse's head and began to stroke its mane. The horse whinnied slightly and Yu kept stroking it.
“What will the young lady say to that?”
“She'll let me.”
He didn't think Yurine would deny him for an animal. Maybe she wouldn't want to give it to someone else because it was her mother's horse, but she wouldn't mind if it was Yu.
“I think, probably, probably, probably, ninety-nine point nine percent, she wants me to be with Rie because she sees me as her father. It's like she wants to give me her mother and she's not going to reject me for her horse...”
“I know how to drive rinos, but is driving horses like driving rinos?”
“It's almost the same. I would even say it is more difficult to ride a rino. If you know how to ride them, you'll get used to the horse in no time.”
“I liked Virgo, even though I can't be a knight on a white horse because she is brown. She is a beautiful horse and I like the white spots.”
If she didn't have white spots, she would have been an ordinary horse, but these spots were his ornament.
“Then can you help me learn? And if it's like you say, you won't have to try very hard.”
“I will.”
When he realized that Bart didn't trust him, he decided to apply a technique he had seen on the Internet.
One day when he was bored, he was surfing the internet and came across content about manipulation. Although he could not remember the story of one of the content he came across, he remembered the technique he saw.
Of course, the technique was not going to suddenly make Bart love him and be devoted to him with a fierce loyalty. In any case, the only way to achieve such a strong devotion in an instant was through magic that transcends human perception, or through fraud, as Yu did with Kigaro.
But if it would soften Bart's thoughts and make it easier for Bart to trust him, the technique was worth a try.
The technique was simply based on one person asking for a favor from another person with whom they had a bad relationship.
If the favor requested was large, it could be refused, but most people would not refuse a small request that could be easily accomplished.
When the targeted person accepts the request, the subconscious mind thinks that it has invested in the relationship with the other person and does not want its investment to be wasted.
He was aware that he was not trusted by Bart, and when Bart wanted to talk, he could more or less guess the subject of the conversation. That's why he had asked him for help with riding before he started on the main topic. He thought this would make him more open to being trusted.
“So, what do you want to talk to me about?”
He took his hand off the horse's mane and turned to face Bart. Bart fixed his gray eyes on Yu.
“I want to know who you are and how you met the young lady.”
“As I guessed.”
It was not a surprising request. Like Bart, everyone in the cathedral wanted it. Even Sivina and Ana and Kigaro and the other roarons wanted it, because Yu Valarfin was a man who came out of nowhere and suddenly became a part of everyone's lives.
“Yu Valarfin, I'm not from around here”
He wouldn't believe him if he told him where he was from.
“Where do you come from?”
“İ-”
A single letter came out of his mouth and then he fell silent. He had told Sivina and Ana that he was from İlonya. When Ana said she was from İlonya too, the conversation moved to ‘Which part of İlonia?’ and Yu was put in a difficult position.
He did not want to make the same mistake now. Besides, he had told the man he met on his way into the city that he was from the Storm Kingdom in order to present a more convincing story. He could get in trouble if he gave everyone a different address.
“It is a generally green place with four seasons. I don't want to talk too much about it.”
His inability to answer such a simple question put him at the bottom of the list of people who could be trusted, but if it later turned out that he was giving people different place names, he would be close to impossible to trust.
Of course what they said was true. He came from a green country with four seasons and he didn't want to talk about where he came from.
Before Bart could continue asking him questions, he started to tell his story.
“You know young people, they are looking for excitement. When I lost my parents, I had no reason to stay in my hometown, so I decided to leave home and go on an adventure. I ended up in Rolderhelm.”
Even though he was partly telling the truth, he had doubts about whether Bart believed him.
Now it was time for the least plausible part of the story, but it would be incomplete as he believed it would not be accurate to mention that Rie and Yurine were secretly moving underground.
“One night I crossed paths with Rie, her apprentice and the young lady. The apprentice was badly injured and the young lady was unable to heal him. Rie asked for my help and we ran to the nearest place, the Sigma Tower. What we didn't know was that we were walking into a trap. There Rie was killed and I took the young lady and escaped.”
“The lady was murdered? That's not what they said.”
“And you shall not tell anyone about this.”
He dropped the 'you' language and switched to 'you' language and gave a clear command.
“Then the young lady asked me for help and I became her butler. I told you this story because you wanted to trust me, it would not be good to wonder more.”
It was not hard to see from his sour face how displeased Bart was to be taking orders from someone so much younger and inexperienced than himself.
“Can I ask you one last thing?”
“Something simple.”
“Why are you with the young lady? What's in it for you?”
The question was simple enough for him to answer without thinking. It was also the impression made his lips curl upwards in glee. Everyone was surprised that Yurine loved someone other than her mother.
“Because I think of her as my daughter.”
His voice was cheerful. That was one of the reasons why he was there for her and why he was trying to make her wish come true, even if it meant risking his life.
His own desires and the prospect of reward were involved, he did not deny that, but if he did not love Yurine, he would not have risked his life to save someone he had only known for one night.
“Do you have to have a vested interest to stand by someone? The young lady and I are both people who have lost loved ones. In this loneliness, isn't it inevitable that we stand side by side against the difficulties that await us?”
There was no way he could leave Yurine after the Sigma Tower because he was aware that she had also become a kind of Yu Valarfin. Yu was actually standing by Yurine's side, but he was also standing by his past, having lost his sisters months ago.
“But you are right,” he said. This time the joy in his voice was replaced by a mixture of grief and seriousness. “I have a vested interest. When I create that perfect world, even if I am going to die, I will be able to say ‘at least it all made sense, my life was not wasted.’ But of course we shouldn't be that much pessimistic, I'm sure everything will be fine. I love Yurine, I want to have a long life, marrying with a good girl and having children. Then Yurine shall have brothers and sisters and they shall play together while I watch it with a smile on my face. A good life, that’s what I want her to give me.”
When he came to a different world, all he left behind were nothing but memories that now hurt him to remember.
When he met Rie, he liked her and thought he could start a new life with her. Then the future he had envisioned was buried in the ashes of the Sigma Tower.
Yu Valarfin, who survived the Sigma Tower, was a big zero. He didn't even have a past in the world he came from. He didn't have friends or a purpose, but Yurine gave him feelings he didn't think he would feel anymore, became a friend and gave him purpose.
Now all he had was his daughter and he wanted to see her happy, but that was not all he wanted. There were also other reasons, such as self-gratification and to ease his conscience. And being happy.
He smiled as he thought of a world where Yurine played with her siblings. Even though he knew it would hard to happen, maybe never.
“It's nice to imagine.”
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
His imagination left his mind and settled on his face as a pure smile.
“But I must remember that what I want to touch is a star.”
“Is there anything else you want to ask? If they are simple questions like the ones I just asked, I can answer them.”
“There are many things I want to ask, but I think you will find them all difficult.”
He got behind Bart and opened the door of the carriage to which the two dinosaurs were tied.
“The young lady said you helped me after I fainted, thank you.”
Bart nodded slightly and, having nothing more to say, climbed into the driver's side of the car. Yu, unable to satisfy his curiosity, got into the car and waited for Sivina and Ana.
“To think that my life was not wasted before I die?” Yu leaned his head against the glass and closed his eyes. “I'd rather not die at all, but...”
Before he could think too much, the door opened and he opened his eyes and looked at the arrivals. Sivina and Ana walked in, both avoiding eye contact with Yu and Sivina was a little nervous.
“Actually, I should be ashamed too, I peeped at you.”
The car started to move as Ana closed the door behind Sivina. Yu opened the curtains wide to let the light in.
It seemed that if Yu didn't say something, neither girl would speak for the rest of the trip and they would have a very quiet journey. Everyone fell silent as their car moved along the forest road and the side streets, and when they entered the highway, Yu started talking.
“Ana, I have an idea.”
At the mention of her name, Ana felt like jumping. Swallowing, she looked at Yu, but she was too embarrassed to look into his eyes, so she followed the movement of his lips.
“She's so fucking cute!”
“Remember when I told you to be a knight? I've decided to shelve the idea of knighthood, but I don't want you to be a servant.”
“What are you going to do?”
Ana sounded like an insecure teenager who had locked herself in her room and was talking to someone for the first time in weeks.
“Her shyness made her even more beautiful.”
“How would you like to be a priestess?”
Yu crossed one leg over the other and leaned back.
Priests and priestess were in a position where people respected them and technically they were supposed to be chaste, but after what he had just seen, he wasn't sure he could use the word chaste for Ana. Still, he had no better choice than her.
“Girl to girl, I guess that’s okay for being priestess.”
“Me? But why?”
“Mr. Valarfin, please don't joke...” Sivina clenched her fists.
She too was embarrassed to look at Yu. Sivina and Ana must have thought Yu was joking, while Yu felt incredibly attracted to them.
“I'm not kidding. Our group needs priests and priestesses. Think of all the people coming to be baptized, how can Yurine baptize them all? Or when the churches attached to the cathedral open, who will stand there? Or who will preach to the people? The cardinal cannot do all these things alone. We need clergy, and Ana is the only one who is suitable.”
Yurine's role was cardinal, Yu's was butler, Sivina's was knight and the roarons were soldiers. Since they already had servants, it was fitting that Ana should take the role of priestess.
“Are you going to send A-Ana... You're going to send her somewhere else?”
“Am I that cruel in your eyes? No, I won't send Ana anywhere. She needs to be with us, that's her job.”
Taking Ana away from them meant taking away a trusted guardian.
“The priesthood is just a role, just like my role as butler and your role as knight. For now, that role needs to be filled and Ana is ideal for that. Your first job and Ana's first job is to protect Yurine and help us reach our goal. This whole war will end and there will be a happy ending, that's what we're all about.”
“Even though your present selves will not see that end, maybe I will strive for your selves in the next world. Yes, I can do that as a reward.”
“I don't know Zodian religion. I haven't even read the holy book,” Ana said.
Yu had read the book before he came here. Surprised that Ana had lived in the Virgo Cathedral for almost three months and hadn't read it, he replied with a laugh.
“Oh, what's the big deal? The people you will be dealing with will not have read the book anyway. It's not like the Pontifex is going to come and test you.”
Ignoring the fantastic elements, the level of the country was about the same as in the Middle Ages, and the low literacy rate was an obvious fact. Almost all the people they met on the street had not read The Whisper of the Stars.
“Anyway, everywhere in the world the basic rules are clear; you tell people that ‘you don't lie, you don't steal, you don't eat other people's rights’ and so on and so forth. I don't think you can go wrong. If they ask you a knowledge question, you can say something about angels, heaven or something like that.”
These things should not have been difficult for her to do. In fact, most of her sermons were simple moralizing, and every now and then she would shake a few things out of her head and no one would check whether it was true or false, they would just believe it.
“But when you make them, make them logical, so that you can use them later. Be careful not to contradict yourself in the future.”
“But that would be lying,” Ana said.
“You want her to say people ‘don't lie’ while you want her to lie, that's wrong,” Sivina said.
“She's going to tell a few pink lies, as if you've never told a little lie.”
“I mean... I believe all religions are like that. Besides, what's the harm in a few pink lies? It's not like anyone is going to go and verify it. If you don't want to lie, you can read the book.”
“Mr. Valarfin.”
For the first time since entering the vehicle, Sivina looked up and looked Yu in the eyes.
“Are you a liar?”
“Where did this come from all of a sudden?”
She couldn't understand why Sivina had become so serious, what kind of answer did she expect? Everyone lied.
“I lie like everyone else.” If he claimed that he was not lying, then he would have lied. “But I don't tell lies that upset people... I mean, at least I try not to... I'll tell lies like that if I have to...”
When something vital happened, Yu didn't hesitate to lie, even if it upset someone. At least that's how it was in this world.
“Still, I don't hide what they deserve from people who deserve it, or make up lies that cause problems. How many people aren't like that?”
“Just because others have done wrong does not justify you doing the same.”
Sighing, he spoke from inside. “Have you never lied?”
Not wanting to prolong the conversation, he broke eye contact with Sivina and turned to Ana.
“One way or another you will become a priestess. You can do as I say, or you can read the book. You won't have much to do anyway, you'll help baptize and give good advice to people. Occasionally you will help the poor, it's all very simple.”
“W-well.”
***
Leaving the walls of Andromedia behind them, they made their way south-east of the city, near the border between Mora and İlonya.
The roarons had set up camp out of sight. It was near the mountains between Mora and İlonya, and the distance to the city was four hours, including snow, or five if for some reason they had to slow down too much.
According to their plan, they would have to stay here for more than a few months, but now they had a city and the roarons would not stay here much longer.
Yurine could have led them into Andromedia if she had wanted to. It was reassuring to have roaron soldiers loyal to them standing by their side.
But only men were eligible for military service. Most roarons were old, women and children. The men could fight in exchange for food and shelter, but the others received these services completely free of charge.
At this rate, their upkeep would break the bank. Yu wanted to find a way for the other roarons to contribute to production and earn the money he spent on them.
After several hours of little chit-chat, the first sign of their approach to the camp was the peaks of the mountains coming into view. The snow-capped peaks of the mountain ranges along İlonya and the Mora were visible in the distance.
An hour later, they came across a roaron refugee camp built around an abandoned water well.
The gray smoke from the roarons' campfires rose into the sky. The roarons shoveled the snow that had accumulated inside the camp and built white hills outside the camp.
“We're here.”
The journey was quiet, so Sivina and Ana fell asleep with their heads against the wall. They both looked restless in their sleep.
“Wake up, we're here.”
Having failed to wake them up the first time, he raised his voice the second time. Now he had managed to wake them both up.
“Is this it?”
Sivina, Ana and Yu were sitting opposite each other. Ana rubbed her eyes, then poked her head out of the window to her right and looked at the camp they were about to enter. Sivina poked her head out of the window to Yu's right.
“You are standing here as a twenty-first century human, Yu Valarfin, control yourself!”
When they lifted their heads out of the window and looked out over the camp, their backs were bent and their hips turned towards Yu. Yu was excited to see the buttocks he had seen half-naked this morning now in front of him.
If he looked any longer he would start to tremble, so he quickly looked away and started to look out the window to his right.
“Yes.”
Recognizing the white carriage, the roarons allowed it to enter the camp. Bart drove the cart to the camp square and they stopped in the square.
Then the old servant went downstairs and opened the door for Sivina and Ana. After they came out, Yu went downstairs.
“Yu Valarfin?”
The one who called out to him was called Morga. According to roaron tradition, the elders are considered wise, so they had appointed Morga, the oldest roaron among them, as the representative of the roarons.
Morga was a one-eyed, very old lion with a white coat, a hump on his back and a face full of battle scars. He had maybe left a few years to live.
“Hello there.”
Other roarons were gathering around the arriving vehicle. They were curious about the news from the city and wanted to see Yurine.
“Didn't our lady come?”
“Aren't you glad it's just me?”
He knew the answer to the question he asked in a sarcastic voice. Although he had made friends with a few roarons, most of them still disliked him. When a silence fell with no one answering his question, Yu himself broke the silence he had caused.
“No, the young lady stayed in the city.”
Leoral refused to let Yurine go with Yu, saying that there were many more things he wanted to talk to her about.
“Whoreson Leoral, whose daughter are you trying to separate from whose side?”
When Bart, Sivina and Ana looked around and saw that they were surrounded by about a hundred and seventy roarons, they huddled close to Yu. Half of the roarons were children, but suddenly being surrounded by so many half-lions was enough to make them nervous.
“I have some news for you. The leader of this country has given the little lady a city. The city is north of here, and we will leave for it the day after tomorrow.”
His words were followed by murmurs among the roarons. Every voice was different, criticizing the decision. One of the roaron females shouted out what everyone wanted to say.
“You told us we were going into the city here!”
“Don't say stupid things.”
Yu put his hand to his face. Why did demi-lions have to be so stupid?
“What do you want us to do when the lord of the land gives us a city? Should we refuse to take it, saying, 'No, we told the roarons we will enter this city'? Don't worry, as I told you before, you would have to wait a long time to get in here. Where we are going, the governor of the city will be a young lady, so you will be accepted into the city in a short time.”
The roarons had to agree with him. It was better to stay in a house of their own than in a house belonging to someone else, and any objections would only be objections for the sake of objections.
“In three days' time, we will leave before dawn and be in front of Andromedia at dawn, from where we will travel to our new city of Virgo. Get ready.”
Their journey to Virgo would be shorter and easier than their journey from İlonya to Andromedia.
“If that's what the lady wants, we'll go along with it.”
Morga and all the roarons agreed to this. Whether they wanted to or not, their magical pact with Yu gave them no right to say no.
“Who are those you brought with you? Are they the lady's servants?” asked Morga.
“Sort of. Sivina Ecues is Yurine's first knight. You can think of her as the commander of the armies. And Ana Rosegreen is a priestess from the Virgo Cathedral. And he’s Bart, one of the young lady's servant.”
If Virgo Cathedral were considered as a country, Yurine would be its president, Yu its prime minister, and by the same logic Sivina could be made chief of general staff or minister of national defense.
“Now start getting ready.”
Clapping his hands, he told them to disperse. The roarons did not need much time to prepare. They had very few personal belongings and would not have been late even if preparations had started the night before.
But they dispersed as if they had too much to do.
“Bart, you can feed and water the animals here. You two come with me.”
Together the three of them passed the tents of the roarons and entered a lightly wooded area at the end of the camp.
“What are we going to do here?” Sivina asked.
“Sivina, I feel something ominous.”
Ana, a mage, unsurprisingly sensed the dark aura. Yu began to push aside the snow that had accumulated on the ground with his foot and clear the ground. When the snow was cleared, a wooden lid appeared on the ground.
“Yurine's spoils of war.”
When he lifted the lid, black swords appeared. Seeing those swords made Yu feel uneasy, but he still kept the sword Kigaro had given him and planned to use it one day.
“What are these?”
“Like I said, Yurine's spoils of war. After we killed the demons we took their swords.”
“Do they belong to demons!” Ana took Sivina's arm and turned her head, refusing to look at the swords.
“Ah... Unlike Sivina, Ana was an ordinary peasant girl. She must have been superstitious.”
It was similar to the reaction he got when he told her they had encountered demons. Demons really frightened the people of this world.
“Why are you showing me this?”
“Because you're a knight and I'm hoping you know about swords. Are these things that can be used? Or can we make a lot of money selling them?”
Selling swords belonging to demons, the enemies of the gods, in the Mora and other theocratic countries would have been difficult and dangerous, but worth the risk if they could fetch a high price.
Instead of approaching the swords, Sivina examined them from a distance.
“Having these here could get us into trouble.”
“But I think they are too valuable to throw away.”
Sivina replied after some thought.
“There are churches in Elhaven, but they are not so dominant there. You can sell swords more easily in Elhaven.”
Elhaven was Sivina's homeland. It was located in the south of the map, on the island of El, far from the mainland, and the countries within the island were often at war with each other.
“So we can sell it there. Hmm...” Yu put his left hand to his chin and thought. “But Elhaven is too far away.”
“You don't have to be there to sell. Usually in late spring and early summer traders from Elhaven come to Rolderhelm and İlonya. You can contact the merchants from Elhaven and sell them.”
“How much do you think they're worth?”
“Maybe a thousand gold coins, maybe a little more. If it really belongs to demons, rare things like this will definitely go for a thousand gold coins. It would be more expensive if you sold them directly in Elhaven, but it's a matter of proof. You might have to get it confirmed by mages, any mage like Ana will sense the darkness in them.”
“I was hoping it would be more expensive.”
“When we get to Virgo, I'll have to look for merchants to contact. A thousand gold pieces is good money.”
He closed the lid of the pit where the swords were hidden and camouflaged the surrounding snow by pushing it over the lid with his foot. It would not be nice for intruders to find them.
As they walked towards their car after showing the swords, Yu thought it was time to talk about something he had wanted to talk about for a long time.
Actually, he was going to bring it up on the way here, but he didn't talk about it in the carriage because they were both embarrassed.
“Sivina, how is your training with Ana going?”
“Sword training?”
“Is there anything else you're training her on?”
“N-no." Both girls bowed as they passed between the tents. “It's going well, Ana is a good student.”
“I can fight average enemies,” Ana said.
“Good.”
When they crossed the field of tents and reached the square, Yu stopped walking. As he stopped, Sivina and Ana stopped walking too.
Yu cleared his throat and braced himself, what he was about to say was about to start a difficult process.
“Do you want to train one more person, Sivina?”
“Who?”
“Me.”
The three of them waited without saying anything as the wind hit them. Sivina just stared at Yu's face, then looked him up and down.
But her particular focus was on Yu's shoulder. Even though she couldn't see the curse because his clothes covered him, she knew there was a black stain there.
“What's your answer?”
When Sivina continued to stare straight at Yu without answering, Yu raised his hand and waved it. Sivina took his hand, lowered it and looked at his face.
“You?”
“It’s Yu. Kigaro gave me a sword, I want to know how to use it.”
“But you... Your illness... Your shoulder...”
Yu already knew they would be worried about this, but he was determined. He would get what he wanted, even if they cited his illness.
“And what will Yurine say about this?”
“It will be a surprise for her too.”
He had not yet told Yurine that he wanted to learn how to use a sword. He planned to tell her when he started training.
“Your situation...” Sivina's gaze was on Yu's shoulder. She swallowed and tried to speak of the curse, like a nightmare, but Yu stopped her from speaking.
“Don't worry about my condition, I'm very serious.”
“But there is no mana in your body,” Ana said.
“So?”
“Mr. Valarfin, knights train from childhood. Ana is a mage and has mana in her body, so she can approach them with the training she started last year, but the same is not true for you. Unless you can strengthen yourself with mana, you can only reach an average level among the common soldiers in this country.”
What she said was not unknown to Yu. He had thought it all through and knew that average was the best he could achieve.
“I still want to, please train me with Ana from now on.”
“But-”
"That's an order. You will make me an average warrior."
As his superior, he asserted his authority and gave orders she could not refuse. Yu Valarfin did not want to remain helpless forever.
“One day we will meet again with Sorrow and Joy. When that time comes, I will be the only one who will able to fight.”