***
‘300 years.’
Priestess Roberta thought to herself.
How could a human possibly maintain their youth for such a long period of time?
While she had been galloping on her horse to find Lord Ulrich, she had agonized over her thoughts.
She wondered what she should even ask first. Even though she had heard various stories regarding the individual known as Ulrich, it had been difficult for her to judge what kind of person he might be.
The only thing she had felt certain about was his appearance. If he was three hundred years old, she assumed he would be an elderly man groaning and suffering in the cold wind. However, when she actually faced him, she found herself speechless.
The man who identified himself as Ulrich looked to be twenty at the youngest, and even at a generous estimate, he did not appear to be over twenty-five. He was tall with broad shoulders, and his eyes and hair were as black as pitch.
Was an old man of three hundred years truly contained within this appearance?
“······.”
The rumors that people had gossiped about claiming he was a vampire, the child of a fairy, or that he had dwarf blood mixed in him—were all nothing but nonsense.
To call him a vampire, he was perfectly fine under the sunlight, and he was far too tall to be a dwarf.
Since there were rarely individuals among the fairy half-bloods, namely the Gallus, who had blunt ears, that was at least a possibility; however, the assumption that he was a half-blood did not fit in the first place. He was simply too young. She would rather believe he was a blunt-eared pure-blooded fairy instead.
These were the thoughts that had occurred to her the moment she faced him. Her fleeting thoughts could not find an answer. Therefore, the topic she finally spat out after much deliberation was the very question that many others must have thrown at him before her.“Who are you?”
Ulrich showed a faint, gentle smile.
“Your body looks cold. Let us talk while having some tea.”
He informed the crowd waiting for their sacraments that he would postpone them for a moment. At that, the crowd dispersed, and an old man guided the two of them to a tent, saying he would prepare a place for them.
As they stepped inside, a sudden heat warmed their bodies. There was a stove in the center of the tent, and an iron pipe was used as a chimney to allow the smoke to escape outside.
Ulrich opened the lid of the teapot placed on top of the stove to check its contents.
“The scent is quite strong; will you be alright with it?”
“Pardon? Ah, it is fine.”
He filled a teacup to the brim with tea and handed it to Roberta. She thought to herself, ‘Well, even if the scent is strong, how bad could it be?’ and was about to drink it immediately when she flinched at the pungent, stinging aroma. Even though she only held a single sip in her mouth, tears welled up in her eyes.
“Ugh··· what is this?”
“The people here call it Songhwacha (Pine Pollen Tea).”
“The taste is completely different, though.”
“It is because it was gathered from a mutation.”
Unlike her, he sipped the tea with a nonchalant expression.
“You must have seen the flock of sheep outside.”
The appearance of a cow covered in sheep’s wool came to her mind.“You can think of this Songhwacha in the same way. It was made from the pollen of a pine tree that grew under the influence of the Ice Peninsula, which humans refer to as the Magic Realm. It is hard to say that the taste is good, but since this is the only wild tea tree available, it would be best for you to develop a taste for it. Because in the future, even if you do not want to eat it, you will end up consuming it until you are sick of it.”
“Is that··· so?”
She trembled as she looked at the half-remaining tea. She was already tired of it.
“It is a barren place. One cannot afford to be picky about what they eat.”
“It looks better than what I heard, though.”
What was it that everyone had said?
They had said that there was no Magic Realm quite like this one. They said that there were more monsters than people, and that a cold so intense you could freeze to death continued all year round.
However, the reality she faced was different.
The weather was bearable if one wore layers of clothing, and were they not raising monsters as livestock? Her thought was that it was not at a level to make such a fuss about it being a Magic Realm.
“It is like that now.”
“Are you saying it was not like that in the past?”
“Have you never heard the stories? In Dithmarschen, it sometimes snows all year long. Usually, it repeats a cycle of falling and stopping like dew, so it does not pile up on the ground, but once every few years, a period comes where it piles up as high as a person’s height, making it impossible to find grass to feed the livestock, let alone farm.”
He raised his hand higher than his head.
“The weather becoming this good has only happened within these last few years. The temperature is rising regardless of the season. It seems like a signal that the Little Ice Age is reaching its end, but I suppose it is too early to be certain.”Roberta tilted her head at the term ‘Ice Age.’
“Hmm, the fairies also call this era the Little Ice Age.”
Ulrich poured tea once more and sat on the floor. Perhaps because living on the floor was common here, there were no chairs. Although a carpet had been laid out on the floor, Roberta, who was not used to sitting on the floor, sat down awkwardly with her legs crossed in a half-hearted manner.
“You likely know the method of categorizing the eras.”
“We categorize an era by the time from when an Empire rises until it falls.”
“Correct. That is the most common way humans categorize history, and this current era is the third.
This means that humans have established three empires so far, while simultaneously meaning that two empires have collapsed.”
“And what about the term Little Ice Age?”
“Near the end of the second era, the temperature began to drop. At that time, I was with the fairies, and we began calling it that because it was similar to the Ice Age encountered in the distant past, though unlike then, there was no rapid drop in temperature.”
Roberta took her eyes off the teacup and stared blankly at the Lord. With such a young face, a face where not a single trace of the passing years could be felt, a face that looked younger than her own, he was speaking of past experiences—but that past was 1,400 years ago.
Because this era, the third era, had lasted approximately 1,400 years.
“You are—”
“You have been calling me that for a while now, but call me by my name, Roberta.”
She flinched.
“Do you know me?”
“I exchange contact with Alonzo occasionally. I received word that Marcello, that child, would likely ask him for a recommendation. If that were the case, the only person Alonzo would send is you.”Marcello was the name of the head of the Public Church, the religious order that humans commonly referred to as the Pantheon. Setting aside the fact that he was casually throwing around the name of the Pope—a name even the kings of great nations did not dare call in private—in front of a priestess, he had called an old man who had lived for a hundred years a ‘child.’
“You are curious. No, you must be suspicious. You are wondering who the person in front of you is, and how he can be this young. Is that not right?”
She nodded her head.
“What did Alonzo say regarding me?”
“He did not tell me anything.”
“I see.”
“But the rumors said that the Lord is a three-hundred-year-old half-blood, and the records in the temple said that you came here as a son-in-law three hundred years ago.”
Three hundred years, he muttered to himself.
“I truly have been here for a long time. I did not intend to stay this long. I knew it, but I did not realize that so much time had passed. Because it is a place where change is slow. It feels as if it is standing still.”
He remained lost in thought like that for a long while as he looked down at his teacup before waking from it.
“Right. To answer regarding the half-blood part first, I am not a half-blood.”
“Are you even human?”
“I am human. Although it may be hard to believe.”
He added that he was a pure human.
“The word ‘pure’ is a very strange word. However, if we define purity as not having dwarves or fairies mixed among one's ancestors, then I can be considered the purest of humans.”“How can that be? That is—”
“‘Is it impossible? Could one not simply assume that I was born before humans began living and mingling with other races? I was born in the incredibly distant past. To the extent that the records left behind under the name Ulrich are but a mere fleeting moment.’”
“······.”
At such an absurd claim, a hollow laugh unintentionally leaked out from her.
“‘Your expression is quite a sight to behold,’” he remarked.
She was about to answer that it must be a lie, but he spoke first.
“‘You must be thinking that I am bluffing heavily.’”
“‘I would have believed you if you had simply said that your aging was slow instead.’”
“‘Why is that?’”
“‘Because there is such a thing as common sense in this world.’”
“‘Common sense... those are vague words.’”
Ulrich gestured with his chin as if telling her to continue talking.
“‘According to the scriptures, even after humans received the gift of fire from the foster son of Ganimea and built a civilization, they could not live intertwined with other races and were ostracized.
It is said that they only began to mingle after establishing the first human empire. Do you know just how long ago that was, to be saying such things?’”
“‘If I say I do not know, would that not make me look like a liar?’”
“‘Since many records were lost amidst the chaos, it is not specified exactly when that was, but it is a past so distant that even for fairies, several generations would have passed. Lord Ulrich, what you are saying is an utterly nonsensical story.’”
He nodded his head.“‘It must sound that way to you.’”
It was common sense that humans aged and that even different races would eventually die. There had been countless people who sought after immortality. None among them had achieved their goal before meeting their end.
It was a fact that Ulrich had displayed miraculous behaviors.
The fact that his name was listed in the heavenly register despite not having received priestly orders, and the fact that the Pope and the Bishop treated him with such special care, were truths that went against Roberta’s common sense.
However, that was not enough to make her believe everything that Ulrich said. She merely judged that there was something not entirely nonsensical, some hidden truth that she did not yet know.
‘It might not even be him. Perhaps he is a body double.’
She closely watched his every move and behavior.
“‘But a fact is a fact,’” he said, after emptying his teacup without leaving a single drop.
“‘I either do not speak at all, or I do not tell lies. Because it is bothersome. Think about it. If I truly lived such a long life, how many people like you would there have been? How many times do you think I have repeated these same words?’”
“‘Well. That cannot serve as evidence.’”
“‘Correct. However, Roberta, I have no intention of persuading you. It may sound offensive, but you are not a person of enough value for me to need to lie to. Nor is it to the extent that I must reveal everything. I merely answered because you asked the question.’”
Roberta almost let out another hollow laugh but barely managed to hold it in. Then, she pondered what she should say. She repeatedly opened and closed her mouth as if to throw out words, only to hesitate.
“‘Then why do you not tell me stories of those days? You said that you lived in the distant past and that the past was the first era, did you not? You must have the very history that scholars search for so desperately kept inside your head. Is that not so?’”At her sarcastic tone, he shook his head.
“‘That would be difficult.’”
“‘And why is that?’”
“‘Because it was so long ago that my memories are not intact. Is it not the same for you? Do you clearly remember your childhood experiences? Even yesterday's memories scatter and fly away like smoke if you do not reflect on them, so what would memories even older than that be like?’”
“‘But do at least a few things not come to mind?’”
“‘Well, there are such memories. The problem is that most of them are unreliable. Some memories come to mind vividly, but because they have crumbled like fragments, they have become mixed with dreams or imagination. Someone once said that memories deteriorate into mere recollections because of oblivion. Since I cannot distinguish whether those memories that have turned into recollections are truth or falsehood, I shall not speak of them.’”
Roberta clicked her tongue inwardly, thinking that he was quite silver-tongued.
‘He is avoiding it because it is a bluff.’
She felt that even if she continued the conversation, she would not be able to obtain the answers she desired. Her opponent was making claims that were difficult for her to accept, and there was no evidence to support those claims. Furthermore, she could not exactly intimidate him into spitting out the truth.
‘Did Lord Alonzo know? That I would end up experiencing this kind of situation.’
She believed that he did. He was the person who had previously served as the Chief Priest here.
Unlike his kind-looking impression, he was a cold-headed person on the inside, which was why he had risen to the position of Bishop. There was no way such a person would not have predicted this situation. It had been suspicious ever since he sent her here without telling her a single thing.
“‘Thinking for too long is not necessarily a good thing,’” Ulrich spoke as he tilted the teapot over the empty teacup. When only a few drops fell because it was empty, he put the teapot down and stood up from his seat.“‘In times like that, just accept it. Do not think too much. Sometimes, if you stop worrying and watch the situation flow, the answer is found on its own.’”
The very person who had turned her head upside down was saying that? Wondering if he was teasing her, Roberta slightly frowned and shook her head.
“‘The person before me probably heard the same words.’”
“‘Yes.’”
“‘Was it like that for Lord Alonzo as well?’”
Ulrich nodded his head, and Roberta let out a heavy sigh.
“‘I do not know the reason why Lord Alonzo sent me here.’”
“‘Is that so? I think I might know.’”
“‘What do you mean by that?’”
“‘Have you never heard the story that you resemble Alonzo?’”
The two of them met each other's gaze. He was watching her. As he looked at her, he smiled, seeing someone else inside of her at the same time.
‘Alonzo.’
Her intuition spoke to her.
“‘I told you a moment ago. That change is slow and it feels like everything is standing still. It is because the world is decorated like an artificial garden. To protect the appearance it had when I first came to this land. Only then would I be bound to this land.’”
******