Gainak flailed and tried to retreat, but it was useless. Xenia’s tentacle was holding him fast. Even when he tried to use magic, the agony of his body melting away left him unable to come to his senses.
“Ugh, grk, aaaaargh……!”
When the screams that rang out in place of spells finally stopped, there was nothing left there that could be called Gainak. Only a melted lump of flesh and the corroded remnants of his clothing remained.
The tentacle, too, drooped weakly. Having poured out all her mana, Xenia seemed on the verge of fainting. Cesare, covered in blood, hurried toward the cliff.
“Master, take my hand! I will pull you up!”
When Dane grabbed the hand extended toward him, Cesare pulled the two of them up without difficulty.
Under the dark night sky, the three collapsed in a tangled heap. Dane hurriedly took out a Recovery Potion. Cesare’s hand had melted so badly that bone was visible.
“Cesare, let me see your wound.”
“Forget it. Treat your shoulder first, Master. It has been completely torn apart.”
“Listen to me.”
When Dane spoke sternly, Cesare grumbled but became obedient. As he received treatment, he looked at Xenia.
“Come on, get ahold of yourself. Did I hit you too hard?”
Cesare said it while lightly tapping Xenia’s cheek. With a short groan, Xenia opened her eyes, and what she saw was Dane and Cesare, both in a terrible state.
Xenia’s lips parted slightly. Though she was expressionless by nature, right now, her eyes were trembling so clearly that anyone could see it.
“I am sorry, Master……. Because of me…….”
Powerlessly, she turned her head and stared at Cesare. Cesare’s body was covered in wounds. Wounds Xenia had made.
“……I am sorry, Brother. For hurting you.”
She remembered Master’s teachings. He had taught Xenia that if she attacked other people, they would distance themselves from her.
He had been right. When she attacked, people became afraid. It was obvious that Dane and Cesare would distance themselves from her.
However, Cesare roughly stroked Xenia’s hair.
“Why are you making such a fuss over a few scratches?”
“…….”
“I am sorry I came so late, Xenia.”
Xenia only lowered her head in silence. There were too many things she could not understand.
Why were these people kind to her?
Why were they apologizing to her?
She had attacked them. Fifteen years had passed since they had been separated.
She could not understand their affection. She wanted to know. She wanted to know about this kindness.
She wanted to know how the two of them had lived. She wanted to stay by their side. Even though she knew she had done something wrong.
Unable to bring herself to confess those feelings, Xenia lowered her head. Dane took Xenia’s hand and said,
“Shall we go home now, Xenia?”
They did not push Xenia away. Even though Xenia had wounded them, they told her to go home with them.
Home. The place she had longed for all this time. The place she had only been able to see in dreams. The homesickness that had tormented her terribly, until she lost her memories, and even after she had lost them.
“……Yes, Master.”
Xenia spoke the title she had wanted to call him for so long.
Her long nostalgia had finally come to an end.
Swallows and Acorns
Under a clear sky, the market was bustling with stalls spread out here and there.
There were fruit sellers with all sorts of fruit, carts piled high with flowers, shops with sausages and ham hanging outside, and lively voices rang out from every direction.
I had just bought meat and fruit for lunch as well. Finally, when I entered the bakery, the shop owner greeted me with a smile.
“Oh, Dane! Welcome. It has been a while.”
Was he around his mid-twenties now? To my eyes, he was nothing but a child, but it could not be helped.
The current me was twenty-year-old Dane. Instead of showing any discomfort, I wore a polite smile as I looked at him.
“Yes. I was a little busy looking for someone.”
“Really? Did you find that person?”
“Yes.”
Cesare and I had brought Xenia back to this city yesterday. Had it been three days ago that Gainak died?
We could have returned immediately, but it took some time to cleanly settle the matter.
After all, if Gainak disappeared and Xenia vanished just like that as well, problems could arise.
Once Xenia regained her memories, we informed people that Gainak, who had been a criminal, had fled.
It was easy to persuade them because the diary found in his domus contained a complete record of his crimes.
There was even an entry saying that he had built his house on a cliff overlooking the sea so he could dispose of the children’s bodies easily.
People were furious at the vanished Gainak, but they did not imagine that he had died.
With that, the matter had been settled neatly. Now Xenia had returned to our home. I said to the bakery owner.
“We have more people now, so I will buy three loaves today.”
“I am glad you found them. I will give you something extra to congratulate you!”
After receiving the jam the bakery owner gave me as a bonus, I headed toward Balanus.
Sunlight poured over the brick-paved road. As I walked along the glittering path, the domus building began to come into view in the distance.
The house where my disciples, my children, were waiting. With a light heart, I opened the front door.
“Children, I am ba…….”
“Aaaargh, you crazy thing!”
The moment I stepped inside, a tremendous noise burst out. The scene was not particularly different from when I had left.
Except that a giant pink slime was attacking Cesare.
Hmm. Why were they fighting again? When I stepped inside, the two of them turned to look at me at the same time. I held out my hand toward the slime.
“Xenia, come here.”
At those words, the pink slime slowly crept toward me. The way she wriggled looked more cute than grotesque.
“Why are you bothering your brother, Xenia?”
“Brother is very different from what I remembered, so I was examining him.”
Xenia had a habit of trying to understand things she did not comprehend by using her tentacles. Cesare shouted angrily.
“The last time you saw me was when we were children, so of course I would have changed! It is only natural to grow taller and older, so what is there to examine?”
At those words, Xenia blinked once and opened her mouth.
“I like you, Brother, so I want to know more about you.”
Cesare fell silent for a moment. He only moved his eyes around, then grumbled.
“……Well, then you can examine me a little more. No, not today! Do it tomorrow!”
“Eat first, then play some more.”
I took out the ingredients I had bought at the market. Cesare, looking hollow-eyed, and Xenia, looking satisfied, sat down.
Perhaps Cesare had no appetite, for he picked at his bread and said.
“Master. What are you going to do now? Are we going to look for the others?”
“There are no clues about the other children, so we will have to entrust the work to an information broker, but we lack funds.”
After buying this house with the money I had received from the brothel owner, there was not much money left. A skilled information broker would not move for pocket change.
“So, to earn money and make our name known, I intend to register the domus again.”
If it was not renewed within the designated period, a domus would disappear from the records. Balanus’s name was probably no longer on the Administration Office’s list.
At my answer, Cesare’s expression became strange. I had thought he would be pleased, but he looked somewhat reluctant.
“You are going to name the domus Balanus, right?”
“Yes. Do you not like it?”
“It is not that……. I just think there will probably be bastards who pick fights with us if we act under that name.”
Pick fights? When I looked at Cesare in puzzlement, he continued.
“Balanus’s reputation got worse.”
“Why?”
Balanus had been one of the strongest pillars of this city. We had not caused any particular trouble, so people had been friendly toward Balanus.
And yet its reputation had worsened? I could not understand it. Cesare spoke bluntly.
“Because a rumor spread. A rumor that the city was invaded because of Balanus.”
What kind of nonsense was this? It was utterly absurd.
“They said the attackers claimed that. That the people were dying because of Balanus. That if not for those bastards, they would never have come to this city.”
Suddenly, I remembered what the man had said.
“Still, we have cut through the trunk of the tree. Someday, even its roots and new shoots…….”
I had wondered what he meant. Had he been talking about Balanus?
The trunk of the tree might have meant the masters of the domus.
He had said that someday, he would even cut off the roots and new shoots. Could remnants of them still remain somewhere? Were they trying to stir up another bloodstorm?
My blood boiled. I could never allow my family to be put in danger again. Could those bastards possibly be trying to kill my disciples?
Suppressing my emotions, I asked Cesare.
“I heard that the attackers’ identities were never revealed.”
“Yes, that is right. I was curious about that too, so I asked around when I was young, but people either ignored us or avoided us, so I could not really ask.”
This time, it felt as though my blood had gone cold. The idea that we had been the cause of the attack was shocking, but Cesare’s final words hurt the most bitterly.
“People ignored you?”
“Yes. There were rumors going around, asking whether the city would be invaded again because of us. Some people said we should be driven out.”
I could imagine the sharp gazes the children must have endured. Somehow, I had thought something was strange.
There had been guilds and domuses that had been friendly with Balanus, so why had they not helped the children left without guardians?
To think that because of that story, people, an entire city, had turned away from orphaned children. Cesare scratched the back of his head and said.
“Well, anyway, that is how it was. So if Balanus starts operating again, there will be people who say things about it.”
“Thank you for telling me, Cesare.”
“But you are not thinking of changing the name, are you?”
I nodded.
“The name of Balanus must become widely known so the children can hear it and come find us.”
And if any remnants of the attackers remained, they would come as well. However, seeing that Cesare was still alive and well, I wondered if their strength had also weakened.
“I knew it. Haa, I was hoping we might change it to a cooler name.”
His tone was half joke and half serious. Xenia sipped her water and asked.
“Why? Is Balanus not a cool name?”
“It means acorn in an ancient language. Is that cool?”
“Acorn.”
Just then, Xenia looked at her necklace and said.
“So that is why this is shaped like an acorn.”
Everyone in Balanus shared the same necklace. A necklace made of pearls and gold.
Xenia tilted her head and looked at me.
“Why did you name it Acorn?”
“When we registered the domus, one of the masters said it. That they wanted to make a domus like an oak tree.”
An oak that lived for hundreds of years and grew into a great tree. Like that tree, which did not fall even against fierce storms, we had wanted to create a firm place of rest.
Even then, Xenia still seemed unconvinced.
“Then you could have named it Oak instead of Acorn.”
“That was…….”
I served her another bowl of stew and said,
“It was already registered as another organization’s name, so we could not use it.”