A picture-perfect white-sand beach in the southern lands at the start of summer.
“Wheeeee! It’s the sea!”
“Idiot, you need to warm up first!”
“You do it, weakling!”
“And if you’re going into the water, take your clothes off first! Once they get soaked with salt water, they’re uncomfortable to wear even after they dry!”
“Take your clothes off? Aaaah! You crazy tomboy! What kind of woman strips off her clothes like that?!”
“I’m properly covered underneath! What in the world are you imagining, you pervert?!”
And there were two little gobies.
It was nice to see those fools blushing and squabbling.
At the same time, I was starting to get a little irritated.
Perhaps I resented the way they flirted in such a strange manner.
Smiling fondly, I limped over to stop the two, who were wrapped up in their own youth.
“Stop fighting and look over there.”
I tapped each of them on the head while pointing toward the sea with my other hand.
Waves glittering beneath the sunlight.
Several gulls circling overhead, and fish occasionally leaping from the sea.
It was such a lovely sight that it made my heart swell.
“The sea is waiting for us! If you want to fight, fight after you get in!”
“True, it’s a waste of time to fight with this idiot. Yaaaaahoo! Let’s go!”
“Why are you dragging me along? You said we had to take our clothes off before getting in!”
“I know you didn’t bring anything to use as a swimsuit! Just enjoy yourself!”
Contrary to her words, Anna grabbed Andrea by the collar and jumped into the sea.
SPLASH! Water flew up, and the scattered droplets glittered like jewels.
Andrea, who had been dragged in while shrieking in alarm, was soon laughing as though nothing had happened. Anna splashed water at his smiling face.
Naturally, Andrea immediately splashed water back at her, and I gladly joined the battlefield of the two gobies.
“Is it fun when only you two are playing?!”
Andrea bristled after being hit by the water I flung with all my strength, while Anna happily splashed both of us.
The back-and-forth baptism of seawater felt as though it were cooling my brain, overheated by the grueling schedule.
The summer of my fifteenth year, spent with friends for the first time, was that refreshing.
So refreshing that it felt like a waste for time to pass.
***
How long had we played?
By the time even we, tempered by all sorts of training, had grown limp with exhaustion, my friends and I returned to the beach and opened our lunch baskets.
Inside mine were ciabatta sandwiches my mother had lovingly made.
The baskets Anna and Andrea opened contained similar menus.
“Mm, I was going to suggest we trade if the menus were different.”
“Most food suitable for packed lunches is similar, right?”
Andrea smacked his lips, looking disappointed.
Anna and I knew he had something of an appetite, so we merely smiled.
Then Andrea looked somewhere and broke into a bright smile.
“Well, what does the menu matter? There’s so much food here!”
“What?”
When I asked what he meant, Andrea was already running off somewhere.
“Look! Clams! If you come to a place like this, you have to eat wild food too!”
Andrea picked up every clam he could find and returned with an armful of them.
My eyes narrowed when I saw what he proudly held out.
“You... probably shouldn’t eat that.”
“What? Is it poisonous?”
“No, it isn’t poisonous. It just...”
“If it isn’t poisonous, then it’s fine! And there’s no way clams can taste bad! Clams are always delicious!”
The clams Andrea had brought clacked their shells open and shut, as though protesting such nonsense.
The grass growing on their shells and the flowers blooming there swayed along with them, making for a pretty sight.
Yes, pretty only to look at.
Those clams were called Grass-Growing Clams.
Just as their name suggested, they were peculiar clams that grew grass on their shells.
“Let’s start a fire! Who knows how?”
“You learned how to start a fire too!”
“No, I forgot.”
“Don’t say that so proudly!”
Despite their pretty appearance, those things tasted awful.
Truly awful.
Whether you ate them raw or cooked them however you liked, they simply tasted like chewing raw, bitter grass.
After thinking that far, I grinned.
I thought this would be a good chance to tease those idiots a little.
“I’ll start the fire. I brought flint too. You two gather some twigs.”
“Oh! Johan really is different from some idiot! You’re so well prepared!”
“You didn’t prepare anything either!”
“That’s because I was planning to eat sandwiches!”
While the two fools, bickering like a couple again, went off to gather kindling, I took out the fire-starting tools I had prepared.
I struck the flint wrapped in tinder with my fire steel, sending sparks flying. Once the tinder caught fire, I set it down.
The strong pair quickly brought over branches from nearby.
We piled small twigs around the tinder and blew gently into them. In no time at all, the fire was going.
“Wow! Now we just grill them, right?”
“Aah! What are you doing?!”
Andrea was about to hurl the clams straight into the fire as though he had been waiting for the chance.
I stopped him in alarm.
“Why? Don’t we just grill them?”
“Good grief, idiot. In a situation like this, you place them near the fire without letting them touch the flames.”
“Anna... Aren’t those a little too far away? When are we supposed to eat them?”
Andrea was one thing, but when I saw Anna placing the clams far from the campfire as though she were arranging decorations, I was speechless.
Had neither of them ever cooked camp food before?
I sighed and piled up sand to make a mound beside the fire.
Then I laid branches over it one by one, making an improvised grate.
Once I carefully placed the clams on top, all that remained was to wait.
“Let’s eat our sandwiches while we wait. They’ll be done soon.”
“Eugh, I want to eat the clams first.”
“I’m serious. You’ll be grateful to yourself for not doing that.”
Andrea looked at me with eyes full of questions, but I did not answer and took out a sandwich.
The chewy texture of the ciabatta and the heavenly taste of the vegetables and ham inside tickled my tongue.
The others must have been hungry too, because they each began eating the sandwiches they had prepared.
“Man, I eat these all the time, so why are they so delicious?”
“They say food tastes better when you eat it on an outing.”
“I thought that was nonsense, but it’s true?”
By the time we finished our sandwiches while chatting, the Grass-Growing Clams had popped open wide and cooked nicely.
Using a stick split down the middle like tongs, I picked up a clam and handed it to Andrea.
“Be careful. It’s hot.”
“Ooh! This is real wild food!”
“Haha, yes. Wild food. Of course it is.”
He seemed to have some sort of fantasy about wild food.
Naturally, civilized food was far better.
Between food made with seasonings and spices and food made by simply grilling ingredients whole, it was common sense that the former tasted better.
Unfortunately, my friend lacked that common sense, but that was all right.
He was about to learn it firsthand.
“Thanks, Johan! I’ll enjoy this! Delici—Del... There’s no flavor? Blech! Ptooey, ptooey!”
Just as expected.
Andrea’s face twisted after he picked up the clam meat with his fingers and ate it.
“Why does this taste like this?! It doesn’t taste like clams at all!”
“Didn’t you know? Grass-Growing Clams taste exactly like raw grass even when grilled. It’s the wild taste you like so much.”
“You bastard, Johan! You tricked meee!”
“Pwahahaha! I didn’t trick you at all. You said you wanted to eat them, so I even grilled them for you.”
“Jeong Jooohan!”
Andrea’s furious roar and the laughter of Anna and me.
Amid the mingling sounds of youth, another memory was made.
***
After our lively lunchtime of laughter and chatter ended, the next activity was an adventure.
The two had been completely captivated by the treasure story the gondoliere had told us, and I had been dragged along with them.
I made a request of the two who had a grip on both my arms as though restraining me.
“I won’t run away.”
“You always say things like this are a waste of time and energy.”
“I’ve changed my mind. It’ll be fun to look around the island too.”
At those words, which I had thrown out like an excuse, Anna looked me straight in the eyes.
After staring at me for a long while as though interrogating me, she broke into a small smile and let go of my arm.
“Okay, I’ll believe you. You wouldn’t lie to us.”
“Except you already lied about the clams.”
Andrea could not resist jumping in.
My response was an innocent smile.
“I didn’t say anything. I didn’t lie, okay?”
“Hey!”
“Anyway, this is a treasure hunt, right? Then let’s split up.”
There was no need to worry about getting lost.
This island took only about three hours to cross on foot, at most.
No matter where you went, you would reach the sea if you walked straight ahead. If you followed the beach, you would eventually return to where we started.
Even if we ended up stranded, there would be no problem.
There were a few palm trees, and if we got truly hungry, we could eat Grass-Growing Clams.
That was why I confidently suggested that we split up, and my high-spirited friends immediately agreed.
“Good! Then it’s a contest! Let’s see who finds it first!”
“You should think about whether anyone can find it at all, idiot! More importantly, where are you running off to by yourself?!”
Andrea suddenly ran toward the left as he shouted.
Anna yelled after him, but he did not even pretend to listen.
As though there was nothing to be done about it, Anna shrugged and looked at me.
“Good grief, that idiot. I’ll go too, then. See you later.”
“Okay. It’d be nice if you found some treasure while you’re at it.”
“I’m honestly not expecting much. I’m just going to enjoy the scenery.”
Anna smiled brightly as she walked away.
Contrary to her words, she quickly strode off.
Left alone, I drew in a breath.
I slapped my cheeks with both palms to steel myself, took a determined step forward, and at that moment—
‘A butterfly?’
Despite it being midday, a butterfly scattering glittering particles of light appeared before me and danced as it fluttered its wings.
It was so beautiful that I reached out without thinking.
The butterfly avoided my hand and began flying somewhere.
A wariness of unfamiliar situations, instilled in me by the Sword Saint’s memories, surged up, and I stopped immediately.
Then the butterfly returned to me as though asking why I was not following.
After considering it for a moment, I decided to trust the island’s safety, proven over centuries.
And so, following that lovely guide, I began to walk.
I made my way forward, wary and hopeful of what might await me at the end.
***
Fluttering here, fluttering there, the butterfly flew beautifully.
I faithfully followed it despite my limp, guided by the particles of light that fell with every beat of its wings.
Along the way, I saw many things.
From Bomb Palms, said to grow only in the south, to Frost Thrushes from the northern snowfields, which adorned their feathers with snowflakes.
The flora and fauna of the entire continent were gathered on that small island.
As I walked through the mysterious scenery, I felt that something was strange.
It was not normal for every climate, from polar to tropical, to exist in one place.
Nor was it normal for all of them to blend together naturally without anything feeling out of place.
Still, I did not tremble with unease.
I—more accurately, the Sword Saint—knew of a place like this.
The Great Forest.
The eternal home of the Fairies, located in the Empire’s northern reaches and at the center of the continent.
Blessed by the World Tree, that forest held every plant and animal in the world.
At the heart of that vast forest stood the greatest tree of all, the mother of every Fairy.
The World Tree made such mysteries possible.
But there was no World Tree here.
How?
Why?
Even while holding those questions, I continued walking.
Then, at one point—
“Wow...”
The forest suddenly ended, revealing a vast field of flowers.
Shy, tightly closed buds swayed in the wind and scattered particles of light, while butterflies swam among them.
It was a fantastical sight, illuminated by the reddish glow of evening.
A gasp of admiration escaped me on its own.
How long had I been lost in that rapturous moment?
Then my senses returned, reminding me of our promise to meet again that evening.
Coming to myself, I immediately turned around to return to where we had started.
“There is no need to worry.”
I would have done so, had a voice not seeped so naturally into my ears.
Startled, I turned around again.
And there I found the Fairy ‘Old Man’ standing in the middle of the beautiful flower field.