Chapter 4: The Promised Land

“Alright, Claus. Keep a good hold of those flowers.”

Erika snipped off another light-pink rose with the pruning shears and handed it to Claus, who was off to one side arranging the roses into a bouquet.

Claus had gotten quite an earful from his parents the night before, and there were bags under his eyes. What’s more, while he hadn’t suffered any serious injuries, he was still covered in scrapes and bruises. There were bandages on his cheeks and brow, making him look almost like a protagonist from a shounen manga.

Is his skin otherwise perfectly clear because of his youth, or is that one of the special perks of being a pretty boy? Erika wondered.

Naturally, her own skin was in great condition. She rarely exercised, yet she wasn’t feeling any muscle pains. Erika had to thank her mother for giving birth to such a robust girl.

“Hehe, you heard her, Claus. You have to listen to me today.”

As promised, the three of them were strolling through the rose garden of the Spring Palace. The gardeners watched endearingly as Anne frolicked to and fro. She was followed by Erika with the pruning shears and Claus with his arms full of flowers. It was as if Anne were a princess and the other two her attendants.

Erika’s eyes were soaked in the green of spring, and Claus seemed to be zoning out as well.

Oh, a comrade in arms, Erika thought as she looked at Claus. Their eyes met.

“Erika, were you up all night too?”

“Yes, I still had a few things to take care of. Nice job on surviving the lecture.”

“Hardly,” Claus muttered with lifeless eyes.

Oh, should I have said something more refined? “My condolences,” maybe?

Erika tried coming up with an eloquent Japanese phrase to comfort him, but the truth of the matter was that they were conversing in the language of the present world. This world’s language tended to be rather wishy-washy when it came to formal and informal speech, so it wasn’t that strict.

“The lectures, or rather my father’s teachings, aren’t over yet. I’m just taking a breather.”

“Really?”

“After that, it’s Mother’s turn.”

“Good luck. I know you’ll pull through.” Erika offered a wry smile.

House Hafan seemed to be quite strict, but it was probably born of love and genuine concern.

“Look, brother, those roses over there are so beautiful!”

“Fine, go for it. But just two more, okay?”

“Why, Claus! If you’re not repentant enough, I can always tell Mother and Father about it.”

“Ngh... Let’s get to work, Erika! We’ll prune the entire rose garden!”

“You’re overreacting!”

“Yes, yes. You can have as many flowers as you want.”

Anne seemed to be wholeheartedly enjoying herself. While Claus tagged along with a somber look on his face, he sincerely seemed relieved that she was alright.

I’m glad they get along. Erika smiled serenely. And finally, finally, that’s one of my death flags gone and done with.

She felt that a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The flag had been a stubborn one, but now that it had been eliminated, she could breathe a sigh of relief. Having overcome that hurdle, Erika felt completely drained. On top of that, she was terribly sleep-deprived, which had transformed her into an autonomous, flower-pruning doll that could explain the flowers’ features on demand.

I can zone out this much and still not die! This is pure bliss. She keenly savored the taste of her good fortune.

“Erika, dearest, what’s that yellow flower?”

“That would be a Lady Banks’ rose, native to the southern continent.”

“Wonderful! I’m going to get a closer look!”

“Yes, of course. Go ahead, Anne.”

Ever since the incident, Anne had begun calling Erika “dearest.” Her sweet behavior was straight out of a classic shoujo novel, and it brought a slight blush to Erika’s face. While she did feel happy about it, it was also considerably embarrassing.

“Good grief, just look at how peppy she is after everything that’s happened. I wonder whom she takes after.”

Claus’ arms were loaded with the flowers Anne had picked out. The spirit of adventure had yet to depart from her, and today she was especially merciless.

Erika, on the other hand, was barely there; she followed Anne’s orders in a daze, mechanically cutting roses and handing them to Claus. Before he knew it, Claus was hoisting up an outrageous amount.

More than three times what Claus was holding had already been delivered to Anne’s rooms. In all seriousness, the garden could end up fully harvested. Erika thought little of it, as if she considered it someone else’s business.

“She’s just like you, Claus. Simply brimming with curiosity. She’ll do whatever she’s set her mind to. You’re two peas in a pod. Oh, but you do lack her courteousness.”

“Oi, Erika, what the hell did... Err, Lady Erika, what might you be referring to?”

“Dear me, Sir Claus. Gaze out and behold all the large-flowered roses that surround us.”

Erika smiled superficially and blatantly changed the topic.

Haha, human ears are attuned to pick up insults. What a bother.

Erika averted her eyes from his pouting face and snipped a light crimson rose that had caught her eye. To both distract and tease him, she adorned his hair with the flower.

With both his hands occupied, Claus had no way to avoid it.

Keeping a composed look on her face, Erika internally burst into laughter. The beautiful rose suited his dignified features surprisingly well.

“Oh, it’s perfect, Claus.”

“What are you doing?! Remove it at once!”

Claus’ cheeks flushed with shame as he frantically shook his head to jostle it free. Unfortunately, the stalk was tangled rather fiercely, so it wasn’t coming out.

“What do we have here? Claus, you’re looking adorable today.”

“Oh! Eduard! Welcome back!”

“Geh! Eduard’s here?!”

With exquisite timing, Eduard appeared from between the hedges. He was wearing the same clothes as when he left, the leather briefcase that served as his Wunderkammer in his hand. He carried himself with the usual grace and elegance, but there was fatigue etched onto his face. Like Erika and Claus, he had likely been up all night.

“Ngh...! Stop! Don’t look at me, you cretin!”

Claus hid his face behind the bundle of flowers. Try as he might, he completely failed to hide his ears, which had turned bright red.

Still, you don’t have to put it like that, Claus. Erika giggled as she gave him a sidelong glance.

“There’s no need to hide it. It’s quite beautiful, you know.” Eduard casually spouted such incendiary lines while reaching a hand toward the bouquet.

Claus promptly whipped around and started running away from the Aurelian siblings.

“Grrr! You’d better remember this, Eduard Aurelia! One day I’ll clear my name of this disgrace, just you wait!” Leaving a needlessly embarrassing parting remark, Claus fled in Anne’s direction. Was it really so embarrassing to be seen by Eduard with a rose in his hair? Perhaps it was simply inevitable, given how he had arbitrarily decided Eduard was his rival.

Once Claus was gone, Eduard’s smirk melted away, and he faced Erika with a look of gentle concern.

“I came as fast as I could once I got the messenger owl... I’m so sorry, Erika. I hear you almost died from the trap I set.”

“No worries. It was safely dispelled, so I’m quite alright.”

Erika averted her eyes. She couldn’t quite tell him that his extremely powerful death trap had ultimately saved her life. While she couldn’t divulge the truth, she did feel deeply indebted to him.

“More than that, I’m sorry for making a mess of all the tools you’d saved for exploration.”

“Don’t worry about it. Father told me about what happened yesterday. The tools I left behind helped my dear sister return alive. Why, I couldn’t be more proud of my creations.” With a soft smile, Eduard knelt down to match her eye level.

“Eduard, you...”

You really are kind. She felt warmth blooming in the depths of her heart. Unfortunately, with his very next words, his angelic smile contorted into something more sinister.

“But if you could please tell me exactly who used what and how much of it—as far as you can remember, of course—I would be sincerely grateful.”

“Erm, what do you intend to do with that information?”

“It’s a secret. Don’t worry, I won’t cause you any trouble, Erika.”

Eduard held an index finger in front of his lips, which were curled in a dark, elegant grin. Erika could somewhat read his intentions.

He’s definitely billing Claus for the cost of the potions and scrolls. This must be what they mean when they say “when it rains, it pours.” Misfortunes never come singly.

Erika pitied the boy. When Eduard’s invoice arrived, Claus might have to sell off one of the forests he was arranged to inherit. Erika decided she would beg her brother to at least wait until the poor boy was older. Eventually, after Claus took over the post of Duke Hafan, he could endeavor to increase his territory’s assets in order to make up for the loss.

Still, what do I do now? Erika hesitated. Was she better off telling her family what had happened that night in the Seafarer’s Ruins? The very existence of the monster Zaratan would become a scandal throughout all of Aurelia.

She fell silent, thinking over it carefully, so Eduard tactfully changed the subject.

“Come to think of it, you know how I’ve been secretly sneaking into the ruins? I never found what I was looking for.”

“What might that have been?”

“A friend of mine was looking through some references, and according to him, the remains of a giant monster may sleep at the deepest depths of the Seafarer’s Ruins.”

“O-Oh, hmm, is that so? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Erika trembled with fear as Eduard brazenly reached the heart of the matter. It was no more than a coincidence, surely, but she broke into a cold sweat, wondering if she would be able to keep her secrets.

“Considering the distribution of star crystal and starsteel deposits in the surrounding soil, he said that the ruins may have been constructed at the center of a life-form five kilometers across. And that was his conservative estimate.”

“Wow, that large?”

“It sounds like a dream, right?”

The Zaratan had said it spanned an entire city. But to think the monster was over five kilometers wide... That was far larger than Erika had anticipated.

I’m glad it was still small when we met it.

If they’d had to face the living Zaratan, they wouldn’t have stood a chance. It was understandable why the ancient alchemists had used a last resort like the Sailor’s Song wand to take it down.

“Right, right. I doubt you’ll go to the ruins again, but if you do end up getting lost in there, you definitely can’t go beyond the seventh floor.”

“Is something there?”

“There was a nest of formidable monsters on the eighth floor. While we barely managed to wipe them out, the magic we used was just a bit too large in scale, and unfortunately, we delivered drastic damage to the structural integrity of the maze. Worst-case scenario, the entire floor could collapse.”

“Th-That sure sounds dangerous.”

“I’m still debating with my fellow researchers on whether we should do some repair work or just dig a tunnel so we can keep exploring. Whichever we decide, we’ll be going beyond the scope of what we can keep a secret from Father, you see. I’ll have to arrange an official expedition team from Lindis.”

If there would be such a team, Eduard was guaranteed to be a part of it.

How am I supposed to explain this one away?

One little slip-up and her perceptive brother would immediately pick up on it. Erika chose her next words carefully.

“Come to think of it, when we were exploring last night, we heard a terrible crash, almost like the floor below us was breaking apart.”

“Ah, then maybe it has already caved in. That leaves the tunnel idea, I guess. I wonder what could have caused it. Did I overlook some mechanism linking it to the other floors? I thought I’d conducted a pretty thorough search.”

This was going just as Erika feared, and she hurriedly attempted to shift the topic at hand.

“I say, Eduard, it’s amazing that such a large animal can exist!”

“Oh, did it catch your interest?”

“Yes, I find it very intriguing.”

Erika nodded. Not only was she intrigued, she had met the creature in question.

“It all stems from the story of the alchemist Jasconius, commonly called the Legend of Zaratan. You’ve heard it too, haven’t you? But what was Zaratan? Was it just another name for Jasconius? There’s a theory that ‘Zaratan’ might have actually been the name of the giant creature.”

“The people of Lindis have some crazy ideas...”

“Of course, there’s also the theory that it was an ancient energy-producing facility embedded with space-manipulation mechanisms, the theory that it was the name of a secret organization, and the theory that it was a visitor from the stars.”

“Err, what about the giant monster version?”

The conversation was about to be frightfully derailed, so Erika urged him back on track.

“Yeah, there are a few legends to support that.” Eduard hesitated for a moment. While he kept the same gentle smile, an air of sadness was budding beneath it.

“There are a number of discrepancies between the official record of Jasconius passed down throughout Aurelia—the lonesome Zaratan who made the philosopher’s stone—and the stories passed down in Aurelia’s oldest houses.”

“I only know of Zaratan from the books in the study.”

“Yeah. But the one you read was actually a hidden legend unique to House Aurelia. In our version, Zaratan was killed by the magic that causes stars to fall to earth, right? You haven’t received a formal education yet, but elsewhere they say he was killed with a knife in his sleep.”

Erika was taken aback. According to the Zaratan itself, it had been killed after it passed out from exhaustion. Regardless, she couldn’t believe the fact that the hidden truth of the Zaratan’s murder, which was supposed to be taboo, was still publicly taught in modern times.

“I have a friend who loves those sorts of stories, you see,” Eduard continued. “At first, I was just helping him out, but before I knew it, I was even more invested than he was. Our ancestor was known to be a man of few words, but maybe he left something for his distant descendants to discover... or something like that. Doesn’t it sound interesting?”

“Eduard, do you know what happened to this Zaratan?”

“Parts of the legend have been lost, so it isn’t complete, but...”

With that, he launched into an old story.

The ancestors of modern-day Aurelians once lived in a land far beyond the distant seas, where the stars shined brilliantly across the sky. But one day, a disaster or some other incident drove them away from their homeland.

As they sailed across the endless seas, an old and powerful alchemist named Jasconius took it upon himself to create a single, artificial life-form.

The being was called the Zaratan.

Over many long months and years, the Zaratan grew and grew until he was as large as an island, and once their ships had deteriorated with age, the creature happily carried the lost voyagers on his back.

A city was built on the Zaratan’s shell, and over time, the Zaratan’s bones slowly developed into valuable ores, which were now called star crystal and starsteel.

Their voyage was so long that a generation came and went. Eventually, the travelers reached a new land called Ichthyes.

On that day, a group of some of the leading alchemists killed the Zaratan after all its hard work. They also killed the son—or perhaps daughter—of the late Jasconius before the child could protest. They were after the philosopher’s stone, thought to be hidden somewhere inside the Zaratan’s body.

But no matter how they dissected the great beast, the philosopher’s stone was nowhere to be found.

The conspirators who had plotted the Zaratan’s murder fled to the ends of the earth. The alchemists who remained trembled at the deeds of their former comrades, filled with regret as though they themselves had committed the terrible crimes.

They respectfully entombed Jasconius’ child deep within the body of the Zaratan. They built a deep labyrinth to protect them and to make sure no one could disturb the sleep of these two unfortunate souls ever again.

Jasconius’ youngest brother survived, married the daughter of a different leading faction not involved in the murder, and became the new chief of the Seafaring Tribe. Thus, House Aurelia was born.

“It seems the alchemists broke a certain contract when they killed the homunculus Zaratan. I still don’t know what the contract was, though.”

“It’s a... very sad story.”

“I don’t know how much of it is true. But I think the truth is hidden somewhere in the ruins. Finding it might be my duty as a descendant of Jasconius. Or something like that, anyway.”

Eduard gave a cheerful smile to pep Erika up.

“My theory is that they weren’t just entombed—I think they were deified. Maybe, just maybe, Jasconius and the Zaratan were fused together to form the cornerstone for our founding god, Brean.”

“So the Zaratan became a god...”

“I’d be able to back up that theory if I could just find an altar to Brean somewhere in the ruins. But if the labyrinth did indeed collapse, it will be years before we can conduct a real investigation.”

Erika tried comparing it to knowledge from her past life. Perhaps this case is similar to that of the scholar Sugawara no Michizane or the samurai Taira no Masakado. These two were both normal people in their respective times, but they eventually came to be revered as deities.

The Zaratan had cursed humans, despised them, yet it had been venerated as their god. Betrayed, murdered, then deified.

No wonder I resonated with him. Unreasonably betrayed, absurdly killed; why, he’s a bit like I was in my past life. And we were both victims of blunt-force trauma to boot.

Erika laughed powerlessly. Though there was quite a difference between a meteor and the crowbar that had sent her to the hospital in high school, she tentatively considered them kindred spirits.

“By the way, Erika, is that golem made of starsteel? When did you make it?”

“Golem?! What golem?!”

Erika looked down at her feet in a panic. An armored doll about the size of a largish stuffed animal quietly stared back at her.

When did it start following me? Erika endeavored not to let her befuddlement reach her face as she opened her mouth to answer.

“Y-Yes, well, yesterday I ended up invoking met on your acid golem, so I wanted to reuse its core...”

“Ahaha. Don’t worry too much about it. I can make another acid-hydrogel golem whenever I want.”

Eduard smiled broadly, giving her some peace of mind.

“You can’t imagine how relieved I am to hear that.”

“But a starsteel golem, eh? You really thought this through. It can change shape with mana to a certain extent, which should allow for natural, lifelike motions. Right?”

“Erm, right! That’s just what I was thinking!”

“Interesting stuff. Oh, and what’s this? Does it have a two-layered construction?”

“Lalalala! That’s top-secret technology! It’s still experimental!”

Erika hurriedly blocked Eduard’s view. She had intended to play it off but inadvertently had made him even more interested. Her eyes were now teary, and she was at her limit.

Just before Erika threw in the towel, Eduard took a look at the clock. “Oh, it’s already this late...”

Looks like he’s not going to pursue the matter, Erika thought as she patted her chest in relief.

“For now, I’ll go back to my workshop. I’m sure you turned it inside out, after all.”

“Erk... I, umm...”

“When you’ve calmed down, I’ll tell you about that necklace. We learned something very interesting about it. See you again soon, Erika.”

With that, Eduard walked off. Erika leaked a sigh once he was out of sight.

When she looked down again, she saw the back of the starsteel golem’s head. Of course, it wasn’t actually a golem. It was simply a certain something wearing a small suit of armor made of starsteel.

Erika struck up a conversation with the pseudo-golem.

“Why did you follow me?”

“I was perturbed.”

“By what?”

“Why did you let me live?”

“Sympathy, perhaps?”

“I detest your sympathy. You could never understand how I feel.”

“I guess not.”

A short silence passed between the girl and the beast.

After the curse-dispelling ceremony, Claus had given Erika the vial the Zaratan was sealed in. “Do whatever you want with it,” he’d said. Erika had done just that, immediately releasing the seal.

“However, I happened to hear something nice.”

“What my brother said, you mean?”

“Yes.”

Transparent tears spilled out from the black void within.

“She didn’t betray me. She was killed, too.”

“Sounds like it. Though it’s just a legend.”

“Am I...”

“Yes?”

“...Am I allowed to cry for her?” the Zaratan asked, though it was unclear whether or not it realized it was already crying.

“Of course.” Erika nodded.

While the seal was being undone, the influence of Claus’ spatial compression magic had made the Zaratan even smaller than before.

A misshapen dragon the size of a cat; that was how Erika would best describe it.

The creature had scales as black as a moonless night sky, two curling horns like a ram, and sharp, jagged fangs that came in multiple rows like a shark’s. Its toes were webbed, topped off by short and sharp claws. The scales on its back were especially thick and formed a sort of shell.

Perhaps this was how it had looked when it was still young. Its head and forearms were large, while its tail and upper arms were short. In its current form, its body proportions really were like a teddy bear’s.

One look at its scales and you would call it a fish. A look at its shell and you would think it a tortoise. It had been called the philosopher’s stone, a god, an evil spirit.

But it had never been given a name to call itself. This creature was just a nameless monster. A lonely, little, misshapen black dragon. The only one of its kind.

Erika had worked through the night to make armor for it. The starsteel she’d used could be freely molded when it came in contact with mana. She had also applied some techniques from the process of making a golem, such as carving in markings with her athame. Although Erika could neither construct spells nor concentrate them into items, this was one of the few alchemy practices even she could pull off.

After that, she had released the Zaratan’s soul into the armor. This was firstly because she wanted to pass it off as a golem, and secondly because she wanted to contain the Zaratan’s infinitely expanding body.

“I thought your revenge was justified. Besides, I wanted to fulfill the contract you made with my ancestors.”

“Why? I nearly killed you.”

“Sympathy, really. Don’t worry, you don’t have to understand how I feel.”

The Zaratan looked up at Erika. She was looking not at him, but somewhere far in the distance. Noticing the dark shadows cast over her emerald eyes, the Zaratan fell silent for quite some time.

“My revenge is over,” it said at last.

“Are you sure?”

“I thought I killed you once. At that moment, my heart was filled with such elation that nothing that came before seemed to matter. You really do resemble her, you know. Truth be told, I didn’t really care about Aurelia. I was fine so long as I could kill her. She was special to me. So... it’s fine. She’s already gone.”

“But you really wanted to smash a meteor into her face, didn’t you?”

“I’m surprised you could tell.”

The small black dragon, over six hundred years old, gave a cheerful laugh from the depths of its armor.

“If I can, I’d still like to fulfill the contract in her place. What do you say?”

“My wish has never changed. Then and now, all I wanted was a friend... and a name.”

“Is that really enough?”

“I have yearned for that for hundreds of years now.”

“I guess you’re right.” Erika bent down, brushing her hand against the Zaratan’s claws. “Then your name shall be...”

Soon after, the brave and beautiful Hafan siblings returned with roses in tow. A gentle breeze blew across the Spring Palace, which was in full bloom.

And just like that, the curtain lowered on the first adventure of Erika Aurelia.

☆

To Tír na nÓg—

My dear friend, won’t you come with me? Far, far beyond the distant sea?

For when we step upon new sand, a new name for our promised land.