Ballad of the Dogsledder Praying to the Northern Lights | Chapter 8

[healingbonds]

Chapter 7 << | index | >> Chapter 9


Murr: Ahahaha!

Bent over with laughter, Murr holds his sides. He laughs so hard that he falls over, even toppling backwards once.
Oz fixes a cold stare at Murr as he somersaults through the air.
An eerie, unsettling atmosphere stretches across the balcony.

Shylock: .....Stop it, Murr.

His gaze never once leaving Oz, Shylock gently takes hold of Murr’s arm.
Shylock holds his breath the way a wise, quick-witted, agile wild animal would, carefully assessing the situation.
Calculating how serious it might become.

Murr: But it’s so funny!

Cain: There’s nothing funny about this..... You saw how hurt Arthur was when he witnessed the empty room!

Murr: I’m talking about Oz! Did you see him? He was scared!

Oz’s pupils narrow slowly.
Sensing his wrath, I turn pale.

Murr: There’s nothing rarer and more bizarre than a frightened Oz. I’m sure Mithra would’ve loved to witness it too!



Murr: Do not get me wrong, Oz: I was not laughing at you. I simply laugh when I discover something fascinating!

Murr laughs, throwing out both his arms. He’s right: his smile is neither sarcastic or mocking; it’s a smile that radiates genuine interest and curiosity.

Murr: Hey, how did it feel? You’ve never experienced fright before, have you? What were you scared of? Why were you scared of it?

Shylock: Enough, Murr. Oz, please ignore him. His usual pesky habits are acting up.

Murr: But I bet Oz wants to know too! What does he fear; what does he take delight in? What can’t he forgive? Where do his desires lie?
For that is where the soul — one’s truest self — resides. Your soul is the world itself: it is the very identity of the world you live in!

Murr laughs, his eyes as sharp as a cat’s. He glances around the interior of Oz’s castle, his movements theatrical.

Murr: This powerful castle that towers over the tip of Northern Country — a castle that repels all intruders! Is this where Oz lives?
No! His true residence is here!

Murr jabs Oz’s chest with the tip of his finger. Shylock swallows the scream at the tip of his tongue.

Shylock: Murr...!

Murr: Show me the floorplan of your inner workings, Oz. What kind of heart gives birth to the strongest magic known to mankind?
Will this newborn emotion of fear make Oz stronger? Or weaker? That is the very identity of magic; it is the moon’s—...

Oz: Silence.

The moment Oz lifts his face, I feel a sense of terror so absolute that even the fine hairs on my body stand on end.
It wasn’t like any magic hit me, or anyone pushed me over, but even so, I feel my knees buckle, and I sink towards the ground.

Akira: (Huh?)

Before I know it, Oz’s staff is in his hand.
Soaked in the bloody light of the setting sun, Shylock turns as deathly pale as the moon itself.

Shylock: Sir Oz! Please......!

The corner of Oz’s mouth twitches.
Murr lips curl into a twisted smile.

Oz: << Vox Nox >>

(Crash of thunder)

Murr: ............!

Cain: Murr......!

✦✧☾✧✦

(Thunder)

Toto: (...... It suddenly started storming......)

Arthur: ............

Toto: (Arthur looks disheartened...... Anyone would be sad if they returned from their travels to find that they lost all of their belongings.....)

Riquet: ......Oz is terrible. I can’t believe he threw away your things without asking, Prince Arthur.

Arthur: Riquet......

Riquet: From now on, I won’t give Oz anything that is precious to me.
Even though I’ve thought about giving him presents: times when I manage to write my words prettily, or when I successfully make pressed flowers, but......
......I even prepared an especially wonderful surprise for today, but I don’t want to give it to Oz anymore.
If someone doesn’t treasure something that is precious to me, it feels like I’m the one being treated carelessly, and it makes me sad.

Chloe: ......I think there must be a reason for it. A reason that Arthur’s room is gone......

Arthur: ......No...... Maybe I’ve been too full of myself......
Now that I think about it...... He never once told me to come back here.

Toto: ............

Arthur: ......Maybe I’ve just been causing trouble for Sir Oz all along......

Toto: ......Then it must be the same for us.

Arthur: Toto......

Toto: It’s not like he promised to confer his protection onto us. Even so, hundreds of years ago, without asking for permission......
We gathered at the foot of his castle and built a village. Even though we’ve continued to offer him tributes, hoping wholeheartedly that he wouldn’t abandon us......
It’s not a bond with a name to it.

Arthur: ............

Toto: I’m so afraid of his face that I can’t even look at him. ......And yet, I recite the light incantation when it’s convenient to me......

Chloe: ......What’s that?

Toto: When you’re feeling discouraged or uncertain, you close your eyes and call up the aurora inside your heart.
In my village, we say that the aurora is the light of his protection.
He has no reason to protect us when we’ve just settled here without asking. I know that, and yet......
We want to believe that someone is watching over us. ......Because this is a harsh land...... So if we were abandoned, we wouldn’t be able to survive......
We want to think that something strong, reliable, and magnificent is there to love us, care for us, and watch over us — we want to think that we are blessed.

Arthur: ............

Rustica: Don’t get discouraged, Prince Arthur. There is only a fine line between a blessing and a curse. Perhaps Sir Oz was lonely.

Chloe: Rustica......

Rustica: You were gone, but your belongings still remained. Such objects might embody precious memories, but....
One day, they will transform into cursed tools, reminders of the agony of loss.
I think that is why he tried to cast away your belongings, Prince Arthur: in order to forget. For forgetting is the final act of salvation.

Arthur: ............ ......He tried to forget me......

(Noise)

Chloe & Riquet: Woah......!

Rustica: That surprised me...... The wind was so strong that it blew open the door to the empty room. It looks like a blizzard tonight.

Riquet: You’re right...... ...Ah...... Prince Arthur......!

Arthur: What’s wrong?

Riquet: There’s something on the shelf in that empty room. It might be something of yours, Prince Arthur......

Arthur: ............

Chloe: .....Arthur. Can I go into that room?

Arthur: Yeah, of course. ......Let’s go in.

✦✧☾✧✦

(Battling sounds)

Akira: Murr......!

Crack, crack, crack.....In just a split second, Murr turns into a crystal sculpture.
With a smile on his face and his graceful figure bent backwards, he glitters like a transparent gem lit up in seven colours.

Akira: ......Murr.....!

I start to despair. Because I thought Murr had been killed, and turned into a cold mana stone.
But it seems like he’s not dead yet.
His fingertips flutter slightly, like the beating of a butterfly’s wings on the brink of death.
Sounds like shattering ice fill the air.
Within that spectacle of the brink of death, Oz once again lifts his staff against a laughing Murr.

Oz: ............

(Cracking sounds)

And transparent fissures start spreading across the upper half of Murr’s body, audibly cracking.

Cain: Murr......!
Stop it, Oz! What are you doing......

Cain tries to grab Oz’s wrists, but he stiffens upon meeting Oz’s gaze.
The brave profile of Cain’s face draws taut with fear. It is precisely because he is a brave soldier that he stands paralyzed to the spot out of pure instinct.
If he takes a wrong step, he’ll be killed. That is how terrifying Oz’s presence is.

Cain: ............

At that moment, Shylock makes his move. He slides his body in between the two of them as if he’s shielding Murr.
He kneels at Oz’s feet in supplication.

Chapter 7 << | index | >> Chapter 9