We live at the foothills of Dragon Peak.
The thoughts of people fill the moonlight.
It is said that top-tier sorcerers perceive living beings and objects in a “world of color” different from ours.
I am not a sorcerer, but I too know a colorful world, different from what my eyes normally see.
Did Alice and the others know?
A world so vibrant, even the air had color. That is, the existence of the spirit world.
Alice, the Miko Knight, might have known it as knowledge.
However, she had never seen that world with her own eyes.
Humans lack spirit power. Furthermore, even with any innate talents, Miko-sama are forbidden from using any arts other than magic.
Therefore, she must have seen it for the first time.
A colorful, fantastical world where the realm of spirits and the world we normally perceive had merged!
Self-restraint?
I had decided not to hold back this time!
Besides, I wanted her to know.
About this island.
Along with my Dragon Sword Dance, dragon energy swirled like a storm.
However, this time it was not an aggressive storm. It was necessary to fill the world with my dragon energy using the Storm Dragon Arts. This is because, I looked around.
Flowers and grass, blooming out of season, shone with life force.
The atmosphere was beautifully stained with red, yellow, blue, and various other colors.
As the wind flowed. As the flowers and grass swayed. And as we moved, the “colors” filling the world were stirred, making the world appear even more mystical.
In that colorful, overlapping world.
Countless spirits gathered around.
The Storm Dragon Arts imbued with dragon energy had their attributes rewritten by the branches of the spirit tree, becoming nourishment for the spirits!
The spirits, blessed by the spirit tree, manifested along with the vibrant world!
“An attack using spirits!”
Alice was wary not only of me but also of the spirits.
But that was not the case.
The reason the spirits manifested, receiving the power of the spirit tree and me, was different.
It was then that the play of the manifested spirits began, not only in front of me and Alice, but also Ares-chan and Michelle, who had been watching over us.
“Now, Yubitt. Go.”
“Everyone! I will definitely find a way to save everyone and come back!”
A spirit disguised as an old woman bids farewell to a spirit disguised as a young man on a boat. The young man looks around with eyes full of hope. Spirits playing the roles of many people were gathering around the ship.
“Wh…what is this…!”
Alice was bewildered by the sudden appearance of the spirits’ play alongside our fierce battle. Nevertheless, the sharpness of the two-bladed naginata aimed at me and the intensity of her magic did not diminish. And while we were locked in a death struggle, the performance of the activated spirits continued.
An old man, coughing, pushes the boat on which the young man is riding.
“We have nothing left but to cling to this faint hope. If we continue like this, this island will perish.”
Another middle-aged man followed. Similarly, a middle-aged woman and others rushed to the ship, speaking their thoughts to the young man one after another.
“Yubitt, our future rests on you. So please be safe.”
“I’m sorry. To ask you to do something so reckless. But surely the Goddess will protect you.”
“There must be survivors on the islands of the North Sea, just like us.”
“According to legend, there is a clan related to our relatives on the western island?”
“Surely there is a wonderful Miko there. If so, she will surely cure our illness.”
A few people who rushed to the ship coughed painfully.
“Yubitt, aren’t you Father?! Then, this play by the spirits…?”
Michelle shifted her attention from our duel to the play of the spirits. And she divined what the spirits were performing. Yes. The spirits were showing us a scene of farewell that had once happened on this island.
The young man named Yubitt is the priest who would later drift to the continent by chance, meet Alice, and become Michelle’s father. The people gathered around the ship were the islanders who lived on this island. Everyone on the island was coughing. As Alice had said before, the people of this island were suffering from an illness. And to cure that illness, Yubitt was about to set sail, carrying the hope of the islanders.
But, everyone watching the spirits’ play thought so. The North Sea is ruled by a terrible ruler. Humans living in the North Sea, other than this island, have become extinct. Even if Yubitt headed for the neighboring island, the islanders’ hope would not be fulfilled. However, the people living on this small, isolated island and Yubitt could not know such a future or facts. Therefore, Yubitt set sail in a boat, carrying the people’s hopes.
“Ah, Goddess. Please protect Yubitt.”
“That child is a very devout believer. Therefore, please grant him a miracle.”
“We, the islanders, wish for Yubitt’s safety and happiness.”
The islanders watched the ship pass through the shallow rocky area until it disappeared from sight. Yubitt waved to the people until he too was out of sight.
“…This is how it should be.”
“Yubitt is our only hope.”
The people who saw Yubitt off shed tears. Though they had entrusted their hopes to Yubitt and sent him off the island. Nevertheless, everyone was uneasy. The people trapped on this small island knew better than anyone the terror of the Ruler of the North Sea. Therefore, they shed tears, thinking of the harsh ordeal that awaited Yubitt. Nevertheless, they sent him off with a clue to cure their illness, probably because the people were devout believers of the Temple Religion and believed in the Goddess’s miracle.
And yet, another point. While parrying Alice’s relentless slashes with my Dragon Sword Dance, I looked at the remaining islanders. They all appeared to be elderly or middle-aged, with no young people like Yubitt.
Spirits, so they can’t worry about appearance? After all, all the spirits playing Yubitt and the islanders were female in terms of gender. Since they are spirits who do not have the influence of age-related appearance changes or clear male-female differences like humans, perhaps they could not imitate the appearance of the islanders? The play continued, dispelling my doubts.
“If only there was a suitable young lady for him…”
“The only young person on this island was Yubit-chan.”
“If that child had stayed on this island, we would surely have made him suffer.”
“We cannot give him the happiness of marrying and having children.”
“Surely, there is a wonderful Miko on the neighboring island.”
“And they will return as a married couple and surely make us happy.”
“Ah. Yubit is a splendid priest. Surely he will return with a happy family, blessed by the Goddess.”
The appearance of the people shown by the spirits was also correct. There were no other young people left on this island besides Yubitt. Living on a small island, with a small population, everyone becomes close kin, making it difficult even to find a marriage partner. When one struggles to find a spouse, the birth rate gradually declines, and the number of young people decreases, doesn’t it? In the past, there were no young women left on this island who could marry Yubitt. That is precisely why the people of this island entrusted all their future to Yubitt. That he would surely bring back a Miko who could cure their illness. And a bright future where they would raise children as a loving couple.
However, reality was cruel. We, who know the future, know the rest of the play. Yubitt did not return to this island…
“What are you showing!”
Alice swung her two-bladed naginata ferociously! As if to brush away not only me but also the play unfolding by the spirits. However, the spirits, continuing their play outside the range of the two-bladed naginata, were unaffected. Even though the spirits manifested, they do not exist in the same world as us. The spirits exist in their own world and continue their play. And so they showed us the story after sending Yubitt off.
“I wonder how long it’s been since Yubitt set sail?”
The scene changed. An old woman coughing on a bed. A middle-aged woman, also coughing, sat beside her. However, their expressions showed no sign of distress from illness, let alone anxiety. Instead, there was even a tranquility, as if they had accepted their illness.
“Fufufu. Yubitt will surely be happy, right?”
The middle-aged woman smiled while stroking the old woman’s back.
“Surely, Yubitt has found a wonderful woman and is living happily with a cute child, right?”
“Yes, Yubitt is living happily. Our illness is the price for Yubitt’s happiness, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is. With all our prayers as islanders, Yubitt is definitely happy. This illness, therefore, is the price for the Goddess hearing our prayers.”
Even after sending Yubitt off, the people’s illness was not cured. The islanders continued to suffer from illness. But no one was pessimistic. The islanders, who were devout believers, accepted their illness as a “trial from the Goddess.” And they believed without doubt that Yubitt would become happy as a reward for enduring this trial.
“Such…”
Michelle shed tears. The deep feelings of the people. The hope that Yubitt carried. The end of the islanders. Shown the last story of the islands left in the North Sea. Michelle broke down crying.
“Why are you showing me THIS!!”
Alice swung her two-bladed naginata fiercely! But her blade lacked the strong will honed as a warrior, or the fierce weight forged through rigorous training. Rather, her slashes were erratic due to her agitation. While deflecting Alice’s two-bladed naginata with my white sword, I shouted at her.
“You should understand by now! The people of this island… even Yubitt, the last islander, understood!”
Yubitt, sent off from the island, correctly understood the feelings entrusted to him. If he stayed on this island, no one would be saved. An incurable disease was rampant on the island. There were no young women suitable for Yubitt, who would carry on the next generation. Therefore, betting on a slim hope and leaving the island was the best course of action. And, that he would eventually return to this island with his family and show the people his happiness and his family would be his repayment of favors.
“But I could not answer that person’s feelings! I bound him to the sanctuary and could not save the islanders!!”
“That’s not true!”
Deflecting the attack swung with sheer force, I unleashed my white sword. And corrected Alice’s mistaken feelings!
“Yubitt was happy until the very end!”
“What do you know!”
“Alice, please understand Yubitt’s true feelings already!!”
Rebuffed by me, who should know nothing, Alice became enraged. “How could you, who know nothing,” “you don’t understand my feelings!” she swung her two-bladed naginata with raw emotion. While parrying Alice’s wild slashes, I conveyed to Alice the truth I learned from the stage shown by the spirits.
“You don’t understand? You are the one who doesn’t understand! The people of the island wished for Yubitt’s happiness. Yubitt also understood their feelings.”
That’s why…!
“Yubitt entrusted the feelings of this island to you!!”
I knocked down Alice’s moonlight arrow with my white sword. Closing in on Alice with my Dragon Sword Dance, I struck her with my swordplay, delivering the truth she had lost sight of!
“From the beginning, Yubitt understood. That he had been saved by the Goddess’s miracle. That he could never leave the sanctuary again. That’s why he entrusted it to you!”
What, Alice asked with fierce slashes. I replied,
“He couldn’t return to the island anymore. So, he wanted you to tell the islanders someday. That he was happy. That he would never forget the island or everyone. And that the miraculous future everyone wished for had come true!”
“But… But I!”
I let Yubitt die. In the end, I couldn’t send Yubitt back to his hometown. I couldn’t save the islanders. The fierce two-bladed naginata and magic expressed Alice’s emotions. Alice’s heart was filled only with regret. The thorns of guilt blaming herself for doing nothing were deeply embedded in her heart, and they were unleashed upon me as fierce attacks. I parried all of Alice’s emotions with my Dragon Sword Dance.
“No, Alice. Yubitt had no regrets. He didn’t blame you. He just… wanted you to know. About his hometown where he was born and raised. And someday, when you visit your own hometown, he wanted you to remember!”
Unlike me, who cannot leave the sanctuary, Alice, as a Miko Knight, can leave the sanctuary. Even if I cannot travel freely in the outside world for personal reasons. Someday, when Alice visits this island, he wanted her to remember. That’s why Yubitt told Alice so much about this island!
“But you misunderstood. Every time Yubitt talked about this island, you mistook it for him longing for his hometown!”
“What!!”
Alice swung her two-bladed naginata as if to deny my words. But its trajectory was too erratic, and it was easily deflected by me.
“Yubitt understood from the beginning. That the people of this island would die before long. But he didn’t want them to forget. About this island that Yubitt cherished. About the people who continued to think of Yubitt. About himself who loved Alice!”
Yubitt was told many things by Alice herself.
“Because, you know? Alice is a Miko Knight, and you don’t have a lifespan like me, right? If that’s the case. Even after Yubitt eventually grows old and dies of old age. If Alice remembers Yubitt’s stories, the thoughts of everyone will live on in Alice’s heart. That’s why Yubitt told Alice so much about this island?”
And yet, does Alice twist Yubitt’s feelings?
“Yubitt didn’t tell you to make you feel guilty. He thought that you, Alice, would surely come to this island someday. And when that time comes, if you remember Yubitt’s story, his feelings would return to the island and reach the people who lived on this island!”
And yet!
“You trample on Yubitt’s feelings and say you want to die on this island!? That is absolutely wrong! What you should do is convey to this island that Yubitt was happy until the end, and deliver his feelings to this island!!”
My white sword sparkled. I sent Alice’s two-bladed naginata flying far away. And Alice collapsed to her knees.
