by CHIROLU
She was certainly acting out of consideration for Smaragdi’s wish while thinking of their daughters. However, he saw an excitement beyond just that in her expression. At the sight before him, Smaragdi’s words of objection abandoned him.
Their daughters weren’t the only ones who had been raised in secret in the depths of the shrine, not knowing the outside world. It was no surprise that she would have an interest in such things too.
“So, there’s no danger to you, Ryso, or Latina?”
In that case, he should give his all to make things turn out for the best, considering the risks. Having made up his mind, Smaragdi regained his usual calm and smiled. He likely had a tendency to be soft on not just his daughters, but also Mov, who was younger than him.
“I cannot say that there is no danger whatsoever. However, it is possible to make choices to lower the possibility of more dangerous futures occuring, rendering them ineffective. Changing my hair color was one such choice,” Mov replied, holding out the child-sized overcoats she had prepared as she did so. “That is also why I chose hoods that hid their horns rather than ones that let them show.”
It was also why she had made the very important decision of choosing triangular cat ears over round bear ears. It most certainly wasn’t just because they were adorable.
“Come here Latina, Ryso.”
“What is it?”
“Huuuh?”
However, it was also a fact that when the twins came over to their beckoning mother and put on the overcoats and hoods, they were even more adorable than Smaragdi had expected. The way that they hopped around merrily, excited by this unfamiliar new clothing, making them look so cute that he could go so far as to declare that real kittens didn’t even compare.
Once her daughters were ready, Mov exited the room as if it was only natural. Having given up on stopping her, Smaragdi took their daughters’ hands and followed behind her.
As someone who lacked such a thing, Smaragdi didn’t truly understand the great power she possessed in the form of her divine protection. It was thinkable that his interference could have a negative impact. With that thought in mind, all he could do was watch over Mov’s actions.
They were normally never allowed to pass through the door connecting the depths of the temple to its other sections. Apparently the girls sensed that they found themselves in a different situation than normal. The two smart girls looked at each other and pursed their lips.
Mov walked with a confident stride, occasionally stopping, and at times taking a detour while progressing through the vast temple. While doing so, they didn’t pass a single priest, even though there should have been many of them about.
Smaragdi didn’t like the temple’s way of doing things, entrusting everything to prophecies and never thinking on their own, but at times like this, he couldn’t help but feel in awe at those words from a god.
There was the power to see through everything within Mov’s golden eyes. That fact was inescapable.
Smaragdi and his daughters followed along after Mov as she smoothly slipped through the vast temple grounds.
The gatekeeper guarding the exterior of the temple did not realize that Mov, with the rare colors she possessed now hidden, was the Lady Oracle herself. That was even more true of the twins, whose very existence wasn’t even known to anyone but a portion of the temple’s elite. They blended in with the throngs of people visiting the temple and headed into town.
What awaited them was a brilliantly colored townscape spreading out wide before them. The sky above it all was colored a gradation from red to light purple due to the sunset. It was a perfectly ordinary sight, but the girls had only seen the sky cut off by the walls of the temple, so they both stopped and looked up at it, their mouths opened wide. That alone made taking them outside worthwhile.
Mov suddenly turned around and looked at Smaragdi, an impish smile on her face. Even if she didn’t say anything, it was clear from her expression that she felt glad she had taken action. While looking a little troubled, too, Smaragdi smiled back at her, as her accomplice.
There were artificial springs constructed here and there throughout town. Rather than being naturally occurring, these springs were filled using magic by those who made their living doing so. Though there was little rain in the country, the people of this town had no need to compete over water. The air by the spring was cooled by the chilly water making it a good place to rest, so a great many people had stopped there to do so. Thanks to the need to avoid the midday heat, this evening hour was the most prosperous one for the town.
The people about town were stopping there now for more reasons than that usual one, though. Numerous pure white flowers were floating on the water’s surface. They were offerings to Quirmizi, as they were thought to be symbolic of the portion of the blessings provided by that god.
The sight of those brilliant large blossoms, of a sort which didn’t bloom in the temple’s garden, caused a look of surprise to appear on the faces of both the girls under their matching hoods. They ran up to the shrine and reached out towards the flowers, which were floating tantalizingly out of reach. The girls weren’t discouraged by that, though, and instead played around by splashing the water. Even just seeing the petals sway atop the water was apparently enough to bring them joy, as the girls laughed in tandem.
Chrysos and Platina turned around to confirm that their parents were still watching over them, gentle expressions on their faces. Their smiles grew all the brighter upon seeing Smaragdi and Mov, and they showed no signs of concern over their first time going outside the temple. They had absolute trust in their parents. So as long as they were by the girls’ side, they had no reason to feel uneasy.
They were full of curiosity by nature and the town was overflowing with thing they’d never seen, and combined with the great excitement in the air, their smiles showed no sign of abating.
Smaragdi called over a person with a basket by the spring’s side and handed over some coins. The four flowers he received in exchange were of the same sort as those floating on the surface of the spring, pure white ones with many layered petals.
“We place them in the spring with prayers of thanks for our everyday sustenance.”
Smaragdi handed one flower each to Mov and his daughters, then placed his own gently into the spring. Chrysos and Platina obediently followed his example, each dropping their flower onto the water’s surface with a serious look on her face.
Finding it strange that Mov didn’t do the same, Smaragdi looked over at her. Mov was holding the flower to her chest, looking a little hesitant.
“Mov?” Smaragdi called out, sounding perplexed.
“I know that there is no helping it, as it is a ritual,” Mov said, letting her flower go into the spring. After thinking on his past actions for a bit, Smaragdi reached a satisfactory answer.
“Now that I think of it, I’ve never given you a flower before, have I?”
Apparently he had hit the mark. She had an unpleasant expression, pouting like a child. Rather than denying her feelings, he hugged her.
“I was wrong. What sort of flowers are your favorite, Mov? I’ve never asked before, right?”
“In the temple, I never had the chance to experience such things...”
“I see. In that case, I’ll have to think on what type of flower suits you best,” Smaragdi said with a smile, moving his hand from around her waist to her hand instead.
“You’re unfamiliar with the town, so I don’t want you to get lost.”
Mov blushed ever so slightly and gripped his hand back tightly. They then each offered their open hands to their daughters. Holding their father and mother’s hands, Platina and Chrysos looked up at their parents with smiles on their faces.
Today, the street corners throughout town were decorated with flowers, creating a gorgeous atmosphere. Even the shadows cast by the walls dyed red by the light of the setting sun added to the beautiful colors of the town.
Platina and Chrysos stoppe
d and stared at everything. They’d point something out and then ask their parents. They lifted and raised their hands while looking at their own shadows in a strange sort of dance. Their parents looked on them with affection all the while as this was going on, finding everything they did adorable.
Before long, they arrived at the temple of Quirmizi. It was a modest building, not even comparing to the grand temple of Banafsaj where they lived. It was decorated with metallic ornamentation. Seeing the many designs there for the first time, the girls were completely captivated.
“Rag, what’s that?”
“Ah, that imagery represents the favor of Quirmizi... There are a lot of plants that don’t exist in this country shown there.”
The sparkle in their daughters’ were clearly the shine of curiosity. The metal relief showed plants from all ages and nations in great detail. Smaragdi was also aware that each relief displayed a season or region, allowing it to serve as an illustrated reference for plants.
“Ryso wants to see more! Rag, pick Ryso up!”
“Calm down, Ryso. Ah, don’t you look at me with that face too, Latina.”
“Pick up Latina, too!”
For someone as slender as Smaragdi, picking up both his daughters at the same time when they demanded it was getting more and more difficult day by day. Even so, he’d never be able to refuse them when they were begging like this.
“Wow, amazing!”
“Over that way, Rag, that way!”
With his daughters chattering away in high spirits as he held them, Smaragdi steadily walked along. Mov walked alongside him, as if snuggling up to him. As both of Smaragdi’s hands were occupied by their daughters, she instead got even closer to him than normal.
Mov gently, affectionately pulled Chrysos’s hood back up, as it was about to fall due to the girl getting overly excited. No matter how one looked at her, she was a kind, caring mother.
As they walked, they circled around the building. It was normally a quiet place without many people around, but as today was a festival, there were a great many visitors.
Since it was a harvest festival, this year’s bounty was piled up atop the temple’s altar. It was precisely because the environment was so harsh, limiting the crops they could obtain, that this ritual was held out of pure faith and thanks to the god.
“I suppose it’ll be starting soon,” Smaragdi muttered.
“Hmm?”
“What will?”
The two girls in Smaragdi’s arms tilted their heads. Mov also looked to be confused. Seeing their reactions, Smaragdi smiled and beckoned Mov over to a place a little bit separated from where the crowd was gathering.
“The offering dance is starting. They’ll put on a dance, starting from here and going all through town, to places like that spring where we were before. The dance at the spring will be flashier, but more people will gather there, so I thought this place would be better for taking it easy and watching.”
Not long after Smaragdi finished his explanation, numerous priests started appearing from within the temple. They took command of the surroundings through sheer volume as they wildly played their percussion instruments and flutes, making sounds that differed greatly from what could be heard in the temple of Banafsaj and clearing away any gloom coming from the now very dim natural light.
The twins clung to their father at first out of shock at the loud noises, but when they saw the priestesses in their brilliant outfits, the girls’ gazes grew fixed on them. As they watched the elegant dance, it was as if they had forgotten to even blink.
Smaragdi glanced over at Mov, and found that she was admiring her enraptured daughters more than the dance itself. Noticing his gaze she looked back at him, and they smiled at one another.
It would be difficult to exchange words at the moment, as they would be drowned out by the musical performance. While Smaragdi was thinking that, Mov intertwined her own arm around his. As he was holding both their daughters at the moment he couldn’t do anything in response, but he looked at Mov, whose cheeks were a little flushed with embarrassment at being so close.
“...I’m really glad that I met you,” Smaragdi whispered quietly, thinking he wouldn’t mind if she didn’t hear. Mov gave a happy smile back. “No matter what happens from now on... those feelings of mine won’t change.”
“...Right.”
Mov closed her eyes and rested her head on Smaragdi’s shoulder. He felt her warmth, along with that ever so slight weight on him.
“I am also truly glad that you are the one by my side, Smaragdi.”
Hearing their daughters’ shouts of joy, their gazes returned to the dance. The dance at the temple was reaching its climax. The dancers had been moving in perfect sync, but now they created a slight lag in between their movements. Their hands wearing thin golden rings fluttered as if creating ripples, and their dazzling matching orange outfits, the color of the god they worshipped, spread out like flowers.
The percussion rang out loudly enough to shake one’s eardrums. As the aftereffects lingered silence returned to the temple and the dance came to an end, the extraordinary giving way once more to the ordinary.
They noticed now that the setting sun was already sinking beyond the dunes of the desert. The last vestiges of red disappeared from the sky, and were replaced by a twinkling sea of stars.
The excitement from the dance they had just seen still hadn’t abated, so the two daughters seemed to be more skipping along than walking. So that the girls wouldn’t stumble and trip in the darkness, Mov cast a gentle magic light.
Smaragdi and Mov walked along slowly hand in hand, watching over the girls as they enjoyed themselves.
There was surely a great panic back in the temple around now. Even so, they wanted this time to last even just a little bit longer.
With the power of Mov’s divine protection, it wasn’t a difficult task to return to the temple. Just like when they had left, she easily led them back to the depths of the temple. Thanks to Mov’s ability, it was if she was simply ignoring the chamberlains, who were running around looking for her and the girls who weren’t in their room, as they couldn’t cause an uproar about the matter.
Seeing that the twins had been lulled to sleep, having tired themselves out from playing, Mov was completely detached from the questioning and reprimands.
†
One day, their peaceful, yet isolated, time together suddenly approached its end.
Though the role of highest-ranking priestess had been entrusted to Mov, the previous grand priestess, Epilogi, still held a great deal of authority. The start and end of everything came when she handed down a prophecy.
“It is the light of the sun that illuminates our future.”
Those words from a god were like a fragment of a poem, and told of the future that the people wanted to know.
“The light of the moon will lead to lordly ruin.”
The word sun contained the letter indicating gold. Furthermore the letter indicating platinum was included in the word for moon.
Smaragdi’s face froze when he heard the words of that prophecy.
He had had his misgivings all this time. He had felt keenly many times since coming to live with Mov that those who were affiliated with the temple had blind faith in those words from the god, considering them absolutely just. Fortunately for him, the current highest-ranking priestess in the temple was Mov, who was his personal pupil. Rather than teaching her to immediately confirm or deny the temple’s way of thinking, he had instead made sure that she knew how to think on her own as to whether something was right or wrong.
Furthermore, having served as an advisor in the temple for so many years, Smaragdi had gained quite a bit of popularity himself. The reason someone like himself, who wasn’t even a priest, had heard the contents of Epilogi’s prophecy, was because of his various pupils. They also informed him of other matters concerning the state of the temple. As the grand priestess, Mov was stuck in the middle of the turbulent maelstrom that the
temple had become. She was even more busy than she had been, and the time she could spend with her family was quite limited.
“The circumstances seem to have grown rather dire. The Lady Oracle has vigorously objected, but...” Aspida reported on the temple meeting that had been called, and Smaragdi’s face showed clear discomfort in turn. He was calm by nature, and it was incredibly uncommon to see him express such emotions so openly.
“I’m sure it was those geezers saying such foolish things, right? They may have been loyal subjects back in Lady Epilogi’s day, but those rust-headed fools who have given up on thinking entirely should have been dismissed right away.”
“Guru...”
“I know that you can’t speak ill of those old fools considering your position. Just informing me of the state of things like this is plenty. Thank you, Aspida.”
Smaragdi’s sharp words had been only natural, considering the cruel words directed towards his beloved daughter.
With this prediction from Epilogi, the idea to immediately judge the girl a “criminal” was raised by those who were considered conservative even amongst members of the temple.
Those that Smaragdi called “old fools” were making light of the statements from Mov, who should have been the highest-ranking priestess, and though their minds had curdled with age, their positions alone made them difficult to handle.
In this country, the word “lord” indicated the rightful ruler of the nation, the First Demon Lord. Having lost the previous ruler and the candidate that followed, this country had been waiting for quite some time for a new king to be enthroned. As citizens, that was no different for Smaragdi or Mov.
But with that said, there was no way they would ever accept the absurd act of Platina, who hadn’t committed a single crime, being judged a criminal based on a prophecy.
Smaragdi and Mov had Platina and Chrysos remain within their room. Though where they could go had been limited before, up until now, their daughters had enjoyed a certain degree of freedom. It was painful, having to steal away even more of their freedom and shut them away in a single room. However, they had no choice but to do so. There was no telling when the conservative priests would take stronger measures. Their decision was also heavily influenced by a desire to shield the girls from the malice, fear, and hatred that was being directed at Platina since the prophecy was handed down.