The Boy in the City of the Dead

by Kanata Yanagino

  A priest of Mater the Earth-Mother, for example, could use benediction to make the land fertile, to see a baby delivered safely for mother and child, or to give health to growing children. The god of lightning, Volt, offered benediction to judge the truthfulness of the target’s words. High-level priests could pray for rain to fall on land that was suffering a drought.

  Gracefeel’s benediction, on the other hand, was reasonably lacking in practical use, and included things like granting repose and guidance to the souls of the dead.

  In this world, the gods were able to exert actual influence on reality. I had personally grown up eating porridge and bread that had actually been made through benediction, so I wasn’t about to doubt it. If one day benediction suddenly awoke within you, that would be a life-changing event. You would suddenly be able to heal wounds and perform all manner of other miraculous feats, and would become the talk of everyone around you. It would be like winning the lottery. Because of that, many people factored practical considerations, such as the benediction they would receive, into their choice of guardian deity. As a result, Gracefeel was not that popular.

  It was very natural for people to think that way. If you could only receive a single lottery ticket, of course you’d want it to be the one with the biggest jackpot. The devotion the gods amassed in this way translated directly into their power, and the more power the gods gained, the more people would follow them. This has kind of started sounding like a lecture on wealth inequality, hasn’t it?

  In any case, that was Gracefeel: a second-string god, whose name would always come after the big six. Maybe the reason Gracefeel fascinated me so much was that I still had my memories from my previous life. I couldn’t help but feel a curious bond with them, given that their domain was samsara and the eternal flux of all things.

  I looked around the temple. I was due to turn fifteen at this year’s winter solstice. I would make an oath to one of these gods, name them as my guardian deity... and then, in spring, I would probably leave this temple. The living had to return to the living. All three of them were thinking it, as if it was obvious.

  I looked at my hands in silence. These hands were different now. The discoloration pattern from those burns, traveling up my arms, was still there. There were small cuts and dirt on the palms, from helping out Mary with chores and garden work. Ink stains, from my studying with Gus. Blisters, from my training with Blood. They weren’t the hands I’d had when I was young. They weren’t the unhealthy hands I’d had when I was the old me. They were hands that had been put to something.

  I really had been taught so much. So many different things. Mary told me before that she didn’t know what things were like out there, just that it was very likely dangerous. Gus and Blood, too, said nothing about outside society. I still didn’t even know why I was here. But there was at least something I could say for sure.

  These hands, which had been indelibly shaped by so many teachings, were full of the kindness the three of them had shown me. No matter how dangerous it was out there, no matter how harsh a place it was for an outsider of unknown origin, the three of them had taught me enough that I’d be able to survive.

  One day... I wanted to come back here. If possible, with friends, or a family. And I’d introduce them to Blood, and Mary, and Gus. This is the house I grew up in, I could say, and this is my dad, and my mom, and my grandpa.

  What would the three of them say when they saw me back? Would they be pleased to see my friends and family? What could I bring them as a gift?

  My imagination was filled with that simple happiness.

  ◆

  “Which god would the three of you recommend, if you had to name one?” I’d decided it was worth at least asking the three of them for their thoughts on a guardian deity.

  Blood was first to answer. “Unless you’ve got some actual idea for how you wanna turn out, I’d just make some harmless oath to Volt.”

  “Oh, that’s a good suggestion,” Mary agreed. “A wide range of people have faith in Volt, and he has the most social trustworthiness, too.”

  “Hmm, Indeed.” Even Gus was on board. “A wise decision... A rarity for you, Blood.”

  “Bug off.”

  Gus gave a single disdainful snort in response.

  “Now, now, you two. Stop that.”

  Blood grumbled, clearly dissatisfied.

  Coughing to clear the air, Gus continued. “Whirl is also not a bad choice for a guardian deity, but a number of Whirl’s followers are gamblers or thieves. I would certainly agree that Volt is a step up in the aspect of social trust. He seems the better choice.”

  The three of them settled very quickly on Volt, god of gods, and ruler of justice and lightning.

  “I’m surprised you all agreed so easily.”

  “You can hardly go wrong with Volt,” Gus stated plainly. “That’s the simple truth. And it’s not as though you can’t change it later.”

  Blood nodded. “It’d be a different story if you had dreams of becoming, I dunno, a craftsman or a scholar, but how can you dream like that when you don’t even know what the world’s like out there?”

  “The best thing is for you to keep your options open,” Mary said thoughtfully, “so I would say that Volt is best, followed perhaps by Mater our Earth-Mother.”

  All this talk about there being “no need to narrow your options at this stage” and “choosing something so you’re prepared, no matter what you choose in the future” was making me feel like I was choosing a career path.

  Pick a high school with an ordinary curriculum—it can’t do you wrong. Like that.

  “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. And what kind of thing is good for the oath? In the ‘Berkeley Tale of Valor’ you told me before, he swore upon Volt’s lightning sword to vanquish all evil.”

  “Yeah...” Blood sounded worried. “That’s a legendary epic. Don’t go getting all starry-eyed and making an oath like that, you hear me? A strong oath makes it easier to receive protection, but you end up letting yourself in for one hell of a rough fate. Become a hero or die, basically.”

  “I’m sure the gods find idiots like that much more willing to get themselves into trouble,” Gus said.

  So there were beliefs like that connected to these oaths as well. It remained to be seen how much truth there was in the stuff about “rough fates,” but I had no intention of making such a difficult oath anyway. I wasn’t going to puff up my own importance and think I was special just because I had memories from a previous life, and I had no aspirations of becoming a “hero.”

  “Yes, a normal person’s oath would be something like...” Mary pondered for a moment. “‘I swear to live my life doing as little evil as possible,’ perhaps.”

  Gus listed off a few more. “‘I will show consideration for my neighbor,’ ‘I will speak no lies,’ ‘I will treasure my family’... and such.”

  Treasure my family... that one sounded nice. Summing up the examples I had heard so far, I said, “So basically, I just need to swear something like ‘I will live a proper life and not do anything bad’?”

  “Roughly, yes,” Gus said. “That being said, sometimes one makes an oath that is suited to the personality of his individual god.”

  “Umm, like?”

  “Uhh, so what I did was,” Blood said, “I swore to Blaze to train every day and get stronger. Blaze values discipline and a honed craft.”

  “My vow to Mater was a little more abstract,” Mary followed up. “I swore to live true to her will.”

  Yes, that suited the two of them perfectly.

  “As for me,” Gus said, “all this about guardian deities and oaths and such looked like a hassle. I chose Whirl because it seemed the most relaxed option, and I swore to do what I wanted and have fun with life.”

  Old Gus was definitely rock ’n’ roll.

  That about wrapped up the discussion. Mary went to the lake to do the washing, and Blood to the forest for firewood. Autumn was already ending. Not to moralize like a
n old fable, but preparing for winter was important.

  As for me, I was taking a lesson with Gus. I practiced double casting over and over, raising my proficiency. Gus’s lessons had now become very hands-on.

  “Listen, now, this is important. When attempting to use magic in a situation where your opponent can attack you before the count of five, never waste time thinking. Cast a spell by reflex, something you have trained your body to memorize in advance. You’ll find that most of the world’s sorcerers are overly theoretical. They always think first. A good number of them are incapable of what I’m telling you.”

  Gus told me there were countless people who had died this way, shot or cut down while vacillating over what to use. Some even destroyed themselves by deciding to use a Word they weren’t familiar with and screwing it up.

  That said, it wasn’t surprising. The majority of sorcerers were city scholars or handymen. People like me and Gus, who studied magic while envisaging how it would be used in battle, were by far the minority.

  “Intelligent strategy is for when you have time to consider it. In a sudden encounter, don’t waste time thinking up terrible plans. Press the enemy hard with magic you’re familiar with. Complex chains of magic risk total failure if a single link breaks. The simpler the spell, the more resilient.”

  Gus’s thoughts on battle tactics were very similar to Blood’s teachings. Maybe this was just what happened when your skills were shaped by actual battles.

  “And Will, you will particularly benefit from identifying when it’s appropriate to rely on the Words and when it is not. Because you have the option of fighting with the techniques Blood drilled into you.”

  I didn’t know if it was the presence of mana, or if this world was just made that way, but you could achieve greater results with training in this world than you ever could in my previous one. The physical abilities of a proper warrior in top form were a little bit monstrous.

  I mean, take Blood. When he wasn’t running in a lower gear for the sake of my training, he could bend with ease the thick steel poles I used for swinging practice, and he could run with the speed and acuity of a swallow in flight. It was a bit scary to think that my own physical abilities were beginning to follow suit. A little bit further and I’d be superhuman.

  Magic, on the other hand, carried the risk of self-destruction if you made a mistake in writing or pronunciation. Because of this, the area within about ten meters of the opponent was inescapably the exclusive domain of the warrior.

  Gus, however, did know several “bad-mannered, underhanded tricks” for such a situation. I wondered just how many people this guy had taken down from within warrior range.

  “Of course, the best outcome is for there not to be a fight in the first place, but if things do get heated, judge correctly.”

  I nodded.

  “Oh, something else,” Gus said. “I’ve been dabbling in astronomy the last few years, and I found out when we can expect the next winter solstice.”

  My eyes opened wide upon hearing that. Had he been looking into that especially for my fifteenth?

  “Say... Will. I have a request.”

  “A request?”

  “Mm,” he nodded. “Blood will probably ask you for a one-on-one battle, to be held on the day before the winter solstice, or thereabouts. An all-out battle, with nothing held back, and Mary standing by to offer healing and regeneration through benediction.”

  His words didn’t surprise me. I’d been thinking for a while that Blood was likely to suggest something like that. And I was ready to take him up on it.

  “Will...” Gus’s expression was heavy. “Could you... lose that battle, in a way that Blood won’t find out?” The words he forced out of his mouth were full of anguish.

  “Why?”

  The time I was almost killed by Gus came to mind. Back then, too, there was some unknown thought behind Gus’s actions. Without ever telling me, he had ruminated over some circumstances I didn’t know, and come to a conclusion that led to him trying to kill me. And then, for some reason, he stopped.

  “Why do this?”

  “It’s important.”

  “No.” Not that.

  “Not me, you! Why do you keep leaving me out of the loop?!” Without even realizing it, I was yelling at him in anger.

  “I know you’re not an idiot! I know you wouldn’t trample over someone’s feelings without a reason!” I tried to grab him by the collar, but my hands swiped the air.

  I glared up at him as he floated above me. “I’m capable of doing what you ask if you’d actually explain things to me! I’d lose on purpose for you! I’d offer my life for you, like I did back then! So why won’t you ever tell me anything?! Am I that untrustworthy to you?! Am I that insignificant to you?!” The words I’d been keeping bottled inside my heart poured out as if a dam had burst.

  Gus still had a pained look on his face, and it didn’t change as he spoke. “Sorry, Will... I can’t. Sorry.”

  I lowered my head and clenched my fists. I had to wrench the next words out of me.

  “I see.” So that was how it was.

  “Then... Then don’t expect me to help you.” I verbally pushed him away. I couldn’t lose such an important fight on purpose without even knowing why. “What you just said... I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.”

  This was going to be my last chance to challenge Blood at his full potential, without any restrictions getting in the way. As a warrior myself, I wanted to give it everything I had, and I was sure that Blood was thinking the same thing. To lose that on purpose, without even knowing why... It was just impossible.

  But I wouldn’t tell on him to anyone. I didn’t hear anything. Simple as that.

  That was my final word, and neither Gus nor I said anything more.

  A few days later, Blood informed me about my final exam.

  A gust of icy wind rushed across the temple hill, adding an unpleasant bite to the brisk winter air. The ruined houses by the lake stood stock-still, doing their best to endure the cold air rushing through. Thin clouds covered the sky, not letting much sunlight through, even though it was noon. Even when I looked up at the sky, I felt no warmth from it.

  Months had passed, and the day of my showdown with Blood was finally here. Tomorrow, I would become an adult. And in spring, I would probably leave this temple, and travel on my own.

  I did some thorough stretches and practice swings with my training sword, which weighed twice as much as my usual weapon. Diagonal slash down the shoulder. Across. Close in and thrust. The sound of the blade tip slicing the air echoed.

  I heard Gus’s words in the back of my mind. I put extra effort into focusing and erased them. My body started warming up, and gradually transitioned to a state where I could unleash my full potential.

  “Okay.” After I finished my warm-up, I set my practice sword aside, and checked my equipment.

  I had my longsword and a circular shield: a wooden board in a metal frame, covered with leather. I had a dagger for use in close combat on my belt. I’d be wearing soft leather armor on top of thick under armor, and for the vulnerable areas of my body, I had metal: a throat plate, a breastplate, gauntlets, and greaves. And to finish up, I had a simple curved helmet. That was the complete list of equipment I’d be using today. I always ended up looking like a heavily armored knight after putting all of this on.

  “Will, let me help you with that,” Mary said. This kind of heavy equipment was an incredible pain to equip and check on your own. Mary tied up the strings and fastened the clasps on the armor with practiced hands.

  Today would probably be the last time I wore this much armor. In spring, I’d be going on my travels. I couldn’t walk around towns and mountains constantly wearing a full set of armor like a video game character. And since I had no idea how long I was going to be on the road, being well-prepared and well-supplied was going to be a higher priority than wearing too much armor.

  But none of that mattered today. I was going to be facing B
lood at his most serious. I had Mary’s benediction, but it wouldn’t be any help if one of Blood’s blows killed me instantly.

  If I wanted the kind of protection that would save me from immediate death even if Blood hit me dead-on with his most powerful blow, I’d need to search out the most masterfully crafted dwarven items from the city, and face him with an absolutely flawless defense. But this was a contest. A test of skills. Not a fight to the death.

  “Hey, Will. You ready?” Blood asked. As a handicap to help me, he wasn’t wearing any armor.

  He had a sword belt wrapped around his waist, to which was attached a single-handed sword in a black scabbard. But that weapon wasn’t going to be the star of the show. In his hands, he was holding a long, obnoxiously long, two-handed broadsword. That was Blood’s proper weapon.

  I scanned the area. Just the hill, dry grass, and Mary and Blood. There was no sign of Gus.

  “Anytime,” I said. “Let’s do this.” I shook my head sharply a few times to remove Gus from my thoughts. I told myself to focus. I had to keep my mind on the battle.

  “Okay. Let’s go over it one last time before we start. No magic. Nothing instantly fatal. Other than that, it’s anything goes. If something happens, Mary will deal with it. Winner’s decided on the call of ‘Yield’ or when one of us is physically unable to continue battle.”

  As he casually ran through the explanation, Blood stepped back, and held his broadsword at the ready. I’d been told that when Mary got serious, she could repair a limb even if it was crushed or cut off, so these conditions were absolutely merciless.

  “Be sure you don’t die,” Blood warned. His low voice sent shivers through me. And so my final exam began.

  ◆

  It was like a storm. The immense weight of the thick steel blade came at me from every direction at unfathomable speed.

  I knew it was useless to attempt to block it. Even a single direct hit would break my sword in half and smash my shield to pieces. And I didn’t want to imagine what would happen if I attempted to block it with any of my armor. Wherever it hit, I was sure it would lead to me being permanently sprawled on the ground in a matter of seconds. I desperately tried to avoid taking more than a glancing blow, bashing the side of the broadsword as it came at me, diverting it away from me with my shield, dodging, circling around, trying to hold out.