Chapter 19 · The New Sprout Festival (1)

Slipping out of the temple was easier than I had thought. A few days later, Rizen brought a robe with a large hood that belonged to his little sister, and I pulled the hood down deep, pretending to be Rizen’s younger sibling who had come to the temple because she missed her brother so much, and stepped outside.

I could only pray that luck would be with us, and that the three priestesses wouldn’t notice that what was in the bed wasn’t me but a few pillows.

“Whoaaa…!”

Riding in the temple’s modest carriage, clutching Rizen’s hand tightly, the moment we arrived at the plaza of Salus, I couldn’t help but cry out in amazement.

In the center of the plaza stood a great platinum fountain sculpted with the god Lux, and around the plaza, colorful striped tent stalls tempted passersby with all kinds of street food.

Every alley was packed with merchants selling every sort of souvenir, clowns on stilts wandering about setting off firecrackers, gaily dressed people chattering loudly under bright lights, and shops whose wide-open doors were decorated with sprout-shaped ornaments.

My eyes spun and felt like they might burst trying to take in the whole scene. Having only ever seen merchants hawking fish and fruit at the top of their lungs in a dirty, drab market alley, I forgot even the purpose I had come here for and was busy gawking at everything.

“Princess, you usually act like a little old man, but right now you’re exactly like my little sister.”

Rizen said, tightening his grip so as not to lose me.

“Wizen, Wizen, what’s that?”

Children about my size were sitting in a row in front of a merchant, poking at something with little needles. A sweet smell filled the air.

“Ah… that’s sugar candy. I used to make it sometimes when I was little too. You don’t know it? You pour sugar into a ladle, let it harden, then poke at it with a needle and peel it off along the shape mold, and they give you a present.”

Whoa… So many things exist. As I stared in fascination, Rizen smiled brightly and pulled me over.

“Want to try it? I’m pretty good at it—”

Just then, a red-haired boy who had been hunched over, a pile of about a hundred failed attempts stacked in front of him, deeply engrossed in his sculpting, raised his head.

“…Rizen?”

‘Eeeek! It’s Ark! Why are you here!’

“And the prin—”

I dashed over and clamped my hand over his mouth, whispering.

“Awk, if you caww Asha ‘pwincess’ hewe, I’ll kill you.”

“How did you get here, Prin—”

“Just caww me ‘young wady’!”

“What do you mean, young lady—”

When I glared at him with my eyes wide, he quietly shut his mouth.

“Give me one here too!”

Rizen plopped down beside him and ordered.

“How can you leave me out and conspire only with that guy? You don’t trust me, do you?”

Ark poured out his complaints in a mosquito-whisper rapid-fire.

“No, it’s not that… I thought Awk would hate a festivaw that commonews enjoy…”

“Hmph, hmph. There are things in commoner culture worth enjoying too, you know.”

“Weawwy, you weawwy seem to be enjoying it…”

When I glanced at the mountain of failed attempts piled in front of him, Ark’s face turned as red as his hair. It did look like a challenge that would be hard to succeed at, given Ark’s fiery, impatient temperament.

“Th-this was all defective. That old swindler deliberately gave me ones that break easily.”

“Awk! Awen’t you badmouthing someone who isn’t even hewe?”

“That’s right. Let’s see what you say when I succeed on my first try.”

Rizen wet his needle and entered a state of extreme focus. When he quickly poked out the edges of the star-shaped design, Ark’s face scrunched up.

“See? Did I do it perfectly or what?”

“Hey, the crumbs didn’t come off cleanly here!”

The kindly-looking merchant, watching them bicker and fight, smiled and handed over a gift. It was a candy as big as my face. Rizen proudly placed the candy in my hands.

“Thank you, Wizen oppa.”

At my calling him oppa, he scratched his head shyly and grinned.

“Giving the young lady nothing but a cheap candy like this! Just wait, young lady. I’ll buy you something a billion times better than that.”

Ark grabbed me and pulled me up. No, I have things to do, you fool!

Before I could stop him, Ark seized my hand and dragged me frantically around shop after shop. Before I knew it, I was wearing a pink dress covered in frills said to be made by a famous designer, clutching a giant rabbit doll.

“Awk, thank you, but… Asha has somepwace to go…”

“Oh my, angelic young lord of Lord Lux. How about presenting this hairpin to your doll-like little sister? It’s a product the nobles of Salus love to give their children these days.”

“She’s my little sister!”

When the jewelry merchant called out to Rizen, Ark flared up.

“No, she’s my little sister!”

Rizen shot back, not backing down either.

“?”

As the merchant looked utterly bewildered, I explained in a small voice.

“Um, um… we’we… thwee siblings.”

The merchant’s gaze traveled over the three of us, each with different hair and eye colors. Light brown hair with blue eyes, red hair with gray eyes, silver hair with teal eyes. Ah, damn it.

‘They’re going to think we’re some messed-up family!’

It was only after Ark had bought the hairpin and pinned it in my hair that I could finally say where I wanted to go.

“The area where foreign merchants are gathered? Why would you go there? They probably only sell shabbier things than Santra’s goods.”

“Come to think of it, the princess was reading books about Eldina too. I suppose you’re interested in foreign countries.”

“A pwoper pwincess ought to take an intewest in othew countries too. I’ll have to do dipwomatic wowk abwoad eventuawwy.”

“Sigh… Princess, sometimes you say things far too old for your age, and it’s scary.”

Rizen shook his head and shuddered as if he had goosebumps.

Going to the foreign merchants’ quarter was the goal of today’s outing.

Three years from now, in the year I turn eight, an epidemic of unknown cause will sweep across Santra. A horrific plague unprecedented in history, one that will claim hundreds of thousands of lives, and it cannot be cured by ordinary medicine.

It was a disease that rapidly weakened the function of the internal organs and led to death, and it could not be healed even by divine power, which was highly effective mainly on external wounds. What researchers, after painstaking experiments, discovered within a few months was that only a cure made from a certain medicinal herb was effective.

But that herb was a species that did not grow in Santra. Later named the ‘herb of life,’ this plant grew only beyond the Rivanus Mountains to the east of Santra, in the desert regions of Kalisa and in the country of Batias, home to a vast desert.

But Kalisa was an enemy nation, and Batias had long requested trade with Santra, which we kept refusing, so it was not cooperative.

‘They probably cheered at Santra’s crisis. This is why you need to be good at diplomacy… Santra is too arrogant just because it has so many mages and priests.’

It was only after pouring in the national treasury and suffering considerable economic damage that we barely managed to obtain the plant, but the quantity was far too small, and Santra’s climate was unsuitable for mass cultivation, so a long research period was required. And during that time, countless people died without ever receiving proper treatment.

‘If I’m lucky, I might find a merchant selling that plant today.’

Even if there were no restrictions today, the foreign merchants, who were unwelcome, had gathered in a secluded spot.

“ΧΨΩαβγδε! ζηθικλμνξο!”

Merchants of all manner of appearances called out in incomprehensible languages.

“What is he saying…? Ugh, what is that now?”

Ark shuddered at the sight of a cauldron with something black boiling in it. Just then, an old woman with her head wrapped in a shabby scarf grabbed hold of me.

“Pretty little lady, come have your fortune told. I’ll read your destiny.”

“How dare you lay your hand on her! Do you know who this is!”

Rizen hurriedly stepped in front of me and slapped the old woman’s hand away, and Ark reached for the sword at his waist.

“Asha doesn’t bewieve in things wike fowtunes. Sowwy.”

As I held them back and spoke, Ark shoved the old woman away with a look that said ‘You heard her.’ He only pushed her lightly, but she tumbled down with a crash.

“Gasp…!”

I stepped forward to help her up, but Ark and Rizen pulled me away from her.

“The young lady carries a secret she cannot tell anyone!”

She shouted from behind us.

“But the young lady cannot escape her fate! To do so, she will have to sacrifice someone else’s life in her place! The life of someone very precious to her!”

When I looked back, she was cackling unpleasantly and receding into the distance.

“What was that, that ill-omened old hag?!”

“Those heretic gypsies should all be rounded up and summarily punished on the spot! If only I had the authority of a formal knight right now…!”

Rizen huffed indignantly.

“Asha’s fine. She’s just a fake anyway.”

But my heart was pounding, echoing the old woman’s words in my head.

‘That I can’t escape my fate?’

That fate of dying in a shitty way before I even become an adult, then regressing to a shitty moment again?

My stomach churned and I felt sick.

‘She must have just been spouting nonsense.’

I shook my head vigorously to shake off the unease, and a sign caught my eye.

“Mysterious Medicinal Herbs… We sell anything.”

This is it! In the direction of the arrow drawn on the sign, there was a shabby tent.

“Awk, Wizen! Asha wants to go thewe!”

As I took the lead excitedly, they followed without knowing why. The inside of the tent was filled with carts laden with all kinds of pots and seeds. The fresh scent of grass mingled and stung my nose.

“What is there to see here? It’s not like they’re selling pretty flowers…”

I scanned the pots quickly without a word. Please be here, please be here…!

‘There it is!’

The herb of life, unmistakable in my memory. Between its saw-toothed leaves bloomed a mysterious dark blue flower.

“ΘΨΧγξΨΩα! Ten arum! Ten arum!”

A surly-looking merchant mixed in foreign words as he named his price.

“Ten arum? Is he insane? You swindler!”

Ark burst out in indignation, but I pretended to agonize for a moment and then took a small pouch from inside my clothes.

A few weeks before coming here, on the day the Ars Confelo ended.

“Your birthday is in a few days. What shall I do for you? Shall I hold a grand banquet?”

“A banquet is fine. Gwandfathow is so busy these days. Asha has nevew even weceived a birfday pwesent in my wife… Just a small gift is enough.”

“How can you be so pure and free of greed…! Khh! Come to think of it, I haven’t even given you a doljanchi gift yet. I’ll have a gold ring made for you at once.”

“Pwincess, are you in your wight mind?! That’s what His Majesty the King gave you! You’re going to use it to buy this demon-looking thing?”

“Princess, this is the one and only foolish thing you’ve ever done! Absolutely not!”

Rizen and Ark foamed at the mouth trying to stop me, but I ignored them and handed the merchant a gold ring set with a large jewel. The merchant bit the ring, then grinned in satisfaction. I carefully placed the seeds he gave me into a drawstring pouch.

‘This one gold ring is going to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Santrans, you little fools.’

The joy of obtaining the herb’s seeds blew the earlier unpleasant incident right out of my head. I left the tent with a spring in my step and headed back toward the plaza.

I need to get them to sprout… The herb of life is hard to grow to the point where it can be used as medicine, and I’d heard that even getting it to sprout in the first place is extremely difficult.

Hmm. If worst comes to worst, I’ll just squeeze Paeon’s divine power out of him. The problem is how to coax him into it. I’ve decided to use him thoroughly, after all…!

Just then, I heard a great commotion from the direction of the fountain. And a crowd of people had gathered. Was there some kind of event?

“Apostle of Lord Lux!”

“Hero of Santra!”

Several knights in white uniforms embroidered with gold were walking through the plaza to the cheers of the crowd. And the person at the very front was…

Paeon!

‘What the hell?!’

In that instant, he turned his head toward me.