When all the nobles disappeared into the fog, the melody began. The delicate voice pierced between wounded hearts, and the firm, powerful voice stirred the heart. The music flowing along the harp’s sound was as harmonious as hymns heard in the temple.
Rou smiled faintly at the sight of them creating a good harmony as he had expected. Lillian and Rosaria filled each other’s lacking parts. The soft voice that stimulated emotions would be able to reach more people riding on the full and solid voice.
Going deep into the fog, one was bound to lose track of where they started from. Especially after the boat prows touched a few times and partners were exchanged, even if one wanted to stop the secret meetings, they would often be troubled not knowing how to return.
Thus, to prevent the disaster of nobles getting lost in the fog and having accidents, the best female singers of the era were invited to provide signposts through song. The hazier the eyes became, the clearer the sound would be, after all.
The thickly spread fog gently tickled Rou’s nose. Even for Rou, who had lived hundreds of years, fog so dense that one couldn’t distinguish an inch ahead was a first. It seemed similar yet different from when he lay on clouds with the Goddess.
If clouds felt like being embraced all over with soft warmth, this fog rising over the lake felt damp and cold touching the skin. It was a sensation similar to touching silk for the first time.
Rou’s boat advanced slowly. It was strange despite rowing vigorously. Wondering if his strength was lacking, he strained and rowed harder, but no matter how hard he tried, the boat stayed in place. Feeling something was off, Rou lifted the oar.
“Was it originally…… this shape?”
The streamlined curves, the pearl at the end of the handle, and the decoration attached to the oar’s end were beautiful and suited the atmosphere of this lake quite well, but they were shapes that truly wouldn’t help the boat advance at all.
Just as Rou was admiring that strange form, the boat suddenly rocked greatly.
“Huh?”
“Ah! So it was the High Priest. What a coincidence. For our boats to bump into each other like this!”
The man spoke in quite a theatrical tone. Rou thought nonchalantly that he must like comedies.
“Indeed.”
Even at Rou’s moderate response, the man was enthusiastic. He even took out a pendant of a familiar shape from his chest to show him.
“Since I keep the High Priest’s hair in the place closest to my heart, the High Priest must have come to me like this. As expected, Goddess Kaine does not ignore the tears of her believers!”
“Technically speaking, you came to me. Well, it’s true that the Goddess does not ignore the tears of the faithful.”
At Rou’s answer, the man nodded repeatedly.
‘The accessories seem to have spread more widely than I thought. Every single one brings them to show me.’
Rou couldn’t quite understand why everyone he met deliberately showed him the accessories. He could only guess that they seemed pleased to have beautiful objects.
As much as Rou had come to know a bit about humans, humans had also begun to figure out the High Priest. Though rumors about him were rampant—that the High Priest was a hidden crown prince of some kingdom, the last royalty who fled from some small kingdom, and so on—one certain thing was that he could never ignore stories related to Kaine Religion.
The man planned to use that to continue conversing with the High Priest. Until another person thrust their boat prow forward.
“Ah! So it was the High Priest. What a coincidence. For our boats to bump into each other like this!”
Rou looked at the man and the two newly added women with a strange sense of déjà vu. They exchanged words Rou couldn’t understand, about whether they should take turns, or if it came to this, they should draw lots.
“I don’t know what the matter is, but if it’s that important, take turns and come visit later. I have someone I need to meet.”
Rou tried to refuse appropriately and dismiss the humans. However, Rou’s refusal only made the humans more clamorous.
“Wait a moment, High Priest!”
“High Priest! Please don’t do that……”
“Listen to my story, High Priest!”
Rou narrowed his brow. Even though the High Priest’s expression wasn’t bright, the humans began insisting they were first. They were truly desperate. Even this encounter in the fog was a coincidence, yet the High Priest kept avoiding them as if going to a hidden lover. They thought this might be their last chance.
Moreover, the thick fog transmitted loud voices well but easily concealed the High Priest’s subtle changes in expression. What they would have noticed immediately at the banquet hall, they failed to catch right away.
“Everyone, quiet!”
So when Rou finally raised his voice, the three humans gathered around him truly broke out in cold sweat down their spines. Other boats that had been heading this way upon hearing there was a High Priest also turned direction as if their original destination had been elsewhere.
“Be quiet.”
The three humans quietly closed their mouths and carefully watched the High Priest’s mood. Because of the thought that he was always benevolent and full of love, they had acted too carelessly. These were things they wouldn’t have even thought of doing before the Emperor.
What if he reprimanded them and told them never to come near the temple again? Above all, the nobles who valued face and honor most were afraid this matter would spread outside the fog and become a problem.
“You.”
Rou pointed at the man he had met first. The man flinched in surprise. For a brief moment, he even considered whether he should just fall into the lake.
However, the man only thought about it and didn’t dare put it into action. He wasn’t bold enough to turn his back with the High Priest before him, and above all, he was afraid to swim in this lake.
“Yes!”
“Board that boat.”
“Pardon?”
“I heard that when boat prows bump, there’s a rule to exchange partners. But if we exchange you with that boat’s partner, the young lady will be left alone.”
“Ahh…… That.”
It would be nice if the High Priest boarded his boat. The man thought, but didn’t dare voice it.
“It seems difficult for the two young ladies to row to the lakeside. You take responsibility and escort both ladies to the lakeside.”
“M-me?”
“What are you doing not departing quickly?”
At Rou’s urging, the man stood up abruptly and moved from boat to boat. The boat rocked as if resenting the suddenly increased number of people, but the young ladies didn’t make a sound of surprise. The boat carrying all the humans disappeared leisurely, and only then did Rou find peace.
Rou rowed into the fog again. Actually, he had no certainty that Brukisel would be in this direction. He could only guess that since he had departed first and his scent was faint, he might be in the deep part of the lake.
Rou, who had been diligently rowing the impractical oar, tilted his head at the increasingly slow speed. He had just gotten used to this inefficient oar. Moreover, didn’t the boat move less easily the deeper the water?
“Ah, it’s cold!”
The soft leather shoes Yan had brought him to sneak out without Jes knowing filled with water. Rou looked at the bottom of the boat with a bad premonition. And as Rou expected, the situation didn’t turn out well.
Perhaps because the humans had rammed their boat prows earlier, there was a slight crack in the bottom. And through that gap, the lake water was flowing in.
Though he was confident in flying, he had no expertise in swimming, so Rou’s snow-white face began to turn pale. Rou started bailing water while rowing at the same time. The song had already faded so he couldn’t guess the direction, and Brukisel, whom he had wanted to meet today at all costs, was nowhere to be seen.
‘Maybe I should have gone with those humans.’
If he had turned the boat prow then, he would have reached the lakeside by now. But it was already too late for regrets.
Rou was originally a leisurely Spirit, but the gradually rising water made him tense. As more came in than he could bail out, the water began to gradually raise its level, climbing up Rou’s ankles, calves, and knees.
“Goddess Kaine.”
A call to the Goddess came out on its own.
It was then. In the distance, something like a faint human silhouette could be seen. Though hazy, closer to a shadow, it was definitely a person. Since he saw it from afar and the fog was thick, he wasn’t certain, but it also looked like a person with black hair.
“Brukisel?”
The silhouette in the distance turned its head as if responding to Rou’s voice. Perhaps because of his desperate desire to meet Brukisel, he thought he saw red eyes sparkling in the fog.
Rou made a decision. This boat couldn’t take him to Brukisel anyway. To get there, he had no choice but to fall into the lake.
He looked down. The pitch-black water was dark as if it would devour life. Having reached a deep place, the lake water truly had a black tint like ink. Unlike the sweet fragrance it gave off, the water’s color was eerie. It wasn’t the color of water that harbored life.
‘It’s the color of Shadow.’
The color of that water gave Rou certainty. The place where he was. That Brukisel was nearby. Though Rou rarely felt fear of anything, he was a bit reluctant about this water. It was probably a primal sensation that everything with life would feel.
At the lakeside, neither birds nor insects chirped, and the closer one approached the center of the lake, not even a single flying insect could be found.
Rou was a bit trembling, but decided to stop being afraid.
Brukisel was there, and he had something to tell him.
Rou took one big breath and immediately threw himself into the lake.
