In the gently glowing sunlight of dawn, Renie, who had been kneeling and murmuring incomprehensible words for a while, opened her eyes.
Luke, keeping watch beside her, extended his hand as he saw her raise her head.
“Is the prayer over?”
“Yes, let’s go now.”
Luke lightly tugged Renie’s hand to help her up and asked.
“But I have no idea what that prayer was about. It doesn’t seem like the Tower’s language; which region’s language is it?”
Luke was curious about the language Renie used during her prayer.
The Tower’s language, derived from the wisdom created in the ‘White Tower,’ is a common language understood and spoken by all races, including humans. From the moment of birth, as a single universe, even the first babbling expressed carries the power and will of a dragon’s language. The elves’ language has evolved and transformed through long interactions with ancient spirits and their own traditions.
Although there are three such languages in this world, the language Renie was speaking now bore no resemblance to the characteristics of any other language.
If one were to delve into it, there was ‘Ancient Language,’ which was used long before the Tower even existed. However, those who spoke such languages had already vanished due to the impact of the Demon Realm’s encroachment, meaning that only those three languages were in use in this world.
Yet, even Luke, who had knowledge of the Ancient Language, couldn’t comprehend the words Renie was speaking.
So, how could he not be intrigued?
“Oh, did you hear? I feel a bit embarrassed.”
As Renie said this, her face flushed slightly.
Luke looked at her inquiringly, unable to understand.
“What exactly is embarrassing about it?”
With hands placed on her waist, Renie replied in a explaining tone.
“Prayers are like whispers, you know? It’s a conversation with the goddess done in whispers. It’s natural to feel a bit embarrassed if a man overhears a quiet conversation shared with a close friend.”
Luke nodded slightly, somewhat convinced by Renie’s words.
“Is that so? Then do other priests’ prayers feel like that too?”
“No, it probably isn’t. They can’t directly receive messages like I can. Rather than sharing a conversation, doesn’t it sound more like simply receiving a message? I haven’t had a conversation like that with the goddess, so I can’t really say.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Does the method of communication vary according to the divine power held?
This could be akin to how a mage handles magic differently based on their mana sensitivity.
“Then should we accept that language as ‘the language of the gods’?”
“That would be right!”
“Then what exactly does the word ‘ere’ mean? It seems to be repeated several times.”
“What word?”
“Ere.”
Not understanding at once, Renie asked back several times.
Finally realizing what Luke meant, Renie scratched her cheek and answered with an awkward smile.
“Oh, haha. I’m sorry. To you, ‘ere’ sounds like that, does it? It feels vastly different when I use it in prayer. I’ve never experienced this before….”
“Ah, I see. Then tell me, what does the ‘ere’ you speak of mean?”
“That’s a word quite close to the essence. It’s used when calling the goddess, and it’s also the word the goddess uses when she calls me.”
“Oh.”
Intrigued by the interpretation of the ‘language of the gods,’ Luke immediately opened his mouth.
If it’s a word that can be used to refer to each other, it can be easily translated.
“Then, does that mean it’s a word for ‘friend’?”
At Luke’s question, Renie seemed to ponder for a moment before nodding.
“Yes, it probably means that to all of you. That seems most fitting.”
“What does that mean? Doesn’t that imply it’s not an exact definition?”
“The words of the gods cannot be precisely expressed in the language of the material plane. To explain a bit more precisely, it means something more akin to ‘a being like a familiar,’ ‘someone bound by destiny,’ or ‘those who are so alike that they inevitably walk the same path.’ Um, but I don’t think that’s a completely accurate explanation either.”
Renie elaborated a bit wordily.
With dozens or even hundreds of meanings packed into one word, Luke spoke as if he had realized something.
“Oh, isn’t that similar to ‘spirit language’?”
With Luke’s words, Renie replied with a bright smile.
“Yes, that’s right! Because spirits….”
—-
Still fiddling with his quill, Luke suddenly stopped his hand.
“Spirits… what did Renie say next?”
‘I can’t remember.’
Even after recalling ‘Renie’ dozens, hundreds of times, he couldn’t relate it to ‘ere’ at all.
It felt as if it had been intentionally erased.
What he thought was merely an aftereffect – was it something else entirely?
Or was it that this memory is still too distant for him to access?
He thought that perhaps if he met and talked to Gerard’s friend, who sent that email, he might remember, but in the end, Luke couldn’t meet him.
He was still traveling around the world to write stories and was hard to reach at the moment.
To be honest, this was quite unavoidable.
While it was a matter of great importance to him, to Gerard it was probably a trivial matter of talking to a child.
There was no way he could expect him to abandon his livelihood and rush over just to satisfy his curiosity.
It was truly a shame, yet he managed to obtain at least an email address.
If he reached out to this side, at least he would be able to have a conversation.
After classes ended, during the lunch break.
Luke called Shirud, who was tidying up his desk beside him.
“Hey, Shirud. I have something to say.”
“What is it?”
“After school, will you help me with ‘membership registration’? I need to send an email to a place…”
Shirud answered nonchalantly.
“That’s not something I really need to do; ask someone else. You can do it yourself.”
“W-what?”
Somehow, Shirud’s response and expression felt a bit cold.
This was the first time this child had reacted this way towards him.
It was quite unsettling.
Could he be feeling unwell?
“Why does your expression look like that? Is something bothering you?”
“No, not really.”
“Hmm… You seem a bit weary. Are you really not feeling well?”
“Don’t worry about it, I’m fine.”
“But you really seem….”
Like a mage.
Even those eyes, devoid of light—more than just a mage’s, they resemble the gaze of a high-level mage of sixth circle or above.
“Hmm, I never imagined I’d come up with such an expression.”
Should he be happy about the growth of his student at such times?
But he couldn’t feel happy at all.
In the past, to those who were not mages, the term ‘looks like a mage’ was used to denote ‘cold-blooded.’
Yet, saying that to Shirud, who was indeed a mage, didn’t feel like an insult, yet somehow had an impressively negative connotation.
He was the one who had always said that one should control their emotions, but now he worried whether the sudden change was affecting the child’s mind.
“If you have worries, do tell me. I will help you sincerely…”
“I don’t really have anything. Just leave me alone; after all, we aren’t that close anyway.”
“Huh…?”
Luke was quite shocked by Shirud’s words as Shirud stood there with his usual expression, packing up his bag.
Yerna always said, “Be close friends” and even Shirud’s mother, Serena, who was his patron, always asked him to be friendly with Shirud.
But what could have made him feel this way? Shirud claimed they weren’t close at all.
Luke stood up at the same time as Shirud and asked.
“What do you mean we aren’t close? What does that even mean?”
“It means just that. I’m leaving now.”
“Wait a moment…”
Shirud exited the classroom abruptly.
It would be too simplistic to view it as a temporary sulk; the depth of the darkness felt when reading his emotions was quite profound.
If he hadn’t been genuinely betrayed by someone he trusted, such a depth of emotion wouldn’t easily fade…
“What on earth did I do wrong…?”
Even after pondering, he couldn’t find the answer.
All he had were memories of having been close all this time…
“Ah, could it be that he’s angry because I didn’t fulfill that ‘bet’ from back then?”
The ‘wish’ he had promised to grant once the fishing was done.
It might be because he hadn’t fulfilled that.
However, whenever he thought about it, Shirud’s attitude toward him had changed since that incident.
Saying he wanted to go home truly couldn’t be considered a ‘wish.’
Therefore, it would be understandable if he felt betrayed.
Moreover, at that time, Shirud was in an enormous shock and was not in his right mind…
That was due to Luke failing to consider the stimuli that children of this era receive.
He thought simply that catching a big fish would please everyone, but for Shirud, who had grown up steadily in a peaceful life, ‘a threat to life’ would have been perceived very starkly.
Did perception differ in range? He thought he had adapted quite well to this era.
“I’ll have to go seek him out and apologize.”
“Luke! What are you dawdling for? Let’s go eat quickly! If we’re late, we might have to wait a long time!”
“Oh, right. Let’s hurry, Mary.”
But first, they should finish lunch.
