The Stone of Days Chapter 28

Huh? How did he know?
Did the 20 bundle of nets not fit into his backpack?
To suddenly feel a sense of guilt at this time.

"He came to retrieve his stuff a few days ago, but after that, I'm not sure where he had disappeared to."

 I see, so he had already departed.
That person doesn't like to wait around it seems. Although he wasn't someone that I was close with. Still, I kind of missed him in the end.
Sigh, I might end up yearning for all the people in the world at this rate.
…… I don't want to long for the dead.

"Have soup until tomorrow, and if you continue to improve your condition, starting the following day, you can begin to have regular meals. Since your body was in a fragile state and you've been in bed for so long due to mental shock, since you have such a strong body const.i.tution, it seems that you'll recover shortly."

Alright. Dead people pa.s.s on, and the survivors struggle on as well I suppose.
I wonder if the person I truly miss was not Mirbo, but…the fella beside me.

"Do you know where my sword is perchance?"

"If you mean that appalling sword that you were holding, it's under your bed."

"Huh?"

So it was like that. Well, who could take this really?

"Well then, it's time for me to leave. Take care of yourself, Fabian."

Doctor Nauke rose, and left through the door.
The door closed.
I should climb out of bed. I should quickly get up.
And go see Habiyanak.
I have to look at what happened at everything with my own two eyes.

That man is my 'father.'
One day pa.s.sed on just by having soup, until finally I'll  be able to have bread for dinner. Although somewhat uncomfortable, I could walk around.  Doctor Nauke had visited once more and half-jokingly claimed  that it was a miracle. Well, it wasn't only just the doctor's a.s.sessment. Nearly everyone in the province that had visited Green Leaf Inn was surprised at my speedy recovery.
To have been in a deep sleep for five days, it did seemed surprising to many how quickly my body had recovered in a day. But, I already knew.
I had overcome what I needed to overcome, since my body condition wasn't even a problem now.
Over there my 'father' was sitting down.

"Fabian. You've recovered well."

Just like that. The existence that spoke, was most likely the origin of my bloodline.

"It was said that you've been here a lot."

My father became silent from my words. Compared to talking with my mother, there were a lot of things that were different. But, I need to get used to it.

"I have a lot of things to ask."

"…… I suppose so."

"Can I ask?"

"Go ahead."

I slightly breathed in. Outside the window, it was already dark. A candle that was lit on the table was accidentally b.u.mped by a woman working in the inn due to the strong winds, causing it to flicker on the table.
Although many people frequent here in the day, the hall of the inn was now quiet. Sitting at one side of the table across from me was my 'father.' Other than the two of us, the innkeeper was sitting at the bar.
Due to having only a few candles lit, the hall was quite dark. Like the first time, I was staring at a figure where the light was s.h.i.+ning on that vivid, lean face of his. As if I was having a dream, I had purposely asked that man to stay after dinner, and was sitting opposite of him. All of this was a reality.
…… The fact that Mother wasn't here was also a reality.

"Why did you leave?"

I asked. The first question left my mouth.

"It's not me who had left. It was your mother that left me."

"Why did my mother leave?"

"… … She's … Ijinz was… ….."

My mother's name.
Although I knew it, the name that I've only heard a few times in my life was spoken by that man. It was surely my mother's name, but for him to say it in that accent was quite unfamiliar. In my memory, my mother was always 'grocer's wife' or 'Fabian's mother,' and if not that, then it would be that wrong t.i.tle of 'Christian's wife.'
Would he have called her 'Ijinz!' like Mr. Gorman had done to his wife?

"…… The fact that she had a baby, well the fact that she had you was something she couldn't acknowledge. We weren't in an official married relations.h.i.+p, you see."

So what Ryujia had said was this, huh. I can clearly remember now.
The fortune-telling that Ryujia will do, I must listen to it.

"Although I loved her, we were not married. Ijinz, if it weren't for me, would have become a female shaman."

A female shaman! My mother?
It was a truth I had never thought of. Why?

"Why? What do you mean by a female shaman?"

"A female shaman is what you would call a 'White-Clothed Dunarion.'"

Ah, I think I remember that word.

"Ijinz of the Christian family was a merchant family that resided in the city Rieju which did merchant trades between Isnamir and Seremuz. When Ijinz was five years old, the Nim-Nars.h.i.+nyak moved over there causing the circ.u.mstances to tip quite a bit, but they were still a reputable family. The reason they had moved over there was for Ijinz, since she was timely given a grant by the visiting Dunarion on becoming a female shaman."

That grant, what utter nonsense if you see the results. Far aside of becoming a female shaman, she became a capable owner of a general store.

"Dunarion's devotion was so great that your mother's parents despite Ijinz being their one and only daughter, brought her to Nim-Nars.h.i.+nyak that resided in Dunarion's temple, where she grew among the female shamans. So she grew up while learning many things from the female shamans while believing that she'll be a female shaman for sure."

It's complicated. I never heard from my mother her side of anything not even once in detail. I was totally unaware as well that our capital's central defense army was the Nim-Nars.h.i.+nyak that had moved over to Rieju.
The white-clothed Dunarion, I think I've heard of it before?—? Right, I've heard it from my mother once. One day, she spoke those words in an indifferent att.i.tude, although I can't remember why she said it. I'm not sure. And, I didn't hear what kind of people they were as well.
Then… the reason my mother didn't become a female shaman?
I stared directly at the person in front of me.
His lips began to move. The words 'right' formed from his lips.

"Right. After knowing she had you, she fled. Virtually abandoning the blessed festival of becoming a female shaman two days before."

It was all because of… …. me?

"Afterwards, I'm not sure how she bore you and came to this place at all."

"Why didn't you try and find me then?"

It felt as if my voice had become somewhat sharp.

"What do you mean as if I haven't? Don't you know how much I wanted to find her? You probably don't know how much I searched and wandered. For her, and for you."

Me?
So no less than 18 years after, now you find me?

"I have not married until now. Your mother was my one and only true love, and you're my one and only son. Do you think you would know my heart that had waited for our reunion for so long, and finally arriving here only to see the corpse of Ijinz? I don't know what to do now either."

Stop, just stop!
Trembling, I tried to stand up, but I couldn't. There was something that was pus.h.i.+ng up to my neck, but the squeezing of the chest didn't help at all. Indeed, the one thing I hated the most to think of.
Why did my mother have that expression, lying on the cold floor with that remorseful, cold expression?
That chest, as if two fists had gone through it, that large pierced hole which had once hugged the young me.
The coagulating blood splattered on the cold floor.

"Uhhhk……"

'Father' was bowing his head. As if he was the one that had took my mother away.
But that wasn't it.
A few streams of something hot scribbled down from above my cheeks. Continuously, without stopping.
Tears started to pour out that I had not properly done so before. Not one or two drops, but a river of tears started to drain everything out of my body as the boiled up storm in my chest welled up. My eyes, my worn-out body, my feelings were being completely melted onto the floor, all the emotions that I wanted to forget about that had wholly unfolded into tears, the time when I climbed up the hill in search for my mother, the time my mother was lying down on that cold floor, and the five days that I was lying down, all the tears I couldn't cry properly.
I cried.

TL Afterword

(*sniff*)

PR Afterword

(*pa.s.ses*) TL a tissue pack.

Translator: Calvis
Proofreader: Sai101