“I’m taking you straight to the chieftain!” announced the girl, glaring at me again.
Apparently, when you entered a new land, it was customary to first greet that land’s chieftain, so I nodded along, glad that she had been so kind as to lead me. She took my hand in a stronger grip and tugged me harder.
The village was filled with round houses made from cloth, and the people of the village—all of them dressed similar to my guide, and with the same horns on their foreheads—looked at me as we marched towards a house in the center of the village. It was noticeably bigger than the others, and the girl pulled me right inside of it.
The space inside the house was a beautiful sight, unlike anything I had ever seen. There was a circular hole at the top of it—perhaps to let in the sunlight? From the hole, a wooden framework spread out radially, and the design made it look like an expression of the sun’s rays. It was truly exquisite.
The floor was covered in a beautiful carpet decorated in a unique design I’d never seen before. On top of that was handcrafted wooden furniture inlaid with patterned jewels. Now, I’d been surprised when I’d seen the lavish extravagance of the royal palace, but this might have outdone even that. I was speechless.
“It’s not like you to bring an outsider to the village, Alna... Is the man blue?”
I turned to the sound of a gravelly old woman’s voice, but found only a mess of cloth. It was uniquely embroidered and piled upon itself, and as I looked at it, I wondered, Where did that voice come from? I tilted my head, but as I did so, the heap of cloth shuffled, and from within it I saw an old woman with a horn in her forehead, watching me very closely.
I couldn’t believe that the heap of cloth was, in fact, a person, but she sat down on the carpet as the young girl—Alna, I assumed—replied.
“Yes. I caught him sleeping in the grasslands and I grilled him about why he’d come, but...his answers only confused me. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I asked him if he was our ally, and his answer resulted in a brilliant blue.”
“My oh my, a brilliant blue to such a question, you say? And there was no red?”
“Not a trace. His every answer was blue.”
Blue, red... What are these two talking about?
“Every answer? Now that is interesting. You, man of blue,” the old woman then addressed me. “Will you tell me your name?”
I wasn’t sure what to make of what she called me, and I was taken aback by the sudden question, but I managed to stammer out an answer all the same.
“Huh? Oh, uh, my name is Dias.”
“Dias. It has such an odd ring to it. It would seem that you are Alna’s ally, Dias. Are you mine too?”
Hm? Well, I mean all these villagers are my subjects, so the answer to that is obvious.
“Of course. I am an ally to all who reside in this village.”
“Oh? Is that so? And why is that?”
“Because it is my job.”
“And who was it who ordered you to carry out this work?”
“Er...the king.”
The moment I uttered the words, the old woman’s horn glimmered brightly and her eyes widened in disbelief. At the exact same time, Alna leaped to her feet and aimed her bow at me.
Did I just put my foot in it?
The air in the cloth house grew abruptly and terribly tense, and I wondered for a moment if I should reach for my own weapon...but was shocked to realize that I’d left my battle-ax on the plains when Alna dragged me to the village. Now, I wasn’t usually one to go leaving my weapon lying around, but I’d just woken up to a sudden meeting with a horned maiden, and as a result, well, I’d really screwed up.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Alna,” said the old woman. “We’re not done talking yet. Dias, I’d like to hear more about your job. Yes, there’s an idea. Would you tell me why the king ordered you to do this job? And please, start from the beginning.”
The old woman spoke in a calm and even tone, but Alna’s gaze was razor-sharp. So while I kept one eye on the bow Alna had trained on me, I did as the old woman asked and told her how I’d come to meet with the king. Still, I didn’t know exactly what she meant by “start from the beginning,” so I really did start at the beginning—from as far back as I could remember, right up until the present.
“Well then... Yes, I get it now,” said the old woman when I was done. “But what a surprise that you’ve been blue through it all. It would seem even the hornless are capable of such a thing.”
There it is again—the word “blue.” What does it mean to these people?
Alna felt the old woman relax, and she lowered her bow. On top of that, her eyes softened and she took to simply watching me. The old woman looked at her and then, after a moment’s thought, she turned back to me.
“Blue Dias, I now understand that you are a worthy lord ready to defend his subjects with everything he has,” she said slowly. “So what I would like to ask is this: if we are not your subjects, how will you treat us?”
“If you’re not my subjects? Well, I guess I wouldn’t do anything. I mean, if the subjects I finally found turned out not to be my subjects, then I’d be a bit out of sorts, but that’s it, I’d say.”
“So you would be our ally even if we weren’t your subjects?”
“Hm? Even if you... I mean, even then we’d still be living on the same plains, wouldn’t we? If you were in trouble I’d help you out, so yeah, I’d be your ally.”
As I spoke, I saw the old woman nod as if she were confirming something, and her horn glowed blue. But why was she even asking me that question? Why on earth would she ask me about situations in which she and her village weren’t my subjects?
Hm?
Huh?
Wait, are these villagers not my subjects?
But that can’t be right, can it? The official told me that this land was my domain, and that means the people living here are my subjects.
“I judge by your expression that it is starting to dawn on you,” said the old woman. “It is true—we are not your subjects. If anything, we are in fact enemies of your king. For many long years, we have fought against your nation.”
The woman spoke her words in a clear and definitive tone. I felt like I was going to slump over on the floor. The people I’d thought were my subjects weren’t my subjects at all. In fact, they were my enemies, which meant that right now, I was in the middle of enemy territory. And worst of all, I was there without my weapon or my armor.
My head sank as the reality of my predicament hit me in the face, but for whatever reason, the old woman looked at me with a kindly smile.
“Blue Dias,” she started again, “while it is true that we are an enemy of your king, that does not mean that we are your enemy. You are blue. A very rare blue. That blue means that we can get along very well. So please, I ask that you raise your head and listen to my story.”
I lifted my head slowly and looked at the old woman. In that moment, the wrinkles that covered her face stretched softly and kindly, until she was smiling at me the way I once remembered my mother smiling.