“He’s super fluffy. Go on, give him a pat.”
“O-Okay.”
Anne gently touched Mikemaru’s belly. Just watching, I could almost feel the softness through her hands.
“You’re right... So fluffy... Hee hee!”
For a fleeting moment, Anne smiled. Mary gasped when she saw it.
“Anne’s...smiling.”
She covered her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. Seeing Anne tormented by nightmares had pained her deeply, so that peaceful expression now felt like a miracle.
Then Kuroe, who’d been watching Mikemaru enjoy all the attention, padded over and hopped onto Anne’s lap as well.
“Huh? Little Kuroe?”
“Hee hee. She likes to play it cool, but she’s actually pretty clingy,” Tomoe said. “She saw you doting on Mikemaru and got jealous.”
“Oh... So that’s why...”
Anne petted Kuroe on the back, and the black cat’s eyes fluttered shut in quiet contentment. Seeing Anne smile again at the two kittens, Mary couldn’t hold back her tears.
“Thank goodness... She... She can still smile...”
“Hah hah hah. Apparently,” Souji said, patting Mary’s head to comfort her. “Those are some impressive little critters, thawing out her frozen heart like that.”
I nodded. “Weapons are a danger to hardened hearts...or so a certain child soldier once said. But furry friends have the power to soften them. Pets are partners who’ll always stay by our side. And since these little ones were abandoned once before, they know what it’s like to be lonely. I brought them here thinking they might understand Anne...and it looks like I was right.”
We watched the lovely girl play with the animals a while longer.
“You should end your sentences with ‘meow’ when you talk to them. Meow,” Tomoe said, miming kitty paws with her hands.
Anne hesitantly copied Tomoe. “Meow, meow...”
“That’s good. Talk to the cats like that.”
“Nice to meet you, meow. How are you doing, meow? Um, are they actually understanding any of this?”
“Without the power of magic? Obviously not.”
“Whaa...”
Tomoe laughed softly as Anne gave her a reproachful look.
“But they can tell you’re talking to them. They’ll respond to that, so keep going.”
“O-Okay... Ah! Little Kuroe reacted!”
The black cat stood, stretched, and hopped off Anne’s lap. She crossed the room, leapt up onto the dresser, and curled into a tight ball.
That was a cat for you—capricious as ever. Anne looked a bit lonely, but Tomoe smiled reassuringly.
“It’s fine. Like I said, Little Kuroe likes to act cool, but she’s actually clingy. This is her pretending not to care. Now that you’re looking a little more cheerful, she’s giving you space because she knows you’ll be all right. But...give it a little time, and she’ll start feeling lonely again and come back to you.”
“I’m...more cheerful...” Anne murmured, almost surprised at herself.
It was true. Her face was softer now than when she’d first entered the room, and a touch of color had returned to her cheeks. Such was the power of fluffiness.
This might have been the first time in Anne’s life that she’d experienced such quiet peace—surrounded by soft fur, gentle warmth, and the simple affection of animals. She was being healed from every direction.
Great was the power of fluffiness. (It bears repeating because it’s that important.)
“I don’t know what to say. The scene brings a smile to my face, sire,” Aisha said.
She was right. The sight of a pretty girl playing with fluffy animals had a painterly beauty to it. Even I could feel the soothing effect.
“If we’d broadcast this scene to the world, maybe peace would’ve come sooner,” I joked.
“I doubt it, but...I can see why you’d think that,” Liscia said, letting out a small laugh.
The warm air in the room was enough to melt even her usual sharp tone.
Anne looked like she’d be all right now, so I left her in the care of Tomoe, Brad, and Ludia, and quietly stepped out with Liscia, Aisha, and Mary—on our way to accomplish our other goal here in Yumuen.
Mary and Souji led the way as we descended the dark stairwell into the basement of the main church, our path dimly lit by the lanterns Aisha and Mary carried. Stone walls and floors stretched endlessly around us, the air cool and heavy. The deeper we went, the more it felt like we were wandering through a labyrinth.
“It’s kinda like the aqueducts under Parnam,” I murmured.
“Really?” Liscia tilted her head. “I’ve only read about them in reports.”
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “I explored them with Juno and her party once, using Little Musashibo. Before we filled them in and converted them into sewers, they were just as mazelike as this place. If I remember right, you said they were used as an escape route for the royal family?”
“Right. But no one knows how long they’ve been there. The story goes that they already existed when the kingdom was founded in Parnam. And considering the city-sized magic circle we used to summon you, that circle and the summoning chamber must’ve already been in place when the first hero king was called.”
“Well, okay. The old mankind definitely had a hand in their construction.”
As Liscia and I talked, Souji glanced back over his shoulder.
“I’d wager this place is the same. From what I’ve heard, that ‘old mankind’ you mention is probably what the Lunarians spoke of in the old scriptures—the ones said to have come down from the moon. If they built Yumuen, and they also built Parnam, then it makes sense both cities would share similar structures.”
“Though we can never tell the believers that...” Mary sighed.
She was right. If word spread that I carried the blood of the old mankind—the very people the Lunarian Orthodoxy revered as divine beings—it could lead to unwanted worship or even deification. That was why only our trusted collaborators within the church, Souji and Mary, were privy to such information.
Mary lifted her lantern, casting light across the stone walls. “I’ve heard these underground passages were built to let priests and believers escape if the church were ever attacked... Though some parts were also used for inquisitions, or to imprison political opponents.”
“S-Stop it, you’re sending a chill down my spine,” I said, shuddering.
“Y-Yeah! Don’t tell scary stories here!” Liscia and Aisha each grabbed onto one of my arms.
“Huh? You two aren’t good with this kind of thing? Aisha, you’ve fought zombie ogres. And Liscia, didn’t you enjoy the Ghost Festival just fine?”
“I-I’m fine as long as I can see them,” Liscia said firmly. “Zombies, skeletons, whatever...I can handle that. But curses and lingering resentment? That’s another story. The way Mary just described this place makes it feel full of regretful spirits.”
“Lady Liscia is right!” Aisha agreed, clinging tighter.
“I-I see,” I muttered, realizing I was surrounded on both sides by trembling warriors.
Maybe because they were so used to fighting monsters, curses actually frightened them more. For Liscia and Aisha, a place steeped in history and tragedy—something like the Tower of London—was far more terrifying than any haunted house with ghosts popping out of corners.
They’d probably be more unnerved by old-style ghost tales, like the curse of Masakado, than by being physically attacked by a slit-mouthed woman or a deranged murderer hiding under the bed. (Though, given their strength, either of them could take down such a murderer without breaking a sweat.) Their sensitivity to this sort of thing was the opposite of that of modern people. Maybe it was closer to those in ancient times who built shrines and temples to appease the spirits of those they had slain, hoping to prevent their vengeful return.
When we finally reached the bottom of the stairs, the surroundings suddenly changed. The rough stone walls and floors gave way to smooth, seamless surfaces that glowed faintly from wires running through them.
Liscia and I exchanged a look of recognition.
“Genia’s dungeon laboratory...” I murmured.
“It’s a bit different, but it gives off the same vibe,” Liscia agreed.
The walls were like something straight out of a spaceship and were nearly identical to those in the ancient ruin that Genia had turned into her lab.
Souji rapped his knuckles against one of the walls. It rang with a sharp, metallic sound.
“This’s what the underground passages are like,” he said. “No one knows what they’re made of, so people used to say the gods built them...but yeah, I’m betting it was old mankind too.”
He glanced around before continuing.