In the end, quite a bit of time passed before we all ended up leaving the store. The original plan had been to get Suzume and Seele measured and have them choose what fabric they wanted, but now that I’d joined in, I had to get measured too. Then Suzume and the other girls took it upon themselves to decide on my outfit as well, which ended up being a hot topic. By the time everything was said and done, it took all I had not to collapse to my knees from fatigue. As for why they were so enthusiastic about my outfit in particular, I didn’t know, and I probably never would.
Anyway, after leaving the store, we started to walk back to the Dragonaut estate—Claudia had asserted she wanted to walk, so we didn’t go by carriage—when along the way, she said she wanted to stop by the cemetery to the north of the capital and pay a visit to her mother’s grave. She said she’d been so sick recently that she’d only had enough energy to walk around in the garden on her good days, so she hadn’t paid her respects to her mother in quite some time. Obviously I couldn’t refuse after hearing something like that, so we all headed there.
As we walked, Claudia told us that the cemetery’s only regulation was that everyone buried there, whether they be nobles or commoners, were to have graves the exact same shape and size. And when we arrived at the gates, I saw it was true: The graves were all identical and equally spaced like on a grid. I found it a pretty bizarre sight. Depending on perspective, I suppose one could either say it was a functional, efficient setup or gloomy and bleak. And considering it mirrored the design of the royal capital itself, this was no doubt also the work of Kanaria’s first king. According to Claudia, by going through the proper procedures, it was possible for families to have their loved ones’ graves and burial costs paid for by the government.
Astrid and Claudia’s mother was buried here as well. As lauded as the Dragonaut family was, they could have easily put her in some other cemetery where they could erect the most lavish, ornate monument they wanted. In fact, many noble families had built their own personal graveyards on their own land, and the Dragonauts were no exception. However, their mother had specifically requested to be buried here, and from that alone, I could get a good idea of what kind of person she’d been. Of course, I could have been wrong, but knowing Astrid’s and Claudia’s personalities, I suspected the apples hadn’t fallen too far from the tree.
As they stood in front of their mother’s grave, their hands clasped together in reverence, Suzume, Seele, and I did the same behind them. And at that moment, I heard soft music coming from somewhere. When I turned to look, an old man was sitting on the ground all alone a short distance away, playing a long-necked string instrument. It looked like a biwa, a type of lute usually only played farther east. There were holes in his clothes, like they’d been eaten by moths, and his limbs were emaciated like twigs. If he hadn’t been playing a biwa, I might have assumed he was homeless.
“Oh, you came again, mister!” Claudia said.
I was a little shocked to see that she was acquainted with the man. When I asked about it, she said that before she’d fallen victim to the curse, she’d seen the man in the cemetery every time she’d come to visit her mother, and one day she’d been curious enough to go talk to him. According to Claudia, the man called himself an “off-seer,” and he walked around the large cemetery playing his respects to the departed with his songs. When Claudia had asked him why he did that, he’d responded with the following:
“No reason, really, though if I had to give one...I suppose I just don’t want to leave them alone.”
“Alone? Why?”
“Well, you see, my job is to purify vengeful spirits and suppress the malevolent god with my songs. That’s what this biwa’s for.”
“Then there are evil spirits here?”
“Hee hee, no, not exactly. But in a large cemetery like this, there are inevitably more than a few who wander around, unable to pass on. And as a priest, it’s my duty to guide them to nirvana. If souls without bodies stay in the mortal world too long, you see, they’re at risk of becoming evil spirits.”
According to Claudia, he’d said this with a toothless grin. She hadn’t been sure whether he was telling the truth but didn’t sense any evil intent in him, and every time she’d seen him, he’d always been diligently playing his lute. The old man had been worried the gravekeeper might chase him away, so Claudia had told the gravekeeper his story. The gravekeeper had understood and was even grateful for the old man’s service.
Even as Claudia recounted all this, the old man was using both hands to play his biwa, with dexterous, agile movements that belied his apparent age. He clearly hadn’t just picked up the instrument a mere two or three years ago. And his voice... Every now and then, he would vocalize something that sounded like neither a song nor a prayer, but his voice was strong and pleasing to the ears. While I had no way of knowing whether his music really did purify evil spirits, it certainly looked like he’d done it enough.
At the very least, he probably plays music for a living, I thought as I followed Claudia over to greet him.
Upon our return to the mansion, Duke Dragonaut was waiting for us, proudly carrying a freshly killed deer. He must have wanted to provide his daughters with a hearty meal that night.
“Look forward to tonight’s dinner, eh?” his momentary glance at Astrid seemed to say. Astrid responded with a smile and a nod, at which the duke seemed relieved. Having let the ailing Claudia out on the town, he and his attendants were naturally concerned. But they hadn’t stopped her, most likely because they thought letting her go outside would give her some much-needed hope. And in the end, Claudia had been completely fine. She didn’t look like she was just trying to act tough either. Perhaps the duke had sensed from Astrid’s smile that there hadn’t been any problems.
As for me, I assumed from Claudia’s condition today that I would still have plenty of time to solve the problem of her curse. Unfortunately, later that day I would learn just how wrong I’d been.