Chapter 17

INTERLUDE THEATRE: ACT IV A Chicken-and-Egg Bowl for This Village Girl “All right, Lady Komekko. Here I thought we had this puzzle all figured out, but look what we’ve got next.” “I don’t know what it says. You read it, Great Lord Host.” ……… “Listen, let’s stop with the Great-Lord-Host business. You just call me Host, and I’ll just call you Komekko.” “Okay.” We nodded at each other, and then Host read the words that had shown up on the tomb. “‘O you who would break the seal, make thee an offering upon the altar. The sacrifice is to be a hen and its offspring. Offer them here together with your prayers…’ I can’t quite read the end of it, but I guess it’s, like, you know, a living sacrifice or whatever. A chicken and its kid, huh? Sacrifices are always best when they’re the richest, showiest stuff you can find. It won’t be easy to find these in the forest…” Host was muttering about something. He sounded worried, but then he clapped his hands. “All right! I’ve got it, Komekko. I’ll give you some money, so you hit the village and buy me a hen and its chick! The best you can find!” “All right!” I grabbed the money he offered me and set off for the village. An hour later… “I’m back! I got the stuff!” “Aww, way to go, that’s… Hey, what the heck is that?” When Host saw what I was carrying, balancing it on a tray so it wouldn’t fall, he seemed surprised. I set the tray carefully on the altar. “Living Sacrifice Chicken-and-Egg Bowl.” “You blockhead!” Host opened the lid of the dish I’d brought and looked inside… “Ahhh. Lookit you. You’re right—that’s definitely a chicken and its kid in there, but I’ll be damned if there’s a seal in the world that’ll open for a chicken-and-egg bowl. Dang, and here I thought I was finally going to meet Lady Wolbach’s other half…” “What kind of person is Lady Wolbach?” “Hmm? Her true form, it’s, like, this huuuuge black beast. I swear, it’d have you shaking in your boots… Grrr, I guess this is one job I’ve got to do myself. Fine, it’ll take a while, but…” Then he spread his wings to fly somewhere. Just before he lifted off, though, Host glanced at me. “…So listen. That means I won’t be around for a while, but I will see you again. We can play together when I get back—just don’t tell anyone about me, okay? …You can go ahead and eat the chicken-and-egg bowl.” Then he launched himself into the air. I didn’t know how long it had been. I was sitting in front of the altar, finishing the last of the food. “?” Suddenly I heard a rustling from the bushes. When I looked over, I saw an inky-black magical beast crawling toward me. …It was really small, though. I kept eating my chicken-and-egg bowl quickly in surprise as the beast made its way over to me. It looked like it was after my food. Almost like it thought this chicken-and-egg bowl belonged to it…but Host had given it to me. I stood up, still eating, and the enraged beast attacked me! I suffered a few scratches here and there, but after a long and grueling clash, the magical beast finally sat still, as if it had given up. Specifically, it had resigned itself to its place in my arms, where I was gnawing on its head. I woooon! I took my hard-earned prize and went home.