Episode 1-a. The Town Where Letters Fly In.
Letter.
To put it simply, until quite recently, I used to scribble it and send it to the capital of the Empire.
The journey, which was stretching longer, became a matter of a year, two years, and three years, showing no signs of ending soon.
I was somewhat—actually, quite—worried about a certain woman who was waiting back in the Empire.
Whenever I had the luxury, I would buy a small gift at a souvenir shop and send it along with a short letter back to the Empire.
The reason I felt the need to send a gift was that a single, hastily written letter would seem too simple and humble since I lacked any real skill in writing.
I could never properly express my innermost feelings.
I don’t know about others, but it was something that required a lot of courage for me.
So, the letters I sent to the woman turned out to be a mere few short lines.
I couldn’t always send just a short letter, so I included unnecessary gifts.
I hoped that those gifts would carry a little more of the feelings I couldn’t express.
It was quite laughable, really.
So then.
Someone, or rather most people, say that what is contained in a letter is the heart of a person.
They say it’s about taking what you can’t verbalize, pulling it out, and quietly inserting that unfinished sentiment into someone else’s heart through paper.
Because I wrote it myself, there are letters that are a bit crooked.
Because I wrote it myself, there are papers that have smudged from tears.
Because I wrote it myself, one can feel once more what only the two of us knew.
So, even if it’s just a single line, or just a few short lines, there are innermost feelings that cannot be conveyed without a letter.
And.
I wanted to find that answer too, perhaps in the scenery of Literra where letters would fly in.
I wanted to properly include my true feelings in the letter I would send to the woman.
Last night.
Fortunately, no one died from the stew the children spilled ingredients into.
Except for the poisonous mushroom I happened to find, none of the ingredients were from strange places, so we all ate a moderately tasty stew and fell asleep.
And now I was on the same bumpy wagon, heading down the mountain path that presented the same scenery as yesterday.
The children, bored with it, had meanwhile crept closer to the driver’s seat and voiced their curiosity.
“Ain, why isn’t there a city close by?”
“That’s right, if it’s a place everyone passes through, shouldn’t there be at least one city?”
“Well…, that’s because, it’s just something like that.”
Yes.
I informed them.
““Oh, you don’t know.””
To speak frankly, it wasn’t that I didn’t know, but it was a story too long to casually talk about while driving, so I wanted to tell them later.
““Dum-dum.””
“….”
However.
The children were quite bored, teasing me vigorously, so I sighed deeply and carefully called out to someone else.
“Phew…, Horn sir, could you explain a bit?”
“What… It’s simply because this area isn’t suitable for people to live in, kids.”
And it seemed like the old man was feeling a little restless too, as he spoke right away without any grumbling.
“Can’t you just cut down trees and build some suitable buildings? Right, Tori?”
“Yeah, Yaki. Because…, um, the ground isn’t soft, you know?”
“You could think that way, but to put it simply, the land that hasn’t been stabilized by ancient magic is territory of the unchosen.”
It was as he said.
Just as Horn said, in the unstabilized land, the unchosen things are born.
“Stabilization?”
“Yeah. The cities that currently exist are all places where stabilization was completed in ancient times, and places like this dense forest are unstabilized lands.”
In other words, Literra isn’t the only place with remnants of ancient magic.
The territories where the Empire, duchies, and all other nations and races live are places where ancient stabilization magic has taken root.
“Of course, if you ask whether today’s mages can’t stabilize undeveloped areas, that’s not true, but it doesn’t match the cost-to-benefit ratio. Only those who have reached the rank of grand mage can do that.”
An old story, that the magical civilization that bloomed in the ancient times has somehow fallen and declined, making it hard to even follow the proper steps now.
“Uh…, then what are these unchosen things?”
“Hm, they are called Imper, but they’re quite bothersome creatures. Lucky for you, you haven’t encountered them yet while riding in the wagon, but you’ll certainly face them at least once before we reach Literra, so see for yourself then.”
““Eww….””
Horn said that and seemed to finish his explanation, shifting his position to lie back again, while the children let out disappointed sighs, still unsatisfied with their curiosity.
The unchosen things, or those that are of an incomplete nature.
In regions like the snowy mountains of the northern snow country of Crephen, beasts similar to wolves make their homes, but.
In this wide-spreading forest, the incomplete beings take root and live.
And those called Imper were creatures that one could hardly comprehend merely through letters or words.
People say they look quite disgusting, but I wonder if it could even be explained adequately by that.
I don’t know well.
What I felt the few times I encountered them was sheer terror.
And.
“Hey, hey…! You crazy horses, take a proper breath, damn it! Don’t fall dead from panting, just run faster…!”
“Ahhh…! Ain, hurry! Drive faster! They’re chasing us, they’re coming after us…!!”
“I can’t see…. I can’t see…. No, I don’t want to see something like that…!”
The mouth truly is an enemy.
That night, we had to confront our fear.
The things called Imper cannot just be defined by saying they simply look disgusting.
First of all, they have no eyes. Their nostrils are huge, and their mouths are split to where ears would be. Of course, they have no ears, so only pierced holes exist.
And while being hairless with smooth skin could be considered some sort of charm point.
That image, approaching on grotesquely long arms and legs, creaking with a bizarre rhythm, sent chills down my spine.
The sight of dozens of them charging towards our campsite, shaking the ground with their thundering presence, was the first real fear I felt upon dropping into this world.
“Ah, damn it! The mouth is an enemy, the mouth is an enemy…! Ugh, don’t cling to the driver’s seat, you crazy bastards!”
“Ahhh!!”
And as I kicked at the appendage, whether it was an arm or leg, that was dripping goo and sticking to the wagon, Horn spoke again as if it were no big deal.
“Hm, I don’t think these guys are worth getting all worked up about.”
“Does this dwarven old man have a sense for aesthetics gone wrong!? Damn it, their nostrils are flaring! Get lost!”
In fact.
When I first set out on the journey and encountered them, I never dreamed they would look like this from just words or letters.
“Still, they’re weak, so stabbing them with a knife will end it. To continue the conversation we were having during the day, one on one, they’re weak, but their numbers are so overwhelming that ordinary folks end up dying, and therein lies the problem.”
““Ugh! You don’t need to tell me about this anymore…!””
“See? When confronted directly, you can feel it right away, you little ones.”
Hmph, some things never change.
Horn muttered that and began pulling out the shield he had wedged among the supplies, starting to detach the Imper that clung to the wagon one by one.
Thud- Thud-
The sounds of hitting echoed, and the sides of the wagon became covered with the slimy bodily fluids of the Imper.
“Ugh…, sir, when you’re fixing the wagon, please clean it as well.”
“Get lost. I’m neither a carpenter nor a lackey who does washing, you damned brat.”
Thud-
“Not this crazy….”
“You disrespectful brat. Good. Here, you enjoy some of this.”
And the sticky fluids splattered all over my face, which had been diligently driving the wagon.
“Sir, do you enjoy overturning the wagon?”
“Then we’d all just become Imper food. Go ahead and try it, kid.”
Thud- Thud-
“Okay, okay…! I’m sorry, so stop…, ugh.”
“Breaking their heads had its charm. It has been a long time.”
I didn’t grasp the charm in breaking their heads, but the taste that just got in my mouth was just as grotesque as their appearance.
Damn it….
Until the night had sunk a bit lower, and all the Imper charging towards the wagon had disappeared.
The children had to continue screaming their heads off, and I had to wear that sticky fluid all over my body due to Horn’s timid revenge.
And.
“Oh…, thank goodness. Ah, I needed some freshly harvested Imper fluid. Ain, just stay still. I’ll… collect some in a bottle….”
“….”
After last night’s upheaval had settled, there was one person who seemed to be in high spirits in the wagon we had stopped.
“Um, oh, there’s flesh on the eyes, wow…, and pieces of brain on the head. Y-yeah, as expected, material procurement is Ain.”
“….”
If he were to laugh at my state, I wouldn’t have known what to say, but there was someone there who was pulling off the things stuck to my body without a smirk.
“Whenever I need assistance, it’s only you, Ain. Hm, speaking of which, where was my clamp…?”
“…, hey.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you really want to die?”
“Uh, no? Did I do something wrong…? I did thank you, you know….”
If you needed materials, why not jump off the wagon at night instead?
You damn bastard.
