Chapter 2-1
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Chapter 2: The Valley of No Return
Part 1
Ladimeo was a rural town with no particular defining features.
During the war there had been a number of towns equipped with fortresses, like Del Solant, the town where Tohru and Akari had lived as refugees for a short time. This town was very similar to that; the two towns were even equal in scale. If one was forced to come up with a difference between the two, though, it would have been that this town had no count’s quarters.
In most cases, the count would pick the largest town within their domain to settle in.
At the same time, it could also be said that Ladimeo not being under direct control of a count made it comparatively more prosperous than Del Solant despite being equal in size.
Actually, the town was bustling.
Apparently there was a mine nearby, so the area was replete with fossil fuel.
Fossil fuel—in other words, mineralized magic sources that were indispensable for the use of magic.
Magic had been absolutely necessary during the war, of course, but even during this era of peace it was still quite important. After the war had ended and the wizards had been dismissed from the army under an order of disarmament, they had to make their livings in the towns. By proactively using the variety of magic they had at their disposal, they began to set up farms and factories.
Even within towns, it was common to see wizards walking around with their Gundo.
‘The ‘Valley of No Return’…?”
The name had reached Tohru and Chaika’s ears almost immediately upon entering the town.
“Yep. You’d best be careful.”
Tohru and Chaika had visited a general store so they could stock up on provisions and the like. The shopkeeper’s round face clouded over as he spoke.
“…”
“…”
Tohru and Chaika exchanged glances.
By the way, Akari was not present. She was still in the Svetrana continuing her medicine-mixing using most of the sulfur they’d procured. When it came to things like this, Akari was quite meticulous. Now that she was in the mixing process, she was at a stage where she would rarely respond even if spoken to.
As for Frederica, she’d disappeared, as usual. It’d probably be another few days before she’d show her face again. Tohru had decided to pay it no mind. In the first place, he still had doubts about whether or not she was really was a “companion”, and while she hadn’t shown herself for the better part of two days now, it wasn’t like she was a weak creature they needed to worry over.
But that aside…
“It’s also called the ‘Valley of Fog.’”
The shopkeeper turned to a map stuck on one of the store’s walls.
The surrounding areas were displayed, Ladimeo included. To the east of the town, they could see a crevice that looked like it had been gouged out with a blade. Compared to the town it looked large.
“It was originally already a pretty foggy area, see. But lately it’s gone completely dark with it. Can’t even see your hand in front of your face.”
“Completely?” Chaika asked, her eyebrows furrowing.
He had to have been exaggerating a little bit though; just a bit of showmanship.
“Yep. For the past few years now, pretty much every day, they say—nothin’ but fog.”
The shopkeeper said it right out.
“Some say it’s the grudges of those who died in that valley given form.”
“Then ‘Valley of No Return’… means there were a bunch of people that died there?”
“Probably…I would assume,” the shopkeeper offered vaguely. “You see, those that were careless enough to venture in there never came back home. No trace of them remained, no corpse or nothin’…or well, if anyone did ever find a corpse they never came back to report it.”
“Sounds precarious.”
If his story was true, this was going to be dangerous.
“Any Feyra in the area?” Tohru asked as he took a bag filled with food supplies from the shopkeeper.
By the way, it was Tohru’s job to carry the stuff, and Chaika’s to pay for it.
“No, I’ve never heard of any Feyra here. We just don’t know why it happened.”
“Hmm…”
Come to think of it, at the mansion where Dominica, or rather Frederica lived, there was also a forest where people were said to have “never returned” from. The reason was because no one had ever lived to tell the tale of Feyra living in the forest. There was a chance that this was the same type of case—there were Feyra in the valley, and anyone who had dared intrude on their turf had been ripped limb from limb.
But—
But for the fog to have never cleared up…that bothers me.
It wasn’t that strange for fog to form in between the mountains.
But it was strange for the fog to never dissipate.
If the climate had always been like that, it’d be a different story. But the fact that this had just up and started meant there had to be some underlying cause.
“Exactly how long has the fog been there?”
“Let’s see. It showed up around three, no, four years ago?”
“And before then, people were able to enter the valley and then come back?”
“Well, yeah, basically,” the shopkeeper said as he fished around in a basket lying in the corner of the store. The amount Chaika had paid was quite the sum, so he was probably trying to scrounge up the change. “I mean, it’s not really the type of place people would want to visit to begin with, but occasionally there were those who would go out there to gather plants or mushrooms…at the time, there weren’t any real issues with it.”
Four years ago. After the war, in other words.
“…”
Tohru gave his thanks to the shopkeeper and left the store.
At his side, Chaika spoke.
“Tohru?”
She had a surprised look on her face.
“Worried? About something?”
“More like I’m worried about everything.”
Tohru had a mountain of things to mull over.
Rather, Chaika was being way too nonchalant.
Though, it was true that taking things lightly and simple-mindedness were her bread and butter, and that quality of hers had been something of a respite for Tohru ever since the day they’d met. This had never been a leisure trip. If Chaika were to share his sulky face and worry 24/7 like he did, he’d probably just end up depressed. This was how it had to be.
“Well, the most pressing problem right now is that valley and the constant fog surrounding it,” Tohru said.
“…’Valley of No Return…’”
“Yeah. That information Guy gave us came from a witness who’d spotted that man Simon Scania four years ago. Directly after the war’s end. However, that constant fog also showed up around four years ago. The events happened about half a year apart, sure…but there’s got to be some connection there.”
“Understand.”
Chaika replied with a serious expression.
“Simon Scania. Whereabouts unknown. Within fog?”
“We can’t rule that possibility out.”
With a grandiose name like “The Valley of No Return,” there was no way that only one or two people had gone missing. And Simon Scania could be inside.
He didn’t know what type of person Simon Scania was, but if he happened to venture into the valley while still in possession of the remains Tohru’s group was trying to retrieve, there was a chance he had left the remains behind.
“Emperor-slayers” aside, they were all still human. They could still die from illnesses or accidents. Tohru couldn’t rule out the possibility that Simon Scania had perished in the valley.
“Although…”
Tohru suddenly thought of something.
“Looking at it all again in this context, something’s strange…”
“Huh?”
“Nah, it’s just…first Alberic, then Dominica, and now this Simon Scania…they may have not been formally revealed to the public, but these guys were heroes, right? You would think that within that bunch these guys would have led more lackadaisical, carefree lives…”
The troublesome war had raged on for ages. They’d most likely received comparable compensation.
So wouldn’t these guys only have comfortable, quiet lives ahead of them?
“No, perhaps it’s the opposite?” Tohru muttered, realizing something. “They were the special forces unit that took down Arthur Gaz…They may have had fame and fortune, but there was no way they could have led normal lives after that. Also, considering their personalities…”
In both magic and politics, Arthur Gaz had been regarded as a “monster with no equal.” He’d been called immortal. It was said no individual was strong enough to topple him.
Going up against a terror like that, not to mention going ahead of the main forces to directly subjugate the man during the raid on his castle, could only be called an act of suicide.
Had they been starved for praise? Did they have death wishes? Or perhaps they possessed some trait that gave them a propensity for hopeless situations? Whatever the reason, it was hard to imagine any normal folk joining that brigade. It was precisely because they were a problematic bunch that their countries had declined to announce their names publicly, so he couldn’t exactly imagine them living honest lives in the postwar era.
“Of course she’s never here during the times where she might actually be helpful…”
She—in other words, Frederica.
While she may have never entered the castle herself, she had accompanied Dominica, so it was possible she could have caught a glimpse of some of the other members’ faces or even mannerisms.
“Actually…” Tohru continued walking as he talked. “What kind of person was your old man anyway?”
“Mui? Father?”
“I mean, all I’ve heard about him is ‘monster’ this, ‘monster’ that.”
The rumors had said he’d lived for three hundred—some even said a thousand—years.
Some said he could triple-wield Gundo. Some said that even his skills with a sword rivaled that of any instructor employed by the army, no matter the country they belonged to. Some said that his physical strength was so outstanding that he could bend a whole stack of coins with just one finger.
It was to the point where Tohru had to ask, “did such a man really exist?”
“Father—”
Chaika raised her head to the sky, as if she were recalling a faraway memory.
“Father, man. Emperor. Wizard.”
“No, I know that much already…”
Unconsciously, Tohru drooped his shoulders.
“…Tohru.”
An expression resembling surprise showed up on Chaika’s face.
“Father, knowledgeable.”
“Everyone knows that!”
“Name. ‘Arthur Gaz’.”
“Of course I know that too—I mean, come on, Chaika. Nothing else? If you’re his daughter, you should know something. Like, his personality. His interests, habits, things like that.”
There was no shortage of rumors and legends surrounding Emperor Gaz. In fact, there were too many—so many that it was difficult to parse out which ones were true and which were pure fiction. As a result, the impression of the man himself gave way to vague embellishments, and it was hard to get a clear, detailed picture.
“Mumu…mu…mumu?”
Chaika cocked her head to one side, and then to the other, looking troubled.
It didn’t seem like the source of her worry was having too many memories to choose from. It looked more like she had so few memories of him that she was straining to recall even one.
“Mu?”
“Now hold on. You know we’re talking about your dad, right? Your own father?”
“Father, His Majesty the Emperor.” Chaika said. “Always busy. Very busy. Rarely met him.”
“…”
Her father had been a statesman, a politician, so he’d had the responsibility of taking his work seriously to the end. Of course he would have been tied up in work, especially as the emperor of such a huge nation. Just the documents awaiting approval every day must have been mountainous.
Now that she’d mentioned it, it wasn’t all that surprising that he would have few opportunities to see anyone—even his own real daughter.
“Extremely busy,” Chaika repeated as if for emphasis.
To Tohru, her profile looked almost lonesome.
“Memories, few. Fleeting.”
“…Okay, I get it. Sorry for dredging up sensitive stuff.”
Truthfully—Tohru had never seen his real parents.
There were, of course, children of saboteurs within the Acura village, but it was also common to raise disowned children purchased from nearby farms who considered them “extra mouths to feed,” as well as abandoned war orphans, to be the next generation of saboteurs.
Tohru had been one of those orphans.
However, by the time he’d become conscious of the world around him he was already a member of the Acura village, and there had been quite a few children around him in the same situation, not to mention he’d had what one could basically call “foster parents,” so the absence of his real parents wasn’t painful to him.
However…even Tohru understood that for a normal child, the presence of a parent was a huge thing. For better or for worse, Tohru was a saboteur, and a saboteur was useless without a grasp on human psychology.
“OK. Completely OK. Really.” Chaika shook her head fervently.
There was no grief in her expression.
Just as Tohru felt a sense of relief from that—
“Chaika. Are you really Emperor Gaz’s daughter?”
Frederica’s earlier question flashed through his mind.
Nah, it couldn’t be, he thought.
There was no way any fake was crazy enough to go through with gathering the remains of the “Taboo Emperor.”
Although…just hypothetically, what if Chaika really wasn’t Emperor Gaz’s true daughter?
What if Chaika was actually even more versed in human psychology than Tohru, and had simply been deceiving him all this time? What if she had some reason Tohru was unaware of to act as the emperor’s daughter?
What if the reason she had no memories of the emperor was because she was a random stranger who’d never met him in the first place?
Tohru had been taking Chaika’s fragmented, sparse speech and had unconsciously been “reading ahead” of her words by filling in the blanks, but was Chaika really incapable of doing the same thing? Couldn’t his feeling of wanting to trust in Chaika have created a convenient, one-sided interpretation?
…Shit.
That one little doubt had multiplied into a bunch of other ones.
Humans can only read the hearts of strangers based on their outside behavior.
The other day at the hot spring, Tohru had lined up defense after defense after being interrogated by Frederica, but—
I…
He didn’t have any clear suspicions, at least none worth hesitating over.
Yet Tohru still felt something beginning to waver within him.
* * *
Though most people referred to the whole collective of magic-users as “wizards”, there were in actuality a number of different types.
Because magic itself was a widespread system, it was only natural for there to be advanced, specialized fields within.
For instance, Zita of Gillette Corps had a low magic level, and her ability to directly handle magic was poor. However, because she was well-versed in magic engineering and magic theory, she could operate, repair and modify a variety of magical devices.
Then there was Gillette Corps’ other wizard, Mattheus, who was a more standard magician. Though he was a jack of all trades when it came to magic, he was particularly skilled with “communication” and “mind control.”
Using these two together, he could activate a sequence within an animal’s brain and control them like “familiars.” The sequence had to remain activated throughout and he couldn’t move while using it, but he could potentially set it up to where the information assimilated from an animal’s eyes and ears was sent to his own consciousness.
Because of this, there were many times where he was assigned along with the scout Leonardo to act as Gillette Corps’ eyes and ears.
“…”
They were inside the April, which had been parked in a parking lot in Ladimeo. Since a bit ago, Mattheus had been sitting on the floor, his eyes closed, legs crossed and arms across his chest. This, along with his steady facial features and bald head, made him look like the deity of some strange religion—a peculiar sight indeed.
Currently, Mattheus was using ten or so winged birds as his “familiars.”
Borrowing the senses of a familiar already put extreme strain on a wizard’s brain, so controlling ten only increased the pressure further. A typical wizard would have passed out by now, blood leaking from their orifices.
In other words, it was already evident that Mattheus was an elite.
“So this is what they mean when they say the brain is just made up of a bunch of muscles, huh?”
“I’m pretty sure you’re the only one to say that…”
Watching Mattheus as he sat controlling his familiars, Gillette Corps’ assassin Vivi and
their wizard Zita were conversing.
Mattheus did not respond.
He was concentrated on manipulating his familiars.
“In this state, I wonder if he’d even notice if we wrote ‘Muscle’ on his forehead,” Vivi said.
The girl’s lustrous, wavy hair and sharp eyes were her standout features.
Her defined facial features brought an air of nobility. There were still traces of immaturity in her face, but upon looking at her no one would think she needed to be protected.
Actually, she’d probably look right at home in one of the martial arts tournaments held by nobility or royalty.
That was why some poor soul could look at her and think she could never be an assassin—right up until they were on the receiving end of her lethal weapon.
She hardly ever talked about her own past, but just from watching how she carried herself it was easy to picture her undergoing training specifically to assassinate members of the upper class.
“We should at least draw some cat whiskers on his cheeks,” Zita replied with a light smile.
She had round glasses perched on her nose and shoulder length hair that, while not as sleek and magnificent as Vivi’s, supplemented her gentle and amiable appearance. Had she been wearing a more ornate outfit she might have looked ostentatious, yet the wizard girl was dressed in her work outfit and boots, which instead gave off an impression of unrefinement.
In appearance, skill and personality, Vivi and Zita were almost exact opposites, and indeed it was difficult to find anything in common between them. However, perhaps due to being close to the same age, or maybe because they got along rather well, they looked almost like sisters when viewed next to each other.
“Since that head of his looks so lonesome, maybe I should give him some hair. Wow, I’m so nice!”
“I think Mattheus-san just shaves his head though; he’s not naturally bald.”
“Well, it’s probably because managing your hair is a pain anyway. Ah, I know! If his head was tattooed, he’d never need to wash his hair or get a haircut again!”
“Wait Vivi, what are you doing with those needles?” Panicked, Zita tried to stop Vivi. It really seemed like she was about to pull some sort of prank on the statue-still Mattheus, or more specifically, about to do something to his head, and there was no stopping her now. Vivi had an abnormal background by undergoing training as an assassin, but this was balanced out by her childlike attitude completely unbefitting of her age, which manifested in times like these.
However—
“What are you all doing?”
A voice suddenly came from behind Vivi, who was just about to pierce Mattheus’s head with a needle, and Zita, who was frantically trying to stop her.
There was no need to turn around to see who it was.
It was the head of Gillette Corps, the cavalier Alberic Gillette.
“Hya!?”
At once, the needle slipped out of the surprised Vivi’s hand and went spinning through the air, barely avoiding Alberic’s face as it stabbed into the ground.
“…”
Alberic, of course, went wide-eyed as he stared at the needle.
“I, I, I’m so sorry!” Vivi fervently apologized.
The assassin girl’s normally-insolent demeanor almost never crumbled—unless Alberic was involved, that is. In front of the young cavalier, even Vivi became no-nonsense and compliant. The other members gave wry smiles at this blatant shift in attitude, yet for some reason it seemed Alberic himself was the only one to not notice how unnatural it was.
“Vivi…” Alberic breathed a sigh. “How you view your needles is about the same as how I view my sword, correct?”
“Huh? Ah. Yes.”
Vivi nodded and agreed without a moment’s thought.
A cavalier’s sword. An assassin’s needles.
Indeed, in terms of the user’s relationship with the weapon, they were about the same.
“In that case, don’t brandish them so thoughtlessly. While it’s important to be as comfortable with them as you are with your own body, they’re weapons all the same. They can save people and wound people in equal measure, and it’s of the utmost importance to always be conscious of how you use them.”
At this almost-too-straightforward, completely naive rhetoric from Alberic, Vivi showed him a momentary look of puzzlement.
But…
“Understood.”
The girl nodded, lowering her head slightly.
Her cheeks were tinged with red—either Alberic never noticed this, or simply didn’t understand the significance behind it. Zita, looking back and forth between Alberic and Vivi, gave a strained smile.
“By the way, do you happen to know where Nikolay went off to?” Alberic asked as if he’d completely forgotten the topic at hand.
Even when scolding his subordinates, he never dragged out the matter pointlessly. This in itself was proof that he was capable of clearly distinguishing between public and private matters—a trait quite rare for one of his young age, and especially rare for nobility.
“Ah, he was saying he wanted to go buy the food,” Zita replied.
“Nikolay? Purchasing the food?”
“Yes. He said something about wanting to put his arms to work now that he’s finally made a full recovery.”
“Ah…”
Alberic nodded like he finally understood.
Previously, Nikolay had suffered a broken arm during his battle with the saboteur currently employed by Chaika.
The bone itself had been mended with Mattheus’s healing magic, but magic could only do so much as glue the bone back together, so he’d still been far from a full recovery.
Naturally, a considerable amount of time had been required for the bone to recover its previous strength—until then, Nikolay had been advised to refrain from using his arm as much as possible, properly speaking.
However, after a long period of neglect, muscles begin to atrophy.
It didn’t matter how built you were previously—if one were to keep their arm in reserve for a whole month’s time, the arm’s muscle strength would rapidly decrease. Nikolay, in order to get his arm’s strength back to what it once was, was obviously trying to take on extra work in addition to his newly-restarted regular training regimen.
“Well, he’ll probably be back shortly,” Alberic said.
Just then—
“They’re here!!”
They heard a ferocious shout.
Without any preamble whatsoever, the once still-as-a-statue Mattheus had cried out, both eyes bulging wide. Standing up from his trancelike position, he faced Alberic and the others and continued.
“That bunch, they’re here—hm?”
Mattheus looked confused.
Alberic, Vivi, and Zita were all adopting strange poses. Alberic had only recoiled slightly, but Vivi and Zita had their bodies twisted like they were dodging something, or perhaps about to run away.
“What’s the matter?”
“You startled us!” Vivi shouted. “Don’t just suddenly yell like that!”
“Hm. My apologies for that.”
Mattheus apologized to Vivi and Zita, stroking his tan bald head with his palm, and then once again faced Alberic proper.
“Gillette-dono. They’ve been sighted.”
“Chaika Gaz, you mean?”
“Indeed, as well as the saboteur boy,” Mattheus confirmed with a nod. “However, I could not confirm the saboteur girl’s presence.”
“But we should assume they’re both here in the city.”
“Indeed.”
Alberic’s group Gillette Corps had come to this city in order to pick up a possible trail as to the whereabouts of the hero Simon Scania, but their primary objective was to apprehend the young girl Chaika, who called herself the daughter of Emperor Gaz.
Alberic had predicted that the girl, in search of the heroes—or rather, the remains the heroes were carrying—would show up in this town, which he had communicated to not only Mattheus, but the scout Leonardo as well.
“Where are they?”
“On the east edge of town, the opposite side of us.”
“…”
Alberic frowned, folding his arms.
“Chief Gillette?” Zita spoke up with a hint of caution.
Vivi, on the other hand, looked like she was about to head off to war. She had taken her needles and other covert weapons out her of her bag and was now checking them over.
At a glance, the girl might look unarmed, but nothing could be further from the truth. Even in a hypothetical situation where she was stripped naked, she’d probably have some strangling wire hidden in her long hair, or even a needle concealed in her mouth.
But…
“At present, Vivi and I are the only ones who could engage them in battle, so it’s probably a bad move to go now,” Alberic said. “We should wait until Nikolay returns from shopping and Leonardo finishes reconnaissance.”
“Whaaat. They’re just saboteurs. You’re overestimating them,” Vivi said, clearly unsatisfied.
Whether something had happened in the past or she just held some sort of prejudice toward them, Vivi had a strong tendency to take saboteurs lightly—actually, she flat-out looked down upon them. Perhaps since assassins and saboteurs had much in common, there was a sort of rivalry between the two.
“Wizards aren’t suited for close combat, and you alone would be plenty enough to take them, Alberic-sama.”
“No. I’ve heard that saboteurs, specifically the Acura and Subaru clans, have a secret technique called ‘Iron-Blood Transformation’ at their disposal.”
The boy and girl accompanying Chaika—as soon as he had learned the two were saboteurs, he had done a bit of research on these “mongrels of war.” After all, it was a given that one should know their enemies as well as they know themselves.
“Though only temporarily, they’re able to increase the capabilities of their body by several times the norm by way of adjusted breathing techniques and autosuggestion. I don’t know if those two saboteurs are able to use it, but if so, it’ll be a rough situation. The boy saboteur is already quite skilled, and I’d expect the girl to be at a comparable level. So if it was just Vivi and I…”
Having said that much, Alberic gave the disagreeable-looking Vivi a wry smile.
“Well, killing them aside, they’d be hard to capture alive.”
Even more so with the opponents being saboteurs.
These were people who wouldn’t balk at strapping explosives to their bodies and blowing themselves up—or so Alberic had heard.
“The only one we need to keep alive to hear the circumstances is Chaika Gaz, isn’t it?”
“What we learned the other day is probably relevant as well. It’s possible the girl herself is being used as a mere puppet. We need to also round up as many people as possible that may know the whole story,” Alberic explained in a quiet voice. “And…I’d like to end this without killing anyone.”
“…Alberic-sama.” Vivi’s eyes went wide as she looked at her superior.
Then Alberic added something that sounded like it was directed less toward Vivi and more toward himself.
“The war’s already over, after all.”
Yes. The war that glorified the simple slaughtering of countless people was no more.
This was no longer an age of killing.
To those who had spent countless hours forging their battle techniques, not just individuals but whole bloodlines as well—this was quite the despairing situation. Those special, one-of-a-kind techniques were now as good as sealed. They no longer had any purpose in this world.
But…
“But, as a cavalier there is a part of me that honestly wants to cross swords with him,” Alberic said with a strained smile. “Of course, I don’t want any of my subordinates to kill anyone either, even if they are an enemy. To make sure that doesn’t happen, I’ll have to rely on you all.”
“…Understood,” Vivi said with a resolute expression at last.
“Mattheus. I’m sorry, but could I ask you to continue keeping watch on them for a while? We’ll give chase when Nikolay and Leonardo return, so we can’t lose them until then.”
“Certainly.”
Having received his instructions from Alberic, he nodded—and then once again sat down on the floor with his Gundo, his eyes closed.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES
(NanoDesu) A Translation of the Hitsugi no Chaika Light Novel 