WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator: Abood
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Saviour Embarks on a Nameless Journey
Chapter 30: The Goddess
Basking in the morning sun, swaying on the magic horse, stopping at midday to eat beneath the shade of a tree, then resting there a while.
Mounting up again, listening to the rustle of leaves as we passed through dappled sunlight, and when we found a good spot by evening, halting even if the sun was still high. And all the while, Alina was by my side.
Indeed. An ideal, leisurely journey!
“Grandfather, please teach us the trick you showed before, the one where the middle part flies off.”
Alina came over with a long, narrow leaf in hand, Io right beside her.
“Ahh, leaf-vein shooting. That kind of leaf cuts the hand easily, so wear gloves.”
Leaf-vein shooting was a simple game played with long leaves that had a firm central vein.
Split the leaf along both sides, grip the edges, rest the stiff vein against your thumb pointing upward, then tug the split sides sharply and the vein would shoot out.
“Ohh, that flew well. As expected of the leaf Alina picked.”
I laughed as I said it, and Alina gave a shy, embarrassed smile.
Adorable, truly.
“Pyaa.”
“Not you.”
You’ve been eating those smoked eggs for lunch as well. At this rate, you’ll start laying eggs yourself. Your belly’s hanging low, you know?
“You really are a doting grandfather.”
“Of course I am. It’s only the truth that my Alina is adorable.”
I traded words with Marius while watching Alina and Io compete at shooting leaf veins.
Io, unable to make hers fly as far as Alina’s, was getting worked up. She never soured when competing with Alina, but even in a simple game she had already begun muttering to herself, analyzing the mechanics.
“She’s like you, isn’t she? Can’t stand losing, and always tries to reason out every little detail.”
Back in the day, the one beside me now had dragged out some bizarre equation for what was supposed to be just a game.
“Nowadays, I can make mine fly farther.”
“All that’s needed is to enjoy the game.”
“…It was fun, though.”
“…Well, true enough.”
Things sometimes escalated into quarrels, but in the end, games were more enjoyable when played in earnest.
“What’s our first destination?”
“—The ruins of Arte.”
It was there that we defeated the very first monster, one of those acting to expand the Demon King’s dominion. Since I’d said “first,” Marius no doubt realized I intended to retrace the journey of our old campaign, and asked with that in mind.
“I plan to take it slow, sightseeing along the way.”
“I’d like to see a calm sea as well.”
“Aye.”
Up to now, the only seas I’d seen were brown, churned with sand by raging currents… or else black.
“For now, what shall we do about dinner? We’ve still got the mushrooms and greens we gathered earlier.”
“Tonight, we’ll have this!”
The boar meat had been wrapped for several days in large leaves called fadel. Freshly taken boar meat tended to be tough, and depending on the season it could reek terribly, but wrapped in these leaves, the smell mellowed and the meat turned far more palatable.
“Oh? Boar meat, is it?”
Marius peered in as I unwrapped the leaves.
“Aye. It was given to me back in the village.”
As we spoke, each of us set about our tasks. Marius tending the fire, myself cutting the meat. We’d already gathered firewood when choosing our campsite, under the guise of checking the area.
By the time the sun had set and darkness had gathered, we were seated around a pot hung over a brightly burning fire.
“It’s so tender.”
“This is what people mean when they say meat melts in your mouth.”
Sliced thin and simmered, the meat’s fat had softened into a gentle sweetness. Unlike the unpleasant greasiness of poor pork or beef, this boar’s fat ran smoothly across the tongue without clinging.
Of course we’d added stock, but the mushrooms and wild greens had absorbed the rich flavor seeping out from the boar as well, making them even more delicious.
“Pyaa.”
“You’ve already had eggs.”
“Pya—.”
“Eat any more and your belly’ll sag clean off your legs.”
You’d already eaten enough eggs to leave your stomach heavy and stretched out.
“Lord Shinju, here.”
Marius handed over a bowl of boar hotpot.
Always spoiling him… He claimed that since Pya was a sacred beast he wouldn’t get fat, nor would a lopsided diet harm his health, but stretched out like that, he certainly looked it.
After eating our fill, each of us found a spot nearby to bed down. On the soft grass I laid out my cloak, while Alina and Io curled up together beside it.
Before long, their soft breathing signaled they were fast asleep. It was their first real night out in the open, but with no wind and the air neither too hot nor too cold, they were lucky.
With Marius and Io setting up a sort of protective barrier, there was no real need for anyone to stand watch. Still, I stayed up a while, gazing at the fire. It was a little early for sleep yet, and Marius had pulled out his cards to pass the time, or so it looked.
No… he’d said once it was a form of mental discipline, modeled after the divinations performed by priests.
The chirping of insects fell unnaturally silent.
Alina and Io’s breathing stayed steady in sleep.
The faint shuffle of Marius’s cards continued.
Then Alina, lying beside Io, sat up and rose straight into the air.
“Hero, witch, priest, swordsman. Some still half-formed, yet at last a party has come together.”
The voice was like the ringing of small bells, one I remembered well.
The voice came from Alina, yet her lips did not move. Her entire body shone faintly with a silver-white light.
“Goddess Lānu, don’t use my granddaughter’s body.”
“The hero’s bloodline is convenient to borrow. And this time there’s even a sacred beast… a sacred—?”
“Why are you hesitating?! Is it because of Pya? Because it’s Pya, isn’t it!?”
“No, no, a splendid sacred beast indeed. …With such a beast among you, go and gather the fragments at your leisure. For the sake of your wish.”
As her feet touched the ground again, the pale light dissolved into the earth, leaving Alina’s body. The goddess Lānu was gone.
Alina collapsed as if gently lowered by the air itself.
Hey, now the suspicion that Pya isn’t really a sacred beast has only gotten stronger!
Footnotes:
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