A Meeting by Chance (completed)

Consolation

Three days passed, and whenever the sun was up, we would continue walking.
No matter how far we walk, all we find are empty houses, and fields overgrown with weeds.
Occasionally, unlike the normal houses we passed, we would see large mansions, but even they aren’t being managed. Weeds encroach their boundaries.
What we’re walking down is a wide road. I guess it was a sort of highway.
I’ve heard before that in the countryside of spacious countries, the roads go without maintenance, and they stay the same as they were many years ago.
But this should have been a large road before. The hard ground made easy for people to walk on doesn’t seem to have encountered a single person or carriage in months. Foliage spreads from the cracks in it.

I remember horse-tail growing from the gaps between the concrete in early spring.
At that time, I was honestly impressed at its tenacity to grow from a place like that, but I feel something different from the plants on this road.
Specifically, what’s different? If I was asked that, I don’t believe I could answer.
But, something… I feel something wrong.
This land is way too quiet.
How long ago was it that I last heard the cry of the birds, or the hum of the bugs?
When I try tracing back my memory, they were already gone by the time I found myself stranded on that mountain.
Only the rustle of trees and the sound of wind echoes through this world… I can’t feel the breath of life.
The only life I can feel is…

“Mizuki, tarte nimyaku!”

Celeilia gives an encouraging voice as she points forwards.
In these days, I’ve yet to be able to understand her words, but we can at least come to some sort of understanding with gestures.

“A castle…”

What we was, when we reached the top of a small hill, was a large castle.
Compared to the amusement and theme parks I’ve visited, it’s stone made… and built in an old style.
When I think of a Western Castle, I imagine the ones in the amusement parks back home, but this one is quite different.
It’s built out of stones of a single gray color. From the many years since it’s been made, the ramparts have been slightly scorched by the sun.

As if to protect the interior, four towers had been built forming a square around it.
An on the inside, the same stones had been stacked up to create the foundation. It was a solid castle.
But from me who envied the whimsical buildings of the amusement parks, this seems more like a giant prison than a castle.
That’s how different it was to the castle I idealized in my mind.
And naturally spread out around it was a castle town, and houses of the same gray stone of the castle were lines up neatly.
I don’t know what time period the castle was built in, but in Social Studies, I heard that many years of construction have to go into making a stone castle.
Does the fact that it’s preserved so gallantly make it a world heritage site?
Places like these tend to attract tourists, so people should gather naturally.

“Chnika hyoph, Mizuki.”
“Yeah, let’s go.”

There’s a bit of a distance to the castle town, but the simple fact that we have a goal in mind fills me with power. I match Celeilia’s fast pace as we head off to the castle town.
Even though I think I’m going relatively fast, Celeilia is always a few steps ahead of me despite the fact she has more luggage. As a boy, it’s a little embarrassing. Considering our difference in strength, I guess it can’t be helped, but perhaps I should start training my legs.
If I return, a marathon is… harsh, so I’ll at least start walking to build up stamina.

Eventually, we approached the city gates that were so large I had to look up at them
From afar, it looked like a miniature city, but as we approached, I found it exceedingly large.
The gray stone work has been deeply stained black and reddish-brown in some places over the years.
And vines encroach the giant walls.
The bridge that leads into the town… It was also made of stone, and easy to walk on.