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Silence of the Dragonrider, part 4.3
Chapter Index
3
Five years had passed.
She was fourteen years old. Little by little, the budding flower was starting to bloom. Her hair had grown long, and she was gradually taking her next step into adulthood.
However, it was still winter in her heart.
She hadn't formed any emotional bonds with the people of Myorzo, and instead used her newfound inner hatred—and not Ba'ul's horn—to support herself through the solitude. She could neither join the Great Tree nor descend to the lower world. No matter how many times she demanded, Krones kept relentlessly refusing.
Judith felt like a prisoner bound under numerous restraints.
Wouldn't it be nice if she could feel more carefree? She had thought so, time after time; she could adapt to living here, while still not joining the Great Tree.
No. I can't do that. Judith shook her head.
Now that she knew her own feelings, it was an impossible proposal. That was all it came down to, even if she were to stay like this and end up rotting away in obscurity.
She thought about her father. Her father, who had always kept living in Temza after being cut off from the Great Circle. She wondered if he'd also had such feelings while living there.
But still, she thought. At least Dad had his research. What I have is—nothing but hatred. And there's nowhere I can go.
Judith pulled Ba'ul's horn from her breast pocket. Even though she'd gone to great lengths to furnish an elaborate decoration out of it, it was rare for her to even pick it up lately.
My last link to the outside. Judith stared fixedly at the little fragment. This thing is powerless. It has no power at all, just like me.
She happened to see the edge of Krones' green cap through the spaces between buildings. It formed a second horizon above the real one, and the blue sky was peeking through the gap between the two horizons.
The blueness pierced Judith, who was used to living under Krones' jade green light. It reminded her that she hadn't really felt the need to look at the outer world lately.
Feeling an impression of liberation, Judith unknowingly let her feet carry her to the lowest urban layer, an area that bordered the sky.
The lower world's appearance was a little different for a change. The sea's surface was covered by thick clouds, and even the earth was fully painted over in pure white.
She'd never seen the outer world so completely filled with monochrome clouds, even from Temza. Above it was an overwhelmingly blue void, an expansive spotless heaven that couldn't be called anything other than an azure sky. For a short while, Judith was captivated by the unexpected otherworldly view.
She felt like the world beyond stretched endlessly. When she gazed at the seemingly boundless outside world from the edge of the small world that was Myorzo, she felt like even Krones was nothing more than a tiny existence—to say nothing of herself standing at the edge, who was the equivalent of a grain of sand. Judith felt a despair that was separate from her loneliness.
"Who am I, exactly?" Judith muttered derisively. She'd lost both her father and her hometown; without even a glimpse of Ba'ul in sight, she was supported only by hatred. Furthermore, she was completely unaware that she harbored such dark feelings.
If fact, how did she know that Judith even existed?
That idea terribly depressed her. What if practically everything was only a solo performance, acted out unseen?
Judith went up to the edge of the plot. There wasn't much wind today. If it were always like this, she was certain more people would congregate in the bottom layer. It definitely had the best view, after all.
When she peered down, she was dazzled by the sunlight reflecting from the glittering sea of clouds. The clouds seemed so warm and reassuring. It occurred to her that she could be caught by them. It also felt as though there was a place over there with no sorrows. Just as her foot was about to step out into mid-air—
"Judith, what are you doing?"
Judith came to her senses. As she looked over, the Elder, followed by some of her acquaintances—including Fimun and Siluusi—were coming down the stairs.
"I was just looking at the sky. What are you here for, Elder?" Judith asked in return, placing a composed expression over her face. She wasn't in the mood to chat about herself.
"Taking a walk, the usual. I happened to notice you—well, I was thinking that I hadn't been down here much, lately."
You've never been down here even once, Judith thought. She stared at the outside world, which was divided into white and blue halves, and at the sunlight, which Krones didn't allow in. She squinted at a different radiance there, the radiance called freedom.
Freedom—Ba'ul.
Judith looked down at her hand, remembering that she was still gripping Ba'ul's horn. It even had worn spots of reduced luster as a result of her touching it countless times. At this point, it was now nothing but the remnant of an unfulfilled promise.
The Elder drew closer, also noticing it. "So, you're still hanging on to that. Your friend, Ba-Ba-Ba—"
"It's Ba'ul."
"Hrmph, oh yes, it was Ba'ul's horn. In the end, he never did come back, did he..."
No, he hadn't come back. Even though she'd believed in him. This small thing in her palm suddenly felt like a symbol of her agony in itself. There were many shackles binding her. Wasn't this also one of them?
"It doesn't matter," Judith muttered as she resolutely raised the hand gripping the horn overhead.
"Whoa, whoa, isn't that important to you?" Tenzal called out in surprise, but she ignored him. If she threw it like this with all her strength, it would fall beyond the sea of clouds, never to be found again. Ever.
"So, you figured it out?"
At the Elder's easygoing tone, the strength faded from her arm. "...What?"
"Oh, I was only thinking that there must have been some meaning to it, if he deliberately left it to you."
"Meaning... There's no such..."
It was left behind only to console her. Over these last few years, she'd sincerely come to think that. Confused, Judith lowered her arm.
The Elder continued, "Well, in that case, you shouldn't be so quick to discard it."
Despite that, she'd still been troubled these past five years. Of course, she'd objected in her heart, but there was no denying it had caused her to lose her way.
I wonder if Ba'ul really abandoned me. If the Ba'ul I knew would decide to abandon me.
It was possible something would happen over a five-year interval. Still, that was a topic for later. Back then, when Ba'ul carried her here, was it really possible he was already thinking about something like leaving her behind?
It was a question she'd repeatedly asked, far more than whether or not to join the Great Tree—a question that each time only left despair and emptiness. However, she felt newly doubtful now that it had been asked by someone else.
Judith remember the sight of Ba'ul putting his own life on the line and fighting to save her.
"It's alright, don't rush something important."
The elder quietly addressed Judith, who was once more staring intently at the horn, unable to move. For the first time, she felt the gentleness in those words—in more than just his tone of voice. Something that had probably been there all along.
Although it was winter in her heart, the sun was faintly shining.
Judith closed her eyes. She opened her nageeg and, once more, tried to feel for language within the horn.
As expected, she could hardly feel anything anymore. I understand that this was definitely part of Ba'ul once, and that's all.
Tenzal, Siluusi, and the others were watching nearby with apparent interest. Judith didn't really know whether they were worried or simply curious. She didn't care.
Not giving up, she extended the roots of her consciousness even further—into the horn'ss depths, below the layers that made up his sensation and hidden beneath the tangible, towards an even deeper domain.
Nothing. No matter how far she went, there was nothing. But there was simultaneously no end, either. Even though it was such a small fragment, there seemed to be an infinite expanse within it. For a moment, Judith came to forget where she was.
It's alright. I'm right here. Standing on my own two feet. Feeling like she was about to be pulled back by the sensation of reality, she once again focused her consciousness.
Eventually, she felt something within the infinite void. It came from a slight distortion—a deviation—in the practically uniform nothingness. She adjusted her criteria in order to bring its entirety into view.
It was like a symbol. It was so ambiguous that she couldn't grasp the full picture right away. Even recalling her training in Temza, there were no similar-looking symbols as far as she remembered.
What's this? Is it something Ba'ul left? Or was she only seeing his lingering traces in a different way?
She had no doubt it represented something, but she couldn't decipher what that was. She was getting impatient. Was this too pointless after all?
The Elder's words resurfaced. "Don't rush."
Judith took a deep breath. Right, even if I don't understand yet, it isn't like the horn is going to run away. She calmed down.
She briefly pushed aside the various interpretations whirling around in her mind. With her head clear, she once more tried looking at it from above.
There's definitely some meaning there. Then what if I try changing the angle? Like—
Right away, she could understand its meaning all too easily.
It wasn't a symbol—at least, not the way a human would imagine one. It was only natural, since the one who engraved it wasn't human. It was a mental image. She should have just received it as a simple picture. Overthinking it, she'd ended up trying to read words from the image.
Judith opened her eyes. Her vision felt bright and clear.
"Elder."
The Elder, who'd been about to leave, slowly turned to Judith's voice. Judith was smiling brightly. The Elder's long eyebrows raised at her expression, which he was seeing for the first time.
"Thank you," Judith said clearly and turned around. Screams rose from Siluusi and the others faster than the Great Tree could calm them. She felt like the jade-green sky was trembling.
Judith jumped—out into the wide open sky, where there was no ground.
And then she disappeared.
---
Judith dropped headlong, shooting towards the sea of clouds. She went past the edge of Myorzo's structure in the blink of an eye, and was thrown into the middle of an empty, endless sky.
Judith was smiling, even though she couldn't quite maintain the expression or keep her eyes open due to the wind pressure. The horn was tightly gripped in her hand.
If the mental image hidden there were language, it would be a single word: a password. It was so simple, and she couldn't help but laugh at herself in astonishment for never realizing it, even while she'd had it in hand the whole time.
Poor Ba'ul. Even though he must have been waiting all this time.
Although the roaring wind wrapped around her whole body, it didn't matter. Because the voice she was about to use wasn't a sound.
With her nageeg fully opened, she shouted: <"Freedom">—Ba'ul.
The horn felt tinged with heat. Through it, her shout was fired in a single direction. A small laugh slipped out of her; when it came to Ba'ul, she could rise even to this kind of challenge.
There was an eruption ahead where her shout had reached. Judith's widened sensed clearly captured it. And then—a bolt of lightning flew out from the midst of that explosion, aiming for her.
Judith spread her arms wide.
It arrived at lightning speed, then suddenly changed its trajectory to a vertical one so it could approach and nestle closer to Judith. Although her eyes were still closed, she felt the nostalgic touch of his long fur on her arms and cheek. Unable to bear it, she shouted, "Ba'ul!!"
For the first time in five years, he answered with a cry. She clearly heard it, even over the roaring wind. Judith threw her arms around him with all her might. Ba'ul simultaneously moved out of freefall and began slowing, drawing a large arc and righting himself in the air.
The world spun one more time. Up went up. Down went down. Everything went to its proper place.
After taking a big scoop out of the upper surface of the sea of clouds and kicking up a great white wave, Ba'ul was still at last. Judith opened her eyes in the sudden ensuing quiet, and cautiously sat up. She was on a familiar back. Her place. Her place alone. Judith and Ba'ul were the only two that existed in the white and blue world, basking in the sunshine.
"Ba'ul! Ba'ul! Ahaha, Ba'ul!" Judith lied back down. As if trying to make up for the past five, empty years, she pressed her face against him.
Ba'ul made a small sound in his throat. He was asking why she was crying, even though they were finally able to meet.
---
"But why didn't you come for me?" Judith asked after she was finished spilling all the tears and emotions that had built up over time. She had finally been freed, but nonetheless, five years was still too long for her to go without asking anything.
Ba'ul's will answered. He was always nearby. He never left the Drifting One.
The Drifting One referred to Krones; Judith understood not through words, but through the mental image.
"But if so, why?"
It was forbidden. It still was.
"By who?"
By the terrifying ones.
She had a memory about both that mental image, as well as the fear that accompanied it. Once before, when her father had been burdened with some great worry and she'd asked Ba'ul about it, he'd said that—said he was forbidden from answering by the terrifying ones.
Stay below the Drifting One. Those were the terms.
"By terms, you mean..."
Yes. For helping her.
Then regardless of the how, as she thought, it had been Ba'ul who healed her injury that time. She thought about the vanished wound on her chest. It had been a deadly injury. Ba'ul had ended up saving her life.
Calling to her and bringing her out were also forbidden. The Drifting One was standing watch. He had no choice but to wait for her to leave on her own.
Ba'ul's spirit trembled slightly. At the feeling of shame she sensed there, Judith decided to give up pursuing the topic any further.
"So that's why you left this. I'm sorry I took so long to realize it." Judith gently pressed the horn—a piece of him—to her chest. She was ashamed for doubting him. She was ashamed of her own ignorance. Even after Ba'ul had made sure to properly leave behind a method for her.
But that was all over now. Having reunited, they were here like this together.
Judith looked up above. The blue-coloured open sky covered her field of vision from one end to the other, without even a single cloud speck. "I wonder where Myorzo is."
Ba'ul's will indicated a direction, but she still couldn't find anything. It reminded her that once before, she felt like someone said something to that effect—that Myorzo was hidden by Krones. However, it seemed Ba'ul could reach it.
"I don't want to go back there again. Still, everyone was nice enough. I don't want to go without saying anything."
Ba'ul disagreed. The Drifting One wouldn't follow them. But if she returned, she may not be able to leave again.
"Is that what those terrifying ones ordered?"
That's right. The Drifting One was one of them.
Judith saw the mental image that Ba'ul showed of the "terrifying ones". It was made of things like greatness, might, and fury.
"Dragons..." Judith murmured. "They're dragons, aren't they? Just like you." Something connected inside Judith, and a symbol was starting to emerge. But to complete the whole thing, she was still lacking many parts. "Ba'ul, take me to them."
A shiver clearly ran through not just Ba'ul's spirit, but also his body. It was dangerous. He couldn't agree.
"They're involved in almost everything, isn't that right? With Dad, and me. And Temza. I want to hear it all—about why these things happened."
But still, Ba'ul was hesitating. He wondered whether he'd actually be capable of protecting her if something happaned. He was remembering Hermes' final request as if he'd made it yesterday. That's right, this couldn't—
As he was about to persuade her once more, Ba'ul's spirit suddenly deviated. Tension ran through him.
"Ba'ul?"
However, Ba'ul didn't move. Judith realized he was listening carefully to something. She tried to look for it with her nageeg, but she didn't find anything. A brief period of silence passed, and at length, Ba'ul's will turned to her. His body remained tense, though.
"What's wrong?"
They knew, Ba'ul's will informed her dejectedly. Rather than fear, it felt more like resignation. That mental picture made Judith flinch, too.
"...!"
It seemed they were discovered by the Drifting One. No matter what, they were required to go meet with them as soon as possible.
[End of part 4.3.
Some of the passages in this one turned out a little awkward since I had trouble with some areas, but at least the general gist is probably still intact, haha... Anyway, the next part is long, so it's going to take a while...]
3
Five years had passed.
She was fourteen years old. Little by little, the budding flower was starting to bloom. Her hair had grown long, and she was gradually taking her next step into adulthood.
However, it was still winter in her heart.
She hadn't formed any emotional bonds with the people of Myorzo, and instead used her newfound inner hatred—and not Ba'ul's horn—to support herself through the solitude. She could neither join the Great Tree nor descend to the lower world. No matter how many times she demanded, Krones kept relentlessly refusing.
Judith felt like a prisoner bound under numerous restraints.
Wouldn't it be nice if she could feel more carefree? She had thought so, time after time; she could adapt to living here, while still not joining the Great Tree.
No. I can't do that. Judith shook her head.
Now that she knew her own feelings, it was an impossible proposal. That was all it came down to, even if she were to stay like this and end up rotting away in obscurity.
She thought about her father. Her father, who had always kept living in Temza after being cut off from the Great Circle. She wondered if he'd also had such feelings while living there.
But still, she thought. At least Dad had his research. What I have is—nothing but hatred. And there's nowhere I can go.
Judith pulled Ba'ul's horn from her breast pocket. Even though she'd gone to great lengths to furnish an elaborate decoration out of it, it was rare for her to even pick it up lately.
My last link to the outside. Judith stared fixedly at the little fragment. This thing is powerless. It has no power at all, just like me.
She happened to see the edge of Krones' green cap through the spaces between buildings. It formed a second horizon above the real one, and the blue sky was peeking through the gap between the two horizons.
The blueness pierced Judith, who was used to living under Krones' jade green light. It reminded her that she hadn't really felt the need to look at the outer world lately.
Feeling an impression of liberation, Judith unknowingly let her feet carry her to the lowest urban layer, an area that bordered the sky.
The lower world's appearance was a little different for a change. The sea's surface was covered by thick clouds, and even the earth was fully painted over in pure white.
She'd never seen the outer world so completely filled with monochrome clouds, even from Temza. Above it was an overwhelmingly blue void, an expansive spotless heaven that couldn't be called anything other than an azure sky. For a short while, Judith was captivated by the unexpected otherworldly view.
She felt like the world beyond stretched endlessly. When she gazed at the seemingly boundless outside world from the edge of the small world that was Myorzo, she felt like even Krones was nothing more than a tiny existence—to say nothing of herself standing at the edge, who was the equivalent of a grain of sand. Judith felt a despair that was separate from her loneliness.
"Who am I, exactly?" Judith muttered derisively. She'd lost both her father and her hometown; without even a glimpse of Ba'ul in sight, she was supported only by hatred. Furthermore, she was completely unaware that she harbored such dark feelings.
If fact, how did she know that Judith even existed?
That idea terribly depressed her. What if practically everything was only a solo performance, acted out unseen?
Judith went up to the edge of the plot. There wasn't much wind today. If it were always like this, she was certain more people would congregate in the bottom layer. It definitely had the best view, after all.
When she peered down, she was dazzled by the sunlight reflecting from the glittering sea of clouds. The clouds seemed so warm and reassuring. It occurred to her that she could be caught by them. It also felt as though there was a place over there with no sorrows. Just as her foot was about to step out into mid-air—
"Judith, what are you doing?"
Judith came to her senses. As she looked over, the Elder, followed by some of her acquaintances—including Fimun and Siluusi—were coming down the stairs.
"I was just looking at the sky. What are you here for, Elder?" Judith asked in return, placing a composed expression over her face. She wasn't in the mood to chat about herself.
"Taking a walk, the usual. I happened to notice you—well, I was thinking that I hadn't been down here much, lately."
You've never been down here even once, Judith thought. She stared at the outside world, which was divided into white and blue halves, and at the sunlight, which Krones didn't allow in. She squinted at a different radiance there, the radiance called freedom.
Freedom—Ba'ul.
Judith looked down at her hand, remembering that she was still gripping Ba'ul's horn. It even had worn spots of reduced luster as a result of her touching it countless times. At this point, it was now nothing but the remnant of an unfulfilled promise.
The Elder drew closer, also noticing it. "So, you're still hanging on to that. Your friend, Ba-Ba-Ba—"
"It's Ba'ul."
"Hrmph, oh yes, it was Ba'ul's horn. In the end, he never did come back, did he..."
No, he hadn't come back. Even though she'd believed in him. This small thing in her palm suddenly felt like a symbol of her agony in itself. There were many shackles binding her. Wasn't this also one of them?
"It doesn't matter," Judith muttered as she resolutely raised the hand gripping the horn overhead.
"Whoa, whoa, isn't that important to you?" Tenzal called out in surprise, but she ignored him. If she threw it like this with all her strength, it would fall beyond the sea of clouds, never to be found again. Ever.
"So, you figured it out?"
At the Elder's easygoing tone, the strength faded from her arm. "...What?"
"Oh, I was only thinking that there must have been some meaning to it, if he deliberately left it to you."
"Meaning... There's no such..."
It was left behind only to console her. Over these last few years, she'd sincerely come to think that. Confused, Judith lowered her arm.
The Elder continued, "Well, in that case, you shouldn't be so quick to discard it."
Despite that, she'd still been troubled these past five years. Of course, she'd objected in her heart, but there was no denying it had caused her to lose her way.
I wonder if Ba'ul really abandoned me. If the Ba'ul I knew would decide to abandon me.
It was possible something would happen over a five-year interval. Still, that was a topic for later. Back then, when Ba'ul carried her here, was it really possible he was already thinking about something like leaving her behind?
It was a question she'd repeatedly asked, far more than whether or not to join the Great Tree—a question that each time only left despair and emptiness. However, she felt newly doubtful now that it had been asked by someone else.
Judith remember the sight of Ba'ul putting his own life on the line and fighting to save her.
"It's alright, don't rush something important."
The elder quietly addressed Judith, who was once more staring intently at the horn, unable to move. For the first time, she felt the gentleness in those words—in more than just his tone of voice. Something that had probably been there all along.
Although it was winter in her heart, the sun was faintly shining.
Judith closed her eyes. She opened her nageeg and, once more, tried to feel for language within the horn.
As expected, she could hardly feel anything anymore. I understand that this was definitely part of Ba'ul once, and that's all.
Tenzal, Siluusi, and the others were watching nearby with apparent interest. Judith didn't really know whether they were worried or simply curious. She didn't care.
Not giving up, she extended the roots of her consciousness even further—into the horn'ss depths, below the layers that made up his sensation and hidden beneath the tangible, towards an even deeper domain.
Nothing. No matter how far she went, there was nothing. But there was simultaneously no end, either. Even though it was such a small fragment, there seemed to be an infinite expanse within it. For a moment, Judith came to forget where she was.
It's alright. I'm right here. Standing on my own two feet. Feeling like she was about to be pulled back by the sensation of reality, she once again focused her consciousness.
Eventually, she felt something within the infinite void. It came from a slight distortion—a deviation—in the practically uniform nothingness. She adjusted her criteria in order to bring its entirety into view.
It was like a symbol. It was so ambiguous that she couldn't grasp the full picture right away. Even recalling her training in Temza, there were no similar-looking symbols as far as she remembered.
What's this? Is it something Ba'ul left? Or was she only seeing his lingering traces in a different way?
She had no doubt it represented something, but she couldn't decipher what that was. She was getting impatient. Was this too pointless after all?
The Elder's words resurfaced. "Don't rush."
Judith took a deep breath. Right, even if I don't understand yet, it isn't like the horn is going to run away. She calmed down.
She briefly pushed aside the various interpretations whirling around in her mind. With her head clear, she once more tried looking at it from above.
There's definitely some meaning there. Then what if I try changing the angle? Like—
Right away, she could understand its meaning all too easily.
It wasn't a symbol—at least, not the way a human would imagine one. It was only natural, since the one who engraved it wasn't human. It was a mental image. She should have just received it as a simple picture. Overthinking it, she'd ended up trying to read words from the image.
Judith opened her eyes. Her vision felt bright and clear.
"Elder."
The Elder, who'd been about to leave, slowly turned to Judith's voice. Judith was smiling brightly. The Elder's long eyebrows raised at her expression, which he was seeing for the first time.
"Thank you," Judith said clearly and turned around. Screams rose from Siluusi and the others faster than the Great Tree could calm them. She felt like the jade-green sky was trembling.
Judith jumped—out into the wide open sky, where there was no ground.
And then she disappeared.
---
Judith dropped headlong, shooting towards the sea of clouds. She went past the edge of Myorzo's structure in the blink of an eye, and was thrown into the middle of an empty, endless sky.
Judith was smiling, even though she couldn't quite maintain the expression or keep her eyes open due to the wind pressure. The horn was tightly gripped in her hand.
If the mental image hidden there were language, it would be a single word: a password. It was so simple, and she couldn't help but laugh at herself in astonishment for never realizing it, even while she'd had it in hand the whole time.
Poor Ba'ul. Even though he must have been waiting all this time.
Although the roaring wind wrapped around her whole body, it didn't matter. Because the voice she was about to use wasn't a sound.
With her nageeg fully opened, she shouted: <"Freedom">—Ba'ul.
The horn felt tinged with heat. Through it, her shout was fired in a single direction. A small laugh slipped out of her; when it came to Ba'ul, she could rise even to this kind of challenge.
There was an eruption ahead where her shout had reached. Judith's widened sensed clearly captured it. And then—a bolt of lightning flew out from the midst of that explosion, aiming for her.
Judith spread her arms wide.
It arrived at lightning speed, then suddenly changed its trajectory to a vertical one so it could approach and nestle closer to Judith. Although her eyes were still closed, she felt the nostalgic touch of his long fur on her arms and cheek. Unable to bear it, she shouted, "Ba'ul!!"
For the first time in five years, he answered with a cry. She clearly heard it, even over the roaring wind. Judith threw her arms around him with all her might. Ba'ul simultaneously moved out of freefall and began slowing, drawing a large arc and righting himself in the air.
The world spun one more time. Up went up. Down went down. Everything went to its proper place.
After taking a big scoop out of the upper surface of the sea of clouds and kicking up a great white wave, Ba'ul was still at last. Judith opened her eyes in the sudden ensuing quiet, and cautiously sat up. She was on a familiar back. Her place. Her place alone. Judith and Ba'ul were the only two that existed in the white and blue world, basking in the sunshine.
"Ba'ul! Ba'ul! Ahaha, Ba'ul!" Judith lied back down. As if trying to make up for the past five, empty years, she pressed her face against him.
Ba'ul made a small sound in his throat. He was asking why she was crying, even though they were finally able to meet.
---
"But why didn't you come for me?" Judith asked after she was finished spilling all the tears and emotions that had built up over time. She had finally been freed, but nonetheless, five years was still too long for her to go without asking anything.
Ba'ul's will answered. He was always nearby. He never left the Drifting One.
The Drifting One referred to Krones; Judith understood not through words, but through the mental image.
"But if so, why?"
It was forbidden. It still was.
"By who?"
By the terrifying ones.
She had a memory about both that mental image, as well as the fear that accompanied it. Once before, when her father had been burdened with some great worry and she'd asked Ba'ul about it, he'd said that—said he was forbidden from answering by the terrifying ones.
Stay below the Drifting One. Those were the terms.
"By terms, you mean..."
Yes. For helping her.
Then regardless of the how, as she thought, it had been Ba'ul who healed her injury that time. She thought about the vanished wound on her chest. It had been a deadly injury. Ba'ul had ended up saving her life.
Calling to her and bringing her out were also forbidden. The Drifting One was standing watch. He had no choice but to wait for her to leave on her own.
Ba'ul's spirit trembled slightly. At the feeling of shame she sensed there, Judith decided to give up pursuing the topic any further.
"So that's why you left this. I'm sorry I took so long to realize it." Judith gently pressed the horn—a piece of him—to her chest. She was ashamed for doubting him. She was ashamed of her own ignorance. Even after Ba'ul had made sure to properly leave behind a method for her.
But that was all over now. Having reunited, they were here like this together.
Judith looked up above. The blue-coloured open sky covered her field of vision from one end to the other, without even a single cloud speck. "I wonder where Myorzo is."
Ba'ul's will indicated a direction, but she still couldn't find anything. It reminded her that once before, she felt like someone said something to that effect—that Myorzo was hidden by Krones. However, it seemed Ba'ul could reach it.
"I don't want to go back there again. Still, everyone was nice enough. I don't want to go without saying anything."
Ba'ul disagreed. The Drifting One wouldn't follow them. But if she returned, she may not be able to leave again.
"Is that what those terrifying ones ordered?"
That's right. The Drifting One was one of them.
Judith saw the mental image that Ba'ul showed of the "terrifying ones". It was made of things like greatness, might, and fury.
"Dragons..." Judith murmured. "They're dragons, aren't they? Just like you." Something connected inside Judith, and a symbol was starting to emerge. But to complete the whole thing, she was still lacking many parts. "Ba'ul, take me to them."
A shiver clearly ran through not just Ba'ul's spirit, but also his body. It was dangerous. He couldn't agree.
"They're involved in almost everything, isn't that right? With Dad, and me. And Temza. I want to hear it all—about why these things happened."
But still, Ba'ul was hesitating. He wondered whether he'd actually be capable of protecting her if something happaned. He was remembering Hermes' final request as if he'd made it yesterday. That's right, this couldn't—
As he was about to persuade her once more, Ba'ul's spirit suddenly deviated. Tension ran through him.
"Ba'ul?"
However, Ba'ul didn't move. Judith realized he was listening carefully to something. She tried to look for it with her nageeg, but she didn't find anything. A brief period of silence passed, and at length, Ba'ul's will turned to her. His body remained tense, though.
"What's wrong?"
They knew, Ba'ul's will informed her dejectedly. Rather than fear, it felt more like resignation. That mental picture made Judith flinch, too.
"...!"
It seemed they were discovered by the Drifting One. No matter what, they were required to go meet with them as soon as possible.
[End of part 4.3.
Some of the passages in this one turned out a little awkward since I had trouble with some areas, but at least the general gist is probably still intact, haha... Anyway, the next part is long, so it's going to take a while...]