Visit.

《If any of it’s still left, then surely…》

The incinerator.

In the north, where nothing green grew save for the spindle tree and the mosses, fertilizer was precious. For that reason, the people here refused to discard even the ashes of burnt wood.

Every day, the ashes from the incinerator were gathered into fresh sacks and stored away, and when the season came for the earth to thaw, custom mixed them thoroughly into the soil and scattered them across the fields.

The stalks themselves were long since gone, but if she rummaged diligently enough through the incinerator storehouse, at the very least—

《Ack!》

Thud. Just as she was rounding the corner of a branching corridor, Star’s vision went pitch black, and in the next instant her backside struck the cold stone floor with a hard crack.

Scattered across the flagstones were figs, five or six of them, the fruit that had been overflowing through the castle lately, rolling in every direction.

《Don’t run in the corridor. Have you no sense at all?》

《You’re the one with no agility.》

《Look who’s talking…!》

《Still, I’ll forgive you. Because I’m your senior.》

Star spoke as she dusted the dirt off her backside. The one who’d collided with her from the other direction was Volmo, the fresh new fool who’d joined the castle not long ago.

At heart, though quite visibly, he was still afraid of Star, which was why, even with that thoroughly annoyed look on his face, he couldn’t manage to raise his voice.

《Why are you carrying so many of those?》

Star asked as she picked up a fallen fig and popped it into her mouth.

《It’s a reward given only to those of exemplary conduct. From the, um… head attendant? No, not — that person, the one whose eye color is similar to mine. He bestowed it upon me.》

Volmo spoke curtly, but the corners of his mouth couldn’t quite hide a smirk of self-satisfaction.

《Master Ugli?》

《It’s allowed to call him by name?》

《Then how else would you address a person, if not by name?》

《…What exactly is that man’s title, anyway?》

《Right? I wondered myself and asked once, but even the castle lord didn’t know.》

《Huh?》

At that, Star shifted the topic as though a brilliant thought had just struck her.

《Ah, by the way — you’re not busy right now, are you? Perfect.》

《I am busy. More importantly — that—》

His wrist abruptly seized by the girl, Volmo forgot whatever he’d been about to say and flushed red.

《Come somewhere with me.》

Left alone, Aspara gave her shoulders a single shrug and resolved to pick a suitable bolt of cloth herself. Her choice was a pearl-colored wool. She already had a dress in the same shade, and there was perhaps three yards of the cloth remaining.

“With this much, I ought to get at least a shoulder-cape out of it.”

“Why didn’t you call for me instead of that child, who can’t understand a word?”

“You can’t see red.”

“Pardon? I can’t?”

“Your employment report surely stated you have red-color-blindness. You didn’t know?”

“I thought that was put in because it sounded like some impressive-looking word.”

Jack, who had been helping untangle thread beside her, bobbed his head in acknowledgment, and then, a moment later, fell into grave deliberation. It had just occurred to him that if some crimson monster were suddenly to appear, he would not be able to see it with his own eyes, and he was brooding over how on earth he would fight the thing.

He’s started up another one of his rubbish worries.

The knight’s long-time employer sighed knowingly at the young man who’d so abruptly fallen silent. With the room gone quiet, Aspara too drifted into thoughts of her own.

Aiming to have it all ready within this next seven-day stretch should be about right….

She reviewed in her mind every preparation for the approaching day of her first decisive engagement. There was nothing missing, as far as she could tell.

Over the past several days she had read through the stack of books borrowed from Jack, and from Volmo, in full, and had even written up the rising-and-falling structure of each of their stories. All that remained was execution.

“Still, why are we doing all this?”

“Hmm?”

Jack, who had at some point finished untangling all the thread and was now winding it back onto the skein, asked.

“Well, I mean… is all this trouble really necessary? Wouldn’t it be enough just to go out and about three times?”

“There is such a thing as etiquette. Between people of high station, formalities matter.”

“Is that all?”

Instead of answering, Aspara focused on threading a needle. She lightly dampened the tip of the thread with her tongue, barely managed to slip it through the eye of the needle, doubled the long end back over her fingertip, drew it taut, and tied it off.

Only after all those small tasks were done did Aspara open her mouth again.

“You seemed to think what that person said was right?”

“Pardon?”

“What she said — that loving another is a thing one can do by force of will.”

“Ah, what Miss Sehhhhhhvin was saying? Who knows.”

“It would be wonderful if it were true.”

Unlike her usual self, Aspara said it in a slightly mumbled tone.

“…I’ve found myself wanting to properly try liking him.”

“The order of operations in your romance seems rather out of whack, though.”

Aspara snipped the tail of the knot and laughed quietly.

“Says the one who’d know.”

《Do you like purple?》

The big-framed girl asked Volmo. The young man set his momentarily halted brain whirring as fast as it would go.

What does she mean? What’s her purpose in saying such a thing to me? Is this some northern idiom I don’t know?

《Uh… um….》

《I do.》

《Ah, oh — so do I.》

《Good, then. Follow me!》

What was this, what was this? Mouth opening and closing soundlessly, the man was led off by Star’s hand to wherever she was taking him. Where the two of them arrived was a dim room tucked away at the very lowest part of the castle: the incinerator.

《Uh — ahem. Girl, I’m sorry, but I… I-I prefer older women.》

《Oh? I prefer younger men. Anyway, put these on.》

Without so much as turning around, Star tossed him a pair of gloves that had been lying on the floor.

《Gloves?》

《I’m looking for the ashes of those flowers a certain idiot went and burned up not long ago. If I’m right, there should be stains on the ash sacks. You don’t happen to have bronchitis, do you?》

《No, I don’t — but I’m sorry to say, an ash sack with purple stains on it will be hard to find.》

《Says who?》

《Dyeing isn’t such a simple matter as that. Crushing a purple flower doesn’t make purple dye — you see, reds turn yellow, and blues don’t last permanently.》

《Your former mistress, who came by not long ago, had some.》

Volmo spoke with his characteristic arrogant smile.

《Purple dye isn’t made from weeds or any such thing — it’s ground from the shells of spiny sea snails. Just enough dye to fill a single eye-drop vial takes two thousand shells.》

After coughing a few times into the dust-laden air, he went on.

《Do you know how the southern archipelago — which, only a hundred years ago, was no different from the likes of you — came to be recognized as a civilized nation?》

《Our country isn’t recognized as a nation?》

《Because you don’t pay taxes to the central kingdom. What earned the south its recognition as a cultured state was that very shell dye. It’s worth about its weight in gold. The southern isles use it to stand in for tax payments, and with it they maintain their standing.》

Star made a face as though she didn’t follow.

《What does tax have to do with civilization?》

《No, well, that’s because—》

《I get that you want to slack off, but quit talking nonsense. You start there and work your way through. I’ll take the inside.》

Volmo drew in a great breath to retort, but soon gave up and began pawing through the heap of ashes. Feeling the ash-dust settling on his eyelashes and weighing them down, he muttered to himself.

“Silly girl. However you slice it, the color couldn’t possibly have survived in a scrap of grass that’s been dried to a husk and burned to boot….”

The man’s grumbling voice, as he rooted through the pile of ashes, caught in his throat with a thud.

“…It did?”

[18.]

Seven days passed from that moment. On an unusually sunny morning, Volmo was making his way with the master and mistress of Fang Castle toward a neighboring village.

Today was the first day on which the lord and lady of the castle were fulfilling their promise to go out together as a married couple. The destination was a small village that lay to the southwest if you went straight down from the castle. Officially, however, it was a “Snap Anonymous Inspection of an Affiliated Village.”

Putting a woman on a horse by herself.

The attendant thought as he watched the two horses running on ahead. The castle lord and his wife were each mounted alone on separate horses, and letting a woman drive her own horse ran so sharply against Volmo’s common sense that he could hardly stand it.

He could not, however, voice his complaint at this precise moment. Because a matter even more against common sense was happening to him.

《Er, hff…》

《Hm.》

《Co, could I also… ride a horse… please…?》

Volmo was chasing after the two mounted riders on foot, at a run. Two horses had been prepared, one for the castle lord and Aspara, one for Volmo the attendant; only, Aspara, delighted at the chance to ride for the first time in a while, had swung up into her saddle and bolted off ahead alone.

《….》

《Um—》

《I’m considering it.》

Whether the King of Barbarians was taking mischievous revenge on him at this very moment, or whether he was genuinely deliberating, Volmo could not tell.

《Then… hff… might I ride… with Lady Aspara…? Hoo… the seat on her side has more room left on it…!》

《No.》

《Then behind you….》

《That I refuse.》

《Well, then what the hell am I supposed… to do?》

《…The two horses will run side by side, so put one foot on each and ride standing.》

《As if that’s even possible.》

《I can do it.》

Whether anything this man said was a joke or not was hard to tell. Most likely not. One had to wonder whether the concept of a joke even existed inside his head.

Volmo reflexively bristled at is that something to brag about, but on a moment’s reflection it was, in fact, something to brag about, so he said nothing in particular.

《…I’ll tell Lady Aspara on you.》

《….》

Volmo flinched at the castle lord’s murderous glare, but he felt he was more likely to expire from oxygen deprivation before the man’s bloodlust got him, so it wasn’t exactly something to worry about.

“Oh my, child! What are you doing all on your own? Climb up behind me!”

“She…‘s saying… I mustn’t ride her horse…!”

“In that case… what if you put one foot on each horse’s rump and ride standing?”