51

Two weeks had already passed since the party set out on their journey.

They had entered the northern approaches, into the Lonelybirch territory.

─clatter

Hamel and Rena rode slowly at the rear of the group.

At first, Rena had struggled to keep up with the journey, but now she was capable of giving a magic lecture from horseback.

She was, as promised, explaining dragon-speech to Hamel.

“Priest, do you know the difference between the signifier and the signified?”

“I’m not sure.”

When Hamel shook his head, Rena took a coin from her pocket and asked.

“Do you know what this is?”

“A coin.”

“That’s correct. But at the same time, it’s wrong.”

“…?”

Hamel tilted his head as if he didn’t quite understand.

Rena rolled the coin between her fingers and said,

“If you showed this to someone unfamiliar with currency and asked, you’d get a different answer; they might call it copper or a circle.”

“I suppose so,”

Hamel nodded slowly.

Even when observing the same surface, its interpretation changes entirely depending on the observer.

“Here, this coin is the signifier, and Mr. Hamel’s answer is the signified.”

Rena flicked the coin to Hamel.

When Hamel caught it, Rena nodded and continued.

“Language is the same. The word ‘sun’ by itself is nothing, but people agreed to call that bright thing in the sky the sun.”

Hamel shaded his eyes with his hand and looked up.

He could see the sun casting its light down.

It was dazzling and warm.

Rena watched him quietly for a moment, then asked.

“To you, Hamel, the sun is perhaps blinding and warm to look at, but someone else might think of sunrise and the setting dusk when they hear the word ‘sun.’”

“I understand.”

Hamel nodded.

‘The signifier’ is the surface.

It’s the perceivable, material part that can be conveyed to others.

It can be a sound or a written symbol visible to the eye.

On the other hand, ‘the signified’ is the essential concept carried by the signifier.

It can have countless meanings depending on the observer.

In other words, it contains the observer’s subjectivity and arbitrary interpretation.

Hamel told Rena what he had understood.

Rena widened her eyes slightly and replied.

“I’m impressed. If the professors heard that, they’d hire you immediately as an assistant at the Magic Tower.”

She calmly applauded.

Then she continued.

“But there’s something you’ve left out. If, as you said, the signified is only subjective and everyone interprets it differently, it can’t function as language.”

“….”

Come to think of it, that’s true.

If that were the case, conversation itself would be impossible.

When Hamel couldn’t answer, Rena pointed at the coin in his hand and said.

“The sun is round. That’s the same everywhere, no matter the country or the people. So when people are asked to draw the sun, they draw a circle.”

Even in ancient pictographs.

On flags that symbolize families.

In the scribbles of a five-year-old.

In a painter’s work, the sun is drawn round.

“That’s the commonality and a kind of convention the signified holds. Thus the signified is subjective but also possesses universal qualities. Do you understand?”

“…It’s a bit difficult.”

Hamel groaned softly.

He understood it intellectually but had no idea how to apply this theory to dragon-speech.

“There’s no rush. This is just the foundation of word-and-command studies.”

As Rena continued speaking, she cleared her throat and said.

Having spoken at length—an uncommon thing for her—she looked rather tired.

Hamel tossed her a waterskin.

Rena hesitated for a moment, then bowed her head and drank.

“Thank you. Ah.”

She returned it and suddenly tilted her head as if remembering something.

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say you had something to ask me last time?”

After rescuing Rena and the Magic Tower’s children in the Old Tree Forest, Hamel had wanted to ask her something.

Rena suddenly seemed to remember and tilted her head.

Hamel recalled it and fell into thought for a moment.

Then, hesitating, he asked.

“Yes, but… could I ask you something later?”

“Yes? Yes. By all means.”

Just as Rena nodded in puzzlement, it happened.

“Hamel. There’s a hut ahead. And… never mind. See for yourself.”

Daniel, who rode at the very front, shook his red head ornament and approached Hamel.

At those words, Hamel spotted a hut set a little off the road, close to the trees.

It was a farmhouse he’d never seen before since entering the empire’s northern Dekan.

It wasn’t particularly strange, but Hamel could easily guess why Daniel had pointed it out.

A gaunt man sat in front of the hut, crying bitterly.

“What’s the matter?”

Hamel and the party halted their horses in front of the man and asked.

Startled by the sudden approach, the man widened his eyes for a moment and could only move his lips.

Hamel showed the mark of an Exorcist priest to the man.

“I’m a priest of the order. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Y-you’re a priest?”

The man, pale as a corpse, sprang to his feet and said.

He had cried so much his eyes were bloodshot and swollen.

When Hamel nodded, the man wept again and clasped his hands.

“Ah, Father, please help me. My wife and children left home yesterday morning and haven’t returned.”

“…Your wife and children?”

Hamel stiffened his expression and asked again.

In this age, women and children not returning for more than a day usually meant few good things.

They were either in a situation from which they couldn’t return,

or…

‘They’re probably dead.’

Sadly, most cases were the latter.

Whether by demon or by human hands.

Hamel had experienced this sort of situation many times.

“Father. It’s surely demons. There’s a rumor that a witch lives in that forest. He shouldn’t have sent his wife and children there…”

The gaunt man buried his face in his knobbly hands and wept.

Hamel dismounted and sprinkled holy water into the air.

“Let’s take a look.”

Hamel looked around the outside of the house and then went inside.

But there was nothing else unusual.

“…There’s no residue of demonic energy.”

There wasn’t enough evidence to attribute it to demons.

If it was a human matter, unfortunately Hamel had no reason to intervene.

Hamel had a higher priority: tracking David.

“One more day and we’ll reach the lord’s keep.”

Ono muttered quietly, sounding displeased.

He seemed to think there was no reason to waste time here.

Hamel looked at Daniel and Rena.

“You choose.”

As if they had conspired, the two deferred the choice to Hamel.

Hamel hesitated for a moment, but his deliberation was brief.

Hamel had sworn an oath under the name of Ehuurshika, god of order and death.

He vowed not to turn his back on those who suffered under evil.

Exorcist priests often limited ‘evil’ to demons, but Hamel was different.

If someone could be helped, he would help as far as he could reach.

Hadn’t he resolved that just recently?

“We’ll help and then move on.”

Mixed reactions crossed the faces of his companions at Hamel’s firm answer.

“I thought you’d say that.”

“Blasted. I knew it.”

Daniel gave a faint smile, and Ono shook his head as if fed up.

The man watching them quickly bowed his head to Hamel.

“Thank you. Thank you!”

He thanked Hamel repeatedly as if he had been saved.

But after a moment he swayed as if fainting from anemia.

Hamel quickly supported the man and seated him at the table.

The man’s body was so light he seemed nothing but skin and gruel.

“You need to eat something.”

Hamel hurriedly scanned the table.

A basket on the table held ripe fruit.

As Hamel reached to give them to the man, the man shook his head firmly.

“No. I was saving them to eat with my family when they return.”

“But… very well. I’ll be quick.”

Hamel hesitated, then nodded and stood.

Seeing the man’s resolve made Hamel all the more eager to find his family quickly.

Mounting his horse, Hamel hurried toward the forest.

Entering the tree shade, a chill brushed across his cheeks.

A vague unease made Hamel spur his horse onward.

Spring had not fully come to the north yet, so the mountain path was still covered in snow.

Worried about the horses slipping, the party dismounted there and decided to proceed on foot.

They tied the horses at the foot and went on, when Hamel, at the front, suddenly raised his hand.

“Stop.”

The party halted where they stood.

Tracks.

Bird footprints were scattered across the snow.

Only on the path were there horse tracks.

Sensing something, Hamel began to brush away the snow covering the ground.

After clearing the snow for a moment, Hamel found a frozen piece of bread.

“This is…”

“A piece of bread. Looks like we found the right place.”

Daniel nodded and looked around.

Bread is, without a doubt, a human trace.

And the birds’ tracks stretched long along the path.

That meant someone had deliberately walked the road, dropping pieces of bread.

“What does it mean?”

“Well, unless some fool was feeding birds while his children starved, it’s probably a marker.”

“So that’s it, then.”

Hamel nodded at Ono’s curt reply.

A signal left by someone hoping to be found.

Or perhaps a trace left in case they got lost.

The trail led off the path and deep into the forest.

“Let’s follow it.”

Hamel began to follow it.

After a short while, the traces stopped.

It wasn’t strange; there were patches of ground without snow here and there.

Hamel gave up on visual clues.

What remained were scent and sound.

Hamel inhaled slowly.

The smell of wet earth and wood.

Unfortunately, there was nothing distinct.

But Hamel did not stop.

He continued to pick apart the scents mixed in the air.

Some time passed and the cold began to sting at his nostrils.

Ono shook his head and said.

“Maybe we should give up soon and just search the surrounding area instead…”

“Just a moment.”

Hamel cut him off.

The wind shifted.

An unfamiliar scent joined the familiar air.

It was unmistakably the smell of burning firewood.

“Found it. This way.”

Hamel started walking toward it.

Ono muttered as if looking at a monster.

“Is that a hunting dog or a priest?”

“I guess not all Exorcist priests are like that.”

“Clearly that fellow is odd. It’s true there are strange types among Exorcist priests, but…”

Annoyed by Daniel’s question, Ono began to follow behind Hamel.

They followed for a little while.

As if to prove Hamel right, an old manor house appeared in the distance.

“A house out here?”

“…”

Ono frowned at the suspicious sight.

─creak

The manor’s door opened and an old woman appeared.