The Song of Sword and Magic - Chapter 62

Chapter 62: Looking for a Clue

[Translator — Asuka]

[Proofreader — Karane]

On the other hand, Fern was examining the places where the zombies had searched, but he couldn’t find any clue at all. “I still don’t get what they were looking for.”

Niss followed him closely. “Fern, I have a bad feeling that they’ll come back. We’d better leave now.”

“No, I want to keep looking.” Fern wasn’t willing to give up any chance. Initially, he had told Niss that they should look for clues separately, but she was reluctant to part with him. “If we can find any clues from here, it’ll be useful for our future journey.”

Left with no choice, Niss looked around apprehensively as every minute felt like one hour for her.

Eventually, after searching all the places he could remember, Fern took a seat on the ground dejectedly and fell into his own thoughts.

Niss crouched down beside him and hugged her own knees. “Have you finished searching? Have you found out what they were looking for?”

“No.” Fern looked at the ground that was covered with snow. “However, we can rule out some possibilities. For example, the places they searched weren’t large enough for a person to hide, so they must be looking for something instead of someone. Moreover, the thing must be small.”

Niss listened attentively as she loved to hear about his deduction process. “And?”

“Also, they were looking for the thing not because they wanted to own it, but to destroy it.” Fern used his sword to lift a broken window. “Look at this wooden window. It’s damaged by those zombies. When they made the search, they didn’t care if they’d break anything. The only possibility is that they intended to destroy that thing in the first place.”

Niss widened her eyes and asked, “And?”

“They were probably trying to look for something like the Sacred Hallow and destroy it.” Feeling a cold sensation on his bottom, Fern decided to crouch down instead.

***

Just then, hoofsteps could be heard in the distance as a horse approached Alfheim, which made the two of them tense up.

“Fern, what should we do? The fiend is coming back!” Niss grabbed his arm in anxiety.

“Damn it. You got it right this time.” Fern hurriedly identified the direction and pointed at a demolished house. “We’ll hide in there.”

They then bent over and trotted into the house, which was practically dilapidated, so there wasn’t much room for them to hide. They leaned their backs against the wall as Fern drew out his sword and stared at the entrance. On the other hand, Niss hid behind him and grabbed his left arm. He could feel that she was trembling slightly.

The hoofsteps became nearer as it entered the abandoned village. Fern could hear that the horse was walking slowly as it snorted.

The fiend was near the house Fern and Niss were hiding in, so they leaned their backs against the wall tightly and held their breath. Fern’s palms were drenched in sweat while Niss grabbed his arm harder. However, he couldn’t feel any pain in his arm at all as all his attention was on the fiend who was just outside the house.

The horse didn’t stop in its tracks and went past the house. Fern didn’t dare to peek out, so he listened attentively to the fiend’s movement. Just then, the horse stopped moving, whereupon the fiend started laughing in an eerie way as though someone was clenching its neck.

Niss was on the brink of a nervous breakdown, so she rested her forehead on the mercenary’s shoulder as she shivered and almost wanted to scream. Fern would like to give her a pat, but he didn’t dare to move too much. Therefore, he rested his head on hers to pacify her. As expected, when their heads came into contact, Niss slowly calmed down, even though her hands were still trembling.

Outside the house, the fiend laughed for one minute and stopped abruptly. Fern paid attention to what was going on as he was worried he would miss out on any detail. Following that, the fiend unsheathed its sword and slashed at something. When the thing broke into pieces, the fiend still wouldn’t stop.

What is it that has made the fiend come back and slash at it so many times? Fern thought.

***

A moment later, just when Fern thought that the thing must have been hacked into pieces, the fiend stopped and put its sword back into the sheath.

After that, the sound of hoofsteps were heard again as the horse left the village at full speed, which was good news to Fern and Niss. When the hoofsteps died down, they still wouldn’t dare to move away from the wall.

A long time after the fiend left, they were still hiding in the house until Fern’s stomach started growling. Left with no choice, he carefully moved to the door and stuck out his head.

The fiend was nowhere in sight. The silence in the abandoned village seemed to be laughing at Fern’s timidity. He stepped out of the house and looked around. Upon making sure that they were safe, he told Niss to come out as well. Niss narrowed her eyes as she wasn’t used to the strong light outside. It was because she had closed her eyes for a long time when she was hiding in the building.

Niss grabbed the mercenary’s arm as the sweat in her palms soaked his sleeve wet. In a trembling voice, she said, “Fern… we should leave now.”

“Give me some time. I want to find out what that fiend did.” Fern looked apologetically at her. Although he understood that she wanted to leave this place as soon as possible, he had to take a look at what the fiend was slashing at.

Without uttering a word, Niss continued grabbing his sleeve as they walked toward another dilapidated house. The base suggested that it was a large house, but at the moment, only one wall was still solid as the other three had been damaged. The remaining wall footing didn’t even reach Niss’s knees. The only intact wall was decorated with two candle holders that had been covered with snow. A statue was supposed to be between the candle holders, but it was now merely broken pieces.

Fern leaped across the wall footing and crouched down in front of the broken statue. “This is it. There’s no snow on the broken pieces, so it must have been damaged not long ago.” He spoke as he pushed the pieces away with his sword.

Niss watched as he moved away the pieces on top, after which the broken pieces of blue ice crystal were revealed to them. Fern touched the ice crystal with his sheath, but it broke up in an instant. Some blue liquid that hadn’t been frozen started flowing out of the ice crystal.

“What is this?” Fern smelled the liquid on his sheath. “We were hiding in the house for a long time. By now, the liquid hasn’t frozen in such a frigid climate, so it surely isn’t water.”

***

Niss picked up a piece of ice crystal and examined it. “There’s some magic residue on the ice crystal, but it’s dissipating at a rapid speed.” She then touched the liquid with her index finger and gave it a thought. “The liquid contains a lot of magic. The broken statue was supposed to be the vessel for the liquid. Before it was destroyed, the liquid wasn’t frozen, and it still contained a lot of magic.”

Not understanding what she was saying, Fern turned to look at her. “What does it mean? Do you have any idea?”

Niss wiped off the liquid from her finger on her cloak and gazed at him. “Yes, if I’m not mistaken, this is holy water, which is magically powerful against the Dark Tide.”

“That explains the action of the zombies and the fiend.” Fern tapped his hands and got up before tying his sword to his waist. “However, I don’t understand why there’s holy water in Sara. Furthermore, with holy water, the country shouldn’t have fallen in such a short period of time.”

Niss got up and continued pondering on the matter. “The holy water is mentioned in ‘When the Dark Tide Strikes’. It only appeared once in the first war against the Dark Tide and had a massive impact on the outcome. However, there’s no description about the origin of it, so no one could make holy water again.”

After a moment of deliberation, an idea was formed in Fern’s head. “Could it be that, all of a sudden, the Saras discovered the recipe of making holy water, and they had managed to produce a small number of it, so the Dark Tide had to destroy the country immediately so that the holy water wouldn’t spread across Wallis? That’s why before the Saras could mass-produce the holy water, the Dark Tide decided to launch an attack on the country.”

Niss nodded in agreement. “That’s highly probable. A small amount of holy water isn’t useful in this war.”

“I’m afraid there are other conspiracies at play here. The reason Byron didn’t help Sara, the female voice Stan overheard, the evil magicians Hersey mentioned… all of these must be closely related.” Fern shook his head as the matter was overly complicated. “It’s getting too complicated. Alright, we should leave this place now.” Fern looked up at the gloomy sky. Even though it was almost afternoon, the sunlight was unable to filter through the thick dark clouds. The land still seemed to be in a deep sleep.

Hearing that he wanted to leave, Niss happily agreed to it. “Alright, let’s go now. I’m worried that the fiend might come back again…”

“Alright, let’s go.” Although Fern didn’t think the fiend would return, he couldn’t help but smile when he saw how apprehensive she was.

***

After they left Alfheim, they continued heading North. The further they went North, the more varied the terrain became. They reached a place where the mounds were covered with snow but there weren’t any plants on them.

After reaching a safe place, Niss started worrying about her other companions. “I’m so worried about Rae and Stan…”

“Compared to our encounter, they were faced with a real challenge.” Fern subconsciously touched his stomach, which had been growling for a long time. “We must have faith in them.”

Hearing the noises in his stomach, Niss started giggling. “We’ve skipped breakfast and lunch.” At the mention of this, she recalled the first time she met the mercenary. “Fern, do you remember the first question I asked you as well as your reply after you accepted my task in Deville?”

“Your question?” Fern tried to recall it. “Did you ask me what we should prepare?”

Niss placed her left index finger on her lips in a mysterious manner. “Alright, it’s not too different from the question I asked. And what was your reply?”

Fern gave it a thought and scratched his head. “I can’t remember it. Did I say we needed horses? Or that I’d get you a dagger?”

Finally asking a question he couldn’t answer, Niss smiled smugly. “No. You told me that we should have dinner even though dinner time was over. Do you remember?”

Fern shook his head helplessly. “I think so. Why do you remember it?

“It’s because your answer was out of my expectation. I was waiting to get some advice from you, but you told me we should have dinner instead, so I could never forget it.” Niss flashed a smile at him. Her red hair flapped around her fair face and neck. Fern’s heart throbbed as he looked into her innocuous eyes and caught a whiff of her bodily scent.

At that instant, he was stunned by the charming girl before his eyes. He knew that the image of Niss at this moment would be engraved in the deepest part of his heart forever.

***