Swamp Girl! Chapter 50

With an anticlimactic ease, the carriage pa.s.sed the ramparts and advanced down the stone-paved road.
By this time, the sun was already setting, dying the surroundings sunset red.
Under blue skies, the stores and houses on the streets of the inner capital would surely have been an eye-catching white. Now, illuminated by the red evening sun, every last one was weltering in blood.

The world inside the walls, in a word, was ‘strange’.
Almost every building was three, maybe four stories high, cl.u.s.tered so tightly together that I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to distinguish where one ended and the next began.

Our carriage rolled through what you might call a gap, or maybe a valley, between the buildings.
Though the road was certainly well-maintained, over the course of our journey from the gates to our current position, I’d already lost track of where we were going.
Again and again, we turned at intersections, pa.s.sed under archways; when I tried to pay attention, we were running on top of the walls, or slipping through tunnels. I could no longer picture the city as anything other than a labyrinth.
I can say with absolute confidence that if I were ordered to get off the carriage and return to the gate, I wouldn’t be able to make it.

For starters, I thought that we’d reach our destination immediately after crossing the wall, like at Leon’s estate. But that wasn’t the case. It was obvious when I really thought about it, but the inner capital was a city itself, of course. Or rather, it was the true substance of the Imperial Capital.

If I had to explain why I was so off the mark, I guess it’d be because I only ever spent time outside the wall.
That’s why I never gave much thought to the world inside. My entire impression of the city came from the outlying districts, not the inside of the ramparts. Hence my mistaken expectations.

“Somehow… it’s a different world…”

whispered Aira as she looked outside.
As dusk fell over the city, there was definitely something different about the residents. Their world was shifted out of alignment with ours. It was a sense of displacement I knew from experience.

Young women leading their children. Elderly men out for a stroll in their suits. A quartet of girls chattering energetically as they walked by — everyone was somehow relaxed, and at the same time, if I had to describe it… yeah, that’s right.
Completely free of desperation.

“H–Huh?”

Watching them, tears tumbled from Aira’s eyes as she made a sound of dismay.
A troubled half-smile on her face, she pressed her hands against her eyes, but she couldn’t hold back the overflowing tears. It was like that.
I could understand it, a little. Why she felt that way.
Palmira too, I bet.
Perhaps, Palmira might have seen this once.

“Mn.”

As a fl.u.s.tered Aira continued to cry for reasons she couldn’t understand, Palmira gave her a light hug and pulled her down to sit on the seat.
Then, gently holding the crying girl’s head, she softly and wordlessly stroked it.
It was too painful to watch.

A world all too different.
Aira, Palmira. And me too. We saw that.
For us, living meant fighting tooth and nail to survive. Or perhaps becoming slaves, driven to the brink of death.
And none of it was all that special. At least, not where we came from.
If you let your mind wander, it was very easy to die, to lose everything. A fleeting existence, living each day, each moment in desperation.
That was the world we lived in.

But things weren’t like that here.

Relaxed, without struggle — happily, even. Comfortably.
Privileges granted only to a special handful of people, I thought. So I endured. I resigned myself.
But even if everyone were afforded such privileges, in this world enclosed by the city walls, that would probably be seen as a matter of course. So, bitter as it was, it couldn’t be helped.
Driven to desperation over living, fighting for dear life in order to eat. Though that was a natural part of the world, here, we were heretics for it.

It seemed so terribly wretched.
Being forced to turn to such things to live — what the h.e.l.l did that make us?
The truth is, even when we were at the mansion, that feeling had been there, tucked into a corner. ‘This isn’t a place where we should be.’
Even so, as I see it now, that was still part of our world. Because it was still possible recognize that such ideals only held true in the mansion.

But this place was different. It was that kind of world.
A world encircled by towering walls, isolated from the outside.
That’s why, right now, I was conscious of the world’s absurdity again.
The emotions born within me as a result were misery, and grief, and perhaps — anger.

–

–

As my spirits took a thorough beating, the carriage finally came to a stop.
We seemed to have gone quite a distance. The sun had already sunk below the horizon, and our surroundings were quite dark.

“You must be exhausted. Today, please take your time to rest here.”

We’ve reached our destination, I guess. Honestly, I don’t remember being this tired before, even on the road. Even hearing Leon’s worried voice coming from the front of the carriage, I couldn’t find it in me to give him a proper reply.
Leon was as composed as usual, but I could tell that our visible exhaustion really did concern him.
But he probably didn’t know anything about the emotional breakdown we’d had in the carriage after getting past the castle walls.
And that might be for the best.

This was probably Leon’s hometown. Ordinarily, it would’ve been a place to brag about.
The fact we couldn’t sincerely think of it as amazing was definitely our problem. Besides, as someone who was born and raised here… that was probably something Leon wouldn’t be able to understand, I suppose.

“–ah–”

“! Are you alright?”

As I stepped down from the carriage, I stumbled.
I didn’t think that I was physically exhausted, but mentally seemed to be a different story.
Standing to the side, Leon immediately helped support me.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine. Just a bit tired, that’s all.”

Doing my best to camouflage my innermost thoughts, I smiled foolishly. All the same, his expression remained concerned, and I felt a little apologetic.
Averting my eyes, I looked at the building that seemed to be our lodgings for the night.

An white-walled mansion, unexpectedly cozy but not out-of-place in this city. At least, it was considerably smaller than the Telaberan estate.
If I were to compare them, it was almost more appropriate to call it a house rather than an estate. However, if I had to describe it, I’d call it ‘very elegant’.

“What a wonderful home, isn’t it?”

I heard Aira’s voice as she descended the carriage after me.
When I turned around, Aira’s face was unexpectedly bright. I could’ve asked her, in all seriousness, ‘Where did all your gloom from just now go?’ As expected of Aira. She bounced back fast.
After her came Palmira, her face empty of emotion. So, the usual.

“Welcome back, Master.”

While I was looking at them, another voice sounded, this time from the direction of the mansion.
I hastily turned my eyes to the source.
I hadn’t detected any sign of her at all, but there stood a tall maid, who presumably had come out of the mansion.
A maid uniform, black in overall tone, and evenly bobbed hair held back by a headband. Her eyes, slightly sharp, gave her a clever air. As I stared at her, transfixed, I felt as if I’d seen her somewhere before — somehow, she reminded me of Palmira. The air about her, that is.
I had the feeling that the moment those eyes perceived me, they jumped.

“Ah, Allie. Sorry to put you through the trouble of welcoming us. I’ll go through the introductions. We’ll have some guests for a while — this is Chris. Followed by Aira and Palmira.”

As he introduced us, we hurriedly inclined our heads.
Be that as it may, before I noticed, he was calling Aira and Palmira just by name…? It wasn’t just me. For some reason, my feelings were complicated.

“…I see. I am the head maid of this mansion, Allie Kietel. Please call me Allie if you like. Lady Chris, Lady Aira, Lady Palmira.”

Elegant and reserved, Allie welcomed us with impeccable manners.
Her form was overwhelming in its perfection, without a gap to be seen. First-cla.s.s. For some reason, that word came to mind.

“For the time being, you must be tired. Allie — show them to their rooms. Supper?”

“Right away.”

“Yeah, something light would be great. Thanks.”

“Understood. Well then, if you would come this way — ”

While I was taken aback watching the perfect master-servant exchange before me, their talk finished. Going with the self-proclaimed head maid Allie’s urging, we turned our feet toward the open foyer, which was leaking light outside.

For a single moment, I looked back over my shoulder.

The mansion seemed to be located in a higher part of the city. I wouldn’t say it was all of it, but I could look out over half of the city from here.
Though night had already fallen, lights were shining here and there, and the city appeared prosperous indeed.
Will I get used to it before long? Even scenery like this?
The thought frightened me, just a little.

–

–

Even inside the mansion, it wasn’t particularly extravagant. Though I don’t really get the subtleties of design, if I had to say, it seemed to have a calming atmosphere instead.
Based on the fact that Allie was head maid, I expected there to be other maids. And as it happened, while we were walking down the pa.s.sageway, other maids did pa.s.s by us from time to time.
‘The head of the household didn’t come out to welcome us?’ I thought, but because they seemed busy enough as it was, maybe Allie received guests as a rule here.

“How many other maids are there?”

I kept my phrasing rough on purpose. Although I did consider what to do about my tone, it would honestly be a real ha.s.sle to pretend the whole time if I ended up staying here long-term. And I’d slip up somewhere no matter how hard I tried, so I went with my original way of speaking.

“…There are five, including myself. We manage the entire mansion.”

“Wooow, really?”

Allie’s cool response elicited a deeply admiring sigh from Aira. Something like respect surfaced in her eyes.
Come to think of it, Aira said something about wanting to become a maid.
Leon might have heard it from Aira herself already, but shall I ask him about it later?

…That said, just maids, huh.
The mansion in Telaberan was like that too, but there were still the soldiers coming and going, so it didn’t give off that impression. However, the feeling was more distinct here.
Don’t tell me — Leon unexpectedly has a thing for maids, doesn’t he?
Well, not so much a fondness for maids, but rather, for women?

Thinking about it rationally, with us added into the mix, the only man here was still Leon. One to eight, that’s a h.e.l.l of a ratio.
At that point, I suddenly felt anxious, and I asked Allie,

“Aside from the maids, is Leon the only one who lives in this mansion?”

“…Usually, that is the case.”

When I referred to Leon without any t.i.tle, Allie’s eyebrow twitched for a moment, but her answer was still composed.
Origins aside, was it bad for me to call Leon just by his name?

That aside, so this mansion really was Leon’s alone.
To be honest, I did think the mansion was on the small side for housing an entire n.o.ble family.
In that case, where exactly are Leon’s parents?

The thoughts followed one after another: aside from the fact that he seemed to have two older brothers, I’d barely heard anything about him. Relatively speaking, I didn’t really know much of his affairs.
As I struggled over whether I should ask about such things, Allie, who’d been walking ahead of me, abruptly stopped in her tracks. Then, she opened the door she was standing in front of.

“Now then, this is Lady Chris’s room. The next two are Lady Aira and Lady Palmira’s, so please take a look for yourselves.”

The room I was led to was neither s.p.a.cious nor cramped, and simply furnished. It had a calming atmosphere, just as the entire mansion did.
The bed was a bit larger, but it was a normal one without a canopy. Further in was a desk. On this side, a shelf of clothing. Then a single chest.
It was a corner room shaped like a shallow U, with windows set in two of its walls, giving it an open sort of feeling. Because it was nighttime, the curtains were drawn, but it might have a great view once dawn broke.

…That said, a single?

“If there is anything not to your satisfaction, then please speak freely.”

As I was in the middle of considering what to do, Allie’s sharp eyes put a stop to that as she spoke emotionlessly. This fastidious attention to detail, no wonder she was the head maid.
Still, as an outsider, I wasn’t so bold in making my request.

“Ah, hmmm… um, Miss Allie. Along that wall — ”

“Understood. I ask that you call me Allie.”

“Okay, thanks. I’ll leave it to you then… Allie.”

Still a little hesitant, I thanked her.
A smile bloomed on her face, so fleeting I thought it might be an illusion. As if to hide it, she bowed her head deeply.

Author’s Notes
Next, I was thinking when I finished this chapter and the previous one, but there’s been pretty much no precedent for me getting this far.

Sorry about the downtime, guys. I got an email from support saying that the blog got flagged by anti-spam controls. But we’re back up now, so all’s well that ends well. My posting streak will continue!