I wake up to a tasty smell.
When I open my eyes, I see a sight I’m not used to, and wonder where I am for a second.
When my mind focuses, I remember I’m in the ruins.
It feels weird to wake up like this, but then I get up.
“Are you awake, Lerunda? Good morning.”
“Good morning Gaius. I was sleepier, than I thought.”
“You were just tired. We came all this way and we’re in a new place.”
Says Gaius while giving me a bucket with water for me to wash my face.
Apparently it was brought from the nearby river.
I wash my face and see more clearly.
“Good morning Lerunda. Breakfast is ready, so come eat.”
Says Miss Lan, and I have breakfast with everyone. It feels weird having breakfast out here like this.
After our simple breakfast, we all go look around the ruins.
“Fufufufufufu.”
“Lan… Why are you laughing so weirdly?”
“Why? We are going to explore the ruins!! How could I not be excited!?”
Miss Lan is full of energy right at the start of the day. But it’s the same as… No, she’s definitely more lively than usual.
“She’s more excited than usual.”
“Yes, Freinet… Is there something on your mind?”
When Freinet speaks to me, I notice she keeps looking around. She keeps restlessly looking around us while sitting on my head.
“I feel a sort of presence… But I still don’t understand what it is.”
“I see…”
A presence, she says.
Is there something in these ruins? Does it have to do with the weird feeling I’m getting?
I think about this while I look around the ruins with Miss Lan and Mister Nirushi.
◇ ◇ ◇
“…Was this building, a church?”
“Nicely spotted!! I’m sure it was. I don’t know what god they worshiped exactly, but this was a large church. There is a chance that they worshiped a god I don’t know, but it’s worth studying. I found pieces of idols, but they were shapes I’m not familiar with, so I look forward to seeing what god they were supposed to represent.”
There isn’t much left of this building, but it feels like a sacred place somehow. I whisper something that crosses my mind, and Miss Lan reacts strongly.
She says there was a church that was bigger than the trees around here. I can’t even imagine a building that big.
It feels weird to think that a building that big collapsed and became this as the years went by.
Miss Lan looks around this area where the church used to be, and then raises her voice.
“Lerunda, look!! There’s something on the ground!”
“Miss Lan!! No!”
Miss Lan finds something and immediately runs towards it. I grab her arm right away.
“D-don’t worry, I won’t just jump at it!!”
“Really?”
“Yes. I’ll examine it carefully before touching it.”
She says, but is that true… Looking at her now makes me feel a bit worried.
“What’s on the ground?”
“That!! There’s something small over there, right? It could be some sort of magic item, or just a household item of the ancient civilization.”
I do see what looks like a small container where she’s pointing.
First, Freinet checks to see if it isn’t dangerous. She’s a spirit, so she’s sensitive to magic energy.
She says the container doesn’t have any magic energy.
We don’t see any problems, so Miss Lan grabs the brown container. Her eyes are sparkling. It looks like she’s having a lot of fun.
“What could this be? Was it used as a cup? Something else? It seems too small to be used to drink. Ah, I wish there was a description or illustrations in old records…”
She says while putting it in her bag.
I look forward to her figuring out and explaining what it was for.
We keep looking around this place, and find all sorts of things lying around. This place probably had lots of things to begin with. We can find lots of things by just digging a little.
Miss Lan’s eyes sparkle every time we find something, but we can’t carry everything with us, so she has to carefully pick what to take.
Afterwards, I walk east a little with Freinet.
There’s a small body of water, like a small pond. There are a lot of big stones around it.
And in the middle… There’s a small tree growing from the water. It’s only about tall enough to reach my knees, and it will probably rot at this rate.
It really grabs my attention.
“I can feel spirits.”
Freinet’s words echo in my ears.
—Girl and ruins – Part four
(The miko looks around the ruins, and finds a small pond.)
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