Ashes and Kingdoms

Diatius' New Year dawns quietly. After celebrating the rebirth of the sun on Winter Solstice Day, it takes about ten days to throw away what belongs to the old years and get ready for the new year.

Drop any fire, clean it clean, get a new spark from the temple, new clothes, work tools, etc. That's not a festival or a celebration. By almost administrative, but certainly as one milestone, the year dawns.

Nevertheless, at the Lords' Palace of Nakte, it was always an auspicious New Year. Neither the Lord nor the Young Hall are present, plus a strict decree of covenant. Fernena had very little to do, and she just sighed.

Since Senato went missing, the air in the hall was heavier. In this season of short days and low sunny weather, among other things, darkness creeps over the area of the hall, clutching around the hem and foot of the garment unnoticed. I felt gray and cloudy until I breathed in, so I sighed extra.

The dark air that covered the hall not only tormented those who were imprisoned inside, but was enough to tell from the outside.

"Ugh, that's a big mansion"

Taz raised his voice to the huge hall that appeared in the countryside. He himself was simply meant to be surprised, but unexpected by his voice, a faint shadow of anxiety. Without wanting the common man to think he was out of his mind, Taz sneaks a sideways look at Nella. And, she was also staring at her hands going frowning.

The Nakte Lordship Hall is located far from the city. From them coming from the south, the city stretches all the way to the left, to the lowlands close to the Orne River, but the hall is on the hill on the right. In the spring, the museum will look beautiful surrounded by bright fresh greenery, but now it's gloomy and freezing.

"... nacté, right?

Cestas - No, Senato confirms his lack of confidence. Yes, and Nella nodded.

"Definitely, this is the place. But I can't believe there's such a disturbing sign."

"It wasn't like this before I went to the Imperial Capital."

"Yes. The air was clearer. If we get this close, we'll know where your wife is, but I'm not sure she's interrupted by the gray one. I didn't hear any rumors that you'd be out there somewhere..."

The words were vaguely cut, and Nella looked around. Tazz me too, and I'll circle my neck.

After the forests of Orgenia, a line aimed at Nakte along the river Orne passed several villages along the way. Many of those villages remembered the families of lords who visited them for hunting and festival folds, so mainly Taz gathered rumors from the villagers.

"That's right. If you're a young husband, they're flying around the north and east and south, but I was talking about it. Your wife won't even show her face at the festival."

I remember the hateful tone of the woman who taught me about it, and Taz became sinister.

I guess I won't come out because I don't want to be seen dressed up, keeping my taxes tight - and the woman who told me to throw it away. If another woman from the side defends sympathetically that her son is unknown and suffering from a depressive illness, she says that she originally wanted to go to the Imperial Capital and offered her son to the Emperor. The man I saw, no, my big husband decided that, and I pinch his mouth.

Oh, come on, there seemed to be some uncertain rumors flying between the villagers. Some were reluctant towards their lords, and some were terrible rumors like they did everything they could to scold them. Whatever it was, it was only certain that there wasn't much to talk about that made me feel better.

"... Anyway, let's go back"

Never prompted my will was Senato, the youngest of the three. I resume my steps with a tough look that doesn't suit me back home.

Forced to ignore the shortness of breath the closer they came, the three climbed the hill and went around to the front of the building. When the walls surrounding the edges of the wide garden were broken and the arched gate appeared, the beast carved into the gatepost looked just staring at this one.

Taz shrugged, putting aside a beat and convinced him that it was just a stone statue, he couldn't help but smile. If it weren't for this weather, this monster would have looked more hilarious.

"Why did you make it a beast? In the middle of a field like this."

Taz grins bitterly, pointing at a monster like Uzbo. Senato flaunted his shoulder.

"I don't. But if you prank me, you'll bite me."

"Eh."

"At least that's what I've been told a lot. If you do anything wrong, this will come to your pillow in the middle of the night and swallow your head. It's just good for threatening kids, isn't it? It's a strange sea creature at all, so I don't care if it's a lie or not. I was scared when I was little."

"Yes, yes," Nella finally laughed. "Dear Senato, you've cried a lot that haunts are coming"

"It was a long time ago."

Senato turned a little red and mumbled, twisting the arch. Taz followed with a slight grin, but he later turned off his grin.

The gatekeeper cabin is deserted and there are no shadows in the garden. I miss you too much for the Lords' Hall.

I didn't do the news, so I got to the door without a reception, naturally, but without a servant finding me.

The three looked at each other and stood up on the porch during the bundle. Then, no one mentioned it, align it and put your hands on the door.

When he made a heavy noise and the door opened, someone inside made a noise that surprised him.

"Who is it, without saying no!

Senato lamented his neck to the woman who shouted in an inverted voice.

"I'm sorry, because no one was there"

In unexpected reply, the woman drops her gaze. Apparently, Taz got into his eyes first, so he went off early with the werewolf. When I noticed the boy standing in front of me, the lady opened her mouth gently and raised a hell of a voice halfway between screaming and cheering.

"Sort of! Boy!!

And then I don't know what you're talking about anymore. Welcome home, although I could only hear one word of, well, what shall we do, for God's sake, equal, right and left with a scream in between.

So much noise that Fernena popped up with something. And

"Ah."

When the mother and child looked at each other, they rushed towards each other without a voice and hugged each other.

"Often, safely"

I apologized to Fernena, who managed to say that in tears, that Senato was so small that he could barely hear me, I'm sorry.

Taz, the outsider, became restless and distracted looking around the mansion. From what I can see, it looks like a mansion built in the general design of the country. Behind the hall there was a space with no ceiling, like a courtyard, and a water board was provided on the floor. Equipment for practical purposes for storing rainwater for cleaning and washing, but the boulder has a luxurious decoration of the main hall.

Almost everything also depicts the appearance of the gods and gardens on the lacquered walls that lead between the back and down the corridor. Soon Taz, he totally saw it in them.

"That's you."

Returning to me with a voice that combined the call and the question, Fernena was staring at him. Taz hastily corrected his posture and bowed with a pepper.

"It's called Taz, ma'am"

"Please help us on the road."

Nella says, grinning. Taz lights up, scratches his head, and drops his gaze on his nail tip. Senato smiled sarcastically at him like that, then looked up at his mother with a true face.

"Mother, I have some stories to accumulate, but let me eat first. I took care of Taz a lot too, so give him all the hospitality he can."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me get you some water right away."

Fernena wiped her tears and gave instructions to the ladies and to the servants who had gathered. Taz stares at the back of Senato in a puzzling mood and says you're definitely up to something. Of course, Senato doesn't even turn around.

While doing so, Taz was guided by a servant and thrown into the Yukan.

Taz was heartfelt horrified when he was finally released after being taken care of so kindly and politely that he was embarrassed that he could not even experience being an apprenticeship sailor at first sight. but that wasn't the end of the ordeal.

The next person who was led to change into new clothes and smell fluffy flowers from all over his body was the dining room. Spacious and luxurious decoration, it doesn't seem very lenient to him. Not only were cushions and sighs available in the national ceremony for laying low tables in the center and around them.

Taz, who has never been invited to a lunch in his own country, has totally gone up. I get lost for a while, and in the end, I reluctantly sit around. Still feeling restless on his hips and wandering around forever, Senato, who had already been lenient, gargled toward Taz. You angry kid, and Taz roars in his heart.

Then he guessed that if he was any more annoyed, he would become a rich arrogant, or Senato woke up and imitated Taz and walked away.

"Well, Senato, what is it?"

Fernena closes her eyes. I guess it wasn't the tone of blame, considering Taz. Taz blushed when he found out that, but Senato had a fine face.

"In a normal house, Mother, we eat while sitting down without lying down. Because I don't have a place that big, and I don't have time to just relax and enjoy a meal. For the past year or so, so have I."

After explaining that to his mother, Senato turned to Taz. There are no more signs of teasing on that look.

"But, Taz, I think we're going to have a slow meal today, so you should use a cushion and a sigh of rest. My stomach is compressed when I sit down and it's not good for digestion. So it's easier to lie down and eat a lot. You're gonna love Taz."

Explain with laughter, like this, and Senato sets an example. When Taz became a snack, Senato fixed the cushion position so that Taz was comfortable.

Fernena and the servants are just distracted by the sight that was so unlikely before leaving the mansion. The first woman I greeted raised her eyebrows to suspect that this was really that boy, so Nera, who was watching, finally laughed.

"Dear Senato, your mother would be surprised if we showed you too much evidence of your growth at once."

"Right."

Senato laughed and put out her tongue. Again, Fernena blinked her eyes at such tricks.

"Boys grow up all of a sudden, but you just really look different."

Saying in a frightened manner rather than impressed, she shook her head gently before smiling with her eyes on Taz.

"I'm late to thank you. Thank you for saving Senato."

"No, I don't think there's much to be told otherwise."

Taz clouds his words a bit, even if he has trouble replying. As soon as Senato spread a prank grin all over his face.

"It's not for me, it's for Nella."

"Master Senato!

Come on, Nella scolds him all the time, and Taz forgets the situation and stares at Senato. Senato stepped aside and clapped his neck, grinning dull.

To the interaction of the three, Fernena gives a puzzling look, like a dog who ate the leftovers. To comfort his mother like that, Senato began to talk, little by little, about when he escaped from the Imperial Capital.

To have hidden in the lower town of the capital, to have decided to flee, to have traveled as a sister and brother to Siros. That you hired me to help you with your bookstore, your life in the city, and your escape again.

Sometimes Taz still didn't know, and when he noticed, he was listening to Senato as he carried the dish to his mouth. Fernena was also completely obsessed with her son's story, so Taz was not nervous for fear of lawlessness in front of her mistress, and she was able to fill her luxurious dishes full of stomach.

Senato didn't go into much detail about what happened in the Great Forest. I wanted to respect the will of the Fidae tribe, who wanted isolation from the outside world, and I decided that Farnayne was too irritating for a kind mother. I just told him that an orphan who should have been at Taz's friend's had fled into the woods, so I was worried about the outside world.