Hitsugi no Maou

After breakfast, Ash went out to the meadow with Dust.

The clouds over my head are thick and the world is dim. I hoped it would rain all day, but Dust unequivocally affirmed that it would not "fall today".

"There is no wind. The day the clouds are completely stationary is proof that Morg is asleep. Not a grain goes down on a day like this."

"Is the wind in this country made by Morg?

"Almost, yeah. There are also winds that blow in from other countries and from the sea, but the realm of Morg...... most of the wind that arises in the land of Coffin is the power that Morg's breath of life (a lot) brings. That is the myth of the land and the world view"

Yeah, and to an ash that narrows his eyes behind the dragon's helmet, Dust presses a basket made of tree roots.

"Let's flower today," he says, holding the same basket himself, pointing to the horizon.

"Coffin flowers are nothing but horrible poisonous flowers like Courtries. It's the same color as grass, so it's buried in the meadows, but there's a flower that makes a truly non-toxic sweet honey called 'Ramlai'. It's one of the few sugars you can use to make sweets with coffins."

"The ingredients for the sweets handed out to the Founding Fathers' Festival that came out yesterday."

"That sort of thing. Discovered because it is very difficult to find, Ramlai, with some exceptions, devotes the whole thing to the King, and it is decided to raise more in the fields of the country. Looks like the royal castle's fields have been dug back by the snobbers... but now we're headed for the Ramlai flower garden I found"

"Is it far? Honestly, I'm scared to wander around the meadows while the sun's too high... there 'll be snobber adventurers too"

Squeeze your shoulders as the dust walks out.

"Walk a little... well, don't worry. It's a place away from every settlement, and I've been properly 'armed' today. With that said, are we done with the butt scratches"

Aren't you supposed to be armed enough to pick up sweet flowers?

Ash answered the question as he swallowed the words in front of him and up to his throat, taking care of him.

"Oh, yeah. Looks like the medicine Dust applied to me worked well. Thanks."

"More than anything."

They walk the meadows, side by side, back and forth. The windless earth was very quiet, and the sound of the shoes knocking down the grass and treading on the earth was as if they were sucked into the void.

Ash kept looking at Dust's white horse-tailed hair for a while, but eventually, again, he opened his mouth.

"Yesterday I was talking about... dust, I mean, serving the royal family of this country, you were a minister"

"Oh."

"He's a great man."

"Once upon a time."

"I've never been helped or tender by a great man. When I met the king's minister, I felt sorry for him on the ground."

As Dust walked, he twisted his neck slightly and looked at Ash. "Why apologize? Asking him," Ash answers with a finger on his chin.

"Why, isn't that what it is? Identity. If you stand in front of noble or great people, it's normal to kneel down saying you're sorry, right?

"I may get out of the way and pay my respects, but I don't apologize. It doesn't come down to sin just because people are in people's sights."

"But the great men of the world aren't all tolerant people like Dust."

"... I'm nothing, I'm not tolerant"

Dust to face forward again and proceed with bare hands paying the shrub branches.

Ash stared at the twisted branches, lowering her voice for a moment and asked.

"Dust's father... I wonder what Dust thought of working under the king."

"I don't know. What did he think his abandoned son would be used heavily by the king as much as he did... I must have thought he was teething with humiliation. Think of me as a blind, shitty, disturbing person.

That's why I kept working for the country and achieving merit in front of him. I continued to support the king's politics, the war, with intelligence. Sometimes he exchanged words with the king more than the Senate, an advisory body, and was offered assassins. "

"Assassins... assassins!?

"It's something that remains in the political world. At that time, it ended in an attempt. It's just... it was always the Senate and some noblemen who wanted to ostracize me. My father never tried to do me harm."

The dust tips his neck, pounding his bones.

He then pointed to the grass at the front, about the site of a small house, and told him to snap "there".

A decent ash is good at putting aside a little while, and then, oh. We had arrived at our destination at some point.

Although the place described as a flower garden is no different from other grasses scattered in the meadows, no matter how you look at it.

Instruct with a face with the dust slightly up the corner of your mouth, as you saw through Ash's mind.

"Try to draw the grass. There must be plenty of green flowers shaped like humans."

"... oh, really. You know, it's a little rough."

"The flowers are blooming because they grow from the ground. Take a good look and leave at least two flowers on one. Like blooming again next year. It's what Azuma does that roots down."

Yes, and in reply, Ash began to grab Ramlai's flowers with caution. I didn't wear gloves, but neither the lamb rais nor the leaves of the other plants that make up the crumbs were soft and my fingers never hurt.

When he saw the fudge dust, he was stepping into the back of the grass, bending over and grabbing something up. If you look him in the eye, what he is holding is an iron box full of rust (rust), carved (ho) with the same crest as Coffin's flag, albeit slippery.

To him as he opened the lid of the box and peered inside, Ash said frankly (softly), "What, that?" He was speaking up.

"Why is there an iron box in the flower garden? Not rusty and rusty."

"Don't worry, it's not a very good one. Beware of bees. Come to the honey."

Ash didn't miss taking something out of the box quickly and sticking it in his pocket while Dust said so. Iron box to be buried in the grass again.

Still turning his back to Ash staring into his pocket, the dust begins to blossom.

Strange behavior. Attitude.

Curiosity was stimulated, but Dust's back clearly seemed to refuse to pry.

"What did you put in your pocket now?

"The crest of that box, the mark of Coffin's flag, right?

"Maybe it's really in the name of flower picking, and you're here to pick up the contents of the box, aren't you? I'm not leaving you alone at home, so I thought you brought me here with you. Let me see it in your pocket. 'Cause I'm not gonna tell anyone.'

Blinking, he shook his head, and Ash shook off the dialogue that came to his mind.

What do you figure? What you want to know about anything is the bad temperament of adventurers.

If he refuses to explain this blatantly, he won't be forced to ask.

I'm sure the iron box hidden in that grass is an important secret for Dust. That's more than a personal story about him or a cause with his father...

I'm talking about my father.

Looks like they read the thought, neat.

If you raise your face, the dust is pointing the sides of your body here. The hand that sticks into the grass stays in motion, doesn't give me a glance, and speaks to Ash.

"I didn't know about my father until the end. Bastard, I'm pretty sure he was the worst father... but honestly... now he feels somewhere, somewhere, happy that I'm going to be used to the king."

……

"He took my hatred, my disgust, with joy. I'm kidding. Do you think you have such a qualification?... No... you didn't even say a word with me because you thought you didn't deserve a father. Are you saying you've been watching me grow up silently?"

"Your father... protected the dust at the end of the day."

Sure. So crushing to Ash, Dust repeated "yes" over and over again.

His basket is already full of Ramlai flowers. Yet more flowers, he approaches Ash and throws them into her basket.

"Keep your mouth shut all the time, and don't even come to see me the night before the execution, I only rushed to the moment the guillotine blade fell off. He wore it over me, and he died. Thanks to me... I don't even know what I've done or hated."

"Um... can I ask you something?

Ash grabbed the hand of the dust trying to fill the spill with flowers.

I can see the dark sunken man's eyes, the eyes behind his helmet.

"What sin did you commit? I want you to tell me. I wonder why you, so trusted by the king, were put on guillotine."

……

"Hey."

"I have two things that seem really good to see you"

Dust says as he undoes the sharp grass.

Leaving the grass with a full basket of flowers in his hand, he came to the top of a mountain range visible across the horizon and exhaled.

"One thing is they taught me how to knit my hair. This is really good stuff. Thanks to this I can comfortably read the book"

"You know, dust"

"The second thing is that we've got less talking to ourselves. Before you showed up, I used to talk about my thoughts all the time without anyone. It's been a long time since I've exchanged words with humans... without you, I wouldn't have been able to spit out my past, my causes and my emotions in this way either. I'm saved a lot because of you."

Ash unwittingly glanced into the flower basket at Dust's gaze looking back.

No, I'm the one who even thanked you for sleeping and eating on top of helping me with the danger.

Dust accidentally grabbed Ash's shoulder crushing as she blushed a little about it.

At some point in time, on the face that was approaching and the ashes that crept down on his face, the dust leaves for a little while, then opens its mouth.

"The truth is, isn't it speculative?"

"What..."

"When I helped you, I used the relics of Rayakels as monsters made of human corpses. I have Rayakels ring material at home, and I... am studying the footprints of a man called the Demon King.

You'll see how the act itself is valued in a country called Coffin. "

"That... doesn't seem very good, does it..."

"It's worth dying for"

A quietly sounding voice of dust swirled (udder) in Ash's ear.

A dust comes over my lips to my helmet's ear. Chest and chest touched, reflexively Ash held his nose over his helmet. No. That's not true. I know, but I was about to sneeze.

Dust whispers. In a strangely gentle voice.

"If you can see Morg, I'll tell you more then. I'll tell you what I want after what you want."

"... dust wants?

"Oh. It's my... 'dream'. It could be a bad dream. Come on, let's go home now. Help me put honey in a container at home."

Dust let go of his body, probably trying to make a grin, pulling the end of his mouth.

Ash stared at him for a while as he turned his back and walked out… I followed him, feeling a strangely loud heart.

It had already disappeared from Ash's head, such as the iron box that had been submerged in the grass.