Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 562

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 14.
The Princess and the Detective (14)
4. Pshiki
“It’s here.”
That night, I stood before the cave from which I had escaped the day before, with Nay at my side. As darkness fell, The Island became pitch black. Though it wasn’t even late, no one had lit any fires, so the few steps around our lamp seemed to encompass the entirety of The Island. Above us, stars glittered like gold dust. From the distance came the scent of broken grass and salt.
Before us lay the entrance that, until yesterday, had been sealed by a stone door. Now it hung open. The Stone Door was gone without a trace. From the hole that gaped diagonally down the hillside, slightly humid and cool air drifted upward—the smell of the coastline.
The rocky outcrop of the hillside where the cave opened showed no sign of having moved at all. Looking at it, I felt utterly bewildered. Yesterday, it had moved more easily than dough…
Remembering yesterday’s events, I muttered.
“If the earth moves about so arbitrarily, I don’t understand how anyone lives here at all.”
“If one is to live, one adapts accordingly.”
The Island I had explored this afternoon did not appear to be a landscape where tectonic shifts occurred daily. The soil was dark, and the plants grew quite well, forming a stable forest. The Northern Coastline had columnar jointing, but it was said to be so ancient that no one knew when it had formed.
“Still, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, is it?”
“Indeed not. If you venture into the Northern Sea, there are scattered rocky islands with names like Stepping Stones or something, and they continue to appear and disappear. Sometimes there are dozens, sometimes none at all.”
“It’s not because of the tides?”
Nay shook her head.
“The scale of appearing and disappearing due to tides and ebbs is far too small. I’ve been there myself, and they’re quite large.”
“So you’re saying the Pshiki create and destroy them? Why?”
Nay tilted her head in her habitual manner as she spoke.
“How would I know? As I’ve told you, we can’t communicate with them. According to the islanders, the Pshiki cause disturbances out of fear. And sometimes, lights appear on those islands in the middle of the night—though of course, no one lives there.”
It was possible that a tree struck by lightning might burn and then extinguish. But such things could hardly occur so frequently.
“But where did they move the Stone Door to?”
Nay chuckled and replied.
“The door? There was never one to begin with. The people here simply use this as an ordinary passage every day. There’s no need for a door. The Pshiki created it arbitrarily that day, but since it wasn’t needed, they must have removed it now.”
I let out an exasperated exclamation, shaking my head.
“They created a door that didn’t exist just to trap us? They really weren’t planning to kill us, then?”
“As I’ve said, they hoped you would awaken ‘Bloodied.’ Even at the cost of their own deaths.”
I shook my head.
“Honestly, I find it hard to believe. The Pshiki knew I possessed power? How, exactly? Do they simply know by looking? Or… did my Older Brother possess such power as well?”
“No. Bernard did not possess such power, but he was aware of your innate abilities. Of course, he did not know from the beginning, nor did he understand everything. Time was too scarce.”
I still wore an expression of incomprehension.
“How did my Older Brother even discover that? Is there someone else like me somewhere?”
Nay offered a peculiar smile.
“How he came to know, I cannot say. Whether there is another Bloodied… there might be, but I have never encountered one. The Continent is vast, so who knows what else might be hidden somewhere.”
Nay extended her hand, gesturing to indicate the surroundings.
“Pshiki exist not only here but everywhere in the world. However, the Pshiki of this place were truly quiet long ago—so much so that even the islanders doubted their actual existence. Then, roughly thirty years ago, suspicious changes began to occur, and about ten years ago, they exploded in numbers, swelling to a thousand times what they were. It means Pshiki from across the entire Continent are flocking here. But Pshiki are childlike, and the more they gather, the noisier they become, and they’re also capricious. Now the people have grown somewhat accustomed, but still, you wake up to find cliffs that weren’t there before suddenly looming up, you rush toward what appears to be a burning forest only to find it perfectly fine—these things happen constantly, and it must keep everyone on edge.”
“Given such circumstances, why don’t the islanders leave?”
“The people of This Island don’t even trade with Montagne. And as I’ve said, they can’t communicate. Where would they go?”
There was likely no region in Orlanne as isolated as this. I nodded in understanding, then asked again.
“But surely they could have sought help?”
“Appeal to the Grand Duke to capture all the Pshiki? As I’ve told you, the people here believe themselves to be priests who serve and care for the Pshiki. It’s been that way since the time when they couldn’t even see them. So for them, all of this is something to be endured. And Pshiki, surprisingly, do not directly harm people. I haven’t asked the Pshiki themselves, but in any case, that’s how it’s been so far.”
Nay laughed at her own words, a sound that carried something unsettling in its pitch. Whether it was the result of lingering too long in this place or simply the nature of those from Recordable, I couldn’t say—but there was something decidedly unhinged about her.
“Maliba told me about it. You saw the grandmother in the red dress during the day, didn’t you? She’s the one who understands Pshiki’s intentions best. Apparently, the Pshiki have grown violent recently and driven her nearly mad. But the moment you arrived, Your Highness, they became docile in an instant. That’s because Bloodied commands Pshiki. And the Pshiki desire it. What happened in the cave yesterday wasn’t ordered by anyone. The Pshiki acted of their own volition. In other words, Bloodied isn’t something people like us can recognize—only the Pshiki themselves seem to perceive it.”
Charlotte’s brow furrowed.
“Creatures we can’t even determine possess intelligence, yet they crave dominion? They fear me while summoning me? They wish to live, yet they awaken my power to destroy them? What contradiction is this? Why do they behave so paradoxically? What could I possibly offer them?”
Nay nodded, her laughter emerging as a soft, unsettling giggle.
“Only the Pshiki would understand that. It’s strange, truly—and yet somehow pitiful. Like small, luminous birds that love you so desperately they wish to die by your hand. Like canaries that sense some calamity approaching this world. Perhaps that’s why they hurl themselves against cliffs, desperate to convey something. But what could it be?”
As she spoke, Nay reached into the large pocket of her apron and withdrew something, pressing it into my hands. It was a stone—quite large, yet surprisingly light, as though hollow within.
“I found it in the cave yesterday and brought it out. Break it open.”
Charlotte gripped the stone and struck it against the rocky wall. The outer layer crumbled like biscuit, and from within emerged a small, dark, gleaming mass—no larger than an apricot pit. Though born of stone, it resembled nothing so much as the seed of a fruit.
“That’s what we call a Pshiki’s ‘heart.’ It emerged when the massive cluster of Pshiki died yesterday.”
Charlotte rolled the black mass across her fingertips, her expression puzzled.
“A heart? But Pshiki aren’t living creatures, are they? I mean, they certainly seemed to possess the will to survive, but…”
She held it between thumb and forefinger, examining it by lamplight. Black residue smudged her skin—it felt like compressed pitch—yet the texture itself was hard and brittle. And whether it was mere imagination or not, there seemed to emanate a faint warmth from it.
“Of course they’re not alive. They don’t consume food, don’t reproduce, have no lifespan, and if they don’t die the way they did yesterday, they’re essentially eternal. Yet they feel fear, possess foresight, squabble amongst themselves—so they’re not entirely inanimate either. Not all Pshiki possess these hearts. Most don’t, in fact. They seem to form only when they merge together and grow massive, like yesterday. Even then, they’re small as this. But…”
Nay’s voice dropped lower.
“The Grand Duke possessed something of an entirely different order.”
Nay spread her hands, gesturing to indicate a size roughly that of a child’s head. Charlotte’s eyes widened slightly. Nay whispered.
“Large. Burning hot. Whispering without cease.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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