The abused merchant’s daughter – 68 | Sousaku – 創作

Chapter 2, Episode 22: Forbidden Spell (Another POV)

"Cyril-sama. Did you call for me?"

Lars asked Cyril in a corner of the high-class restaurant they had rented in the holy city.
After eating, while Riese and Libelle were excitedly talking about how delicious the food was, Cyril went to another room to get some fresh air.

『I had a bad feeling about it, but it seems like my hunch was right.』

"Hunch…… ?”

Cyril looked out the window while Lars asked a question.

『It faintly smells of the same forbidden drug that destroyed Faralina in the past.
The smell is too faint to determine the specific source.
They probably used the same herbs somewhere else.』

"……However, according to legend, the plant used in the forbidden spell will never grow again."

『That's why it smells strange. They may have found a similar herb and are using it as a substitute.
Either way, it would be best to be careful』

Cyril's face was that of a beast stalking its prey.

■□■

Five hundred years ago.
Faralina was still a lush green land.
At that time, the sacred tree Faralina had more power than Kardiana, guiding this continent to prosperity.
There, a vast expanse of green spread out, large enough to engulf the present-day Kardiana, where holy beasts lived and thrived.
Many people asked the Saint, Libelle's mother, to give them a small piece of land so that they too could enjoy the blessings of the land, but she never gave it to them.
Faralina was a sacred place for holy beasts.
However―― In the land of a certain small holy tree (Landiuna). A love affair between a saint and a priest caused a dispute, which led to the priest of the temple that worshipped Landiuna harming the saint.

The priest's family was driven out of the land and came to Faralina for help.
Because the saint was worried, Landiuna too…… She asked Faralina to give these people a very small plot of land to live on.

This, however, was a mistake.

Humans wanted Faralina.
They wanted to own Faralina, which had a vast expanse of green land.
The new religion of Darsha, which worshipped the gods, convinced the priest's family that worshipped Landiuna that humans were supreme and that the current situation, in which they were controlled by the sacred tree, was wrong.
They then secretly bestowed upon them a 『forbidden spell』 to counter the Holy Tree.
Some humans worshipped the Darsha religion in order to change from being controlled by the sacred tree to controlling it, revolting against Faralina.

The Darsha cult targeted Faralina, where there were only animals because the humans who worshiped the sacred tree in the land where humans lived would oppose them and tell them not to harm their sacred tree.
This was because they wanted to have the achievement of having brought Faralina under their control.

And so the battle between the followers of Darsha and the sacred beasts began.

The holy beasts fought back, but one by one, they were turned into ghouls and controlled by the forbidden spell devised by the Darsha cultists.
Once they were turned into ghouls, they lost their reason and their bodies became like steel, making them puppets that only listened to the commands of their masters.
The holy beasts, who were once their comrades, attacked the Saintess Klau and the sacred tree Faralina, resulting in a battle that was overwhelmingly in favor of the humans.
Klau struggled to restrain her former comrades, who had been turned into ghouls, and tried to turn them back, without attacking them―― Humans saw and used her weak heart.
Then, when Klau tried to protect Libelle, Klau's child, who was a baby at the time, from another holy beast that had turned into a ghoul―― She turned into a ghoul herself.

And so―― Libelle awakened.

Faralina manifested in this world using Libelle's body.
The Darsha worshipers tried to invoke the forbidden spell to bring the manifested Faralina under their control, but―― They were no match for Faralina's might.
Faralina renounced the blessings of the land and used all her power to destroy the Darsha worshipers.
She decided to destroy the humans with all the power that was supposed to be used for the fertility of the land.
The Darsha worshipers had no idea that Faralina would abandon the blessings of fertility to use all her power to kill them. They had assumed that the Holy Tree could not stop the greening of the earth. The power of the Holy Tree was so great that mere humans were no match for it.
Faralina used the spirit of the ghoulized Klau to turn the Darsha worshipers in her own land into ghouls, and then sent them out to kill the other Darsha worshipers scattered throughout the land.
It was said that she devoured memories and destroyed all knowledge of the forbidden spell.

The other Holy Trees also lent their strength to Faralina.
They invited the ghouls, who had come to kill the Darsha worshipers who were scattered throughout the land, and allowed them to kill what was left of them.

In this way, the Darsha faith, which was once hailed as the hope of humanity and showed signs of surpassing the Holy Tree faith in various regions, was destroyed by the Holy Trees.

After this incident, humans were rejected and driven out of some of the Holy Trees.
According to legend, Kardiana, who was still a young tree at the time, felt pity for humans and increased the area of green space with love and affection, and accepted them into her home. However, she once told Lars, "I accepted them reluctantly, but they repaid my kindness by doing something terrible to my beloved child. I really hope humans will perish". Or rather, they should just perish already", in a slight mutter, so probably she didn't accept them with kindness.
The sacred trees also have their own rules and circumstances.
The reason why no human saints who could communicate with the Holy Trees had been born in the history that Lars knew may be because the Holy Trees originally did not have a favorable opinion of humans.
"However……I thought that everyone who knew the forbidden spell had been destroyed by Faralina-sama?”

『I don't think the forbidden spell has been revived either.
But I can still smell that disgusting stench.
The smell of the drug drifted through the air when Libelle and the others took refuge in the forest of Eldia. 』

"I hear that they have regained their strength recently…… What could they be plotting?”

『I don't know. If there is a risk, we can't just leave it alone.
The forest of Eldia is currently sealed off.
There's no way even a single spiderling could get in.
Please make sure your people know about that.』

"Alright. But about the food for the priests in the forest of Eldia……"

『I kicked them out a while ago.
They're probably heading this way.』

"I understand. Thank you for your thoughtfulness."

『Well, don't worry, I'll be escorting Riese and Libelle.
If the forbidden spell is involved in any way, then the human bodyguards are useless.』

"Thank you.
Kyle. Please prepare to hold an urgent meeting.
The area where ordinary people and traders can enter the temple will be narrowed even further, and the number of people who can approach Riese-sama's room will be reduced yet further.
At the same time, we will begin a survey of those who have come to this city within the last two years.
We will investigate the origins of their identities and obtain permission from His Majesty the King to isolate any suspicious ones."

"Right. Understood."

"Please tell Farne-sama that from now on, we must keep a close eye on Riese-sama."

"Right. Understood."

"……So, Lars-sama, what should we do about the harvest festival ball we're planning to go to tomorrow?"

Lars crosses his arms at Kyle's words.

Normally he wouldn't want to let her go…… but when he thought about this whole Kardiana thing, it was hard to say no.

Security was already in place, and those without a family register were unable to participate.
After the incident with Sharla, who pretended to be Sonia and took part in the ritual, the identities of the people involved began to be recorded by the wavelength of their magical power.
It hasn't spread to the whole nation yet, but all the nobles and merchants who will be participating in this event should have already completed it.
Security was tight for the event, to which the king would also be attending.
There were also soldiers stationed at various points, so it didn't seem like anything would happen in a situation where outsiders couldn't get in.

However, now that he heard Cyril's story, it was difficult to agree to let her participate.
Kardiana had also entered the period of meditation of the Sunlit Moon, so she could not be contacted.

Lars and Kyle's eyes turned to Cyril.

『……If she's looking forward to it, there's nothing we can do about it.』

Cyril sighed.
If the other party really used a forbidden spell, the danger level would be the same even in a temple where the saint lived.
In fact, it might be more dangerous because her whereabouts were known.
Cyril told Lars that the safest place would be somewhere where she was with her nearby……
Lars smiled to himself.
In the end. It would seem that Cyril was still as sweet as ever with Riese.