Chapter 376

It is said that originally one’s own child grows slowly and another’s child grows quickly. Those words are truly correct.

Usually, I examined Ruben’s complexion thirty times a day. I did that for a long time even after the baby fat on Ruben’s cheeks had fallen off. Even after knowing that Ruben is a figure who can issue a thunderous command with a cold face, I was restless and anxious wanting to put him in my embrace and soothe him whenever I met eyes with the child.

In Cieron, where one becomes an adult at fifteen, Ruber is already… twenty-one.

Once upon a time, this child said such words to me. That by the time he is twenty-five, he will change the law so that he can marry me. At that time, even if I wanted to believe it I couldn’t completely believe it, so I brushed it off as a joke. I was the one who tightly suppressed the surging desire, thinking ‘That would be truly nice’, as a wicked thought.

However, right now Ruber is by my side, and he still hasn’t lost the hot, affectionate feelings he harbors toward me.

Someday, when the time comes…

I don’t know how much longer I can dawdle. Perhaps I am just having pipe dreams when the person to give isn’t even thinking about it. The vain greed brought on by the dawn throbbed inside my windpipe and yelled out that it was here.

Laughter came out. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] I reached out my hand and swept down the eyes of Ruben, who was quietly looking this way, from top to bottom, making him close them.

The child swallowed a surprised breath. Inside my rough palm, the child’s eyelashes trembled.

“Please sleep.”

“…Ung,. Mika too… sleep well.”

“Yes.”

However, there is no way sleep would come.

Until the child fell asleep, I was completely covering his eyes. Occasionally, the fluttering eyelashes touched the inside of my palm and tickled. I was so restless that sleep didn’t come at all.

******

The scent of the sea became fully thick.

I thought Palmir also had the smell of salt smeared on every wall, but it was not as much as this port city right now. The sound of seagulls crying could be heard occasionally from afar, and the fishy smell of fish pierced the tip of my nose over the closed window.

When Ivan let out a short yawn once and opened the carriage window, a pleasantly sharp wind swept our cheeks. Ivan’s spouse mumbled, and rubbed his face vigorously with his dry hands to chase away sleep.

Worried that the child, who fell asleep late, might cough from the cold wind, I swept and covered Ruben’s cheek with my hand. However, the child immediately opened his eyes, making me feel pointlessly embarrassed. Ruben stared at me fixedly and smiled bashfully.

Ruben is fine, but Ivan’s spouse coughed slightly a few times. However, if I took care of him and bought pointless misunderstandings, it would be troublesome. Figuring Ivan would take care of his own spouse, I didn’t add useless words.

I just asked toward Ivan.

“Are we almost there?”

“Yes, it is Sombre now.”

It was a pretty city.

Every building was a low, single-story building, and the shapes of their roofs were all round and low like young mushrooms.

Of course, they say it is natural that there are many high buildings closer to the capital where many people gather, and many low buildings the closer you go to the outskirts of the country, but the sight of the buildings sticking tightly to the ground like clamshells to withstand the fierce sea wind, sparkling with white light, was truly a spectacular sight.

The carriage headed to a certain house among those clamshells close to the coast, as if it were natural.

A dark-skinned woman, who had hung a clothesline in the yard and was hanging out and organizing used nets, saw the carriage, smiled brightly, and waved her hand wave, wave. Is she an acquaintance? Because it wasn’t a yard wide enough for the carriage to enter, we stopped in front of the gate.

Even before the coachman opened the door, Ivan nimbly got off the carriage first. And he offered his hand to his spouse first.

“…Yes? No, but Baron…”

“Those friends will get off on their own.”

“…”

Watching that spouse at a loss for what to do in embarrassment, I laughed inwardly, finding it astounded and funny. Originally, judging by status, it would be correct to attend to Ruben first, but both he and I knew there was no way Ruben would specifically leave my hand and borrow Ivan’s hand.

Waiting for Sienna Bikoff to grab Ivan’s hand and get off, I too attended to Ruben and helped him get off the carriage. To Sienna, who was still flustered and looking this way, I just nodded my head once saying it was fine and let it be.

The woman who was hanging out and drying the nets pressed down her straw hat and smiled mischievously.

“Boss, you’re here!”

“Yes, there is a tourist who wants to hear the story of the golden island again today.”

“How did you come exactly on time like this, please wait a little. You’ll have breakfast before going, right?”

“Of course.”

The woman greeted us roughly with a nod, and diligently went back to what she was doing.

As we stood blankly and waited, I blinked my eyes in puzzlement. Ivan gave me a hint.

“People who come to play in rural fishing villages like this also like seeing the sight of hanging out and drying nets. Because it’s fascinating, so after doing all the work, in my spare time, I add my mouth to do chores and share stories.”

“…Was this not just once or twice?”

“Well, isn’t a merchant someone who sells everything they can sell.”

“…”

Ivan took out and showed one money pouch. In Cieron, when there was a matter of gifting currency to someone, it was common to put gold or silver coins in a fine silk pouch like this and hand it over.

“I am something like a broker. Of course, I set aside a certain share for that person too. But since they are showing the house they are residing in out of consideration for us, it is better to observe etiquette to some extent.”

“…Mm.”

“Of course, you two are people who don’t need to worry about etiquette though.”

The hand movements hanging out the nets from afar were experienced. It was a morning close to dawn. When did she go cast the nets, and when did she bring them back, to be hanging them out to dry like this. My gaze went once more to that diligent life.

Her strength is also good. The woman, who skillfully swung her arms and hung out the nets spreading them wide, gestured broadly telling us to come here.

Leaving the coachman to sit and wait in the carriage, we entered a not-so-large door following behind Ivan. The entrance was so narrow and low that everyone in the group had to bow their heads to enter, so I was worried, but fortunately, the interior was high enough that we didn’t have to bend our waists.

This time too, Ivan’s additional explanation followed.

“The buildings on the coast of Yulan are mostly low in height to block the sea wind. Instead, they dug the ground this much to match the indoor height. It is quite cozy, and it’s good because it can harbor the warm geothermal heat coming from the west all year round.”

“…You seem quite like a guide, Ivan.”

“It’s similar.”

“My husband went to sell the fish he caught in the morning right now. He would have liked it very much if he knew guests had come, so it’s a shame. He really likes people… Kids, guests are here. Say hello.”

When the woman called, three young children abruptly poked their heads out from inside the room. The fully grown one was eight years old, and the most fist-sized one seemed about four years old. Hello, they bowed in greeting, smiled shyly, and then I saw their backs as they scurried back into the room to run away.

The woman initiated conversation with an amiable attitude.

“Now, now. Sit here. You want to hear the legend story about the golden island, right?”

“Yes.”

Even among guys sitting around without eloquence, the woman opened her mouth readily.

The woman placed a clear, refreshing-tasting tea water in front of each person and unhesitatingly began the story. That voice is as cheerful as the tea water she brought out.

If she read fairy tale books to children with this kind of voice, she would be able to put them to sweet sleep every day, and even if she read books in the marketplace, it seemed she would attract many customers.

Long, long ago, in the distant past, there lived a blue turtle. It was a story starting like that.

In the wide sea, various beasts as massive as the sea lived.

The blue turtle had an exceptionally large body even among them. Because the blue turtle was so very large, equivalent to two sailing ships combined, other turtles feared and avoided it. Whenever the turtle was lonely, it swallowed the sea a mouthful at a time and spat it out. Then a wave as massive as the blue turtle’s shell crashed.

The mermaids hit by the waves swarmed groaning and soothed the blue turtle. They persuaded it saying they would make friends for the blue turtle so it wouldn’t be lonely.

The mermaids caught passing sailing ships and gave them to the blue turtle as gifts. The blue turtle swallowed sailing ships half the size of its body and spat them out. Because of that, many humans sank into the sea.

One day, one of the captured humans begged the blue turtle to spare him, giving it gold and silver treasures. I will give you the most precious and valuable thing I have, if you have many precious and valuable things you will no longer be lonely, he deceived the blue turtle.

Since then, the rumor spread widely that if you give gold and silver treasures to the blue turtle, you can cross the sea alive. People, you and I alike, launched ships carrying beautiful jewels and heavy chunks of gold. Whenever they were caught by mermaids, they held out gold and silver treasures to the blue turtle and begged for their lives.

A lot of gold piled up on the back of the blue turtle.

Even so, the blue turtle, which became a golden turtle, was lonely.

The golden turtle began to swallow the sea again. Two mouthfuls, three mouthfuls, then it swallowed five mouthfuls, ten mouthfuls, and spat them out. A wave a hundred times larger than what the blue turtle caused crashed and devoured this land. The middle of the originally round land was deeply gouged out and became the Indus Gulf.

Only then did the goddess see the golden turtle. And with an affectionate voice, she soothed the turtle.

I have placed your friend in a long, long dream, so try closing your eyes tight. I have placed your lover deep, deep in the sea, so dream a sweet dream. After sleeping deeply and waking up, let’s wait together for the blue turtle that will be held in your embrace.

So the golden turtle fell into a very long sleep, the longest sleep it could take.

Having finished the story, the woman also taught us the song said to have been used to put the golden turtle to sleep while she was at it.

It was a simple melody. It was a song that was merely hummed to a similar tune, with nothing much to call lyrics. In the tune that even young children could easily sing along to, not a bit of magical efficacy could be found.

Somehow feeling a corner of my chest stuffy, I asked as if cross-examining.

“…Isn’t that, deceiving the turtle?”

“Right? But it’s just a legend like that. When our son first heard this story, you don’t know how much he cried saying he felt sorry for the golden turtle.”

The woman laughed refreshingly, pulled her chair back, and stood up from her seat.

“Since you’re here, have a meal before going. I’ll serve you a Yulan-style breakfast. Because Yulan people wake up very early and move diligently, we eat heartily from the morning.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Is there anyone who can’t eat fish?”

“No, we all eat it well.”

“Then please wait a moment!”

Is this just one of those so-so legends?

We met gods twice. And now we were asking around for the location of a divine relic that might be useful when fighting a god. No legend was considered insignificant. I looked once at Ruben, who was deeply sunk in thought, and then again at Ivan, who had an indifferent face as always.

Ivan shrugged his shoulders.

“After eating, let’s go see the golden island. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Once you see it, your thoughts will change again.”