A Meeting by Chance (completed)

It's Happiness When You're There

 

The sky was clear, without a cloud in the sky. The perfect weather for a walk.
Celeilia wore the silver woven hooded coat she always wore, and took in hand what would be a small basket for hiking in my world, as she walked out from the castle gate.

“We’re visiting the Castle Town?”
“Yes. Mizuki, today, I want to let you know my world.”
“Got it. The truth is, I was a little curious myself.”

I’d spent the last few days in lodgings of the imperial court magician brigades, and while it may have been of my own accord, I hadn’t a chance to stop by the castle town. I had only gone through it on the first day.
More than anything else, walking through the desolate streets alone was a little scary.
But bidding farewell to it with such scary sentiment would be sad.
I mean, this is where Celeilia lived, and where many more lived their lives.
I walked beside her, and looked over the town.
There wasn’t any wind, and it was warm, so nothing but the dead silence of the townscape came into my senses.
Mine and her footsteps, atop the weed-ridden stone pavement was all that was there to break that silence.
And Celeilia stopped in front of a single house… a store with a small signboard propped up against it.
Even from outside, I could see the store’s interior was a bit dusty.
Inside, the stone pots that were used in the castle let me tell it was a food store.

“This is the Lahn shop I frequented. They baked loads of lahn every day.”

The word that even the candy couldn’t translate was likely the name of a food.

“Lahn?”
“Remember, you ate it on the day we met, Mizuki.”
“Oh, that nan-like bread.”
“So you have it in your world too, Mizuki?”
“Yep. It’s not all too common in my country, but I’ve eaten it before”

It appears the nan-like lahn was a staple in her country.
Grown on rice, I wasn’t all too familiar with it, but it had a pleasant taste that could become a habit.

“It was a shop managed by a guy with quite a scary, rugged face, but the taste was quite nice…”
“I… see.”

Her eyes were looking far away.
I’m sure she wasn’t looking at me. She was watching a scene of the restraint full of people.
I wasn’t able to see the same world. For some reason, that made me sad.

“… Let’s go to the next one.”
“Yeah.”

We walked off with the lahn shop to our back.
The castle town was like a maze, and without Celeilia to lead me, I’d have already been lost.
The only things for my eyes to follow were Celeilia and her shadow.
I looked at my right hand.
This world without another living life was arousing a feeling in my heart I could equate to none other.

Eventually, what came into sight, was a white building.
After years of wear, its stone walls had chipped away here and there.

“This is the Nil Magician’s Association I served from when I was eight, to when I was fifteen.”
“Eight? This country puts people to work at such a young age?”
“Yes. Was it different from where you came from, Mizuki?”
“Where I was, even part time work was for high school… around sixteen at least.”

Honestly, I couldn’t conceal my surprise.
Of course, from history class, I had known that such an era existed.
But from my point of view it was a time too far away… of the distant past, so seeing one who truly experienced it, seeing Celeilia before me was surprising.
Thinking back to when I was eight, that was when I was going to school, and playing around with Yuuji.
I couldn’t imagine that small self of mine working at such an age.

“For them to be able to go one without putting the children to work… Mizuki, your world is a good one.”
“… Right. That’s what I want to think.”