[???'s POV]
I didn't knew what happened prior to at the time, but when I came to I was alone in the forest.
"...eh?"
Tears filled my eyes.
I didn't know what happened to me. I didn't remember what happened prior to this. I don't know a single thing. I was confused.
I sat down on the mud ground, not knowing what to do... It was likely morning when I woke up.
I didn't really know what I was thinking at the time, but I faintly remember calling out only to one person.
"...Onee-chan..."
Why won't she come and save me? I wondered.
I could've sat for minutes, hours or even the entire afternoon but eventually I got on my feet and started wandering the forest.
What was I looking for? Help, obviously. But most importantly I was hungry and parched. I was dying of dehydration and I needed water, and even if I was scared I was forced to move.
I roamed the forest until I came across what appears to be a lake with clear water. When I tried to approach the lake and drink from it, only then do I noticed something within the waters.
"Eh?..."
I couldn't exactly make out what it was, but it was humanoid and it had long hair. It spoke, even though it was under the water.
"(Come... closer...)"
Although it was not speaking a language that I am currently speaking in, I still understood what it said by intuition.
But this thing is... whatever it is, approaching it would be the worst thing I could do.
I stood in the bank of the lake, frozen in fear.
"(Come... Closer.... I won't... Hurt you....)"
I ran away without drinking anything from the water.
Then night came.
I had no where to sleep or to rest, I could only continue roaming the forests until I saw faint lights in the distance.
"People...?"
'Am I finally saved?' I wondered. Although my legs lacked strength and I'm so tired that I could collapse at any second, the slight hope of finding help is enough to get me going.
As I approached the light source from the bushes, it was a bunch of people standing on a mud road. They held swords and pikes.
Lying on the ground is a man that was badly beaten up, and a woman who is on the ground and showed no signs of resistance even though she is alive.
"...!"
I could feel the back of my throat swelling up, making me want to vomit.
They're toying with her...
"(Tch, these two are poor bastards... The money we took can't even cover this week's expenses.)"
"(At least we found a woman. I hadn't had a good wench since last year when we we're chased out of Edi by the guards.)"
"(True. You had your fill, it's time for my turn.)"
It didn't took much to understand that they're bandits, and children that they capture will not end up well.
If anything I'd likely end up being buried alongside those two merchants once they're done with her....
As I begun to sneak away, the leaves ruffling as I moved alerted the multiple bandits to my presence. "(Who's there?!)"
Without even looking back I began running in the opposite direction. If I was caught I'd be killed.
In the pitch black forest where I couldn't see a thing, I ran and ran until I collapsed.
"Hah... Hah... Ah... Hah..."
It might've been minutes, or even just a few seconds... But I ran until I physically cannot anymore, and only then do I looked back :
No signs of the bandits chasing after me.
"Hah.... Phew...."
I must've napped there on the dirt for hours, since by the time I had woken up the moon in the middle of the night sky, and bright enough to illuminate the surrounding woods.
I got up again and continued to wander the forest... In the process, I heard strange noises.
"Help.... Me...."
It came from somewhere close, but I couldn't see as I was deep inside the forest. But I steeled my nerves and continued to walk.
"I'd give you anything!.... Please don't kill me!..."
"Why did you kill her?... Saku-chan was my only reason for living...."
"Please... I don't want more love.... I don't want anyone's love anymore.... So please...."
"Mother.... It's all my fault...."
"Argh-!!! Stop it! Help me!"
There were nothing besides me but trees and bushes. Even if my mind was not, the voices is driving me to insanity.
I knew now that this is the influence of Cursed Spirits. Spirits of people who have died a death full of dread, anger and regret.... but at the time I must be brushed it off as hallucinations and continued on.
I kept wandering the forest until I came across a road.
It is likely the same road that the bandits were hours ago, but just way further down than before.
Thinking back it might've been even more dangerous to walk the roads than the forest, but the then-me went that way and continued on.... until I began to hear noises again.
This time it was the sound of a Shamisen (guitar) playing, accompanying by the sound of a woman crying.
"Urgh... Huh...."
I walked closer and closer until I see her, a woman with a scarf covering her head playing the Shamisen on the road side while crying. There was a small lantern besides her.
I would've thought she is a human if not for the fact that there was a lantern by her side.... When I looked at the directing where her shadow should've been casted by the lantern, I saw nothing.
That is not a human.
"!..."
My knees were lacking strength already from all the running I did, and my head is a complete mess. That's why against all common logic I decided to continue on the road walking pass the crying woman.
"Urgh huh.... Huh...."
She didn't seemed to care about me as I walked pass her.
Finally making it pass her I breathed a sigh of relief...
"(Hey.... Ojou-san....)"
All the hairs on my body stood, and I frooze in place.
"(Have you seen Lord Tengen...?)"
"N.... No..."
"(I sent him countless letters but he would not reply.... I went to his house and knocked on his door but he would not open.... My heart is in shackles.... Urgh huh....)"
"...."
I tried to walk away faster than I was before.
"(Are you going to just ignore me?!)"
"Ahh-!!!"
Once again I took off running but this time there was no strength left in my legs. I could only run a small distance in this dark road before I collapsed on the ground again.
The woman didn't ran at me, she simply walked and walked and walked.... until she is right in front of me.
"(Hey.... I asked of you did you know where Lord Tengen is...?)"
I didn't know how to speak or how to respond, completely frozen in place I simply stared at the ghost in front of me.
"(Stop ignoring me! Stop ignoring me! YOU ARE A LIAR JUST LIKE THEY ALL ARE! NO ONE WANTS ME TO BE NEAR LORD TENGEN! DIE! DIE! DIE!)"
The ghost reached her arm out for my neck... I knew I couldn't run or fight back so I merely closed my eyes and accept a painful death.
'Fwuom!!!'
"Kyahh-!!!"
But somehow, the ghost erupted in a bright golden flame spontaneously.
She screamed in pain and fell onto me, but the flames did not hurt me.
"Eh?..."
I got back up on my feet and didn't knew what to do. But the ghost, while on the ground it looked up to me and said :
"It hurts.... It hurts so much.... Ah... Is that you, Lord Tengen?
Ah... At last, I can finally see you... once more.... I love you...."
After a while the flames extinguished leaving the spirit on the ground. She slowly dissipated into thin air afterwards, and nothing remains of her has indicated that she even existed.
Is it even real? Or have I finally gone insane and start hallucinating?
"What is going on...."
It was only when I begun walking away, I noticed something that I held in my hand. Somewhere somehow I had picked up this doll and never noticed it until now.
Even at the time when I am not so familiar with these spiritual things, I had a feeling the doll was what saved me and so I held on to it and kept on walking.
...
...
Fire.... All the buildings and roads are set ablaze.... Everything is burning.
I can hardly breathe from all the heat and smoke. It's suffocating.
In the smokes, I saw a faint figure at the distance. She is just a small girl with long hair like me, but she spoke as if she was an adult.
"Mother! Bring Marielle to safety, I'll hold them off!"
Onee-chan?
"Wait, you should come with us... Huh?"
When I came to again, it was to the sight of a ceiling. I was lying on a mattress, with blanket on me.
[???'s POV]
(1 day after Klada Disaster)
"Where am... I..."
My dirty clothes were changed, and I had bandages wrapped all over my leg, head and my elbow. It was hot inside the mattress, I could hardly breathe in it....
It seems that I am in a small room... but where? Did someone took me here?
I want to know where I am but first I need water.... I got up on my feet and saw a bucket containing water inside. I immediately drank multiple gulps from it.
"Hah...."
Now I need to know where I am....
As I opened the sliding door, I came across an old man holding a long pole fighting with a younger boy.
The boy seems to be about my age, and also held a long wooden pole himself. He was training with the old man.
"Eh?"
"(Haru, stop. Our guest have woken.)"
"(Hmm? Oh, she is.)"
The old man put down his staff and walked over.
"(Are you alright, young one? Are you hungry? Cold?)"
"...." I didn't know how to speak in the language of the man before me, but I knew what he was saying.
However I immediately noticed something. Although he was old, his hair was unnaturally pale white just like mine, and his eyes glowed with a bright red colour just like me.
"(Hmm, I think she doesn't know what we're saying.)"
"(For now I guess you should give her some food, if she need anything else she'd ask.)"
"(You're right. Come over here.)"
He patted on my back and nudged me to the inside of the house where there was a dining table.
He put some food on the table, it was just a simple bowl of rice with sweet potatoes and a piece of fish meat.
"(It's left over from breakfast, but there's plenty more I made for you so eat up.)"
"...."
"(Don't be shy, eat up. Eat. Nom nom?)"
The first bite of the rice was the most delicious meal of my life. So much so that tears started to flow again.
"(You can't talk but at least you can eat. Eating is what our body needs after a day of hardships, without nutrition you won't recover. So eat more. After that, we can figure out what to do.)"
"Sobs.... Mmm...."
"(It sounds stupid for me to talk to someone who can't even understand Japanese... But this old man has to introduce himself somehow.)"
He pointed to himself.
"(Fujimoto Gorou.)"
And then he pointed to me.
"(And you?)"
"I don't recall...."
"( [I don't recall] is it? What an odd name, you must really be from the west huh?)"
"...Pfft...."
"(Why are you laughing?)"
I am not "I don't know", idiot.
____________
Afterwards, day by day I practiced as much as I can to learn how to speak Japanese. For some odd reason I had innate understanding of the language as was able to quickly pick up on it.
It took me merely 3 weeks of time before I could finally talk with the old man.
"Thank you.... for taking care of me."
"Mmm, don't mention it."
"Where... did you... find me?"
"In the edge of the forest while I was out to gather wood. You are a tough girl, since you were covered in cuts and bruises and had no warmth in you when I found you."
"I understand...."
"...Tell me. What did you 'see' inside the forest?"
"...Bad people... And people that don't feel or look like people."
"Hmm." He pats me on the head.
"It's alright, you're safe here. No matter how much bandits or cursed spirits you run into, you're safe here now."
And that is the story of how I came into a village despite being a Westerner.
(Chapter End)