MTM 20

“C-comrade…?”

Harto was startled by the sudden voice.

[Yes! Comrade!]

[Same as us!]

[Not exactly! He’s huge!]

It wasn’t frightening at all, because the voices sounded like children. What confused him was that he couldn’t see anyone, yet so many voices came from somewhere.

[Here! Here!]

As Harto was confused, one voice shouted louder.

“Huh… where? Here?”

Harto lowered his head toward the sound. On the floor, within the scattered drops of water from his washing, tiny human shapes appeared.

[We see you!]

[Finally, we see you!]

Since there were countless droplets, there were countless voices too. The figures were so small that he wouldn’t have noticed them without looking closely. Their entire bodies were made of water.

“Are you… spirits?”

[Oh, right! You got it!]

The spirits giggled happily because he had guessed correctly. Harto put his face close to the floor and watched them curiously. He had only heard of spirits before, never seen them in person.

“But… why do you call me your comrade?”

Harto asked, wondering about the first shout that had startled him. One of the spirits raised its arm, or rather, pointed straight at him.

[You can control water.]

“Ah…”

Harto blushed a little and let water form in his palm before letting it flow down to the floor. The spirits cheered and swam around joyfully in the puddle that grew twice as big. They were so small that he couldn’t tell them apart, but watching them splash around looked simply adorable.

“When we came to this village, you were the ones whispering to me, right?”

[That’s right. We wanted to talk to you all along, but you was hanging around a human.]

They must have meant Zed.

“Yes. Zed is my comrade.”

Harto answered proudly, but the laughing spirits suddenly froze.

[A human?]

[How can you be comrades with a human?]

[Humans are cruel.]

[Bad.]

[They destroyed our home.]

[Yes! Those humans…!]

The cute voices of the spirits turned grim and fierce. Harto panicked and quickly asked before their anger filled the whole room.

“W-wait… what do you mean? They destroyed your home?”

[Yes! Completely shattered it!]

[Humans are bad! Because they’re bad, they must be punished!]

[We took them so they’d fix what they broke!]

[At least they’re good with their hands.]

[Yes, but still bad!]

[That’s right! Bad ones!]

“Uh… well, um… calm down…”

As their mood grew violent again, Harto grew nervous. But from what they said, something must have happened in the village.

‘…Now I understand what Zed meant when he said he knows why this village has no young men.’

Harto remembered Zed’s words.

“Then… you’re the ones who took the young men from this village?”

[Yes! We took them all!]

“Ah…”

What could have happened for these tiny water spirits to take all the men away?

“Can you… tell me what happened?”

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

“The men… after the drought grew severe… they all went into the well.”

“The well? You mean, to dig the ground?”

Zed sat across from Madam Mare at the table and listened to the story of what had happened in the village.

When the drought worsened and even drinking water became scarce, the young men of the village, together with the elder, suggested several solutions. The one they chose was to go down into the well and dig deeper, hoping to reach underground water.

But the hardened earth had become barren over time. No matter how much they dug, no groundwater came out. Even so, the young men worked day and night without rest, determined to save their village. Then, when one of them struck the ground hard with his shovel, something cracked.

What they pulled from the soil was a massive boulder, dark blue and glimmering with a dim light. Without fear, they broke it apart with their shovels, and water instantly flowed. The men cheered and drank the water from the stone together.

“…And then they vanished.”

No one knew if they had risen to the sky or sunk into the earth. Every man who had been digging disappeared without a trace. The broken stone was gone too, and the well dried up again. The drought returned. Even when rain later fell, the villagers decided never to fill the well with water again.

“If they broke something precious that belonged to the guardian spirit we worship, and the spirit took them into the earth… we feared something dreadful would happen, so we couldn’t dare fill the well again.”

“That’s why we pray at the well every night,” Charlotte said as she brought tea and sat beside Madam Mare.

“The festival is our village’s tradition. When sorrow or misfortune strikes, we offer songs and sacrifices to the guardian spirit. It may sound strange to a wanderer like you, but we’ve always overcome our grief this way.”

In that remote village that had little contact with the outside world, the reason they could trust and rely on each other was that belief, and Zed understood it well.

“So that’s how it happened.”

After hearing everything, Zed showed a thoughtful look, then spoke in a clear tone.

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

“What?”

Madam Mare’s face showed surprise. Charlotte frowned, wondering whether he had taken their story lightly.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Zed spoke calmly, asking them to listen further.

“The rock that was broken inside the well is probably ‘Bivrak.’ It’s the home of tiny water spirits called ‘Nogli,’ each no bigger than a grain of millet.”

“Bivrak…? Nogli…?”

Madam Mare and Charlotte opened their eyes wide, they had never heard the names before.

“They must have been furious that their home was destroyed. And to make it worse, the men drank the water they cherished like holy water. That’s why they probably took all the young men away to make them rebuild the house. When the work is done, the Nogli will send them back. They acted in anger, but they aren’t evil by nature.”

“I-is that really true?”

Madam Mare looked as if she couldn’t believe it, but her eyes seemed to want to believe. Charlotte, on the other hand, still looked doubtful. She gripped her tear-soaked handkerchief tightly and spoke to Zed.

“Are you trying to lie to an old woman like me?”

“It’s not a lie. As you know, once you cross the mountain, and beyond the great sea, you’ll see all sorts of things. Breaking a Nogli’s home and humans being taken is… not unusual.”

When Zed spoke as if it was nothing, Charlotte abruptly stood up.

“T-then! If the spirits took the men, when are they going to send them back?”

Thud!

At that moment, a loud noise echoed from upstairs, following Charlotte’s shout.

“…Damn.”

Zed, who hadn’t shown any agitation until now, stood up from his seat and rushed to the stairs.

“Zed! Wait a moment!”

Madam Mare called out to him, but Zed had to go back to the room. Something might have happened to Harto. Or perhaps whoever was after him had found Harto.

‘Damn it, I shouldn’t have left him alone even for a moment!’

He had let his guard down. Zed pushed the door and searched for Harto.

“Har..!”

But before he could even call the name, he stopped.

“What is this…”

The room, which had been empty earlier, was now packed with people. Their dazed appearance showed they were the young men who had gone missing from the village.

“Hey. Can you hear me?!”

Zed grabbed one man’s shoulder and shook him. The man, barely able to stay upright, came to his senses.

“Uh…?”

“Did you see the monster that was in this room? Black and…”

“Ahhh! S-sir Spirit! I-I’m sorry for breaking the stone! Forgive me!”

“……”

Maybe he had been forced into harsh labor by the Nogli. The man bowed again and again, apologizing repeatedly. It was a conversation that wouldn’t work. Zed knew that sometimes spirits could be more cruel than humans, so he decided not to question the man further.

“…Zed! Over here!”

“Harto!”

Then, from under the bed, he heard Harto’s voice calling him. Zed pushed past the dazed men and found the soot-black body beneath the bed.

“Harto, what happened…”

“Shh. It’s a long story. I found out something incredible!”

Harto’s blue eyes sparkled under the bed.

When Zed realized Harto was safe, the pounding in his chest finally ceased.

“Ah! W-what is this!? Ch-Charlotte! The men! The men have come back!”

Madam Mare, seeing the returned men inside the room, hurried downstairs to call Charlotte.

But why had the Nogli sent them back now, and to this place?

Zed felt the weight of exhaustion hit him, and he let out a deep sigh.

“Ha… Harto. It’s going to take some time to sort this out. Stay put here, no matter what.”

Even if he worked with the villagers to move the men, he would be the only one capable of lifting them, so it wouldn’t be resolved quickly.

“I’m fine. But Zed…”

As Zed straightened up, Harto blinked his big eyes and asked,

“What about food?”