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Frontier Lord Chapter 023: The moon, their namesake

Chapter 023: The moon, their namesake

By the time I finished bathing and put on a fresh set of clothes, evening had already arrived. The Meias and I headed over to the storage yurt to find the entire population of Iruk village assembled in front of it. The old ladies had surrounded Senai, Aihan and Aruna to peer at the adorable toddlers. A beaming Klaus looked on.

Old lady Maya… was standing a small distance away from everyone else.

Standing at the center of attention, Aruna was braiding Senai’s hair. She moved on to Aihan afterward. Braiding hair was, according to Aruna herself, part of women’s etiquette.

She possessed a wooden box with intricate carvings on it that she treasured dearly. It contained jewels of many types. By taking a long, thin jewel with a tiny hole cut into it, threading a string of the same colour as the jewel through the hole, then having it interlaced with the hair, one could braid one’s hair into the unique jewel-tipped style embraced by women of the monsterfolk.

Though both the braiding and unbraiding processes were especially time-consuming, Aruna nevertheless repeated them when she washed her hair each day. I had once asked her whether she found it a bother — her response was that it had been routine for her since childhood, so she had never found it difficult or troublesome.

「This is a sari-yakut. It repels illnesses,」 said Aruna. 「And this is a sa-fische. It can release a flash of light and save you from enemies in a pinch.」

She explained the effect of each jewel as she wove it into the twins’ hair. Senai, who was smiling, seemed to enjoy having her hair braided for her. Aihan listened intently to the explanation as she stared at the jewels in Aruna’s hand.

Aruna told the twins gently that she would be braiding their hair for them everyday. Once they grew up, however, they would have to do it on their own. The twins nodded sincerely, which made me wonder whether they had opened up because they had washed up and eaten their fill.

It was comforting to watch them. As I stood there, though, Francis and Francois came over to rub their bodies on me yet again. I petted them as I asserted that I wasn’t jealous.

No, I really don’t mind. Not at all. I’m glad they get along.

Old lady Maya approached with a pained expression as I was interacting with the Meias.

「Do you realise that they aren’t humans, my child?」

Never having expected her to say something like that, I frowned without thinking as I tried to figure out what she wanted to say.

「Well, they’re human children no matter how I look at them. Do you mean to say that they’re… monsters?」

「That’s not it. I mean to say that they aren’t human. Look at those ears — aren’t they strangely sharp and lengthy?」

I looked at the twins’ ears. They were indeed long and pointed.

But that’s such a small thing, I thought…

「Humans have unique features on their faces,」 I replied. 「Isn’t this ear stuff more or less the same idea?」

「Appearances aren’t everything,」 said old lady Maya. 「I can feel a strange something emanating from those children… also, aren’t you curious why that frog-head referred to them as ‘harbingers of doom’? I know that lass Aruna determined that they’re fine, and that I might be overthinking things… but could I get you to think about this as well?」

「Hmm… I understand, old lady Maya. I wasn’t planning to take my eyes off them anyway. I will be cautious.」

「Please do, my dragon-slaying child. We’re relying on you if anything happens… though even disaster itself might flee when it learns what you’re capable of.」

Hyeh-hyeh-hyeh, cackled old lady Maya. She went to join the ring of old ladies, with whom she exchanged words while looking at the twins.

So those children may not be human…?

Neither are Aruna and the monsterfolk, I thought. But from the way old lady Maya had spoken, I wondered if there was more to the children than met the eye. As far as I could see, they were normal girls, even if their ears were pointy.

Deep in thought, I glanced at the twins to find them bouncing around like rabbits. Perhaps they were happy that Aruna had braided their hair, or they liked the look of their jewels reflecting the fading light.

They’re perfectly normal to me…

「Senai, Aihan,」 I called out. 「They look good on you, don’t they?」

They each grabbed a fistful of their own hair as I approached.

「Look, look, it’s so pretty!」

「They’re sparkling!」

Though their smiles were still a little awkward, I still could not conceal my surprise at how quickly their attitude had changed. They were, in contrast with their previous taciturn selves, almost different people entirely. Now I know the effect that pretty objects, like jewels, have on girls!

I squatted to bring myself to their height.

「What kinds of jewels are these?」 I asked.

They began to introduce each jewel with fervour, and though their explanations were clumsy and riddled with mistakes, I was unable to keep myself from beaming. Unable to get enough of their smiles, I kept asking questions about the various jewels which they answered with sincerity.

Meanwhile, Aruna took two yellow jewels which seemed somewhat too big for braiding purposes out of her wooden box and started to work on them. She used a metal needle to poke a hole, then smoothened it with a piece of coarse animal hide before passing a piece of string through the freshly-created hole.

It looked like she was making a pendant.

When her work was complete, she put one pendant in the palm of each hand and showed them to Senai and Aihan.

「Senai,」 she said softly. 「Your name means ‘a person as beautiful as the moon’ in the ancient tongue. And yours, Aihan, refers to a ‘holy moon’ or the ‘goddess of the moon’. I do not know why your parents named you so, but the moon must have held great importance in the process. That is why I am giving you these aeis. They are said to contain the power of the moon… Senai, the waxing moon, and Aihan, the waning moon. Take good care of them.」

With that, she put the newly-made pendants around their necks. They could have been overjoyed at receiving the pendants, taken aback by learning the meaning of their names or overwhelmed by sadness at the thought of their parents. Regardless of the reason why, tears began streaming down their cheeks.

Aruna and I looked at each other and nodded. I scooped Senai up and ruffled her hair. Aruna followed suit and patted Aihan on the back. I continued ruffling Senai’s hair, noting that her body temperature was rising as she bawled.

I never knew their names had such meanings, I thought.

Words in the ancient tongue relating to the moon… wait, the ancient tongue?

「Hey, Aruna,」 I said. 「You mentioned the ancient tongue when naming our village too. I had assumed that only the monsterfolk knew how to speak it… but is it possible that Senai and Aihan’s parents had ties to the monsterfolk?」

「That, I too do not know,」 she replied, making sure not to stop consoling Aihan. 「The ancient tongue is no longer spoken. Only vestiges of it remain in the proverbs and the like that we use. Whether there are people other than the monsterfolk who know of it… I cannot say.」

I had to make a mental note of the fact that their ears were pointy… and the fact that their names had ancient origins.

Hmm, what’s up, Francis and Francois? Why the sudden squeeze?

Me-eh.

「They want to help too,」 translated Aruna. 「They say they’re good at pacifying children.」

I gave her a nod, and we rested the twins on the Meias’ wool. The moment their bodies brushed against the soft wool, the twins buried their faces in it and wrapped their arms around the Meias. They continued to sob for a while, and before we realised it, they had already drifted off to sleep.

It’s no surprise, I thought. I knew of the power of Meia wool as I had been resting on it at night for some time now. The Meias stuck their noses into the air as if to show us just how good a job they had done. Aruna and I remained silent so as not to wake the twins, and so did the other adults present.

We watched wordlessly with smiles on our faces.