Sea of Golden Sand: Chapter 2
The palace at midnight is silent and still, but in the royal city right outside the walls, the nightlife has only just begun.
The market is bustling and crowded. The roadsides are aglow with warm lights and filled with a dazzling of peddler stalls.
MC: So the royal city is this lively! And these little things, it’s all so interesting. I’ve never seen this before!
That mysterious person I met walks far ahead of me, and I hurry to catch up to him.
MC: Wait a bit for me.
??: I’m only responsible for bringing you out here. We’re now even.
MC: Although your words are cold, you were willing to lead me out to have some fun, which shows that your heart is still very good. Of course you won’t abandon me all by myself, right?
??: Your expectations of strangers are too high.
MC: You’ve been so good to me, and I still don’t know what you’re called.
??: There’s no need, we will very soon go our separate ways.
MC: There’s a great need—you are the second most important person to me, I must know your name.
??: The second most important person?
Of course it’s like this. Since I was small, I have always hoped to be able to take a look outside the palace. This wish of so many years, my ninety-nine futile attempts at escape, he has fulfilled with a wave of his hand.
MC: So to me, you’re like…
MC: Just like a genie in a lamp that grants wishes!
??: ...
MC: That’s not right, you appeared from the water, that should be a kind of sea god…
MC: Mr. Sea God, you—
??: My name is Rafayel.
MC: ? Why does it sound like a name you made up on the spot?
Rafayel: Is the name Natasha a very special name then?
MC: Then Ravel, there are so many things to eat and to have fun with here. Do you… have any money? I didn’t bring any, could you lend me a little…
MC: Later, when I’ve returned to the palace, I’ll think of a way to return it to you. Don’t worry.
Rafayel: ...
Rafayel: I’m going to say this now. I’m only going to the third intersection down there.
Persuading people to help me do things is one of the few skills I have learned after playing the part of princess.
MC: This skewer is really delicious, what is it made of? When I return I’ll ask the kitchen to make it for me too.
Rafayel: As long as it’s delicious, it’s enough. There’s no need to know what it is.
MC: Look over there, they’re selling little mice! How about we buy one to take back?
Rafayel: That is a , they’re everywhere outside the city.
MC: Desert rats?
Rafayel: What you ate just now was, too.
MC: What?! … you’re lying to me!
Perhaps to Rafayel, the third intersection is unexpectedly far away tonight.
Because just at the first intersection, I dawdled and was unwilling to leave for a very long time.
MC: Is this perfume powder for the face? Sprinkle some on your wrist and let me sniff it.
Rafayel: These are spices for cooking, usually sprinkled over cooked meat.
MC: Those little lights are so intricate. I want to buy one to hang at the head of my bed.
Rafayel: Those are soul lamps. Say that again after someone in the palace has died.
MC: Look at that crochet hat over there—hmm? Why does it look so familiar…
Peddler: This style is the same as what the princess has worn, so it costs this much!
After a long time wandering through the stalls, there are a lot of peddlers on both sides selling the kind of items that “the princess has worn”.
MC: Why are they all selling things that are the same as the princess’s? What’s the point of wearing someone else’s things?
Rafayel: Aren’t you the lady-in-waiting who serves the princess? Do you not know this? In the royal city it’s said—
Rafayel: This heart protects Philos and ensures that the planet will continue to exist for ten thousand generations, and its people will live forever and never age.
Rafayel: So anything related to the princess naturally becomes fashionable.
MC: … I knew it, it’s because of that heart again.
That truly is a heart everyone admires, but as the princess herself, I don’t want it at all.
It causes everyone near me to not see my existence. No matter whether they hold respect and protectiveness or envy and enmity, they all come to my side, just because of this heart.
On the surface, I may be the princess, but in reality, I’m just a beautiful fishbowl used to raise a . As long as the fish lives well, who will pay attention to the ?
Luckily, he just slightly turns his face and then pulls me along as he runs. Along the way, he topples over a fabric dying rack on the side.
The market behind us has been whipped up After two or three turns, we dodge into an alley to hide.
MC: You… run way too quickly, I nearly couldn’t keep up…
Rafayel loosens the strip of cloth over his shoulder. Only now do I see that in the wound there still remains a small broken arrow.
MC: Bleeding again? We need to find a medical facility nearby to take care of it.
Rafayel: No need.
He pinches the broken shaft of the arrowhead, uses a bit of strength in his fingertips, and directly pulls the arrowhead out.
MC: You…!
The arrowhead is tossed to one side. Blood stains red the royal seal upon it.
Not going to a medical facility, it must be because he doesn’t want to let anyone discover this wound is related to the palace.
MC: … but you’ve lost this much blood, and can’t just leave it alone like that.
Rafayel and I sit on some steps in the alley. Below us is the lively market we were just walking through.
MC: The tincture will hurt a lot when it contacts the wound. I’ll try to be gentle, so bear with it.
I carefully tear open the clothing around the wound and pour the tincture in it, but Rafayel doesn’t even twitch an eyebrow.
MC: I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while. ?
Rafayel: Get hurt a few more times and you can be this way too.
MC: … In the past, I fell climbing a tree. Skinning a knee hurts a lot.
Rafayel: You fell climbing a tree?
MC: At the time, I just wanted to see what was outside the palace.
Rafayel: ?
MC: It was another palace.
Rafayel: ...
Rafayel: Since you don’t like the palace, why not take this opportunity to leave it all behind.
MC: I can’t… this sort of behavior is too irresponsible.
Rafayel looks at the hands I’m using to secure the bandage.
MC: I…!
Rafayel: An escaped princess—if fallen into the hands of someone with ulterior motives, do know how dangerous that would be?
MC: ...
I lower my head, and set down the bandages and tincture.
MC: You’re right, I’m actually not a lady-in-waiting.
But, I’m also not any kind of real princess.
This is a secret very few people know. I am not the daughter of the Philosian royal family, and am not anyone’s child, but am a life form awakened from some deep crevice in the ground.
The royal family gives me the title “princess”, and protects me as a treasure, all because of that heart inside my chest.
The exalted position that I have, the easy life, friends and family, and the love that I have received, also all belong to that heart.
.
So, I often feel that my heart and myself as a person are two separate things.
If I didn’t have a heart like that, then who would I be?
MC: Being a princess also doesn’t mean anything, I can’t go anywhere.
Rafayel: Where do you want to go?
MC: Hmm… to see the ocean?
Rafayel: To see the ocean?
MC: Mmhmm.
I lean backwards against the steps.
MC: I read in books that the ocean is very beautiful, it’s blue. Who knew there were so many different shades of blue in the world.
MC: In the sea there are also many beautiful little fish, and many legendary stories.
MC: Anyway, it’s very different from the royal city.
Rafayel: ...
MC: How come you aren’t speaking any more?
Rafayel: It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anyone say they wished to see the ocean.
MC: Have you been to the seaside? What is the sea like, are there really a lot of multicolored little shells on the beach?
Rafayel: If there is an opportunity in the future, you will see .
From the streets below comes a small disturbance, and in the midst of a squad of royal guards, I see a familiar figure.
MC: It’s Natasha…! She must have been sent to come find me.
Rafayel stands up and moves his left shoulder around.
Rafayel: It’s bandaged well. .
Rafayel: Let’s call it a day. This is already the third intersection as well.
MC: Wait, that—
No matter what kind of person Rafayel is, this is the first time I have been able to leave my and enjoy a night of freedom outside.
Now that it’s happened once, I hope wildly there will be a second time, a third time.
MC: Then in the future, will you come to the palace again? Can you come and look for me again?
MC: It’s not because of some selfish reason, it’s… it’s to return money to you. A princess shouldn’t owe anything to her people.
Rafayel: ...
From Rafayel’s expression, it seems he’s been defeated by my terrible excuse.
Rafayel: Your Royal Highness, do you really not remember who I am?
He steps forward and holds my hands, and forms a close-and-open gesture.
Rafayel: That fish I gave you that year, is it still around?
Rafayel steps through the darkness and doubles back into an alley. Elder Amund is leaning against a corner, and clearly has already waited for a long time.
Amund: I saw both of you just now. Is it her?
Rafayel: Mmm.
Amund: Why didn’t make a move?
Rafayel: It’s not time yet.
Amund: You never used to hesitate before.
Rafayel: ...
Rafayel doesn’t answer, just walks silently. Amund can’t help but take another couple of steps closer.
Amund: Rafayel, think clearly. She isn’t that girl from before, and you have long not been any sort of sea god!
Rafayel: You’ve become talkative in your old age.
Amund: The Sacred Flame is about to go out… How much time do you have left? This is Lemuria’s last chance.
Rafayel stops instinctively, opens his palm, and a flame ignites in the center of his palm.
That flame is black, and only the heart of the flame has a little light remaining.
Rafayel: But her power has not recovered, and she of her own situation.
Rafayel: To take action rashly now would only serve to and cause the royal family to take precautions.
Amund: …
Rafayel closes his hand.
Rafayel: Don’t forget, what we need is an intact Sea God’s heart.
Rafayel: She must offer up her heart willingly of her own free will.
Amund: … Then, the next step, what do you plan to do?
A white moon hangs at the tops of the trees. Somehow, Rafayel thinks of the girl’s brightly sparkling eyes at the market.
Rafayel: She likes little desert rats.
Gradually, he grows distracted.
Rafayel: I want to bring her outside the city to catch little desert rats.
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