새벽녘의 사수 슌란/7권

Chapter 7: One People, One Purpose
Sayu could barely see Chunlan's back in front of her. The snow clouds above were thick enough to obscure the moon, and the wind blew hard enough to drive fragments of icy snow into even the tiniest gaps of their clothing. The drifts piling on the ground were now up to their knees, sapping their strength with every step.
Februarys on Mount Whitecrown meant that blizzards struck with the ferocity of a temple guard repealing any who dared to trespass on their sanctuary, and the years had only made them more violent. The Matagi took this as a sign that the mountain spirits were angry at humanity for desecrating the blessings bestowed upon them by Aidios.
It would be easy to dismiss this as superstition—but the way in which the mountain swallowed up its prey in snow bordered on unnatural. Even the sound of each blizzard's fury was enough to drown out the most primal of screams for help, making rescue a fool's dream.
In Mount Whitecrown's most recent display of rage, a single point of light marched through. It consisted of three travelers, speaking volumes at their peak to only just hear one another.
'Damn, it's cold out here! Sure was an idiot for losing my furs... Ahh... AH-CHOO!'
'Want to trade coats, Dau?'
'Don't be silly, Sayu! No way, I'd let you catch a cold. I got cloths to rub me down and warm me up, so I'm doing fine!'
Chunlan led the way, with Sayu and Dau trusting the light of his lamp to guide their steps. None were dressed appropriately for such an environment. Chunlan had given his coat to Sayu, leaving him with a thick—though not quite thick enough—sweater to battle the elements. Sayu was still woefully underdressed even with the coat, but she was still much better off than Dau, who had fashioned a pitful covering by cutting armholes into a hempen bag.
'There's a Matagi lodge just up ahead!' Chunlan urged. 'Just hang in there!'
The only thing that inspired them to continue this terrible trek was that the route itself was short. Though the foreigners had no defense against the cold, they knew, as Woodland Wanderers would, how to navigate uneven terrain well. It was only this knowledge that helped them conserve the valuable energy they needed to keep up with the natives of the land.
They reached the cabin around midnight.
'I almost don't know how we made it thorugh that,' Chunlan heaved with relief as they entered. 'We've got time to rest if you need it, though it probably won't be too comfortable.'
The cabin had been constructed as a supply stop for those climbing the mountain rather than as any formal lodging, consisting of a single room that groaned with every push of the wind outside. It did so even as Chunlan opened the door—he could feel the vibrations of its planks even with his gloves. Yet ramshackled it appeared on the surface, it remained firm in its foundation, indicating it was regularly cared for.
Chunlan's mind wandered to Raiju once they were indoors. He imagined that, based on the direction it had gone when fleeing the Oni, it was likely hiding somewhere near the summit.
That lined up with what he already knew of the beast. No one had found its lair in the areas inhabited by other bears, and the area in question showed evidence of lightning damage. Their best course of action if they were to find it was to resupply and strike out quickly to reach the summit by dawn.
Chunlan turned to his companions. 'There's more stuff left here than I was expecting. Take whatever you can carry.'
'...Huh. So you can shove a short blade into this wooden hollow thing and make it into a spear,' Dau observed of one weapon among the stock.
'That's called a fukuro nagasa,' Chunlan explained. 'It's an offshoot of the knife I have with me.'
While he was busy gathering anything that was vital to their survival, Sayu took a look the hunting gear and specialized equipment in the farther corner of the cabin. She was quietly curious about her surroundings, both from a simple, innocent perspective and from a deeply intellectual perspective.
'Oh, YES! Fur! Where have you been all my life, you beautiful bastard?!' Dau, on the other hand, dived into the supplies with abandon, eventually caressing and curling up among a pile of warm furs.
There was a fire pit in the center of the room. Sayu approached. 'Looks like we've got an irori, too! I'll go ahead and get a fire going.'
'Thanks. Wait... Where did you learn that word?' Chunlan was puzzled as he continued sorting through supplies. 'It was already strange enough that you pegged me as a Matagi at all.'
'I learned 'irori' from this book,' she responded, removing her book from the pouch at her waist. 'And the traveler who gave it to me was a Matagi. The same person I told you about before.
It was the book she had been so particular about when they first met, entitled 'Fundamentals of Indigenous Cultures.' Chunlan found that the binding was quite aged when he took it into his hands and flipped through it, but it still held up very well over the years. '...Oh. This book is over twenty-five years old.'
The information would have been out of date to more modernized cultures, but all that was written on the Matagi was still very relevant, making it all the more apparent to him that their lives had not changed with the passing of time.
The book contained the names, lifestyles, and beliefs of various cultures and ethnicities Chunlan had never heard of before, as well as objective insights from the author, adding a beating heart behind its logical prose. Sayu and Dau's people—the Woodland Wanderers—were also mentioned.
'I found your people,' Chunlan said, reading on with interest. 'You sound like a pretty peaceful group the way you're written here.'
He wondered again how the Woodland Wanderers had such a rare artifact in their possession and why they were guarding it, though most of that had been answered at full volume during their windy trek.
The Woodland Wanderers had an agreement with the Septian Church. They could collect any artifacts the church's people could not reach, and in exchange, they were given the freedom to use them at their discretion, indulging in their many benefits, before handing them over to the church at designated shrines.
The book itself only gave vague hints as to this part of their background. Instead, it was full of excerpts on how they supported themselves with woodcrafts and assisted merchants during peaceful times, as well as brimming with notes detailing their relationships with other cultures and their day-to-day aesthetics.
'I doubt anything written here is new to you, but the book itself is special?' Chunlan guessed.
'That's right. I'm only here today because of it and the person who gave it to me,' Sayu answered. 'You might say he and it are...motivation.'
'Must be nice to be that motivated by something. For me, it's more...' Both she and Dau had found their own purposes in the ways of their people. Sayu in particular held a deep faith in her heritage, and that was key in her reasoning for being on this mountain.
Chunlan failed to resonate with that even now—what was he on this mountain for? What inspired him to be here in this moment? No matter how far he looked within, all he could see was a deep, unending emptiness.
'It's fine if you can't relate,' Dau's voice snapped him out of a meditation that was longer than he intended. Now back to his senses, Chunlan looked to see the young man now stretched out over straw and Sayu crouched in front of the irori. 'Sayu's the only bookworm we've got, so even to us, she just sees the whole world differently.'
'Sayu's bigger perspective has helped me find my way more than a few times,' Dau continued, standing to give Chunlan a charitable pat on the shoulder, 'so I get what you're going through. But you don't have to be set on something like her or have any deep meaning in what you're doing right now if it's just not there. If you can't think of anything that motivates you, just do whatever you're doing now, and maybe in time that motivation will find you.'
'...Yeah. You're right.' Chunlan was moved by words that were precisely what he needed in the moment to ground him. For now, all we can do is do what we were planning to do anyway—keep moving.'
He did not know when he would be free of the chains of uncertainty he found himself wrestling with; what he did know was that something had changed about the uncertainty itself, and his new companions were the catalyst to that change. Perhaps this would further lead to something—perhaps even lead to the same exact thing that birthed motivation in them.
Their silence between conversation as they watched the quietly flickering fire had been deafened by the wailing winds outside. But as the fire grew, so did its voice, and Chunlan began to think that even through a blizzard too great for words was still a straight, clear path.
To Be Continued

第７回　一つの旅、一つの命題
　月すらも雪雲に覆われ、前を行く者の背さえ見難い視界。如何なる防寒具を以てしてもその僅かな隙間から豪速を以て侵入し、氷雪の欠片と冷気を浸透させる暴風。膝までを包み込み、魂を吸うが如く体力を奪い続ける積雪。
二月の白笠嶽上層に吹き荒れる雪嵐は人という存在を拒み、聖域を守る結界の如く振る舞う。近年激しさを増しつつあるそれは、《マタギ》の間では女神の恵みを食い荒らした人間に対する山の精霊の怒りとも語られていた。迷信と思うのは容易かろう、その怒号にも似た風の音に、直に呑まれるまでは。吹雪く音は、隙あらば助けを請う声すらもかき消してしまう。
そんな白笠嶽の闇と吹雪の中を突き進む一つの灯があった。「畜生、やっぱり寒ィ！　毛皮を捨てたのは失敗だったぜ……　ひぃぃいいいい……へぶしっ！」
　　「ダウ兄、コート交代する？」
　　「馬鹿言うなサユ、お前がお腹冷やす方が問題だろうが！
おれはこれでも、乾布摩擦してるから何とかなる！」
先頭を征くシュンランの持った携行ランプのみを頼りに歩き続ける三人の装いは、この環境に適したものではなかった。シュンランはコートをサユに貸し、下に着ていたセーターのみとなっている。コートを譲り受けたサユも決して十分であるとは言えず、ダウに至っては穴を開けた麻袋を被った有様だ。
　　「もう少しで《マタギ小屋》だ、頑張ってくれ……！」
それでも三人がここまで耐えられたのは、偏(ひとえ)に踏破に要した時間の短さに他ならなかった。サユとダウは防寒対策こそ無いものの流石は《森の遊人》、劣悪な足場をものともせずに平地と大差無い速さで歩き続けていた。それ故、二人の体温が奪われきるより先に目的地に到着する事が叶ったのだ。
深夜を回った頃に三人が到達したのは《マタギ小屋》。《マタギ》が山の上層へ遠征する際に拠点とする、補給基地だ。　「何とか着いたな……二人とも、多少は休む時間もありそうだ。
まあ、快適さは期待できないけどな」
扉を開けるだけでも建材が軋み、擦れ合う振動が手袋越しに伝わる古い木組みの納屋。しかし、この吹雪の中に在って力強く立ち続ける様が、枯れ果てたように見えて定期的に手入れをされてきた事を物語る。
――《雷獣》は《鬼》から退いた方角を鑑みるに、山頂付近に潜伏している可能性が高い。そうであれば、本来の羆(ひぐま)魔獣生息域で《雷獣》の棲み処を発見できない事や山頂を中心に落雷被害が多い事とも整合する。
故に一行は夜明けには山頂に到達する事を目安に補給と下準備を済ませる事にしたのだ。
　　　「思ったより色々残ってるな。持てるだけ持って行こう」
　　「なるほど……この短剣は柄に棒を挿して槍みたいに……」　「それは《フクロナガサ》だな。俺も持ってる山刀の亜種さ」
回収すべき備品を物色するシュンランをよそに、サユは内部に備えらえた猟具や工芸品に関心を向けていた。知的探究心と理性が、無邪気なる好奇心と調和しているのが彼女らしい。　「うおお、毛布だ！　毛皮だ！　お前を探していたぜ畜生！」
　一方でダウはいつの間にかシュンランよりも早く転がり込み、目に付いた毛布を羽織って小屋の奥で丸くなっている。
　　　「一応、囲炉裏(いろり)もあるね。わたしが火を起こしておく。
シュンランは気にせず準備してて」
　　　「あ、ああ……。しかしサユ、よく囲炉裏なんて知ってるな。
そういえば、《マタギ》の事も知ってたし……」
　　　「……囲炉裏とかはこの本にも書いてあったから。
くれた旅人も《マタギ》だったらしいから知ってたよ」 　
腰袋から本を取るサユ。シュンランが彼女に出会った時に目にした彼女の大切な一品。装丁こそ古いが、長年旅に晒された割に劣化の無いそれを、シュンランはパラパラと捲ってみる。「『土着の地域諸文化群とその精神』ね……
　見たところ情報が古いな……って、発行が四半世紀も前だ」
しかしその古びて見える記述は、時を越えて変わらぬ息吹をありありと語り伝えた。シュンランの知らない様々な文化集団や民族の名と生活様式、精神性についての客観的な見分と考察が記され、論理的でありながらも魂を感じさせる。そしてその中には、サユの属する《森の遊人》の名もあった。
　　　「君達の項目もあるが……何というか、随分平穏な内容だな」
《森の遊人》――彼らは何故希少な古代遺物を持ち、そして守るのか。シュンランは道中で彼らの使命を大まかに聞いていた。かつて七耀教会からの使者との間で、教会の管理が行き届かない地域での古代遺物回収を代行し、代わりに輸送中の古を代遺物をある程度自由裁量で運用できるという盟約を交わしたのだという。そして彼らは幾代にも渡り、旅の過程で見つけた古代遺物の恩恵を受けながらそれらを《ホコラ》へ運ぶ営みを受け継いできたのだ。
しかしこの書物には、そのような事は仄めかす程度の記述しかない。代わりに木細工や行商の補助といった平時での生業や、他民族との交流関係、そして装飾文化などについての情報が詰め込まれていた。
　　「君らにとって何か特別な事を書いてるとは思えないけど……
でも、大切な本なんだろう？」
　　　「うん。この本と、くれた人のお陰で今のわたしがある。
わたしにとっての、まあ、一つのきっかけかな」
　　　「きっかけ、か……」
　一族の営みに、自分だけの何かを見出して歩む若者。シュンランが見つけられないものを信じる少女。そんな彼女にとっての起点がここにある。ならば、自分にとってのきっかけはと言えば――シュンランは瞑目するも、今の空虚さに至った経緯ばかりが浮かぶ。
　　　「まあ、そう悩むな」
シュンランの思索は自分で感じるよりも長かったのか。藁(わら)に横たわったダウの声に顔を上げてみると、サユは既に囲炉裏の前に屈み込んでいた。
　　「サユは一族の中じゃ珍しい読書家だが、それに限らねぇ。　
本以外にも色々取り込んで自分なりに組み立てるのが得意だ。
だが、別に突飛な事は言っちゃいねぇ」
　それに、と付け加えながらダウは立ち上がり、シュンランの肩に手を置いた。
　　「……おれもサユのお陰で吹っ切れた事があってな。
あんたの気持ちもいくらかは判るぜ。まあ、とにかく今は、
正しいと思った方へ進もうぜ。案外それで見えてくるもんさ」「ダウ……まあそうか……とりあえず、今は進んでみるか」　
シュンランは、未だ自らの中で縛られながらも惑いもがく命題の終着点を知らない。ただ今、その命題が変化した末に、この二人を向いている事だけが、確かにわかった。それがもし、道標の一つになるならば……。
　　「――やる事は特に変わらない、か……皮肉なものだな」
小屋の外界に満ちる猛吹雪の轟音は、僅かでも声を絶てば空間を支配する。しかし、囲炉裏の火の音が耳に入り始めると、シュンランには小屋の節々を揺さぶるこの吹雪を突破する事すら、一筋の確固たる道であるかに思えた。
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