Hakushaku to Yousei Vol 8 Chapter 1

P. 10

  [Forewarning to all about Fairies. If you spot a fairy ring, DO NOT step inside it]

        Those were the words printed on the large sign, and Lydia patted it down after she stuck it on a hedge along a small road a little ways from town.

        People chuckled as they passed behind her. 

        She could hear their whisper but disregarded what they said and made a second inspection of her sign.

[For any directions regarding fairies, please contact Lydia Carlton, at House Number 5 on Mommi’s Tree Alley.]

        “Chin up! If any fairies cause trouble, I am the only one who can solve it in this town,” Lydia motivated herself. 

        “And when you solved them, your oddball name will spread even more,“ said the voice that came from above in the tree branches. 

        “Lydia, your mother was indeed a fairy doctor, but that was a long time ago, it’s a different story now. I can understand if it was a remote area where humans shared their lives with fairies but not in a rising town like this,“ he said. 

        ”But even in this town, there are plenty of fairies. And they cause plenty of trouble. So, don’t get in my way, Nico,“ said Lydia. 

        Just like how her mother was when she was still alive, in order for Lydia to be acknowledged as a fairy doctor, it was necessary to advertise at this time of year. She was only just a sixteen-year-old girl, but Lydia thought of herself as the most knowledgeable about fairies in this region. She was able to see fairies since birth, and naturally became experienced with them. 

        ”What are you doing? Stop that!,“ she shouted.

        The children dashed off. As they were running, they continued to shout about cursed hair growing from strange places.

        Of course, saying such things would only lead to the prankster’s parents becoming even more apprehensive about her. 

        ”Yes, do you want me to make you into a fur ball as well?!“ she snapped, thinking it was another mischief-making youngster, and whipped around to face him, but the one standing there bewildered, was a unfamiliar young man. 

        “Would this Lydia Carlton be you?” asked the young man.

        I can’t get discouraged from behavior like this. 

        “What does this ‘Forewarning of fairies’mean?“ questioned the man.

        “Are you saying that there really are fairies?“ he asked.

        “Oh, no. I just thought what a mysterious poster this is.”

        “Fine, then.” Lydia pulled herself together and spread a poster on the ground and started to paste glue on it with a brush.

        “Oh, I see.”

        Even to people who take the time to honestly listen, I can only be stubbornly unreasonable. To be like mother who had such an open heart and serviced everyone, I will need to train myself even more to be sufficient, she thought.  

        But, after pasting it up right and taking a breath as she stepped back, there was another voice that asked “Are you finished?”

        “Hmm? I was waiting for you of course,” he replied with a genuinely expression.

        “Do you know of Mr. Ballet’s residence?”

        “You are not going to guide me there?”

        “I don’t mind. Because I will be in this town for only three days,” he said. 

        People who approach Lydia usually saw her as an unfortunate girl and sympathized with her by trying to be overly kind and they were the ones to say "You’ve done nothing wrong, you are not different.” 

        “…..Fine. I’ll be passing by it anyway.”

        The young man introduced himself as Ian Reynolds. He was a violinist that was passing through this town on his way to Edinburgh. His carriage had gotten stuck in a ditch on the outskirts of town and since it was not far, he claimed he had come here by foot. Invited by the gentry Mr. Ballet, he also said that he was going to have a concert tomorrow night.

        “I’m still an amateur. I know! why don’t you come and listen? You could invite someone else as well,” he said.

        But she was beginning to understand that his motives were not so. 

        “Why? You see fairies is all, right?“ he asked, puzzled. 

        “A changeling? Is there some kind of proof?” he asked.

P. 16

        “You may think so. But you have very beautiful eyes. It’s green with shades of gold,“ he said. Unexpectedly he bent down to look into her eyes, which gave her a little jolt.

        “I haven’t intended to,” he replied.

        “Alright, …I understand. Anyhow, what I want to imply is that you do not have to compliment me.“ 

        “The building with the red roof there is the house of Mr. Ballet,“ she pointed.

        Lydia hesitated. He should already figured out that she was a warped woman but yet he still invites her. 

        To which he burst out laughing. 

        As he walked off waving, she saw him off while muttering, “He such a strange man.”

        “My goodness, he is famous,“ murmured Lydia. 

        “Then there’s no worry about just one person attending.“ 

        “Lydia. Forget that and let’s go out and have some fun. I heard the meadow fairies are holding a ball,” Nico protested.

        “Has the Englishman caught your fancy?” asked the cat. 

P. 18

        “But, you’re in such high spirits,” he pointed out.

        Come to think about it, there was probably just an extra ticket. It could have been meant as a gift of thanks for the guide. 

        In the mirror, there was a reflection of her sullen face. Her yellowish-green eyes looked back at her. This trait did not look like her either one of her parents. She was aware that people said it was the fairy blood, or she looks like a witch, but her father and mother both said they were beautiful. 

        But in her sixteen-years of life, she has never come across such a person. Bachelors her age hardly ever talked to her. So that resulted in her not getting to know anyone, and thus not falling in love. 

        Besides her parents, Ian was the first one to compliment her, so her heart must have become confused. 

P. 19

        A small bunch of glowing lights burst out of a elder bush and lined up in a row flying across the garden. They must be heading off to the ball the rose meadow fairy clan was hosting. 

        That’s why her father planted so many. And thanks to that, now the garden was a fabulous meeting place for fairies.     

        (Yes, it seems to be a violinist. She says it’s a young human. I heard it’s a young soul that shines like a brilliant jewel.)

        “What you just said, is that true!?”

        I am not mean, Lydia thought to herself angrily. These brownies just loved to play pranks, and she just cautioned the people because they liked to hide human children and sour the wine. 

        A fairy doctor’s job was not only to help people who were the victims of the fairies’ pranks. She was told by her mother that a fairy doctor needed to educate the people to help make them understand fairies and their roles were to be the bridge between them so that both sides could live in peace. 

        Unlike the past, her job title would be seen as ridiculous to some people, but she was proud of her ability that was passed down from her mother. All the more that she did not want to be embarrassed about her ability or try to hide it, and wished to make it useful. 

        The talking cat was lying across the mantle piece. Resting his head on his arm, Nico crossed his hind legs and yawned widely. He looked like a little tired man inside a cat suit when he posed like that. 

        “We’re going to that ball.” 

        “Is there any other violinist in this town that the fairy queen would want? The performers in the pubs all sound like screaming women anyway.” 

P. 21

        “I need you to take me to the rose meadow fairies.”
        Nico stood up as if he surrendered and said “the round stones on top of the windy hill” and cocked his head to the side as if gesturing her to follow.

        The moonlight painted the hill a silvery white; Lydia exited the town streets and followed behind the cat that was trotting along on his hind legs up the grassy dirt path. 

        Passing by Nico, Lydia ran toward it. She jumped into the light swarm, swinging around an ash branch in one hand, making the fairies scattered away like flies off a fruit. In the field lighted only by the moon, Ian was left lying asleep holding onto his violin. 

        “Oh, it’s you. …I was dreaming the most curious dream. Yes, it was like I was surrounded by fairies…” 

        “Huh? …Now that you mention it, where are we? It was a beautiful moonlit night and I was taking a walk…” 

        “Ah yes, there was a mark of a circular light on the ground. I didn’t know what it was and so I was curious. ..So that was a fair ring. It’s the first time I ever saw one.” 

        “So that means I was captured by fairies?” he questioned.

        “And so you came to rescue me.” 

        “No, nothing. I have my violin and my two hands. If something else was taken, it doesn’t matter. I know! Let me play you a song as my thanks.” 

        But most likely, even if he was taken to the fairy world, he would be able to be happy as long as he could play his violin. 

        The music that came out was like a dream. 

        It was the first time for her to hear it but this song which was the main song for the concert was easy to guess from it’s brilliant tune that melted into the moon night. Lydia listened, closing her eyes, sitting on the grass thinking how the music sparkled like silver to her ears.

        “What’s the matter?” asked Lydia. 

        “What, really? I thought it was marvelous as it was.” 

        “Th-That’s it!” shouted Lydia, standing up. 

        “The point is, you had something taken.” 

        The sight of his sorrow in his slumped shoulders was begging pity. She had come to help him, but if he couldn’t play, she still hadn’t saved him. 

        Not only that, but even in Edinburgh, or London, there will be disappointed people if they found out Ian couldn’t play anymore. 

        “Can you really do such a thing?” 

        But it was only a second that Lydia hesitated. If she couldn’t help someone in trouble, then Lydia was just an oddball that saw storybook creatures. She wouldn’t be honoring her mother’s profession. 

        “But Lydia, why are you so kind? For a traveler like myself, whose just passing through.” 

P. 25

        That’s because…, 

        “I want to do the same job as my mother. You will be my first client.”

        The area around the round stones at night was deserted and there even was no sound of the wind. But once she stepped into the center, Lydia stepped into a different realm and was surrounded by floating curtains of lights. It was the fairies’ ball. 

        Let’s dance. Let’s dance. The fairies invited her. Intoxicated by the light and strong smell, she was forgetting the reason why she had come here.  

        “You have never negotiated with fairies before. Even if you knew charms to stop pranks, it’s hopeless to try to trade with a queen so suddenly.”

        “I have to try, or I’ll never become a fairy doctor,” she said. Lydia winded through the mixing flying fairies trying to find the queen’s throne. She found the queen wearing scarlet petals sitting on a velvety shining mossy stone throne. Her hair and skin were white enough to show through and had a thin pair of wings that looked like glass. 

        (Daughter of the Earth, I know your wish is about the violinist. But I have no intention of releasing him. It is a rare soul I found that creates such marvelous music.) 

P. 27

        An exchange of one thing for another; a fairy could not refuse that sort of offer. Even if they came in possession of something, their appetite is never satisfied and they constantly seek something new. It was more instinct than characteristic for them. Of course, it had to be something of more value than the previous one or it was meaningless.

        (Don’t do it, Lydia. The reason I haven’t returned him is also for your benefit,) spoke the queen just when Lydia was still in deep thought. 

        The queen softly lifted her arm to give the sign to one of her fairy maids who floated down carrying something in her hands. It was a large envelope, still a size too big for their proportion. But if Lydia were to change back to her regular size, it was just a plain good sized envelope. 

        ”That is part of his soul that creates the beautiful music?” 

        A letter from a lover? Lydia’s heart started to beat rapidly. 

        (Lydia, if you favor the violinist, then you just need to convince him to stay in this town. For a soul like his to loose his music, there is no place he needs to go.)

        But then, that meant he would not be able to play beautiful music. Even if he stayed with his soul being incomplete, Lydia would never get to know the true Ian. 

        “I want to hear his real music, Your Majesty, if you are interested in love, then please take my soul, my heart that is in love. And please, return his soul back to him,” just as she finished there was a gust of wind that suddenly erupted around them like a storm. 

P. 29

        (Such a hasty little human. You’ve spoken the exchange. Oh well, I agree. But with this trade, you will no longer be able to fall in love.)

        “That was stupid of you, Lydia. Going to that length for a man you just met,” came Nico’s voice from the darkness. 
        “It’s alright, Nico… Besides, there will be no one interested in a changeling like me. But from this, I think I’ll finally be able to know the happiness of falling in love with someone. Though it will be my first and last.”

        Ian’s concert was held in an outdoor theater just as the moon began to rise up again in the sky. 

P. 30

        But Lydia didn’t know why she had a ticket in the first place. Last night when she awoke, she was lying down on her own bed. She had supposedly gone off to the rose meadow fairy’s ball but couldn’t remember anything more than that. 

        Though she never fell in love, this faint soft music made her wonder why it seemed so similar to the feeling of the painful longing for another. But Lydia began to feel irritated, because she couldn’t fully grasp what the music was trying to express. Her heart felt closed like their was a cover around it and even underneath that it felt frozen over, and she wanted to feel the sounds more deeply, but even that excitement didn‘t come out of her. 

        Several young ladies, with flower bouquets, ran up to the front of the stage. Lydia realized she brought one rose with a ribbon tied onto it. She remembered Nico handing it to her saying that ‘It’s custom to bring to concerts.’ 

P. 31

        [And if I wasn’t?]

        Is that the normal thing to do? Nico was quite experienced than Lydia but as he wasn’t a human, his understanding of social human behavior was unreliable. 

        But, she didn’t know. Was she moved by the performance? 

        Someone like me shouldn’t be in a place like this. 

        “This is a song that I dedicate to the rose meadow fairy queen,” announced the violinist. “If you would accept it, I ask to please exchange it back for Ms. Carlton’s heart.”

        What did he say? Ms. Carlton, me!?

        How he complimented her eye color. That he gave her the ticket and when he smiled at her. That she had rescued him after he stepped in a fairy ring. And how she traded with the flower fairy queen. 

        The crowd in the seats were all dazed by the ‘Silver Moon Night.’ Not long afterwards, there was another, greater eruption of applause, to which the violinist smiled back in satisfaction. 

        She suddenly realized why and quickly exited the theater. She found Nico lying down behind some bushes near the theater doors and dashed over to him. 

        “He just asked of a way that would help you.” 

P. 33

P. 34

        “I made sure to stand on all fours.” 

        “Oh who cares, Lydia. By the way, he was the one who carried you home after you were thrown out of the queen’s ball. That letter, I handed it back to him. He was a little surprised, but that was all. I did also explain what happened, just in case.” 

        “I don’t mind,” said a voice. Ian stepped out from behind a stone pillar of the theater. 

        “Mister Reynolds…” 

        His smile made her so happy but also made her heart stink just a little. 

        “Your performance was beautiful. I’m so glad I was able to listen to it… I don’t know how to say this right, but just one rose wouldn’t be enough to express my excitement, more like I want to give you a ton of elderberries.”

        “Thank you, I’m honored,” he said.

        “By the way, Lydia. Only fairies would be thrilled to receive elderberries. You need to learn human etiquette.” 
        She must have felt good that night as she didn’t feel like stamping down on that fluffy tail of his.

End

Chapter end