Chapter 27: Peace of Mind
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“Maybe there’s another way to put an end to this?”
“Hmm? Like what?”
Hesta blinked. “…Perhaps one day, when he least expects it, I could drag him outside and beat him up, then tell him that if he ever comes near me again, I’ll blow his head off.”
Liz froze for a moment, then burst out laughing.
“It’s not impossible, is it?” Hesta said softly. “Maybe I’ll be able to do it next year.”
Liz rubbed her eyes and nodded repeatedly. Bracing herself against the bed, she sat up. “If that’s the case, then all the more reason for me to settle this before your second awakening, Jane.”
“…Why?”
“Because a world where the weak are expected to endure bullying is wrong. I hate such a world.” Liz’s expression grew solemn. “Nor do I want you to start thinking something like, ‘The reason I’m being harassed by Sean is that I’m still too weak…’ In Askia, if anyone throws his weight around just because he has a pair of strong fists, he’ll be taught a brutal lesson. Those who prey on the weak should be ashamed of themselves.
“When I was little, there was an apothecary living across from our house. She was very frail and couldn’t even carry a sack filled with grain, but she knew every kind of medicinal herb. She knew which grasses and berries in the forest were edible and which were poisonous. Whenever we cleared new land and discovered unfamiliar plants, everyone depended on her to determine whether they could be eaten.
“And then there was my grandmother. She was very small, yet she knew how to find sources of water. When she was young, she would lead my father and several of my aunts on journeys that lasted for months, and she always returned with good news… Her learning, the experience she left behind, and her fearlessness were beyond the reach of anyone stronger than she was.
“If my grandmother or that apothecary had been left to suffer abuse and live in fear, forced to spend vast amounts of time and energy figuring out how to protect themselves, they could never have realized their true worth. Human beings are interdependent creatures, after all. It is wisdom and courage that lead us ever upward, not brute strength. Someone who is weak in one respect may be a giant in another—but all of this depends on the existence of a peaceful and orderly society.
“If someone uses a talent simply because they possess it, wantonly violating the interests of others, then they are trampling that order underfoot. I will never allow such a thing to happen around me.”
The bedroom’s soft light shone in Liz’s eyes, lending a heroic edge to her stern features. “Sooner or later, you’ll be able to knock that bastard Sean flat. But I believe there must be a better solution than that.”
“…Is it worth it?” Hesta murmured. “For you to spend so much effort on this?”
Liz suddenly broke into a smile.
“My father used to complain that my grandmother was always meddling in other people’s business.” She looked at Hesta. “But my grandmother said that people always take certain principles of public morality for granted, as though ‘the good are rewarded and the wicked punished’ were some immutable law. Whenever the good fall on hard times and the wicked prosper, they become furious—but in truth, if no one rewards the good and no one punishes the wicked, that order can never exist in the first place.”
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“One reason I like the Base so much is that the ideals upheld here are very similar to those of Askia. In Askia, justice is never late. If she is late, it must be because no one was willing to pave her way with sweat and blood.”
Liz glanced sideways at Hesta. “So you don’t need to feel guilty, Jane. I’m defending my own principles as well.”
Hesta was suddenly deeply moved. An inexplicable courage rose within her.
Liz continued, “The reason we can’t do anything about Sean for now is, first, that his actions haven’t caused you any tangible harm, and we haven’t found any new evidence. Second, Teacher Chiba insists on lifting the restrictions placed on Sean, so we have no grounds to force him to stay away.
“But if he refuses to learn his lesson and continues doing strange things, I won’t rule out using violence to teach him one. Still, none of this is something you should be worrying about. Don’t be afraid, Jane.”
“Mm. I’m not afraid.”
Hesta gently placed a hand over her heart. She could feel the organ in her chest pounding wildly, as though a warm tide were rising within her.
“Even if Sean showed up in front of me right now with his brother, I wouldn’t tremble anymore.”
…
Saturday arrived, and Chiba came as scheduled.
She was driving that familiar wine-red hatchback again, and, as on the previous occasions, Hesta took the passenger seat.
Chiba rolled down the window and drove Hesta toward the city center of Tanyi.
This was Hesta’s first glimpse of the buildings of the civilized world. Every house here was as beautiful as Saint Anne’s Abbey. The street-facing gardens were filled with roses and irises, all of them blooming one after another in the early summer.
“Are you getting used to life at the Base?” Chiba asked.
“Mm.”
“Which do you prefer—this, or being a nun at the abbey?”
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“I’m not a nun. I never took the vows.”
Chiba glanced at Hesta. “What vows?”
“Perpetual poverty, perpetual chastity, and perpetual obedience,” Hesta said softly. “Only those who have studied within a religious order and taken the vows can become nuns.”
Chiba immediately burst out laughing. “Thank goodness you didn’t.”
The car turned a corner, and Chiba handed her a hat. A pair of sunglasses was tucked inside it.
“Put these on.”
Hesta did as instructed, and soon realized why Chiba had told her to do so. At a newsstand on a street corner, among the wire racks covered with that day’s newspapers and the latest magazines, she saw her own photograph reproduced everywhere.
In the photograph, she had long flaxen hair and looked like a startled fawn, staring into the camera with profound suspicion and distrust.
The car sped past in a rush of wind, but Hesta’s gaze remained fixed on the newsstand behind them until Chiba turned another corner.
Hesta turned back. “…What are all those?”
“Your photograph. The gendarmerie found it in the municipal archives from the abbey,” Chiba answered calmly. “What happened to your hair? Why isn’t it red in the picture?”
“At the time, the abbess and Miss Gelding thought my red hair would attract too much controversy, so they put a wig on me when the photograph was taken.” Hesta couldn’t help glancing back toward the corner again, though there was nothing left to see. “That photograph must be from three years ago, shortly after I entered the abbey—but why is the gendarmerie printing my picture everywhere?”
“The people at the Base may not have told you this, but the Joint Government is currently competing with AHgAs for custody of you,” Chiba replied. “Every regional government wants an anti-chelate squad under its own control. But at present, the recruits for the Mercury Needle are almost all people we discover in wastelands far from habitable areas. From bringing them back to hiring them, there’s practically nowhere the Joint Government can interfere.
“After finally finding a promising candidate in a habitable area, of course they want to seize you.”
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