North x Northwest

Epilogue Chapter 361

Epilogue 1: Snowy Mountains

Ed hid the balsam in his arms. Lil did the same and put it away, too.

Their eyes slowly adjusted to the dark cave without a speck of light when Ed perceived a glimmer. Ed took her hand and pointed at the spring.

“Look.”

Lil blinked, still adapting to the darkness. Turning her eyes toward where Ed pointed her finger, she spotted a bluish glow spreading from somewhere deep within the spring.

“I think there’s light on the other side.”

Ed put down his backpack and took off his outerwear and shirt. He only left his pants on and carried a small bag from his waist.

“Are you going to dive in?”

“…The other side?”

Lil had begun to remove her fur clothes with hesitation while reflexively asking back. Taking her clothes off was challenging due to its bulkiness, but she somehow managed to remove it along with her backpack. She was about to put her hands to her boot when Ed stopped her.

“It’s our first time here, so it can be dangerous for two people to go in at the same time.”

“What’s an underwater cave anyway? Have you ever been in one before?”

“Think of it as a cave but then filled with water. I discovered one while exploring the Northern Island of the Western Continent. At the time, I noticed a lake in the middle of a forest and eventually realised that another lake was located a short distance away. It turned out that the two lakes were actually connected underground. So, that passageway would resemble a cave, right? That’s an underwater cave.”

“Then there can be a lake on the other side of this cave?”

“Maybe.”

Ed placed an hourglass on the stone floor next to Lil, triggering the yellow sand inside to start flowing down.

“If I’m not back before this runs out, wind the rope.”

Ed, who tied a thin rope around his wrist, handed Lil the skein.

“I won’t go further than this.”

However, Lil assumed the cord was long enough to cover a long distance, judging by its thin appearance and being coiled countless times.

“If this rope is all used up, it’s like you could’ve covered a distance comparable to reaching the Eichendorff Estate…”

Lil’s grumbling mouth was blocked by his lips.

“I’ll be right back.”

Ed slowly descended into the water up to the level of his chest. He initially appeared cautious because of a possible sandbank, but soon swam and disappeared beneath the cliff, as if it really was a passage leading somewhere. From then, the rope unrolled smoothly.

Lil waited for him as the rope continued to spin.

In the meantime, she had strange and frightening thoughts, such as whether the light on the other side of the spring belonged to a giant catfish, emitting light to attract prey, and whether Ed was swimming into the catfish’s mouth without realising he was said prey. Fortunately for her spinning mental state, the cord’s movements felt calm.

Just as Lil felt cold and decided to put on her fur coat again, the white light of Ed’s balsam approached. Lil took her gun from her arms and aimed it at the light. She reasoned that if Ed arrived with a catfish clinging to his leg, she needed to shoot it right away.

However, not a single strand of aquatic weed, let alone a catfish, was attached to Ed’s body. Ed swam out unharmed, so her concerns had been clearly unnecessary. He then came to the surface and shook his head. As soon as he opened his eyes, he approached Lil, who was aiming her gun and seemingly not paying attention.

“…Liloa!”

Ed’s chest was rapidly rising and falling, and Lil couldn’t tell if it was from exhaustion or excitement. Nonetheless, Lil sensed something from his wide smiling expression. She stood up and removed the rest of her garments, including her vest and leather clothes. Even so, as her curiosity was piqued, she was in a hurry and removing the rest of her clothes meant more time delays.

“What? What is it?”

“You won’t believe it until you see it yourself.”

“What did you see?”

“Come in quickly.”

Finally, Lil wound the rope around a stalagmite and tied it. She then dipped her feet into the water while standing in only a shirt and a pair of pants, because jumping straight into the water in only her underwear without knowing the temperature would be tantamount to suicide. The water in the cave was just as cold as that in the valley, and it provided the perfect temperature for a person to possibly die from hypothermia.

“You have to hold your breath for a long time.”

Lil took a deep breath as she held the balsam in both hands. Then they dove down at the same time.

When she submerged her head in the water, she felt shiveringly cold. Cold water rushed through her hair, freezing her scalp. The unpleasantly cold sensation, however, was short-lived, as Lil was soon overwhelmed by the grandeur of the underwater cave.

A heavy pressure pressed her ears.

After passing the cliff, a limitless space, reminiscent of another world, emerged. She couldn’t tell where the floor and ceiling were anymore. No matter how high or low she stretched the balsam, the depth of the water remained unmeasurable. Lil lost her sense of direction as if she’d entered a giant temple. The dark stone pillars of unknown origin stood tall like pillars of a temple. They were so thick that it was impossible to wrap them with just one pair of arms, and they were significantly larger than the stone pillars discovered in the cave above ground.

Around the stone columns were rock icicles that descended like stalactites, as well as large and smaller stalagmites*. The sharp rocks extending vertically in a staggered manner closely resembled teeth. The entire passage appeared to be the mouth of a creature buried in an underwater cave and transformed into a dark fossil.

When Lil’s imagination wandered to deep sea creatures, she unconsciously glanced at the dark back behind her. Because there were no light sources other than the balsams, everything outside the designated spaces was completely dark. Every time she stirred the balsam, she was terrified of the possibility of seeing a sudden set of eyes of a massive creature right in front of her nose. That was why she quickly kicked up her speed and caught up with Ed. Meanwhile, Ed had been busy wrapping his rope around each of the large stalagmites, so there was no need to worry about getting lost.

The more Lil progressed through the passageway lined with stone columns, the brighter her surroundings became. The colour of the rocks changed noticeably from black to grey, then from grey to white. The floor and ceiling could be determined since some time ago as well. Ed, looking back at her to capture her attention, beckoned somewhere.

Lil shined her balsam on the ceiling where Ed’s finger was pointing.

‘Those are like the roots of a tree…’

Lil was surprised that curved roots could be seen beneath the ground. The end of the old tree’s thick roots firmly protruded through the ceiling like coral. There were also parts where the roots descended in various directions as if they were stalactites.

Naturally, a question arose.

‘…Is there a forest above the cave?’

Ed waved his arm at her again. As she went next to him, he swept his palm somewhere on the white floor. A dense pattern underneath was revealed when the lightly laid gravel scattered.

They were characters that Lil couldn’t read.

Goe.

Ed appeared to be finding his way while reading it. Lil lowered her head for a moment before noticing a blue light ahead of Ed, who continued forward. She quickly patted him on the back, causing Ed to look at her and the blue light alternately, before silently giving her a hand signal to watch. Lil, who was suspicious, remained vigilant and swam forward.

The dot-like light gradually changed into a fluttering form, and a butterfly’s wings shone blue.

Lil almost opened her mouth wide.

‘The shape I see can only be called a butterfly. But a butterfly underwater? Am I going crazy? And, it’s even glowing?’

A blue fluorescent butterfly, like a glowing jellyfish washed up on the beach at night. More and more butterflies showed up as they moved. Soon, a dozen of them surrounded them and hovered around their balsams.

The ceiling rose again and soon disappeared from their view. Finally, light was visible beyond the waterline. The surface of the water cast a net-like shadow, illuminating patterns on their faces. Ed pointed up. With a nod, Lil soared to the surface after him.

Lil breathed deeply and wiped droplets from her face. She then opened her eyes after rubbing them.

At that point, they had reached and emerged from another lake with greenery everywhere.

The moisture emitted by fresh plants was thick, like the air from a green field. Similarly, the surroundings were warm, like the spring season on the Central Continent. The unexpected sight was followed by the sound of a birdsong as a sparrow-sized bird flew into the air as if to confirm that everything they were seeing wasn’t part of a hallucination. Bright yellow wings fluttered above their heads, as though such creatures were watching humans reappear after thousands, if not tens of thousands, of years. The chirping birds had green crests on their heads.

Lil looked around.

After paying more attention to her environment, she realised they were floating in a moat, not a lake. A castle stood tall on an island in the middle of the moat, enveloped by vines that had grown there for who knows how long. The castle, which stood tall and sharp like a fortress, was entirely made of pure white stone, which appeared to be the same material as the white rocks they had seen in the underwater cave.

The vines were producing flowers. Flowers with open red mouths decorated the vines sparingly. Lil felt as if all of her strength was draining out of her body when she saw such a vibrant colour of life.

Lil barely managed to reach the land out of pure awe. The grass crumbled fresh under her palms upon her touch, giving her goosebumps. Ed held her tightly to support her. A castle surrounded by a moat stood in front of them, while high and low, square buildings rose behind them. Although the majority of the buildings were covered in vines, it was clear that they were man-made structures for residential purposes.

“This… this is…”

“Look at the sky too.”

Lil looked up in the air. The air appeared more like oil mixed with strange colours than the sky they were familiar with. At its peak, brilliant light similar to sunlight shone on the earth, but the shape of the light couldn’t be properly identified.

“Bonva Gloyoux…”

“..?”

Lil’s gaze, numbed by the dazzling light, turned to Ed. He answered with a smile on his face.

“It’s the name of this ancient kingdom. It’s what’s written at the bottom of the moat.”

Ed strongly held onto Lil’s hand as she stood blankly.

“The kingdom you found.”

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Footnote:

See the figure below for the difference between stalactites and stalagmites.

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End of Epilogue 1: Snowy Mountains

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