Aria of the Withered Branch
Chapter 3

The only people it could be were one of two relatives on my mother’s side of the family, but both seldom left their territory and lived very far away from here. I narrowed my eyes at the fresh-looking piece of cheesecake and the cup of wine she was holding out.

Did my family learn where I was and send poisoned food? I could simply go downstairs and find out, but I couldn’t be bothered. What was the point when I was going to die soon, anyway?

I decided to ignore the woman’s question. “Everything is fine. Thank you. If you’ll excuse me,” I said, putting the tray on a nearby table and making to close the door. The woman quickly stopped me from doing so with her body.

“W-wait!”

“…?”

“Wh-when do you plan on coming down?” she asked desperately. Her face was twisted into an expression that told me she was moments from bursting into tears.

I finally realized there was something seriously distressing her. I’d assumed she was so upset because she’d not done as I’d asked, but there seemed to be something more to this. She almost looked like she’d been threatened.

What do I do? Should I just ignore her or go out there? I’d literally rather die than deal with this, but if I ignore her obvious discomfort, it will probably keep me from my sleep.

“Ugh.”

Fine. I’ll lock the door after I see to this and take the sleeping powder I brought with me. The woman seemed to be in such a panic that it made me feel bad for her, even though the inn was infamous for being favored by those no longer interested in living. If there were a proper man-eating predator in a forest I had permission to enter, or the remotest possibility that I would be left alone long enough to starve to death out on the streets without being found by the authorities, I wouldn’t have had to trouble this woman. My conscience had dictated that I write up a will leaving all my valuables to her, at the very least.

And if I failed again, I would choose a more direct method of dying—by jumping off a very high place, or perhaps going deep into the forest and taking some sleeping powder. I generally had quite a high resistance to the powder, so I wasn’t certain it would work. But if I were to take a large enough dose, something might have to give. It was better than slitting my wrists. Living was a difficult undertaking, but committing suicide wasn’t exactly easy, either. What an utterly miserable reality to be confronted with.

No one on my father’s side of the family knew this about me, but I’d been born with an interesting physical characteristic. My nanny claimed I had inherited the quirk from my maternal grandmother, but oddly, most wounds I sustained simply healed themselves in no time at all. I was about thirteen when I first realized what my body was capable of. I’d encountered a robber in an alleyway and been stabbed. Both the robber who had attacked me, as well as myself, had been left scared witless by the series of events that unfolded next.

In the end, the confused robber had fled, and I was forced to endure trying to pull the blade out by myself since it had seemingly lodged itself in my body. The memory of that day never failed to make me sad.

“When am I coming down, you ask?” Done with thinking things over, I no longer had any need for hesitation. I wanted to get this over with quickly. “Right now.”

The woman’s expression brightened, obviously relieved. In hindsight, I would have done well to ignore her, pricks of conscience aside. In fact, I should have immediately jumped off a tall building. Had I done so, I never would have encountered the confusing, uninvited guests who would very soon be bringing a nasty frown to my face. Instead, I would have been able to quietly fulfill my wish.

Sunlight bouncing off the nearby beach flowed in through the transparent glass wall that featured predominantly in the lobby of the inn. I smelled the calming scent of fragrant tea and heard the distant horn of a ship—the ambiance was so peaceful. It did not look like the sort of place people commonly came to end their lives. Or perhaps it was the peaceful atmosphere that drew people like me.

I’d been reading a random booklet when I’d come across this inn, and the name had stuck in my head ever since. I had no idea then, but I now knew why. Even then, I’d craved an ending. This was certainly an indication of how dull my existence felt to me, but I knew that to some, my life was an enviable one.

I had no passion, no love, no meaning, and no goals. There was not the slightest hint of joy to be found in my life, and my soul was simply exhausted. This encounter, therefore, was nothing more than a nuisance to me.

“What do you want from me?” I asked, sounding deeply tired as I addressed the five individuals standing before me, all identical to how they had appeared in my dream. I was so shocked when she told me that they’d sent the gifts that I was rooted to the spot.

My dream was no longer merely a dream. The same people I’d seen while sleeping were now right in front of me, in the real world. My shock had been warranted. She had smiled at me, telling me to have a chat with them, then vanished. It was clear that she’d been eager to flee the strange situation.

As soon as she was gone, my visitors began speaking. I was left shocked as they began speaking nonsense with no explanation for who they were or why they were here.

“Tsk. This is no good at all. I was expecting a child, not some old person.”

I stared without a word, since I was hardly old. The child with the resplendent pink hair, tied into twin ponytails high on her head, wagged her finger at me. That impertinent finger would probably take no effort at all to snap, but I decided to be patient for the time being.

I’m so tired.

I took a deep breath, and this time the silver-haired beauty next to the child whispered to me with an indifferent look on her face, “So, honey, are you a man or a woman?”

“What is it to you?” I asked.

We were strangers, and I didn’t have any intention of ever seeing them again. Please tell me that’s how it’s going to go.

“In any case, you’re staying in quite the shabby little place. How would you like to move into my mansion?”

“I tendered my resignation before coming here. I think I could be quite comfortable in a place like this.”

“You appeared in response to my summons, right?”

I had no doubt there was a queasy expression on my face at that moment. When I’d first seen them, I’d wondered if I was still dreaming, since gathered before me was a collection of the protagonists I’d seen in my dreams. A part of me had been relieved. So I’m still asleep.

Only, I wasn’t dreaming. Worse still, the dream hadn’t been simply a dream. The people I’d considered to be figments of my slumbering brain’s imagination were real, and the moment I’d seen them in my dreams, they’d seen me, too.

What in the world am I supposed to make of that? They were now insisting that there was no time and that I needed to declare something. What does that mean, anyway?

“Can you explain yourselves a little better? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said.

“You’re not very smart, are you?”

More like you are all horrible communicators! Why can’t any of you explain things properly? The man in the black robe had cocked his head to the side and was examining me. I desperately wished to drive my fist into his stomach.

According to them, the supposedly unbreakable stone that had been in my stepmother’s ring was a key and represented a promise. And I, the one who had broken it, was now the token. They were not humans, but a race called the Binah. They were one rank below the Avatara, but were close enough in influence and power, and highly ranked themselves. However, I’d never heard of them before.

The Binah were numerous considering how capable they were, and apparently, a restriction had been placed on them as a result. That restriction, which their god had placed, was a limited lifespan. The only person who could do away with this limitation was the token. If a living token did not make a declaration, they could not live out their lives in their entirety—essentially immortality. Instead, they would turn to dust after a mere three hundred years.

Three hundred years seemed like a nightmarishly long time to me, but they didn’t seem to agree. In other words, they were tormenting me so they could live longer lives. It would have been much simpler had they simply asked for the declaration, rather than rambling on about the restriction and its apparent drawback. I asked them this very question, feeling suspicious, and the answer that I got in response left me feeling awkward.

They hadn’t intended to at first, but in the short time that they’d been watching me, they’d quickly decided it would be all right. They all sighed deeply as they regarded me with heavy gazes. They’d been concerned as soon as they realized where I was, which told me they knew what this inn was famous for.

Then they all launched into a long, drawn-out list of reasons that I couldn’t off myself. They would only live to the age of three hundred without my declaration, and even if I gave it to them, they would die the moment I did. In other words, I was their lifeline.

I asked them if three hundred years wasn’t long enough, and was met with a variety of very emotional responses. The little girl… She almost punched me in the face.

I reviewed what they said and asked, “In other words, you came to me because I broke the ring.”

“Well, yes. You could say that’s the reason—for now,” the girl with pink hair replied arrogantly.

“In that case…” I felt five pairs of eyes on me. Turning my gaze quietly away, I stared into the distance. “The ring belonged to my stepmother. Why don’t you go and see—”

“Darling, are you being serious right now?”

“Does this mean you’re turning us away?”

Before I could even finish speaking, I was verbally bombarded with a threat from a successful assassin who could very well carry out her words, and a tearful question from a little girl—though her outward appearance was clearly not indicative of her true age. My head ached.

“The ring isn’t what’s important. What matters is the person who broke it,” explained Mahorren, the old man, as he stroked his white beard. “I’m well aware that you’ll likely find this hard to believe. But you became the token by turning the hidden key and opening the door—not by simply owning the key. The Binah who resonate with the token will naturally respond once the door is opened.”

“Resonate?”

“We all saw a vision of you when the key was broken. Our race has a limited lifespan because there were once so many of us, but now, there are less than thirty Binah on the entire continent. That you were linked with no less than five of us means that we are on the same wavelength, so to speak.”

“So… if someone else were to break the ring, different people would have searched them out, rather than you,” I said.

“Yes, so you better get used to seeing us. We’re going to see a lot more of each other from now on,” the old man said with a gentle smile that terrified me to no end.

It was almost like he was saying, We’re bound together by fate now. Give up the idea of ever leaving us. It will make everything so much easier.

I finally proposed the only option left to me, though it was arguably the worst one. “Why don’t you just put me permanently to sleep, and keep me in the safest location you can think of?”

“Are you really suggesting such a fate for yourself?” the young-looking girl said, exploding with rage. She pitched a round bag that was shaped like a bear, and it flew at me so quickly that I barely even saw it coming before it slammed right into me. The force of the blow was incredible, and my vision immediately began to fade to black.

She is a child… and a magician. So how is she so strong? She can’t be human… I felt the urge to cry even as I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness. I just came here to die in peace. I don’t want all this drama! There really is no hope for me—not that there ever was…