Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [112]
A moment later, the weighty voice answered, “Then bravery you shall have. You may pass.”
The single eye on the statue flashed red, and then the statue simply disappeared. Behind it, the corridor continued, lit by the flickering lights of ten thousand candles.
Wataru walked farther, until he came to another of the statues. He stopped.
“I am the Dusk-God, Ward of the West, servant to the Goddess of Fate. Answer my question.”
“I will,” Wataru said.
“What do you ask of me and the duskkin?”
“I want wisdom.”
“Then wisdom you shall have. You may pass.”
The giant’s single eye flashed blue, and the statue disappeared.
He walked farther, until he came to the third one-eyed giant statue.
“I am the Snow-God, Ward of the North, servant to the Goddess of Fate. Answer my question.”
This time, Wataru asked for health. He wanted to make sure he survived the long journey in Vision.
After he asked, the giant’s single eye flashed white, and the statue disappeared. Wataru went on.
As expected, the fourth statue was the Sun-God, Ward of the South. Here, Wataru wished for happiness. No point going on a journey if it wasn’t going to be any fun, right?
“Then happiness you shall have. You may pass.”
The single eye shone gold, and the statue disappeared, but this time, there was no passage beyond. Wataru stood facing the wall. A dead end. Only candles flickered on its surface.
Then Wataru noticed a candlelit staircase descending from where the statue stood. Without hesitating, he proceeded down the steps. He felt elated, with not a shred of fear remaining. It was like he really had become the main character in a game of Eldritch Saga.
At the bottom, the stairs opened out into a wide chamber. Curtains of crimson velvet hung covering windows. There was a line of chairs with high backs sitting against the wall. The floor was polished, so that Wataru could see his own face in the reflection. Here and there were set tall candles in clusters of three. Everything smelled of wax.
Wataru looked up to see numerous paintings covering the ceiling. But the light from the candles was too dim to make out the details. He saw the vague forms of animals, flowers, and trees—wait, that thing with the strange corkscrew head! It’s a gimblewolf!
Wataru was standing there, mouth hanging open, when a voice called out to him from a distance.
“Wataru, this way.”
Startled, he looked around, and then saw, at the far end of the chamber, the old wizard seated at a candlelit desk.
“Wizard!” Wataru ran over. It felt like he was meeting an old friend. He was so happy he almost wanted to give him a big hug. But when Wataru approached, the wizard slowly lifted one bony hand and said, “Fool.”
He smacked Wataru on the forehead.
“Wizard?”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. This won’t do.”
“Huh?”
“Your performance. You’re faring far worse than Mitsuru did. Far worse.”
Why? Wataru fell silent in confusion. He thought he had answered the four Wards’ questions quite well.
As though he had read Wataru’s mind, the old man said with a pained expression, “That was merely average. You lack originality.”
“O-originality?”
“Yes. And you were wrong to hesitate at the entrance to the cave. Times like that, you have to move quick. I’d say you lack decisive power, that’s what.”
No way! Wataru staggered and sat down on the floor.
The old wizard produced a long quill pen and a clipboard from somewhere. Wataru blinked, sure he must be seeing things, but no, it was a clipboard.
“Let’s see, your total score is…”
The quill pen—it must have been nearly a foot long—moved swiftly and precisely in the wizard’s hand across the paper.
“Vision Suitability Percentile…thirty-five percent. Special Ability: Zero. Constitution is average at best. And for Bravery…the lowest possible score.”
“Th-th-that can’t be!” Wataru said, clinging to the wizard’s bony knee. He received another loud smack on the forehead.
“As a result you have been assigned the rank of Novice Brave, Prototype I. Your equipment will be provided.”
The wizard tucked the writing quill behind his ear, and