Why are you making music in a place like this?　A baboon, you're a man who asks for strange things.


　The old man, who was mindlessly playing the biwa (Japanese lute) in the middle of the National Cemetery, said this and showed his yellow teeth.

　Both of his eyes were white and cloudy and probably reflected nothing.


I'm sure it doesn't matter to you what this blind old man does or where he goes.


　As he said this, the old man played his biwa with Beven.

　He was dressed in clothes with noticeable insect-eaten holes, and his limbs were as thin as withered trees.

　Had he not been playing the biwa, he might have been mistaken for a vagrant or a beggar.

　The official in charge of the cemetery said that for more than a year now the old man had been playing various pieces of music in the vast national cemetery as a "requiem" for the souls of the dead.



There's no good reason for this. If I had to choose, I'd say it's because I can't leave them alone.

Can't we just leave them alone?

I use musical compositions to pray to the gods of desolation and to purify the evil spirits who have wronged people. That is why I am playing the biwa.

...Are you saying that there is an evil spirit in this cemetery?

That's not true. But with a cemetery like this, there are many people who wander around without being able to attain Buddhahood. I am pointing out to them the location of the Pure Land. If a bodiless soul stays in this world for a long time, it could become an evil spirit.


　After saying that, the old man laughed in a high-pitched voice.


''Baboon!　But I can't prove it, though. It's the work of a madman, isn't it? How long has it been since I've talked to someone like this?


　The old man plucked the strings deftly with both hands as he continued to speak.

　The old man's hands are so smooth and smooth that a year or two of practice would never be enough to reach them.

　I don't know the truth about calming gods or exorcising evil spirits, but it's probably true that he makes a living playing musical tunes.

　I was near the grave of the Dukes of Drugnoth, so I called out to them, but now, I wondered if I had made the right decision.



''Old man, actually, there is one more thing I would like to ask you about, if you don't mind?''

Yeah, all right.

I was wondering if there were any suspicious people or spirits in this cemetery last evening?


　He asked for information by mentioning the time of Claudia's fall.

　The old man nodded his head, "Well," he said, "I have no idea what happened.


I don't have any idea what happened to him, but........well, there was one person who was very suspicious.

What kind of person was that?

I'm in front of you now, that I am.


　Then the old man smiled at him.


The old man smiled and said, "At such an hour, alone in the graveyard, I am playing a song. There is no one more suspicious than this!　Baboon!


　Hearing the other person's laughter, my face turns sullen without knowing it.

　Apparently, they're playing a joke on me. I was on the verge of giving up on the idea of hearing anything useful.


"...Whoever you are, has someone you know been cursed?


　The old man's voice slipped into her mind like a slippery slope.

　I felt as if he had read my mind, and my guard was up.


'....Why did you think that?

You are asking me if there is anyone else in the graveyard after dark that could be suspicious. In addition, I can't think of anything else to do but to investigate the existence of a curse. Your voice is very calm when you think your family and friends are cursed. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that the cursed person was an acquaintance or acquaintance of yours.

It's magnificent.

I am grateful for your compliment. I can't thank you enough, but I would like to lend you some of my old man's wisdom. It's been more than a year since I came to King's Landing. The old man has his own way of thinking, and the blind man has his own way of thinking.

Well, I'd love to hear that.


　I complied, and as the old man asked me, I gave him the information on the cursed person - Claudia Dragnaut's name.

　The fact that Duke Dragnaut's daughter had fallen under a curse and the duke's family was scrambling to solve the problem was already known even to the city of Ishka. He thought there was no need to hide it now.

　Then something serious appeared on the old man's face for the first time today when he heard that.


The old man heard this and for the first time today, something serious appeared on his face. You are an acquaintance of that girl.

Hm?　Since you know Lady Claudia?

I just glanced at you. I said in passing, 'I wonder how long it's been since I've talked to someone like this. The last person who spoke to me before you was Claudia," he said, "and she was the last person who spoke to me before you. She spoke to me in rags without fear, and as soon as she heard what I had to say, she said, 'Thank you for purifying the place where my mother sleeps,' without showing any sign of doubt.


　The old man made a gesture as if he was looking up at the heavens.


The old man made a gesture as if he was looking up at the heavens, "I have been to many places on this continent until I reached my age, but I have never seen a girl like her before. It's hard to remember. It was because of her that the officials stopped chasing me away. Even a bird will repay a favor, so to speak, a human being.


　The sound of the biwa (Japanese lute), which has been playing continuously since the last minute, quickens.


It is not the spirit that is truly to be feared, but the man. If you wish to lift the curse, you must look not at the spirit, but at the person.

'So instead of trying to figure out what you're cursed with, you're trying to figure out who cursed you?

Goodbye, goodbye. If people gather together to live, there will be a shadow cast on them. Envy and cursing come from that shadow. No matter how virtuous a person is, they will never escape the shadow. No matter if they are friends or acquaintances, parents or siblings, shadows will still be there.

''Are you saying that ... there are people close to you who curse Claudia-sama?''

'Baboon. Impossible, do you think?　But that is exactly what people do. There is no shortage of stories of murderers of parents and children in the world. And when the family is as big as Dragnaut's, a dark shadow is cast between the flesh and blood.

M.....

"Lord Dragnaut had two daughters who were worth a fortune. The first daughter is Astrid and the second is Claudia. The eldest daughter stays behind to take over the house, and the second daughter is to be married to the Dauphin to be the future queen. However, the second daughter could have taken over the family as well. Being the future queen meant that she would have to obey her sister as a vassal sooner or later. That's where the great shadow was cast, I thought foolishly.

You think my sister cursed my sister?

"Closer than anyone else, therefore easier to curse than anyone else. Don't you think it would be easy to give him the evil spirit?　I have been traveling around the continent for decades and I have never heard of a demon that can't be cured or prayed to. I am convinced that the source of the curse is the shadow that lurks in my sister.


　The old man affirmed with the sound of his biwa.

　Hearing that, I nodded my head.

　I felt like I had gotten an unexpected clue at the National Cemetery, which I had originally thought was a bad idea.