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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: A Mother's Legacy
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“You know my mom?”
“Your mom?”
The rabbit's ears twitched.
Each time I blinked, the rabbit grew more transparent before returning to normal.
“Is Ceria your mom?”
“Yes! How do you know my mom?”
Could this rabbit be the special something Mom talked about?
“Ceria is my friend. That makes you my friend too.”
A rabbit ghost is my mom's friend.
“Mom's friend… Are you a ghost?”
“Nope.”
Then, the rabbit suddenly zipped away.
I just blinked and stared as it came to a halt.
“Follow me.”
At its words, I followed the rabbit, weaving through the bookshelves as if they were a maze.
I hope I'm not going to another strange place.
Zenda, Kamaye, and Ruspe definitely weren't here.
It was just me and this strange rabbit.
I had no idea what was going on.
I ran until I was out of breath, finally reaching the opposite end.
At the far end of the archives, opposite the entrance I'd come through, was a massive mural.
It looked like a depiction of the gods…
The rabbit slipped right into the mural.
I hurried to follow it, but I just crashed into the hard wall.
“I can't get in.”
I tried ramming it with my head, but it was no use.
A moment later, the rabbit popped back out.
“…Aren't you coming?”
“I can't. How do you get in there?”
The rabbit tilted its head, then popped back inside.
I stared blankly at the mural.
Mom's friend is weird.
This time, the rabbit emerged with something in its mouth.
It was a stone tablet, about the size of my two palms put together.
“Take it.”
The rabbit spoke clearly, even with the tablet in its mouth.
I took the tablet with both hands.
“…What is this?”
“Me.”
“You?”
“No, not you. Me.”
“What do you mean?”
The rabbit stared at me.
Having no other choice, I looked at the tablet the rabbit had given me.
Carved on the tablet was a rabbit holding a club, striking something down.
“The one in here is you?”
“Yes.”
It seemed to be bragging about its picture being on a stone tablet.
“It's really cool. I've seen it now.”
I smiled and held the tablet back out.
“…Ceria figured it out on her own.”
The rabbit's expression was blank, but its disgruntled tone came through clearly.
I had something I was more curious about than the tablet.
“My mom came here too, right?”
“Yes.”
“Often? I came through a small passage in the bookshelf. Did Mom come that way too?”
“I wouldn't know. I met Ceria inside here.”
Hearing that, I swallowed hard.
“Then, rabbit… do you know… what kind of power my mom had?”
On the day of the accident, Mom fed me a red jewel and made me promise to keep it a secret, but she never told me about her own powers.
She only said I would gain special eyes.
But I thought Mom might have had the same ability to see the future as me.
Could Mom have had other powers too?
If so, what kind of powers did she have?
“Of course.”
The rabbit gave me the answer I wanted.
I dropped to my knees and crawled closer to the rabbit.
“Really? What kind of powers?”
The rabbit cleared its throat with an “Ahem” and began to tell me what it knew.
The powers Mom had were truly special.
First, she could understand the words of birds.
This was her first power, which she awakened here after finding a bird-shaped statue.
And with a power gained from a spider-shaped brooch, she could briefly bind a person's feet.
There was even the ability to avoid the rain, though only for a moment.
“Why did Mom have powers like that?”
“Ceria is one who awakens us. A very special person.”
“One who awakens you?”
“Yes. She allowed me to awaken from that stone tablet. Probably the other guys too…?”
“This?”
When I pointed at the tablet, the rabbit's ears wiggled.
“Yes. I was asleep in there for a long time. Only those with special power can awaken us. In return, we lend them a useful ability.”
“You lend them an ability?”
“Yes. But we can't be caught by the Hunter first. We must be awakened only by a special person. If the Hunter catches us, we can never be free.”
My questions were being answered, but the rabbit's words brought new ones.
A special person? A Hunter?
The rabbit's words sounded like a riddle.
Mom was a special person, and it seemed there was also a Hunter, whom the rabbit was saying was dangerous.
A Hunter…
My memory of the carriage accident was scattered in pieces, but a faint voice came to mind.
Could it be them?
So they really were bad people?
“Ceria once told me that someone precious to her would come here one day. I guess that was you. You have Ceria's scent on you.”
Mom's scent!
The rabbit said I smelled like Mom.
That made me very happy.
“That's right. Mom said I was the most precious person in the world to her.”
“But I didn't expect you to be this young.”
“Ah…?”
“Especially since you're already doing *that*.”
“That?”
When I didn't understand, the rabbit let out a short sigh and said.
“You say you don't know anything, but you already possess several of Ceria's treasures.”
“Really?”
“But it's better for you to awaken them on your own later, rather than me telling you. To awaken the strongest ones, it's best you learn by yourself.”
As if to comfort me, the rabbit extended a small front paw and rested it on my foot.
“Besides, if I force you to awaken it by telling you, things could go wrong.”
I lowered myself, almost prostrating, to meet the rabbit's gaze.
“Can you explain again, slowly? I don't know anything about Mom's powers. Tell me how you met her, too. Please?”
The rabbit stared intently at me.
I could only see its pitch-black eyes, so I couldn't be sure if it was truly looking at me, but it felt that way.
“Alright.”
“Really?”
“Yes, if you wish. You have to listen carefully, okay?”
“Yes, I will.”
I widened my eyes to show I was concentrating.
“We are spirits bound to ancient artifacts. This isn't my original form, but over a very long time, I changed into the image engraved on the tablet.”
“Not your original form?”
“No. We were messengers and agents of the gods, and we originally had forms similar to yours. It was so long ago that I can't remember it clearly anymore.”
“I see…”
Agents of the gods, messengers of the gods.
I had gone with Mom to the temple just once.
She said some people went there to pray every day, while others, like us, only visited occasionally.
The priests there called themselves messengers of the gods. I guess such things existed long ago, too.
“Ceria is the one who awakens us and helps us regain our memories.”
“My mom…”
“Then we stay by her side and become her strength. And when Ceria sets us free, we become free beings.”
The rabbit said there were many beings like itself all over the world.
Some hadn't awakened yet, while others had already awakened and found their freedom.
It explained that special beings like Mom were rare, appearing infrequently, so they themselves had to be lucky to regain their original memories and abilities.
Their special friend, who appeared only a few times in a millennium.
The rabbit called such a being a Seeker, or Indagator, or Indagatrix.
“And now, after Ceria, you have gained the ability.”
“I see. So, are there any other friends besides me?”
“There are. But it's extremely rare for Seekers to meet. They can share abilities if they do, but the power is diminished compared to when it's first obtained, so they don't really try to find each other.”
The rabbit said it was worried because I had awakened a power so young, one that most wouldn't awaken until they were adults, if at all.
Oh, and beings like the rabbit are called ancient artifacts or treasures.
“What about the Hunter?”
