Drawn Mochi Volume 6 Chapter 7.2: Forest, Village, And Wall*6

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　…Thus, the wall that suddenly appeared became a bit of a hot topic.

　Not only were the farmers surprised, but also people who passed by the forest going from town to town noticed something strange about the forest. From there, the story spread. In this way, the story of the “sudden creation of the wall” in the forest spread…

　…So, tourists came out to look at the wall.

“I never thought it would become a tourist attraction.” (Tougo)

I had intended for it to become a transportation hub, and I also thought it would be great if a town could be built around the forest. However, I never expected that the wall would become a tourist attraction!

“Well… something like this can’t be normal. It’s supposed to be the power of a spirit. That’s probably why it’s so unusual and mystifying!” (Fay)

　Fay is laughing while saying this, but I think this must be quite difficult. Actually, since Fay uses the red dragon to climb over the wall to visit the forest, I think he’ll stand out a bit… But if I make a poorly built gate in the wall, that would be a problem. I’d better build a gate soon, and someone to connect the inside of the forest to the outside…

“Ah, well, it’s okay that the number of other people has increased. I knew this would happen if I built a town by the forest anyway, and this place was going to be more prosperous in the end. It’s an unavoidable path.” (Fay)

　I see… Yep. Well, that’s right. This is a necessary expense. It doesn’t matter if it happens. If it gets people talking about it, so much the better. It might cause more trouble, but it’s an unavoidable road anyway. Yep. You have to go head-on and get out of the way.

“Then, I think it would be better to open the gate before too many people come.” (Tougo)

　Then, I suggested that to Fay.

　It’s only been about 10 days since the wall was built, but I think that’s why we should build the gate now.

　…Because look. If you build the gate now, you only need to make it one time to make the wall and the gate stand out. However, if we decide to do this after the walls have settled in properly, there will likely be another uproar when the gate is built.

And since there will be a lot of people around the forest at that time, it will be a bigger commotion than it is now. So, I guess it’s now or never.

“…Are you really sure? You’ve slept for three and a half days just for the wall, you know?” (Fay)

“Yep, but this is a path that cannot be avoided.” (Tougo)

　For the forest will not be an obstacle. The forest is not to be a hindrance, so that we can return the favor for generations to come. To gather people around the forest and make them fall in love with the place even more. After all, I think the forest needs a gate. It may be fine without a gate, but it would be better to have one, and I would like to do it.

　…Fay thought, thought, and then came to a conclusion.

“……I understand.” (Fay)

　Fay says that and nods.

“Then, I’ll talk to my father and brother…and I think I’ll have them do it as soon as possible. Is that okay?” (Fay)

“Yep.” (Tougo)

　If we can do that, all the best! Let’s paint! I’ll paint it anyway!

　As I was getting motivated, Fay suddenly pointed his finger at me.

“…First! Your best friend, Fay, has one condition for you!” (Fay)

“A condition?” (Tougo)

　I wondered what it was and asked…

“This time, you have to draw with the Ryuu! If you can, draw it with that big bird, or your Houou, or your Pipe Fox, or even Laocles’ alicorn!” (Fay)

　…That’s what I was told.

“…Ryuu? Huh, um, why?” (Tougo)

　Ryuu…um, Ryuu is very reliable. They were very helpful to me when I was with Lila, and before that, they made a rain of magic rain down on Redgarde territory. But… umm.

“That’s right! The Ryuu! …That Ryuu is probably the one with the most magical power in this forest right now, right? Next is that huge bird?” (Fay)

　Yeah. I think so. Because that Ryuu is someone that can replace the spiritual vein. And that bird is a spirit of the previous generation. I know that. But… Whenever I run out of magic power, that Ryuu will bully me… but I guess it can’t be helped…

　So, the next day. I began to draw the gate, surrounded by Ryuu and the bird, Houou and Pipe Fox, Laocles’ alicorn, and Fay’s red dragon.

　…It’s a very large group. Moreover, all of them are much bigger than me, except for the Pipe Fox and the Houou. I feel a lot of pressure.

　Also, since everyone is looking into the drawing paper, it’s really difficult to draw…

　But as soon as I started painting, I was able to concentrate and soon I didn’t mind their stares.

　… A building in the center of the forest. A circular room with a domed ceiling. Someday I want to fill this building with murals. With that intention, I made the walls quite wide.

　When I painted the room in this way, the room was created. The building, which is located near the center of the forest, but not covered by our living area, the bird’s nest, or the Ryuu’s lake, is in very good condition. I was happy that the building turned out just as I had imagined.

　Then I draw gates on all sides of the building. There is nothing there yet, just a gate. There is a blank entrance, and the view of the forest is beyond it.

　The gate materialized, and wind began to blow in from all sides of the building… And this is where the real action begins. From now on, I will make this gate a magical gate.

　I let the Houou carry me out into the sky above the forest.

　Then I decided where to build the gate in the four directions of the forest. After deciding, I sketch the view from each point with my back against the wall.

　…The key is the view from the gate of the central building, which will be the “view on the other side”. Without it, I couldn’t draw the magic gate.

　I managed to finish a simple sketch of four directions that day. The next day …I finally started to draw the magic gate.

　Surrounded again by the strong gazes, inside the central building, I draw the building, the gates on all sides of the building, and the view on the other side of the gates.

　… I wanted to use the heavy, dark look of oil painting to express a sense of grandness of the inside of the building and the gates. However, I decided to use watercolor because it is the method I am most familiar with. Besides, I felt that I could express the feeling of the other side of the gate better with watercolor.

　The inside of the building is dimly lit, and the only light source is the light coming in from behind the gate. Because of this, the other side of the gate looks very bright and clear, and the composition makes it more obvious that each gate leads to a different place.

　Of course, I can only draw up to three gates in one picture. No matter what I do, I can’t fit the last gate into a single composition. Therefore, I decided to express the last gate… The gate behind the viewpoint with the light falling on the floor.

　I just kept drawing it in. Each of the carved stone of the building. The pattern dug into the stone. The light from outside falling on the dust on the floor. The view beyond the gate, down to each swaying blade of grass and each leaf and branch.

　I drew up an imaginary landscape by layering sketches of four locations on top of the landscape spread out directly in front of me.

　And so, I drew and drew and drew until I was satisfied, but the picture I drew… never materialized.

“…is it no good?” (Tougo)

　Somehow, I didn’t have any intention of failing, but this was a failure. …Perhaps this is the first time that I have made a huge failure to make a painting into reality.

　So, what can I say… I was a little shocked, or rather, I didn’t know what to do…

　Looking at the other side of the gate where nothing had changed, I decided to be absent-minded for a while. Maybe because I was concentrating on the painting, my head was foggy.

　I started thinking about what went wrong, but I started to feel sad, so I stopped thinking about it. Teacher told me that I shouldn’t reflect on things when I’m tired. I thought, if I don’t reflect on things after I get some rest and feel better, I’ll only end up feeling sad.

　…When I turned my back a little, I was in the position where I was buried in the bird’s belly.

It was somehow comforting, and I decided to take a nap in spite of my disappointment. good night…

T/N: Oh. So, ancient magic can’t be created like the mythical creatures, huh. Well, if there’s a will there’s a way.