Tenonaru Hou e prologue part5

“What&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;?”

What just happened?

He wondered if the man saw someone else behind him and got startled, but when he turned around there was no one other than himself there. Confused, Kusamakura picked up the lantern the man had thrown to the side.

“&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;it looks like a spirit flame.”

The candle standing inside was still burning. He wondered how humans lit them. Kusamakura could conjure fire, but humans seemed unable to do it the same way as him. It was written in books that they used “flints” and “strikers” then switched to “live coals”. Kusamakura didn’t know exactly how they did it though. Even if he were to ask, the man’s back had already disappeared into the darkness and could no longer be seen. Kusamakura had a profound interest in the lamp and the candle burning bright inside that he was seeing for the first time. Thinking it was a waste to just leave it there, he took it with him, but after a few hours the flame went out on its own.

Since the candle had burned out, Kusamakura walked around the next day with a spirit flame inserted inside of the lantern. He figured he would return it to the person who dropped it, but even though he continued to loiter around the same place day after day, he had yet to see any humans in that area since then.