Utsuwa’s never going to forget the way the world glittered that day─the day a dragon straight from children’s tales appeared in the dreary sky, and dear Har Bell returned with such wonderful news!
The world doesn’t have enough mana, so lots of wizards are dying or getting old… It scares me, and it makes me so sad… There are so many fewer Nurabehn now, too. Utsuwa’s about to turn ten, but I don’t even feel excited about choosing my first beastservant…
The medicine Har Bell brought back from the Forbidden Land restored all of Mother’s mana in an instant, though! Everyone’s making a huge deal about it! Even though they always said there was no Forbidden Land, and even if it did exist we would never be able to go there. But Har Bell the Ignas found it! Har Bell is such a wonderful person even though she’s an Ignas… Meanwhile the ones who call themselves Exinov just sit around crying and doing nothing… It makes me want to puke. If I told mother that, though, it’d be no more snacks for Utsuwa…
Oh, and that wasn’t the only surprise!
Apparently the Nurabehn Har Bell introduced as the dragon’s rider isn’t even a wizard. He can’t use sorcery, but he can ride a dragon?! It says in all the books that dragons are really proud and will only obey the most virtuous of wizards. I was so curious, could barely keep from asking how come this one serves a worthless Nurabehn. When it landed in the square outside the tower, it looked much more magnificent than the other thaumatheria. They didn’t even compare! But Mother wouldn’t let me anywhere near the rider, so Utsuwa had to just look out the window at the dragon and pretend I wasn’t listening to what Mother and Har Bell were talking about.
Apparently they’ve got lots and lots of medicine, and the Forbidden Land is just overflowing with mana. Har Bell’s eyes were shining the whole time she was talking with Mother. She said the Forbidden Land’s wizardry hasn’t gotten very far and most of the people are Nurabehn who can’t use any sorcery at all. She said it was like stepping into a history book!
I wonder if that means they use horse-drawn carriages instead of the thaumaturgical kind?
And do they have to draw their water from wells?
How lovely that must be. Utsuwa wants to visit the Forbidden Land, too! Mother seemed very taken with it all, and Utsuwa overheard Har Bell saying she had brought some people back with her from the Forbidden Land. An Exinov and her most capable servants!
There’s a wizard who can freeze the ocean with a snap of her fingers, another one who’s been alive for three hundred years─and the researcher who can make mana recovery potions is a Nurabehn!
Utsuwa wants to meet them.
Utsuwa wants to talk with them.
Utsuwa almost never asks Mother for anything, but this time I asked and asked and asked…even just to be there in the audience chamber.
And what do you think Mother said to me?
“I suppose there’s nothing for it. But you be a good girl, now.”
Those exact words─!
Oh, the audience was so spectacular! Utsuwa’s never seen such a beautiful beastservant in all her life─those sparkling scales constantly changing colors, those sharp blue eyes, all those pointy white teeth, and that lovely long tail.
Utsuwa tugged at Mother’s clothes and tried to get her attention, and Mother turned to look at Utsuwa all dreamy-like. Mother was sitting in the Chair of Intellect, and it was before she had said anything to the people from the Forbidden Land, but she leaned down to listen to Utsuwa. I pressed my lips to Mother’s ear and I whispered, “Utsuwa wants that beastservant. The sparkly one with the scales. Utsuwa will take the best care of it, so please can you give it to me?”
Mother looked kind of surprised, but then she scrunched up her eyes into that tender smile she always gives me.
“Hort the Exinov,” Mother said. “Thank you for making the arduous journey here from your home in the distant Forbidden Land. The medicines you have brought will be a great relief to our people. As a mark of our appreciation and friendship, we will accept that lizard as my daughter’s beastservant.”
Utsuwa put out her hands so the grumpy-looking lizard beastservant could feel safe leaping into my arms. But that’s not what happened.
Utsuwa made a terrible blunder.
Oh, how could this be─?!
Who could’ve imagined that in the Forbidden Land, beastservants are treated the same as people…!