As to the business in question, the priest was offering to sell mana potions to the Ignas.
“These three bottles contain the same amount of mana you had in your stores, everything you obtained by killing and draining the Nurabehn. We, however, have a method of producing such potions in virtually inexhaustible quantities. If you reject Exinov rule and agree to view the Nurabehn as your equals, we might be willing to sell them to you.”
The Ignas were clearly displeased at being spoken to so curtly.
“Don’t make me laugh…! The constabulary is already on its way. I knew we never should have trusted a Nurabehn. Your kind aren’t even fit to shine our boots!”
“I see. You have no need of these mana recovery potions, then.”
“You think we’re stupid enough to believe such a thing could really exist?!”
The priest opened one of the bottles and poured its contents into the lantern that hung from his belt. It began to glow with a bluish light.
“Is that…a wizard light…?”
“I found it around the back of your factory─it was out of mana and had been discarded. Your city is so starved of mana that you cannot even afford to fill your lanterns. Are you quite sure you have no need of these?”
The priest held out the brightly glowing lantern and the two remaining mana potions to the Ignas, who accepted them with flustered expressions. It seemed no one had the courage to smash the supposedly worthless little bottles.
“You should discuss this with the important people of your city. And if you would like to do business, send a messenger─just put a letter around the neck of the nearest mouse and word will reach us.”
“N-No… But…”
“These mana potions we will give you as payment for bringing the Nurabehn all this way. I might have thrown in a little something extra if the transport had been more humane, but… Anyway, do with those potions what you will. If the devices in your hospital are out of mana, for instance, those potions may well serve to save lives.”
At this, one of the Ignas grabbed the bottles and ran off. Some of his companions called after him, but he sprinted away without so much as a glance over his shoulder.
“Shall we be off, then?”
“Off? T-To where?” Jiji asked in a trembling voice.
The priest was already walking away, however, and it was Saybil who answered him. “To the free district─the real one.”
“Then Father didn’t sell us out…?”
“Nope. Well, he did pretend to sell you out, but that was…more like a scam. To cheat those Ignas out of their money.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Gil strode over to the priest, whirled him around by the shoulder, and landed a punch on his cheek. The priest made no attempt to dodge the blow, simply staring back at Gil through his blindfold without so much as a flinch.
“We were packed into freight carriages like so much luggage… They very nearly killed us all! If you had a plan, why didn’t you tell us beforehand?! Look at all these kids! Why the hell would you frighten them like that?!”
The priest wiped away the blood oozing from his split lip, then shrugged. “There were reasons for all of it, and I could explain them to you─but even then you would still have the right to hit me. I did force enough pain and fear upon you all to warrant that. If anyone else wishes to strike me, take the opportunity to do so now.”
The priest waited, but no one else stepped forward─they still didn’t understand the situation well enough to be angry. They had thought they were on their way to the free district, but the priest had pretended to betray them in order to cheat the Ignas out of their money. Then Saybil had done something to destroy the Ignas facility and save them, and now the priest was trying to do business with the Ignas again before taking everyone to the real free district.
Then what does it really matter? thought Jiji. And I bet everyone else feels the same way. Most Nurabehn never had the right to be angry in the first place─especially not at their “betters.” They were deceived, drained, and exploited as a matter of course.
“Very well. If there are no more takers, then we should hurry. If you can still trust me, that is. Oh, and you Ignas can follow, too, if you wish. At least, I won’t stop you.”
The Nurabehn exchanged glances, and in the end each and every one of them decided to follow the priest to the free district. Several more Ignas joined up with their party down the road as well, their wizard carriages loaded with household goods.
It was then that the long journey truly began─or so everyone expected. As it turned out, they stopped at a half-rotted tumbledown shack by the side of the road not all that far from where they had started, and the priest proclaimed that they had arrived.
“Saybil, get the door.”
“Ah, right. On it.”
Saybil had been in among the Nurabehn crowd, carrying luggage for people who were lagging behind or sweeping crying children up into his arms, but at the priest’s words he stepped forward. His eyes glowed faintly as he laid a hand on the wall of the shack, and some other place entirely swam into view on the other side of the threshold.
“Wh-What the…?! Is this another wizard device…?!”
“Not exactly… It’s called a witch’s path. You know how there are doors in the towers that connect to other towns?”
“I-I guess I’ve heard about that, sure…”
“Same idea, more or less. The way is normally closed, but if you pour mana into them, they open right up. It’d be too dangerous to travel overland with such a big group, so we made this path ahead of time.”
Then Saybil hopped through the door and was gone.
“Wh-What do we do…? Is this thing…safe?”
As Jiji hesitated, Gil took a step forward. “I’ll go first and make sure.” Without another word he plunged through the door. Several seconds later, Jiji heard his voice from the other side, almost childlike in its excitement. “Hey, this is incredible! Hurry up and get over here!”
Jiji plucked up his courage and leapt through the opening.
The next instant, another world spread out before his eyes. The sight of it took Jiji’s breath away─it was a city made of ice. The ground was ice, the houses were ice, and there was a fountain of ice spraying water into the air. Icy streetlamps towered above him, and he was sure they would light up once the sun had set. Most of the ice houses were two or three stories tall, their windows decorated with brilliant flowers of every hue.
“This is ice, right? But it doesn’t feel cold at all… It’s like glass.”
“Professor Zero used her sorcery to make it so the ice won’t melt─that’s why it isn’t cold,” Saybil explained.
“Sorcery? Not a wizard device?”
“Sorcery is… Um… It’s kind of like the basic thing that actually powers wizard devices. Professor Zero’s especially good at sorcery, and she’s… Well, she’s a really special, important person here in the free district.”
“It would be more accurate to call her the creator, perhaps,” the priest broke in. “She built this city of ice entirely on her own, to provide a home for Nurabehn with nowhere else to go.”
Once Gil and Jiji were through the door, the rest of the Nurabehn followed one after another. The city’s existing Nurabehn residents called out to each of them, embracing and encouraging the newcomers before disappearing back into the city.
“The creator… Is she an Exinov?” Jiji asked.
“If you are inquiring as to whether she has horns, the answer is no. If, however, you mean to use Exinov in the term’s original meaning of ‘sage,’ then yes, she is the very epitome of an Exinov.”
The priest was using all kinds of confusing words and Jiji didn’t really understand. He had never once thought about what the word Exinov might mean.
If Exinov means something, do the words Ignas and Nurabehn mean something, too? And how did those words get their meanings in the first place? Do these free district folk have the answers? There were so many things Jiji wanted to know, a mountain of questions piled up so high that he had no idea where to start.