When Utsuwa went to her mother and explained that she wanted to pay for things at the shops in the city, however, Danna Ryl had laughed her off. “There’s simply no need for that,” she’d said, and in the end Utsuwa hadn’t gotten any spending money.
Why is that? Utsuwa thought to herself. If Utsuwa is Mother─if Utsuwa has the same soul as Danna Ryl, if we’re really two halves of the same being, then why doesn’t she understand me? Utsuwa used to feel so calm when she sat by Mother’s side, so why does it make Utsuwa feel so anxious now?
Trudging alone along the road back to the tower, she looked up and saw something that rang a bell: an Ignas with the fluffy tail and pointy ears of a fox, descending from a large four-wheeled wizard carriage. The man was dressed for the road, but Utsuwa recognized him as the owner of the shuttered store she had just tried to visit.
Eager to share her memories of Kudo with the one person who would understand, Utsuwa hurried after the Ignas, but he ducked into a grocer’s. She decided it would be better to wait by his carriage than risk missing him by going inside as well, so she veritably plastered herself to the massive vehicle and waited for him to emerge. Taking an idle look into the cargo bed, Utsuwa saw that it was piled high with thaumaturgical devices─it looked as if every last item that had been on display in his shop was now crammed into the back of the carriage.
“Maybe he’s moving the shop to a new location…?”
“…Lady Utsuwa?”
“Eek!” Utsuwa gave a little shriek at the sound of her own name, and turned to see the stern face of the Ignas, his vulpine ears pricked up cautiously.
“A-Ahem…! Utsuwa saw you going in…!” She pointed at the grocer’s. “And earlier, when I dropped by your shop to say hello, the sign said it was closed. Utsuwa felt sad and lonely… But then here you were, and Utsuwa was just so happy to see you…!”
As the girl babbled on, attempting in her flustered state to explain what exactly she was doing there, the Ignas took a piece of fruit from the paper bag in his arms and held it out to her. Utsuwa accepted it and took a bite. It made her feel a bit calmer, and she smiled at him.
“So you mean to say that you just happened to see me on the street, and were waiting for me to come out of the grocer’s?”
“Yes!”
“Well then, what is it you want?”
“W-Want…?” Utsuwa looked at him, puzzled. “Umm… T-To…talk…?”
“I see. About what?”
“About…?” Utsuwa didn’t know. She had noticed the Ignas, it had made her happy, and she had come over to talk, that was all. She didn’t “want” anything from him, exactly.
The Ignas’s ears drooped, and he crouched down so he could look her in the eye. “You came by my shop, did you not? Was there some kind of problem with one of the devices I sold you, for instance?”
“N-Not at all…! But…a-are you going away somewhere?” Utsuwa glanced over at the cargo-laden wizard carriage.
“Yes, but don’t worry. I’ve set it up so I can monitor the condition of the wizard devices sold in my shop no matter where they are. If anything at all should go wrong with one of your purchases, Lady Utsuwa, then I, Seth will fly to your side to address the issue personally.” The fox-eared Ignas─Seth─respectfully pressed his forehead to Utsuwa’s tiny hand, then quickly stood and made to leave as if the conversation was over.
Utsuwa frantically grabbed the hem of his tunic. The conversation isn’t over. There’s something else Utsuwa needs to talk about!
“Lady Utsuwa?”
“Do you remember the p-pretty lizard…? The one that was with Utsuwa?” She hadn’t organized her thoughts and didn’t really know what she wanted to say, but as the halting words tumbled from her mouth, Seth knelt down in front of her once again.
“Is it something secret, Lady Utsuwa?”
She nodded at him, and the Ignas twitched his pointy ears.
“Speak softly, then. Keep your voice as quiet as you can. It’s okay, I’ll be able to hear you.”
“M-Mother, she…” Utsuwa had heard terrible things said in the tower. Scary things. An invasion of the Forbidden Land, which meant an attack on Kudo’s home. Utsuwa didn’t want that. Which was why… “Mother says she’s going to ‘invade’ the Forbidden Land. Utsuwa looked it up─it’s a scary, awful word. So since you’re moving somewhere else, if you meet anyone from the Forbidden Land, please tell them. I’m sure Mother will forgive them if they just say sorry.”
Utsuwa finally realized that was what she’d been hoping for. For everyone to make up and be friends again. To go back to those thrilling days when her heart was all aflutter.
“If Mother and the people from the Forbidden Land make up, then they’ll sell us the medicine that restores mana and nobody will have to suffer anymore. Utsuwa thinks there must be some kind of mistake, and the people from the Forbidden Land didn’t really cover up for any bad guys. In fact, maybe they really want to say sorry right now.”
“Yes… Maybe so.”
“Even if the people of the Forbidden Land fight Mother, they’ll never win. Utsuwa likes them, Utsuwa doesn’t want them to die. Kudo even said Utsuwa should come and see the Forbidden Land someday. That made me so happy…”
Seth gently ruffled Utsuwa’s hair. No Ignas had ever touched her like that before, and in her surprise she fell silent.
“Lady Utsuwa, can you keep it a secret from your mother that you told us this?”
“…Huh? But why?”
“Because if anyone finds out that you told us, we’ll be killed.”
“You must be joking…!” Utsuwa laughed. “Don’t worry, that won’t happen. Utsuwa will have a proper talk with Mother, and tell her that the people of the Forbidden Land will come say sorry, so can she please forgive them.” Utsuwa puffed out her chest proudly, but Seth frowned. Utsuwa didn’t understand why.
“Seth, we’d better get going…” A rotund raccoon with black and white fur poked his head out from the driver’s seat of the carriage.
“Right, coming.”
Utsuwa went quiet once she realized Seth had been keeping someone waiting.
The driver looked at her, and a strange expression came over his face. “We taking her with us?”
Seth couldn’t help but laugh. “Not a chance. Don’t much care for the idea of being a kidnapper.”
“Heard a little of what she was saying─sounds like this is gonna be trouble.”
“We aren’t taking her. We’ve got enough trouble already.”
“Right. Gotcha.”
Seth climbed into the passenger seat. “Let’s go─to the free district.”
These words, filled with a certain determination, did not reach Utsuwa’s ears. She watched as the carriage pulled away, then took a deep breath and clenched her fists with a determination of her own. She finally knew what she wanted to do. What she had to do.
“Utsuwa needs to ask Mother…! To forgive the people of the Forbidden Land…!”