“I won’t be doing that.”
With that, Leonie took a sip of the medicinal tea. Reflexively, she commented, “It’s rather bitter.” But in contrast to her words, her face had unfurled into a broad smile, like a blooming flower.
The very next day, we got started researching convenience magic. Though, in actuality, Leonie was doing most of the research, and I was assisting her. Proto had told me from the start that my talent was in magic, but in practice, it seemed my plentiful amount of mana actually came in handy for helping her research.
It was Sunday, and we had the day off from school, so Leonie and I went into town to shop for parts for magical devices. Since we were in one of the foremost royal capitals of the human race, the marketplace was crowded with people starting from the early morning. I really liked how energetic it was.
“Hmm?”
“Something wrong, Ruchika?”
“I could have sworn I just saw Professor Aliza over there…”
Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me?
—That area over there is the black market.
“Black market”?
—A place where people buy and sell dark goods—the kinds of things that don’t circulate official trade routes—through back channels. For example, you might find stolen goods or illegally procured military supplies there.
If someone from the Hero Institute is there, that means…
—I believe the Institute forbids its students and staff from even getting near the area.
In that case, there was no way a straitlaced professor like Aliza would be there. I must have been seeing things after all.
“Eh, whatever. Leonie, what is it you wanted to buy?”
“Let’s see—I was hoping to stock up on some scrolls.”
Scrolls were a convenient item that consisted of a piece of paper with a spell circle imprinted on it. When you channeled mana into it, the magic inscribed in the spell circle would activate. Unlike magical devices, however, you needed a decent level of magical power to be able to use scrolls, so most ordinary people found devices more convenient. Then again, scrolls were cheaper, but they were also disposable—you could usually only use them once.
I guess Leonie wasn’t after the actual scrolls themselves but the spell circles written on them. Lately, she had been researching what kinds of spell circles were most efficient, and she’d mentioned wanting to collect different samples the previous day.
“All right, then let’s head for a scroll shop.”
“Yes. There’s one I know of over that way.”
Leonie led the way, and I followed after her.
“Sure are a lot of people out today,” I said.
“This is the largest marketplace in the capital; it makes sense.”
“Wanna hold hands so we don’t get separated?”
“We’re not children, Ruchika.”
Rejected again. That Leonie—her shield against flirtation was as solid as ever.
“Speaking of children, that reminds me…”
“Hmm? Of what?”
“What kind of a child were you, Ruchika?”
“Oh, so you wanna know?”
“Well, I am a little curious.”
She didn’t even look back as she walked ahead of me.
If only she would just swoon a little bit more.
—Even Ruchika, the world-famous pickup artist, seems to be having trouble with this girl.
Who’re you calling a pickup artist?
As I tried to get Proto to cram it with the comments from the peanut gallery, I thought back on my past and answered Leonie.
“Let me see… I guess I was always kind of out of place as a kid.”
“‘Out of place’?”
“Yeah. Oh, Leonie, I’m getting a little hungry. Do you mind if I buy us some apples?”
“…Go ahead.”
“Thanks. Hey, lady, two apples over here please!”
I bought two apples, gave one to Leonie, and started munching on the other one as I continued:
“Did you ever notice I don’t have any horns?”
“Yes, I do recall that horns are one of the distinguishing traits of demons.”
“That’s right. Well, I don’t have horns because I was born under certain special circumstances.”
“‘Special circumstances’?”
“Yeah. As a weapon to use in the battle against the Almighty Hero.”
“?!”
This definitely got Leonie’s attention, and she turned back to me in shock. I was delighted that I had succeeded in surprising her just like I’d meant to. While we were on this topic, I invited her to come sit down by the edge of the fountain in the market square.
“My mama was a really strong demon, and she held the Almighty Hero in really high regard—maybe even more so than humanity did. So that’s why she tried out all kinds of things to defeat her. Like altering and modifying her demon underlings, stuff like that. And I was one of those experiments.”
I took another bite of my apple and went on:
“They say Mama put the very best of her hero research to work into making me.”
“‘Hero research’…?”
“Mama thought we needed to bring in the Almighty Hero’s own power to compete against her. That’s why she obtained some of the Almighty Hero’s own flesh and blood during one of their battles and did all sorts of experiments with it. And I was born from one of them. Since I wasn’t born through the usual demon method of blood communion, I never grew any horns.”
And well, I wasn’t created in time to help out with the decisive battle between my mama and the heroes, I told Leonie with a smile. She looked back at me with a conflicted expression on her face.
“Since I didn’t have any horns, the other demons kinda treated me like a freak. On top of that, since I came from a pretty good bloodline as far as demon families go, no one felt comfortable making fun of me to my face, so everyone just kept their distance from me. I think in human terms, you say it’s like sleeping on a bed of nails, right?”
“Ruchika…”
She gave me a sympathetic look. Hmm, maybe I’m not phrasing it correctly?
“I didn’t really mind it that much. But I guess it was pretty hard on my nanny, who acted as my guardian. She seriously held a grudge about the whole situation, saying it was the Almighty Hero’s fault that things turned out like this.”
“I have a feeling…she may have been justified in that grudge,” Leonie said in a pained voice.
“But you know, I have nothing against the Almighty Hero—against your mama. In fact, I admire her.”
“‘Admire’? You mean you admire the very same person who defeated your mother?”
“Ah…I guess this is one of those cultural differences between humans and demons.”
I was going to have to explain this one a little more.