The boy stares at me with eyes rounder than the full moon.
Behind me I hear Julius’s exasperated “I knew that was coming” and Canna’s excited exclamation of “That’s Lady Elle for you!”
Yet the boy responds to my epochal offer to make him happy with a petulant scowl.
“So you’re kidnappers!” the boy concludes, daringly brandishing his stick at me.
Uh-oh…did I make him totally see us as the enemy now? Was it a dumb idea to let my excitement get the better of me and blurt the first thing that came to mind? B-But that’s how bad I wanted to make him a resident of Elle Village!
“I-I’m no kidnapper! Okay, I am a kidnapper. But I won’t sell you off! I just want you to come to my village! There are only twenty of us so far, but it’s an amazingly awesome village!”
“Are you gonna work us like slaves there? Won’t do ya any good. Most of the folks here aren’t capable of working, you know. Even my kid sister is bedridden…,” he says, keeping a wary distance from me.
“Your sister is sick?”
“She is! Horribly sick! So you won’t gain anything by kidnapping the villagers!”
“I’m not trying to gain anything. I just took a liking to you… Oh, I know! I’ve got a high-end healing elixir on me. It’s a special batch whipped up by the DemiOracle. I’ll cure your sister with it! Then you’ll trust me, right? Show me the way, boy!” I tell him my brilliant idea and receive an even more barbed look in return.
Scary boy. He’s like a wild dog.
“Like hell I’d believe that load of crap. What are you gonna do to my sister when you find her?!” the boy cries, running at me with the raised branch.
I’m startled by the boy’s unexpected rebellion, but Julius seizes his hand before his attack can reach me. He snatches the branch from the boy’s grip and shoves him away.
“Nngh…,” he groans, falling back on the dirt.
Dumbfounded, I stare down at him. Julius stands beside me with a look that says, “Whoops, I dirtied my hands shoving away a boring creature.”
…Well, crap. This makes me into the bad guy. One of the Four Grand Magi of the Demon Lord’s Army. This is totally a scene of two Grand Magi bullying a helpless child.
The boy is glaring at me like I’m the bane of his existence. Like he’s trying to pierce through me with those strong, burning eyes. But his shoulders are trembling. He must be scared.
Yeah, he’s definitely scared. Bandits came out of nowhere and stole everything that mattered to him, and then his dad went out to commit the same crime. First he was betrayed by outsiders, then by his loved ones, and now we show up out of the blue asking him to trust us when he knows nothing about us. Of course he wouldn’t believe me.
What should I do? It’s not a good idea to kidnap him when he’s so against it. But…I’m fairly positive everyone in this village will die if I leave them here…
“Lady Elle, please follow your heart and do what you always have. You saved me that way. It will be all right. I promise we will step in and stop you when you go too far,” Canna says encouragingly when I hesitate.
That’s right. I’ll surely regret abandoning this boy here. Besides, I’m not trying to save him because I want to do something good or because I want him to like me. I don’t care what he thinks of me. This is simply me being selfish. I’m acting on my desire to have him. I just don’t want to regret this moment. I’ve made up my mind.
“You’ve left me no choice, since you refuse to let me meet your sister, boy!” I say, snatching the branch from Julius.
I swiftly draw a magic circle in the dirt with it. It’s for the Mist spell. Being surrounded by an abundance of magic particles has packed me full of magic, and this spell falls under wide-area magic, my specialty!
I pull a small bottle of green liquid from my pocket and open the lid.
This healing elixir I brought from Analia is a special potion I received from the DemiOracle to commemorate my ascension to office as one of the Four Grand Magi. It’s a miracle potion capable of curing most conditions, including cuts, stabs, burns, back pain, plagues, malnutrition, and so on.
I’ll never get my hands on another bottle now that I’ve cut ties with Analia, but I’ll use it anyway.
I dump the elixir on top of the circle and chant the incantation. “Ilik ilik ein ik… Water Gate. Answer my request with this blood offering. My wisdom is absolute law!”
Watery green mist springs forth from the magic circle.
“You intend to spread the DemiOracle’s elixir by diffusing it in the mist? That will only weaken its effects.”
I can hear Julius’s skeptical voice, but I pay it no attention as I slit my wrist with my nail and splash blood all over the magic circle.
“Don’t worry, Julius. I just have to increase the magic effect of the elixir. Doing so will give the healing effects to anyone who breathes in this pea-green mist!”
I’ve gotta make it spread even further and wider through the village. If I succeed, the healing mist will eventually reach the boy’s sister and cure her illness without me meeting her. It’s not enough yet. More. More.
“Increase its effects? That shouldn’t be…possible. How are you going—”
“I’m gonna increase its output with magic, obviously!” I supply for Julius’s benefit, concentrating on the magic within me. “Amplify, amplify, amplify! More! More!”
The watery pea-green healing mist generated by the magic circle spreads in tandem with my voice.
“Using magic to amplify the effects of magic? Improbable. That defies all logic…” Julius sounds stunned.
What’s so difficult for him to understand? All I’m doing is pouring a waterfall’s worth of my magic into the spell to increase the output. What’s strange about that?
Julius’s denial of what I’m doing is a tad concerning, but I’ve gotta concentrate on my spell right now.
The more I wish it and the more I send magic into the circle, the more the green fog spreads until it covers the entire village.