I remember my past.
I was a failure. I sucked at manipulating magic, and I lost control of every spell I learned, causing horrible accidents.
But I so badly wanted the Demon Lord to praise me that I practiced my butt off in secret. Keeping at it every day, I became capable of using spells that didn’t require much precision.
I started to get the hang of it then. I could control spells better if I didn’t use much magic.
From that time, I definitely learned how to cast spells differently from others. The truth is, I actually realized then that my magic was unique.
But I didn’t want the Demon Lord to know.
I didn’t want him to think of me as a failure. As different. I was the most content to do things like everyone else and be better than them at the same things. I wanted to be better in an ordinary way.
And just like that, the Demon Lord never tried to learn more about me. The real me.
So the magic circle and the man behind it never discovered my true power.
✦ ✦ ✦
I smell grass.
Lured by that sweet, green smell, I open my eyes. An entirely different world extends as far as the eye can see. The buildings are still in shambles, but the ground, which had been an ocean of sand, is covered in lush grass.
And I hear someone breathing right beside me. I reach out my hand.
There I find Julius with a healthy complexion and a body that’s not turning to dust.
I cup his cheeks in both hands. He’s warm.
I press my ear against his chest. His heart is beating.
Julius…!
I look over my shoulder. Aela is curled up asleep on the grass, exhausted from using too much power.
Lying to her left and right are Guido and Golem, who have regained their limbs just as Julius has. All three chests rise and fall with their breathing.
Everyone’s alive!
Tears spring to my eyes, but someone roughly latches on to my wrists and jerks me away from Julius. I look over and see shattered glasses and a cockeyed smile—Clark.
“Aaah! How splendid! Marvelous! Your power is on par with the gods! My whole body convulsed with delicious shivers! I was shaking from head to toe! I was especially surprised by Elle’s unprecedented magical power. Oh, how could I have been such a fool! I nearly made the grave mistake of gouging out your heart. Determining the true nature of a power is one of the basics of being a researcher, too! I just assumed your power was what the Demon Lord said it was. Making subjective, baseless assumptions is a researcher’s gravest sin! I’m ashamed to call myself a researcher. I’m so terribly sorry. I was in the wrong. I apologize. So, come with me, Elle! Please let me research you! I want to know everything about you!” With healthy pink cheeks, Clark speaks faster than a machine gun, his hands firmly locked around my wrists.
What the heck?! This guy is disgusting!
“Hey! Let go of me! You pervert!” I shout and swing down my arms to shake him off, but I can barely move.
What? Could this be…a magic shortage…?
In the brief time I’m reeling in shock from my first taste of a magic power outage, Clark drags me by the wrists to who knows where—seriously, leave me alone!
“Stop.” I hear someone demand the same thing I’m thinking.
“GUEH!” Clark, who has been talking his head off nonstop, croaks like a crushed frog and stops dead in his tracks.
His healthy complexion instantly turns blue.
Frost forms on the top of his head with a crunching sound.
He freezes like an ice sculpture with his mad-scientist smirk frozen in place. His hands feel colder than ice on my wrists.
Only one person controls ice like this.
“Julius!”
Julius slowly rises from where he had been sleeping on the grass. And when he comes over and touches Clark, the mad scientist cracks and crumbles onto the ground in a pile of ice cubes.
“Don’t touch Elle with your filthy hands,” Julius snarls down at the ice pile, then mutters, “This is…”
I don’t hear the rest because I’m so relieved Clark has turned to ice cubes that the strength goes right out of my legs and I fall back on my bottom. Ow.
“Elle! Are you all right?!” Julius kneels beside me and puts his arm around my back to help me stay upright.
“Yeah. I’m okay. Just that once I felt safe, I couldn’t stand anymore…,” I explain.
“I see,” he says with a gentle smile.
Emotion overwhelms me and tears overflow in the process… How could they not?! I mean, I mean, it’s Julius!
“Julius…!” I throw my arms around him and make sure of his warmth and heartbeat.
He’s warm!
He’s moving!
He’s alive!
“Elle… I’m so proud of you.”
I hear his gentle voice over my head, and then he hugs me.
I nod repeatedly with my head nuzzled against his warm chest.
“I couldn’t have done it without you, Julius. You noticed me. You saw me…”
“Yes, I did. I have looked at you and only you since the day we met, Elle. Your smile, your angry face, your tears, all of you is so precious to me, I couldn’t look away,” Julius confesses, his voice a tad hoarse.
I slowly lift my head from his shirt. Julius is looking at me with kind eyes. I’m reflected in those icy-blue pools.
“Back when I lived in Analia, I never thought I would become this way. I didn’t know how greedy I was.”
“You’re greedy…?” I tilt my head.
“Yes. There’s so much I want to do. So much that I hope for, Elle.”
“…Hmm? What do you want to do?”
“From now until the end of time, I want to see your smile as the closest person to you. I want you to cry into my chest when you are sad. And it is my hope that I am the only one to ever be reflected in your beautiful ruby-red eyes… See? I’m greedy. People become so greedy when they have someone they love.” Julius looks refreshed to have laid out his true feelings.
My heart does a little flip.
“Someone you love…?”
“Elle, I love you. I love you with all my heart. I wanted to tell you how I felt after we took care of everything else. I am so glad I was able to. Thank you, Elle.”
Julius says all these things without getting embarrassed, which makes me embarrassed, but also happy. The tears that finally stopped are rushing to my eyes again.
I bury my face in his chest.
I have to tell him! I have to share my honest feelings! Tell him that I love him, too…!
I pull back from his chest and glare up at his handsome face. “I…I also…about you…well…how do I say it…?”
The words lodge in my throat. I mean, Julius is staring super-duper hard at me!
But I’ll say it! I will! I’ll tell him!
For I am Elle Village’s esteemed mayor! I’ll make him know my love!
“J-J-Ju-Ju-Julius! I…I…I a-also…”
OH MY DEMON LORD! I’m too embarrassed to say I love you!
And I’m the girl who boldly announced to everyone I met in Analia that the Demon Lord loves me and I love the Demon Lord!
When did I become such a spineless coward?!
Say it! Spit it out! Come on, me!
Show him that Elle Village’s mayor has a spine!
“J-J-Ju-Julius! If that’s how you feel, th-th-then I, th-the grand sorceress mayor of Elle Village, d-don’t mind m-making you m-my h-h-husband!”
Gah! Who the heck do I think I am, saying I don’t mind making him my husband!
Oh, right, I’m Elle Village’s esteemed grand sorceress mayor Elle! I’m grand and esteemed, so I get to be arrogant!
Wait, wait. Did I just jump the gun? Saying he can be my husband… I totally just skipped all the steps like becoming boyfriend and girlfriend first!
Calm down, girl!
In a complete and total panic, I nervously wait for Julius’s response. Astonishment fills his wide eyes. But a smile sweeter than Chef Meide’s sweetest desserts instantly spreads across his face.
“Pft. I didn’t expect you to propose to me first. I’m thrilled. I accept, my adorable Elle,” Julius says, leaning in close. Something soft presses against my lips, and we kiss.