“We could press on to Estoll...” Nacht said. “But how do you feel about making a little side trip first, Aisha?”
“I don’t mind at all!” Aisha said a little too quickly. “In fact, I love being on solid ground! Can we please?”
“All right, then,” said Nacht. “Hang on tight!”
“Eeeek! P-Please don’t speed up like thaaaa—!!!”
Nacht was grinning when she touched down on the ground, but Aisha looked like she was going to be sick. “Mistress!” she said. “I hate you!”
“I’m sorry, Aisha. I promise I’ll fly nice and easy tomorrow. No more teasing.”
“Hmph!” It didn’t seem like Aisha had been much a fan of Nacht’s wild ride through the sky.
As Aisha sulked, Nacht produced a succulent bunch of jewel grapes from her storage. She plucked one off and offered it to Aisha. Aisha tried to look away, but kept stealing glimpses of the treat like a wild cat. And then, when she could bear it no longer, she greedily ate it up.
“Mmh! This is so good!” she said, speaking between bites. “I-I mean, listen! Mrmf... C-Can I have another? Nom... I mean... Gulp... You can’t buy me with food!”
“I know,” said Nacht. “The grapes are just an apology.”
Aisha smiled cheerfully as she devoured the grapes. It seemed like they had cheered her up. “So, where are we going now, Mistress?” she asked. They had flown here through the sky, after all. She had no idea where in the world they were. But all would be revealed in time...
“You should be able to figure it out in a second!” said Nacht. “Look, we can see it already.”
Just then, a small settlement came into view. Aisha stopped dead in her tracks. “Mistress...is this...?”
“Yup! It’s your hometown.”
The pioneer village Flora. A small village of fewer than a hundred people built in the land between Yolno Forest and Cetonia Field. It was good land, blessed with bounty from both the river and forest. It was here that Aisha had lived with her father.
Aisha trembled with shock. She took hold of Nacht’s clothing and clung tight. “Why here...?” she asked.
“I just thought it would be a good idea to pay our respects to your dad before we set out. Besides, do you need a reason to visit your own house?”
“But...” Aisha said. “But I was driven out...”
“I know. It sounds like you had some disagreements.”
“They told me to never return...”
“Ah ha ha!” Nacht laughed. “As if! If they want to take my Aisha’s home away, I’ll just take it back by force.”
In fact, Nacht had made preparations for their return to Aisha’s father’s home. She had demanded Elenora hand over the village to her as a condition for agreeing to meet the princess. Elenora was still in charge of managing the village’s affairs, but Nacht was now its rightful lord. And as a prize for beating the princess in a game, Nacht had won a guarantee—in the name of the royal family, no less—that as long as she, Aisha, and Aisha’s mother Floria lived, her right of domain over Flora would be upheld.
As for Theresia, she was simply happy to have made a formal connection between Nacht and the kingdom. She was perfectly satisfied to hand the village over as a prize in a game.
The villagers regarded Nacht and Aisha with furtive stares. Things had been better for them since Nacht had taken over on paper. Their taxes were reduced, and they had been given priority in entering Free Market City. Nacht had sent people to look after the area and soldiers to patrol for bandits. And there was no shortage of great lords and ladies who were eager to grant them favors out of deference to Nacht. They had little cause for resentment over the change in management.
Nacht had done all this merely so that when Aisha returned to her childhood home, she could enter through the front gate.
Nacht took a step, causing Aisha, who had been clinging to her dress, to pull on her outfit.
“M-May I hold your hand?” Aisha asked.
“Of course you may!” Nacht took Aisha’s small, trembling hand in her own.
Deep in her heart, Aisha was terrified—too terrified to take a single step. Her grief over the loss of her father and the fear she had felt when she was robbed of her home kept her feet rooted to the ground.
Slowly, the two continued onward. Sometimes, Aisha would sense a villager’s gaze from a field nearby and begin to tremble again, but she pressed on with all her might. At last, they came within sight of the small, slightly worn-down house. Aisha hurried along, dragging Nacht behind her.
“Awa...” she muttered, unable to form proper words. Then, slowly, she opened the door. Emotion flooded her heart and tears came to her eyes. “I’m home...”
Aisha stood there for a few minutes, lost in thought, before suddenly returning to herself. “Oh! I’m sorry, Mistress! Please, come in!”
It was quite unusual for Aisha to be the one inviting Nacht anywhere. Nacht smiled. “Thanks for having me over, Aisha,” she said.
“Eh heh...” Aisha giggled. “It feels weird hearing you say that.”
“It’s not bad, having you invite me in,” Nacht said. “Although I suppose this is my servant’s house, isn’t it? Strange...” It was her first time being invited to a girl’s house, and she felt a bit like she was coming here to ask Aisha’s father for his daughter’s hand in marriage. She could almost imagine living as a family together under this roof.
“I know it’s a little run-down...” Aisha said. “But I guess it’s pretty clean, at least. I’m a bit surprised...” The villagers must have been keeping the house ready to reuse at any time. Both the garden out back and Aisha’s father’s grave were neat and tidy.
They stepped into the garden together. For a moment, Nacht closed her eyes and stood silently in front of the grave. Then, she opened her eyes wide. “Nice to meet you, Aisha’s dad! I know this is sudden, but can I have your daughter?”
“Wha—?! Mistress?!”
“Oh, excuse me...” Nacht went on. “I guess I already went and took her. It’s a bit too late for you to tell me not to.”
“That’s even worse!” Aisha exclaimed, but she was smiling happily despite her protests. She knelt down and clasped her hands in prayer. “I’m home, father,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of hard times since I left, but I’m very happy now. I owe everything to Mistress. Oh! This is Mistress Nacht. I suppose you could say I’m her servant. She’s a ridiculous person, but she’s so, so amazing. She saved my life when we first met...”
Aisha spoke on and on, her thoughts and emotions spilling out as she did. Not wanting to interrupt, Nacht stepped back to take a look at Aisha’s house. Aisha thought the people of the village hadn’t come to her father’s aid while he was ill because they hated her, but Nacht suspected that the truth was something different.
Mana Fever, an infectious disease, had spread to the village. More than twenty of the villagers had caught it, and half of them had died, including Aisha’s father. As a former adventurer and hard worker, he had been important to the village. With him bedridden, the others feared for their survival. They didn’t have anything to spare for other families. And they chose Aisha as a scapegoat.
“And then, we were suddenly meeting with Her Highness The Princess!” Aisha went on, still speaking to her departed father. “I was so tense the whole time! It was awful! Mistress really can be unreasonable sometimes...”
It was easy to tell from how clean they had kept his grave that Roland had no few admirers among the village folk. There must have been some of them who’d tried to stick up for Aisha. But the people had decided that Aisha was the reason for the disease—once they were rid of her and her curse, the disease would vanish as well. However, while Mana Fever was highly infectious, a human with an average amount of mana would eventually recover without their life being in much danger. By now, there was no sign of disease left in the village.
Aisha had been forced out of the village by weak, powerless people who had chosen to torment her in order to feel some semblance of control. Nacht didn’t think the villagers felt any real enmity or malice, though. They were simply afraid and had made up their minds that it was Aisha’s fault, forcing her to play the scapegoat.
Nacht would have gladly eradicated the whole village of fools for daring to sacrifice Aisha, but Aisha herself did not wish to punish the villagers. That was why she had chosen the path of reconciliation.
“I’m glad I could talk to my father again like this...” Aisha said. “That’s another thing that you’ve given me, Mistress.” She turned to face Nacht and smiled.
Nacht laughed. “Personally, I feel lucky to have met you. So I suppose I’m indebted to your father as well.”
“I wish you could have met him...” Aisha said. “He would have smiled and told me he was glad I was living such a happy life. If only I had been able to save him...”
“It’s sad,” Nacht agreed. “Although ‘sad’ hardly seems to cover it. Humans can be such weak creatures. When something they don’t like happens, they jump to blame someone else. They gang up on people. They convince themselves they’re in the right. So that’s why, Aisha, even if you can’t hear it from anyone else, at least you can hear it from me...” Nacht fixed her gaze on Aisha. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
A shiver ran through Aisha’s body. She shook her head to stop herself from crying. “I don’t...believe that...” she said.
“Even if you did some small things wrong here and there, it was the disease that was at fault. Can we agree on that?”
Aisha said nothing, choking back her tears.
“You can come here to visit your father whenever you want,” Nacht said. “And you can hold your head high when you do. That’s a promise from your bestie.”
“O-Okay! Yes, Mistress!”
That night, they ate dinner in Aisha’s old house. It was a modest meal—wheat porridge, pickles, and dried fruit.
“Hee hee...” Aisha laughed. “You’re better at cooking than my father, Mistress.”
“Well, don’t blame me if he haunts you for saying that!”
They kept on chatting, joking around, and laughing late into the night. Aisha was usually an early sleeper, but she stayed up regardless and, predictably, ended up oversleeping. It was almost noon when she awoke, much to her shock. If they wanted to get to Estoll on schedule, they would have to travel by high-speed Nacht.
Aisha pulled her clothes on over her head as she ran outside, her feet pattering along. “I’m ready!” she said. “Let’s go!”