Izuna flew into a panic at Aisha’s words. She stepped back in fear, staring angrily at Aisha through the gaps in her hair. “Wh-What are you saying?! I’m a holder of the Demon Eyes! I’m an abomination! Nobody is allowed near me! Anyone... Anyone who tries... They all die! Are you trying to deceive me?!”
“N-No!” protested Aisha. “I just thought you seemed nice, and I wanted to get to know you better! And maybe humans hate you for having Demon Eyes, but I’m a half-elf, you know!”
“Huh?” Izuna cocked her head. She didn’t know and thus didn’t understand, but Aisha saw herself in the girl. It was obvious to her now that they had been speaking past each other.
“I was raised in a village in Sindoria,” Aisha said. “I’m not really a proper human, and I’m not a proper elf either. I forget things easily. I oversleep a lot. I wasn’t useful to anyone no matter how much I tried to be. People called me a waste of food. They hated me. Nobody wanted to be my friend.”
“That’s not—” Izuna began. But Aisha cut her off, smiling at her hasty denial.
“You’re right,” she said. “I’m not the same as you. But I would like to be your friend.” Aisha held out her hand. Timidly, Izuna reached out with her smaller hand. They drew closer until their fingers touched. And then, Aisha took the last step forward, taking Izuna’s hand in hers. “It’s nice to meet you, Izuna.”
“Uh-huh...” Izuna said, looking up bashfully from under her bangs. The moment their hands met, the space transformed from one of solitude to one that the two of them shared. “So...” Izuna ventured. “What were you doing here crying, Aisha...?”
“O-Oh... You heard that...?” Aisha felt deeply embarrassed. “Well...” she said, and explained the whole situation.
“Oh...” Izuna said. “That sounds difficult...” The swing creaked, punctuating the silence. “But weren’t you happy to meet your father again?”
“I was. Very happy. But it was wrong...”
“He was different from how you remembered him?”
“No,” said Aisha. “He acted the same, smelled the same, talked the same... He really did seem like the papa I knew. But...something was wrong.” She thought she had figured out the source of her unease. “It was like he wasn’t seeing the present me.”
A heavy silence fell over the area.
“I’m sorry,” Aisha said. “I’ve just been talking about myself. Why are you here, Izuna?”
“This is where I belong...” said Izuna. “It’s my only real home...”
Silence fell again. The whole conversation felt awkward.
What do I say...? Aisha thought. She had never been good at speaking to people. She sat there in the thick silence, desperately envious of Nacht’s communication skills. Should I ask...?
The reason Izuna was out here alone. Aisha was anxious about broaching the subject of Izuna’s past and body. It was their first time meeting, after all. It seemed like it could be rude. But when she saw how small and nervous Izuna was, she couldn’t help asking. “So...Izuna...you have Demon Eyes?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Um...I don’t really know what that means, you know. Is it really so terrible?”
“They’re the Demon Eyes of Exorcism. It’s a power that Eupito, the god of evolution, granted to the house of Greenfield. They absorb mana and destroy magic...”
The story began a thousand years ago, after the Holy Land had claimed victory in the Great War of Man and Demon. Human domination spread throughout the land. At the time, Estoll was a nation of many species, and as such, they rejected the teachings of the Order of the Elect and fought against the rule of the Holy Land along with a number of other nations. The flames of war spread to Gelariau Forest itself, spilling the blood of many.
Estoll had always been a land rich in metal and thus home to many blacksmiths, but its magic was less developed than that of other lands. Enemy magic users were a constant problem for Estoll’s soldiers. In one battle, when the opposing army’s magic flames had consumed all, there had been a single survivor: a man who had the eyes of the god of evolution’s Demon Eyes of Exorcism, which vanquished magic.
The man was a great champion in the war—a veritable grim reaper. He would absorb the power of friend and foe without discrimination and use it to strike down entire armies, earning many victories for Estoll. That was Greenfield the Annihilator, Izuna’s ancestor.
“Most people know about it and take care not to look...” Izuna said in a feeble, pained voice. “But children and people without much magic sometimes collapse with just a glance. These eyes are a curse. They give great power at a greater cost. Do you still want to be friends now that you know that, Aisha?” She sounded anxious, like she was worried that the bond she had made would vanish the moment she opened up about herself.
Aisha knew how hard it must have been for Izuna to say those words. She stood up and brushed Izuna’s bangs away from her eyes.
“A-Aisha!” Izuna protested. “No!” But Aisha ignored her, peering straight into her eyes.
“It’s all right. I’m all right, Izuna. Maybe I’m just dense, but your eyes don’t feel like they’re hurting me in the slightest.” Aisha petted Izuna’s hair just like the people who cared for her had done so many times before. She tried to imagine what her mistress would say at a time like this. She figured it might be something like this: “In fact, I feel lucky to have seen something so pretty. You don’t need to hide your eyes from me, Izuna.”
Izuna unconsciously absorbed mana through her eyes. It was true that they made her a threat, but Aisha at least seemed to be unaffected.
Aisha remembered what her mistress had taught her about magic. “If you imagine the mana in your body as water, using magic is like turning on a faucet. Most people have about a cupful, but your mana is like an entire bathtub’s worth. And if you add in the power of the dragon, that would make it a small lake. So it stands to reason that the faucet is hard to control!” Aisha had a lot of mana. She might have had trouble using magic, but in terms of raw power, she was quite incredible. Even looking directly into Izuna’s eyes, her magic was being drained at a speed barely above that of a trickle. She didn’t mind having a bit of her mana absorbed at all.
“Doesn’t it...hurt?” Izuna asked.
“Not at all! I’m absolutely fine!”
“But! But!”
“I’m fine! Actually, I’m glad we’re so compatible! Anyway, I’m an adult, you know. I’m happy to help look after you a bit. I can handle your eyes, so you don’t have to worry.”
“A-Aishaaa!” Izuna sobbed.
“Ha ha. What a sweet little girl.” Aisha pulled Izuna into her arms—her first-ever friend. She felt herself calming down.
“Cut it out!”
“Weh?! Cut what out?”
“S-Stop acting like you’re my big sister! Stop being so nice to me!”
“I will be your big sister if you’d like!” said Aisha.
“Big words for someone who was just crying like a baby...”
“Don’t say that!” Aisha said, giggling. Somehow, she couldn’t stop herself. Izuna joined in, and the two shared a cheerful laugh.