Ryouen’s so-called laboratory was located within the palace’s dungeons.
“Oho! This doth be it!” she said, opening her arms wide and pompously introducing the cluttered space. Somehow, it reminded me of Master Merlin’s laboratory. First, there was the mess. Reports and documents were placed into rough, random piles, and apparatuses for her experiments had just been left dirty and where they were. The room had to be pretty large, but over half of it was filled with clutter, which made it seem awfully cramped.
Based on this alone, she just seemed like a researcher who had an impossible time keeping things neat. But she was certainly something. To make it here, I had to go through all sorts of processes and procedures. First, this room wasn’t even on the castle maps, and according to her, there were fewer than ten people—which included the king and Captain Elizario—who knew about it.
And yeah, that tracked, given the hoops I had to crawl through to get here. For one, the hallways had been cloaked with advanced illusion and concealment magic, and she had even erected an invisible barrier that blocked all living things without permission to enter.
But that wasn’t all. Even if you made it through the seemingly dead-end corridor, it only led to storage space containing what appeared to be important documents. If a defect in the system accidentally let anyone inside, the vast majority would be satisfied with what they saw and return home. Some might even realize this space wasn’t meant for them and leave on their own accord.
However, in that storage space was a hidden door, which could only be opened by using magic to input a secret code on a certain section of the wall. It led to Ryouen’s laboratory, and apparently, she had thought up this measure herself.
“Amazing, ’tis not?” That’s what she exclaimed over and over as she showed me countless magical tools of her own invention, explaining the mechanisms employed and their uses in excruciating detail. Well, I was used to studying, so “excruciating” wasn’t exactly the right word.
She had the king’s trust, had created all these amazing inventions, and even had vast magical knowledge. Clearly, this Ryouen was no average researcher. But then, what was she, exactly? The more I thought about it, the less I understood her.
“Ryouen? What are you, exactly?”
“Hmm? What I doth be? Even I myself know’st not. I am merely a traveler from the empire who yearns to be like another.”
“Another?”
“Indeed. I beseeched her countless times to make me her pupil, yet I was refused! She claimed she was no researcher. Thus, I followed in her example, and this doth be the result, somehow or another!”
Somehow or another? Traveling so far just to become someone’s apprentice was impressive enough, but she had even earned this amazing position and the king’s favor. I could hardly believe it.
“I see...”
“Indeed. Where she is now I know not, nor know’st I whether she doth still live. However...” Ryouen leaned in, bringing her face close to mine. Well, she was quite a bit shorter than me, so it wasn’t exactly “close,” but... Anyway, what did she want?
“Is something wrong?”
Sniff, sniff! “Zounds!” She was smelling me for some reason. “I know thy scent!”
“I-I smell? But I just took a bath.”
“Nay, I am no lecher! I speak not of thy body odor, but thy magic!”
“You can smell magic?” I had never heard of mana having a scent before. Was she being metaphorical? “Does magic smell?”
“My nostrils doth smell characteristics of mana, yet the talent is mine alone. Thy magic doth smell like Master Merlin’s!”
“M-Merlin?” That name really brought me back. Her face immediately flashed through my mind. “Wait, do you know Master Merlin?”
“So thou dost know Merlin! Where doth she be?!” ecstatically asked Ryouen. I had never expected to find a friend of my master’s here of all places. I was kind of impressed. Master Merlin must be more famous than I thought.
Oh, that must be it. She must have actually worked before holing herself up in the woods. Now that I was on the subject, I realized I really didn’t know much about Master Merlin’s past. She never spoke of it while we were living together, and I never had much interest in asking.
Though, whether or not she deserved respect was a different matter. As far as I knew, she couldn’t have too many fans. She just didn’t have the personality.
“Well, I’m not quite sure my Merlin and yours are the same person...”
“Nay, verily they art alike!”
How was she so confident? I decided to just ask. “Why do you think so?”
“Why, ’tis simple. The nature of thy mana and Merlin’s doth be different, but thy control and usage art one and the same. Though I do see thou art not aware.”
“You can tell all that?”
“Nay, not typically. While there art differences, I have no interest in the magic of others and shan’t purposefully sniff it out.” Ryouen claimed she was completely disinterested, but that only made me question her confidence more. Given the flow of this conversation, I had a guess where it came from. In other words...
“You remember Master Merlin’s mana alone?”
“Indeed. I am a fan of hers, through and through. None there art in the whole world who know Merlin as well as I!” She sounded pretty pleased with herself, but I wasn’t really sure whether that was something to be proud of. Master Merlin couldn’t have that many fans, right? Ryouen must be pretty unique.
“I-Is that right...?”
“Yea, verily!” She happily nodded. “Ah, so she art indeed alive. Then surely she hast a reason to hide, one she cannot divulge to others.”
“Wait, you think she’s hiding for a reason?”
“Yes, a woman such as Merlin hast certain things she must consider...”
“Hmm?” I felt like my view of Master Merlin and Ryouen’s weren’t quite aligned. She’d never told me anything like that before, or even hinted at it. No, maybe she was just hiding it from me? “Did Master Merlin do something bad?”
“Hmm? Thou knowest not?”
“Kn-Know what?”
“Hmm...” Ryouen pondered for a moment. We were clearly on two different pages, but had I really said something that required so much thinking? I searched through our conversation, but I couldn’t really remember anything except for the fact something just didn’t feel quite right.
“Is something wrong, Ryouen?”
“N-Nay, ’tis nothing.” She shook her head, pulling me out of my thoughts as well. Then for some reason, she retreated a few steps. After all she had said, I wanted to hear more, but something seemed to be on her mind given how she was muttering to herself. “She hath kept it a secret? Then she doth have her reasons, yet... Ah! Forsooth! Doth he be an illegitimate child?! Y-Yet thy faces and personalities do seem to be at odds, and so doth thy mana...”