Chapter 14

Yuui waited for the stagecoach to depart. The station reeked of beasts and feces. A dry wind blew through and whipped up a cloud of dust. Beside her stood Ix. He’d come to see her off. He’d turned into quite the customer pleaser, compared with how he was when they first met. Ix had decided to stay at Morna’s shop for the time being as an apprentice. The majority of the money they’d made selling the enedo teeth had disappeared into their dragon heart research. Even so, Morna’s shop didn’t have that much leeway in terms of finances, so they would certainly be unable to host him soon. When that time came, he planned on using his connections with the other apprentices of Munzil to travel from region to region by joining their shops. Depending on the scale of their operations, he could even be granted his craftsman license. He complained that it would be forever before he had his own shop. They sat in silence for a while, until Yuui suddenly said, “Something has been on my mind.” “What’s that?” asked Ix with a tilt of his head. “The request form you found in the Adventurers’ Guild storage. The one on black slate. What was that?” “That…? Who knows.” Ix shrugged, then spread his hands. “It was from a long time ago. The request probably came from someone who misunderstood the festival.” “Can I tell you what I think?” “What’s that?” Yuui adjusted her seat and cleared her throat. “It was a request from Munzil.” “…What?” “When he made this wand, he realized the connection between the dragon heart and agnasite. He thought there were clues to dragons in Mount Agnas. With that in mind, he went to the Guild and put in a request. Obviously, he didn’t think it would be fulfilled. He had an ulterior motive for submitting it. Do you know what that was?” Ix stared at Yuui, dumbstruck. “It was to leave a clue for his apprentice. He knew a time would come when his apprentice would need a dragon heart, so he carved a request on stone, which is sturdy, degrades little, and would stand out from the others above all else. If the Guild stored his request in accordance with their regulations, it would remain long after he had expired.” “Th-that’s just a theory—” “Furthermore,” continued Yuui, “your master may also have realized the mountain itself was the dragon.” “H-how could you say that?” Ix’s voice trembled. “Do you remember the characters on the request form? You thought it was written in old-fashioned grammar with no prepositions, but what if it was something that should have been written without them? In other words, it wasn’t meant to be ‘Research Dragon in Mount Agnas’; it was meant to be ‘Research Dragon Mount Agnas.’” Ix went quiet for a while, then eventually shook his head. “No…that’s impossible. I can maybe accept the idea that he made the request. I’ll even go out on a limb and say, for the sake of argument, that he noticed the relationship between the dragon heart and agnasite. But…for him to figure out the true nature of the dragon with only those few clues… No human could manage that. And he was human. Or at least I thought he was…” “Well, I suppose.” Yuui was satisfied to see Ix looking more frightened than ever. “Forget about it. It was just a flight of fancy.” She felt the wand in her inside pocket. The core had been swapped out, and its performance surpassed even its previous iteration. The memory of how she’d given it a quick test wave, then accidentally started a small fire because she’d miscalculated how much she should have held back, was still fresh in her mind. The coach driver stood in front of the waiting area, gave a big wave, and shouted that the next car was leaving soon. That was the one Yuui would be taking. Casually, she told Ix, “Try not to die.” “What?” Ix said, his eyebrows knit. “Don’t fail to handle a wand properly and go dying on me.” “Dying isn’t on my to-do list.” “Yes. Thank you.” “What are you talking about?” “It’s personal.” Yes…all of it was personal. Gratitude that seeing his face had helped her realize her misunderstanding. She picked up her bag and stood. As she went toward the coach, Ix cautioned, “Don’t break it again.” “But you have replacement core material, yes?” “Hey, that was for my wish. Next time, I’ll be asking for a real repair fee from you. There’s no more of that material in the world. Not even sure a country’s entire treasury would be enough…” “So stingy.” “I’m still just an apprentice.” “All right, I won’t forget it.” The coach driver came to take her luggage. She handed it over and waited for the other passengers to board before her. In a quiet voice, Ix added, “But I was able to get it because of you.” “What?” She turned toward him. “Maintenance.” “Huh…?” Ix hid his mouth with his hand and said, “I’m saying I’ll do maintenance on the wand. You’ll probably use the heck out of it at school, right? Come back to my shop anytime I’m in town, and I’ll do it for cheap.” It took Yuui a moment to realize what he was trying to say. Did that mean…? She let out a huge sigh. They did such delicate work… So why were these craftsmen always so…? “You are so clumsy, it’s maddening,” she reproached. “What are you trying to say?” he asked, totally confused. Yuui ignored him and boarded the coach. Then she turned back to him, where he’d frozen to the spot, and asked, “Are you aware how expensive it is to travel from the Academy to this town?” “…Very?” “The opposite.” “Hmm?” “Students of the Academy can use transportation for almost nothing.” Yuui closed the door without waiting for a reply. She desperately tried to hide her smile under her hood.