“What?” “Oh, nothing. It’s only speculation, so I shouldn’t say anything.” The route to the library was a familiar one for these two, so they arrived without getting lost. The building had been constructed at a time when city libraries were considered fashionable, so its exterior was richly decorated. By contrast, half the texts lining the shelves inside were randomly gathered documents and bundles of paper. The library was quiet both inside and out, the fervor of the festival seemingly unable to penetrate its tranquility. Then again, there weren’t many who used it in the first place. The building’s particular scent assailed them as they entered, spurring Yuui to remember her many trips here over the summer, where she’d bury herself in books. They went straight in toward a cordoned-off area, where they found a man sitting, his eyes drooping half closed. “Ix, do you mind keeping quiet?” Yuui asked before they approached. “Why—?” “Because.” She held him back, then stepped forward. “Excuse me, may I have a moment of your time?” “H-huh?” The man raised his head in surprise. Perhaps people didn’t often speak to him. He looked at Yuui, hood pulled down over her face, before his eyes continued to Ix, behind her. “We would like to meet with the head librarian, if possible…,” said Yuui. “Oh, uh, and who are you?” asked the man. “Oh, excuse me.” She took her student ID from her pocket and placed it on the desk. “A student…” The man squinted as he stared at the ID, then blinked. “For the head librarian?” “Yes.” “That would be me.” “…What?” “…Huh?” For a moment, Yuui just stared at the man’s blank face. She was likely making the same expression. The man had short white hair. His eyes were small, and his hunched shoulders made him appear old. Since he was working in the library, he must have been a noble, but everything about him, from his clothes to his manner of speaking, all appeared rather humble. To put it bluntly, he seemed poor. “Um, well…,” started the man, his eyes roving. “Oh, m-my apologies,” said Yuui with a bow. “I could have sworn the head librarian was an elderly lady…” “A-ah.” He gave an exaggerated nod. “Her. Yeah, she retired recently. Now I’m the head. That lady was my aunt.” “And now she’s…?” “I’d been telling her for ages that she wasn’t getting any younger and should think about retiring. And eventually, her health really did catch up to her. Everyone had to practically force her out, you know.” “You don’t mean—” “Oh, no. She’s alive.” The man gave a weak smile. “But she’s not in great shape. Though she still pops in randomly, so I can’t really relax too much…” “Just to confirm, Mali was the name, yes?” she asked. “Uh, mine?” “Your aunt’s.” “Oh, yeah, yes. That’s right. So it was her you wanted to talk to?” “Yes, it was. Would it be possible to meet with her?” “Uh, I’m not really sure…” He crossed his arms and stared up at the ceiling. “You could ask, but I think it’d be hard for anyone to meet her who isn’t a relative… Probably…depends on what you want to discuss with her. Uh, what was it you want to talk about anyway? I could try asking for you.” “It’s about the work she did on the wand wall. There is something odd about her repairs from a technical perspective, which I want to inquire about. That’s from about sixty years back, though.” “Sixty whole years?” the man cried. “Ah, sorry. Work on the wand wall, huh…? I’ve never heard anything about that. Did it come up in your studies at the Academy or something?” “You could say that.” “Hmm. Well, I’ll try telling her…” “I would appreciate it.” It was raining when they left, the kind of fine mist that dampened the air, to which no kingdom citizen paid any mind. The pair walked in silence. Ix looked sullen and wasn’t speaking up, so Yuui went first. “…I feel like we’ve suddenly run into a dead end.” “Yeah.” Ix’s mouth was hidden behind his hand. “But if Mali’s in bad shape and stuck in her manor, she probably didn’t have anything to do with the wand wall being undone…” “If she has no connection, that’s all well and good.” Yuui held her hands palm up. “But thanks to what we just heard, the witch thing does seem to be just a rumor. At the very least, I do not believe immortal people retire from poor health.” “…That was obvious from the start.” “You think so? I hadn’t ruled out the possibility.” “An immortal? That’s just cra—” “Dragons existed.” When Yuui said that, Ix looked down and shut his mouth. Dragons. Beings with infinite magic who’d bestowed humanity with countless gifts; massive creatures who’d gone extinct more than a thousand years ago. There were legends about them in every region of the world. The “dragon magic” they’d wielded had become a kind of catchall; it referred to varieties of all-powerful magic that humans were incapable of using. Ix and Yuui had met one of those legendary creatures. The dragon, who had waited for more than a millennium to converse with a human, granted the two of them one of its hearts before fading from existence, bringing its species to a close. Just because something was a folktale or a legend didn’t mean it could be taken lightly. Ix of all people should understand that. They couldn’t yet be certain that tales of immortality, cannibalism, or undoing the wand wall were beyond the realm of possibility. If those were components of witch lore, then they were worth investigating. After all, researching every possible avenue was what had led them to their encounter with a dragon. They had agreed to meet up with Nova in a square on the eastern side of the city. Preparations for the festival were going on here as well, and plenty of young people were in high spirits. On the opposite side of the square was an official who seemed to be policing the area with a sharp eye. His presence clearly signaled that he would arrest anyone who went too far. The pair quickly found Nova, hedged in on either side by tall people and looking rather squished. “Ah, Nova,” called out Yuui with a wave as she went over. “Did we keep you waiting? You seem to have finished quicker than we did.” “No, I just found him,” replied the girl with a shrug. “Found who?” “Me.” Yuui’s vision was suddenly filled with black. For a moment, she couldn’t understand what was going on. After taking a few steps back, she finally laid eyes on a man’s face. It soon dawned on her that this fellow, clad in all black, had stepped between her and Nova. He was thin and middle-aged. His features were strong and chiseled, but his cheeks were puffy, and there was little life in his eyes. He had a stubbly beard and shaggy hair, which made him look even more suspicious at the moment, what with them drenched from the rain. But he was wearing black clerical vestments. That meant he was a member of the Marayist clergy, but he didn’t look the part at all. Visually, he had more in common with a beggar on the street. “Hiya,” he greeted, raising a hand. “And you are…?” asked Yuui. “Gidens.” He held out his hand. “I’m the reader in Notswoll. How’d you folks hear about that anyway?” “Hear about what?” Gidens chuckled at Yuui’s confusion and said, “’Bout the witch.” 4 “Well, if this ain’t a hovel,” muttered Gidens after one look at the shop. “This really the place?” Ix didn’t answer as he opened the door. There was no one in the front section of the store. “Morna?” called Ix toward the back. A rattling came in response. She was in here somewhere, apparently. This shop belonged to Morna, who had also studied under Munzil. Currently, Ix was living and working here as her apprentice. He pushed his way into the place, past haphazard piles of crafting materials, plus wands and staffs lined up neatly on display. As he moved farther in, the inner door opened violently. “I-Ixie.” There stood—or perhaps it was more appropriate to say, there wobbled—an incredibly unhealthy-looking woman in a half crouch. Her skin was sickly pale, and her height was reduced from her slouched posture. Long, damaged hair clung to her waist, and her patchwork clothing was utterly filthy. There was certainly only one person like this in the entire kingdom. “H-hee-hee-hee, I-Ixieee… Gurgh!” She let out a disturbing sound as she approached Ix, who quickly pushed her head down with his hand. The feel of her dry hair seemed to linger on his palm even after he removed it. Face devoid of expression, he inquired, “Where’s Ottou?” “F-f-f-for some reason, he hasn’t come in the past couple of days… S-so…” “You’ve been shut in the shop this whole time, haven’t you?” “Y-yeah. W-welcome back.” He pointed behind himself wordlessly. “Wh-what…?” asked Morna as she peered outside. Her face turned pale. She pressed a hand over her mouth. “Urgh…” “Don’t puke here—it’d be a pain to clean up,” said Ix as he supported her and led her toward the back. He turned back to say, “Just come on in. Seems meeting two new people at once was too much for her.” They needed a place to talk, so everyone ended up coming into the shop; Yuui, Nova, and Gidens were all there. Ix was aware of how bad Morna was with people, but it didn’t often cause her to throw up. It must have been so bad this time around since she’d gone without contact for the past few days. Ix patted Morna’s bony back while he cast his eyes about the back room. It was far worse in here than when he’d left to go to the capital. She hadn’t been taking care of the cleaning, or feeding herself, for that matter. Couldn’t really be helped with Ottou gone, though… Once he was sure Morna had calmed down, Ix returned to the front room of the shop. This section was a mess, too, but considering there were actually places to stand, it was better than the back. “Is Morna all right?” asked Yuui, concerned. “Yeah, she’s fine. She’ll bounce back with a bit of rest.” As he looked around, he noticed Nova had crouched down in the corner of the room. Her hands were on her knees, and she wasn’t moving at all. It was almost like she was saying, “My job’s done here.” “Ah, all good now?” asked Gidens, tearing his eyes from the row of wands and staffs to look at Ix. “I can’t tell a good wand from a bad one, but did that tall lady from before make all these?” “Yeah,” replied Ix. “Huh… How ’bout the ones you made?” “How’d you know I was a wandmaker?” “You shook my hand,” said Gidens like it was obvious, and he opened his right hand. “You got calluses in all sorts of weird places. It’s clear as day that’s the palm of a craftsman, ’cause all you do is use weird tools. But, oh boy, I never thought a run-down little wand shop like this could exist. Sure you ain’t just overcharging for a couple of nice sticks you found? …Nah, I’m just messing.” He placed a hand on Ix’s shoulder. “Sorry, I got a friend who worked hard to save up but still couldn’t buy one in the end. Couldn’t help that little jab slipping out.” “…You’re Notswoll’s priest, aren’t you?” asked Ix as he looked at Gidens suspiciously. “I never said I was a priest; I’m just a reader. A reader goes round all the little villages that don’t got churches, and they recite scriptures and hymns and whatnot to folks. Some other person is Notswoll’s official priest. Not that I’ve met them, though.” Ix brought his hand to his chin and stared at Gidens. “Hey now, don’t look at me like that,” the man replied. “You’ve got things you want to ask me, right? I need to leave town the day after tomorrow, so if you have questions, hurry up and get on them.” “Where are you going?” asked Yuui. “Not just going, going back. To Notswoll. I got to be there for the Feast of Meat. I just came to Leirest to help Gramps with some things. Buying stuff for the festival. But I been traveling round the villages, so they started to miss me here…” Gidens chattered on. “Ah, you don’t want to hear ’bout me, do you? Anyway, I went to visit the church, and that young lady grabbed ahold of me.” Nova gave only a small nod when Gidens gestured at her. He shook his head, resigned that she really wasn’t going to speak, then turned back toward Yuui and Ix. “So where exactly did you folks hear about the witch?” “W-wait,” interjected Yuui as she waved her hand side to side. “Do you mean to say that you know of the witch? Are they in Notswoll?” “…I asked first now, didn’t I?” said Gidens as he flashed his teeth in a smile. “But it’s fine. Yeah, I sure do, miss. The witch lives in the forest by Notswoll.” The quick response made Ix and Yuui exchange glances. Gidens looked back at them, still grinning. After a few seconds of silence, Ix slowly inquired, “Have you seen the, uh…witch?” “Of course. Not just me, either; all the villagers have seen her at least once. That’s ’cause she comes the night of the Feast of Meat every year.” “Huh?” “What?” Both Ix and Yuui let out cries of surprise at the same time. “All right, I turned a blind eye to your lack of manners twice now. Next you’re going to answer my question.” Gidens glared at the two. “Right, so everyone in the village knows about the witch, but none of them would tell an outsider. So how was it that you folks heard about this?” They didn’t mention the issue with the wand wall, but they did tell Gidens about the two adventurers Yuui had captured in the capital. Once their story was finished, Gidens crossed his arms and muttered to himself. He mulled something over for a time, frowning. “Sorry to say, but I don’t know anything ’bout these adventurers. I don’t even know what the witch does normally. There’s not much I can tell you.” “How about this. Do enedo live in the woods?” asked Yuui with a finger raised. “Who knows. People don’t tread there, so I can’t really say what do or don’t live there…” “People don’t go into the woods?” asked Ix with a furrowed brow. Forests were a treasure trove of natural resources. They were particularly valuable within the kingdom, to the point where it wasn’t too uncommon for battles to be fought over them. The situation would be different if magic beasts dwelled there, but the fact that there was a village nearby meant there shouldn’t have been any dangerous creatures. People should have been swarming into the area by now. “I mean, they do go in a little. Folks need firewood. But there aren’t many curious enough to go too—Ah,” responded Gidens when he seemed to realize something and smiled. “That’s right. You might not have heard that part.” “Heard what part?” asked Yuui. “I said she comes on the night of the Feast of Meat, yeah? But that’s not ’cause she wants to dance with the villagers. It’s a harvest festival for her, too.” “You mean—” “She comes to gobble people up. Just like we feast on meat and drink spirits, the witch devours human beings. When she shows up, it’s the end of the festival. Everybody and their grandma shuts themselves in their homes and does everything to protect their little ones so they don’t get carried off. The witch can’t find you if you’re in a house, see. That’s the kind of terror lurking in the forest. It’s also why no one gets too close or talks about it to outsiders. They don’t want to be found out.” “……” Not knowing what to say, Ix closed his mouth, which had been hanging open. Yuui was likely in a similar state of disbelief. “You two look like the cat’s got your tongue,” noticed Gidens, accurately, as he glanced between them. “So that’s the witch for you. She’s not just some powerful magic user.” “…Has anyone ever actually been eaten? Like, people don’t just say that?” asked Ix. “Ha-ha, I thought the same as you before, so I did a little reading up on it. When I did, I found some actual records of it in the church.” Gidens’s smile still didn’t fade as he spoke. “Yeah, they were definitely eaten. That, or at the very least, people have gone missing on the day of the festival under ‘unusual circumstances.’ It’s not just some folktale about ancient history, either. The last time someone got devoured was twenty years back. I didn’t see it with my own eyes, however, ’cause I was only sent out there eighteen years ago. Everyone in town remembers it, though. A little baby got devoured the night of the festival.” “An infant?” “That’s what the records say. Guess they were swallowed before anyone had even named them.” Gidens shrugged at the horror of the story. “This happened not long after the baby was born. Their mother was ill and died during childbirth…” “Ill? What about the father?” “If memory serves…he wasn’t there in the first place.” “Uh-huh…” Suddenly, Ix glanced away and put a hand over his mouth. He took a slow, deep breath. “…And what had the mother come down with?” “Huh? Don’t know off the top of my head. Is that an important detail?” “No, it’s just…that was when sonim was going around.” “Hmm…? Ah… Yeah, that was it. Now that you mention it, it’s coming back to me. Yeah, the mother did have sonim. I remember reading that.” Gidens nodded until he seemed caught by surprise and stopped in confusion. “Hold on. That’s strange, isn’t it? I haven’t heard of a child being born alive to a mother with sonim…” Suddenly, the strength left Ix’s legs, and he collapsed into a chair close by. Then he stared up at the ceiling, an expression of shock on his face. Did that mean…? Could it be…? “I-Ix, are you all right?” asked Yuui, looking concerned as she stood in front of him. She’d also caught on, he realized. Glancing around, he noticed that Gidens and Nova, too, were staring at him. “Yeah…,” he replied dimly. “Do you…remember anything about before that?” “Huh?” asked Gidens with a confused expression. “Do you recall anything about the people who were gobbled up before that baby?” “Oh, uh, there was…that’s right, a young girl.” “A girl?” “It’s coming back to me slowly. There was a very young girl. She was devoured on the day of a storm. That must have been about eighty years ago. And before that—” “Eighty years?” Ix held up a hand to stop the reader. “I can’t believe this—are you about to tell us that the witch is immortal?” “What, you know ’bout that, too?” 5 When he saw the sun dip in the sky, Gidens left the shop. Yuui returned from going out to buy dinner, and Morna had come to the front of the shop, finally recovered. She seemed to be chatting with Ix about something. Nova, on the other hand, was silent as usual, still crouching in the exact same place as she’d been when Yuui left. “H-hee-hee, Layumatah…the wand wall…,” cried Morna excitedly when she heard about their fellow apprentice. “H-hoo-hoo-hwee, a-a-amazing. I want to see.” “I thought you would say that…,” said Ix with a sigh. “But we’ve hit a snag straight from the get-go. We can’t meet Mali, and the witch seems completely unrelated, but if we report to Layumatah with what we have now…” “Will she be angry?” asked Yuui. “She’ll make us do it over. We’ll have to keep at it until we get the results she wants.” “I see…” Yuui had met Layumatah a couple of times, but she’d been so overwhelmed by the mask and clothing that she hadn’t gotten a read on the woman at all. Yuui knew she was strange, not to be outdone by Ix or Morna in that respect, but she’d expected as much the moment she heard Layumatah was Munzil’s first apprentice. As the four of them tucked into dinner, the conversation naturally turned to the witch. “She eats people; she’s immortal… It all seems to fit perfectly,” remarked Ix with his arms crossed. “M-M-Master said th-those things?” asked Morna in confusion. “I’ve n-never heard that before.” “Layumatah said she only heard about it from him once. She hadn’t ruled out the possibility that he was just making up crap.” “But according to Gidens, the witch does exist,” countered Yuui. “There’s still room for doubt, though. We don’t know if we can trust what he says…” “At the very least, you have to accept that there’s a legend about the witch in Notswoll,” she insisted. “…Oh yeah,” said Ix, realizing something. “Morna, you ever heard of a town called Notswoll?” “H-huh? N-no, I haven’t…” “Oh… Then maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with wandmaking…” He crossed his arms again. “Could it really be…?” Yuui knew what was on his mind. Ix was wondering if the baby the witch had eaten twenty years ago was actually him. Ix had been abandoned as an infant outside Munzil’s shop. No one knew anything about his parents or his history. But the child in the story fit the timing of when he was found, and the fact that the mother had come down with sonim made it all the more likely. Normally, infected women would birth stillborn children. The odds a baby could survive that were almost infinitesimal—only one instance had been recorded in the entire kingdom. The child who’d survived lacked mana, something that every single human being possessed. Ix was also a human born without mana, so it stood to reason that his mother had caught sonim. If he was truly that baby from Notswoll, it raised a number of questions. “By the way,” spoke up Nova unexpectedly as she raised her hand. “Ah!” Morna froze. “Sorry,” Nova replied. “Ah, h-h-ho, oh, no…” The wandmaker worked furiously to get the words out, her expression tense. “You don’t have to respond to Morna every time she gets like this. Otherwise, this’ll never end,” remarked Ix coldly. “Anyway, what’s up?” “It’s just, something’s, bothering me,” said Nova falteringly. “Is immortality, possible?” Just like that, they were instantly thrust into the topic they’d been dancing around. The three of them shut their mouths. But if they were going to investigate the witch, they would need to actually consider it. “Is that within the realms of standard magicology or are we including dragon magic as well?” asked Yuui, trying to determine whether they were presupposing finite or infinite mana. “Either,” replied Nova. After a moment of silence, with everyone attempting to gauge the other’s next statement, Ix wound up the first to speak. “I don’t think it’s possible. Of course, that’s only based on the knowledge that I have available to me now.” “Let’s hear your reasoning,” insisted Yuui. “Calling it ‘reasoning’ is giving me too much credit. Anyway, it’s simple. There aren’t any immortal creatures around. Not that we know of anyway. Right?” He glanced at each of their faces. “So that would mean the witch is the sole exception to that rule. Which seems hard to believe. Don’t you think that’s just the, uh, common-sense conclusion? Guess that’s not about how it would work or not, though, just about whether they exist.” Yuui nodded once. “It is a simplistic train of thought, but I think it is an appropriate conclusion within the field of standard magicology,” she responded. “However, it is not the conclusion one would come to if they were considering special magicology. There are no immortal creatures in this world, but all living creatures have finite mana. What would happen, however, if the witch had infinite mana? I’m sure you are aware, but the elves’ long life span is often attributed to their greater mana volume.” “The connection between life span and mana is an unfounded wives’ tale,” interjected Ix with a shake of his head. “Mana is just a power source. It has no effect on the world in and of itself. Not unless it’s converted using a wand.” While Yuui did largely accept what he said, she felt this topic deserved further debate. She thought a moment. “That’s not necessarily true,” she insisted. “There is a general trend of long life among famous magic users. While we cannot be certain this is a causal link, we can clearly see a correlation. If that’s the case, could there perhaps be some connection that we just don’t currently understand? This is also not about how it would work or not work, though, just about its existence.” “Way to turn my words against me.” “Well, both what you and I came up with now is only a potentiality.” “We going to talk about realities, too, not just potentialities? A bigger issue would be whether infinite magic is even possible or not…” “What about drawing mana from nearby organisms?” mused Yuui, thinking of the dragon. “It could be similar to immortality. You could use a spell to convert mana into some sort of energy to increase your life span.” “No spell like that exists at the moment, not even in our wildest dreams.” “I have heard that ancient forest sages used incantations that we are still unable to fully explain. Perhaps the witch possesses similar expertise?” “Forest sage magic is unexplainable because of the natural wands they used. There is something fascinating about ancient wisdom surpassing modern knowledge,” conceded Ix with a nod. “But even so. Modern magicology was built up slowly over a huge span of time by hundreds of people. I might be able to accept someone being ahead of current advancements by ten or twenty years, but it seems too improbable to me that someone could possibly be hundreds of years ahead of the curve.” “Hmm…” Their back-and-forth ground to a halt. The two of them fell to thinking, and Morna shakily raised her hand. Yuui’s eyes widened, and she asked, “Morna?” “A-a-ah, this might be backtracking a bit, but, um…” “What is it?” “H-how do you c-c-confirm something is immortal?” Basic though her point was, it was also on the nose. That is true…, thought Yuui as she cast her eyes down. No matter how much they debated the possibility of immortality, there was no way to actually confirm their theories. According to Gidens, the kingdom first started keeping land surveillance records of its territory about six hundred years ago. At that time, something that resembled the witch was already living near Notswoll. The records from back then weren’t about the witch herself, but rather about certain occurrences involving her. In other words, they were accounts of people disappearing from town under “unusual circumstances.” All those documents proved was that the witch had lived some six hundred years ago, nothing more. That was a life span far beyond what would normally be expected, but it wasn’t immortality. In the end, even if an eternal creature existed, there would be no way to prove their immortality without another undying being to measure their life span. They could discuss it all they wanted, but they would never move beyond a theory. If they could come up with a hypothesis as to how immortality could be possible, then they could at least consider if it would be sustainable. At this point, however, they weren’t capable of getting that far. Considering they didn’t even know why creatures died in the first place, it wasn’t surprising they’d gotten stuck. Morna’s mumblings had broken the atmosphere of debate. Besides, if the witch did exist, they could simply get the answer straight from the horse’s mouth on the day of the festival. Assuming they didn’t get gobbled up, of course… “Thank you,” said Nova. Thus, the discussion drew to a close with no conclusion reached. Outside, it had already grown dark. Ix would be staying in the shop, of course, but Yuui and Nova would also be spending the night, so they made a space for them to sleep. There were no guest rooms, so the two of them ended up sharing a room. “Thank you for today,” said Yuui with a bow once they were alone. “For, what?” asked Nova. “For finding Gidens. We’ve made great progress on investigating the witch because of that. Even if Ix seems unsatisfied.” “About, Mali?” “We’ll think about her again tomorrow. Though our only real course of action is to pray our message reaches her and she agrees to meet…” Yuui glanced sideways at Nova, who was nodding in agreement. Her bangs always hid half her face, and her peculiar way of speaking and flat affect made her very difficult to read, in a different way from Ix. She always seemed exactly the same. It made Yuui wonder if the girl had emotions or was even thinking at all. The witch… Yuui lay in bed, pondering things vaguely. Ix seemed to doubt her existence, but Yuui thought it was likely the witch did exist. That wasn’t because she believed what Gidens or those two adventurers had to say. The proof was the woods. If there was a forest by Notswoll, would people really be able to resist it? No magic beasts were confirmed to live there, and its location near Leirest made it ideal. If such a forest existed, it should have been chopped down long ago. Her own country had been invaded by the kingdom, which was why she well knew that its people loved to destroy woodlands the moment they found them to convert them into farms. Or perhaps they destroyed them because of Marayist teachings. The kingdom wanted the resources and land to make food, of course, but the deeper reason was that its culture placed no emphasis on living together with nature. Its people believed that everything was a gift given to them by their god, and so they had the right to use it as they saw fit. It was the exact opposite of what the Lukutta believed, which was that since everything was a gift given to them by their god, they should use it carefully. Yuui couldn’t help feeling curious as to why even that would be different between their cultures. But that was why Yuui thought it was so strange that this convenient forest still existed. There had to be some reason for that. Such as if something terrifying dwelled in those woods. At this point, Nova, who Yuui had thought was already asleep, murmured to her. “…Yuui?” “Y-yes?” “What is it like, living in the kingdom?” “I’m not sure what to say…” “Do you want to go back, to Lukutta?” Yuui wasn’t able to answer that question immediately. Instead, she said, “Why do you ask…?” “No real reason.” “……” This was the first time Nova had brought up something like this. Her face was turned toward Yuui, but it was dark, so Yuui couldn’t make out her expression. After a short moment of silence, Yuui said, “To be honest… I’m not entirely sure myself.” Amid the darkness, her words didn’t seem to lead anywhere, as though they were floating above her head as she spoke to herself. “I appreciate what you’ve done for me, Nova, but I can’t say living in the kingdom is pleasant. There is no place for easterners in this country. But…there is also no place for me back in Lukutta. I have lost my family, my friends, the village I was born in. Lukutta may be my homeland, but it is no longer my home. There would be nothing I could do if I went back…” “Aren’t you from, a lineage respected there?” “That’s all there is to it,” said Yuui with a pained smile. “Unless I were sent to be queen?” “Is that, so?” Nova replied curtly before she trailed off. However, not much later she said, “Continuing, the discussion…” “About my future?” “From, dinner. Ix said, there were no immortal beings.” “Hmm? Oh yes, he did.” “And it made me think, of a lecture from before. It was, years ago, so you wouldn’t know.” “What did the lecture talk about?” “The fact that, immortal creatures, exist.” “Huh? Where?” “Everywhere.”
Chapter 20
28 min read