“Gramps, Duke wants to get you out of here.”
I deliver the news to him as soon as I arrive at his cottage in Roana Village. Duke couldn’t make the trip with me for a few reasons, so I’m here on my own.
“Duke… You mean Luke’s only son?”
Since Gramps came to Roana Village before Duke was born, they’ve never met. Duke seemed to know of him, though.
“What do you want to do, Gramps?”
“What will become of this village if the master leaves?” Rebecca cuts in before Gramps can answer.
“She’s right. We can’t go along with rich people’s sick games forever,” Nate adds from beside her.
Nate is the captain of the peacekeeping platoon in Roana, and now he wants to use military force to escape the village. I realized just how strong he is when he dueled Alicia before—he’s quite capable.
I wasn’t expecting to come back to Roana to find a militia here, though.
…This village is finding its purpose, slowly but surely. Alicia and Gramps changed this place for the better. The former wasteland is now vibrant with life.
I stare at Gramps, watching him protectively as he silently wrestles with his thoughts.
“I never wanted to think of this place as my home…but that’s changed,” I say. “We owe it all to Alicia. She saved my life and got me out of this village. She healed Rebecca’s burns and gave her the chance to be this village’s messiah. She shared one of her eyes with you, Gramps, and made you this village’s leader. None of this would have happened without her… That’s why I want to live up to her expectations. Her relentless ambition gives me courage.”
I put all my feelings out there at once. And everyone quietly listens. I never imagined I could give such an impassioned plea. Whenever I think of Alicia, the words just flow freely.
I can never thank her enough. She is my light of hope.
“Gill—you’ve grown big,” Gramps says, gently patting my head.
I love his touch. His acknowledging me was my primary motivation in coming back to this dreadful place.
“It’s about time I move on with my life, too,” Gramps murmurs, his eyes filled with determination. “I’ll do it… I’ll leave Roana.”
Everyone swallows the solemn words in silence. This day has been a long time coming…
“If we fear what lies ahead, we can’t change anything for the better,” Gramps adds.
“But what’ll happen to us?” Nate protests, glaring sharply at him.
“You’re coming with me,” he answers.
“We are?” Rebecca asks.
“How? This kid may have gotten a potion from some rich guy, but how’re the rest of us supposed to leave the village?! If it weren’t for those damn magic walls, we all would have left ages ago!” Nate snaps, on the verge of exploding.
Indeed, Arnold gave me a pink potion, Avel, that helps me pass through the magic walls. Whether there’s enough potion for everyone in the village is another matter entirely.
“I’ll negotiate with the king,” Gramps answers.
“……You’ll leave alone, then?” I ask.
“I’ll be back right away.”
“Ya might not be, though. Ya may just leave us here,” Nate argues. “Everybody wants out of this village. Nobody would pass up a golden opportunity like this.”
“Don’t belittle me.”
Gramps’s words freeze the tension. The majesty in his voice overwhelms everyone in the room.
I’ve never seen him like this. The ambitious, calculating genius of a former royal is on full display. Alicia surely noticed this majesty in him from the very start.
Gramps’s eye is solemn. “I don’t know why Duke wants me out of this village…but one thing’s clear: The time has come where we have to seriously consider what direction this kingdom’s headed.”
Can Gramps’s voice even reach the king? The guy who let his mother boss him into exiling his own brother—how can he possibly redeem himself?
“Gill, deliver a message to Duke: I’ll leave this village in one week.”
“Understood… Why aren’t you leaving right away?”
“There are still things I need to take care of first.”
“Okay, I’ll come back in a week.”
Gramps nods. Then, without another word, I leave Roana Village.
Duke, Henri, and I are assembled in an isolated part of the garden.
“Duke, Gramps says he’s gonna leave Roana.”
“Good,” Duke murmurs in relief, a hint of joy in his voice. It’s clear just how worried he’s been about Gramps.
“…Who exactly is Gramps?” Henri tilts his head.
Henri may be one of Alicia’s allies, but the gap in intelligence between them is rather stark. When I told him Duke didn’t actually have amnesia, he nearly threw his back out in shock.
“Gramps is the old guy from Roana Village,” I explain.
“And my uncle.”
“……Excuse me?” Henri’s eyes grow wide as saucers. Apparently, he isn’t following the logic.
“Again, he’s from Roana Village—”
“W-wait a minute. Huh? Am I stupid or something?”
“And what’s more, he’s of the direct royal bloodline. My father is a concubine’s son.”
“I…did not know any of this. His blood— What? Huh? Roana Village? Hmm?”
Henri is suddenly a moron.
“Well, next to nobody knows this,” Duke consoles him.
“Wait, wait, wait. Tell me slowly and in detail,” Henri pleads, clutching his head with both hands. “I’m no genius like you guys. I’m still reeling from the whole ‘Duke’s amnesia was an act to get Alicia exiled’ thing.”
I can’t blame him. Duke is surprisingly bad at explanations.
After a moment’s thought, Duke concisely explains the events that brought Gramps to Roana Village. The color in Henri’s face changes as he listens. Duke speaks casually, even on such an intense subject matter.
“Wow. That’s a lot…”
Henri falls into quiet thought once Duke finishes the story.
“We don’t have time to waste despairing over the past. We need to come up with a plan for the present,” Duke tells him.
“Y-yeah…you’re right,” Henri agrees after a brief hesitation. “How exactly do we go about doing that?”
“When did my uncle say he was leaving Roana Village?” Duke asks me.
“One week from today.”
“We’d better do something about Liz before then.”
“You’re going to put Liz on trial?! Oooh, that’s music to my ears!”
A sweet smell fills the air, and a pink-haired girl—Mel—suddenly pops up right before our eyes with a grin.
She really does just appear out of thin air, huh?
“So will you hear me out? I’ve got news about that thing you asked me to do.” Though her tone is flippant, her eyes are dead serious. Mel has been privy to Duke’s amnesia act from the get-go—perhaps due to their master-servant relationship.
“Did you find something?” he asks.
“As if your Mel would ever greet her master empty-handed!” she answers smugly. “Okay, let’s start with issue number one! By law, the prince of Durkis must marry the saint—but is there only one saint? At present, the only girl believed to be the saint is…Liz Cather. Even though she’s a commoner, her magic is astounding and she’s mastered all the magic elements. Put concisely, you could call her the Miracle Woman—she’s the textbook definition of a saint, I’ll give her that… But the real miracle worker is our Ali-Ali! Conclusion? Write up a list of her strengths and all her accomplishments thus far, and you could easily certify her as a saint as well! I’ve written this all down—you’re welcome!”
Mel proceeds to hand Duke a stack of papers, which he quickly skims.
That’s it…there can be more than one saint! Besides, Durkis’s biggest problem was Roana Village, and the one who solved it was undeniably Alicia. That much is still classified…but once Gramps comes out into the open, it will all go public.
Besides, she’s smashed the nobility’s false sense of superiority over merely having the ability to use magic. She’s actively trying to reshape our system into a meritocracy.
Moreover, she’s fighting this very moment to suppress suspicious interference from another nation. She’s even playing the role of villainess to do it.
When you think about it that way—what even qualifies Liz to be a saint? She’s all talk. She can use all the magic elements, but she’s good for nothing else. Her idealism is valuable, of course, but she’s never put her money where her mouth is.
And everyone with me right now feels the same way.
“Power is meaningless if you don’t use it,” I say.
“How you use it is also important,” Duke replies as he hands Mel back her papers—it seems he read everything.
“If only Alicia could use all the magic elements instead of her…,” I lament.
“I’m not so sure about that,” Duke says.
“I don’t think Ali would want that,” Henri agrees. “I think those limits are what motivated her to grow into the powerhouse she is today. She’s strong, but she hasn’t always been. She worked harder than all of us combined and clawed her way to the top.”
“And she’s still trying to become even more powerful,” I remind them.