Maris pulled the other two tight against her and pushed her face against the fabric of their dresses. “He’s the gentleman I love, and she’s a beloved friend of mine—how could I not cry, at a time like this?”
And so it is that in this moment, Maris understands what it really, truly means to have her heart broken.
Embraced by both Nikeh and Benjamine, Maris weeps.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
The celebration of the Kingdom’s restoration begins with a speech from the King.
“I am delighted that this wonderful day has arrived at last. As but one of many who has now experienced apocalypse, however—my voice, my body, and my very heart cannot help but tremble with relief in the knowledge that all of us really, truly are gathered here to celebrate this day.”
Sitting in one of the chairs lined up next to the throne, I see Prince Zenon looking as well as ever. The party had come about so suddenly, and everyone’s been so busy preparing for it, that while even though the Prince and I have both been inside the castle the whole time, we’ve not yet spoken to each other. Then again, I suppose the very idea of Prince Zenon having a conversation with me, a commoner, would be unusual in the extreme. I guess I don’t have any right to be disappointed that he hasn’t come to see me.
“And it is on this day that we honor one Nanalie Hel, the final hero of the apocalypse. She turned what might have been the ending of our world into a new beginning, and she has awoken from her deep slumber at last. I now ask our hero to please step forward, so that we may award her with all the ceremony she deserves.”
At the request of the King, I climb the few steps leading up to the raised dais upon which he stands. Maris had told me how it was all going to go, so I’m not surprised by the summons.
I stand before the King and bow in greeting. My heart is full of a confusing mixture of emotions; I feel uneasy, I feel ill, I feel embarrassed and apologetic, really, all because he’s referred to me as a “hero.”
The moment I ascend to the center stage, I am—mind you, this is no exaggeration—met with an almost deafening wave of applause. I feel the cheers of the crowd reverberate inside my heart.
“I’ve spoken to your good parents,” King Zerolight says to me, not loudly, but normally, as if we were merely having a chat about the weather. The shiny black hair of his, the same hair that Prince Zenon inherited, flutters slightly in the breeze.
“I—I still haven’t spoken to them myself...?”
“I had a discussion with them regarding how the Hel family might be treated moving forward. We haven’t finalized anything just yet, however, and for the moment I’ve had the two of them depart to reside in the Land of the Sea. As the two of you are not only descendants of the Sea King himself, but since she is Princess of the Sea, and you, her daughter, I as King cannot allow any sort of impropriety to create a rift in Doran’s new relationship with the Land of the Sea. She may indeed have run away from home, yes, but even so, the formalities must be respected between heads of state. After all, it was the Sea Peoples who came to assist Doran in our time of need, so it is only fitting that we return the Princess to them.”
In other words, because the Kingdom of Doran had been helped out by the Land of the Sea in our battle against Städal, my parents had been sent to the Land of the Sea as royal envoys tasked with the mission of formalizing an alliance between the two Kingdoms. Furthermore, King Zerolight tells me that the status quo of my parents quietly living in Doran as private citizens cannot go on until the Sea King renders his formal judgment as to how my parents are to be treated—or, possibly, dealt with, depending on how you want to interpret that. Still, time flows differently on land than it does in the sea, so no final judgment had been made just yet. I let out a small sigh of relief before voicing the question I feel he’s leading me to ask.
“Are you saying that I should leave Doran as well...?”
“Not at all. After all, each hero is granted both one million pegalos and one wish; you have not yet made your request. Nanalie Hel, I ask you now: have you some wish I may grant?”
At the word “wish,” everyone around me goes quiet.
I look down from the dais, looking for my friends and everyone else I know and love. Nikeh, Benjamine, Satanás, Zozo, Mr. Alkes, Ms. Harris, the Director, everyone, they’re all there—
“I wish...I wish for every day of my life to be like it has been up until now.”
If that wish of mine can be granted, that is. I don’t want to be anyone’s princess, nor do I want to be some “special” person.
“I don’t want anything to change. I want to live here in Doran, as an ordinary person, do the job I love, working as a receptionist lady, and spend time with my family and friends. I want to enjoy living my life in the same way I always have.”
“You don’t want anything to change? That’s a tall order. Now that you have been recognized by all as not only a descendant of the Sea King, but the vessel of the Ice Ancient, your life has become quite different than that which might be considered ‘normal.’ Despite all that has happened, you still wish for a return to normal life?”
“If my wish can be granted, then yes, that is what I wish for: to live as a commoner, just as I’ve done all my life.”
“Is that so... Alois was right about you, you know.” The King’s eyes soften, and he looks as though he’s about to start chuckling to himself as he says Rockmann’s name. What in the world does he mean by that? The King nods to himself and claps his hands together twice.
“Very well! Let the party begin! Chief Mage, I require your services!”
From the other side of the stage, a blonde and bespectacled man wearing a navy blue cloak approaches. His long hair flows down over one shoulder, bound at the end by an ornamental hair clip. On both his hands he wears several rings. With every step he takes, he taps his long, golden staff against the dais, coming to stand next to me and the King.
“Now then,” the King proclaims, “let us have a spell of celebration, that our Kingdom of Doran may enjoy a bright and shining future for many centuries to come.”
The man raises his golden staff, and down from the sky drift countless slivers of light. Like rain they fall even beyond the Isle, to the far reaches of the Kingdom, as far as the eye can see. I stand there, utterly transfixed by the sight of what can only be described as a snowfall of sunlight, dazzling to behold. People in the crowd raise their hands up in the air as they try to catch the slivers as they fall.
“Here, a little celebration for you too.”
“Ouch!”
The long-haired, bespectacled man—Alois Rockmann—in the midst of all the crowd’s cries of joy, bonks my forehead with his golden staff. “What are you thinking?! That hurt, you know.” Irritated at the dull pain in my head, I watch him closely to try and figure out what’s going on here. Looking cool and calm as always. I can hardly believe just how normal he looks, considering the state he was in last I saw him... My chest feels tight at the memory. At the same time, however, just seeing him here, standing in front of me like this with a smile on his face... There’s this other ache, dull and dim, somewhere deep inside of me. I feel it every time we make eye contact.
“I’ve just erased a part of everyone’s memories about you, Hel.”
“You erased their memories?”
“Yes, everyone’s memories. The whole world’s memories, to be precise. I made it so that they’d forget you are a descendant of the Sea King. No one will remember you are a Royal of the Sea.”
“Hold on...the whole world?! Not just here in Doran, but everywhere?!”
“Why yes, I just cast a spell on the whole world, everyone on this continent, no big deal.” Excuse me? That is a VERY big deal! If he actually did as he claims, he’s no ordinary mage. I can hardly imagine magic on that scale...but he said that as if he just told me he had vegetables for dinner yesterday, so casual about it that it’s practically terrifying.
“I told a lie to the whole world. Hate me all you want, I don’t care.”
So saying, he places one hand on my cheek, gently stroking my skin with his long, warm fingers.
All I had wished for was a normal life. Come to think of it, though, the life I had before wasn’t so normal at all. I’d known I was making an unreasonable request. But to erase someone’s memories—to erase the memories of the whole world? It feels far worse than lying. “I hate lying,” I say.