I’ve been a receptionist here at Harré for three years now. I was clueless on how to do this job when I first joined, but now, after three years, I think I know my way around it pretty well; my days certainly feel a lot calmer now. The smiles of the sorcerers coming in for their daily workload and the encouragement from my colleagues let me keep my own perfect smile as I sit at the counter, and today is no different.
“I’m not gonna give up on you so easily, Nanalie!” exclaims a sorcerer across the counter.
“How about this request—would you be interested?” I ask him.
“I’ll take it!”
Breathing rough and his eyes sparkling, the large-built man takes the request form and storms out the door, slamming it open so hard it leaves the doorbell ringing for some time. As I lower my hand after waving him goodbye and make a mental note of his energy in the morning, Cheena Kasar, my junior colleague staffing a nearby counter, calls out to me.
“Can I tell the blond prince about this?”
“What? Why?” I ask.
“Because then he’ll totally start coming here every day!” she says in an excited voice.
Rendered speechless, I turn to look at her and find her grinning with a hand over her mouth. I look away in silent protest, but Cheena doesn’t seem to care. As much as I like her, this face of hers bothers me.
“Don’t tell him,” I say in a firm tone, keeping my voice down.
“Tsk, too bad,” she complains, pouting.
I just know she’ll spill the beans if I don’t say it like that; definitely a matter of concern.
It’s been more than eight months since the whole affair with the demons that shook the entire world. Thanks to the king’s granting my wish, I’ve been able to go on living a peaceful life. And only now, at this phase of my life, at this age, I have someone I love.
I’ll leave the name out since it’s too awkward to say it, but there’s this guy I couldn’t stand—a guy I’ve since warmed up to fast, thanks to a few incidents between us during the recent strife. I’ve known him since magic school, and I’m pretty sure he hates me too. Or at least, that’s what I’m used to thinking.
Thinking about it now, it was pretty reckless how I ended up confessing to him almost as soon as I saw him for the first time after regaining consciousness. I get mortified just remembering it. If there was a grave nobody could ever dig up, I feel like I’d happily bury myself there.
Also, he’s a noble, and I’m a commoner. Our relationship hasn’t really progressed since its inception; we’re not even boyfriend and girlfriend. At most, we’re friends that eat together every two months or so.
I don’t know about him, but this is my first time being in love; I know, I’m quite the late bloomer. I’m a complete greenhorn on the subject. It’s not like they teach love in school, so I’ve been going through lots of romance novels, cheering for the main characters’ love and lecturing their partners when they cheat, knowing full well they’re just ink on paper. As a result, my bookshelf—once full of detective novels and reference books—is now a completely different picture.
“Ah, speak of the devil,” says Cheena.
“Huh?”
I spot white feathers through the window. I only know one creature with white wings and a silver mane, and that’s a pegasus. And only the kingdom’s knights are allowed to ride them.
The door swings open, its bell announcing a visitor.
“Excuse me. May I have a copy of your records regarding demon sightings?”
At the door stands the third prince of Doran and vice-commander of the knight order, Zenon Bal Zeus Doran. Suddenly, he relaxes his stiff eyebrows, sidles over to Zozo Parasta (my senior colleague, currently staffing one of the reception counters for dealing with clients), and strikes up a conversation with her.
“Man, I thought it was the blond prince... But hey, this one’s so handsome I could look at him all day!”
“Calm down, Cheena.”
Though at first she sounds disappointed upon realizing the visitor’s not whom she expected, her cheeks quickly flush once she sees it’s Zenon. No wonder—he’s always been handsome and manly. Back in school, he had his own secret fan club—one everyone knew about save for the man himself. Its members would glare at me a lot, since I sat pretty close to him. These days it’s a memory that brings a smile to my face.
I ponder how he no doubt still gets a lot of passionate looks from the ladies in high society, yet remains oblivious to them. As if I couldn’t do something about it if I wanted to.
“Hey, Nanalie, it’s been a while. How have you been?” says the prince as he enters the sorcerer reception area, currently devoid of sorcerers. He probably has to wait until Zozo gets his papers ready.
Holding her cheeks in her hands, Cheena squeals in apparent delight as he gets close. She mumbles, “He’s here, he’s here!” over and over. Would you look at this antsy young lady?
“Thankfully, everything is well, as you can see. What about you, Your Highness?”
“My work is proceeding smoothly, owing to Alois’s assistance. Two days ago the MCFT in Sheera had to deal with a demon. Have you heard?”
The MCFT is a royal institution that examines all goods coming into the kingdom to determine their legality. Its full name is “Ministry of Customs and Foreign Trade.”
“Yes. I hear it was a shape-shifter,” I reply.
“Those things are trouble when they start using their heads...” says the prince and frowns, likely remembering Städal.
Two days ago we received a report that a demon was found on a transport wagon traveling from Orcinus to Sheera. And it was no stowaway: it had assumed human form. There’s no precedent for this; it made me think of none other than Städal. When Zozo and the Director heard the news, I could see the same vein stand out on both of their foreheads as they made plain their refusal to put up with yet another apocalypse. Naturally, I’m with them on the matter.
“Sorry it’s me today,” apologizes the prince.
“What? Why?” I reply.
“Do you even have to ask? I see you never change,” he says with a cheerful smile.
He changes the subject while I’m still trying to untangle what’s so strange about my question.
“Anyway, I have some good news. I’ve been invited to the fourth princess of Sheera’s wedding. Word is the princess is particularly indebted to Doran, so I’m allowed to bring several friends with me. Mislina and Alois are going, and while I’m going to keep the former company, the latter doesn’t have any yet, so I’m trying to find someone. What do you say, Nanalie?”
“Wh...”
What?
“Why are you sitting there with your mouth open? Are you hungry?”
“I’m not!”
“Keep Alois company that day if you can fit it into your schedule. Nobody would object to the presence of a hero who saved the world, and yes, I mean you.”
This is so sudden... And besides, why me? Even setting aside the whole “hero” thing or whatever, I’m sure there’s plenty of other candidates. I can’t decide such a thing on the spot. And in any case, the fourth princess of Sheera, if I remember correctly... Yes, she’s the one Rockmann was engaged to two years ago.
“I’m not saying you have to go. However, Alois and I will be staying in Sheera for a while. Sorry about that.”
“Why are you apologizing to me again?”
“You’re hilarious, you know that?” says Zenon with a hearty laugh as he leaves to inspect the records Zozo’s prepared for him.
It’s not that I don’t know what he meant, but I never thought he would start teasing me like this.
“I wish I was that close with the prince,” says Miss Harris behind me as I sit there, my face trembling in a light blush.
I don’t mind her envying me, but I wish Zenon wouldn’t make fun of me as much as he has today.
“And I wish I’d been in the same school year as you, Miss Hel,” adds Cheena in a high-pitched tone, gazing at the prince so intently I can almost see her framed by a backdrop of flowers in bloom.
Zenon’s approachable personality has always captured the hearts of women in his blast radius; it’s no surprise to see Cheena like this.
“Just so you know, I fought and argued with my peers all the time,” I reply.
Looking back on it, things were pretty hectic in my teen years. My friends have even said I’m “like a boy,” as if that’s not incredibly rude.
“You should be careful though, Miss Hel.”
“About what?”
“I heard a weird rumor...” Cheena begins, lowering her voice and furrowing her brow, looking worried all of a sudden.
What rumor?
“They say there’s a talking doll called the Time Keeper on the market. You can use it to mess with time and go into the past or the future at will.”
“It talks? Huh, now that’s a curious device.”
“It is curious, but I heard something weird the other day...” Cheena’s eyebrows drop even farther. “I overheard a noblewoman saying, ‘If only I were the one by Alois’s side...’ I was poking around in the black market—it was a work thing, don’t worry about it—and apparently that doll appeared at auction and got grabbed up by some aristocrat.”
I’m familiar with magic circles that let you go to the past or the future, but naturally, you can’t “mess” with time that way. But if this doll is anything to go by, causal immutability’s not a hard-and-fast rule.
Cheena mirrors my frown.
“Mr. Alkes said the kingdom is planning to make it disappear. It sounds too dangerous,” she adds.
“Because you could change history and the whole world in the present with it?”
“Yes.”
It seems even without demons in play, this world’s more than dangerous enough.