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Episode 3:
I Am Two Years Old Now
“HOW AWFUL,” I SAID IN MY CUTE, CHILDISH voice.
There was no one else in this room. It seemed big to me, but it was probably on the smaller side compared to the other rooms in the mansion.
An artist had painted flowers all over the light-pink walls. My new smallish bed had a canopy complete with swaying, flower-patterned lace curtains. There was a small dresser for playing make-believe with and a small stool.
From an adult’s point of view, it probably looked like there was no one in the room. However, if they looked down, they would notice someone.
Even though such large panes of glass must be very valuable in this world, this room was furnished with a full-length mirror that must have cost an unimaginable sum. And before this mirror stood a small, golden-haired toddler.
Ĕn úm̃.à . ї ď
Yes, that toddler was me—Yulucia.
I had just turned two years old and I was stunned when I saw my whole self for the very first time.
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“How could this be?”
My mom—I mean, my mother—was very beautiful.
Her bouncy blonde hair was soft and smelled nice. I was so happy whenever she carried me in her arms and I would always bury my face in her hair.
After my blessing at the church, I met my father for the very first time. I figured he must be very busy with work. He had come to check up on us because he had heard about the evil spirit at the church and he apologized to Mother for not being able to come home more often.
É n̄u mа̂
My father was a very wonderful person. He looked to be in his mid-twenties with reddish-blonde hair and was quite handsome and charming.
Seeing the two of them together, I imagined it was a wonderful moment for them; they were all over one another like sugar and honey mixed together.
I was the daughter of such an attractive couple, so they must have had very high hopes for my beauty as I grew up.
Aiming to get someone as high as a prince would’ve been a bother, so I didn’t want to do that, but I figured that my looks should be good enough to easily woo an attractive middle-aged man who was the heir of a house of decent standing and who would dote on me. As I was only capable of such lower-middle-class ways of thinking, I underestimated what my future would be like, assuming I would want for nothing.
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At the very least, I wanted my mother’s affections, and seeing my reflection in the glass window at night, I figured that since I was such a cute baby, I would be able to get by.
At least, that’s what I had thought.
Wеb ň òv ё l En um̌a
“This is impossible.”
Now, don’t get the wrong idea. I didn’t dislike my appearance; I believed I was very beautiful in a way. But…I would be happier if I were beautiful several years from now instead. Like, coming into my beauty at like ten or so. From now to then, I would have preferred to be told I was cute and adorable and have my parents be told what an angel I was.
I shook my head, swaying my straight golden hair that reached my shoulders.
What was with my hair? It looked more like gold thread than blonde hair, as if I had brought the golden color of my fur with me into this life.
My skin was a normal shade of white, but when I took a close look at myself, I didn’t see any pores. When you look closely at human skin, you can see texture in it, but mine didn’t have any. I seemed to have inherited only the best of my parents’ features. With my tiny pink lips and long, gold eyelashes, I was very lovely and pretty. Makeup was meant to be used for defining one’s features, but wasn’t it uncanny when someone’s face was able to naturally replicate the effect on its own?
Well, I was glad to have been born beautiful, even if I felt my looks were a bit overboard. However, that was not the end to the disquieting nature of my looks.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The problem was that I, uh…had no “flaws.”
I had no idea how to explain it.
But, like, humans were living creatures. And being alive meant that you suffered from flaws, whether it be your veins, your skeletal structure, or from the effects of your lifestyle, eating habits, even the way you walked. However, I had not a single flaw.
It would’ve been nice if that was all. I mean, it wasn’t good, but I could accept it for now. It meant that when the ladies in the neighborhood told my mother that I looked like a doll, they really meant it—they weren’t just being nice.
Unfortunately, I was not a doll. In fact, if there were a doll who looked like me, I would have hated it.
My eyes looked like my mother’s and father’s: gold with a tinge of pink.
Ëṅ ū mа
But my gaze seemed way too intense?
I had such a gentle eye color, but there was this weird penetrative look in my eyes, like I was gazing at them with crazy intensity. And I didn’t think it was just me who thought so either. The maids should’ve been plenty used to how I looked by now, yet they averted their eyes whenever I stared at them!
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This was impossible. It wasn’t possible for such an uncanny two-year-old to exist.
Did something happen to my body in the past year? Was it my hair? Maybe it really was because of my demon body’s coat? Maybe I would be better off going bald, but that would be counterproductive, because I just wanted to be cute like any normal person. His ire must have followed me all the way to this world because I wanted to live like a normal girl in this World of Light.
Maybe the people of this world wouldn’t notice my “flaw.”
However, I certainly did. I was able to see it because of what knowledge I possessed of the world from my dreams. And when the recognition hit me, it gave me chills.
Ӗ nu mа̂ . і́ d̆
I looked like one of those 3D CG model characters. If such a flawless virtual image made to match people’s ideals were to actually appear in real life, people would naturally be freaked out.
“This isn’t what a human is supposed to look like,” I muttered in a daze as I gazed at myself in the mirror in my room for the very first time at two years old.
I had decided my life’s goal: live like a human.
For normal people, this would mean living the honest life of a good person, and that certainly did apply to what I meant.
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However, I meant it the same way a weak demon attempting to live among human society would: They may not be traditionally attractive, and in fact may not even look human at all, but at the very least, they would try to fool those around them by pretending to act like a regular human.
Thinking back on it now, my father had probably dropped the flowers he bought for my second birthday party because he was shaken when he saw me all dressed up…
Ѐ n u m̈_а̇.і d
Well, my father would just have to get used to my appearance, even though we rarely got to see each other due to his busy schedule. At the very least, my father and everyone else at the manor had gotten pretty used to me, so they stopped freezing up so much.
I decided that next time I saw my father, I would go snuggle up to him like a cat. I was actually a cat, after all, and it was what I was good at.
Now then, one day, a month after I turned two years old, my mother, Vio, and I—oh, and the coachman as well—went on an outing.
This time, they spent a whole lot of time dressing me up like I was some kind of doll. They eventually settled on a Gothic-style dress of dark blue satin with pure white lace and silver embroidery.
This…wasn’t how you’d normally dress a child, right? It looked like the kind of fancy dress for adults that you’d put on a doll in a glass case. Didn’t this kind of dress cost more than what a typical family would make in a month? It had to be couture. It must have cost even more than most dresses worn by adults. And it wasn’t like I’d be able to wear this thing next year!
Two-year-old me began to worry about my family’s lack of financial responsibility.
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“What’s wrong, Yul? Do you feel ill?”
“Would you like something to drink, Lady Yul? We have fruit water or tea.”
Mother and Vio both voiced their concern, seeing me so deeply lost in thought as we rode in the coach.
I smiled and shook my head a little. “I’m fine.”
I feel bad for worrying Mother. It makes me happy that she treats me like a normal girl even though I’m such a creepy child.
Mother responded by hugging me tightly. Behind her, I could see Vio’s fingers twitching with impatience, which made me wonder if she was the one who was sick.
W̆ е̂b.n̆ о̌ vе l̀ Е̄.n̊ ǔ m а̄
I decided to set aside the matter of my family’s finances for the moment. I figured that I could help contribute by becoming a child model or something in the future if we needed the extra money.
At any rate, I was really looking forward to today’s outing. “Are we there yet, Mother?”
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“Just a bit longer, Yul. Do you promise to be a good little girl when we get there?”
“Yes!”
“It’s so amazing how much you can say already.” Mom and Vio were both smiling.
It might’ve seemed that I was quite well-spoken for a two-year-old, but the sounds that actually came out of my mouth were quite different. If I were to lower the settings on my demon “language corrector” power, I was sure that I would hear myself more like this:
Еn̆u̇m.ӓ..ì d̀
“Ahw wee dere yet, Madd’r?”
“Yesh!”
Two-year-olds with their poor enunciation were cute. And sly.
And although Mother had asked me to be a good girl, the fact of the matter was that people always picked me up the second I tried to move. I couldn’t run around even if I wanted to.
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Even now, Mother was holding me in her lap. I understood that she was overprotective since I had been born stillborn and only suddenly started drawing breath some time after birth, but everyone at the manor was a little too overprotective, if you asked me. If I were a normal child, I wouldn’t have learned to walk at all yet.
The only thing I was allowed to do at home was feed myself with a spoon. However, I hardly ate because it all tasted weird, so when I let my guard down, they would take the spoon and start feeding me like a baby animal.
Е nu ḿа
Anyway, that wasn’t important. What was important was that today was the magical aptitude evaluation test for children to see if they qualified for the magical education that the Academy of the Magical Arts authorized for children two and older. They had a branch of the school in the same city we’d gone to for my blessing.
A magical aptitude test! Magic! You read right. Today, they were going to test my aptitude for spellcraft.
Fantasy’s all about magic, after all.
Even though I had been born as a demon with a ridiculous amount of magic, my one and only intelligent companion had been a hotblooded idiot and a tyrant who wound up literally devouring anything else with half a brain, so I had given up on magic, figuring that I’d never have a chance to use it.
“We’re here, Yul. Time to get out of the coach.”
“Okaaay.”
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I thought that they would let me finally walk around once I got out of the coach, but Mother got out first and passed me over to Vio.
“I can walk, Miss Vio.”
I should mention that what I said actually came out sounding like: “I kah wawk, Mizz Bee-oh.”
Practically unintelligible, right? But whatever. Somehow, Vio was able to decipher what I was trying to say, and she smiled as she said, “Out of the question. It is still not safe for you to be outside, Lady Yul. Please permit me to carry you. Also, there’s no need to call me or the other servants ‘Miss.’”
“Uh, okay.”
Well, okay then. Vio sure amazed me, as should be expected of the eldest of the three maids. She was so mature, but still only seventeen, I think? She was tall, pretty, and had black hair. A father who had come here with his own child for the test couldn’t help but stare when he saw her and my pretty mother. And then, of course, he looked stunned when he realized in the next instant that I wasn’t a doll. Sigh.
Еnůmа̇
After getting out of the coach, we passed through the main gate to this branch of the Academy of the Magical Arts and came out to a wide lawn and garden. Most people with a gift for spellcraft were nobles, and graduates often donated to the school, so the academy’s facilities were surprisingly well funded.
I thought the academy would be closed for days like this, but I saw a bunch of teenagers who looked like students in casual clothing milling about. I even saw a boy and girl holding hands as they walked. It was really sweet.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
I would love to go to this academy. Father, Mother, and Vio all graduated from the Academy of the Magical Arts, so that makes me want to enroll all the more.
However, since it was the Academy of the Magical Arts, if you couldn’t use spellcraft or conjuring magic, then you couldn’t attend. If I had no gift, then I would have to attend a regular school like Fer and Min had.
Regular schools were for those with very little magical ability and those who didn’t have the gift for spellcraft, so they received a general education instead. They could learn how to read and write, arithmetic, history, morals, and etiquette or swordsmanship, should they so wish.
However, their education started at seven years old and only lasted six years. Fer and Min had decided to learn etiquette and how to be maids, so they became our maids-in-training at thirteen. Their education sure wasn’t very long. People were considered adults at fifteen here; however, the two of them joined the work force even earlier.
W̊eb nоv е̊l̀ Ėňu m а̄_
Meanwhile, the Academy of the Magical Arts was a nine-year program. It seemed to have a similar system to the dream world. Here, however, students graduated when they became adults at fifteen and started working after that, so that just seemed the way of things. In addition to receiving a general education, they also studied spellcraft and, since so many of them were nobles, they also received specialized education. The most talented of them even skipped grades. The students also had to wear uniforms, so your standing as a student was recognizable.
There really was a huge difference in education when lots of nobles were involved. Even at the regular schools, the nobles and rich were separated into different classes. Nobles had something like a debut into high society in their early teens, and it was then that you were expected to meet somebody to marry, which I thought was lame. I wanted to experience the bittersweet romance of youth as a junior high schooler at the very least, not just as an elementary-school student—all the more reason why I wanted to go to the Academy of the Magical Arts. This was probably because the “me” in the dream world had been stuck in a hospital room for so long that it made me want to experience all life had to offer. Perhaps it was an impure motivation, but regardless, I needed a talent for spellcraft to attend. I was going to do my best with this aptitude test.
And so, as we entered the hall where the exam was being conducted, we found that there were already a lot of parents there with their children. At a glance, there were about ten toddlers like me here. Vio kept carrying me in her arms as we headed for the reception. When the lady behind the desk noticed me, she froze.
How rude to look so shocked by someone’s face. I’m not ugly or anything, but it still hurts my feelings, I thought, half on the verge of tears as I looked at her. The lady was all flustered as she started explaining the exam to my mom.
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Mom and Vio only nodded in response as if nothing had happened. Were they just used to these kinds of things happening whenever I was around? I knew I had to act like I was a human, but I was starting to feel disheartened.
What I learned from the receptionist’s explanation was that they were going to test if I could use or see magic. It wasn’t like in some story where you’d put your hand on a crystal ball or something that would tell you what your aptitude was. We were to go to the partitioned-off booths where I would wave a magic wand. If I made magic happen, I passed. If not, I failed. It was all very simple. I supposed it only made sense that it was simple, seeing as they were dealing with a bunch of toddlers. But how were babies supposed to know how to channel magic into the wand?
W̃ ê b n̈o vе̌ ľ Еnùm̄ a
I mean, what even was magic? Was it tasty? I was starting to worry about whether I could manage to do it or not when I saw a toddler holding a wand make a small fire pop out of it like a lighter. It seemed like I’d be able to figure it out once I held a wand. The booth that kid was at had a fire symbol on it. Maybe a person was able to show aptitude for multiple elements.
First, I would take the test for ordinary spellcraft.
“Ordinary”? What the heck did that mean? And why did she mention both spellcraft and conjuring magic in her explanation? Based on my demonic translator, ordinary spellcraft was just “spellcraft” while the other stuff was spellcraft and conjuring magic.
Was spellcraft where you cast spells? Whereas with conjuring magic, you didn’t? Since this was the Academy of the Magical Arts we were talking about, perhaps spellcraft required study, whereas conjuring magic just needed effort to perform. Ordinary spellcraft included booths for fire, water, earth, and wind. It seemed quite versatile.
“S-so, let’s give your daughter this wand.” The guy at the fire booth seemed scared. Why was he so scared of a two-year-old?
Mom took the wand—though it was more like a pencil if you asked me. As soon as she gave it to me, I waved it eagerly.
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Crack…!
It broke. The pencil-like wand snapped right in the middle. Everyone sunk into silence with strange looks on their faces.
“L-let’s give it another try!” This guy sure was optimistic. Despite his fear, he was doing his best to play the part of a nice big brother! He gave me a new wand, but this one broke the second I held it in my hand—I didn’t even get a chance to wave it.
The silence that followed was painful. The guy and I were both on the verge of tears. Mom and Vio were both wearing those indescribable looks on their faces.
“Let’s, uh, use mine, then.” What had driven him to this point? He gave up on trying to let me use the wands for babies and instead held out his own wand that was about as long as I was tall.
It would be awful were I to hesitate now. I eagerly grabbed the wand, not wanting to fail him when he was so determined, and…
Е̊_n̂um̌ а .і_d̃
It disintegrated. The wand immediately crumbled into black dust. It was so invigorating, it made me want to take a video and post it online.
“It would appear that your daughter has no aptitude for fire spellcraft—or, rather, she has no ability for it.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Why had he rephrased it like that?
Well, if I can’t do it, then that’s that. I prefer to be an optimist. There’s still earth, water, and wind. If I have an aptitude for at least one of those, then I should be able to attend the academy, so no reason to start panicking yet, I thought as I looked around the room.
I noticed the proctors at the other booths were watching us curiously and then they all simultaneously put away their wands and put up “be back soon” signs. What the heck? You have to be kidding me.
“Lady Yul, you can still try elemental magic.” Vio’s kindness pained me. She made it sound like we were going to just give up without even testing me in these other disciplines. Well, fine. I would do whatever it took to pass the elemental magic test.
Е ṅ um̈á
But why did the wands break? I had no ability? Did that mean my lack of ability broke the wands? What was going on? Was it even a question of magic?
There were six booths remaining. Four elemental magic ones and… Wait a minute—was there no such thing as light and dark magic here? I had wondered as much when I saw the elements for ordinary spellcraft, but you would think there would be light and darkness for elemental magic. Yet, there wasn’t.
As for the other two booths… As I was trying to figure them out, I heard Mother and Vio whispering between themselves about it. They seemed to be of a similar mindset.
“Lady Lia, summoning still has a poor reputation.”
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“I know, it’s because it hasn’t been that long since that incident. It’s not a dangerous occupation so long as they’re not summoning demons, but ordinary people may not see it that way.”
There was a moment of silence.
Е nǔmа. і̇d
Demon summoning, huh? I know how it sounds coming from me, but I understand why people would be skeptical. Based on what I learned from listening to them, it seemed that summoning was a scholarly field where you had to research magic circles. Some nobles made it their life’s work to be researchers. That was kinda intriguing.
Summoning is cool and all, but what’s the last one? I wondered as I spotted a booth in the back and pointed at it. “What’s that, Mother?”
“That one must be for holy magic. You use that to heal diseases and injuries.”
Ahhh, that whole thing. The sparkly light that the grandpa at the church and the priests were using.
Being able to heal diseases and injuries sounds pretty handy. I bet I would be all set for work for life if I could do it. However, even though I look like a human, I’m still a demon on the inside. I kinda doubt I’ll be able to use that kind of magic.
As I was lost in thought, Vio had a pained look on her face, as if she were trying to protect me from something.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Lady Lia, if she’s able to use holy magic, then she will be in danger of some church trying to take her,” Vio said with a grimace. She was the only person in our household who could use holy magic.
Mother chuckled dryly in response. She was friends with that grandpa archbishop, after all. She must have felt unsure of how to respond.
Something awful must have happened to Vio for her to say such a thing. Weird cults had existed in the dream world; maybe there were some here too. But Vio didn’t belong to any religious organization, so maybe holy magic had nothing to do with the gods.
“Anyway, we should test her in all of them. It wouldn’t be good for us to limit Yul’s potential by deciding what it is.”
“My apologies. It was not my place to say such.”
“It’s okay, Vio. I appreciate how much you care about Yul.”
Ѐ ṅ ũmа
Vio hesitated a moment before uttering, “Sister.”
“Hee hee. It’s been a long time since you last called me that.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Huh. I knew that they both had gone to the Academy of the Magical Arts, but I had no idea that they went that far back. Vio had mentioned that she’d started working at our manor when she was fifteen, so she must have become Mother’s maid as soon as she graduated from the academy. I figured she must’ve been pretty depressed to have called Mother that, so I started patting her on the head. She smiled, looking on the verge of tears as she hugged me tightly.
Sorry, but I feel like you’re going to crush me since I’m so squishy.
After we pulled ourselves together, next up were the elemental magic tests.
This wasn’t spellcraft, but actual conjuring magic. I was told that it wasn’t like ordinary spellcraft where you had to study and recite spells you learned; what was most important was the sensitivity with which you called out to the elementals. This was why summoning was considered a part of spellcraft, whereas elemental magic was conjuring magic because it used feelings. This sure was confusing. But if that was the case, then what did you need to study? Were they just trying to tell whether you actually had magical powers or not? However, I was hopeful about the elemental magic. Demons and elementals were both denizens of the Ethereal World, after all. Didn’t that mean we were kin in a way?
W̆ ē b nо̌v́ ě l̄ Еnǔm̂ а̃
At the elemental magic booths, the proctors summoned tiny elementals and then observed each baby’s affinity with them. I couldn’t wait!
Uh… The little wind elementals all ran away as soon as they saw my face. They didn’t even give the proctor a chance to speak. The second Vio stepped within the barrier of the booth, the elementals made a face and ran away as fast as the wind could carry them.
The proctor of this booth hadn’t expected them to try so hard to run away that they would break the barrier that was supposed to keep them in. He was beyond stunned. For comparison, if they were human, it was like they had just hurled their bodies into the glass of a locked door to escape. Of course he was dumbfounded.
“Let us be off.” Vio didn’t even wait. She had been quick to give up. It made sense, though; I had no interest in elementals that ran away in fear of a two-year-old.
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“Vio, what’s the matter with this water elemental?”
“I don’t know. It appears to be crying?”
E_ñuḿ ă . і́ d
It was sobbing. The second it saw my face, it burst into tears.
This water elemental, with her small, feminine form, suddenly started groveling when I approached. She refused to budge, even when the woman who had summoned her spoke to her.
What in the world had happened to this water elemental? But I knew the reason. Because the summoner was trying to convey her intentions, she was unable to hear that the elemental was quietly whispering in a state of panic.
However, I could hear the water elemental’s voice.
The whole time she kept on muttering, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It was a mistake for me to be here. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t come here because I wanted to be here. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I wouldn’t be tasty if you ate me. I’m so sorry.”
Huh? Why are you acting this way? I haven’t done anything! All I want is to be friends! I’m a nice demon, I swear. I’m not gonna eat you or anything like that. I’m telling the truth.
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Please, stop being so defensive. Let me see your face.
Crack!
“Whoa! What’s going on?!”
“The earth elemental—!”
We heard something shatter and there was an uproar coming from the booth across the way. The earth elemental had noticed us, dug a hole in the floor, and was trying to escape.
After it disappeared into the floor, the proctor for that booth kept trying to resummon the earth elemental, but it refused to listen, so both his and the water elemental booths put up “closed for the day” signs.
W е̄ b̃ n̂ о̌ v̀e̊ l̇ Е́ñ um a
We fell silent.
What the heck?
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Was it me? Was it my fault? At least let me see your faces!
The fire elemental, said to be the element with the wildest disposition, was the least bad of them. It looked like some kind of fire lizard and, when our eyes met, it didn’t even look away—it just glared at me.
The fire elemental did better than the others, but it was still a failure.
“Hello, fire elemental.”
Е n um a
It didn’t respond.
Pop!
“The fire elemental disappeared?!”
“Why? How was it defeated?!”
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Having nothing better to do now that their booths were closed, the proctors for elemental magic were in an uproar.
Did it just kill itself?
Ê ňùmа́ .і̇ d̂
Both elementals and demons reformed in the Ethereal World if they died in the Material World, but still, surely it wouldn’t just self-destruct on purpose or anything! After all, dying in the Material World weakened you. If you messed it up, you could be reformed with some other kind of shape and wind up completely different from what you were before!
Was it that afraid of me?!
“My apologies, it seems that your daughter and the elementals have the worst kind of affinity possible.”
Next up is what I’m hoping to be good at: summoning! Hmm? Look, I’m not feeling depressed at all. Us demons aren’t so emotionally weak that this much would be enough to hurt my feelings… Honest!
“Touch anywhere in the magic circle,” the old man running the summoning booth said. His rigidly straight posture really gave him a nice professorly look.
The man continued on, giving a detailed explanation that sounded like a lecture as Vio set me down in a chair. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or not.
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Basically, he said that the “all-purpose summoning magic circle” on the table couldn’t summon a big creature; however, it was connected to a place where it could summon whatever insects were in the immediate area or, depending on the user’s magic powers, summon some small animal from farther away. In other words, it wasn’t going to summon anything serious.
“Okay.” I gave a halfhearted nod and touched the circle.
…Awooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…
As if from somewhere interminably far away—as if trying to claw its way out from the depths of hell itself—a familiar howling of a beast came from the magic circle.
Bam!
As if by reflex, I slapped my hand onto the summoning circle. The light disappeared from the all-purpose summoning magic circle and this putrid smoke began to rise from it as the voice disappeared as well.
Еn û_m̆ а̌.ĭd̊
Mother and Vio had heard the voice and now looked pale. The professor, who had also been close enough to hear, looked like he had aged decades; he was so pallid as he inspected the summoning circle. When he turned around again, he looked puzzled. “My apologies. I believe that the circle must have been defective and linked to a strange place instead.”
“I-I see. What are the results of her test, then?” Mother asked with concern.
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Huh? Could I have failed just now?
“She did not fail. She managed to make a connection, so while her skill is still uncertain, I do believe she has an aptitude for summoning.”
I did it. I passed a test. Though just barely. From what I could see, it should have activated so long as you had magical abilities, but I didn’t care.
But that sure was close! What we heard must have been You-Know-Who. He sounded so mad. I don’t think I can go home for a long while yet. Not that I know how to go home in the first place.
Еn ù_m̂а̌ .і̀ d̀
I hoped the kiddies were doing all right, at least.
“Isn’t that great, Yul? You’ll be able to attend the Academy of the Magical Arts now.”
“Yay!”
I thanked the professor and we left the summoning booth. Mother was carrying me herself now, pleased that her daughter would be able to attend her alma mater, as we went over to the final booth.
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“Congratulations, my lady.” Mother and I were in good moods, but Vio had this subtly dark look on her face as she said that.
I supposed it was because the final booth was holy magic—the source of Vio’s concern. There was nothing I could possibly do about it, so I pretended to be an ignorant child and reached out to her with a confused look on my face. Vio finally smiled as she took my hand.
W е bn̄ о̂ v е́l̄ Ӗṅ u m̈а̊
Did she hate religion that much?
As for the last exam, I wouldn’t have minded skipping it since Vio disliked holy magic so much. My entrance into the Academy of the Magical Arts had been secured, so I really didn’t care how this one turned out.
“No, you were right about what you said earlier—it wouldn’t do for anyone to limit Lady Yul’s potential due to personal opinion. Lady Lia, please continue with the examinations.”
“All right.”
It would have upset Vio for me to refuse after she’d pleaded like that.
As for the exam itself, when we entered the booth, there was a fish that appeared to be a mackerel with red, white, and blue polka-dot patterns.
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“W-water…”
It can talk? I wish my demon translator wasn’t so good… I didn’t reply.
What was with the polka dots, though? Was that just how it looked, or was it sick? Ah. The proctor told us that the polka dots were proof that it was fresh.
The fish was laid out on something that looked like a cutting board and was clearly in pain. I noticed its polka dots were slowly fading.
The test was to heal the dying fish using holy magic.
“Holy magic uses no rituals or incantations. You can only conjure holy magic from your love for others and the pure desire to save the weak. If you wish to eat the mackerel while it’s fresh, then you must first heal it until the polka dots can be vividly seen.”
Wё ḃ n̂о̀ v е́ ľ Е ǹ ü mа̂
I certainly had the desire to eat it.
This guy’s a proctor, but I have to imagine he’s from some kind of religious affiliation, right? Where have I heard that spiel about love and saving the weak before? I do feel awfully sorry for the fish being stuck in this position…
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And so, I—
“Oooh! What have we here?!”
A powerful light emitted from the tip of the wand I was holding. The fish then started energetically flopping about on the cutting board.
“It looks so fresh and tasty.”
Ӗ n ùm̌ a.і̆d̈
“Ahhh!” said the fish. It had no lungs to breathe with, so it had been enduring the pain and thirst all this time. I prayed for the fish to keep on living since I thought how it struggled and clung to life was adorable.
And so, I wound up healing it… That was cruel of me, to be honest.
“It appears that your daughter has a very strong aptitude for holy magic.”
Wait, really? But I’m a demon!
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The moment the fish was invigorated with life and hope again, it was met with death. As I listened to it in its death throes, the only path left to me was to hold the cutlery I was handed and wait for the proctor to finish cooking the fish.
I supposed that I really was a devil.
Ën um̀а̂
***
Talitelud was large compared to the surrounding countries. Known as the “Holy Kingdom,” it coexisted with nature.
This was because the teachings of the Goddess of Good Harvests said, “Children of man, live in harmony with nature.” The pious people of Talitelud had practiced this for generations and now, as a result, there were trees lining the roads in every city and the cities were developed so that there were lush parks and greenery all over.
So it was only natural that the nobles and those who were well-off had trees and shrubs on their estates. It was common for the wealthy to have manors in the cities and villas located in places surrounded by nature. This was true in the area known as Toure in the western part of the Holy Kingdom as well, with there being several estates located among the forests where a clean stream ran through.
A two-horse coach was headed for one of these estates in the tranquil forest. This coach was solidly made but unassuming—it wasn’t gaudy in the least. Those who knew coaches, though, would have been able to tell that it belonged to a rather well-off family.
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If this were the main road through a forest far from the city, then it seemed likely that the coach would be attacked by thieves or bandits. However, the driver, who likely was acting as a guard as well, merely yawned, giving the impression that this was a relatively safe area.
But no place was entirely safe, no matter how many guards there might be on patrol.
There may not have been wolves, but there were still other dangers like wild dogs. This place may have been free of bandits, but there were always people out there whose fingers twitched to relieve others of their possessions. Bored adults and tiny children made for easy prey for people with such wicked intentions. However…
This forest was different. The air here was different. Any human who passed through noticed that there was something off about this place, but they didn’t know why.
Not even the sounds of insects could be heard here. There were no songs from birds. The beasts held their breath, sensing that which humans couldn’t. The fortunate person who realized the cause of such tension would have left the forest without ever drawing near.
Just as birds and small animals fled from an area where an earthquake was about to strike, just as they hid from beasts that hungered for smaller critters, the living creatures of this forest feared its ominousness and prayed to the gods that it would pass.
Е ňumã. ĭd
Near this forest were tents where a band of mercenaries lived.
They were refugees who’d come here from the country to the south during the war. However, no country would take them in, so they decided to use their military experience to earn money for travel working as guards for merchants, living as mercenaries until a country accepted them as its citizens.
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Perhaps the Holy Kingdom, said to be tolerant toward all, would take them in. This faint hope had brought them to this land. But while they were accepted everywhere as mercenaries, they would be accepted here as refugees.
Some of the youths were of the opinion they should just live as mercenaries, but they still wanted a country they could call home. The four families were each comprised of fifteen people. There were tiny children among them, so they wanted houses in which they could wait for the mercenary members of the family to return home.
However, among them, only eight adults were capable of working, including those who had only just reached adulthood. They had no means for quickly saving up the money necessary to buy a house, which was a requirement for them to become citizens.
There were three children who were not of age yet. Two of them were older than ten, yet the last one was still very young. This cute boy was four years old and had soft, chestnut-colored hair. Despite his age, he was clever and helped out his family without ever being asked.
W ӗb̊ n̆ о̂v̆е l E ň.ū m̈а
“Hey, Noel. Once you’re done with that, it’s time for some drills.”
“Okay!” Noel quickly put the branches he had collected for firewood down next to the tent and picked out a branch that looked good before running over to the older man who had just addressed him.
The man was not Noel’s father. To the mercenaries, all of the kids were like their own children; everyone was family. Ever since Noel was old enough to become aware of the world around him, he thought of the men like family and as irreplaceable companions as well.
As a member of that group, he wanted to be useful to his family. Noel didn’t dream of having a normal life in a peaceful area; he wanted to hurry up and become a full-fledged warrior. This seemed like the kind of thing any child might wish for, but in his case, there was an unusual reason.
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The other adults likely trained him so that he had a means of surviving should they all die. Noel had first wished to get stronger, but that wish changed to wanting to be useful to the group as a warrior instead of simply allowing his family to dote on him.
“Nice. Good form, Noel. One day, you’ll be a great warrior.”
W е b̊ n̄ óvе̌ĺ Е ṅum а
“Really?”
“Really. And you’ll have to eat lots so that you can grow up big and strong.”
“Okay!”
They weren’t well-off enough that they could afford to stay at an inn in town, but they weren’t so poor that they couldn’t buy any food. After returning from shopping for ingredients for dinner, Noel was asked by a member of his family to wash the potatoes, so he ran off to the nearby stream.
They’d made camp here and let children go wash potatoes by themselves because they had heard that this place was relatively safe. In the other countries they had lived in up until now, they had not been able to make camp near the estates of nobles; however, the lord of this land was tolerant enough that he was overlooking their presence until they got their next job.
“So cold.”
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It was autumn already, so although the afternoons were still hot, now that the sun had begun to set, the water in the stream felt cold. In one more month, frost would begin to settle and the season of harsher outdoor living would be upon them. They would have to rent some kind of cheap house to pass the winter in.
If only they still had citizenship in some other country, then they could acquire citizenship here by renting a house for a year. However, as stateless refugees, their children couldn’t even attend school so long as they were unable to buy a house. The older children had gone to school for a number of years before the war, but unless their fortunes improved, Noel would be the only one of the children to never set foot in a school.
Noel didn’t care since he was still very young, but the older children told him about the history of the world and about the Heroes and Saints they had learned about in school, and it filled his young mind with wonder. He wanted to become a Hero wielding a shining sword to fight evil and protect a Saint, who probably looked like a pretty blonde princess. To Noel, the Saint in his imagination was like a princess he had seen in a picture book.
“I wonder if the Saint is pretty,” Noel was muttering to himself when—
“Hey, look. There’s a brat over there.”
“That one of the refugees?”
Е̂ ňùm̈ a
Men appeared across the lake, chatting as they watched Noel.
“Wh-who are you?”
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The men didn’t look like brigands; at least, they were dressed like commoners. But their clothes were almost unnaturally neat and they moved like trained soldiers. Based on their conversation, these men had known that there were refugees here. They were emotionless as they crossed the river.
But the second he saw them opening a large jute bag, Noel recognized them for what they were—thieves.
“Someone—!”
“Be quiet!” one of the men shouted when Noel tried to yell for help. When he reached out for the boy, Noel threw a clean potato at him from below.
Еn um̈ а .іd́
“Nngh!” The man batted the potato away. He didn’t need to avoid it at all, but he hadn’t been expecting such a young child to resist and had reacted reflexively, as it had been drilled into him during training.
Noel saw his chance and ran.
“Wait!” The men gave chase.
He was surprisingly nimble for a child, and were these men mere brigands, he should have been able to get away easily enough. But they were more than that.
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“Ah!”
“Stop flailing.”
E n ûm̌ а
Due to their difference in size, the men weren’t even breathing heavily by the time they caught up to him, and one managed to grab him by the head and lift him up.
But the several seconds that Noel had bought himself had been enough.
“Noel!” Sensing something was wrong, the older man from before and a young man came running over, weapons in hand. “Let him go, you kidnappers!”
The kidnappers frowned at the two newcomers, who were dressed in ordinary clothes but wielding spears. They tossed Noel away and the man in the back spoke for the very first time: “Get them.”
“Yes, sir!” replied the other two.
The kidnappers unsheathed the blades they carried on their backs. Though these short swords were clearly inferior to the mercenaries’ spears, the men exuded confidence borne from years of training, which put the mercenaries on guard.
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The merchants they’d escorted had told them about how, two years prior, a great number of children in this country had been abducted as sacrifices for some attempted demon-summoning ritual. There were rumors of the children of travelers being abducted recently as well, so the mercenaries were filled with rage, believing that these were the culprits.
Clang!
The young mercenary lunged at one of the kidnappers, who parried him with his sword.
The mercenaries had learned their weapons through combat experience, yet the kidnappers had clearly received proper training. They were skilled with their short swords despite the limited reach and were gradually driving the mercenaries into a corner.
Who were these guys? Soldiers? Why would people like that want to abduct children?
“Are you guys okay?!”
Е̂ ñ ů.m â . іd
“You’ve come just in time!”
The other six mercenaries had noticed the commotion and come running.
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“Tch!” The kidnappers were stronger, but even they knew when they were outnumbered.
“You’re not getting away, you scoundrels!”
The tables had turned in an instant, so the two kidnappers began to retreat as their leader began chanting something.
“He’s casting a spell!” the middle-aged man yelled to his other party members.
Е̌n̈ um̂ ӑ. і ḋ
The mercenaries had never had a chance to learn magic, and those who did have magical abilities could only use its simplest forms. They had fought thieves who could use offensive spells before, so they were well aware of how dangerous spellcraft could be.
“Wind Wall.” With the man’s final words, the entire battlefield was engulfed in wind, cutting off all noise from outside.
The mercenaries had been expecting an offensive spell and were slow to react as the man started casting his next spell.
“Hear my voice and heed my call.” This was neither an offensive spell nor a support one—it was elemental magic. “Come forth, Salamander.”
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A fire lizard emerged from the tinderbox hanging at the man’s waist.
“Salamander, defeat my enemies.”
Ě n u̇mä
At its summoner’s command, the fire elemental that was about the size of a puppy changed into a dragon about the size of a tiger. The mercenaries broke out into a cold sweat from not only the rising temperature of the area, but the intimidating air the elemental gave off.
Although considered a minor elemental, the salamander was a formidable opponent. Minor elementals were equal in strength to lesser demons and, like demons, mundane weapons could not harm them. The best humans could do to fend them off was attack with magic or attack it with a strong enough determination to kill that you overpowered the elemental’s strength.
The middle-aged mercenary knew this and felt helpless. “Damn it!” With their shabby weapons, they would likely all be killed. He wished that Noel could have gotten away, but the second he’d been tossed aside, Noel had remained rooted to the spot.
Seeing the older man’s demeanor, the younger mercenaries gasped. The kidnappers grinned wickedly.
That was when the fire elemental suddenly stopped moving.
Elementals had wills of their own. While demons were constricted by the terms of their pacts, elementals only cooperated with humans if they wanted to. This didn’t mean that elementals had a sense of right and wrong, however. Elementals were the true opposites of demons: Though they had no sense of the good and evil of humanity, so long as their summoner didn’t intend them harm, they cared not whether their summoner was a villain and would obey their orders. Elementals faithfully followed the orders of those they chose to serve, even if it meant polluting their own domains.
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“What’s wrong?! Salamander! Get them!”
And yet, despite the command, the fire elemental didn’t move a muscle.
Fire elementals were said to have more destructive impulses than other elementals and had no fear in battle. Yet the flames that had once blazed with the will to fight were starting to dim. It shook as if terrified, wearing an expression like it had already burnt out entirely.
Was there something here that an elemental would fear? The fire elemental fixed its gaze on a point in the forest. Just for a brief moment in the gap between the trees, a noble’s coach could be seen passing by.
In that instant, the remaining flames on its body bristled up like a cat’s as it ran in the opposite direction with such intensity that it broke the summoner’s Wind Wall.
Everyone stared in stunned silence as the salamander ran like a dog with its tail between its legs.
Ӗ n ûm а̇ . i d
“Oh.” That was when Noel let out a weak sound, snapping the men back to the present.
“R-retreat!” The kidnappers began to withdraw in the wake of this indescribable happening.
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The confused mercenaries quickly went to check on Noel. “You’re safe now. Let’s go home, Noel.”
“Okay.”
Noel couldn’t move, but he wasn’t hurt. The middle-aged man lifted him up and the mercenaries stepped onto the road to head back to their camp. That was when the coach they had spotted just moments before passed them by. Noel lifted up his head and caught a glimpse of a young golden-haired girl looking out the window from inside the coach.
The second he saw her, Noel was struck by her innocent beauty. He believed that the elemental must have fled because it felt so ashamed to have been helping bad guys.
Еňu̇ m̆а̀
She must be the Saint.
Her figure was burned into Noel’s young heart. A small desire the young boy had never felt before took root within him.
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