Episode 8
A refreshing morning.
The gentle sunlight sneaks in through the old window, greeting the day.
“Oh dear.”
Creak. An old man struggles to lift his body from the bed. With each passing day, his back and joints ache, leaving no part of him unscathed. He has to live to see his precious grandchild get married, but he wonders if his body will hold out until then.
He thinks about this while changing his clothes. The chill in the room is biting. Today feels extra cold, so he seems to need something thicker to wear.
His hometown, a place with almost no contact with the outside world, Rubid Village. This little village may not boast grand sights like the big cities, but it is always peaceful and consistent. Looking back at his childhood memories, not much has really changed.
Only the members change. The buildings and nature remain the same.
Outside, birds begin to chirp. Listening to that delightful sound, he starts another leisurely day….
“Chief! Chief—! Come out quickly! It’s urgent! Hurry, hurry!”
Bang bang bang. A man knocks fiercely at the door, searching for him. Startled by the sudden noise, the old man straightens his stooped back and knocks on his own waist before opening the door.
“What’s the matter? You said it was urgent?”
Breathless, the young man stands at the door, as if he ran from far away. He struggles to piece his words together through heavy breaths.
“Huff huff. Well, there’s this really fancy wagon that just showed up, and they’re looking for the highest-ranking person in the village. Since it’s early in the morning, we tried to handle it ourselves, but that person just wouldn’t listen….”
“Wait, wait. You’re all over the place. My old brain can’t keep up. So, who’s come to the village…?”
The young man exhales deeply, frowning. Why is someone from a high-ranking noble family suddenly causing a stir in a village that has had no ties to them! The young man feels the pressure of the situation closing in on him.
He keeps insisting there’s no time to waste and pulls the Chief’s hand. But the Chief knows he can’t just leave like that. He at least needs to understand the situation well enough. So, he stubbornly shakes his head, wanting to know which family this person comes from.
“Ugh, this is frustrating. We need to go quickly! The villagers are in trouble!”
“No, listen here, my friend. At the very least, we need to know which family this person belongs to before we can even talk!”
“Isn’t that something you should do?”
The young man frowned, looking like he was about to cry. They had no time for such antics, especially when Han was busy.
“Schugenharz!”
He urged the village chief.
“Ah, you see, the son of Schugenharz’s main family is currently in our village!”
“What…? Wait, who’s here?”
Hearing that name made his neglected brain, which had been gathering dust, suddenly spark to life with a bizarre whirring sound.
No matter how out of the loop he was about news from outside the village, he at least knew that name. It was one of the few family names he recognized, a prestigious house just below the imperial family of the Troa Empire.
Now, the heir of such a noble family was said to have come to this rural village. Why? For what reason? He couldn’t think of a suitable explanation.
His head was filled with questions, but first, there was an action that needed to be taken.
“Uh, let’s hurry!”
Fortunately, the village chief’s legs remembered how to run. He hurriedly dashed up the sloped hill with his thin legs.
*
“What a shabby village this is.”
Rubid Village, seemingly in regression, as if the word “development” was buried under fertilizer. It was my honest impression after getting used to mansions and big cities.
The village chief, hearing my words, couldn’t muster any reaction other than bowing his head. I thought this place was full of folks who didn’t even know the name of the current emperor, yet surprisingly, the glory of Schugenharz reached even this rural area.
“Y-Yes, as you said. Our Rubid Village is a shabby place with only nature to boast about.”
“I meant that nature too.”
“Ah…”
I didn’t expect there to be grand mountains or striking rocks, but there was truly nothing remarkable about the nature he spoke of. If simplicity could be called a charm, perhaps, but it certainly didn’t catch my eye.
“…Um… excuse me.”
Seeing the chief hesitate to speak wasn’t pleasant, so I nodded, granting him permission to open his mouth.
“I-I hope it’s alright to ask why the esteemed heir of Schugenharz would visit such a dilapidated village?”
“Not your business.”
“Pardon?”
Do all commoners act this way? It was eerie how much it resembled Alicia’s reaction.
The chief lifted his head with a dim-witted expression.
“I said, you don’t need to know.”
“Ah… understood. I’m sorry that I dared to ask about something not for someone like me to know.”
“For a few days, provide me with the best room here. Oh, right. Since you’re the village chief, yours will be the best.”
“…Yes, understood. If even this humble man’s room is acceptable, I will clean it right away.”
Suddenly, the chief’s droopy eyebrows twitched.
Don’t make that pathetic face. As if I’m some kind of thug who won’t throw in a little something extra?
*Thud.* A heavy bundle filled with thin conductors was thrown onto the floor, making a solid sound. The chief slightly raised his head to sneak a look.
“Open it and check. I put in enough so it won’t be disappointing.”
The chief was cautious in handling the suspicious object, as if it were something delicate. His wrinkled hand began to unwrap the lavishly decorated bundle. He then carefully opened it to take a peek inside.
“Th-Thank you! I-I’m sorry for scaring you! My name is Lily!”
Her voice was filled with excitement, and the tension in the air eased just a little.
The younger sister peeked from behind Lily, curiosity sparkling in her eyes.
“Are you really a magician?”
Allicia blinked in surprise. “Well, I guess you could say that! I’m still learning, though.”
Lily looked impressed. “Wow! Can you show us some magic? Please!”
Allicia exchanged glances with Paula, who just smiled and nodded.
“Alright, just a tiny bit,” Allicia replied as she readied her hands.
“What about turning the stones into flowers?” suggested the younger sister.
Allicia chuckled, “Let’s start with something simple, shall we?”
With a flick of her wrist, a sparkle of light flashed, and a small flower appeared in her palm.
“Wow!” The sisters gasped in unison.
“Here, for you!” Allicia grinned as she handed the flower to Lily, who accepted it with wide-eyed wonder.
Lily’s face lit up. “This is the best day ever!”
Grinning, Allicia thought, “Just wait until they get to see more of the world!”
“She looks like a princess!”
The girl’s eyes sparkle. Like a child seeing snow for the first time, she’s shivering with awe.
“Princess? Is she a princess? Did she come from a castle? Why? Why has the princess come outside?”
The girl circles around Alicia, firing off questions. She asks if Alicia is really what she thinks she is, while being entirely convinced.
“Her hair sparkles, and her skin is super white! Of course, she’s a princess! But why isn’t she wearing a princess dress?”
“That’s because I’m not a princess…”
“Oh! I know! She’s in disguise, right? She secretly dressed up to meet the prince!”
A fairy tale of her own was unfolding right here. After hearing countless stories from her mother for seven years, the girl’s mental puzzle began to come together based on that lengthy indirect experience.
Suddenly, realizing something, the girl shrank back, making her already small frame even smaller. She clamped her mouth shut with her tiny hand.
“Shh! We have to be quiet, right? It’s a secret, and we can’t let anyone find out, right?”
The nervous girl even gulped loudly. Alicia was at a loss for how to respond to her unexpected reaction. Just then, Paula approached.
Alicia sighed, thinking Paula would smooth over the situation, but—
“That’s right! This lady is a princess who snuck out of the castle to meet the prince. So you mustn’t tell anyone! Keep it secret, okay?”
“A magician! She’s a magician! She’s wearing a big hat, just like in the fairy tales!”
“I just told you to be quiet… I’ll turn you into a frog!”
As Paula exaggeratedly reached upwards, the girl hugged the smaller girl and shielded her. With her mouth, she mumbled something like, “I thought she was a nice magician, but she’s a mean magician!”
“Oh dear, things are getting worse. I’m sorry, Miss Alicia.”
“It’s not your fault. I should have handled it better from the start.”
A little kid behind peeks out. The look in her fearless eyes reflects curiosity.
“Gondyu? Sister, Gondyu?”
“Freesia, no! There are bad magicians too!”
“Bad magicians? Why are bad magicians and Gondyu together?”
“That’s because…”
The girl rifled through the knowledge built from her years of indirect experience. She recognized a similar situation from countless stories her mother had told her.
“Kidnapping?!”
That was also part of it.
“No, it’s not that…”
“Making a scene, are we? Were you just idling while I was trying to negotiate? Pathetic, I should’ve circled around at least one more time!”
As Alicia tried to clear up the misunderstanding, a man’s voice interrupted her. Vargan, having just finished talking with the village chief, strode over confidently. To the children, his tall stature and sharp tone were intimidating enough.
The girl, struggling to even open her tiny mouth, finally managed to say while pointing her finger definitively.
“I… I’m the leader of the bad magicians…!”
