07

Silica carried the reheated soup back over to Ains.

“Thank you.”

As he reached for the spoon on the tray—

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“No, I can’t grab it properly… or rather, my sense of distance feels off.”

Silica gasped.

She quickly leaned in and peered into Ains’s eyes.

His left and right eyes were different.

Ains’s left eye had a properly functioning pupil. His right eye, however, had turned a dull gray.

“Ains, can you see with just your right eye?”

Ains covered his left eye with his palm and looked around using only his right.

“I can’t see.”

“…!”

Silica was badly shaken by the realization that Ains had lost not only his right arm and left leg, but even the sight in his right eye.

“I see. So that’s why your eye looked strange.”

Ains said it as if it were nothing, like it concerned someone else.

Silica was bewildered by his reaction.

Something inside Ains was broken.

Not just his right arm. His left leg, his right eye—and somewhere deep inside, something important in his heart as well.

“…I have to hold myself together.”

If she didn’t, Ains would surely stray decisively from the path of humanity.

That fear took hold of Silica.

Two years passed after that.

If there was one thing that had changed, it was that Ains had begun going outside.

That said, considering the state of his leg, he couldn’t go out alone, so Silica pushed his wheelchair as they went around the village.

Thinking that staying indoors all the time would dampen his spirits, Silica invited him out as a change of pace—

“I want to practice magic. Is there somewhere spacious?”

—he asked, so while it wasn’t her original intention, they ended up getting some fresh air.

On the way to the open area, they passed villagers.

Unlike the people of Tas Village, they watched as his silver hair fluttered in the wind.

The villagers knew about the devastation of Silve Village. They also knew that the boy in the wheelchair was its sole survivor.

Aside from Evan, Karia, and Silica, no one actively tried to interact with Ains.

“Ugh, another outsider’s here!”

“Get lost, you useless cripple!”

The younger children hurled insults at Ains.

Sometimes, they even threw stones.

“Hey! Stop that!”

Each time, Silica scolded them.

Ains said nothing.

“Ains, are you okay?”

“Hm? Yeah. Karia-san told me it would get cold today, so I’m dressed warmly. I’m not cold at all.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

He hadn’t paid them any mind at all.

“About those kids… I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing, Silica?”

“Because I’m from the same village.”

“It’s fine. I really don’t care.”

There was no emotion in Ains’s words. They were cold and detached.

They arrived at their usual open spot.

Silica let go of the wheelchair and sat down on a tree stump.

Ains unleashed various spells toward the massive tree in front of him.

At first, Silica had been captivated by their intensity, but she gradually grew used to it, and now she let Ains do as he pleased.

While he practiced, she took out yarn from her bag and began knitting.

From before noon until evening.

The only sounds filling the area were Ains’s magic striking the great tree. He spoke no words, silently firing spell after spell. Occasionally, he muttered something, perhaps organizing his thoughts, but not loudly enough for Silica to hear clearly.

Silica found that she surprisingly liked this time.

Before bringing Ains here, she rarely came to this tree. The villagers almost never came either. There was nothing here. Children played near their homes, so none came here.

Here, she could relax and forget that she was Evan’s daughter, the young leader of the village. In places where the villagers’ eyes were on her, she was always seen as Evan’s daughter, and it wore on her.

Alone with Ains, who fired magic freely without thinking about what had happened in Tas Village—Silica loved this place where she could simply be herself.

As the sun began to set and the air grew chilly,

“Shall we head back soon?”

Silica put her unfinished knitting back into her bag and called out to Ains.

Ains, who had been muttering to himself, noticed Silica had come back to the wheelchair.

“Yeah. It’s getting cold. Just like Karia-san said.”

He said that and draped the blanket he had been entrusted with over his knees.

The wooden wheels rattled as they turned.

The sun dipped lower, painting the blue sky orange.

Unlike daytime, the wind had grown cold.

Silica pushed the wheelchair toward the center of the village while Ains quietly fiddled with something like water in his hands.

The cold wind swayed the trees.

Leaves that had been lush and green just months ago were now tinged red, blending into the sunset.

Over these two years, Ains had grown a little.

At eight years old—

He disliked having his hair cut, so his silver hair had grown down to his waist.

His features still lacked any masculine edge. With his androgynous face, a stranger might mistake him for a beautiful girl.

Because he mostly moved by wheelchair, he rarely stood. However, when he needed to move short distances inside the house, he pulled himself up using tables or bookshelves.

His height had also increased over the past two years.

If there was one area where he had grown the most, it was magic.

Now, Silica no longer watched his practice closely and instead focused on her knitting, but the spells she occasionally glimpsed had become impossible for her to understand. They struck the great tree with explosive sounds and fierce gusts of wind, clearly powerful—but for Silica, who only knew everyday magic, they were completely beyond comprehension.

As they passed through the row of autumn-colored trees, houses gradually came into view.

“What’s going on?”

Silica noticed something strange about the village.

Normally, at this hour, each household would be preparing dinner, and people wouldn’t be outside.

But today, many villagers had gathered outside.