Please, God (3)

—Esria Kingdom Calendar, Year 382, Late Winter

Snow was falling.

The land was silvered over; the mountains lay quilted with snow along every rise and hollow. The tall conifers wore white caps in ranks, and where sunlight slipped between the trees, the world of silver gleamed.

Noi’s house stood high on the mountain; in winter, snow piled on the roof at once. Yet thanks to the magic her fingers could conjure, they perhaps lived more comfortably than the townsfolk below.

“—Master, the gratin is done.”

Curled up under a blanket atop the bed, Noi poked her face out the instant her keen ears caught the name of food. Eyes still shut, she sniffed twice; lured by the rich scent of cheese, she tottered out of bed.

Blanket-wrapped, she shuffled toward the table, and Kardia quietly pulled out a chair. Noi murmured with solemn gravity:

“I’m happy…”

“Yes. Your favorite gratin.”

“I’m so very blessed…”

“Yes.”

“To have such a perfect apprentice—I’m truly blessed.”

“I’m honored.”

Though they had shared a bed, her apprentice had slipped out early, careful not to wake his master, and prepared breakfast for her. Could such happiness be allowed?

Even now, Kardia tied back her hair so it wouldn’t get in the way while eating. Left to her own slovenly habits it had grown long on its own, but in Kardia’s hands it was braided into something like art—an elegant, symmetrical style.

“Surely heaven will punish me…”

“Please don’t say such things.”

The dutiful Kardia, who had prepared his own portion as well, drew his chair and sat.

“Let’s eat.”

“Let’s eat.”

They pressed their hands and foreheads together to say it, then both lifted their spoons.

—Two years since Noi took Kardia in. He was eight.

All that time, Noi had insisted the master should be the one to care for the apprentice—but the moment Kardia asked, “Did you do that when you were an apprentice, Master?” she froze.

For when she was the apprentice, they had looked after their master’s daily needs.

Once she realized that, their roles shifted. Kardia began preparing meals, heating the bath, and cleaning the house.

And where meals in Noi’s cooking days had rotated between steamed potatoes and boiled eggs, now the table hosted all manner of dishes.

She had felt guilty letting her adorable Kardia tend to things—but she decided to see it as just right.

(If, someday, I’m no longer here—)

He would need the means to live on his own. Beyond magic, Noi shared freely any homely wisdom she had.

“I saw your light on late last night.”

“You couldn’t sleep? I’m sorry.”

“No… Please take care of yourself.”

“What sort of apprentice is this—showing such care…”

Had she ever fretted over her own master? All she recalled was lamenting the amount of homework, making a fuss, and running away from it. If her master overslept, she took it as luck: less study time. And yet her apprentice was so achingly considerate.

(…I should move my work to the other room at night…)

Expression turning sober, Noi narrowed her eyes.

After the goodnight kiss on Kardia’s brow, she had been absorbed late into the night—developing a spell.

—Tap tap, tap-tap.

As they savored the oozy-cheese gratin, a beak pecked the windowglass—a bird’s knock. A beautiful, bright-plumed Aiolograph.

She flicked a finger to open the window, let the impatient bird in, and fed mana into the circle woven into its feathers.

The Aiolograph stretched its wings wide. As they opened to full span, the markings on the feathers writhed like insects and then shifted into letters.

“A message?”

“Heh.”

Taking the untouched bread beside the gratin, she pinched off a bit and held it to the bird’s beak, smiling small.

“Looks like a certain colleague who’d been sulking has finally come around. Or perhaps he’s angry about something I sent without asking—ah, and it seems there’s a present for you. Look forward to it.”

Kardia tilted his head, puzzled. Since Noi had taken him in, a few people had come hoping to hire her—but no one had ever come for Kardia.

“A present?”

He blinked—just as Noi often did; the mannerism had rubbed off over time.

Kardia never wanted many possessions. When Noi tried to give him gifts, he declined out of modesty. Naturally, she pressed them on him anyway—but she still wished to give him something that would truly delight him someday.

(…Acorns would probably make him happiest.)

One day, when Noi moved a wardrobe to redecorate, a trove of acorns tumbled out. Realizing he must have hidden something precious, she pretended not to notice and gave up on redecorating.

A quiet laugh escaped her.

Not a single day in these two years had been anything but happy.

The little mountain hut she had thrown together, saying she only needed a place to study magic, rang with laughter in a way she’d never imagined when she moved in.

While Noi buried herself in researching the Demon King, her young apprentice peered at her hands—striving to understand the circles, though they were still beyond him.

That research had reached a milestone only the other day.

—A holy spell to destroy evil: purification magic.

In this world, there was no such thing as an “evil being.” Each creature lived by using mana for its own purposes.

But the Demon King was different.

Born to rule the dark and drag the world into a wicked age, it was evil incarnate.

Little was known for certain:

First, it possessed immense mana.

Second, it continually corroded the body it inhabited.

Third, it hatched when its host died.

And lastly—it amplified the mana of the human it clung to by hundreds, by thousands.

No spell existed that could fell such a thing.

Which meant that the one foretold to destroy the Demon King—Noi—had to devise it herself.

Naturally, the Demon King, king of demons, possessed mana. And magic could not interfere with mana. Strictly speaking, no mage had ever made such interference possible—until now.

But Noi was the kingdom’s greatest mage.

At last, she had woven a magic circle to purify the Demon King.

By pouring the entirety of her vast reserves into the finely wrought array she crafted, purification became possible—at least in theory.

She had withdrawn to the mountains in the first place to study magic that could affect mana itself.

Once Prince Fengalow’s command arrived, she narrowed her aim to the cleansing of baleful power—and somehow pushed the work to a full framework.

Two years in the making, the purification array was in its final tuning.

—Noi had complete faith in the Starseer.

Which meant her thinking was sound. If she gave everything, she could destroy the Demon King.

Even if—what became of her afterward was unknown.

“Master?”

Lost in thought, Noi started when Kardia spoke.

“Ah—sorry.”

(…I can’t help but wish—that day would come even one day later.)

The crumbs she had been pinching off for the Aiolograph were gone from the table.

“Your shoes—aren’t they quite small now?”

After their morning lesson, Noi peered at Kardia crouched at a tree root. He hunched as he tied his laces and ducked his head apologetically.

“I can still wear them.”

“Let’s buy new ones soon.”

“But you said you dislike walking snowy roads.”

“Nonsense. We’ll take a sled. I’ll lay down ice for a track. It’s comfy.”

She would conjure ice on the ground, rails for the sled to run, and they would rocket down the mountain—thrilling, dangerous, amazing.

Perhaps unable to picture it, Kardia’s eyes sparkled.

Two years a master, Noi now knew what that look meant.

“—Shall we go now?”

“I—I want to.”

His cheeks, pink from the cold outside, flushed redder as he gave a small nod. Overcome by his cuteness, Noi hugged him tight.

She knew well, holding him like this, how much he had grown. Thankfully, no rebellious streak had come; he never protested her hugs. Still, it was time to be mindful. A master was duty-bound to attend to an apprentice’s needs.

(That said—another month… no, half a year should be fine.)

She nuzzled her cheek into his hair. Kardia showed no sign of dislike; he only smiled faintly and let her have her way.

“Right! Then let’s go! Let’s go!”

“Ah, but—I think someone—!”

As Noi turned back toward the house to ready for town, Kardia tried to stop her—and his foot slipped on the snow.

“Eh—ah—!”

“Kardia—?!”

Noi reached out—but by then he was already tumbling across the ground.