The Undying Soul

—— Esria Kingdom Calendar, Year 482, Late Summer

She woke up in the morning and opened the curtains.

Narrowing her eyes at the brightness beyond the window, Noi stepped out of the house.

Back then, Noi never imagined that such a simple act would turn into such an uproar.

For some reason, she woke more refreshed than usual that day.

Maybe it was because she had spent a month carefully reading the ten books she had brought from the Hyuetos Magic Count’s estate and finally felt settled.

As always, keeping pace with the early-to-bed Kardia, Noi went to sleep before the moon had risen and woke before the sun did.

She opened the curtains and looked at the dawn-dark sky. On the floating isle above the sky, there was still no sign of the morning sun.

Thinking she might as well greet the sunrise outdoors, Noi muted her footsteps through the sleeping house and slipped quietly outside.

With no particular destination, she decided to take a stroll. Inside the floating isle there were neither dangerous animals nor suspicious people, so even a girl without magic could safely go out alone.

The morning wind was cold enough to make her shiver, and she found herself wishing she had brought something to throw over her shoulders.

A silence in which not even the birds had awakened began to thin, little by little.

On the far horizon painted by the clouds, signs of daybreak flickered in and out. A gentle morning light peeked through the gaps in the clouds, tinting the surrounding cloudbanks a soft violet. In an instant the pale violet shifted to a faint rose, and behind it the stars snuffed out their lamps.

On the leaves of the plants swaying beside her, jewel-like dew hung and gave off a faint glimmer in the first light. It was as if the stars that had gone to sleep in the sky had begun to shine upon the earth. Each time the breeze slipped by, the dewdrops danced and fell lightly.

By the time the flower-shadows were swaying, the isle adrift in the sky was wrapped in a beautiful morning scene.

Breathed on by the pleasant wind, Noi felt a new morning begin. Her bed-tousled hair fluttered in the breeze. Her lips were quietly humming before she knew it, and her feet fell into a light step.

It was only much later that she noticed the scenery around her had shifted from sky to fresh green.

“—Huh? Where… is this…?”

She turned in a small circle and found herself surrounded by an unfamiliar view. The floating isle was not that large. It had been about two months since she began living here; Noi already knew the scenery around the manor.

If there was only one place she didn’t know—

“…Ah, I must have wandered into the forest.”

Soon after arriving here, Ornis had told her, “Do not enter the forest.” She had been careful because of that, but it seemed she had slipped in today without thinking.

“Well, if I wandered in by accident, nothing to be done.”

Among mages, hierarchy ran vertical. An order from a disciple’s disciple was, at best, a “request.”

Noi pressed on without worrying. If Kardia was hiding some secret, part of her wanted to expose it.

(Is he researching forbidden magic, or keeping a dragon?)

Whatever it was, Noi was sure she could glimpse a piece of the secret behind what Kardia had become, and so she kept walking.

After a while, she felt the air change. The air grew so pure it made her ears ring—like a clear chime—and without thinking, Noi straightened her back.

The forest trees formed a path like a series of arches.

Chin tucked, she advanced. Before long, she came upon the secret the forest had kept veiled.

It was a solemn, magnificent place.

It hardly seemed to be inside a forest. If someone had told her this was the innermost sanctum of the grandest temple in the capital, Noi would have believed it.

The place had clearly been arranged by human hands. A thin sheet of water on the ground mirrored dapples of sunlight and the sky, and the flowers blooming on both sides were in full glory. Sunlight spearing through the forest canopy lit the center of the space. Everything was beauty by design.

Noi crossed what looked like a corridor—the floor laid with a skin of water. Only the barest film had been spread, so walking posed no problem.

As though watched from the heavens, she reached the heart of that sacred place.

“…Is this… a grave?”

At the center stood a stone that seemed to be a gravestone. In front of the large stone—about the size of Noi curled up as she was now—flowers had been laid.

If one called it someone’s mausoleum, the grandeur made sense.

(If so, whose—)

Thinking alone, she felt as though she knew the answer to that question.

—CRACK!

Startled by the blast that ripped the silence, Noi spun around.

“…No, there isn’t! I haven’t—!”

“—don’t you dare—! —s!”

“Run—! If it’s here—then only—!”

“—then she must have escaped—what!?”

“Master! First, calm—!”

“—or else… just a… execution… or—!”

Ornis came running and fled into the mausoleum. Behind, Kardia followed at a slow, heavy tread, anger radiating off him.

Because of the distance, the voices reached her in broken fragments, but it was clear they were arguing about something.

As if in answer to Kardia’s anger, sparks leapt around him. He wasn’t weaving mana. His fierce emotions had shaken his heart, and his magic was running wild.

“Kardia!”

Noi called out loudly and dashed forward, nearly tripping.

Driven by fierce anger, Kardia snapped a glare at her and his eyes flew wide.

To catch Noi as she splashed toward him, losing balance on the slick water, Kardia opened both arms.

He caught her full on as she tumbled into him.

“What happened! What are you so angry about! You mustn’t do that. When you teach a disciple, you cannot just scold them head-on.”

Kardia did not answer. Still stunned, he only held Noi tight.

“What is it? Tell this Noi. What did Ornis do? Did he take your potatoes?”

“There, there,” she said, and Noi’s small hand soothed Kardia’s broad back.

For some reason, as Kardia seemed astonished, Noi was just as surprised. She had never seen Kardia in such a rage.

“You—! Where have you been wandering since this hour! I told you not to come in here!!”

Ornis, his bangs singed, threw up his brows and shouted at Noi.

“I’m sorry… I woke up early. I was watching the sunrise.”

“The sunrise?! You, the sleepyhead?! Honestly, you vanish on a whim and leave us in a panic! And then you come somewhere like this!”

Noi drooped and lowered her gaze.

“No one who entered this place has ever come out unharmed. Now, start preparing to descend to the surface.”

As Noi reeled in shock, Ornis smiled as if to press the point.

“Well, not that you need to prepare—you didn’t bring a single belonging, did you.”

Come on, off you go, jump off the isle right now—Ornis’s unspoken thought was almost audible, and Noi trembled.

“…Ornis, I’m sorry.”

Still holding Noi, Kardia turned toward Ornis and apologized. Ornis stared, dumbfounded, at Kardia.

“As long as she’s here, it’s fine.”

“…—Eh?!”

Eyes blown so wide it spoiled his handsome face, Ornis croaked a sound from deep in his throat. But Noi had no time to coddle him.

Kardia, who was holding her, was steadily leaning more and more of his weight onto Noi.

“…Good… you’re here.”

Murmuring that, Kardia collapsed as he was. Noi’s small arms could not possibly support him, and his body stretched out on the ground.

“…Master!?”

“Kardia!?”

Right before the astonished Ornis and Noi, Kardia closed his eyes and lost consciousness.