A Long-cherished Vow In The Shrouded Dark

A tranquil mausoleum, calculated down to the angles at which daylight could reach it.

In one corner of it, a man laughed, his throat trembling.

“Ah, with this…”

In the eyes of the man whose long-cherished wish had been granted, there shone a rapture like one who dreamed, like one who gazed upon a beloved.

Tracing with his fingertips the magic circle he himself had written on paper, the man slowly let out a thin breath.

“With this… —at last, I can kill.”

His honeyed words were drowned out by the sound of the forest stirring.

After finishing breakfast, Noi said, “I’m off,” and moved to step out through the door.

Kardia, who had been drinking the sweet tea Ornis had brewed, set down his cup and went after her.

“Where are you going?”

“The fields.”

Closing from behind, Kardia scooped up Noi—who had been walking ahead—and kept walking with her in his arms.

“Do you know? I can, in fact, walk.”

Pointing to the field only a few steps from the house, Noi said this, and Kardia smiled.

“Of course I knew. Then how about this—did you know? I’m just dying to help my adorable bride.”

“Honestly. Smooth talker.”

Ever since their spat the other day—Kardia had been doting on Noi to excess.

He wanted to be gentle. He wanted to spoil her. That feeling filled Kardia at all times; if he caught sight of Noi, he drew close, and if she walked, he lifted her up. In the end, he even tried to waft off the residual heat of her meals before she ate them, to which Noi refused him with, “You don’t have to go that far.”

The magic circle his master had researched over decades—transfer magic—had at last been completed.

And the modified circle he had improved from that transfer magic was finally done.

—Which meant he could at last carry out the plan he had conceived from the moment he laid eyes on Noi.

But Kardia did not execute it right away.

It wasn’t that he had lost his nerve.

Only, if—if he were to push forward with the plan as-was, she would cry. That much was obvious.

(Too late now, isn’t it. Deciding for my own convenience to use you, and yet not wanting to see you cry…)

More than once before, Kardia had made Noi cry. Each time, a boundless feeling seized him, as if his chest were being wrung dry.

(So I’ll be very, very kind to you.)

He wasn’t executing the plan—for Noi’s sake.

Because he had decided to be kind to the girl he would be “borrowing” for his purpose. He kept telling himself that, over and over.

“Do you hate me like this?”

“Of course not. I love you.”

Noi smiled in his arms. At that smile, brighter than the sun, Kardia narrowed his eyes.

(I won’t lose sight of the goal.)

He had longed for this day—waited a hundred years for it.

And yet, just a little longer—only a little. Kardia repeated those words in his heart again and again.

“What are you working on right now?”

“I’m trying out making leaf mold for next spring.”

Noi tugged lightly at Kardia’s sleeve as he walked slowly, then pointed to the back of the field. There, heaped leaves were mounded up and divided into sections with wooden boards.

“I used more tree leaves in this one; this one has the same amount of leaves as the others, but I’m increasing the water. The one next to it, I’m upping the amount of kitchen scraps—”

Perhaps happy that Kardia had taken an interest in the field, Noi answered with a cheerful smile.

Just watching her like that, Kardia felt as if some nameless emotion were being pressed into his chest, making it hard to breathe. It couldn’t possibly substitute for breathing, and yet he couldn’t take his eyes off her; he stared at Noi as she spoke so happily.

Catching Kardia’s look, Noi faltered for a moment—her mouth opened in a little “pa” and shut again. A faint flush colored her cheeks.

Finding that flush adorable, Kardia brushed Noi’s cheek with the back of his finger.

“…Did you carry it all by yourself from the forest? You worked hard.”

Noi had been flustered, but perhaps because she returned to talking about the field, she sprang down from Kardia’s arms, eyes shining, and spread her hands wide.

“No! Ornis helped me, too!”

Kardia, whose smile had been positively melting till now, froze in place with the same smile on his face. “Hm?”

“Ornis even lent me a book on leaf mold.”

Kardia stayed frozen with that same smile.

“That child is amazing. He’s got books of every genre lined up in the attic. He’ll surely become a fine mage!”

Still smiling, Kardia reached out and stretched Noi’s cheek with a long pinching pull.

“…Mph?”

“I could have lent you a leaf-mold book, you know?”

“Eh—?”

“I’m also a fine mage, you know??”

“Wha— you are—??”

“Why borrow it from Ornis and not from me?”

“Buh— because you were— bu— busy—??”

At last Kardia let go of Noi’s cheek. Her cheeks had gone red. Pressing her soft cheek with a small hand, Noi whimpered,

“Oww…”

“In the first place—”

Kardia was about to continue his protest, but stopped the words.

‘Even though it’s your beloved me asking you this much!?’

Kardia still hadn’t heard the truth of those words from Noi.

He had borrowed even a sacred beast from Kukuvaya to rush back to the floating isle, thinking he couldn’t possibly leave the two alone—but he had absolutely no idea what he ought to do from here.

“…You…”

The rest did not spill from Kardia’s lips.

Instead, he intertwined his fingertips with Noi’s.

Pretending not to notice her surprise, he stood by her side like that.

The morning breeze stirred the grass and trees. It was a cool wind that said autumn was near.

(…What is this?)

Unable to bring herself to look at her own hand, Noi turned her face away.

She pressed her lips together, desperately trying not to focus her whole awareness on their hands—by focusing on anything else.

Her fingertips tingled faintly.

It was hard to call it “holding hands.”

And yet it was hard to call it “not holding hands,” too.

Their touching fingertips were intertwined, but the slightest movement would probably loosen them. The only reason they stayed together was that both of them were choosing not to let go.

(It was like that just now, too. Kardia is… acting strange…)

Kardia had begun to make very strange faces. She didn’t feel that words like gentle or soft quite fit.

(If anything—sweet, maybe.)

There were times he fixed her with a gaze so sweet it felt like it would melt her. In those moments, Noi even forgot how to use her voice. Her chest clenched tight, and it felt like every thought she’d been having scattered to the winds.

Even now, she could barely look at his face. With fingers linked only strongly enough that she could break free if she wished, she could do nothing but stand there.

The decision had been left to her.

(I feel dizzy.)

Her steps wobbled. Feeling the gentle winds of autumn, Noi only glared fixedly at the ground.