A Dream Awakened From A Dream (2)

“To think the day would come when I could meet the First-Sun mage face-to-face—!”

After Noi briefly explained the situation, Panselinos studied her with keen interest.

“I’m just a powerless little girl now, without a shred of mana. Please, keep that fact to yourself.”

“Of course. They understand as well.”

When Panselinos glanced back, the royal guards—who moments earlier had been bristling—snapped their heels together and saluted. Some were mages, it seemed; their eyes shone dazzlingly as they looked at Noi.

Pretending not to notice, Noi slid her gaze away.

“The Demon King’s purification—without your wisdom, it might never have happened. From the heart, my thanks.”

Panselinos closed his eyes, and Noi again offered the mage’s salute.

“…The long-standing menace of the Demon King has passed, and you have at last met again the master you revered so deeply… Truly, I am glad. Kardia-sama, when you struck my father and were exiled, I feared what would become of you—”

“My father—you—! You hit the king?!”

Hearing Panselinos speak with relief so great he was near tears, Noi whirled toward Kardia in shock.

Kardia shot Panselinos a glare as if to say, “You just had to blab,” then jutted his lips out.

“That punk badmouthed Master.”

Noi’s head swam. She could picture it easily. Kardia was supposed to have been living in the royal capital—only now did Noi truly understand why he had ended up so far away.

“You… you laid hands on royalty over that…?”

“Even you kept turning down that old goat Fengalow’s proposals, didn’t you, Master?”

Panselinos spewed the tea he had been drinking. As he hacked and coughed, the royal guards hurried to him.

“That one’s different.”

“…!?!”

Handkerchief pressed to his mouth as he tried to stifle his coughs, Panselinos’ face flushed with shock at Noi’s remark.

Kardia flicked his fingers and gathered the tea spilled on the carpet up into the air, returning it straight into the cup. Panselinos quietly slid the saucer farther back on the table.

With the Demon King gone from his body, he had tried magic for the first time. Kardia opened and closed his fingers, staring at his hands in wonder. Then he stood and walked to the parlor window.

Beyond the panes, gentle hills spread out. Over those hills, the townsfolk toiled for their land.

There, too, they could see royal soldiers aiding the recovery.

The royal army had come—astonishingly—personally led by Panselinos, the king. They had arrived to support the restoration of the Hyuetos Magic Count’s domain, which had suffered damage from the Demon King. The assembled troops would be stationed here for some time and devote themselves to the domain’s rebuilding.

“…This is no longer abandoned land…”

At the small murmur, Noi caught her breath.

She had heard this was a rainy region. If he was exiled here… then surely, because floods struck again and again, the country had once forsaken this land.

“You are the one who changed that.”

Panselinos declared it plainly, voice firm.

“Over eighty years. You built a village here.”

“…Yeah.”

Perched on the sill with one leg over his thigh, Kardia kept gazing outside and answered softly.

As he listened to the faint voices of villagers and soldiers, Panselinos cleared his throat with a polite little cough.

Noi and Kardia looked to Panselinos at the same time. Smiling, he said, “So then—”

“When shall we hold the wedding?”

Noi’s mouth hung open.

(—I had completely forgotten about that.)

So it would not break; so it would never be lost again.

He wrapped it like a precious treasure in the softest wadding.

Perhaps reassured by the sight of Kardia safe and sound, Panselinos—prodded along by the royal guards—returned to the capital.

It had been only a brief visit, but the townsfolk, who had never even dreamed they would see their king, wept tears of joy.

Struck without warning by the tragedy of the floating isle’s fall and the Demon King’s revival, the people drew hope from the king’s personal words of solace.

Kardia, who felt he had burdened his people with hardship because of the floating isle and the Demon King, silently thanked Panselinos in his heart as he watched him fly back in a feathered carriage—drawn by sky-steeds (Aeron) bred exclusively by the royal army—from his own room.

Using their injuries as a reason, Kardia and Noi had not gone to see Panselinos off, and they still remained in his room.

The atmosphere had completely changed from when Panselinos was there. The lord’s chamber, which earlier had been filled with gentle daylight, was now wrapped in quiet.

Neither spoke a word. They both hesitated, uncertain where to begin.

Kardia looked down at Noi sitting on the bed. Hair white and lustrous as pearls, eyes gleaming like candy before it set. He already knew her fluffy cheeks were as soft as marshmallows.

“Master.”

Kardia approached the still-seated Noi and sank to his knees on the floor.

“First, for my failure—because of which I could not end the Demon King by my own hand—I offer repeated apologies.”

His voice was low and controlled on the surface, yet it quivered, painted over by a host of emotions scattered across the world—joy, relief, unease…

“I am also immeasurably grateful for your great efforts. And for having deceived you and tried to use you for my own ends, I am prepared to accept any punishment.”

Sitting primly on the bed with both feet together, Noi bounced down with a hop. Without even putting on shoes, she padded barefoot toward Kardia, one step at a time.

When her feet came into view, Kardia bowed his head even lower.

“Hey.”

With a light smack, Noi’s small hand tapped Kardia on the head.

“Do you remember the very first thing I taught you when you came to my house?”

Frowning slightly, Noi stood before Kardia. Startled, he quickly bowed his head again.

“…Dinner?”

“That’s right! Let’s eat!”

Noi beamed like a dandelion.

“Most things are solved after a meal. All the more so when you’re in low spirits. Let’s eat together. If the food is delicious, there’s no problem at all.”

“Right?” she added, shyly.

“You and I—until now, and from here on out. That’s enough, isn’t it?”

Kardia trembled at Noi’s words. He squeezed his eyes shut and endured the storm rushing through his body.

—A hundred years ago, Kardia lost everything.

The beloved days he had wished for with all his heart, the home he had lived in, the master he revered. And the one who took it all away was himself.

Since then—one hundred years.

Kardia had lived with everything he had. To leave proof that Noi had lived; to spread her teachings; to convey her love; to protect her magic—he fought against a reality in which he wanted to hold his breath and die, cut off from all things, and he lived for her.

(When I imitated you, I could feel the you I lost—the you I caused to die. So that your name would not be stained, so that all would honor you, so that everyone would never forget you.)

Even after she died, Noi remained, in a sense, his entire world.

Kardia never forgot Noi, and each time he remembered her, he blamed himself for having driven her to her death. Repeating that again and again, Kardia became tightly bound by self-reproach.

That binding began to loosen easily—with a single word from Noi.