The Flame Swaying In The Heart (4)

“Y–o–u–uu—~~!!”

A boy came running from the edge of the square, kicking up dust.

Of course, it was Ornis.

“You made him use teleportation magic, didn’t you!?”

Ornis grabbed both of Noi’s shoulders and shook her.

“I told you—that spell is still unpublished! I told you that, didn’t I!?”

“Ah…”

At Ornis’s demon-like scowl, Noi blanched and fell speechless. Then, as if clinging for help, she looked to Kardia.

Noticing her gaze, Kardia smiled.

“It’s all right. I have no objection to you releasing it to the world.”

Ornis seemed to notice Kardia only then and hastily composed his expression.

“Master, you were here. My apologies. I lost my composure.”

Kardia looked down in silence at the pale-faced Ornis.

Catching Kardia’s look, Ornis quickly let go of Noi and stepped back.

Noi had been staring at Ornis in puzzlement, but then started as if remembering something and ran toward the villagers who had been watching from nearby.

“Did you see!?”

The villagers he rushed up to grimaced and glanced between Noi and Kardia.

“Sorry. I don’t have mana, so all I could do was really help—but? Wasn’t Kardia amazing!?”

One of Kardia’s eyebrows rose. The villagers hurried to placate Noi.

“We understand, we understand—!”

“Kardia loves this place. He always has, and he always will! —I believe all of you will surely understand that!”

“Yes, we understand! We understand!”

Nodding at Noi’s words, the villagers fled as if escaping Kardia’s eyes. Kardia hummed in acknowledgment.

“That wasn’t like her.”

Kardia murmured, not quite speaking to the Ornis beside him.

“I always thought she had no urge to show off—unless there was great need to say something.”

“Then she must have had that need.”

At Kardia’s murmur, Ornis nodded quietly.

“Do you know something?”

“I heard slander against Master. And some were saying to Lady Noi that since she is ‘the bride,’ she should clean up after you.”

“That’s the absurd part. The engagement is already dissolved. She could have said so—said she bears no more responsibility.”

Unusually, Ornis gave Kardia a jaded look.

“…Well now. You’re in no position to talk either, Master.”

“—What did you say?”

“Ahem, nothing. Ah, more villagers are hassling her. Let’s go meet her.”

Kardia was left blankly blinking at his disciple’s first-ever jibe when Ornis pointed at Noi. Just as he said, the elders of the village had clustered around her. Kardia set off in long strides.

—To Kardia, this land had been nothing but a burden.

He had no regrets about striking Photizo, father of Panselinos and son to Fengalow.

Photizo had sneered, “In truth there was no Demon King at all—Noi Galenée simply misfired her magic and carved the mountain away, didn’t she?”

Striking a royal should by rights have been a capital crime. However, Kardia possessed enough mana that even a bundle of average mages could not hope to match him, and he was also the disciple of the First-Sun mage who had saved the world.

For the nation, executing him carried far too much risk.

As a result, Kardia’s blow to Photizo was punished with exile.

Hyuetos was thus the mere “land” to which he had been pushed.

If there was earth, it was land. And yet even that earth in Hyuetos scarcely served its role.

So Kardia watched the earth, managed the rains, and kept an eye on the people. In doing so—surely without Kardia himself noticing—he came to love this place enough that, when weighed against Noi’s life, he might hesitate even a little.

(Even if they blame me, I don’t mind at all.)

He was the one who dropped the floating isle, became the Demon King, caused trouble, and told lies until now. By nature, slander against himself never bothered Kardia.

(…But I won’t allow it against Noi.)

Kardia’s eyes narrowed to slits as he fixed on the elders.

He would not forgive anyone who hurt her.

“—And listen here, you hear!?”

At the elder’s rough tone, Kardia’s gaze grew even sharper.

“The youngsters might talk like that, but we were raised with our grandpas and grandmas drilling it into us! That water is fearsome!”

Kardia’s pace slowed.

Blinking at the elders, he realized they had merely stopped Noi to ask her to listen. Noi’s gaze on them was gentle as well.

“When we were little, if the rain lasted even a bit, our parents would hold us while we slept!”

“But as the years went by, that habit faded away.”

“For the first time in ages, we greeted the morning afraid of water…”

“For decades we lived forgetting how frightening rain can be!”

“And that’s undoubtedly thanks to our lord.”

Noi’s eyes curved in a soft arc.

Kardia walked up slowly and stood behind her. Noticing him perhaps, Noi looked back up at him and smiled—like a dandelion blooming.

“Kardia!”

(…I want to hold her.)

The sudden swell of feeling left Kardia at a loss.

“Did you hear? These folks here—”

Just as Noi, looking up at Kardia, began to rattle off her words, the Royal Court Mages pressed in around her.

“Lady Noi!”

Startled, Noi watched as the four mages knelt and gazed up with dewy eyes.

“Forgive our presumption! What a magnificent magic circle that was…!”

“Please forgive our ignorance.”

“To have witnessed such a moment—this will be the treasure of our lives!”

As the mages praised her all at once, Noi gave a wry smile.

“I’m glad you’re pleased. But it was thanks to Kardia. That circle was only an arrangement based on his original design.”

“Of course, from now on there will be not a single soul who doubts the power of the Hyuetos Magic Count who activated that circle. And yet, it is precisely because of Lady Noi’s brilliance in drawing so complex a circle without a single fault!”

Those who had only moments before belittled Noi as a child now fawned over her.

(You don’t have to forgive them.)

But Noi would forgive them—Kardia knew. Noi was generous to others.

(See? She’s already smiling.)

“How did you draw that part?” “How does this section operate?” The mages peppered Noi with questions. Like a woodpecker’s beak, the rapid-fire queries kept coming, and Noi listened to them all.

Kardia watched her with a long, damp stare.

Sensing that heavy gaze, Noi looked up at Kardia and paused.

“W-what is it, Kardia?”

“Why is it that you so quickly gather devotees, Noi?”

“I’m not trying to gather any…”

Kardia kept a prickly vigil over Noi as she smiled awkwardly. Because of the restrictions he had imposed on himself, he could not scoop her up and carry her away from this place.