Searching For Answers, Stories Of The Past

In the kitchen of the hut where we lived, the wind sorcery Lenis invoked shredded cabbage into fine strips.

Yet the chopped cabbage did not go flying from the aftereffects, nor did the cutting board beneath it get sliced; what she produced was a pile of thin shreds, as though a sharp blade had been moved with delicate precision.

It was fair to say she had already mastered it completely.

Yet Lenis herself showed no sign of satisfaction at the result, and as she carried on cooking as if it were the most ordinary task in the world, she glanced back at me and asked.

“Hey, Lept. Can I ask you something?”

Hmm, what could it be?

We were in the middle of cooking, but this was also our sorcery lesson time.

I was her teacher, so I had no objection to answering if she had questions.

Judging by the flow of things, it seemed to be a question unrelated to sorcery, but considering I was already teaching her how to cook, that was hardly an issue at this point.

“Why do you think Grandma said she wanted to become a Devil?”

At Lenis’s question, I paused to think, searching for an answer.

It had been about three months since the decisive battle with the Sorcerers’ Association and the founding of the Sorcerers’ Party—in other words, a year and nine months had passed since I came to this world.

At present, no open armed clash like the one before had broken out between the Sorcerers’ Association and the Sorcerers’ Party.

That was because the accusations issued by the Sorcerers’ Party had left plenty of evidence of the Sorcerers’ Association’s involvement in that decisive battle in particular, and now the Association was being shaken to its core.

It seemed that the fact they had been carrying out purge-like exterminations against fellow sorcerers had dealt a tremendous shock even to the sorcerers within the Sorcerers’ Association itself.

Even among the sorcerers who had maintained a neutral stance, many had declared their intention to join the Sorcerers’ Party.

With headwinds blowing against the Sorcerers’ Association and tailwinds at the back of the Sorcerers’ Party, the Association probably understood that any overt attack now would only tighten the noose around its own neck.

If another major clash were to occur, it was expected to be once the current situation settled down.

And yet, the Sorcerers’ Party apparently believed that if sorcerers were truly rational beings, then even after things calmed down they could seek a workable compromise through dialogue rather than battle.

That said, sporadic shadow conflicts were still continuing, so this was by no means a situation in which we could let our guard down.

There were even times when assassination-specialized familiars or assassins were sent after the lives of the sorcerers in leading positions within the Sorcerers’ Party.

But when that happened, Pisca’s detection ability proved invaluable, and she had effectively been seconded to the Sorcerers’ Party full-time for quite a while now.

Pisca was as fickle as one would expect from a former fairy, but I heard the sorcerers of the Sorcerers’ Party doted on her, gave her sweets and all sorts of things, and that she was getting along just fine there.

It was extremely rare for me to be called in, but it did happen, and last time I had gone to deliver evidence to the leader of the moderates on their side in order to bring down the leader of the hardliners in the current Sorcerers’ Association.

It had merely been an errand, but the hardliner leader had launched a fairly serious attack on a fairly large scale, so if a sorcerer from the Sorcerers’ Party had gone instead of me, whoever it was probably would have died.

But putting that aside, this was about Lenis.

Since that battle, whether because she had gained confidence or not, there was now a calmness to her demeanor.

Her delicate sorcery control, the abundant knowledge she had possessed from the start, and the confidence she had gained all came together, and it was fair to say that the flower called Lenis had fully bloomed.

On top of that, her cooking skills had improved remarkably as well.

But precisely because things were like this, Lenis could also sense that the contract Annie and I had made was steadily being fulfilled.

The contract I made with Annie was this: first, to help Annie in her fight against the Sorcerers’ Association; second, to prepare a base where the rescued sorcerers could live; and third, to raise Lenis as a sorcerer.

Of those, the second had been fulfilled with the birth of the Sorcerers’ Party, and it was fair to say the third was nearly finished as well.

The first depended on what happened from here on out, but if circumstances continued progressing smoothly like this, the day it would be fulfilled should not have been far off.

In other words, that would be the time when Annie became a Devil—the time when Lenis and Annie would part.

“Who knows. I’m not Annie, so I can’t say. …For all she may not look it, Annie’s been the type to think a lot and act accordingly for a long time.”

It was probably because she had worked as a merchant, but Annie had always been good at reading people and acting accordingly.

So I was sure that when she said she would become my dependent as the price this time, she had decided that after looking at both me and Lenis.

“Still, back then I was the only Devil Annie knew. Well, maybe Bella too. But that doesn’t make much difference—either way, there’s no doubt I influenced her.”

Of course, she had been thinking not just of me, but of Lenis too, though Lenis herself already understood that without my needing to say it aloud.

There was no meaning in it unless Lenis reflected on herself, and on Annie’s relationship with her, and found the answer on her own.

Lenis’s hands had stopped moving over the food as she looked at me.

“So, well, I don’t know what Annie was thinking, but I can tell you stories from back when I first met her. …That is, if your hands don’t stop moving while I talk.”

As Lenis hurriedly resumed cooking, I could not help but smile and think about where I should begin.

One thing at a time. Yes, one thing at a time.

The first time I met Annie Mitt was only a few days after I started living in Garmon-san’s tower.

Well, that was only natural, since she was a merchant who came and went once a week.

The first time we met face-to-face, Annie had been tremendously startled by the sight of unfamiliar me.

Considering that back then I could not even hide my own horns, that was only natural.

But even after Annie learned I was a newly made Devil—or rather, because I was a newly made Devil and she thought I must be uneasy—she treated me with warm familiarity.

…At first, though, I think I kept a bit of distance from her, unable to tell what this merchant—who acted strangely close to me, and who also looked far too young to fit the label of merchant—was plotting.

Come to think of it, Annie had still been young enough to be called a girl when we first met.

To think I would one day meet Annie again after she had reached old age—fate truly was a strange thing.

But to get back to the story, Annie never changed her attitude toward me and kept treating me warmly the whole time.

And Garmon-san too, now that I think about it, was probably trying to increase my contact with other people, because he put me in charge of everything from deciding what supplies to buy to actually making the purchases.

Once that happened, it naturally meant I would end up talking with Annie at least once a week.

Having grown up in an age where there was no such thing as visiting merchants or peddlers who took orders, I found this way of shopping—other than picking items off a shelf and carrying them to a register—extremely novel.

Annie even knew Garmon-san’s favorite foods, and she would give me all sorts of advice about what to buy.

For example, when I wanted powdered salt, she told me there was a salt mill in the tower, so it would be cheaper to buy rock salt in chunks, and things like that.

Spending time with her under those circumstances, I gradually grew comfortable with Annie.

Before long, the day Annie brought goods to the tower became a once-a-week pleasure for me.

Ah, there was one time, after Annie had changed from a girl into a woman, when she said to me,

“I’m jealous of you, Lept-kun. You never grow old, and you’ve seen far more worlds than I ever will.”

Annie traveled all over the world by Gate Sorcery, but for someone as widely traveled as she was, perhaps this world alone felt too small.

…I had built a friendship with Annie, but our parting came suddenly.

When Garmon-san collapsed, I turned to Annie for help, and she rushed over at once and examined him.

At the time, Annie judged that there was still a little time left to take some kind of measure, and told me to rely on her once I had confirmed Garmon-san’s wishes, then left the tower.

But before that very day was out, Garmon-san chose death, entrusting his remaining life and mana to me, and I left this world.

All I could leave Annie was a single letter.

When Annie next came to this place and saw that not even the tower remained, what must she have felt?

I do not know, but in any case, that brings my old story to an end.

After hearing my tale, Lenis seemed to hesitate over her words a little, and

“I see… Thank you for telling me. How should I put it? I understand now that you really loved Grandma—and Master Garmon even more than that.”

said something like that.

Yes, I knew absolutely nothing of Annie after that—nothing at all of the Annie who lived until the day I came back to this world.

I do not know why, but I had felt that it was not something I ought to pry into too much.

“I’ll try talking with Grandma one more time.”

I nodded at Lenis’s words.

Looking over, I saw the finished dishes lined up on the counter.

It was probably about time for everyone to come over for dinner.

But before that, there was one thing I had to say to Lenis.

“Listen, Lenis. I’m a Devil, and I have to receive payment according to the contract I’ve made. Of course, I can be flexible and accept something else instead, but only if the summoner wishes it.”

…Ordinarily, replacing an agreed-upon price with something else after the fact would itself be against the rules.

But Annie and I were friends, and I was in a position where I could force the issue by my own will.

I could not do that during a dispatched summoning, but right now I was here as the head of my own faction.

“But you know, my master, Garmon-san, always stood by me—his disciple—and cared for me deeply. Lenis, you’re my student now, so I intend to do the same for you. Whatever form it may take, I’ll make sure the bond between you and Annie remains.”