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After parting with the Adventurer called Karin, my lifestyle regained its normal calmness. Cultivating fields, harvesting crops, hunting beasts for their meat, manufacturing skin, and making personal belongings, it was such a simple life.

In the early days, I sometimes felt lonely and was tempted to return to the human habitation, but after living alone for decades, those feelings vanished without a trace. The main reason was that in these mountains, it was up to my ingenuity to obtain whatever I wanted, water and fire issues could be dealt with Magic, and neither did hunting pose a problem.

And then I met Karin, the first human in a long time. She overflowed with human emotions, which made her a bit too stimulating for someone like me who hadn’t held a proper conversation in decades.

That, in turn, awoke my slumbering loneliness and made me spend the next few days restlessly. However, a month later I returned to my normal self.

“Good grief…”

These monotone days were filled with boredom, but they brought calmness to my heart. My heart was still like a serene surface of the water, making me feel as if I had turned into a tree. Perhaps a time when I would decide to return to human habitation would come one day, but that was a matter of distant future—or so I thought, but Karin appeared before me once again. Moreover, she even brought someone else along, this time.

“It’s been a while, Miss Lapis! Here, I brought you a gift!”

As I accepted what seemed to be an alcohol bottle in luxurious wrappings, I was well aware that my expression was turning into a frown.

“…What did you come here for?”

Seeing my expression, Karin forced a slightly cramped smile. But without pulling back, she gave a supportive push to the girl standing behind her. The girl then vigorously lowered her head with a large hat on it while wearing a stiff expression.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Ciel, an Adventurer! I came here because I had something to ask of you!”

She wore a loose robe and a hat with a wide brim and held a long staff in her hand. Based on her looks, this Ciel girl was a magician. What could someone like that need from me who’s leading a hermit-like lifestyle?

I felt like it would save me the trouble if I just told them to go back, but they came so far and even brought me a present, so doing that would make me feel very awkward.

“…I don’t really get it, but come inside for the time being. I’ll at least serve you some tea.”
“Excuse mee!”
“Excuse me.”

Karin responded cheerfully while Ciel was more reserved, and followed me inside. Though I called it a hut, it was meant to house just me, so it was only slightly bigger than the room of an inn. My furniture was few, too, consisting of only a table, two chairs, and a single bed.

Letting an unfamiliar girl sit on my bed would’ve come off as weird, so I let them take the chairs while I sat on the bed after I was done with the tea.

“So then, what was that favor you wanted to ask me?”
“Yes. Um… I’m fully aware of how impolite this may be, however, would it be possible to teach me Flight Magic?”
“……”

She sure said something bothersome there. I look at her doubtfully, not understanding her reason. Seeing that, Karin took on a troubled expression, but let’s ignore her for now.

“You want me to teach you Flight Magic?”
“That’s right. I heard from Karin that you flew using it. Would you be kind to teach it to me?”

Flight Magic—Needless to say, it was a Magic used for flying. It was a very convenient Magic that played an active role in not just daily life, but even on the battlefields, so it was commonplace for the magicians of my time to use it. What point was in coming all the way here and asking me to teach something like that, I couldn’t understand it.

“Even without coming here, couldn’t you have just asked a random skilled sorcerer instead? You should have a teacher, too, right?”

My words caused both of them to stare at me dumbfounded for some reason.

“A random sorcerer… Um, Miss Lapis. I have never seen anyone other than you who could use it.”
“That’s right! I don’t think there’s anyone even among the court sorcerers who can.”
“…You’re kidding, right?”

What the hell happened in these 300 years for such a widespread Magic to vanish? Even if offensive Magic stopped developing because the Demon King was gone, this was still too strange. How could it even disappear just like that? I kept myself out of society, so I had no idea what could have possibly caused it.

“Uhh… I’ve been living in these mountains for too long, so I’m not aware of the outside circumstances. Sorry, but can you teach me the history of the past few hundred years?”
“Alright. I’ll tell you all that I know.”

Ciel puffed her chest a bit, perhaps this was her strong area. But having her abundant bulges before my eyes made me feel awkward and I looked away. Then, as I listened to her story, I heard something I could not believe.

300 years ago, the ancient Hero—in other words, me, defeated the Demon King and put an end to the great war that put the survival of the two races at stake. Following that, each member of the Hero party took on important roles, save the Hero who suddenly disappeared without a trace. The remaining party members created foundations for organizations such as the Adventurer’s Guild for future generations. Yeah, all of this was as I knew.

In the following few decades, the world remained peaceful, but then a war occurred among humans. At first, it was just between two kingdoms, but before anyone noticed, it had gradually expanded and eventually turned into a world-scale war. It was said that the war lasted for a hundred years, during which many kingdoms fell and rose.

This period was apparently referred to as the Warring Period or the Hundred Years War. Hearing that the world I saved at great pains ultimately devolved into bloodshed among fellow humans made me secretly leak a sigh. Good grief… What the heck are you people doing? What did I even fight for… My thoughts were turning gloomy so I shook my head to get rid of them.

It seems that there were some minor skirmishes even after that, but they never escalated into a large war, and as such, the world reached its current state. That said, as many kingdoms peacefully merged and many others fell, its shape supposedly differed from the one I knew.

“This is the current map.”

Ciel took out a map from her pocket and spread it out on the table. Unable to contain my curiosity, I bent over to inspect it, and I was met with a map that completely differed from the one in my mind. First, there were no familiar kingdoms. Apparently, even the coasts and mountains changed as their details differed. So even the land could change after 300 years, huh?

“So this is how the world is now. It sure has changed a lot…”
“It has been like this for over a hundred years, though… Just how old are you, Miss Lapis?” A drop of sweat trickled on Ciel’s forehead.

Crap, my tongue slipped.

“Let’s leave that aside! So the reason Magic declined so much was…”
“It’s as you guessed. The war was the cause. Skilled magicians were valuable existences that could influence the entire battlefield. Since they were always demanded at the frontlines, they ultimately died one after another without managing to leave their knowledge and skills to the next generation.”