Leave a comment

–––Ciel’s viewpoint

The letter from the werewolf was a message from Sorciere to a certain person. She said there were many things she wanted to talk about, so if that person could visit her in her home. The rest of the message was very mundane, like any common letter, but the recipient’s description struck me as odd. It said it should be handed to an exceedingly beautiful girl living in Surfour, who possessed inhuman strength. There was only one person there who fit that description, who could treat any adventurer or knight like a child, and who was untouchable even by a Lich claiming to be the undead’s king. In other words, Lapis.

Not even elves could match her beauty, and whether on Surfour or elsewhere, I had never seen anyone as cute as her. That made me believe that the letter had to be addressed to her.

“Wait, Ciel! Do you think that’s describing-”
“It has to be Lapis. Or do you have any other guesses, Labrusca and Vitis?”
“Not at all. I can only think of Master Lapis when I read that description.”
“Same here. Someone who’s strong, beautiful, and appears inhuman all around can only be her.”

I was glad to know I was not the only one thinking it was Lapis. The four of us returned to the village and completed the request by presenting the items the werewolf gave us to the chief, and then we returned to Surfour at top speed with Flight Magic. I still could not match Lapis’ ability to travel long distances straight away, so I had to take many breaks in-between, but we still got to Surfour much faster than we would have by walking back. Since we traveled back in a single day, my body and mana were about to give up, but I slapped myself to keep going as we headed to the guild.

“Huh? You’re back already? That was really quick.”

The doors creaked as we entered the guild, and Lapis, who was hard at work as a receptionist, spotted us right away. Luckily there were not many adventurers there at the moment, so we could easily approach Lapis and silently hand her the parchment.

“What’s this? A letter? Is it okay for me to read it?”

She tilted her head in a cute manner. She seemed unsure of how to react to having a letter pushed onto her.

“Yes. We can’t confirm who the sender is, but we believe it’s for you.”
“Really? Let me see then.”

As her eyes went along the letter, her expression gradually changed. It was neither out of anger or happiness, but purely a shocked reaction. Her perfectly shaped lips began to tremble, and her hands gripped the parchment with more force, stiffening up.

“…Ciel, who gave you this letter?”

Lapis asked while dissimulating over her shaking, and I leaned forward to whisper into her ear.

“The werewolf. A monster gave it to us.”
“!”

I would never openly say that a monster gave me something. I could easily get imprisoned or something worse if people knew I had made a deal with a monster, out of suspicion that I was colluding with the Demon King. Karin also explained that to Labrusca and Vitis before we entered the city, for the safety of themselves and the people around them.

When Lapis finished reading the letter, her eyes appeared distant as she muttered something.

“I see… so she’s still alive…”

That ‘she’ probably referred to Sorciere. The greatest magician who ever lived, who also was part of the Hero’s Party of old. A genius who established the foundations of modern guilds, created the adventurer registration system, and developed many high level spells. For magicians like myself, she was someone we looked up to more than even the hero himself. Yet Lapis referred to her in a very casual manner… maybe she had met Sorciere once in the past? But she sounded more familiar than that, like they were actual friends.

“Lapis…”
“Thank you everyone for bringing this to me. I’ll take a break from work and go meet her.”
“Wait a moment! If you’re going then I’m coming too!”
“Me too!”
“I’ll accompany you as well!”
“I want to go too!”
“Huhh?!”

Hearing all of us request to go as well, Lapis seemed a bit lost for a while. With all I already knew, she could not ask me to stay behind. Even if she told me not to come I’d follow her, otherwise the curiosity of finding out what kind of relationship she has with Sorciere would never let me sleep in peace. Not only that, but I also wanted to see what kind of person Sorciere actually was. I had to find out what a legendary magician looked like.

“Hmmm…I guess it’s fine. It’s not like the letter said I have to go alone. We’ll leave tomorrow morning. I’ll carry all of you so food rations for one day should be enough.”

I had the scare of a lifetime when Lapis used her Flight Magic on me, so I would normally refuse that, but in this situation, I had no choice but to agree. I noticed Karin’s face also clouded over, since she had experienced it just like I had, but we would never back down from an opportunity like this.

§　§　§

The next dawn we left Surfour before the sun was fully up. If Lapis was the only one flying and dragging the rest of us from behind, our arms would quickly give out, so this time she made a lot of preparations. Lapis would still be in front, but she would cast an antigravity spell on us to make our bodies lighter, and I had to maintain a barrier against the wind around us. This way we would not suffocate and almost die like we did when returning from the capital, and there was no need to strain our arms either. Apparently, Lapis used to do that with other people long ago, but since some time passed she had forgotten about it. I still was curious about what kind of people she formed a party with though.

“Over there, Lapis.”

I pointed to the hut next to which we fought the werewolf the day before. It was still early in the morning so there were no lumberjacks or villagers nearby. Instead, we found the werewolf we told to hide, in plain sight and kneeling to the ground.

“I’be veited for you, humans.”
“…Why is he kneeling like that?”
“I’m not really sure, but he did it yesterday as well. Maybe it’s a special greeting amongst werewolves.”

Lapis tilted her head, puzzled by the werewolf’s action. I tried to explain my theory to her, but she still looked unconvinced.

“I’ll show you de vay, follow me.”
“Ah! Wait!”