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“Where..?”
“A city? But we were in a forest just a moment ago…”

The moment we stepped into the city, Sepia and Maria opened their eyes wide. We had been walking through a forest, but then suddenly we were in a city. Maybe an adventurer familiar with magic would have had a tamer reaction, but Sepia and Maria had more regular lives, making the shock stronger.

Rina was still hiding behind me, scared of the werewolf, but she kept looking around curiously.

“Ovah he’e.”

He started walking without waiting for us again, so we had to trot behind him to catch up. I looked around as I followed him, there were no changes in the city compared to my last visit. There were both humans and demons calling for customers in the stores along the streets, and a similarly varied assortment of races attended. My companions looked at that with utter disbelief, given that in their daily lives demons and monsters were considered their mortal enemies.

“Umm, Lapis? What did you mean by calling this Sorciere’s city? And why are there humans and monsters living together?”

Sepia was the first one to speak, but still filled with disbelief. Calling it Sorciere’s city was clearly not enough to explain anything, so I could see why she was confused. Probably some of the initial shock had vanished, letting her think of things like that.

“Where should I start…err… Sepia, do you know that I’ve been alive for more than three hundred years?”
“Y-yes. Lady Luvias mentioned that before.”

Maria’s eyes became round again hearing that, only a small fraction of the royal family knew that. It was an unexpected revelation to figure out a girl who looked younger than her, was actually much older. But I paid her little attention and continued.

“So to put it simply, this is a city built by someone I used to know a long time ago, Sorciere. Everyone here is people who lost their place in the world. No matter what race they are, they all came here to escape an unfortunate life, and they share that with each other.”
“That’s…a bit too much to take in. I wouldn’t have believed it unless I saw it…it’s almost like a fairy tale.”

A world where all races lived together without conflict, that was a bit too idealistic to believe, but they were there, so Sepia had a rather forlorn look in her eyes.

Eventually we arrived at the house I was familiar with. The place where the great magician Sorciere lived. The werewolf opened the door and stood next to it, completely immobile, as if a guard in front of a king. Maria and the others looked at him impressed, probably imagining he was actually some sort of loyal knight.

(But that’s so wrong, his eyes are clearly filled with fear. He’d probably get beaten to a pulp if he accidentally steps inside.)

But that was better kept unsaid. There was no need to sully his reputation like that, so I remained silent and stepped inside.

“H-hello…”
“Excuse me…”

The two adults looked rather nervous, knowing they were about to meet a legendary sorceress. But Rina was calm, her eyes quickly drawn to all the miscellaneous magic tools strewn about like trash.

“I see you’ve come. Though I was expecting you earlier.”

The owner of the house, Sorciere, walked out from inside the house, her steps sluggish on the floor. The way she wore her old and tattered robe made her look like an uncouth woman from the streets, but that was purely because of her self-indulging lifestyle.

“I assume you know the situation then? You should know why I’ve come here too then.”
“Of course, who do you think I am?”

She chuckled devilishly, her confidence almost overwhelming. I had gotten stronger through my training, and somehow that allowed me to notice she had gotten more powerful than before too. She had much more magic power stored in her than I had ever seen. I started to wonder when she had done that training, but then it dawned on me. I had spent three hundred years secluded in the mountains doing nothing, someone like Sorciere would have put that time to a much better use. She was a lazy person too, hardly every studying seriously, but she had still managed to become the most powerful sorceress in the world.

“What are you smiling to yourself about? Anyway, let’s not just stand here in the entrance, come in.”
“You heard her, everyone, let’s go inside.”

They moved nervously, obeying Sorciere and sat down in another room. There was only one chair in the house, which was obviously occupied by Sorciere, the rest of us had to get creative. I chose a desk overrun with trash and books and just sat on top of it all.

“Seems things have gotten kinda tricky, huh.”

Sorciere scratched her head as she said that, and I did not know how to reply. Our current troubles had nothing to do with her. Yet here I was, trying to involve her too, it made sense for her to be in a bad mood.

“I’m sorry, we’d prefer to solve everything ourselves, but I don’t know of any other place that would be safe for those who can’t fight.”
“I don’t really mind that. Their tongues will be sealed the moment they leave anyway, so this city’s secret will remain safe. That’s not what bothers me, it’s the capital.”

She spoke with a tone similar to a teacher with a bad student, pointing a finger at me. Apparently I had annoyed her even more.

“The capital? I know there’s a lot happening there, but we’re about to get ready to fight that and-”
“That! That’s what I mean!”

I still could not comprehend what was angering her so much, all I could do was to look at her finger and face interchangeably. Why was she so mad? I only kept getting more confused the longer I spoke to her.