Chapter 117
After Ferda received the witch's invitation, all the castle staff returned to their duties.
Except for one person.
Ruri Silverwind, for her part, stared down at the spot where Ferda had disappeared after receiving the invitation.
She should have been cleaning by now, but she could not bring herself to do anything.
Complicated emotions kept circling through her mind, tormenting her.
‘Why did he make such a choice?’
Unable to read Ferda's intentions, she kept thinking the worst.
This was something that would have shaken anyone, even a grown adult.
Looking back on everything Ferda had done, it was only natural.
He had let witches and demons into the castle, made a deal with an archdemon, and now he had accepted an invitation from the leader of the witches.
He was a man who had done everything he had been told not to do.
‘If they had been ordinary humans, what would I have done?’
What else could she have done?
Even one of those things would have been enough for her to expel him without hesitation.
Yet Ferda had not committed just one offense. He had committed them in droves.
That alone was enough to warrant the death penalty.
The reason she had not treated Ferda that way was simple.
‘Because I can trust him.’
Ferda was someone who would do anything for Master.
In fact, he had handled even major troubles flexibly and had caused no problems to date.
This invitation was also something that proved he could be trusted.
But the situation had changed.
Ruri had seen Ferda's weakness.
Once she realized that he was an absurdly weak human as well, she could no longer see him as she had before.
He was an equally weak human.
If a human posed a potential threat,
‘I have to kill him.’
Ruri looked down at her hands.
She remembered the promise she had made to Ferda.
-I will kill you with these hands.
Ruri thought.
‘If he tries to harm Master, could I really kill him?’
She was a Dragon Spawn.
She had never hesitated to kill humans.
She was the one who had killed the Third Prince's retainers who had tried to use Waldrova merely as a stepping stone to power, and she was also the one who had tried to kill Ferda when they first met.
But her heart was not the same as it had been then.
If
Even if Waldrova came to hate her and broke off their engagement, giving her more than enough justification,
could she really kill Ferda?
She was not certain of that either.
‘Me too…….’
What those hands wanted to grasp was not Ferda's neck.
‘I wish I could rely on that man without a care in the world…….’
Just as her own master, Waldrova, did.
She wanted to watch his actions without having to think about anything.
She wanted to see humans flock to this desolate land and make it prosper.
At first, there had been a reason she could not rely on him.
Because she had thought Ferda was no different from the Third Prince.
It had been her job to find fault with his actions and drive him away.
Yet even now, after all those misunderstandings had been cleared up, Ruri still could not do that.
‘Lord Ferda is human.’
Humans were mortal.
They were fated to die someday, and as that fate drew closer, they always became unstable.
That was something even Ferda could not avoid.
To Ruri's eyes, that weak figure still seemed to linger faintly before her.
Someone had to come to their senses.
It had to be Ruri.
She had to stay vigilant and find fault with anything in his actions that seemed even slightly malicious.
It was not merely for Waldrova's sake.
‘I must protect him.’
The man who wanted to protect Master.
She had to protect him from the things that ceaselessly tested him.
It was while she was staring blankly at that spot that
she sensed a wave of mana within the castle.
Ruri knew where its source was.
Because she knew where it was, she also knew who had returned.
‘Lord Ferda.’
As befitted a descendant of the Silverwinds, Ruri raced there at tremendous speed.
Echidna was standing in the place where only Mori should have been.
She met Ruri's eyes with an expression that clearly said she had no idea what was going on.
“H-Has quite a commotion broken out...?”
She tried to smooth things over with an awkward smile and gestures, but Ruri strode toward her.
When Echidna saw Ruri's expression, her complexion turned pale.
“Chief Researcher.”
“Y-Yes!?”
“Tell me the truth.”
Crushed by Ruri's aura, Echidna hunched her shoulders.
“Where did you leave Lord Ferda? Why did only you come back?”
“Th-that’s because Big Sister wanted to meet the Regent—.”
“What did you do with Lord Ferda?”
Her aura grew even stronger at the words ‘Big Sister.’
Finally, Echidna began speaking hurriedly, nearly in tears.
“H-he’ll be safe! The Regent told me not to worry and asked me to pass on the message...!”
Boom!
A tremendous force struck right beside Echidna's head.
Her leg had kicked the study with all her might.
Books tumbled out of the shelves from the impact.
“Can you guarantee that?”
“Y-yes?”
“Are you saying that Lord Ferda is safe because you returned unharmed?”
“Th-that’s...!”
He was fine.
He would return safely.
It was a situation she could have resolved simply by saying those words.
“I-I do know that...!”
Echidna could not say it.
As a former witch of Filiaz, she knew the witches' tendencies well.
The only thing she did not know was the true intention of Big Sister Lucy Filiaz.
It was far too dangerous a place for her to guarantee that everything would be fine, and she could not read Lucy's intentions either.
Hearing that, Ruri tensed her face.
She looked angry, but in truth, she was merely troubled.
Though her question had not been asked simply to hear some superficial reassurance, hearing Echidna admit that she herself did not know only made her more anxious.
‘I can’t leave him there alone.’
Ruri recalled what had happened when Ferda was with Abel.
If a helpless situation like that arose, Ruri would not be able to help him either.
“Chief Researcher, you used to be a witch too, didn’t you?”
“O-of course...?”
“Can you take me to a place called the Witch’s Garden?”
“Th-the garden? No matter how hard I try to go...!”
“Can you or can’t you?”
Ruri urged her to answer, and Echidna replied.
“N-no, I can’t... Even if I can try to go, setting foot in that space is Big Sister's prerogative. If Big Sister does not permit it, going there is impossible. If you force your way in, you could die, or—no, you could become a wraith drifting through Limbo forever!”
Mages who misused teleportation magic became wraiths trapped in time and space.
It was perhaps an even harsher fate than death.
It meant that she could not resort to the reckless approach of simply forcing it to work somehow.
‘Above all, if it is to be done, I have to do it myself.’
What could she possibly do?
What could someone like her, who knew how to do little more than use brute force, do?
What on earth could she......
“Huh?”
At that moment, a sensation pierced into Echidna's mind.
As though she had been waiting for only this, she looked at Ruri and said,
“L-Lord Ferda is here!”
“!!”
Hearing that, Ruri withdrew the foot that had been pinning Echidna down.
She ran to the place where he had disappeared, as though afraid she might miss him.
Just as Echidna had said, Ferda was standing there.
Ferda was unharmed to an almost absurd degree, making all her fears seem pointless.
A black suit and gray hair.
And deep blue eyes like a profound lake.
Her shaken heart found relief when she confirmed that figure was really him.
Instead, she steeled her gaze and approached him.
“Lord Ferda.”
Yet she could not hide the tremor in her voice.
Pretending to be composed, she asked him,
“What did that witch do?”
Ferda answered.
“Nothing happened.”
“You went all the way to the Witch's Garden and nothing happened? I can't believe that. Besides, didn't Big Sister spend time with Lord Ferda?”
Ferda nodded as though he agreed with her and answered again.
“We merely talked.”
“What on earth did you talk about?”
“We discussed the subject on which you and I never reached a conclusion.”
That meant the witch had seen Ferda's weakness.
Her neatly folded hands tightened.
“Did you perhaps make a deal with that witch?”
“I did not make a deal.”
If he had only said that, Ruri might have felt a little relieved.
“Instead, she helped me.”
But she could not.
Big Sister, Lucy Filiaz.
Though she was a witch one rarely had the chance to see, Ruri had seen her before.
“Did that woman say she wanted to help Lord Waldrova?”
“Yes.”
“Then she must have talked about me too.”
“Yes.”
Her face contorted with emotion.
“Do you know why I ignored her saying that she wanted to help Lord Waldrova?”
“…….”
“Because witches are a group that considers everything except themselves an enemy and a toy. They are vicious people who use other people's revenge to amuse themselves. The descendants of the Silverwinds were subjected to that amusement as well. When I demanded that Lucy Filiaz take responsibility for that incident, do you know what she said?”
“…….”
“She said that Filiaz could not be controlled over something so trivial.”
Ruri was a Dragon Spawn.
She was a descendant of the Silverwinds, the most tightly bonded family among them.
Anyone could tell how furious she was at Lucy for disregarding familial affection.
“Lord Ferda is merely one of the trivial things that woman was talking about. Those things have no such thing as compassion. They intend to bind Lord Ferda down mercilessly and turn him into their toy.”
There was a certain amount of validity to Ruri's anger and her words.
Speaking with a witch was like taking hold of a bomb that could explode at any moment.
That was the universal perception and common sense.
“Do you suspect that I might betray you?”
At Ferda's question, Ruri clenched her fists.
“Yes.”
That was not the truth.
“I suspect that Lord Ferda might harm Master.”
I simply do not want to watch you be toyed with by a witch.
Another sharp remark stabbed at Ferda.
“That’s a relief.”
“……What?”
At Ferda's words, Ruri raised her head.
“What do you mean? How is that something to be relieved about?”
“Because you think that way, I don’t need to make a foolish assumption.”
“…….”
Ferda looked down at Ruri with a profound gaze.
“As you say, I may harm her someday. I may mistake it for an intention to protect her and walk down the wrong path. If you are keeping me vigilant like that, then doesn’t it mean I’ll have a chance to correct myself if I stray?”
“It sounds as though you’re leaving the responsibility to me.”
“It is, in part.”
“How irresponsible.”
“It can’t be helped. You are the person I trust most.”
Trust.
“Because I trust you enough to show you this weakness of mine.”
Hearing that, something uncontrollable rose from within Ruri's chest.
‘Again.’
As on that day, the scent of ashes faintly brushed past her.
Then someone's face overlapped with Ferda's.
Silverwind.
He was not at all like the person who had taken in her empty self, yet she could not help mistaking him for that person.
The cold, steel-like heart of a soldier grew soft.
She fidgeted with her lips and lowered her head, trying desperately to hide that feeling.
Ferda had no idea what Ruri was feeling.
Instead, he placed a hand on her head.
“My judgment will grow clouded someday, but at least for now, trust me. I won’t let that witch toy with me.”
He casually and gently stroked her head.
The illusion grew stronger, and the smell drew closer.
The smell of ashes from that day......
Wait.
This isn't the smell of ashes.
“……The smell.”
“Hm?”
Ruri sniffed carefully, then raised her head.
“The smell of tobacco...”
Her expression had soured.
“Why is the smell of tobacco on Lord Ferda so strong?”
“That’s...!”
Ferda recalled Lucy Filiaz's actions.
How many times had she puffed out thick tobacco smoke directly into his face?
‘Don’t tell me......’
No, there was no need for a ‘don't tell me.’
It was certain.
Lucy Filiaz must have blown such strong tobacco smoke at him precisely to create this situation.
‘So this is how she screws me over.’
They said that once you became involved with a witch, there would never be a peaceful day.
“……You should wash up first, shouldn’t you?”
Ruri pulled out a green towel.
Ferda spoke with the feelings of a cow being led to the slaughterhouse.
“……Go easy on me.”
But the word mercy did not exist in Ruri's dictionary.
* * *
Ferda recalled what Big Sister Lucy had said.
“A line between emotions......”
Lucy Filiaz had told him to draw a line between the two emotions.
He did not know how to draw that line, but Lucy had given him a clue.
‘Mana cultivation method, Shape of Shadow.’
The phrase went like this.
‘I become the shadow, and the shadow becomes me.’
She had said that the clue to controlling Ferda's two emotions lay there.
“If the shadow can truly become me, then is there anything I cannot do......?”
Ferda muttered Lucy's words as he cautiously raised his shadow hand.
This is a hand.
‘But at the same time, it is not a hand.’
Since it was not a hand, there was nothing strange about its fingers bending past a certain point. In fact, by bending the fingers completely, he could freely switch front and back.
Alternatively, he could alter its shape and imitate a foot, or, although crude, even turn it into an animal's paw.
‘So this is a hand, and not a hand.’
Looking alternately at the hand made of black mana and his own hand, he pondered something intently.
Ferda released his control and let it move according to the flow of his thoughts.
The shadow hand was a hand, and at the same time, it was not a hand.
‘This shadow too is my body, and not my body.’
Then, perhaps, ‘Could I create something that is my Circle and yet not a Circle at the same time?’
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance