Hans greeted her with a delighted face.
“It’s been a while. What, almost two months, right?”
“Yes, it’s been a while. Have you been well?”
A remote village near the Night Forest. Hans was the owner of a small grocery store. Having run it for over twenty years, there was no one in this village who didn’t know him.
“I was surprised when you didn’t show up for a while.”
“I skipped last month because I was a little sick.”
In this remote village, the grocery store didn’t just sell food; it also sold useful daily necessities and hunting tools. Diana, who had been stopping by this village for about ten years, was one of his regulars.
“Oh dear, you were sick? Are you okay now?”
Diana hesitated for a moment.
To be honest, Diana tended to be wary of people. That distrust had started the day she lost her parents to a power struggle and was left to take care of her only younger sister alone. Her father had been betrayed by a close friend, so even though she knew it was prejudice, she couldn’t help but view middle-aged men unfavorably.
But it had already been ten years since she had first visited this grocery store. She knew that Hans, despite his visible scars and rough appearance, was a simple, kind-hearted man.
Diana smiled faintly.
“Actually, I wasn’t the one who was sick…… it was my younger sister.”
“Your sister? Your sister, you say?”
Hans’s eyes widened. For a man whose eyes were usually so narrow they looked almost closed, they opened surprisingly wide.
“Oh, unless my brain’s failing me, this is the first I’ve heard of that.”
“Yes. I actually have a younger sister who’s quite a bit younger than me.”
Diana explained calmly with a soft smile.
“My sister has a weak constitution, so she can’t go outside, and she falls ill from time to time.”
“Ah, I see. No wonder you always bought more Arphim herbs than most people.”
Arphim herbs were commonly used to treat colds and reduce fevers. Scratching the back of his head, Hans soon nodded as if it all made sense. In a village near the Night Forest, every visitor had their own circumstances.
Diana, at twenty-eight years old, was unmarried but handled a sword better than most monster hunters. She occasionally brought back monster pelts or forehead gems, proving she wasn’t some random drifter, but Hans had no idea why she had ended up being pushed into the deep forest.
Still, no matter how skilled she was, Hans—who had left his daughter in a distant village—couldn’t help worrying about her with a fatherly heart.
“By the way, are you still hunting monsters these days?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“It’s just that something’s been bothering me.”
“I only hunt occasionally, when I see a low-grade monster. What’s been bothering you?”
“Well, I’m not entirely sure, but recently, a group of dozens of men passed through here. I didn’t say anything at the time, but I’ve got a good eye for these things. My years as a mercenary taught me that.”
Hans waved his large, pot-lid-like hand as he spoke.
“Anyway, they were knights. Knights! Can you believe it?”
“Goodness…… Knights, you say?”
Diana blinked her large eyes.
“Yes! I don’t know why they were so desperate to hide their identities, but they didn’t even bother to conceal their shiny swords. And the dragon engraved on their medals? That’s the symbol of the Imperial family.”
Hans closed his mouth for a moment, then whispered conspiratorially:
“I’m telling you, I definitely saw a red medal engraved with a dragon!”
With a serious expression, Hans shared his speculation.
“Could it be that there’s going to be a large-scale monster subjugation by the Imperial family soon? I heard the former emperor did something like that once. Anyway, once knights stir things up, the monster ecosystem will get completely overturned, and that worries me.”
The ecology of monsters wasn’t as simple as people thought. They maintained delicate territorial balances, but if a powerful force like a knight order disrupted it, everything would shift. For instance, driven-out species might come down closer to the forest’s edges.
“Mm, you’re right.”
Diana nodded with a worried expression.
“Exactly. So always be careful, all right? If necessary, you could even come down to the village.”
“I’d like to, but my sister would get exhausted before even reaching the forest’s edge. She’s very weak.”
Hans almost asked how she had ended up living in the forest with such a frail sister, but instead of prying, he handed her a large bag. It contained the items Diana had purchased.
“Here, I added extra Arphim herbs.”
In this village, people didn’t dig into each other’s circumstances. After all, no one with a spotless past came all the way to the Night Forest.
“Thank you, as always.”
With her bright light-brown hair and neat features, Diana could easily be called a beauty. But her smiling face almost never fully let down its guard. It had taken Hans ten years to get past that guardedness.
“I wonder what circumstances she has…….”
Hans scratched the back of his head as he watched Diana’s retreating figure.
Meanwhile, walking alone, Diana checked through her bag to make sure nothing was missing. Then she bumped into someone.
“Hey, what the hell!”
“Oh, goodness. Are you all right?”
The man, realizing the person he had bumped into was a delicate-looking woman, immediately grew aggressive.
“What the hell. Lady, why don’t you watch where you’re going, huh?”
“I must not have been looking ahead. I’m sorry.”
Though it was clearly both their fault, Diana apologized readily.
But it didn’t end there. The man grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. Diana’s expression stiffened slightly at being forcibly turned.
“Well, well, let me see. You’re quite the beauty, aren’t you? You think an apology’s enough for this?”
After confirming her face, the man was sure she wasn’t just pretty—she was an exceptional beauty.
Grinning slyly, he said:
“Why don’t you apologize properly, huh? Or maybe come along nicely with me instead?”
Young women were rare in this village near the Night Forest. And those who did live here were usually mercenaries or monster hunters who had spent at least a decade in the area—people you didn’t mess with. But the woman in front of him looked different.
Her neatly tied light-brown hair and composed appearance made her look like a nun who embroidered in a convent.
Thinking that, the man grabbed Diana’s wrist. And then—whoosh! His body flipped halfway through the air.
“Argh! What the hell was that?!”
The man was part of a well-known mercenary group in the area. Their reputation came more from infamy than honor, and though they hadn’t been in the area long, their bad behavior was so notorious that the villagers avoided them.
For such a man to be thrown by a single woman was humiliating. But his bruised side hurt too much for him to move, so he just gritted his teeth.
“I’m sorry! I apologize! As a sign of apology, I laid you down gently on the ground. Live a better life from now on!”
Smiling brightly, Diana turned her back on the stunned man.
Watching from a distance, Hans clicked his tongue. From time to time, lowlifes like that would pick fights with Diana, but as you could see, they usually ended up like that.
After walking for a while, Diana looked up at the clear blue sky.
“These herbs should be enough, right?”
There was one more mouth to feed at home now.
More mouths meant more expenses, but Diana’s savings were still holding up fine. She was happy to have another family member to feed.
“Hm-hm, I should hurry back. Amy and Nox are waiting.”
Having already forgotten about the man from earlier, Diana adjusted her grip on the bag. But suddenly, her forehead furrowed as she sank into thought.
Something Hans had said kept nagging at her.
‘A red medal engraved with a dragon.’
Anyone who had once served as a knight would recognize that. The dragon symbolized the Imperial family. And someone carrying such a medal—either a royal family member themselves or someone of high enough rank to be personally entrusted with it.
The color of the medal indicated which royal it represented. Gold for the Emperor, green for the Empress, and……
‘Red.’
Blood-red meant it symbolized the ‘Crown Prince.’
There were many knight orders in the capital, but only one followed the Crown Prince.
“The Imperial Knights are coming here? That’s unusual.”
Her expression turned serious.
* * *
A whole day passed in the blink of an eye.
It wasn’t unusual for my sister to be gone for about three days, but strangely, this time felt much longer. Probably because of…… Nox, right?
I rolled my eyes sideways and stared at the boy reading diligently. Today, I told him to read alone and that I’d test him later, and he was working very hard.
The test had been a joke……
Now it felt awkward to tell him the truth.
Unlike Nox in his Grand Duke form, child Nox still had a slight fever. Well, Tetethis poison was infamous for lingering painfully for a long time; it wouldn’t disappear easily.
Even if he seemed better, too much exertion would cause his fever to spike again. That was obvious.
“Nox, if you feel even a little sick, you have to tell me, okay?”
Nod.
I wanted to just make him lie down again today out of worry, but since Nox refused to be apart from me, the compromise was letting him sit quietly and read. Meanwhile, I sat next to him, catching up on household chores.
Leaving Nox to his serious reading, I turned my attention to my own book. It was the one I’d brought from the abandoned house. Yesterday I hadn’t had time to look at it, busy nursing Nox day and night, but tonight I wanted to skim through it before reading it to nighttime Nox.
Right. Opening it had been fine, but……
What the hell did this even mean?
I quickly realized the academic depth of magic.
‘This is all gibberish, isn’t it? It’s not even supposed to be a specialized textbook.’
I could read any language without trouble, but understanding was my own responsibility. For example, I could read the word ‘cadmium,’ but knowing it was an element on the periodic table, a silvery-white metal, required prior knowledge.
So it was only natural I couldn’t understand something full of technical terms. Basically, this book was a specialized textbook. The only thing I could manage to read properly was the prologue.
「All spells are wishes. To cast a spell and to undo it—both begin and end with desire.」
The author, who called himself a great mage, claimed this repeatedly. That desperately wished-for things were realized through magic, and that mages were simply those with the special power to grant their own wishes.
So basically, if you wished for a fireball to appear, it would, and if you wished for it to disappear, it would vanish?
He said that magic circles and formulas were just ways of writing those wishes into the magical language…… But was this book even related to Nox’s curse?
After all, Nox’s curse was caused by an ancient spell. It would be strange if I found a clue this easily.
I gave up neatly and just flipped through the pages, hoping to at least find a picture.
Then I saw a familiar one.
“Huh? This is……”
It was the same pattern as on the pendant I’d found in the abandoned room! I quickly fetched the pendant.
“‘Matari’…… An ancient spell whose true nature is still unknown. It says, ‘I cannot explain it here’?”
Huh? That was it? Just one line?
I scoured the book, hoping for a clue about the white light I’d seen back then, but that single sentence was all. Only after searching further did I find a tiny footnote: ‘This cannot be included in this book.’ Not helpful at all.
Ancient spell. Ancient spell? Wasn’t Nox’s curse also caused by an ancient spell?
I frowned, opening and closing the hand holding the pendant. I looked at the back of my hand, but of course, nothing appeared.
Naturally…… But still, this didn’t feel good……
“……Amy.”
At that moment, Nox tugged me toward him. I quickly tore my gaze away from the pendant.
“Mm? What is it, Nox?”
He pointed quickly at the pot. The pot was boiling furiously.
Oh, my God! Snapping back to my senses, I ran to turn off the heat and checked inside. Thankfully, the food hadn’t burned; it was perfectly fine. A savory smell filled the kitchen. I scratched my chin. Clearly, I wouldn’t be reading any more tonight.
“Nox, should we stop for now and have lunch?”
“Mm.”
The peaceful afternoon sped by like an arrow.
All I’d done today was fold laundry, clean, prepare lunch, and watch Nox read, but somehow the time had flown by, and suddenly stars were twinkling in the night sky.
It felt strange, really. Just having Nox—this walking storm—in my once-peaceful days made time feel like it was rushing past like the wind.
I’d only stepped out to hang the laundry for a moment, but when I came back, there was Nox in his Grand Duke form.
“I just went to hang the laundry, and when did you change?”
“How would I know? But do you normally hang laundry at this hour?”
“Ah, I boiled the laundry a bit late today. Mm, but with this warm weather, it should dry by midday tomorrow.”
“I see.”
“Oh, right. Nox, about this book.”
The lazy daytime schedule had been eaten up by trying to read this textbook-like book with daytime Nox. I thought my head would explode.
Grumbling inwardly, I set the book down in front of Nox.
“I skimmed it a bit today…… Mm. The news isn’t good. I couldn’t read it.”
“You couldn’t read it?”
“Yes. Well, to be precise, I couldn’t understand it. I thought it might help you, but instead, I have no idea what it’s talking about. I couldn’t make sense of most of it.”
I’d been so confident I could read it.
By the end, I muttered glumly with a gloomy face, then tapped the book.
“I can’t understand it, and you can’t read it, so…… I’ll just read it out loud to you.”
“I doubt I’ll understand something you don’t.”
“You never know, right?”
After all, Nox probably had far more knowledge than me. Assuming, of course, he still retained the knowledge he’d had before losing his memories.
So I read several passages out loud to Nox, but just as he’d predicted, he shook his head.
“As I thought, I don’t understand.”
“Ah…… It might have been a clue, but…… If only I could’ve understood it.”
“I’m not blaming you. It’s not your fault.”
“Still……”
Feeling frustrated, I sighed deeply, my lips pushing into a pout without me realizing. My sigh carried my disappointment.
I stroked the book’s spine. Watching me, Nox slowly raised his hand.
Soft.
I blinked. His hand on top of my head felt strangely awkward. Nox, too, looked stiff for a moment, but he didn’t pull away.
“……Ah, I should’ve asked first, right? May I touch your head?”
“You’re asking after you’ve already put your hand there?”
“Then I’ll ask properly. May I touch your head?”
I mean, you’re already holding my head while asking, aren’t you?
Still, I nodded slowly.
“Someone used to pat my head like this.”
“Who?”
“I don’t remember. But…… I think it was an older woman.”
Could it be Nox’s mother? But I shook my head. Nox’s mother, the former Grand Duchess, had gone mad long ago and was exiled to the northern tower.
But…… had they really never met, even once?
His hand brushed over my crown, then slowly slid downward. Gently, it lifted the hair by my ear. His soft touch made my ear ticklish.
“Hey, do you remember anything else?”