"Huh? A baby? No way. I’m already seven."
Semirys looked at Shulim like she had just said something ridiculous.
"Seven is basically cradle age."
"...What kind of seven-year-old is still in a cradle?!"
"Wait, they aren’t? But seven is still..."
The misunderstanding mostly came from the huge gap in how the two of them perceived time.
As the first fairy in the world, Semirys could easily be called one of the oldest living beings in existence. A lifespan that long had left her with almost no instinctive feel for the life cycles of short-lived races.
On top of that, she spent most of her time in Tiramshuin, where long-lived beings were the norm. Even when she occasionally came down to the mortal world, she spent most of that time playing around. She really had no concrete sense of how fast mortal lives passed.
After Shulim pointed it out, Semirys reluctantly accepted that the girl had not, in fact, just climbed out of a cradle.
Still, seven years felt absurdly brief to her, so she could not fully adjust her thinking right away. The whole thing left her acting a little awkward.
"Ahem. Fine. Let’s put the age thing aside and get to the real business."
Semirys cleared her throat and abruptly turned serious. That sudden shift somehow made Shulim even more uneasy.
"O fortunate chosen one, under the grace of the Mother Goddess, I, the Fairy King, shall grant you a boon."
"A boon? What’s that?"
Another question mark practically popped over Shulim’s head. Come to think of it, Semirys had been talking about a chosen one from the start.
Was she talking about me?
Lucky...
I’m lucky?
"...You don’t even know what that is? Then why did you call me here?"
Semirys stared at her in total disbelief. This was a first, even for her.
"I called you?"
Shulim tilted her head, looking completely lost.
For a moment, the girl and the fairy just stared at each other in awkward silence.
"...Well, I guess that makes sense. If you didn’t even know what a fairy was, there’s no way you’d know about the Fairy King’s boon."
Semirys’s mouth twitched. It finally occurred to her that someone this clueless might really have triggered the summoning conditions by sheer accident.
"Ahh... what a headache. Since you’ve already been chosen, there’s no changing it now..."
Letting out a weary sigh, Semirys began explaining the origin of the Fairy King’s boon.
...
It was a story from the distant past.
Tens of thousands of years ago, civilization in Hymriel was little more than a flickering candle in the wind, fragile and uncertain, with no future in sight.
Back then, the Earth Mother, Teraia, looked upon the loneliness and desolation of the world below and decided to help its people grow. So she sent the Fairy King down to the mortal world to find one destined person and grant them a boon.
The one who received that boon gained great power, led the people through one trial after another, and gradually helped establish the first magical kingdom.
From there, magical civilization began to flourish.
After that, every few hundred years, the Fairy King would descend once more, seek out another destined soul, and grant them a boon. And each person who received one went on to bring great change to the world.
As for how the Fairy King found those chosen ones, every five hundred years she would listen for a voice rising from the water.
When a pure-hearted person, alone, tossed a stone into a lake, that sound would reach her ears, and she would answer the call.
"So I really was the one who summoned you."
Shulim finally pieced it together.
"That’s your reaction after all that...?"
Semirys could not help muttering when she saw the look of sudden understanding on Shulim’s face.
"Mm... but the story wasn’t very interesting."
"I wasn’t telling you a story..."
At that point, Semirys no longer had the energy to complain, so she quickly moved on.
"All right. Now that you understand the situation, let’s take the next step. What’s your name?"
"Shulim," she answered, then added after a second’s thought, "Shulim Hayeral."
"I see. Shulim Hayeral."
As she spoke, Semirys raised both hands toward her. A soft glow slowly gathered in her palms.
"Hm? Hayeral..."
A flicker of uncertainty passed through her eyes.
"Is something wrong with my name?"
Shulim asked that while curiously staring at Semirys’s glowing hands.
The question snapped Semirys out of her thoughts, and she shook her head.
"No. Nothing’s wrong."
"Oh, right. I’m about to grant the boon, so focus."
"What’s a boon like?"
Shulim asked again.
Semirys answered offhandedly, "You know the seven basic elements of magic in Hymriel, right? Wind, fire, water, earth, light, darkness, and void."
Shulim nodded. "Yeah, I know those."
"A boon," Semirys continued, "is the highest possible affinity for one of those seven elements. I call them the Boon of Wind, the Boon of Fire, the Boon of Water, the Boon of Earth, the Boon of Light, the Boon of Darkness, and the Boon of Void. You’re about to receive one of them. Any single one would let you someday stand at the very peak of the world in that branch of magic."
Shulim nodded like she half understood, then suddenly looked up.
"Can I only get one boon?"
"Of course. What else were you expecting?"
"Can’t I have all of them?"
"All of... Pff. What did you just say?!"
Semirys jerked so hard that the glow in her hands flickered.
"You little thing, how did you say something that shameless with such a straight face?"
"Huh? So I can’t?"
"So I can’t, she says..."
The light in her hands went out. Semirys lowered them, fully deciding that she had to teach this human child some common sense today.
"Obviously not."
Shulim puffed out her cheeks.
"Why not? If there are seven boons, and any one of them can be given, then getting all seven should also be possible, right?"
"..."
Why is she so sharp in the weirdest places?
That was Semirys’s first thought, but she quickly explained anyway.
"No, it isn’t possible. Since you know about elemental magic, then you should also know that everyone is born with their own magical affinity. People in this world have limits to that affinity. Most only have affinity for a single element. A very small number can have two. Anything beyond that is even rarer. As far as I know, the person alive right now with the highest number of affinities is a four-element mage."
"And without the matching affinity, you can’t simply receive that boon. At its core, a boon is an elevation of the affinity already within you. If someone is forcefully given a boon that doesn’t match their nature, it places enormous strain on the soul. In the worst case, it could cost them their life."
After finishing that explanation, Semirys looked at her.
"Did you understand any of that?"
"..."
Shulim tilted her head. What had stuck in her mind were only three things: affinity, boon, and elevation.
"So I don’t have any affinity?"
"Huh? What are you talking about now? Once the boon is granted, you’ll naturally know what your affinities are."
"Mmh... then give me all seven boons."
Shulim held out her small hand.
She really had not understood a thing.
Black lines practically flashed across Semirys’s forehead.
"That is exactly what I just said you can’t have."
"Hmph. You’re stingy, Semirys."
"This is not about being stingy."
"Then... you just can’t do it?"
"I..."
Semirys choked on the reply. A vein throbbed at her temple, and she tried to calm herself by reminding herself that the girl in front of her was still basically a baby. Don’t argue with a baby. Don’t argue with a baby.
Then her eyes shifted slightly, and an idea came to her.
"Oh? Shulim, do you really want all seven that badly?"
"Mm-hmm."
Shulim nodded immediately.
"Well, wanting all of them isn’t entirely impossible..."
Shulim’s eyes lit up on the spot.
"Really?"
"But," Semirys said, her tone turning sly, "there’s a condition."
"A condition?"
"That’s right. If you can master the basic spells of all seven elements within one month, then I’ll give you all seven boons. So? What do you think?"
Semirys leaned in with a challenging look, and Shulim fell into thought.
Across from her, Semirys was already feeling pleased with herself.
"Then again, seven kinds of magic is probably just too hard. You’re only a little baby, after all. How could you possibly learn magic? If you ask me, you should give up now. If you give up right now, you can still get one boon. You’d still be able to reach the top of the world someday anyway. Whether it’s seven or one, you still end up at the top, right? So is there really much of a difference? Not really..."
Semirys shamelessly kept fanning the flames, and Shulim grew more and more irritated.
"Shulim is not a baby. Seven basic spells are nothing for the great witch Shulim."
"Oh dear, how terrifying. The great witch Shulim, is it? Pfft. Pfft. Calling yourself by your own name like that, you really are a baby, aren’t you? Pfft."
Semirys’s merciless laughter made Shulim’s cheeks flush red.
"So then..."
Semirys suddenly moved right up in front of her.
"Are you accepting the challenge, great witch Shulim?"
Shulim instinctively took one step back, then stopped and planted her feet again.
"O-of course I am. I... I’ll learn all seven types of magic, so just watch, Semirys."
"Oh? I’ll be waiting."
Semirys laughed so hard she had to clutch her stomach, drifting sideways through the air.
"Then the pact is sealed!"