Episode 63: To the Independent City of Mond
A week after accepting Burkhardt’s request, Fiine and the others were on a carriage bound for the Mond region.
Mond, positioned between the two kingdoms, flourished as a commercial city, a lively place full of tourists.
(…This is heavy going.)
She had no regrets about accepting the request.
And yet, it felt as though she were heading back toward the very place she’d once fled, and her body simply wouldn’t lighten up no matter what.
“Fiine, you don’t look well.”
“…I’m fine. I’ll be alright once I get a bit of sleep.”
She rested her head on Yuria’s shoulder and quietly closed her eyes.
The more she tried to sleep, the more active her thoughts became, and sleep wouldn’t come.
This mission called for each country to form an investigation team of two, and Yuria wasn’t counted among that number.
To begin with, she wasn’t human, so she was treated as one of Fiine’s magical implements.
(I wonder what Mr. Burkhardt really thinks of me…)
He must have lost any number of comrades on the battlefield by now. Among them, surely, had been dear friends.
And yet he still went on fighting in the Magic Corps, even now.
Quite unlike Fiine, who had run away, and on top of that, had brought her dearest friend back as a magic doll.
(I’m the one who’s wrong. I know that, but…)
The reason she couldn’t live rightly was because she was weak.
So why, then, had the gods given her a power so far beyond what she deserved?
◆
On arriving at their destination, they were met by Burkhardt.
He’d apparently needed to speak with the mayor ahead of the work, and had come a day early.
“We’re meeting the people from the Kingdom of Lyon this evening, right?”
“That’s right.”
“U-um, do you happen to know anything about, well, what kind of people they are…?”
“About as much as their titles and backgrounds. Even I’ll be meeting them in person for the first time.”
With that preface, Burkhardt explained about the two who were coming from Lyon.
The first was Edgar Jeanmer.
Eldest son of the Jeanmer marquisate, he belonged to the Kingdom of Lyon’s Magic Knights.
Unlike Roselia, the Kingdom of Lyon had no Magic Corps as such, but instead something called the Magic Knights, a unit formed of magic-wielding nobility.
For nobles, joining the Magic Knights was considered a great honour, and it wasn’t unusual for the head of a house to go to the battlefield himself as a Magic Knight.
The second was Noel Louis.
The House of Louis was known, even in Roselia, as a famous lineage of magical researchers.
Most of the magical tools in common circulation had been invented by the Louis family.
(I’ve ended up working alongside such amazing people…!?)
She’d planned to make up for her lack of confidence in communication by contributing through magic instead, but with company like this, there might be nothing left for Fiine to do at all.
“I don’t know much about their characters, but they’re the sort of people chosen to represent their country. I doubt they’d slack off.”
Burkhardt smiled, as if to reassure her.
(Maybe… Mr. Burkhardt arranged an environment where I could work more easily?)
A small group, and aside from Fiine, nothing but elite company.
In a situation like this, there was no chance the work would be pushed onto Fiine alone, and no chance she’d be made miserable by others failing to pull their weight.
“…Thank you, Mr. Burkhardt.”
Don’t mention it, he muttered, looking a little embarrassed, and roughly ruffled Fiine’s hair.
◆
“It’s about time.”
After sightseeing around the city until evening, Fiine and the others headed for the fountain plaza designated as the meeting place.
“…Since we don’t know what they look like, I’m a little concerned about whether we’ll manage to meet up without trouble…”
“Teacher. I think that might be them, actually?”
What Yuria pointed to was an absurdly flashy carriage drawn by two horses.
What’s more, it was pulled by a pair of magnificent white horses.
Just then, two men were stepping out through the carriage’s open door.
“Guh…!!”
The sound slipped out of Fiine before she could stop it, because she was so taken aback by their strikingly distinctive appearance that, to put it bluntly, she recoiled.