When we arrived at the capital, it was already nighttime. It wasn't that far, I thought. It could have taken days if my home was far away from the capital, like the boundary-town in Mieloa. The city was filled with busy people, trying to mind their own business as they walked past each other. I got off from the carriage, accompanied by Riverand's hand holding mine. He didn't particularly have to do that.
"Thanks." I said as I felt the stone tile on the ground through my shoes. Capital city, Chestiel was surely loud. Sound of horses neighing as they carried ladies and gentlemen repeated, gossiping from young ladies of the nobility blended into the atmosphere.
"Have you been here before?" Duke asked. Many times. Well, rather than many times, for a long time I have lived here.
"What do you mean?" I asked. How would we even know if I have been here or not? Plus, it was none of his business.
"Oh, I was just wondering. All my people whom I recruited have been mesmerized by this civilization in Chestiel." He said. Of course, I was too, at first. But this wasn't my first time.
"Mmm, I have seen a lot of photos from here." I said, and of course it was a lie. What photo exactly? I didn't know myself.
"Ah, I see. Whoever showed you the pictures must have been delightful to show you this place to you." Riverand said, smiling. Well-- I guess…? But the person is none-existent, Riverand. Other than that, I was wondering something.
"Duke Riverand, you have said that there were people you've recruited?" I asked. Could he have possibly recruited more like me? It's even more mysterious how he came to my place in the countryside to recruit me. How would he even know that I was a mage?
"Yes. I recruited at least one person from each region." He said as he nodded.
"What for? I mean, may I ask the reason for it?" I asked. Something regarding the prince, like he had stated?
"Of course, but you may have to rest first."
"I don't want my person falling ill especially just after I've recruited them." He smiled. That's none of your business, I wished I could have said that directly to his face.
I was in a room on the 2nd floor of the Riverand manor. I had to do some research after I got to my new room in the library of this manor. Something I have found out here was that Riverand was one of the most important figures in the magic industry. Riverand was supposedly a hereditary mage family, so I wondered why he came to recruit mages himself. How did I not know him? I must have met almost every nobility in my past life. I was sure.
Knock Knock
I walked to my door to open it. It was night already, so who would even bother to knock on my door?
"Excuse me," A boy around 17? Said as he came into my room, walking past me. He had a black hair, and purple eyes. He had a suffocating atmosphere, even a luxurious one. But unlike the atmosphere, he wore simple servant clothing. He was as tall as about me, which wasn't that tall. Not to mention that he looked pretty…. Uh… manliness-less…? Quite petite for a boy. Would I look like that if I didn't have breasts? Well-- his shoulder would have been a bit, just a bit wider than mine. It felt like he was glaring at me for a bit. One side of his hair covered his eye, irritating my own eyes. Did he need a hairband? If so, I could give him some. But oh lord, who even was this to disturb my peaceful time, going through my records?
"I came to exchange your bedsheets, I am sorry for your inconvenience." He said flatly, changing the already-clean bed sheet to an even more whiter one. I instantly felt bad for thinking bad of him.
"Oh, thank you." I said, and he looked at me pitifully.
"Even I can't clean up that mess inside your head, Miss." He said, closing the door behind me and leaving me alone in the bedroom. I opened the door to chase after him. What? Mess inside my head? What the hell did he mean? I wanted to ask him: What did he mean? What does he possibly know about me? I managed to run after him and grab his wrist from his back. He turned around with a smile.
"Yes, do you perhaps want a new bed sheet again?" He asked as he started walking towards my room. No, that wasn't it. But how was I supposed to ask this question?
"Are you a mage?" I asked, and I had to admit, it was random. He looked flustered for a brief moment, then he smiled.
"Ah, no. Such a lowly servant like me cannot be a mage." He said, bowing down to me.
"Miss, I have a special blessing, and it's a prophecy you have ended up here, was it not?" He said as he started dashing very quickly. I tried to catch up to him, but he was too fast. I saw him through the corner of my eyes as I quickly gestured to break the walls. I'll repair them later, I thought. Walls fell down like they were made of sand blocks, and I created a road made out of the broken wall pieces to him. The boy, who saw this, stopped. Then he smiled at me as I dashed to him through the path. The boy started rushing towards me too, which was out of my expectations. When he was passing me by, it was like the time was going slowly. I felt his hand on my cheek, and he cupped my ears as he whispered to me.
"May I bless you. Also, don't open the door so late at night." He said, leaving a light kiss on my cheek, passing me by. I turned around to see the boy who had surpassed me, but he wasn't there. But what was there, was a silver colored pocket-watch. I was just flustered when I picked up that watch, I didn't even notice the path falling down to the first floor. Then I told myself. This is how to die again. But going against my expectation, of course, I fell into the arms of someone-- his honey colored hair tickled my face gently.
"I would like it if my manor is not broken down, Miss. I'llneherd..." Riverand sighed. I stared at the silver pocket-watch.
"I want to go somewhere." I said, Riverand looked at me as if he couldn't keep up with me. I did feel bad for using him, but I didn't care.
"But before that, send me capital city library permission." I ordered Riverand.
"Are you serious?" One of the mage followed after Riverand asked.
"Leave it be, Haze. Prepare her the permission card." Riverand said as he put me down, walking away.
"Oh my god." Haze stared at me, his yellow eyes reflecting mine. He annoyedly scoffed.
"Ah yes, my fellow worker. I'll be preparing you for the permit." He said, walking away after Riverand. His stare lingered in my mind for a bit, but at the end, I managed to repair the second floor by myself.
Next Morning,
I looked around the vacant library of Chestiel. There was no one else but me. Surely, I was worried about having to be secretive when I was in the carriage, but Riverand assured me so. Was this one of his doing? Riverand truly was a scary person. Of course, only in authority. Without authority, he was just a breed of dog, no?
"Anyways, where is the ash section…" Wait. Ash section? That's not a thing. More like mental section… I wanted to use this ash in my purse, to somehow project the memory. But that was the only way I can imagine it was possible to revoke my memories, there sure could be other ways. Either way, I had to find out from one of these books. I thought as I skimmed through the gold colored titles of the book. There was too much.
"I'llneherd, we don't have much time left." Haze called from outside the library. Riverand had sent him to accompany me but…
"2 minutes left." He announced, and my hands started moving faster. Are you serious? How cruel the time was. It felt like I just came here, but apparently I spent more than thirty minutes trying to find a book… I sighed. There was no other way. I started pulling out every books and started skimming through it, gesturing with my hand every time I did so. This way, I stored the information in my head as not a concept, but only solid and literal information. I should have done this from the start…!
"Let's go," Haze said, his somewhat short green hair in a very short low ponytail showing off in the distance as he opened the wooden door slightly. I placed the last book I 'copied' into its spot and I sighed in relief.
"Did you not hear me?" He sighed. I did, but can he please give me a second? I want some time to breathe normally like a person would.
"Yeah, yeah. Coming. You rude child." I said, glaring at him. He looked at me and scoffed.
"Child? Who are you to call me a child?" Haze asked in annoyance. Oh, yes. You are a very much child to me, I've lived at least 5 years more than you, from my last life.
"Stop looking at me like that, it's creepy." Haze said, turning away to lead. How adorable, I guess. Anyways, I would need to read from my record in the carriage. Thinking about it already made me feel nauseous. Then I felt my arms being shook repetitively. When I looked up to see who it was, it was Haze. I squinted at his face. Why was his face in front of mine? I didn't care if he looked adorable or not, it was quite uncomfortable to have someone's face in this little distance.
"What do you think you are doing, co-worker?" I asked. Haze smirked as he pulled his face away.
"What do you think you are doing?"
"You are the one spacing out in the middle of the road, right?" Haze said. Was I spacing out? Well, I couldn't help it. I had a lot of things to think about.
"Unlike you, kid, I have my own business I'm trying to think about." I told Haze, who sighed.
"Right. Until you start tripping over your own feet,"
"Don't expect me to help you if you are about to be run over by a carriage." Haze teased me.
"No one needs help from a mage as weak as you." I said, shrugging with a smile.
"Right, a mage as weak as me can make you trip." He said, as a wood panel appeared in front of my feet. My reflexes weren't so good, so the time I realized it, I was already falling.
"What a weak mage." Haze said as he caught me by my shoulders. I didn't need him helping me. If I was going to fall, I was going to fall. I didn't need help from someone who caused it.
"Ah, you haven't heard of me, have you?" Heard of people calling me the witch. The witch who was the genius of magic! I smiled as I gestured to Haze. Then he was flipped in the air, and I caught him by his shoulder, just like he did to me.
"What a weak mage." I said, leaving him behind me. I could already see Haze gritting his teeth. How cute! Seeing them suffer was my daily dose of anti-stress. The street was surely filled with people. Some of them were young girls who were busy shopping for their 'princes', and some were ladies and gentlemen going on a date. Have I ever looked like that, in my past? Just one of the busy people, not standing out but with him. Even though I was just thinking lightly of this whole situation, I needed to be wary of the time ticking. I just needed to find that man. Then what? Was I going to kill him? He hadn't done anything, maybe. But--
'Are you wavering already?' A voice of a young boy said in my mind. It was tempting and somehow, it was assuring. But what was I supposed to do?
'If you can give up right now, do so.' It told me, his thin voice seemed to echo in my mind. I could hear the melody of orgel that was playing in the background. Give up? Right. If I can give up right now, we'll just all die! What was the point of this?! Weren't we all going to die, in the end?
'That's right. It doesn't hurt to end it a bit earlier. It said. Right. But what about Everett?'
'Do you really care about he--'
"I'llneherd!!!" A familiar boy shouted in front of me. It was none other than Haze. What was I doing again…?
"Haze…" I said, and Haze grabbed my shoulder.
"Are you okay?! Seriously, you were about to faint…!" I? Faint? Nonsense. I need to organize my thoughts. I needed to. I just needed a bit of time…! Stop hurrying me!!!
"I'm okay." I said, slapping his hand off of me. I walked into the carriage, leaning against the seat restlessly. I closed my eyes slightly, trying to read all of the information.
"Book by Heinset… Book by Periesta…" I murmured. Haze, who was next to me, confusedly looked at me. Ah… I screwed it up. I didn't mean to do this in front of him. I forgot that he was a mage too…! How could I make a mistake like this?
"You seem to be talking a lot by yourself." Haze commented. I ignored it. It was better to be thought as an insane person than someone who's writing records off of all the books in the library. First book… about the demons. Second book… about the elemental magic. I couldn't find anything relating to memory…!
"Haze," I called, and Haze turned around to me.
"Do you know about memory magic?" I asked. Haze looked a bit taken back, but he smiled.
"Oh, so that's what you were doing, the whole time?" Haze asked in amusement. Yeah, I was. Got a problem with that, kid?
"Trying to." I answered as briefly as I could. I didn't want this fishy mage to find out more about my business.
"They are pretty common," Haze said. I know that. I've been doing that for ages in my past life…! But not with something like this.
"But seeing this, you seem to be looking for a special one. But too bad." Haze said. He opened the door of the carriage, and reached out a hand for me to take.
"We're back." Haze notified Riverand.