Unnamed Memory, Vol. 6: Death of the Nameless Story


Unnamed Memory, Vol. 6: Death of the Nameless Story

Tinasha peered into the abyss and was assailed by an abrupt sense of familiarity. “Is that…? Does that lead to the root of all negativity?”
During Cezar’s attack on Farsas, a giant snake had emerged from a sea of negativity located outside their plane of existence. The hole that the snake’s tail had been connected to and the opening around the pillar were very similar. Tinasha craned her neck upward, staring at where the end of the pillar faded out of sight.
“Is the top on a different plane of existence? Does the pillar go through multiple realms?”
Inspecting the surroundings did seem to reveal that once the mirror absorbed a human’s soul, that soul gradually lost its shape. Remnants of such eroded souls had accumulated all over. It was the natural result when one considered how closely bound the human soul and physical body were.
The witch had endured because of her strong column that passed through several planes.
“It’s like she drove a wedge into the world and fastened herself to it. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Tinasha marveled. While it had been done for self-preservation, creating such a thing within an outsiders’ artifact was an extraordinary feat. Coupled with the Witch of the Water and her unerring fortunes, it was no wonder these long-lived women were considered frightful witches. Their power went far beyond the realm of standard mages.
Tinasha stepped to the very edge of the abyss and gazed up at Lucrezia. “But since this pillar is here…”
After discovering that the mirror was too sturdy to break, Tinasha had given up hope of resolving things that way. However, this pillar existed within a hole that extended beyond the mirror’s boundaries. When she considered that, Tinasha felt that destroying the artifact was possible.
“I’ll go back outside and try to break the mirror. She should be fine because of this pillar, but can you protect yourself, Senn?” Tinasha asked.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll also protect the remnants of the other human souls as best I can,” he replied.
“Thank you.” Tinasha smiled faintly, aware that he’d volunteered for that task because he knew his master very well.
Even if he did manage to protect the trapped souls from the aftermath of the mirror’s destruction and released them, their bodies were long gone. Like any other souls, the freed ones would dissolve slowly into the world.
Tinasha thought that better than being trapped in the looking glass like a specimen, however. Senn must have discerned that his master would feel that way.
The queen smiled at him. “She’s the one you said would understand me, right?”
“Yes…although she really is a troublemaker.”
“Once we’ve all made it out of here, introduce her to me,” Tinasha replied. She turned to set about her task but caught sight of something. Above, the girl within the pillar had opened her eyes.
Her face bore no expression, yet she stared at Tinasha with eyes of glittering gold.
“Ah…”
Instinctively, Tinasha took a step back. The girl reached out both arms to her. Her face emerged from the pillar as if she were rising from water. Red lips parted as a voice made all of the darkness tremble.
“I wish for the rejection of any outsiders watching. I wish for the refutation of any interference. I shall bestow a fitting transformation upon the one who can accomplish that.”
The pressure was crushing.
Tinasha’s very soul shook, like she was rupturing into pieces.
The voice seemed to come from the holes above and below the column. It could not have been a human sound.
If this girl was a witch, she was far too different from anyone else. This went beyond strength—she was simply unfathomable.
While Tinasha was still too stunned to speak, the girl lowered her eyelids. When she opened her eyes again, they were still locked on Tinasha.
There was emotion in that gaze now, where there hadn’t been before. It seemed closest to curiosity. The girl tilted her head inquisitively. “Why are you here? Did you break the barrier to come?”
“Yes…I did. I wanted Senn to tell me what was going on,” Tinasha replied.
At that, the girl looked to the spirit. Her amber eyes narrowed skeptically before she returned her gaze to Tinasha without saying anything to him. “Which means you’re the Queen of Tuldarr. You have so much magic that it really surprised me. I thought you were a new witch.”
“I’m just as surprised. What is that pillar that’s passing through planes of existence?”
“This? It’s connected to the world itself, making it ironclad as far as conceptual things go. All it can do is protect me, and I can’t use my own will to activate it. It’s strong, but not that easy to use.”
“How is such a thing even possible? I can’t figure it out at all. And what did you mean by what you said before? About wishing to reject outsiders watching.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” The girl blinked, her tone so unconcerned that it was hard to believe she was lying.
Thinking back on it, Tinasha did sense that the booming call sounded more like something rising from the holes than like any sound this girl could have produced. If anything, she was probably just a mouthpiece.
Tinasha muttered, “So that means it came from another realm, and if I mess up, then the fabric of the world itself…”
“So? What do you think you’re doing breaking that barrier I worked so hard to put up?” demanded Lucrezia, bringing Tinasha back to herself.
Her train of thought had derailed, and she got herself back on track. “I want to destroy this mirror. You’re the Witch of the Forbidden Forest, aren’t you?”
“I am. My name’s Lucrezia, but I suppose you wouldn’t call me that anyway.”
“I will,” replied Tinasha, and the girl in the pillar widened her eyes.
A strained smile quickly spread across her face. “Well, if you think you can break the mirror, then be my guest. I’ve tried myself, and it was just too sturdy. I couldn’t do it, so I thought maybe it would be possible if I did it from the inside. And here we are.”
“So that’s how you got yourself sealed in here?” Senn piped up sourly.
“Hey, you’re trapped, too, so you have no room to talk,” Lucrezia shot back coldly.
Their exchange told Tinasha almost all she needed to know about their relationship, although this was hardly the time to consider such things. She pointed at the pillar that could break through realms. “Because this pillar is running through it, that means there are already cracks in the mirror, conceptually speaking. That means if we can make another hole from the outside, we may be able to break it.”
“Hmm. Normally, I’d say that’s not possible, but you might just pull it off,” mused Lucrezia.
“If the queen doesn’t break the mirror, the guy using your body is going to invade Tuldarr,” Senn informed her.
“The what? What in the world is going on?! How did this happen?” cried Lucrezia.
“A lot is happening… My fiancé is holding him at bay for now. When the mirror’s destroyed, can you regain control of your body?”
“Of course I can. It’s mine,” she replied without any hesitation. It was exactly what anyone would expect from a witch.
Tinasha nodded to Senn. “All right, I’m heading outside, then. Take care of things in here.”
Leaving things to these two would be fine, she thought.
Led by the thread of her consciousness, Tinasha moved up and out. Once she was free of the mirror, she began to pour all of her power into the artifact.
“Power must be defined. An ocean of life. A past melding of wills. A water spray will spiral down from the sky and plunge into the earth.”
She concentrated her magic while speaking a lengthy incantation. Every strand of every intricately woven spell configuration wound around the mirror and applied pressure to it. It was supposed to target the hole Lucrezia’s pillar had opened up. The mirror was already broken from the inside, giving Tinasha a means to destroy it now that she knew about that weakness.
“Six locked doors. A voice of premonition. My order shall come at the end of twilight.”
It was enough pressure to flatten a castle with ease. An ordinary magic implement would have shattered in an instant.
Yet the stubbornly resilient artifact displayed no signs of budging, while sweat beaded on Tinasha’s forehead. It reminded her of the pressure that bore down on her in those mysterious ruins. That place, too, must have been an outsiders’ artifact.
I’m in the opposite position than I was in then.
Her opponent was just as irregular, though. Tinasha gritted her teeth against the sensation of her power being drained. Her fingers touching the mirror turned discolored. Blood vessels burst, unable to endure the struggle between the looking glass and the magical power Tinasha was forcing into it.
Still, Tinasha did not retreat.
She had entrusted the battlefield to Oscar. He had believed she could do this, and she wouldn’t fail to live up to that confidence. His life and many others all rode on her actions at this moment.
Tinasha absolutely would not lose. More power flowed from her, and she planted her trembling legs firmly to keep steady.
The incantation had long since stopped as she focused all of her vast, pure magic onto one single point.
It wasn’t enough yet.
More. I want more power.
Suppressing the storm raging inside her, Tinasha pulled every bit of strength from it.
“I will…overcome! I believe…I will!”
One faint crack appeared on the mirror’s frame, which gradually widened.
Unfortunately, that was when Tinasha’s vision turned dark. She had lost too much blood to wield such immense might.
She couldn’t tell if she was standing anymore.
For a moment, her whole being and soul melted away.
Forcing all her remaining strength into her fingers, Tinasha struggled to stay conscious as she collapsed.

Oscar was deftly fending off Hubert’s erratic barrages, albeit with some difficulty. Akashia could nullify any magic attacks, and any that slipped past wouldn’t pierce Tinasha’s barrier. While Hubert was desperately throwing all possible means of psychological magic at the other king, none of it was proving lethal. Still, it meant Oscar had lost all sense of time.
“I’m starting to get pretty annoyed.”
Oscar’s mounting sense of irritation was considerable, yet Hubert had to be even more irritated. The man inside the witch’s body hurled random spells down from the sky.
“You’re just a brat who’s nothing without his sword! Are you scared of a witch?” Hubert taunted.
“Like you’ve got any room to talk. And besides, witches are worth being scared of—you’re not,” Oscar said blandly, despite the provocation in what he was saying.
“Just try and say that again!” Hubert roared, losing his temper and preparing a gigantic spell. Before he could complete it, however, he paused. The expression froze on his face. “No… No, it can’t be…”
Oscar frowned up at the half-formed spell that fizzled out. Hubert was writhing in midair, scrabbling and tearing at the witch’s scalp with both hands.
A maelstrom of magic swirled around the witch, creating powerful gusts.
“No… No, no, no…”
Hubert’s pleas floated down on gales from above, but there was no one who could grant his request.
Instead, a devastating force emerged—a formidable wave of magical power that swept across the entire plain.
The wind died, and in the moonlight stood a woman—a witch wearing a beautiful smile.
“Oh, it’s been so very long since I was last outside.” She stretched her arms above her head. When she glanced down to the ground and caught sight of Oscar, she gave a little smirk and slowly descended to him.
“Good evening. Are you her fiancé? I suppose I owe you my gratitude. I haven’t been in my body for such a long time. Thank you,” she said to him, though Oscar remained on guard. The feel of the magic entwined around her body was entirely different from how it had been moments earlier. She inspired in people the same uneasy sensation as that of standing at the edge of an endlessly deep forest.
Tightening his grip on Akashia, Oscar asked, “Are you Lucrezia?”
“I am. Oh, are you the Akashia swordsman? And yet you have so much magic… But I don’t suppose you’re a mage.”
“Yes, I’m the Akashia swordsman. I have magic because I’m Lavinia’s grandson,” Oscar explained.
“What?! Lavinia’s a grandma?! And to the king of Farsas? That’s crazy!”
“Unfortunately, it’s true,” Oscar assured her, feeling like he was speaking with any ordinary woman, save for the fact that she knew Lavinia, so she had to be a witch. She exuded no hostility, and though Oscar remained cautious, he allowed himself a small degree of relief.
Lucrezia inspected the wounds all over her body and pursed her lips. “Ugh, he couldn’t even heal? How careless…”
As she spoke, her wounds disappeared, and a satisfied smile spread across her face. Unable to hold back any longer, Oscar finally voiced his true concern. “How’s Tinasha?”
“Oh, that girl? Senn was watching her. She’ll likely be back before long.”
“I see…”
That probably meant she was safe.
Lucrezia grinned in amusement at how visibly relieved he looked. “You two are so funny. You’re engaged, right? When’s the wedding?”
“Next week.”
“Next week?! Is Lavinia coming? Can I come, too?”
“Lavinia isn’t coming. I don’t mind if you attend, but you can’t cause any trouble.”
“Oh, what? I wouldn’t do that! I’d be glad just to watch,” she insisted with a friendly smile, though her eyes were dancing in clear delight.
A real witch truly was inscrutable. Oscar had the feeling he’d made a troublesome acquaintance.
Lucrezia’s amber eyes caught the moonlight, glittering gold as she narrowed them at him. “So you two are to be married. With that much power between you, you could probably change the world.”
“I’m not trying to change the world. You witches don’t get publicly involved in anything, do you?”
“That stuff’s no fun anyway. I’m more concerned about my long-neglected herb garden at home. How do you think it’s doing?”
“Probably all withered away? How many centuries ago are we talking?” Oscar questioned, accustomed to speaking with people out of time, thanks to Tinasha.
At that, Lucrezia let out a huge sigh and slumped over.
Somewhat less enthusiastically than before, she said, “I suppose that’s to be expected. Times have really changed while I was away. Well, I have business to take care of, so I’ll be off. We’ll meet again if fate wills it.”
She gave a little wave, her amber eyes glinting. In a flash, she had faded into the night and was gone.
Lucrezia’s abrupt departure marked the end of the one-night war.
After making sure that the witch had truly left, Oscar used a spirit to contact Legis. From his position in the castle, Legis immediately ordered the troops to return and began the process of sending back the Magdalsian soldiers. There were a host of other little tasks to handle as well, which he would surely carry out smoothly.
Soon after, Mila came to Oscar and whispered to him that Tinasha was back at the castle. With his role complete, Oscar sheathed Akashia and peered into the night. A bright azure moon glowed in the utterly cloudless, starry sky. Its cool and clear brilliance reminded him of his beloved fiancée somehow.

Overnight, word of Magdalsia’s invasion of Tuldarr spread across the mainland. While some criticized Tuldarr for being too naive, as it had only neutralized the enemy soldiers without wounding many of them, more people were simply frightened by the strange and devastating power behind such a feat. As Tinasha had planned, the Magic Empire’s name now inspired even greater reverence and fear.
While the public story was that King Hubert of Magdalsia had died in battle, the truth was that he was murdered in his bedchamber. Both Magdalsia and Tuldarr kept silent about the fact that a witch and her power had sealed the king’s fate, however.
Magdalsia imposed a gag order on any talk of the inexplicable and sudden troop deployment, as well as its ruler’s demise.
Two days later, the childless King Hubert’s very young nephew took the throne, as if nothing of consequence had occurred.
“So Lucrezia really did kill Hubert?”
“Probably… I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Two rulers were having tea in a salon in Tuldarr Castle. One was the master of the castle—the sovereign queen—and the other was the man who would be her husband.
Tinasha blew on her steaming tea and sighed. “Sixty years ago, Lucrezia went inside that mirror to destroy it. And upon realizing she couldn’t, she sealed it away instead… Her body was maintained by a spell, like a magic sleep. She cast a barrier over a cave close to Magdalsia Castle and laid herself and the mirror to rest there. Checking against what you were told, we can extrapolate that Valt broke that barrier and gave the mirror to Hubert.”
“Yet another annoying mess. Still, I’m sure it’s better for that witch to be free than to stay asleep in a cave,” Oscar commented. It was hard to call this a win, as it had brought calamity upon Hubert and Magdalsia, but it had freed Lucrezia from an otherwise endless sleep. Hubert’s tale marked yet another case in history of a king’s corruption bringing ruin to his country.
Tinasha set down her cup. “Hubert’s soul must have been drawn to the witch’s body because of its power. Lucrezia was so upset about her body being taken.”
“Naturally. So how did that spirit of yours end up trapped with her?”
“When the seal was broken, a wave of her magic leaked out. He found that strange and went to inspect it, only to slip through the barrier she had cast and end up stuck in the mirror along with her. She was really upset about that.”
“Gotcha. Well, it turned out all right for you,” Oscar said, which made Tinasha give him a quizzical look.
He smiled calmly at her. “She’s someone important to one of your spirits, so you hesitated a little over whether to kill her, didn’t you?”
“Mrr…” Tinasha only mumbled. Oscar had guessed it in one try, and she didn’t know how to respond.
But in truth, anyone would feel that way.
Tinasha didn’t want to kill anyone unless it was necessary, a desire that was strong in her because she had taken so many lives. She had remained in the castle during the war with Tayiri four hundred years ago not only to keep the Traditionalists in check but also because she’d been conflicted over wielding her devastating power to force people to yield.
Did using cunning and wit to kill have any place in a battle between armies?
It shouldn’t have, in theory, but Tinasha wondered if perhaps it did. In fact, she hoped that was the case. She had reviewed what seemed right on numerous occasions, though had been careful to conceal her doubts during the Dark Age.
She kept eliminating any who sought to replace her by force so that they would never catch a shred of weakness in her. And she ruled for five years on a throne washed in blood.
“I’m a little tired,” Tinasha admitted.
“That’s because you’re too stubborn about acting on your own. Rely on others more. Things have changed in the past four centuries,” Oscar chided bluntly.”
“Thank… Thank you.”
“And don’t you dare call off our wedding. Do you hate me or something?”
“I—I never said anything about that!”
“You didn’t have to. I could tell you were thinking it! I can’t believe how little you trusted me!”
“I just didn’t want to make trouble for you,” Tinasha mumbled, jerking her head aside abashedly.
That left her cheek wide open for Oscar to reach out and pinch it. She cried, “Ow, ow, ow!” and flailed around.
“Even if marrying me proves to be an obstacle, you can just use your power as the Akashia swordsman to subdue me… Confine me to some wing of the castle, and we can still be married that way, and it’ll be the same…”
“How will it be the same?! Reexamine the way your mind works,” he retorted.
“It happened somewhat often in the Dark Age. Any given castle would have one to two members of a foreign royal family locked up.”
“How many times do I have to say that things have changed before you get it through your head? Your sensibilities need to be rebuilt from the ground up.”
“You mean you want to call off our engagement?”
“No!”
Oscar’s involvement in the recent battle was kept under wraps, even within Farsas Castle. There was no way to publicize that fact if no one was even supposed to know that a witch had led the Magdalsian troops. His inner circle of advisers had looked like they wanted to say something, but in the end, only Lazar dressed Oscar down.
“It was an emergency, but…you must not act so rashly in the future.”
That said, there were very few people capable of battling a witch.
Tinasha cast her eyes up to the ceiling. “Anyway, what was Valt thinking? The king of Magdalsia going into a coma wouldn’t inconvenience me that much, so it couldn’t have been a diversion.”
“Maybe he wanted you to touch an outsiders’ artifact.”
“What? So it could absorb my soul? But unlike regular humans, I can resist its influence. I wouldn’t have been sealed inside unless I chose to enter, like Lucrezia did.”
“I don’t know the details. It just feels like he’s feeding us little bits of info and seeing what we’ll do.”
“Feeding us info? What else did he say?”
“Noth… Nothing,” Oscar replied, unusually evasive.
Tinasha frowned at him. “What is it? Did he tell you something?”
“Nope, nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“If you say so, then all right. Oh, can I ask you something?”
“Sure. What?”
“Did you know Lucrezia before?”
The Oscar that saved Tinasha four hundred years ago had said, “If I mess up and go too far back in time, I’ll go and see Lucrezia instead, I guess.”
Only a witch could survive over centuries. Therefore, the previous Oscar had known Lucrezia.
The current Oscar only stared at Tinasha, however. “Use your head, silly. That doesn’t add up. She got herself sealed away before I was born.”
“Oh… You’re right. Never mind,” Tinasha replied, dismissing the topic with a wave of her hand.
Vast swaths of history were changing little by little. That discrepancy may or may not have been part of those changes. All Tinasha had was the present, though. She smiled, savoring her happiness.
Oscar gazed intently at this young queen who would soon abdicate. He suddenly recalled the look of sheer relief on her face the very first time they met; there had been tears in her eyes.
Nearly a year had passed since then. Curiously, the time had passed quickly, while it also felt like they had come a very long way. Oscar closed his eyes, reflecting upon their journey. “I’ve suffered some real trials and tribulations, in my own way.”
“Where’s that coming from? I don’t disagree, but…”
“There’s no one else for me.”
“I certainly hope there isn’t, considering our wedding is around the corner… Why are you talking about this now? If you’re having doubts, should we just start over from the beginning?”
“Seriously, stop with that.”
Even if Oscar did have other wives in different timelines, he’d chosen Tinasha in this one. He wanted to spend his life with her and make her smile until the day they both passed into the annals of history. He was here because he wanted to give her that; there was no other option for him.
Oscar beckoned her closer like he was calling a cat over. “C’mere.”
In a catlike reply, Tinasha cocked her head to one side before floating up into the air and settling back down on his lap. Oscar caught up a lock of her glossy hair. “Don’t get too much in your own head and overthink everything. I can handle your baggage. That’s why I’m marrying you.”
“But I’m clingy and don’t know how to act in this time period.”
“I know. It’s what makes you who you are,” he replied, pressing a kiss to her long black hair. Tinasha blushed and threw her arms around Oscar’s neck.
He patted her on the back. “I’m the one who summoned you here, and I promise I’ll make you happy.”
“Oscar…”
He thought he heard traces of shock in her voice.
Tinasha let him go and pulled back to gaze at his face. Tears had filled her dark eyes. “I’m already so happy. You really did keep the promise you made to me when I was a girl.”
When she was thirteen years old, he had come to her rescue. That memory had helped her through becoming queen and sitting upon a throne of ice.
Living his life with her meant knowing and accepting the kind of queen she was.
Oscar gave his beautiful fiancée a kiss. “If you ever consider doing anything reckless again, tell me first. Depending on what it is, I’ll knock some sense into you.”
“I look forward to that,” Tinasha answered with a delighted, satisfied grin.
The smile belonged to the girl she was and the queen she had become.


Unnamed Memory, Vol. 6: Death of the Nameless Story

 5. Once upon a Time, with You
He had a dream of a very long time ago.
Screams echoed from the hallway.
That was highly abnormal, considering this was Farsas Castle, capital of one of the Great Nations.
He blinked his eyes open from his nap in the lounge during a break in his hectic schedule.
Intermittent screams filtered in from the hallway. He leaped up and ran out to discover something with wings chasing around a host of ladies-in-waiting.
He zeroed in on the flying thing. “Nark?”
It was certainly shaped like the king’s dragon, though the coloring was entirely different. Its body, large as a hawk’s, was gray as stone. While he had no idea what it was, he cast a spell to bring down the creature as it flew overhead.
However, it sensed the magic, quivering in midair before reversing course and flying away.
“Hey! Stop!”
Whatever it was, he couldn’t let it escape. He swiftly cast another spell and released it. This magic would paralyze the flying thing for just a second and slow its movements. The bird stiffened when the spell hit, but it did not fall. It zoomed away on unsteady wings.
Then a white light from out of nowhere engulfed the gray bird. The radiance formed a cocoon, holding it frozen in midair. Realizing who had sent out the capturing spell, he said, “Queen Tinasha.”
“I finally caught it… That thing was flying all over the place,” Tinasha grumbled. She made sure none of the ladies-in-waiting were injured, then reached for the luminous cocoon. It dropped harmlessly into her arms.
Curious about the mysterious flying object, he asked, “What is that?”
“Something Oscar brought back from some spirit sorcerer ruins he explored. He said it was a stone egg, but at some point, it must have hatched.”
Tinasha cradled it in her arms. “Oh, and thank you for your quick thinking back there.”
“I didn’t…”
“I saw you. I’m very impressed but not at all surprised that you switched to the optimal spell to use right away.”
“I…thank you, Your Majesty.”
She was undoubtedly referring to how he’d pivoted immediately from an attack spell to a stun spell.
Tinasha flashed him a mischievous grin. “I suppose it’s all in a day’s work for you, Valt. Or should I call you the new royal chief mage?”
“Your Majesty…”
The young man, who had only become royal chief mage the month before, threw his queen a mildly dismayed look.
Tinasha, witch and queen, giggled in response.
In the court of Farsas, mages valued talent over all else. That did not mean a person’s character had no bearing; it meant an individual’s bloodline and family were irrelevant. That was why Valt, who had become a court mage three years earlier, was chosen as the new royal chief mage after his predecessor stepped down.
Of course, he also had the support of Tinasha, the queen. She held the cleverness of Valt’s magic and his keen powers of judgment in high regard. In a sense, he was certified by a witch.
And said witch was currently furious with her husband. “Unbelievable! Not only did you sneak out to explore some old wreck, but you also brought back something fishy! Don’t you know that spirit sorcerer ruins are full of hazardous objects?!”
“I know, I know,” Oscar replied from behind his study desk.
“No, you don’t, or you’d have a better answer!” she snapped, making the king grin. Valt, who was there for tea with them, was careful not to say a word. On the table in front of him sat a small white cocoon.
“Ridiculous… And this stone bird hasn’t been identified at all, though it seems to be a moving statue of some kind.”
“Oh, so like the ones in your tower? Those are fun. Should we place it here in the castle?” Oscar suggested.
“You’d just fight it and destroy it. Absolutely not.”
“Do they repair themselves? Every time I go, I find them intact again.”
“I’m the one who repairs them!” Tinasha exclaimed.
He was clearly riling up his wife on purpose. It was probably best to let this play out, although that meant none of them would ever get back to work.
Valt was left with no choice but to cut in, keeping his voice as calm as possible. “Based on the shape and the fact that it flies, I’d say it might have been used for patrolling.”
Thinking the stone bird’s egg to be a “funny-shaped rock,” Oscar had brought it back and then hidden it in the magic potions storehouse. At some point, it had hatched and started flying around the castle. By the time Valt noticed the fuss, the entire palace was in an uproar.
Tinasha floated up into the air and crossed her legs. “While that does seem very likely, the spell it’s enchanted with has a strange feel. I’m going to analyze it.”
“A strange spell? Then while you’re doing that, Queen Tinasha, I shall research these ruins,” Valt put in.
“Sorry to trouble you. Please do,” Oscar added.
The fifth king of Farsas had apparently mentioned these ruins in his journal. Valt read through the notes, but he found that the writings only described the general location of the site and did not reveal any information of significance about the ruins. Tinasha hadn’t known about them at all. The only thing she could tell from the stone bird’s spell was that it was likely the work of a spirit sorcerer.
The only thing left to do was to find out what the ruins were by cross-referencing history books. Hopefully, that might reveal the stone bird’s intended use.
Valt got to his feet, documents in hand. As he was about to leave, Oscar called, “Valt, do you know how things are going with the eastern towns?”
“Ah…that situation.”
Recently, there had been a rash of unexpected deaths and suicides in various towns and villages in eastern Farsas. While Valt wasn’t in charge of the investigation, as the royal chief mage, he was aware of its progress.
“To be perfectly honest, it’s not going well. So many people have died, yet we can’t find any commonalities between their deaths… Some perish out of nowhere, screaming and vomiting blood, while others are discovered with their heads stuck in water jars. A few use magic to attack those around them before dying. Nothing is consistent, and the victims expire quickly. Some manage to survive, but most of those have gone insane, and the rest are in comas.”
“So bizarre. Tinasha, what do you think?”
“Mmm, it’s a mystery to me,” Tinasha replied. “The people in comas are on life-support treatment, but their souls are unstable.”
Valt’s eyebrows twitched upward at that, but Tinasha did not notice and went on. “I suspected demons were involved, but no witnesses mentioned anything to that effect, and there have been no signs of them, either. There’s also the fact that a significant percentage of the dead were mages. Sometimes it was a case of magic going haywire, but postmortem examinations can’t tell us exactly why or how that happened. Some of those people didn’t have enough power to actually draw upon and had only received training in how to control it.”
“I guess we’ll just have to keep looking into it. I’d like to get to the bottom of this quickly,” said Oscar.
“I will do everything in my power,” Valt said with a bow before he left the study.
As he walked down the corridor, he fell into thought.
There’s so much I don’t know… What’s influencing this?
He couldn’t have said which lifetime he was on.
However, this was his first time serving the court of Farsas, home to the Witch of the Azure Moon, the most powerful mage in all the land. He did not yet know where the red orb of Eleterria was, but the blue one was in the Tuldarr treasure vault. Valt wanted to gain her trust, but failing that, he hoped to learn about her adopted home of Farsas and the…temperament of the king.
Valt had freely used what he knew to get himself to the position he held. After coming to the court, he had used his existing knowledge to help him resolve numerous situations, including the resurrection of a demonic beast by a Former Druza faction, the rise of Lanak—a survivor of Tuldarr—and the battle with the Witch Who Cannot Be Summoned in the neighboring country of Yarda. Tinasha, in particular, had a tendency to rush off on her own if left unattended. It was quite a challenge to hold her in check and take the actions she wanted to take herself.
However, Valt had learned that there were multiple events he was entirely unaware of. He thought he had a grasp on the principal sequence, but Oscar bringing back a mysterious egg from the ruins and the rash of suspicious deaths in Farsas were entirely unfamiliar. He’d wondered if it was all a ripple effect from his becoming a court mage, but the changes were far too substantial for that. The month prior, the horse-rider tribe known as the Ito went on a widespread pillaging and looting spree. They took the fortress of Minnedart as their base, only to be defeated there. This was another thing Valt had no memory of ever experiencing before. He needed to record it for the records.
“The records, huh?” he muttered self-deprecatingly.
What good would that do? He was the only one who could read them.
Ultimately, would there be any point to writing down what he knew for her?

“I really can’t take my eyes off you for one second,” the witch grumbled as she brewed tea. Oscar burst out laughing.
Lazar walked in with a stack of documents and let out a heavy sigh. “If you want to go exploring in the ruins, Your Majesty, please tell Queen Tinasha… It will really save me some stress, as I get mixed up in it every time.”
“But if I tell her, she’ll stop me,” Oscar responded shamelessly, right in front of her.
The witch arched one eyebrow. “Of course I will. This time you even got Doan to go with you…”
“Yeah, because I needed a mage for some of it, and the other ones would’ve gone tattling to you right away.”
“You seem to have a very good command of your subjects’ personalities! But I still grilled Doan to near death!”
Tinasha was the greatest mage in the castle. Her judgment on magic-related matters was generally more accurate than the king’s, which the court mages all knew. Whenever something happened, most of them would go to her to report it.
However, there were those mages who tended to be more flexible. One of these was Doan, who often found himself at the mercy of the king’s whims.
Oscar picked up his teacup. “And because you chewed him out, Doan’s begging me to let him transfer to a research-only position.”
“Yes, and that’s your fault! Yours, not mine!”
“But I can’t give him up. Renart reports directly to you, while Valt can be too unreadable.”
Tinasha flashed a strained smile, floating up into the air and settling on the arm of Oscar’s chair. Leaning back against him, she rubbed her head along his cheek. Hugging her knees to her chest, she said, “That’s because Valt doesn’t like to let his emotions show. He wants to get along just by being friendly on the outside. Doan is much cleverer in that regard. He knows that we’re less likely to suspect him of anything if he’s shown us some of his genuine self. However, that also means he winds up as your accomplice far too often.”
Tinasha grinned, her eyes lighting up. “But when it comes to that girl he lives with, Valt shows a much more human side, and it’s very interesting. I met her once when she came to the castle to bring him lunch. I can tell he cares for her a lot.”
“I know the fact that he’s unreadable doesn’t mean he carries bad intentions. He’s like you—he thinks everything through on his own and then handles it alone. You both conduct yourselves well, but you’re too careful when it counts, because you never give anything away, and that’s your downfall.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about your solo missions and how they need to stop. Admittedly, I’ll still be entrusting anything magic related to you. Just tell me if you run into trouble.”
“Okay,” Tinasha sang, sliding off the armrest and onto her feet.
Oscar picked up the cocoon on the table. Before his wife could leave to go work on her analysis, he called, “Wait, Tinasha. Demons can’t get past the castle city wards, right?”
“Right. The wards are designed that way. We’d definitely have a hard time fighting off a high-ranking demon.”
“Can you cast similar ones around the other eastern towns and villages, then?”
“I could…but I couldn’t get to all of them right away.”
The castle city’s defensive wards represented the highest level of security possible for continuously running ground-level wards. Tinasha would need to get things in order to establish them around multiple communities, and the process would take considerable time. If Tinasha set aside all her other duties, she would still only be able to cover three a day.
Oscar nodded. That answer seemed to line up with what he had expected. “Just do what you can. It’s only to be safe, but I’d appreciate it. Start with the towns closest to the ones where the unnatural deaths occurred and then go west from there.”
“But Oscar, that means—”
Tinasha cut herself off, gasping as she realized what Oscar was implying. She thought back over the details of the previous cases.
The unexplained deaths had broken out in multiple towns in eastern Farsas. The easternmost settlements had been beset by this issue the earliest.
Thus, the king suspected that whatever was responsible was approaching the castle city from the east.
Oscar caught Lazar’s eye, then Tinasha’s, and he scratched at his temple. “Five days before the first of these deaths, a mage fell from Minnedart’s ramparts and died. No one witnessed it, so everyone assumed it was an accident, but there were reports of strange-sounding screams. If it’s related to all the other deaths, it means something’s coming toward us from beyond the eastern border. I’d rather read too much into things and be safe instead of sorry.”
“I’ll…have it done immediately,” Tinasha said before leaving the study.
After Lazar watched the queen go, he asked the king in a tremulous tone, “Do you think it’s a demon?”
“Who knows? If so, it’s an awfully slow-moving demon. It’s going to take another two weeks to reach the city,” Oscar replied, resting his chin on his hands and letting his gaze wander.
As he watched his king sink deep into thought, Lazar felt a jolt of inexplicable fear.

The castle archives held no record of the ruins in question.
“I thought that might be the case,” Valt muttered as he left the castle to head home one evening.
Because there was no record of the site, people had always thought the formation north of Farsas to be merely a natural cavern. However, there was an ancient structure concealed deep within the hollow. The past king of Farsas, who’d written of it in his journal, only noted he’d heard of the location from a spirit sorcerer who became his adviser. He had reigned centuries ago, a short time before Tinasha’s birth. Many records from that era had been lost to time, especially those pertaining to the secretive spirit sorcerers.
“All I can do now is consult my ancestors’ accounts…”
The archives Valt had inherited as the Time-Reader heir were vast. When he first gained access, he skimmed through all of them, but he had yet to read them carefully. The other heirs were probably much the same.
Therefore, there was a very good chance that some record or another Valt wasn’t familiar with did describe the ruins.
With those thoughts on his mind, he reached his home, which was tucked into a corner of the castle city. The delicious aroma of soup wafted from the house.
“I’m back,” he called as he opened the door.
“Valt!” cried a girl as she leaped at him head-on.
“Oof!” Valt staggered back from her unexpected crash landing. “What’s the matter, Miralys?”
“Open this,” the silver-haired girl instructed, handing him a new spice jar. She must have bought it and then discovered she wasn’t strong enough to wrest the lid off. While she could have gone back to the store or asked a neighbor for help, Miralys wasn’t very interested in interacting with anyone besides Valt.
That was probably because she was an orphan who’d endured a rough childhood, betrayal by her fellow bandits, and being left to die in the woods…
No, that’s not right.
That was who Miralys was when he met her for the very first time, the girl who later became his wife.
That wasn’t who this was. Valt had spared no effort searching for Miralys and had managed to grab her before she joined the bandits. She wasn’t the person he’d found bleeding in a forest.
But even so…
“Valt? Can’t you open it?”
“No, I can. I was just lost in thought.”
“Lost in thought about opening a jar? Were you thinking of a spell to get the lid off it, since you can’t do it on your own?”
“I told you, I can,” Valt said, doing just that and passing the jar back to Miralys.
“Thanks.” Miralys accepted the container and scurried off for the kitchen. While she hadn’t shown much emotion, he could tell she was in a good mood. As he listened to her start humming, he smiled and went to his room to change clothes.
Valt didn’t have a detailed plan when it came to working in Farsas Castle. He was simply there to observe the palace and those inside.
It came as no surprise to discover that Farsas was incredibly stable. It placed great emphasis on magic research, and the court mages were well treated. He could easily live on his own with Miralys. After working for another three years or so as royal chief mage, he could even retire and go live a reclusive life with her in some rural town.
But, no, he couldn’t. He didn’t have what he truly needed.
No matter how content Valt was with his present life, he couldn’t grow too complacent.
“Valt, dinner’s ready.”
“Coming,” he replied, dropping the journal he was about to read back onto the pile of them in his room. When he reached the dinner table, Miralys looked up from setting dishes out and gave him the littlest smile.
It was infectious, and he returned the expression. They sat at the little dining table facing each other.
Miralys spread homemade jam on some soft bread. “You worked a little late today.”
“There’s something I need to look into. I’m going to be doing some reading after dinner, too, but call for me if you need anything.”
“I’ll bring you some tea, then. Did anything interesting happen today?”
“I was working, not having fun, but in fact, something interesting did happen. But it was nothing too unusual. The king brought back an egg, which hatched into a stone bird that started flying all around the castle.”
“I never know what you’re talking about. How could something made of stone fly?”
“In the Dark Age, they researched this sort of thing—artificial creatures. Actually, creating them proved difficult, so the research was abandoned. This is the first time I’ve seen one made with spiritual magic. Queen Tinasha is going to analyze it, and let me look at a diagram of the spell configuration once it’s done.”
He knew that his spell-casting abilities were several grades higher than an ordinary person’s, which was only natural because he’d spent more years living in the world and had his ancestors’ journals.
Valt’s genuine curiosity must have been evident, because Miralys narrowed her eyes. “You really love magic.”
“Well…I’m a mage.”
“I wish I’d been born with magic, too.”
“I’ve lent you some of mine, haven’t I?”
“That’s just a mark. It’s not enough to use magic.”
Miralys had no magical power of her own. This left her unable to protect herself, so Valt had loaned her a portion of his energy. It was tied to her soul and would guard her.
Valt found the sight of Miralys puffing out her cheeks in displeasure very precious, but her impractical wish made his heart ache nonetheless. He’d wished the same thing himself once.
Valt hadn’t been able to cast spells until the death of his father. There was no need yet to tell Miralys about that or any of the other secrets of his life. In her mind, she had simply met Valt by chance and was living with him.
Someday, he would reveal the truth to this Miralys. He would explain about himself, about her, about their past that had once existed, and about what was to come.
That day was a ways off yet, though. They were enjoying shockingly peaceful days, because Valt wasn’t on the hunt for Eleterria this time.
Valt suddenly recalled something. “Lately, people have been dying in strange ways over in the east. Queen Tinasha said that because we’re affected, the culprit could be a demon. The wards around the city prevent demons from entering, but still…be very careful.”
“Okay. But I don’t go outside the city anyway. I have no reason to.”
“I’m only saying it just in case,” Valt said, narrowing his eyes at Miralys. When he concentrated, he could sense the faintest pulse of her soul—a living being’s core. It was the primordial power that all possessed, born of nature and returned to nature.
Each time he saw that light inside her, he felt spurred to keep going.

The next day, when Valt arrived at work, he found a palm-sized stone bird flying around the castle courtyard.
His fellow court mages were gazing up at it in wonderment. Doan noticed him and waved. “There you are. Look, it’s so funny.”
“It’s gotten smaller.”
“Queen Tinasha analyzed it and made a duplicate. It sounds like it really was used for patrolling, although we don’t know what it was watching for. It doesn’t seem like it was only for people and demons, however.”
“Not people and demons? Then what?”
That left only low-ranking demons and fairies. Valt wanted to ask the duplicate maker herself, but Tinasha wasn’t around. “Where’s the queen?”
“She went with Renart to set wards around the eastern towns, as the king requested.”
Which meant the king suspected demonic involvement in the rash of mysterious deaths.
Having served Oscar for the past three years, Valt judged him capable of jumping from the tiniest clue to the right answer. He would say things like, “I just had a hunch.” Tinasha claimed that her husband had very good intuition, but it was probably due to a calculation that the man wasn’t consciously aware of. Oscar was also quick to make decisions and often worked several steps ahead of regular people. Warding the settlements must have meant he’d detected something.
Doan shrugged. “The idea of it gives me the creeps, but she’s doing it to be safe. Anyway, that means you can bring the report you’ve been working on to the king.”
“How do you know I have a report?” Valt questioned
“Because you’re late today. You were up late, weren’t you?”
Doan had hit the nail on the head. Valt gazed up at the sky beseechingly. Sylvia and Pamyra snickered. Valt outranked all of them in the mage hierarchy, but they were all around the same age and had come to the court at roughly the same time. After working together for years, they’d all grown close.
Valt held both his hands up in surrender. “All right, all right. I’m going to go see His Majesty, then. Let me know if anything happens.”
“You got it.”
As Valt left, Doan idly remarked, “Oh, and this bird has a function to scatter something, but the first bird was empty inside.”
“Scatter…what?”
His first thought was poison. The original had only been empty because it was newly hatched. However, that didn’t match what Valt had uncovered. While thinking it over, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Didn’t that make Queen Tinasha even unhappier with the king?”
“That’s right. So before she gets back, please try and convince the king to be less reckless.”
“I’ll try,” Valt agreed, but between the king and queen, he had a much harder time with the former. In the past, Tinasha had killed him many more times than Oscar had, but he could still predict her thoughts and actions. The king of Farsas was far younger than the witch and often behaved erratically. Valt had taken a court position to better understand him, but even after three years in the castle, he still found the king difficult to deal with.
Valt knocked on the door to the study. Oscar called for him to enter, and when he did, the king flashed him a somewhat childlike grin. “You’re back. So what were the ruins made for?”
“They were once a hidden refuge for spirit sorcerers who fled from mage hunters,” Valt replied. That was what he had managed to dig out from the vast records kept by his ancestors.
He passed a copy he had made of the journal to the king. “They were built by people who were driven out by a country that predated Tayiri, but according to records made by someone who knew that era well, they were only used for about thirty years. After that, the residents started to die out, and those who were left scattered all over.”
“Ah yeah, since the ruins are in the north, it would make sense for them to be related to Tayiri,” remarked the king.
“With so many spirit sorcerers, they could have fought, but they elected to go into hiding. That may be because spirit sorcerers lose their power once their chastity is gone.”
“A while back, Tinasha took me to some seaside ruins. That place had a real mysterious feel. I can’t speak for Tinasha, but to me, it was like it had accepted this sense of very gradual demise. I also didn’t pick up on any sort of hostility from the site where I retrieved the egg.”
Spirit sorcerers were proficient in controlling nature, and some preferred to live in the wild and pass away there. Oscar never mentioned as much to his wife, since she was a spirit sorcerer who had chosen to keep a long life. Valt didn’t think she would mind, but perhaps the king was trying to be considerate.
“Why did you take that egg?” Valt inquired.
Oscar had gone to the ruins as a sort of test of skill. But as there were few traps and obstructions, he must have felt disappointed. Why bother returning with a relic, then? He wasn’t the sort to dig up precious weapons or magic implements and haul them home.
In reply, Oscar flashed a strained smile. “The egg was placed on a small altar in the center of the ruins. The moment I saw it, I could tell it had been held in high regard. I hated the idea of it rotting away in there, forgotten.”
“Next time, I recommend you tell the queen about this sort of thing right away without trying to hide it from her.”
“I’ll do that.”
“If she gets back and she’s still testy with you, tell her Valt has a report for her. I’ll mediate things.”
“Thanks. Sorry about this.”
For now, the matter of the egg was closed.
Valt bowed and made ready to leave. When he lifted his head, he found the king staring straight at him. “Is…something the matter?”
“It’s nothing. But if you ever run into trouble, tell me before deciding things on your own. I’ll do what I can to help.”
For a moment, it seemed that Oscar could see right through Valt’s situation. Hearing a statement like that from the king was a surprise. Fortunately, he narrowly managed to keep his discomfiture from showing on his face, pasting on a pained grin. “Where could this be coming from? I don’t have any complaints about my tenure here.”
“Ah, it’s just that I get this sense that you’re the type who doesn’t rely too much on others. But if you ever reach a fork in the road and you’re not sure whether you’re going to betray me or not, tell me first.”
“I…don’t know why such a thing would ever come to pass.”
Cold sweat trickled down Valt’s back.
Oscar couldn’t have suspected anything, because Valt had no plots at the moment. At present, he only intended to serve Farsas.
However, this was Oscar looking at Valt, jumping a step ahead, and arriving at the correct answer. Valt bowed his head again. “I’m grateful to you for saying so. I dearly hope something like that never happens, but…should the worst occur, I will do as you ask.”
“Mm-hmm. Talk to me anytime. That’s what I’m here for,” Oscar replied nonchalantly, despite being the ruler of an entire nation. While Oscar’s behavior as king might have appeared unprecedented to those outside Farsas, he actually took the job extremely seriously and handled his responsibilities almost entirely on his own. Working for him drove that fact home. His occasional escapes outside the castle and the attention he paid to his queen were, in his eyes, his allotted private time. In all other respects, he was a devoted servant of the people.
For a moment, Valt thought that Oscar’s lifestyle was entirely unsustainable. Ultimately, he said nothing more and departed the study.

The days that followed appeared to be very peaceful from an outside perspective.
Those were happy days, Valt thought. At the very least, he was able to live a calm, worry-free life with Miralys. He was struck with how big of a difference the choice of how to live made in his everyday life. The fact that he could even think that was proof he had wallowed in that time like pleasantly warm water.
They never found out what exactly the stone bird from the ruins scattered originally, but it didn’t do any harm, so the matter was considered resolved. Tinasha placed a seal on the original bird Oscar brought back, but the small copy she had constructed became oddly popular among the court, and she ended up making five to fly around the castle.
Once Tinasha set up the wards around the towns, the mysterious deaths stopped. However, the protective spells around one small town vanished for reasons unknown.
Taking this very seriously, Tinasha went to investigate. Valt also spoke with the village’s denizens, who all offered the same story. They’d seen several unfamiliar men with a sick-looking girl in tow. Nothing else unusual had transpired, however, and repairing the wards brought an end to the issue. Things continued without incident afterward.
On a very sunny day, Valt stepped from a covered outdoor walkway and headed for the training grounds. There he found the king and queen sparring.
The sound of metal clashing was inescapable. Tinasha slashed at Oscar with her sword, sweat dappling her lithe physique. Oscar parried it away effortlessly.
“Don’t slow down just because you’re tired. You have to keep your pace,” the king instructed.
“I’m trying,” she panted back, jabbing at her husband. He batted the attack away easily, causing her to stumble.
“Watch out!” he cried, grabbing her arm as she almost fell. Drawing her close, he patted her back. “Let’s call it a day here. You look like you’re going to keel over if we continue.”
“I really lack endurance… Thank you,” said the queen, perspiring all over. Her shoulders were heaving as she leaned against her husband’s chest.
It was Oscar who noticed Valt first. “What is it? Which one of us do you need?”
“Queen Tinasha. A merchant party accompanied by a demonic beast familiar has arrived at the city gates and wishes to enter.”
Unauthorized demons and demonic spirits were not permitted in the castle city. Extenuating circumstances required permission from Tinasha or those sanctioned by her. It was a necessary measure to keep the city safe.
Tinasha brushed her sweaty bangs up and out of her face. “I didn’t receive an application mentioning anything like that.”
“Evidently, there was something wrong with their papers, and they were delayed in reaching the castle.”
Entry procedure called for applying to a mage authorized by Tinasha in advance of the desired day. However, the forms hadn’t made it in time on this occasion. Such groups could be kept waiting outside the city gates, but Tinasha was such a conscientious person that she frequently saw to these matters herself.
“Ooh, I see. It sounds like you’ve been very busy today, Valt. Just give me a moment,” Tinasha said.
“There’s no need. If you’ll authorize me, I can go,” Valt offered. His schedule was packed, but there was enough flexibility in it for him to go and do that.
Oscar patted Tinasha on the head. “Let Valt do it. You’re so worn out that it’ll take a while for you to look presentable.”
“Fine… Please see to it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Tinasha pointed at Valt, and a tiny dot of white light appeared at her fingertip and floated over to him, where it was absorbed into his forehead. Now he was fully authorized. A little stone bird popped out of nowhere and settled itself on Valt’s shoulder.
It looked just like Nark, who was resting on the king’s shoulder, and Tinasha burst out laughing. “It looks like it wants to come along.”
“Is it…all right to bring one outside the city gates?”
“It’s perfectly fine. I’m sure the local children will be delighted.”
“I’ll be careful to bring it back safe and sound,” said Valt, bowing to the king and queen again before leaving the training grounds.
While the queen often teleported around like it was nothing, Valt’s position made it difficult for him to do the same. Oscar might have freakishly keen powers of observation, so Valt couldn’t afford to overplay his hand.
Thus, he used a transportation array in the castle to teleport to the closest guard station. As he was walking from there to the castle gates, a familiar voice called out to him. “Valt? What is it? Are you finished with work already?”
“Oh, Miralys.”
She was carrying so many flowers she had bought at the market that he couldn’t see her face. Had he not heard her voice, he might have thought she was nothing but a gigantic bouquet. “What are you doing with all those?”
“I’m going to decorate the house with them.”
“Isn’t that a few too many?”
Miralys wasn’t the type of girl who adored flowers, so Valt knew there had to be some reason. After a brief awkward pause, she finally admitted, “Someone put in a large order at the florist I go to but never showed to pick it up. The shopkeeper looked so upset that I bought them all.”
Valt’s eyes grew wide listening to her tale. Miralys had always been extremely wary of other people. But as she settled into a more comfortable life in the city and got to know others while Valt was away serving the crown, she must have begun to change little by little.
Her warmhearted gesture made him smile. “You’re a sweet girl, Miralys.”
“No, I’m not,” she mumbled.
Because he couldn’t see her face, he walked up and took half of the blossoms sticking out of her basket. White petals parted to reveal Miralys, her face the faintest shade of pink.
“It’ll be too dangerous for you to go home alone like that. I have to head to the castle gates to take care of something, but after that, I’ll be free to walk with you.”
“But you’re at work. They’ll get mad.”
“They’d be more upset if they knew I let you go home like that. I’ll be sure to contact the castle. It’ll be fine,” Valt assured her, and he set off.
Still looking reluctant, Miralys followed. Then she noticed the little bird perched on Valt’s shoulder. “Hey, what’s this bird?”
“This is a magical creature made by Queen Tinasha.”
“Oh wow. Can I pet it later?”
“Of course. But it’s castle property, so I have to bring it back with me.”
The gates were just up ahead. The street was packed with bustling crowds, and there was not a cloud in the sky. A pleasant breeze rustled the white flowers in their arms.
The guard stationed at the gates smiled when he saw Valt and the blossoms he was holding. “Taken up flower peddling, chief mage?”
“Not quite. We’re just coming from a large purchase. I’ve been authorized to grant access to the city. Could you show me to the merchants awaiting entry?”
“Yes, right this way,” said the guard, turning around to unlock the door behind him.
All of a sudden, an earsplitting noise sounded from the side—an awful grating screech like stones rubbing together. It was coming from the bird on Valt’s shoulder.
Miralys frowned. “What is it? What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but…”
The bird was a magic implement created for patrolling purposes by ancient spirit sorcerers.
Before Valt had time to reason out an explanation, the door the guard was about to open split in half, revealing a girl. She was scrawny and wearing rough clothing. Her eyes were bulging, and her neck was tilted at such an angle that it looked broken.
She was clearly not in her right mind, more resembling a corpse than a living being. Valt recognized her, however.
He hadn’t met her in this life, but in other ones, she was sometimes an acquaintance of Tinasha. She was born in Tayiri and fiercely resented how it persecuted mages.
“Tris…?” he blurted.
“Is she okay?” Miralys asked dubiously.
The sight of her so completely transformed made Valt gasp.
A young man appeared from behind Tris, his eyes flashing with dark resentment.
Valt recognized him as well. This was Savas, the prince of Yarda. After the Witch Who Cannot Be Summoned fell in battle, he was banished for being her devoted follower.
“What are you doing here…?” Valt asked. He had a bad feeling.
Savas surveyed the streets around him with empty eyes before commanding Tris. “Go.”
The battered girl staggered forward.
That was how it began.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”
Miralys crumpled to the ground while letting out a terrible scream. Unfortunately, Valt couldn’t even reach for her, as he was struck on the temple so hard it sent him stumbling. His vision spun.
He didn’t understand what was happening. His head was a mess, and his guts were churning.
Through blurry vision, he attempted to locate the girl he adored.
Miralys was collapsed amid heaps of white flowers, blood pouring from her mouth.
“Mira…lys…?”
While Valt crawled to her, Tris passed right by. Screams soon erupted from somewhere close by.
“AAAAHHH!”
“NOOOOOO!”
Shrieks sounded from everywhere, the stone bird crying in warning through it all.
Valt could sense magic going haywire in the vicinity. Savas let out a twisted, mad laugh. “Ha-ha! So this is the power of a god. Fall to your knees! Suffer your ruin, foolish foes of Leonora!”
The world was dimming as Valt’s consciousness slipped. He reached out a trembling hand and caught hold of Miralys’s.
No matter how he squinted, he could no longer see the light of her soul. It was already very far away.
The flower petals, dripping with blood, caught the light of the sun and sparkled.

“You’re awake.”
When Valt woke next, Doan’s voice was the first thing he heard. It was a struggle to get his sluggish body to obey, but he looked around. “Where am I…?”
“The castle, in a temporary hospice room. We brought everyone who didn’t die here. A lot are still unconscious.”
They were in one of the castle reception chambers, now home to over twenty evenly spaced beds that held ashen-faced patients. A huge magic circle was drawn on the floor; a life-preservation spell. Only one person in the castle could afford to expend magic like that on such a large scale.
“Where’s the queen?” Valt asked, but Doan didn’t answer. He was sitting next to the bed opposite Valt’s. Judging by the blond hair, it had to be Sylvia lying there.
Doan’s face was gaunt, and his voice was purposely unemotional when he spoke. “Let me tell you this first. A week has passed since we encountered…that. We’ve managed to take care of it, mostly. We’re in the cleanup phase now.”
“The…cleanup phase?”
Something had attacked unexpectedly. Reflecting upon it, Valt did have a guess as to what it may have been. All the omens lined up, after all.
The mysterious, unexplained deaths one after another in the east.
Oscar suspected that the very first casualty was the mage who fell to his death at Minnedart. However, something had occurred before that in the vicinity of the fortress—the Ito riders’ extensive raiding and subsequent capture.
It probably got released in the aftermath of all that.
Something dwelled in a place sacred to the Ito. Valt had read about it in one of his ancestors’ journals. It had to be the exact same thing that the ancient spirit sorcerers fled Tayiri to escape. The stone birds were created to patrol for it.
“So it was…Irityrdia.”
The thing that made mages lose their minds, sent their magic running haywire, and wrecked their spirits and life force.
A force of nature also known by the names World-Splitting Blade and Sleeping Paleface.
Irityrdia—Tayiri’s one god—was the true form of what was sealed away inside Tris. Long ago, a mage’s body was used to seal it off when it caused havoc. Someone who knew of this must have placed Irityrdia within Tris.
“You know what this is? We finally managed to pinpoint it just yesterday after investigating the Ito ruins,” said Doan.
“I read about it a long time ago, although I’d forgotten. I guess that means everyone who died in the east had magic.”
“Yeah. Some of them hadn’t ever undergone training to control their power, so they didn’t register as having any when we investigated. Everyone who died either had magic or was otherwise affected by magic going haywire.”
According to the legends, the presence of Irityrdia rendered mages insane in both mind and body, a danger to themselves and others. Irityrdia must have awakened in the aftermath of the battle with the Ito, slowly made its way toward the castle city, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake…and gotten captured along the way.
Doan let out a heavy sigh. “It looks like it was Savas’s intention to bring Irityrdia into the city. Disguising himself and his group as a merchant caravan and making sure his faulty papers meant the castle didn’t have advance notice of his visit—all of it was a trick to lure the queen out.”
“I don’t…think Savas was the one behind this. Ordinary people wouldn’t know about Irityrdia or be able to seal it inside a mage’s body. He must have been used as a puppet, since mages can’t get close to Irityrdia. One of Leonora’s underlings or someone else must be responsible.”
Fortunately, even a plot like this hadn’t destroyed Farsas. The situation had been resolved in only a week.
Unlike in rural towns and villages, the city contained so many mages that releasing Irityrdia inside it might have razed it to the ground.
Valt finally asked the one thing he’d wanted to know this whole time but hadn’t dared to ask. “What happened to Miralys? The girl who was with me when Irityrdia came.”
He knew the answer. That was one more reason why Irityrdia had come to the castle city.
Doan stood. “I’ll show you. Can you walk?”
“Yes…”
Even after dragging his battered body out of the bed, Valt had to lean on Doan to keep from falling over. When he finally got a look at all the beds in the room, he groaned. “Half the court mages are here.”
“And these are the lucky ones. That stone bird the king brought back? What it scattered was an Irityrdia-resistant psychological safeguard created by spirit sorcerers. Those of us who work in the castle were much better equipped to handle it than the mages out in town. It’s why you’re still sane after coming so close to Irityrdia.”
“I see. It spread it all over the castle, and that’s why it was empty. The king really has incredible luck…”
At a time of crisis, Valt had received the bare minimum of protection, allowing him to survive a force of nature some called a god. Despite explaining as much to him, Doan only offered a tight smile.
The two left the makeshift hospital, and Doan led Valt to a small parlor. In it was a white bed with flowers decorating the head of it.
Miralys was asleep, breathing faintly. A magic circle for life support was drawn on the floor beneath her.
Valt approached her and gazed down at her pallid face.
“I’ll be in the hospice room if you need me,” said Doan.
“Sure…”
Once the door clicked shut, Valt dug his nails into his palms hard enough to draw blood.
Miralys would never wake again.
Her soul was gone, along with the magic he’d lent her for self-protection.
Valt took her hand. It was so small. “I should have kept you locked up.”
Then she would still be alive. They could have lived alone, just the two of them, without anyone else.
He had always yearned to give her a normal, happy life.
But this was what happened when he believed he’d done that. The world was waiting for that one last straw to say, “Your time is up. You can’t live any longer.”
“It’s my fault…”
Miralys would never squeeze his hand back. She would never call him names in that adorable way that she did.
This lifetime ended here.
It had to.
Valt returned to the hospice room and said to Doan, “I have something I need to discuss with the queen. Do you know where she is?”
“She’s dead.”
The words echoed around the sparsely furnished room.
After a few moments of complete stupefaction, Valt asked, “She’s what? How?”
“There wasn’t much time to deliberate over what to do, and the damage had spread too far. Irityrdia’s power was only growing stronger. No one knew it was inside Tris. When she died, it was released, and the situation went completely out of control. Queen Tinasha had no choice but to use her own body as a vessel and hold Irityrdia in check so that Akashia could destroy it.”
There was not a trace of emotion in Doan’s words.
“So if you need to discuss something, go to the king. He should be in the chapel underground now.”
A chapel was built in a grove of trees behind the castle. Its subterranean level served as the royal mausoleum. The witch’s corpse, dressed in her wedding clothes, lay enshrined on the altar of a small sanctuary.
The king was standing next to it, staring at his wife’s lifeless body. One hand gently carded away the hair from her forehead, and he caressed her smooth cheeks. Valt noticed that the king’s fingers were trembling.
Without taking his eyes off Tinasha’s lifeless face, the king said, “I thought I was prepared for this, but it turns out I wasn’t.”
For three days, Irityrdia had laid waste to the city. In that time, nearly three hundred died. The storm that swept through all planes of existence in search of magical power rapidly became more powerful and untouchable…until the queen’s death brought the tragedy to a close.
“I knew she wouldn’t hesitate to give her life for her country. But for whatever reason, I always thought that only extended to Tuldarr.”
Tinasha had died to protect the country she’d married into.
As Akashia had plunged into her, she’d grabbed hold of it and wouldn’t allow Oscar to pull it out. That was how fierce her spirit was.
“No one was more careless with their life than she was. I’m going to do everything I can to honor her in return.”
“I’m sure…Queen Tinasha was fully aware of that.”
She had always been that sort of person.
No matter how many times history repeated, she always chose her king.
Oscar was the only one who knew what her life was worth, which was why she could relax and let herself love him.
The king turned his head to look at Valt, standing in the doorway. His twilight sky–blue eyes held naked remorse. “To be honest, I wanted to pull Akashia out. Even if by force.”
If the royal sword had shattered the core inside her, she might have been saved, and Irityrdia would still have been destroyed.
However, the entity had grown too large. Oscar and Tinasha had realized that when the core was shattered—and they made a decision.
The queen’s death meant the end for the part of Oscar that was just an ordinary man. He would live the rest of his life out of duty alone.
The young king looked down at his right hand. “This is the first time I’ve ever hated Akashia’s existence… And that stays between us.”
“Of course.”
For Oscar to bring that up must have meant he’d guessed why Valt was here.
Valt bowed low before his king. “It has not been very long, but I will be retiring from my post. I’m very sorry to leave at such a time.”
“That’s fine. I’m to blame for not preventing this, and I’ve done badly by you. I can’t apologize enough,” Oscar replied. Surely, he knew that Miralys was the first casualty. Valt was the one who let her soul slip away, however. Because he knew this whole time that a fate like this might have awaited her.
“I pray that you keep in good health. May we meet again in another era and in another way.”
“Yes,” Oscar said. “Indeed.”
Their reunion would be in another life. This would be the last occasion they were king and vassal.
Valt bowed low to Oscar with utter sincerity.
Before he left, Valt asked one thing that was on his mind. “If you could go back in time and do it over, what would you change?”
The king’s eyes widened a little. “I’m not sure. But…”
For the first time that day, Oscar gave a tight smile. “If it was only to save or help myself, I know I wouldn’t be able to go through with anything.”
Thus spoke a young man who was born and raised to be king.

Tinasha was dead.
That meant the Tuldarr treasure vault could no longer be opened, rendering the blue orb of Eleterria inaccessible.
He was seeking the red one, which had been missing for a long time. However, he could hazard a guess based on what he recalled of where it had been used in previous instances. Wandering through the depths of despair, he scoured the mainland for the artifact, following it from person to person.
Years passed in the blink of an eye.
“Somewhere in my mind, I knew that who you were in this lifetime is different from who you were before,” Valt muttered wryly, standing before the small grave where Miralys’s remains were interred. “But you are still you. The world will not diverge. No matter how many lifetimes repeat, you will be yourself, with the same soul.”
It was an unmarked gravestone in the woods. A great many white flowers he had planted bloomed around it. The unpretentious petals brought to mind a memory of Miralys, embarrassed with her arms full of blossoms.
Valt presented the gravestone with a little box. Inside it lay the red orb of Eleterria.
All of the myriad lifetimes he had experienced were the result of this little gem.
It was an artifact that offered unlimited attempts, overwriting the world that should be.
“I will find you again.”
Twenty-five years had passed since her death. Using the red half of Eleterria meant Valt would lose it. Still, he had to go back.
To start fresh and save her.
Valt opened the box and retrieved the item inside.
For the time it took for the world to be demolished and rebuilt anew, he thought only of his beloved wife.


Unnamed Memory, Vol. 6: Death of the Nameless Story

 6. Born as Irreplaceable Copies
“Valt, did you fell asleep?” someone asked, shaking his shoulder and jostling him awake from his position slumped over the table. The girl who roused him was gazing down with concern in her green eyes.
Her gaze finally brought him back to reality, and he reached out to stroke her soft cheek. “Morning.”
When Miralys heard that, she pursed her lips. “You dozed off, which must mean you’re exhausted. We should postpone things.”
“I’m perfectly fine. I was just having a little dream of a time long in the past,” he said before rising to his feet. He had only meant to contemplate a few things, but he must have drifted off, wasting precious time.
Still, what he’d dreamed of, that memory of the far distant past, was noteworthy. Those events no longer existed; no memory of them lingered anywhere.
Seeing them now must have carried some significance.
Valt observed the girl before him—her lustrous silver hair, her pale green eyes. In a few years, she would be a glamorous beauty. For the time being, she seemed the sort who counted on him.
He reached out and took this girl who was once his wife into his arms. “Miralys, thank you for everything you’ve done.”
“Where is this coming from? You are exhausted, aren’t you?”
“Never mind that, just let me say this. We’re at an important juncture.”
“Don’t make it sound like we’re going to be torn apart forever. Come on. Dinner is waiting,” she replied exasperatedly.
Valt’s eyes fell shut, and he smiled.
This did need to be said now. He hugged her tighter. “I love you. No matter the life or timeline, I’m always so happy with you.”
None of that was fabricated. It was a truth that wouldn’t change, regardless of how many traumas he suffered.
She had kept him going this entire time.
But this Miralys, who had no memory of any timeline but the present, only frowned. “Are you sure you phrased that right? Anyway, I don’t intend to leave you. What about dinner?”
“Right. Sorry.”
“You’re going to be here at the dining table with me, tomorrow and every day after that. Always.”
“Yes,” Valt responded, keeping his voice cheerful as he buried his face in her hair.
He wished that could be so.
One of their lives had been like that.
It had only happened once, but they’d enjoyed a peaceful existence growing old together until death had them part ways.
Once was enough. The love he’d known then was plenty.
He’d sat down at the dining table with her countless times. He’d been so happy, and at the same time, just as sad.
Amid all the lifetimes, so many it made his head spin, Valt could never return the love she constantly lavished on him. It was far too great.
So in exchange, he gave her something else—undeniable proof of his feelings, though that, too, would fade from her memory eventually.
Now he would take to the stage to bring this interminable comedy to a close.

The day dawned bright and sunny.
Oscar had come to Tuldarr via his personal transportation array. He gazed up at the sky from the passage leading to the cathedral. Clear water fell from a colonnade he spied in the distance, flowing into the gardens.
Farther back past that was the tower where the ruler dwelled…though Tinasha no longer lived there. She’d abdicated yesterday.
Today was Legis’s coronation.
In just half a year, the reins of the kingdom had traded hands. Two days after stepping down from the throne, the sovereign queen would become Oscar’s wife.
As Oscar reflected on the year that had passed so quickly, he mused that his younger self from before Tinasha would be stunned to see what had transpired. That version of himself believed that, curse or no curse, he would choose the safest possible option for his bride. That or he would marry no one at all and adopt an heir instead.
As he’d grown to understand her, he’d fallen in love.
She was reckless and unmanageable, and he knew freedom when he was with her.
That was something he would have never felt in his life had things progressed normally. Her somewhat clingy and entirely peerless love for him had opened a new door. It brought such tremendous joy that it felt like a miracle.
For that reason, he wanted to give her just as much freedom. Perhaps even more. Even if it took his whole life, he wouldn’t regret it.
“I thought that with so many ceremonies taking place day after day, some of the guests would go home, but the crowd hasn’t diminished,” Oscar remarked.
“Don’t tell me that’s why you put your wedding on the last day.” Doan hissed.
“That was just a coincidence,” Oscar replied. Naturally, he’d checked with Tuldarr’s schedule in advance, but he hadn’t selected a date hoping for a lower attendance. His only request was to make it as soon as possible after Tinasha’s abdication.
In return, both Tuldarr and Farsas were receiving and hosting guests who would be present at all the events. Once Legis’s coronation concluded, Tinasha planned to go to Farsas.
“You know, I haven’t seen her wedding gown yet. I’m really looking forward to it,” Oscar said to Doan.
“Really? That’s a surprise.”
“But I did have her dresses for all the other events made to my tastes.”
“There it is,” Doan quipped dryly, as he so often did. Oscar burst out laughing.
Until the day of Tinasha’s coronation, when she announced she would be abdicating, Oscar had never dreamed of such a future for himself. He’d decided to gift her a new gown every year, since he couldn’t spend his life with her. It made him starkly happy that they had wound up together after so many twists and turns.
That was why he had to carry out the duty he had assigned himself.
Pausing before the entrance to the cathedral, Oscar glanced at the royal sword belted at his waist. “I’m praying we keep making it out alive…”
He hoped they would eliminate all plots against them and never give enemies an opening. They would live together, and he would protect his country.

Clouds occasionally streamed past the blue sky out the window. It had to be windy higher up. Tinasha felt a curious longing for the past as she watched.
A door in the back of the room opened, and a young man in formal attire entered. She bowed to him. “All is secure, Your Majesty.”
“I’m not king yet,” answered the man she had called “Your Majesty” with an exasperated smile. At present, Tuldarr had no ruler.
The queen, who had abdicated the day before, flashed a mischievous grin and waved a hand dismissively at the soon-to-be-crowned ruler. “You may as well be. I believe the guests have all arrived.”
“I appreciate them for coming, but it does make me nervous to undergo a coronation ceremony before all the other nations,” Legis admitted.
“You’re lying to me. You’re not nervous at all, are you?”
“You can tell?” Legis said with a laugh, passing some papers to Tinasha.
Legis’s impending royal inauguration didn’t involve inheriting the mystical spirits, instead emphasizing integrity over formality. For the following six months, Tuldarr would remain a monarchy. After that came the shift to the two-pillar system of monarch and parliament.
Legis followed Tinasha’s gaze up to the sky. “I’m glad we have fine weather today. Everyone’s worked so hard to make this come together.”
“Had it been stormy, I would have changed the weather.”
Chuckling, Legis replied, “Spoken like a true spirit sorcerer.”
His placid gaze turned remote as he regarded the city streets in the distance. “I love this country. I am prepared to devote my entire life to it.”
His tone was full of conviction. Once Legis was king, he’d give all of himself to Tuldarr for as long as he reigned. Such was the path he’d chosen.
However, it would make his life a lonely one. Legis was prepared for that, though. As he had always done, he intended to listen to the opinions of those around him, entertain discussions, and pave the way for a new reign. That was how a king ought to live his life in this era.
Tinasha smiled at the young man who had inherited her country, four hundred years later. “I am sure you will be a much better ruler than I was.”
The praise came in a clear, ringing tone. Legis’s cheeks were pink as he grinned at her, but a serious look stole back over his face. “I am very glad that I was able to meet you. You’ve saved the country more times than I can count.”
“I feel like I’ve caused nothing but trouble for you over the past several months, though,” she answered, sighing.
Legis had helped Tinasha just as much. It was because of him that her reign was half as long as she’d originally planned. His assistance with royal duties had also permitted her to indulge in selfish things on occasion. None of that would have been possible in the Dark Age.
Safety for mages and peace for all citizens were not mutually exclusive, yet were rarely found together.
Moved almost to tears, Tinasha bowed to Legis. “I should be the one offering you my gratitude. You’ve taught me so much.”
“Not at all. I’ve learned from you. Come back and visit whenever you feel like it.”
“Now that you’ve offered, I definitely will. I know Oscar’s going to waste no time teasing me once we’re married.”
“Please do. I’ll keep your rooms open. You can confide in me anytime,” Legis assured her.
“I’ll admit to feeling hesitant about the prospect of wasting a king’s time with my personal gripes and grievances…”
After four centuries, Tinasha no longer had a home to go back to. Once she married into Farsas, she would have a new place as its queen consort. It meant the world to her that Legis and Tuldarr would still be a home for whenever she had trouble.