4 – Abduction

“I will leave tomorrow morning. I’m not sure when I’ll come back again after that. Maybe we’ll see in a few years. In a few years you won’t be here either… … .”

“yes.”

“Can you come over to say goodbye at dawn?”

“… … no.”

We couldn’t communicate like before, but we were also childhood friends who had been together for a long time. But I couldn’t say goodbye prepared. I didn’t want to drag myself in front of the ugly last road.

Lisa bowed her head. The moonlight was obscured by clouds, and it became dark for a moment. I couldn’t tell what kind of expression Liza was making.

“… … yes. I’ll go in first. Then, goodbye here.”

“yes… . Goodbye, Lisa.”

“you also. You must be healthy. I hope to see you again someday.”

“yes. Stay healthy too.”

Liza returned to the temple first. She will understand. I needed time alone to sort out my feelings.

I stayed alone and finished walking the promenade I used to walk with Liza when I was a child. Then we stopped at the edge of a pond illuminated by the moonlight. And he sat down on the rock where he stayed with Liza when he was young.

I looked around. There was no place where the memories of Liza were not buried.

I sat there and cried for a couple of hours.

The time I was allowed with Liza was up to this point. In front of it, I was blocked by a huge wall that I could not do anything about.

The reason Liza and I were able to become so close is because we grew up together in a special space called an orphanage where differences in abilities and social status could be ignored. It wasn’t because I was special or because Liza and I were linked by fate. It’s just luck, and that luck is over now.

I took out the necklace I had made for Liza from my pocket. He remembered that there was already a necklace with a valuable jewel on Liza’s neck. This meant nothing now.

I closed my eyes and dropped the necklace into the pond.

my love ended like that

***

After breaking up with Liza, I focused on learning the job. That was the only thing I could do in frustration.

One day, a jeweler who runs a large store showed interest in the accessories I made.

“I don’t think the crafting technique is far behind other artisans. Could you make something every week and bring it to our store?”

As my skills were recognized and I signed a contract and sold a few pieces, the number of people looking for my products gradually increased. Before I knew it, I earned enough income to live alone, and in the summer of 16, I left the Lorail Building and became independent.

There were also unexpected encounters after independence.

It was when I stopped by the jewelry store to deliver the goods. In the store, a married couple, a male aristocrat with a belly and a lady with arms crossed with him, were looking at the goods.

When I saw the couple, I was hardened to stone. The woman with arms crossed with the pear-shaped aristocrat was my mother. It was the first time I had seen it in 8 years, but I recognized it at once. It was just as I remembered it. But my mother didn’t seem to know who I was.

Mother called someone’s name outside the store. Then two children who looked to be about five or six years old ran into the store. The couple hugged each child and looked at the jewelry.

My mother was starting a new family and living.

I stared blankly at it and then left the place.

For a while, I was stuck in a place where there were no people, and I got my emotions under control. It was accepted a long time ago and it’s all in the past. He said he had no relationship now.

What can I do? This was the life I was given.

If eight years had passed and he ran into Liza, would he be able to accept it calmly? This question remained like an afterimage and disturbed my mind.

On days when I had free time, I occasionally went to the Temple of Achates. Other orphans my age also left the temple to find their own way to live. I sat in the empty chapel and thought about the life and destiny that had been given to me.

Everyone in the world dreams of a wonderful and brilliant life, but not everyone can be like that. Not everyone could become a king, not everyone could become a knight commander, a great wizard, or a hero.

Some have to be nuns, some have to be prostitutes. Someone has to pull the wagon and tend the garden. Someone has to work the metal. In order for the world to run smoothly, someone has to become a tiny cog and engage the world even if it is crushed under pressure.

Goddess Acates saved me twice. Once, he took me before I died of starvation after losing my mother, and twice, he saved me, who had my stomach pierced in a race. Where is the goddess willing to go through such trouble to use me?

I couldn’t easily affirm my future.

Perhaps it was Liza who was chosen by God, and I was just a consumable to decorate Liza’s childhood.

After independence, I rented a place a little away from the studio and lived there. The floor creaked so much that it hurt my ears, the windows didn’t open well, and it was an old house with rats crawling on the ceiling every night.

When I lay in bed, I had a lot of thoughts, so I couldn’t fall asleep easily.

When I couldn’t sleep, thoughts of Liza popped into my head. What kind of classes did Liza take and who did she meet? How are they adapting to Eternia Academy, which is a gathering place of geniuses from all over the country?

After that, I made up my mind and tried to erase Liza from my mind.

My metalworking skills are improving day by day. The craftsman who taught me saw my work and smiled dejectedly, urging me to do it in moderation now.

Even so, he did not stop and stayed alone in the workshop at night to learn handicraft techniques.

***

It was midsummer, so it was quite hot even after the sun went down. I was still alone in the workshop, working. I checked the calendar. A year had passed since the day Lisa and I went to find the star fragment. I looked back on that moment and fell in sentiment.

A bright light suddenly poured through the darkened window. It was strange. I stuck my face out the window and looked around. The world was bright as if the sun had risen again.

Did I not even know the morning was coming because I was so preoccupied with my work?

No, it can’t be. Time was too short for that. The clock in the studio was just past 12.

I didn’t even know if there was a fire. I hurriedly packed my things and left the studio.

Standing on a city street, I looked around. There were no red flames or dark smoke anywhere. Only then did I raise my head, realizing that an intense light from the sky was illuminating the ground.

A huge meteor was flying across the sky. The meteor emitted a dazzling and brilliant light with a long tail.

Her mouth dropped open in admiration at that intense and beautiful figure.

The meteor rushed into the northwestern sky and soon disappeared.

The memory of going to find a piece of the star with Liza passed by like a kaleidoscope. At the same time, as if the gravity of the earth pulled the pieces of that star, an indescribably strong gravitation pulled me to the place where the star flew away.

As if possessed by something, I visited the prostitutes who guarded the streets at night, the drunkards in taverns, and the city guards, asking them.

“Did you just see a meteor pass by?”

They all treated me like a freak. I was the only one who saw a meteor in this city.

I wasn’t sure if this was a revelation from heaven or if I had gone mad and had seen something wrong. However, once I saw it like this, I couldn’t go back to my normal life.

I ran to the house as if being chased and packed my clothes. I came out with the money I had saved up and a dagger I had prepared in case a thief came in.

Before dawn, I left the city and set out on a journey to find the Star Fragment again. A meaningless death might be waiting at the end of this reckless journey, but I didn’t hesitate at all.

***

Silverine soaked in the bathtub, flicked the foam with her fingers, and wrinkled her brow. She turned and looked at the window. For through the wide-open window she heard the sound of horseshoes heading toward her mansion.

Silverin, who was having a good time after a long time, shook her head.

Soon after, she got out of the bathtub, dried her hair roughly with a towel, and put on a gown.

When she left the bathroom, the maid was waiting for her.

“A messenger from the society came and delivered some letters and left.”

“Why are you sending messengers without using stitches?”

Stitch was a magical tool with wings attached to a small, round metal sphere. For wizards, it was widely used as a substitute for a pretext.

“The messenger said, the dean did not use the magic tool because it was an important matter.”

“Uselessly careful… What are the old friends?”

She glanced at the letters on the silver tray and motioned for the maid to leave. After the maid greeted her lightly and left, Silverin picked up the letter and came out to the terrace. Then I sat cross-legged in an armchair and studied the correspondence.

A total of five letters were sent to her. The three contained trivial regards and requests. She threw all three pages on the table without even reading them.

The remaining two were letters from the dean of the academy’s magic department and a student who had graduated from the academy.

Silverin broke the seal on the letter from the dean first.

It was written to prepare to return to the academy next semester in order to complete the entrance exam and academic schedule.

There was also a subdued expression of pressure for not using the ‘recommendation letter’ system, which is the tradition of Eternia Academy professors.

Eternia’s professors had other duties besides teaching and research, and that was to discover hidden talents in the world.

This was a duty based on the academy’s founding philosophy of Bern Arnst, the founder of Eternia.

Bern Arnst faced countless times that unsalted geniuses grew up in a terrible environment and became evil and were destroyed, and he founded Eternia to prevent this.

Today, after hundreds of years, the meaning has faded somewhat, but Eternia’s founding ideology of Article 1, Paragraph 1 is still firmly ‘Lead the talents of the world to the bright.’

It was the ‘letter of recommendation’ system that granted special admission to exceptional talents in accordance with Article 1, Paragraph 1 of the Founding Philosophy.

Even after becoming a full professor, Silverin had never discovered talent and brought it to the academy.

Silverin also benefited from this ‘letter of recommendation’ system and entered Eternia. However, because of the cases in which some professors misused recommendation letters as a tool for ‘solicitation’ of nobles for their own comfort and benefit, they had antipathy against this system.

“What can I do when there is no one who has sex?”

Silverin threw the dean’s letter on the table and listened to the student’s letter. After graduation, the student who sent the letter was working as a researcher at the Magic Society under the guidance of Silverin.

It was somewhat strange that it was sealed with magic that could not be broken unless it was the recipient. Magic seals are only used for confidential information.

She broke the seal and checked the contents.

It contained information that a large-scale magical explosion was detected in the Roin Basin, known as an unexplored area near the Palangka Mountains in the northwestern part of the continent.

The Roin Basin was a dangerous zone closely watched by the Society. It is a place called the ‘Land of the Dead’, infested with the so-called undead and monsters.

After reading through and checking the last sentence, Silverin closed her eyes and supported her tilting head with the tips of her fingers.

‘Judging by the location of the occurrence, it is likely to be a sign of large-scale black magic.’

I felt like I was going to get a headache.

Because these three letters of ‘black magic’ meant that all the rest of the vacation was blown away.