"Are you truly going?"
Five years had passed since Ermes became Rose's apprentice.
Deep within an uninhabited forest far from the Royal Capital, the voice that rang out belonged to his master, Rose.
Her appearance was unchanged from the day they had first met. Her youthful beauty and perfectly proportioned figure had shown not the slightest sign of alteration during all the years they had lived together.
He did not, in truth, know his master's age. He had a rough idea, but because her appearance so thoroughly defied that estimate, he himself remained half in doubt.
To the solemn question posed by his master — still so full of mystery even after five years — the boy gave his answer.
"...Yes. I'm returning to the Royal Capital."
The boy himself, Ermes, had naturally undergone a great deal of change over those five years.
He was fifteen now. His build was perhaps a touch unremarkable compared to ordinary boys his age, but his frame had grown sturdy. His features still bore a trace of that former gentleness, though the timidity that had once defined him had been tempered away.
And then there was his demeanor. This, conversely, had become more mature than his years would suggest — calm, settled.
Ermes, with the light of resolution burning steady in his jade-green eyes, declared without wavering.
"So that I haven't wasted everything my master taught me. So that I can reclaim what I once lost. And — to find 'my own magic.' I need to see every kind of magic the Royal Capital has to offer. Most of all, it's what I want to do."
"...I see."
Rose received his resolute words, then looked down, as though mulling something over.
Before long, her body began to tremble —
"......I knew it — I don't want you to goooooo!"
With every ounce of her strength, she threw herself at him.
Without a shred of shame or dignity, clinging to him as though she would never let go, voice trembling, tears streaming.
To put it bluntly, it was so pathetic that the solemn atmosphere from moments before was utterly obliterated.
"Hey, Erm! Won't you reconsider?! I don't think I can stand being apart from you again!"
"Um, well... It was you who originally suggested I return to the Royal Capital, wasn't it?"
"I know that, but! You might not realize it, but my life before you came was absolutely miserable, you know?!"
"Y-Yes, I know. After all, the person who probably fixed that miserable life was me."
His master, Rose, was without exaggeration a truly magnificent mage.
...No, let me rephrase that.
As a mage,
she was without exaggeration a truly wonderful person. Over the past five years, he had learned a vast amount of knowledge and technique from her.
But to put it bluntly, beyond that, Rose was a spectacularly hopeless human being.
Disordered daily habits and poor self-care were the norm. Her room was a perpetual mess — the very concept of tidying up simply did not occur to her.
She would neglect even changing clothes and doing laundry, and when magical research was going well, she would skip even bathing. "Magic keeps me clean, so it's fine, right?" she would whine, and he had lost count of the times he had forcibly shoved his protesting master into the bathtub.
Young as he was, Ermes understood that accommodating this master's lifestyle was far from ideal, and so he had steeled his resolve: the personal care that others had been handling for him up until now, he would take on himself for Rose.
And so, for five years between training sessions, he threw himself into household chores he had never done before, and into learning his master's preferences in cooking.
He had improved to the point where he could take justifiable pride in being at least passable, while his master, for her part —
"I can't — I can't live without you anymore!"
— had evolved from a merely hopeless person into someone who was utterly helpless without Ermes.
Back when they had first met, she had really seemed like such a cool person, Ermes mused with a twinge of nostalgia even as he tried to soothe his clinging master.
"...Um, Master. When you try to stop me this desperately, it actually makes it harder for me to leave..."
"Ugh, that's the hardest thing to hear...!"
She was probably aware that she was the one being unreasonable.
She loosened her embrace slightly, though she remained close, and spoke with lingering reluctance.
"But still... I won't get to eat Erm's cooking much anymore, and I won't be able to stroke your head, or hold you tight, or sleep next to you anymore... I'll be lonely."
"L-Later parts of that are getting a bit embarrassing, so I'd prefer you didn't do them, even if you're right here."
Fortunately, Rose cherished him not only in matters of magic.
As she said, there had indeed been times when she spoiled him beyond what he could have imagined, and from the onset of puberty, the excessive physical affection from this older beauty had been a source of considerable embarrassment.
But all of that, included, she had truly taken care of him. He could never thank her enough.
"As for meals, I've left several recipes that even you can make easily, Master. I've automated the housework where magic allows, and I intend to come back as often as I can, so —"
"Oh, why do you have to be so brave and sweet and wonderful! If only you were a little hateful, I could happily throw you out! But I don't want to see an Erm like that either! What am I supposed to do...!"
"Master, I think it would be best to calm down first..."
After that, Rose continued to make a fuss and try to keep him, but before long she seemed to finally settle down.
"...I know. It's your departure as a disciple, after all..."
She pulled away and murmured softly, then showed him her serious face — the face of a mage.
"Erm, I'm sure you understand, but what I've taught you over these five years is nothing more than 'seeds.'"
"Yes."
"What kind of magic you learn from here, what kind of magic you bring into bloom — that choice is yours alone. To do that, it's best to see as much superior magic as possible — Bloodline Magic, in particular."
That was why he was heading to the Royal Capital. Proximity to the many nobles who possessed outstanding Bloodline Magic would advance his magical training.
Indeed, it had been Rose herself who proposed this to Ermes just a few days ago.
"But if it's merely a matter of seeing Bloodline Magic, the Royal Capital isn't the only path. There's plenty we could still do here."
"That's... true."
"Besides, the Royal Capital is, frankly speaking, a terrible place. It's a gathering of the lazy and the spiteful — people who wallow in what they were given from birth and never bother to think for themselves. I'm sure you'll end up seeing things you'd rather not."
Even so, Rose posed the question once more.
"Even knowing that, will you go?"
His answer, as before, was without hesitation.
"Yes, I'll go. It's in the Royal Capital that I have things I want to do."
That place held where he had once lived as a noble. There were hardly any good memories, but still — there was a small part of him that could not quite let go.
He wanted to see with his own eyes what had become of the people who had once been part of his life.
Most of all, there was something he had lost there, and he wanted to reclaim it for the sake of his own magic.
...And if he could.
Just as Rose had once rescued him from rock bottom, he wanted to show a new path to those who were struggling with magic.
He believed that was surely the way to be the great mage he had once admired — and still admired.
"...Very well."
Having received his answer, she murmured as well.
She embraced him tightly once more — and then, this time, broke into a radiant smile.
"Then go! Head to the Royal Capital and make a real splash! Show those people who once discarded you as incompetent just how strong you've become!"
"—! Yes!"
At last, his master was pushing him forward.
With a heart free of worry, he broke into a run. His destination was the exit of the forest, and beyond it — the place he had once been driven out from.
"I love you, my disciple ──────!"
His master's bright, beautiful voice echoed through the forest for what seemed like an eternity.
◆
Several days later — the very day Ermes arrived in the Royal Capital.
In the outskirts of the Royal Capital, down a deserted alley.
"Hah — hah —"
A girl's ragged breathing echoed through the space.
She was running desperately. As if rushing toward something... or perhaps, fleeing from something.
As if to confirm this, a voice echoed from behind her.
"Ahahahahaha! It's useless! You can't escape from me!"
Hearing the voice, the girl realized she hadn't shaken her pursuer in the slightest, and drove even more power into her legs.
But her exhausted body could not produce any more speed, and before she knew it, the voice echoed again — closer than before.
"Wouldn't it be better to give up this pointless resistance — Lady Katia!"
"!"
Realizing she could not escape, yet unable to stop her feet —
"Why —"
The girl — Katia von Trackia — let the words spill out in anguish.
"Why are you doing this, Your Highness Aster!"
At a timing that could only be described as fate's cruelest joke,
an old grudge from the past was bearing down upon Ermes.