There were several things to be grateful for.
First, a shelter for the villagers had been found without delay.
Apparently, there was a manor belonging to a noble of the Trackia faction not far from the village. They said that if Katia's name was dropped, she wouldn't be mistreated. For the time being, they would seek refuge there, and leave the rest to that noble and Yurugen.
And—not a single villager blamed Katia.
They understood perfectly well that the real culprit was Aster, which had burned the village to the ground for unjust reasons.
Even so, she was still one of the causes, so he had half-expected some resentment—but there was none. They truly were astonishingly good people.
...But.
The guilt she carried in her own heart was another matter entirely, beyond anyone's reach.
"..."
Separated from the villagers, Katia had returned to the campsite and now sat hunched before the campfire, hugging her knees with a dark, gloomy expression.
Because of her, they had all been dragged into this.
The villagers at least didn't show it on the surface, and besides, it was Ermes who had suggested stopping at that village in the first place.
But she was the kind of person who carried an unshakable sense of responsibility.
Telling her the truth about what had happened would surely do nothing to ease the pain in her heart. That was Katia's greatest virtue, but right now it only made her look all the more pitiful.
That was why he wanted to ask.
How had this girl come to care so deeply about what it meant to be noble? It was a question he'd never had the chance to ask before—one he had more or less avoided asking, even when the opportunity arose.
And Katia, after a while, whispered softly, almost to herself.
"...I wanted to become like my mother."
A sentence with the same beginning as the words he had heard yesterday inside the Prison—yet this time, just a little more detailed. The original landscape of her heart.
She began to speak, slowly.
◆
"...I see."
He grasped the broad strokes of it.
In the hazy memories of Ermes's early childhood, Katia's mother appeared more than once.
He couldn't recall the finer details, but the impression remained—that she had been an extraordinarily kind woman, and that Katia had adored her deeply.
Her mother had faced a Monster and lost her life. It was because that image was burned into her soul that Katia resolved to live as a proud noble.
No—she had no choice but to do so.
The sudden death of a mother she had loved so dearly was far too painful for the young girl to bear.
And so she had aimed to become the same kind of person as her mother, attempting to internalize her mother's way of being as her own, in order to endure the grief.
By chasing the lingering shadow of her mother, she had tried to fill the hole that had opened in her heart.
Surely that hole still showed no sign of being filled. That was why she had clung so desperately to that image.
Ermes understood this. And only after confirming that he had truly understood—
She told him, her face on the verge of tears.
"But, you know... I'm just—tired now."
"!"
"It was so hard. No matter how hard I tried, nothing ever came of it, and nobody ever acknowledged me. Everything I did was thrown away, and everything about me was denied on the basis of magic alone. ...Even so, I kept telling myself that Mother would never have given up, and I endured and endured and tried again."
"..."
"And then you came, and you gave me the one thing I wanted most. I thought, finally, it would be worth it. I thought, finally, I could become who I wanted to be—but!!"
Sobs rang out.
"What I've been doing has been the exact opposite of what I believed in! If I had just left everything to Your Highness, this country would be running smoothly—the one causing chaos is me!"
"...That... is..."
"My selfishness wore Father out, and because I dragged her into it, Sarah got seriously hurt! And this time it's the same! The country is shaking, and I've heard that's causing Monsters to activate all over the place. Right now, at this very moment, a powerful Monster could appear somewhere and steal people's lives. All of this, every last bit of it... is because of me!"
I thought she was overthinking things.
But saying so wouldn't offer any comfort. That very way of thinking was the chief reason for her anguish.
"The harder I try, the further I drift from my ideal—no, I end up heading in the completely opposite direction. So, the only thing I can do for this country now... is to die, right here, right now!"
"—"
"...But I can't. I don't want to die... I..."
Had she calmed down, or had she simply grown tired of grieving?
Katya took a breath and spoke in the same quiet tone as when she had started.
"...Can I say something really selfish?"
I nodded and urged her to continue. She let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"I keep thinking it would be fine if things just stayed this way."
"Huh?"
"Just like this—just the two of us, throwing everything away and going somewhere far off. Life might be more inconvenient than it is now, but with you, I feel like we could manage anywhere. It would be fun no matter where we ended up—"
"..."
"—And I hate myself for thinking things like that."
Her face twisted in self-loathing, in anguish.
"I'm sick of it. Sick of the me who tries to bind you with my own selfishness. Sick of the me who clings to Mother's memory, only to realize I can never reach her. And yet I can't give up the wish, and chasing after it is painful, and I'm exhausted... I'm starting to hate Mother—the person I used to love so much! I don't know what's right anymore, or what I should do..."
...She really didn't know, just as she said.
Caught between ideals and reality. A heart that longed for escape after growing weary of the pursuit.
Ermes did not think to deny her of that.
What she wished for was her right. Whatever she chose to set as her desire, he would affirm it—
—that was what he had intended.
"...I don't want that."
But.
What tumbled from Ermes's lips were these words.
"...Huh?"
"I want you—to keep chasing. I want you to remain true to what you once held dear."
Her eyes widened.
Perhaps what she had hoped to hear from Ermes was the very opposite of this.
"...Why... why would you say something so cruel..."
"Cruel... yes. ...You're right. I'm saying something terribly cruel right now, aren't I?"
Chasing after a dream. Moving toward a wish.
The words sounded sweet enough, but when you lacked the strength to see them through, that journey became hell itself.
He understood that, and yet he said it anyway.
Using his own convenience to twist another person's heart.
That was, in a sense, the very act he despised in Aster. It was why Ermes had stubbornly avoided it until now—why he had gone to extremes in respecting others' wills. He had considered it the height of arrogance to do otherwise while still learning to understand their feelings.
But for the first time now,
before Ermes, there was a feeling he wanted to protect, even if it meant defying his own principles.
Therefore, he would follow his own heart.
Now ——
He would cast her
Into hell
.
For starters, first he —
"Cati. You underestimate the power of the human heart."
He told her in the same tone he had once used with Sara.
"What are you suddenly—"
"It is human feelings that nurture people, that drive the world forward — and even magic itself was born from feelings."
"!"
But this time was different from before.
Not just words — he would need to provide proper proof.
Then let him use it.
A magic his master had forbidden him from using. But — one he had been told he could use, if he truly needed it.
Now was the time. The first Bloodline Magic he had succeeded in reproducing — he would show it to her.
Besides, now was the perfect timing.
'
Primal Inscription
' he activated it, drew a breath, and began the Chant.
"[I define wings — to the unseen giant, the yoke of wisdom
Cast it off
unto the very edge of the world!]"
Once again startled by an unfamiliar Chant, she watched as he extended his hand toward her.
She tilted her head but took his hand all the same, and he smiled at her as he spoke the name of the spell.
"Technique Replay — '
Seamless Great Eagle
'"
"Wha—!?"
It was no wonder Katya was startled.
After all, their bodies had suddenly and gently begun to float upward.
They continued rising without pause, climbing ever higher until they surpassed the treetops — and still they kept ascending.
"El!? What is this!?"
"'
Seamless Great Eagle
'. As you can see,
it's a Bloodline Magic
that lets you fly through the sky."
"Fly through the — sky!? Wait, could it be —!"
She had surely realized it by now.
The reason Ermes had been forbidden by his master from using this magic. It was simple and clear — one use would immediately reveal his master's true identity.
That magic, which had become so famous it served as the very synonym for who she was,
"Yes. My master is none other than the 'Sky Witch,' Rose."
He declared.
"Otherwise known as Roselia Kirsch von Yustia. A former Third Princess of the royal family, and the most powerful magic user in history — the legendary wielder of Triple Aptitude. She was so far beyond the norm that she was cast out of the Royal Capital because of it. But to me, she is the magic user I respect most in the entire world."