Chapter 03
There are five types of magic.
Broadly speaking, the five elements are Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and finally Nature.
Mages each learned and trained in the element that suited their aptitude, and their numbers rarely exceeded two.
Of course, if there was a connection between elementsālike Wind and Fireāone could train and learn two elements.
All elements except Nature had their uses.
Though there were slight differences, they were commonly used in everyday life. At the same time, they boasted overwhelming destructive power.
But Nature was different.
Water, Wind, and sunlight were enough to grow plants. Fire and Earth were more than sufficient to warmly embrace people.
That was why very few learned Nature. At most, it was merely a hobby for mages who majored in other elements.
However, Preldin was different.
The archmage of natural element magic recorded by the century.
The one and only archmage who was first unanimously recognized by the Five Colored Ivory Towers.
That was Preldin Jonas.
– [Excerpt from “Preldin, the Eccentric Recorded by History”]
—
Where should I go now?
I stood still at the castle entrance and thought for a moment.
Actually, I hadn’t considered any other alternatives because I believed they would accept me here. That was only natural, since Dad had said all I needed was this, so there was no reason to doubt him.
But I was rejected.
“…How am I supposed to prove I’m Dad’s daughter?”
If only I could convey my memories. But such high-difficulty magic was still beyond my ability.
I pouted my lips and placed the ring hanging from my neck onto my palm.
‘…Dad.’
My father’s final face, as he threw himself to protect me, came to mind. It was only five days ago.
As I recalled that day’s events, I gripped my forearm as if I could feel the burning heat again.
‘The Fire Demon’s Curse…’
The curse said to be wielded only by high-ranking pyromancers was generally incurable.
With the pharmaceutical knowledge I’d learned from Dad, I was stopping the curse from spreading through my body, but I needed the help of a mage who could handle rare herbs and the Water element.
‘First, I need to treat this…’
While I was pondering, my backpack stirred.
The mandrake I had placed in a box in case it caused a fuss when I went to see the Duke of Hyderic seemed to have woken from its sleep.
“Wait, I’ll get you out soon.”
I muttered quietly, slung the backpack back on, and started walking.
“Wait.”
That was when I heard a familiar voice from behind.
I turned my head and saw Vale in front of me. He was slightly out of breath, as if he had run over.
I quickly pulled my arm in to hide the backpack and looked at him with wary eyes.
“Why? Are you going to lock me up?”
I recalled what he had said earlierāthat impersonating a family member carried a minimum sentence of ten years.
Surely he wasn’t going to lock me up now, after telling me to leave?
As I frowned and stayed on guard, Vale approached me with a brief shake of his head.
“Truly, truly, do you have no way to prove you’re Preldin’s daughter?”
“You keep telling me to prove it, but how am I supposed to prove I’m my dad’s daughter? I showed you the ring Dad left me, and also… Ah!”
I let out a small exclamation as I continued speaking.
Come to think of it… I rummaged through the coat I was wearing, opened my backpack, and pulled out a crumpled bundle of paper.
“There’s a letter from Dad!”
“……”
“Here. Look at it.”
I approached and held out the crumpled letter. Vale stared at me for a moment, then sighed and took the letter.
He quickly unfolded it, checked the contents, and looked at me.
“…If you had such a letter, you should have said so earlier.”
“I forgot. I’m eight years old, you know?”
“There are things to forget and things not to… this isā”
Vale, who had been scolding me, stopped mid-sentence as if dumbfounded, and then chuckled.
“Your name was Ilenia, was it?”
“I’ve told you my name three times already and you can’t remember. Idiot.”
“…This is the second time I’ve heard your name.”
“Is that so?”
I tilted my head and Vale sighed.
“Let’s go inside first.”
“Does that mean you believe I’m Dad’s daughter?”
My eyes widened in surprise. Vale extended his hand toward me.
A hand held out without a word.
‘…Can I take it?’
The people who attacked our house and hurt Dad were also adults. People of unknown identity.
Dad told me to come here, but the way these people treated me from the start wasn’t friendly. So it was only natural to be wary.
But.
‘I’m tired now…’
I had walked without rest for five days and slept outdoors. I had come here crying, clutching my burning arm.
To survive. To take revenge on those who attacked our house and to find my father.
That was why I carefully placed my hand on the last strand of hope remaining.
“But Dad said that a man doesn’t say two things with one mouth. Are you perhaps a woman?”
“…You’re a child refreshingly free of prejudice.”
A sigh fell heavily from above my head at my innocent question.
Was that a question I shouldn’t have asked? But what could I do?
My academic curiosity was irrepressible.
—
Perhaps word had been sent ahead, but a room had already been prepared for me, and I unpacked. It was surprisingly quite a nice room, so I was amazed.
“This room is as big as our house’s living room.”
I muttered quietly, then suddenly felt sad as I remembered that our house had burned down.
So much so that I unconsciously pouted my lips.
“Is Dad safe…?”
Father had been attacked by the enemies while making sure I could escape.
It would have been nice to escape together, but Dad ran in the opposite direction to act as a decoyāthat was the last image I saw of him.
*Clatter- clatter-!!*
“Ah!”
As I recalled memories from five days ago, a wooden knocking sound came from my backpack. With a gasp, I took out a box from the backpack and opened it.
“Pipi–!!”
The moment I opened it, the mandrake popped out with a discontented cry and started shouting.
As it patted my cheeks with its leaves, I giggled and tickled its root part.
“Sorry, sorry. Something suddenly came up and I forgot. I won’t do it again.”
“Pi!”
The mandrake, who I had no idea how it made sound without a mouth, turned its body away in a huff as if sulking.
Is it really mad? Well, I did say I’d put it in there for just a moment, and it was trapped for two hours, so it’s understandable.
After a moment’s thought, I moved my fingers. Green energy scattered like powder and fell onto the mandrake.
“Pi? Pipipi-”
The mandrake, which had been turning away in a sulk, wobbled at the light, then soon ran around excitedly.
“You’ll forgive me now, right?”
“Pipi-!”
It tapped my waist with its branch and gave a single nod, so I grinned.
*Knock knock-*
“Miss. The lord is calling for you.”
At the knock from outside the door, I answered shortly, “Yes!” and then showed my palm to the mandrake.
After it naturally climbed onto my palm, up my arm, and settled on my shoulder, I opened the door with the mandrake.
Outside the door was an old man with completely white hair. He was wearing different attire from the men I’d seen walking through the hallways.
“That is…”
“He’s my friend. His name is Manduk.”
“…Excuse me?”
The old man, who had been blinking at my explanation, questioned me, then with an “Ah!” and a smile, he said,
“I apologize. That was my mistake. I am Lukeman. The head butler of this castle.”
“Nice to meet you, Lukeman. I’m Ilenia.”
“It’s an honor to meet you. More importantly, the lord asked me to bring you, so shall we go?”
I nodded, and Lukeman smiled and took the lead. I followed him and looked around.
From afar, it was a huge castle, but I hadn’t gotten the impression that they were particularly wealthy. But the reception room earlier was the same, and the hallways were too.
‘Does gold come out like water here? There’s gold everywhere.’
Even the simple furniture hanging on the walls was top-quality and embedded with gold.
How much money do they have? Every time I asked about Hyderic on my way here, the description that followed was ‘the wealthy duke.’
Nobles were generally wealthy, but if even they called him wealthy, I couldn’t fathom how much he had.
‘But what is Dad’s connection to this place?’
I had never heard about my birth, and Dad had never talked about the past.
Naturally, even during our escape, there was no situation where he could talk about this place.
So I had vaguely guessed that he was a friend or a distant relative of the duke here.
“This is it. I’ll wait outside, so you can come out after your conversation is over.”
“Thank you.”
I bowed my head and opened the door to enter. The place was similar to the previous reception room, yet quite different.
“Come in.”
There was Vale in that space.
“Where is this?”
“It’s the sunroom.”
It was a space I’d never heard of, but I nodded, thinking it must be one of those things that exist.
Vale chuckled as he stared at me and pointed to the chair in front of him.
As I sat down on the opposite seat, Vale’s gaze, which had been staring at me, landed on my shoulder.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, this? It’s a mandrake. His name is Manduk.”
“…Manduk?”
“Yes. Cute, right?”
“Piiii-!”
As it proudly trembled its leaves, Vale’s eyes narrowed.
“I heard that if you make medicine from mandrake, it’s effective enough to be called a panacea…”
“What’s with that look in your eyes? You’re not thinking of using my Manduk as that kind of ingredient, are you?”
“Pi- Pi! Pi- Pi!”
I hurriedly hugged Manduk to my chest. Manduk also raised its voice vigorously while in my arms. Vale, watching us intently, chuckled and then sighed.
“If you have such things, can’t you show them a little earlier? If you had, you wouldn’t have needed to be kicked out due to unnecessary misunderstanding like earlier, right?”
“…Misunderstanding?”
“I told you earlier. That there were quite a few people who came claiming to be Preldin’s descendants. All of them came seeking money or power.”
“Ah, so that’s why you suspected me and kicked me out.”
“I thought that if you were Preldin’s descendant, you would have some means to prove yourself. And you had all of them. The letter, the mandrake hanging on your shoulder, and the natural element magic you naturally displayed.”
Vale rested his chin on his hand as he looked at me.
“Is that magic something Preldin taught you?”
“More or less.”
I nodded, and Vale stared at me intently. Why? As I blinked in curiosity, Vale rested his chin on his hand.
“Are you always that calm? All the eight-year-olds I know are scattered and seem like they’re out of their minds.”
“Oh, this? It’s because my mental age is higher than my peers.”
“What?”
“It’s not bragging, but Dad said so. He said I seem about five years older. So even though I’m eight, it means I’m about thirteen!”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yes!”
As I confidently puffed out my chest, Vale chuckled. Then he sighed.
“But aren’t you upset? You were suspected and kicked out.”
“Honestly, I was a little upset, but now I’m grateful. I was a bit angry when you kicked me out because you didn’t believe me, but anyway, you accepted me in the end. Besides, the reason you kicked me out was actually reasonable, so it’s not like I don’t understand. As the head of the family, you had to be cautious. I understand.”
“Thoughtful for your age. However, it was my mistake, so I apologize.”
As he bowed his head politely, I raised my eyebrows. He was someone who knew how to apologize pretty normally, after all.
Thinking it was unexpected, a question suddenly came to mind and I adjusted my posture slightly.
“Excuse me, but can I ask you one thing?”
“Feel free.”
“Is my father perhaps a member of this family?”
“Did you not know? Ilenia. Your father Preldin was a member of the House of Hyderic. Moreover, he was the uncle of my grandfather, the previous previous duke.”
“Oh, is that so? I thought my father was sending me to a friend… Um, the previous previous duke’s uncle…”
“You can think of him as my grandfather’s uncle.”
He kindly explained the wording for me in case I didn’t understand, and I smiled brightly at him as a sign of gratitude.
“……”
“……”
After the conversation ended, silence enveloped us for a moment.
We both kept our mouths shut for a while as if thinking about something, and when those thoughts endedā
“Ah, great-grandfather?”
My mouth opened as my calculation ended, and along with it, Vale’s face was tinged with bewilderment.
“Hmph hmph-”
“…What’s that laugh?”
“Nothing… great-grandfather…”
At my laughter, Vale rolled his eyes ominously and narrowed his brows. I slowly leaned back in my chair.
In contrast, Vale straightened his back, moving away from his chair.
“So, to put it another way, I am…”
Unable to continue speaking, Vale frowned and looked at me. Unable to hold back my laughter, I beamed.
“Oh ho ho… I… no, I guess that makes me your grandmother?”
“……”
Unable to hold back, Vale eventually closed both eyes tightly.
“…Yes, that’s correct. Grandaunt.”
It was the moment when our positions reversed 180 degrees in an instant.
