"Lord Bartholomew, Lady Isolde!"
The man leading the others, the same one who gave us the seal, was the first to call out to us once we entered the barrier. His name was Markus.
"Markus, take Aldric and start preparing our tents and a fire. We're stopping here for today."
He seemed pretty concerned, but it wasn't surprising. I doubt dad bothered explaining anything honestly. He probably just grabbed mom, a blanket and ran after me. Markus seemed hesitant for a moment, but it seems like he understood the gist of it after carefully seeing the girl that mom was holding.
"I understand."
"We'll explain everything soon, but right now we have to make sure she's alright. Now go."
"Yes, Sir."
The barrier sprung about 10 meters or so? Maybe closer to 15 in all directions. It was a circular one as usual, so it was fairly large. The carriages were at the center of it. Markus called Aldric out, who was with the twins and Lyanna, and they immediately started getting to it.
Now that I calmed down though, I realized just how bad off that girl seemed to really be. Her face alone was so skinny that it may have been days since the last time she's eaten properly, which is something I didn't pay enough attention to earlier.
Granted, I was focused on the wolves, but it seems like my previous "she seems fine" analogy was dangerously wrong. She was still asleep now, but I understand why dad decided to stop here for tonight.
It's much better to hopefully have a meal ready for her once she wakes up than having to make her wait even more after all.
Still, how did she even end up there to begin with?
I've asked dad a few times out of curiosity about our surroundings as we travelled, and it turns out that there is a village relatively closeby. However, that genuinely accounts to nothing in the end. Why was she all the way here? Why was she alone? Why hasn't anyone tried to look for her? It's a little too fishy.
"Dad…"
"I know. It doesn't make sense."
"…"
"Isolde, take her inside one of the carriages for now. It'll be easier for you and her if you let her sleep laying down."
"Alright. I'll let you know when she wakes up."
Dad nodded, and she slowly walked to the one where dad and Aldric were since it would be emptier now.
"How far is the village? You said that there's one nearby a while ago."
"It's around 10 kilometers away or so. It's off our path so I didn't actually intend on stopping by there… but now it seems like we don't really have a choice."
"…are there any chances she maybe just got lost while playing with her friends?"
"Don't ask questions so stupid that not even you believe to be possible."
"…"
I guess even coping has its limits, huh? Why would she be the only one out there if she was lost while playing? Kids don't usually go 10 kilometers away from their village during the winter as a whole, even less alone. There would've been more kids, or even worse, remains of kids if that was the case. Those wolves didn't seem like they had a full stomach however, nor were there any other hints that indicated anyone else being there.
A tantrum maybe? You know how kids often get mad at their parents then say stuff like "I'll run away from home, then you'll cry once I'm gone!" But are back within an hour and don't even go 100 meters away from their house? Yeah, I doubt that's the case either. A kid this small wouldn't be able to get out here in a single winter day. By the time the sun goes down, normally they'd be terrified enough to try and go back home.
And there seem to be no signs of anyone even trying to look for her either. Granted, if your kid is missing you're probably not going to go 10 kilometers away from each direction of your village to check, but regardless there could've been more than just her parents on the look for her. None of those seem to be the case now though, so i think it's pretty easy to just assume this is a trickier situation.
After she woke up, she was understandably hard to work with. For starters, she got so scared that she started screaming and trying to run away multiple times. However, it didn't take too long for her instincts to kick in, and realize that if she went outside the barrier not only would it be pitch darkness but also extremely cold. Compromising instead with staying at the very border of it, she just stood there with her guard on.
For the record, the way she found out what the border of the barrier actually was since it's invisible was… well, let's just say a little intriguing? Once she got to the point where she'd exit it, she took a step back, and found herself warm again. Then, to test it out she pretty much just reached with her arm past that one point where she felt just fine, and saw that only the arm was freezing. I feel a little guilty about it, but it was pretty funny to watch.
Remembering how serious the situation was though, I quickly put things together. We could eliminate any possibility of her stranding being an incident. No child would react like that after being rescued if she was simply lost. She had a genuine look of fear in her eyes, and while she eventually realized we weren't trying to hurt her, it was very clear that she saw us as if we were trying to.
After feeding her once she calmed down, we managed to get some basic information, but nothing helpful unfortunately. Her name was Lina, and she's 5 years old. We tried to ask about how she ended up that way, but every time she simply froze, had a panic or fear attack, or simply shut down. Was this some kind of shell shock? I'm not really sure, since she did still talk more or less, but was simply unable to give us any leads on the situation.
Just what happened to this little girl? I was feeling uneasy. So much that I could barely fall asleep that night. Why would such a young kid be forced to go through something so traumatizing that has left her like this? Why's this world so fucked up? When I dreamt of getting reincarnated, I imagined a fun world full of adventures. Sure, some suffering here and there for character development, but this is a total polar opposite of what I had dreamt of.
I gave up on the unrealistic notion that this was a happy story, and accepted it as reality. But why is reality always so cruel? Why is it that no matter the world, suffering is normalized to the point where it's "natural" and "realistic"? Not to mention, if we didn't happen to pass by, she would've died without a doubt. Was this her fate? Or was it my fate to eventually run into her?
I don't know. I have no way of knowing. But, what I do know is that… Fate is Cruel. It intertwines in between any living being's, and in the end it's nothing but a Russian roulette of luck that you play the moment you're born. However, I still don't know if it's a good idea to completely give up on it. Is it really alright to blame everything on fate?
It may have been a cruel thing for her fate to play out like this, but what if we're not seeing the full picture? What if neither her fate wasn't simply getting stranded? What if instead, her fate was to escape? It's clear that something bad happened to her, which in itself is a cruel act. But what if this course of events is actually her reward for enduring it?
Instead of her fate being to get eaten by wolves, maybe it was intertwined with mine all along? Maybe my fate was to happen to pass by a person in need, and end up saving them. And maybe her fate was to end up being saved by me? Or who knows, maybe she would've been saved regardless of whether it was me or not.
What I'm trying to say is that, even though fate is cruel, it may not actually be merciless. I don't know why suffering is so normalized, and why everywhere you go you'll see it. I have no way of knowing it. But what I do know, is that at the very least although it's not really my goal or anything like that… if I see someone who's facing a cruel fate, then I'll try to intertwine it with mine. And help them get through it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Maia's Pov)
"Let's go back now, Maia."
"Alright."
They all seemed to be asleep now, so we had no reason to stay here anymore. Although one of us would probably like to spy on a certain someone while he's sleeping, it wasn't really one of my hobbies. She opened a portal, which led us to the same building we were in a week ago, but of course this time we were the only Sentinels there.
We walked inside Mio's office, which was on the same corridor as the guest meeting room we were in with the king, but a little further down. The door was a distinct purple, which had a pretty nice contrast with the white marbled walls. Ah, for the record, yes. The doors to my office which is next to Mio's are golden.
But regardless, after getting in, we sat in front of each other at the coffee table, which was still in the center of the room but on a bigger scale. For starters, the room itself was a lot larger, and the table was not only insanely long, but we had full couches on each side. If we wanted to, we could both comfortably lay down on them.
"By the way, Maia."
"Hm?"
As usual, 2 cups of tea appeared in front of both of us. I took a sip as she continued.
"You remember that thing with him?"
"Him? By him, do you mean…?"
She nodded.
"The appointment is tomorrow, I honestly forgot about it."
"Is that so? Then are you going to watch over Cael and the others alone tomorrow evening?"
"I'm coming with you."
I was reaching for a second sip, but my hand froze.
"… Are you sure about it, Mio?"
A few moments of silence passed before her reply.
"It's not like me and him haven't been in any reincarnation cycles together until now, you know?"
"I mean I get that, I have been with him as well… but you two…"
I put my cup down, since I didn't really feel like sipping anymore during this conversation.
"How long are you going to be worried for? As I said, we've met before. We had enough time to solve any… issues we may have had in our first life."
It's not something so easy to ignore though. Not to mention, I view him as if he's my little brother as well. Unlike me though, I honestly can't really wrap my head around how Mio would see him. After all, he's Cael's best friend, who sees Cael as a brother, and vice versa. But to Mio, he's the one who… well, I guess there's no point in being too worked up over it.
"Alright then. Who are you going to send to watch over them instead though?"
Instead of replying right away though, she snapped her fingers. A portal opened next to the coffee table, and after about 10 seconds or so, someone walked through.
"I think these 2 are gonna do just fine."
I see. Well, I can't really disagree.
"It's been a while, Sylara, Mivana."
"Yeah, it's always pleasant to see you, Maia."
"It's been a while."
"I've already explained it to them yesterday, so don't worry. While we're out tomorrow they'll look after them."
"I can't say anything against it then… as long as you're sure about it, then you can come along."
After a satisfied grin, we spent the rest of the evening just chatting over some tea, as Sylara and Mivana joined us.
The next morning, it was around 9:50 or so, and we were getting ready to go. Our appointment was at 10, at a special orphanage, owned by the Sentinels. It was where orphans with great capabilities would get shelter pretty much. Frankly speaking it was honestly closer to an academy than an orphanage. The kids would get shelter, food, and any other necessities they may have, alongside a small amount of pocket money. But they would also have optional training sessions which they could choose not to partake in if they didn't want to, but most kids generally did.
Being able to train with sentinel recruits is a massive opportunity for anyone. Sure, they may be as insignificant in strength as an ant to us, but that's exactly how large the gap between them and a regular civilian is on the other hand.
"Are you ready yet, Mio?"
We each had our own place, which weren't that far from each other either for that matter, but for the sake of convenience and purely out of boredom, we lived together. Or at the very least we're going to live together until our family arrives in the capital anyway.
"Yeah, I'm ready."
I was on our couch, sipping on some tea I made while waiting for her. Shortly after her reply, she did in fact come downstairs.
"Our appointment is in like 10 minutes, you know?"
"I know that, but where's the rush? We can get there instantly anyway."
I guess she has a point.
"Well, Regardless. Are you really sure you want to come along?"
She sat next to me, a cup for herself appearing out of nowhere as usual.
"How many times are you going to ask? I've told you already, me and him sorted out any issues we had before. Not to mention, I'm not going to unseal his memories yet."
"I know that, but even then… it's not that I don't trust you, but it's not that easy to move on from the person that… well, you get the point."
Her tone changed, alongside her expression. It was like a resilient smile, but at the same time it didn't seem forced? Honestly, I sometimes can't get the grasp of this girl.
"It's really fine, Maia. I'm not going to act like there hasn't been a point where I had a grudge against him, but it's all in the past now."
"…Mio."
"Plus, even if I did still hold a grudge against him, to Cael he's like a brother, no? So I have no intention of hurting my brother in law."
"I see…"
I guess I was worried for nothing, Huh? In the end, Mio is still Mio.
After changing herself into Luna, she opened a portal which led us straight to our destination. The institution itself was really spacious, hence why I compared it to an academy. Multiple fields for sports, multiple cafeterias with various types of food, massive libraries with tons of useful books and what not. This was really just an orphanage in name, and principle at most honestly.
After getting there, a recruit guided us towards the house he was living in. Normally, everyone else would just get an equally large room which they could decorate however they wanted, but we made a special exception for him. The reason for that was partially just because of favoritism, I'm not going to deny that, but mostly because it was needed. He simply couldn't really get along with the other kids, so it was for the best of everyone to just let him do his own thing.
We then knocked on his door, but to no one's surprise there was no reply. Knocked again, still no reply. It wasn't unusual though. He's just not really the type to talk much if there's no need for it. Or rather, he was probably also just not in the mood for it to begin with, so after the 3rd unanswered knock, we just walked in.
Deep black hair, similar to Mio's, but in contrast to her, he had deep blue eyes. With a flat expression, completely unbothered by our presence he kept eating the slice of cake on his plate, while sitting at his table.
I can't deny that I'm definitely relieved to see that he's doing well at least. Aside from his and Mio's past, he's still like a little brother to me after all.
"Is breaking into kid's houses one of your hobbies or something?"
As blunt as usual, huh? Though this feels weirdly refreshing.
Unless you deserve it at least, Cael pretty much always filters his vocabulary to not be too rude. Unlike him though, it was kinda the opposite. Unless you deserved his filter, he would just speak his mind, no matter how rude or unhinged it may come out as… Well, he can be pretty troublesome, but he's not a bad kid.
"Is ignoring your guests a hobby of yours?"
His attitude wasn't really an issue for Mio though.
"…so? I was told that the Commander's Lieutenant herself had an appointment with me today, but no one told me anything about the Commander Herself being here, you know?"
Looks like he still hasn't lost his touch… as impressive as always.
Mio's "shapeshifting" wasn't magic, so it shouldn't actually be detectable, or rather it isn't. But shapeshifting magic does exist. Which is why, in order to purposefully allow him to tell that this wasn't a real person's appearance and just a facade, she used the magic version instead.
Of course though, Mio's magic is on a whole different level, so no one would actually be able to distinguish either way, but this time she lowered the masking capacity a little, and clearly that was enough for him to tell. That alone was a feat that most couldn't do.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but it seems like manners aren't part of your instructions manual, are they?"
"So you're just going to play dumb, huh? What was the point of allowing me to notice then? Fine though. I'll tag along with whatever this is supposed to be… your real face is still hidden publicly after all."
"My, my. What a smart brat you are."
Seems like they're matching each other's energy well enough at least.
"Well, putting that aside… I honestly didn't even know that she would tag along until yesterday, so I'm sorry for that."
He didn't reply, instead he just kept eating his cake, which had around 3 more bites left to it.
"We'd like to have a little chat with you… but I guess you may not be in the mood for that here, huh?"
"Oh no! I wonder what could've possibly made you think that captivity wasn't my cup of tea!"
Though you're quite literally not in captivity…
"At least we both agree on something, no? So what do you say, will you come with us in the city for a little while? A new pastry shop opened nearby, you know?"
He flinched a little at the mention of the shop, which was exactly what I wanted. He sure has his cute moments as well, doesn't he? I couldn't help but smile at it. Much like Mio's unhealthy obsession with spicy food, he had a pretty impressively scary sweet tooth.
On top of that, by now he had just finished the slice of cake he was eating, which don't get me wrong, wasn't bad since the chefs in this place are all very qualified, but I'm sure that the thrill of a new shop opening nearby was more than tempting to him right now.
"Ah, yeah. Now that you mention it, Maia… doesn't this shop source their fruits from Sylara? Though they're around mid tier quality, that's better than anything on the current market, isn't it?"
"Yeah, you're right. I heard that if this shop does well, Sylara may even up rank the quality of the fruits imported to them too by the way."
"My, oh my. What a wonderful place that sounds, huh? It may even become a large chain one day, don't you think?"
"Oh but I definitely do. And since it only opened recently and the fact that Sylara is their furnisher isn't actually public yet, the place should be pretty accessible right now too! Though I'm sure it won't take long until they realize it, and it'll get too crowded to get to. until they expand to more locations, you may not even be able to get a single pastry once that happens. how sad would it be to miss that place this early on?
We weren't lying either for the record. This place was most likely going to bloom pretty well soon. So it was actually only a matter of time when it came to its accessibility. Thankfully though, his sweet tooth ended up giving in, and our strategy was victorious in the end. Knowing your enemy really does make it easy.
"A-alright, I get it! I'll come with you two, so just wait here while I change my clothes and let's go already!"
"Glad to do business with you."
Jumping out of his seat, he then ran upstairs to get changed and actually came back within 5 minutes. He really was excited about it now, huh? Not that we didn't know that.
Mio could've teleported us there, but we decided to take the normal approach instead. The reason was partially because surprisingly or not, Mio didn't actually teleport around everywhere she went, and was still a normal girl. The other reason was so he could remember the pathway to it, so he could come back whenever he'd feel like it.
Once we arrived, it didn't even take him a full 10 seconds before finding a table, and impatiently shouting at us.
"Come on you two, what are you waiting for!"
"Maybe our strategy was a little too effective?"
"You'd fall for the same trap if it was about spicy food, so you're not much better, you know?"
"Shut it."
We both sat in front of him, and shortly after the waiter came to take our order. We did want to get to the actual discussion, but his reward for tagging along came first. We needed to attach another table nearby to ours in the end, since he had ordered the full menu, but at least he was happy I guess.
I ordered a strawberry croissant for myself, which had not only a generous amount of strawberry filling inside, but also had a split on its top, filled with whipped cream and more fresh cubed up strawberries.
Mio had a simple chocolate croissant, which similarly to mine not only had a good amount of chocolate filling inside, but on top of it there was a generous drizzle of melted chocolate and hazelnuts.
Presentation wise this place was unironically outstanding. I guess Sylara really is picky about who she sells her stuff to, huh? Pretty insane that this is a medium quality place too. But regardless, after we all got our orders, Mio deployed the usual invisible auditory barrier around us, to give us some privacy.
"So? What do you think?"
"These are definitely on the higher end… having the Queen of Nature's crops really does make a huge difference. Especially this mango croissant, it's dangerously good!"
"Haha, it does look pretty good. Ours are also pretty good. But anyway, as we said before, we have something we'd like to discuss with you."
"Yeah, I know. Don't mind me, just go ahead.
"I won't sugarcoat it then. I want you to be adopted into the Ashford family.
He was going for another bite, but upon hearing my words his hand froze. His expression darkened significantly, and honestly it was a hard thing to watch. I knew why he was making that face after all. In his mind, he was most likely thinking of himself as too problematic, and unworthy of love.
"…why?"
"Why wouldn't I? When it comes to magic, you're a prodigy that's even greater than me. After all, unlike a certain someone, you're the only person in the world that can create new magic spells."
The same way Cael was the only one besides Mio who could freely manipulate mana, he had his own set of qualities. For starters, he has a contract with every single elemental spirit, and he can also use any of the sub elemental magic types. On top of that, his general understanding of magic is so enlightened that he could recreate close to any spells as long as you explain to him how they work once. He was that talented.
None of those were his actual trump card though. After all, of course besides Mio as usual, he was the only one who could create totally new spells. For example, let's say that you want a type of magic that permanently creates a paper tissue in your hand every single time you sneeze, so you'd always be able to clean your nose.
Such magic doesn't currently exist from what I'm aware at least anyway, but with enough time he could create it from scratch, for himself to use. But, while I know he may seem an impossibly invisible opponent in theory, he does have some pretty large limitations which make him tamer. I won't bother to go into them now, but you got the point. He's not like a 2nd Mio.
"…so what if I'm a prodigy? You wanna use me as a weapon to threaten the kingdom in case you lose the trial, or what?"
"Hmm, that wouldn't really be a bad idea, but it wouldn't really be needed would it? Putting aside how weak you actually are right now, to begin with you're saying Empty words. After all, you have no doubt about our future victory in court."
"What makes you think that?"
Mio then continued in my place.
"Of course, we don't mean to rig the thing or anything, but you probably knew that much. There is a pretty obvious reason to us though, that assures us that you believe in the Ashford innocence. After all, although your parents tragically passed away recently in an incident… the one who saved their lives long before you were even born, and that probably talked to you about them close to every day were Maia's parents, and their adventurers party."
He remained silent, while Mio continued.
"It's pretty ironic, isn't it? Your parents being among the many people they saved during their adventuring times, but them passing before Justice could be served upon their name. Fate really doesn't care about courtesy, does it? It intertwines our lives with each other, only caring about the end result…"
"Perhaps, the reason you survived that incident was so at least one of you could see the Ashford that saved their life, rise again to their deserved spots."
"…So what? How does any of that correlate to me becoming one of said Ashfords? There's no reason for someone like me to join a family as great as them."
"…What makes you think that? I'd say that you're more than "worthy", you know? Coming from the Eldest child of the Ashford family."
His expression darkened further, and I could see a few tears beginning to build up in his eyes.
"This is so corny. T…there's no reason for someone like me to join you. There's no way I'm worthy. After all, ever since I arrived here, everyone has been picking on me nonstop…"
Of course, we knew that much, but regardless we remained silent while he spoke.
"They said I was a freak, and insulted me because I was "trying too hard" with my magic… they said that someone like me, who was a monster, doesn't deserve a family or their friendship…"
"They even said that no one could ever love someone as scary as me, and that that's why my parents died… because they didn't want to stay with me. They even picked on me with magic, or punches, slaps… kicks. It didn't really matter what it was."
"I see…"
I paused my sentence as I got up from my seat, and walked in front of me, hugging him from behind, and continuing.
"…You've been through a lot, haven't you? You're strong. Not only that, but you're also extremely kind after all too."
His eyes started bawling, and for a short few seconds he did try to get me off of him, but it didn't last long.
"I-ihm nhot! I-i…I alsho said bad things to them… I'm nhot k-khind!"
"Well, we've heard that you don't really have a filter for your words in most cases, and sure you may be a little rude and blunt… but what about it? Not to mention, you resorted to only verbally defending yourself even though you were getting physically assaulted. If that's not kindness, then what is it?"
At that point, he was crying way too much to even say anything back for the time being.
"You're a good kid. Even if you may be rude, or choose not to filter your words. I know that at heart you're a better person than any of those kids. Your kindness, strength and talent… Those are a few of the reasons why I want you to become my little brother."
After that, I decided to let him calm down before we continued. Mio silently ate her croissant, putting up her usual distant poker face, though don't worry, she was most definitely paying attention. But regardless, after he calmed down, I sat back on my seat, and we continued.
"You calmed down?"
He nodded, and went back to munching.
"You know, I already mentioned it in the stream, but I have 3 younger siblings. You're actually only 10 days older than the oldest of them, and I have a feeling that you two would get along really well."
"…"
"So what do you say, Cifer? Will you become my little brother? You'd not only gain an awesome older sister, but 2 cute twin younger siblings, and who knows… maybe even a Best friend for life?"
"…I'm not sure what makes you spout words like best friend for life out of the blue… and it's not like I accepted it or anything, but… I'll think about it."
"That's fine by me. How about you wait until the trial is over to give us your answer? Of course, you don't have to worry about my parents approval or anything like that."
"Alright…"
"Isn't that good for you, Maia? You got yourself a new little brother. You must be holding back tears of joy."
"Speak for yourself. At least I'm able to admit that I'm happy about it."
"Don't twist it. I'm only happy for Cael, and the fact that he won't be separated from his best friend…"
"Is that so? Well, whatever you say, oh mighty Mio."
"Shut up…"
Though it may seem like a waste of time, we did end up changing his memories afterwards. Or rather, Mio did. But anyway, the reason we allowed him to know that Luna wasn't actually a real person was just to be upfront with him while talking for the first time. Once we brought him back home, Mio altered his memories, and made it so he always thought of Luna as just one of my friends, and altered any memories of our chat that may be indicating towards her identity.
It wasn't a total waste of time in the end though, because as you could see, this kid was genuinely a painfully kind soul. He will eventually find out that Cael has a crush on "Luna" anyway, and it would be pretty hard to hide his best friend's crush's true identity from him, you know? So we kinda just spared him that trouble.
I'm really glad that it went well in the end, especially since while Cael is probably busy with the little side quest we gave him now, we managed to start the timer. From now on, it's just a matter of time until Cifer Ashford would become an official name.