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A Forgotten Promise – Part 05

Translator: Kell

Zero must have felt my nerves, as she reached out her arm from above and gently stroked my cheek. “Have faith in her, Mercenary. The lass will be fine. Look at that calm face. She had expected this level of heckling.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Still, Albus was just a kid. I watched the stage anxiously.

“And I killed the one who killed my friends. Who was right—the humans or the witches? We already have an answer. Both were wrong. We were both equally at fault. But we stand here now, together, to fix our mistakes.”

The conflict between humans and witches was caused by misunderstandings, and it escalated because they didn’t know each other. Now was the time to put hatred aside, resolve misunderstandings, and come to a mutual understanding to attain peace.

“I will never allow a witch to be burned ever again. I will never let humans be killed ever again. I swear to you with my life: I will use all my power to make this peace everlasting and bring true harmony to this land in which we live!”

There was no pretense in Albus words. They all came from the heart, so it resonated stronger than a Church sermon full of rhetoric. Her small figure never faltered in front of the crowd watching her with admiration, hatred, and curiosity. I couldn’t help but feel proud.

“Ladies and gentlemen. Let us walk together. As fellow human beings born in the same era, in the same land, with the same desire for peace!”

Her speech was met with a loud cheer. In the midst of the clamor, I gave her a small but sincere applause as well.

“Mercenary, Zero!”

After finishing her speech, Albus came running to us with a bright expression on her face.

“That was one hell of a speech,” I said. “You managed not to choke.”

“I have a newfound respect for you,” Zero added. “Everyone listened attentively. Even the ones who looked at you with suspicion at first ended up cheering for you.”

“Do I hear compliments? What’s gotten into you? Y-You’re kinda putting me on the spot here…”

Her eyes reddened and she quickly turned her gaze downwards.

“Aw, look at her getting embarrassed,” Zero said. “How adorable. I could learn a thing or two.”

“Now if only she was like this all the time,” I said. “Also, you can learn from her all you want, but you’ll never pull it off. Forget about it.”

“Ah, shut up!” Albus snapped. “Stop teasing me! Anyway, aren’t you going to check out the festival? Let’s go. I’m hungry.”

Albus removed her black robe and shoved it into the bag hanging from her waist. She wore plain linen clothes and pants underneath. Mixed in with the crowd, she looked like any other blond boy.

After the speeches and salutations, the main part of the festival began. Performers crowded the central square, competing with each other, jumping and leaping around, and there were plays being held on the stage now open to the public.

Zero and Albus’ eyes lit up as they watched dancers dancing with the music played by a band, colorful petals and feathers drifting through the air with their every move.

When we got bored watching the street performers, we left the square and strolled along the main street, letting the mood take over. We bought strange-looking dolls that none of us really wanted and some sweet-looking fruit only to be shocked when it tasted sour.

Albus spotted a shop with a peculiar vibe to it located in a quiet section of the town, and suddenly stopped. A black awning covered the shabby wooden stand, where pebbles and bones were lined up. It didn’t look like an ordinary shop at first glance.

“Wow, I can’t believe it. A fortune teller opening a shop in a big town!” Cheeks flushed, Albus scuttled toward the fortune teller.

Witches were known for their skills in divination, but if you wanted a witch to tell your fortune, you must find their lair first and swear an oath of secrecy before you could have your fortune told. Otherwise, the Church would hunt them down.

But in the Kingdom of Wenias, where witches and humans had made peace, witches no longer needed to hide. That said, opening a fortune telling shop so soon surprised even Albus.

There was a woman under the awning with her hood pulled up tightly over her eyes, and when she saw Albus running up to her, she smiled. She looked young, but her extremely calm demeanor made her feel old.

“Welcome,” she said. “Do you require a witch’s fortune-telling services?”

“I thought you were supposed to be called Mages now,” I said.

The woman gave me the same soft smile. “I can use Sorcery, but I can’t use Magic, beast warrior. So I’m not a Mage, but a witch.”

“That’s a good point. I guess not all witches can use Magic.”

There were still witches and sorcerers out there who couldn’t use Magic at all.

Albus leaned forward. “It’s not too late to learn Magic! If you can use Sorcery, then you can definitely use Magic. Then you can become a Mage and receive support from the government.”

Looking a little distressed, the woman fiddled with the pieces of bones scattered on the table. “That sounds great, but I’m a fortune teller. For a hundred years, I’ve done divinations about the weather, lost items, and love. I don’t think I want to do anything new now.”

“That’s such a waste! If you learn Magic, you’ll be able to help everyone, and then the peace between humans and witches will last even—”

Zero tapped Albus’ head, shaking her head softly. “Forcing change distorts things. Having both old and new is how balance is maintained. People like her are needed.”

“Oh, come on now,” the woman said. “It’s nothing that grand. But it would be nice to have a choice to just be a witch.”

Blinking, Albus pulled herself back and straightened her posture. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just weird to force someone to learn Magic just because it’s handy.”

“Oh, don’t look so glum. I’m grateful. I was tired of spending my days deep in the forest waiting for customers that never came. But today, I’ve already had several people come to me to ask for their fortunes. They were a little scared, though. But they left feeling happy, and I love seeing those happy faces.” She looked at us. “What do you wish to know? From what I can tell, you received a terrible letter.”

We left the fortune-telling shop and went further into the back streets. It was less crowded here. Albus and I sat down on a pile of crates in front of a closed store to rest our tired feet.

Zero was across the street, buying a peculiar food made by grilling kneaded flour from a poor old man who couldn’t secure a spot for his stall.

Fomicaum, where carriages were the norm, had wide streets, even the ones off the main road. The back streets on the outskirts of town were as wide as the main street of a small town. Zero, happily choosing her food, looked small on the other side.

“Shouldn’t you be by her side?” Albus said.

“You’re the one being targeted at the moment.”

“She said I forgot something.”

Albus asked the fortune-teller about the letter. Albus could divine as well, but apparently you shouldn’t tell your own fortune. The result came out—betrayal. In other words, Albus betrayed someone.

“Too close to notice. Worthless to some people.”

“I have absolutely no idea,” I said. “Maybe it’s something that’s worthless to normal people, but precious to witches. Like my head, for example.”

A Beastfallen’s head was useful for Sorcery and Magic, but to a normal human, it was only a ghastly body part.

“There’s definitely a lot of stuff that fit that criteria. Books on Sorcery and witch’s research materials are very important to me, but they’re worthless to normal people. Even the Grimoire of Zero—” Albus looked up with a start.

Oh, that doesn’t look good.

“Any reason you went quiet there?” I asked. “Don’t tell me you promised the grimoire to someone!”

“O-Of course not! It’s locked away safely. Even I can’t get to it that easily.”

Zero entrusted the Grimoire of Zero to Albus and made her promise to properly manage the spread of Magic. I knew that Albus was not a scumbag who’d break that promise, nor was she an idiot who would slack off on her job.

Albus’s face clouded over. “But when I was trying to quell the rebellion, I told a few people that if they followed me, I would let them use Magic. Maybe they took that as me promising them the Grimoire of Zero.”

“It didn’t look like you were gonna hold your end of the deal, and after a while, they grew impatient.”

It was plausible. The Grimoire of Zero was a perfect example of a priceless item that could not even be mentioned without getting chills.

Just then, I heard a carriage rushing toward us at an incredible speed, and I turned my head. It was a crude, one-horse wagon. There was a driver and one other person in the car. What struck me as odd was that both of them were wearing hoods to hide their faces.

For some reason, the wagon was running by the roadside. Just when I thought it would hit Zero, the vehicle sped past us, and Zero disappeared.