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Volume 1 Chapter 4 Part 3

「Is that why I haven’t  seen Irvin for a while? 」

 

Theo looked around and made sure that the Chamberlain, who usually kept close to him, was nowhere to be seen. And if that was the case, then in all likelihood the Artist must have already been running around taking care of some assignments that he has received from Siluca.

 

「Yes, he is already taking care of a number of things that I commanded him to do. However, no matter the situation and no matter how busy he would be, if you commanded him to appear before you right now, he would most likely appeared in a matter of seconds. Sometimes I really cannot help but wonder just how many spare bodies he must have. 」

 

Siluca said it jokingly, but everybody else around her knew that she really meant what she said. Nevertheless, Theo felt the same way about Irvin. As expected of an Artist who was serving directly under the Archduke Mathias Kreische.

 

「Anyway, I’ve taken the necessary measures to remedy our situation. But please don’t show the soldiers that you are relieved just yet. Even King Selvis is probably keeping things in secret for now. 」

 

「Okay. I’ll keep a sad face for the time being. 」

 

Theo nodded and tried to force a sad expression on his face.

 

「Ah… 」

 

Siluca put her hand to her mouth.

「What’s wrong? 」

 

Theo asked, not knowing what caused her to have such a reaction.

 

「No, it is just that it was a really sad face… 」

 

「I have more than where that came from, since I have no shortage of sadness-inducing experiences. 」

 

Theo smiled wryly and turned his gaze into the distance. Even when he was back in his hometown and after he left it in order to wander around the world, he could say that his journey was filled with tragic events. But they were not all that bad, aside from the sad time there were some fun times that he had too. Life is always going to be both fun and painful, so it is just a matter of which of these two moments you are going to value more.

 

「I’m sorry…. 」

 

Siluca was at a loss for words.

 

「It is not your fault, so you have nothing to be sorry about. 」

 

「Yes… 」

 

Siluca could only nod silently.

 

「Now, let’s order the soldiers to prepare the camp for the night. And do not forget about looking as sad as possible while you are going to be doing it. 」

 

Theo said brightly while clapping his hands together twice.

 

*          *          *

 

The meadow at night was illuminated by the moonlight, and every time the wind blew, the sparks from the campfires twinkled like fireflies.

 

For some reason, Siluca woke up before it was time to move out, and since she could not fall back to sleep again, she left her tent, noticing that she was alone. She looked at the sky and concluded that the dawn should be breaking soon, since the eastern part of the night sky was thinner and slightly brighter than the rest.

 

Siluca had Balgary, the Cait Sith of Tir na Nog, in her arms. He woke up when he sensed that Siluca was moving even though it was not the time for it yet, so to apologize for forcefully waking him up like that, Siluca picked him up and held him close to her chest, which caused him to curl into a ball comfortably and fall asleep once more.

 

The reason why he felt so light in her hands despite his size is because that this fairy cat she is holding is not the real one, but a projection from another world. Due to this, the laws of nature are disturbed around him, the borderlines with the other world that never should have intersected with one another did intersect, casting a shadow on this world as a result.

 

While the substance exists in the original world, the projection also exists in this world at the same time. It is said that because of that peculiar paradox, even if the creatures summoned from another world were to die in this one, their projection is only going to return to the Chaos without having any lasting effects on their physical form, nor will they share their memories of this world. Strangely enough, when the same projection reappears in this world, it retains the memory of its previous appearance, with no one being able to explain why so far.

 

That being said, Siluca liked this projection of Balgary very much. She never met the original upon which the projection was based, and she has no desire to do it in the future.

 

(The important thing is the memories and emotions that you share with each other. Whether the other person is real or not is not so important.)

 

Siluca moved politely to not wake Balgary up. When she looked at him more closely, she realized that he had the tip of his tongue slightly peeking out of his mouth. She was tempted to pinch it up, but she managed to hold back the urge to do so for now.

 

The first time she met Balgary was at the phantom beasts summoning class in the basement of the Magic University. A facility was build there with a specific purpose in mind: the purpose of confining projections of the phantom beasts from another world there so that the students could practice their Summoning Magic without the fear of the beasts running away.

 

She visited the facility during a field trip during her Magic Academy days and saw Balgary locked up in a cage. At that time, his heart was deeply wounded and filled with hostility towards humans. As she approached him, he hissed and bared his teeth at her as he tried to scratch her with his sharp claws from between the gaps of the bars of the cage.

 

Cait Sith have various special abilities, but those abilities were sealed by that special cage. Siluca resented the imprisonment of the innocent projection, so later that night she snuck into the basement together with Aishela and she sent Balgary back to his home world of Tir na Nog. The two of them have become friends at that time and they have sworn to see each other again someday.

 

It wasn’t until she properly entered the Magic University and entered The Summoning Magic Faculty that she was able to meet with him again though. By that time, her basic magical abilities had also improved, and she managed to successfully summon Balgary to act as her familiar.

 

However, Cait Sith is an unexpectedly advanced kind of ethereal projection, and so it cannot exist stably in this world all the time, so a month after she summoned him, Balgary was gone. Even after that, she still called for him whenever something happened, but he always disappeared before she knew it, and there was no way for Siluca to predict how long he will stay in this world again after each of his visits. This place has less chaos than the Magic City of Elam, so it wouldn’t be strange if he disappeared in her arms at any moment.

 

(Soon, this place will become a battlefield…)

 

Siluca turned her eyes to the meadow again and murmured to herself.

 

The battles so far have been skirmishes between local Lords. However, since the king of an entire country decided to move this is no longer a small-scale war. Siluca was undoubtedly the one who started the great war over the Grancrest, and that is probably how she is going to be remembered as well. She knew that it would happen eventually, but she cannot escape the fact that a spark has already been set.

 

They are at war now, and during war, many people will die.

 

It is said that wars are fought over things that can only be saved with human lives. But what is it that makes a human life worth it? Are titles and territories worth that much?

 

「So this is where you have been all this time, huh? 」

 

At that moment, she heard Aishera’s voice behind her.

Right now, she was wearing casual clothes, that could be tied in the front like the ones from the countries to the east. She says she doesn’t have many memories of her childhood, but since she’s from the East, she bought it when she saw it at a market in Elam.However, since these types of clothes come loose really easily, her breasts were now almost exposed in their entirety, but she did not seem to care about it all that much, probably because she was that confident about her body. But since Siluca is not as confident as her, she stuck to wearing her Magic University uniform this time as well.

 

「You brought Balgary together with you, didn’t you? 」