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Volume 4 Chapter 1 Part 11

「No no, I could never think about such difficult things! 」

「It is amazing how you can understand things intuitively. Your powers of observation and empathy never cease to amaze me, Master Theo. 」

「I-Is that so? 」

Theo squirmed uncomfortably.

「In other words, something like a government that is able to satisfy the needs of all the people living in a given territory simply cannot exist, so even if you were to really become the new Lord od Sistina, there are always going to be people who are going to be dissatisfied with your new way of ruling, Lord Theo. 」

「I was prepared for the possibility that something like that might happen. That being said, I do not want to copy the way the current Lord is ruling just so that it could satisfy the minority that is okay with how things are now. 」

Theo’s voice trembled slightly.

Being an island country surrounded by the Sea of Demons, the people of Sistina literally have nowhere else to run from their oppressors, and it is exactly that luck of a different place where they could go that continued to enable the Rossini family and their minions to continue their tyrannical reign over the island uninterrupted.

「My own feelings are largely the same as yours, Lord Theo. So let us return to Sistina one day, defeat Pederico Rossini and his lackeys and establish the kind of rule that is going to satisfy the majority of the residents of the island. 」

While they were still seating in the same places, Siluca bowed to Theo with her hand on her chest.

「Thank you. I am really glad that I met you… 」

Theo reached out with his hand and placed it on Siluca’s shoulder, and in the next moment, he applied a little bit of force to it and pulled her closer to himself. Pulled in, Siluca’s upper body leaned forward and caused her cheek to touch Theo’s shoulder. Even though his shoulder guard was made of hard and cold metal, for Siluca, it felt strangely warm right now. She was surprised by that sudden action of his, but when that feeling passed, she firmly relaxed her head on his shoulder anyway.

「We both have been so busy lately and so much has happened, so even if it is only going to be for a short while, I want you to just take it easy and relax. I can see that both what happened at the Fantasia Union’s Lord’s Conference and all the stuff with Lord Vilar recently have been a little much for you, so I wanted you to come with me on this patrol trip to give you some much needed change of pace.

I’ve had things with the Monarchs’ Council and with Villar-sama, so I thought it would be a change of pace…「

「So, you did all of this… for me? 」

Theo must have been really worried about Siluca being depressed after how the Fantasia Union’s Lord’s Conference ended.

「Yeah, pretty much. This was my only chance to do so, since back at the castle there are no chances for us to be alone like that, but even if I got used to it, I still cannot calm down for some reason. 」

There was something about the tone with which Theo spoke those words that made it seem like he was different from his usual self. Maybe it was because she could not see in all this darkness and the rest of her senses got sharpened because of that, but this much she could say with absolute certainty.

「I… I guess that since you have been spending more and more time in Castle Unicorn, at some point I started getting a little worried that you might get tired of me and go on to become Lord Vilar’s contracted Mage like you were supposed to be originally. 」

Theo continued his monologue after a brief pause.

「There is no way that would have ever happened! My contract with you is the one that you have protected to the point of throwing your title and territories away for it! The only reason why I was working with Lord Vilar so much was to atone for my rudeness towards him and all the trouble that my own selfishness has caused him, and thanked him for the kindness that he had shown me regardless of how much I humiliated him! But now I see that it was good for nothing, since not only I was unable to help you more, but I also caused you to worry about me… 」

Siluca vehemently denied having any desires to become Vilar’s contracted Mage.

「Even without me, Lord Vilar has many more important things that he needs to be thinking about right now. 」

Siluca was well aware of that fact, but it was precisely that which made her feel that much sadder about it.

「Anyway, you are the only person to whom I have sworn my lifelong loyalty, Lord Theo! As long as you will need me and my services, I will continue to serve you to the best of my ability! 」

「I am relieved to hear that… 」

Theo took a deep breath. After that, he shook his head left and right for some reason, and when he turned back to Siluca, he puts his hands on her shoulders. Just like she suspected, there was definitely something different about him from the usual Theo.

「I do not think I have communicated it all that well until now. 」

「C-Communicated what now, Lord Theo? 」

Siluca could feel the tension between her and Theo rising rapidly.

「When I first met you, I honestly thought that you were a Witch instead of a Mage. But when you looked me straight in the eye and swore your allegiance to me… I think that was the moment where I began to feel drawn to you. Ever since you have become my contracted Mage, you were always so pushy with everything that it was hard to keep up the pace with you at times, and there were even moments where I honestly thought that I was going to die because of you… 」

「I-I am sorry for everything… 」

Siluca was embarrassed and hung her face down.

「At that time, I was at a loss as well. 」

「But you always thought of me seriously and risked your life to act on my behalf when the situation called for it, did you not? That is why I wanted to respond to that, and I wanted to protect you. At that time when Lord Vilar wanted to take me from you, I had no hesitation in throwing away my title and my territories in order to keep you with me. And when I heard that you have been taken captive by the Vampire King… the thought that I will never see you again was enough to make me feel dead inside. 」

「And you also saved me from the Black Witch’s magic attack. 」

「Well, I would have done that no matter what. Not because you are my contracted Mage, but because you are an important person to me now… a-anyway, that is what I wanted to tell you. 」

「Ah, y-yes, of course. 」

Siluca was terribly shaken by this sudden confession, and she was at a total loss as to what she should say.
「Ah, uhm… Lord Theo, are… are you aware of my feelings? 」

「I think I caught an inkling, but that might have as well been my imagination playing tricks on me. 」

「I do not think those are the words of Lord Theo who has excellent powers of observation and empathy. 」

Siluca said, taken by surprise once more.

Theo understood Siluca’s feelings, but felt that it would be better not to mention it. Even so, he could tell that she was always taking good care of him, and thei communication between them was quite good such as when they danced or when we rode two horses together.

「It’s hard to see yourself objectively. 」

「Yes, but it is an important skill to have, so I always tru to be strict with myself because of it… 」

Siluca said while thinking that she might have chosen the wrong words.

「Of course, I adore you as well, Lord Theo. It was not like that when I first met you, but I gradually got more and more attracted to you, but I fully realized it only ever since you threw away your title and lands for me. After that, my feelings for you only increased, and now it is hard for me to control them. 」

「W-Well if you say it like that, you are going to make me embarrassed. 」

Theo made a wry smile.

「So it is that embarrassing, huh? 」

While Siluca whispered, she slowly brought her face closer to Theo’s

「But you love me as well, right, Lord Theo? 」

「You want me to say it out loud? You really are a Witch… 」

While Theo sighed, he put his hand on Siluca’s back.

「… Of course I love you. 」

Theo closed the final distance between them. The two pressed their lips together for a while, as if confirming each other’s existence in the dark.

「I am very happy now. I want to stay like this forever. 」

After parting their lips, Siluca smiled. She was heeling both happy and sad about her feelings for Theo, but when their thoughts were connected, she also felt calm like she never did before.

I feel like it’s a lie that I was happy and sad about her feelings for Theo. When your thoughts are connected, you can feel so calm.

「That is right! 」

Theo screams as if he had come to his senses. He must have remembered that they were still being trapped in another dimension, while Siluca once again confirmed that something was echoing in Theo’s voice. It showed that this place was actually a narrow space.

「We have to escape somehow. But I do not know how we can do it. 」
Theo stood up impatiently.

「I said that I would like to stay like this… 」

Siluca got up and she found Theo’s hand and grabbed it.

「What do you mean? 」

「If you look into infinity in a closed space, what you will be able to see there will be your own back… 」

After Siluca said so, she lined up next to Theo. She could see a little light in front of her eyes.

「Sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about. 」

「In other words, that light is beyond infinity. And there… 」
Siluca drew out her wand and pictured a tree hollow in her mind. She manipulates and converged the Chaos around her, and in the next moment she pulled Theo’s hand strongly and jumped back…, the two of them were rolling outside, and it was already night in The Forest of Eternal Darkness.

「Did we managed to escape? 」

Theo let out an astonished voice, and the two of them faced each other. It felt like a dream to have been in that abyssal darkness until just a moment ago.

「Uhm… Lord Theo? All of that happened for real, right? 」

「If the one who was with me was the real you, then yes, it was. 」

Theo said embarrassedly and turned away.
Seeing it, Siluca was convinced that it was not a dream, because there was continuity in Theo’s attitude.

「I think the Infinite Corridor is probably back to the state before it was connected to the other world. At the entrance of the 「Forest of Wonders」 in the outskirts of Elam, there is a place where the projections from the other worlds like to come and go frequently. 」

Although there is an infinite distance in between the two words, sometimes the distance becomes zero. And so the two worlds meet, and a shadow is cast upon this world, similar to thoughts: sometimes they are far, sometimes they are close, and sometimes they intersect with one another.

「The other dimension just now was like entering a pair of mirrors. Beyond the reflection of one mirror is another reflection, and beyond that… . 」

「I don’t understand. 」

「Do not think about it. It is something that you have to feel. 」

Siluca looked at Theo and laughed. The red rain had stopped, and the shadows had disappeared.

「That hollow trunk may have been the boundary between this world and the other world. There was an infinite space in front of us, but in reality we hadn not moved a single step from the boundary. That’s why we were able to escape by stepping back. 」

「It is like playing with words… 」

Theo said dissatisfied.

「Another dimensions are like that. There are supernatural laws that work only there, and Mages use those laws to arbitrarily converge the Chaos around it for their own magic. 」

「So you were able to escape because you used magic? 」

「Of course. 」

Siluca nodded.

「Think of it as a special ritual for that very reason. It might have been crudely done, but precisely because of that the other dimension released us. 」

The diverging Chaos then began to converge into a Chaos Core. At Siluca’s urging, Theo absorbed it into his own Crest.

「Congratulations. 」

Siluca applauded.

「By the way, what is this willow, exactly? 」

「I am not sure. It does not seem to be a projection, so it may have been mutated due to the Chaos Phenomenon. 」

「I am relieved to hear that… 」

Theo smiled brightly.

「There are things that even you do not understand. 」

「You were oblivious about my feelings towards you as well, right? 」

「I was thinking of keeping quiet until Sistina was taken back. If I was wrong about it, that would have been all kinds of embarrassing. 」

Siluca felt exactly the same.

If it had not been for the fact that they were trapped in darkness, their relationship might not have changed.

Siluca casually snuggled up to Theo, and she turned her gaze to where the hollow of the willow tree used to be.

「This tree seemed to invite the creatures of this world into it. 」

Creating a harmless but nasty rain and locking those who enter the hollowed trunk in a different dimension… yeah, that has to be the case.

「I thought it was like a trap, but it really was. 」

Theo said resentfully.

「Maybe… 」

Siluca put her hand on Theo’s arm. She was very happy to be able to do so without hesitation.

「When we entered that hollow, we may have converged as projections in some other world.
「Does that mean there is Chaos in that other world? 」

「There has to be, because without it, the projections cannot appear. 」

Siluca nodded.

「Then, can we try to calm the Chaos in that world as well? If only we could… 」

「Actually, the origin of the Founding Lord Leon is uncertain, and there is a theory that he is a projection, just like Titania, the Fairy Queen, who was one of his companions… 」

Siluca smiled at Theo’s profile.

「Would it not be fun to think that our projections are adventuring in another worlds? 」

「If it is about adventures, then this world alone is enough… 」

When Theo left Siluca, he went over to the donkey that was still tethered nearby and untied it.

「But if it were just you and me, that would not be bad either. 」

Theo said with his back turned to her

(What should I do…)

Just looking at Theo who was a little clumsy like that filled Siluca with a great sense of happiness.