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Chapter 31.6: Nikolaus, Part Two

When Nikolaus set down the pen, the woman pulled the paper toward herself and, despite the fact that the writing was already oriented for her, she deliberately turned it upside down.

(Huh? …Don’t tell me she really can’t read this?)

The person in front of him didn’t even understand which side was up. That action alone was enough to cast doubt, no one would do such a thing if they understood the script. She had written the ancient language fluently, and yet didn’t even know the orientation of modern text. That could only mean one thing: she hadn’t lived within human culture since the modern writing system came into use.

But being able to write ancient script meant she had definitely lived in that era. …Could it really be that she had been holed up in the Dragon’s Wasteland for five hundred years?

「There’s no way you’ve really been hiding in the mountains for five hundred years.」

His voice came out as if scolding. If she truly were a demon who had lived since the time of the war against the dragons, then, she should have known about Nikolaus. It didn’t make sense that she had never come to see him.

(I… I kept searching for you. I became a court magician just so it would be easier to find me. You still never came.)

He had reached the limits of searching on his own. That’s why he’d become a royal court magician, to make himself visible, so that if there were any other survivors, they would know where to find him. He’d thought surely someone would come.

But no one ever had.

And so, day by day, he was forced to accept the bitter reality that the demons were truly extinct.

「If you were alive… why didn’t you come find me?」

He couldn’t understand why. If they were each the other’s only kin, wouldn’t she have wanted to meet him? At the very least, if she was a true fellow demon, Nikolaus had wanted to meet her.

She might not have known where he was while she was hidden away for five centuries. But even so, once she emerged into the world, shouldn’t she have tried to find him?

『I’m sorry.』

Her short apology. She offered no explanation, leaving Nikolaus to imagine the reason why she had never come.

(Was she a fake all along? Or… is there another reason…?)

He suddenly remembered, this witch was said to command walking mandrakes. Nikolaus had a theory.

He had once planted a number of mandrake seeds in the Dragon’s Wasteland, soil enriched by dragon blood and flesh. But even for him, the miasma near the center was too strong to approach, and though the corruption had thinned over the past four hundred years, it was still a place he avoided.

(If I had stayed in that place… I probably wouldn’t be human anymore.)

He had sensed something within himself beginning to change, so he fled as soon as the seeds were planted. He left the retrieval to someone else. At least one of them had apparently sprouted, there had been traces, but it had never been found.

And now, this woman was managing an unusual mandrake. If it had grown in dragon-tainted soil, then rare evolutionary traits would be no surprise.

「…I think I know one reason you were hiding. That moving mandrake, it’s mine, isn’t it? You stole it, didn’t you?」

He couldn’t think of another explanation. Maybe she had taken someone else’s research subject and was too ashamed to face him. She’d lived near the magic zone, found one of the rare mandrakes, and made off with it.

That would’ve made sense.

But just then, a mandrake happened to appear, and when he used Appraisal, that theory was crushed. All five walking mandrakes were not born of dragon-tainted soil. They had been raised by the 「Purebloom」.

(…None of them are mine. These were wild mandrakes that she turned into familiars and completely tamed… That’s actually fascinating in its own right.)

One of them in particular had developed with a very distinct personality and appearance. Its evolution made it an excellent research subject.

But she hadn’t stolen anyone’s research. Instead, she had developed this result on her own. Nikolaus felt a pull, a desire to understand how this evolution had occurred.

(Wait…? …Something’s off. My drive to research… has cooled?)

No, that wasn’t quite right. It hadn’t cooled. It had changed. He’d once been driven by desperation, like he was cornered. But now, he simply felt a pure desire to study monsters. The original motive, to evolve monsters into new kin, to create fellow demons, that desire had faded.

(…Don’t tell me I actually believe this woman is a demon? That can’t be it. Don’t get your hopes up.)

He told himself. If he hoped and got betrayed, what would he do then? He might lose control. He might rip her apart in fury. Even though her magic power vastly surpassed his own, he might not be able to hold back.

(…If she’s real, I don’t stand a chance. A demon who survived the dragon war… there’s no way I can beat that. Does someone like that really still exist?)

So he wouldn’t hope. Even if the woman looking at him smiled with the warmth one would show to a fellow demon, he wouldn’t let himself hope.

(…Where did my mandrake go, anyway? If I ever find it, I want to compare it to hers, see how they differ, study the qualities, ask her about her method for making familiars…)

His mandrake had grown in dragon blood. Compared to hers, which had been raised on Purebloom, it should have undergone an even more unique evolution. It wouldn’t die so easily. It was probably still alive somewhere, but tracking it down wouldn’t be easy.

The magic zone was still changing. Sooner or later, a particularly dangerous creature would emerge and take over. Once that happened, it would expand its territory beyond the zone and begin threatening the humans nearby.

Finding one small mandrake in that kind of area would be difficult even for Nikolaus.

(Her mandrakes were in the magic zone too, right? Maybe mine will also come down the mountain like they did. If she finds it, she’ll probably return it, if I explain.)

The mandrake shaped like a woman, draped in a purple cloth, squirmed in front of Nikolaus as he stared. He couldn’t help but be intrigued by how such individuality had formed. …He’d have to come observe again. He still hadn’t uncovered the truth about the woman. He’d need to visit frequently.

Just as he was thinking that, a knight arrived at the woman’s house in a hurry.

「Witch-sama, thank goodness you’re safe… Wait, why is the royal magician here…?」

First, the knight confirmed the woman’s safety, and then turned pale with surprise at Nikolaus’s presence.

From the expression and words, Nikolaus could tell… this knight was on her side. That would make proper investigation difficult.