Chapter 21 · The New Sprout Festival (3)

“What are you talking about? You must have seen wrong.”

“No, she definitely flinched.”

I could feel one of the men walking over, his footsteps thudding against the wooden floor. I desperately let all the strength drain from my body. The man kicked me with his foot, and my body rolled limply to the side.

“Hmm, she still hasn’t come to, it seems.”

“Figures. A mental binding spell wouldn’t break that quickly.”

“Did you check that one for mana?”

“There’s no way a little brat like that has mana, you idiot.”

A mana check. That was information I’d never heard before. I guessed that these filthy bastards set aside any kidnapped children who had mana or divine power. I had been too young even to be tested.

Was that girl who cast the spell on us kidnapped the same way?

“We’ll use these ones for making magic stones and recovery stones, but that girl is too young to be of any use. She’s just a burden.”

“Since they were with these ones, they must be nobles. Their clothes are of fine quality too. Once they’re a bit older, won’t their mana manifest?”

“For nobles, their belongings weren’t much. Just a worn-out locket necklace and a strange pouch of seeds.”

These bastards…! They took my precious things?!

Those are absolutely things I can’t lose! My mother’s only keepsake, and the lifeline of the Santran people!

“We need to make them earn their keep. We don’t know when their mana might manifest—if they don’t look like they’ll be useful labor, just sell them off.”

“They’re quite cute-looking, so there’ll be plenty of buyers.”

Rage surged up, but I forced myself to stay limp. In my heart, I wanted to bite them and take back what was mine.

“Hey, you! Good work today. We need to get ready to board, so keep a close watch until everything’s done.”

The man must have shoved the other, because the other sat down helplessly on the wooden floor. Soon came the sound of a creak, then a thud—the door closing.

After quite some time had passed, I opened my eyes slightly. Wriggling around, I turned over and saw a small girl far off in the corner. She had her head buried in her knees and was sobbing, unaware that I was awake.

‘…Making a little girl like that kidnap children her own age. They’re worse than beasts!’

My insides boiled. Just running away wouldn’t satisfy me—I wanted to burn them all to death before I left.

Anyway, there was only one way to get through this situation. I didn’t know if it would work, but it seemed the god Lux had let down a single thin rope for me.

“Don’t cry, sister.”

The girl flinched and raised her head. Between her dirty hair, I could see clear violet eyes brimming with tears.

“Crying wiww wuin your pwetty face. And you must be hungwy too.”

“H-how…!”

She sprang up and trembled like an aspen as she looked at me.

“I haven’t even cast the release spell yet!”

Come to think of it, how had I broken free of this curse on my own? Rizen and Ark were still completely unconscious. Did a pathetic weakling like me have some kind of curse immunity? I was curious, but I’d think about it later.

“Shh! You’ww be heawd outside. Sister, wewe you bwought hewe and caught too?”

The girl couldn’t bring herself to answer my question and just covered her mouth and sobbed. Her face was filled with shock. Only after a long while did she mutter in a hoarse voice.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I… I had no choice.”

“I know you had no choice. I won’t bwame you.”

“Those men… they have my mother. They said they’d kill her if I didn’t cooperate or if I ran away!”

Of course. The things bad people do are always the same.

“My brother is already… dead. Those men… sob, they killed my brother. Right in front of me… and I couldn’t do anything.”

It was a more wretched situation than I had imagined. The terrible pain she had endured seeped into my heart. I clenched my bound fists tightly.

“Sister, calm down. Fiwwst… can you teww me whewe we awe?”

At my words, the girl’s tear-filled eyes went round.

“Th-this is a tavern on the outskirts of the plaza.”

“Thewe’s no window, so it’s a basement?”

“Th-that’s right.”

Then we hadn’t been taken out of the capital yet. Perhaps there was hope.

“D-don’t tell me you’re going to try to escape?”

“Yeah. But I need youw hewp to do it. Whewe is youw mothew?”

“My mother is… helping with the odd jobs at this tavern.”

“That’s a weweif. Then we can escape togethew.”

“That’s impossible!”

She shouted, then glanced nervously at the door and whispered.

“There’s no way. There are dozens of them upstairs. All armed men, and some of them can even use magic.”

“If you hewp us, it’s possibwe. These oppas awe a wittle young, but they’we a howy knight and a magic swordsman. They’we weawwy stwong.”

The girl’s wavering eyes turned to Rizen and Ark, lying on the floor, then withdrew.

“…I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I can’t help you.”

She trembled and begged my forgiveness.

“I too, I too tried to run away so many times, but… in the end I lost my brother. My brother died because of me. I don’t want to lose my mother too!”

It wasn’t going to be easy, as expected. How could I change this girl’s mind? To make her believe a five-year-old brat and decide to escape… Ah, what the hell. It’s all or nothing.

“Sister, the men who wewe hewe eawwiew. One is dawsk-skinned and bawd, wight? And the othew is huge with a cwoss-shaped scaw on his cheek.”

“…How do you know that!”

The girl’s eyes went wide in surprise, but soon suspicion crept into her expression.

“Y-you saw them, didn’t you?”

“I was bound and turned away. I couldn’t even open my eyes fow feaw of wetting them know I was awake.”

“…!”

“And that bawd man woves tobacco. He goes to smoke evewy thiwty minutes. The cwoss-scaw one is a dwunkawd who gets pwopewly dwunk evewy day and beats the swaves. Theiw names awe Gowos and Tanian.”

“How… how on earth do you…”

“Because I was caught befowe.”

She let out a hollow laugh.

“Haha, that’s absurd. Are you playing with me right now? There’s no way a child like you could have escaped this den…!”

“That’s wight, I didn’t escape. I twied, but in the end I died.”

“…!”

Her face went pale.

“Wh-what does that mean? Are you saying you’re… a ghost? Or else…”

“Yeah, I died and came back to wife.”

Hic!

She hiccupped. Her face went blank as if she couldn’t believe it.

Right, who would believe this easily?

I let out a big sigh and continued.

“And not just once—nine times.”

Hic.

◇ ◆ ◇

Paeon stood alone in a secluded alley. At his feet lay a glittering hairpin. He couldn’t bring himself to pick it up.

“…”

After hesitating for a long while, as if he had made some decision, he furrowed his brow and carefully bent down to pick up the hairpin.

“…!”

He could feel a faint trace of mana from the hairpin. It was a kind he knew well. Every person’s mana signature is different. Because mana that exists in nature is taken into one’s body once and then released, it takes on each individual’s characteristics. So someone who has spent a long time with a person comes to know the signature of the mana they carry.

There was a mage he had spent a long time with. Her mana had resembled its owner. It was bubbly and capricious, yet stronger and sharper than anyone’s. And… that nature had been passed down intact to her daughter.

He pressed his lips together until they turned white.

It was already dawn. Because it was a festival, people were still noisily laughing, chatting, and drinking, but not a single hair of the children was to be seen. A member who spotted him from afar shouted.

“Commander! We’ve searched everywhere and found nothing. We’ve looked through every shop that was open…!”

He found it strange that Paeon was standing there blankly, then noticed the hairpin in his hand and asked.

“Commander, that thing in your hand…?”

He, who had been dazed, came to his senses and murmured.

“Report it to the royal family.”

◇ ◆ ◇

It was the girl who first broke the long silence.

“This is strange.”

“Yeah, it’s stwange enough to be. I undewstand.”

“It’s clearly nonsense, so why does it feel real?”

“Because it is weaw.”

“What… are you, really?”

“I am,”

I hesitated. Even though this was already my tenth life, my station still didn’t feel familiar. Perhaps because I had never once been treated properly as a princess.

“I am the princess of Santra.”

The girl’s eyes went wide again.

‘A bastard child, though.’

No need to add that. It would ruin the image too much.

“Ha… First you say you’ve died and come back nine times, and now what? A princess?”

She let out a hollow laugh, ha ha ha.

“I was a fool. I almost fell for a child’s nonsense!”

“If you weally doubt it, wake these oppas. Then check what they caww me.”

“…”

The girl stared at me intently. As if I were some mysterious creature. Her violet eyes were filled with confusion at a being that clashed with everything she had known.

“Sister, eithew way, it’ll be hawd to get out of hewe wike this. Just twust me once.”

I looked at her earnestly. A moment of silence passed.

“…All right.”

Yes! I convinced her!

“…Life’s not really life anyway. Let’s gamble once.”

As if she had made a firm decision, she came over and sat me up.

“I’ll recite the release spell. But what if these two wake up and cause a ruckus? We’ll be caught.”

Hmm, good point. Especially Ark—he wouldn’t stay still.

I looked around and saw scraps of cloth. It was a storage room, so there was quite a bit of junk. As I directed, the girl tightly gagged Rizen and Ark with the cloth, placed her hands on their foreheads, and recited the release spell.

“Expergefácĭo!”

The moment she cast the spell, a bright light flashed, and their eyelids slowly lifted. They stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment, then quickly came to their senses.

“Mmph! Mmph…!”

But because their mouths were gagged, they couldn’t make proper sounds. They struggled like mad.

“Wizen, Awk! Calm down. You’ww get us caught.”

When they spotted me, they stopped struggling for now. They blinked, trying to figure out what was going on.

“We’ve been kidnapped. This is a tavern on the outskiwts of the pwaza. This sister may have been the one who put us in this state, but she’s decided to twust Asha and hewp us escape.”

“Mmph… mmph mmph!”

Ark nodded his head vigorously. It seemed he meant to ask us to untie the gag.

“It’s impowtant not to get caught, so you absowutely must not shout. Got it?”

Ark and Rizen calmed down quickly and nodded cautiously. And the moment we removed the gags, Rizen whispered.

“Princess! Are you hurt anywhere?”

I shrugged and looked at the girl. She was frozen with her mouth hanging open, astonished that I really was being called a princess.

“Asha is fine. But we don’t have much time.”

I looked each of the three in the eye with a solemn expression.

“Fwom now on, Opewation begins!”