Chapter 7: The Promised Sixteenth

Hello, everyone! Now that my snake is gone, I’m neither a snake-charmer nor snake-charmed—I’m just Fio, the odd-jobs girl!

After I reunited with Lou, I rode back to Marsche on his back, and he checked how much progress I’d made since I was gone. When we reached Mrs. Yoko’s inn and I showed him around my current castle, he told me that the premise that I was a boy was too forced, and I had to stop.

“What boy is this pretty and delicate?! People may have been deterred because it was long and well-groomed, but this hacked-off hairstyle looks so friendly that everyone and their brother is coming up to you! I’m sick of it!”

You don’t have to say I look like a kid and then call it hacked-off...

When I was forced to go confess to Mrs. Yoko that I was a girl the whole time, she looked at me with pity in her eyes. Why?!

“Mrs. Yoko, do you think I should go apologize to the regular customers for misleading them?”

“Oh, I don’t think that’ll be necessary... By the way, what happened to your silver snake?”

“She went on a training journey!”

“What?! All by herself? You’re stricter than I realized.”

Miyu is the one who’s strict!

Then, I went to the old castle to thank Tabuchi for creating the opportunity for me to meet Saint Elise.

“Oh! It’s the heavenly beast of the west! It was all my fault that your contractor was hurt before. Please don’t punish my country for my sins! Punish me alone!” Tabuchi groveled, pressing his head into the floor.

“Uh... Sorry, Sere, I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“Sorry, Tabuchi, but he’s completely forgotten. You can let it go now. Anyway, I brought cake today!”

“Cake!!!” Lou shouted.

“He’ll...let it go that I turned my sword on his contractor, his other half? He’s...saying I should focus my efforts on reconstructing Marsche...so it doesn’t receive divine punishment? How merciful...”

Why are both of them crying?

As I interpreted Lou’s words to Tabuchi, who couldn’t hear them, I cut up the cheesecake and served it with green tea. Lou ate it with bloodshot eyes. It was a little frightening.

“We performed the ritual to send off the god of Regan Island. We couldn’t have done it without you giving me the chance to meet the saint. Thank you!”

“I’m just glad I was able to help. I’m also glad to see that with the heavenly beast back at your side, you seem softer and more relaxed.”

Did I really look that unstable? I smiled sheepishly.

“I’ll be staying in Marsche for a while yet. I hope you don’t mind having me.”

“Thank you for your loyalty to Sere and Miyu in my absence,” Lou said.

“Your Holiness! I hate that I can’t offer you any hospitality at this time, but I hope to continue a long relationship with you,” Tabuchi responded.

“Oh, yeah, Lou, Tabuchi could see you the whole time too!”

“What?!” Lou began to choke. Apparently the cake had gone down the wrong pipe.

◇ ◇ ◇

“So, Lou, do you think we’ll clash with Prince Schneider again?”

“Well, we can’t avoid him forever.”

“I think his weakness is probably fire.”

Fire would be the most effective way to counter ice and roses at once. The prince had probably made some progress too, though.

“I’ve been working hard on building stamina and physical strength. Miyu taught me water magic too. I want to improve my fire magic next.”

“Hmm... To be honest, we’re already on the same level when it comes to fire magic. I can’t teach you much. Should we call the other guy?”

“No. I don’t want to take Asu away from Gillain.”

“Then I’ll teach you my sand magic. If you raise the temperature, you can melt most things with it.”

“Okay, thanks! Wait, but is it okay for me to use magic?”

“Asu and I are back now. You don’t have to worry, as long as it’s not enough to stand out in a bad way. If Schneider makes it all the way here... I’ll just have to turn the tables on him!”

Lou took me to a deserted beach to give me lessons on scalding sand. He gave me some of his magic, which made my own magic harder for enemies to detect and increased my affinity for sand as a bonus. Yay for doping!

“Sand is freer than earth. Don’t picture clumps of dirt, picture manipulating each individual grain of sand.”

Thanks to Lou’s magic, the beach sand gathered at my fingertips.

“Pull it in!” Lou commanded. “Okay, now create a wind and blow it away! There you go. Next, add water and compress it. That’s decent. Okay, do all of that a hundred times! Go!”

“Uryah!”

“Make it flow more gracefully! You can’t make my element look messy as my contractor! Ahh! No good! Do it again! Make it clean! Righteous! Beautiful!”

I feel like I heard that catchphrase at some gathering of women? I’ve been dressing as a boy lately, though!

“What should I do in areas where there’s no sand, Lou?”

“There’s sand just about anywhere. No matter how much clay is in the soil, you’ll hit sand if you dig a few dozen meters. Don’t worry about it. Now, let’s get this done by sundown!”

“Okay!”

Once I could control sand, I began the process of heating each individual grain to high temperatures. During this training, I continued to take requests for odd jobs. The days grew shorter, the winds grew colder, winter came, and then it was a new year.

I turned sixteen, and I finally hit 160 centimeters! I was rounding up a little, but who cares about a bit of a rounding error?! Four goes up, five goes down! I was taller than in my past life!

But...everyone was huge in this world. Elise was a girl, but she was a head taller than me. Ah, I give up. I’m done being down over it now! I’m petite! He he!

My hair had finally grown to shoulder-length in the last six months. I had Mrs. Yoko cut it for me, and I ended up looking like a Japanese doll...it made me cry. My learning priorities changed. I had to learn how to do a shaggy haircut before scalding sand or fire magic!

Sweet sixteen... I was at the age where I could have legally gotten married in my past life.

Marriage, huh... Nothing to do with me.

On my birthday the year before, I’d just been settling down in Marsche with Miyu and hadn’t felt like doing anything special. And this year...I was being put to work in the kitchen as soon as I got up.

“Sere, put more powdered sugar here!”

“Got it!”

I was being forced to make a double-tiered chocolate cake. Let me reiterate, this was my birthday! Not Lou’s!

“Fio, are you going to eat that gorgeous wedding cake all by yourself?” asked Mrs. Yoko.

Huh?! I don’t plan on getting married!

Mrs. Yoko was looking at me with pity in her eyes.

Darn it, I forgot that she could see Miyu, but not Lou! She thinks I’m a loner celebrating all on my own...

Needlessly exhausted, I returned to my room with an extremely excited Lou.

“All right! Congrats, Sere!”

Bwoof! Lou dove straight into the cake without waiting for a response.

“Is it good, Lou?”

“Mmnngh!”

“Can you breathe in there?”

“Mmnngh...”

I was happy that I was able to spend my birthday with Lou, at least. I drank tea in a state of enlightenment.

I took out the letter that I’d received from Elise earlier to give it another look. It had come to me in the form of Kilama again.

“Happy birthday, Serephi,” it read. “I went back to Judore for the first time in a while the other day and visited Lady Erza. She was relieved to hear that you were doing well in Marsche and reunited with Lou. She said she would make sure to let your father know as well.”

I continued to read the letter. “I told her about how you escaped, and she nodded and filled me in on what Mr. Kodak told her. She said that if she contacted you, it would give away your location, so she won’t contact you directly. Everybody knows that Lady Erza and I are connected, so I don’t think it’s too unusual for me to visit Trundle territory.”

“It’s not a secret that I’m friends with you,” she went on to say, “but I’m very busy as a saint nowadays, so I don’t think anybody realizes that we’re close enough to still be in contact. As you can imagine, it would lead to speculation if I met Count Granzeus, but if it’s not urgent, I can get information to him through Lady Erza.”

“I wish you a peaceful year. Your lifelong friend, Saint Elise.”

“She called herself a saint?!”

As I folded up the letter, I recalled my childhood in the Granzeus domain. On one snowy day, my father rested me on his lap as we ate Matsuki’s cakes with my grandmother, Enrique, and Martha, and we watched my brother perform a magic show for us. He made a snowman dance and sing, and at the end, it turned into ice cream and leapt into his mouth. My brother took my hands to dance a waltz with me, spinning me around and making my gown change colors.

I hugged everyone and told them, “That was amazing! Thank you!” Ah...such happy memories...

I wonder if my thankfulness will reach all the way to Judore?

“Ah!”

A familiar magic appeared! My small room filled with light.

“Asu!”

“My, how unseemly...”

Here come the insults! I ignored Lou’s fuss and hugged Asu.

“Asu! Asu! It’s been so long!”

“Sere...I missed you.”

“Me too...” I teared up. “You’re finally here...”

Jeez, I’ve been crying all the time lately... I breathed in Asu’s scent, that of warm sunbeams.

I took some ice cream out of my Magic Room (Freezer). It was marbled with vanilla and chocolate. I’d made it so I could serve it to Asu.

“You have good taste to bring out ice cream in the cold winter!”

Yes, I agree. I thought the same thing when I was a student.

Asu shrunk to miniature size and started eating the ice cream happily.

“I’m sorry, Asu. You took a punishment for my sake.”

“I thought you went over this with Lou already. What do you say at times like these?”

“Asu... Thank you. I love you.”

“Correct.”

“Hey, quit ignoring me!” Lou had returned from cake heaven.

“Asu, is Gillain angry that you were gone because of me?”

“He’s not angry about that. He’s angry at himself for not having the freedom to immediately help you.”

“Tell him thank you, and that I’m all right now. I noticed his magic protecting me many times.”

I hadn’t thought about it, but it had vanished ever since Lou had come back.

“It’s probably gone away now that your mind is calm again.”

Gillain cast delicate spells, unlike his scary face.

“Do you know what’s going on in Judore?”

“Gillain has been rough, so I only flew over once, but your father has a deep wrinkle between his eyebrows now. I couldn’t talk to him directly, but I showed myself and nodded in response to his questions, and he broke down in tears.”

Ah...father... I’m sorry for worrying you...

“Sere, Isaac understands everything. You’ll see him again.” Lou patted my head.

“The Granzeus cakes were as good as ever!”

“Asu, you little...!” growled Lou.

Give me back my serious mood!

“Also, happy birthday, Sere,” Asu congratulated me.

“Oh, did you mean to come today in particular?” Lou asked suspiciously.

“Thank you, Asu!”

Asu flew onto my lap and kissed my cheek. A gentle heat, like a hot spring, radiated all the way to my fingertips. It was his magic!

“Asu! You don’t mind transferring magic to me?”

“It’s because we’re friends. It’s my present to you. Also, I can find you more easily in the future now.”

“You shouldn’t go around giving other people magic when you’re a servant...” Lou sighed. “I guess if it’s Sere, Gillain wouldn’t mind.”

“The balance was off with only Lou and Miyu’s magic.”

No, if anything, it’s too heavy to have magic from three holy beasts!

“You just didn’t want to be left out, did you, Asu?” Lou asked.

“No comment.”

“Did you come today to pick up Sere on her sixteenth birthday?” Lou raised his right eyebrow.

“Gillain’s perfectly capable of coming to collect his own bride. He’ll come on his own time.”

“Wait, Gillain still wants to marry me?”

We hadn’t met in two years. Two years was...a long time. Things had changed too. I didn’t think there was much value in a woman who has people after her life and might not be alive in a year.

“Sere, however you look at it, I feel sorry for Gillain.”

“I mean...”

In the novel, I had been engaged to Prince Gardner. He had abandoned me despite saying for ten years after our engagement that he would treasure me. My faint love was trampled on. It sunk in that I wasn’t needed as a woman.

There had been many times in this life when I thought a man was trying to get close to me, but in the end, I was sure they wouldn’t choose me. They would throw me cold glances as easily as a flip of the palm. I knew I would never be loved as a woman, so whenever I had those thoughts, I laughed at myself and brought my thoughts back down to earth.

I’d tried very hard not to expect anything of that nature from Gillain, although I was loyal to him. I warned myself that his feelings for me were those of a comrade or a battle partner, not those of a lover, so it would hurt less when he betrayed me.

Gillain was my savior, and I wanted him to stay my savior. Lovers, engagement, marriage—if I were to dream of such things with him and then have my expectations betrayed, I would die before I could be condemned.

“Don’t you have faith in Gillain?”

“I...don’t have faith in love.” I knew what it was like for everything that had been built up over the years to become meaningless in the end, for my lover to change his mind just like that and hate me.

“Can you believe in Gillain?”

I thought for a moment, then nodded quietly.

Asu chuckled. “That’s enough. Gillain is just like you. You can grow together.”

Asu smiled, promised to visit again, and flew away.

I clung to Lou, suddenly feeling anxious.

◇ ◇ ◇

One afternoon, when the cold of winter had gradually begun to subside, Lou and I headed to the old castle on Tabuchi’s summons.

“I’m terribly sorry to make you come here when you’re so busy,” Tabuchi began.

“Hello!” I greeted him.

“It is an honor to see you, heavenly beast of the west.”

“Mhm,” Lou responded.

“I called you here today because I wanted to ask for your advice. We here in Marsche are finally beginning to see a path to a new system.”

“Wow, congratulations!” I replied.

“But before that, I want to revive the guilds.”

That makes sense. We need to gather people in order to rebuild, and guilds are essential to managing people fairly and honestly.

“I want advice from you two on that.”

“Can’t you use the people from the former guilds?” The reason Marsche’s guilds had fallen apart last time had been because of the royal family, not the guild members.

“I’m sure most of them were sincere workers, but there were some guild members in Tohkun Guild—which oversaw Marsche Guild—who were doing favors for the royal family. They leaked information about you.”

I see. The guild here was involved in that incident that I got wrapped up in.

“How about a three-pronged approach, then?” I suggested. “First, a paper test on general knowledge and calculations. Next, an interview with you, me, and Lou. Lastly, a general election to choose a guildmaster!” We won’t make them buy a CD to vote for the guildmaster they stan, though.

“That would be a lot more difficult than our past practices. I wonder if we can gather enough people...”

“I wouldn’t mind at all if you rejected the idea, but I think with that level of strictness, you could confidently announce to the world that Marsche Guild has been reborn.”

“That makes sense.”

“To be completely honest, whether or not you can gather people depends on one thing: money! You’ll attract plenty of people as long as they can have a steady income.”

“Ahh, I hoped you wouldn’t say that. We don’t have very much capital at the moment, as you can imagine. I’d like to ask them to work hard for the sake of reconstruction for the time being, but that’s just idealistic thinking.”

Yes, it is! You’re just about the only one who would work yourself into dust and give yourself dark circles over an ideal.

I chanted Appraisal! in my heart. Tabuchi glowed blue.

“That’s a convenient new technique, Sere,” Lou commented. “Tell me all about it later.”

Tabuchi (Leader of the new government, former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Marsche, Prime Minister of the provisional government)

Status: Chronically fatigued, sleep deprived, on the verge of death by overwork

Skills: Earth magic, fire magic, world-weary

He has “world-weary” in his skills... I felt a bit like crying.

“Well, all right then. I’ll help you out!” I took a brown sphere out of my Magic Room.

“Sere?” Lou wasn’t sure what I was doing.

“My brother Larouza Granzeus is well known as an explorer and collector of secret books. He dug this ten thousand-year-old fossil out of an iceberg! It’s the only one in the world!”

“Is that...?” Realization set in to Lou’s features.

“It’s in good condition, and if you knock on it, it gives off an ancient scent!”

Lou was visibly alarmed. “No, I don’t think you should sniff that!”

“Let’s put this up for auction and use the profit to fund the guild!”

“No way you can sell that!” Lou exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, Lou! There are fanatics in every place and age. Just watch!”

The next day, it sold for two hundred million gold!

We attracted about four thousand people using deceptive flyers that said things like “Recruiting guild members nationwide!” “Salary guaranteed for one year!” “Pay based on work from your second year on!” “Newcomers, come on and become heroes!”

As I had suggested, the first thing we did was give a paper test, narrowing it down to a hundred people. Today, we were going to use interviews to narrow it further to just fifty. We planned to start by setting up five guilds in Marsche with ten members each. We would then elect five guildmasters.

The applicants came up to me, Lou, and Tabuchi in order and sold themselves to us.

“Interviewee number one, come up!” The person managing the proceedings was of course Tabuchi’s eternal servant, Yamada.

A shrewd-looking middle-aged man came up and started a long spiel about how he was highly experienced as a guild worker.

“This guy has a dark side, Sere,” warned Lou. “He preys on fledgling adventurers.”

Clang! I rang the bell to end the interview.

“Thank you for your time. Interviewee number two, come up!”

Tabuchi was overjoyed. “We’re making such fast progress thanks to the holy beast!”

Number two was a young man with a side part. He told us that he was a former civil servant and skilled in math.

“He’s killed somebody,” Lou said. “Over something small.”

Clang!

“This isn’t a good sign,” I said. “Does this country only have this kind of person?”

“The wise have long left this country...” Tabuchi was nearly crying.

“S-Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that so early on! Yamada! Let’s move on to the next one!”

“Okay, interviewee number three, come up.”

We proceeded to efficiently sort through the candidates based on their interviews, Lou’s judgment, and my appraisal. They had all passed the written test, so we hired them as long as they were otherwise normal.

“Interviewee number seventy-four, come up!”

A hunched-over old lady entered. Yamada rushed over to help her.

“Hmm. This one has potential, despite being worn down,” said Lou.

Her interview had no issues, but age is age... I wasn’t sure just yet.

Appraisal! She shone blue.

Gengoro (Former A-rank adventurer, Francis of Purgatory)

Status: Decreased stamina due to old age, disguised as a woman

Skills: Fire magic, acupuncture, disguise, frugality

Frugality under skills... That takes a certain amount of hardship to get...

“I don’t even know where to start...” said Lou.

Clang, clang, clang! I rang the bell three times. “Okay, Francis, you can come wait over here!”

As Yamada guided Francis to his place, a scary-faced man pushed his way up to the interview desk. “Wait a minute! How come this old hag gets in and we don’t?!” He was the only one making a fuss about it, but many of the other rejected candidates were also glaring our way and nodding. “I don’t know what you are to the prime minister, but I won’t let the likes of you decide who passes and fails!”

“Yeah! What he said!” another man shouted from the crowd.

I could see how it was irritating to put your success in the hands of a little girl, but that attitude disqualified him as a guild member. I stood up.

Tabuchi sighed. “Just try not to do too much damage to the building.”

I shot Tabuchi a quick glare and flicked a finger into the forehead of the man, who was leaning in threateningly. Bam! He flew across the room, straight into the wall.

“I can definitely decide who’s strong or weak, regardless of who passes or fails.”

“Ahhhhh!” Some of the other men screamed.

“Have you heard this story?” I asked. “Once, there was a country that collapsed all because they crossed one fourteen-year-old adventurer girl.”

“Th-The legend of the Twilight Lady of Destruction!”

The legend?

“Well, apart from that, there was also a town on a small island where a man who had been taking advantage of others crossed a fifteen-year-old adventurer. He met his demise, and the town had to start over from scratch.”

“Th-The legend of the Lady of Typhoons and Twilight!”

“What? I haven’t heard that one! Tell me!” Tabuchi leaned in excitedly.

One of the rejected candidates nervously began to speak. “There was a scummy adventurer named Bacas on Regan Island in the north. He had the island under his thumb. Nobody was strong enough to stand up to Bacas, who would go after your wife and children if you disobeyed him. When the whole town was at his mercy, an adventurer dropped by and struck back! He wasn’t able to recover. The town was finally freed from his curse. That adventurer who stopped him came to be known as the Lady of Typhoons and Twilight! She was like a storm!”

“Wow...” Tabuchi and Lou both gasped.

Stop watching so intently, you two! I didn’t know Regan Island was in that state, though...

“Ah-Ahem! My point is, people who judge by appearances are not fit to be guild members! Would anybody else like their forehead flicked?”

Ahh, they finally shut up. “Let’s continue, Yamada.”

“Well, then, moving on! Interviewee number 75, come up!”

“Hello! I’m Yoko. I run an inn in Tohkun!”

“Mrs. Yoko? Why are you here?”

“Well, I act as the receptionist for your requests, Fio. Couldn’t this be an extension of that job?”

She was right. Clang, clang, clang!

We held an election for the fifty people that we chose, and five new guildmasters were chosen. Yoko was one of them, so our inn was now the third guild in Tohkun. Convenient!

“Hey! Typhoon girl!” called Lou.

You know, Lou...I have limits too...