Chapter 1

An Attitude Adjustment: Suppose You Discovered Your New Subordinate Was Actually the Boss’s Son

To begin, let’s discuss the setting—the Kingdom of Azami.

This kingdom was located on the southern end of the continent, blessed with a temperate climate. It faced an ocean filled with the bounty of the seas, and it had access to a great river that crossed the continent, making transport of goods considerably easier than neighboring countries.

Fueled by trade, Azami was divided into five major districts: The Central District, or the place for the royal castle and noble estates, as well as where the army was stationed. The North Side—more or less the kingdom’s front door and the location of all kinds of shops. The West Side, a tidy residential district. The South Side, which was nearest to the harbor or the heart of commerce, lively in a very different way from the North Side.

And finally, the East Side, where Lloyd was headed. This was, to be blunt, where the dregs of society gathered.

The East Side was inside the kingdom, but public order was low enough it could hardly be considered part of said territory. An unkempt district with all sorts of things shoved in it—kind of like a dresser stuffed to the brim in a vain attempt to impress a surprise visitor. Half the district was lower- and middle-class homes, but the farther inside, the more it became another world, where all kinds of people ran things according to their own laws.

Paving stones with cracks ignored for years, wooden price tags on garbage (or was it merchandise?) under the awnings of homes, women well past their primes—verging on old—chattering with one another and showing excessive amounts of skin… A run-down vibe welcomed all who came. Lloyd was roaming these backroads late at night, with the little knapsack clearly marking him as a country bumpkin, as he searched for his destination.

Walking an alley with his appearance, he was practically begging to get mugged. A pair of hardworking delinquents quickly approached him, making threats as they leered at him.

But Lloyd didn’t even seem to notice. He just breezed right past them.

“Ignoring us, huh? Then we’ll just have to get rough.”

The leader slammed his shoulder into Lloyd. A classic technique. An unexpected shoulder bump followed by…

“Aughhhhh! That huuuurts!” The delinquent made a big show.

“Wh-what?! You’ll pay for this, kid!” And his partner took advantage of that to press the kid for a payout.

Be careful of this scam if you ever find yourself in a seedy part of town!

Accosted by this thug, Lloyd looked terribly surprised. “Huh?”

“‘Huh,’ what? You messed up my buddy’s shoulder!”

“Ow! That seriously hurts! Call a doctor! I think it’s broken!”

“But I barely bumped into you!”

“Doctor! Doctor!” he chanted, sweating profusely, and crumpled over.

The man’s performance (?) was certainly convincing.

“Man, he’s really going for it today,” his partner muttered under his breath, impressed, before zeroing in on Lloyd again. “Like hell you did! You’re paying for his medical bills! Pay up! All the money you got! Everything on you! Leave it all here! And no, you can’t keep your underwear, either!”

“A doctor…,” the injured man hissed as his coconspirator got more and more worked up.

His friend broke off his demands, gradually realizing his injured partner wasn’t faking it. “Huh? Uh…you mean…for real?”

“For real!” he shrieked. “Can’t you see it swelling up, you numbskull? Get a damn doctor! …Oh shit. This is real bad!”

His friend stared at him a moment, then turned back to Lloyd with eyes even more bloodshot than before. “Yo! Look what you did to him! You’ll pay for this, kid!”

“Uh… That’s exactly what you said a moment ago…”

“Shut the hell up! This time I really mean it! We gotta get him to a doctor—stat! Stop dickin’ around! Hand it over!”

He held a hand out expectantly, but Lloyd looked lost.

Um…hand it over? …What exactly? Uh… Is he asking for a high five?

Not knowing what else to do, he lightly tapped the delinquent’s hand. Or at least…to Lloyd, it was a limp slap. But you guessed it…

A loud crunch rang through the alley. His “lightly slapped” hand rocketed from place, winding around his shoulder three times before he hit the ground in a crash landing.

“Aiiiieeee!”

Now it was the friend’s turn to writhe in the middle of the street, his hand and shoulder twisted in unnatural angles. Both of them were coated in mud.

“Uh? Really? But that was the lightest of high fives!”

The delinquent’s reactions definitely seemed to be more than just “dramatic,” and Lloyd was thoroughly rattled. But when he stepped closer out of concern, they scuttled away like a pair of cockroaches.

“W-we’ll remember… I mean, no! Please forget this ever happened!”

The pair were too cowed to even finish delivering this classic line—used to save face by fleeing cowards everywhere—as they staggered away, leaning on each other for support.

“Huh…I wonder if that was some sort of street performance? I’ve heard they have those in the big city.”

Baffled, Lloyd tried to explain this away by attributing it to life in the “big city,” a magic phrase that seemed to solve everything, even though it was a stretch this time.

As he continued to shake his head in bewilderment, he found his way to a store on a gentle slope of a hill. There were a number of old potion pots hanging from the eaves, and a shoddy small sign that announced WE’VE GOT POTIONS, as if it’d been posted to keep up appearances. The whole vibe was so phony that it actually made it seem like a real witch’s shop.

“So this is where the Witch of the East Side lives.”

The door was so rickety that he was almost afraid to knock on it, but there was a light spilling softly out from under it. Certain there was someone home, Lloyd opened the door, softly calling out as he did.

“Hello?”

The rusted hinges made the door rather heavy. Behind it was a woman wearing a black robe; a wide-brimmed, pointy hat; and rimless glasses—looking every bit the part of a witch. She had flaxen hair and was in the middle of reading a book, a cup of coffee in her free hand. She looked to be about Lloyd’s age, but something about her air made her seem much older.

The shop interior was also extremely befitting of a witch—with half-made potions, mortars, unfamiliar and poisonous-looking thorny plants, and piles of old tomes in the corners as if specifically trying to create that mood.

“………”

She lowered the thick volume in her hand, gave him a disinterested look-over, and then went back to her book. The ensuing silence was broken only by the sound of the page turning.

Her utter lack of response left Lloyd unsure what to do next, so he just kind of stood there. Perhaps this was what wore her down eventually.

She hooked her shoulder-length hair over one ear and said, “What?” The voice emerged from deep within her chest, which he could tell was impressive even under her loose robes.

“Er, um…I was told to come see the Witch of the East Side.”

“Hmph. You have a message from someone?”

“Uh, no. I’m not a messenger, I’m…”

“Oh, so you’re someone who knows I’m a witch.” She took a sip of coffee, closed her book, and glared at him from behind her glasses. “Do you know what it means for a child like you to ask a favor of a witch?”

This sounded so ominous that Lloyd flinched. “No, I was just told to come here.”

The witch sighed, shaking her head.

“According to tradition, witches grant wishes in exchange for payment of equal value,” she explained. “You must be ready to make a sacrifice. With that in mind, what is it you wish for? Marie the Witch will guide your path, no matter how impossible the task—just make sure you don’t regret it.”

This was more a threat than anything else. Lloyd swallowed hard, working up the nerve to proceed.

“I-I’ve come from the country to become a soldier! Can I stay here until then?”

There was a long pause, then she coughed. “According to tradition…”

“Yeah, um, I’ve already heard your spiel.”

“Then go find an inn and look at some job postings in the town square, ya little shit!”

Her theatrical shtick instantly shattered into pieces. She’d jumped out of her chair, looking like a girl scolding her bratty kid brother. Lloyd cowered slightly.

“Geez,” she grumbled. “What do you think witches are? Handymen? Charity workers? Hospitality staff? Is that what they’re teaching kids these days? Where did you even come from?!”

“Uh, a town called Kunlun…”

“Yeah, yeah. Well, go back to there and tell them witches aren’t… Hmm? Hold up. Kunlun?”

The witch sat back down and stroked her chin on her hand, as if trying to remember something. And a moment later, the color drained from her face, making her look like someone who’d forgotten something really important at home.

“Uh…boy…what’s the name of your village chief?”

“Hmm? Alka. Is there a problem?”

At the mention of that name, the witch’s back snapped as straight as a stick, and sweat began pouring down from every pore on her face. She clasped her hands and positioned them on the tops of her tights, prim and proper like a job applicant at an interview.

She was muttering something under her breath. It sounded like an incantation. “No, it could be just someone with the same name. I mean, what could she possibly want after all this time…?”

Lloyd watched this for a moment, then exclaimed, “Oh, I totally forgot!” He undid the knot on his knapsack and began rummaging around inside. “She said to show you this…”

He gingerly put a huge hunk of crystal down on the table.

“My hopes are dashed! It’s definitely her!” The witch threw her arms up like an athlete who’d missed a goal.

Lloyd smiled in response, misreading her actions as part of her great sense of humor.

The witch saw him looking, snatched her hat off, ruffled her flaxen hair, and started briskly making more coffee without a single trace of her dismissive attitude from earlier.

“Where are my manners?” she asked. “And? She didn’t give you any sort of message for me? Oh god, she didn’t come here with you, did she? That’d be too much for me to—”

“No, no messages. And it’s just me.”

When she heard this last part, the witch pumped her fist, shouting triumphantly. “Yee, boi!” She was totally acting her age now.

Hand still clenched, she shot Lloyd a look and asked, “Uh, so you’re seriously just…planning to stay here instead of an inn?”

“Sh-she said if I showed you the crystal, you’d understand…”

Both pairs of eyes turned toward it. In the next instant, a stream of aurora-esque light shot out of the rock, forming the shape of a person.

As the outline grew clearer, Lloyd recognized her—it was the chief of Kunlun, Alka herself. But when the witch saw that petite body and those distinctive twin pigtails, she let out a little shriek and instantly fell on her hands and knees.

She rubbed her forehead into the floor as she begged, “Please, show mercy!” several times.

Just as it seemed like the floor was about to start smoking from the friction, Alka finally began to speak. “Howdy. Long time no see, Marie. It’s your master, Alka! Remember me?!”

“Eep.”

Whatever “traditions yada yada yada” monologue she’d made sound so imposing had gone straight out the window.

“I reckon it’s a bit much to ask ya for a favor after all these years, but my precious, precious young’un, Lloyd, has said he wants to be a soldier… I’m sure he’ll get in, but take care of him until then, ya hear?”

“Eep… I-if I may be so bold,” the witch said, head still firmly planted on the ground. Her boobs smothered the floor. “I do have a few questions…”

“Oh, I almost forgot. This message is just a recordin’ so I can’t answer any questions! Sorry!”

To that, the witch instantly yelled, “You really had me going there, pip-squeak! Glad to see you still haven’t gotten any taller!” She leaped to her feet, grinning wildly, and slapped the crystal across its smooth surface a few times as she cackled.

And the moment the “recording” saw how her attitude changed, Alka grinned, looking right at her. “I figured if I said that you’d screw up, Marie.”

“Eep!”

Black cape fluttering, the witch slammed her entire body onto the floor to grovel—more like “eat gravel”—forehead pressed flat on the ground. Alka watched this with an icy smile, then seemed to lose interest quickly.

“Anyhow, I do always enjoy seeing you make a purdy fool of yourself, but…either way, I’d appreciate your help. Even if he does somehow fail the test, I’m sure you’ll take care of it, Marie. See ya! …Oh and, Lloyd! If ya get lonely, I’ll pop over and rock ya to sleep anytime!”

And with that, the image scattered into particles of light, leaving Lloyd gaping and the witch crushed. Quite a bizarre sight, indeed.

The idea of her rocking him to sleep had Lloyd blushing. Meanwhile, the witch slowly clambered back to her feet. She looked even more embarrassed than Lloyd.

She straightened her garment out, ran her fingers through her hair to remove any hints of dust, adjusted her glasses, cleared her throat, and screeched, “Goddamn herrrrr! I thought I was finally free! You can’t just pop up with weird favors, loli Grandma! Loli Grammmmaaa!”

Then she hurled the crystal into a closet and slammed the door as hard as she could. Not one for taking care of her home, it seemed.

Breathing heavily, she saw Lloyd awkwardly staring at her and regained some of her composure. She sat down again.

“Hah… W-well, if it’s her asking, I’ve got no choice. I’ll look after you until this test thing, um…”

“Oh, I’m Lloyd. Lloyd Belladonna.”

“Okay, Lloyd. I’m Marie. They call me the Witch of the East Side.”

“Uh, sorry, I guess? I know this is a lot. I’ll help in any way I can!”

His earnest frown seemed to drain the spite from Marie.

“No need for any of that,” she said in a much nicer tone this time. “I’ve got a spare room in back. You can put your things there. Since I wasn’t expecting company, it’s not clean or anything, so we’ll have to clear out the mess now. Otherwise, it’s so late, you’ll never get a chance to sleep. Just shove it all in a corner or something.” She pointed to a room in back.

“Sure thing!”

Lloyd grabbed his knapsack and headed back. As he passed Marie, he flashed her another gentle smile. “Thanks for everything!”

What a well-mannered kid.

Meanwhile, Marie had come to the sudden realization that her new roomie was a boy. And they were the same age to boot.

Staring after him, she muttered, “Seems awful nice for someone from Kunlun…or anyone connected to that loli grandma…surprisingly so.”

She took a sip of her coffee. It’d gone cold.

“Well, my master’s always had two or three screws loose,” she mumbled to herself. She picked up her book, thumbing through the pages since she’d neglected to use a bookmark. “Now, where was I…?”

“By the way,” added Alka, stepping out of the closet. The real one, not a projection this time. “If ya dare lay a finger on my darlin’ little boy, I’ll make sure ya live out the rest of yer days as a frog!”

“Pfftt!”

Forget finding her place in the book. A massive spray of brown liquid made it impossible to tell what was written on the page at all.

“Why were you in my closet?!” Marie yelled, dribbling coffee from her nose.

Alka didn’t appear at all sorry. “Mm? Well, obviously, I teleported here usin’ that crystal as a gate.”

“Oh, I wish you wouldn’t go around using techniques that go beyond human limitations! That much never changes! And geez, I’m not going after a boy I just met!”

“Hmm? Is that so?”

“Of course! What do you think I am?!”

Alka snorted. “Look at yourself! I know ya spent hours dithering outside that host club before eventually giving up! You have virgin written all over ya!”

“I am not a…w-wait, how do you know that?! What?! Are you watching me?! You knew where I was?”

“I’ll give ya credit for stopping yourself, at least. It seems you haven’t entirely forgotten your position. That’s why I’m trustin’ him to ya. Thanks, Marie.”

“…Happy to help,” Marie said mechanically through gritted teeth, wearing an expression like she’d just taken a huge chomp into a bug. No, that’s too mild—it was like she’d bitten into a bug, and its scraggly leg had lodged itself into her gums.

Now that she’d aired everything out, Alka started burrowing back into the closet. She paused, talking to Marie with her back still turned.

“Oh, yes, yes. As punishment for callin’ me a loli grandma, I’ve placed a mild curse wishing misfortune on you in ancient runes.”

“Whyyyy?! You can’t use the wisdom of yore for petty grievances!”

But even as she protested…

Thunk!

“Ouch!”

Marie stubbed her toe on the table leg. Alka laughed so hard there were tears welling in her eyes, and then she vanished into the closet.

Thoroughly defeated, Marie collapsed on the table, swearing under her breath until she fell asleep.

With the wood grain of the table imprinted on half her face, Marie woke to the sound of a rhythmic tapping. Annoyed by the sun streaming through her shabby window, she narrowed her eyes, looking around.

“Hmm mm-hmm mm-hmm mm-mm-mm-mm-mmaa-aaah!”

The would-be soldier from the night before was standing in the kitchen, humming to himself, chopping greens like he’d done it his whole life. He tossed them into a pot on the stove top.

“Oh…I guess I drifted off…”

She sat up, her chair creaking…and a blanket slid off her. Just as Marie realized the boy must have put it on her, he heard her moving and turned with a smile in her direction.

“Good morning! Sorry to take over your kitchen like this.”

“Mornin’…uh, I don’t mind. Thanks for the blanket.”

“I thought about carrying you to your room, but I figured better not to go in a lady’s room without permission…”

This reminded Marie that her bedroom was less befitting her status as a lady than as a resident of the totally trashed East Side, and she was instantly relieved he hadn’t seen it.

“Quite a gentleman,” she remarked to hide this reaction. She fixed her flaxen hair up with her fingers and took a closer look at what Lloyd was fixing for breakfast.

“Just a moment,” he soothed, as if he were trying to placate a child who was begging for a taste test. “I’ll have some pancakes ready in a minute.”

He put a frying pan on the stove, threw a little oil into the pan, poured in the batter, and flipped over the pancakes. The smell of it got her appetite going, and Marie put plates and honey on the table, moving so snappily you’d never imagine she’d just woken up a moment earlier.

The pancakes were served along a chicken broth with greens in it, a breakfast that left Marie speechless.

“Sorry that it’s a simple meal.”

“…Not at all.”

Anyone living alone knows that waking up to breakfast is, like, the ultimate joy in life. Especially after a night of getting worked over by her former master—who might not have had horns or a club but was otherwise indistinguishable from a demon. This boy’s consideration and the scent of the broth wormed their way into her heart.

“You can stay here as long as you like.”

“Huh?”

“Uh, never mind. Time to dig in!”

Marie took an enormous bite of her pancakes. She’d slapped quite a bit of honey on it and stuffed her cheeks so full she looked like a chipmunk. Then she washed it down with a few gulps of soup.

“Amazing! I haven’t eaten anything not from a can in so long!”

“Er…? From a can?”

“Yeah…I’m a witch, you see,” she attempted to explain away.

The Witch of the East Side seemed to be raising her middle finger to the age-old public image of witches. After devouring three giant pancakes, she made a big show of elegantly making more coffee.

Seeing the look of satisfaction on her face, Lloyd smiled gently and began cleaning up. Meanwhile, as Maire was faced with this entirely unsoldierly display of good housekeeping skills, she asked the obvious question.

“Uh…Lloyd, do you actually want to be a soldier?”

“Uh, yes… Sorry,” Lloyd said, turning to face her as he dried off a plate. He bowed his head slightly in apology.

“Oh, don’t… No need to apologize.”

Then Marie remembered that this boy was from Kunlun. “That was a stupid question,” she reflected. How could she forget that? As he did the dishes, she began filling him in on the test.

“The general admissions test to the military academy in the Kingdom of Azami is in the middle of the month, so it’s still a ways off. You know what it involves?”

“Um, I heard there was a combat test, a written test on magic, and an interview?”

“Yes…they change it up a little each time, but basically that. The combat test is the most important by far.”

“Sigh, I thought so…”

“I mean, they know we all have our strengths and weaknesses with magic, so as long as you know the basics, that’s enough. Plus, a soldier’s work is mostly guarding and heavy lifting. They need strong men.”

“Urp.”

“And lately, the man in charge, Colonel Merthophan, is really going for it, recruiting all over…there’s no set limit to how many cadets they accept, but there’s a lot of competition for those slots.”

Marie went on about intel she’d received as of late. “The eldest boy from the heavily decorated Lidocaine family. And the rumored Belt Princess. And that infamous female mercenary…”

But coming from the very edge of the continent, Lloyd had never heard of any of them.

“You sure know a lot,” he commented.

“That’s ’cause I’m a witch…but really, running a shop like this, you tend to hear things. Especially here on the East Side: Nobody has any money, so they pay for potions with information.” Marie proudly took a sip of her coffee.

On the other side of the conversation, Lloyd was looking increasingly gloomy. “I was afraid it was all about strength…never been my strong suit.”

Coffee cup still held up to her lips, Marie’s brows twitched. Then she gave Lloyd a look of skepticism.

“What are you talking about? You’re from Alka’s village! You oughtta be more worried about the interview and, like, common sense.”

“No…I’ve really never been very strong.” Lloyd hung his head, scratching his cheek. “I mean, it took me six whole days to get here.”

Marie had no idea what he was talking about. It’d taken him six days to get here from that remote area, hopping carriages and trains? How did that have anything to do with his physical prowess?

Ha-ha-ha…he doesn’t mean he walked here in six days, right? That would be ridiculous.

As she chuckled to herself, she took another sip of coffee.

“No! He’s totally serious!”

Another spray of brown liquid. Without bothering to mop it up, she turned on Lloyd, desperate not to believe it.

“You mean by train, right?” she demanded.

“Huh? No, I ran the whole way. But you’re right, six days is a really long time…my grandfather said two would be plenty.”

A silence settled over the room.

“No, no, no, no! Lloyd! You’re crazy strong!”

“Er…thanks for the encouragement. Everyone always says I’ve got guts, at least, but I know better than anyone how weak I am.”

Marie looked at him like he must be joking, but the boy himself was clearly genuinely worried, and she’d spent enough time in the information trade to tell if someone was lying or not.

And it’s not a lie…which means he really doesn’t…

The outer realms…the weakest boy from Kunlun…by the standards of a town that made common sense evaporate like morning mist.

As if making sure…or perhaps trying to get through to him, Marie said, “But on the way here, you certainly must have met a monster or two. There must be all kinds of dangerous monsters on the road. If you can beat them, you’re definitely pretty strong.”

“No, I was really lucky. I never crossed paths with any of them.”

“…Right.”

“But there were lots of animals! Big locusts, fire-breathing lizards…”

“Those are clearly monsters! And really dangerous ones at that!”

Lloyd clearly took this as a joke and laughed it off. “Ah-ha-ha, I think I can tell the difference between animals and monsters. Monster are all, you know, ‘The world belongs to us!’ and they always have a second and third form…”

At this spine-chilling declaration, Marie deflated, collapsing on the table.

Lord! How could you send this kid to the capital, loli Grandma? He’s too much!

She considered giving him a long lecture on common sense and the definition of monsters, but he was so clearly well-meaning, earnest, and genuinely convinced that he was weak, she couldn’t find any way to broach this topic.

“The only thing I’m really good at is housework… They say I’m the best in the village at cleaning!”

“At cleaning…cleaning what? Cleaning up after your enemies? Disposing of corpses of invaders?”

“Enemies? Corpses? Nope, just normal cleaning.”

At this, Marie glanced toward the kitchen. It’d been buried deep in empty cans, bottles, and scraps left over from potions—forming a mini–East Side all on its own.

But move that bus! Now that Lloyd had plowed through it, it was so clean that it sparkled in the sunlight.

A wimpy, kind homemaker, huh… I can see why the master’s paying extra attention to him. He’s totally her type.

Putting the matter of Alka’s preferences aside, Marie honestly admitted his work on her kitchen was amazing.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he said, sheepishly modest but clearly pleased. He was certainly confident in this area. “Eh-heh-heh. There’s a trick to it, you see.”

“Oh yeah? Like a cleaning hack?”

“More or less, yeah.”

Marie definitely wanted to know more, so she came over and stood next to him, staring at his hands. Lloyd whipped out a rag like a salesman doing a demonstration of his product.

“See this rag right here?”

“Mm-hmm?”

“There’s an ancient rune stitched into it, so anything you wipe with it gets super clean.”

“Cleaning hack, my ass!”

She hadn’t expected the wisdom of the ancients to be applied to good housekeeping. Her reaction was super loud, and Lloyd was so surprised, he went back to looking really anxious.

“I-is that bad?”

“It’s not bad except for in all the ways it is!”

And with that, Marie began thumping her head on the wall.

And it’s the disenchant rune! I had to labor under Alka for years before I was able to learn that thing!

Even as Marie was hammering her head on the wall like a professional construction worker, Lloyd accidentally struck one final blow.

“I don’t really get it, but apparently a side effect is that it gets rid of any grime or dirt!”

“A side effect! All my work for a friggin’ side effect!”

This was too much for Marie, and she collapsed against the wall, tears in her eyes. If she were to hear it’d only taken Lloyd three months to acquire this rune, she’d definitely have pounded a head-sized hole in her wall.

But Lloyd had no idea how to handle this situation, so he just apologized.

“I’m sorry… I know, it’s nothing impressive. This and a spell to make it rain are all I can really…”

There goes that head-sized hole.

“I knew it… Common sense has no bearing on anyone from that stupid village…”

Several days had passed since Lloyd started staying at the witch’s shop.

Well, she called it a shop…but it wasn’t like she had anything ready for sale. It was more like neighbors stopped by to chat and picked up some medicine while they were there.

As a result, it was pretty much always open. Since business revolved entirely around Marie, Lloyd mostly focused on cleaning and laundry or going shopping for her. Even in the capital, he was the World’s Best Wife.

One day, while Lloyd was out shopping, a local master carpenter stopped by.

“All done, Marie!”

With practiced ease, his thin and wrinkled arms had hammered up the repairs to the hole in her wall, and he was already putting his tools away.

“Thanks so much,” Marie replied.

“Not a problem! You’ve given my wife free medicine often enough. Time we paid you back. But how’d this even happen, eh? Somethin’ smash into it?”

“Ah-ha-ha…never mind that. I made some tea, if you want to rest a bit. You’re not getting any younger.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” he said, settling down. He knocked the tea back in one gulp. “Damn, that’s good! Been a while since I had any tea. Tea leaves have been so expensive lately, we’ve just been drinking hot water.”

“Oh, I know. I got lucky and stocked up before the price jumped. But I wonder why it’s gone up so much.”

Not just luxury items—the prices for foodstuff across the board had been rising bit by bit, and Marie hadn’t heard a single good reason.

The tea had made the carpenter talkative, and he had a lot to share.

“Well, what I hear is, there was a rockslide on the road to the west. You know the one; all the merchants used it. Totally cut it off.”

According to his sources, this had happened several days before, blocking imports.

“With that road closed, the wagons would have to go the long way around,” Marie added.

“And not just that! Even if they loop around to the central road, there’s been these locust monsters plaguing the area, so it’s not worth the risk. Right now, all we can get in the markets is stuff from the Jiou Empire.”

“I see… That explains the price.”

In recent years, relations between the Kingdom of Azami and the Jiou Empire had become strained, which meant their merchants would seize this chance to jack their prices way up.

“Uh-huh, and some folks are speculatin’ the Jiou Empire were the ones that blew that road up. Maybe even released those monsters… One of them giant locusts even showed up in town! That would never have happened a few years ago. What are the guards doing?”

“…Hard to know what any administration is thinking,” Marie commented, pretending to be totally engrossed in this conversation. She took another sip of tea.

“Anyway, long story short, more and more of our merchants are starting to hope for a war. The king’s been pushing for one for a while, and with them backing him…well, it’s bad news for everyone else.”

Listening to the carpenter ramble, Marie was starting to realize that this chain of events couldn’t be a coincidence.

A rockslide, a monster outbreak, war…is the Jiou Empire really behind all this?

While Marie was lost in thought, the carpenter continued railing against the royal family.

“When was the last time the royals did anything for us? They let the East Side get festered with crime! You know about that new statue of the king in the Central District? The one that’s all perfectly proportioned and shit? I mean, have you seen the guy? He’s on the chubby side! And if you’ve got time to make something like that, hire more guards!”

“I agree. It looks nothing like him.”

“And the princess disappeared years ago. What is this country coming to…? But I guess there’s no point running your ear off about it, ha-ha-ha.”

He got up, telling her, “Call me if you need anything else!” and gave her a big wave. As he opened the door, he found a sweet-looking boy—Lloyd—carrying a bundle of goods.

“I’m back! Oh? Are you a carpenter? What brings you here?”

Lloyd set a large sack down on the floor and then clasped his hands in front of him as he gave the carpenter a polite bow.

“Hello, son. I was just repairing Marie’s wall for her. For free.”

“F-for free? Are you sure?”

The carpenter rubbed his nose, puffing his chest up. “This job’s no big deal! And Marie’s been a big help to me and mine. Never hesitates to share potions with us poor folk. She’s our savior! Yeah! The Savior of the East Side! Legends about our hero will traverse the continent someday!”

“Savior? I knew she was a good person!”

All this praise was too much for Marie, who turned bright red. “Hey!” she yelped. “I didn’t do anything special! I got information in return! It’s a fair exchange! I’m no savior, and I won’t allow anything to go beyond this house!”

The carpenter gave a hearty chuckle and left, this time for good. To dispel some of her bashfulness, Marie cleared her throat.

“Ahem! Argh…so, Lloyd, I’m assuming you got the shopping done?” she asked, sounding a bit like a fussy older sister.

She had reason to be concerned. Part of the reason she’d sent Lloyd out on a shopping run was so this boy from a place as outlandish as Kunlun could start getting used to how things worked in the normal parts of the world.

If he just damaged some property, that’s one thing. But if he hurt anyone, I’ll have to call the loli grandma and make her go heal them…I mean, she did say she can heal anything short of a carcass. Argh, a carcass. That phrasing makes me shudder…

Meanwhile, Lloyd started to show off the results of his excursion with a charming little grin.

“Uh, yeah! You needed a wooden pestle, a mortar, some flour…oh, and look! I brought a small souvenir, too.”

“A souvenir?”

She’d been eyeing that giant sack since he set it down, and he unlaced it to reveal that it was…packed full of tea leaves. One look at the color and she could tell this was some top-class stuff. A pleasant smell wafted off the heap.

There was far too much of it to count as a small souvenir…especially since they’d just been talking about how expensive tea was these days.

Marie frowned for a moment and then finally dared to ask, “…What is this?”

“Oh, some tea leaves I got from a farmer across the western mountains. As a token of his thanks!”

Huh? I thought everyone was panicking about the rockslide there…

Marie was too preoccupied wondering why a farmer mixed up in that mess would ever give this much tea away to question what he was thanking Lloyd for. Was this some sort of scam?

Her voice was tinged with skepticism. “A farmer from the west came all the way to Azami?”

Lloyd was the one who looked surprised this time. “Huh? No.”

“What?”

This conversation wasn’t adding up.

Flustered, Lloyd started babbling, spewing some incredibly absurd claims.

“Like I said, I got it from a farmer to the west. I went shopping at a village two mountains over. The flour was cheaper there. And on the way…”

“……………Two mountains?! What?! You went that far to shop?!”

“Mm? Sure, it’s a short walk! Don’t you usually go that far to buy things?”

Bam! And Marie slammed her head into the freshly patched wall again. The carpenter had done an excellent job, and it was completely undamaged. Marie’s forehead, less so.

As the polished wall gleamed, so did the tears welling up in her eyes. Internally, she was shrieking. Okay, fine. I admit, I didn’t specifically tell him that he had to do his shopping inside the country borders, but—!

(Side note: A shopping trip in Kunlun means going to a village three or four mountains away. A round trip that would take most people days but the villagers only an hour.)

Marie was still wrestling with the philosophical definition of “a shopping run” when Lloyd delivered his final blow.

“Oh, the road there was packed! Seemed like this rockslide was totally blocking off the road, so I went ahead and moved all the debris out of the way, and the workers were all, ‘You’re a god!’ and handed me some freshly picked tea leaves. I got the flour for basically nothing, too. Like I’m a god! So silly.”

“…Uh-huh. Yep. Sure.”

“I mean, it only took me like an hour to shift it all to the side of the road! The chief would have just cast a recovery spell and fixed it in a second. Man, city folks really do know how to butter you up!”

Clutching her head, Marie managed to say, “Next time, try shopping inside the country. Lloyd…there’s a lot you need to understand. But first…”

He must have taken that as a prelude to a scolding, because he quickly hung his head.

“S-sorry! You said I could keep the change, but it was too much, right?”

“No, that’s not what I’m trying to…”

“I know I should probably have brought back the leftover cash, but…I used it for this.”

Lloyd sheepishly took an elegant brooch out of his pocket—a very intricate one at that. An amber tortoiseshell and the generous use of silver accents made it clear that this piece was very expensive.

“What is that?”

“Oh, a present.”

“For who?”

“For you, Marie.”

Marie stared at the brooch for a long time, repeating, “For who?”

“Like I said, for you. You’re letting me stay here for free, and I didn’t think a little housework here and there made up for that in any way.”

He held out the brooch with a smile that didn’t display any ulterior motives. Marie was forced to bashfully take it from him, muttering, “Thanks.”

…I’ve got to teach him some common sense, stat. Not just how far to go for shopping…I’ve got to find a way to explain how loaded it is to get a girl any kind of gift.

To be honest, Marie was downright unsettled by how happy it had made her. She quickly pinned it to her chest and took a look at it in the mirror, realizing for the second time that this was clearly worth a lot.

“…This is really well crafted. Definitely not a knockoff, either.”

“Oh, well, you see, on my way, I found a merchant who was upset because the river had dried up; they couldn’t get their ship through, so I made it rain for him; and he was so happy, he insisted I take the most expensive item on him, but I didn’t think it was right to take it for free, so I gave him all the money I had left over for it.”

He’s managed to solve inflation in our kingdom just by running errands?!

No one else could cure a nation’s economic woes in a single shopping trip. Marie shook her head.

“These damn Kunlun villagers!” she wailed.

And Lloyd’s little excursion had saved not only the country but the fate of a certain girl.

That girl was Selen Hemein, the daughter of a local lord. She was staying at an inn at the capital, passing time until the admissions test. Her temporary residence was near the East Side—a simple place, mostly used by merchants who just needed a place to sleep.

It was absolutely not the sort of place designed for long-term stays, but she had her reasons for being there: to avoid attracting any unwanted attention. A run-down place spared her that, making it far more comfortable for her and then some.

There was just one problem: The place didn’t offer meals. Most inns had communal kitchens available if you wanted to slap something together, but she’d never cooked before.

On her way here, she’d lived on dehydrated rice that she didn’t even bother to rehydrate, choosing to wash it down with a few swigs of water. Her hunger levels were already pretty far past their limit. So she pulled her hood all the way down over her eyes, driven forward by the rumble of her stomach, and reluctantly headed for the city market.

Noon on the South Side meant it was teeming with adventurers, merchants, and tourists, all shopping at the market, and the sheer bustle of the place was starting to overwhelm her. Everywhere Selen looked, there were people, people, and more people, and she began to feel nauseous looking at their bobbing heads.

“Maybe I should have waited until evening…”

But the distressed whimpers in her belly wouldn’t hear anything of it. At least the noise of the busy streets drowned out these loud rumbles.

Selen clamped her hand on her stomach, scanning the area to see if any stalls caught her eye. But with so many shops to choose from, she ended up getting swept along by the crowd, unable to make an executive decision.

“…Hah…hah…”

She was breathing heavily now, far more exhausted than she’d been on the trip here, even though she hadn’t done anything worth noting. Then she caught a whiff of a fragrant scent from behind her.

When she whipped around, she found a stall selling fried chicken. Large plates were piled high with wild vegetables and little river fish. The smell of hot oil was making people stop in their tracks and buy the deep-fried food wrapped in paper, lightly salted, and eaten standing up.

The prospect of hot food for the first time in days made Selen’s mouth water.

Anyone else would have immediately stepped forward, but Selen had never bought anything for herself, not even food. She had the money, but she was so nervous about the whole affair that she just stood there, compulsively checking her wallet for the umpteenth time.

“…Hmm…”

She peered past her hood, observing how people purchased the food and running through the encounter in her mind, like someone working up the nerve to step into an upscale hair salon for the first time.

She waited until the floor of customers had died down a little, saw her chance to buy in peace, and just as she was about to step forward…

“Excuse me. A word?”

A hand on her shoulder made her spin around.

Two soldiers stood behind her in dark green uniforms emblazoned with the crest of Azami. They bowed, wearing twin grimaces.

Selen’s nervous disposition had attracted their attention.

“Sorry for the inconvenience,” one said in a tone all business. “But we’ll need to see some ID. With the foundation-day festival approaching, there are many suspicious types around, you see…enemy agents releasing monsters on the streets and the like.”

Selen finally figured it out.

“…You think I’m one of those shady characters?”

She could certainly see why someone wearing a hood on a warm spring day would pique their interest. She sighed, realizing she could hardly blame them.

Growing impatient, the soldier behind the officious one spoke up harshly. “Don’t go telling us your appearance isn’t obviously suspicious, now. If you’ve got nothing to hide, take that hood off.”

She slapped his hand away as he reached for it, but in that split second, he caught a glimpse of the face glaring up at him.

Her face was wrapped in a leather belt, dyed a sinister bloodred. The belt wound around her head this way and that way, and one eye gazed out from a gap.

The soldier’s voice trembled. “Th-the Belt Princess…”

“From the central region? I guess she really did come to enlist.”

The first guy sounded like he’d seen a ghost. Selen always hated this part the most. She gritted her teeth, her glare becoming all the more hostile. This unnerved the two soldiers so much that they began to attract a small crowd. Had they heard the words belt princess? She could feel them staring even under her hood.

“…………”

Selen hastily walked away, unable to bear it any longer, continuing to ignore the calls of the soldiers as she headed away from the crowds. All the while, she muttered angrily to herself, heedless of how suspicious that made her seem.

“…I didn’t do anything wrong! And they treat me like a criminal…”

People called her the Cursed Belt Princess.

This was Selen. She’d been born in the center of the continent to a wealthy merchant family—an aristocrat.

With its fertile green land, gentle rolling plains, and convenient access to the continent’s great river, it became prosperous from post-war trade with all sorts of countries, and it soon was a pillar of commerce in the continent. As with any trade hub, strange things naturally found their way there. Her father was a purveyor of such goods, both to aid in negotiations and to please himself.

But this little hobby would dramatically alter the fate of his daughter, Selen.

When she was four, she’d played in her father’s treasure room and happened to lay her hands on an ancient item known as the cursed belt—with tragic consequences. A servant had found the stone door to the treasure room open and dashed inside to find…Selen crying in the center of the room with the belt bound tightly around her face.

Her father tried an arsenal of tricks to remove it from her head. But it wouldn’t budge one bit. High-ranking monks, merchants from the east, the finest scholars from the royal capital…all of them threw up their hands in despair.

And as time passed, the initial looks of pity she’d received from those around her vanished, and they began to shun her.

The red belt stayed with her as she grew, a crimson bloodstain wrapped around her face, blocking one eye, making her other look increasingly hostile. What had once been beautiful blond hair now poked out from the gaps in the belt like weeds growing through the cracks of an old shack.

In time, she could no longer bear to see how others looked at her, and she seldom left her room. Her only solace had been the words from a high-principled monk: “If you have power greater than the curse, you can free yourself from it.”

With this hope in mind, she’d begun to train.

Day after day, she’d spent sweating away in her room, honing her body, eating whatever food was brought to her, training some more. If her hair had grown too long, she’d ruthlessly snip it off herself, caring nothing for her appearance, only her training—and in time, she’d grown so strong that no average warrior could stand against her.

Her rock-hard physique was at odds with her ultra-pale skin, and a dark, baleful eye peered out from the belt wrapped round her head like bandages on a mummy… This appearance led the world to whisper fearfully about the Cursed Belt Princess.

She was now fifteen, and the belt remained stubbornly attached to her face, and when the capital came recruiting soldiers, she’d answered their call, bringing her here…

Unable to bear the curious looks, she’d seized her moment to make a run for it.

“—W-wait!”

Like a slinky feline, Selen vanished down a side road with the body that she’d chiseled to free herself from this curse. She ran down one narrow alley after another until she reached an opening to a different street entirely.

She pulled the hood back over her, clutching her belly again.

“Exerting myself in this condition…I can’t…I need food…”

The chicken from earlier filled her mind. She could almost taste it. Her feet carried her forward in search of a similar shop.

At last, she found a shop selling meat on skewers, but still unsure of how things worked, she once again stopped to observe the other customers from the shadows. This time, she kept her distance, hiding behind a pillar a few dozen yards away to avoid raising suspicion from any more patrols.

A few minutes later, a boy in canvas pants and a linen shirt stopped in front of the skewer shop. “Can you fry something up for me? Anything you’d recommend?”

“Sure thing! The chicken breast is top-notch today! The tenders are real good, too!”

“Then lemme get one of those…no, two.”

“You got a good appetite on ya, huh? Give me a sec! Comin’ right up!”

The owner quickly fried the chicken up, sprinkling them with rock salt before handing them over. The boy smiled as he paid the owner and walked away, a skewer in each hand.

Watching him, Selen muttered to herself, “Hmm. Same way as the last shop. Maybe I’m overthinking this…” She sighed at her own ignorance.

“You want one?”

The boy with the skewers was standing right in front of her.

She froze in surprise. He must have picked up on this, because he kept talking, keeping his tone relaxed.

“Oh, sorry. You were watching me order, right? And I thought you might want something, so…”

“…You saw me?” Selen said, puzzled. “I thought I was being really stealthy.”

Her skepticism was understandable. She was this far away from the stall, standing perfectly still in the shadows… She’d avoided contact with many monsters on her way here using this method, so she was pretty confident in her ability to remain undetected. And she’d been on guard, too—but she still hadn’t managed to notice him approaching until he was right in front of her. Who was this boy?

Yet, he kept smiling, looking laid-back. “Ah-ha-ha, that’s a good one. You’re not a woodcutter! Why would you need to conceal yourself?”

Whoever heard of a woodcutter being stealthy?

She was unaware that his definition of woodcutter was basically a top-class hunter.

Something wasn’t adding up here. Selen frowned under her hood. The boy must have sensed her confusion, because he instantly looked sorry.

“Oh, did I overstep my bounds? In that case, sorry to…”

Gurgle!

Before he finished his sentence, Selen’s stomach growled.

“…! Th-that was just…” She scrambled to find an appropriate excuse, but he silently held out the skewer.

The scent of the meat and breading whet her appetite. It looked perfectly seasoned, too. She was starving. This was no time to stand on principle.

Selen lowered her eyes, then reached out and took the skewer from him.

“I know how that feels! On my very first shopping trip, I was so scared I was doing it wrong. Back in the boonies where I’m from, we usually barter and trade for what we need…but in the city, you can just relax and act natural. So I’m told anyway.”

“R-really? I’m not so good at acting natural…”

“Well, at the very least, they won’t be like the craftsman at the dwarf village and come after you with an ax at the slightest offense.”

With that horrifying story, the boy happily chomped into his skewer.

Dwarves are from fairy tales! That and the stealthy woodcutters thing…he must be goofing around to help me relax.

He wasn’t joking at all—these were all true stories, and he was speaking from experience, going on about how it was important to show respect to the dwarves by looking them in the eye as equals; with elves, it was vital to wear no iron on your person at all… He continued to dole out practical advice, but not only was it of no use to her, it sounded like urban legends. To her ears, it was like giving out help on how to fend off kuchisake-onna, a classic figure in Japanese ghost stories with a Glasgow smile, by “throwing some hard candy in her direction and making your getaway while she’s busy sucking on it.”

At first, Selen had listened with suspicion, but the boy was so obviously trying to be nice to her that she gradually let her guard down. Once she polished off the skewer, she awkwardly expressed her gratitude.

“Um, thanks…I’ve almost never been shopping, so…this was a big help.”

She took out her wallet and tried to offer him some payment, but he shook her off.

“No, no, don’t worry about it.”

“No, I should…”

“Honestly, I feel like I just got in the way of you practicing how to shop for yourself. I know! You should take that money and go buy a skewer yourself.”

“Er, uh…practicing?”

“I know you’re nervous. But don’t worry. I’ll be right here watching.”

He was gradually wearing down her resistance to the idea, but somehow it didn’t feel like he was pressuring her into it.

He’ll be watching…?

It had been a long time since anyone engaged with her in a normal conversation. She was still uneasy, but she nodded and trotted over to the shop.

I should buy a few to pay him back…or maybe it would be better to get something else at another shop?

She let her imagination whisk her away…

But then she saw the soldiers from earlier pushing their way through the crowd—probably looking for her. She’d spotted them first, and her eyes darted around to secure an escape route.

That was when she saw the boy standing behind her. Looking totally relaxed, he was quietly watching over her.

If…if he were to see my face, with this hideous belt…

That kind smile would give way to a look of horror. Selen couldn’t bear the thought.

“…There she is!”

She’d hesitated too long. They’d found her.

“Dammit.”

She didn’t want to ditch the boy, but it would be worse if he knew her true identity. She shot one longing glance his way and then booked it at full speed.

She heard the guards calling after her, but their cries immediately fell out of earshot as she bolted down the alley, trying to shake off the desire to turn back.

At each corner, she slid on the ground to curve around, crouching and bounding in the direction of another alley, her body hunkered down and keeping a low profile. As if driven by a sense of shame about her curse, she went deeper into a complex web of narrow roads.

“…………hah…hah… Well, at least I got away…but now how do I get back?”

She didn’t know her way around here, much less if this was the South or the East Side.

The rusting trash and weeds sprouting in the gaps between buildings suggested this was the East Side, which made getting back to her inn all the more urgent. But before she could, she caught a whiff of a pungent odor. Had someone left some garbage to rot? She clamped a hand over her face, about to leave, when something fluttered down on top of the heaping pile of trash.

With its colorful, translucent wings fluttering, a locust was happily chowing down on garbage. That alone would be unpleasant enough, but the most horrific thing was this locust’s size.

It was as tall as a full-grown man and at least four yards long. A locust that size was crawling out from between two buildings.

On second thought, the rotting thing might have been the carcass of a stray dog. Half-eaten, it was now an unrecognizable lump of flesh, but there were definitely patches of animal fur.

And when this locust saw Selen, it scuttled toward her, scraping against the walls of the buildings. She froze for a moment and missed her chance to back away.

“A bug? No…a monster?”

She remembered the soldier saying something about this as she grabbed the hilt of the rapier at her hip, trying to draw her blade.

“Screeee!”

Before she could free it from the scabbard fully, the monster lunged at her, screeching.

It was too late. Selen was about to give up hope, when…

Something whizzed past overhead.

The locust was distracted by this new shadow, pausing to take in the situation. And…

“Hokay.”

There was a scrunch. The insect’s hard body bent out of shape, and the locust’s mandibles twisted away. They twitched a few times, feebly.

The shadow—that nice boy from before—had landed on the ground, grabbed the locust by its wings, and tossed it aside like kicking trash to the side of the road.

Thunk.

A dull, heavy noise echoed through the alley—hard to believe that sound came from a bug. The locust’s legs folded. It was dead.

Selen could scarcely believe her eyes. Fighting an unknown monster in a narrow alley with no room to maneuver… The situation had been so dangerous, she’d feared for her life. But this boy had dispatched the monster with ease—as if to mock her fears. Her mouth hung open, slack, as she stared at his back and slumped to the ground.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” He spoke as if nothing had happened. He held out a hand, his smile as gentle as before.

“I-I’m fine…,” Selen said as she took it.

His build was far from that of a hardened warrior’s body; these were the kind of muscles that one built from living an ordinary life… It made it even harder to believe he’d been able to beat that monster, and she couldn’t conceal her shock.

But this boy’s totally normal build, manner, and facial expressions all said he had nothing to hide—that he was just concerned about her well-being.

“Th-thank you,” she stammered.

“Did your first attempt at shopping get to be too much? Looked like you panicked and ran off. Don’t worry, nobody’s gonna throw an ax at you.”

He patted her on the shoulder. “It’ll be fine!” he said and started brushing the dirt off her clothes.

She was so rattled, she just stood there and let him. And as a result, she failed to stop him from pulling her hood off.

“A-augh!”

Her bound face was exposed. She hastily yanked the hood back up, then stared at the ground, shrinking upon herself, trembling.

…He must be so creeped out.

“Um…”

Not only was this boy not skeeved out, he just pulled her hood off again. With an unchanging smile, he began gently wiping her cheek like he was looking after a small child.

“You’ve got dirt on your face.”

Selen couldn’t believe he’d seen her face and not reacted at all.

“Is this the latest fashion trend in the city? I don’t really get that stuff…”

(I’m sure you’ll all feel the same way once you watch a couture fashion show from another country.)

But Selen was too busy turning bright red to hear a word he’d said.

She stood stunned for a minute and then drew it back over her face—this time to hide her blushing cheeks. Then she looked up at him, meeting his eyes. He grew flustered suddenly, as if he’d just remembered something.

“Oh, I’ve gotta get home and get supper started! Sorry! I really need to go!”

And off he went.

“Um!” she called after him. “My name’s Selen!”

“Oh, uh, cool. I’m Lloyd. See ya!”

With that, the boy—Lloyd—moved like a seasoned parkour artist, kicking off the sides of a wall like he was climbing stairs and vanishing over the other side.

“………”

Selen was left staring after him, still feeling the warm touch of his hand on her cheek.

That evening, Selen was headed back to her inn, arms full of goods.

Even with her hood pulled low, she had a little pep to her step, giving off an upbeat vibe that would have been unthinkable a few hours before—her feet moving around as if she were dancing. She’d gotten carried away and bought a little too much, but she could haul everything without much difficulty.

That was because she had Lloyd’s natural smile replaying on an endless loop through her mind.

If I stay in the capital, I’m sure I’ll see him again…

The thought brought a smile to her lips. With the belt bound around her face, smiling made her mouth twist into a contorted frown. But even the sight of that hadn’t changed the way Lloyd looked at her—which was all it took to ensure he was permanently on her mind. Especially because…

“—Hunh? Damn, the rumors are true…guess the Belt Princess actually wants to be a soldier…”

Especially because people were always cursing at her, acting like they’d had a paranormal encounter. In an instant, all her cheer drained from her face, which clamped down to radiate hostility once again.

Opening her one visible eye wide, she scanned around for the speaker—and found a muscle-bound man looming over her. He was over six feet tall and carrying a battle-ax. But despite his rough manner and appearance, he was well dressed and clearly from the upper class. One look at his figure and medals on his chest, and Selen knew who he was.

The Lidocaine family…another local lord… Known for their military honors and glory.

That was enough to make Selen decide not to poke her nose in any trouble. She turned and tromped away.

“Yo! Don’t ignore me! You know how much you’ve damaged the reputation of the local lords?”

I’m sick of hearing about it.

She was well aware that her story was being embellished and shared around like a ghost story. And that this had caused a decline in the public opinion of all local lords.

“Shit, you’re seriously creepy!” the Lidocaine man spat, making no effort to hide his irritation, and then vanished into the lights of a meal hall.

I get that a lot, Selen thought. But a few moments later, she replayed her encounter with that boy and felt herself glowing again.

When she reached the inn, Selen blew straight past the startled look of the clerk, who caught a glimpse of her blond hair springing out like ivy through the gaps in the belt, and headed straight to her room, where she removed her dirty hood and outfit and let her mind wander.

“He brushed these off for me…”

That filled her with the sudden impulse to preserve and never wash them again. But even if her face looked like this, she felt she should clean the rest of herself up, at the very least, so she filled a bucket with water and shoved her clothes in it.

Then she caught a glimpse of herself in her underwear in the mirror and was lost in thought once again.

Her pale body clad only in white underwear…thinking about all that time she’d spent pushing herself to the limits that left her figure chiseled. Like a marble statue. Her head was placed awkwardly on the top of it all, as if it’d been misplaced, wrapped in that bloodstain of a belt. In the past, looking at herself had left her feeling pained, but these days she felt nothing. Like she was looking at a stranger.

But that day was different. Her meeting with the boy, with Lloyd, had changed her. She looked at her wide-open eye and whispered, sadly, “Maybe I should try to wear some makeup.”

She knew it wouldn’t change anything, and that feeling clutched her heart like the belt around her head.

“If it weren’t for this belt…!”

A tear formed in her eye, running down the length of the belt strap below.

The faintest of feelings she was allowing herself to explore, that future she’d started to imagine for herself…they would never come to pass, not with this constricting her.

It’d been a long while since she’d allowed herself to feel this sad. Maybe she really was in love…and that realization made the tears flow all the more.

She wept for some time. When her eyes dried, Selen glared at the belt, and then, in a flash of anger, snatched it, trying to yank it off—even if it tore her skin along with it.

A desperate impulse. Another futile attempt.

Her fingers dug in so hard they shook and her teeth ground together, as she tugged at the belt. But it remained secured on her head as hard as a rock.

Or at least, that’s how it always went.

This time it slid right off.

“What?”

That was the only response Selen could manage.

She sat perfectly still for several minutes before it occurred to her to peel the rest of it off.

It didn’t resist her at all, slipping right off, and she unwound the whole thing like a child unwrapping a present.

“No…way.”

With the entire belt on the floor, she looked at herself in the mirror for the first time in over a decade. It was like looking at a total stranger.

The girl in the mirror had blond hair, which framed a face that could be called gorgeous. She reached up to touch it, making sure it was hers…and the beauty in the mirror did the same thing.

“Is this…me?”

The person in the mirror mouthed the same words as Selen. And then she saw tears rolling down her cheeks.

“It is…”

As Selen started to weep, she remembered the boy’s face and the monk’s reassurance: Strength would free her from the curse.

She rubbed a finger on the cheek where the boy had touched her.

“It’s him,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. “Fate brought him to me…”