Bonus Short Story

The Chronicles of Saint Princess Mia —An Excerpt from the Chapter “The Mystery of the Island and the Sage of the Moon”—

This is a story about regret. It tells of the Great Sage of the Empire, Mia Luna Tearmoon, and the biggest, most gut-wrenching mistake she ever made.

“Phew... Am I ever glad to see the Princess Chronicles back in its original condition!”

A few days after successfully surviving the Holy Eve Festival and returning to the capital, Mia let out a sigh of relief. The copy of the Princess Chronicles she’d borrowed from Bel had regained its heft and reverted to its former thickness.

“Still, I can’t afford to get careless. From now on, I need to keep checking this book and pay as close attention to future events as possible...” she said to herself as she flipped through its pages.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, and she stopped. The Chronicles had certainly regained its original thickness, but that also suggested the passage about her poisoning remained unchanged. To read through it would be to re-experience that dreadful foretelling. That was a daunting enough idea to stay her hand.

The year was drawing to a close, and she would be plenty busy in the coming days. If possible, she’d prefer to avoid doing anything that would put her in a miserable mood.

“Hm... I mean, it did go back to its previous length. I think I’ll just focus on celebrating that for today.”

As she prepared to delegate the less pleasant tasks to her future self, a passage in the book caught her eye. She’d flipped to it unwittingly as she’d thumbed through the pages, and it described the happenings on the deserted island she’d gone to last summer.

“Right... That little event...”

She’d put off reading future chapters out of concern for her mental health, but what about reviewing past events? Feeling increasingly curious to see how the book described her experiences on the island, she picked it up...

“Well, it’s not like I’m in any hurry. Might as well take a peek.”

...And dove onto her bed. With the Chronicles placed before her elbow-propped face, she promptly began reading.

A great many people throughout the continent already knew of Her Highness Princess Mia as a person of boundless wisdom. The scope of her genius was truly breathtaking, spanning what seemed to be an endless number of fields. From the arts—apparent from her literary accomplishments—to athletics—evidenced by her capable horse riding—and even statesmanship, her excellence shined regardless of the subject matter. This ubiquitousness of talent was why she came to be called the Great Sage of the Empire.

What follows in this chapter is an account of how her wisdom prevented a terrible tragedy. Some of you dear readers currently flipping through the pages of this book might have even heard of this incident before. Indeed, it is the famed Tragedy of the Deserted Island. What exactly was the incident that occurred on this lone isle drifting in the Galilea Sea? And how did the Great Sage of the Empire unravel its mystery?

In the following pages, I shall present to you a record of the events, based on interviews with involved parties, including my sister, Anne Littstein, who served as Her Highness Princess Mia’s maid, and supplemented with my own interpretation.

Furthermore, note that in formatting the writing for publication, styles of address will henceforth be omitted for readability.

“Own interpretation...based on interviews...”

Every so often, Mia would find a sentence to this effect in the Princess Chronicles, and every time, she’d frown at the implication. “Based on interviews” suggested the book was trying to unearth facts, that it was meant to be a work of nonfiction. But then came the “supplemented with my own interpretation” part, which injected elements of fantasy. Furthermore, the latter tended to swell in proportion, often turning the whole account into something that belonged more in an entertaining novel than an investigative report.

“I mean, I get that it’s important for the book to be fun to read...but a lot of this doesn’t really work as a recounting of history.”

This time though, she wasn’t reading about the future. The events depicted in the book had already occurred, so she didn’t really mind if its fiction percentage was on the higher side.

Well, she thought she wouldn’t mind.

The raging waters threatened to swallow the vessel at a moment’s notice. A capricious storm had swept over the Galilea Sea, and faced with the terrible wonders of Mother Nature, man could but wallow in helpless awe.

As the atmosphere on the boat fell prey to such dreary thoughts, Mia alone stood in defiance, eyes directed staunchly forward.

“Everyone, keep calm! We have to throw our luggage overboard to make sure the boat doesn’t sink. There’s no need to panic.”

Her seraphic voice cut through the din. The storm and sea sought to silence her, pelting her with wind and ocean water, but she did not give way. In a voice that radiated confidence and composure, she commanded her boatmates, dispelling them of the confusion that had gripped their minds.

“But it’s still only a matter of time before this boat goes under...” said one of the boatmates, his face a mask of concern.

Mia reassured him with a smile.

“No problem. See that island ahead? We can safely moor the boat in its shadow. A storm like this can easily be weathered there.”

“Oh! That’s true!”

The boat’s crew cheered in unanimous delight. She graced them all with her smile and said, “Give it your all, everyone! We’re almost there!”

Inspired by her words, the men of the sea redoubled their efforts.

“Hm... There’s certainly a lot of interpreting going on here. I wasn’t even on the boat when the storm hit. Wait, but...” She puckered her lips in thought. “Maybe this part of the book hasn’t been overwritten yet? Which means...this might have been true, and I actually took command of the boat...”

She imagined herself standing at the helm, pointing fingers and barking orders.

“Mmm, I can certainly see myself doing that if I were there during the storm... Yes, that definitely sounds like something I’d do,” she said, nodding to herself without the slightest hint of shame.

Learning that repairs to the boat would take some time, Mia and her friends went ashore. The island proved to be uninhabited, and they were greeted only by a vast expanse of dense woodland. Branches waved in the wind, the motions an eerie welcome, as if bidding them enter the alien realm beyond. All who were present surely felt their hair standing on end.

“I must say, this is quite the adventure we’re having,” said Mia in an intentionally cheerful voice clearly meant to drive away the ominous thoughts of her friends. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so completely soaked. This is sort of fun.”

She brushed rain from her brow and laughed. Just then...

“I’m sorry, Your Highness...” said a despondent Esmeralda Etoile Greenmoon, daughter of Duke Greenmoon and the one who’d invited Mia on this cruise.

Mia, to comfort her crestfallen friend, gave her a gentle smile.

“Don’t dwell on it. It’s not your fault. Besides, if you think about it, this might turn out to be a wonderful experience we’ll look back on for years to come.”

Princess Mia was a kindhearted person who never failed to consider the feelings of those around her.

“And look... It seems that the heavens haven’t forsaken us after all.”

She pointed toward a small hill, where the opening to a cave could be seen.

“How about we leave a small crew on the boat and take shelter from the storm in there?”

A unanimous cheer of “Wow, we’re saved!” followed, and everybody clapped.

“Hmm... It’s definitely different from how things actually went back then. There’s no mention of Abel or Sion...which I guess explains why I was taking the lead. I am, after all, the type to step up when the situation calls for it.”

...She was perhaps getting a little carried away with her increasingly generous interpretation of her own merits, but regardless, she kept reading.

“Mia’s group spent the night in the cave. The rumbling tempest sounded like the bellow of a great beast. As her friends cowered in terror, Mia assiduously tried to allay their fears.

“It’s okay. That’s just the sound of the wind echoing in the cave. There’s no monster.”

As night waned and dawn broke, the group stepped out of the cave to brilliantly clear skies. There was a collective sigh of relief. Mia also allowed herself a moment’s respite, but soon straightened, her expression once again exuding the natural confidence of a leader.

“Can someone go check on how the boat is doing?”

Mia, ever the paragon of wisdom and composure, had calmly analyzed the situation and determined that after such a violent storm, the integrity of their vessel might be in jeopardy. Her concern proved prescient.

“We have a problem, Your Highness! The boat!”

A scouting soldier returned with news of the boat’s disappearance. It might have been washed away by the waves, or...

“Could it have...capsized during the storm yesterday?”

“It can’t be! What will we do then?”

Mia regarded her anxious friends and sighed.

“Calm down. Help will come. What’s most important right now is sustenance. We need to hurry up and secure food and water for ourselves. Water, especially, we must find as soon as possible. We’ll split up into three-person teams and explore the area. If anyone finds potable water, come back here immediately and send up a signal. I’ll head out too. Esmeralda, I’ll leave you to hold the fort here while we’re gone.”

After a round of brisk commands, Mia headed off, leading the way for her guards as she made for the forest.

“We’ll be fine. Where there’s forest, there are wild plants and mountain herbs. Mushrooms too. Some of them must be edible. We’re a pretty small group. Finding enough food to get by should be no problem!”

Ever the dependable leader, the grace and poise with which she carried herself in times of crisis was a reminder that she absolutely lived up to her title: The Great Sage of the Empire.

Mia placed a bookmark on the page and let out a long breath. After laying eyes on the book’s bountiful hyperbole and numerous florid embellishments of her character, she couldn’t help but murmur, “Hm... This is a very accurate depiction of my leadership. The way I just take charge is so realistic. Clearly, she did her homework before writing this! Anne must have given her lots of details during the interview.”

And, lest anyone get the wrong idea, she meant what she said. Talk about having a high opinion of yourself!

“In particular, it shows how knowledgeable I am about mushrooms, which is very authentic. In fact, it’s so authentic that while I was reading, I started wondering if these things really did happen and I just forgot about them.”

Deeply impressed by the quality of the journalism on display, she couldn’t resist turning over one more page to see what came next.

Her own gasp came next.

“Wh-What in the— What is this?”

Eyes wide with shock, she kept reading.

After concluding their exploration for the day and returning to the cave, one of the soldiers in her guard came dashing over, fear written all over his face.

“My, what’s the matter?” she asked with a curious frown.

The soldier’s answer took her by surprise. Apparently, two of their men had vanished.

“What do you mean they vanished?”

“Well... Two of our soldiers went to fetch some water from the spring, and they still haven’t come back.”

That morning they’d discovered there was a spring in the forest. Two men were then assigned water collection duty. The rest of the soldiers continued to explore the forest and shoreline for signs of food.

“And you’re saying the two who went to the spring haven’t returned...”

“Yes. They left quite a while ago. They should have come back by now.”

“I see. I wonder if something happened to them...”

Still frowning, Mia stood up.

“Your Highness? Where are you going?”

“To the spring, obviously. We need to take a look at what’s going on there.”

“But... Surely, your personal presence is not necessary,” said one of the knights serving as her guard.

Hearing the concern in his voice, she comforted him with a gentle smile.

“Each and every one of you is a precious soldier of mine. You serve Esmeralda, yes, but that doesn’t matter. Every last subject of the empire deserves my care and attention. Never forget that,” she said, her smile glowing with the benevolence of a goddess. “There’s no need for everyone to go. Let’s see... I’ll take five people with me. The rest of you shall remain here and start setting up camp. I’ll leave Anne and Nina in charge, so follow their instructions. Do take good care of the food we found. It’d be a shame for it to spoil after we worked so hard to gather it.”

“Milady...”

Anne shared the soldiers’ concern. Mia favored her with the same smile.

“It’s okay. I’ll be back before you know it,” Mia said with a reassuring nod.

The spring in question was a half-hour’s walk eastward from the cave. The route took them through the forest, where they had to pick their way through narrow animal trails. Eventually, the woods gave way to a spring so clear it seemed to have come from the pages of a fairy tale. Only...something was off.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something’s not right… she thought to herself.

It didn’t take her long to identify the source of her unease.

“Wait, what’s that?”

Jutting out from the middle of the spring were four rods. Under the hue of the setting sun, their surfaces were the color of flesh. No... They were flesh!

“Those— Wh-What in the moons?!”

Silence ensued as her guards laid their eyes upon...four human legs protruding from the water! Dumbfounded by the grisly sight, they could but move their mouths uselessly, struggling in vain for words. Mia alone maintained the necessary composure to act.

“Pull them out! Quickly! Pull them out of the water! Maybe we can still save them!”

“Y-Yes, Your Highness! Come on!”

Her sharp command roused the four soldiers from their dreadful trance. They dashed into the spring and pulled out their drowning comrades. Thanks to Mia’s swift response, the two waterlogged soldiers survived. However...”

“Wh-What in the moons is going on here?” Mia exclaimed in confusion. “Why were there guards sinking upside down into the spring? Like...huh? Excuse me? A bunch of legs sticking out of the water? That’s both terrifying and ridiculous! And they somehow survived? How’s that even possible?”

Thoroughly hooked by this gripping turn of events, she couldn’t stop herself from turning the page once more.

The rescued pair of soldiers were carried back to the cave. Though they were unconscious when hauled out of the water, they soon woke up and recovered enough to speak. Mia quickly pressed them for answers, only to frown at their account of what had transpired, for it amounted to...nothing. They had no idea what had happened to them.

“I-I really don’t know, Your Highness. I remember walking through the forest, but that’s it...”

“I remember a little more. We were drawing water from the spring, and someone showed up. I know that for sure, but... A-Augh, my head...”

The second soldier held his head and grimaced in pain.

“Please accept our deepest apologies, Your Highness. This is a disgraceful failure on our part as your guards,” said the first soldier.

“Enough. All that matters is that you’re alive. Both of you are my dear soldiers. Seeing you safe is reason enough for me to rejoice.” Her compassionate words drew tears from their eyes. She comforted them with a smile.

“It must have been terribly cold to be in the spring water for so long. Take the time to warm yourselves up. Oh, look, our stew’s ready just in time. Come and join us, everyone. We might as well enjoy the stew together while it’s hot. There’s no telling what will happen later, so let’s eat and rest up while we can.”

Understanding her intent to brighten the group’s mood, the guard captain took up her offer.

“Her Highness is right. Gather around, men. We eat when we can, so we’ll be able to work when we need to. But don’t wolf down the stew, you hear? It’s got wild plants and mushrooms personally picked by Her Highness. Savor the taste before you swallow,” he declared before taking a bowl. “All right. I’ll go first. Which, by the way, means I get to take the tastiest bits.”

With a theatrical air to his words clearly meant to infuse the atmosphere with some humor, he scooped out a mouthful and slurped it in one go.

“Damn, that’s good,” he said as he blew out a breath to cool the contents of his mouth.

He grinned. But the expression only reached half his face.

“Ugh?!”

The other half twisted in agony. Cradling his stomach, he collapsed to the ground. The other guards rushed to his side.

“What’s wrong?” asked Mia as she waded into the circle.

Her brows furrowed immediately at the sight.

“It...can’t be! Poison?!”

She touched the tip of her little finger to the inside of the captain’s bowl, coating it in a bit of soup. Then, without the slightest hesitation, she licked it.

“A nutty flavor... That confirms it then.”

Slowly, she turned to the pot of stew, where she identified the culprit.

“As I thought... This is a poisonous mushroom,” she said, plucking out one of the stew’s contents.

Covered in blue spots, the mushroom in her fingers all but screamed “toxic.”

“This is a deadly species known as the bluebead hunting mushroom. We need to find an antidote quickly, or he won’t make it. Make sure no one else touches this, okay?”

After giving a series of orders, she pointed at a nearby soldier.

“You’re the one who searched the forest with me, right? Could you go bring me what’s left of the wild plants we collected? I need all the ones that have white tips.”

“Right away, Your Highness!”

“And water. We need to dilute the poison. Someone help the captain drink some water.”

After another round of orders, she let out a deep breath.

“Sweet moons. It looks like we’re in for a long night.”

Though it was no secret that the Great Sage of the Empire, Mia Luna Tearmoon, was well-versed in medicine, rarely did she demonstrate her knowledge in such a hands-on manner.

“Sweet moons! What monster would spoil a pot of mushroom stew with a poisonous one? What were they thinking? Whoever the culprit was, they must be a terribly evil person!”

Shaking with rage, she decried this act of culinary heresy. Now, some might find the addition of a poisonous mushroom to a pot of stew to be a curiously familiar description, but fortunately for Mia, her memory was endowed with a superpower—it would automatically prevent inconvenient truths from being recalled.

“To taint a stew with a poisonous mushroom is to besmirch the good name of mushrooms everywhere. What a foul thing to do!”

On and on she went with the outrage until eventually, her attention shifted to a different thought. “But wait... Was I okay? I did lick a bit of the poisoned stew, after all. That sounds like the kind of thing that my stomach wouldn’t appreciate.”

Growing increasingly concerned about the welfare of her fictional self, she turned to the next page, whereupon this chapter of the Chronicles finally reached its climax.

Esmeralda’s anguished wail echoed through the cave.

“How... How did it come to this...”

Mia listened in dismay as she tried to organize her own jumbled thoughts.

What had led to this?

After the stew poisoning, a number of days had gone by without incident. Though there was still no sign of a rescue vessel, the time had passed peacefully. Even the soldiers rescued from the spring had fully recovered.

But on the morning of the fourth day half the soldiers suddenly disappeared.

“Granted, it happened while we were sleeping, but how is it possible for nearly half of us to vanish without anyone seeing?” she wondered aloud, the question meant more for herself.

She had a gut feeling that the answer was it wasn’t possible. A single man, maybe. Two or three, still possible if pre-planned. But such a large group...

“There’s not any good reason to split up on a deserted island like this. Why in the moons would they...” she muttered to herself, arms crossed in thought.

Ugh, this isn’t working. I need to calm down and reason through this. I can solve this mystery as long as I don’t lose my cool.

The Great Sage of the Empire, in all her wisdom, knew that every riddle, no matter how confounding it seemed, had an answer. So long as the answer existed, she had to keep searching for it. So, she kept thinking.

“Let’s backtrack a bit... The first and foremost mystery is how those two ended up in the spring. They must have been attacked, but by what?”

She paced around pensively. Her piercing gaze swept in turn from Esmeralda to Anne, then Nina, then each of the guards. Finally, her razor-sharp mind arrived at the only possible answer.

“Ah... I see. It all makes sense now. Of course... That’s why those two were drowning in the spring like that. And that’s what all of this was for.”

With deliberate steps, Mia walked to the person in question.

“So it was you. You’re the one who made the guards disappear.”

She looked upon the culprit’s face with sorrow. At long last, the mystery was solved. The perpetrator of this series of bizarre incidents was, in fact...

Mia gulped. Then, she leaned back and exhaled.

“Phew. Elise sure knows how to pull people in. This is a riveting read. I experienced all of it firsthand, and I still have no idea what’s going to happen next.”

For those of you confused by this statement, try to understand that Mia had already accepted the Princess Chronicles’s account as truth. She was certain that in a different timeline where these events actually happened, she would have accomplished the depicted feats with ease. You can call it confidence or you call it lunacy. Either way, she believed it.

“I should take a quick break before reading the rest. That way, I can savor it with a refreshed mind.”

She crawled out of bed and made her way to the cafeteria. After enjoying a three o’clock tea with a slice of cake, she returned to her room.

“Now then, back to the book. It’s time for the big reveal. Let’s see who the culprit really— Huh?”

Her eyes were drawn to the gold light spilling from the Chronicles’s pages.

“I wonder what that’s supposed to be...”

Frowning, she flipped the book open...and gasped! The words on the page unraveled into golden strings, floated up into the air, and melted away!

“Ah, I know! Th-This is—”

Mia belatedly remembered a crucial fact about the Princess Chronicles—it gets overwritten! And the fact that its account of the summer differed so greatly from her own experiences meant that a rewriting was inevitably impending.

“N-No! Don’t! It’s going to vanish!”

She frantically flipped to the spot in the book where she’d stopped, but all she found on the page were the words, “Then, she struck the massive man-eating fish with her fist and sent it flying!”

“B-But... What about the culprit? What happened to the other guards?” she exclaimed at the book.

The book gave no answer. There was only the hollow ringing of her own voice in the room. Despair darkened her world. To reach the most gripping part of a book, then have the grand reveal taken from her... It was sheer agony. She cursed her fate. And her own terrible decision making. Why, she lamented, hadn’t she just read the whole thing in one go? If she could turn back time, she would just so she could smack her past self across the face. Reeling from this tragic development, she swore that from now on, whenever she started reading something, she wouldn’t stop until it was finished. Even if the writing had her show up in the cringiest fashion—as a holy sword-wielding knight, for example—she’d endure the embarrassment until the very end! Thus she did vow.

“Ugh... But still! I can’t take this! I need to know what happened next! Augh, what should I do?”

After a few days of continuous vexation, in the midst of one of her frustrated tantrums in bed, inspiration suddenly struck.

Some time later, she approached Elise.

“Say, Elise... Let me ask you a hypothetical question. If you were to write a story about a princess and her friends getting stranded on a deserted island... and they get killed off one by one...”

“...I see. Hmm. Legs sticking out from a spring, huh,” said Elise as she nodded along to Mia’s description. “That sounds pretty scary. Then, half the guards disappear? Hmm... And you said the culprit is one of the people in the princess’s group?”

This exchange would eventually lead to Elise writing the continent’s earliest example of what would eventually become a booming genre—the closed circle mystery. And this pioneering work even took place in one of the genre’s most classic settings, the lone island.

But that is a story for another time.