Lucia Loses Her Powers

After that, we left Maynard without much talk. While we were glad to have finished our mission, losing Shiro — who had been our companion despite not being able to speak — weighed heavily on us, draining any desire for light conversation.

Though our original plan was to stop back in Dal Canto’s palace once again for another celebratory party, things had become awkward because of the incident in Fatna. Instead of making a proper stop, His Highness wrote a letter announcing the purification of the Cristallo Sacro and left it at the gate before we hurried off. Everyone seemed relieved at the news that we wouldn’t be going back to Fatna. The incident had left everyone with a bad aftertaste.

“Are we going to stop in Vatis too?” Maria asked.

“No.” The prince shook his head. “King Herbert will send word, so we’ll head straight back to Banfield. Since we were supposed to stop in Dal Canto last after leaving Maynard, it was going to be up to them to let everyone know. News will spread much faster via fast messengers rather than us stopping everywhere. Plus, with all of the monsters gone, everyone will know soon enough.”

“So we’re going straight to Banfield, huh.”

“Yeah. Once we return, we’ll commission the Academy to create another magic crystal to send you home.”

“Um, about that. I was thinking... You might be able to use Shiro’s Crystal,” Eric said, chiming into the prince and Miss Maria’s conversation.

Miss Maria’s hand flew to her chest at the mention of ‘Shiro’s Crystal.’ There hung the stone that Shiro left behind, wrapped in a braided cord. While His Highness held the ‘Drop of the Cristallo Sacro’ that was needed to send Miss Maria home, she kept Shiro’s stone as a necklace, keeping it as close as she used to hold him.

But would she be able to use it to go home?

“Since I haven’t got the right instruments, I can’t be completely sure, but I can feel some pretty strong mana coming from it. So I was thinking it might actually be enough to send you home with.”

Miss Maria gripped the stone tightly as she listened to Eric’s explanation. So she’d be able to go home sooner if she used Shiro’s power. I got a bit choked up when I realized how close our parting was. I’d have to say goodbye to another person important to me, right after we lost Shiro. I wanted to send her off with a smile, but I didn’t know if I could manage anymore.

I must not have looked good after Eric’s words, because Miss Maria noticed, and came over to me from her spot beside the prince. “Lucia! Can you use Soap on me again, please?”

“Soap?”

“Yeah, I want a pick-me-up! It’s been a while since I last got you to do it. You can, right?” She begged with a wink.

Sir Gaius burst out laughing. “You really love that stuff, don’t ya! Haven’t heard that from you in a while.”

“Don’t say it like that, Gai! It’s fine, right? Pleeeeease, Lucia?”

“Ah... Okay. Soap!” I had no reason to say no, so I cast it for the first time since we left Maynard. “...Huh?”

Nothing happened when I cast it, shocking everyone, including me. Hmm? I cast it normally, right? Am I out of mana? No, I feel absolutely fine.

“S-Soap...”

I tried casting it again, being careful with my pronunciation, but nothing happened. It was almost like I couldn’t use magic...

“Wait, Lucia, here!” Eric rushed to pull the scale and mana recovery potions from his bag.

I put the scale in my mouth immediately, but the marker didn’t move an inch, unlike before. Shooting the tiny mage a worried look, he wordlessly passed over the mana recovery potion. I chugged it down, not even thinking about the taste, before putting the scale back in my mouth, but... The marker stayed right at the bottom. There was no movement at all.

“Why...” I whimpered.

My shoulders slumped, and Sir Celes silently pulled me close as I shook. What was happening? Why would I suddenly stop being able to cast it? My Soap had always been with me for as far back as I could remember. I’d never thought that I’d ever lose it.

“Maybe... Maybe it’s because the Cristallo Sacro have been purified,” he murmured.

“Eh?”

I looked up at him as he looked back at me with the sky-blue eyes I loved.

“If you think about it as if you had your powers for purifying the trees...”

“It disappeared because your duty is done?” Eric continued, finishing Sir Celes’s sentence.

“What about my power, then?” Moving her eyes from me to her own two hands, Miss Maria muttered to herself, eyebrows furrowed. “Orb of Light!”

A bright ball of light appeared as her voice echoed loudly.

“Ah...”

“The Sacred Maiden can still use her magic...” Eric trailed off as he stared at the ball.

Lord Reynard chimed in with, “Maybe that is because her duty isn’t finished in her own world?”

My magic disappeared, but Miss Maria’s hadn’t. Seeing the difference made me gasp. After that, no matter how long I waited, or how many potions I drank, my Soap was still gone.

A few days later, after absolutely no movement on the scales, Eric reluctantly put an end to our measuring attempts and accepted Sir Celes’s theory as fact.

“It’s really gone...”

I stared into space as I swayed on the back of Sir Celes’s horse, and he squeezed me tighter. It made me happy to know that he was thinking of me, even without saying anything. I leaned back against him, appreciating his feelings. It was nice to have someone who you could be affectionate with. I never realized how calming it is to be with someone you can just cuddle.

“It doesn’t feel real. I’ve had my magic since I was just a little girl, but...I don’t feel sad about it? I’m just thinking ‘oh, it’s gone.’”

My magical soap bubbles had been with me for as long as I could remember. But, maybe because it wasn’t something I could see, I didn’t feel any sadness or sense of loss, like I did with Shiro.

“Do you really need it?” he asked, looking down at me.

I thought over it all again at Sir Celes’s question. Need... Did I need it for anything...

“I might need it for cleaning really tough stains.”

“Right.”

“But since there won’t be any more monster attacks, your uniforms aren’t going to get as dirty.”

After Shiro and the dragon that attacked us disappeared, we hadn’t seen even a single sign of any monsters, no matter how far we went. Eric thought that maybe they had all disappeared. If that was the case, I wouldn’t have to get those blue stains out anymore.

“So really...I don’t need it.”

That’s right. I’m fine without it. That might have been the main reason why I wasn’t feeling sad.

“You didn’t really rely on it much.”

“Well, of course. It was only some boring spell to get stains out at first. I’d never thought it would work on monsters.”

I felt Sir Celes chuckling behind me as I called it boring. “Our Sacred Maiden doesn’t think much of her powers, huh.”

“I’m not a Sacred Maiden! I’m just a normal, powerless, ordinary person.”

Without my extraordinary powers, all that was left was me — an ordinary person. But I’ve always been ordinary, so it’s not a shock or anything.

“Ah, but without my Soap, I’ll probably lose my job at the castle. I already temporarily retired, anyway.”

It had been about three months since I’d left Arldat. And as long as the knights existed, they wouldn’t leave an unfilled opening for laundrymaids. And now that I’d lost my bonus soapy magic, I wouldn’t be worth rehiring.

“I’ll have to look for another job.”

“I think it’ll be fine. You left to join us on the King’s orders.”

“Yes, but the knights’ laundrymaids ended up losing a member, which would mean they’d have to do more to make up for it. I was only hired to fill an empty spot in the first place. The laundry waits for no one, you know!”

Sir Celes groaned at my answer. “Even if you can’t get rehired,” he started, sounding a bit embarrassed, “I wouldn’t mind if you just stayed at home. I wouldn’t stop you if you want to work, though.”

Home! I remembered something incredibly important just then. Since I didn’t have my laundrymaid job anymore, I’d have to find another place to live. I’ll be on the streets if I don’t start searching for a place! And since most of my pay went towards paying off my debt, I didn’t have much actual money. I’ll be getting a reward for the journey, so I’ll have to use that for my job and house searches!

“I’m going to have to find myself a place to live!” I exclaimed.

“That’s true. Where do you want to live? I’m fine with anywhere, as long as it’s near Arldat’s castle. I can’t go very far, since I might get called out suddenly.”

“I can’t live near the castle. It’s far too expensive. Actually, I don’t even know if I’d be able to get a place in the capital without a job...”

“Don’t worry about the rent,” he said, almost dismissively.

“Why?”

“What?”

“Huh?”

I turned back, surprised, only to see Sir Celes giving me a similarly surprised look.

“Just checking, but...” he started.

“Okay.”

“You’re going to marry me... Right?”

“Of course I am,” I replied with a firm nod. Why does he sound so worried?

“Oh, thank goodness. I was starting to think us getting engaged was just a dream.”

“I don’t know what I’d do if it was just a dream. But even if we’re engaged, I can’t just have you pay my rent,” I refused, not wanting to depend on him too much, but he just gently shook his head.

“Lucia. I’d like to make it official as soon as possible, if you’re up for it. And if you’re going to have to pay for somewhere to live after quitting your job, I want to go with you. After all,” Sir Celes smiled softly, before whispering lowly into my ear, “I’d be too lonely without you.”

“Ah...!” I blushed bright red, nodding as he burst out laughing. Oh, he’s so mean!

“Anyway, I’d be fine if you just stayed home — actually, I might prefer it — but you said you had fun working, didn’t you? So if you’re going to go job searching, I’d like for you to look for something in Arldat. Even if we won’t be going out to exterminate monsters anymore, we in the Third Regiment can’t really go far from the city.”

“I wonder if I’ll be able to find one...”

“Take your time to find something you like. Something that you really want to do.”

A job I really want to do? I had no clue what that might be. For me, working had just been something necessary for survival, so I’d never thought about likes or dislikes.

“Like instead of just getting whatever job you can, or going for something difficult that pays well, you should go for something that you find fun, or interesting. Arldat is Banfield’s capital, so there are a lot of different jobs there. You’ve got a lot of potential.” He smiled, gently patting my head.