Chapter 1: Elle of the Four Grand Magi
Act 1: Demon Lord Kingdom Analia
Chapter 1: Elle of the Four Grand Magi
WHAT a marvelous day!
The final volume to my absolute favorite shoujo manga, Saint Aela of Gaea, comes out today! As a longtime fan of the series since its debut, I’ve been impatiently awaiting the ending.
The second the bookstore door slides open, I sweep in and purchase my copy before anyone else. I race outside, unable to contain my excitement.
I wanna read it now! I gotta know how it ends! I mean, it’s the final volume! Will Aela defeat the Demon Lord? Who will she end up with? The prince, like I’ve been assuming? Or maybe one of the former Four Grand Magi of the Demon Lord’s Army…
As I’m preoccupied thinking over all the ways the series can end… Bam! I hear a loud crash.
Huh? What just happened? Why do I feel like I’m floating? Is that a truck in front of me? Was that the sound of me being hit by a truck? Oh. Crap.
Those are my final thoughts right before I black out.
◆◆◆
SOMEONE else’s memories suddenly flood my brain. My mind reels out of control from the overwhelming deluge of information pouring in, bringing me to my knees.
Nngh! What are these visions? Me? Are these my…my…
“Lady Elle! Are you all right?!” one of the maids asks, supporting me before I fall on my face.
Elle? That’s right. My name is…Elle. But for some reason, I have someone else’s memories, too… Are they from a past life?
The memories of another woman whose occupation was “senior high school student” are stirring together with mine.
I look up with a start and press the maid for an answer. “Hey, who am I?! Tell me!”
“Pardon me, milady? Why do you need to know that…?”
“Just answer me already!”
“Y-Yes, milady! You are Lady Elle Falmil Gracedane, one of the esteemed members of the Four Grand Magi of the Analian army!”
That’s right! I’m Elle, right?!
Regaining my confidence, I puff out my chest that doesn’t have much to push out in the first place and put a hand on my hip.
“That’s right! I am Elle! I rose to the rank of Grand Magi in the Demon Lord’s Army at the age of fifteen, the youngest ever to achieve that rank in the history of Analia! I love the Demon Lord the most! And the Demon Lord loves me most! Yeah, that’s right. I’m…” I manage to rattle on enthusiastically until astonishment stops me short.
Right, I am Elle.
And this is Analia, the Demon Lord’s kingdom.
“Hey, you. Gaea is the name of the neighboring country, right?” I ask the maid just to be sure. The maid nods with a curious look, as if she’s wondering why I’m asking her a known fact and if this is some sort of test.
Another wave of dizziness hits me.
All of this… It’s just like…!
The memories of my past life spiral into my thoughts, becoming one with them.
The peculiar world from my past life is drastically different from this one. Practically everything here is different, from how people think about things to what’s considered common sense.
Those past memories are crowded with scenes from a certain manga.
That’s right. They’re scenes from the manga I had adored in my past life: Saint Aela of Gaea.
And I’m filled with despair as I recall its plot.
Was I reborn into the world of Saint Aela of Gaea…? Analia and Gaea—the names match exactly with the manga, including mine.
The armed forces of Analia go by the name Demon Lord’s Army. And I’m Elle Falmil Gracedane, one of the Four Grand Magi who rule over that army. Everything is exactly the same as the manga, including the relationship between the two countries!
Saint Aela of Gaea is the story of Saint Aela, a girl who fights to protect her home, the Kingdom of Gaea, from Analia, a country full of sorcerers where those with power reign supreme.
Despite having been just a normal girl, Aela uses her awakened saintly powers to defeat the bad guys and save the day. And of course, being from a shoujo manga, heart-racing scenes with the cast of good-looking male characters are a huge piece of the story. It was a super-interesting series!
I’m dying to know how the final volume ends.
How could my past self have been such a dummy to die before reading it?! Klutz!
But wait.
If I’m Elle, doesn’t that make me the first Grand Magi that Saint Aela defeats?
When Elle is beaten, the other three Grand Magi say:
“So, it seems that imbecile Elle was vanquished.”
“Heh heh heh. She was the weakest of us Grand Magi.”
“She disgraces the title of Grand Magi to have been killed by someone from Gaea.”
Doesn’t that make me the pathetic character whose early death is mocked?!
“U-Um, are you…truly feeling all right…Lady Elle?” The worried maid takes a good look at my face.
Right. That’s right. I need to calm down first… Besides, I still have time. Time before the battle with Saint Aela! I don’t want to be mocked as the disgrace of the Grand Magi on top of being killed off!
I nod to set her mind at ease. Now I’m curious why my past life’s memories suddenly flooded my mind. If I remember correctly, the maid and I were discussing who the Demon Lord had selected as my fiancé…
That’s it…!
“Hey, you. Didn’t you tell me the name of my fiancé a few minutes ago? Say it again,” I order.
“A-Again? A-As you command, milady. Grand Magi Julius Eldorad Griffith has been chosen as your fiancé.”
Yet another wave of dizziness strikes me.
Actually, I’m already on the floor.
How could I not?! I mean, Grand Magi Julius Eldorad Griffith is the jerk who will say “She disgraces the title of Grand Magi to have been killed by someone from Gaea” when I die!
Upon learning this shocking backstory from the manga, my inner fangirl cries out That jerk was Elle’s fiancé! Who knew! right before I black out.
◆◆◆
THINK about this calmly. Now’s not the time for panic.
I slowly sit up in bed and suck in a deep breath. It was just yesterday that I passed out after being hit by a volley of outrageous facts. Taking measured breaths calms my racing mind a bit. I pick up the gold hand mirror from the side table and stare long and hard at my reflection.
Glittering red eyes, long red hair.
Reflected in the mirror is a beautiful, bright-eyed girl who appears younger than her fifteen years. I’m looking at the spitting image of the weakest boss in Saint Aela of Gaea.
Elle is the short-tempered villainess with a loli character design, and the first Grand Magi to be killed by the manga heroine.
“How could I, the greatest sorceress and Grand Magi, be defeated at your measly hands?!” she bemoans like a typical villain before being offed by Saint Aela and her party.
Hell no…! I don’t wanna end up like that!
I know! Maybe I can get by without drawing Saint Aela’s attention…if I behave myself? That’s a decent thought, until I think back on all the things I’ve done until today. Uh, yeah, that ship has sailed. I shake my head.
I mean…I’ve already done plenty of things that warrant being killed.
Amid my despair, I hear a knock on the door.
“Come in,” I say with a start, and the maid who helped me yesterday enters the room.
She looks so nervous you’d think she was standing before her executioner. She jumps and trembles when our eyes meet.
Nervous sweat coats my hands as I squeeze them tight.
“…Don’t be so scared.”
The words come out bossy despite how freaked out I feel about the maid.
Sounding arrogant is already a habit I can’t shake.
That proves it. I’m doomed to shout a clichéd villain line like “How could I, the greatest sorceress and best of the Grand Magi, be defeated at your measly hands?!” even if I’m shaking in my boots.
The maid gapes at me for a brief moment before carrying over the tea set and prepping a cup of black tea for me.
“…Thanks,” I say, causing the maid to stiffen.
I bet she’s shocked because I said something so very unlike me.
This maid— Actually, not just this maid, but all the servants serving in my manor are frightened of me. No, frightened isn’t all—they should hate me, too.
I mean, I did kidnap them from Gaea and force them to work for me.
Blessed with an enormous supply of magic from birth, I deluded myself into thinking the Demon Lord loved me most, and was always delighted to do whatever it took to make him love me even more. I believed that living in the dominion ruled by the Demon Lord, and by the perfect laws he created, was the most wonderful, blissful thing in the world.
That’s why I frequently wandered into Gaea to bring people home with me as my servants so they could live in Analia. I truly believed that the people I whisked away would be happier this way.
I did it all out of the goodness of my heart!
I thought living here was the epitome of happiness and wanted others to enjoy living in the Demon Lord’s blissful land, so I abducted people, with the conviction that I was doing a good thing.
Blindly hanging on the Demon Lord’s every word, I sneered at Gaea and ridiculed them for being fools to resist the Demon Lord Army’s invasion. All because I had this delusion there was no greater joy in life than to live under the Demon Lord’s rule.
But once I gained memories from my past life, and once the logic and moral values from that world permeated my mind, it hit me like a ton of bricks: my good intentions were foolish acts that ruined lives.
The people of Gaea love their kingdom’s history, culture, land, and their families who live there, as much as I had once adored the Demon Lord.
How could they be happy after having their love and joy stolen, and then being forced to live as servants in the invading kingdom?
Things can’t stay this way…! I don’t want this to go on, regardless of how it plays into Saint Aela killing me.
Determined to change things, I raise my head and speak to the maid. “Hey, you. What’s your name?”
The maid blinks at me. “Canna,” she replies in a quiet voice.
I just asked a servant’s name for the first time. Ever. It never crossed my mind that they have names.
Canna is a girl around the same age as me. Really looking at her for once made me notice that fact after all this time.
“…I see. Do you have family, Canna?”
“I have…no family. Both my father and mother died of the plague, and the villagers…um…feared that I might…well…have it, too. You brought me here just before they were about to…isolate me, Lady Elle.”
Canna’s story eases some of my guilt. I’m relieved I wasn’t the one who ripped her from her family. But I’m a moron for being consoled by this.
I mean, I have kidnapped so many people from Gaea. Not everyone is going to be from miserable circumstances. I just know some of them must despise me for tearing them from their families. This is depressing.
Until I gained these memories, I never knew how painful it is to be separated from family. I have none to speak of, so I didn’t understand the concept.
Children stay with their parents until age three in Analia but are then raised in a communal facility from age four until they turn thirteen. There we train in magic, are taught about the Demon Lord’s laws and edicts, and grow up adoring him like he’s our parent.
Each day is spent having it drilled into our heads that we love the Demon Lord and are loved by him even though none of us have ever met him.
“Canna, do you want to return to Gaea?” I ask with my gaze cast down, too afraid to look her in the eye. I watch her feet as she takes a huge step back.
She drops to her knees and brings her head within inches of the marble floor.
“Please forgive me, Lady Elle! Did I do something unpardonable in your eyes?! I no longer have anywhere left to go! Please, I beg of you, allow me to stay here! Please! Oh, please!”
I gasp in shock at her tearful appeal.
What? You want to stay here?
“Uh, Canna? Come on. Quit prostrating yourself before me! You can stay if you want to. You know how I, like, took you without asking? So…uh…I thought you might actually hate it here…! Anyway, quit pressing your head against the cold floor and stand up!”
At my command, Canna rises, sobbing and sniffling.
Okay, so how am I supposed to process this? Canna is bawling her eyes out. She feels that strongly about not returning to Gaea…? She did just mention that both her parents passed away. Maybe that’s why? She can stay if she’s got nowhere to go. I’d actually prefer it that way.
Life will be rough if I lose all my servants in a day.
“You can stay if you want… But the others probably don’t feel the same way. Sorry, but can you speak with the servants and see who wants to go back to Gaea? Tell them I’ll take responsibility and send them home.”
“Wh-Why are you offering to do this…?”
“Didn’t you hear me? I snatched you guys away on a whim and now I…feel bad about it,” I stammer, restlessly twirling my hair around my finger. “I doubt what I’ve done can be forgiven just by sending you home with a sorry, but…I wanna make up for it even if it’s too little too late…”
Canna’s wet eyes round into saucers. She’s in complete shock. Not that I blame her. It’s a surprising turn of events. I’ve always brought people home and turned them into my servants like it was the most obvious thing to do.
“I-Is that so? I will go speak with the others since that is what you want, Lady Elle… But…erm…I don’t believe there will be any who will try to return to Gaea…”
“O-Of course there will be! It’s fine. Don’t mind my feelings! Enough chitchat. Go tell them this instant!” I demand in my usual spoiled, loli Grand Magi manner.
Canna rushes from the room.
I wonder if the people I kidnapped will forgive me... Nah. That’s asking for the impossible. Time to stop thinking about being forgiven.
Everything I did was out of the goodness of my heart, but…kidnapping people was a crime in my past life. Even if I can’t find forgiveness, I can at least apologize.
Wait. Now that I think about it, aren’t I the first to be defeated in Saint Aela of Gaea because Aela stumbles across Elle in the middle of abducting villagers and fights to save them?
What the heck have I been doing? Being killed is a just punishment…
◆◆◆
CANNA returns a short while later with the manor’s servants in tow.
At a quick glance, there’s about ten. That seems to be about everyone I’ve kidnapped. Yep, I’ve sure got a problem, making off with ten people by age fifteen.
And see, everyone looks paler than a ghost. Their expressions are grim and tormented… They must be angry. Yeah, I get how they feel. But, uh, what now? Could this be a Bad Ending where they take their revenge on me here and now?
The Grand Magi killed by the people she abducted before the saint ever gets to her. Now that’s a real disgrace to the Grand Magi name!
I’m shaking in my boots when Canna comes forward.
“Lady Elle, I called upon every servant you brought from Gaea.”
“Y-You’ve done well to come here today,” I say through quivering lips. “There are some things I must tell you first—”
“Lady Elle! Please do not say you are going to send us back to Gaea! We will do anything to stay!”
“Say what…?”
I had been trying to apologize, holding on to the measly hope that they might forgive me, but the words of a middle-aged servant stop me short.
How do I interpret that? They don’t wanna go home?
His plea is followed by the other servants’ desperate begging to not be sent away. They launch into long-winded stories about their lives even though I didn’t ask.
After hearing them out, I realize every single person I whisked away from Gaea had lost their families, jobs, and everything dear to them like Canna had, and were taken away from dire circumstances by me.
Yes, I had kidnapped people with the best of intentions.
I know what I did was really arbitrary and disruptive, but I abducted them believing they would be happier living here. That’s why I always chose unfortunate people who looked unhappy at a glance.
But my selection process was based on little more than gut instinct, which meant I abducted on impulse, not because I knew about their woes. I simply snatched up whoever I came across that looked down in the dumps… My instincts, however, seemed to have been spot on.
“Um, lemme get this straight. You’ll all stay with me…? You aren’t mad at me?” I double-check after hearing each servant’s story. They break out into watery smiles and nod repeatedly. “Thank goodness!”
I accidentally let my true feelings slip out with a smile, causing the servants to react with “Lady Elle’s so cute!” “Too cute!” and “I’ll happily die for Lady Elle.”
Thank goodness I’m cute! Is this that “law of cuteness” I often heard about in my past life coming into effect for me? I’m so lucky…! It’s not too late for me yet. I can still avoid my fate as the first Grand Magi slain by Saint Aela!
I’ve received forgiveness from the people I kidnapped, so yeah, I’ll stop snatching people left and right. Luckily, I somehow managed to pick only miserable people, but there’s no guarantee it would stay that way.
As it stands, it’s Elle’s kidnapping spree escalating to abducting entire villages that brings Saint Aela’s wrath down on her.
…I don’t wanna die. Worst of all, my death won’t be mourned, but mocked as a disgrace!
Agh, but Analia is currently at war with Gaea, so as long as I’m a member of the Grand Magi, I’ll be stuck fighting Gaea’s saint at some point…?
Hmm. Meh. I’ll think about it more later. Today exhausted me, and I’m hungry.
Relieved to have evaded the first big obstacle leading to my eventual death, I seek out some warm baked sweets from the kitchens.
◆◆◆
SEVERAL days have passed since my past life’s memories invaded my mind. My relationship with Canna and the other servants is excellent now, and Canna is currently combing out my hair for the morning. It feels so nice.
Those foreign memories confused me at times, but I’ve gotten used to them now. Though I call them memories from my past life, they’re full of nothing but the scenes from my favorite manga. I think I went to high school, but all that daily stuff is a vague blur. Probably has something to do with me thinking about the story right before I died.
While my memories related to everything but the manga are sparse, there’s enough there to make me vaguely aware of how strange this kingdom is.
I mean, it’s got a few—okay, fine, it has a lot—of oddities to it…I think?
“Lady Elle, you will be dining with Lord Julius Eldorad Griffith today,” Canna cheerfully informs me in the middle of my brooding.
“Oh, that’s today? Dinner with Julius…”
“It certainly is, milady.”
Julius is a member of the Four Grand Magi like me. But we haven’t said a single thing to each other before. Granted, that might be more because I only recently joined the Grand Magi, and Julius is the most powerful of the Four and someone not just anyone can see.
But I know a lot about him. More like everyone in Analia knows of him.
I mean, he’s the strongest sorcerer among the Grand Magi and is reputed to have godly good looks and a dreamy face. Before I regained my memories, I had a tiny crush on him.
But I feel nothing positive toward him now. How could I, when he’s going to call me the disgrace of the Grand Magi when I die?! Me, his fiancée if only in name!
Granted, Analia has absolutely no concept of love, and marriage partners are chosen by the Demon Lord based on the couple’s magic and strength affinity.
So manga Julius likely didn’t love Elle at all. I get it. It’s only the natural course of things for this world. Still, I won’t stand for it.
Besides, I don’t want Julius of all people to call me the disgrace of the Grand Magi! He’s the one who gets saved by the heroine of the manga in the last half and ends up falling in love at first sight with her. He didn’t know his savior was Saint Aela, but even after he discovers the truth, he continues to love her until he eventually changes sides to join Gaea.
Yep, he’s basically a traitor.
Wouldn’t that make him more of a disgrace than me?!
Elle dies fulfilling her duties in battle, but you betray the Grand Magi! Who’s the real disgrace here, huh?! It’s you! Isn’t that right?!
“L-Lady Elle, is something troubling you?” Canna asks, worry in her voice.
The fury coiling in my belly had me huffing and harrumphing
“It’s nothing. I was just getting worked up thinking about a buncha stuff,” I say and have Canna bring out a dinner-party dress.
◆◆◆
DINNER with Julius is happening now.
Julius and I sit at a claw-footed round table with seats for four. I steal a peek at him as I eat a spread of Analia’s specialty: nasty food that reeks worse than the strongest medicine.
To my dismay, he’s spitefully beautiful. Perfect blond hair without a single strand out of place falls in just the right places around his piercing blue eyes. His flawless white skin reminds me of a porcelain doll, and though he looks slender at first, finely chiseled muscles push against his starched shirt.
He’s a genius who had total possession of the title of Analia’s strongest sorcerer at twenty-two. Classiness exudes from him as he elegantly dines with a fork and knife.
I’ll acknowledge it frankly: he’s as cool as they say. I raise my glass in genuine approval of the fine specimen of handsomeness in front of me.
I was very fond of his character in the manga, too. Julius, the cruel villain who falls in love for the first time with the enemy kingdom’s saint. I even cheered on his heartrending feelings.
But that was the me of the past.
“What’s wrong? Wish to say something?” Julius asks, looking at me like I’m a nuisance for furtively checking him out.
“N-Not really! J-Just thought that you eat p-pretty!” I stammer.
He marvels at me before returning to his meal.
Bad me! Bad me! I was staring too much. I hastily turn my attention back to my food, pretending I’ve done nothing wrong.
Before dinner started, Julius and I discussed what our future together will be like. As a couple selected by the Demon Lord, we should start trying to have children as soon as possible.
The Demon Lord chose us to create the greatest offspring possible. But both Julius and I are members of the Analian army’s Four Grand Magi. Analia is currently at war with the neighboring kingdom of Gaea, so we don’t have time to be making babies. Hence why we wrapped up that conversation with the decision to wait until things are settled on the battlefield.
You could save me from falling off a cliff into the ocean with a hundred circling sharks and I wouldn’t be more relieved than I felt then.
Sure, Julius is breathtaking. I’d always looked up to him, and his scenes had me rolling around in bed when I read the manga.
But this guy’s a traitor and he’s gonna call me a disgrace after I die! I’ll never forgive him. I don’t wanna marry him! I’m kicking this engagement to the curb!
…But annulling our engagement is the same as betraying the Demon Lord. He’s the one who picked Julius as my fiancé. Running from our engagement means disobeying his decision. It means going against direct orders from the Demon Lord I love and adore.
I still…love the Demon Lord…even now. How could I not when I was raised to? In the facility, I prayed to the Demon Lord every day, thanked him, and lived believing he loved me.
I know from my memories of another life that the Demon Lord basically brainwashed me—no, he’s brainwashed the citizens of Analia.
The Demon Lord probably doesn’t love me for real. We’ve never even met.
If he actually loved me, he would show himself and pat me on the head, right? “You’ve done well. I have high expectations of you as a Grand Magi.” Why’s it so hard for him to say that or anything to me?
Honestly, it’s questionable if the Demon Lord is real. Only the DemiOracle can speak with him. As the voice of the Demon Lord, the DemiOracle informs the people of his decisions. I’ve lived until today believing those were the words of the Demon Lord.
All the blood and sweat I put into becoming one of the Four Grand Magi was solely to make the Demon Lord love me more and more and more…
“You’re different from what I heard. Word in the castle is that you’re a loud and annoying woman… Are you feeling unwell?” Julius stops eating and asks after me.
Calling me a loud and annoying woman is kinda rude, but I think he’s showing concern in his own way? Julius has a bright future ahead as the traitorous disgrace of the Four Grand Magi, but he might not be such a bad person.
“Have you ever met with the Demon Lord, Julius?” I ask out of the blue.
Julius quietly places his fork and knife on the table. “…I have never met him. Only the DemiOracle is allowed to. Why do you ask such a thing?” Suspicion glints in his turquoise eyes, the same color as the gem hanging from his left ear.
He has every right to be suspicious. It’s strange for anyone in Analia to ask if someone else has met the Demon Lord. We aren’t supposed to ever have such overambitious and preposterous notions. Our education at the facility drills that into our heads. We are raised to live within the system of order the Demon Lord created without questioning anything.
“Just a passing…curiosity,” I settle for and return to my meal.
I can feel Julius studying me with piercing scrutiny.
It doesn’t matter what he thinks. I’ve decided to go see the Demon Lord for myself. I have to, because being this indecisive and gloomy isn’t like me.