Gardenia’s Heart

The moment Thelira’s goofy smile spread across her face, Elarielle yanked the girl out of her bag.

“You were hiding inside the backpack this whole time!?” the queen shouted, her eyes wide with disbelief.

In response, a dry, awkward laugh echoed.

Standing up from the flowers she’d been examining, Lily watched as the older sister frantically shook the younger one by the shoulders. At that moment, a thought crossed her mind.

“Nia, did you know she was here?”

(Hm? Yes, I sensed her in the bag when we were at the wall.)

Hearing that calm response, Lily couldn’t help but make a slightly awkward grimace.

With the mana-suppressing cuffs on Thelira’s wrists, not even Elarielle could sense the girl’s presence. But since Nia’s mana-location didn’t rely on such things, the metamorph had known Thelira was with them from the start.

Lily figured that her earlier remark, about duties they couldn’t even imagine, made her wife indifferent to the Sage’s presence in their luggage. Thelira wasn’t a threat, and so Lily knew Nia wouldn’t mind her tagging along.

“Thelira, is there any reason you came? Did you have another vision?” Approaching the girls, Lily leveled her eyes with the stowaway.

“I didn’t come because of any vision, and before you ask, no one forced me. I came of my own free will.” Regaining her composure, Thelira grasped the hand her sister still had on her shoulder, her green eyes with crescent-moon pupils sharpening. “Part of the reason Lady Lily and Lady Gardenia are going on this mission is because I asked them to, and they’re going so that I might have a chance to survive. I can’t stand being left out of this anymore. It’s my life we’re talking about. I have more right than anyone to risk my life for it!”

Helping Elarielle obtain the Amberdrop so she could make the medicine that might save her before it was too late — that was Thelira’s request to Lily.

The elf wasn’t asking to be protected. She was ready to risk her life for a chance to survive. And even if it sounded absurd, Lily understood that feeling. After all, she was going there to protect her wife’s life.

If Thelira was truly willing to go that far, neither Lily nor anyone else could stand in her way.

No one, except her own flesh and blood.

“Paper Devourer, you can make a portal to the castle, can’t you? Send Thelira back.” Shaking her head, Elarielle turned to Lily, her brows sharpening with resolve.

“Please, don’t do that, Lady Gardenia.” Standing up to push away her sister’s hand, Thelira placed herself between the women.

“You’re not thinking straight, Thelira. You don’t need to risk your life! You’re not even a warrior or a soldier, you idiot!” Rising to her feet, Elarielle tried to grab her sister’s shoulder again, but her hand was slapped away.

The dry smack echoed through the ensuing silence. It was a dull, weak impact, one that wouldn’t even make the hero’s hand redden or sting, but it was enough to push her back.

“First Mom, and now you! I won’t let you keep suffering alone! I’m your family. I’m going with you!” Thelira said firmly, her eyes gleaming with fierce resolve. “In the state I’m in, I don’t have more than three or four days left. I’ve let everyone else decide how I’d live my entire life, but at least at the end, I don’t intend to rot quietly in the palace while more people suffer because of me.”

If Thelira thought with a cold, logical mind, going to where the danger was wouldn’t be wise. But in that moment, she refused to back down.

Although she was wearing her usual clothes, Thelira now donned a greenish cloak that draped over her back. Sliding her hand beneath the fabric, the girl pulled out a curved bow and held it firmly with both hands. Though made of wood, the weapon had an iridescent surface shimmering in shades of green and blue. The bow’s almost mythical beauty seemed to perfectly match the determination in the words she was about to declare to the world.

“My name is Lophantera Thelira Phaea. The one who bears the title of Sage! I may not be as strong as all of you, but I will not be a burden!”

Gripping the bow tightly with both hands, the girl didn’t waver for even a second despite the pain she was feeling as she steeled herself for battle.

Elarielle, who had listened in silence, opened and closed her mouth several times. The person standing in front of her was neither a princess giving an order nor a younger sister seeking attention. She was a girl determined to fight for her own life with her own hands.

After several long minutes of silence, the queen let out a heavy sigh, as if trying to relieve her conflicting emotions. “Stay close to me at all times, no matter what happens. You’re an archer—don’t you dare leave the rear.”

“So I can—!?”

Before Thelira could even finish her sentence, the elven girl was effortlessly lifted off the ground by one of Elarielle’s arms.

Without answering Thelira’s unspoken question, the queen began adjusting her backpack with one hand, securing her battle axe—which she had been carrying in her hands—onto her back.

Even though Elarielle’s actions had been brusque, Thelira simply let out a soft chuckle, covering her mouth with one hand.

“If you’d like, I can carry her,” Lily offered, silently observing the whole scene as she extended her right hand. One of the purple tentacles coiled around her waist stretched out toward them.

The moment both sisters saw the purple tentacle approaching, their faces immediately twisted in discomfort.

“No, I’ll do it myself,” Elarielle replied curtly. “Iris, we’re ready.”

Without even a second of hesitation, Elarielle started walking after the cyan fairy who was already moving through the forest.

Taking Thelira’s health into account, the group now moved at a slightly slower pace, though they were still swift enough to cross entire biomes within minutes.

Now that her control over winged movement was becoming more and more efficient, Lily could move at high speed without needing to focus too much on the task. Thus, while they traveled, the girl had plenty of time to let her gaze wander over the trees and bushes around them—where more and more glowing orbs appeared, drawn by curiosity.

“There really… are so many of them in this forest,” Lily murmured.

The first time she came here, she’d only caught glimpses of a few. But now that she knew they existed and was actively looking for them, she could spot them everywhere.

“You are truly loved by the fairies, Lady Lily.”

Being carried by her sister, Thelira observed Lily’s usually impassive face shift for the first time that day as more and more fairies gathered around.

“If more of them swarm me like last time, it’s going to get hard to see the path. Why do they insist so much on staying near me?” Lily asked.

At first, Lily had thought the fairies were reacting somehow to Nia’s presence within her. However, even when they separated, the fairies still kept specifically seeking her out.

“Fairies are only born from their seeds after absorbing large amounts of mana from the World Tree. They’re deeply connected to mana, and that allows them to read an individual’s aura. People with kind dispositions tend to be more beloved by fairies—but I’ve never seen anyone attract as many as you, except for my mother.”

Thelira’s response only made Lily tilt her head even more in confusion. She knew that fairies weren’t considered monsters because they weren’t born from dark mana, but ever since she had first encountered one, she had wondered how creatures with bodies made of light could even reproduce.

She was just about to ask Thelira more about it, but before she could, the girl’s expression suddenly lit up, as if she had just remembered something. Turning toward Lily, she spoke in an excited tone:

“You should choose a fairy too and form a contract, Lady Lily!”

“Wait, me!?” The offer caught her so off guard that she lost control of her flight. Before she could crash into a tree, Nia corrected her trajectory, bringing her back onto Elarielle’s path. Gently patting several of the tentacles coiled around her waist in silent thanks, she turned her attention back to Thelira. “But I’m human, not an elf.”

“Contracts aren’t limited by race. You don’t even need a complicated spell. As long as a fairy agrees to make a contract with you, all you need to do is give it a name and call it—that’s enough to form the bond. With so many fairies surrounding you like this, you could choose any one of them!”

Thelira’s cheerful words clashed with the grimace that Lily struggled to keep from showing on her face.

Indeed, if there were no cost or difficulty, forming a contract with a fairy might seem like a good idea. But Lily wasn’t sure if she truly needed something like that.

Fairies like Zaylin’s, which could transform into keys, or Thelira’s, which healed her by becoming a garment, might have tempted her some time ago… but now, they no longer held the same appeal. From what she could understand, it wasn’t possible to know what the fairy would transform into before making a contract, and she didn’t even know if it could be undone and tried again until she found one that would be useful.

“What about you, Nia? Don’t you want to try this?” Lowering her gaze to her chest, Lily asked softly.

(None of the fairies seem interested in me. If I try to approach them without you around, they just run away.) Nia replied, sounding rather indifferent.

“At least the fairies have good sense.” Elarielle practically sang out, teasing them as she continued running several meters ahead. The sarcastic laugh that was about to escape her lips was suddenly cut off by a black ice crystal slicing through the air and striking a tree several meters ahead.

Watching the crystal—no larger than a fist—disintegrate as the thick trunk crashed to the ground, Elarielle quickly turned her gaze to the girl flying above her.

(Thought I saw a spider.) Nia answered with a chuckle as two of her tentacles stretched out to the sides, as if she were shrugging.

“Tsk.” Clicking her tongue and quickening her pace, Elarielle—still carrying Thelira—leapt forward in a powerful bound.

Even though the distance between them had increased, Lily didn’t speed up to catch up right away. Quickly scanning her surroundings, she noted that none of the glowing orbs were nearby now.

“Nia, if you absorbed one of the fairies… would I be able to make a contract with you?” Lily murmured as quietly as she could, questioning the metamorph.

Though she wasn’t particularly interested in obtaining a fairy, a possibility had crossed her mind. Given the innate ability of fairies to transform into various things, she wondered if Nia could do the same if she were to absorb one.

If she could form a contract with Nia, she couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of artifact the metamorph could become.

(Even if I absorbed a fairy, I don’t know if it would be useful.)

But contrary to her expectations, Nia’s apprehensive voice echoed in her mind.

(Suppose I could assimilate the innate ability… and you, Lily, made a contract with me—even using the part of my body that’s outside of you… I’m afraid of what might happen to the rest of us, the part still fused together.)

Nia’s fearful words made Lily quickly realize what she was afraid of.

Supposing that Nia could use the part of her body that extended outward and transform it into some kind of artifact, there was no guarantee she could isolate that effect to just that part. In the worst-case scenario, both Lily’s heart and every single cell of her body—now fused with Nia—could transform as well, killing her in the process.

(I’m sorry…) Nia said in a low tone, but she quickly felt warmth spread through her mind as several of her tentacles were stroked all at once.

“Oh, don’t say that. You’re just worried about my safety, aren’t you?” Lily reassured her wife without a second of hesitation, sighing in relief that Nia had realized the flaw in her idea.

The benefits of absorbing a fairy were far outweighed by the risks, so there was no need to gamble on something like that.

Flying for a few more minutes, the silver-haired girl continued caressing her wife absentmindedly, when a chill suddenly ran down her spine.

(Lily, we’re heading close to that thing again… but much, much worse.)

Lily didn’t need Nia to explain what was making her so uneasy.

All at once, the canopy of trees above them disappeared. The once faint moonlight seemed to come alive as the treeless expanse stretched out before them.

“What… happened here?” Landing on the ground, Lily murmured as she came to stand beside the girls leading the way.

Before her eyes, the landscape stretched out in deep shadows. Enveloped by a purplish mist that slithered through the cracks in the uneven ground, colossal black rocks rose up, marked by fissures and scars from a battle of unimaginable proportions.

What little remained of the trees that had once stood there now clung to the tops of rocky pillars, their roots defying the desolate aridity in a desperate attempt to survive. The wind howled between the stone formations, emphasizing the unsettling vastness that this place had become.

Lily had seen something similar when she first entered the forest—but nothing on this scale.

“Because of its composition, similar to that of a mana herb, the World Tree absorbs mana from the atmosphere to obtain nutrients,” Elarielle began calmly as she set Thelira down and crouched to scoop a bit of earth between her fingers. “However, it can’t tell the difference between normal mana and dark mana when it absorbs it.”

Letting the handful of soil slide through her fingers, Elarielle stared at the purple lines streaking across the ground, their depths plunging dozens of meters beneath the surface.

“The dark mana that isn’t absorbed is released through the roots below the ground, accumulating beneath the forest.”

As soon as the queen stopped speaking, Lily swallowed hard before staring at the ground again.

“This purple mist… it’s so similar to the Demon King’s mist…” Lily murmured.

“The Demon King’s mist is prevented from entering the forest’s borders by the World Tree’s barrier. But if dark mana concentrates in one place enough, it doesn’t matter whether there’s mist or not—purple miasma will be created.” Elarielle replied, her eyes reflecting no light.

“Purple miasma…?” Lily repeated the words she had heard, but Elarielle didn’t answer.

Seconds passed, and the silence between the girls stretched on. Noticing this, Thelira approached Lily.

“Though I’ve only ever seen this here in the forest… if dark mana is concentrated in a high enough amount, it will take on this hue. The quantity we have underground here is nothing compared to the amount at the far edge of Finis. For most people, even for experienced mages, breathing the purple miasma or even coming into contact with it can be lethal.”

Lily noticed how Thelira’s voice grew softer as she spoke. At first, she thought about asking more about it, but the downcast expressions on the two elves’ faces made her realize that now wasn’t the time.

“So… it was the purple miasma that caused this part of the forest to end up like this?”

Choosing to ask about the current situation rather than what was weighing them down, Lily gazed at the expanse stretching out for dozens of kilometers.

“Yes and no.”

Contrary to what Lily expected, it was Elarielle who opened her mouth to answer.

“With so much dark mana concentrated in one place… what do you think happened?”

When the queen laughed those words with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, Lily immediately understood what she was implying.

(A monster was born.) Nia pointed out, her voice expressionless.

Placing one hand over her chest, Thelira took a deep breath as she stared at the desolate land.

“My sister and I were just little children at the time… but I can remember the events of that day as if they’d happened yesterday.” Thelira clenched her fists against her own arms, her nails digging into her pale skin. “A scream tore through the entire forest. It wasn’t human, nor was it animal… it was as if a thousand beasts were being skinned alive all at once.”

The girl’s lips pressed together tightly. The movement was automatic, like a reflex at recalling that memory.

“Even our most capable warriors fell to their knees, clutching the ground as if that could save them. Everyone who couldn’t use even the slightest bit of mana fainted. The very core of their beings trembled… as if their souls were at the mercy of death.”

The silence that followed was so dense, even the night’s cold breeze became the loudest sound.

“It was…” Thelira swallowed hard, the words leaving her like a blade piercing her body. “… a Torment.”