On the second day, what I found out was that Freya couldn’t speak.
Also, she had created the runes necessary to form a circle, but hadn’t yet inscribed any other runes.
In other words, she had a circle, but absolutely no usable magic.
So it’s no wonder she was so happy even with just first circle magic.
“Fire.”
A small flame blossomed through the staff.
Freya hopped around, smiling brightly.
When someone watching looks that excited, it naturally makes the person showing the magic feel good too.
Cutting off the mana from the staff, I poured power into a different rune.
“This time, Aqua!”
Where the fire disappeared, a bubbling sphere of water appeared.
I lowered the staff to Freya’s eye level, and she gleefully poked at the water droplets.
Though her expression was radiant with a smile, no sound came out.
It was as if she simply couldn’t produce sound at all—smiling clearly, but no voice escaping.
A strange and pitiful sight.
Because it made me feel sorry, I put even more spirit into showing magic.
Freya’s pure joy at even these basic, not-so-spectacular spells was unlike anyone else in the world.
She spent a long time watching the magic, sometimes touching it herself, running around the garden playing, and then sat side by side on a bench to rest.
Freya was perfectly fine, but I was the one getting tired.
I hadn’t even done much, but somehow I felt drained.
‘…Is this what raising a child feels like?’
“You’re whining over nothing.”
‘It’s not whining… Eh, whatever. What would a ghost know.’
I sighed deeply to myself and looked back at Freya.
She dangled her legs, not even touching the ground, looking up at the sky with a bright expression.
‘What should I say?’
‘How I made the circle, who taught me… and what’s going on with Arilleia.’
So many questions, but—
“My first master was a magician scorned by everyone in the world.”
What I said was a completely different kind of story.
“Even in an era that had lost magic, he lived his whole life for a single spark of flame.”
Though I was curious, I didn’t want to deceive such a young girl just to find out more.
“If you’re curious, you can find out yourself.”
‘Even if I used Freya to gather some information, what would change?’
“So Freya, you can’t give up either. Sometimes your mana won’t obey your words, and magic feels like it’s forced and twisted, but if you don’t give up, a path will open someday.”
I will somehow reclaim the lost magic.
Freya nodded vigorously, holding up two fingers.
She wanted me to tell her about my second master since I had a first.
Smiling a little, I continued.
“Hmm… My second master was a really wicked necromancer.”
Freya jumped at that, clearly knowing what a necromancer was.
“He treated people and souls like ingredients. And oh, how much he talked! But when you listen closely, it’s all hot air and empty bluster…”
…What kind of nonsense is that?
Freya looked up at me with worried eyes.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. But my second master is still alive… right?”
She tapped my knee as if to cheer me on.
That sight made me smile without thinking.
“Yeah. Thanks.”
As we chatted quietly like that, a deep shadow suddenly fell over us.
“Freya. So you were here.”
Someone late to arrive, rushing to take Freya away.
Mutins, the envoy from the Kingdom of Arilleia.
“You’ve been together today as well, Hio Pavlenko.”
Mutins looked at me with a still stern expression and sharp eyes.
“Yes. Freya looked bored, so I was just talking with her a bit.”
“…I see. It is appreciated, but since Freya isn’t feeling well, it would be better if she didn’t stay outside long. If it’s not too much trouble, may I take her in first?”
She had been running around just fine, so what did “not feeling well” mean?
Still, I smiled and nodded as I had no reason to refuse.
“Alright. Freya, I hope you had fun today.”
Without waiting for an answer, Mutins bowed lightly and left with Freya.
I waved to Freya, who kept looking back, smiling.
And so the second day of the banquet passed.
The third day was a little different from the previous two.
***
First, the number of attendees at the banquet had dropped quite a bit, and overall the atmosphere was quiet.
Almost no one approached me to talk, so I had plenty of time to watch over Freya and the Arilleia group, but… no chance to slip away.
Mutins watched over Freya like his life depended on it, eyes blazing.
So I left the banquet hall and went to find Sylvia.
The last day of the banquet.
The final event of the Succession Ceremony and the festival.
Once it’s over, the war with Atawolf was to begin.
I showed my face briefly at the banquet, then easily found Sylvia.
“Ah, Hio! You came at just the right time. I actually wanted to ask your opinion on something…”
Sylvia was buried in documents, as if she never left them.
This was right after the Succession Ceremony ended.
With so many duties as the new empress, and now having to prepare for war, it was understandable.
All the officials in the Imperial Palace were probably in the same state.
It made me realize again that being emperor was no easy task.
Our conversation naturally started with the upcoming war.
The Black Fang, the largest and most notorious criminal organization on the continent.
Although Atawolf was the true leader of Black Fang, it was only natural that many villains gathered under such a notorious name.
It was one thing to defend against Black Fang’s raids, but to strike at their main base and bring complete ruin required facing all of them.
Therefore, preparations comparable to war were necessary.
“This is the promised force sent from the families who lost children in this tragedy…”
The story dragged on longer than expected.
Well, other officials would handle the troop organization and structure, but there were many other variables.
The first variable was Airlights.
‘Could we really trust her?’
Though there was no reason for Airlights to betray us, there was also no reason she wouldn’t.
She was completely inscrutable; we could neither trust nor outright reject her.
The second variable was whether Airlights could lure Atawolf out of the Ba’al Forest.
Though we said we trusted her, we had to prepare for failure.
In the worst case, battle might even take place within Atawolf’s territory.
And the third variable… was none other than myself.
‘Could I kill Atawolf on that fierce battlefield?’
‘Could I pierce through the black mist of determination and finish him decisively?’
That was also a variable, if you could call it that.
As the conversation went on for quite a while, the topic gradually shifted.
From war to everyday matters.
The Academy’s tragedy, and stories of the three of us together in the past.
Eventually, it reached what I had aimed for.
“I filtered out those whose souls are empty.”
A list compiled using Sylvia’s soul-seeing ability.
I had mentioned it before.
There were a few whose souls were completely empty.
Hearing one of them was Sirbert, I recalled it.
All the Possessors were perhaps soulless.
So I asked Sylvia how my soul looked.
***
[Your soul can’t be seen. It’s as if someone blocked anyone from seeing it.]
It only made things more confusing.
Anyway, the list I had filtered this time was the dossier of Possessors in the Imperial Palace.
While scanning through it, my gaze stopped on a familiar name.
I already knew from Sirbert.
That guy, who always ranked second under Jijoncheonma’s name, was here in the Imperial Palace.
But… there was no need to meet him right away.
He probably knew about me, and I knew about him.
“Keep an eye on them without making it obvious. They probably won’t cause much trouble, but we can’t take our eyes off them.”
Once the topic got this far, it was time to speak.
“What exactly are these soulless people?”
What they were, and what awaited us in the future.
I had to tell Sylvia everything to get her full cooperation, so I began to speak.
Where they came from.
What might happen in the future.
Of course, not everything was true.
I mixed some lies with some facts, and Sylvia kept looking incredulous.
After finishing the story about the Abyss, she sighed deeply.
It had only been two days since the coronation, but work was already piling up.
“Honestly… if you hadn’t said it, I never would’ve believed it.”
It was that ridiculous.
No one would believe stories of an Abyss invasion, people from another world coming to fight it.
And that the soulless were behind it all.
“Anyway, among those soulless ones, there are some who do incomprehensible things, so you’ll have to watch them carefully.”
Leaving a seriously worried Sylvia behind, I left the room.
After all the trouble, I had finally become emperor, only to face the possibility of the nation collapsing.
‘How could I not feel conflicted?’
Once again, I thought—being emperor was a thankless job.
Tap tap!
The tapping on my leg broke my thoughts.
Turning around, a girl with green hair smiled brightly, waving.
“Freya!”
Freya had come looking for me.
“Oh, shall we play magic, mister?”
When I lifted her up, she surprisingly shook her head.
Instead, she rummaged in her pocket and handed me a small, palm-sized stone.
A flat stone pulsing with mana.
“This is… an Artifact?”
It was a Stone, a communication Artifact, but in our era it was almost considered a prehistoric relic.
As I took it, Freya pulled out a matching stone from her pocket.
She scribbled something on it with her tiny finger.
After a moment, letters glowed softly on the Whispering Stone in my hand.
“I am Freya! (“・・”)”
It seemed to be an Artifact for sending messages back and forth like this.
“Oh! This is a nice Artifact. If I write on mine, does it go to you the same way?”
Perched on my arm, Freya began scribbling again.
Though I could see what she wrote, I pretended not to, watching the words appear on the Whispering Stone.
“Yes! But there’s a limited number of uses, so you can’t use it a lot! ()”
“I see. Then we have to use it sparingly.”
Freya nodded enthusiastically.
“They said we have to go back now! I’m giving this to you, so can you come visit Arilleia sometime?”
That was music to my ears.
“I’d love to, but there are too many people stopping me… people like Regarda. So…”
I said gently to Freya, “Could you talk to them nicely and see if they’ll invite me? Then maybe I could go.”
The island kingdom far to the west. The Kingdom of Arilleia.
Coming all the way from the Imperial capital was no small feat.
Not to mention it was a coronation.
A child who looked no older than ten was not the kind of person expected to be here.
Among all the guests at the banquet, there was no one else near Freya’s age.
Which meant Freya’s status was extraordinary.
***
After a moment of thought, Freya spoke up.
“Okay! I’ll talk to them properly!”
She vowed resolutely.
I smiled and brushed her bright green hair aside.
“All right, all right. I’m counting on you.”
Though I didn’t expect too much.
Even if she was high status, she was still a child.
And even if she were a princess, the long-standing blockade probably wouldn’t be lifted.
Holding Freya in one arm, I strolled down the corridor when—
“…What in the world…!”
Inevitably, Mutins appeared again.
He looked between me and Freya in my arms, shocked, and hurried forward.
“What is this…!”
He seemed at a loss for words but wanted to say a lot.
When I set Freya down, Mutins took her hand without a word and turned away.
“…Let’s go.”
Leaving those words behind, he took Freya away at a brisk pace.
If you’re that shocked, you should have kept a better eye on Freya, I thought.
What a strange guy.
I turned and headed back to my room.
And so the third day of the banquet ended.
The envoys from various nations quickly left to avoid the brewing storm of war.
Their absence was filled by the clanking of armored knights and the sounds of moving weapons.
The war was near.
“…Freya-sama.”
Inside the carriage leaving the Imperial Palace.
***
Mutins busied himself soothing the sulky Freya.
“You are the wisest of all, Freya-sama. So I believe you will understand.”
Freya turned her head and just wiggled her fingers.
After a moment, Mutins’s Whispering Stone glowed.
“Hio Pavlenko is really a magician!”
After seeing the message, Mutins shook his head.
“You know very well there is no magic on this continent. And to say you obtained the power worthy of becoming the Guardian Knight of the Empire through magic? It’s nonsense.”
In short, Hio Pavlenko was a notorious con artist.
I barely stopped those words from slipping out.
If they came out, I might not see Freya for a while.
“No, I confirmed it. He really used magic.”
“He deceived the empire to gain the position of Guardian Knight. Tricksters like that are everywhere, Freya-sama. I’m sure you wouldn’t be fooled, but if you listen to their words carefully, they’re all just lies, trickery, and bluffs.”
It was obvious.
He probably used some skill to fake magic and snatched the Guardian Knight position.
Such a con artist could easily browbeat a young Freya.
“You will understand my words better when you grow a little older, Freya-sama.”
So there was no choice.
Even if it meant earning Freya’s dislike, I had to speak firmly.
「…I’m not playing with Mutins anymore!」
Really.
‘Because of one con artist, what kind of bad luck was this?’
“I’m sorry, Freya-sama.”
Though Freya was firmly sulking, she’d probably get over it soon.
She wasn’t a cruel child.
Looking out at the sea again would soothe her, and she’d probably worry inside that she’d been too harsh.
That was the kind of child she was.
Freya Yennis.
The last descendant of the dragons left in this world.
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