TYND 38

TL: Motokare

“Even after erasing some of the spells from memory, you’re still having a fever.”

“That’s just how I am.”

Theon sat Rothy on the bed and pulled up a backless stool for himself. 

“In a week, His Imperial Majesty will announce that Yolone Sirin had a disciple.”

“Is that… me?”

“Yes. We’ll keep the fact that you’re a living magic stone hidden, but we decided to reveal your existence to the world. This is needed so I can protect you properly.”

“……”

Rothy’s small hands fidgeted on his knees. Though he wasn’t saying anything, his fingers seemed to have much to say.

“After the emperor’s announcement, I’ll also announce our marriage. I’ll say that Yolone Sirin entrusted you to me before his death, and I followed his last wish by marrying you. Do you understand so far?”

“But, you know…” Rothy said carefully.

“People will criticise you and call you names for marrying a child… Even Aeruhen gave you a weird look when he first heard it.”

Rothy used his fingers to pull up the corners of his eyes, mimicking the ‘weird look’. Theon found it so endearing that he had to look at the wallpaper for a moment to calm his racing heart. Once he’d steadied himself, he gently pulled Rothy’s fingers down from his face.

“That doesn’t matter. What concerns me is that we can’t reveal the truth about the murderer. I’m sorry we’ve to paint the person who tormented you all your life as someone who worried about his disciple even on his deathbed.”

“I’m fine with it. For me, Master was…”

Rothy trailed off. Theon waited, but it became clear he wasn’t going to continue what he was going to say.

“I’ve come up with a name for you to use from now on. Rothy Sear Falsen. Do you like it?”

“Yeah… I love it. But Rothy is me, Falsen is you, so what’s Sear?”

“Sear means ‘one blessed by Seará.’” 

“That’s wonderful. You should be Theon Sear Detre Falsen too. Seará would like that.” 

Rothy’s face lit up, and Theon felt his mood lift as well. He then took the boy’s hand in his. The hand he’d protect for the rest of his life was warm and small. Though it could never be called smooth because of the scars, it was a most lovable hand.

“After the announcement, you’ll be busy. People will want to see you, and you’ll need to act like an archduchess. Ultje will teach you etiquette for now, so pay attention.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be good and study hard. Theon, you should focus on your work instead of worrying about me.”

Rothy smiled brightly, as if telling him to leave everything to him. Theon touched Rothy’s soft cheek before leaving for the festival’s night events. 

Rothy however, couldn’t fall asleep until late after Theon left. His mind was restless, so he kept petting Chi-chi in his arms. The weasel in turn licked Rothy’s fingers until drowsiness took over and it fell asleep. Curling up under the blanket, the thought crossed his mind, 

It’s fine, they won’t find out. 

His master had taught him many spells and most of them were for killing. Even those that weren’t were ultimately just a means for killing. The spell Rothy used most in battle was transformation magic, one of those means. 

“Don’t open your eyes that wide. It’s disgusting. When’ve I ever done that?”

“Then how should I do it?”

“How do my eyes usually appear to you when I look at you?”

Rothy sharpened his gaze. 

“Yes, that’s good enough.”

Rothy looked in the mirror. His master’s image reflected back. Even to his own eyes, they looked exactly the same. His master pressed his eyes as if tired and said:

“Don’t talk to anyone. Just cast the spell and come straight back.”

“Yes… I’ll do it properly.”

Rothy copied his master’s action and pressed his fingers to his eyes but doing that hurt his eyeballs. His master had a complicated look on his face as he looked at him and nodded. 

“Wipe them all out.”

“Yes.”

Rothy quickly left the tent, afraid his master might change his mind. Until then, he’d never been outside. He only heard about what happened outside or watched through magic. His world consisted of just two places, the search research laboratory in the mage tower, and his master’s tent. 

The outside world he stepped into for the first time was horrific. 

BOOM! 

CRASH! 

KYAAAAAAAA!

HELP ME! 

SCREEEEECH! 

The sounds of explosions, screams, and demon howls mixed together in the air. The smell of blood stung his nose, and the acrid smell of smoke made his head spin. In the middle of this fierce battle, no one noticed that Yolone Sirin had been replaced. 

Rothy glanced at the black energy surging in the distance. That heavy, dark aura different from the demons’ belonged to Theon. He wanted to see it up close, but it was too far away. He gave up and flew high into the sky and what he saw was an endless wave of fiends pouring over the plains. 

Rothy unleashed the spell he’d memorised: Combat realm, Attack class, Meteorite type… METEOR. 

BOOM! 

The sky split with an earth-shattering roar, and thousands of flaming meteors rained down onto the plains.

No fiend would survive. 

With his task completed, Rothy landed back on the ground. The massive spell that seemed to remake heaven and earth paused the battle briefly. People rushed to Rothy—all familiar faces. The Knight-Captain, Vice-Captain, PLEIN mages, and the aura knights… Pleased with their awestruck expressions, Rothy slipped back into the tent.

“Hurry back.”

His master immediately shoved him back in the laboratory. He sat on the cold floor, clutching the tiny weasel that’d survived a recent experiment and chattered. 

“Today I went outside for the first time, but it was terrible out there. But I couldn’t meet Theon because he was far away.”

“So many people were hurt and killed. But I helped. I killed many fiends and saved many people before coming back.”

“Master’s right, Chi-chi…… We’re doing the right thing.”

I hope I get another chance like this. 

Rothy stroked the weasel and wished to himself. Until that moment, his master only tasked him with creating magic crystals. Rothy would make them, and his master would then absorb them to cast spells. But that method had its limits. 

For example, Meteor’s casting time was forty-one hours, and even when memorised, it required releasing 3,500 wyons of magic at once. Even with infinite magical power, releasing 3,500 wyons at once caused excruciating pain on the body. That was why his master sent him out this time. 

Would such a chance come again? 

O’ Seará, please let me go outside one more time.

Rothy prayed to Seará but didn’t expect much. Perhaps Seará had listened, because from then on, he was sent out more often. In battles, the transformed Rothy appeared as Yolone Sirin more often than Yolone Sirin himself. By the war’s end, his master was completely absent from battles. Inevitably, Rothy had contact with others. Even if he tried to avoid it, some situations made it impossible. His one-sided attachment to his comrades only grew deeper.

His master noticed the change. 

One day, when a fierce snowstorm forced both the fiends and allied forces into a temporary ceasefire, his master took the opportunity to lock him up in the laboratory and punished him. 

“I know what desires you dare to harbour. I gave you some freedom and you developed improper desires.”

“Don’t interact with them. You’re an object of nature. Look at those rocks, the soil, the lakes. Those don’t have emotions. They guide people simply by existing as an object of nature. You must do the same. You’re not human. You’re merely a type of magical stone.”

“Why must they not find out? Because if they discover your true identity, everything ends!”

His master drilled that into him constantly. 

If they found out he’d acted as Yolone Sirin, everything would end. They’d remove him from the frontlines just because he was young, despite his incredible magical power and abilities. 

The war would end in humanity’s defeat. The Allied Forces’ hard-fought efforts would amount to nothing, and humans would be wiped out not just in the empire but across all of Araxys. 

He’d fail to protect his precious weasel, or Theon Detre Falsen whom he loved so much, or the Black Lion Knights. 

The sacrifices of countless children would be erased, and everything would collapse. All would be for nothing.

Because of him. Because of his one selfish desire.

“Do you want to see Theon and the Black Lion Knights get wiped out?”

When told getting close to them would end the world… Rothy had only one possible answer. Rothy wanted none of them to die—not Theon, the Black Lion Knights, Chungnip, the Crown Prince, Princess of Toran, Saint of Solten, Swordmaster of Givarche, or Machine of Droight.

“No…”

“Then keep deceiving them properly from now on.”

“Yes…”

“No need to feel bad. They’ll think you betrayed them once they learn your identity anyway. You’ve deceived them for years. They’ll hate you forever for this betrayal.”

“But I’d forgive Theon even if he deceived me…”

“You know best that’s just your own wishful thinking.”

His master was right. He was someone who didn’t exist in this world. They’d never once talked to him, they talked to Yolone Sirin. The one who saved their lives was Yolone Sirin. He’d no place in this war.