The next day.
Today I’d invited Maria out to the great forest.
My stomach’s been in an abnormal state since I ate Anastasia’s cooking, but worrying about that is a losing game.
I’ve looked into all sorts of things since I started down the magic road, but I never knew detoxification magic worked on a stomachache from ordinary cooking.
Honestly, it surprised me. Worth writing up as a paper someday.
Jokes aside, Maria was packing magic herbs into a basket, quick and practiced. The forest smelled thick and green.
“Hey, Ephthal? Why’d you suddenly say you wanted to gather magic herbs?”
Hmm…
Well, telling Maria should be fine.
Merlin noticed the instant she looked at the flow of Sheryl’s magic power after hearing about the Ice God Emperor, and it’s the sort of thing anyone with the eyes can see anyway.
“The truth is… Sheryl has a rather troublesome illness.”
“A troublesome illness?”
“A congenital one. She burns an enormous amount of magic power purely to stay alive. Leave it alone and she’ll die. Does ‘spirit’ mean anything to you?”
“The essence of nature lurking in the air… no, a god, right? Elves are spirit worshippers, so—of course I know.”
“It’s much like the Azure Dragon or the Black Tortoise—the Four Sacred Beasts. Have you heard that a spirit, being a being of pure mind, will rarely take on flesh and imitate a human shape?”
Maria nodded, and I went on.
“And the spirit girl who took on flesh in the material world on a whim fell in love with… Sheryl’s ancestor, the Ice God Emperor.”
Maria laughed, exasperated. “Hahaha.”
“Ending up with a god. The first Four Emperors really were—with you at the head of them—anything goes, huh.”
“In any case, she has spirit blood among her ancestors, and she’s in a state where her magic power could run dry and kill her at any time.”
And Maria’s eyes went wide and round.
“You knew that, and you took her into the mansion?”
“Well, that’s about the size of it.”
“Ha. You really are strange. Same story with Anastasia, and it was the same with me too, wasn’t it. It practically looks like you go out of your way to get caught up in trouble.”
“Well… the habit of picking up strays never really left me.”
Merlin herself was an infant I picked up in the Demon King’s castle, after all.
And Maria laughed, exasperated again, thought about something for a while, then sighed.
“But it’s lovely, isn’t it. Marrying a spirit… I could get to admiring that.”
“Hm? Is this Maria saying she wants to marry a spirit?”
At that Maria puffed her cheeks a little, then shook her head as if giving it up.
“Sure, when I was a kid I admired that sort of fairy-tale thing.”
“But…”—and Maria fixed me with a straight, steady look.
“Right now I’ve got someone I actually like. Not some vague admiration. An actual, real target.”
“…”
“…”
We looked at each other for a few dozen seconds, and then Maria looked up at the sky showing through the gaps in the trees.
“But it really is lovely. Crossing species, crossing station—two people who could never happen, happening.”
“Well, that might be true.”
“…And, well, I’m having a love across stations myself, so hearing a story like that I really do think—that’s nice. I’m jealous. That’s the sort of thing I end up thinking.”
“…”
“…”
Maria kept staring at my face, steadily, as though waiting for my words.
And then she shook her head again, as if giving it up—
“…Magic herbs means you’re making some kind of medicine for replenishing magic power?”
Well, my purpose is exactly as Maria says.
I don’t know whether I’ll use it, but I’m here today so that if Sheryl collapses I can give her emergency treatment at any time.
“By the way, why did you bring me along? You can do anything on your own, can’t you?”
“Maria grew up in the forest. Just as I expected, you’re picking out the magic-herb colonies beautifully. Spotting them from subtle changes in the plant ecology… I couldn’t do that. It’s a genuine help.”
There’s no one to beat an elf at this sort of gathering.
I learned that to the point of hating it at the adventurers’ guild, so bringing Maria along for that reason is the truth.
“Well, well. I’m honored to be of use to the Thunder God Emperor-sama.”
At Maria’s theatrical tone and gesture, I laughed.
“Huh, so Maria says honest things sometimes too.”
“I have my honest moments… actually, I’d say a fair few of my thorns have come out since I met you?”
Maria puffed her cheeks as if genuinely wounded.
And then something seemed to occur to her, and Maria clenched her fist as though she’d made up her mind.
“Hey, Ephthal? You’ve kissed Anastasia before, haven’t you?”
What is this girl suddenly starting on, and I froze on the spot.
“Hey, Ephthal?”
And Maria walked up to me, spread both arms, and put them around me.
“Wait—Maria?”
She’s short, so her face comes to about my chest.
And she held me, and brought both hands around behind my neck.
Then Maria stretched up, and as her face came closer, something warm touched my lips.
“That’s thanks for saving me. There’s no more meaning to it than that.”
Maria dropped back down off her toes, and her face drew away.
“…Elves had that custom, didn’t they.”
Right. Elves are a people of obligation, and they have strange customs.
For instance, when your life is saved by someone of the opposite sex… they’ll kiss you like that to show gratitude.
In fact Bridget did this to me out of nowhere once, long ago, and that was where I was completely undone.
Well, part of it was that I didn’t know it was a custom at the time, so it was a total ambush… and that’s how I got done in.
“Er, so, Ephthal? I said I’d grant you a favor as thanks for saving me the other day, right? That promise is separate from this just now. The favor is still very much alive. So—when you use it?”
And Maria looked up at me and turned a challenging smile my way.
“…I’d be fine kissing you one more time?”
“…”
“…”
“A kiss isn’t something you do because someone asked, is it?”
“If you ask, one more time… no, as many times as you like.”
“Maria. Are you… serious about that?”
“I wouldn’t say this as a joke.”
“That sort of thing… is for people who are together. Thanks for saving you, favors… I don’t need any of it. Honestly, that kind of thing just leaves my shoulders stiff.”
“Picking up strays might be everyday life to you, but it isn’t for the one who got saved. It’s special, and… it’s not a problem you get to smooth over.”
“Which is why I’m saying I don’t need it. Much less asking for something people who are together do as a favor—”
“I wouldn’t say this to someone I disliked.”
That gave me a small jolt.
But I genuinely can’t read this girl’s intent… no, running away like that is a bit cruel of me.
And Maria said the decisive thing, exactly as I’d expected.
Without dropping that challenging air, spirited all the way through.
“You’re kind to anyone, as a matter of course, and anything crooked you knock flat by force. That’s why—I came to like you.”
Truly, this is a nuisance.
Up to now I’ve deliberately pretended not to notice, but… the fact is, her attacks… coming at me almost perfectly straight, over and over, all this time… they’ve been doing damage. Slight, maybe… but real.
“Saying I’ll grant you any favor… that’s what it means. Of course, you can use the favor on something else, but I don’t mind at all if the order is a million kisses.”
“…”
“‘Be my lover’ is fine too… or ‘marry me’. That kind of order is fine.”
“…You really are direct.”
“Ha. Well, I live as I please, wherever my feelings take me.”
And, troublingly… I don’t dislike this sort of girl.
Honestly, this is bad, I sighed, and Maria nodded deeply with a clear, bright expression, like someone who’d finished everything she came to do.
“Well, think it over carefully. The answer to what you’ll use the favor on… you can tell me by around graduation.”
“…And if I end up asking you for something trivial?”
“I’ll be furious. And then I’ll cry, on my own.”
Instant answer.
No, being told that with a lovely smile leaves me in serious trouble.
But this has genuinely become a problem. I don’t have the slightest intention of toying with this girl’s feelings, and there’s no escaping this. No—she isn’t going to let me escape… that’s why she’s been coming at me so hard, this whole time.
What she said just now comes down to wanting it settled, black or white, whether it works out or not.
Well, the whole run of it is very Maria, if you want to call it that.
“Hey. Ephthal? Back then, you said that in a few more years I’d probably grow into the sort of woman you like, didn’t you?”
I did, certainly. I did say that, but…
And Maria finally moved away from me and laughed, mischievous.
“You’re the one who lit the fire. So it isn’t my fault.”
In the end it seems I have to admit this is a seed I sowed myself.
Though in mental age the gap between us is literally wider than grandfather and granddaughter… and I let out a deep, deep sigh.