The End of the Illusion

Our traveling mage friend left Tomkin’s Tavern and Inn in the morning a week later, three months after he had first arrived.

There was little fanfare to Verne-sensei’s departure, which was unsurprising considering his personality. We didn’t have much to give him other than farewells, and he didn’t ask for anything more. Romy did send him off with a kiss on the cheek though, which was the first and possibly last time I ever saw him blush.

Life at the tavern became quieter once he was gone. I kept practicing my magic, but there was only so much progress I could make on my own. Before long, repeating the same spells I had already learned over and over started to feel like a lot less of a priority. I still slipped in a few moments for spellcasting here and there so I wouldn’t get rusty, but my days of dedicating myself to the craft of magic were over, at least for the time being.

I stayed away from public spaces even more so than I had prior to Verne-sensei’s arrival. I also tried not to eavesdrop on gossip and travel stories from the tavern patrons anymore. Before, hearing about the wider world had filled me with a sense of wonder. Now it only left me with a vague, empty longing.

There was so much out there that I had yet to see. Even the city of Debustadt, which I had seen many times from the top of the hill, would be exciting at this point. I had yet to travel far outside of Mister Tomkin’s property.

Perhaps I could start saving up to set out on a journey of my own. I could travel all around the continent like Verne-sensei and meet all kinds of new people, try new foods, learn new spells, encounter and battle dangerous monsters. I couldn’t imagine a better way to live my new life.

But then I would have to leave Miss Blanche behind.

Maybe it would be possible to convince her to come with me. She had lived here at the inn for the last four years, but that didn’t mean she had no interest in ever going someplace else. She probably felt the need to stay to pay off the debt she owed Mister Tomkin for saving her life. If I could come up with a way to repay him in full, for both of us, surely she would agree to go away with me then. Right?

I put all my mental energy for the next several weeks thinking of what I could do for the Tomkin family that would be worth that much. No amount of work would cut it. I wondered what Verne-sensei would do. Maybe I could use my magic to help them somehow?

That thought was all well and good, but I didn’t really know what they needed. Mister Tomkin’s business was doing well, and Miss Blanche and I leaving at the same time would mean he had to hire new workers, so my plan was more detrimental than helpful to him in that area. Miss Anya and the twins were happy and well provided for. There wasn’t anything I was capable of that could improve their situations enough to equal two whole life debts.

Finally, I gave up on trying to come up with something myself. I had known Talon Tomkin and his family for less than eight months. That was hardly enough time to know what their greatest needs or desires were.

Miss Blanche had more than three years of experience on me, but I didn’t want to present my plan to her until I was sure it would work. That left one other person I could ask.

Romy Klein had apparently been working at Tomkin’s Tavern and Inn basically since it was first built—twice as long as Miss Blanche, in other words. If anyone could tell me what I wanted to know about the Tomkin family, it was her.

Finding a suitable time to ask her about it wasn’t easy. She was glued to the bar as long as she was at the tavern, and I couldn’t exactly strike up a private conversation with her right there in the middle of everything. I had to lure her away somehow.

Which was easier said than done. She was extremely dedicated to her job. That, or she just liked all the male attention she got as a result of it.

Either way, the effect was the same. Separating Romy from the bar was like trying to pull apart two superconducting magnets. It wasn’t going to happen by a simple show of force.

I managed to hatch a strategy that just might work.

First, I waited for a time in the evening when work was slow. That didn’t happen very often, but it was crucial to my scheme. There needed to be other people around, but not too many of them.

The next time a lull came, I was ready. I pre-prepared a bunch of orders like a fast food chef (not that any fast food places had been willing to hire me in my past life), then used it as an opportunity to take a break. Sauntering from the kitchen into the tavern, I took a seat at the bar. Romy noticed me right away.

“Oooh, Seiji! This is the first time you’ve dropped by while I’m working! Is there some special occasion? A courtship anniversary, perhaps? Hm?”

There she went with her teasing again. I wasn’t sure it was possible for her to stop.

“Don’t you think I would have brought my girlfriend along with me if that was the case?” I pointed out.

“I guess you have a point. Want a drink, then?”

“Sort of. I want to challenge you.”

Romy sometimes did drinking contests with her regulars, and she had a reputation for being able to put back more ale than even the brawniest Frozenlander. I had seen dozens of men sprawled across the bar while she laughed and downed another tankard. Mister Tomkin had offered a cash reward for anyone who could beat her. So far he had never had to pay out.

“Get out of here, kid!” Romy said, grinning. “I’ll bet you’ve never tasted a drop of ale in your life!”

She was right about that. I was a minor when I was convicted in my past life, and they don’t serve alcohol in prison. Even if they had, after seeing what the stuff did to Shino, I wasn’t interested. Basically, the very idea of me outdrinking Romy was absurd.

“I’m confident I can win.”

By this point my cocky attitude was starting to capture the attention of the other few guys at the bar.

“Why don’t you let him try, Romy? Give it his best shot.”

“Yeah, you never know. He could be the one! Hahaha!”

They probably thought seeing me pass out after my first tankard would be hilarious. I didn’t mind their attitudes. In fact, I was counting on them.

Romy looked around and saw that the pressure was on. She couldn’t disappoint her customers. Rolling her eyes, she poured two drinks and slid one across the bar to me.

“Alright then, you’re on, Seiji. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!”

She threw her head back and drained her first pint, not stopping once before it was totally empty. The sparse crowd cheered.

Now it was my turn. I raised the drink to my lips. I could smell the alcohol in it, a scent I was so unused to it almost made me cough. Well, here goes.

Just before I started drinking, I muttered four words under my breath. “Ebrius disparia iil argent.” Then I tilted the tankard back and swallowed its contents.

My drink was sweet, with a subtle bitter aftertaste. The flavor of alcohol was not present.

My spell worked! I had come up with it myself, so I felt a sense of pride at my accomplishment.

Before I downed my drink, I pulled on the spiritual power in the alcohol and caused it to disperse into the air. It was a bit complicated to do, since the elemental composition of alcohol isn’t as simple as pure water or earth, but my audience would most likely interpret my intense concentration as me focusing on the drink itself, so that wasn’t an issue. As long as no one looked into my tankard and saw the liquid within it glowing, they would be none the wiser.

Basically, I would be holding on to my liquor virginity for the time being.

Romy raised an eyebrow, surprised at how readily I handled my first drink. She poured out two more. She could keep going for a while, but not forever. I, on the other hand, stood no risk of ever getting drunk. Sorry Romy, I had already won.

Or so I thought. It turns out, filling your stomach with pint after pint of liquid can still make you wind up feeling seriously waterlogged, alcohol or no.

After the seventh pint, I wasn’t flushed like Romy was, but I was starting to worry I would hit my limit before she did. How the hell did she drink all that without killing herself?!

The guys at the bar were really into the competition now. They were cheering for me as much or more than they were for Romy. All of them had most likely lost to her before, so seeing her struggle against me must have been kind of cathartic for them. Maybe she could be beaten, after all!

…Not really. I had to cheat to pull it off. Sorry to disappoint.

Finally, thirteen pints in, Romy admitted defeat. She laid her face down on the bar and held her tankard up in a salute.

“I can’t friggin’ beliebe it, but Saygee… urp! You did it, Seiji. I concebe. We habe a new champion!”

Applause sounded throughout the tavern. Even Mister Tomkin and Miss Blanche, who had stopped working to watch our contest, clapped heartily for my victory. I felt kind of bad about being celebrated for an achievement I definitely didn’t deserve, but I couldn’t back down now. Winning the contest was only half of my scheme, after all.

“You don’t look so good, Romy,” I said. “Maybe I should walk you home.”

“Nonsenz… Who’s gonna work the bar… ohh… while I’m gone?”

Mister Tomkin stepped up and whipped the hand towel off of his shoulder.

“I’ll handle it. Seiji’s right, after drinkin’ like that, you need to go get some rest. Don’t want you throwin’ up on the patrons, do we?”

Romy clutched a hand to her stomach.

“Okaaaay. Seiji, gibe me yer shoulder. I’m gonna lean on it.”

I let Romy wrap her arm around my shoulders, and I did the same for her, propping her up. This way I wouldn’t have to carry her all the way home.

We teetered out of the tavern together, jokes and jeers from the patrons following us the whole way. Funny, usually Romy was the one doing that.

It was dark out, but Romy usually walked home in the dark, so I was optimistic about her being able to lead us to her place without much trouble. So long as she could remember where she lived in her current state. That may have been an oversight on my part.

Fortunately, even intoxicated, she didn’t have trouble guiding me. It helped that the first leg of the trip was a straight shot, right to the gates of the city of Debustadt.

There was a night watch on duty, but the guards all recognized Romy and let us through without a problem. A few of them had thick, furry hair and mammalian ears crowning their heads, like mine. More beastkin? I had seen a few show up at the tavern before, but this was my first time interacting directly with another member of my species.

The barmaid I was supporting made some inappropriate flirtatious comments to the guards as we passed, and I bowed and apologized for her behavior. Way to make a good first impression on my distant relations!

“No problem,” a guard with floppy dog ears and a kind of canine looking nose said. “You know, I’ve never seen Romy that tipsy before. Did someone beat her challenge?”

Even the city guards knew about Romy’s challenge? How popular was this girl?

“Y-yeah, someone did,” I responded.

“Mhm! I have been conquered! By Sei—”

I covered Romy’s mouth before she could announce to the guards that I was her “conqueror.” I didn’t need that kind of attention right now.

The city of Debustadt was dark at night. Not as dark as the tavern was after hours, but much more so than Tokyo ever was. I could barely make out any details of the stone and plaster buildings that lined the streets. As best I could tell it looked about how you would expect a city in a fantasy world to look like, minus most of the people.

There wasn’t much to hear either, though my cat ears picked up more than my eyes did. Night guards chatting. Suspicious movement in the alleys. Horses’ hooves clopping on the pavement somewhere in the distance.

Romy and I walked in relative silence until the night air sobered her up enough that she could walk and almost hold an intelligent conversation on her own. The most important part of this whole sequence of events came next. I held my breath for a moment.

“So, Romy. I was wondering. You’ve known the Tomkins for a long time, haven’t you?”

“Thass right! Since I was you’n Blanche’s age, Seiji. Good times then. Yeah… Hic!”

So far so good. But would she be able to help with my dilemma?

“You wouldn’t happen to know if… let’s say you owed Mister Tomkin a life debt. What would you do to repay it?”

Romy stopped walking and tapped her head as if she could force the answer out of her ear if she tried hard enough. She seemed to be really pondering my question. I wondered if her brain was awake enough to come up with anything.

“…Chocolate.”

…

“What?”

She was less coherent than I realized!

“How do I explain?” Romy mimed chewing and swallowing something. “It’s this stuff that comes from beans that they grow in the Frozen Lands, where Talon and Anya come from. Supposedly it’s super delicious, but it’s real hard to get your hands on around here. Anya’d give anything to have some chocolate again, and Talon’s such a wife guy that he’d do anything to get it for her. So that’s what I’d do. Find some of that good chocolate stuff for them.”

Hold up, Didn’t cocoa beans normally grow in tropical climates? That’s a far cry from a place called The Frozen Lands.

Whatever, that wasn’t worth worrying about at the moment. More importantly, could it really be that easy? All I had to do was get Miss Anya some chocolate, and our debts would be paid? Just like that?

It was doable after all. A bit of hard work locating and procuring cocoa beans, and Miss Blanche and I would be free to travel the world to our heart’s content.

Now I just had to tell her about it.

Not long after that, we reached Romy’s apartment. I didn’t even know they had apartments in medieval fantasy land, but that was obviously what this place was. It looked like multiple small houses stacked on top of and next to each other in rows and columns, each with a large window facing the street. I learned later that they were called tenements.

I escorted Romy up to her room. Taking a step back, I motioned for her to go in.

“Aren’t you coming too, Seiji?”

Romy leaned in toward me. The right sleeve of her shoulderless dress had slid almost halfway down her arm, pulling her neckline down with it. She was dangerously close to showing a lot more of her petite bust than was at all decent. She reached out and pressed a single finger against my chest.

“Any man who can outdrink me has a right to come inside. What do you say?”

I wanted to say a whole lot of things, but none of them would come out.

“I… I only have eyes for Miss Blanche!”

Romy blinked at me. She seemed to notice what she was doing for the first time and pulled herself away a bit awkwardly.

“How chaste,” she teased. “You saving yourself for your big night with her, then?”

Now that was the Romy Klein I knew. I allowed the corner of my mouth to curl upward into a thin smile.

“Goodnight, Romy.”

“Night, Seiji! I hope you get your chocolate soon, for both your sakes.”

With that, she stepped into her tenement room and closed the door.

Hold on. Both of us? Was she referring to me and… Miss Anya? Or did she know something about my plan somehow? I hadn’t told anyone that I intended to take Miss Blanche away with me. Was I really that transparent?

The trip home was much lonelier than I had been in Romy’s company on the way to her place. Drunk or no, she made a great walking companion. I understood why so many guys liked her so much.

I almost got lost in the winding city streets once or twice, but I managed to locate the gate, and from there it was just a short ways down the road before I got back to Tomkin’s Tavern and Inn. It was good to be back.

***

The next day, Mister Tomkin sent Miss Blanche on an errand to go shopping for supplies in the city. He had a long list of things for her to pick up, meaning she would be away from the tavern for a good while. It was the perfect opportunity.

“I’ll go with her, Mister Tomkin,” I volunteered. “She’ll need someone to help her carry everything.”

The tavern keeper looked skeptical.

“I dunno, Seiji. I know you took Romy home last night, but Debustadt is a different place durin’ the day. A lot more judgy people walkin’ around. I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”

I wasn’t going to give up that easily. What other time would I get hours alone with Miss Blanche to talk to her about my plan?

“With all due respect, sir, I think I can handle myself. Have I not proved over the last eight months that I’m trustworthy, and a diligent worker? Besides, Miss Blanche might need someone along to keep her safe in case she has a run in with the wrong type of folks.”

“Well… alright then. I can’t keep you here forever, Seiji. Go ahead and accompany Blanche on her shopping trip, if she’s amenable.”

“…I’m very amenable,” Miss Blanche said shyly.

Klara, Klaus, and Romy waved as we left the premises.

“Good luck on your date, champ!” Romy called after us.

Mister Tomkin was right—Debustadt was totally different during the day. For one thing, the illumination of the noonday sun revealed that everything was a lot more colorful than I had expected. Many buildings were painted in soft, pleasant hues, and as we approached the market I saw various awnings covering the stalls that were dyed a whole lustrous rainbow of colors. It made the city feel alive.

Which in a literal sense it was—filled with life, at least. In contrast to the mostly abandoned streets of the night, it was now so busy that I had to hold Miss Blanche’s hand to make sure we didn’t get separated.

Well, maybe “had to” was a bit of an exaggeration, but she took my hand when I offered, so I was too happy to care about technicalities like that.

Most of the people rushing about the market wore clothes similar to what I typically saw on tavern patrons—simple dresses, shirts and breeches, and tunics that made me feel like I was at one of those Renaissance fairs I sometimes saw on English social media accounts. Even though we were essentially just doing chores, it felt exciting to be here, blending in among so many normal people.

There was more of a mixture of humans and beastkin than I expected. For every three humans there was at least one market-goer with thick hair and even body fur in a few cases, ears atop their heads, and the occasional fluffy tail protruding from beneath their tunics.

Many of the beastkin walked in a careful, upright manner that I recognized as similar to how Miss Blanche moved when she was in work mode. They were probably running errands for their masters, same as us. Slavery may have been abolished in the country of Leauland, but it seemed a large number of my kind still worked as servants.

I spotted only a couple elves, in total. They blended in more with the human population, so finding the few who were there was akin to those picture puzzles where you have to spot one person in a huge, eclectic crowd. I wondered if it made Miss Blanche feel out of place. My hand involuntarily gripped hers tighter.

All these aspects came together to create an image of Debustadt that I hadn’t been able to fully grasp until I was in the thick of it. This was a real place, filled with real people, living real lives. Thousands of them. After spending the last eight months in a smallish tavern, it was kind of overwhelming.

I may have technically been in town last night, but this felt like my first real excursion into the city.

Once we started shopping I had to let go of Miss Blanche’s hand so I could pull a small handcart that got gradually heavier as we filled it with the various foodstuffs that we purchased. I managed to hold myself back from jostling around a guy who tried to rip us off—like hell we were gonna pay a whole half an imperial silver for a bushel of apples—and haggled his prices down civilly instead. I felt proud of myself for that. Things were going well.

I bided my time, waiting for the right moment to bring up my plan to Miss Blanche. The more time went on, the more nervous I got. What if she wasn’t interested? I believed she would be, but was it possible that I hadn’t considered her feelings enough? What would I do if she said no?

I considered the idea of buying her a present of some kind to make her more receptive. There were plenty of market stalls that sold things other than food, and I had money to spend because of the prize I received for beating Romy’s challenge. I had been intending to save that for buying cocoa beans once I managed to find some, but I could probably spare a few coins.

Speaking of which, should I have been keeping an eye out for chocolate while we were in the market as well? What was the likelihood that anyone was selling it today?

A lot of the food at the market here seemed to be locally sourced, so probably not high. If it was such a big deal to Miss Anya it was no surprise that it wouldn’t be that easy to find.

Suddenly I realized that I had lost track of Miss Blanche while I was distracted thinking about presents and cocoa beans. I called out for her. No answer, though her voice could have blended in with the cacophony of the crowd. My cat ears increased my sense of hearing, but they didn’t make it any easier to distinguish one sound from another in a noisy area.

Where could she have gone? I spun around, frantically scanning the market street for her. I saw a flash of movement in the corner of my eye, and turned my attention to it just in time to see Miss Blanche disappear down a narrow alleyway. And she wasn’t going voluntarily. Someone had pulled her in.

I immediately dropped the handle of the hand cart and ran after her. If someone stole all our supplies, I could apologize to Mister Tomkin later. This took priority.

No one else seemed to notice as I dashed past market stalls and into the alley, other than the disgruntled people who I bumped into. Was this a normal occurrence for them?

Luckily, my beastkin body was fast. I reached the alley just as Miss Blanche’s assailants forced her around a corner. After a quick sprint, I finally caught up to them on the branching backstreet.

I recognized the face of the guy who was holding onto Miss Blanche’s arm. It was the same face I had smashed into the table before, when its owner was harassing her. I might have been imagining it, but it looked like his nose was still bent out of shape from that time.

Three of his lackeys were with him as well, surrounding their catch. I had been right to assume they were trouble.

“Seiji!”

Miss Blanche noticed me first. She clamped her hand over her mouth after she called out my name, but it was too late to take it back. She had already called attention to me. There was no issue there, of course. I wasn’t going to let these thugs get away without paying close attention to what I was about to do to them.

Which was… what, exactly? I still couldn’t take them all on at once. I should have brought a guard with me, but I was impulsive and went after them on my own instead. Did I think I was some kind of hero or something? I wouldn’t look good to Miss Blanche if I let myself get beat up instead of saving her because my ego got in the way.

“Well well,” the leader—the guy whose face I had smashed—said. He didn’t let go of Miss Blanche. “If it isn’t the mangy cat from the tavern! I was hoping you would show up. I haven’t had a chance to teach you a lesson.”

He waved a hand at one of his cronies. The guy he signaled drew a knife from his belt and started to creep toward me.

What should I do? I only knew how to fight from school brawls and the like. Facing an opponent with a weapon was new to me. I looked at Miss Blanche. Her eyes were darting back and forth between me and the knife.

“R-run, Seiji! Get out of h—hmph!”

The boss shoved his grubby hand over Miss Blanche’s mouth to shut her up. Tears started to well up in her eyes.

I couldn’t win this fight, but I also couldn’t do what Miss Blanche said and run away, abandoning her here with these men. I had no good options. I stood paralyzed as the guy with the knife stepped close enough to be in range of slashing me with his weapon. He raised the implement of death above his head. It glinted in the light of the sun that bore down overhead.

In a panic, I felt my spirit trying to flee my body, which would happen naturally if that knife came down. But it also gave me an idea. I didn’t have time to consider if it was a good one or not. Without thought or restraint, I grabbed hold of a piece of my own spiritual power and thrust it toward my attacker.

A wave of black energy shot from my outstretched hand and crashed into the thug. It looked like a thousand tiny dagger shaped holes in the fabric of space, clinging together to form a singular mass. The outside edges of the wave glowed a threatening violet, like the light emitted from the corona of a black hole.

The thug flew back and slammed into a wall. He collapsed to the ground, groaning. I didn’t see any blood, but his spirit felt weaker. It was as if I had attacked his spiritual body directly. Another hit like that and he’d be dead. I was sure of it.

One of the thugs who was still standing pointed a trembling finger at me.

“B-b-black mage!”

Was that what I just did? Cast black magic? But Verne-sensei said I wouldn’t be able to do that. He was a lot smarter than I was, so I couldn’t just assume he was wrong. I still didn’t even know what black magic was, really. This could easily be something else.

Is what I told myself. But my instincts were saying the opposite. Itten Seiji was a black mage. I wasn’t sure what to make of that.

The thugs seemed pretty sure, though. Half of them immediately turned tail and ran. The one on the ground eyed me as he scrambled to his feet, then stumbled off after his friends.

Only the boss was left. I glared at him, and he released Miss Blanche without a word. He held his hands up in front of him in a gesture of surrender.

“Please don’t kill me,” he pleaded.

“Get out of my sight.”

He complied. In a few seconds, Miss Blanche and I were the only people remaining in the alley.

I turned to her to make sure she was alright. My mouth opened, a word half-formed before I froze in place.

Miss Blanche was staring at me, her blue eyes wide in shock, pupils trembling. She wasn’t hurt. Just afraid. And not of the thugs. They were long gone. She was looking at me that way.

An image flashed to my mind. My sister, Hana, looking up from the floor at the blank face of Shino, our mother. At the knife protruding from her back. At me. Hana’s face, showing nothing but sheer terror.

Miss Blanche’s expression was exactly the same.

“Um, I know what this looks like,” I said, even though I really didn’t.

The elf maid didn’t wait for my explanation. She turned and ran, a different direction from where the thugs had gone, but still away from me.

“W-wait!”

She didn’t stop. I watched her disappear down the backstreet, just as I had moments ago when she was being dragged away by the boss of those brutes. This time though, she wasn’t being taken somewhere. She was trying to get away from something. From me.

How could I be so stupid?! Of course she was scared of black magic. It was a cult of black mages who ruined her life by turning her uncle against her. You didn’t come away from an experience like that unscathed.

I needed to prove I wasn’t like them. I needed her to understand that I wasn’t the person who had murdered Shino anymore. I had changed. I would never even consider hurting her.

I followed the route Miss Blanche had taken out of the alleys and back to the main street. She was nowhere to be seen among the bustling crowd. I could search fruitlessly for her for hours in a place like this.

But I didn’t have to. I knew exactly where she would be going. It was the only place she had. Same as me.

I left the market, passed through the city gate, followed the road the short way to my destination. Tomkin’s Tavern and Inn. Talon Tomkin himself was waiting for me, standing in front of the open door, arms crossed. Behind him I could see Miss Blanche, crying into Romy Klein’s chest, as well as Miss Anya and the twins, huddled up close together.

I stopped about two meters in front of Mister Tomkin. I put my hands on my knees and panted, trying to catch my breath.

Mister Tomkin spoke, as softly yet forcefully as I had ever heard from him.

“Leave. Now.”

My heart leapt into my throat. What was he saying?

“M-Mister Tomkin, I—”

“Leave!” He roared. “Don’t make me tell you a third time!”

“Wh-what? But, why? I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“Bullshit! You use black magic, then turn around and tell me you’re clean? Pick a more convincin’ lie next time, murderer.”

That dreaded word. I was almost too shocked to register what it meant. My knees felt weak. Every part of me started to shake violently. My body was rejecting Talon Tomkin’s words, refusing to believe what he had just said. He didn’t… He couldn’t…

“How did you know?” I asked. My voice cracked as I forced it out.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know that either. Black magic isn’t somethin’ that can be cast by juss anyone. It’s only possible to use if you’ve killed another person unjustly. In other words, all black mages are murderers.”

“And to think there was one hidin’ right under our noses,” he added, scoffing.

…Huh? No, this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to get a second chance, free of the burden of my past sins. What was the point if people here saw me the same way as all those employers who rejected me? The same way my sister looked at me, with eyes full of fear?

My spirit was stained black. It was almost like Shino’s ghost was haunting me, ensuring I could never have the happy, simple life I wanted. This was her revenge. I would never be free. I had forfeited that right when I killed her.

“B-but, I’ve changed!” I argued, as much with myself as anyone else. “I would never do something like that again. I didn’t even mean to the first time! Or, I did, but only for a split second! Please, give me another chance. I promise I won’t do it again!”

“What evidence do you have to prove it?” Mister Tomkin challenged. “Because right now all evidence points to you bein’ a killer. Blanche saw you attack that man in the alley. So, prove to me that you’re a changed man, like you say.”

What evidence did I have? What did he want, legal documents? I looked at the people in the doorway behind the tavern keeper. My friends. They had to know that I was trustworthy, right?

Klaus and Klara shrank back as soon as my gaze fell on them. Miss Anya pulled them close to her like a mother hen shielding her chicks with her wing. Romy’s glare made it look like she wanted to murder me.

Miss Blanche wouldn’t even meet my eyes.

“That settles it,” Mister Tomkin said. “Now get off my property, and never come back. Or would you rather I alert the city guard and have you tried for your crimes?”

No. I couldn’t go through that again. And I knew that, in a way, Mister Tomkin letting me go like this was a form of kindness. But it was far from the form I wanted to be shown.

I glanced at Miss Blanche one more time. Her pink hair was disheveled, and her whole face was red from crying, all the way to the tips of her elven ears. So this was goodbye.

I didn’t even have the courage to say that much. I turned, and, heaving a tearful sigh of my own, I walked away.

That was the last time I ever saw Tomkin’s Tavern and Inn, as well as all the people there who I called my friends.

***

The moon shone bright in the night sky, casting a soft light on the sleeping city. The elf girl was grateful for its presence. It made her feel a bit less afraid. She didn’t know where she was going, only that she needed to find him. He was the only person who could make everything right.

The idea of roaming the alleys until she ran into him was as impractical as it was terrifying. But what else could she do? If the rumors had included a way to signal him, there would be no problem. But how did one find a person who didn’t want to be found?

As she pondered, the elf girl failed to pay attention to where she was going. Her foot caught on something, and she tripped. Her hands hit the street below her and she felt the skin of her palms scraping against the cobbled stones.

She stood and brushed off her apron. What was lying in the middle of the street for her to trip on? It hadn’t been something small. It felt like she had kicked against a large root.

Turning around, she looked down at the object that had caused her tumble. Mist covered the ground, so it was hard to make out at first.

It was a person—a middle aged man with ragged clothes and a receding hairline.

Had he fallen asleep here? That wasn’t very safe. The elf girl leaned down to gently wake him.

That was when she saw the blood.

His neck was sliced open by a singular clean cut. Dark red liquid oozed out of the wound and dripped down the front of his chest, staining his shirt. He was dead.

The elf girl screamed. She glanced around frantically, searching for the culprit, and hoping beyond hope that she wouldn’t find him. Had anyone heard her shriek? If they had, she needed to get away as quickly as she could.

“Don’t worry,” a masculine voice spoke from behind her. “His death was just. He may not look like much, but the man you see before you was a black mage. A killer. He had to be stopped before he could do any more of his demonic work.”

Tendrils of mist crept through the air, almost as if they had a will of their own and were considering reaching out and grabbing the elf girl. They had a soft silver glow, like a reflection of the moonlight.

“Wh-who are you?” she asked, too afraid to turn and face the speaker.

“I will tell you, but may I first ask your name? It is not often I encounter a beautiful lady such as yourself during my nightly hunts.”

“B-Blanche. My name is Blanche LaRue.”

Suddenly, Blanche had a realization. The deep, gentlemanly voice, the night hunt, the state of the deceased black mage. It was all just as the rumors had said.

“You… You are the person I’m looking for, aren’t you?”

“Hm, that depends. What is it that you need from me, Miss LaRue?”

“I… there was this fight, and he… he used black magic. I never would have thought… but, it’s true. Can… Can you help me?”

Blanche felt a hand rest gently on her shoulder.

“I think I can. Tell me, do you know the black mage’s name?”

“Yes. At least part of it. I don’t know if he has a second name. He just calls himself Seiji.”

There was a pause. The hand gripped her shoulder a bit tighter.

“Seiji, you say? How interesting…”