“At this rate, aren’t we going to end up unable to go back to the Fable Empire?”
The wind blew.
A wind of snow.
It had already been two days since the coronation ceremony ended, but the snowstorm outside still had not let up.
They were, quite literally, stuck. The coronation had ended without incident and they should have been on their way back to the Fable Empire, but every means of travel was blocked.
There was simply no way for them to move as far as the place where the magic circle was.
It was the same for the other delegations that had come from other countries. Everyone was just anxiously pacing in place.
“Zeno.”
[Huh?]
“This place... you said in the past it wasn’t a region that got this cold, right?”
[That’s right. It’s written in the history books. Long ago, Gracia also had four distinct seasons not much different from our empire. Of course, because of the terrain, winter was a bit longer, but it wasn’t a place that stayed frozen all year round like this.]
As she stared out the window at the raging snowstorm, Camilla suddenly recalled the scene she had seen during the coronation.
The figure standing outside the window with hair white as snow whipping in the wind, and the Spirit Kings of the seasons restlessly hovering around her.
Spring, summer, autumn...
Is that one winter, maybe? Her appearance was something anyone could easily guess.
Camilla brought to mind the being that the spirits ruling the other seasons had been speaking to.
“Hm.”
Could this blizzard be because of a spirit’s power?
“I’ll just go ask.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m going to step out for a bit.”
“Where are you going? When the weather’s that horrible right now!”
“The greenhouse.”
It was close by anyway. It’s not like I’m going to actually freeze to death in that short a time, right?
She nearly froze to death.
As Camilla stepped into the greenhouse, she couldn’t move at all for a while.
She really thought her entire body was going to freeze solid. If the greenhouse had been even a little farther away, she would have become an ice statue.
[Oh?]
[It’s that human!]
[The woman who’s close with the Guardians!]
Recognizing her, the three Spirit Kings quickly rushed over.
But even at their appearance, Camilla still had to focus all her attention on thawing out her frozen body.
Huff!
“...!”
Just then, the yellow dragon who had said he ruled over spring pursed his lips and lightly blew out a breath. Warm air instantly wrapped around her entire body.
“Oh!”
The cold that had seeped down into her very bones slid away.
“You’re kind of amazing.”
[This level is nothing. What on earth do you think a Spirit King is?]
“A ghost with slightly special abilities?”
[A g-ghost?]
[Good heavens...]
[To think you’d lump us in with those things! We’re great spirits! And Spirit Kings at that!]
“You’re way cuter, though.”
She meant it. They were about the size of her palm, just like little dolls. Their colors were bright and varied, and with the three of them bundled together, they looked even more adorable.
[C-cuter?]
[Good heavens...]
[Telling a Spirit King he’s cute!]
Still, they didn’t seem to dislike the words. The aura of outrage around them softened a notch.
“I’ve got something I’m curious about.”
Looking at them as they flapped and fluttered around her, Camilla immediately brought up the reason she had come here.
“Is that blizzard outside something a spirit did?”
At Camilla’s question, the three spirits froze mid-movement.
As if she had caught them in some huge secret, they fidgeted awkwardly, then let out a long sigh.
[That’s right.]
[It’s Isla’s power.]
Isla?
[She’s the Spirit King who rules over winter.]
Just as she thought.
Chapter. Spirit King of Winter
[ Mars! Are you really going back there? ]
She’s coming to find me.
[ That woman already abandoned you! ]
She says... she needs me.
[ Don’t go! ]
Sorry, Isla.
[ Mars! ]
“So you’re saying Mars died and that’s why she’s going crazy like that?”
[Crazy?!]
[Isla is merely expressing her anger over the death of the friend she loved.]
“That’s the same thing.”
[It is not!]
If she summarized what the three Spirit Kings told her, it went like this.
Mars had a woman he loved, and that woman was the Empress. She threw away the man who had originally been her lover and just up and married the Emperor.
But even after getting married, the woman didn’t let go of Mars. She used him in every way she could, then even went so far as to have him killed.
“Wow...”
I really had no idea our empire’s hero was that much of an idiot.
Zeno, an ardent fan of Mars, was clutching his head off to the side, but Camilla completely ignored him and continued.
“So what, she’s pissed that that woman’s descendants inherit the throne, and that’s why she’s throwing a fit like that after the coronation?”
Fine, she could go berserk all she wanted, but couldn’t she do it after they left? Camilla wanted to go home.
“When is that going to end?”
[We don’t know either.]
[She’s been like this every time a new emperor appeared.]
[Isla is really scary once she gets angry.]
“You’re Spirit Kings too, right? The three of you can’t stop one?”
[By the time we tried to step in, it was already too late. Everything around had already frozen solid.]
[If even this garden disappears, we won’t be able to stay here any longer.]
[No other season will ever be able to set foot in this place again.]
The fact that their size had shrunk down to a palm was also because the entire region was overflowing only with winter’s energy.
Because of that, they said, the Spirit Kings couldn’t use any of their true power here in the Gracia Empire.
“That’s all great, but... then how am I supposed to go home?”
Am I supposed to just live here forever? In this cold place?
“I hate the cold!”
Down with winter!
*****
『So? You’re stuck?』
“Yeah.”
『Then when are you coming back?』
“I don’t know either.”
A repeated clicking of the tongue sounded from within the communication orb.
Once he heard that she couldn’t come back because of the weather, Ravi started laying into her with a barrage of nagging.
『I told you not to go! What were you thinking, just going along to a place like that! You can’t even activate magic circles for travel between nations!』
Inter-country magic circle travel was strictly regulated. Long ago, the battle damage caused by magic circle transfers had been devastating.
After that, every country erased coordinate information, and only travel within their own territory was permitted.
“People live here too. The weather’s not going to ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ stay like this forever.”
『Listen to her, how easy she makes it sound. What if it does stay like that!』
Sigh, I’m trying to sound relaxed so he won’t worry, and he still makes a fuss. If that’s how it is...
“Brother.”
『What?』
“If I end up freezing to death here, you get all my property.”
『Hey! What kind of unlucky... damn...! You, right now...! @!$!%@#!』
My dear Ravi, he sure can swear.
“Okay, okay. I’ll come back safe, without any trouble.”
『......』
He was sulking. Totally sulking.
『Anyway, if anything happens, contact me right away.』
Only after quite some time did he let out a sigh and speak again.
“Mm. By the way, Brother.”
『Now what?』
“I heard you wrung thirty Mana Stones out of Arsian.”
『What do you mean, thirty! Fifte—!』
Ravi’s voice, which had shot up in outrage, cut off mid-word.
After a brief silence, he continued in a slightly lower voice.
『...How did you know?』
“So it was fifteen.”
『Did that bastard tell you?』
“Does that man seem like the type to say something like that? I just took a stab in the dark, you idiot.”
Back when he had snatched a bouquet away in front of the house, Ravi had said something weird about Mana Stones, so she’d looked into it a bit and found out something absurd.
Arsian would sometimes purify Mana Stones and receive Mana Stones in return from the Duke of Sephra as compensation.
She had wondered just what he was using those Mana Stones for and then...
“So you were the one taking them from him.”
『“Taking” them? It was a legitimate trade!』
“What trade?”
He wasn’t the kind of man who would just let himself be milked like a sucker. What on earth had he traded that made him hand over Mana Stones?
She had a feeling it was connected to her somehow, but what was it?
『...Ask him yourself about that later. I’m hanging up.』
Oh? Hanging up?
At Ravi’s move to hurriedly cut the connection, Camilla narrowed her eyes at the communication orb. Just wait till I get back.
Whoooosh!
...I will be able to get back, right?
Outside the window, the snowstorm was still howling fiercely. Why on earth did she have to suffer like this over the love lives of people from ages ago!
“Huh?”
Her eyes, which had been fixed on the window, widened slightly.
“What are they doing out there?”
The multicolored Spirit Kings were pressed right up against the window, shivering. And they were even smaller than they had been in the greenhouse.
Letting out a short sigh, she beckoned them over, and the three dragons quickly flew inside.
“You could have just come in.”
[Good heavens... What do you take us for!]
[We’re spirits who know etiquette!]
[We don’t come in without permission.]
“Ah. Right.”
As she answered half-heartedly, Camilla’s gaze moved past them. That was because another presence had revealed itself behind the three spirits.
It was a female ghost who looked to be in her mid-forties. When her eyes met Camilla’s, the ghost’s gaze shook violently.
“What’s with that ghost?”
[See! I told you, didn’t I? That she can see the dead!]
[She seemed to know the ghost standing next to her earlier, too.]
[She can see us and see ghosts too. How fascinating.]
[But our kids couldn’t see them. I guess only King-class can.]
Ugh, so noisy. How can they have this much to say?
“So I’m asking, what is that ghost?”
Blocking their chatter, Camilla shot the question at them again.
[Please, grant me a favor.]
Well, it didn’t even surprise her anymore. It was the same old line she always heard.
Leaving behind the female ghost with her hands tightly clasped in a desperate posture, Camilla turned her gaze back to the three spirits.
Just what kind of ghost was she that the spirits had gone out of their way to bring her to Camilla?
[Mariana de Gracia. That is my name.]
“Gracia? So you’re from the imperial family here?”
Camilla’s eyes turned slightly doubtful, and then at the introduction that followed, she let out a short exclamation.
No way...
[I was Emperor Gaible’s wife and Mars’s... his lover.]
It was the entrance of the protagonist of a full-on trashy drama.
*****
[This way.]
What am I even doing coming all the way here.
As she followed Empress Mariana, Camilla couldn’t stop sighs from spilling from her mouth.
Leaving the detached palace where the guests were staying, she slipped into the main palace where the emperor resided, moving on tiptoe like a thief.
Soldiers were stationed here and there, but it wasn’t a big problem.
True to being a ghost who had lived here a long time, Empress Mariana chose only routes with lax security and no people as she guided Camilla along.
Still, if I get caught, it’s over.
Someone from a foreign country wandering around, not just anywhere but in the main palace where the emperor lived—anyone who saw that would find it suspicious.
