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“Admiral!”
I shouted loudly as I dashed forward.
With strength in both knees, I jumped up and spread my arms wide. The Admiral immediately caught me in a hug.
“………”
But you know what?
Even after hugging me, the Admiral remained silent for a while.
I felt a little suffocated, so I tapped him twice, and only then did he loosen his arms.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Nope!”
“Alright. Let’s go home.”
Wait, that won’t do! If I go alone…!
I quickly turned my head and pointed to my half-elf friends.
“Over there, I have to bring my friends too. I promised. I promised to protect them. I told them I’d come to save them!”
The Admiral raised an eyebrow as he looked in the direction I pointed.
“Half-elves, huh? I’ll take them with us.”
“Yay!”
I hadn’t realized it before, but there were a lot of sailors around me.
Strangely, they were all women, and their crisp, white uniforms were so cool that I gawked at them, mouth wide open.
‘I want to be one too! I want to be a sailor too!’
To be precise, I wanted to wear that uniform.
Wearing that and rescuing half-elf children…
Isn’t that so cool?!
“Huh?”
But wait a second.
Where did that kid from earlier go?
“Not here.”
“Not here?”
“Not here! Lacifer is gone!”
“Lacifer?”
He was definitely here… Was I dreaming?
I began to panic, flailing about, when one of the half-elves approached me.
It was the one who had hissed at me earlier.
“If you’re talking about that kid, he said he’d go his own way. He asked me to tell you he’d meet you again next time.”
“Ah……”
I wanted to take him home.
Feeling dejected, I pressed my cheek firmly against the Admiral’s shoulder.
But since I knew his name, I hoped that there would be another chance someday.
***
“Ah, I’m so happy.”
Lacifer.
His full name is Lacifer Raximon.
The boy walked alone along the riverside, dyed in the reddish glow of the setting sun, filled with joy.
‘I don’t regret coming to meet you.’
A partner for a Bijou must be met at the most suitable moment, arranged through the intricate weaving of fate.
The warp and weft of time, already woven.
That fleeting moment within.
The moment when the laws of causality permit it.
Only then will they be strongly drawn to each other, their fates intertwined as partners.
Therefore, the fact that he satisfied his selfish desires with his eyes that could see the truth was a significant problem.
A transgression so severe it was worthy of being brought to the Court of Fate.
But… Lacifer was too wild for anyone to stop.
The army of spirits sent by the King of Fate’s Spirits rushed toward him like they would pierce him.
But the golden energy surrounding Lacifer’s body spread out like the blazing heat of the sun, driving them all away.
“I determine my own fate. Get lost.”
Flash!
The moment he unleashed a powerful force, the Bijou on the corner of Lacifer’s left eye became visible.
A genius among geniuses.
Even if one traces the entire bloodline of the Raximon family, no one as gifted as him could be found.
Though it also meant he was a catastrophe for humanity…
For the Raximon family, however, Lacifer was irreplaceable.
They could only have one child, so there was no chance for a replacement.
And more than that—
“If you’ve already decided my fate, I’ll shatter it to pieces. You better come back with something more to my liking.”
His temperament.
A temperament so vile that even the devils of hell would beg him to return, offering him money.
When Lacifer was three, the elders of the Raximon clan lamented that something which should not have been born had come into existence.
By the time he was four, not a single magician in the entire Raximon clan could match him.
And then, when Lacifer turned five—
He had memorized all the magical tomes in the mansion.
He had memorized every existing magic circle and even improved some of them to make them easier to use.
A being beloved by magic.
Born from magic itself, every vein and drop of blood in his body was infused with magical energy.
Such a being now sought to intervene in the fate that was invisible to ordinary eyes.
The cost of such an endeavor would not be small, but he didn’t care.
Even now, the magic that enveloped his entire body moved as if it were alive, protecting and guarding him.
‘I’m happy.’
Ah, how addicting it is to feel happiness for the first time!
I want to keep tasting it, but I have to endure it.
Not for his own sake, but for the sake of his partner.
Because his partner still has much to learn, experience, and grow.
“From now on, I’ll wait patiently.”
Until you grow up and come to me.
Until the moment we are bound together by our names.
Standing at the end of the river, where the blue roof of the Pashayen mansion was in sight, Lacifer whispered softly and sweetly.
If anyone saw it, they would be so shocked they’d collapse, convinced that this wasn’t Lacifer Raximon but a homunculus. They would tremble with rage, clutching their beards, and scream in disbelief.
***
“Grandpa Sackman?”
On the safe path back to the mansion, I finally learned the identity of the kidnapper.
“Velarion of the Eclipse has many children. One of them, the second-born Goliath Velarion, possesses a special ability.”
“So… I was kidnapped by an ability user?”
“That’s right. Grandpa Sackman is a self-aware type of ability. He hides in the shadows and collects useful things in his shadow sack. He also has the cognitive distortion ability to make sure people around him don’t notice it.”
“Then how did you find him, Admiral? He keeps moving!”
“As long as I can pinpoint where he’s hiding, I just have to move faster than he does.”
Wow.
Admiral, that was kind of cool just now.
“Naiad read the movements of the shadows through his connection with plants, and Mikard sealed off the entire Pellun area like a coliseum so he couldn’t escape. After that, the search party drove him out.”
“Those big sisters from earlier?”
“Yes.”
So everyone had come to save me.
I was so happy that I broke into a wide smile.
“Me too, later on, if something like this happens, I’ll come to the rescue too!”
“That’s admirable. Weren’t you scared at all?”
“Not even a little bit! I had lots of friends with me!”
At first, they hissed at me, but later, we sang songs together.
By my standards, singing songs together meant we were friends.
“We were together, we sang together, and we became friends.”
“Did you? You did well. You endured bravely.”
“Hehe. That’s because I knew the Admiral or Brother would come to pick me up!”
“…Yes, and we’ll continue to do so in the future.”
I believed it. And I didn’t doubt it for even a moment.
That the Admiral and brother Mikard would come to save me.
“By the way, what about brother Mikard?”
“Naiad collapsed, and Mikard suffered internal injuries, so they are resting. It’s their first time using their abilities on such a wide scale. But it was a valuable experience.”
“Ah! I have to make cookies for them!”
I realized just how much love I was receiving.
Suddenly, I felt like I might cry a little.
So, so…
Was I… maybe a little scared?
Staring blankly at the air, I flopped onto the Admiral’s thigh.
Thud.
Then, I buried my head. I didn’t cry, but I just wanted to stay like this.
“Velarion will certainly pay an appropriate price.”
The Admiral gently stroked my head as he murmured softly.
I smiled bashfully, enjoying the calming touch.
It wasn’t long before we arrived home.
***
“Because the Admiral or Brother will come to pick me up!”
At those words, Diegon thought to himself.
Ah, I can’t live without this child anymore.
‘I’m relieved. This time… I protected her this time.’
In truth, an ability like Grandpa Sackman was insignificant.
The only annoying part was the ‘cognitive distortion’ ability tied to it.
Even that didn’t work on awakened adults, but Mikard was still young and fell into the cognitive distortion trap.
That’s all there was to the story.
Grandpa Sackman was hunted down and torn apart, and the owner of that ability must have felt the excruciating pain of their flesh being ripped apart.
His daughter was safe and, moreover, seemed completely unaffected.
‘So it’s fine. It’s all fine.’
Diegon felt the cold sweat trickling down his back.
When he had heard that Shupetty had disappeared within the Pashayen estate, under everyone’s watchful eyes—
Diegon nearly dropped the sword he was holding.
‘Your Excellency, Your Excellency…! The Serenity, the ship Lady Aurora was on, has sunk…!’
‘Your Excellency, no matter how hard we search… we can’t find the bodies. We’ve scoured underwater as well…’
‘Perhaps… perhaps they’re still alive. Both of them.’
‘We can’t find them. We just can’t…!’
‘I can’t remember. Your Excellency! Do you feel the same? I can’t picture Lady Aurora’s face at all!’
A deeply etched scar within Diegon. A trauma.
It still hadn’t healed, not even a little. It was simply lying dormant, quiet and still.
