Published: March 21, 2026
Akira’s eyes widened, and when I saw him immediately check with the world eye and breathe a sigh of relief to confirm that none of my life force had been reduced, I almost gave in to the urge to throw my arms around his neck. He hadn’t taken me to the Demon King's Castle, but Akira still loved me.
“There was no damage to the ship, so that means there was no fight, right?”
The hero, who had also checked that Hosoyama and the others were uninjured and was wearing a relieved look, tilted his head.
The same question made the people left behind, including Hosoyama, tilt their heads in the same way.
“There was... probably a fight, I guess?”
“Not very convincing. Amelia, can you at least start from the point where we left?” Akira asked.
I nodded and began to speak.
“It was sometime after you all saw us off—”
I had Hosoyama take over the watch that period and retreated to the lookout on the ship where I could be sure I’d be alone, and sat there as dusk fell.
“I feel bad for causing trouble for Akira right before departure when things were so busy.”
I murmured blankly, staring at the coast of Demon Clan territory.
Akira had been with me ever since we met. In towns we split up to buy supplies; in Uru I often insisted on visiting Crow’s place so we weren’t always together. But this time, when Akira decided to leave me on the ship and not bring me to the Demon King's Castle, it was a shock.
I understood the reason. They had abducted me despite knowing that harming me would make the Elf race an enemy, because they needed my infinite magical power. I couldn’t just go trotting off to the demon king and risk letting his ambitions come to pass.
Still, even knowing that, I wanted to go. I wanted to be taken.
I clasped my hands and, as I had once done among the roots of the Sacred Tree in Elf territory, prayed to the sky.
“Aitel, please guide them safely.”
It wasn’t just Akira. For Rusty and Yoru, a confrontation with the demon king would be agonizing. I wanted to be by their sides to support them. Especially Rusty — he seemed to be searching for allies; I wanted to be his ally in front of the demon king. It was frustrating that all I could do was pray from afar.
I considered sneaking along, but Akira had asked me to watch the ship before departure, so I couldn’t.
The sun began to sink and the sky turned red, like Sonora’s hair.
The girl who vaguely resembled Rusty was the sister of Ringa, the guild master of Uru in Beastmen territory, and her younger brother Sena. When parents are of different races, children are born into one race or the other. The three born of Beastmen and Demon Clan parentage didn’t resemble each other enough to be recognized as siblings unless told. If you didn’t know anything, you’d probably mistake Rusty and Sonora for sisters. In reality they were aunt and niece.
The Elf race turned a blind eye to interbreeding but didn’t exactly welcome it. A century’s difference between Humans and Beastmen is one thing, but between Elves and Humans there can be thousands of years’ difference in lifespan. So if an Elf-Human child is Elven, they must be raised in Elf territory; if Human, in Human territory. That rule was strict: a measure to avoid repeating a long-ago tragedy.
But that’s for ordinary Elves. For us royals — the High Elf line — to prevent blood from thinning or concentrating too much, we must take a spouse from another race once every five generations. Previously it was a Human, before that a Beastman. In those generations, love marriages aren’t allowed; we were forced into political marriages intended to benefit both our races.
My and Kirika’s mother was Human — from one of Yamato Country’s three great houses. The Tsukimi family was my mother’s birth family. The Tsukimi, who had thrived as merchants, rose to the three great houses through marriage and alliance with Elf royalty who had been trade partners. The current Tsukimi are from my uncle’s line, so they’re relatives of mine and Kirika’s, but we’ve never met.