The Master of All Magic

"...That was me?"

"Yes. It was."

Mayli's face settled somewhere between understanding and not.

"So, um... Roina was really, really strong?"

"Mm, Mayli. I don't think that's it at all."

Roina cut the notion down at once. Mayli set her jaw as if to pretend she didn't care, but the sulk showed through anyway.

At Lutan's words, Roina sank into thought. The sense of omnipotence that had wrapped her then. Every last thread of mana bowing and following at her side. That golden radiance...

"I made all the mana there submit, and bound it into one."

"Yes. Exactly that."

Lutan smiled, a little weakly.

Mayli's eyes went round as she stared at him.

"Master of all magic? What is that supposed to mean?"

She asked it in open bewilderment, but Lutan only looked at Roina and never spared Mayli a glance.

"Ugh! Just because you're the Archmage, you think you can do whatever you want? Since yesterday you've looked at no one but Roina—why are you ignoring me? I am the eldest daughter of the Amasto marquisate!"

"...Lord Lutan, what does that mean?"

Roina glanced at Mayli, then turned the question on him. In truth, some instinct told her the words were only stating what was obvious. If every magic bowed its head and waited on her command alone, what else could she be, if not the master of all magic?

Lutan gave a light nod. Ignored yet again, Mayli looked thoroughly aggrieved.

"It is the nature of an Archmage. Of the Star."

He waved a hand, indifferent. At once the space of the room warped and shone blue, and fantastical blue butterflies swept in, wound around Roina, and vanished.

"It is common knowledge that one who bears the Star of Talent can wield every power from the moment they awaken as Archmage. I imagine you already know."

He laid a deliberate weight on common knowledge and flicked a brief glance at Mayli. This time she looked a little stung. She had probably never cared to learn it.

"We Archmages, once awakened, can use nearly every magic without restriction, and we draw on the aid of the mana spread through the world. That is why I called you the master of magic."

Roina studied him for a moment without blinking. She had not known him long, and yet she kept noticing, strangely, that this mage was hiding something. She felt it now as well. He had left something unsaid on purpose.

What is Lutan concealing?

"Lord Lutan."

She spoke quietly.

"You said part of my body is made of corrupt energy."

Even turning it over again tightened her chest and sent nausea climbing her throat. She forced the sickness down and endured it.

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

It was agony. The moment she became aware of it, she could feel the black energy crouched inside her. Instinctive revulsion stole her breath. It was as if Roberto's traces still lingered in her flesh, and the thought was horrifying.

"I can't live like this..."

She said it shaking.

Seeing her about to worsen again, Lutan caught her hand in haste. His mana met her skin and poured a cool clarity through her, and only then did she draw a deep breath. Tears gathered in her eyes.

"It's all right. Roina, it isn't as if there is no way."

He said it, then let his gaze slide past her to somewhere else. Once again that uneasy familiarity came over her, the sense of having seen this before.

"I can return your body to what it was. Don't worry. For now, rest."

"...Yes."

Again, Lutan was hiding something. He even looked troubled by it.

With that he gave Mayli's wounds a brief look, then gathered himself with a slightly hurried air and left.

What is he hiding...?

"He is seriously the worst."

Mayli's voice reached her. Roina turned. Mayli looked a little sulky, and Roina felt her own heart grow faintly restless.

"...Mayli."

"Yeah?"

"Why did you go that far?"

At the question Mayli pressed her lips shut. The set of that mouth looked stubborn.

"Just because."

A breeze slipped between them. Mayli had her golden hair tied up high and carelessly, so unrestrained it was hard to believe she was the same young lady who had dressed herself to the nines as a maid of the Imperial Palace. She wore a white linen shirt and black trousers of the sort only male knights wore, and in that clothing she looked every bit the boy-knight.

This Mayli was unfamiliar. And yet Roina thought the look suited her better than any she had seen. Mayli in these clothes felt far more natural, and even the way she lifted an arm to the windowsill and propped her chin there was easy and unguarded, the usual pretense gone.

"That crown prince bastard. He pissed me off."

"But, Mayli..."

You wanted to be empress. Roina swallowed the rest. Mayli was smiling with a wicked little look that said she already knew.

"I thought about it, and killing the crown prince and taking the crown sounds like more fun than marrying him."

Roina startled and looked around on reflex. Far too dangerous a thing to say aloud.

"And while I'm at it, I'll save the princess too."

"I'm not a princess. And you don't have any claim to the throne either."

Roina said it, stunned. Mayli lifted her chin with a haughty air and shrugged.

"That doesn't matter."

"What?"

"What matters is that you asked me for help."

Roina had no reply.

"I don't know. It didn't feel like someone else's problem."

That last, at least, Mayli said a little awkwardly.

"So you take responsibility. It's your fault."

"What?"

"Take responsibility and be my friend. Mayli Amasto's friend..."

She said it, then flushed. Seeing her like that, Roina thought it would be all right after all, and a soft smile escaped her.

"I've thought so for a while, but you really are impossible, and you do exactly as you please. Is this your first time making a friend?"

"What?!"

"Even so... thank you."

As she said it, Roina smiled for the first time in a way that was kind, and just a little sweet.

"I'll try. To be your friend, Mayli."

"...H-hmph!"

Mayli's face burned scarlet.

"You'd better count it an honor!"

She turned her head with a prim little sniff. The ear she had turned away was red, and Roina couldn't help laughing. The first friend she had made since coming to this world.

After that, Roina talked with Mayli for a long while about all sorts of things, then fell asleep before she knew it. Whatever else was true, her body and her heart were both worn thin. She slept a long time, and when she woke again it was the middle of the night. Through the window beside the bed, pale moonlight and the dim blue of night lay softly together.

She sat blankly for a moment, hugging the warm, downy feather quilt wrapped around her. It was the first time since she had come to this strange world—a night this comfortable, this quiet. Every day she had been tormented by the crown prince, and when she was not, she had slept uneasily on a hard, uncomfortable bed with her back to a wall that seeped cold. What was happening now felt like a dream.

Before I came here, I was ordinary too. I had friends, and a family, that sort of...

A sharp throb. Roina pressed a hand to her head as pain lanced through it, and her pupils wavered without direction. Her memories from before this place were faint, unclear, as if wrapped in fog. She thought for a long time, but she only grew more confused, and at last, as nausea rose, she stopped.

It was strange. Was this the corrupt energy's doing as well? All at once she grew terribly uneasy.

She threw back the quilt and set her feet on the floor. Cold stone met her bare soles. She flinched, but she went forward one step at a time. She had to see Lutan, that Archmage, right now. The thought wound through her head and would not let go. If he would touch this throbbing skull with those cool hands—if she could meet that clear, refreshing power again—then she thought she might find peace once more.

She did not know it, but with every step golden motes broke and fell to the floor. Her eyes had stained gold once more, and the corridor ahead moved of its own accord, turning to lead her where she needed to go. And so, before long, she came to a door.

It was a wooden door that looked cold at a glance and was warm to the touch. Blue mana flowed out from within and welcomed her gladly. Roina opened it without hesitation.

Beyond lay an old library. Midnight moonlight poured through a long, high window, and the room was filled with shelves and ancient books. A spirit shining with white light bustled back and forth, setting scattered volumes in order. The books looked as if they had only just been pulled down and stacked, and in the middle of them sat Lutan in a chair, wearing glasses he had not had before.

He had been staring at one volume with grave concentration. At the sound of the door he lifted his eyes from the page and looked at her. Her appearance must have been sudden, for startled confusion crossed his face.

Roina ran straight to him. The moment she reached him, she knew it clearly. Black energy was swirling inside her, shrieking with a ravenous hunger.