The Magic That Belongs to You

Übel looked down at the hand held out to her, then reached out and took it.

Before Fern could react, Übel pulled her along and ran outside.

"Big sis, we're going out for a bit!"

"Wait, I haven't finished adjusting the hem of Fern's dress..."

Before Übel's sister could finish, the bell hanging on the door gave a soft jingle.

The two had already run out of the tailor shop.

"Übel, slow down!"

Fern had to lift the hem of her dress with her free hand to keep from stepping on it. She had only just changed and hadn't even had time to look at herself in the mirror for long before Übel inexplicably dragged her outside.

"Where are we going?"

"Didn't you want a birthday present?"

Übel said without looking back.

"I do, but what does that have to do with us running around in the street?"

"You'll know when we get there."

Those words again. Why did everyone enjoy being deliberately mysterious today? Lord Heiter was like that, and so was Übel. Did everyone who prepared a birthday present suddenly become secretive?

"At least tell me where we're going first."

"North of the Holy City."

North of the Holy City?

Fern had even more questions.

But Übel was seriously trying to prepare a present for her for once, and it would be a little insensitive to keep asking, so she finally suppressed her curiosity and simply reminded her:

"Even so, don't run too fast. Don't damage this dress."

"Got it."

Übel agreed, but she hardly slowed down.

She hadn't listened at all.

The two crossed the Holy City's main road, then followed an upward-sloping path north. The buildings around them gradually grew shorter, and there were fewer and fewer pedestrians. Once they passed the last row of houses, all that lay ahead was a stone staircase concealed by weeds.

"Is there really a path here?"

Fern looked at the stone steps, which were almost swallowed up by vegetation.

"Of course there is."

Übel said after deftly pushing aside the branches and leaves in her way.

"I used to come here all the time when I was little."

When she was little?

Fern looked at Übel, who was only in her teens. How little could she have been?

"Why did you come to a place like this?"

"Because staying in the shop was boring, and my sister and I had only just moved to the Holy City then."

"Didn't you live here before?"

"No."

Übel stepped onto the stairs and motioned for Fern to follow.

"We used to live in a small town far away from the Holy City. Later, my sister thought there weren't enough customers there and wanted to open a tailor shop that was truly her own, so she took all her savings and brought me here."

Übel continued.

"My sister was busy every day back then."

To keep the newly opened shop going, her sister always worked from early morning until late at night.

Taking measurements, cutting fabric, sewing clothes...

Übel couldn't help much at the time, and she didn't know any of the other children in the Holy City, so she could only sit beside the worktable and watch her sister work.

"That sounds hard."

Fern said.

"My sister had it harder. All I had to do back then was sit beside her and daydream."

"Would you really sit still, Übel?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's just a little hard to imagine."

Given Übel's personality, her sitting quietly for a whole morning was even harder to believe than Lady Frieren getting up early of her own accord.

"I can be quiet once in a while."

Übel spoke up in her own defense, though she herself knew just how occasional that "once in a while" was.

"Besides, watching my sister cut fabric was actually pretty interesting."

When the scissors closed, the fabric would part neatly along the blades. Come to think of it, she had naively believed at the time that it was her sister's magic. It never occurred to her that the scissors were cutting the fabric; she simply thought that, in her sister's hands, the fabric would part on its own along the magic tool called "scissors."

As though that was simply how things were supposed to be.

"Wasn't that just ordinary cutting?"

Fern said.

"Of course I know that now."

Übel had once specifically asked her sister why, whenever those scissors were in her hands, she could turn fabric into whatever shape she wanted.

Her sister had laughed for a long time after hearing her question, then told her that a tailor could already see the finished clothes in her mind before making the first cut. It was precisely because she knew what the fabric would become that she knew where the first cut should begin and where it should end.

"Isn't that a lot like magic?"

Übel suddenly asked.

"How is it like magic?"

Fern was a little puzzled by Übel's sudden turn to the subject of magic.

"Don't you also imagine the result you want first, then use mana to make it real?"

Hearing that, Fern thought for a moment. They did seem somewhat similar. Lady Frieren had also once told her that the world of magic was built on imagination.

If even the caster couldn't believe something was possible, then no matter how much mana they possessed or how complete a spell formula they had mastered, they could never make it a reality.

"But magic still requires diligent practice. You can't rely on imagination alone."

Fern said.

"Is that so?"

Übel sounded somewhat indifferent. She seemed to accept the explanation, yet also seemed not to have taken it to heart at all.

To her, complicated theories had never been all that important. As long as she could clearly see the result in her mind, all she had to do next was cut along that line.

Just like the scissors in her sister's hands.

"Later, I tried helping my sister cut fabric too."

"Did you succeed?"

"No."

"I knew it."

"Didn't you answer a little too quickly?"

Übel's first attempt at cutting fabric had resulted in an entire expensive piece of cloth being cut into more than a dozen scraps of different sizes and uncertain use.

When her sister found out, she didn't scold her. She simply stood in front of the worktable, gazing for a long time in silence at the fabric that could no longer be restored, before sighing and beginning to gather up the scraps.

That reaction felt even worse than being scolded outright, so Übel secretly left the tailor shop on her own.

She wasn't familiar with the Holy City at the time and didn't know where she should go. As though punishing herself by refusing to go home until she had exhausted herself, she simply kept walking along roads she had never taken before. In the end, she found a place behind the hillside that overlooked the entire Holy City.

There were no tourists, and no one else knew about it. It was her very own "secret base."

After that, whenever she found the tailor shop too boring or was scolded by her sister, she would always run there alone and stay for a while.

"So that's where you're taking me?"

Übel smiled.

"That's right. And it happens to be a clear day, so the sunset should be beautiful."

The two continued up the stone steps, but just as they were about to round the mountainside, Übel suddenly stopped.

A huge boulder lay across the middle of the path.

It seemed the rain a few days ago had loosened the hillside, causing the rock to roll down from above and completely block the already narrow path. Steep rock walls rose on both sides, leaving no room to get around it.

Fern stepped forward and tried to push it, but the rock didn't budge.

"Think of something, Little Spray Mushroom. Aren't you a mage?"

"Don't call me that. Besides, there's nothing I can do about a rock this big either."

Fern replied irritably.

"Don't you mages have some kind of explosion magic that looks really powerful? Taking care of this boulder should be easy, right?"

Übel said, looking at Fern.

"I can't do it with my current abilities. If I really could break a rock this big, Lady Frieren wouldn't have refused to take me as her apprentice."

Fern thought of the boulder on the cliff and spoke with great regret. Although she had the "Volumen Hydrargyrum" Lord Lorenzo had given her, she had yet to actually use it and didn't dare try it at all.

"You're not Frieren's apprentice?"

Übel said to Fern, somewhat surprised.

"No. Lord Heiter once asked Lady Frieren to take me as her apprentice, but Lady Frieren thought I was a burden, so she refused."

Fern looked a little downcast. That had been Lord Heiter's wish, yet she hadn't been able to fulfill it. If she had worked a little harder and become a little stronger, would Lady Frieren not have regarded her as a burden? Would she have been able to become her apprentice without trouble?

That was why Fern had never dared to relax.

Every day, she got up early to train her mana, studied magical theory with Frieren during the day, and reviewed the day's lessons at night. Even when she occasionally felt tired, she had never thought of stopping to rest.

She couldn't relax, couldn't slack off, and even less could she disappoint Lord Heiter.

She had no right to rest, nor any right to give up. Weakness meant failure, and failure was no different from death...

Just then, as though she had seen the disappointment and anxiety in Fern's heart, Übel suddenly reached out, embraced her, and stroked her head.

"At least to me, you're not a burden at all."

Fern's body stiffened at once. She instinctively wanted to break free of Übel's embrace, but her body refused to obey, and a feeling she hadn't known in a long time welled up inside her.

...Like Mom?

Yes, that was right. Come to think of it, when Mom was still alive, she had held Fern like this too, gently stroking her hair.

Back then, when something frightened her, she didn't have to endure it alone. As long as she hid in that warm embrace, everything became less frightening.

But after the war, she had never felt that way again.

Lord Heiter had given her a home where she could live without worry and had always cared for her like a real family member. But Fern knew Heiter was in poor health, so she always tried to be more sensible.

She couldn't be selfish.

She couldn't cause trouble.

And she absolutely couldn't become a burden to others.

But now, held in Übel's arms, the strength she had built up with such difficulty suddenly seemed to fail her.

The hand Fern had pressed against Übel's shoulder slowly lost its strength, until she was merely clutching her clothes lightly.

"What's wrong?"

Übel noticed the change in her.

"...Nothing."

Fern buried her face a little lower.

"Then I'm going to let go."

"Wait a little longer."

Fern's voice was very soft, but Übel still heard her. For once, she didn't tease Fern with the nickname "Little Spray Mushroom." She simply continued holding her quietly, stroking her long purple hair again and again.

"My sister taught me this."

Übel suddenly said.

"What?"

"When I was little, my sister would hold me like this whenever I was upset."

"It's okay if you want to cry."

"I don't want to cry."

Fern denied it immediately, though her voice already carried a barely perceptible tremor.

"Mm, you don't."

For once, Übel didn't expose her either.

The two stood quietly in front of the boulder for a while.

Only when the feelings that had nearly dragged her back into the past gradually subsided did Fern release Übel's clothes and step out of her embrace of her own accord.

"Thank you."

Fern said softly.

"It was just a hug. Besides, it's your birthday today, so it's fine to be a little selfish."

Übel looked at the corners of her eyes, which were still a little red.

"I wasn't being selfish."

"Is that so? Then let's say you weren't."

Übel didn't argue any further. She turned back to the boulder blocking their way.

"All right, now we just need to deal with this thing."

"But neither of us can move it."

"Then we won't move it."

Übel walked up to the boulder and placed her palm against its rough surface.

"Since it's blocking us, we can just cut it apart."

Before she had finished speaking, the boulder instantly split along several smooth cuts, becoming several pieces of roughly equal size.

Fern stood rooted to the spot, staring at it all.

"I shouldn't have had any talent as a mage originally, but my heart resonated with yours."

Übel turned and smiled faintly at Fern.

"So this should be your magic."