Back to the Central Continent
If Lumine wanted it, I would find a way to get it for her no matter what.
The problem was that I had no idea how a magic tool capable of clouding mana was even structured. That left us with only one lead: Matilda’s parents. So here we were.
The guildmaster had given us the address. Whether he had tossed personal information to the wind or simply trusted us enough to hand it over… well, either way, we were now seated in the reception room of Matilda’s home.
And the hospitality was so extravagant it was making my head spin.
One-hundred-percent pure orange juice and cookies loaded with butter.
Lumine, who adored snacks, was stuffing them into her mouth one by one like a little hamster, crunching away with pure delight.
“Aren’t you going to have any, Esilly?”
“You eat plenty, Lumine. Shall we stop by the bakery in the market later?”
“Really?”
A bright smile bloomed across her face—something I rarely saw. I had known she liked sweets, but this much? At this rate she seemed more interested in cookies than in the magic tool that clouded mana.
Just as Lumine crammed her cheeks full of cookies and washed them down with orange juice, the reception room door opened.
Apparently even she couldn’t bear to be caught looking greedy. She gulped everything down and sat primly, doing her best impression of a well-mannered young lady.
As if anyone could miss the evidence. Half the cookies were gone and the drinks had vanished too.
The people who entered were Matilda and a man I assumed was her father. Before sitting, he glanced at the empty cookie plate and cups on the table and smiled with quiet satisfaction.
“Rahman. Bring more cookies and drinks, please.”
“Yes, Master.”
At his single word the woman bowed and hurried off. She was the same maid who had opened the door for us and served the first round of refreshments.
Once she disappeared, Lumine and I rose from our seats.
“We’re terribly sorry for barging in unannounced.”
“Oh, nonsense. It’s an honor to receive you.”
Ah. Right. I had heard that the elves had started praising me without my even knowing. I had completely forgotten to ask for the details. Whatever the full story was, this man clearly felt genuine gratitude toward me.
“Please, both of you, sit. Standing makes me uncomfortable.”
“Then we’ll sit.”
“Pardon the intrusion.”
We settled demurely first, and only then did Matilda and her father take their seats. The maid returned, refilled the cookie plate, whisked away the empty cups, and set down fresh ones filled with juice.
Grape juice this time!
The maid’s sense of hospitality was truly impressive.
I lifted the cup, took a sip to wet my throat, and turned over in my mind how best to broach the subject. Straight to the point? No… we already had a connection through Matilda.
“I’ve taught many students through these lessons, but I’ve never met one with talent quite like Miss Matilda’s.”
“Haha. Even as her father I find her gift almost frightening.”
What parent wouldn’t enjoy hearing their child praised? Yet a faint bitterness flickered across his expression.
“If it were up to me, I’d rather she lived a more ordinary life…”
He gently stroked Matilda’s hair while she smiled up at him. Watching her bask so happily in that affection was adorable. You could tell she had grown up wrapped in love.
Born a half-elf yet raised in human territory rather than an elven village—that must have made the difference. Simply being half-elf already made an ordinary life difficult. Add extraordinary talent on top of that, and he clearly worried she would never walk a peaceful path. I understood. I myself had entered the knight order at thirteen and lived anything but an ordinary life.
“Can Miss Matilda cast every spell without an incantation?”
“No! Only lightning magic!”
Matilda answered first, her voice ringing clear and proud. So for now she could only silent-cast her specialty.
“She’s still far too young to manage every school without chanting.”
“I see. Even so, it’s truly remarkable.”
“Hehe.”
When I rested my hand on her head and ruffled her hair, she beamed. She was so cute I wanted to adopt her as a little sister on the spot.
After that, Matilda excused herself—her private tutor had arrived. Giving a gifted child every chance to bloom was one of the most important things a parent could do. It might feel exhausting now, but one day she would thank them for pushing her so hard from such a young age. In Matilda’s case, she already seemed to understand that.
The room fell quiet once she left. The heavy silence was broken by a sudden sneeze from Lumine.
“Achoo… I-I’m so sorry.”
“Haha, no need to apologize.”
That single sneeze shattered the tension at once. I had been fretting over how to open the conversation, but Lumine was a genius.
“Matilda’s father, may I ask you about one more matter?”
“If it is something I can answer, ask anything you wish, Hero.”
Being called a hero by a fellow elf I barely knew was a little embarrassing. Still, the fact that the words I wanted to say slipped out so easily told me I had grown.
“As you may already know, Lumine here is…”
“A half-elf, yes? I noticed at once.”
Elves really were different. Even though I was one myself, I hadn’t realized when I first met Lumine.
But the next words out of his mouth surprised me even more.
“I believe I already know why the two of you have come.”
“Did someone tell you ahead of time?”
The guildmaster might have given him a heads-up when he shared the address.
“Nothing of the sort. Merely a guess… but you wish to learn more about the magic tool my daughter wears around her neck, do you not?”
“Oh… that’s exactly right.”
“How did you know?”
Was his observation that sharp? I was already labeling him someone I couldn’t afford to underestimate when he gave a wry smile and revealed a truth that was both pitiful and endearing.
“Because the young lady seated beside you has been staring intently at my daughter’s necklace this entire time…”
“I-I’m so sorry!”
Lumine bowed her head deeply. She must have been gazing at it with such naked longing that it was impossible to miss. That was indeed rude.
Matilda’s father only laughed and waved a hand.
“No, I’m not scolding you. I understand perfectly why someone who has suffered as a half-elf would desire such a thing.”
“Thank you…”
“Just as you said, we’ve come because we hoped to learn more about the magic tool Miss Matilda wears.”
“Hmm… I see.”
He fell silent, clearly weighing the matter. If word of the tool’s secret leaked, it could bring trouble down on his daughter. The existence of such a device becoming public knowledge might wound Matilda, who lived as a human despite her half-elven blood.
While I was thinking that, he seemed to reach a firm decision. The gentle look in his eyes now was different from before—quietly positive.
He spoke at last.
“To put it bluntly… I made that magic tool myself.”
Of course he had. A tool whose only purpose was to hide half-elven heritage would never exist otherwise. And if such tools were common, half-elves would never have suffered the wounds they did. Putting those facts together made it easy to deduce that Matilda’s unique necklace had been crafted by her own father.
“Would you be willing to make one for us as well?”
“Of course. There is not an elf alive who would refuse a request from Esilly, savior of our people.”
No hesitation, no drawn-out deliberation—just an immediate yes. Lumine’s expression beside me lit up in an instant. Thank goodness.
“However… materials are required, and I do not currently possess them. Immediate production is impossible.”
“What materials? We’ll obtain them ourselves.”
Money was no object; we could simply buy whatever was needed. If it was a rare dungeon drop, I would go harvest it personally.
But the words that left his mouth were… unexpected. No—completely beyond imagination.
“It is the spoils of an extremely rare monster. Difficult to obtain on the Western Continent.”
“Then where…?”
“The Central Continent.”
Four short syllables rang out as loudly as if I were sitting right beside a theater speaker. I froze solid. Every word from his lips felt like a freezing breath that iced over my warm body.
The Central Continent? The land where I was born and raised? The place of kingdoms and empires?
“I need the eye of a griffin—a creature rarely seen even on the Central Continent.”
The material that would let us craft the magic tool Lumine so desperately wanted was a rare part from a rare monster that lived only on the Central Continent.
That thing… was popular as an aphrodisiac, wasn’t it?
Even on the Central Continent it was harder to find than a star in the daytime sky!!!