Wild Speculations About That Night
I let out a long, heavy sigh and explained to Lillia exactly what had happened that night, down to every last detail.
I hadn’t originally planned to go into that much depth, but if I didn’t clear up the misunderstanding properly, it would only spawn even stranger rumors. So I decided to spill everything—starting with the bizarre things Elena had done and every twisted thing she’d said.
Lillia’s eyes sparkled as she listened intently to my story. Unlike Zophy, who had stayed perfectly silent, Lillia kept interjecting with specific questions about the exact movements Elena had made, where the two of us had been standing, and other minute details. I answered every one of her curious inquiries with sincere care.
“That is truly the most preposterous tale I have ever heard, Lady von Letiaponk.”
“Just call me Maria.”
“Lady Maria, might your literature scores be lower than mine? The plausibility of the story you just told falls even below this Lillia’s imagination…”
“It’s not imagination! Do you think we’re having some kind of story-telling contest?!”
After going through all the trouble of telling her everything, being treated like a delusional patient made my blood boil. I ended up yelling at the top of my lungs. Even so, Lillia didn’t flinch in the slightest. She simply sank deep into thought.
Normally she was quite mindful of status and social hierarchy, but once she slipped into her own world, it seemed she forgot all about those things in an instant.
“Still, it is true that milady’s story lacks plausibility.”
Zophy said. I turned to her, feeling utterly betrayed.
“Zophy… don’t tell me even you’re doubting me…”
“That is not the case, but if Zophy were to add her own literary imagination, the background setting does feel somewhat insufficient. For example, perhaps milady truly cannot remember, but you once met Miss Kerru long ago. Or perhaps Miss Kerru, due to the difference in status, could not bring herself to say she had met you before, yet the desire born from that old joy was simply too strong to suppress. Something like that.”
“That is a somewhat more plausible guess, but I do not believe it is correct.”
Lillia immediately shot Zophy down. Zophy asked,
“Oh my, and why is that?”
“Because we can find the clue in Lady Maria’s own testimony. Among all the incomprehensible things Elena said, the part where she compared eye color to a gemstone was particularly distinctive. She had never seen a real gemstone, yet because it was exactly as she had imagined, it was more precious than comparing it to a real one… wasn’t that roughly what she said?”
“Ah, yeah, something like that.”
“The color of one’s irises does not change even as the body grows… If she had seen the face in person even a long time ago, she would have instinctively said it was the same as the color ‘in her memory,’ not the color ‘in her imagination.’ If the testimony is accurate, then the hypothesis that Elena has met Lady Maria before does not hold up!”
…If we assume the given clues are accurate, there really isn’t a single flaw in the reasoning itself. As long as she doesn’t go completely off the rails, her brain really does spin at an incredible speed, doesn’t it?
I decided that asking Lillia for more opinions on what happened that night would be helpful.
“Is there anything else that comes to mind, Lillia?”
“Anything else that comes to mind… Hmm… Now that you mention it, didn’t she demand blood?”
“It was a little ambiguous, but she did do something that could be interpreted that way…”
To be precise, she had cut her own head, drawn the blood, placed it in my hand, and then seemed to demand I do something similar. Zophy chimed in from the side.
“It is suggestive, but when you try to reason it out rationally, too many possibilities come to mind. As milady knows, there are countless spells that use human blood—especially the powerful, fresh blood of a witch—as an ingredient… The same goes for magic potions. There won’t be an answer no matter how much we worry about it right now.”
“No, the answer is actually clearer than you think.”
“Why does it feel like you only get fired up when you’re contradicting me?”
Zophy snapped. Lillia let out a loud “Wahaha!” and nodded.
“Failure is the mother of success, and wrong answers are reference material for the right one! Therefore, when someone like me—who has a slightly better head, more abundant knowledge, and superior reasoning ability—is by your side, even shortcomings become advantages. It also means there is no need to blame yourself!”
“Should I really not pull her hair?”
Zophy asked me for permission again. This time her voice was loud enough for Lillia to hear clearly. Since I genuinely thought Lillia was in the wrong this time, I granted Zophy a small amount of corporal punishment.
“Yes. Just a little.”
Hair-Pulling Punishment (Mild)
Zophy carefully moved behind Lillia and gave both of her pigtails a firm, simultaneous yank. The “Eek!” that escaped Lillia’s lips was oddly satisfying to hear. After Zophy released her, I asked Lillia,
“So, what is this clear answer?”
“If the ‘proof that you are alive’ Elena mentioned… was truly a demand for Lady Maria’s blood, then including the blood already in the cup, there would be two distinct types of bloodstains at the scene. The category of spells that use the blood of two witches at the same time narrows down considerably. Of course, even then the range is still quite wide, and if we include magic potions the answer still does not emerge. However, another key point is the attitude she showed when she shook her head and withdrew, saying ‘there is no way to prove it right now’!”
“What does that mean?”
“It can be interpreted that she wanted a ritual so complex and powerful that it could not be performed immediately in that auditorium, even though it uses the blood of two mages. If we stretch our imagination a little further, it may even be a ritual that cannot be activated in this location at all. Once we narrow it down that far, there is only one spell that fits perfectly…”
“Life Creation Magic. Of course…”
Zophy answered. Lillia snapped her fingers and nodded.
“Exactly! You truly are a maid who can find the answer the moment the correct path is shown. If you say it is simply ‘difficult,’ many possibilities remain, but if you say it is ‘impossible,’ there is only one!”
“Completely impossible?”
“As milady knows, while the academy’s rules and traditions are quite liberal, they were designed to absolutely prevent one particular misfortune, were they not? Everyone gathered here is… well, mostly daughters of prestigious families. In the end, it is a gathering of young girls in their prime. Romance cannot be controlled no matter how hard one tries. But having children would be problematic.”
Ah, so that’s what it meant.
A ritual that requires the blood of two witches, is extremely difficult to prepare, and incredibly complex. The name Life Creation Magic clearly referred to the forbidden spell that allows witches to give birth to life together using only their own magical power.
It had been mentioned several times in the original novel as well. In the empire, same-sex unions were recognized because they could not produce heirs, but among the mages qualified to enter The Mountain, marriages—whether for romantic or political reasons—happened quite frequently.
However, I had never actually seen the spell used within the story. It had been nothing more than background lore.
“So Elena Kerru was asking me to… do that with her?”
“However, the barrier magic cast over the academy firmly seals Life Creation Magic, making it impossible! It is a powerful and intricate barrier that has been in place since the academy was founded, so it absolutely cannot be broken. That is common sense, of course!”
I hadn’t known about that common sense because it wasn’t mentioned in the original. Still, I couldn’t let on that I was unaware.
Judging from Zophy’s reaction, the topic of Life Creation Magic and the barrier that prevented it seemed to be basic knowledge in this world.
I see. When you thought about it that way, it made sense. The way she had suddenly offered me her blood, then seemed to demand something similar from me, only to lose interest and withdraw while saying “it’s not that simple a story.”
She wanted to activate Life Creation Magic with me, but realized it was impossible inside this academy…?
“So that woman was indirectly asking me to get her pregnant the moment we met? Even though she’d never seen me before?”
“It could also be interpreted as her asking you to impregnate her.”
Zophy said. My jaw dropped on the spot.
“Either way, she’s completely out of her mind!”
“That is why I said from the very beginning that it was preposterous, did I not? It would be far more plausible to claim she is a member of the Black Knights here to assassinate you!”
“We can’t just pretend what happened didn’t happen, so please put that theory away, Lillia. Hmm… Lillia, there’s still one problem that hasn’t been resolved…”
“Hmm… Indeed there is.”
“Elena Kerru was playing around with that blood and asked me to show her proof that I was alive. But if it was for Life Creation Magic, wouldn’t the wording be strange? How could asking to make a child be proof that someone is alive?”
“I have no idea!”
Lillia declared brightly. Her tone was so refreshingly cheerful that it completely killed any desire I had to ask further questions.
“However, if we apply a bit more literary imagination here, we can make another guess. Would you like to hear it?”
“No. Let’s stop there.”
I politely declined.
