~Chapter 118~
‘Mr. Maddix?’
“I’ll go home now!”
Asha ran out through the back door of the store. At the same time—BANG!—the door opened.
“Asha!”
It was the blacksmith, showing off his strong muscles and messy long green hair.
“Mr. Maddix!”
I quickly ran up to say hello.
His eyebrows wiggled.
“Ruby? Long time no see.”
“What brings you here… Ah!”
Suddenly, he picked me up and started turning me upside down in the air.
“No wonder… I keep wanting to give you pretty pieces of metal. I see, hmm…”
He was mumbling things I didn’t understand.
Oh, right… Everyone in Zelox now knew I was a girl.
Feeling a little awkward, I changed the topic.
“Grandpa didn’t come with you?”
Mr. Maddix and I made eye contact.
“Oh, Lord Balrog is banned from coming to my forge.”
“Huh? Why?”
I was about to wipe some soot from his forehead when I stopped.
“He kept bragging about his granddaughter so much, everyone got stressed out.”
“He always talks about his granddaughter. I wanted to put pieces of iron in my ears and just work.”
Ah, how embarrassing…
“I’m sorry about that…”
“Come on, let’s go.”
Suddenly, I was lifted up again.
Then he sat me on his broad shoulders.
“Wah! Why are you doing this?!”
He looked up at me with a straight face.
“I guess Lord Balrog brainwashed me. Just sit there and be my helmet. I’ll forgive you if you make horns with your fingers.”
“I don’t want to be a helmet!”
It was too embarrassing! But I was more scared of falling, so I held onto his green hair tightly. He made a satisfied sound.
I looked at Khalid for help, but he just raised his eyebrows and mouthed, “Looks comfy.”
Traitor!
“Oh, right! Didn’t you come to see Asha?”
“Oh.”
He stopped on his way out and looked around the shop.
Ahh, his eyes were spinning.
“But I guess she’s not here… Strange, every time I come, she leaves quickly.”
He kept muttering.
I thought about how Mr. Maddix had rushed over. Yeah, that blueprint-maniac could never leave Asha alone.
‘…Sorry, Asha.’
I knew, but I pretended not to see.
Anyway, Mr. Maddix carried me to the forge on his shoulders.
It felt like everyone on the street was staring at me—so embarrassing.
I twisted his long hair into pointy horns out of spite.
After a short but shameful walk, we reached the forge.
“So, what should we do…”
I jumped off his shoulders.
“Mr. Maddix, I brought a new blueprint! I got it from Asha ahead of time!”
He put his hand on his chest, looking moved, with horns on his head.
“Ruby, I’ll worship you.”
“No thanks.”
Really, everyone is so troublesome!
“Whew, all done! Finally!”
I wiped my forehead.
The glowing blue magic circle faded away.
Khalid gave me some magic, and put the finished magic tool in the corner.
Now the bell tower just needed a repair, and Khalid would take this to install it!
“Huh, what’s that?”
I noticed something sticking out of Khalid’s pocket.
It looked familiar.
“Oh, I thought I threw it away… Sir Oberon probably put it there.”
Khalid took out an academy pamphlet and tossed it.
The words on the cover caught my eye again.
‘Heart…’
That word kept bothering me.
“Aim for the heart. Don’t miss. Everything you want is in the center.”
It felt like something was bothering me—like a tiny cut under my nail.
‘Thinking about it, it’s a weird thing to say. Why talk so much to someone who came to kill you?’
I pursed my lips, deep in thought.
“What you want is…”
‘Want…?’
The Seventh in the original story.
What did she want?
As I thought about it, I suddenly laughed quietly.
‘Well… that’s obvious.’
Even though I wasn’t the Seventh from the story, I somehow understood after dreaming about her.
I could sense her feelings and wishes.
‘What the Seventh wanted… Maybe, just like me, she wanted to escape the curse.’
Even though she failed.
If so, maybe Leviathan’s words meant something else.
Maybe the secret to breaking the curse was in the ‘heart’ or ‘center’.
‘If aiming for the heart wasn’t physical, but a metaphor…’
My hand clenched tightly.
Maybe I was just being hopeful.
But there were no other clues.
“Khalid.”
I gathered the pamphlets scattered on the floor.
“What are you doing? Wait, you’re not thinking of going to the capital, right?”
Khalid frowned.
“Yeah, sort of.”
“Do you think you’ll find a clue for your curse there? Did you find something out?”
“I don’t know.”
“…?”
“But I can’t stop thinking about it. I want to check it myself.”
I tapped the academy pamphlet.
Khalid read the ‘autumn camp’ part and looked uneasy.
“But you have to solve the magic problem in the capital first…”
He started to say, but suddenly there were loud steps coming up the dark basement stairs.
Mr. Maddix burst into the workshop.
“Ruby?”
He sounded a bit strange, not like usual.
‘What’s wrong?’
Normally, he’d be excited, but today he seemed different.
Even the blueprint checking took longer than normal.
“What’s wrong?”
“This blueprint is interesting, but something is missing. Is this the whole thing?”
He showed me the parchment with his big hands. I nodded.
“Yes, that’s all of it…”
“Hmm, okay.”
He looked disappointed.
Then I suddenly remembered—Asha made the blueprint.
“Ah! Maybe it needs a magic stone? Since a magician made it!”
I said that, and Mr. Maddix’s face brightened.
“Of course!”
He rolled the scroll out on the big table.
We searched for spots where a magic stone might go.
I wasn’t good at reading blueprints, but if it had a magic stone, it was basically a magic tool.
“It feels like it would go here…”
“Hmm.”
‘This blueprint…’
I looked over the whole thing again. I brought it so quickly, I hadn’t even checked what it was.
“Is this a shield?”
He nodded.
“Yes. The shape is simple, but the structure is special.”
“Oh…”
“But the material isn’t what you’d use for a shield. But if you use a magic stone, the strength is boosted!”
I fell silent.
‘No, that’s not it.’
My eyes darted over the blueprint.
‘This is… a shield-weapon that absorbs and then releases power.’
Maybe it was made for fighting giant monsters. Like Ougona or Trivelrops…
I remembered a part of the monster guidebook Liam taught me.
‘The magic stone probably stores the power…’
Suddenly, everything clicked in my head.
“Ah!”
I looked up, meeting Khalid’s eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Absorb, release!”
“What?”
Magic!
I grabbed Khalid’s arm and whispered.
He jumped in surprise.
“Why are you so excited?”
“Khalid, I found a way to go to the capital!”
“What?”
There might be a key to the curse at the academy in the capital.
But there’s barely any magic there.
“Absorb, release!”
Maybe that was the answer.
I felt the cold bracelet on his wrist and grinned.
“Ohh, I see. That’s an interesting idea. I’ll try it!”
I remembered Asha’s eyes sparkling.
When I told her about my new magic tool idea, she ran straight to her lab.
‘If I can store magic and use it when I need it… even in a place with no magic, I’ll be okay.’
If I adjusted it, I might be able to live there just like I did in Ipsen.
‘The autumn camp is about ten days.’
It’s a short time, so even if there’s no magic, I could manage.
When I first met Dad, I’d stayed in the capital for a few days, too.
‘But it was really hard. And now I have to explore the academy as well.’
I couldn’t let myself get tired or run out of magic.
The only thing left was convincing my family…
Dad hated the capital as much as I did, so I was a little worried.
‘I’ll ask when he comes home!’
According to butler Adolf, the monster hunt was going very well. Dad might come home in less than a month.
“Miss, a letter from the capital!”
Just then, Hazel came in with a tray.
“A letter? From who?”
I stopped drinking my milk and tilted my head.
She put a shiny, gold-embossed letter in front of me.
