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Chapter 14
I immediately summoned the intermediate water spirit, Undine.
The beautiful, serpent-shaped Undine poured down rain at my command, right over the flames.
Shhhhhh—
As torrential rain fell in one concentrated area, mist rose from the downpour, thickly filling the air.
A refreshing scent of water began to spread everywhere.
“Rain…! It’s only raining over there!”
“The fire’s going out! The rain put it out!”
“Look at the sky! There’s a huge bird above us!”
By the time the fire was completely extinguished, I sent Undine back to the spirit realm.
Catching my breath, I noticed that many people had gathered near the village by the edge of the forest.
A little further away from the villagers, someone was tied up with ropes and surrounded by knights.
That must be the arsonist!
With a sharp glint in my eyes, I asked Hisha to take me down to the village quickly.
With a rush of wind, Hisha landed on the ground.
Pushing past the astonished villagers who stared wide-eyed at us, I walked straight toward the arsonist.
The arsonist was a woman in her early thirties. Her face had gone pale, and she was trembling all over.
It seemed as though she herself was more shocked by her own actions.
“Ughh… I-I don’t know… I don’t know anything… I really don’t know…”
Shaking violently, the woman kept repeating that she didn’t know.
She looked as if she had been struck by some kind of trauma.
As I narrowed my eyes at her, a voice suddenly called out to me.
“Are you Spirit Master Einra?”
Turning toward the voice, I saw a man who appeared to be in charge of the knights guarding the arsonist. He approached with three other knights at his side.
I nodded.
“Yes. I came under His Majesty the Emperor’s orders.”
“I am Chris de Jered, Captain of the Knights under Count Sachsen. On behalf of Count Sachsen, I offer my gratitude to you. If not for the Spirit Master, the entire forest would have burned down.”
Sir Jered bent at a ninety-degree angle in a deep bow toward me.
Startled by such a polite greeting, I waved my hands frantically.
“N-no, not at all! I only did what any citizen of the Empire should. Um… is that person the arsonist?”
I shifted the subject as naturally as I could, nodding toward the bound woman.
Sir Jered glanced at the woman and nodded.
“Yes. The villagers saw her running out of the smoking forest.”
“No, it wasn’t me! I didn’t do it… I don’t know, I told you I don’t know!”
The woman screamed hysterically, shaking her head violently.
A villager shouted back at her, anger in his face.
“How can you say you don’t know? I saw you with my own two eyes, running out of the burning forest!”
Once one person shouted, others joined in.
“Plenty of us saw you coming out of the woods! Stop lying!”
“How dare you set fire to the Verbena Forest! Unforgivable!”
“Selena! Because of you, most villagers will freeze this winter without firewood! How are you going to pay for this?”
Some even picked up stones and hurled them at the woman, Selena.
One of the flying stones struck her forehead.
Blood trickled down her brow, and I couldn’t just stand by and watch. I created a thin layer of air around her to block the stones.
With As here, I couldn’t let him witness someone being stoned like that.
“Hhh… no… it wasn’t me… I didn’t want this…”
Even with blood running down her forehead, Selena kept repeating the same words.
Her words stuck with me.
Holding As’s hand tightly, I called out to Sir Jered.
“Um, Sir Jered. I have a question.”
“Yes, Spirit Master. Please ask.”
“When the first report came in, how big was the fire?”
“I was told it was already well underway by then. They said it was impossible to even enter the forest. And when we arrived, it really was inaccessible.”
Sir Jered answered calmly, but then gave me a puzzled look.
“But why do you suddenly ask about that?”
“It just… feels strange to me.”
“Strange?”
“Well… when I suppressed the fire from above, already a third of the forest had burned. The forest is huge, and a third of it burning is massive, don’t you think?”
Sir Jered nodded.
Choosing my words carefully, I continued.
“You said that even when the first report came in, the fire was already large. But there was no wind, and it wasn’t even dry weather. Isn’t it odd that just one person starting a fire could cause such a massive blaze?”
If oil had been used, the smell would have lingered, but there was none.
And the flames went out fairly easily with water.
That leaves only two possibilities: either the fire was caused by some special power like sorcery, or that woman had been setting fires for a very long time.
But the panic-stricken Selena before me hardly looked like a sorcerer.
If she truly were, she would have fled long ago and vanished from the scene.
And even if she had spent hours setting fires, her shocked, traumatized reaction didn’t add up.
Perhaps thinking the same thing, Sir Jered nodded again.
“Now that you point it out, it does seem suspicious. When the Imperial investigators arrive in a few days, I’ll be sure to pass along your doubts as well.”
The uneasy feeling in my chest eased a little.
I smiled warmly and thanked him.
“Thank you, Sir Jered.”
“No, I should be the one thanking you for pointing out such an important detail.”
As we exchanged smiles, his gaze shifted to As.
“Ah, I see you have a young companion with you. Is he your younger brother?”
At that moment, I felt a crushing grip in the hand As was holding.
As curled his lips as if about to say something sharp.
“Yes! He’s my little brother. His name’s As!”
I quickly cut in with loud laughter, squeezing his hand harder.
As, please, just go along with it this time! Saying you’re my brother is the cleanest explanation!
Maybe my desperate telepathy got through to him.
As glanced at me with a sigh of resignation.
“…Yes. I’m the younger brother.”
But in his voice, I could almost hear the grinding of teeth.
Inside, I was crying in despair.
Sir Jered, unaware of my inner turmoil, smiled kindly at me.
“Your younger brother is truly adorable.”
“H-ha… thank you.”
“By the way, have you had breakfast? The fire broke out quite early in the morning, after all.”
“Oh, right! Breakfast! I need to feed As!”
I turned to As in alarm.
A growing boy must eat properly and on time!
As met my gaze and gave me a gentle smile.
“I can eat after everything’s done, Einra. I’m good at waiting.”
“Children shouldn’t have to be good at things like that, As…”
With a heavy sigh, I muttered in frustration.
Listening to us, Sir Jered made a suggestion.
“I know a restaurant nearby that’s quite famous for its food. If you don’t mind, would you like to go together?”
“Ah, really?”
I looked at him with a bright smile.
Since I usually ate at home, I didn’t really know where the good restaurants were outside the capital.
And going home now would only mean taking time to prepare food.
His offer felt perfectly timed.
I was about to say yes when As flatly rejected it.
“No, we don’t need that.”
“A-As?”
I blinked in surprise at his firm refusal.
As smiled sweetly and said,
“I know a good place myself. Sir Knight must be busy with many things, so the two of us will just go alone.”
“No, I’m not busy at all—”
Sir Jered stopped mid-sentence, flinching.
His face seemed to pale for some reason. Concerned, I asked,
“Sir Jered, are you alright? Are you unwell?”
“…No, I’m fine. And As, I’m not busy, so don’t worry about that.”
Regaining composure, Sir Jered smiled.
As smiled back and replied,
“No. You’re busy.”
