Maydare Volume 6 Chapter 13 - Reminiscence (8) ~The Savior of Fraxinus~

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Ten years had passed since then――

I was still unable to age, but before I knew it, Kanon had grown into a fine young man. 

Whenever I disguised himself to go shopping and took him out to town for a bit, his good looks made all the young girls squeal over him.

He was blond, had eyes of an unusual color, and was tall and mature. Speaking as his master, I think I had raised him well. To be honest, he looked more like a prince than most actual princes. 

However, even though he had reached that age, Kanon never showed any interest in those girls, never tried to get a girlfriend, and still had no trace of affection toward other people.

“You know, you should be a little friendlier. If you keep acting like that, you won’t be able to find a good wife.”

When I nagged him like a mother, Kanon looked incredibly annoyed and said, “I don’t care if I never marry. I have you.”

He wasn’t affectionate, but he would say things like this out of the blue sometimes.

“Hmph, really, I’m worried about your future, you know! You’ve become such a mother’s boy.”

I wasn’t completely displeased about it, though.

I still had no intention of giving my precious Kanon to the young lasses around here.

“I don’t really think of you as my mother, though.”

“Huh? Then what do you think of me? Don’t tell me you think of me as your grandma!?”

“...”

From the outside, Kanon and I would have looked like a young couple of the same age. In fact, in terms of physical age, Kanon might have looked much older than me.

But to me, he was still the child he was when I adopted him.

He was my disciple who was more precious and adorable than anyone, my family, and my child. I thought we would be together forever. 

However, as an adult, Kanon would sometimes look into the distance with melancholic eyes.

As though there was a place he wanted to return to.

“Mmm…”

When I was trying to get something stored in a high cupboard, Kanon grabbed it from behind and handed it to me.

“...You’ve gotten so big.”

“I don’t see what’s the point in complaining about that.”

“I’m not complaning, I’m praising you. I’m saying that it’s great that you’ve grown up.”

Saying that, I patted his head.

In the past, I had to bend down to pat his head, but now I had to stand on my tiptoes to do it.

Maybe because I wasn’t growing anymore, but Kanon’s remarkable growth over the past ten years had been deeply moving to me.

“I’m not a kid anymore.”

However, he seemed dissatisfied with being treated like a child, so he narrowed his eyes with a mature, adult-like expression.

“Don’t be so impertinent. You’re still a kid to me.”

“...”

Now, I put the thing I got from the high cupboard and put it on the table.

It was the magic basket that was once given to me by a man named Torc Twilight, the Black Demon King.

I often used it to store things that I no longer used as the seasons changed. It had been getting a little cold lately, so I reached into the basket, felt around inside, and tried to pull out my favorite blanket.

The Black Demon King…huh.

He still reigned over the Country of Demons as a symbol of evil who controlled all the demons.

They were treated as though they were the common enemy of the world. Killing and being killed, hating and being hated…the war between humans and demons repeated those things over and over again, and no matter how many years passed, there was no end in sight.

We haven’t seen each other for a long time. I wonder how he was doing.

Not only Torc, but also Sheeve, Skroot, and the O’Drielle sisters who lived in the Country of Demons. They must also be going through a difficult time, but I hoped they were doing well…

“Makirié.”

“Hmm?”

Kanon called out to me from behind, and I turned around nonchalantly.

At the same time, Kanon grabbed my arm and pressed the tip of his dagger against my throat.

“Huh?”

I made a dumb sound, but the garnet-colored eyes of Kanon as he looked down at me were tinged with murderous intent and glittered coldly.

“...You died just now. Do you still think of me as a kid?”

I was so surprised that I bent backwards and stiffened. My eyes and mouth were wide open for a while.

“W-W-Wha…”

And then…

“Hey, you! Is that any way to act towards your master!”

I got mad, grabbed Kanon’s collar, and pushed him to the floor. He, however, was dexterous enough to avoid cutting me with his dagger.

Oh, was this what people called the rebellious period?

I wondered if all boys started rebelling against their mothers like this…

“You’re heavy. Move,” Kanon said as I nagged him, and pushed me aside as he got up. He sheathed his dagger with a nonchalant face. So this was a rebellious period.

Come to think of it…

This dagger had been hanging at his waist ever since I took him in. 

When I asked him about it before, he didn’t give me a clear answer, so I didn’t dig into it too much.

“Hey, what is that dagger to you? Is it a keepsake of your parents or something?”

“...Something like that.”

“Is it important to you?”

“Yeah. More than anything,” Kanon said plainly. His eyes took on that melancholy look they had sometimes.

“Hmm. Don’t tell me you want to return to your birthplace? Or you want to meet your parents? Are you saying that your birth parents are better than the parent who raised you?”

Somehow, I didn’t like that, so I folded my arms and turned outward in a huff.

Lately, Kanon had been looking into the distance, so I thought he might be missing his hometown and his real parents. 

I was also worried that he might wander away from here…

Kanon knitted his eyebrows together, looking troubled.

“You immediately sulk when it comes to things like that. You treat me like a kid, but these days, you’re the one who’s more like a kid. In fact, you’ve always been one.”

“Ah! You are in your rebellious phase! You’ll get annoyed by me one day, dislike me, and then you’ll run away from this house longing for the outside world. I did that once.”

“...”

“N-No way, are you really planning to leave?”

Kanon became silent and didn’t answer me, causing me to become flustered.

Kanon would one day leave this house, just like I once did.

For some reason, that feeling was increasing day by day. Just imagining that day made me want to cry like a child.

If you don’t like it here, you can just leave…

I was the one who told him that when we first met.

Feeling overwhelmed by my feelings, I turned my back to Kanon.

If I were to cry or say something selfish here, wouldn’t I be tying him to this place?

In the end, I didn’t want that either, so I suppressed my feelings so I wouldn’t say anything more.

Kanon was silent for a while, but as he put the blanket that I took out over my shoulders, he whispered to me in a mature, impactful tone of voice.

“Makirié. You’re the most important person to me. No matter what happens from now on, that will never change.”

“...”

“I’m sure I’ll do anything, so that you, who is lonely, can be happy in the place you end up in.”

“...Huh?”

The place I’ll end up in?

Those words sounded like they had some deeper meaning…

However, Kanon quickly walked away from me without giving any explanation.

“I’m going hunting.”

“...You’re going to come back soon, right?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back by evening. …Good grief.”

Kanon sighed, looking a little annoyed, and quickly got his things, preparing to go out for his daily hunt. Returning to my senses, I quickly wrapped some walnut bread, cheese, and dried meat in paper and handed it to him just before he left the house.

“Be careful out there. There’s been a bit of trouble around here lately. They say that demons have come to this area, and I’ve seen Ruschia soldiers wandering around nearby.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll be extremely careful.”

“Oh. When you use magic, make sure to regularly eat salt apples from the forest to recover your magical power. You use magic skillfully, but magical power can be used up in an instant. Okay?”

“I told you not to treat me like a kid.”

Kanon let out another sigh and accepted the bundle.

Then, with the large hand of an adult man, he patted me on the head and left.

Lately, Kanon had been treating me like a child…how impertinent…

As I put my hand on my head, I felt gloomy over that as well.

However, there was something a little strange about Kanon today.

When he pointed the dagger at me, it felt like there was real murderous intent in his eyes, and for an instant, I felt a bottomless fear and a sense that my life was in danger.

But that wasn’t so much directed towards Kanon as it was that dagger…I think. I didn’t really know.

Besides, Kanon also said something that sounded meaningful.

“Be happy where I’ll end up…”

I wondered if Kanon was happy now.

As I simmered the stew for dinner and watched the sky outside the window turn red, I wondered if Kanon would come back on time.

“!?”

I heard a loud crash coming from somewhere. Feeling a large wave of magic rush over me, I ran out of the hut and headed for the source of the magical power.

There, in an open area of the forest, I saw two men pointing swords and glaring at each other.

“...Huh?”

One of them was my disciple Kanon.

But shockingly, the person he was facing off against was someone I haven’t seen in more than ten years. It was the Black Demon King, Torc Twilight.

W-Why was he in the Salt Forest?

And why were he and Kanon glaring at each other?

The trees and stones of the Salt Forest were scattered around in pieces, so the crashing sound from earlier must have been from some kind of magical attack. 

To top it all off, Kanon was bleeding from his arm.

“Kanon!”

I paled and ran over to him. I hurriedly cast healing magic on his arm.

Then, I looked at Torc with a bewildered expression on my face.

Was he really the Black Demon King?

Torc still hadn’t aged, and he was still the exceptionally handsome man with black hair and slitted eyes, but his expression was much more grim than before, and his eyes were bleak, as though he had seen many hard battles and deaths.

“Torc, you…”

“It’s been a long time, Scarlet Witch Makirié.”

It really had been a long time since my name was said by him.

However, the sword in Torc’s hand had blood on it. I immediately figured out that it was him who hurt Kanon.

“Black Demon King Torc! What is going on here! Explain!” I glared at Torc and shouted.

“That man over there is dangerous, Makirié,” he told me matter-of-factly.

“What, what are you saying…”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

Torc looked alternately at me and Kanon and continued.

“Makirié, do you know about the ‘Legend of the Savior’?”

“The Savior? No…”

“When the times are in turmoil, a Savior is summoned from another world. It’s a legend based on that kind of superstition. When I heard this story from the <White Sage>, I laughed it off and thought it was a lie, but…it seems that the Savior truly exists and has been summoned to this world. This is reliable information from the Holy Land.”

“Information from the Holy Land? So what? That has nothing to do with me or Kanon.”

“So, you don’t know that shooting stars fell during the Northern Battle of the Lake ten years ago?”

“...Shooting stars?”

Of course I remembered that.

That day, I went looking for Torc and met Kanon on the shore of the Great Lake.

Torc pointed the tip of his sword towards Kanon.

“Shooting stars are the tidings that informs us that a Savior will appear from another world. Yes…you are probably that Savior.”

My eyes slowly widened.

I didn’t know how or where he learned of Kanon’s existence, but it seemed that he was convinced that Kanon was this legendary Savior.

“You wretch. What are you trying to do, approaching Makirié?”

Kanon remained silent no matter what was said to him. He simply glared at Torc.

His eyes and gaze were completely different from the Kanon I knew. His eyes were cold and filled with a quiet murderous intent,

Seeing him like that, Torc became even more wary of him.

“Things like Saviors are the allies of humans, after all. You’re nothing but a dangerous existence to the Country of Demons. I will kill you here before you’re found by the humans…by the <White Sage> of the Holy Land.”

Torc deployed the “Black Box” around himself. 

It was a special black cube-shaped magic tool that Torc used each time to use his own magic.

Torc was serious. He came here to kill Kanon.

I quickly came to that conclusion. 

“If you lay a hand on Kanon, I won’t forgive you, Torc.”

I stood in front of Kanon, spread my arms out, and glared at Torc.

“Move, Makirié! Do you want to be cut down by me too?”

“I’m not going to move! If you’re going to kill Kanon, then I’ll kill you first!”

“...Makirié.”

The person in front of me was the man I was once in love with.

However, I readied my wand.

I had no hesitation in protecting Kanon, and I could keenly feel the bright red magical power welling up within my body, along with my strong will.

Seeing me ready to fight, Torc narrowed his eyes and lowered his sword.

And then, he asked me a question.

“...Is this man that important to you, Makirié? Who is he to you?”

What was Kanon to me?

I didn’t have to think about it, and answered clearly without hesitation.

“Kanon is my family.”

That was what I always wanted.

It wasn’t you who gave me that, but Kanon. That was all.

“Kanon is the most important thing in the world to me.”

I was sobbing as I said this.

“Kanon was the only one who stayed with me. He was the only one who realized I was lonely. He’s the only one…who told me that I’m the most important person to him.”

The tears that fell from my eyes turned into rolling salt stones at my feet. 

Torc looked shocked when he saw my tears. Maybe they reminded him of the day we first met. 

“Hey, Torc, did you know? I loved you.”

So, at this moment, I said the words I had never been able to say.

“I was in love with you. You didn’t know, did you?”

“...”

“But I’ve been hiding these feelings for a long time because I thought they would be a nuisance. You have a country and a family that are far more important than me. I thought you’d be disappointed if I told you I wanted to be added to them…”

I was so scared that I couldn’t say anything for a long time.

Still, it was strange. The words I couldn’t say came out of me at a time like this.

“I didn’t have anything precious, like you have. I couldn’t even be a member of your family. I’ve always been alone…!”

After confessing that much, I was at a loss for words.

Torc’s eyes were wide. He seemed genuinely shocked.

Of course he was. He didn’t even notice my feelings for him.

But it didn’t matter anymore.

After taking a deep breath, I pointed my wand at Torc and spoke in a cold voice that was reminiscent of a witch.

“Kanon is like my own child. If you lay even a finger on him, I will kill you.”

“...Makirié.”

At this moment, I felt like I could have killed Torc.

Even if he was my first love, I would kill him as long as I could protect Kanon.

Torc faltered a little, perhaps because of my “confession,” but that was advantageous for me. I would use everything I could to kill this man.

My crackling magic was shaking the trees and ground of the Salt Forest.

This was my territory.

“Stop it, both of you.”

Amidst the tense situation, a dignified voice rang out that calm the atmosphere.

At this moment, a long-haired man dressed in white robes appeared from a forest path.

“The White Sage…Yunocis.”

That’s right. The other great magician alongside Torc and I.

It was Yunocis Baromet, who was famed as the White Sage.

This man also maintained his unaging appearance.

However, perhaps because he was a bit tired, or perhaps he had been through many hells, but his previous gentle demeanour had disappeared, and his face was grim. Behind him, he was accompanied by several people dressed as priests from the Holy Land. 

Yunocis glanced at Kanon and me, then questioned Torc first.

“Torc. You infiltrated the Holy Land and stole important information. Your spatial magic, which can pass through the barrier of the Holy Land and even outwit my spirits, is truly terrifying.”

“That’s right, Yunocis. Thanks to the prophecy of your wife, the <Green Priestess>, I learned that the Savior was living in the Salt Forest.”

“...”

Now it was the Black Demon King Torc and White Sage Yunocis who were glaring at each other.

They were once worthy rivals who acknowledged each other’s magic and good friends, but now they were officially enemies. Torc on the demons’ side, Yunocis on the humans’ side.

Yunocis looked like he wanted to say something, but he swallowed them down and started walking toward us.

“It’s been a long time, Makirié. How have you been?”

“...Why did you come here, Yunocis?”

I was also very wary of Yunocis.

“Don’t worry, Makirié. Unlike Torc, I didn’t come here to kill him.”

After saying that, he knelt down in front of Kanon.

The people of the Holy Land followed suit and also knelt and bowed their heads.

“He is the Savior of this world. The World Tree has already acknowledged him as the <Savior of Fraxinus>.”

“...”

“Fraxinus, or ash, is the plant closest to the World Tree. The fact that he was allowed to bear that name means that he is the greatest Savior in the history of Maydare.”

Kanon didn’t say anything in response to what the White Sage said.

His eyes were filled with indifference. He showed neither joy nor shock, and he looked down at Yunocis and the others with a truly emotionless expression.

I was worried about Kanon’s state, but meanwhile, Torc raised objections towards him. 

“Bullshit! If you want to worship him as the Savior, I’ll kill him right here. If I don’t do that, the war won’t end until all the demons in the world are killed!”

“Torc! The Savior is part of this world’s system to end this never-ending war. Trust me!”

“No, Yunocis! You’re powerless. You were powerless to stop the humans, weren’t you!”

“That is why the Savior exists! The people and kings of all the countries will listen to the words of the Savior. That is the law of the world.”

Now Torc and Yunocis were arguing incessantly.

“That’s how humans create a common enemy, band together, and blame all historical problems on demons! Screw you, I’m sick of it!”

“Torc… It’s true that we’ve already reached the point of no return. Now, even if it means fighting with you, my former friend, I must bring the Savior back to the Holy Land. This is to prevent any more innocent lives from being lost in a pointless war.”

“No. I’ll end it all here. Even if I have to cut you down!”

As they were glaring at each other and arguing, I was at the end of my patience.

The Black Demon King.

The White Sage.

They both refused to let me get involved, they left me all my own, and they fought only for what was important to them—

“Enough! Don’t take any more of my precious things away from me!”

Once, as great magicians, we acknowledged each other’s strength and created something great. We discussed our ideals and spent an enjoyable time together.

It wasn’t as though we had forgotten the friendship we had back then.

But now, the most important thing to me was Kanon.

“I’m sure that you two are fighting for what’s most important to you. If that’s the case, then I won’t let Kanon be taken away from me either…!”

I won’t let them kill him.

I won’t let them take him away.

I stabbed myself in the arm with my wand.

Crimson blood dripped onto the ground of the Salt Forest.

“!?”

“Leave the forest! Or I’ll kill you all right here…!”

My blood was the catalyst I used for my most dangerous spells.

The <Black Demon King> and <White Sage>, who knew that very well, both got tense expressions on their faces and braced themselves. However—

“Stop, Makirié!”

Kanon hugged me tightly from behind.

While hugging me tightly, he whispered admonishingly into my ear.

“Thank you, Makirié. For giving me a name and keeping me by your side. For calling me your family.”

“...Kanon…?”

“You’re a kind witch. You’ve always been.”

“...!”

The voice gradually calmed down my furious emotions and the power building up inside me. 

Supported by Kanon, I collapsed on the spot and burst into sobs. 

After settling me on the ground, Kanon stood up, looked at Torc and Yunocis, and spoke.

“Leave this place. For your sakes, don’t provoke Makirié any further.”

There was an intimidation and weight in Kanon’s voice that made it seem as though he was on the same level as us.

“You guys can’t defeat her when she goes all out. Out of the three of you, Makirié is the one with the most destructive power. I think you’re the most aware of that.”

“...”

Both Torc and Yunocis remained silent as the weight of Kanon’s words sank in.

After a few minutes, the White Sage Yunocis was the first to retreat.

“Very well. I’ll back off for now, Makirié. I apologize for trying to steal your important person from you. I have a precious child of my own. It’s natural for you to act this way, and you are correct. We are all fighting for what is most important to us. …Makirié, I wish for your happiness.”

After saying that, he left the forest, accompanied by the priests of the Holy Land.

The Black Demon King Torc stared at me for a while as I sobbed.

“...Makirié, I’m sorry.”

Squeezing out just those words in a low voice, he teleported away from this place.

The area was suddenly enveloped in deep silence and the scent of salt.

In that silence, I lost too much blood and cried so much that I felt myself slipping away from consciousness as I was assailed by an intense dizziness and headache.

“Makirié…?”

“I’m sorry…I…can’t…”

“Makirié! Makirié!”

Kanon’s voice, calling my name, was getting further and further away.

〇 

Was this a dream or reality?

Feeling like I was floating, I heard someone’s voice intermittently.

“Makirié, you can forget what I’m about to tell you.”

Oh, that was Kanon’s voice.

He was holding my hand as I slept. It was warm and calmed my turbulent heart.

“The truth is, I wished that I could have lived with you here forever. But time won’t wait for us. I have to fulfill the promise. Unless we break the laws of the world, we will always repeat the same thing over and over again no matter how many times we are reborn.”

Kanon was crying.

For as long as I had known him, he never cried, not even when he was a child.

“I really didn’t want to kill anyone…!”

I must not forget this.

I must not forget this. 

This must have been the earnest cry of Kanon’s heart.

“Someday, in the distant future…I want you to recall this, Makirié.”

〇 

Click.

Hearing a sound like a switch had been flipped, I suddenly woke up.

“...Kanon?”

It was a refreshing morning filled with cold air.

I was crying quietly.

After all, Kanon was no longer in this hut.

From the moment I woke up, I naturally understood that.

At some point, the wound on my arm was bandaged. I was sure that Kanon did it.

I felt like I heard his voice in my dream, but I couldn’t even remember what he said anymore. 

There was a letter on the desk. The only words written on it were “I’m going to the Holy Land.”

Kanon seemed to have headed to the Holy Land to become the Savior, just as the White Sage said.

――The Savior.

As I later learned, the Savior was one of Maydare’s self-cleansing forces.

When the world fell into chaos, a Savior was summoned from another world to guide this world.

When I asked that child where he was from, he answered, “From another world”...

I should have known from the moment I gave him his name.

Kanon was a special existence that would accomplish something important.

Even though I thought of him as family, we weren’t connected to each other by blood.

There was nothing to tie us together.

But, now that I found myself alone again, a gaping hole opened up inside my heart, and I felt terribly lonely, like a draft was blowing through me. Just looking at the two sets of furniture, tableware, and utensils in the house brought back memories of casual conversations with him and everyday happenings, and my heart squeezed.

I knew. I was a very weak woman.

No matter how strong my magical powers were, my heart was weak.

I felt lonely easily, and even though I couldn’t stand to be alone, I always was alone.

Somehow, I no longer knew what I was living for, or how I should spend my days.

Later on, rumors of the Savior Kanon even reached the Salt Forest.

Dontanates and Popoloactus also took the initiative to collect them.

After Kanon was baptized in the Holy Land and received the title of <Savior of Fraxinus>, he set out on a journey to find four warriors called <Guardians> and used their powers to stop conflicts and battles everywhere, working hard to purify the chaotic world.

It was as though he was the main character in a story.

Even so, the structure of conflict between humans and demons hadn’t changed.

Therefore, Kanon was a Savior for humanity, summoned to defeat the enemy of the world, the Demon King. The situation was exactly as Torc had feared.

However, it had been a year since Kanon left me. A huge shock hit the world.

“...What…?”

The most unexpected thing had happened. Kanon had killed the <White Sage>, who had guided him as the Savior.

When I heard this news, I couldn’t believe it at all.

I couldn’t understand how something like this could have happened.

Kanon killed Yunocis…?

Impossible. Impossible. That was impossible.

How could such a kind child kill anyone?

And before that, it would be nearly impossible to kill a great magician like Yunocis, who was protected by so many spirits. This must also be information meant to deceive the enemy…

However, Kanon made a grand proclamation in the Holy Land.

The <Black Demon King> to the north, the <White Sage> to the west, and the <Scarlet Witch> to the south. 

Only by killing these three great magicians would peace come to this chaotic world.

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