The darkness enveloping us outside the windows was still as oppressive as always. I, however, got a pretty good excuse to look away as soon as I realized I had unknowingly scratched a bunch of pretty bad looking claw-marks on the window in my absentmindedness.

HOW HARD IS CHORALIUM?! Isn’t diamond supposed to be the stuff that can cut glass like this?! Fantasy metals are crazy.

Amelia was still doing her jog and Fanael was talking more politics…so this was a prime opportunity to write more to my memoirs. So, uh…where did we leave at last time?

Right, right…

Amelia and I had returned to the library, but Amelia decided against sleeping there tonight, which I honestly thought was a good thing. She had developed a bad habit of sleeping on the sofa, which I can’t imagine did any good for her health.

I had plenty of things to think about too! Namely, magic… And as little as I wanted to, those dark stones.

Why would the golden people want to absorb mana from things? The way Afita explained it, it seemed like these siphons were generally being used to store mana for something.

It would make sense the stones had some kind of purpose outside simply draining magic from things. The fact that the rock just went and disappeared also made sense in terms of that theory.

Maybe it was transported to somehow deliver all the mana it had siphoned so far.

But for what purpose?

Judging by how fast I was able to blow up a lamp by just overloading it with mana, it was more than clear a massive amount of magic would be really dangerous in the wrong hands.

The only thing about this whole theory that made no sense to me, though, was that…even though everyone was saying the stones were siphoning mana… I could sense no magic from them at all.

They were more like…black holes that just absorbed and consumed everything without any rhyme or reason behind them, but if that was the case…what was the point of them in the first place? What benefit is there to absorbing people’s mana, if you’re not even going to use it for anything?

My musings ended abruptly, as a familiar voice greeted me from the dark silence of the library.

“Ouuuh! Witchy! How’d things work out with you and the knight?!” The friendly face of the library guard emerged from the shadows.

“Oh!!… It’s uh…! YOU!” I nodded awkwardly, realizing I never asked for the name of the Haarken man who guided me to resolve things with Amelia earlier.

“Rhar! I guess we forgot to introduce ourselves last time!” He laughed. “So! How’d it all go? Looking at that arm, I’m guessing you’re doing fine!” He grinned.

“Y-yes… Yes, I am.” I gently caressed the metallic arm. “Thank you for pushing me towards facing my issues a bit. I’m not perfect with that kind of stuff.”

“That’s what I’m here for!” He laughed heartily and sat down by the table. He had a tray of tea with him. I decided against pondering on the stone any further, and instead took a small tea break with Rhar.

“Mmmh…” I must have stared a bit too long into my teacup because Rhar noticed my puzzled state right away.

“What’s troubling ya? Hopefully, it ain’t nothing as serious as last time!” He chuckled while sipping on some tea.

“Magic.” I nodded sternly.

“Pfffftt!” The man burst out chuckling, spilling some of his drink around. “You’re still on that?!” He howled like a damn hyena.

“Well, I am a witch! What’s the point of a witch who doesn’t know any magic?!” The noise I let out felt more like the howl of a dying animal than anything sentient.

“Hrrrrm… I guess ye got a point…” He laughed still while wiping the table with his beard. Yes, it was gross.

“A-ahem…” I coughed, having to regain my composure a bit after seeing him cleaning the table. “I’m still stuck on how to cast spells without a catalyst.” I nodded.

“Ohoo… Yeh… I suppose yer a monster.” The man stroked his filthy beard a bit. “In my experience, the monsters just kind of stand still and like…fire or something begins appearing in the air, before it’s flung at…well. Usually, me or one of my brothers.”

“You’ve seen monsters casting spells?”

“Aye! When I went on expeditions with my friends back in the day, we saw plenty! All kindsa critters live in the infinite caves of the underground!” Rhar leaned back on his chair.

“Do all monsters cast spells just like that?”

“Nay. I’d imagine it’s the same for monsters as it is for us. Not everyone conducts mana the same, so some monsters just rush at you and stuff.”

“Mmmh… Can you say if there was any kind of trait the monsters that cast magic shared?” I tried to figure out any kind of clues to the best of my ability.

“Hrrrrrmmmm….” The man crossed his arms and went into deep contemplation.

“Anything at all is fine!” I nodded too eagerly, my lust for knowledge was too powerful. I could imagine it with my mind’s eye. If Rhar were to ever be asked ‘What kind of person is Yverna?’ He’d probably just say something similar to ‘A totally magic-obsessed lunatic!’.

“Well… I suppose the ones casting spells were generally a bit smarter than the others? Like…the critters that just come rushing at ya blindly ain’t gonna be casting any spells, but the ones that cast magic were usually crafty and sneaky in their approach.” He had a pretty animated way of speaking, moving his hands around to emphasize his intonation a lot.

“So…a level of intelligence is necessary for casting magic for some reason…so it’s not purely instinctive?”

“Somethin’ like dat. I dunno. Whenever the monsters cast magic, they usually stop for a moment, kinda like they’re focusin’ on somethin’. It’s kinda a double-edged sword. Leaves ‘em open for attacks.”

“Focus…and intelligence.” I leaned back, then starting to wave around the mana in the air with my hand.

I’m relatively confident the whole process had to have something to do with the manipulation of mana in the air. It would make sense for the monsters to have to focus for a moment to move the amount of magical power needed to cast a spell.

But where did they move it? I felt like there was some critical piece of information missing… I had to reorganize my thoughts a bit. What did I know at this point?

I could move mana… I could see mana. There was a witch book practicing the drawing of sigils, despite witches being supposedly able to cast spells without them…

Why were the sigils so important?

And focus too…

It does require a sense of focus to draw a sigil…right?

As I kept pondering, I kept spinning my hand around. The mana swirled around a bit shakily at first, but soon it made for a pretty nice-looking spiral pattern as I spun it around more and more. The lamps in the room flickered a bit as I continued.

Sigil… focus…moving mana…

Wait!

Spiral…?

As soon as I stopped spinning my hand, the mana vortex slowly stopped its movement and began dispersing. The flickering of the lamps dimmed down a bit.

I had such immense control over the mana, that I could create patterns with it.

What if…

“Uh…Rhar! Can you step back a bit? Maybe hide behind one of the shelves. I need to try something.” I slowly adjusted my posture. The short and stout man seemed a bit confused but followed my guidance, rushing behind a bookshelf.

I began moving the mana around again. It was pretty difficult because I had to do it one-handed. As I mentioned before, my real arm was considerably weaker than the choralium arm, so it was nothing but a burden to the process at this point.

I began awkwardly shaping the mana in the air into a sigil over my metallic palm. Using my fingers, I guided more mana from different directions, imagining something like an empty indent in the air, which I had to fill with magic.

As soon as enough sparkling lights were aligned properly, the sigil of ‘Water’ was formed out of pure mana.

I drew the sigil with the sparkling magic particles in the air…

…and…to my endless surprise.

A small, maybe about a 100-milliliter dollop, of a slightly cloudy liquid, began forming in the air above my palm. It didn’t really grow, but I could move it around freely by simply pointing at it.

It flowed in the air like a bullet, flying around, until I returned it to my palm, where it stayed perfectly still in midair.

“… So, uh… What was the point of me getting behind the shelf?” Rhar was an asshole.

“SH-SHUSH! I DIDN’T KNOW IT’D END UP THIS SMALL!!” I was surely red like a chili pepper at this point. A mixture of incredible joy and embarrassment was a very new emotional state to me.

“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The man burst out laughing loudly, while I spun around my tiny water droplet with annoyance.

“T-there’s no need to laugh that much…”

“SO! What the hell kinda spell is that supposed ta be?!” He laughed and pointed at my tiny little water blob.

“W-water…” I mumbled awkwardly.

“WHY IS IT THE SIZE OF A WAD OF SPIT?!?!?! BWAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHA!” He began laughing even more. “WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TA DO!? YA CAN’T EVEN WATER PLANTS WITH IT!!” Surely if anyone was anywhere near the library, they’d know where we were due to how loud this idiot was being…

“W-well…!! It’s my first time!! S-surely next time it’ll be bigger!” I tried to argue.

The howling of the man continued. “BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! YOU CAN BARELY PUT OUT A CANDLE WITH THAT!!”

“Mmmmmghhh….” I hated to admit it, but the water didn’t really look the most impressive in volume, not to mention the cloudiness. It probably wasn’t good to drink. Maybe I simply had no affinity for water? I could try fire too!

From thoughts to actions. I shot the water into a drinking goblet of sorts I had unofficially designated for further inspection later, and decided to instead try fire.

I focused hard and formed the familiar sigil of fire over my palm, and all I could create was a fire the size of a matchstick’s.

The man before me stared at it for a good five seconds, and then began roaring with laughter again while rolling around on the floor.

I snuffed out the flame by grasping it in my hand. CLEARLY! Fire was not among my affinities either…

The man slowly crawled out from the underside of the table, bonking his head on it, which caused the goblet I had left the water in to spill.

“Oof!!” He laughed before crawling back up.

“P-please be careful…! You spilled the water!” I murmured.

“Haha…a….ah…?” The man’s laughter suddenly died down. His usually cheerful and jolly expression turned dead serious. It was as if the scars of age suddenly appeared on his face out of nowhere, causing him to look like an almost wholly different person. “W-witchy…” He pointed at the cup.

“Hm?” I turned to look at the cup. I knew instantly what he was staring at. For whatever reason, the metal surface of the goblet where the water I had hexed into existence had been had turned pitch black.

“Ay, Witchy…!” He shakily rushed off, only to return with thick leather gloves. He grabbed the chalice and began inspecting it closely. “It’s silver…” He murmured quietly. I felt almost a bit intimidated by him suddenly getting so serious.

“Uh…? What’s…wrong with silver? Why’d it turn black?”

“Do ya know why royalty almost always uses kitchenware made outta silver?” He shakily placed the cup on the table, carefully observing where the fluid had spilled, before rushing out and returning WITH A SAW OF ALL THINGS. He began sawing a piece of the table off.

“W-what?! Uh…?!”

“It’s ‘cause silver turns black when it comes into contact with sulphides…” He grumbled and gingerly placed the piece he cut off on the tray he had brought the teacups on.

“Sulphi…what?” I was growing more and more confused by the second. Sulphides? It sounded like something that might have something to do with chemistry?

“Aye. It’s a type of chemical. In the royal circles, it’s most commonly found in stuff called ‘Arsenic’”. He took the cup carefully while still wearing the gloves. “The poison of Kings.”

“P-poison?!” I jolted.

“A dangerous one at that. Missy. Ya ain’t created water. That’s pure liquid death right there. This silver cup is proof enough of it!” He pointed the goblet and the dark stains within at me. “Ya got some sinister magic right there. As expected of a monster.” He crossed his arms.

“I… I definitely created the sigil for water, though… Why’d the fire turn out normal?!” I opened my palm and began casting again. A cloudy liquid began forming again.

“It’s the same stuff again, ain’t it?!” Rhar picked the cup and guided it to the orb of liquid carefully. Coming into contact with the sphere left dark trails everywhere it touched on the goblet. It looked like a bunch of black scars were being torn over the once gleaming surface.

“W-what?! Why’s it poison again!? I’m sure I made the sigil for water!!” I opened the book for magic drawing practice and desperately scanned it over, only to discover I did create the sigil correctly. Not to mention, there wasn’t a sigil for poison in the first place.

“Ya witches are a scary bunch…!” Rhar stroked his beard again. Considering the filth I had created, I couldn’t really criticize his hygiene anymore. “Pour the poison on the wood I cut off. I’ll go get rid of it.” I did as guided and slumped onto my back on a comfy sofa-chair.

There had once again been a breakthrough in my journey to understand magic, but there was also yet another pile of mysteries on top of the old ones. My water turned into poison… But my fire didn’t. Well, at least I’m assuming it didn’t! Who knows! What if the smoke from the fire would turn out to be toxic fumes as well?!

There was CLEARLY a need for experimentation.

… Unfortunately, it was literally the middle of the night. The thought of starting to experiment various kinds of magic inside a library seemed like a rather bad idea.

Especially when considering all the… flammable materials around.

“Bahahaha! Imagine how much less ya would have gotten away with, had ya been able to shoot poison at yer enemies!!” It was clear Rhar wasn’t actually all that concerned over the fact that I knew how to cast weird poison magic.

“UHHHUHHH… No need to remind me… I’m VERY aware…” I groaned with a slightly ironic chuckle, patting the spot where I was still missing a leg.

We laughed and discussed various topics into the night. While Rhar was a bit rambunctious and his statements sometimes made me a bit uncomfortable …about everything, it was clear he generally had good intentions. He was a pretty nice man! As dawn was slowly breaking, our conversation had veered to magic again.

“So… You don’t know how to cast any magic?” I asked curiously as the first blue rays of the Subtherman artificial sky came through the window.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Well. I can do the BAAAARE minimum, like detection and measurement.” He nodded.

“Detection and measurement?”

“Ye. Like using magic to measure the length or weight of something! My limit is one meter, but it’s darn useful when fishing!!” The man seemed quite proud of his magic.

“Hahah! You can even use magic for that?! That’s amazing!” Obviously, I was easy enough to please when it came down to magic. I MEAN. They could have just used a measuring tape…BUT DOING IT WITH MAGIC WAS DEFINITELY COOLER! “What about the detection?”

“It’s basically a spell ya place on walls to know if someone has passed by!” He explained.

“Ohoo…! Does it just uh…leave a mark if someone passed by?” My curiosity had been piqued again. Obviously, it was yet another completely pointless spell! But still! It was magic, so it was exciting!

“Yeah! I guess some of the harder working mages can also get like aaa… whatchamacallit… a ‘ping’ noise going on in your head when someone passes the threshold!” He explained.

“Ohhh…!” I leaned back a bit. It was like surveillance magic? That’s ACTUALLY pretty useful. Thinking on it reminded me of something. “Hey! Do you think there was magic like that placed in the abandoned mining shaft that lead all the way to the dungeon?”

“Hrrrm… Not really! I ain’t that well versed on the going on’s in here. What’s got ya thinking so?”

“When Amelia and I came over to Subtherma, we entered through that cave and there was a slightly butterfly shaped carving on the wall.” I reminisced. “I remember being shocked over how some repairmen arrived almost as soon as we exited to fix the broken wood planks we came through.

“Ohoo! A butterfly? Like this?” The man doodled something, and returned to me a nearly identical drawing to the one I saw on the wall.

“YES! This was it!!” I nodded excitedly.

“Yeah! That’s a detection spell, alright! Be careful if ya ever see ‘em on the walls in enemy territory!” He chuckled, stroking his beard. It was a pretty good tip, despite the foreboding meaning it carried.

“I’ll keep it in mind!”

“Hey! Yverna!” A familiar nasal voice echoed from the doorway. Fanael was there. “Yo! I got some questions about your upcoming leg! Can you come over to the lab with me?”

“O-oh! Morning Fanael. Sure…! I think I can! Um…” I looked at my missing leg.

“Don’t worry! We’ll put that one to a good use!” She pointed at Rhar. I wasn’t quite sure what this was supposed to mean…

… Until I was sitting on a wooden carriage… Being dragged along the road by Rhar. People were pointing at me and laughing…!! Even Fanael was laughing at me!! What a betrayal!!

“W-where is Amelia?! I’d much rather be carried in her arms!!” I whined as I buried my face in my hands.

“She’s busy in the dungeon! She’s helping the men excavate all the choralium!” The princess somehow managed to utter among her giggling.

“NNNOOOOO” I screamed as I was rapidly carted to the magic research building we visited yesterday to check on the disappeared hand stone.

Inside, I was assisted by Afita and Fanael into the main office, after which Afita left with a thumbs up. I had a big, comfy leather chair to myself, and Fanael was sitting in a matching one on the other side of the dark wooden table. There were papers and pens strewn about everywhere.

There were also paintings of people who I vaguely recognized on the walls.

There was the king, although a bit younger. Fanael, but even smaller. And another Mhiir’im girl with similarly colored hair to Fanael’s. The princess seemed to notice my wandering gaze.

“It’s my mom.” She smiled brightly.

“She’s adorable, just like you.” I chuckled.

“RIGHT?! She was like the sun of our kingdom!” It was clear Fanael held her mother in great respect. Judging by the books I had read on Subtherman history so far, I assumed her mother had died a good while ago, so I decided against asking any intrusive questions.

“I can imagine!” I laughed. “AH! But speaking of cuteness! Can I ask something before we get to the business?” I tented my fingers. “As much as I want to hear about the leg…FOR VARIOUS REASONS…” I looked back at the door, behind which my cart of shame waited for me once more.

“Oh? Have at it then!” The princess smiled and began sorting through some papers. Maybe the correct schematics for the leg were mixed up among the papers.

“So… What’s the deal with you getting all squirmy when Amelia pets you?” I blurted out. Fanael’s inherent straightforwardness had rubbed off on me a bit, making it easier to talk about more taboo topics with her.

“Bweh!” Fanael let out a cute noise and jumped a bit. Her cheeks gained a bit of color. The way she glared at me was like I had asked something really inappropriate, but then she sighed and facepalmed. “Right…! Your amnesia…”

“Hm?” I tilted my head. I had no idea what me lacking the knowledge about this world had to do with any of it.

“Well, let me uh… give you a lesson on the three major families of sentience in this world.” She began. Luckily, there was a blackboard behind her, which she began doodling on. Fanael drew a simplistic and a bit chubby depiction of a human, then a big and tall human with wings of some sort behind them…and what I believe was a witch, judging by the big hat.

“I like the witch.” I commented as she continued drawing. Comically enough, she gave me a pretty serious nod. She seemed quite proud of it herself.

“We have, here, the core trio of sentient creatures!” She began. “HERE! The so-called human races!” She pointed at the cute and chubby humans. “It consists of Forestwalkers, Plainswalkers and Earthwalkers! Us Mhiir’im and our fellow tribes are Earthwalkers, for we live underground!” She explained.

“Ohhhh! So, is the human race the Plainswalkers then? Since they live around…plains and stuff?”

“Indeed! And the forest dwelling elven races and other races are the Forestwalkers.” She explained. I nodded eagerly, eyes sparkling. It was truly a fantastical world! ELVES!! I wanted to see one!! I couldn’t help but wonder if they were classical beauties, like in high-fantasy stories.

“One of the other two main families of sentience are monsters like you, or more officially, Nightwalkers.” She pointed her chalk at me. “This includes living nightmares like witches, demons, imps, goblins and such! Any monsters with a sense of sentience.” She nodded.

“Ohooo! Demons!!” My reaction of excitement clearly weirded out Fanael a bit. Maybe demons were really dangerous or something? Either way, she seemed to move past it pretty quick.

“The final category are the Skywalkers. Deities. They are the subject of worship for a lot of the other walker races.” Fanael continued.

“Even the gods are categorized like this as creatures? That’s a pretty interesting way to look at it.” Then I snapped out of my daze of fantasy-world-wonderment. “But…what does this have to do with being squirmy with Amelia?!”

“AHEM!” The princess coughed. “I understand, that from the perspective of a monster, it might seem bizarre, especially considering our different statures…” Fanael started, her speech had a slightly shaky air to it. “But…a thing that is critical to understand about the three groups of sentience we just discussed, is that for as long as you’re within the same group, you can… reproduce.”

“…” I was a bit dumbfounded. “So, demons and witches…”

“Can have children. It’s quite common, actually.” The princess continued.

“…” I began gauging the situation in my head. “I still don’t get it…” I crossed my arms.

“Ahhh… Do I really have to bend it out of steel for you to figure it out!? OKAY!! I’LL MAKE THIS RREEEEALLY CLEAR!” She slammed her fist on the table, causing an ink bottle to almost spill. “You are a monster! I don’t see you even as a creature of my species! You’re like a completely separate kind of entity! So, when I get petted, it just seems like I’m being adored in a respectful and endearing manner! You cannot have any ulterior motives behind it!!” She went on in a flurry of shouting.

“R-right? I mean…you are correct? I do find you adorable…!” I nodded, almost like making an oath of some kind.

“RIGHT! So, now imagine if I were to be a fellow human! And Amelia demanded for me to sit on her lap while she strokes my sides and head!!” She went progressively redder as she spoke. “WHAT WOULD THAT CONSTITUTE FOR?!”

“Ah…” I finally got it. I completely understood it. Oh, no… “It’s uh…” I staggered awkwardly.

“IT’S SEXUAL HARASSMENT!! That’s what it is!!” She roared with her cheeks rosy.

“UGHHHHHHHHH!!!” I slumped in my chair, and I’m sure even my cheeks were a bit rosy at this point. I had no idea Fanael could even see the situation from this perspective…! Being in a fantasy world does come with its own cultural issues and such to deal with.

“SO, YEAH.” Fanael finally calmed down a little. The ink had already spilled, but Fanael managed to rescue all the papers out of the way. Some helper Mhiir’im soon entered the room to clean it up, and they were gone as quickly as they arrived.

“J-just for the record…! I don’t think Amelia sees it that way! In fact, she was quite wary of your people when we first arrived. I highly doubt it’s something like that for her. She just thinks you’re cute, just like me.” I sighed, but understood this would most likely not appease Fanael. Amelia was sexually harassing the royalty of a kingdom! Of course, it wasn’t going to be that simple…

“I AM AWARE! But I am the one getting groped weirdly! So, I don’t care what her intention is!” Fanael had a point. “She’s from… Rachasia, is she not?” The princess suddenly piped up.

“Um…! I believe so!” I nodded awkwardly.

“They’re among the less sociable of the Plainswalker kingdoms. No wonder she’d lack the awareness of basic decorum.”

“Less…sociable?” I questioned her wording of choice.

“As in…they don’t really interact much with anything but other Plainswalkers.” Fanael nodded as she shuffled through her papers, still fuming a bit.

“UGHHHHHHH” I slammed my forehead on the table. I really needed to have a long talk about this with Amelia…

I MEAN! I felt like something was a bit off! She originally gave me the impression the so called ‘dwarves’ are hostile towards those of other races… BUT IT TURNED OUT IT WAS JUST HER OWN OVERLY ARCHAIC KINGDOM BEING DIFFICULT TO DEAL WITH!! Just goes to show you, that even those close to you can be wrong occasionally, I guess.

It’s not like she had any ill intent behind her actions anyway, so it was fine. She was just grown in an environment where shamelessly blatant misinformation was spread in place of truth.

Either way, I had to talk about this to her. For the sake of Fanael’s sanity…and mine. It was one of those ‘cannot unsee’ things, where if I’d look at Fanael sitting on Amelia’s lap from now on, all I’d see is the act of one-sided sexual harassment going on right next to me.

“A-aahhem… Anyway…the uh…leg…!” I reached out my hand at Fanael very cordially, as if to pass the speaking turn to her.

“The leg…” She murmured and pulled out some papers with various designs. Namely, the foot itself was a bit differently designed in each. There were some that looked like they were wearing shoes, but the shoe itself seemed built in the leg piece itself, so it probably wouldn’t be something I’d be able to remove. Some had bare feet, but due to the metallic nature of the leg, I doubted I’d be able to wear shoes on top of them, even if I had ones made in a bigger size…

“Hrrm… So, I’m meant to choose which looks the best to me?” I asked and shuffled through the papers.

“Pretty much. I, personally, would recommend a model that isn’t designed to wear shoes because even if you could find a shoemaker to make your shoes, you’d be completely reliant on custom works. It might prove troublesome on an adventure to constantly need a cobbler.” The princess explained. With how much experience she seemed to have adventuring, I didn’t see any reason in questioning her.

I took a look at my hand. It was rather menacing in appearance. It was meant to be a weapon of sorts anyway, so it made sense. I did admittedly have a certain kind of aesthetic in mind…

I intended to ask Fanael to introduce me to a tailor as well after the whole magic circuit tattooing process was dealt with. I wanted to become that epic witch from my dreams I mentioned a good while ago.

Clad in a long dark dress…with a big hat, and usually with high heels. A true femme fatale of sorts. But I guess it really wasn’t a huge deal if I couldn’t wear high heels. I could try to figure some other kind of design.

It was really difficult to comprehend my actual height due to having only Mhiir’im to measure myself against, but to my understanding, I was pretty tall. Amelia was even taller, but I feel I was probably quite menacing in terms of my height as I was.

Going for high heels might have been overkill.

“Could we follow the same design as the arm, and go with this one?” I picked out a design for Fanael, poking at the paper with my metallic claw left a tiny hole on it.

“Mm… Sure. I was thinking of that myself too…” She pondered a bit quietly, seeming lost in thought.

“Are you…uh…uncertain about it for some reason?”

“Well! I don't know! It just, sort of makes you look a bit…monstrous? The sharp claws give off a pretty dangerous vibe.” She began. I was about to question the issue with it when she spoke up again. “I don’t think you’re a monster.” She nodded, a gentle smile making its way to her face. “I feel it misrepresents who you are as a person a bit.”

“Fanael…!”

“Obviously! You ARE a witch! So, biologically a monster! But…like…as a person.” She reiterated, although admittedly, I did gather it from the statement already. “You’re gentle, a bit awkward and lame… And first and foremost! One of the more heartfelt, heartless people I know!” She grinned warmly, clearly planning on just letting the remark about me being awkward and lame linger.

I just stared at her, then standing up…and then realizing I was missing a leg, so I simply slumped back down onto the chair. Fanael seemed a bit confused, so I just assertively spread my arms at her. She laughed and slowly climbed over the table.

I hugged her tightly for a moment, before I finally let her back on the table. Maybe Fanael was a bit wild sporadically, but she was very nice deep inside.

“But um…” I mumbled and looked at the design.

“Yes?” The princess made her way back to her seat.

“Isn’t the design kind of cool, though?” I pointed at the sharp clawed design.

After my comment, the little princess simply laughed her heart out, guiding her assistants to begin work on the design I wanted. I didn’t really understand what she found so funny about my answer… I mean. The design was cool as hell!

Amelia greeted me at the door out of the office. I was mostly relieved over not having to ride the cart of shame anymore, but I was also horrified over having to explain the whole situation with Fanael.

The princess remained in her office, giving me weird looks, which I returned with trying to signal to her about trying to talk to Amelia about the subject.

“Amelia. Can we go to the riverside to lay down? I wanna talk to you a bit.” The knight obliged with glee as soon as she heard my words.

She carried me over to the riverbank near the train station. The grass was warm, and the subtle noises of the river made the situation feel quite tranquil. Very relaxing considering the topic I was about to embark on.

“Okay… Amelia…” I started.

“Yes. What’s weighing your mind?” She smiled gently and sat beside me, and soon cast out a fishing line into the water. She actually had hooks and bait with her unlike our last fishing escapade.

“We need to talk about the flowers and the bees.” I blurted out, to which the paladin obviously reacted with an expression of such confusion I almost wanted to start crying on the spot. MAN! Why do I have to be the mediator in this situation?!

Anyway… I’ll kind of… skim over our conversation a bit, since it’s mostly just me reiterating what Fanael told me earlier.

Amelia’s reactions were as expected. It all started off from confusion… then she went pale… then she went red… and then she was burying her face in her palms as well. Her fishing rod got tugged into the water by some kind of crab creature.

“W-what nonsense have I been taught in my knight schooling?!” She whimpered in a high-pitched tone.

“W-well! It’s not…your fault! You know…! Back in my previous life, there was a time when people thought the earth is flat!” I chuckled.

“I-I see what you’re trying to explain…” She sighed with a tone of defeat in her voice. “When one’s world view is very limited, it’s easy to start believing in things that are untrue.” Amelia flopped onto her back, chuckling a bit, seeming not to mind her lost fishing gear. “To think I, a mother, would get schooled about such elementary things at this age…!” She laughed in what sounded like disbelief. “I need to apologize to her…”

“Mmh…!” I pondered for a moment. “Say! I never really thought about this, but you and Fanael are both women. What was the stance of attraction between those of the same sex in Rachasia?”

“Um?” She tilted her head. “What do you mean?” To my surprise, she seemed a bit confused.

“Like…is it okay for girls to… date or marry other girls? And I guess the same for men?” I explained.

“Ah… Mmm…” Amelia seemed to ponder for a moment. “I did hear rumors that on the Southern Continent ruled by the Ofashian Empire they don’t approve of such, but here on the Northern Continent it’s generally considered wholly normal.” Amelia delivered an interesting piece of information. I had never heard of Ofashia before.

I shook my head a bit, snapping myself out of the urge to ask more questions about the other continent. “All the more reason to apologize to Fanael!” I laughed.

“Indeed! Maybe we could get her a gift of some sort!” Amelia smiled brightly. She didn’t seem too concerned over the issue at this point. “How about a crown of flowers?!” She beamed. “I used to make a bunch with Amy! I can bring you some flowers, and we can make crowns together.”

She was like a little girl when it came down to this kind of stuff, which honestly was insanely cute. What a gap! It was such a contrast to her usually handsome behavior.

Flower crowns turned out to be excellent practice for using my choralium arm. The sharp claws shredded several flower stems, so I took my time to practice precision with them better. It was actually really relaxing and fun.

After our crowns of apology were made, we headed back to town. Asking around a bit, it sounded like Fanael was still in the office, so we made our way there, knocking on the door.

Soon we got welcomed inside…Fanael was still sitting behind the desk, there was a pile of papers next to her. She seemed a bit surprised and maybe embarrassed to see Amelia.

“So…?” She scowled.

Amelia walked over to her side and suddenly knelt before her in a very knightly manner. “I have done a great disservice to you, your Highness. I admit my wrongdoing, and I hope you can see it in your infinite wisdom and cuteness to forgive me.” The word ‘cute’ seemed to get a small jolt and blush to appear on Fanael’s cheeks. Clearly, the flirty-prince-side of Amelia was not going to go away, even when trying to apologize.

“Um… We made you a gift of…apology.” I chuckled, handing Amelia the flower crown, which she took graciously and gently placed upon Fanael’s head. The little overlord stared at us wide-eyed, cheeks rosy.

“Please accept this gift of apology… I didn’t realize my behavior was something that made you so uncomfortable, and I will find restrain with my desire to pet and adore you from now on.” Amelia gazed at the flustered princess with those piercing ladykiller eyes of hers.

“U-uh…?!” Fanael was just a confused mess at this point.

“I may only wish that you will understand, that I had no intention of making you uncomfortable at any point. I simply find your appearance so incredibly adorable; it was impossible for me to resist.” She went on, causing the princess to grow even redder. At this point, she matched the color of her dress quite well.

“….!?!?!??!” The princess simply sat there in a confused daze. A full-blown assault of princely charm from Amelia was clearly too much for her.

“Please… Won’t you forgive me?” Amelia gently took hold of the princess’ hand and gave it a kiss.

I understood perfectly how the princess was feeling at the moment! I had been assaulted by Amelia’s handsomeness in the past, too. While…definitely less directly, it was still a weapon of absolute lethality to any maiden’s heart… or lack of one.

“W-well…a-as long as you…understand…” Fanael mumbled awkwardly, gently fiddling with her flower crown.

“Thank you. And I am truly sorry.” Amelia bowed one last time, and then stood up. “We didn’t mean to intrude on your work, but this issue seemed of the utmost importance to resolve, so we barged in.” She continued. “We’ll be taking our leave.” The knight smiled politely.

As we were about to exit, Fanael shouted. “Wait!!”

Both Amelia and I turned to look. “Yes…?” Amelia spoke up.

“Ah…um…” The princess looked around awkwardly, as if she was trying to find some invisible spiders on the walls. Her eyes were darting in random directions like crazy. “W-well…”

“Is something wrong…?” I asked this time.

“I just…maybe…um…” The princess staggered more, poking her fingers together. “I…could…”

Both Amelia and I exchanged a glance. The princess was clearly trying to say something, and due to her volatile nature, it might have been for the best if we didn’t usher her on too much, so we simply waited silently for her to speak up.

“M-maybe if it’s…just head pats…it could be okay…” Fanael mumbled very quietly, but Amelia for one sure as hell heard it. Her expression changed from her usual polite one into one sparkling with joy.

“W-wait…! Do you mean?!” The paladin rushed over to the princess, who squealed and tried to protect herself with a ledger of sorts.

“M-MAYBE!! JUST MAYBE, OKAY!! DON’T GET AHEAD OF YOURSELF!” The princess whined from behind her layer of protection. Amelia reached out and pulled the ledger out of the way, getting another squeal out of Fanael, who flailed her arms at the overly handsome assailant helplessly.

The paladin reached out gently and petted the side of Fanael’s head very gingerly with a single curled finger. “I’d never do anything you find yourself uncomfortable with…! So, please, all I ask, is that you’re not afraid of speaking your mind to me.” Amelia spoke as she gently stroked the still slightly squirming royalty.

“Mmmmmghhhh….” The little bundle of conflicting emotions groaned and finally seemed to calm down a bit. She eventually sat up and sighed a bit defeated. “Everything in moderation…okay…?” She nodded at Amelia with a comical air of sternness.

“As you wish.” The paladin beamed. “I’ll always ask for permission from now on!” She bowed to Fanael contently. I guess…somehow it all worked out in the end??

I mean. If I’m completely honest, I prefer when my friends don’t have weird burdens to bear when talking to each other. In my experience, those kinds of friendships never last.

If rules have to be set up in a friendship for how person A has to treat person B and so forth, it usually breeds conflict. Even if Amelia couldn’t dote on Fanael as freely as I could, she still seemed to have the freedom to do so, as long as permission was asked! Which honestly should apply to me too! So, I decided to make a mental note of asking for permission to dote on her in the future.

For the sake of equality in the appreciation of cuteness!

After we made our way out of the office, Amelia was beaming like a second sun had entered the building. She seemed thrilled over not being disliked by Fanael, and also over not having her cuteness-appreciation-privileges revoked.

Judging by Fanael’s reaction, I think she might have the makings of a tsundere.

Which admittedly only makes her value on the cuteness market higher, in my opinion. She truly was a gift that kept on giving, and I was over the moon with joy due to having her join us on our journey.

As if to remind me of her cuteness in the present, Fanael crawled onto my lap.

I decided to set aside my writing tools and petted her head, after asking for permission, of course.

She was a bit tuckered out by all the work, and I needed some sugar in my life, so I just enjoyed watching her snooze on my lap.

It was much more comforting than watching out the window into the gloomy darkness still surrounding us.