A Fairytale for Wizards

Healing conjuring was what Azriel especially worked hard on. From animals to the villagers, she had healed many. The chief nodded and grabbed the arrow. Azriel put her hand near the wound and prearranged mana. Then she started counting. “One, two, now!”

“Aarrgh!” As the arrow was pulled out, the boy twisted his body and screamed while still being passed out. She quickly recited the spell. “Esthera!” The wound that was ripped by the arrowhead was healed at a visibly fast speed. Even though they had seen this scene many times, the chief couple and Tom were impressed.

In fact, a wound of this degree was not easy to be healed right away with conjuring only. What ordinary wizards could treat at once was only about a scratch. It was a limit of using only the mana inside one’s body. What Azriel did was the same conjuring. However, what she was different from the other ordinary wizards was that the mana that she was born with was enormous enough to perform conjuring that could rival magic.

“It’s done. The wound is all healed, so you can just let him rest,” Azriel observed.

“Great job, Azriel. Thank you,” the village chief thanked her.

“But who is this? I’ve never seen him around…” Azriel blurred the end of her sentence. It felt like she had seen his bright blond hair. Soon, she remembered the boy that she caught a glimpse of through the carriage window.

“People found him lying in the woods and brought him here. He must be a noble.” The chief looked at the boy with greedy eyes. He was expecting a reward for helping a noble.

“Was he alone?” asked Azriel.

“They searched around but didn’t find anyone else.”

‘If it’s the person from yesterday, there were several knights who served him. What happened? Is he a different person?’ Azriel tilted her head.

“Azriel, since you’re here, do you want to go see Jonathan’s foal? It was born yesterday!” Tom interrupted them. The chief couple also pushed her, saying that they will call her when the boy wakes up.

‘Well, I can ask him directly when he’s up.’ Judging so, she left with Tom to look at the foal.

*

The boy woke up not long after that. As soon as he woke up, he looked for the wizard who healed him. Azriel had a private conversation with the boy at the chief’s house.

“You are… the wizard who healed me?” he asked.

“Yes,” answered Azriel. The boy’s blue eyes that looked at Azriel wavered.

“That’s nonsense. You’re just a child. A child like you can use the magic like this that healed my wound completely?”  

“You are young, too.”

“I am fourteen!”

“I am ten. The coming-of-age celebration is at age eighteen, right?”

“…” Lost for words, the boy closed his mouth. After thinking about something for a while, he looked at Azriel with serious eyes that did not match his age. “First, I appreciate your help. I don’t have anything in my possession right now, but I will reward you enough for your service in the future.”

“You’re welcome.”

His way of speaking was completely different from the villagers. He did not seem like a fourteen-year-old boy. He was certainly a noble. The boy lowered his voice with a stern face.

“I will say this considering you a wizard of your own share, not a child. I have a favor to ask.”

“What favor?”

“Can you communicate for me?” 

Azriel, who got nervous along with his serious atmosphere, was suddenly dispirited. Any wizard could perform such magic, but was being too serious. It was not a difficult thing to do. She nodded. “Okay. To whom, what kind of message should I deliver?”

“To Palaios…” The boy stopped talking for a moment and continued. “…That the poorest beggar you’ve ever seen is here. I want you to deliver it with the location of this village.”

“Pardon? A beggar?”

At Azriel’s question, his face turned red. He said as he slowly turned his eyes away. “If, if you say so, h, he will k, know that it’s me.”

“…Is that your nickname by any chance?”

“It’s not a nickname! It’s, just, it’s to make it sound easily recognizable…” With his face completely flushed, he closed his mouth shut. The poorest beggar with that glamorous and good-looking face? How did he get that nickname? Suppressing her laughter, Azriel asked again. “Is that all you want to say? The person from the family of Palaios, his spell, I mean, that’s his surname, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Tell me more about him in detail. What is his voice like?”

“Do you have to know such things?”

“I can connect to a wizard that I know straight but it’s between the wizards who don’t know each other. I shouldn’t deliver it to a different person who has the same surname, right?” 

“I see. The one I’m looking for is Pendelok Palaios.” After saying so, the boy studied Azriel’s face. Azriel tilted her head. ‘Maybe that wizard is very famous. I don’t know about such things.’

“Is that all? Any other characteristics? Is there any other wizard with the same name?”

“…He’s a very old man. He’s over eighty.”

“Oh, then I should be able to find him.” Azriel pronounced it with her mana.

“Esthera, Palaios.”

With her spell, she activated her mana and by reciting the other party’s spell, she sent out a signal. When the other party received the signal that could be identified by the fluctuation of mana and answered, their mana would be connected and voice could be delivered. If one knew well how the other party’s mana felt, in a case like now, one had to spread his signal randomly. After that, he would have to find the person among all the people who answered him. In case of a common spell, it was difficult to find a person as it was used by many people.

[It’s a wizard with a spell that I’ve never heard of. Who are you?]

A blunt old man’s voice immediately rang in her head. Luckily, it seemed that there was only one. “This is the village of Hanora near the Tail Mountain Range of the Kingdom of Aucandor, and the poorest beggar you’ve ever seen is here. I was asked to deliver this message,” said Azriel.

[…!]

She could feel the old man astonished.