A Fairytale for Wizards

“… Then where is this castle located?”

“It’s an empty castle in the eatern area of Khu Kingdom.”

“Isn’t Khu Kingdom a nation beyond the Talasin Empire? It’s awfully far away! How on earth did you get that far and arranged a castle?” 

“It came to be as I was looking for a suitable castle that had a lake on its side.”

“Did it have to be a castle with a lake?”

“There are not many locations that are apt like a lake to practice different kinds of magic.”

“A lake? Is it because of the magic related to water?”

“That can be a reason, but a lake is convenient to practice large scale magic. It has a wide surface that doesn’t have any obstacles and you wouldn’t make a hill and dale. Since it’s water underneath, there is also a less chance of getting injured.”

He chose a castle with a lake because it was suitable to practice magic. It was a reason she did not expect.

‘He really is going to teach me magic properly.’

He did not seem to like the idea, but he was going to try his best since Azriel wanted it. She was very thankful that he arranged a place considering such things.

“I see. It’s all for the sake of magic training— but you don’t necessarily need a castle, do you? It could’ve been a house by a lakeside.”

“I remembered that you used to like castles like this. Don’t you like it? If you don’t, I’ll find a new place.”

“Wait a minute, did I like this kind of a castle?”

“Don’t you remember?”

Azriel looked back at the picturesque castle and something suddenly came to her mind.

‘There was a picture book that has a similar castle drawn in it.’

She liked the picture book the most among the books she read to learn alphabets when she was young. She read it time after time.

‘I liked the pretty pictures but I especially liked the story.’

It was a story of an ordinary girl who was raised in love by her family and rescues a cursed prince who was locked up in a castle, with the help of a wizard. She recalled that she used to lie down on her stomach and look at the pages where a picture was fully drawn on two pages. It was a picture of a girl who was heading to a castle by a lake.

“That picture book— Do you still remember such things?”

He laughed a little.

“I remembered it as I was thinking about what kind of a house you would like.”

She vacantly looked at Rhema and looked back at the picturesque castle again. She felt strange once more. She felt like it was an illustration softly painted with pastel and watercolors. Soaked in the mood, Azriel hesitated. Rhema gently spoke.

“Tell me honestly if you don’t like it. I can find a new place in two or three days.”

“No. It’s very beautiful,” shaking her head hastily, she replied.

“That’s good to hear. Then—”

“Um, but isn’t a castle too much? It’s not that a lot of people will live there…”

“Since you’re not a young child anymore, I thought it’d be better to have a big place. It’s not even a big castle, either.”

“No, this is huge! It’s huge enough that Maylie and I won’t be able to clean it even if we cleaned it all day long.”

“Don’t worry about that. We can make a spirit dwell in here.”

“A spirit? Are you going to make a spirit like the one in your house? Can it manage a castle this big alone?”

“Yes, I can create one based on that castle. A spirit’s nature is determined by where it’s born,” he thought for a moment and added. “It’d be great if you try making one yourself, Azriel.”

“I can make the spirit of that castle?”

“It’s quite useful if you learned how to make a spirit. It shouldn’t be a hard task for you.” He said it casually and headed to the castle. 

Following him from behind, Azriel reminded herself of what she learned about spirits when she was young. Originally, spirits were a lump of mana that naturally formed after mana inhabited a natural object and went beyond a critical point. Once it went beyond the critical point, it would naturally cluster together and form. A spirit that was born like that became a being that would reflect the nature of the natural object it was born in or the nature of the mana that had been stagnant.