I really want to apologize to Loyd.
And so, just before getting on the boat that will take me to Abyss Wall, I ask the knights to do something for me.
“Excuse me. I have one last request. Can you deliver a message to Loyd from me?”
I actually want to apologize directly, but I know that’s not happening, so I want him to at least know how I feel now.
But that wish comes crumbling down.
“Ah! Nonsense. Now you’re trying to get our sympathy like that?”
The knight in front of me snorts and refuses.
“T-that’s not it. I just…”
“Everyone knows what you’re really like, power harassing woman! You’re not tricking us!”
It’s not just this knight, it’s all of them.
“It’s too late to have regrets!”
“You tricked us all this time. You can’t even do beginner level alchemy.”
“No one’s listening to your nonsense.”
“It’s your fault the great master rank mage Loyd is gone from the capital!”
“Get her on the boat already! I don’t want to see her face again!”
The knights pull me by the arm, and toss me on the boat. I try to resist, but the difference in our strength is very clear.
No one will listen to me. I know I brought it on myself, but all this hostility gives me a pain in my chest.
◆ ◆ ◆
It’s been two weeks, and I’m in a hell called Abyss Wall.
It’s a small island surrounded by the sea, so it’s impossible to escape without a boat.
The detention facility is in the center of the island, surrounded by a forest. This forest is home to a lot of man-eating monsters called red wolves. According to a guard, that’s like an advance warning.
I’m fed once every day. Hard bread with bland stew, and it never changes.
A guard walks by every ten minutes to see if there’s anything unusual.
There’s no hard labor, but instead, I’m not allowed to leave the cell.
I spend all day just sitting here in this empty cell.
Regular prisons don’t have hard labor either, because they’re meant to rehabilitate people as well as incarcerate them, but Abyss Wall is where they put people they don’t have any intention of letting return to society.
It’s pretty much a death sentence.
People here are treated like monsters. They ignore me if I try to speak, or depending on what I say, they enter the cell to mercilessly beat me with the night stick.
My right arm is still swollen from it hitting me three days ago.
It really is like hell.
There’s nothing for me to do, so old memories flow naturally.
Every time I remember Loyd, regret pushes deeper into me.
I don’t have anything left. Freedom, money, friends, future, it all turned to dust.
All I have is this whirlpool of regret and despair ahead of me.
No matter how much I regret it, Loyd will never know. And even if the knights told him, he would just be baffled by it.
It might be best to just not think about anything.
“I want to just die here.”
I mumble while leaning against a wall.
Thinking about how I have nowhere to go makes a tear flow down my face.
“I haven’t seen you in a while, but you look even more unsightly than before.”
I hear a male voice I recognize above me, and something that looks like a shadow drops from the ceiling onto the floor.
It’s the bandit I met in the atelier and under the clock tower named… Black Raven?
I only heard about it, so I’m not sure if it’s true, but apparently this is a famous assassin.
But at this point, it doesn’t matter if Black Raven is a villain or whatever. My life is already over.
“…Can I ask you to do something, Black Raven?”
“Do something?”
“Kill me.”
I don’t want to live anymore. It’s too late to regret anything, so I might as well die.
If the rumors are true, Black Rave is an assassin. There’s no way I can resist an assassin.
But then, Black Raven silently walks closer, and slaps my right cheek.
A dry sound echoes, and I’m left lying on the floor.
“Don’t play with me. My blade isn’t a cheap one that would kill someone with no value.”
Black Raven’s tone is different, with what sounds like a female voice to match.
I can’t see the expression under that mask, but I can feel the anger loud and clear in that voice.
“Then why are you here, if not to kill me?”
To look for Loyd? But everyone knows he’s in Minerva, so there’s no point in asking me.
“Nothing like that. When I learned you were in prison, I thought Loyd might come visit, so I came here to ambush him.”
“I see, but it looks like…”
“Loyd didn’t come here. He really parted with you for good.”
Parted.
I already knew it, but hearing it so clearly, makes tears fall from my eyes.
Loyd has completely forgotten about me.
So basically, I never had to apologize from the start.
Black Raven keeps looking down at me silently while I cry.
“How long are you going to cry like a child?”
“Uu… But…”
“Would it really do you good to apologize to him?”
“…Eh?”
Black Raven starts speaking slowly.
“How long are you going to keep depending on him?
Loyd found himself happiness by walking with his own two legs. You need to do the same and find happiness.
If you really feel remorse for Loyd, it’s time to become the world’s best alchemist without him.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
My own two legs. I never really thought about it.
Looking back, my alchemy was all about Loyd. It was his support that made me a master rank, and my atelier an S rank.
I’m still emotionally dependent on him, so that’s why Black Raven is telling me to move on.
Becoming a first-class alchemist without Loyd… Would be very hard.
He’s definitely at the top when it comes to mages. Gathering materials in Area Zero by himself is something other mages most definitely can’t do.
But originally, the difficulty of alchemy does not correspond to the difficulty of gathering materials.
With enough skill, it’s possible to lower the difficulty of stuff like the recipes in Hecate’s book.
Like the bahamut bomb I came up with, Soteira’s, and the legendary alchemist Hecate’s.
An alchemist’s strength is reflected in the recipes. This is a piece of common knowledge I forgot about all this time.
A real first-class alchemist can deal with any exclusive mage and perfectly make use of any materials.
After all, Hecate didn’t even have an exclusive mage. She never searched for one, and instead people she helped gathered around her, who fulfilled the same role an exclusive mage would.
She put together the materials they gathered, and made a lot of successful transmutations.
And so, with the help of a lot of people, she kept on being an alchemist without an exclusive mage.
Innate human virtues, and extraordinary alchemy. No other alchemist would ever dream of turning even common people into exclusive mages.
There’s a very low chance Black Raven thought of that as an example, but those words still have an impact on me.
“Who’s there!?”
Then, there’s an angry voice from the other side of the door.
“Oh dear, the guard noticed me.”
Black Raven says with an amused smile, not shaken at all, before turning to me.
“Ruby, I’ll ask one last time. Can you walk on your own two feet?”
I can’t do anything right now. Even my alchemy is below a beginner’s.
But it’s still not too late. I can turn my life around.
I don’t want to give up on life. I want to become a first-class alchemist, and move on from Loyd.
At this moment, if this isn’t a dream, I want to move forward by my own strength.
“I want to do alchemy.”
I say with a shaking, but clear voice to the girl in front of me.
The next moment, the heavy shackles on my limbs are easily broken by her blade.
“This is a good way to pass the time until White Rose gets here.”
This is the start of my new life as an alchemist.
◆ ◆ ◆
A few days later, a report from Abyss Wall reached Queen Merzelia.
“Y-your majesty, I have bad news! Lord Alchemia has escaped from Abyss Wall!”
“Is that so?”
“Miss Iris is in danger, so I will have soldiers all over the country look for her!”
“No, that won’t be necessary. Her target is probably Loyd, not to harm Iris.”
“Eeh!? B-but Black Raven was with her.”
“I don’t know about black or white ravens, but bring me my favorite earl grey.”
“Ah?”
“What is someone that can’t perform beginner level alchemy going to do? Chasing her is a waste of time and money.”
“Y-yes… If you say so your majesty, I will comply. But don’t blame me if the situation becomes unrecoverable!”
“Yes yes, thank you for your report. You may leave.”
She said, prompting the knight to leave the room.
The knight mumbled while exiting the room, and the queen let out a big sigh while sitting on a chair in the center of the room.
“One problem after the other…”
“Are you sure this is all right?”
Asked the grand chamberlain, who heard this back and forth. She had a similar look in her eyes as Sephilia’s, and had a cool air to her.
“Of course it’s not. I won’t be able to face the people of this country if something happens to Iris.”
“But then why that foolish order…”
“I don’t know. My mouth just moved on its own.”
“I see. What a very elegant response, very befitting of you.”
“Tch, annoying woman. Is that a snide comment? You don’t have to come here starting tomorrow.”
“You won’t have any more delicious tea then.”
“Ah! You really are so annoying!”
The queen showed an expression fit for her age, as she threw a fit out of irritation against the grand chamberlain.
After grumbling for a while, her expression turned serious again, as she whispered to herself.
(Living without a care and never noticing you owe it to the person in front of you is pretty much what I did too.)
She thought of Loyd.
Ruby was not the only one to not notice his abilities. Even though she knew he was Ruby’s exclusive mage, she unconsciously branded him as someone who only had the job because he was close to Ruby, and had little hopes for him.
She knew very well that it was in part because of how she treated them that Ruby grew so arrogant. And so, she wanted to give her a second chance. It was her way of atoning for her sin.
Yes, being with Black Raven made her dangerous, and she thought that alone was enough to consider her a threat to Loyd and the others.
But even so, she put Ruby first.
(Even with Black Raven, it will all work out as long as Loyd is there.)
She said to herself with a bitter smile, which was faintly reflected on a glass window.
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