Chapter 3

“…Me?”

Melody looked at him, unable to gauge what he was thinking or why he said that.

“You helped a mage.”

“Gasp…!”

At those words that dragged up her past, Melody’s eyes widened in shock.

Only twice. No—three times. No, perhaps even more. It was something she had done at a young age. Back when she started making magic tools and fancied herself a fairy from a storybook. She had committed those acts without knowing the sacred laws of the temple.

She didn’t know how he found out, but one thing was certain:

‘I’m screwed.’

If he knew that much, there was nowhere left for her to run.

“You must know what kind of punishment is given to those who assist mages.”

Flogging. Over thirty lashes.

And once punished, one couldn’t receive healing from a priest, which often led to disability—or in severe cases, death.

Melody clenched her trembling fingers into a fist. Those red eyes of his bore into her, as if evaluating her usefulness.

Though tense, she calmed her breath and opened her mouth.

“You didn’t come here to punish me, did you? If that were the case, you would’ve brought the knights.”

“So you’re a magic tool maker. Smart.”

“It’s not because I’m a magic tool maker. I was just born smart.”

“I like that.”

He smirked crookedly and continued.

“Then you must know what will happen if you refuse my request.”

Surely, the temple’s flogging block awaited her.

“Come with me.”

Pretending to obey would increase her chances of survival far more than dying from a beating.

Melody followed Deonis. She had no other choice.

* * *

The place Deonis brought her to was a small house at the edge of the sacred barrier. The white, translucent wall shimmered close enough to touch. Inside the empty room were just a few chairs.

“Sit.”

“I’ll stand.”

Her legs were shaky, but Melody mustered her strength and held firm. She had been dragged into the tiger’s den—she needed to steel herself.

“Bring him in.”

At Deonis’ gesture, soldiers dragged in a scrawny middle-aged man. He had brown hair and a scruffy beard.

Unfortunately, Melody recognized his face.

“N-no! That’s not him. He was taller!”

The man—Malon—shouted the moment he saw Melody.

He was a mage, one who shouldn’t have been able to enter the sacred barrier. But he had begged to see his family just once before dying, and Melody hadn’t been able to ignore his plea. That was the start of all this.

“Light green hair. Green eyes. Shoulder-height. Pale and pretty face. Works inside the barrier.”

He had already said too much to deny it, but Malon avoided her eyes and shook his head violently as if convulsing.

“No. That’s not it. Please, punish me instead. I beg you.”

“Feeling guilty after seeing her face?”

“……”

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

Shing.
With a chilling sound, Deonis drew a sharp sword and pointed it at Malon.

“Best to stay still.”

“AAAAAH!!”

As the blade struck, Malon screamed.

But there was no blood. No flesh was cut. Deonis had aimed for something else.

“H-hrrgh…”

Malon collapsed, gasping as if he’d been slashed open, unable to breathe. Seeing what had been severed, Melody cried out instinctively.

“No!!”

Deonis’ gaze pierced into her, but Melody didn’t hesitate. She rushed forward, picked up the sandbag-shaped magic tool that had fallen, and shoved it back into Malon’s hand. His breathing gradually eased.

“Hah… hah… I-I thought I was going to die. Th-thank you.”

Melody shook her head at the man, now drenched in tears and sweat. If she’d been a little quicker, he wouldn’t have suffered this much.

“I’m… sorry. I swore I’d never tell. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.”

“It’s okay.”

She knew he had no choice. So her anger was directed elsewhere—toward Deonis.

“Do you know what that is?”

Deonis pointed at the magic tool Malon held, a strange expression on his face.

“Go on. Tell me what it is.”

As if sure that she would know. Melody slowly opened her tightly shut eyes.

The sacred barriers installed in every village detected magic power. That tool disabled the barriers, allowing mages to go undetected.

“A magic nullification device.”

And the one who made it—was Melody.

Melody had created the magic nullification device during a particularly harsh winter. Every hunt failed, and she grew so thin her ribs showed through her belly. Her father tried to send her into the village inside the barrier.

‘Sweetheart, listen carefully. If you pass through the barrier stone and go to the village, you’ll see a building with a white crescent moon.’

‘The temple?’

‘That’s right. Go there and tell the person in white that you have no mother or father. Say that… and they’ll take care of you. You’ll get bread, soup. You can do that, right? My little angel?’

‘But I have you, Daddy.’

‘Let’s keep that a secret between just us, okay?’

‘Why? Aren’t you coming with me?’

‘I have to stay here.’

‘I don’t like secrets. I want to stay with you.’

But Melody didn’t want to go anywhere without her father. That year, she created the magic nullification device, and the two of them managed to survive the winter inside the barrier.

The next year, her father declared that he would never enter the barrier again.

‘Melody, my little sprout, let’s never make that device again.’

‘Why? There’s bread, meat, and chocolate cookies inside!’

‘Sweetheart… do you know the saying, “A long tail gets caught?”’

‘Then I’ll make a magic tool with no tail.’

‘That’s impossible. Even the goddess leaves traces behind.’

‘What if it’s a magic tool that turns back time and makes it like it never happened?’

‘Even then, somewhere in the world, a trace will remain.’

Her father had been right.

Years later, he used the device to treat Melody’s fever, and wandering mages outside the barrier discovered it. Malon was one of them.

‘I never imagined I’d get to use this.’

Living secretly inside the barrier, Malon had nearly been killed when Deonis found him—and to save himself, he betrayed her.

Melody sighed and looked Deonis in the eye.

There was only one way out of this.

“It’s true I handed the tool to him, but I didn’t make it.”

Deny everything.

“Then who did?”

“…My father. He made it when I was only nine years old. And he hasn’t made one since.”

He wasn’t dead, but she saw no reason to tell him that.

She expected Deonis to react in shock, but he only raised an eyebrow.

“Then you must not know the critical flaw in this tool.”

“Of course… I don’t.”

That couldn’t be true. She had checked it repeatedly, knowing her father would use it. She barely swallowed her rebuttal and forced her voice to stay calm.

“There’s a flaw… in the device?”