Chapter 5
Feeling as though he wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear, Aaron began recounting everything that had happened to him the previous night.
The wizard’s hood was drawn so low that Aaron couldn’t make out a single hint of the expression beneath it, making the whole ordeal even more uncomfortable.
“…And that’s what happened.”
“Then what do you intend to do once you’ve found this lady, Sir Schmidt?”
After listening to the entire account, the wizard spoke again.
“Are you planning to marry her?”
“If necessary, then yes.”
“Even without any affection for her? Merely out of a sense of responsibility?”
What an old-fashioned wizard, Aaron thought.
He was on the verge of losing everything, and this wizard was asking about love?
Marriage didn’t require affection.
What mattered was protecting everything he had worked so hard to earn—and everything he currently possessed. Love didn’t bring wealth, status, or honor. If that made him a materialist, so be it.
“How many people actually spend their lives together because of love alone?”
“I see. So the honor and position you hold are precious enough that you’re willing to track down a woman whose face you can’t even remember and consider marrying her.”
“Isn’t that only natural?”
“And if you find her, what will you do if she refuses to marry you?”
“Then that would actually be the best possible outcome.”
“Very well. Then I’ll take it that you feel no affection whatsoever for this young lady.”
Affection? How could he possibly feel affection for someone whose identity he didn’t even know? Someone whose face he couldn’t even remember?
“Can you find her?”
Clinging to a sliver of hope, Aaron looked at the wizard.
“Would you take me to the room? I believe I’ll need to examine the scene for myself, Sir Schmidt.”
“Please, call me Aaron, Lady Freyan.”
For now, he needed to stay on this wizard’s good side.
“Very well, Aaron. And my name is Daisy.”
“…Pardon?”
“You may call me by either name. I simply thought you should know.”
Having introduced herself with a name that seemed utterly unsuited to a Grand Archmage supposedly over a hundred years old, the wizard picked up the staff resting against the wall and walked toward the door.
Then she looked back at the dumbfounded Aaron.
“Aren’t you coming? You said there wasn’t much time.”
“Ah… Right. Of course.”
Startled, Aaron hurried to his feet.
One bewildering surprise after another. A Grand Archmage with the youthful voice of a young woman… named Daisy. If he told his fellow knights, they’d surely accuse him of making the whole thing up.
◇ ◆ ◇
“……”
When they arrived at the room where everything had happened, Aaron silently watched what the wizard was doing.
Freyan placed her staff upon the bed, where the lingering traces of last night’s passion still remained, and began chanting a spell.
As she slowly moved the staff, glowing fluorescent footprints gradually appeared, leading from the bed, across the floor, and all the way to the door.
“This is…?”
“The young lady’s footprints.”
“I see… But why are you…?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to find her?”
At another incantation, one of the glowing footprints rose from the floor, transformed into the shape of a shoe, and floated gently into the wizard’s hand.
She held it out.
“Take it, Aaron.”
“Huh?”
Almost reflexively, Aaron accepted it.
It was a pair of slippers that shimmered with the clarity of crystal.
“The woman whose foot fits these slippers is the lady you’re searching for. They have been enchanted to fit her feet and hers alone.”
“Incredible…”
Magic truly was magic. How could anyone accomplish something so miraculous?
For the first time, Aaron felt a twinge of regret over all the times he had looked down on wizards.
Perhaps they were useful after all.
At least once in a while.
“So, what do I do now?”
“You’ll have to obtain the guest list of the ladies who attended last night’s ball and visit every one of them, having each try on the slipper.”
“……”
Aaron stared blankly. Truly? Just how many women was he going to have to visit? And what possible excuse could he use to ask them all to try on a shoe?
“Since you said she’s an unmarried young lady, you can at least eliminate the married women. That should narrow the list considerably.”
“But what reason am I supposed to give them?”
“Simply tell them you’re searching for the beautiful young lady who stole your heart at last night’s ball. What unmarried lady would refuse to try on the slipper after hearing that?”
She paused for a moment before adding,
“Especially when it’s Sir Aaron Schmidt who is said to be looking for a bride.”
“Pardon?”
“You are the kingdom’s greatest knight, are you not?”
She was right.
Even if he currently found himself relying on the help of a wizard, he was still, by title, one of the kingdom’s finest knights: a Gold Hand.
An object of admiration throughout the realm.
That’s right.
“Aaron.”
The wizard stepped closer to him.
“If you would permit it, may I borrow your memories of last night for just a moment?”
“What?”
“If I gently touch your memories, the events of last night that you’ve forgotten should return to you. They’ll only come back in fragments, of course, but those fragments may become clues that help us find her. We have the slippers, yes, but if she’s deliberately avoiding you, the slippers alone may not be enough to track her down.”
“Ah, I see.”
The wizard was right.
If she had been willing to try on the slippers he presented, she wouldn’t have run away from him in the first place.
If she had willingly given him her virginity only to disappear afterward, perhaps she had never intended to marry him at all. Perhaps she only meant to use the incident as leverage against him. Or perhaps, without his realizing it, he had wronged her somehow, and this was her personal revenge.
The wizard’s reasoning made perfect sense.
“Very well. I’ll leave it to your judg—”
Before he could finish speaking, the wizard’s staff lightly touched Aaron’s forehead.
“Urgh…!”
The instant the staff made contact, unfamiliar scenes burst into Aaron’s mind.
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