Chapter 119
When the man who had remained silent all this time finally spoke, Zynie tilted her head.
“Mister, what did you just say?”
Since she couldn’t understand him, she pushed the notebook toward him, asking him to write it down.
Alnazir didn’t seem inclined to pick up the pen. He simply crossed his arms and looked at her.
Instead, something long and black appeared behind his back and dropped lightly onto the top of Zynie’s head.
A tentacle.
“?”
Zynie blinked rapidly, unable to grasp his intention. She waited quietly, thinking perhaps something would happen.
Then suddenly, her heart felt as if it were being tightly squeezed.
Startled, she focused on her body—and realized it wasn’t just her heart. Her arms and legs began to ache, especially around her knees. It felt like growing pains.
She couldn’t hold the pen anymore. Dropping it, she clutched her chest. The pain didn’t subside. Eventually, she rolled off the chair and hit the floor.
It hurt too much to even think about pulling out her wand. She writhed on the ground, clutching her chest for a long while. Only when the pain gradually faded did she manage to push herself up, breathing heavily.
“Damn it…”
Once her body returned to normal, her mind started working properly again. Zynie pulled out her wand.
Then she stomped her foot angrily at the obvious suspect—no, the 120% certain culprit—Alnazir.
They had bonded over a sense of kinship and grown close. But now it was over. Zynie’s eyes welled with tears of betrayal.
“I’m not playing with you ever again! Aaaah!”
“What happened?!”
At the scream, Fay burst out of the bathroom.
Zynie was fuming, on the verge of casting magic inside the house. Donovan cawed wildly, flapping his wings so hard feathers scattered.
The chaos contrasted sharply with the calm, satisfied smile on Alnazir’s face.
“Fay, I just granted the young witch’s wish.”
When Fay shot him a look demanding an explanation, he said it plainly.
A wish? What wish?
Fay hurried over to Zynie and examined her carefully—checking for injuries, trying to figure out what was wrong.
And when she truly looked at Zynie’s face, something felt… off.
It was definitely Zynie. And yet, it wasn’t.
There was no way that face belonged to someone in her teens anymore. At a glance, she even looked older than Fay.
“Zynie… did you make some kind of wish?”
“A wish?”
Still breathing hard from anger, Zynie froze at the word. She hadn’t consciously made one. Then, as her thoughts raced, she realized something important.
To confirm her suspicion, she rushed into the bathroom to find a mirror.
“I’m really an adult!”
From inside the bathroom came a sound that was half scream, half shout of triumph.
Early thirties, perhaps. Zynie stared at her reflection in shock. She looked far more mature than she had ever imagined.
But it wasn’t just her appearance.
Until now, her magic had always overflowed. Even though she had immense power, some of it constantly leaked away. Now, it felt as though she had finally mastered how to control it—none of it spilling, every bit contained and obedient.
The magic flowing freely through her body filled her with confidence.
“At this rate… I might even be able to beat Virelda!”
This wasn’t the time to just stand around. She had to test it!
Zynie dashed outside and leapt onto her broom. Whether it was her imagination or not, it flew far faster than before.
Fay called after her, but Zynie didn’t look back. Fay stared at the wide-open front door as if a storm had just swept through.
“…This was your doing, wasn’t it, Lord Al?”
She closed the door and spoke in a very low voice. She sounded angry.
“Yes. I did it.”
Alnazir hadn’t expected this reaction.
As far as he was concerned, Zynie had been troubled and desperate, so he had simply solved the problem for her. It had been an act of goodwill.
The young witch was someone Fay cared for like a younger sister. He thought that by helping Zynie, Fay would naturally feel grateful to him as well.
Fay was a deeply social person. She cared not only about herself but about the safety and happiness of those around her.
“What kind of wish was it?!”
Fay demanded. But she sounded as if he had done something he absolutely shouldn’t have.
“She seemed to want to be older than you, so I gave her age.”
“So you turned Zynie into an adult?”
“In this place, people call the ruler a god and pray for wishes, don’t they? So I tried imitating that.”
He had read about it in a book once. The idea of granting a human’s wish had never occurred to him before, it felt novel.
If someone had a wish, he thought he might try granting it once. And at that exact moment, Zynie had revealed her wish.
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