Chapter 117
“Phew, it’s all over now.”
Roina said as she adjusted the white fur cape around her neck. In her voice was a mix of relief and lingering sentiment.
Lutan was holding her entirely in his arms with a sullen expression. No matter how much Roina pleaded to be put down, it was no use. In the end, Roina, having no strength left, gave up and leaned comfortably against him.
At the time, in her urgency, Roina had thrown herself into that dimensional barrier again to form a contract with Rager without even telling Lutan. By the time Lutan realized it, it was already too late. Unless the contract was either completely concluded or entirely broken, no one not directly involved could approach it. Left with no other option, he could only wait for her.
Since that moment, he refused to be apart from her for even a single instant.
She had to soothe Lutan with truly countless words.
“Please return safely, Master! You must come visit again later!”
Another change was in Quies’s attitude. She had always avoided contact with people, interacting only with those she had carefully selected—those who wouldn’t disrupt her tranquil garden. But this time, she had completely broken down that standard.
“Are you really okay with living among humans, Quies?”
“This all happened because of me. I can’t keep being the only one who lives in comfort!”
“You’ve grown a little, you acorn-sized brat.”
“Eeeek!!”
Maili, it seemed, had decided Quies was the perfect target to tease, and ever since, would pick a fight every time they met. Quies, with her clearly intense reactions, was indeed a rewarding fairy to tease.
Even now, she was wildly flailing her arms after Maili had flicked her forehead with a finger.
Quies no longer wanted to use her powers on humans, but even setting that aside, she was capable of many things.
Especially gifted in nurturing and growing things, she used that talent to help the domain’s residents and the victims. Since the Amasto territory in the North was particularly barren, even that alone was of great help.
Quies sincerely apologized to the victims who had lost their families because of her mistake and gave them all the help and love she could. She had come to clearly understand that all of it had happened because of her own selfishness.
The forgotten goddess’s name was ‘Quies’. That was, long ago, the way she had secretly formed relationships with humans. Quies blushed, saying that too was her own fault.
The reason she became the goddess of winter and the moon was because her divine power was the stopping of time, sleep, and dreams. Winter allowed the land to rest from cultivation and prepare for the following year, while the moon symbolized peaceful rest through sleep.
She had wanted to warmly embrace everyone, yet now felt ashamed of her past, when she had only wished to be admired without recognizing their own wills.
She seemed to have decided to remain in the territory of Amasto, to protect its people and live a life of atonement until no more victims remained. For Quies, who lived an eternal life and feared above all else being left behind by someone, it was a monumental decision.
To form relationships with humans and merely watch their lives unfold was, for her, an act that would inevitably end in farewell.
At first, the residents of the territory had been startled by the flitting, ever-busy fairy, but perhaps because they had come to resemble Amasto itself, they soon adjusted and naturally came to interact with her.
She simply changed the form of her true body, so to speak, into a warm fur cape and wrapped it around Roina.
It was a decision I could make only because you exist, Master. Now, please become the place I can return to.
Those were Quies’s words. Roina once again felt a sense of responsibility as she accepted the cloak.
Though it was called a true body for convenience, in truth, this object was their essence, something like an anchor that held them to the world.
They didn’t need to be right next to it to survive, but if the object from which their existence originated were to disappear, they too would be unable to maintain their form. For Fides, that was the Magic Tower; for Quies, it was the cloak. Roina stroked the cloak, now in the shape of a small white fur cape. She would cherish it dearly.
Another change was the presence of Rager. Lutan truly disliked him, but Rager said he would remain by the side of Roina, his contractor.
“Our contract doesn’t require that, so it’s alright for you to live freely and do what you wish, Rager.”
Roina said that, but he blushed shyly beneath his tousled white hair and replied,
“The thing I most want to do with my freedom is to stay by your side, Lady Roina. May I not?”
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