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Gandia, a small kingdom, was one of many tiny nations clustered in the southern part of the Wagrand Continent, floating in the Sea of Ils Vale. Centered around the capital, Gandion, its modest territory included the city of Mardal and small towns like Karan, Merel, and Creboul. Its population barely reached 200,000.
A truly small nation, it had struggled to defend its borders since its founding. Expanding territory was a distant dream, and with the great former king's death, that dream had turned to delusion.
Exhausted from Faria's interrogation more a mental ordeal than a conversation Setsuna stared blankly at the tent's white canopy. The ordeal had drained him. With crippling muscle soreness, even moving a finger was agony. He had no desire to try.
(Thank you…)
Faria's words echoed in his mind, their ticklish resonance lingering in his ears even after she'd left.
"Thank you."
"Huh?"
Faria's sudden gratitude caught Setsuna off guard, his face twisting oddly. Understandable he'd done nothing for her. No reason for thanks.
This came after her relentless barrage of questions, a mix of inquiry and interrogation that left Setsuna mentally and physically shredded, utterly depleted.
In that state, her thanks prompted only a flat reply.
"I heard from Isarina—Elina's mother that you brought Elina's smile back," Faria said, her smile so warm it barely seemed like the same person who'd unleashed that storm of questions.
Shaking off a moment of captivation, Setsuna voiced his doubt.
"My doing?"
"Elina says so," Faria replied, her gentle gaze turning to the girl on the bed's edge.
"Yeah! It's thanks to you, big brother!"
Elina's radiant smile was blinding, like sunlight. Setsuna couldn't hold her gaze, dropping his eyes to the pristine white sheets. The tent was indeed a sickroom, as Faria had said.
"No way, I didn't…"
"Wrong!"
Faria's forceful tone startled him into meeting her eyes. Her smile was gone, replaced by a piercing, earnest stare that briefly erased his pain.
"Setsuna, you did something incredible. Defeating an armed summoner who burned Karan and took countless lives who else could've done that? I was too late, the guards were useless, and waiting for the knights was impossible."
Her words carried a bitter edge, perhaps self-reproach.
"You did it alone, burning your body, nearly dying, yet you stopped Lance Villain. That's worthy of praise. If you hadn't, Mardal, Creboul, or even Gandion might've been next. No doubt."
She might be right. If Setsuna hadn't knocked out Lance Villain, he'd have vanished before Karan turned to ash. A madman or not, he'd likely have torched another town. One small town wouldn't sate his desire to burn the world's end. Yet that "small" town was consumed, reduced to cinders.
"…But it all burned. Everything," Setsuna said, despair creeping in as he recalled the blazing town. Even quenching the flames left only ruins. Everything was lost.
Irreversible.
It wasn't his fault he knew that. But humans can't help wondering. If he'd acted faster, if Azmaria's summoning had been sooner
"True. Karan was razed. Over 500 dead, they say," Faria confirmed.
(See? I couldn't do anything…)
Staring at the ceiling, Setsuna reeled from the crushing reality of the death toll. Powerlessness nearly overwhelmed him. He wasn't to blame, he knew.
When he arrived, Karan was beyond saving. No action would've mattered.
He understood.
Biting his lip, blood filled his mouth.
"But you brought back one girl's smile," Faria said.
"Spare me the platitudes," he replied, eyes fixed on the canopy, which swayed in the occasional gust, mirroring the turmoil in his heart anger, sorrow, grief swirling within. His gaze hardened.
"Then why did you charge into Karan?"
"It was…"
Her question pulled him back to the moment after escaping the forest, to the encounter on the road a memory he'd never forget.
"I couldn't forgive it. Making that girl cry"
That was it. The girl's tears drove him. No other reason was needed. He could conjure excuses, but they were irrelevant. A girl on the road had wept.
That was reason enough to risk his life.
Then it hit him.
"Wait Elina's that girl?"
Half-stunned, he looked at her. Her clear blue eyes widened in shock.
"What!? You didn't know!?"
"Really, I'm sorry!"
He'd have bowed deeply if he could move. Instead, he apologized with all his heart.
He'd recognized her face but hadn't connected her to the sobbing girl in her mother's arms. Her clothes and appearance had changed, but that wasn't all.
(Is my brain wired wrong?)
Staring into her still-shocked eyes, Setsuna questioned his memory. He'd always trusted it, though without clear basis. That confidence was crumbling.
He caught Faria's gaze.
"Once more," she said, smiling gently.
"Thank you for saving Elina."