If this went on, Aki Tomoya would surely die.And he wouldn't just die—he'd die in disgrace.
Atram's method perfectly sidestepped the decree issued by Tōsaka Rin forbidding the senseless slaughter of refugees. He had found the loophole.
Could you really call this the abuse of refugees?Hard to say.
Kasumigaoka Utaha's feelings were complicated. Her mind kept replaying the image of Aki Tomoya struggling amidst a crowd of women, his life hanging by a thread. At last, she couldn't ignore it any longer and turned to Roy for help.
If Aki Tomoya weren't in mortal danger, she would never have made such a request.But with him on the verge of death, she couldn't simply stand by. Whatever his flaws, he had once helped her in the past.
At the very least, his life had to be saved.Only his life—that much was enough.
She was just a refugee herself. To ask for this much was already going beyond what anyone could expect of her.
That afternoon, Roy went to Atram's grand estate and demanded custody of Aki Tomoya.
"As compensation, how about I strengthen your household barrier?"
Atram's face darkened dangerously, his gaze brimming with murderous intent as he stared at Roy. Finally, he forced a smile.
"That would be a great help."
One hand exchanged the man, the other the goods.
Roy reinforced the barrier around Atram's mansion and handed over the magical array plate. Once Atram was satisfied that Roy no longer had the means to control his barrier, he handed over the half-dead Aki Tomoya.
For Atram, it wasn't really a loss. In fact, one could say he'd profited handsomely.Aki Tomoya had little value to begin with, while under normal circumstances a mage would never deign to strengthen another's barrier.
And yet, as Atram watched Roy leave, hatred churned within him. He wanted nothing more than to kill the man.
Later, at the same café as before—
Roy sat beneath a decorative parasol outside, lightly sipping the bitter coffee. Inside, Kasumigaoka Utaha and Aki Tomoya sat facing each other.
"Thank you… truly, senpai. If it weren't for you…"
Aki Tomoya's expression was vacant, his face slack as if he'd lost the ability to show emotion.
"What do you plan to do now?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha sighed as she looked at him. She was frustrated, but pity won out in the end.
"Lord Roy spoke with me earlier. Tomorrow a guard unit is escorting a shipment of ore. He'll send me along with them to the mines…"
In other words, Aki Tomoya was headed to the mines.
It was brutal work—backbreaking, exhausting, with hardly any rest. The only compensation was enough food to survive. But compared to being the attendant of a mage, it was far safer.
Serving a mage was all down to luck.If you ended up with one who still had scraps of humanity, you'd drawn the rarest fortune. But if your master had no moral restraint, it was a nightmare—a bottomless pit with no escape.
By contrast, miners who worked for three years could shed their refugee status and become ordinary citizens. Endure three years, and there was still a chance at a future.
"Senpai… what price did you pay to save me? With Lord Roy… did you offer yourself?"
Bang!
Kasumigaoka Utaha's face hardened as she slammed the table. In one swift motion, she flung the still-hot coffee straight into Aki Tomoya's face.
"Aki, don't project your own filth onto others! Nothing happened between me and Lord Roy. He helped you out of sheer kindness! For you to say something like that—do you realize it insults me, and worse, it insults him?"
Her chest heaved with anger as she stormed out of the café, her footsteps echoing sharply on the floor.
Roy had asked nothing of her. He had acted simply because she pleaded with him. That was all.
Aki Tomoya's words may have been logical in their own way, but to speak them aloud in front of Kasumigaoka Utaha was unforgivable. She would not tolerate that kind of insult.
Aki Tomoya sat frozen, staring at the door she had left through. His eyes were empty, clouded with confusion. After a long while, he wiped the coffee from his face, stood up, and trudged back toward the refugee shelter.
Roy set down his cup and glanced after him.
The boy was just a high schooler, suddenly thrust into torment beyond his capacity to endure. His worldview had surely shattered; his mind was likely broken.
Out in the wilderness, curses ran rampant, specializing in mental corruption. Even though the mines were shielded by barriers, they were still out in cursed lands. The suicide rate there was notoriously high.
With his current mental state, Aki Tomoya was as good as dead.
But however he died had nothing to do with Roy.
He hadn't helped for Aki Tomoya's sake.Nor for Kasumigaoka Utaha's.
"Mages… no matter the age, they're all the same disgusting beasts. The world would be better off if they were wiped out."
Revulsion welled up in Roy's chest. He downed the last of his coffee, paid the bill, and left.
—
Back at home, Hayasaka Ai noticed the stormy aura Kasumigaoka Utaha was radiating. Choosing not to confront her, she went to Roy and got the full story.
When she heard everything, alarm bells rang in her heart. The mages of this world were far more twisted than she had imagined.
Yet, at the same time, she felt relief.
At least Roy wasn't like them.Neither was Tōsaka Rin.In fact, compared to the depravity of most mages, Roy seemed like their exact opposite.
Tōsaka Rin had said that Roy, with his glasses and calm demeanor, was "easy to talk to." But this went far beyond that. He was practically a moral pillar among mages.
Kasumigaoka Utaha stayed angry for most of the day. Only when Roy explained at dinner that Aki Tomoya's mind was probably unhinged from torture did her temper gradually cool.
You couldn't hold a grudge against someone who wasn't in their right mind. Doing so was like punishing yourself.
Still, from that day forward, she considered her ties with Aki Tomoya severed. He would be in the mines, while she remained in Fuyuki. Their paths would never cross again.
—
That night, after her bath, Kasumigaoka Utaha lay on her bed when a thought surfaced—a detail she had unconsciously ignored.
Atram was a high-ranking mage. His household barrier shouldn't have been weak. So why did Lord Roy pass through it so easily, without even needing to confront him directly? Isn't he supposed to be just a "Lesser" rank mage?
She recalled how, earlier that day, when Roy had investigated Atram's mansion, he treated the barrier as though it were nothing, his voice laced with scorn. He clearly looked down on Atram's magical skill.
But wasn't "Lesser" the lowest rank?Could someone at that level truly display such mastery?
…
The next morning—February 1st.
"Lord Roy, please try this porridge!"
Roy had just woken when Kasumigaoka Utaha stepped out of the kitchen, beaming with pride. It was the same look she'd worn the first time she ever earned manuscript money.
She had risen early, and with Hayasaka Ai's guidance, cooked breakfast for the first time in her life.
The gesture hardly balanced the scales, but it was her way of expressing thanks.
"Not bad."
Roy took a sip and nodded approvingly at her effort.
Making porridge was an art in itself. It was surprisingly easy to make it taste terrible, and far harder to make it taste good.
Most of the credit likely belonged to Hayasaka Ai, but Roy could feel Utaha's sincerity behind it.
Hearing his praise, a genuine smile of accomplishment lit up Kasumigaoka Utaha's face. From that moment, her eagerness to learn maid duties from Hayasaka Ai only grew.