A Strange Invitation
The next morning.
Woojin stared blankly at the ceiling of the inn. What had happened last night felt hazy, like a daydream.
…I didn't do anything embarrassing, did I?
He wasn't sure.
He tried to recall the memory… then simply got out of bed. He didn't want to waste time brooding over it like that.
Let's go out and get some breakfast.
After splashing his face with his hands to drive away the last of his sleepiness, he stepped out of the room.
Woojin reached the stairs leading down to the lower floor. When he had descended about halfway, he leaned slightly over the railing and looked down.
The first floor contained both a tavern that served food and the reception desk where guests paid for their rooms. The staff looked busy running back and forth between the two tasks.
There are quite a lot of customers this early.
Perhaps because of the festival, many tourists were already eating breakfast.
As he glanced around—
A rare head of silver hair caught his eye. The person was sitting in a corner seat, making it hard to see their face, but Woojin immediately recognized who it was.
Arwen woke up earlier than me.
It wasn't surprising. Arwen had gone to bed much earlier than he had.
He walked over to her.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Mmph… yes. Good morning."
Arwen quickly chewed and swallowed the food in her mouth before answering. Woojin sat down across from her and looked over the table.
Arwen was eating alone.
"Where are Claire and Coco?"
"I left Coco in the room. People kept staring… I'm not sure about Claire. She's probably still sleeping in the room, right?"
"Maybe."
It was still fairly early.
Woojin and Arwen had woken up early because they had taken a long nap yesterday afternoon, but Claire had worked all day and then stayed out late watching the night festival. She was probably more tired.
I should just let her sleep.
Woojin decided to eat breakfast leisurely while waiting. He stopped a passing waiter and ordered some food.
Arwen asked,
"When are we planning to leave?"
"Well…"
Woojin thought for a moment before answering.
"…Ideally we should leave today if possible. If we wait until tomorrow, it'll probably be difficult to get out of the city."
The Night of Baba Yaga was a four-day night festival. Today was the final day.
When the sun rose tomorrow morning, the long festival would finally end. That meant all these tourists would be leaving the magic city at once.
It would become much harder to rent baggage wagons, and traffic would likely be crowded.
"Once Claire wakes up, let's talk it over and prepare to leave."
"That sounds good."
They ate breakfast leisurely.
Bread and lamb stew. The food arrived quickly, probably because it had already been prepared earlier. Woojin scooped up spoonfuls of stew while chatting with Arwen.
"You could've gone to see the night festival too. There was quite a lot to see."
"I didn't really feel like it."
Arwen shook her head repeatedly as if the idea disgusted her.
"Baba Yaga was actually a real Dark-side priest from long ago. Turning the day she was burned at the stake into a festival… from my perspective, it's a little frightening."
It didn't feel like someone else's story.
Arwen had once been a bishop among the Dark-side priests. If her past were discovered, she herself could end up tied to a stake and burned.
Listening to that made Woojin curious. Since Arwen had knowledge of the Dark-side priests, she seemed to know more about the story than most people.
"Do you know anything about Baba Yaga?"
"A little. She was a fairy who had lived for hundreds of years. Her personality was extremely wicked, and she was infamous even before the Gate of the Demon Realm opened."
"There are evil fairies too?"
Woojin asked. Arwen nodded.
"Yes. There are many kinds of fairies. Their appearances, abilities, and personalities are all different."
Long ago, many different kinds of fairies existed in this world. They were beings who wielded the power of nature. But after the Gate of the Demon Realm opened, the fairies declined.
However, some fairies accepted the power of the Demon Realm and gained even greater strength.
"Baba Yaga was one of them. She was an evil fairy called a 'hag,' and it's said she enjoyed boiling and eating babies."
She had originally been a wicked demon-like being, so Baba Yaga accepted the Demon Realm's power without hesitation.
"But as you probably know… her end wasn't good. She was captured by Yurgis and burned at the stake."
Yurgis the Martyr. The witch hunts were one of the achievements he built.
Yurgis cooperated with the mages of the Magic Tower to capture Baba Yaga. The witch screamed as she burned for three days, and in the end she was executed by fire, paying for all the crimes she had committed.
"The festival in this city—the Night of Baba Yaga—seems to reenact those three days like a play."
"So that's why they set off fireworks."
Woojin pushed his empty wooden bowl aside.
The time passed quickly while he listened to her story. They had finished breakfast a while ago, but they ordered drinks and dried snacks, nibbling on them whenever they felt bored.
Then something suddenly occurred to him.
"…Is Claire still sleeping?"
Quite a bit of time had passed, yet Claire still hadn't come out of her room.
"Should we go check on her?"
"Yeah, let's."
Arwen grabbed a handful of nuts from the table before standing up. It seemed she planned to give them to Coco as a snack.
"I'll go see Coco."
They had chatted for quite a while, so Coco was probably bored by now. Saying that, Arwen headed toward her room.
Now alone, Woojin knocked on the door.
"Claire. Are you there?"
Crash—bang!
A noisy commotion came from inside the room.
Then a small voice followed.
"C-Could you come back later?"
Claire spoke in a flustered voice. It sounded unusually hurried.
Woojin roughly guessed what was going on.
"Did you cause some kind of accident?"
"…Yes."
"Just open the door. I'll help."
After he urged her, he heard hesitant footsteps. Soon the door opened.
Claire looked uneasy.
For some reason, feathers were stuck all over her clothes and hair, and the floor of the room was also covered in feathers.
How had this happened?
"Did you slaughter a chicken or something?"
"No, it's not like that…"
Claire answered gloomily.
"…I kicked the blanket and it burst."
When the excitement of a festival fades, one's behavior from the night before often feels like dark history.
When Claire woke up, she kicked off the blanket and accidentally tore it apart. It seemed she had kicked it impulsively and failed to control her strength.
Woojin walked into the room and looked around with a small chuckle.
So she does silly things sometimes too.
Fortunately, she hadn't smashed the walls or the furniture.
At this level, cleaning up the situation was simple.
"Give me the broom. Let's clean this up quickly and go."
"Yes…"
After cleaning the room together, they prepared to set out on their journey again.
While Woojin purchased the necessary travel supplies, Claire went to submit a leave-of-absence request to the Magic Tower and the library before returning.
"Are we all ready now?"
"Yes. Everything's fine."
Claire said it with emphasis.
She seemed bothered by the strange mistake she had made earlier that morning. Since she looked embarrassed, Woojin didn't mention it.
"Then let's depart right away."
They went to a merchant shop and rented a carriage.
Their next destination was the port city Elus—the place where Cindy was waiting, and also Claire's hometown. The carriage rolled steadily toward it.
After that, their days became monotonous.
When evening fell, they stopped the carriage and set up camp. When the sun rose again, they departed once more. Since the destination was far away, they had to repeat this process many times.
Nothing in this world comes easy…
Even chatting constantly grew tiresome. Sitting in a carriage all day made him restless.
Camping had its own problems too.
Since they napped in the carriage throughout the day, by the time night fell they were completely awake. The others felt the same way.
While the coachman slept inside the carriage, the group sat around the campfire together, passing the time.
"Isn't there something like teleportation magic?"
Woojin voiced his wish.
Claire thought for a moment before answering.
"From what I've heard… it's still being researched. There's been some progress too."
"So it's not completely impossible."
It was an inconvenience everyone experienced, so naturally people tried to research ways to solve it.
But there was a problem.
"I heard accidents happened quite often. There was a major issue during development, so teleportation research was suspended."
High-level and complex spells often encountered many problems during development.
Just like when airplanes were first invented, many safety issues arose while developing teleportation magic. Because of that, the project had been temporarily halted.
It was disappointing news for Woojin.
Still, there was at least one comforting thought—the end of their journey was finally in sight. After several days of steady travel by carriage, their destination had grown much closer.
I can smell the sea.
When he took a deep breath through his nose, he could smell the salty scent unique to the ocean.
At this rate, they would probably arrive tomorrow.
His prediction turned out to be exactly right.
The next day at noon—
A wide coastline, a harbor, and anchored sailing ships came into view.
We finally arrived.
The port city Elus.
Woojin rummaged through his coat and pulled out an envelope.
It was Cindy's letter. Inside the envelope was a brooch made of gold.
Arwen asked curiously,
"What's that?"
"My younger sister sent it."
It was a brooch shaped like a golden beetle—an emblem that only members of Cindy's family were allowed to carry. It felt a bit excessive to wear openly.
This brooch was essentially an invitation.
After the members of the Golden Beetle family were massacred by Dark-side priests, Cindy's villa had adopted extremely strict security measures.
To pass the inspection at the villa entrance easily, they would have to show this brooch.
While Woojin was explaining this—
The carriage slowly came to a stop.
He looked out the window absentmindedly.
Then his eyes widened in surprise.
Beyond the carriage window stood an enormous mansion, towering like a fortress.
"…Didn't you say it was a villa?"
Claire asked.
She also looked stunned after seeing the mansion.
Woojin didn't have anything to say either.
"…Let's just go see."
They stepped out of the carriage with their luggage and began walking toward the mansion.
A gray stone wall surrounded the estate.
When they approached the front gate, two gatekeepers standing on either side looked toward them with their arms crossed.
Woojin took out the golden brooch and showed it.
"I came at Cindy's invitation."
The gatekeepers were visibly startled.
They quickly uncrossed their arms and stared at the brooch.
Woojin asked cautiously,
"Is there a problem?"
"N-No, sir."
Both gatekeepers bowed their heads.
They greeted him almost like they were bowing in half, then hurriedly opened the locked iron gate.
Their attitude had suddenly become extremely respectful.
Woojin was puzzled by the sudden change when—
"There's something bothering me."
Arwen suddenly spoke.
"You said only members of the family can carry that brooch, right? If she gave something like that to you… isn't that basically a proposal?"
"No way."
Woojin laughed in disbelief.
Then suddenly he tilted his head.
"…Wait. It isn't, right?"
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