Chapter 55: Change(2)

After a few weeks away, Avalli returned to Asha. Contrary to her expectations, Arsene and Envel didn’t seem overly concerned.

“You had two mages with you! Of course, we weren’t worried.”

Envel seemed to have boundless faith in mages. It was a common sentiment among those living in rural villages. Mages, wielding incomprehensible powers, were often seen as infallible.

“…You didn’t… cause any trouble, did you?”

Arsene, having witnessed Avalli’s true power, wasn’t worried about their safety. He was more concerned about her powers being revealed.

“No, we didn’t do anything.”
“That’s good to hear.”

Lucy lied smoothly. She and Avalli had agreed on their story, and Hans, though reluctantly, had gone along with it.

It was a flimsy deception, but it was enough for now. She didn’t want to worry the couple who had been so kind to her.

‘…They really weren’t worried, huh?’

Despite her attempts to downplay her abilities, a part of Avalli felt a little… hurt.

Her melancholy was quickly dispelled by the sound of shouting coming from Hans’s house. His parents, especially his mother, were forbidding him from becoming an adventurer. Avalli could have corroborated Hans’s account of his bravery in the dungeon, but they had agreed to keep their exploits a secret.

She decided not to interfere and returned home with Lucy.

‘It’s not my place to get involved in family matters.’

She would support Hans if he asked for help, but she wouldn’t meddle.

It was late at night when they finally arrived at their house. Having been away for weeks, they expected a mess… but the house was surprisingly clean.

It turned out the villagers had taken turns cleaning and maintaining it. Even with their improved circumstances, Asha was still a small pioneer village. They clearly valued having a mage around to help them.

“…We can go straight to bed.”
“Sleep well, Teacher.”

Lucy immediately fell into a deep sleep. Avalli, glancing at the tangle of red hair on the pillow, went to her own room.

She changed into more comfortable clothes, then used ‘magic’ to cleanse herself of the grime from their journey. She unpacked her bag, then lay down on her bed.

Unlike Lucy, Avalli wasn’t tired at all. She hadn’t slept since leaving the village.

Even when she appeared to be sleeping, she had been working on her new Gift in her inner world. If anyone with hostile intentions approached, she would have awakened instantly.

‘…Theoretically.’

It was a system she had created for herself in this world, a new Gift that allowed her body to react automatically to threats, overriding her conscious mind, which would likely be too slow to respond. She had named it ‘Spinal Reflex’, determined to never repeat her embarrassing near-drowning incident at the World Tree.

She had hoped to test it in the Rowena Dungeon, but the enemies were too weak. If the Demon of Mist could hear her, he would be weeping with indignation. But the truth was, there was an insurmountable gulf in power between them.

He would have been a formidable opponent in his prime, when he had ruled half the world, but now, sealed and weakened, he was no more threatening than an insect.

“…Should I continue with my project?”

Avalli entered her inner world and examined the swirling, gaseous planet formed from the remnants of the Demon of Mist. This new Gift still required some fine-tuning.

‘Is that Halfling alright?’

She recalled the dark-haired Halfling who had carelessly revealed Gail’s whereabouts, blinded by the promise of tobacco. When she returned to retrieve her gift, he had stubbornly refused.

She had been annoyed by his audacity, but her new power had made it easy to ‘persuade’ him. It was practically mind control, but recent events had… eroded her moral compass.

She was slightly concerned, though. The Halfling hadn’t seemed quite right after their encounter. Well, she could always heal him when she visited Gail again.

Avalli refined the structure of the gaseous planet. The basic mechanism—mind control—remained the same.

But instead of directly manipulating their thoughts, it would subtly implant suggestions, making the target believe the new information was their own idea.

‘Like a hypnosis app, I guess?’

There would be no outward signs, just the target acting on their own “free will.” That was the power of the new Gift she was creating from the Demon of Mist.

It was a dangerous ability… but there was no one to stop her. Who could interfere within another’s inner world?

Only a god, perhaps.

Early the next morning, they had a visitor. Camelia, having heard of their return, rushed over before even having breakfast.

After excitedly recounting her loneliness, how much she missed Avalli and Lucy, and the village gossip, Camelia pulled out something hanging from her neck.

“Look, Avalli unnie! Isn’t it cute?” (TL Note: Unnie is what a younger female calls an older female.)
“…Is that Snowy?”
[Indeed, Great Master.]

A familiar voice emanated from the snowman-shaped pendant. Avalli asked if he wasn’t supposed to leave the clearing by spring—

[I will obey the Great Master’s command. However, I did not lie.]

“I’m not telling you to leave… but what do you mean you didn’t lie?”

[I did leave the clearing.]

It was true. He had left the clearing outside the village and was now… in the village.

“It wasn’t too boring with Mister Snowy around. Camelia taught him lots of things!”

[I lack knowledge of human customs.]

“Ah, that might be resolved soon.”

Avalli said, then scooped Camelia up in her arms.

“Let’s play! We have a lot of catching up to do!”
“Yay! Avalli unnie!”
[It will be my honor, Great Master.]

Avalli spent the day playing with Camelia and the other children. She noticed Hans’s absence but didn’t think much of it.

She enjoyed playing with the children for the next few days—

‘…This is boring.’

—and then grew bored again.

Lucy had started working on the Astrolabe. She had told Avalli to stay away from the workshop, as her presence might disrupt the delicate mana flows.

Hans was still confined to his house, dealing with his parents. Playing with Camelia and the other children was fun, but… they were children.

The adults were busy with spring preparations. While Avalli occasionally helped, they no longer gave her menial tasks, now that she was a mage’s apprentice.

She considered visiting Sylvain at the World Tree—

‘But… it feels wrong somehow.’

She had been tasked with delivering a letter to the Goddesses, and accepting gifts and then just playing felt… irresponsible.

So, Avalli was bored. The only time she wasn’t was when she tinkered with her new Gift in her inner world. But even that was losing its appeal. She needed something new, something exciting. And just as she thought that—

Visitors arrived.

Knights of the Holy Kingdom, clad in white armor. Their purpose: to confirm the miracle Kyle had reported.

“We’ve heard that there is an imposter in this village, claiming to be a miracle of the Goddess.”

Or rather, to find evidence of Insight Knight Kyle’s heresy.

“Bring forth the two criminals, Arsene and Avalli.”

A man, his face hidden by a white helmet, declared in a cold, emotionless voice. Oblivious to what was about to happen.