Ishura - Volume 4 - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Intersection

A young girl was dashing through the slums in a corner of Aureatia.

Cloaked in a dark-green robe, the hood pulled up hide her face, she ran from one dim alleyway to an even more darkly shadowed path, trying to avoid the eyes of others.

The slums road came to a dead end along the way, connecting to a canal. Standing close to the canal, the girl turned around and looked back multiple times to make sure no one was following after her.

Then she whispered quietly.

“Let me walk.”

Like the magic out of a children’s fairy tale, the young girl walked on the canal.

There was no one around to witness the remarkable Word Arts, an impossible feat even for the Word Arts users spoken of in legend.

The young girl was an elf named Kia. She now possessed a second name—Kia the World Word.

…I’m not going to run away with my tail between my legs.

The day of the fourth match, Kia had parted with Elea. In order to, one day, see her again.

Right now Kia, pursued by Aureatia, couldn’t afford to make contact with Elea. But she just needed to clear the false charge of foul play against her…or if necessary, reveal to everyone that Rosclay was a false champion and make it possible to openly see Elea again…

If, however, I’ve already lost, there has to be something I can do.

Rosclay the Absolute’s power had been far too tremendous. The power of numbers and faith, too great to be overthrown, even with Kia’s almighty abilities. She knew she would need a different type of power.

For example, telling someone far, far grander than Rosclay…the truth of it all.

The church in the Western Outer Ward had been attacked by Sun’s Conifer.

Apparently most of them had been arrested for rioting, but Tu the Magic hadn’t wanted to meet such an end.

Tu managed to walk the path to the church on her own without getting lost. Rique the Misfortune was no longer at her side.

“What am I supposed to do if I wanna meet the Queen?”

Thus, her words had now become a soliloquy.

Sephite. The last of the royal family, who she had met by happenstance on that day when the True Demon King brought ruin to the kingdom.

However, until she met Sephite again and spoke with her, Tu wouldn’t be able to move herself forward beyond that day.

“Hey. Rique. Just once would be enough. Isn’t there something I can do…?”

There wasn’t anyone who knew Tu the Magic’s true identity. Ozonezma’s sister. An un-minian creation of Izick the Chromatic. A juggernaut of an unknown race. And finally, the Demon King’s Bastard.

Tu was the only one who knew the truth of that day she met Sephite.

“I want to apologize to Sephite.”

She casually crossed paths with a child, running from the far end of the alley.

Tu’s memory told her that there shouldn’t have been anything but a canal on the other end of the alley, but perhaps they had simply turned back after reaching the dead end?

“……”

When Tu turned back around, the child had also turned around to look at Tu. Maybe she had reacted to hearing Tu muttering Sephite’s name.

A young girl. Blond hair. Turquoise eyes like a clear blue lake.

“Hello.”

Underneath the morning sun, Tu smiled, her face blooming like a flower.

The young girl ran off without saying a word and disappeared into the shadows.

Light and shadow. There were those who won and advanced through the battle known as the Sixways Exhibition, and there were those who were beaten.

However, the story of the losers does not end with defeat.

To go and see Sephite.

The two girls, passing each other by in that fated crossway, held the same objective in their hearts.

Even if their paths there did not intersect right now, perhaps…