♢♢

　It's been seven years.
　The house had changed a lot since then. Originally, it was supposed to be furnished in an appropriate manner, and as a common household item, it was supposed to age and become more interesting.

　Each one of them is accumulating daily thoughts and feelings within it, and it is getting old and decrepit with deep emotion. It was supposed to make us feel the years. Both misfortune and happiness change together as good memories, which makes us realize the passage of time.

　But only the unhappy part of those feelings was concentrated in this indoor space.
　The two-story house is neither wide nor narrow. It is really a house that can be found anywhere.

　However, the only thing that remains of its time is the uselessly deteriorated exterior walls. In the room that is called a room, there is a pile of papers scattered about. There are several storage shelves on the walls, but there are far more than a few, monopolizing the space in search of a place to put them.

　Among those rooms, there is one that she visits almost daily. Even though she was the only person living in this house, it was locked there.
　That it wasn't for security purposes could be judged by the old-fashioned key she took out of her pocket and threaded through the keyhole.

　Stepping into the room, the room was dark and closed. She didn't want anyone to see the vast amount of material that filled the walls. Yes, no one (...).

　All the material here was related to one incident.

　The murder of "Sigsam Shevan" seven years ago, an incident that caused quite a stir in Rusalka at the time. Sigtham was a high-ranking mage, ranked 12th at the time, and a strong candidate to be the next single mage. The incident, which has yet to be resolved, is a case that people are trying to forget from their memories.

　In such a situation, she was the only one who could still vividly recall the memory. She was able to carry the same hatred in her body as she does now.
　She goes to this room every day to keep the flame of hatred growing with the passage of time - as if she were burning wood.

　Only her matted hair and skin, which is losing its tautness year by year, add to the passage of years and frustration.


　She came home in the evening and immediately went to this room. This would be the second time today.
　The frequency of her visits seemed to be increasing by the day.

　She dropped the data from a front-page article about the incident at the time onto the paper and stuck it all over the wall. She didn't hesitate to stop by and trace her finger over the name of 'Sigtham Shevan' written as a large headline. It was getting snatched away from the hundreds, or perhaps thousands of times she had already rubbed it.

'You.....'

　The words I called her seven years ago still continue to come out of her mouth.



　Shortly after they were married, the incident occurred. She was at the very height of her happiness, and she was in the same squad as Sigtham, and she had made love to him. At the time, this was the very form of a wizard's dream.

　They bonded together on many missions until they were married. The marriage was really quick. Looking back, it was so smooth sailing that it almost makes me believe in fate. They were the hope of the wizards that they could still find happiness when humanity was driven to despair.
　Everyone congratulated them. Mages, who could lose their lives at any moment, are a race of people who are far from happy as human beings. The two of them broke that preconception.

　In those days, marriages between wizards were not uncommon, but for a wizard who was not a nobleman, gambling was a good place to start. In reality, the majority of the means of marriage was to live together but not register.

　In a sense, it is true that the two high-ranking wizards greatly pushed back as pioneers.

　Sigtham Shevan and Hispida Offeem were equally competent and respected mages.
　They had a great ceremony and became a beloved and respected couple.

　Hispida cut back on her duties as much as possible and focused on household chores, while Sigsam performed his duties in the outside world. He is a mirror image of her husband, who always comes home after his duties.
　The amicable life is the same as it was before they were married; the only thing that has changed is that he calls Sigsam "you". Still, the fullness of life continued to give her dense happiness.

　But that happiness soon dissolved in its worst form. The news of his death reached Hispida's ears the day after Sigtham had gone on his usual mission to the outside world.
　Hispida was a wizard too, something he had been prepared to do at some point. I was ready, even if I lamented that it was too soon. I've thought about it many times, whether I can convince him or not, or whether I can accept it or not.

　He and she understood that before they made a pact. That's why she always sent him off on his mission, praying for his safety.

　She would hear the one word that would disrupt such resolve in an instant, as she grieved.

　It was the fact that Sigtham had been murdered in the outside world. He had been stabbed in the chest and pinned to the trunk. The entire squad was wiped out, and they don't know who did it.
　Sigsam is considered the most promising hope in Rusalka, the closest thing to a single wizard. He is not the kind of man to be easily beaten, even if it is a defection of the troops.

　The only saving grace is that they managed to retrieve the corpse before it was eaten by the demons. No, that's only a minor reprieve from the misfortune.
　Yes, at this time Hispida was unable to suppress the rage swirling in his chest. He was so overcome with anger that he could not even make himself feel sorry for her. Tears are not filled with sorrow.


　Still ... how much better it would have been to be told that he was still defeated by a demon in the outside world. No, he would still wail until his throat was crushed. I would have wept for every bit of moisture in my body. I would have cried for days with a crumpled face.
　But one day we would get over it.

　But if he was killed by a human and not a demon, he was far from dying with honor. Such unreasonableness could not be forgiven, no matter how many days he cried.

　From then on, Hispida let the flame of vengeance light up in his chest. Desperately honing his magic, he was able to take on the single he had almost reached for.
　It could be said that Hispida's powers were honed only for the purpose of revenge. He gathered information between cobbled-together missions, but after all, he couldn't even get his eyes on the military. After three years, the investigation would be closed down as a cold case.

　Nevertheless, Hispida was the only one who continued to gather information to this day. Those who knew of her delusional, obsessive desperation at the time secretly called her 'The Tragic Bride'.


　Her frustration is a little different from the unresolved end of the story.

　It had brought a slightly different feeling to the room for the wood to be burned in the flames of anger recently. It reminds me, I can't help but reminisce about a bygone era when I was happy.
　The unsatisfied chest was not filled with the flames of hatred, but with memories that tried to fill it. A heavy, sharp sadness tightens in his chest.

　Hispida made this room to reject it. And yet, for a while now, I can't help but reminisce about the past.

　This room is completely devoid of any memories of Sigtham. I didn't want him to be the only one to see it.
　And yet.....


　His face as a merchant was a bit at odds with Hispida's nature. It was only when he became involved with the city that he realized that he might have talent, business acumen. Behind-the-scenes information about other countries that could not be known by a magician would often flow among merchants.

　By the time he realized the fetters of being a single mage, it was already too late. It was difficult to leave their own country, there was no way they could infiltrate another country, and they felt that single mage was a derogatory term that deprived them of their freedom.
　That's why Hispida developed Rusarka as the largest commercial city. He made it large and prosperous enough to invite merchants from other countries to come to the city.
　It took a few years to get to this point, and finally it was here. They did everything they could to gather information, including advising the head of state to abolish tariffs on merchants.

　But what we found was a minor discrepancy.
　Hispida, who investigated the movements of all the wizards in Rusalka at the time of the incident, came across an impossible image. In the surveillance footage inside the Rusalka army a few hours after the incident occurred, a wizard in his thirties named 'Orang Topithon', who was mainly responsible for the outside world mission, could be seen.
　If this was all there was to it, there was nothing unnatural about it. However, we later learn that he had died suddenly at home the day before the recorded footage.

　This was due to a pre-existing medical condition, and the images gave Hispida a sense of certainty. Since then, however, there has been no information about Oran and no mention of him ever being seen again.

　But that was until just now. I've received information from a trusted subordinate just a few minutes ago that Oran is here in Rusalka.
　Hispida hadn't even bothered to prepare himself as far as he was concerned, and he had come to this room. Yes, this would be the last time I would rub his name in it again.