And you?
　Julia. What's your name?
　'I'm ... alms. Is that butterfly a friend of yours?
　Friends?　Hmmm, something like that.　
　You're so smart. You looked like you knew what I was saying.
　Julia's eyes widen as I say this.
　Then she starts laughing hysterically.
　What the hell........

　'Huh, butterflies don't have that kind of wisdom. I was just borrowing my body.
　"Borrow?
　Isn't it well known that a high-ranking sorcerer can carry a soul on a beast?

　I don't know. I don't know anything about witchcraft itself.

　So, why'd you call me here?
　'I thought I'd ask you a few questions. How did you get into the gryphon?　What kind of contract did you sign?
　I didn't have a contract with him. In fact, he asked me to do it.
　I explain to Yulia, getting down to the fact that I was reincarnated.
　Julia looked surprised.

　''Huh... I learned that if you enter the Romano Forest, you will be eaten to death by gryphons. In fact, I heard that the people who attempted to build a village in that forest were haunted and the plague spread. Why are they so kind to you guys?
　'Well?　But even we might save you on a whim if a butterfly got caught in a spider's web, right?
　Let's not dare to mention the territory.
　If they come rushing in and take over the village, it's no good talking about it.

　Besides, if they come in large numbers, the Gryphon guy might change his mind.

　''Then why are you the leader?''
　'That's what I don't know. You thought I deserved it.
　Hmm.
　Julia looks a little frustrated. I guess the question hasn't cleared up.
　But soon the dissatisfied expression disappears from her face. And a mischievous expression appeared on her face.

　Julia's right eye emitted a faint light.

　''I see. Does that make sense then?''
　What the hell did you do?

　You can ask me next time.
　What are you, then?
　So it's Julia.

　I know that.
　But you're not going to tell me. If you say so. Well......

　'I need you to teach me about witchcraft. I'll take care of you from the beginning.
　'Not that it matters but it's easy. To make strange things happen with the power of the spirit spirit spirit. Healing wounds and hearts, or vice versa, or foretelling disasters.
　Can't you build a fire or something?
　'I can do it. But spells that directly harm a person's body are hard to do, though. Even for me, it's hard.

　I don't need to...
　Don't just go out and show off your greatness.

　Still, it's plain. Spellcraft. I'm not sure if it's possible to recreate magic like meio or gigaden.
　It's just that the name is a curse.
　I get the image of curses and insidious and gloomy.

　By the way, is she a magician too? Does she have such a cute face and curse people to death?

　Come to think of it, the guy from Gryphon said that this famine might be caused by a curse.
　Since there's an expert on the subject, let's ask him.

　What do you think is the cause of the recent famine?
　It's a curse. It's only curses that pinpoint the crops like that. It's difficult to kill people and animals, but it's relatively easy to kill plants that don't say anything.　

　Saying that, Julia pulls out the weeds that have fallen at her feet and shows them to him.
　When Julia blew on the weeds, the weeds turned black and died.

　''Like this,''
　'Who did this to you? What did you do to deserve this curse?

　If it weren't for this curse, the children wouldn't have been abandoned.
　If it was a natural disaster, it's not hard to understand, but it's frustrating to think of it as the actions of a malicious person.

　'Who?'　Or more importantly, where is the country?　is more correct. A curse on such a large scale is impossible for an individual. It would be impossible without a hundred or more spellcasters using a number of sacrifices. Those affected were the small group of countries in the southern part of the Romano Forest and the country of King Domorgal and King Gilbed in the north. Considering that King Fardham's country was not damaged at all, the mastermind is King Fardham's country, but King Fardham denies it. I believe the real mastermind is the great powers further north than King Fardham's country.

　The King of **** and the King of **** is getting complicated.
　～It's a bother like the Kingdom of the King, so why not just call it the Kingdom of the King?

　Do you have any ideas?
　Or are you being reserved for some other great power? Or is it just the same as when the king changes, the name of the country changes?
　I heard that even in Japan in the olden days, the capital was moved whenever there was a change of the king, so maybe it's just like that.

　No, wait, wait?
　Maybe it's a family name. Or maybe it's a family name even if it's not. I know.

　Is that the end of the story you want to ask?
　Yeah, that's it. That's it. Are we done?　I've got some work to do tomorrow, like working in the fields and all that.　
　I don't have time to talk to you here.

　Yeah. Okay. By the way, it's a full moon today, right?　Will you come back here the next full moon night?
　Why?　You're done with my face now.
　I just want to get to know you better.

　What is that?
　Is that what I'm supposed to be doing?
　The period of popularity has arrived since he died!　I wish you could have come before you died...

　What's in it for me?
　'How can you be friends with such a pretty girl?'
　'Ha, makes me laugh. What's a ten-year-old brat talking about?

　I'm not a pedophile by any means.
　I'm ten years old now, so I may not be a pedophile, but even without that, I can't get s*xual with a kid like this.

　'Then what's the point?'
　How about you teach me some witchcraft?
　Julia frowned as she suggested this.

　'Sorcery isn't something men do.
　Is that so?
　''There's a difference in the quality of spirit spirit spirit between men and women. It's just as strange for a man to learn witchcraft as it is for a woman to learn swordplay.

　Oh.....
　I see. So the ratio of children to men and women was 50/50.
　Girls could use some spellcasting skills, so if they were discarded too much because they were women, it would be a loss to the nation.

　'But there's nothing we can't do, is there?
　'Yes, but...'
　So tell me about it. For self-defense.
　The truth is, I'm not uninterested in learning the art of spellcraft, but I'm not that interested in learning it.
　My concern is that we don't have any defenses against curses at all.

　Gryphon said he's fine, but that guy is suspicious because of the appropriateness of that one.
　The boys are taught kendo and judo, but no matter how strong they are, if they are beaten by a curse, it's no good.

　I'd love for the girls to learn the art of witchcraft.
　For now, I'm going to touch this guy and see if I can trust him.

　When I am convinced that they are trustworthy, I will ask them to train the girls again.

　It's also possible that she's trying to get me to trust her to take our food, so we have to be very careful.
　Well, considering the fact that we've located the village and not attacked it, the chances of that are infinitesimal.

　'Well, I'll see you the next full moon night.
　Yeah. Bye.

　I broke up with Julia.

_______________________________.


　Yeah, you're a funny guy.
　Julia thought back to Almus.
　He was a child like herself, yet he had an air of maturity about him.

　As expected of a blessing holder, I should say.

　''Well, I had far more blessings than you, though.
　Julia thinks back to the blessing of Almus that she saw in The Blessing of the Guards.
　Julia looks up at the full moon.

　'Shall we return to the country as soon as possible? And your father would be worried about you.'
　Julia headed south and disappeared into the woods.