Published at 18th of January 2020 11:41 pm

Volume 6, Chapter 3: Prequel: The Platinum-haired Guru and the Purple-haired Lady Oracle

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

It was a day like any other. Knowing just how precious such a thing was, Latina was now enjoying her days full of even more bliss than before. Dale felt the same when looking at her in their attic room in the Ocelot, letting her hair down now that all the work for the day was over and combing it while using her favorite pomade. He caught ever so slight, fleeting glimpses of her broken horns, which were normally hidden, as she moved it about. Latina’s hair reflected the pale light feeling the room, giving off an incredibly gentle platinum shine.

Dale then remembered someone whose hair gave off a shine of the same color.

“Hey, Latina.” “What is it?”

“You and Chrysos are definitely twins, right?”

“That’s right. Why are you asking, all of the sudden?”

Chrysos and Latina resembled one another so greatly that it would be impossible for anyone who saw them to doubt they were related by blood. When Latina was staying in Vassilios, the same was true of Chrysos’s subordinates, her chamberlain and demons, who didn’t need to be introduced to infer who she was.

“I mean, your eye color is different and all... so it was just bugging me.” Normally, identical twins wouldn’t be born with different eye colors.

However, they looked far too similar to be fraternal twins.

“It’s because only Chrysos was born with a mana trait... My gray eyes are different from both our parents, but I was told they probably came from

Mov’s side of the family.”

“I see...”

Having met Latina’s mother, Mov, in person, Dale was satisfied with that answer, but Latina didn’t notice that. After a moment of trepidation, that fact left Dale a bit relieved. He had told Latina’s sister, Chrysos, that he’d been present for their mother’s death, but he still hadn’t told Latina directly. They had decided not to hide things from one another, but the matter of

Mov’s death still weighed heavily on Dale’s heart.

I know I should tell her properly, but...

It was no easy task to tell the girl he loved that he was the one to kill her mother.

Latina’s mother, Mov, had mana traits, brilliant colors that didn’t appear naturally in a race that showed themselves in those with strong mana. Her long purple hair was brilliant enough to steal away one’s gaze, but her eye color was also a mana trait. Just like Chrysos, they were a beautiful gold.

“You said that your hair color was the same as your father’s, right, Latina?”

“Yeah, Rag’s was the same color. Rag’s horns, too... they were also pitch black. The shape of mine was the same as Mov’s, though. Devils inherit their parents’ horn shapes and colors separately.”

“I see.”

Latina gently touched the place where she had lost her horn and broke out in a gentle smile.

“I broke off something I had inherited from my parents... so I do regret it a little. But I can only afford to have such thoughts because I’m so happy now.”

“Latina...”

“It made Chrysos really sad, too... We had a matching set of horns, but I lost both of mine...”

“If I had paid a little more attention back then, things would have turned out differently...”

“It’s not your fault, Dale!” Latina hurriedly blurted out. Dale gently stroked the place where her horn would be, as if comforting a child, but even so, Latina closed her eyes contentedly.

“There’s nothing to be done of it now, so... there’s no point in saying if only this or that at this point, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Latina.”

Latina tilted her head in confusion at him calling out her name, only for Dale to throw out a question he had been wanting to ask for quite some time.

“Your parents... what sort of people were they?”

“...We heard before that devil mothers are the ones to raise their children, but Chrysos and I were raised by Rag... Mov was always busy, after all.”

She possessed an extremely uncommonly powerful divine protection granted by Banafsaj, earning her the title of “Lady Oracle.”

“I think that Rag was a teacher. He shouldn’t have received any divine protection from Asfar, but I could tell just from looking that there were a lot of people who respected him...”

It was precisely because he lacked any special power that he was able to teach and admonish a great many people, granting him the honorary title of “guru.”

“The lifestyle I knew in Vassilios was so incredibly restrictive. I was only allowed to stay in the depths of the temple, spending time with my parents and Chrysos, after all...”

Those days were spent hidden away deep within that temple, as if they were living within a miniature garden, but there were surely happy times amongst them.

This was a story taking place before our tale.

†

Devils didn’t have family names the way that humans did. They didn’t have a custom of marriage to start with, and their society had a matriarchal basis, so their family structures differed completely from those of the other races. Instead, they used the name of their mother and were called “So-and- so’s child.”

Even when they shared a mother, it was rare for siblings to also share a father, and it wasn’t at all rare enough for the difference in ages between them to be more akin to what one would expect between a parent and child when it came to humans.

The fact that while their time as children and the elderly was the same as humans, their time as adults was many times longer, surely had an effect on that. As was always the case with the long-lived races, their birth rates were low, but in exchange they had a very long time in which they could reproduce. In fact, that time was so very long that they tended to put a very different emphasis on age difference than other races.

Furthermore, the First Demon Lord and his retainers, or in other words the temple of Banafsaj, had maintained the government’s structure without any changes for over a hundred years, making society quite static for the people living there.

That was the sort of country that Vassilios was.

Vassilios had a town of the same name at its center, with small scale villages and the like scattered about. It existed in a harsh environment, a land where it was most certainly not easy to live. But the devils were a hardy race, and they didn’t need much food to survive, so they were able to live even in such a place. It also helped quite a bit that all of its citizens could use magic, and so Water magic was most certainly not rare in the least. Even if it didn’t rain, they didn’t need to worry about thirst.

The great temple in the only town in the nation, where the king’s throne lay, was the greatest even amongst the temples of Banafsaj from which Vassilios was governed.

The sunlight reflecting off of the stone-paved path provided it a white hue. It was originally created to prevent the arid wind from stirring up dust, but it also served to reinforce the sense of purity the town had. There wasn’t even a single speck of dirt on the path because it was periodically washed clean with Water magic. As a public service, magic was cast to lower the temperature of the entire town midday, when the weather was at its hottest.

Even so, there were few who walked about town at such an hour.

“Guru.”

One young man amongst those passersby stopped and turned to look towards the source of that voice. His uncommon platinum hair swayed. His black horns were on the small side for a man, without a hint of manliness or ferocity about them. It was as if his gentle personality was reflected in his appearance.

“Ah, Aspida. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” “Indeed it has.”

The owner of the voice, the young man called Aspida, was clad in high quality priest’s garb, signifying that he served as one of the officials who ruled over the town. And yet, he respectfully bowed his head to the other man, who was wearing extremely ordinary commoner’s clothing.

No age difference could be seen between the two men, in terms of appearance. However, it was impossible to tell the age difference between devils, their heads crested with horns, just by looking.

“It really has been ages. Has it been... 20 years now already, since you were my student?”

“Yes. I’m glad to find you doing well, Guru.”

“There are things that I wouldn’t call all that well, though, as always.”

There wasn’t a hint of overbearingness to the man being called “Guru,” with his calm smile and gentle green eyes, and the slender contours of his body. However, the man named Aspida’s respect towards him never faltered.

“Is your work at the temple going smoothly?”

“About that... there’s something I wanted to discuss with you, Guru.”

From the frown on his pupil’s face, the Guru, Smaragdi, sensed that this wasn’t the sort of conversation to be had on a street corner.

“Well then, shall we discuss this in my house? It seemed you were heading there before, right?” “Is that alright?”

“I’m not busy enough for something like that to be a problem,” Smaragdi said with a laugh, then started walking, leading the way for Aspida.

As they moved away from the main landmark of the town, the great temple of Banafsaj, their surroundings took on a much rougher feel. The modest houses built of sun-dried bricks had been exposed to such sunlight that they had become a shade of white that made it look as though they had been bleached. One such dwelling amongst them belonged to Smaragdi.

The inside had been furnished only to the bare minimum degree necessary, making it look almost dreary. However, that was an incredibly ordinary way for men in this country to live.

In the parched climate of this land, just getting out of the sun and into a place where the wind passed through was enough to bring the effective temperature down significantly. Having taken a seat in the chair offered to him, Aspida felt a cool breeze pass through and breathed a sigh of relief.

Smaragdi then placed a cup down in front of him and filled it with water from a pitcher. It was still cold, so Aspida inferred that it hadn’t been drawn from one of the water stations about town.

“So... what did you want to talk about?”

“Are you aware that there’s a priestess in the shrine now who is called the ‘Lady Oracle’?”

Smaragdi tilted his head a bit in response to Aspida’s question.

“She’s still supposed to be very young, isn’t she? I’ve heard the rumors about town that she has an exceptionally rare level of divine protection, but... is something the matter with her?”

“To be honest, Guru, I was wondering if you would be willing to act as her teacher...”

Smaragdi only looked all the more puzzled with those words. In addition to being places of religion, the temples of Banafsaj in Vassilios also served as an administrative body. The priests who served in the foremost amongst them, the great temple, served as top officials of the government, so there should be countless people there who were exceptionally capable. Smaragdi couldn’t see a need to call on someone like himself who lived out in town.

“I know, it’s no surprise for you to find it odd,” Aspida said, seemingly having expected Smaragdi’s confusion. He continued on to explain, “The one in charge of teaching magic to young priestesses in the temple is Ms. Gnósi, but... currently, the Lady Oracle is terrified of members of the same sex.”

Smaragdi’s eyebrow raised a bit. It would be one thing if it was towards members of the opposite sex, but there must have been some sort of reason behind a sudden fear of the same sex developing. He couldn’t think of any such reason immediately, though.

“However, the male instructors, they all look a bit... rough. We couldn’t really entrust the now frightful young Lady Oracle to them.” “Couldn’t you handle it?”

Aspida had a masculine appearance, but he didn’t look especially intimidating. But in response to Smaragdi’s question, he silently shook his head back and forth.

“Ever since the Lady Oracle started refusing Ms. Gnósi, those of us who studied magic have been tasked with teaching her, but to be honest, it’s too much for us.” It was just a bit, but some earnest surprise showed on Smaragdi’s face upon hearing that reply. He was well aware of the capabilities of his pupil, and he had thought that Aspida should have been more than enough to serve as a teacher.

Magic studies worked a bit differently from other fields of learning.

Even in Vassilios, the majority of all teachers were priests of Asfar, the same as in other countries. That wasn’t because it was impossible to do the job without being one, but because those with Asfar’s divine protection devoted themselves to their studies, and in turn had a strong trend of idolizing the path of teaching others.

Smaragdi didn’t have divine protection from Asfar. The “magical studies” that he made his livelihood teaching didn’t include just the basis for using magic, but also the techniques to manipulate mana, and the ways to increase precision and control. In a way, his profession could be referred to as a “professional trainer” for magic.

In devil society, magic was closely linked to day-to-day life. Those born with strong mana needed the technique to control it, while those who only had weak mana sought to gain fine, delicate methods for raising their efficiency. And so, they wished to learn the related high-level techniques.

“And so... I thought that your personality and skills would be more than enough, and a gentle person such as yourself wouldn’t frighten the Lady Oracle... and so I want to suggest you to my superiors, for their approval. Won’t you consider it?”

“...What happened, Aspida?” Smaragdi asked in a sufficiently forceful tone to make Aspida sit back up straight. If he was nothing but a soft, overly kind instructor, he never would have earned enough respect to be called “Guru.” No matter how gentle he may have been by nature, Smaragdi also possessed a firm, unshakable core. Aspida was also well aware of that fact.

“If the Lady Oracle, who has been hidden away in the depths of the temple, was trying to keep her distance from members of the opposite sex, that would be one thing. But it’s clearly something strange, for her to only deal with men, and for those around her to acknowledge that.”

With Smaragdi readdressing his concern, Aspida no longer tried to conceal the truth more than was necessary. For his request to be accepted, he needed to report on the matter.

He showed a bit of hesitation in doing so, but in a low voice, Aspida spoke the reason. “The Lady Oracle... the other day, she was attacked by the Second Demon Lord.”

Smaragdi gave a faint gulp. He was well acquainted with the story of that gleeful murderer killing the First Demon Lord who had previously ruled the nation.

“The Lady Oracle was unharmed, but... a young child the same age as her was murdered right before her eyes...”

“That’s...”

Someone she knew had been killed right in front of her. That alone would be more than enough to scar her. He didn’t even need to think about how much of a burden it had been on her mind for that young girl to be confronted with that being, who was like terror incarnate.

As an instructor, Smaragdi had come into contact with a great many children up until now, and so, just thinking of her caused his heart to ache.

“Apparently, the Second Demon Lord looks like a young girl.” “Then...”

“I’d have to imagine that she instinctively recalls the Second Demon Lord.

The Lady Oracle won’t say anything herself, but... that just makes it all the more pitiful.”

Aspida’s words caused a feeling of sympathy for that girl he had never even met to wash over Smaragdi. He earnestly wanted to do something for the sake of that child.

“That’s... truly heartbreaking, isn’t it?” “Will you think about it?”

“Still, no matter how much you may recommend me, won’t it be difficult for an outsider like myself to be allowed into the depths of the temple?”

Taking Smaragdi’s words as acceptance, a look of relief crossed Aspida’s face.

“You needn’t worry about that. I’ll come for you again in the future, so I’ll be counting on you when that time comes,” Aspida said and then took his leave. After seeing him off, Smaragdi picked up the cup and drank the water in it, which had now grown warm. Aspida may have spoken lightly, but Smaragdi still thought it would be difficult to carry out. Even so, he couldn’t help but become curious as to just how much talent that girl they called the Lady Oracle, who they treated with such respect, must possess.

And so, when Aspida really did visit at a later date and they passed into the depths of the great temple together, Smaragdi genuinely was quite surprised. He had been invited into a part of the temple that clearly differed from the parts the townsfolk were allowed to visit. The temple was built with several structures within it and was divided into several layered sections. As they progressed deeper inside the security grew stricter, and the temple began to develop a sense of detachment from the transient world at large.

Eventually, Smaragdi lost count of even the number of corners they had turned and how many rooms they had passed through. Around that point, they arrived at a room that somehow exuded a sense of emptiness, despite the sparsity of furnishings common to Vassilios.

In that otherwise monochromatically white room, a single fragment of color stood in stark contrast with its surroundings. It was a young woman, still of an age where she should be called just a girl. She had an innocent, childish look about her, but her golden eyes had a distinct look of resignation to them, as if they’d seen all of the despair and hopelessness of the world. It somehow managed to overpower her otherwise youthful appearance.

Her long hair was a brilliant purple, lacking even a trace of dirt or blemish.

There was no need to explain. Just from seeing that beautiful purple, the color of Banafsaj, it was obvious even at a glance that this was the Lady Oracle, so deeply beloved by that god.

She looked at Smaragdi, her expression not shifting in the least. Her coldly shining golden gaze pierced through Smaragdi, without showing any signs of being shaken by this unknown visitor or even speculating as to his identity.

“Leave this place.”

The Lady Oracle’s words signified that she had rejected him. That cool, flat tone, which none would ever expect from her youthful outer appearance, reverberated quietly throughout the empty, silent space.

“Becoming involved with me will mean your death. Leave this place.”

Despite this, or perhaps precisely for that very reason, Smaragdi got the feeling that he mustn’t abandon this girl. He felt that flat, emotionless tone was actually the result of her desperately fighting her feelings.

“...Death comes for us all eventually. I believe that until that time comes, we have to try to leave something of value behind.” With a gentle look in his green eyes and a smile on his face, Smaragdi accepted even this prophecy of his own death. Seeing that, the Lady Oracle’s stoic expression was shaken by surprise, letting a bit of the childishness fitting of her age shine through.

This was the first meeting between Smaragdi and the girl driven to despair by her ability to see the countless futures that could occur.

As soon as he saw her, Smaragdi could tell why his pupil had been searching so hard for a magic instructor. To start with, it was exceptionally rare for mana traits, colors not normally possessed by a race, to manifest in multiple places. Not all people with high levels of mana possessed a mana trait, but all who had mana trait were born with a great deal of mana.

It was difficult to handle great power. But if one wasn’t able to restrain it, then they would be at the mercy of their own power.

Her power was so great that it had been necessary to have her undergo training since she was very young. Learning how to manipulate mana and cast magic was a matter that could not be avoided for devils, as it was tied to their everyday life.

“Pleased to meet you.”

The Lady Oracle’s expression shifted to one of bewilderment in response to Smaragdi’s words. She couldn’t understand how he could still offer such a gentle smile, even after being rejected and told he was fated to die.

Seeing the Lady Oracle like that concerned Smaragdi, and his smile shifted to a frown.

“Though... I can’t imagine they’d let an outsider like me serve the Lady Oracle so easily...” Smaragdi muttered with a sigh. Those words flowed forth so smoothly that Smaragdi realized he was already completely set on becoming involved with this young, tiny “Lady Oracle.” He decided that he couldn’t possibly abandon a girl with such a look in her eyes.

“I don’t believe you need to worry about that, Guru,” Smaragdi’s pupil replied.

“Aspida.”

“Several priests with divine protection from Banafsaj have acknowledged that you will come to serve the Lady Oracle.”

Smaragdi’s brow wrinkled slightly in response to Aspida’s words.

Glimpsing over at the girl herself, Smaragdi saw that the Lady Oracle wasn’t questioning Aspida’s words.

So this is the temple’s way of thinking, is it...? The temple has continued to govern for a long time since the passing of the previous king, but to think that things had grown so distorted...

Smaragdi didn’t possess any divine protection.

Vassilios was ruled by the temple and the demon lord selected by the gods, so its people possessed deeper faith than those of other nations. But precisely because he lived out in the town, he questioned the idea of prioritizing the will of the gods in all matters.

And above all else, he had misgivings about the way the people of the temple didn’t question anything as long as it was the will of the gods.

Entrusting everything to prophecies granted by the power of the gods...

Normally, it would be impossible to have absolute trust in someone you never even met... To not even have any doubts about that...

The way that divine protection from Banafsaj manifested itself was the gift of prophecy. Smaragdi was of course aware of that. However, he still found it greatly worrying for them to rely on that alone. If you could declare that something was secure because it had been prophesied, then there was the danger that someone could be convicted of a crime from a single prediction even if they hadn’t done a thing.

As a priestess with high-ranking divine protection, the girl before him now would later come to play a great role in the temple. In that case, as a teacher, he may have been able to imbue a different sense of values in her than those of the temple.

Behind his gentle smile, Smaragdi was thinking about what he could accomplish by getting involved with this girl.

†

The Lady Oracle’s name was Mov, a word that meant “purple.”

When Smaragdi heard her age, he was a little surprised. From her outer appearance alone Mov looked a little younger, but on the other hand, her expression seemed so terribly mature, making her seem to be older than her actual age.

Devils were a long lived race, and they spent a relatively long time as adults. As someone who still had some time before he entered old age but had already lived for quite a while, he found those who were still young quite charming.

With magic, one first designates an element, then make a declaration under their name to exercise control, then after vocalizing the effect to occur, one declares the keyword in the form of its spell name. Without that process, the spell will not activate. Alongside that, mana control techniques were also desired.

What Smaragdi taught Mov were matters related to the spells in the Holy and Dark attributes that she could use, as well as delicate mana control techniques.

“You’re rather good at memorizing things, aren’t you, Mov?” Smaragdi said in a gentle tone, only for Mov to cast her gaze downwards a bit. She had a look saying she rejected him when they first met, so Smaragdi hadn’t thought she would open her heart to him easily. But looking at her, it would seem that she had acknowledged his abilities as an instructor.

In terms of pure talent, Mov is far above me... I’m just more knowledgeable about handling my power because I’ve lived so much longer. Those thoughts were his true feelings, rather than mere self-deprecation.

Lacking in physical strength and possessing below-average levels of mana, he far from excelled as a specimen of the devil race. That was how he assessed himself. Because he possessed the capability to calmly make assessments, he was able to accurately grasp the reality of things.

Rather than letting that humble him, he instead focused his attention on learning to most effectively employ the power he did have, gaining a depth of knowledge in the process, which was a “talent” in its own way. And because he knew frustration and envy towards those with natural ability, that made him especially well-suited to teaching others.

While he instructed Mov, Smaragdi learned the details of just what had happened to her. That was proof that the gap between them was closing bit by bit, but he couldn’t simply feel happy about that. After all, it was tied to learning her heartrending past.

Though Mov was a priestess with a high level of divine protection, she had apparently been tasked with serving at the side of a certain child in the depths of the temple. It would seem the reason was because they were the closest in age, but Smaragdi could hazard a guess as to just who it would have to be to have someone as respected as the “Lady Oracle” serving them. And it was precisely because of his realization that he understood he shouldn’t broach the subject carelessly. After all, that child had become a victim of the Second Demon Lord.

“I could not do anything... Even though they call me the ‘Lady Oracle’... I was unable to protect even a single person...” Mov muttered with a sigh.

Smaragdi sensed from those words just how deeply that had scarred her.

She wasn’t just tormented by the terror of the murder, but also her feelings of helplessness in regards to her own ability.

Smaragdi gently smiled, listening to all her complaints and grumbling. The time slipped by slowly and quietly for the two of them together here in this room in the temple, where a cool breeze blew through.

“...Have you been here in the temple all your life, Mov?”

Seeing her give a nod in response to his question, Smaragdi stroked Mov’s hair. “I see... You’ve really given it your all, haven’t you?” he said in a kind voice, only for Mov to grab tightly on to his sleeve. This was a habit she’d been repeating from time to time as of late.

“It’s true that you possess a greater power than me, Mov, and may even have the strongest divine protection of anyone in the temple... but you’re still just a child, right?” His voice was so very gentle and kind. The green color of his eyes was like that of fresh leaves, and they had a warmth about them like spring sunlight.

“It makes us adults happy, when we get to pamper children.”

Devils would only allow those who were very close to them to touch the areas near their horns. But at some point, she had come to accept Smaragdi even touching her golden horns themselves.

The girl... she’s still so young, but she’s had the responsibility of a full- grown priestess thrust upon her...

Smaragdi held back a sigh that almost slipped out without him even thinking about it. That wasn’t how he should be presenting himself to the girl before him now.

For devils, a few years wasn’t at all a long amount of time. But even so, it was sufficient for a child to grow up quite a bit.

Seeing his excellent pupil Mov now earned a clear reaction from her teacher, Smaragdi. The assignments he gave her were most certainly not trivial tasks, but even so, she handled them with deceptive ease. However, that all led Smaragdi to one particular conclusion.

“There may not be all that much left for me to teach you.”

Mov looked shocked in response to those words, which were said in a kind tone but clearly declared their parting. It was rare for her to ever let her emotions show that clearly. That was proof of just how much she had come to rely on Smaragdi over these last few years, and how he soothed her heart.

Seeing Mov so pained troubled Smaragdi as well. He felt like his determination was about to waver, but on the other hand, he was starting to grow concerned over the sense of relief simply seeing Mov had begun to bring him.

“You’re not as afraid of women as you used to be, right?” “But...”

“You should study under all sorts of people, not just me.”

Smaragdi’s expression grew clouded, seeing Mov grasp his sleeve so tightly. Rather than trying to shake her off, he gently placed his hand over hers.

“You’ll come to hear a great many voices and meet many people. Even if it’s just in the narrow confines of this shrine, please don’t limit your world further by trying to only ever involve yourself with me and me alone.”

It had been expected that Mov would come to rely on Smaragdi as he strived to watch over her and help heal the deep wounds of her heart.

He didn’t want to abandon her. However, this child would come to hold a great deal of authority in the temple. It wouldn’t do for her to become dependent on anyone, blindly trusting their words.

Mov was approaching the end of her childhood and becoming an adult woman. Taking that fact into account as well, he felt that now was the time to put an end to things.

“Though with that said, it’s not as though I have nothing left to teach you. It won’t be for such long periods as it’s been up until now, but I’ll still stop in at the temple from time to time.”

“Really...?”

“I’ll definitely keep coming to see you, so be sure not to push yourself too hard.”

He had realized that Mov’s voice was quivering. Even so, Smaragdi made sure to smile, so that it wouldn’t be too heartbreaking. It was a little awkward, but Mov smiled back at him.

Just as he had promised, even after he decided to distance himself from her, Smaragdi made periodic visits to the temple. It wasn’t the kind of intimate time together the two had shared in the past, with both sides instead clearly maintaining the distance appropriate for entertaining a visitor. As the next grand priestess, she was escorted by a chamberlain as if it was only natural, and didn’t get close enough for any friendly contact.

Even so, Smaragdi thought that that was necessary.

As Mov grew, so did the number of people who unjustly suspected Smaragdi of trying to grab hold of power through her. That wasn’t his intention at all, though. The current distance he had taken, watching over her as she grew into an intelligent young lady, felt appropriate to Smaragdi. That had surely been the sensible, logical decision to make.

It was only natural that they were teacher and pupil, and that was the relationship he was trying to maintain.

That was shaken a few years later, when Mov had stopped maturing and fully become an adult, on a certain day, late at night.

Sensing someone’s presence, Smaragdi lifted his gaze from the book he had in hand. Fitting to the commonly held values of the devil race, his dwelling was almost entirely an empty space. The only things he’d count as having value were the books related to his profession that he had gathered over a long period of time. However, almost all of those were simply copies. It was highly unlikely that a burglar would purposefully target this man’s dwelling in the rougher part of town. Even so, he took hold of the gnarled staff he normally never used, just to be safe. An expert in magic control like Smaragdi didn’t need such a tool to assist him, but it was only natural for him to want to keep such a thing close at hand, on the off chance it became necessary to use it as a weapon to beat his opponent with.

“Smaragdi...”

However, the small voice he heard from outside at that time truly caught Smaragdi off guard. It had come from a visitor he had never expected. Even having guessed at the owner of that voice, he couldn’t completely shake his disbelief when he opened the door. And even when his expectations were confirmed, he couldn’t wipe the look of astonishment from his face.

Amongst the dark of night, her brilliant purple hair and the silk she wore covering her head shone dimly in the pale light from inside the room. That silk headdress would normally be used to guard against the strong midday sunlight, but instead that accessory was being used to hide her eye- catchingly dazzling long hair, except for the bit that could be seen at the sides of her face.

She was supposed to be concealed away in the depths of the temple, but here she was in town, without even a single escort, in the dead of night. And she had known where his house was... There were countless questions he wanted to ask her. However, Smaragdi held back those words.

Just as he had done when she was a child, with a gentle smile and a kind tone, he called out to her. “What’s wrong, Mov?”

With that question alone, the tears she held back started flowing freely as she sobbed away. With her movements, the silk slipped off her head and fell to the floor. The silver ornamentation dangling from her now exposed golden horns sparkled in the light alongside her overflowing tears.

Smaragdi could not help but feel unnerved, seeing Mov sob as her shoulders trembled slightly. If he was going to treat her as a woman, then it wouldn’t do to invite her into his home so lightly. However, he certainly shouldn’t turn a girl who was unfamiliar with town away late at night.

Smaragdi opened the door to his home wide, deciding to postpone the decision on what to do till later, focusing on first stopping her crying.

“Something happened, right? If I’ll do, then would you care to discuss it with me?”

Looking like a child, she gave a nod and entered in through the door she was being invited through. As she sat down in the chair offered to her, the bright colors about her instantly brightened up the otherwise plain room.

Now fully visible in the light of the room, Mov’s tears slowed from the relief of seeing Smaragdi, and it was like all the tension drained from her body. Noticing that, Smaragdi also felt a little relieved too.

“Oh water, please grant my wish by my name and show yourself. 《 Manifestation: Water 》

Smaragdi chanted off that spell so smoothly it was like he was singing, filling the inside of his pitcher with water called forth via magic. He then grabbed a handful of dried herbs from a container on a shelf and tossed them inside.

The water that he then poured into a cup gave off a slightly sweet scent.

“The aroma of this flower is said to be effective at helping one calm down. Go ahead and drink a little.” “Thank you.”

Smaragdi sat down before Mov and watched over her as she gulped down the water. When he saw her expression had calmed a little, he asked in an intentionally relaxed tone, “So, just what happened?”

“...Lady Epilogi, she handed down a prophecy...” “Lady Epilogi did?”

Smaragdi was also very familiar with that name.

Even since back when the previous king was alive, the one in charge of managing the temple was a woman with high-ranking divine protection from Banafsaj, who was called the grand priestess. That woman’s name was Epilogi.

The power of those with the divine protection of Banafsaj was that of prophecy, but the things that an individual could divine varied from person to person. There were those who could predict weather and natural disasters in advance, and those who could sense danger ahead of time. Their degree of precision also varied based on the strength of their divine protection.

Those various phenomena had their own complexity about them, and amongst them, the ability to read people’s futures in particular only ever appeared in priests and priestesses with the highest-ranking of divine protection. That also manifested differently from person to person.

Mov, who was called the “Purple Lady Oracle,” was able to see through countless possibilities.

Immediately after being exposed to the terror of the Second Demon Lord, all of the possibilities she could see with her power were overwritten with death. Death came equally for all living things, so the possibility of death followed everyone. There was no helping that Mov ended up with such deep scars on her heart, after being tossed about by her own ability and being surrounded by nothing but gloomy and ghastly futures.

Epilogi also saw people’s futures, but her power was to voice a future that was fated to be, more a proclamation than a prediction. At times it was only fragments, but that power was never wrong and guided a great many people and the very nation itself.

“Was Lady Epilogi’s prediction something bad?” Smaragdi guessed, his voice maintaining a kind tone. Mov looked down like she found it hard to say, but then peeked up at Smaragdi’s face and in a slightly sweet tone reminiscent of her younger self said, “It... wasn’t something bad. In fact, for the nation, it is an auspicious event.”

“I don’t belong to the temple. So you don’t need to give me their answer, and can tell me how you really feel.”

Mov’s expression relaxed just a bit when she heard those words. The typical tension in the air around her thinned. Mov always had to keep striving to act in a manner befitting of a high-ranking priestess, so as someone who would listen to her own thoughts and feelings, Smaragdi was incredibly precious to her.

Mov was also aware that she had come to depend on that kind man, and that he had distanced himself as a result.

Even so, she wasn’t able to suppress how she felt.

A great many people called her the Lady Oracle who would guide their futures, and listen to her words. However, not even a single one among them tried to listen to her words.

She understood that. And in the past, she hadn’t even questioned it. But through the time she spent together with Smaragdi, she came to understand just how lonely that was.

She had wanted to always be pampered, like a normal child. There was only one person who would do that for her, who would indulge her and tell her it was alright to cry. It was because Smaragdi was that sort of person that Mov had run to him.

As someone able to read countless futures, slipping out of the shrine wasn’t an impossible task for Mov.

“I’ll... give birth to a ‘king.’”

Smaragdi’s green eyes opened wide with surprise in response to Mov’s words.

“My child will become king... that was Lady Epilogi’s prophecy.”

In Vassilios, the word “king” referred to the nation’s ruler, the First Demon Lord. Ever since the previous one had been killed by the Second Demon Lord, that throne had been left empty, and it went without saying that a great many people wanted to see it filled.

In that way, it was certainly an “auspicious” prophecy. In fact, it could be called a promise of the birth of a new king.

“However...” Mov looked down once more with a pained expression on her face, and forced out in a tiny voice that was hard to pick up, “Ever since then, every day... men claiming to be candidates for the king’s father have been appearing before me.”

“I see...”

Understanding the situation now, Smaragdi’s expression darkened as well.

The devils who lived in Vassilios had a matriarchal society, and children were raised by their mothers. However, it wasn’t as if fathers had nothing whatsoever to do with their children. The bangles that everyone wore were given from fathers to their children. That helped children understand who their father was, and also acted as a form of identification for devils. The child and father’s names were engraved in the bangle, and a promise that the father would protect their child for their entire lifetime.

And so, thanks to the prophecy, ambitious men started to appear, claiming they were worthy to become the father of the coming king. Priests who wished to gain more authority in the temple, and those who wished to become involved in the government and shape the country according to their interests, claiming they were acting in the interest of their child... The form of their ambitions may have varied, but it was clear that they were all men confident they could use this child who would become king in order to elevate their own standing.

However, that was placing a great burden on Mov, leaving her almost terrified.

“If it is my destiny to lay with someone and conceive a child... then until I accept...”

“Mov, that’s...”

She had lived quietly in the depths of the shrine, only interacting with a very limited number of people, only to now suddenly be exposed to a great number of men and their overflowing ambitions. It was no surprise that the young girl would end up terrified. Smaragdi’s expression grew more clouded as he thought about that.

“But, I... Even so, I...”

As the tears continued to flow forth, Mov looked at Smaragdi with her golden eyes. Above her purple hair were transparent gems that closely resembled her tears. Normally, the gems used as horn decorations by high- ranking priests were purple in color, but her hair was a more beautiful color than such precious stones, so it wasn’t necessary to use such colors.

“They do not even call me by my name, so why... why must I sleep with them...?!”

“It’s alright, Mov. It’s only natural to feel that way.” He said those kind words she had wanted to hear as he stroked her purple hair with the palm of his gentle hand.

In that way, Smaragdi listened to her selfishness that would normally never be allowed without negating anything she said. Feeling happy and just a little guilty, Mov sobbed out loudly, which she hadn’t even been able to do when she was a child.

“Can I... stay here for today...?”

“...I suppose there’s no helping it. It’s a rare request from you, after all.”

Rather than forcing her to stop, he had instead affirmed that she should let her emotions out as much as she needed to. And when she let slip that request afterwards, Smaragdi broke out in a strained smile, looking slightly troubled, but he didn’t deny her request. After all, he didn’t feel like he could force her to leave after hearing what he had just been told.

He let her have the bed and sat down in a chair, then lost himself in thought.

Mov looked to have worn herself out from crying and nodded off, seemingly having no issue falling asleep in front of Smaragdi. From that unguarded nature not fitting to her age, he once again saw the fact that she was a sheltered child who grew up only knowing the depths of the temple, being unaware of the outside world.

It’s no surprise that Mov would feel like running away... While thinking that to himself, he stroked the head of that girl, who was sleeping with an innocent look like that of a child on her face. Perhaps unconsciously, a slight smile appeared on her face.

However... that’s the natural way of things there...

While sighing, he reached out and adjusted the level of light. He would hate for it to interrupt Mov’s peaceful slumber.

In the temple, nobody calls Mov by her name. That may be only natural... but for even the people trying to court her to do so...

As someone respected for her rare level of divine protection, Mov was solely treated as the “Lady Oracle” in that place. Without any ill will, and not even noticing because they were acting out of respect, they were treating her personality as an individual as secondary.

For her to have a child with someone like that...

They may say that it’s her role to do so... but there’s no helping how she feels, not wanting to accept that.

It wasn’t all that rare for a child to be born in that manner out of political necessity.

Even so, Smaragdi wanted to grant whatever few requests came from this girl, who had put up with so much for the sake of her duty since she was but a child.

It’s true that Mov is the “Lady Oracle” and the only one who can act as the successor to the grand priestess. But even so, that’s no reason she shouldn’t be able to voice her own desires.

“Even you... should be able to wish for your own happiness,” Smaragdi whispered, a clear fondness behind his voice. However, that was most certainly not rooted romantic feelings that were burning with passion. Even so, because he had that thought, the next morning when Mov awakened, he asked her, “Mov, am I right to think... that you ran away here to my place because... if it’s with me, you wouldn’t mind having a child?”

With those words, Mov’s cheeks flushed red and she looked happy. Mov didn’t generally show much emotion, but Smaragdi could clearly see her feelings on her face, lit up by the morning sun.

However, Mov tightly grasped his sleeve, and shook her head back and forth. She responded in the negative, looking as if she had cut herself free from her feelings, her expression and actions not matching at all.

Looking straight at the girl, Smaragdi gently stroked her still shaking head while wearing a faintly strained smile on his face.

“That’s because it will lead towards a bad future for me, right?”

With those words, Mov looked up, wearing a shocked expression. She had neither confirmed nor denied, but looking at her face now was more than enough to provide Smaragdi with his answer.

“You once told me that if I got involved with you, it meant I would die... If you and I have a child, will that lead me closer to death?”

Just like how he had worn a gentle smile on the day they first met and she predicted his death, there was still no despair or hopelessness to be found in Smaragdi’s expression.

And so, Mov decided to be upfront with him, telling him of the possibility that she saw.

If she stayed silent, Smaragdi would grant her wish. If she didn’t inform him of this future, then that would increase the odds of things turning out as she wished. She knew that. But she didn’t want to use that knowledge to try to deceive Smaragdi.

Those feelings of Mov’s showed in her trembling voice.

“If we have a child together... then you will die for that child’s sake. You will sacrifice your own life to protect them... But if that child is not born... you’ll be able to live a proper peaceful, full life...”

“So that’s the future you saw?”

On that day when they first met, Mov hadn’t been able to see the possible futures that clearly. But after receiving this declaration from Epilogi and observing the possibilities that lay beyond her choices, she finally understood.

It was her wish that drew Smaragdi towards a future in which he died... towards a possibility in which this kind person would be lost.

And so, understanding that such an action meant the possibility of her wish not being granted, she left it to him to decide.

“It’s alright, Mov. At least to me, that isn’t an unfortunate prophecy.”

She had bet on that possibility, in which she would hear those words she had wanted to, accompanied by his kind smile.

“I’ll be able to have a child, which wouldn’t be guaranteed no matter how hard I wished for it otherwise. That’s a happy prediction, I’d say.”

Having her wish accepted with those kind words, she was overjoyed. As the tears flowed freely from Mov’s eyes, Smaragdi gently placed his arms around her.

†

Epilogi was quite old, but it was still several years more before the position of the highest-ranking in the temple was passed to Mov. When that time came, Smaragdi began openly visiting Mov in her room in the depths of the temple.

Devils didn’t have a custom of getting married the way that humans did, so the norm was for a man to visit a woman for the sole purpose of having a child together. It wasn’t as if a woman would never visit a man, but as a matriarchal society, it was far more common for the man to visit the woman.

During the process, Mov’s perception of Smaragdi was revised a bit.

Normally, there were guards placed along the corridor between the portion of the temple visitors could enter and the inner sanctum. However, Smaragdi was permitted to freely pass by them without needing to ask permission each time. That directive had come from Mov, but there were still those who weren’t particularly fond of him, so they plotted to harass him in several ways on the way to her room.

Mov was enraged when she learned of that. She felt guilty for having Smaragdi face such unpleasantness because of her, and her pride had been harmed by the way that they made light of her words as the grand priestess. However, she didn’t need to lend Smaragdi a hand.

On that day, the one to appear before Smaragdi was a muscle-bound man. Both he and the others in priest clothing accompanying him had elaborate silverwork hanging from their horns. Looking at the number of purple jewels used in them alongside that, it seemed he was quite a high- ranking priest.

The look in Smaragdi’s green eyes grew a number of degrees colder when he finished taking measure of the man. Mov only knew his gaze as gentle and warm like spring sprouts, so she would surely be surprised to see how cold it was now.

“This isn’t the sort of place someone who is not even a priest should be coming and going as he pleases,” the man said with a sneer, clearly trying to provoke Smaragdi. His followers followed suit and laughed as well.

With his cold gaze fixed on them, Smaragdi smiled back. Having sensed his disdain behind that, a rage akin to bloodlust could be sensed coming off the men who had judged Smaragdi as their inferior. Seeing them let their emotions show so clearly on their faces, Smaragdi’s evaluation of the men dropped another level.

Such simple-minded men could never help support Mov, who faced the heavy responsibility of managing the government. It was presumptuous for any of them to even dare to offer their names as candidates to become her partner.

“A scrawny man like you, with such pathetic mana, would never be able to sire a child fitting to become king.”

On top of the matter of their intelligence, they also seemed to be utterly lacking in character. Smaragdi finished grading them in his mind, and gave them a failing mark.

Even though he was facing opponents who far outstripped him physically, Smaragdi showed no sign of being afraid.

“Ah, I was wondering who it was. I see, it’s Geranós’s child Zíleia and Nýchi’s son Pséftis. And you there, you’re Phérma’s boy, aren’t you? Your mother must be turning in her grave, to have raised such a mannerless brute with muscles in place of character.”

One of the followers, Pséftis, visibly bristled after hearing those words.

That raised his marks just a bit, but it was already too late, as he had received his failing mark. Before he could warn of how unusual it was for someone they should have been meeting for the first time to know not only their names but their lineage, Zíleia’s ignorance cut in.

“You dare to speak that way to me, knowing who I am?”

“Oh, I know. After all, your magic teacher was Pharos and your martial arts instructor was Sevasmós, both pupils of mine,” Smaragdi informed him without any hesitation. Understanding the meaning behind those words, the color at last drained from Zíleia’s face.

“It’s true that my amount of mana isn’t all that great. However, Sevasmós should have taught you that it was dangerous to make light of an opponent based on that. I suppose I may have to re-educate that child from scratch, too,” said Smaragdi with a smile, but his eyes were completely serious.

Training from Smaragdi’s favored pupils, Pharos and Sevasmós, certainly wouldn’t have been anything easy. Perhaps remembering that, Zíleia grew more and more pale.

“If I recall correctly, you boasted a level of mana that far exceeded the average for a devil. And Sevasmós also recognized your physical strength as being beyond that of the common man.”

Zíleia opened his mouth to pounce on the man’s words and say how he would show him that superiority firsthand, but he was unable to speak. Before he managed to get a word out, Smaragdi continued on in a cold voice, “But at the same time, your mana control is less than even that of a child, and you’re a fool who boasts of his reckless courage born from his strength.

There was no point in the two of them teaching this much of a fool, I’d say. And to think that rather than devoting yourself to your studies after learning under them, instead you’ve grown arrogant... They truly have my sympathy, those children.”

Zíleia’s pale face was flushed pure red. He gave into his rage and stopped even thinking. The fist he raised was a powerful enough weapon that it could have easily shattered the bones of Smaragdi’s slender body, and could have even taken the man’s life. Even so, Smaragdi maintained his composure.

“《Magical Wall》”

He had solely used the name, which didn’t fulfill the proper form for a chant used to cast magic. Normally such a thing wouldn’t even activate, but thanks to Smaragdi’s high-level control technique, it manifested for just an instant.

It was only a mere instant. But that was more than enough time to divert his opponent’s fist away from himself ever so slightly. In that way, he dodged the blow. At the same time, he smoothly recited a proper chant.

“Oh light, appear before me and become my shield. 《Magical Wall》”

It was a simply composed bit of magic, creating what should have been a makeshift wall of light that would shatter before such herculean strength.

However, it stopped Zíleia’s fist with a dull sound, not even shaking the tiniest bit in the process.

A cold sweat ran down Zíleia’s back. No matter how foolish he may have been, he at least had enough brain cells to comprehend what had happened.

The wall that Smaragdi had created had been just enough to stop a single fist. He had displayed his ability to achieve the greatest possible effect with the smallest possible activation. As a race that was so intimately familiar with magic, any devil would realize just how difficult of a task that was.

And that wasn’t all. Despite that being the smallest possible of shields, it had sealed his movements. That meant he had read Zíleia’s moves

completely. It was something that couldn’t possibly be carried out without a keen eye for observation and great control technique.

“It seems you’ve earned failing marks in terms of martial arts ability, too.

Such an utterly simple attack didn’t even require any prediction to figure out.”

Smaragdi didn’t have any skill in the martial arts himself. At least for a member of the hardy devil race, he was weak enough that it could be said that he had a delicate constitution. However, he was always aware of his own weakness.

“Even if one is born with great power, if they cannot use it, then it holds even less meaning than the strength of those born lacking such things,” Smaragdi criticized in a cold tone. He had decided to crush the confidence of this man who believed he held a position of absolute superiority by showing him overwhelming power. Surely, such a clever little trick wouldn’t be sufficient for such a purpose. Smaragdi’s smile had a chill to it that called to mind an executioner.

It was then that the men at last realized that this slender fellow before them was not the weakling he appeared to be at first glance. However, it was already too late.

Smaragdi was always gentle and kind in front of Mov, and that held true for how he acted in front of most people as well. He was certainly a very patient man, and caring as well. That could also be seen in the way that he wasn’t bothered by teaching children, generously accepting even the

However, that wasn’t all that there was to him.

As one who made his living providing children with guidance, he hadn’t ever neglected to sharpen his fangs for the sake of protecting his pupils. And he was also a man who believed it was an elder’s duty to protect the young, and was prepared to take the full brunt of whatever he needed to in order to do so.

As he judged these men to be enemies of both himself and Mov, he didn’t hesitate to launch a counterattack, lacking even a hint of mercy.

By the time Mov learned that because she had chosen Smaragdi, he faced all sorts of attacks, starting with slander and harassment, from the other “candidates,” they had altogether lost their will to fight.

Those who found fault with the low level of mana he was born with... Those who were prideful due to their lineage...

Those who boasted of their sturdy physique...

The arrogant self-conceit of those men varied in form, but Smaragdi neither flattered any of them nor kept his head down around them.

As someone who knew he was born lacking any great gifts, through sheer effort he had clawed his way to a place where he could stand alongside those with talent, making Smaragdi no ordinary man.

Furthermore, those pupils who studied under him all reached a rather high level when it came to their magic studies. However, that wasn’t just limited to that field of studies. No matter what position they may find themselves in, any devil would assuredly have a chance to study magic.

When including his fellow instructors, his connections both inside the temple and out granted him a great deal of influence.

When Smaragdi was truly angered, he became a rather dangerous individual.

A number of those self-proclaimed “candidates” were ruined socially, and some were forced to return to their family homes. There were even those who were stricken with a fear of people, no longer able to even leave their rooms.

With some thorough “aftercare,” Smaragdi completely wiped out the possibility of others saying things like “Such a feeble man dares call himself the father of a king...?” The personality of that methodical, serious man showed in his actions.

By the way, those calling themselves “candidates” who were actually fittingly clever enough to accurately read the situation knew from the start that it would be foolish to stand against Smaragdi. Before considering anything like becoming father of a king, it was absolutely essential for anyone who wished to serve in a position of influence in the temple to have a friendly relationship with the Lady Oracle, Mov. As such, acting antagonistic towards her lover who she trusted so deeply would only serve to act greatly against their own interests.

Around that time when Smaragdi was being recognized as such a presence in the temple despite not even being a priest, Mov became pregnant. At full term, she gave birth to twin girls.

The prophecy was that Mov’s child would become king, and there was only one open throne amongst the demon lords, but two children were born. That fact rocked the people of the temple greatly.

After much thought on the matter, the simple conclusion reached was that one of these two girls would become the ruler of the nation.

It was decided that Mov’s children, who had become candidates for the throne, were to be raised in strict secrecy in the depths of the temple. Based on the painful memories of the Second Demon Lord once slaying the former candidate for that position, it was necessary to use even more caution, hiding their very existence as they were being raised. That was because if they were found out, it was likely they would become targets in the same manner as the last king.

Even knowledge of Mov’s pregnancy was kept known to the bear minimum of those serving by her side. While it was an auspicious event for the nation, the fact that she had given birth to twin girls was a fact known only to a portion of the elites of the temple. Those debating the situation also had a shortage of information on which to judge the situation. As a result, all they could do was wait until information presented itself, which made it difficult for those top-ranking officials with their closed-minded ways of thinking to immediately hand down a decision.

Smaragdi, meanwhile, was in a separate, quiet room and was utterly detached from that commotion, seemingly having no interest whatsoever in the thinking of those concerning themselves with a power struggle. But what he showed on the surface and what he was thinking inside were different matters, as he had laid the groundwork to immediately make a move if the decision made by those elderly troublemakers threatened to cause trouble for Mov and his daughters.

However, he didn’t let the recuperating Mov see that in the least. In her postpartum confinement, Mov lay listlessly atop the bed, looking utterly exhausted. Smaragdi gently smiled, wiping the sweat from her brow.

“I don’t care which one of them becomes king. I just want them to grow up healthy,” he said in a kind voice that relieved the one listening to him, telling Mov his true feelings. Hearing that, Mov smiled, then brought her cheek up against Smaragdi’s palm, which had just finished wiping her sweat.

“I hadn’t ever considered... that there would be two of them...”

“Even though you’re called the all-seeing Lady Oracle, there are still things you don’t know... You did good.” “Yeah... It was tough.”

“Thank you, Mov. I never imagined I’d be able to have two adorable daughters like this.”

Hearing these frank words of appreciation, Mov broke out in a smile.

When she had thought on the task of child raising, which she was unaccustomed to, she hadn’t even imagined that she would suddenly be doing it for two. But when she saw her daughters sleeping peacefully side by side, she didn’t feel the need to worry about such concerns.

“Their hair is the same color as mine, isn’t it...? And their horns are still small, but they have your shape, Mov.”

“I’d heard that horns were soft right after being born, but... it really was surprising, seeing it for real.”

“Yeah, it’s enough to make you feel afraid to touch them too firmly...

Looks like they inherited their horn color from me, too... It really is a strange feeling, looking at them. I really am a father now, aren’t I...?”

After checking that his daughters’ small fingers all had tiny little fingernails, he broke out in a wide, bashful grin.

The lips of one of the girls started to twitch. When the other did the same a moment later, Smaragdi wasn’t able to hold back a broad smile from erupting forth. He hadn’t been able to say he felt a powerful, deep passion for Mov when they first got together, but now that she had given him these two daughters, he felt very differently. He felt even more affection for the girls than he had expected before their birth, and his feelings towards their mother, who had safely carried out such a great task of bringing them into this world, couldn’t be expressed as mere gratitude.

“Thank you, Mov.”

The new mother happily squinted her eyes as Smaragdi said those kind words and lovingly caressed her head, a right that was hers and hers alone for the moment.

When the twins had just been born, they looked so identical that you couldn’t tell them apart, but when they soon opened their eyes, their parents learned that their eyes were different colors.

“Golden eyes... So should I consider this the same sort of mana trait that you have, rather than genetics...?”

“Probably... I had heard it wasn’t impossible for a parent and child to end up with the same mana trait, but still...”

“This girl has gray eyes. There are a lot of green eyes in my family...

Maybe it’s the natural color for your bloodline?”

He tapped his daughter’s cute, chubby little hand with the tip of his finger, and she grabbed onto it. Finding that adorable, he broke out in a smile and kept on doing so. For some reason finding that unamusing, Mov came over and sat down by Smaragdi’s side, still cradling their golden-eyed daughter in her arms.

“What should we name them?”

“The temple won’t have something to say about that?”

“I won’t let anyone complain about their father naming them.” “You’ve gotten a lot stronger than you used to be, haven’t you, Mov?”

Smaragdi said with a laugh, then gazed off into the distance while feeling the warmth of his daughter.

“Chrysos and Asími... No, rather than Asími, Platina... maybe?” Smaragdi soon muttered, offering those two words.

“Chrysos and Platina... What do you think?” “I’m fine with whatever you decide, Smaragdi.”

“I wanted to hear your opinion, though...” Smaragdi replied with an awkward smile to Mov’s assertion, then reached out to the girl that Mov was holding. He ever so gently stroked that platinum hair, which was the same color as his but far more soft.

“Chrysos.”

Then he pointed his gaze to his other daughter, who was still playing with the tip of his finger.

“Platina.”

They were his precious, utterly irreplaceable daughters.

“I may be an unreliable father, but... let’s take care of each other, alright?”

He smiled, wondering all the while if he’d be able to leave anything behind for these girls before his promised end arrived. But more than that, he realized it hadn’t taken long at all for him to come to think that he wouldn’t mind risking his life if it was for their sake.

Smaragdi came to live with Mov and their daughters together in the depths of the great temple. In devil society, it was the mother’s family’s role to raise children. However, Mov had been entrusted to the temple when she was very young and separated from the world at large, so she had no such family to rely on. And neither Smaragdi nor Mov approved of the idea of entrusting a chamberlain to raise their daughters.

However, at the same time, that child-rearing had turned out to be more involved than expected, making it too much for Mov alone.

Mov had a slender figure by nature, but in order to carry out her duty as a mother, she bulked herself up. Therefore, there was no lack of milk when breastfeeding, but it still took twice as long and twice as much because she had two children instead of just one. Day by day, Mov was filled with concern that they would suck her dry.

In order to support her, Smaragdi ended up changing his place of residence. A big reason behind that was because he decided that if his time was limited, he wanted to spend at least a little more time together with his daughters. There was no helping that he ended up thinking that way, though, as his daughters were just too cute. He was already walking the path towards becoming a full on doting idiot.

The first one to learn to hold her head up properly and sit up straight was Chrysos. Platina learned to do so too just a little later, but she then tumbled over. That fall was properly cushioned so it shouldn’t have hurt, but perhaps out of surprise, she blinked her big gray eyes and then started bawling loudly. Chrysos then got caught up in the flow of things and cried as well, only to lose her balance and fall over, then flip over on her back.

“That’s a healthy crying voice. They’re both doing well, wouldn’t you say?”

While watching Mov silently panic as her gaze darted all over when faced with their daughters who wouldn’t stop crying, Smaragdi casually scooped up Chrysos in his arms. In an accustomed motion he patted her back, and while Chrysos’s eyes remained teary, she regained a bit of her composure.

Smaragdi handed her to Mov, and then picked up Latina.

“Why are you able to get them to stop crying so easily, Smaragdi...?” Mov said with a frown while thinking on the matter.

“Who knows?” Smaragdi replied, shifting his gaze from Mov to Platina, who had stopped crying.

“Agoo.”

It seemed that the point of Platina’s interest as she reached out her tiny hand and clenched it again and again was Smaragdi’s horn. He happily looked back at his daughter. No matter how much he looked at them, he never tired of doing so. They were never making exactly the same expression, even for an instant. Even in the instant of seeing them blink, he spied the wonder of seeing them grow.

Smaragdi had lived for a long time, but this was his first experience raising his own children. As someone who was naturally curious and inquisitive, he found this life with his daughters, in which each and every day was overflowing with new experiences, incredibly satisfying.

“Agoo.”

“Are you all calmed down now, Latina?” “Aa, aa.”

“You want to come to me too, Ryso?”

Chrysos was reaching out from Mov’s arms towards Smaragdi. Seeing that caused him to break out in a smile, and he picked her up too. Both of his arms were occupied with one of his daughters, but that didn’t seem to worry him at all.

Devils called young children by nicknames, and had them do the same.

This custom originated from the fact that many names in the language ended up being rather long words. Their parents called Chrysos Ryso and Platina Latina, which they found adorable.

The two twins looked at one another from within Smaragdi’s arms and started making pleased sounds. Their moods had completely recovered, it seemed.

After taking that adorable sight in, he looked over at Mov, who had a bit of a bored look on her face.

“...I’ll handle these two, so you can head back to work, Mov.”

Seeing Mov make a slightly lonely looking expression, Smaragdi couldn’t help but get a bit of a sense of superiority. He was well aware that this new mother was feeling lonely now that her daughters were monopolizing the man who usually doted on her.

“Latina and Ryso are both telling you to do your best at work, Mov... Hey, I’ll be here waiting for your work to be over, too.”

It was different from what he felt for his daughters, but he also felt a deep affection for Mov, who he had watched over since she was a child. While looking at her with a loving gaze, he took his daughters’ small hands in his own and had them give a little wave.

Those two girls were deeply, deeply loved.

“Moh?”

“Oh? Moh?”

“Mov, Latina and Ryso called your name, didn’t they? Hey, what about my name?”

“Gah?”

“Ga?” “...”

Both of the twins remembered their mother’s name, Mov, first, rather than Rag.

This was the first time that Smaragdi had received such a shock in all his life.

†

Even when they were babies, he couldn’t help but find them incredibly adorable. They had spent the majority of the day napping and couldn’t speak, instead expressing their emotions by crying. Their moods shifted freely, and they could be heard crying at any time around the clock.

He couldn’t help but cherish even such rough days as that.

To Mov, who was utterly worn out by raising children for the first time ever, Smaragdi’s ability to adapt was utterly incomprehensible.

However, that had only been the very start of their work.

“Rag.”

“Rag, tew us a stowy!” “A stowy!”

The adorableness of his daughters pitter-pattering over and talking to him in that awkward, childish manner was no joke.

“A story, is it?” “A stowy!”

“Stowy!”

The girls, Platina and Chrysos, standing side-by-side and talking to him, were always holding hands. With identical motions, they looked up at their father, Smaragdi.

While thinking that these young girls may not have fully understood yet that they were separate beings, Smaragdi squinted his eyes at the adorableness of his daughters.

Just one of them would be plenty cute, but there were two. On top of that, they made the same movements as if in perfect alignment. It would be impossible not to find it precious.

Smaragdi himself had no idea that he was such a doting idiot. That was because he found the fact that his daughters were adorable to be an absolute truth.

“Then how about for today, we go with the story of a hero from a far off land?”

“Yeah!”

“Rag, hug!”

Platina was hopping up and down with both hands on the knees of her father, who was sitting in a chair with a smile on his face. It would seem that she wanted to get up atop his knees, but couldn’t manage so herself.

Apparently his gray-eyed daughter demanding to be picked up was quite a pampered child, just like her mother.

“Ryso too, Ryso too!” the gold-eyed girl called out while hitting the back of the chair Smaragdi was seated in, having seen what her sister was doing.

“Don’t get all flustered, Ryso. You’re right, I know it wouldn’t be fair to just pick up Latina,” Smaragdi said with a strained laugh, then picked up the girls and seated them atop his knees, as per their requests.

“When you two get a little bigger, it may become tricky to pick both of you up at the same time.”

“No!”

“Together!”

“I see. Then I guess I’ll just need to try my hardest, huh?” Smaragdi responded to his daughter’s protests, giving a nod while wearing a serious look on his face. As if mimicking him, they let out a sound of agreement and nodded back. While holding back the urge to break out in laughter, Smaragdi dredged up the story he intended to tell from his memory. That fable he told, which was simplified to be easier for children to understand, was actually a part of history.

His daughters listened to his story with wide grins on their faces, not thinking too deeply on it. Simply listening to Smaragdi’s gentle voice made them happy. That kind voice of his echoed throughout the dreary temple room, filling it with a warm, peaceful atmosphere. Perhaps in response to that pleasant air, the two girls occasionally looked over at each other and shared identical, overjoyed smiles.

“Guru,” said an outsiders voice, intruding on this space shared by the father and his daughters. Apparently the voice’s owner, Smaragdi’s pupil, had been watching and waiting for an appropriate point in the story to interrupt.

“Ah, it’s been a while, Aspida.”

He was amongst the few priests serving the temple who were aware of the presence of Smaragdi and the twins. Aspida looked at his former teacher and the two girls he was holding.

“It seems you’ve grown fully accustomed to raising children...” Aspida said with a strained smile, even though he had always thought of Smaragdi as someone who could handle anything smoothly. Hardly any devil men were ever involved with raising their children.

“I never imagined my own kids could be this cute, y’know?”

“Y’know?” Chrysos said, mimicking the end of her father’s sentence, causing Platina to give a cheerful laugh. Seeing his two daughters behave like a pair of frollicking kittens, Smaragdi looked incredibly pleased, and placed the girls down on the floor.

“Rag?”

“Huh?”

“I’ve gotta have a bit of a difficult conversation. You two go play for a bit, alright?”

Platina had tilted her head in confusion, but Chrysos took her hand and the two walked away, and they soon forgot about the matter.

They were being raised in secret in the depths of the temple, but it wasn’t as if they were living crammed into a single room. This great temple of Banafsaj was vast enough of a structure as to give the impression of a small town. Its various sections were segmented, and as one approached the center, security grew strict. It was an area deep within that place where Smaragdi, Mov, and the girls lived.

They weren’t able to freely go outside, but the young girls were able to live happily and healthily without feeling completely restricted. One place they especially liked to play was the inner garden, where they could spend time beneath the open sunlight. The girls pitter-pattered along in that direction, hand in hand.

Seeing them, Aspida muttered, “They really do resemble the Lady Oracle...”

Their mother, Mov, had a pretty face ever since childhood, but after maturing, she had developed a composed manner about her that only added to her beauty. The otherworldly feel about her that made her feel separate from the world of the temple only strengthened the mysterious impression she gave off.

If you were to ask Smaragdi he would say that it was because she was something of an airhead who knew nothing of the outside world, but he wouldn’t deny that Mov was beautiful.

The twins had identical faces, and they both inherited their mother’s looks. Their father, Smaragdi, had a rather ordinary face. But apparently, the twins had inherited his genes as well in the best possible manner. Compared to Mov’s beauty, which made it hard for others to approach her, their two daughters had a cuteness to them that charmed friendly strangers.

Even without Smaragdi’s perspective as a doting idiot, they really were adorable children.

“No matter how cute they may be, I won’t ever forgive you if you sleep with them.”

“They’re still way too young to be saying such things, no matter how adorable they may be.”

Aspida’s rebuttal was absolutely the proper reaction. But even so, after responding, he sensed a cold air of intimidation hiding behind Smaragdi’s smile. He trembled a bit as he felt a chill run down his spine. As someone who didn’t have children, he couldn’t understand the bloodlust coming off this father, as if to say he wouldn’t let anyone take his daughters away even after they were all grown up.

“Did something happen?” Smaragdi prompted in his normal, calm manner.

“Well, the truth is...” Aspida started, composing himself, and informed Smaragdi of the latest state of affairs in the temple, which was the purpose behind his visit.

Even though Mov was the top-ranking priestess, she was still young. As if looking down on her for that reason, those troublesome elders who had become nothing but narrow-minded in their old age dealt with her by making sure the workload was heavy for Aspida and the other young priests who assisted her. As someone with tight lips who was far from a stranger to Mov, those young folks had come to rely on Smaragdi as someone to confide in.

Just like how he had once dealt with those men who tried to lay a hand on Mov, Smaragdi was steadily helping to solidify Mov’s position. When he saw a twisted smile cross Smaragdi’s face as he thought that those annoyances who had done nothing but live a long time couldn’t be “wiped out” as easily, Aspida did his best to pretend he saw nothing.

The way that Smaragdi could still act so mercilessly despite having racked up years of experience himself earned him even further respect from his students.

“Rag!”

“Hmm? What is it?” Smaragdi asked, turning to face his daughters and cutting of his conversation with his pupil. Chrysos and Platina came running up to him hand in hand with a pitter-patter, each holding a small flower in their other hand. With a satisfied grin, Platina offered hers to Smaragdi.

“Flowers!”

“Fow you.”

“You’re giving it to me? Thank you. It’s beautiful.”

Seeing Smaragdi kneel and accept it, the twins looked at each other and smiled.

“What about Chrysos’s flower?” “Mov’s!”

“Fow her.”

“I see. I’m sure that’ll make Mov happy, too. Should we put them in water, so they don’t dry up?” “Yeah.”

“Water!”

Seeing the twins look even happier with this praise from their beloved father, Smaragdi’s expression grew even more blissful, too. “Oh water, mother who nurtures all life...”

Smaragdi’s daughters watched attentively as their father smoothly chanted the lengthy spell. Normally, as a chant grew longer, the resulting magic grew more powerful in turn. Furthermore, it would also take a great toll in terms of mana and become more difficult to control.

The level of mana Smaragdi was born with wasn’t all that great. It wouldn’t be strange at all for him to run out of mana and faint if he cast powerful magic. However, he was able to carry it out by concentrating his mana to the tip of his finger and limiting it to the smallest area of effect possible. That was an incredibly difficult exercise in magic control, but he made it look deceptively simple.

“《Healing Water》”

The shallow dish was filled with water called forth from this magic.

Smaragdi gently placed the small flower he had received from his daughter within it. That flower, which had started to wilt after being grasped tightly in her small hand, regained its liveliness. Chrysos then mimicked her father and placed the flower she had been holding into the water too, only for Smaragdi to stroke her head in order to tell her she had done a good job.

Only Aspida gave a sigh at the sight of his teacher’s highly skilled use of magic. Normally, after it manifested the healing effect of the magic in the water would fade away, but he had maintained it by overwriting part of the spell, something no ordinary magic user could manage.

His tiny daughters watched the magic their father carried out with sparkling eyes filled with curiosity, but they didn’t seem to have even an inkling that society at large would consider such a deed to be impossible. And their mother, the Lady Oracle, was a talented woman who had born with a great deal of mana and received training under Smaragdi. They were completely out of touch with the norms of the world.

By the by, the story his teacher had been telling his daughters was a “fable” of a real event that had occured in the past. Though it sounded like the sort of allegory aimed towards children, it covered both the era of a wise king, as well as the chaotic age of a feeble-minded ruler. In terms of content alone, it didn’t differ all that much from the sort of subjects Aspida and those other members of the temple involved with governing examined in study groups.

The children of the guru and the Lady Oracle... Just what sort of upbringing will they have, before one of them becomes king...?

Seeing the twins beg their father to pick them up again, only for his teacher to break out in a wide, sloppy grin, Aspida gave another sigh.

†

When they thought on how their daughters had to live in such a confined world, Smaragdi and Mov felt truly blessed that they were born as twins. As they didn’t know anything of the outside world, neither Chrysos nor Platina understood that the circumstances they were growing up under were unique. They didn’t seem to think of themselves as unfortunate, either.

What brought their parents the greatest relief was that they had someone to grow alongside and share all kinds of things and experiences with. Relative to other races, devils had very few children. And when it came to a child raised in secret in such a confined space, that meant there was no guarantee there would be any other children they could play with.

The presence of one another clearly had a great, positive influence on these girls, who possessed great sensitivity and were very expressive.

To start with, twins were very rare for devils. They would live for a long time, and neither their parents nor themselves wished to categorize them as the “younger” or “older” sister based solely on who was born just a tiny bit sooner.

For the two of them, they spent more time looking at one another than looking into a mirror. There was always someone who looked identical by their side. The young girls even gave off the impression that they didn’t even realize that they were separate beings, and that their upbringing had done little to disavow them of the notion.

Platina would tilt her head, and then a moment later, Chrysos, who was sitting across from her, would do the same. Then it would happen the other way around. If Chrysos suddenly rolled, Latina would mimic her. The pair’s game of copying one another headed towards a conclusion of sorts as they laughed simultaneously.

It was the sort of play where no one but the two of them would know what’s so amusing. Even so, watching them, Smaragdi found them so adorable that it only stressed the point that they were the apple of his eye.

“Rag?”

While Smaragdi was busy feeling all warm and fuzzy, the twins came up to his side and looked up at him, holding hands as always.

Chrysos and Platina were both bundles of curiosity, so it was difficult to tell who would have been able to walk first when the time had come.

However, Chrysos turned out to be a little cautious, while Latina had been afraid.

Whenever Smaragdi noticed a difference between the twins that they themselves were unaware of, his gentle smile softened even further.

“What is it?” “What?”

“Whaat?”

The two sisters were tilting their heads and pointing at the documents Smaragdi had spread out for work. Smaragdi’s personality could be seen through the methodical letters there.

“It may still be a little tricky for you two,” Smaragdi said with an awkward laugh.

“Hm?”

“Hmm?”

The twins tilted their heads.

The letters written out on the documents were complex in form, composed all sorts of different symbols.

Devil letters were incredibly difficult to understand. Each letter had its own meaning, and that meaning could change when combined with other ones. Each letter wasn’t based on a sound, and if you didn’t understand the meaning of each one, then it would be impossible to understand.

The words of the devil language were the same as those used in magic chants, and the characters were said to be a graphical representation of the mana fluctuations caused by each word.

“I’ll teach you when you’re a little bigger, alright?”

Until one understood a certain degree of words, they wouldn’t be ready for learning letters. As such, there was a tendency amongst devils to learn them when they were a bit older. But due to their long lifespans, they didn’t find that anything worth fussing over.

Children this young were essentially never taught how to read. However, Smaragdi got out a blank piece of paper and wrote two “letters” on it. Those two letters included similar parts to them. Like those two adorable girls in front of him now, they were very similar letters that were still different.

“This one is “Chrysos,” and this is “Platina’... Ryso, Latina, this is how you write your names.”

Even for a country with abundant mineral resources like Vassilios, gold and platinum were considered precious metals, and thanks to the colors associated with them, they also included the meaning of “sun” and “moon” in their characters.

“Ryso?”

“Latina?”

“That’s right. They indicate your names.” “And Mov?”

“And Rag?”

While staring intently at the characters, the girls asked about different names at the same time. It was rather heartwarming, and at the same time, he also felt relieved that they hadn’t both asked about their mother.

“My name... is like this. And this is Mov’s.”

Smaragdi’s pen slid along, writing out the characters for “Smaragdi” and “Mov.” Seeing them, the twins both made a look of dissatisfaction at the same time. He felt bad for the girls, but the sight of them puffing up their cheeks in sync a bit was just so adorable that he couldn’t help but break out in a smile.

“What’s wrong?”

“Different!”

“Dun like!”

“I see. So you don’t like how our names aren’t similar, the way that yours are, huh?”

Smaragdi wore a strained smile, having immediately figured out the nature of his daughters’ complaint. He gently stroked their hair.

“You see, the two of you share a special bond that no one else does... You look just alike, but you’re two different people. And both of you are our precious children.”

The girls were still young, and they didn’t seem to really understand what he was saying. But sensing the love in their father’s kind voice, they both gave a happy giggle.

Their beloved father hugged them both tightly at the same time, thinking this was no time to be working. However, rather than getting in his way, they simply sat there and stared as Smaragdi worked away, seemingly enjoying themselves.

Apparently even Smaragdi just smoothly writing away was enough to fill them with curiosity. His letters being lined up so methodically that it was like it was only natural for them to be there was just as mysterious a sight to them as magic.

“Dat’s amazing.” “So pwetty.”

The two girls shared their feelings and exchanged smiles with one another.

Sensing his daughters’ gazes on him, Smaragdi felt a bit more nervous than usual, and his pen started to move faster. They were so interested in the matter...

It was still too soon to teach them their letters, but Smaragdi thought that teaching them how to use a pen would work, so he naturally ended up trying to finish up his work for the day early.

He had his daughters sit atop his knees and had them grip the pen, supporting their hands with his own from behind. After doing so for each of them in turn, he distanced himself a bit and watched over them, not lending a hand more than was necessary. Platina was the first of the two to manage to hold it well.

“Good going, Latina.”

Platina looked proud, having heard her father’s praise. Beside her, Chrysos puffed up her cheeks a bit as she re-adjusted her grip on her pen again and again. These two were so similar to each other, but one would always naturally learn to do something first, inspiring the other to acquire the skill too.

With a gentle expression in his eyes, Smaragdi thought that it would be good if that slight desire not to lose became one of their strong points.

“You’ve got just a little more to go yourself, Ryso. Ah, just like that...

Yeah, that’s the way.” “Did it!”

“Yeah. You did a great job too, Ryso.”

There was a somehow serious air about his daughters as they scribbled freely on the paper laid out before them with a look of accomplishment on their faces. Apparently they were mimicking the sight of their father doing work in their own way.

It was a completely and utterly adorable sight, so even when they overturned the ink bottle soon after and ended up dyed in its blue-black contents, he wasn’t particularly bothered.

“Rag, Rag!”

They cried out in panic for their father to help them, hopping down from their chairs and running over towards him. In the process, the ink bottle was knocked down to the floor, and the resulting sound caused them both to jump.

The ink from the bottle had spread on the floor in addition to the tabletop, and having stepped in it the twins had had left footprints scattered all over.

“Calm down, you two, it’s alright, so...”

Smaragdi’s words didn’t reach the two girls in their panicked state. They left handprints on their father’s clothes when they went to hug him, and when they grabbed all over due to how flustered they were, the number of little “stamps” all over only grew.

It was only natural that ink-stained hands would leave behind ink. But apparently that was not something the young girls had been able to see coming. As the number of handprints continued to grow, Smaragdi thought on how he could stop his daughters from crying.

“...And so, these are those handprints. It was just too adorable, so I was thinking I’d leave them there, as a memento.”

It was an important job of Rag’s to report on how the girls were doing after Mov finished her official duties for the day.

It was now late at night, and the sound of the pair snoozing away atop the bed sounded somehow out of tune. But even so, the timing of their breathing in their sleep and the way that they tossed and turned was the same, reminding one all the more of the fact that they were twins.

“Hmm... I should normally be the one raising them... but I have left it all up to you, Smaragdi...”

“I feel fortunate, that the task came around to me because you were so

As Mov stroked Platina’s hair, the girl’s face shifted into a happy smile, even though she remained asleep. As if that happy feeling had been transmitted over from her other half, Chrysos made the same sort of smile by her side.

While grinning at her daughters, Mov gently touched their blue-stained fingertips.

“A bit of ink coloring still remains around their fingertips.”

“I called for a lady-in-waiting and tried to get them in the bath right away, but it apparently stained a bit.”

Bathtime was the only time that Smaragdi entrusted his daughters to someone else. He felt that as their father, he needed to set a boundary there. Precisely because they were such papa’s girls, he felt it was important to teach them the need to keep a certain degree of distance from the opposite sex.

Smaragdi was boundlessly soft on his daughters, but he was properly strict when it came to the matter of their education.

“It’s important for those two to face failure like this from time to time, too.”

“Right...”

Mov’s gaze towards her daughters was filled with a mother’s great love. Though the time they could spend together was limited, Smaragdi had no doubt of her deep affection for their daughters.

With a gentle smile on his face, Smaragdi beckoned Mov over.

That slightly blushing face of Mov’s was one unknown to those people of the temple who revered her as the Lady Oracle, fitting to a young woman such as herself. Though they had already had children, she still had an innocent inexperience to her actions.

As Smaragdi embraced her, Mov closed her eyes with a joyful look on her face.

“You’ve been working plenty hard. I know that, Mov.”

“You truly are skilled at pampering people, Smaragdi... If these girls become spoiled, it will surely be your fault.”

“There wouldn’t be anything wrong with that. After all, these girls are hard workers, just like you. And I’d say we need to pamper them.”

As he gently stroked her horns to comfort her just as he always did with their daughters, Mov became lost in the sensation, her expression softening.

Mov was washed away by that gentle happiness brought by their time together, causing her to forget everything that had happened up until now as she brought her cheek to Smaragdi’s chest.

†

Their daughters continued to grow rapidly day by day.

Their days were never the same, and they were never dull. It was a blink of the eye after they were born until they were able to walk and talk, but now that a few years had passed, they clearly started exhibiting their own separate wills. It was a dramatic change that occured in just these few years’ time. Due to the nature of his job, he had a relatively high degree of interaction with children, but being able to watch over their growth everyday like this was a special feeling for him.

It wasn’t as if there weren’t any incidents whatsoever. There were small ones day by day, and occasionally some that weren’t so little as the sisters continued to grow.

“Mov, why are you small?”

The incident that day started with a single comment from Platoma that was devoid of malice. It was her mother, Mov, who she asked that question curious, and a great many things interested them. Their father had knowledge of a great many things, and they had learned that all things had a reason, as well as the youthful joy of fulfilling their personal curiosity.

That was surely something to be glad over, but even so...

Smaragdi had emphasized that she shouldn’t ever raise her hand to a child, so she didn’t do so. However, it was her duty as a mother to teach her daughter that there were some things in this world that mustn’t be said.

Having decided as such, Mov turned towards Platina, who was looking up at her with a gaze of pure, innocent curiosity.

Streeetch.

She grabbed hold of her daughter’s cheeks. Those little cheeks were squishier than she had expected, and they stretched without even putting in much power at all.

“Platina.” “Pwah!”

Being called by her full name rather than her usual nickname, Platina jumped.

“In this world, there are some things that must never be asked, thing that must never be said. Times where silence is the right choice.”

“Gwah...” Latina let out that strange sound while looking up at her mother, tears streaming from both eyes.

Her cheeks stretched further, and her sobbing increased in turn.

Her daughter’s question was likely grounded in the fact that she lacked the two abundant mounds the ladies-in-waiting, the other women the girl was familiar with, possessed. That was Mov’s assumption.

Platina was likely just curious, lacking any ill-will. However, the matter at hand was also a complex for Mov.

Mov sought to inspire love in Smaragdi. It wasn’t as though such feelings had led him to yearn for her. He simply hadn’t been able to cast her aside, because he was kind.

Mov felt deeply obligated for that fact. Because Smaragdi was someone who treated her as precious, she regretted having led him towards his destruction, and she also lacked confidence in herself as a woman.

When it came to her skills at governing, she simply needed to study diligently. But when it came to gaining a full feminine silhouette, she had no idea what she should do. She’d possessed a thin figure, ever since she was a child.

Perhaps Smaragdi preferred a more womanly figure. It was because she was so in love with him that such things worried Mov.

As Platina stood paralyzed in place, a long time passed. What finally changed the situation was the action of her other half.

“Rag, Rag! Hurry, hurry!”

“Why are you so flustered, Ryso?”

Chrysos desperately pulled on Rag, tears in her eyes.

As soon as Mov started her scolding attack on Platina’s cheeks, Chrysos moved to take action. In the small world she knew, the only one capable of stopping their mother was their father. In order to save her other half from that terrifying assault on her cheeks, she immediately left the scene to request aid.

Smaragdi had no idea what was going on. The teary-eyed Chrysos hadn’t explained anything, only telling him that he needed to hurry. Having thus received no prior information, what Smaragdi saw was Mov stretching his other daughter’s cheeks out to the side. Instinctively, he found himself impressed that Platina’s cheeks could stretch that far. More importantly, he felt an overwhelming pressure coming off of Mov akin to what he felt when dealing with those sly old foxes in their monstrous den in the depths of the temple, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.

For now, all he could think was that he had no clue what was happening.

She’s crying.

That was no way to handle a child. It was no surprise that their daughters were sobbing. It wasn’t just Platina, who was taking Mov’s anger head on.

Chrysos, who had come to him for help, also had tears flowing from her eyes.

“Mov, let’s drop it there. You’re scaring Ryso too, not just Platina,” rebuked Smaragdi in a slightly firm voice. With that, it wasn’t just their daughters crying, as Mov teared up as well.

He really had no idea what was going on.

Released from Mov’s hands, Platina’s cheeks snapped back to their original shape. The girl placed her hands over them and looked up at Smaragdi, tears streaming from her eyes.

“Rag, does Latina still have cheeks?” “You’re alright. They didn’t come off.”

Apparently the girl had been so terrified as to be worried her cheeks were ripped right off. The normally lively and cheerful Platina tottered over to Smaragdi and then approached Chrysos, who was clinging to her father with teary eyes. The two joined hands, and then as if sharing the terror they had experienced, hugged one another tight. As Smaragdi got down on his knees and put his arms around the girls, he noticed a resentful gaze coming from Mov.

He soon understood: She was sulking.

Mov didn’t often let her feelings show through her expressions. However,

Smaragdi had gotten quite good at picking up on them.

“...Mov,” Smaragdi called out to her, but she remained silent and kept on pouting. All he could do in response was give an awkward laugh.

“...Did Latina tease you?”

With those words, the harshness faded from Mov’s glare. Her daughter had picked on her, yet Smaragdi was only doting on them, causing Mov to feel more than a little jealous.

While Smaragdi thought to himself that it was immature, he also knew that Mov, who was still far younger than him, was always pushing herself more than she needed to.

“Come here.”

He gave each of his daughters’ heads a stroke and then stood up and headed towards Mov with his arms held wide open. She half-ran towards Smaragdi and then threw herself into his chest, hugging him. She didn’t say a word. Even though she was a pampered child, she was bad at letting others spoil her. Knowing that, Smaragdi simply ran his palm through her beautiful purple hair.

Before he noticed it, fitting to that special ability of children to change gears so easily, their daughters were back to their normal selves and playing around as if nothing had happened. Seeing that caused Smaragdi to breathe a sigh of relief, and then he turned back to face Mov. He took her hand and led her over to a chair, and then Mov sat down atop his knees like it was only natural to do so. Apparently she had decided to let him dote on her thoroughly.

“Just what exactly happened? What did Latina do?”

“...She said I was small.” Mov replied in a whisper so quiet it was almost inaudible.

“I don’t think you need to worry about that.” “It is not as if I desire to be small...”

Hazarding a guess as to what had occurred from the words she was using,

Smaragdi gave a strained smile. He hadn’t thought she was that concerned

“Even that cute way you get so self-conscious is part of what makes you who you are, I’d say,” said Smaragdi without any hesitation, not so much as missing a beat.

“...You would not prefer someone more womanly...?”

“You may have been the one who wished for it to start with, but I’m the one who decided to be together with you, Mov.”

The Mov clinging to him now and saying such things in a worried voice was not the “All-seeing Lady Oracle.” Seeing through that fact, Smaragdi felt the need to be kind and pamper her too.

“I wouldn’t have been able to have such adorable children with anyone but you, Mov.”

“I feel you like Latina and Ryso better than me...”

Smaragdi found it absolutely adorable the way that Mov let him and him alone dote on her, despite being even more strict in regards to her responsibilities than anyone else.

In the end, he thought that he really may be fond of pampering her like this as he hugged the girl who was far younger than him even more tightly. He decided that rather than his daughters, he would spend the day spoiling her instead.

“They’re the children born to the two of us, so of course they’re precious to me.”

If he hated her, then even if he had wanted them, there’s no way that he would stay with her like this even after their birth. He wouldn’t sacrifice himself out of duty or for the sake of some unseen future.

They had already spent more than enough time together for him to fall for her. He had made a point of expressing that, since this pampered girl was a little lacking in confidence.

Smaragdi’s whispered words were meant for Mov alone, and only she heard them. As such, Chrysos and Platina didn’t know what their parents were discussing. Even so, looking at their parents now caused the twins to smile at one another.

“Mov and Rag, getting along?” “Getting along!”

“Yeah!”

Their mother may have been monopolizing their beloved father’s embrace, but they had each other, so they held each other’s hands tightly. With a happy feeling in their hearts, Chrysos and Platina went for a walk around the depths of the temple, which was the whole of their world. Ever since she was young she was called the “Lady Oracle,” and she was referred to as “Grand Priestess” since she became the highest ranking in the temple, but despite those high expectations, she was more than able to meet them.

Beauty always brought power alongside it.

She possessed not only beautiful features, but also had colors about her that people didn’t normally possess. As someone whose hair was a manifestation of the color most precious to those who served Banafsaj, she was a woman fitting to serve as the symbol of the temple.

A beautiful, capable, and enigmatic young leader. That was the opinion of her externally, being seen as a talented woman.

Smaragdi wouldn’t deny that assessment, either. As her teacher, he knew full well just how skilled of a prodigy she was.

But he was also well acquainted with the fact that it wasn’t all there was to her. She was a natural airhead who knew nothing of the outside world. Her actions fitting to such an assessment were known only to Smaragdi and their daughters, a sight that she only showed at her most unguarded.

That day, Platina and Chrysos heard a story from their beloved father.

Amongst the stories that Smaragdi told his daughters, there were quite a few heroic epics. “Heroes” weren’t born to the devil race. Even so, tales and legends about those antitheses of demon lords were also frequently told in Vassilios.

“Magical beings?” “Magical beasts?”

What the girls were curious about then were the monsters that appeared to be defeated in the epic.

“The tales of those called heroes aren’t just about them defeating Demon Lords of Calamity, but also eliminating the magical beasts and magical beings that endanger people.”

“Magical beings? Magical beasts?” “They’re different?”

“Ah, right... You’ve never seen any, so it’s hard to understand, huh?”

“Magical beasts” was a classification for all living things that possessed mana. It wasn’t just limited to beasts of the land, and also included birds, fish, bugs, and those humanoid beings outside of the seven races, the demi- humans.

On the other hand, there were those called “Magical Beings,” which were not animals. Such non-living beings as golems and gargoyles had mana dwelling in them, making them magical beings. They were akin to magical devices, and could occur either by design or pure random chance.

The most common type of magical beings, though, were corpses and the spirits of the dead given form by being exposed to mana. In other words, what was commonly referred to as undead monsters.

However, for these girls who were raised in secret in the depths of the temple, having hardly even seen normal beasts, it was rather difficult to understand the difference.

“...I’ll think on how to properly explain it to you. Could you wait a little longer?”

“Hmm?”

“Hm?”

Seeing Smaragdi’s troubled expression, Chrysos and Platina tilted their heads. Up until now, their father had known anything and everything and always had an answer to all their questions.

They wondered why he wouldn’t tell them. Each of them realized that her other half holding her hand was pondering the same question, so they nodded to one another.

If our father is troubled, then we should ask the other person we can count on, our mother.

Having reached the same conclusion without even needing to exchange words, the twins looked up at their father with refreshed looks on their faces.

Smaragdi took those expressions to mean that they were being reasonable in response to his request, making him feel relieved. He had no idea that they had decided on their next course of action through eye contact alone.

If Chrysos or Platina had spoken a single word of what they were planning in the presence of their father, the disaster to come surely would have been averted.

Occasionally, Smaragdi left the temple and headed out into town for work.

When his daughters had just been babies Smaragdi was constantly by their side and didn’t take his eyes of them for a moment, but now that

Chrysos and Platina had grown up to be such good girls that weren’t troublesome at all, he could trust them to behave themselves and hold down the fort to some degree. And it wasn’t as if he left them entirely on their own. There were always ladies-in-waiting about, and their mother Mov was with them at times.

At the moment they were with the latter, so Chrysos and Platina pitter- pattered on over to their mother.

“Mov!”

“Mov, teach Ryso and Latina!” “Teach Ryso and Latina!”

Mov was a bit surprised, hearing that from her daughters. They almost always asked their father when they had a question, and Smaragdi was always knowledgeable enough to give them a response. And so, it was a very strange feeling for Mov, having the twins ask her to teach them something.

“What is it?” “Um, um...”

“About magical beasts and magical beings...” “Magical beasts and magical beings?”

Mov looked confused, so her daughters continued on.

“Rag told a story.”

“But Ryso and Latina didn’t understand.”

“How are magical beasts and magical beings different?” “Ryso and Latina don’t get it.”

Having heard their alternating explanation, Mov felt she finally grasped the situation.

“In other words, you want to know the difference between magical beasts and magical beings.”

“Ryso and Latina kind of get magical beasts.” “They’re dangerous animals, right?”

“They also include bugs and stuff too, but that’s more or less right.”

Because Mov was raised in the temple and knew nothing of the outside world, if Smaragdi were in this place, he would want to interject all sorts of things into the conversation.

“Well then, what do you want to know?” “What are magical beings?”

“Ryso and Latina don’t really get them.” “Hmm...”

She gave a firm nod in response to her daughters’ question, and then continued on, “Magical beings are not living creatures... The majority of them are what are called undead. They occur when the residual thoughts of the corpses or spirits of the deceased are manifested by mana, but...”

Seeing her daughters tilt their little heads, Mov reached a conclusion which was overly hasty, as well as plain and simple.

“Hmm... It would be better to simply show you rather than try to explain.”

“Huh?”

“Really?”

Mov’s golden eyes looked to be gazing at somewhere far off in the distance. She was looking over the potential futures that only she could see, something no ordinary person was capable of.

Soon, Mov gave a satisfied smile in response to what she had surveyed.

“When something you do not know catches your interest, it is only right to try to learn about it. Therefore, it is good to study it.”

“Hmm?”

“Hmm?”

The twins tilted their heads in tandem, while Mov alone gave a satisfied nod.

Once in the past, Mov had easily slipped out of the temple in order to go see Smaragdi. She was an airhead, but she was also strangely good at taking action. By using her abilities, she was able to slip out of the depths of the temple with her daughters in tow while having confidence in their safety.

However, Mov wasn’t taking them out of the temple itself this time. “Mov?”

“What’s this place?”

The stone-built building Mov had brought her daughters to had a complex relief around its entrance, but the interior was incredibly plain and dreary.

The chill felt in this place was due to more than just the air running through from below.

Just leaving their room when it was dusk out was unusual for the twins.

However, they still pitter-pattered along after their mother, who was holding a light, so as not to be left behind.

“Even very few people of the temple visit this place. It is a graveyard that has been used for generations for priests.” “Graveyard?”

“Perhaps due to the strong power of this land and of those buried here, this place is famed for having many ghosts appear.”

Mov walked along at a brisk pace, showing no signs of being afraid.

Chrysos and Platina didn’t understand what was going on in the least. They had interest in being in a new place, but they hadn’t the foggiest to what it was for.

“As long as you keep the amulets on your person, you will be in no danger.”

“Hmm?” “Amulets? This?”

Immediately before they entered the building, Mov hung a delicately- made amulet meant to ward off evil from each of her daughter’s necks. In response to Chrysos holding hers up, Mov gave a smile and a nod.

“Yes, that is the one. Be sure not to lose it.”

With that, Mov hurried ahead of her daughters. The angle on the slick floor suddenly shifted causing the twins to fall down, and it then acted as a slide, carrying them down below.

“Gah?!”

“Wah?!”

“If you follow the path you will make it back here, so do your best and return to me.”

At the very least, if Smaragdi were there, he would have asked why in the world she was so reckless as to send their daughters off into such a place alone.

While looking up at their mother waving to them, Chrysos and Platina slid down into the depths of the graveyard, not even having time to grasp what had happened.

The two had been raised with affection under the watch of an absolute guardian in the form of their father, so they had no idea that they possessed the ability to sense such things as “ill will” and “malice.” That was something akin to the budding sprout of the power of fate protecting them, as those who had been prophesied to become demon lords, but nobody was aware of that.

Having been thrown right into the midst of the thoughts of those ghosts, whose envy and jealousy towards all living things had shifted into hatred, Platina fell into a panic.

“Gwaaaaaaah!!”

Chrysos had gripped her amulet tightly as her mother had instructed and was somewhat calm, but she jumped when she heard Platina’s scream at the appearance of the swarm of ghosts.

That proved to be the trigger. Chrysos had been holding back her tears up until then, but following suit with her sister, the dam holding the tears back burst apart.

“Aaaaaaaaaah!!”

After that, the sisters held each other’s hands and ran at full sprint, tears streaming from their eyes all the while.

It could be said that these sisters’ courage had held out, as their legs hadn’t given out from fear.

Meanwhile, Mov heard their footsteps from far away and gave a satisfied nod.

“Hmm...”

Her daughters’ screams reverberated throughout the narrow graveyard, but Mov reached a rather positive conclusion, deciding that there was no problem if they had that much energy.

She was worrying about the girls, in her own way. In her childrens’ future, a great many difficulties awaited them. And when that time came, she would surely not be by their side. And so, they needed to be capable of overcoming any difficulty through their own power. The dark shadow of death always followed wherever the Demon Lords of Calamity tread, after all.

Her daughters would surely need to build up a resistance to the undead, in order to protect themselves.

Mov had encountered the Second Demon Lord herself when she was young, suffering great wounds to her heart in the process, but she had been raised to be extremely tough mentally. Her overly straightforward way of thinking was that one needed to face their trauma head-on and overcome it, like she had done with the aid of that person she loved, who was so skilled at doting on her.

She was truly frighteningly airheaded.

“Oh light of heaven, grant this request by my name, and become a guide for those who are lost. 《Ghost purification》”

Mov’s purple hair waved gently as she quickly chanted off her purification magic. She was born with a massive amount of mana, so even with just the magic activated by that single chant, the ghosts that had gathered behind her back were easily mowed down.

Soon after, Chrysos and Platina made it back to their mother and clinged to her desperately.

“Waaaah!”

“Mov!”

While stroking her sobbing daughters’ hair to comfort them, Mov plainly stated with a smile on her face, “What you saw just now were ghosts. They lack any sense of self like those of the seven races, and are not especially dangerous.”

It was certainly true that for someone like Mov, who could cast such exceptional purification magic, even a couple hundred ghosts would be nothing to fear.

“However, the classification of undead doesn’t only refer to ghosts.”

The girls had inherited their mother’s airheadedness and tendency to do things at her own pace, but they still felt an ill premonition from the smile on Mov’s face right now. However, it was just a bit too late.

“Therefore, continue your studies.”

With a bam, Mov flung open a door behind her. That door had a sealing spell placed over it so it couldn’t be opened easily, but she cared nothing of such a trivial matter.

It was connected to a small room made of stone.

An unnatural, dry clattering sound emerged from the darkness. Mov illuminated the interior with her light, and both Chrysos and Platina froze on the spot.

There were countless skeletons packed within that room.

“When one becomes a zombie, they not only look horrifying, but also possess a terrible stench. You should accustom yourselves to it now.”

As always, Mov’s smile remained firmly on her face.

It was too much from the very start for not just Platina, but also Chrysos.

Unlike ghosts, which lacked physical forms, the beings clattering and shaking before them now were clearly there. The impact on the girls couldn’t even be compared. All they could do was tremble and quake in one another’s arms.

Smaragdi arrived soon afterwards.

He realized upon returning from town that Mov and the girls weren’t in their room, but he didn’t raise a fuss over that. He didn’t yell out loudly or carelessly at the absence of his daughters, who were being raised in secret.

What he did first was search for the girls on his own. He wasn’t just looking at random, instead making use of search magic, which he was skilled at.

However, he found a different difficulty upon his arrival at the scene. As Smaragdi wasn’t a priest, he was restricted from entering the graveyard. He was devoted in his duties as a professional, which made that restriction push him to his limits mentally, as going into that place was something he should avoid. There would be repercussions.

But above all else, his role as a father came first.

What he found was his beloved daughters huddled in a trembling mass, no longer even able to speak. Even after seeing him, they were still so awash in terror that they couldn’t even stand.

“Mov!” Smaragdi’s reprimanding voice reverberated throughout the graveyard, with enough force behind it that even the skeletons faltered.

Even after being rebuked by Smaragdi, Mov calmly puffed up her chest with pride.

“Low-grade ghosts are of little concern. And I made sure they had amulets, so such things could not even so much as approach them.”

Instead of appearing dejected, she had the expression of a dog thinking “I did good, so praise me!” as she looked at Smaragdi.

“Furthermore, new experiences are of great use in their growth, yes?

Now they should be able to deal with the undead without experiencing more fear than they need to...”

“These girls still weren’t ready to face such a thing!”

Their daughters were still young children, just barely able to take care of their day to day needs on their own.

It was certainly true that in order to protect themselves, they would need to learn how to fight and to ready to face magical beings without faltering.

However, no matter how one thought about it, that wasn’t the sort of education to be given to children this young. His beloved daughters in his arms were trembling, tears streaming from their eyes.

“There’s a time and an order to all things...” Smaragdi’s lecture continued on for a while after that.

Though he had watched out for them in that manner, for a while afterwards, Chrysos and Platina weren’t able to go into dark places, and the bedwetting that they had outgrown made a reoccurrence.

Their mother’s attempt at tough love had missed its mark, not providing the desired result.

That much was only natural.

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