“You did well to escort that child safely. ……By the way, it reminds me of old times. Back then, you also told me to call you senior, Nigel.”

Thanks to Zeronin’s confirmation kill, Nigel belatedly realized that she was the first fool to assert seniority based on the time spent in the orphanage.

Unable to bear vividly facing her own dark history, she looked for a door, but no door was visible anywhere.

After belatedly remembering that this was her own survival method devised to survive among the boys, she was able to endure somewhat.

And after that boy appeared, Nigel’s daily life changed.

……Rustle.

Nigel’s secret reading spot, a large tree stump, to avoid the noisy boys.

In this place where only squirrels and birds roamed, there was a human presence.

Turning her head, that boy from before was hiding his body behind an old tree, peeking out just his face.

When Nigel tilted her head, the boy quickly hid even his face behind the tree.

After this one-sided hide-and-seek with the boy continued for several days.

“Do you have something to say to me?”

The young Nigel, who had quite a short patience, boldly approached the boy.

Under Nigel’s direct gaze, the boy lowered his head deeply, blushing and enduring, before finally opening his mouth.

“I want… to be friends with you.”

“Why?”

Taken aback by the unexpected question, the flustered boy fell into contemplation for a moment.

“Well… you saved me. You were braver than Mary and Carl. They only know how to tease me, they would never have stepped up as coolly as you did.”

“……”

The young Nigel was silent for a while, then.

“……Fine, then.”

She muttered, barely louder than a bird’s wingbeat, then turned sharply and sat on the tree stump.

The boy, who had somehow heard that murmur, shook his brown hair excitedly and sat down next to Nigel.

The young Nigel pretended to be nonchalant, but the corners of her mouth were slightly raised. Well, unlike usual when she occupied the center of the stump, she had shifted to the left to allow room for the boy to sit.

After exchanging names, Nigel and Nix, Nix called out Nigel’s name several times aloud, bouncing his legs. Unlike calling Carl or Mary, he liked the feeling of his tongue rolling smoothly in his mouth.

“Hey.”

“Oh, sorry. I must have disturbed your reading.”

Nix smiled sheepishly. Then he subtly glanced at the book Nigel was reading.

“……Nigel, you read such difficult books?”

Even Carl and Mary, who seemed to study for more than half the day, couldn’t read such difficult books, so Nix was shocked and opened his mouth wide.

“It’s still far from enough, though.”

Nigel casually turned the page.

“……Are you trying to become the Minister of Finance or something?”

Nix mentioned the job of the person he knew who studied the most. However, all he received in return was Nigel’s cold gaze, worse than looking at an insect.

“……Minister of Finance is a position a commoner orphan can’t attain.”

“Then?”

Nigel, who was always confident, suddenly lowered her head deeply. Between the black hair that almost touched her shoulders, her flushed cheeks were visible.

For a moment, Nix couldn’t take his eyes off Nigel and waited only for her answer.

“I’m going to enter Sienna.”

“Sienna?”

Nigel nodded her head greatly.

“Sienna is an academy where even orphans like me aren’t discriminated against by status, and can enter if they study well. If you enter as the top student, even the scholarship is waived. So, I’m studying in advance from now.”

Nigel’s purple eyes, speaking confidently, sparkled like stars in the night sky.

Nix learned for the first time today that one could be captivated by a person, not just books or swords.

And, at the same time, he became ashamed of himself.

Since contracting an incurable disease, his life had been a series of giving up. Even the sword he loved so much, he hadn’t held it using the incurable disease as an excuse, and the calluses on his hands had disappeared. Among his rapidly growing friends, he had come to Tillin, fleeing from shame at his small stature.

But in Tillin, where he had fled, there was a strong girl who didn’t succumb to status or environment, working only for her dream.

As days passed, then a week, then a month, Nix fell more and more for this girl.

Nix’s heart, which had softly opened to Nigel, broke his parents’ instruction not to let others into the villa and gave Nigel access to the villa library.

The trigger was Nigel sitting on the tree stump reciting historical timelines even in heavy rain.

During the time spent with Nigel, she studied without fail every single day.

When Nix asked how she could do that, Nigel said there was nothing as certain as studying.

When Nix’s face showed a puzzled expression, the clever Nigel kindly added an explanation, saying it was like how sword skills improve little by little with daily sword training.

Watching Nigel faithfully approaching her dream step by step, Nix’s dried heart tingled with the desire to have a dream like Nigel.

And on the day marking one month and a half since Nix came to Tillin, he confessed the dream that had suddenly sprouted for Nigel.

“……I’m definitely going to get healthy and go to Sienna with you.”

At the words he blurted out thoughtlessly, Nix tightly closed his eyes. He was already afraid of the unfiltered words the realistic Nigel would throw.

He was certain she would say there was no way someone weaker and more foolish than her could do that, to quickly find another path.

But.

“……Fine, then.”

The answer that came back was indifferent.

More than his parents’ and master’s comfort saying he would get healthy soon, more than Carl and Mary’s letters saying they wanted to see his face soon after he got healthy, Nigel’s dry answer resonated more.

Moreover, the kind Nigel kept it a secret from the nanny that he had cried his eyes out, snot running.

Nigel, who had been busy surveying the surroundings with cold eyes, had now completely immersed herself in the perspective of young Nigel.

The orphanage children were family, and the village school classmates subtly avoided associating with the orphan Nigel, so Nix was the first friend Nigel had ever made.

Also, childishly, Nix overlapped with Noah in her mind. Of course, Nix’s appearance was plain brown hair and ordinary features compared to Noah’s silver hair and handsome looks. But his love for swords and the way he quietly stayed by her side were just like Noah.

So, Nix held a special meaning for both young Nigel and current Nigel.

Moreover, young Nigel already knew. That she had a hidden power that could cure any disease.

Young Nigel, who greatly disliked the pre-meal prayer time at the orphanage, soon prayed more diligently than anyone.

She prayed to gain holy power before Nix returned home, to completely cure Nix with that holy power so he could wield the sword he loved and enter Sienna together.

But Kirelia, who was said to hear anyone’s prayers regardless of status or age, turned a deaf ear to Nigel’s young heart.

Well, it was still fine for now. Nix was just smaller in stature than his peers, not sick.

And she knew the future.

The condition for manifesting a saint’s holy power was sincerely wanting to save someone. So if young Nigel’s heart grew day by day wanting to save Nix, she would surely manifest holy power and save Nix.

So she would pass the test when young Nigel healed Nix with holy power, then opening the magic door at that moment.

Yes, it was a perfect assumption.

If there was one thing Nigel overlooked, it was that misfortune always finds her in the worst imaginable way when she lets her guard down.

It was a day just like any other. After school, Nigel sat on the tree stump, reading a book.

Then Nix, who had been waiting to match the end of school, would trot over and strike up a conversation. No, that’s how it should have been, but Nix didn’t show up even when the clear green foliage turned red and the insects began to sing.

Worried thoughts bloomed hazily, wondering if he had fallen while running in a hurry, or if he had gotten heatstroke from being in the summer sun too long, even in Tillin.

Ron’s voice repeatedly rang out, saying the night forest was dangerous and to come in quickly, trying to stop Nigel.

Looking at the rapidly darkening forest, Nigel hesitated until the end but finally ran to the palace, to Nix’s villa.

The birds’ chirping, which had been fine when with Nix, was eerie in the darkness, and the branches that had been Nigel’s playground now looked terrifying as if about to swallow her.

Still, Nigel kept walking without stopping, even if her steps accidentally slowed. Because Nix was a friend. And the priest she met at the northern temple said friends share both joyful and sad times.

Huff, huff.

Nigel arrived in front of the mansion, breathing heavily. And she snuck in through the dog hole in the food storage that she and Nix had secretly discovered.

Though Nigel had poor sense of direction, she knew the structure well from frequent visits as if it were her own home.

The atmosphere in the mansion she had snuck into was different from usual, desolate.

Not a single candle that usually shone brightly was lit, and the employees who always showed polite manners to Nigel, though reluctantly, were nowhere to be found in the mansion.

Nigel walked to Nix’s room on the second floor, carrying uneasiness.

“……!”

Unlike the quiet first floor, the second floor was truly a warzone. The servants who usually walked elegantly without a sound of footsteps now ran down the corridor in shifts, their hands holding towels and potions of various colors.

Having forgotten their composure, none of them stopped Nigel.

At the end of Nigel’s steps that finally stopped was Nix, lying in bed pale as death. And beside him, the magic door emitted beautiful multicolored light as if showing off.