53. A Shadow Cast Upon the Wind (6)
All palaces of the Pung Empire were named after mystical beasts and great figures that appeared in legends or myths.
For example, Cheolhu Palace took its name from the wife of the Steel General Cheolyata, who had been mocked by all for taking an unmoving steel statue as her husband, yet sincerely supported him until he truly became human. As such, it was generally known as the palace where queens or princesses stayed.
Of course, Zeliel knew none of that. She merely thought of this place as some extremely luxurious palace for entertaining guests.
“I am Pung Harang, the youngest son of the Pung Family.”
When she first saw that boy, who looked so square-cut, her impression was that he looked terribly stiff. His expression was stiff, and even his muscles looked stiff.
“Mm! I am—!”
“Shh. Senior. Introductions later.”
Then, when she saw the boy named Dok Cheolgwang behind him snorting through his nose, she slightly revised that impression.
“…Those muscles look even stiffer.”
As someone who maintained her physical condition only to the extent necessary to avoid collapsing while sitting in a chair doing work, Zeliel found people who trained their muscles to that degree simply foolish.
“It’s a pleasure. I’m Zeliel of the Starcloud Merchant Company. I can’t tell you how honored I am to be treated so lavishly, insignificant though I am.”
Unlike her usual self, when Zeliel met those above her in status, she laid a fake smile across her face and armed herself with a soft voice.
Pretending to be kind? Pretending to be polite?
She had practiced it so much that she was sick of it.
“We do not lavish such treatment on insignificant people. My lady, please sit here.”
Following Pung Harang’s guidance, she slowly walked toward the seat of honor in the vast reception hall, likely used by adults, and cast a glance at the Stella cadets who had come with him.
“Ma Yuseong, Hae Wonryang… Flame.”
That boy named Dok Cheolgwang or whatever he was called had no data on him at all, so he was excluded.
As for the remaining three, they were all figures for whom she already had some information stored in her mind.
Ma Yuseong. He had entered Stella as the top-ranked student in the school, and even at a glance it was clear he carried the air of refinement, the child of a well-bred family—but exactly which family remained unknown. There were also rumors that he had received a special exemption from Stella.
Hae Wonryang. The heir to the Full Moon Tower, who had entered as second in the school. Recently, he had been catching up to Ma Yuseong’s insane talent, and was exceptionally versatile in wielding multiple attributes.
Flame. Though an orphan by birth, she freely handled special attributes such as Light and Plant, traits normally used by other races, and her original magical ability was also extremely outstanding.
And…
there remained a record that she had once been in a romantic relationship with Baek Yuseol.
“To think I’d meet her here.”
Even when she tried to look elsewhere, Zeliel could not stop her gaze from returning again and again to Flame.
And the same was true of Flame as well.
“So that crazy bitch really is Zeliel, huh?”
This was her first time seeing her in person.
But she had been burned by her so thoroughly in the original romance fantasy novel Don’t Love the Unhappy Lady that her impression and personality had been branded vividly into Flame’s head.
The psycho who tormented Eizel to the very end, shredding her heart to pieces.
That was Zeliel.
After taking her seat, Zeliel smiled gently and let her gaze rest once each on Ma Yuseong, Hae Wonryang, and Flame.
“So you’ve brought your friends.”
“Yes. My apologies. However, my friends are also S-Class cadets of Stella, so I had no doubt that this would surely become a valuable meeting.”
“Yes. That is quite true.”
From the Merchant Company’s perspective as well, it was certainly necessary to become acquainted at least once with Stella’s S-Class.
And so, Zeliel found herself liking this 자리—this occasion—just a little.
Ma Yuseong and Hae Wonryang were people she had wanted to meet at least once, and above all, Flame…
Because she had finally been given the chance to see, in person, the woman who had always bothered her.
“What, what’s with her? Why does she keep staring?”
As Zeliel smiled softly and stared directly into Flame’s eyes as though scanning her, Flame grew slightly flustered and her expression twisted.
Just by looking at the utterly ordinary-looking girl whose face betrayed every emotion so easily, Zeliel roughly grasped what kind of disposition Flame had.
“…So that’s his type?”
Her expressions changed every other second, and far from being calm or composed, she constantly looked as if her mouth was itching to blurt out something pointless.
That was the complete opposite of Zeliel.
No, more than that, it was a personality Zeliel simply could not understand.
“With that vulgar personality… she was really in a relationship with Baek Yuseol?”
She was short, her hair was short, and even her figure was almost childlike. What part of her, exactly, could possibly be considered attractive?
Rather, a mature and beautiful high elf like herself would be far more—
What am I thinking?
Thinking like this was not mature at all.
Zeliel closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then extended her hand toward Flame.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. They say you inherited the bloodline of an angel?”
“No, I didn’t.”
The instant Flame took the hand Zeliel offered, the force gripping back was no ordinary thing.
So even if she did not work out, was an elf still an elf? Her physical ability far surpassed that of humans.
But Flame was no slouch when it came to brute strength either. Since childhood, she had been so confident in her strength that she would enter neighborhood arm-wrestling contests and throw full-grown men around. There was no way she intended to lose in grip strength to some bookish, delicate lady.
Craaaack!!
As red veins rose on the backs of Flame and Zeliel’s hands and cold sweat began to bead on both their faces, Pung Harang finally stepped in and stopped the situation.
“No matter how pleased you are to meet each other, that is not how handshakes are exchanged in the Pung Empire.”
As he pried the two girls’ arms apart, Pung Harang said,
“You show courtesy by tapping your opposite shoulder three times with your fist, then bowing your head.”
Even while watching Pung Harang demonstrate, Flame backed off as though she could not care less and dropped into her chair. Zeliel, smiling radiantly, awkwardly copied the gesture before stepping back.
“Wow. Women’s cold wars are scary.”
Ma Yuseong and Hae Wonryang, despite watching the two test each other, could not say anything at all. Yet Dok Cheolgwang, lacking all tact, tossed out that one comment, and Pung Harang shot him a terrifying glare.
“What… it’s not like I said anything wrong. Why is everyone always like this only to me?”
Once Dok Cheolgwang said that and obediently sat down, Hae Wonryang was finally able to bring up the main topic.
“I had wanted to meet you at least once, so it is an honor to do so here. I heard you had a request, and as Stella cadets, as the heir to the Full Moon Tower, or simply as someone your own age, if it is a request we can grant, we would be happy to help in any way. Please speak freely.”
“…Would that be all right?”
At Hae Wonryang’s words, Zeliel cooled the heat rising in her head and thought.
In truth, there was no request she actually needed from them. She really had only stopped by for a moment to see Baek Yuseol’s face, and had ended up stuck here against her will.
But if the people in front of her were these three, then the story changed.
“To be honest… this may be a slightly different request from the one I originally had in mind. It may even be something quite trivial. Would that still be all right?”
“Even a trivial request would be fine.”
At Hae Wonryang’s gently smiling answer to her cautious words, she carefully opened her mouth.
“This semester, there is supposed to be an exchange student project between Starflower Tree Magic School and Stella Academy.”
“I’m aware of it.”
It felt extremely uncomfortable to make this request in front of Flame, but it could not be helped. There would never be another opportunity like now.
“According to the information I have, that boy Ma Yuseong is close to Baek Yuseol.”
That mysterious boy, who had sat there the whole time smiling cheerfully and saying absolutely nothing, almost never showed himself being close to anyone at all.
Yet there were a very small number of people with whom he was uniquely close.
One of them was Baek Yuseol.
“Would it be possible… during that exchange program… for you to persuade Stella’s Baek Yuseol to come to Starflower Tree?”
The moment she carefully spoke those words, and the name Baek Yuseol suddenly popped out of nowhere, the three boys and one girl could not help but be startled.
“B-Baek Yuseol, you mean?”
Pung Harang even stammered as he asked again, and Zeliel nodded as though delivering the final blow of confirmation.
“Yes. That’s right.”
“…Why?”
“There’s no special reason. I just… want to see him at school…”
If anyone around her who knew Zeliel had seen her now, they might have been horrified.
Because one of the stupidest things Zeliel believed a person could do was fail to hide their true feelings, let them spill out, and trail off awkwardly halfway through.
Noticing that she was flustered, Hae Wonryang quickly stepped in to help.
“I see. Baek Yuseol is certainly someone the Starcloud Merchant Company might want to meet as well.”
“Ah, yes. That’s right. From the perspective of the Merchant Company, that’s why I want to meet him.”
Did she even realize what she was saying and how badly she was rambling?
Because she had blurted out the request she had long wanted to make so suddenly, Zeliel was quite badly flustered—and utterly unable to recover from it.
“What’s wrong with her?”
Flame narrowed her eyes and looked at Zeliel. She definitely looked every bit as rude and insufferable as in the original novel, but her personality felt nothing like what Flame had heard.
“Something about this is…”
Rather than the sort of demon who would commit any cruel act whatsoever to drag someone else down into hell, she felt more like an utterly ordinary…
girl who had fallen in love.
“Was she always like this? Seriously?”
Flame had heard that Baek Yuseol and Zeliel had met before, yes—but even taking that into account, the atmosphere was far, far, far too different.
“What on earth did that commoner do to that psycho?”
Now Baek Yuseol was twisting things so completely that even the personalities of the original romance fantasy characters had become suspect, and Flame genuinely could not tell whether she ought to like that fact or hate it.
“…It’s probably a good thing, right?”
In the original romance fantasy, Zeliel had held the position of a woman of power who tormented Eizel mercilessly. But if she were to become an ally instead, then she would turn into a tremendously reliable supporter.
Still, what was this?
Rather than feeling happy, all Flame felt was uneasy and uncomfortable.
“That’s not a difficult request.”
The one who suddenly spoke up was Ma Yuseong, who had remained silent until now.
“To be honest, I’ve heard it from Baek Yuseol a few times already—he’s been interested in the Starflower Tree exchange program for a while.”
“…Is that so?”
“What? Really?”
When Zeliel and Flame asked at the same time, Ma Yuseong leaned his chair back slightly and gave an awkward smile.
“Yeah. Really. I don’t lie.”
At that, Zeliel’s expression turned complicated, but she forced herself not to show it and smiled instead.
“That’s… a relief.”
“Yes? A relief?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Once again, she had let something unnecessary slip out.
Why did she keep acting like this today? She felt enough self-loathing to despise herself for being so foolish.
Doing her best to cool her burning head, Zeliel turned this time toward Hae Wonryang and said,
“And may I ask one more favor? This is not a simple favor, but a proper commission, so I intend to offer generous compensation.”
“…What is it?”
This time the atmosphere differed from before, and Hae Wonryang and Pung Harang both answered with serious expressions. Zeliel slowly parted her lips.
“I want to find someone. The whereabouts of a very special person—someone who is nowhere on this continent.”
[Read only on MugenCodex.]
