A Fairytale For Wizards

I’m finally done with my exams and cla.s.ses qvq I’ll be more active on translations for a couple months! Enjoy uwu

She felt the shadows of him which covered her and stepped back two steps away. The strange feelings started to fade away.

“Tha,nk you”

The man looked at Azrael who thanked him. Those gla.s.s like eyes slowly turned to see what was below. The aparon was clean but worn out, covering the skinny two legs. His attention was caught by the worn off shoes. The two eyes seemed to shake a little.

“Why are you living like this?”

His voice was deep and slow. For some reason, the voice sounded familiar. Azrael was lost in thoughts that she realized soon after that the man asked her a question.

“Pardon? Could you repeat your question?”

“Why are you living a life like this?”

The question itself sounded like it was sarcastic though the voice was sincere. Azrael blinked her eyes and stared.

“Do you know me?”

The man shut his mouth. After a while, he slowly replied

“I’m not supposed to, but I do.”

His response didn’t seem to make any sense. Azrael squinted her eyes a bit.

“So, you do know me or don’t? Who are you?”

“I’m Rhema Resht.”

“Are you perhaps a wizard?”

“Yes.”

Caught up on the mysterious vibes, she finally noticed that the robe the man was wearing is similar to the wizards’ robe. There wasn’t any information that there was a new wizard in the town. Perhaps the great wizard who was coming from the capital was him. Azrael bowed her head.

“You must be the one from Mojancle, I beg your pardon.”

“I didn’t come from there.”

“Eh? Then…”

“May I fix your shoes?”

Out of the blue? Azrael looked down to see her feet. She noticed the half worn out shoes.

“I’m not allowed to unless you say so.”

“S-say what?”

“May I fix your shoes?”

“My shoes? I’m very thankful but quite busy right now- uwaa!”

The reply ended with a scream. The moment she said ‘I’m very thankful’ the man lowered himself and grabbed Azrael’s foot. She tilted behind as he handled her foot. At the same time, she could feel something soft underneath which was supporting her.

When she looked around to see what she was sitting on, she almost had a hiccup. There was nothing but empty s.p.a.ce. It felt like she was sitting on a soft cus.h.i.+on but nothing was there.

She clenched on the bag filled with b.u.t.ters and her attention was on her feet now. The man didn’t seem to mind the fact he was kneeling on the ground and touching Azrael. The white robe covered the dirty street.

“Resht”

He whispered a spell and touched the worn out shoes. The parts touched were repaired and new. Azrael just stared with her eyes widen. She was shocked that words didn’t come out. Rather than the magic that fixed her shoes, it was unbelievable that this person was kneeling down and fixing her shoes. It felt  like coughs would come out instead of words.

Soon after the shoes were fixed, the man let go of her foot. No, as he was letting her go, he trembled a bit. Beneath the old leather, the slave mark revealed a little. His eyes squinted. After Azrael noticed that he was observing her slave mark, she stood up. She didn’t want others to know that she once was a slave.

“Th-thank you for the help!”

She bowed her head and left the place as if she was running away. The man stayed in the same place and looked at the girl slowly disappearing. The face didn’t have any expressions.

Azrael had to starve throughout the day.

After being late and seeing the b.u.t.ters mushed, the head maid poured out her anger. She was also missing 2 coins perhaps from tripping over. Luckily due to the wizard arriving from the capital, she was able to avoid huge punishments and ended with starving. The head maid seemed to be disappointed and angry at the fact she couldn’t physically punish Azrael and yelled.

“Today, you’re the one in charge of providing water. Do it by yourself!”

The water system inside the Colt palace was only given access to the Earl and the family along with the visitors. The workers had to use the pumper in the corner of the large back field that was far away. It was impossible to do this all on her own. But she still had to anyways.

Azrael who was weak was able to only bring a small amount of water at once. She wouldn’t be able to finish even if she continued for hours without any rest. The workers busy due to all the preparation complained to Azrael whenever the water barrel was empty.

There were red prints of the handle of the bucket on Azrael’s hands. Her legs started shaking from starving and running back and forth countlessly to the barrel and pumper. The wound on her back was burning.

‘It really is an unlucky day.”

Coughs started to come out as she was pumping water with her trembling arms. As she crouched to cough, she accidentally pushed the bucket. The bucket which lost its balance was going to fall over until someone caught it.

A white hand. Her sight being hazy from the tears of coughing, she thought those hands were very gentle. They seemed as if they’ve never done anything steep and were graceful and precious.

The person with those hands speaked as they placed the bucket on the ground.

“Are you perhaps sick? Your coughs don’t seem to stop at all.”

It was the wizard she ran away from in the streets. 

Azrael being surprised, she rubbed her eyes to check the person. It was real. There was no way she could mistake him for someone else.

“Y- you-”

She wanted to ask why he was here but wasn’t able due to from the non stop coughing. As she was coughing, she stepped back. The man who stared at her next to the pumper was in the same white robe as before. There surprisingly wasn’t any stains from kneeling down on the bare street.

There wasn’t any noise or traces as he appeared, he truly was a mysterious person.

“Do you want to stop your coughing?”

The man asked out of the blue. Who would want to keep coughing intentionally? Everytime a cough came out, it was difficult to breath and somehow her chest ached.

Azrael nodded as a reply instead of answering. Before she could blink, the man was right in front of her.

The man lowered himself and reached his hand out to her. The pale and long fingers were getting closer to her neck. Startled, Azrael tried to avoid his touch but the man grabbed her shoulders and slowly covered her neck. The strange senses seemed to spread out through her body. 

“……huh?”

“You should be fine now.”

As if it was a lie, her coughing stopped. In addition, the uncomfortable sensation inside her chest also seemed to be gone. Azrael s.p.a.ced out as she checked her refreshed chest.

‘So, it’s possible to heal this with magic. But I didn’t hear any spell chantment… Perhaps I’m wrong.’

She wasn’t a wizard herself, but knew that wizards had to chant a spell in order to use magic or cast a spell. It was logic.

“Thank you. It seems like I’ve received help once again.”

Azrael looked up at the man as she breathed clearly. 

Even if he was a strange person, she received help from him and should pay back his generosity, though it wasn’t clear why he decided to help her. 

The man quietly asked towards wavering Azrael.

“Why are you doing these ch.o.r.es?”

“Because it’s my job. Sir.. er- what was your name once again?”

“It’s Rhema Rhesht”

“Ah, yes. I’m Azrael. May I ask how Sir. Resht got here? I haven’t received any news that there were any visitors who arrived…”

“Please call me Rhema, Azrael.”

“There’s… no way I have the right to call a wizard by their name.” 

“Being called Sir. Resht from you is too much for me. Just Rhema is fine.”

The man who called himself Rhema Resht seemed to frown a bit. Rather it was in disgust or  guilt, there seemed to be a hint of emotion pa.s.sing by.

Azrael was in trouble.

‘Is it that he doesn’t like to be called by his surname? But from what I’ve read a wizard’s surname is actually the name of their magic and enchantment for a  spell… Perhaps he dislikes others using his chantment?’ 

“Then, Sir. Rhema…..”

“As I said before, just Rhema is fine.” 

Even though his tone didn’t change, she could feel him being stubborn in those words. It seemed to be true what people said about wizards being wacky……

Azrael couldn’t dare say the name of a wizard who was a stranger, so she decided to change the topic of the conversation.

“Er, then why are you here? If you’re perhaps lost, I could lead you the way.”

“I’m not lost. I’ve come here to give you this.”

Rhema handed her a fine wrapped box. Even before Azrael received it, she noticed what that was.

The golden mark on the middle of the box seemed familiar. It was the same symbol of the shoes Deborah would wear on special occasions and treasured.

Deborah would show off to the other ladies that those shoes were from a famous boutique shop in Aucandor’s capital, Mojancle. 

Azrael couldn’t imagine linking herself with an object as such.

“This… To me?”

“It seemed that your shoes were worn out.” 

Rhema responded with no change of tone and gave the box towards Azrael who seemed to be confused. He seemed to be lost in thoughts and asked,

“This work you’re doing is Azrael’s responsibility. Is this something you chose to do on your own?”

“It’s not something I chose to but I have to. But anyways, Sir. Rhema, this is too much for me. Why would you give me someth-”

“Azrael! Where is this brat once again fooling around?”

The head maid’s yell seemed to echo. Surprised, Azrael handed the box she received to Rhema and grabbed the buckets. 

The buckets were empty. Holding on to empty buckets would only make the head maid curse even more.

Azrael quickly grabbed the pumper and answered with a loud voice.

“I’m filling up the water right now, Ma’m! I’ll be right there!”

“Are you making a pump from hands to get some water? You must have been lazy you weak brat! Don’t expect to have any dinner tonight”

The yelling of the head maid seemed to become closer and louder every moment. As Rhema watched the girl in frighten pumping as fast as she could, he quietly asked almost as if it was a whisper.

“Would killing that woman be invading your life without permission?”

His words were hidden from the noise of the pumping and the buckets filling up with water. Azrael replied,

“Pardon, what did you say? I couldn’t hear you because of the noise.”

“…No, never mind. I’ve asked a question I already know the answer to.”

He had a strange expression as he covered his face with his hand, murmuring. There was confusion behind.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done something I regret.”

The confused face made him look much more like a normal person. Azrael stopped pumping for a while and stared while zoning out. There was a dwelling emotion holding her back. She has seen this person before, trying to remember when…

“Why are you daydreaming-!? I knew it!”

The head maid came running from over the wooden fence. Azrael was in fright as she saw the her coming close, as she turned around to see the man.

There was no one there. Instead of the Wizard that disappeared magically, a neatly packaged box was laying on the ground.

‘Where has he gone? Magic? But I’ve read that transportation magic has disappeared for centuries-’

She saw it in a book translated into Rimble. Transportation magic was one of the magics that disappeared as the great ancient age came to an end. With the advanced memoization skill, there was a low chance that Azrael was wrong.

The head maid slapped the head of the girl who seemed to be lost in thoughts. Azrael struggled in pain not being able to make any sound.

“Now you’re even fooling around in front of me. Why the h.e.l.l is someone like you even alive?”

Azrael expected that there would be more physical punishment as she closed her eyes and waited in fear. It was silent for a while. She carefully opened her eyes.

“Ma’am?”

The head maid was standing stiff as a statue in a position with one of her hand up.