Chapter 36: A Lost Child and Unlikely Bonds

The sound of crying from one side made both Celian and I turn our heads at the same time.

In the direction we looked, a young girl was walking down the street, crying all alone.

Passersby glanced at her briefly but didn’t approach her.

“Wait a moment.”

I stopped Celian and moved towards the little girl. She didn’t seem to notice me as I approached and was still crying loudly.

I knelt down to her level and tried to speak to her.

“Hey, little one?”

“Uwaaah!”

Even after speaking to her, the little girl continued crying, unable to explain what was making her so upset. I gently placed my hand on her head to calm her down.

“Why are you crying? Won’t you tell me?”

“Sniff…”

As I continued to speak to her with a soothing voice while gently patting her head, she finally seemed to calm down a bit, wiping her nose and stopping her crying.

“What happened?”

She appeared ready to answer now, so I asked again. The little girl sniffled a few more times, and then spoke in a nasal voice.

“Mom…”

“Did you lose your mom? Where did you lose her?”

“Sniff…”

As she thought of her mother, the little girl seemed on the verge of crying again. Since I had just managed to calm her down, I didn’t want to make her cry once more.

“There, there. Good girl. Stop crying now. What’s your name?”

“…Cindy.”

“Ah, Cindy. What a beautiful name. But how can you cry with such a beautiful name and a pretty face? Come on, stop the tears now, and tell us what happened. Why were you crying?”

“I came with my mom… but she disappeared…”

As I had guessed, the little girl seemed to have gotten lost. When a child gets lost, if they stay in one place, their guardian can usually come looking for them. But when we found her, she was already walking somewhere else.

“Okay, we’ll help you. Let’s go look for your mom together.”

I extended my hand to the little girl, who hesitated a bit but finally placed her small hand on mine.

Her eyes were puffy from crying, so I wiped away her remaining tears and stood up.

“Hey, El? The guards will probably find her anyway, and it could be risky if we end up crossing paths. Maybe we shouldn’t get involved…”

“Huh? Even so, I can’t just leave her crying like this. I know the class president gave me the ticket, and I feel bad, but we can go see the play next time.”

“It’s not really about that…”

“Then let’s at least check if anyone has reported a missing child.”

Instead of Celian, who seemed reluctant, I held the little girl’s hand and headed to where the guards might be. We went toward the nearest guard post, and sure enough, two guards were standing watch at the entrance.

Although it’s wrong to judge a person by their face, I approached the one who looked friendlier and started talking to him.

“Hello.”

“How can I help you?”

Unlike the time when I was suspected during the city’s barrier recovery, the guard responded with a polite tone.

“Has there been any report of a missing child?”

“Please wait a moment.”

I raised the little girl’s hand slightly as I asked, and the guard who had been talking to me entered the guard post. It seemed like he went to check if any report had come in or if there were any updates from other posts.

After a short wait, the guard who had gone inside came out.

“There are no reports filed on our end. Can you provide any details about the child’s guardian, such as their appearance? We can have the patrolling guards search for them.”

I described the mother’s appearance based on what Cindy had told me, and the guard immediately reported it through the crystal.

“Then we will take care of the child. Thank you for your thorough reporting.”

“Now, stay here, and the officers will find your mom soon. Let’s go inside and wait for a little while.”

As I released Cindy’s hand to leave her with the guard, instead of going to the guard, Cindy ran behind me and hid behind my legs.

“Cindy?”

“I don’t want to. I want to stay with you. Do you not want me?”

“Sigh…”

Though I was surprised by her sudden action, the sigh did not come from me. When I turned my head slightly, I saw Celian, of all people, holding her forehead and letting out a heavy sigh. Something about Celian seemed off since earlier.

“Cindy? Don’t do that, go with the guards. Stop playing around now.”

Celian spoke to Cindy in a tone that was uncharacteristically upset.

Cindy, once again, hid behind me, trying to stay as far away from Celian as possible.

“I don’t like her…”

“Sigh…”

Another heavy sigh came from Celian. I decided to focus on convincing the stubborn Cindy rather than worrying about Celian’s strange behavior.

“Okay, Cindy? Don’t act like that. Your mom must be worried. You shouldn’t be so stubborn.”

“Sniff…”

While trying to persuade Cindy, I saw her eyes start to fill with tears again. If I left her alone like this, she might start crying loudly once more, so I had no choice but to give in. I didn’t want to cause any trouble for the guards.

“Okay, okay. Cindy, let’s wait here with me until your mom comes, alright?”

Cindy immediately stopped crying and changed her expression as though she had never been upset. She grabbed my hand and started pulling me along.

“Haha… Well, we’ll see you again soon. Sorry for the trouble.”

“It’s no problem. Once we get the news, we’ll bring the child’s mother here.”

Pretending to have lost the battle, I followed Cindy as she led me around. We watched the water spouting from a fountain, enjoyed a street band performance, and stopped by a cafe for drinks, completely enjoying ourselves.

It seemed that Cindy no longer minded being separated from her mother. Meanwhile, Celian, for some reason, stayed a step behind, trailing us.

“So, Cindy, did you come to Pelches with your mom to sightsee?”

“Yeah! I really wanted to see something, and I wouldn’t let mom say no, so we came!”

Cindy, holding a strawberry juice in her hand, answered cheerfully. Although it was unfortunate that she had become lost right after arriving, I hoped that we could create more joyful memories together to replace the bad ones.

“Really? Where is it? Let’s stop by there before we head back.”

The sun was starting to set. It was likely that Cindy’s mother was still waiting at the guard post.

“It’s fine. I’ve already seen it.”

“Is that so? Then shall we head back? Your mom is probably waiting for you.”

“Yeah!”

Thankfully, Cindy didn’t resist this time, and we hadn’t traveled far since we had stayed near. The path back to the guard post wasn’t long.

“Hello.”

“Ah! It’s the young lady who reported earlier. I’ve heard about you. The child’s mother is inside, so please come in.”

It seemed that the guard who had spoken with us earlier had changed shifts, as someone else was now greeting us. Following their lead, we entered, and a woman immediately jumped up from her seat and approached us.

“Ah, thank you so much. How can I ever repay you for this…”

Although it wasn’t an emotional reunion, I expected the mother to be happy to see Cindy, but instead, she first bowed to us, thanking us. Cindy, on the other hand, stood next to her mother, staring at us blankly as if it was nothing new. The tears and stubbornness from earlier seemed to suggest that this kind of behavior was familiar to her.

“No, it’s fine. Just seeing you two reunited is enough for us.”

“Well then, we’ll be going now.”

Not wanting to stay there and risk being further thanked, I followed Celian out. It was already getting dark outside.

“In the end, the play is gone. I really feel bad for the class president. I bet Celian wanted to see the play too. Sorry.”

From the moment the class president handed me the ticket, and even when we set the time, she had looked so excited, so it was impossible not to know she had been looking forward to the play. But because of my stubbornness, we missed it. Of course, with the lost child in front of us, it couldn’t be helped, but it was understandable that Celian would be disappointed.

“…It’s already over, so it can’t be helped. I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“How about tomorrow instead? I don’t know if there will be tickets left, but if we go early, we might be able to get some last-minute ones…”

“Sounds good.”

Before I could even finish my sentence, Celian replied. Seeing her so eager, I couldn’t just stay quiet. I’ll have to get two tickets early tomorrow before they sell out.

“Shall we wait for a bit?”

As we passed the fountain in the square on the way back to the academy, I stopped Celian. I had something I’d been holding onto but wasn’t sure when to give it to her.

I pulled out the ribbon-shaped hair tie I had bought earlier when we were shopping for clothes, which I had kept hidden from Celian. Well, I won’t make excuses that black is just my style.

“This is for you.”

Celian was clearly taken aback. Her eyes widened as she alternated between looking at my face and my hand. Soon, a bright smile spread across her face. Instead of simply accepting the hair tie, she raised her hand and untied the one she had been wearing. Her shiny blonde hair fell down in waves.

“Could you… tie it for me?”

I moved behind her, gently grasping her soft hair with one hand while I skillfully tied the hair tie with the other.

Though there was no mirror, Celian looked as though she could see herself perfectly. She placed her hand on her hair tie, smiling brightly as if everything was just as she wanted.

I knew Celian could pull off anything, but seeing how well it suited her—far better than I had imagined—and watching her happy expression, filled me with a sense of pride.

“Well then, shall we go?”

“Yes.”

Unlike before, when she had walked a step behind, Celian now walked closely by my side. However, that wasn’t enough for her. She crossed her arms and leaned against me. I could feel her chest against my arm. I considered subtly pulling away, but with her strength, I didn’t budge an inch.

I could feel my face flushing, but fortunately, the setting sun provided enough of a sunset glow that I didn’t have to worry about being caught.

With a somewhat embarrassed heart, I returned, still feeling happy.

“Your Majesty! Didn’t you promise not to go out alone this time?”

The words that came from the child’s mother, who had stepped out of the guard post, were surprising, but no one turned to look at her. The area around her was already perfectly soundproofed by the barrier she had set up. No one could overhear the conversation through her barrier.

“What? Ah, yeah. That’s right.”

In response to her worried words, the child—who had appeared to be a woman—finally seemed to remember, and answered casually as if it wasn’t a big deal. Of course, Isis, the Imperial Court’s chief mage, was no stranger to the Emperor’s behavior and knew there was no one in the city who could harm the Emperor. However, this wasn’t something to just ignore. The Emperor represented the Empire.

“…So, what happened?”

“I originally came to see the hero the goddess had chosen… Heh…”

The Emperor burst into uncontrollable laughter at Isis’s words, clutching his belly. If anyone else had seen the Emperor like this, they would have been shocked, but for Isis, who always accompanied and supported the Emperor, this scene was one she had grown accustomed to.

“The woman who was a hero candidate somehow knew my identity, and the guy beside her was amusing. It was worth coming.”

“…Well, then, you should go back and handle the work that’s piled up today.”

The Emperor’s outings were never casual. Normally, even if the Emperor were all-powerful, no one would allow him to go out like this, unaccompanied and without the protection of the knight order, especially to a far location. But this Emperor, aside from being female, was exceptionally unusual.

“Stop messing around.”

With just one word, the Emperor trampled over all opposition. Thanks to the Emperor’s decisiveness and Isis’s magic, this was made possible. To hide her identity, a polymorph artifact stored in the Imperial Treasury had been used, and the chief mage was mobilized for protection. Additionally, a stand-in had been acting hard to ensure that no one in the palace would notice the Emperor’s absence. Of course, the stand-in could only act, so the real Emperor was the one making the decisions, while the palace likely had a pile of unresolved matters from today.

“Normally, I would have postponed it until tomorrow, but today I’m in a great mood. I’ll handle it immediately when I get back.”

“…That’s the usual thing, Your Majesty.”

In response to the Emperor’s words, Isis drew a giant magic circle in the air, and soon, a bright light illuminated the surroundings. Yet still, no one turned to look.

When the light disappeared, the two figures had also vanished.