WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Malfoid
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◈ I Don't Need a Family ◈
Episode 20
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* * *
“Let’s go to Plaford.”
That was what Lady Fadde abruptly said the night before, when we were deciding on our destination.
“Erenston may be the place where you were born and raised, Vivette, but this region is practically in the Duke’s grasp. It is no different from House Ashwilt’s backyard. If we are leaving, would it not be better to go somewhere where we have no ties at all?”
She was right. If Duke Ashwilt made up his mind to search for us, we would be caught within three days.
And then the situation would become far worse than before.
In truth, there was nowhere in the Empire beyond the Duke’s reach.
If I had to name one place, it would be Plaford, the capital. Its population was large enough to make it the perfect place to hide.
But there was one thing bothering me.
“Plaford is your hometown, Lady Fadde.”
It was the city young Fadde Meyer had fled because she could no longer endure the wary looks people gave mages.
I worried that we might be forcing her back into that place.
“Didn’t you have bad memories of Plaford? You have not returned to your hometown in the last twenty years.”
Lady Fadde gave a short laugh.
“Vivette, fate is cruel. You are going through exactly what I went through, my granddaughter.”
“What?”
“The people of the capital rejected me because I was a mage. Because I was different from them. It is natural for mages to be rejected when they enter the lands of ordinary people. And the reverse is true as well.”
“You mean mages are rejecting me because I am an ordinary person?”
“It is only natural. Ordinary people are not wrong, nor are mages. But there is no reason for you to endure it.”
“...You are right.”
“I suffered greatly among a family of ordinary people, just as you have, Vivette. So I left home. But the place I fled to was still human land, and I remained an outsider.”
Lady Fadde had been treated like a witch in Plaford while working for her family. Only after she drifted into Erenston was she finally able to find peace.
“Do you understand? Even if you leave House Ashwilt, nothing will change about how you are treated if you remain in Erenston. But if you go to the land of people without abilities, Vivette, your life will completely change. I guarantee it.”
“How?”
“Well... you will learn how comforting it is to appear ordinary to others. You will finally be able to breathe properly.”
If the concept of magic was removed, Vivette would no longer fall into the category of abnormal.
At last.
I would become the ordinary person I had longed to be in my previous life. Finally.
“Even so, many people want to be ‘special.’ They do not know how lonely that position can be.”
Whenever light flickered from Lady Fadde’s half-open hand, piles of luggage stacked high enough to reach the ceiling appeared and disappeared.
The magic that governed space, which so many mages endlessly praised.
That was right. Lady Fadde was an Ability User, and one of the rarest among mages.
‘And that was what made her lonely.’
But she would not be lonely anymore. Lola and I would make sure of that.
‘She is the only family member who has ever shown me kindness. Somehow, I...’
My thoughts went on especially long that night, and I could not fall asleep.
Perhaps because of that, I dozed off inside the carriage Lola expertly drove.
* * *
I think my family from my previous life appeared in my dream.
When I woke from that strange warmth, it was dark outside, and a thick quilt covered me.
“Ah, what is this?”
“You are awake. Sleep a little longer.”
‘Did Lady Fadde cover me with this?’
I thanked her, but she sat just as she had before, not resting her head against anything, merely keeping her eyes closed.
The bedding Lady Fadde had taken from her subspace had looked like a blanket, but it was actually a proper winter quilt.
The same one I had slept under only last night.
Ah, now that I thought about it, it was winter.
Erenston was so warm that I had forgotten, but it grew colder as we traveled north.
I covered Lady Fadde with one end of the soft quilt. It was large enough for both of us.
Lady Fadde, who had been resting quietly, opened her eyes in surprise when the quilt touched her folded arms.
“What is this?”
“You should cover yourself too. You will catch a cold.”
“I am a noble. I cannot show such slovenly behavior outside a bed.”
“I am a noble too...”
“Children are an exception.”
“Lady Fadde, I am twenty now.”
She ignored me and began meditating again.
Clatter!
But the carriage came to a noisy stop, shattering the silence inside.
“My lady! Lady Fadde! Stay where you are.”
“Lola, is something wrong?”
Lola called from the driver’s seat in a voice that sounded both flustered and irritated.
“It is a band of bandits!”
Lola rose from the driver’s seat, cursing furiously.
“How did those human filth know there were only women here?”
The bandits did not seem offended. They only snickered.
“Khuhuhu! Did you hear that? The ones inside are women too.”
“Tonight will be easy. Hehe.”
I did not get to hear the rest of their conversation.
A flash erupted, cutting off the bandits’ words. Everything fell quiet, and the carriage began rattling down the mountain road again.
Lola’s clear voice rang through the forest.
“If we had more time, I would have stormed your den and wiped you all out! Consider yourselves lucky!”
“Lola!”
“Yes, my lady!”
“You did well!”
Pleasant laughter burst out from the driver’s seat.
Perhaps because it was powered by magic, the carriage was nearly as fast as a car.
No, considering it was racing along an unpaved mountain road at this speed, it was even better than a car.
No wonder people of the Empire worshipped mages.
“It seems we have completely left Erenston.”
“How can you tell?”
Lady Fadde spoke quietly, her eyes still closed despite the commotion.
“The bandits cannot use magic.”
“Even bandits in Erenston use magic?”
“They cannot rob mages if they cannot do that.”
“I see...”
“Lady Fadde is right!”
Lola shouted from the driver’s seat over the wind.
“We left Erenston long ago! We should enter the capital around sunrise!”
“Lola, you should rest too. Aren’t you tired and hungry?”
“I rested while you were sleeping! And we are already in the forest, so we cannot stop. By the time we finish resting, enough bandits to fill a cart will come out!”
As she said that, Lola pulled a packed meal from her bundle and began eating.
“We should have taken a portal. You are suffering for no reason.”
“My lady, using a portal leaves a record! His Grace the Duke would surely find us!”
The central portals recorded personal information in order to catch mages who committed crimes and fled to the capital.
Records of ordinary people should not be handed over carelessly.
But someone like the Duke, who held Erenston in the palm of his hand, could easily abuse his authority.
“We are deliberately taking a secluded forest road, so it will not be easy to find us even if he is determined to.”
Forests were dangerous places. Fierce wild animals, bands of bandits with axes, and hidden criminals lurked everywhere.
Of course, none of that mattered to a carriage with two mages inside. Groups occasionally attacked us, but there was one fact they needed to know. Lola drove the carriage almost as fast as a car on the highway.
Thanks to crossing the forest, we reached Plaford far earlier than usual.
Before the city gates opened, Lola leaned slightly toward me as she watched the morning sun rise and whispered.
“My lady, did you know?”
“What?”
“Today is exactly January 1, the first day of the year. You are watching this year’s first sun rise.”
“That is quite meaningful.”
Since I had not even spent a full year here, it did not mean much to me, so I answered vaguely.
‘The day after Vivette’s birthday was when I came to this world, so... let us see. It has not even been a month.’
A great deal had happened during that month.
None of it could be called good, but it had all been buried beneath the year’s first heavy snowfall.
‘Will it snow at House Ashwilt too?’
Would all their feelings be buried beneath it as well?
To begin with, did they have even the slightest feelings left for Vivette?
* * *
At the same time, the Brotilonde Empire’s New Year’s Eve Festival continued until early morning.
The banquet that had begun the night before was hosted by the Emperor, so everyone was forced to remain at the Imperial Palace. The Emperor was so excited by the birth of his late-born imperial princess that he stayed up all night celebrating, and no ordinary noble dared consider leaving before dawn.
Of course, Duke Ashwilt could have made an excuse and left whenever he wished. But he did not.
He was reluctant to return before that woman, Fadde Ashwilt, had completely left Erenston.
The Duke remained beside the Emperor, accepting cup after cup, until the Emperor departed with the rising sun. Only then did he rise.
“Gillian, let us go. By now, the family members will be flooding the mansion lobby like clouds.”
On the first day of every year, members of House Ashwilt gathered from all across the country.
According to their magical contracts with the House, they came to receive their unique mana.
Since he could not greet the family members while drunk, the Duke took a small glass vial from his coat and drank it.
It was a magical potion, hugely popular at the Mage Tower at the start of every year, which detoxified all alcohol from the body. It worked suspiciously well, considering no one knew what was in it.
“Hey, Harris. You drink one too. Your brother does not even drink, yet you started throwing it back the moment you came of age?”
“Give it to me.”
Harris, who had been dragged to the New Year’s Eve Festival against his will, silently drank the potion.
After seeing his sister leave with Lady Fadde, he had felt uneasy all night and could not enjoy the banquet properly.
‘Damn it. She definitely saw me. Why did she not acknowledge me?’
It was customary to spend the Empire’s New Year Festival with family.
People who could not greet the New Year with their families received the pity of those around them.
So even if their relationship had recently become awkward, he had expected her to invite him along the moment she saw him.
It had been an utterly ridiculous misunderstanding.
When the three of them left the Imperial Palace, each carrying their own unpleasant thoughts,
Brrring! Brrring!
The communication device in the Duke’s coat rang loudly.
A barrier inside the Imperial Palace prevented the use of magic, so it only began ringing after they had fully passed through the main gate.
Sending a signal dozens of kilometers away required a great deal of mana.
To keep costs down, people usually left only short messages.
Yet despite the expense, the sender had contacted him more than ten times since the banquet began the night before.
It meant the matter was serious enough to justify the cost.
Sensing that something was wrong, the Duke slowly raised the communication device.
The message from the mansion was only a single sentence. But it was enough to move all three of them.
- The young lady is nowhere to be found.
As though that were not enough, an assistant who had apparently waited in front of the Imperial Palace until they were frozen stiff spotted them and came running over in a panic.
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