On his way back to the lab, Gerard spotted a familiar face and stopped dead. Ciel was waiting for him in front of the laboratory door.

"What’s this? Weren’t you with her?"

Gerard looked around, wondering if Estella had come with him, and asked. But he was alone.

"I have something to ask."

He had told Estella, as she went into Lydia’s house, that something had come up—and then come straight here.

Gerard instinctively took a step back at the severity in Ciel’s expression, then heaved a sigh, feeling he knew why Ciel had come.

So he wasn’t just going to let it slide.

"It’s about Estella, isn’t it?"

"Right. Is she experiencing side effects? Is that why, back then…"

From Ciel’s rigid face, Gerard could feel the size of his fear. The more precious the thing in your hands, the more you dread dropping it at the slightest tremor.

"You must’ve been dying to know, and you held it in. Come in. I’ll tell you everything."

Gerard nudged the footstool aside with a thud and opened the lab door. A blue hand popped out of the mistreated footstool in protest, but he just kept kicking it away.

"The world will be different? How?"

At Airi’s meaningful answer, Bruno’s eyes sparkled; he couldn’t contain his curiosity.

"Dunno."

"How can you not know?"

Expecting something grand, Bruno couldn’t hide his disappointment at the deflating reply. Airi didn’t care; she stretched long and yawned deep.

"I’m going upstairs to sleep. I’m tired."

"Already?"

Lily asked, surprised. Airi was not the type to sleep much.

Too sleepy even to answer, Airi trudged up the stairs, then sighed as if it was no use and gently settled right down on the steps.

"I’m going to sleep here."

She leaned uncomfortably against the riser and closed her eyes.

"Airi! What are you doing? You’re going to sleep right there?"

Everyone sprang up in alarm—everyone except Haru, who strode to the stairs and scooped the already fast-asleep Airi into his arms. She’d sat down only a moment ago and was already out cold.

"I’ll lay her in bed."

"She’s asleep already? Not pretending?"

Bruno raised his voice in disbelief, but Airi, asleep as if it were a lie, lolled her head back, mouth open, even snoring lightly. The Squirrels’ eyes went wide at the first messy sight they’d ever had of Airi.

"Anyone would think she’s plastered."

"Maybe something like that. Drunk on Zuhara’s core, perhaps."

At Lily’s astonished remark, Kyle added quietly, thinking it through. He had plenty of worries, hearing that small-framed Airi had eaten the core. Logically, it seemed most effective for a mage like her to take it—but she was so small he couldn’t help but fret.

"She’ll be fine after a good sleep, right?"

"She isn’t in pain or anything, is she?"

"Should we fetch a doctor in advance?"

"Let’s just watch for now. Lady Estella wouldn’t have given Airi anything that could harm her."

"Right. My lady and the Captain both had no problems."

Watching Haru carry Airi up to the second floor, the Squirrels left in the sitting room murmured with worried faces.

Climbing to Lydia’s garret with Luka, Estella couldn’t keep her mouth closed. The monsters in the propped canvases were so vivid they looked ready to leap out at once. They were called drawings, but they were closer to miniatures—at a glance, you could mistake them for photographs.

"Wow… how many pieces is this? Have you done nothing but draw without sleeping?"

At Estella’s awed question, Lydia scratched her head, abashed.

"They aren’t all new. Many are older ones I’ve revised bit by bit."

Even abashed, she flushed with pleasure at the praise.

"You’re a remarkable artist. I doubt there’s anyone in the Empire who knows more about monsters than Lydia."

"Thank you. If I can be of help to you, my lady, I’ll work hard at anything."

At Estella’s words, granting her recognition, Lydia’s eyes brimmed. It was the first time in her life she’d been so validated by anyone—or had someone who needed her so badly.

After a long while absorbed in the drawings, Estella turned to Lydia as if something had occurred to her.

"Oh—what about that booklet you were working on?"

"It’s on hold. It’s so small there’s a hard limit on how many monster types can go in."

Lydia answered, apologetic.

"What about making it around the monsters that appear most often near Wintfall?"

Just listening to the two of them talk delighted Luka. As expected, any moment with Nunim was fun.

"Wow! A Wintfall-only monster guide?"

Luka asked, eyes shining.

"Yes. I want to use it as a safety-education booklet for the Wintfall commoners."

"For the commoners?"

Even as she listened to the siblings, Lydia wondered if she’d heard right. A book, and an expensive one at that—made for the commoners’ safety education? There would be no profit at all. In Lydia’s frame of reference, it made no sense—an endeavor that would only rack up losses.

Even so, Estella looked thrilled. Luka went so far as to clap softly. Estella looked at him gently, patted his head, and continued.

"First, I’m thinking of selecting about ten monster instructors. We’ll give them the booklet and send them to each village to teach. Which brings me to this—Lydia. As we discussed, it would be good if you wrote more detailed response methods in the booklet for when people encounter a monster. And I’d like you to take charge personally of training those instructors."

A booklet, and now training. Lydia had never taught anyone anything in her life.

"My lady… could I really do something like that?"

She had only imagined a portable booklet; now that the scope of the work was larger than expected, Lydia’s mind went blank. She had wanted to help—but hadn’t imagined she’d be entrusted with educating people on this scale, and a weight she’d never known pressed down on her.

On top of that, she was nothing but a wandering gypsy. Who in the world would want to be taught by a lowly gypsy? With thoughts like these tumbling, her heart grew heavy.

"Of course you can. If not you, then who? In Wintfall—no, in the Empire—no one knows monsters better than you. I didn’t bring you to Wintfall for nothing. If nothing else, I pride myself on judging people. So if you lack confidence, trust my eye that chose you. I’ll speak to my father and have a title conferred on you. It will give you far more freedom to move."

Seeing Lydia’s lack of confidence, Estella grasped in an instant what she feared and made the offer.

"…My lady."

Overcome, Lydia could only tear up, not knowing how to answer. Truth be told, she’d envied blacksmith Dolan becoming an armorer and earning everyone’s recognition.

"I’ll be counting on you."

"I’ll do my utmost!"

Estella clasped Lydia’s work-worn hands and smiled.

After that came the time Lydia had dreaded—Luka’s endless questions and answers, and more questions after the answers. A chain of questions chasing its own tail—but Lydia answered them more happily than ever. Of course, unlike last time, Estella took Luka away at a sensible hour, which made it possible.

The next morning.

At last, news came that preparations to install the Nevrion steel barbed wire were complete, and Estella headed to the forge with Luka. For some reason, even though he’d said he had morning drills, Ciel tagged along.

Puzzled at Ciel following her from early morning, Estella asked:

"I can go with Luka alone. Didn’t you say you had training with the Squirrels today? You were going to check on Airi, too."

Estella wanted to see how Airi was doing, but Gerard had insisted she must not be woken by force, so she hadn’t gone near Birch Hall. Ria would let them know the moment Airi woke, so there was nothing to do but wait patiently.

"I’m taking the day off."

Having heard everything from Gerard, Ciel was simply worried and had decided to go with her. Gerard had told him over and over she’d be fine as long as she didn’t overexert—but he couldn’t settle.

"Are you sick?"

"Just tired."

Ciel smiled gently and held out his hand, and Estella, staring at this different-than-usual him, took it.

Luka felt a twinge of pique, but he remembered his sister’s words that there was no one at Ciel’s side, and quietly claimed Estella’s other hand. Restraining the desire to wedge himself in between them, he felt oddly proud of himself. Truth be told, he wasn’t close enough yet to take Ciel’s hand—and it would be weird for two men to hold hands anyway.

Meanwhile, with the most dependable man in the world on one side and the cutest in the universe on the other, Estella’s steps were lighter than ever.

Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.

Pirororo. Pirorororo.

Woken by birdsong outside the window, Airi blinked up at the ceiling wallpaper, then suddenly remembered she had eaten the Zuhara core and sprang up.

She slid off the bed, rolled her neck, stretched her arms long, then bounced lightly in place. Her body felt so light that, if she pushed off hard enough, she half expected to float up into the air.

"When you wake in the morning, a different world will be waiting."

Gerard’s words came back to her. In truth, from the moment she popped the magic core into her mouth and nearly jumped out of her skin at the salt-rock taste, she had felt the power whirl inside her.

But the power coursing through her veins had been unstable, uneven; she’d had to focus on her breathing.

Airi slowly closed her eyes and directed quiet attention to the magic within. At once, she felt the great strength settled in the pit of her chest. Unlike before, when she needed several seconds of deep breathing to sense it, the grown magic announced itself the instant she closed her eyes.

It felt as if a cold-hot blast furnace was flowing through the vessels that reached every corner of her body.

"Insane."

Airi murmured, the corner of her mouth lifting. She raised her right hand to chest height, turned her palm up, and whispered softly:

"Circulus appare."

A vivid, deep-blue magic circle floated up over her palm. Far more saturated than anything she’d created before, the magic formula shimmered with a subdued gold.

Airi felt a pleasant tingle in her palm and murmured:

"Augmenta."

With the incantation, a small resonance began to run through the flat circle.

Shrrrrrrrrip!

Like ripples spreading on still water, the gently quivering circle thickened by a handspan, then split into layered sheets like paper. As Airi’s hazel eyes flashed blue, it happened.

The circle, split into dozens of leaves, fluttered up like book pages and rounded into a sphere. Become solid from flat, the magic diagram thrummed, lighting the formulas etched through her whole body in gold and silver.

Airi stared, entranced, at the miraculous magic circle she had made, then tightly closed and opened the hand she’d spread. The circle spun over her palm and broke into fine pieces, scattering in all directions like fireflies.

Meanwhile, Lily had paced in front of Airi’s door several times through the dawn, only to turn back each time. If not for Gerard’s warning not to wake her by force, she would have gone in long ago.

"There really isn’t anything wrong, right?"

She recalled Estella clutching her ears in agony atop the wall.

"What if she’s collapsed in there?"

Just then, as she trotted up and down in agitation, Airi’s door clicked and opened.

"Airi!"

Lily, full of hope and relief, scampered to the doorway, calling Airi’s name. But the moment Airi stepped out, Lily’s smile vanished from her face.

Chapter 201

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