Caravan.

My family, forgotten by history.

According to Father and Master, 「Caravan」 had been a Great Family that dominated an era. They said the world had once looked up to us, feared us, and revered us. But no matter how often I heard it, it was still an age I had never experienced.

Yes.

I knew nothing of Caravan’s greatness.

“... Caravan? I’ve never heard of such a family.”

“As I thought.”

“This old man may know a great deal, but I cannot know everything in the world. Ho ho.”

Tom answered my question with a genial laugh. Looking at his kindly smile, I thought it was just as I had expected. Wise as he was, even Tom did not know of 「Caravan」, which had been erased from history entirely. I spoke to him as he chuckled.

“Caravan is my family.”

“Ah, I see. But why bring up your family so suddenly, young lord...?”

“I felt like telling you a little about them.”

Tom blinked for a moment at my unexpected words.

The silence did not last long. Soon, he grinned and nodded.

“Please, tell me as much as you like. I noticed how your face brightened from the moment you arrived at the estate. I could tell how deeply you love this land, young lord. It made me want to hear about this place from you. So if you’re offering to tell me yourself, this old man welcomes it. Listening to young people is one of the few pleasures we old folk have.”

“Thank you for saying so.”

“I’m the one who should be grateful. It’s a pleasure to hear what lies in a friend’s heart. Please, don’t feel burdened. Tell me whatever you wish. I may not look it, but I dearly enjoy listening to other people’s stories.”

Tom smiled brightly.

I looked into his face.

And then I began my story.

“There was a boy born in this cramped little backwater.”

As I said, I knew nothing of Caravan’s greatness.

“His name was Arhan Caravan.”

And I had no intention of speaking about things I did not know. My story would consist only of what I knew.

In other words...

“He was a very curious boy, born to a kind, romantic lord and the most beautiful lady in the world.”

My 「Caravan」, from which all the glory of steel had vanished.

“The boy lived as happily as anyone could wish.”

Where happiness had been simple, but real.

“Yes.”

The 「Caravan」 I remembered...

“In the year the boy turned fifteen...”

The 「Caravan」 I knew...

“Until a certain swordmaster visited the estate.”

* * *

When she first left the Heavenly Empire, the witch Audrey had thought of this journey as a sort of vacation. A vacation bestowed like a gift upon someone whose days were consumed by research and training.

[“Audrey, go and enjoy yourself. Don’t worry about a thing.”]

Even her older sisters, who were like family to her, had sent her off with those words. So she had considered this journey to help the descendant of steel a vacation.

It was not some girl’s childish fancy.

For the witches, this long-standing task of finding their treasure had become something of a nuisance. Even the wise witches and their elder had gathered to discuss it without finding so much as a lead. The map could not be deciphered either. They had enlisted every renowned explorer in the Heavenly Empire, but still made no headway. Thus, the witches had all but given up on this “treasure hunt.” Everyone felt they had done their best by this point.

Audrey felt the same. So many people had worked on it, yet they had not found a single lead. It was so hopeless she wondered whether this treasure even existed. She believed the “treasure hunt” was merely going through the motions. They had a clue, so they could not be seen giving up immediately; they were making a token effort to preserve some justification for their actions. That was why Audrey had considered this journey a vacation.

Besides, she had spent her entire life in the Heavenly Empire, making this trip to the Iron Kingdom her first journey abroad. She had set out full of excitement, not knowing that traveling abroad could be so wretched and awful.

‘My sisters didn’t send me on vacation out of consideration for how busy I was with research and training every day. They sent me because they couldn’t be bothered to come all the way to this backwater themselves...’

Audrey had belatedly realized they had dumped their unwanted chore on her. But it was too late to turn back. She had spoken confidently before everyone and even boldly promised to return after a successful trip. In the end, all she could do was grit her teeth and vow to get them back later.

‘When I get back, I’m going to complain all day. And I’ll secretly eat every last one of their cakes in the storeroom.’

Having plotted her timid revenge, Audrey turned her head. The village before her eyes was unbearably shabby. There was no bathhouse filled with the floral fragrance she loved, no wine with a delicate flavor to savor, and no soft bed that would melt away her exhaustion the moment she lay down. Everything fell below her standards. Everything.

“Hmm.”

There was just one reason Audrey had not thrown a fit in these intolerable surroundings.

“Were you here all along?”

Haylin.

The pitiable girl who had been kidnapped by the now-dead dark mage Jerry Selpit and forcibly initiated into magic.

“Why? Did you make something else? Come to show it off?”

“No, nothing like that. I have a question.”

In this substandard village, Haylin at least provided Audrey with some amusement.

“When you saw me controlling Jerry Selpit’s golems, you said it was ‘a complete mess.’ What part did you mean? Based on your answer when I asked you how to control golems before, there doesn’t seem to be anything seriously wrong with my method.”

In Audrey’s eyes, Haylin had talent.

“It lacks finesse, so the movements aren’t smooth, but there’s no major problem with it.”

“Then why did you say it was a complete mess?”

However demanding witches might be, at their core they were still mages. And what mattered to mages was not cleanliness or infrastructure, but accumulating knowledge and sharing what they had learned—learning from others and teaching them in turn. In that regard, Audrey was having quite a good time just then.

“The problem is with the golems themselves. To you, Jerry Selpit probably seems like a fairly accomplished mage. The golems that old man made are decent by ordinary standards. But by mine, they’re dreadful. For a start, the way they’re powered is terribly old-fashioned. If you operate them this way—”

The pleasure of teaching.

A chance to explain what she knew and revisit fundamentals she had forgotten. Whenever she spoke with Haylin, Audrey forgot these miserable surroundings entirely. Lost in a world of their own, the two would talk at length and laugh happily.

“By the way, how far do you intend to develop this estate? The current pace is decent, but the location is terrible. I doubt it could become anything more than a small city.”

“I agree. I think we’ll need to absorb more strategically important land later. Oh, if the young lord received a new title and land closer to the capital, that would solve it immediately.”

“But that takes all the fun out of it. Building something up gradually from nothing is where the real enjoyment lies. When something small and precious that belongs to you grows, there’s such a thrill to it...”

Of course, their conversations were anything but girlish. At any rate, the two mages—highly skilled people quite out of place on this rural estate—were gradually growing closer. Once their conversations ended and a little time passed, the estate’s scenery would change in a flash. The place had so little infrastructure to begin with that even minor changes looked dramatic. Audrey acknowledged Haylin’s talent. Haylin was a genius at estate management. She was so capable that, if she began training as a steward now, it would be no surprise to see her enter the service of a distinguished noble family before long.

But...

‘She could have, if not for Jerry Selpit.’

Within Haylin’s body was Mana accumulated through Jerry Selpit’s methods. Whatever magic she used bore traces of evil magic and exuded a sinister energy. And no matter how capable she was, no noble would want to employ a dark mage’s apprentice. That old man had stolen a girl’s entire future from her. Horribly so.

“There’s one more thing I’d like to ask.”

“What is it?”

“I haven’t had enough training, so I only know a few kinds of magic. I’d like to learn more. Would you teach me a few spells, Lady Audrey?”

Audrey smiled bitterly at Haylin’s words.

Asking to be taught magic.

It was something rarely heard among ordinary mages. Every mage was a proud soul who believed themselves superior to everyone else, and considered being taught by another a humiliation. Yet Haylin asked for instruction so casually.

Audrey looked at Haylin.

This girl knew nothing. When a mage asked for instruction, it meant they were asking to be accepted as an apprentice. And to mages, the bond between master and apprentice was deeply special. Such relationships were not formed lightly. But Haylin knew none of that.

Audrey looked at this pitiable girl.

It would be easy to offer a few lessons to a girl who knew nothing. Besides, she had grown quite fond of Haylin, so she would not begrudge teaching her a little magic. Yet once again, there was a problem.

“Haylin.”

“Yes?”

“I can teach you a little magic. But teaching you proper magic would be difficult.”

“Because I’m not a witch?”

“No.”

It was for the same reason as before.

“Because you’re a dark mage’s apprentice.”

Haylin could not learn ordinary magic.

“You’ll only be able to wield magic of a sinister nature. Magic of a similar kind to what Jerry Selpit used. Because Jerry Selpit was the one who led you into the spirit world.”

“... Oh.”

Haylin looked somewhat disappointed.

But instead of offering comfort, Audrey told her the truth.

That was what a mage ought to do.

“Dark magic isn’t suitable for humans to use. That’s why most dark mages modify their bodies or offer sacrifices. The magic engraved on your body tells the same story. What you can learn from now on will probably be Demonkin magic, or perhaps orc shamanism.”

“...”

“But neither Demonkin nor orcs are easy to deal with. Demonkin will teach you as much as you like if you pay them enough, but you’d have to travel to the northern continent to meet them. Meeting orcs instead would be far too dangerous. They challenge you to a duel the moment you make eye contact. Besides, every orc shaman is a difficult, eccentric creature. Rather than help you, they might banish you to the spirit world simply because they don’t like you. If there were a human who had befriended an orc shaman, we could try asking them, but surely no human could be that deranged...”

Audrey worried Haylin might be terribly disappointed.

But then...

“Oh, there is.”

An unexpected answer came back.

“Our young lord is friends with a very great orc shaman.”

* * *

I finished my long story.

The fading sunset had vanished before I knew it, and a moon shining with a cool light hung where the sun had been. Tom stood beneath the moonlight, nodding. After a long silence, he spoke.

“How terrible.”

“...”

“If it is truly all true, that is.”

Tom slowly raised his head.

“Young lord, I trust you. That is why I want to believe as much as I can. The Iron Prince’s executioner wiping out your entire estate? I can believe that. The Iron Prince has indeed erased the traces of fallen nobles before. The tragic deaths of your parents? I can believe that as well. The memories you made on this land, how happy your boyhood was, even a swordmaster visiting a mere backwater and destroying your world. I can believe all of it.”

“...”

“But there is one thing I find hard to believe.”

“What is it?”

“This family called 「Caravan」.”

Tom’s eyes reflected the moonlight, shining blue.

“A family founded by the greatest swordmaster in history. One of the Five Great Families, known by the epithet steel. A family that accomplished countless great deeds, and which a swordmaster himself sought to erase without a trace. It is difficult to believe such a family could have been obliterated completely, without a single line remaining in the history books.”

“...”

“Young lord, I love the history of this continent. I have spent my entire life studying it, and have memorized the histories of ancient families that ordinary people will never even hear of. I know thousands of families. Yet even I have never heard of 「Caravan」. And a bloodline power that lets you eat swords? Such a thing... I have never even imagined it. Truly.”

Tom’s voice was soft and measured.

“Realistically speaking, I cannot believe it. Ordinarily, I would have dismissed it as the sort of fantasy boys your age indulge in. Or I might have refused to listen any further midway through.”

“...”

“But this old man knows that, on this continent, things even less believable than the wildest events in fiction truly happen.”

“...”

“So I would like to see it with my own eyes.”

Tom took a step closer.

“Besides, if what you say is true—if it really is true...”

“...”

“Then it means what I have believed all my life is true... so I am curious, too.”

“What have you believed all your life, Tom?”

“That swords contain souls.”

Having drawn close to me, Tom grinned.

“If that were proven before my eyes, I might shed burning tears. There have been difficult times over the years. An old man tending a Hall of Fame no one appreciates. Blades that never answer, though I care for them diligently every single day. Spectators who simply pass by, never thinking to hear the stories of these magnificent weapons. People who carelessly declared that blades were only blades, that they held no souls. People who dismissed my treasures, my dreams, and my romantic ideals, and hurt me.”

“...”

“If the story of 「Caravan」 really is true, couldn’t I proudly tell them they were wrong and I was right? That all my years were not meaningless? That I was not a fool polishing empty blades, but a proper caretaker who soothed their souls and loved them...”

Tom’s boyish smile was wonderful.

“So, can you show me?”

“Gladly.”

After seeing that wonderful smile, I slowly drew my sword. Then I gently closed my eyes. Tom simply watched me from a distance. I offered no explanation in words. I only drew forth a certain blade sleeping within me.

“I’ll begin.”

Tom’s eyebrows twitched.

Beneath the night sky, a modest sword dance began.

Amid the brilliant starlight, I could not know how I looked to Tom. Nor could I know what my reflection in his eyes looked like. Surrounded by things I could not know, I simply did what I could—what I could do well. The instant I thought that, a clear, fervent voice rang through my mind.

『The last thing I remember was a burning mansion.』

A voice of astonishing fervor.

* * *

Tom the caretaker watched the boy dance beneath the moonlight.

The moment he took up his sword, the boy’s movements became as graceful as a dancer’s. After three or four thrusts into the air, his appearance began to differ from the boy Tom knew. As he spun once in place, his hair fluttered softly like a woman’s. Through the strands of flying hair, his eyes became those of a beautiful woman. But his face did not.

A face too gruesome to look like a woman’s. Skin scarred and warped by burns. Yet her gaze alone remained vividly alive, sharp as a pointed needle. For some reason, merely looking into those eyes made Tom feel he could understand how she had lived, what sort of life she had sought, what she had looked toward throughout her life, and how she had met her end. A dancing woman, a sword thrusting into the air, a fiercely shining gaze. As though entranced, Tom murmured without realizing it.

“Needle...”