"No, I..."
Sense's instinct was to dodge the subject — but she caught herself almost immediately. Was that really appropriate? With how perceptive this child was, Fíliya would see through her in an instant.
And besides, she had never been a good liar. Rather than awkwardly trying to redirect or suppress Fíliya's curiosity, perhaps it was better to simply... not bring up the Demon Race at all. Avoid the topic entirely. Don't engage.
But if she kept dodging, wouldn't that only make Fíliya more curious?
It was only now that Sense truly grasped just how daunting a task she had accepted. What had she been thinking, charging into this moment on nothing but sheer determination? How could she possibly pull this off?
Her nerves were wound to a breaking point. She was certain that the moment she looked at Fíliya again, her face would betray every ounce of her anxiety.
"It seems like Sense doesn't want to talk about this... that's fine."
The clear, bright voice of a child pulled Sense back to herself.
She looked at Fíliya in disbelief — and found the girl wearing a full, easy smile.
"If talking about the Demon Race makes you unhappy, Sense, then I won't bring it up anymore. Can we talk about something else?"
Fíliya tilted her head slightly and asked, her voice careful and considerate.
"Mm..."
Sense let out a slow breath and nodded, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from her chest — and then, immediately after, felt a sharp pang of self-reproach.
Here she was, a person who had crossed through time itself, and somehow the tables had been turned completely. She was the one being comforted — by Fíliya, at this age.
"Anyway, I've been reading this today." Fíliya held up the book in her hands. "It's about the Hero's party from a few decades ago — their campaign to defeat the Demon King. But honestly, the writing is so over the top. Like, supposedly the Hero slew a giant serpent hundreds of meters long with a single sword stroke — but I looked into it, and snake-type monsters simply can't grow to that size. It's completely made up."
"And then there's this part about the Hero's party fighting their way out of a siege by tens of thousands of Demon Race soldiers — that's just nonsense. The Demon Race population on the continent has been in decline for ages. They're practically on the verge of extinction now. Even a few decades ago, you couldn't have gathered tens of thousands of them. Maybe a few hundred years back, sure — but not then."
Fíliya delivered her critique with undisguised disdain, then suddenly clapped a hand over her own mouth.
"Sorry — I literally just said I wouldn't talk about the Demon Race and then went and did it anyway. My bad."
She glanced at Sense with a flicker of genuine apology in her eyes.
"Fíliya... are you interested in stories about the Hero?"
Sense's gaze settled on her.
"I suppose I am, quite a bit. You see Hero statues everywhere, so I always find myself wondering — what kind of person was he? What sort of life did he live, what did he go through, that moved people so deeply they built monuments in his name?"
"Is that so."
"Mm. And it's more than that, actually. Every time I read one of these different versions of 'The Hero Defeats the Demon King,' I always feel... a kind of regret."
As she said it, a quiet shadow passed over Fíliya's expression.
"Regret?"
Sense blinked. This was a topic Fíliya had never raised with her before. Have I not been paying enough attention to her?
"Of course I regret it. There were such incredible people, such sweeping and legendary stories — and all of it happened before I was born. Doesn't that seem like a waste? If I'd been born a little earlier, maybe I could have been part of it. Maybe I could have become part of the legend."
Fíliya laughed softly as she said it.
"Is Fíliya unhappy with the world as it is now? There's no Demon King anymore, but... there's still plenty of room for mages to make their mark."
"That's true, I know... but I can't help feeling like I missed something." Fíliya paused, then smiled wryly. "Though honestly, even if I had been part of some grand legend, I doubt I'd have ended up as one of the heroes. People call me 'strange' all the time... so maybe the villain role would suit me better."
Her tone was light, and her smile never wavered — but Sense found it impossible to stay unmoved after hearing those words.
Without thinking, she reached out and placed her hand gently on top of Fíliya's head.
"Don't say things like that about yourself. And don't let yourself get used to thinking that way. Fíliya — you can absolutely become a good person."
"You really believe that, Sense?"
"I do."
"...Okay then."
With that simple, definitive answer, Fíliya seemed satisfied — and promptly burrowed herself further into Sense's arms, as if savoring the warmth.
They stayed like that for a little while. Then, out of nowhere, Fíliya spoke up.
"Hey, Sense — want to come out and play with me? You're only a Second-Class Mage, so there can't be any missions that absolutely require you. Ask for some time off."
Play?
Sense blinked again. It wasn't that she was unwilling — she was simply puzzled. Fíliya, the self-proclaimed 'strange child' who never wanted to leave home and spent all her time buried in research, was suddenly in the mood to go outside?
But refuse? No. That was never an option.
"Alright. I'll go put in the request right now. Where does Fíliya want to go?"
"Hmm... how about the Southern Nations?"
Sense frowned slightly, and quickly ran through what she knew about the state of the Southern Nations at this point in time.
Actually, she didn't even need to think too hard about it. The countries in the south of the continent were too many and too fragmented — and small wars had been grinding on there for years.
"The Southern Nations... but there's fighting everywhere down there. It's hardly the kind of place you can unwind."
"But if we go north, we'll run into the Demon Race — and you don't want that, right, Sense? So south is the only option."
Fíliya offered her reasoning with breezy logic.
I see...
Sense mulled it over, and in the end — agreed. They would travel together for a while.
The two of them moved with remarkable efficiency. By the very next day, they had packed their things and set off on the road.
And the moment they crossed into the territory of the southern continent, they inevitably stumbled straight into a battlefield.
It was nothing like the grand, sweeping scenes of war Fíliya might have imagined. What she and Sense encountered was merely a small skirmish — two groups of soldiers trading blows over a tiny village, each trying to hold or take a patch of ground from the other.
The instant Sense sensed danger, her well-honed combat instincts kicked in and she moved into a ready stance.
Fíliya, however, simply stood at her side with a look of mild boredom, reaching up to catch a strand of her own hair that the wind had swept across her face, and twirled it idly between her fingers.
"It's tricky, isn't it," Fíliya said. "If this were a Demon Race attack on humans, you wouldn't hesitate for a second, Sense. But this... this is two factions of humans — whoever they are — fighting over a little village. You can't step in. Not in a situation like this."
Sense glanced sideways at Fíliya, then quietly let her own hair down.
Fíliya was right. As a Second-Class Mage, she had no business getting involved in something like this.
"Let's go, Sense. We should leave. The conflicts in the Southern Nations are scattered and endless — even if you wanted to play the hero, you'd never be able to stop them all."
Fíliya reached out and tugged at the hem of Sense's robe.
"Mm..."
Without another word, Sense took Fíliya's hand and slipped them both quietly away, drawing no attention as they left that place behind.
____
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