Tap! Tap! Tap!
As the young girl named @&&#&-@- ran, she couldn't help but recall what had led her here.
The girl came from Belialuin, the capital of magic.
It was a city of mages, by mages, and for mages. There wasn't a single person in that place who wasn't a mage.
They spent most of their time conducting experiments, sometimes, and by sometimes we mean most of the time, not very ethical ones, in order to expand their knowledge of magic and of the world itself.
@&&#&-@- was born to the head mage of Belialuin. Naturally, she should have followed in her father's and his colleagues' footsteps, and to a certain extent, she did.
Rather than saying she had followed their path and become a mage, it would be more accurate to say she had become their guinea pig.
She had become the most precious research subject in the entire capital of magic.
There were other children like her, but she was special. Her immense talent for magic, as well as her truly extraordinary magical power, made her a singularity.
And so her life, along with the lives of the other children, boiled down to experiments aimed at discovering the ultimate magic. At least, that's what the researchers made everyone believe.
@&&#&-@- strongly suspected it was actually meant to produce weapons against the demon clan and the goddess clan.
Being nothing more than a weapon more precious than the others to the mages, including her father, she never got to experience what people call love.
And it wasn't for lack of trying.
She did everything to please her father. She followed the mages' instructions to the letter, never balked at a task. Never complained about pain or discomfort. She even exceeded every estimate the mages had made, and yet…
Nothing.
Her father never saw her as anything more than a weapon, and he almost certainly never would.
When she became aware of that… she ran away.
She decided to leave the capital of magic and her tormentors behind.
Of course, the mages would never let their little pool of discoveries escape that easily. They set off in pursuit, convinced it wouldn't last long.
Unfortunately for them, they had trained her too well.
Every time the group of five people they'd sent to catch her drew close to their goal, she always managed to slip away.
As this went on, they grew more and more serious, more and more violent in their methods, but it changed nothing — she always managed to escape, every single time.
One of them grew seriously impatient and decided to make her stop once and for all.
So he cast an explosion spell on her.
But once again she managed to escape the spell without much difficulty. Only, the spell had thrown her off balance and made her stumble several times.
Nothing she couldn't handle, and nothing that was really much of a problem for her — but someone else didn't seem to share that opinion.
With absolutely no fluctuation in magical energy, a boy her age, with a tanned complexion, white hair, and silver eyes, suddenly sprang out of nowhere, swept her into his arms, and fled.
@&&#&-@- was so shocked that she didn't even react as he kept teleporting over and over.
Completely overwhelmed by sensations she had never experienced before, she only noticed the ice spell closing in on them very late.
When she warned her "savior," she realized he had already started dodging the attack.
But lacking stable footing, he stumbled and sent them both crashing down. Which gave her pursuers time to catch up.
She then saw the boy her age get up and face the mages. But observant as she was, she couldn't help but notice his trembling legs.
But something she hadn't expected happened: the mages gave the boy the chance to leave if he left her behind.
Knowing them, she was well aware it was a lie, but she hadn't expected the boy to actually consider it.
As she searched for a way to get out of this situation, she heard the boy's answer.
"I don't want to fight… But I can't let you take her."
What?
That brought @&&#&-@-'s train of thought to a screeching halt and plunged her into deep confusion.
She didn't understand why someone she didn't know, and who certainly didn't know her, would put himself in so much danger for her.
Why did he do that?
Why did he help me?
Why did he put himself in danger for me?
And what she absolutely couldn't understand was the way her heart started pounding when she heard him say it.
She clutched her chest over her heart, utterly failing to understand the sensation.
And why is my heart beating so hard?
She had never experienced anything like it. She had never known such a gentle feeling. Letting herself be swept along by it, she once again failed to react when they were locked away.
And yet those questions kept looping in her mind, oblivious to what was happening around her.
Anyone looking at her now would have seen nothing but a blushing, breathless girl clutching her chest.
However, something did pull her out of that state.
The boy suddenly shouted something that sounded like an incantation.
"The demon-dweller sword…DRAINDA!!"
Once again, with no fluctuation in magical energy whatsoever, the boy made an elegant black sword appear out of nowhere, one giving off a reddish black light.
"What is that?" @&&#&-@- murmured.
I didn't sense any magic. How did that sword appear.
She got no answer.
After contemplating it for a few seconds, the boy brought the sword down on the cage holding them prisoner.
To her great surprise, the cage shattered in a single blow.
How is that possible?
@&&#&-@- wondered.
However, they weren't out of the woods yet — those pursuing her were still out there, and in full fighting shape.
That's enough, I need to stop daydreaming and think of a plan.
She then tuned out the conversation the two of them had after being freed.
She didn't really have time to put her plan into motion, because one of them, Galileo, as she knew him, sent a spell their way. Petrifying ray.
But just like with the cage, the ray was sliced apart and vanished the moment the boy raised his sword.
But what is that sword?
She was fascinated by how easily that weapon countered the mages' spells.
But shortly after, something happened that pulled her attention away from the sword.
The boy turned his head toward her and told her, in a serious tone.
"Run, I'll try to hold them off."
She hadn't expected that, just like she hadn't expected literally any of the boy's actions so far.
Seeing that she wasn't reacting, the boy urged her on, "What are you waiting for? Run."
This time she managed to speak, and she did something entirely new for her.
"B-But what about you?"
She worried about someone.
The boy wouldn't budge, "Don't worry about that, I can get out of this anytime I want. Your job is to run. So run!"
"B-But…"
She didn't have time to finish her sentence, and truthfully, she didn't have much to say anyway.
The boy raised his voice and shouted at her, "RUN, I SAID!!"
@&&#&-@- stared at him for a few seconds and, seeing that he wouldn't give up, turned around to run.
"AND DON'T LOOK BACK!!" she heard.
At that moment her heart filled with something she had never been able to conceive of before…
Pure happiness.
She never would have imagined that someone would be willing to go this far for her.
The worry of leaving him to face so many mages was still there, but it was eclipsed by the joy she felt.
On top of that, he had shown abilities up to that point unlike anything she'd ever seen. So it wouldn't be illogical for him to have some way of escaping if things turned dangerous.
But for now she had only one role to play. Do what he had told her and run as far as possible.
A minute passed, then two, then five, then ten.
Using her magic to strengthen herself, she managed to cover several kilometers in a short span of time despite her relatively weak body.
But unfortunately, the worst-case scenario happened.
"Ha! We caught up to her." said Galileo.
"This isn't the time to talk. Let's finish this," said D'Aquin.
Actually, they weren't very close.
There were a good thirty-some meters separating them, but that distance only restored the same situation she had been in before the boy's intervention.
The only difference being that this time, @&&#&-@- no longer had only her own escape on her mind.
They're back? What happened to him? Did he manage to get away? I hope so. I don't want anything to happen to him.
She could only think about the well-being of the boy she had met less than an hour ago.
Slash! Slash!
She felt the mages' magic spring into action, but just a few seconds later, she passed out completely.
Curious, she turned around to see what was happening and was stunned by what she saw.
She saw the five mages who had been chasing her lying dead on the ground, while a man with blond hair and a face and stature that were remarkably childlike stood over their bodies, a gigantic bloodied sword in hand.
The man began walking toward her with an apathetic expression.
Strangely, despite his cold, emotionless gaze, @&&#&-@- felt no hostility or danger coming from this man.
"Are you okay?" the man asked, his voice just as apathetic as his gaze.
Yet @&&#&-@- paid no attention to the tone of his voice, focusing instead on his words.
Are you okay?
It was the first time anyone had shown her concern this directly.
Her heart once again started racing, but for some unknown reason, even this show of concern led her to think more of the boy who had "saved" her than of the man standing in front of her.
Seeing that she no longer needed to run, she instead turned her mind to asking about his condition.
But that didn't mean she'd be rude.
"Yes, thanks to you, I'm fine. Thank you."
The man swung his enormous sword through the air to shake off the blood.
Swoosh!
He then sheathed his sword on his back and held out his gloved hand.
"My name is Meliodas."
@&&#&-@- did the same and held out her hand to greet him.
"My name is @&&#&-@-."
The man's hand gave off a warmth new to her. But even that warmth only reminded her of the boy and the moment he had held her in his arms.
"Your name isn't easy to pronounce. A human wouldn't manage it," the man said absentmindedly as he withdrew his hand.
"Really?"
Normally @&&#&-@- wouldn't have cared, but that offhand remark reminded her of something she hadn't thought to ask herself.
What race was he, anyway? Was he human? He should be human, he doesn't look like any other race.
"So tell me how you ended up in this situation."
While she'd been lost in thought, @&&#&-@- heard the man speak.
"Huh? Oh! Okay!"
She then began telling him how she had ended up there. She didn't go into detail, simply saying that she came from Belialuin, that she had been mistreated there, and that she'd decided to flee. However, the mages, unhappy about it, had come after her, and here they were.
"Belialuin, huh," said Meliodas, crossing his arms. "You've made yourself some serious enemies. I don't think you could survive on your own if I left you like this."
@&&#&-@- said nothing, even though she didn't entirely agree with what he was saying.
BOOM!
Suddenly there was an explosion what seemed to be several kilometers from where they stood.
When she turned her head toward the explanation, @&&#&-@- heard Meliodas mutter something.
"Tch. They've already started." Meliodas seemed annoyed by that, but he quickly masked it. "Listen, I don't have much time today. So hide until tomorrow. I'll be back by then."
Black wings unfurled from Meliodas's back.
So he's a demon. I would have thought they'd be more warlike.
@&&#&-@- didn't dwell on it any further, though, and simply nodded.
Then Meliodas made a gesture she hadn't anticipated.
He placed his hand on her head and smoothed down her hair.
He withdrew his hand after untangling her ruffled hair and took off with a beat of his wings.
Whoosh!
And after one last wave, he left.
@&&#&-@- watched him go, dumbfounded. And a gentle warmth began seeping into her heart.
That warmth seemed different, however, from what she had felt earlier with the boy.
She then looked out at the horizon and saw the magnificent meadow she hadn't had time to admire during the chase.
She took a deep breath, letting the pure air fill her lungs.
And then, out of nowhere, she began to laugh softly.
"Hahaha! I'm free, truly free."
She could do whatever she wanted. No more memorizing hundreds of spells. No more having to comment on every spell she used. No more looking at all those old fossils.
After a few moments she calmed down, feeling lighter than ever.
She ran her hand through her hair to fight against the incoming wind.
"Maybe I should change my name," she said, smiling.
"What should I call myself?"
She began thinking, searching for the name that felt sweetest to pronounce, and after a few moments she found it.
"Merlin. Yeah, Merlin sounds good."