Nigotta Hitomi no Lilianne

Looking up, the sun which has shined high up in the sky was slowly going down.

The slightly curled hair was a little...... no, they were swaying quite a lot in the cold wind.

But, the owner of that hair was obviously indifferent to the cold temperature around.

While looking at the sun going down, she――The fairy Kulestilt, found herself a bit bored.

She usually uses the fairies’ unique ability to freely fly in the skies.

But, she doesn’t purposely fly in the skies this time but rides on a wagon pulled by two animals instead.

There were a lot of similar wagons, and furthermore, there were about ten people armed with large swords and bows protecting the wagons.

She’s riding free of charge, but it appears that she doesn’t think so.

She is constantly grasping the surrounding with sorcery and driving away enemies which approach too close.

By doing such, she promises safe travel.

At the same time, she controls the temperature and level of humidity to the most suitable with her sorcery barrier.

She, who is a fairy can’t be perceived by general races.

As is usual, she’s not perceived by anyone in the group of wagons.

However, such thing doesn’t matter to her.

In short, it doesn’t matter to her who thinks what as long as she alone knows.

Merchants who make a livelihood as peddlers fundamentally move their wagons in a group called caravan.

They move from town to town utilizing maintained highways wide enough for several large stones.

Other roads are in terrible states, weather-beaten and without any maintenance.

However, maintained highways are definitely not any safer.

Because of that, it’s necessary to hire a force of mercenaries or adventurers, which would cost too much if moving in small numbers.

The merit of organizing a group is that even if you have to hire a somewhat large amount of people, it will be cheaper by dividing between the merchants.

Naturally, they can hire nasty ones cheaply, but that doesn’t guarantee security.

In the worst case, the nasty people will turn into bandits themselves.

In that situation, you have no right to make a fuss about it.

Early on the tenth day after the caravan has departed from the port town.

Thanks to her taking advantage of the ride, threats such as demons and bandits didn’t even approach the caravan since the time of departure.

If it were the usual itinerary, they would already have their hands full of threats of all sizes.

Every member of the caravan was happy about the safe travel, while the hired mercenaries suffered a loss.

「Haa~ The sky is so high~」

A ringing bell-like voice which no one perceived mixed with a sigh.

In the ten days of travel, the only things for her to see were the appropriately escaping monsters and bandits, the slowly changing scenery, and the high sky.

「I wonder why did I think of moving on a wagon~」

She got on the wagon moving on the highway on her usual whim, but it was only tedious to her.

Then, as for why did, she spent ten tedious days like that......

In fact, she found her bragging about her skills of being able to guarantee the safety from monsters and bandits somewhat fulfilling.

It was also great to listen to the various talks of the caravan members when preparing to retire.

However, that was only for a few days.

Now, her thoughts of guaranteeing the safety of the caravan completely disappeared with enemies running for safety, and she also grew considerably tired of the conversations during the camping.

However, taking in the consideration that she has not been recognized for her action in the few days, her passion somewhat shifted, and she decided to stay at most until they arrive at the nearest town.

「The town should be visible any second~ tto...... Oh~」

She raised in vigor, looked over the driver’s shoulder and there, she discovered a large stone wall.

It was the stone wall surrounding the place of the caravan’s destination, the capital of the Ovent Kingdom, Ovent.

That stone wall stands strong, completely surrounding the capital, clearly demonstrating the strong refusal to welcome enemies.

The capital is the symbol of safety and piece of mind, loved by more than 500,000 residents.

The capital of the Ovent Kingdom, Ovent.

Total population exceeding 500,000 with various races living there, clean townscape and landscape which is said to be very beautiful.

The stone wall surrounds the town in a circular shape and inner walls surrounding the general layer, commercial layer, noble layer, and castle layer respectively.

In the center of the capital, there is a castle surrounded by white walls. It’s the castle of the royal family.

Right now, the inner walls are not visible from the outside, but after a little bit, the castle will be in view.

Gradually approaching the place of destination, her heart can’t help but beat in excitement.

「Fi~nally arrived~! Now then~ How much has changed in the 50 years~?」

Fairies live far longer than the general races, and she is 30 times older than the average lifespan of the general races.

She came here approximately 50 years ago, but the power of development during such small moment of fairy’s life is eye opening.

That’s why she was looking forward to spending a long time in the ever-changing streets.

Slowly, but gradually, the caravan neared the large walls.

They have reached a large front gate where similar caravans in great numbers had their baggage inspected in order to be allowed into the town.

「Now then, there’s no need for me to wait here anymore~ This is a farewell! Bye by~e」

No one has noticed the fairy lightly waving her hand at them, but she didn’t mind it as usual.

Because she’s not in a hurry, she slowly and smoothly floats in the sky.

While passing through the large gate, she self-importantly greeted the guards good work with a smug face. Naturally, there’s no way they heard her.

To Kulestilt who visited the town after 50 years, it was a noisy town crowded with people of various races.

More than four two-horse pulled carriages are able to pass on the main street lined up with street stalls.

A delicious mix of fragrances floats around, but because fairies don’t find it necessary to eat, she flies in the sky without much interest.

The object of her interest is the difference from when she came here 50 years ago.

「Ah~ The clothes shop that was there has disapeared~! The restaurant that was there also became a weapons shop~ That place――」

Restlessly looking around, she delightfully enjoyed the changes.

You could say that “Knowing the changes in the world” is the sole pleasure for her who lives for a long time.

While enjoying the changes of the 50 years, she flies over the wall from general layer to the commercial layer――commonly known as a commercial wall.

Although the general layer and commercial layer are blocked by a commercial wall, there are gates in the east, west, north, and south which are always open.

Even in the war 800 years ago in which the whole Lizwald continent was rolled up, the Ovent Kingdom never allowed the invasion of capital and the gates of commercial walls has never been closed.

The general layer is for the general public, small stores, street stalls, inns, and private houses. There are stores aimed towards elementary~intermediate level adventurers, but there are more specialized shops in the commercial layer, big general-purpose shops, large specialized shops big shops called Large Stores has also started increasing.

Inns and private houses have completely disappeared, and it became a complete layer for business.

Organizations for each occupation called guilds are fundamentally in the general layer, but they are partly in the commercial layer as well.

As you go to further, the shops’ appearances will become more luxurious and the number of shops for nobles and large businesses will increase.

「Are~? I thought for sure that there was a large jewelry store, but...... fumu. It became a school, how nice~」

The jewelry store that was in her memory got closed due to tax evasion, and now, there was a medium-sized three-story facility built instead.

The schoolyard is not that big and the classrooms count only up to twenty, but on the Lizwald Continent, it’s considered medium-sized.

As far as small-sized schools go, they are schools with up to five classrooms with no schoolyard.

In Ovent, there are five medium-sized schools and only two large-sized schools.

There are cases where churches are considered as small-sized schools, and there are only about twenty in the capital alone.

However, this is also due to the fact that the Ovent Kingdom is emphasizing on the pursuit of knowledge, there are only about two school per capital in other countries.

Because the church is also concurrently serving as a school, reading, writing and simple calculations are spread over the whole continent, but anything beyond that is low.

Frustrated by such state, the King Ovent has been trying to build schools throughout the Ovent Kingdom and keep the tuition not so high for the last 30 years.

Especially to discover people with capacity even from the poor who can not afford even the not so expensive tuition, a system for supporting school attendance was established, and those who passed the exam with a high score were exempt from tuition and able to receive various kinds of assistance.

For such reasons, Ovent, the capital of the Ovent Kingdom is also known as the Academic City.

It has became known as the Academic City over the last 20 years, so she, who visited for the first time in 50 years has no way of knowing.

While watching the changes behind the commercial wall, she flew over the third wall――commonly known as the noble wall. By the time she flew over it, the Sun had gone down, dying the wonderful mansions red.

「This is the same as always~」

Slightly disappointed that the streets have not changed in the last fifty years, she enters the noble layer searching for changes.

Unlike the commercial wall, the noble wall is opened during the day and closed during the night.

When passing through everyone except nobles and royalty have to present identification papers and explain the reason for passing through.

As the name of the wall suggests, this layer is the residence of nobles, a residence of wealthy merchants and their large stores and offices. There is also a security organization different from the general and commercial layers.

There’s such security organization because this is where many people responsible for the running of the country reside in great numbers.

Because it’s possible to gain power if you have the ability in the Ovent Kingdom, there are many children attending the schools and thanks to the school assistance system, the percent of children attending the school is way larger compared to other countries.

The other countries have a hereditary system, and although it’s still in the Ovent Kingdom as well, there are now nearly 40% of the nation’s core people who gained their place with their ability.

In Ovent, there is a custom of displaying your power with your residence so many powerful people are putting their energy into their mansions, but to her who is a fairy, it doesn’t seem that much.

That’s why there are not many changes from her memory of 50 years ago.

「...... How boring, as expected this area...... Un? ...... What is that?」

She was not trying to hide her disappointment, but a large mansion suddenly caught her interest.

It didn’t attract her attention because it was a large mansion, but there was something different from the other mansions.

「What is that...... a barrier? Is there a meaning for a barrier in a town like this?」

What reflected in the eyes of the fairy who could perfectly visualize the sorcery was a 3rd class defensive barrier.

When it comes to the 3rd class barrier, the user must be a considerably skilled sorcerer.

Even skilled sorcerers need considerable means to maintain the barrier, and she will be able to find out only when she approaches it.

「Hee~ To maintain a barrier of such scope for so long means...... it uses a magic tool. Aren’t you quite good for a fellow outside the forest!」

「Maa, still~ It won’t~ Work against me~ Eiya!」

In an optimistic, carefree tone, she takes out a formula stored in her archive, instantly constructs and deploys it.

She finished the delicate operation instantly. If there were a sorcerer who could perceive her in this place, they would have fainted.

She is the only one among the fairies who can handle such operation in such short time.

「Now then, now then~ I wonder what’s inside~?」

Although her interest was in the barrier, she instantly rendered it partially useless and slipped through.

There must be a reason for this barrier.

She who instantly invaded inside the barrier discovered an outrageous magical power that is unbelievable even for fairies.

「Over there~ Mufufu~ Wait for me~」

With a frivolous not hurrying pace, she leisurely strolled around under the bright red light towards the place she has detected.

In one of the windows she has arrived at, there was a mixture of shock and overwhelming existence that will decisively decide her future.

A moment of twilight, as if the world stained with bright red light.

Because of the warm light that was dancing in front of her eyes, she was fascinated as if she had forgotten the time.

That day, Kulestilt, a high-grade magical power holder from a unit directly controlled by the Fairy Queen, met an infant with white, cloudy eyes.