"The Mage Association's archives mention it. This is most likely dream-brewing tea. It's said that people who drink this tea at the same time will enter the same dream. In the past, some mages would drink this tea at a specific time to communicate with one another within a dream."
Yuna, who had rushed over late, explained as she looked at the half-opened box of tea leaves on Aaron's desk.
"There's such a thing? Still, what I'm more curious about is—how did Serie calculate that I'd be drinking tea at exactly that moment?"
Could it be that the Grand-Master was also a prophet?
"I'm sorry, Lady Nanoda, I don't know either."
"It's not your fault."
"So what do you plan to do with this tea?"
Beside them, Aaron examined the tea leaves with curiosity—in all his years, this was the first time he'd seen such a thing.
"Keep it. Drinking it does no harm anyway. Maybe it'll even help with sleep."
"Hey! What about the place you promised to find for me?"
Nofi was getting a little displeased. Even though the two sides had already reconciled, she'd only allowed herself to be dragged here willingly because she'd heard there was a place that suited her requirements for a secluded life.
"Aaron, where's Gaderia's communal graveyard?"
Nanoda posed a question Aaron couldn't quite comprehend.
"Why do you ask? Are you planning to go visit my ancestral graves too?"
Still, he answered truthfully. "It's behind the back hill of the lord's manor. Back then, your battle with the Hero spilled over into that area. After it was reburied, it should still be pretty easy to spot."
"Surprisingly close."
With that, Nanoda took Nofi's small hand and turned to walk out.
"She's as much of a do-whatever-she-pleases person as ever."
Leaning on his cane, Aaron shook his head, the corners of his mouth curling up in an expression of both helplessness and warm relief.
"Wait for me, Lady Nanoda, I want to go too."
Yuna, beside them, hurriedly ran after them.
Watching them all leave the office one by one, Aaron straightened his back and began tidying up all around; there wasn't much business today, so perhaps he could even sneak out for a good meal.
"This really is more comfortable after all."
A white pillow floated in the air, with Nofi sprawled entirely on top of it, advancing alongside Nanoda.
"It's a bit different from the Mage Association's 'magic that makes things float,' isn't it? This one looks far more natural."
Yuna gazed at Nofi drifting and flying atop the pillow, and marveled.
"Of course it is. Floating, bearing weight, moving—my magic has one more step than yours."
"Bearing weight? Doesn't that conflict with floating?"
Yuna was very surprised. If something is to float, the object needs to become lighter; once it's lighter it can't support any weight; and if you place a load on it, then the floating object would be crushed and fall. By all current understanding, that was a nearly impossible magic.
"That's the secret. I'm not telling you."
Nofi left the problem to Yuna, who mulled it over the whole way.
Nanoda could more or less follow along too. She'd had plenty of exposure to the human magic system as well—though ever since she'd started using Paradox Magic, she'd hardly touched Ordinary Offensive Magic or Ordinary Defensive Magic anymore.
This world's magic was, to some degree, idealistic; magic was heavily tied to the user's imagination. The one thing that didn't fluctuate at all was the quantity of mana—that was something no magic could do without.
Amid the idle chatter, Nanoda arrived at the "back hill," which was really just a small, rolling knoll.
The sword scar Himmel had left behind that day was still there.
"Mm, I think I can smell it."
"What's in this hill?"
"The scent of corpses."
Nofi's answer left Nanoda momentarily speechless. That could actually be smelled?
"I've always found it strange—why do you treat corpses as collectibles?"
"Restful sleep. I envy it. Humans, animals—everyone leaves behind a corpse after they die. But we of the Demon Race leave nothing behind; we only dissolve into mana and return to nature. If I sleep beside corpses, then maybe one day I too could be like them, attaining restful sleep and leaving something behind."
Though she was a Great Demon who had lived through countless ages, she spoke words as nonsensical and hard to understand as a child's offhand joke.
Even Yuna, deep in thought, couldn't untangle herself from the demon's way of thinking for a while, and covered her mouth in surprise.
"Do you want to die?"
Nanoda's tone was calm. She'd long since grown accustomed to the demons' strange theories, and could accept Nofi's answer quickly enough.
"No. Having lived this long, I treasure my life. Sleeping is more comfortable."
Nofi shook her head. She understood death clearly—it wasn't what she pursued.
"Then isn't that a contradiction? You want restful sleep and to become remains, yet you don't want to die. That really is just an eccentricity after all."
"Mm. Is that so?"
Nofi swayed her head as if pondering. After a long while, she gave up thinking, neither refuting nor conceding to Nanoda's teasing.
As they descended the hill, small mounds of earth began to appear before everyone one by one.
In front of each mound was planted a wooden tablet, or a stone. Many of the wooden tablets had long since rotted, no longer legible; the stones were carved with crooked names. These all served to indicate the identity of the remains within the grave.
The wooden tablets and stones before some of the graves in the middle were all damaged, and the soil there was a different color from the surroundings—it looked as though it had all been carelessly refilled after being caught up in the battle.
The communal graveyard, studded with countless wooden markers and stones, set against the deep forest behind and the shadow cast by the hillside's dark side, looked eerie and terrifying.
"This place really does look nice."
Nofi, who had worn an aloof expression, now actually broke into a smile, her dainty nose twitching as if sniffing out some delicious feast.
"There are quite a few old-timers here—all fine collection pieces."
"Lady Nanoda, why do I keep feeling that something's off?"
Yuna was afraid Nofi might summon a ghost the very next second to scare her, so she couldn't help pressing even closer to Nanoda, stooping down to hide her head behind her.
"Don't be scared, don't be scared."
Reaching back to pat Yuna's head, Nanoda suddenly remembered how, when Yuna was little, she'd deliberately told her a bedtime ghost story and made her cry.
"This is simply an auspicious spot! Can I live here?"
Nofi hopped down from the pillow and walked back and forth among the graves, like a little purple sprite—light and ethereal, utterly at odds with this gloomy burial ground.
"Of course that's fine. As long as you like it."
Nanoda had fulfilled her promise, and had successfully secured for Gaderia a Great Demon no less impressive than Qual.
"Alright then, I'll join that whatever-it's-called Demon Association. As a special allowance, every month you'll get one chance to seek my help—though whether or not I actually help still depends on my mood... unless you bring me some collection pieces."
"From now on, whenever someone in Gaderia passes away, they'll all be moved over here. Wouldn't you then always have your so-called 'collectibles'?"
"...You make an excellent point. Put that way, this place really is an auspicious spot!"
Listening to the two demons converse, Yuna—who had been a little afraid of ghosts—was instead caught somewhere between laughter and tears. She genuinely had no idea how Lady Nanoda managed to get on the same wavelength as Nofi.
____
👻🔥+40 ch on Pátreon: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Zenless Zone Zero: Rewriting Fate in New Eridu — read it on The_Mikudayo
📚 Forty chapters of advanced reading at Walnut-chan, and it goes straight into keeping the translations on schedule
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