Sugar Apple Fairytale - Volume 2 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

SUMMONED BY THE DUKE OF PHILAX

“Incredible,” Anne murmured. She was standing on a fourth-floor balcony that jutted out from the castle wall.

A dim, shadowy forest. A lake that was smooth like a black mirror. The scene of snow falling quietly from the twilight sky over the dimly lit forest was so solemn that it seemed to belie any sign of a human presence.

Until that moment, Anne had never looked down on the forest and lake from such a high vantage point. Whenever she peered down past her feet, she felt a rush of fear, as if something were quickly draining out of her, starting from the top of her head.

Compared with the cold outside on the balcony, her room was as warm as a spring day.

There was a fireplace, and it crackled with plenty of firewood. Anne’s bed looked wide enough for four people to lie down in side by side. It had posts at all four corners, and they held up a thick, heavy canopy.

She returned to her room and looked the bed up and down. “Ah, aristocrats… Just how many people are supposed to sleep in a bed this huge? And what’s the point of the canopy when it’s indoors?” she muttered half-jokingly.

It had been just before sunset when Anne and the fairies left the shabby inn with Hugh.

Then with Salim’s horse leading the way, she had driven her horse-drawn wagon to Silver Westol Castle.

Anne had been taken aback when Hugh had said he wanted to invite them to his castle. She’d wondered why he had gone out of his way to find her and why he’d extended the invitation. She couldn’t fathom what he was really after.

Nonetheless, she had decided to accept his offer. Frankly, she was grateful for it.

The town of Westol was situated over a gentle slope. The very top opened up onto a plateau, where there was a lake. Standing on opposite sides of the lake were Westol Castle and Silver Westol Castle, identical in form but opposite in color, one black and one white.

The pair were refined works of architecture and incorporated the plateau’s forest and lake into their landscape.

They were new, having been erected fifteen years earlier after a civil war. Their gates lacked the forbidding portcullises or other fortifications necessary during wartime.

These castles had been built as symbols of authority and as places for the owners to live comfortably.

This was a world that Anne, who had spent the fifteen years since her birth wandering from place to place, had never known. She had never seen a castle so close up and was frankly overwhelmed by its size.

It had taken some urging to get Anne through the gate and into the outer block, where she’d left her wagon with the staff. Another entryway led her to the innermost enclosure of the castle. The stones of the outer wall had been polished until smooth. The smooth finish made the white rock wall of the castle tower look very beautiful.

Anne, Challe, and Mithril had each been assigned their own individual rooms in the castle tower.

The three of them had always slept within sight of one another, so when they were shown to separate rooms, Anne had felt a little bit lonely. But Challe was in the room next to hers, and Mithril was in the one next to his.

She wouldn’t miss them. That’s what she had tried to tell herself when she first set foot in her quarters.

“Are you lacking anything? If so, I will bring it.” A servant fairy had entered the room along with Anne. Her appearance was that of a grown adult woman, prim and smartly attired, but she was still only about the height of a child. She’d poured Anne a hot cup of herbal tea with a refreshing aroma first thing after they’d entered, and it tasted wonderful.

There are fairies dwelling in the Kingdom of Highland, where Anne lives. They are born in nature, with two wings on their backs. Some of them have special powers as well. But the fairies of the present day are an unfortunate lot.

Human beings capture them and use them for manual labor. They pluck off one of their wings, the essence of their life, and force them to do their bidding.

Anne didn’t want to use fairies in that way. She considered Challe and Mithril friends of equal standing.

Now the servant fairy was stooping to add more kindling to the fire. It looked like hard work, and she was lugging the heavy logs with both hands.

Anne rushed over to her, flustered.

“Wait, it’s fine. I can do it myself.”

“That’s all right. It’s part of my job.”

“But that doesn’t change that I’m probably about ten times stronger than you are. The stronger person should do the lifting.”

The fairy looked stunned when Anne took the firewood out of her arms. Then she burst out laughing.

“You’re a strange one!” she remarked.

“Oh, am I?” Anne asked as she threw the wood into the fire. “But isn’t it obvious that I’m better suited for the job?”

The fairy smiled bitterly. “The way you treat the staff is a little odd. But I am jealous of those two.”

She must have been referring to Challe and Mithril.

Challe and Mithril each had one wing on their backs, but they’d both reclaimed the wing that had been taken from them. They were free fairies.

Anne started to feel guilty. She could give one or two fairies their freedom, but that was the most she was capable of. Helping all the fairies in the world was beyond her abilities.

“If I were rich, I would buy your wing back from Hugh for you, but…”

“Don’t worry about it. The Viscount is a good master, and I am happy living here. I’m just a bit jealous that they get to travel the world with someone like you, is all. Is there anything else you need?”

“There’s not. Really, I’m fine. Thank you.”

With a smile, the fairy said, “Please pull this cord to ring the bell if you need anything,” and left.

Once she departed, Anne was all alone. The room felt too big.

She sat down lightly and hesitantly on the bed and listened for any sounds from the room next door.

I wonder what Challe is doing. Maybe I’ll go peek in on him.

It had been almost two and a half months since Anne had met Challe. In that time, she couldn’t help but grow accustomed to his presence.

Now that he was out of her sight like this, she felt somewhat uneasy.

Right from the start, Anne had thought Challe had been in the wrong for kissing her hand after the last Royal Candy Fair. She had wondered what he meant by doing it. She couldn’t understand it. She wanted to ask him why he’d done that, but she was embarrassed by the question and couldn’t do it.

At any rate, the sweet shiver that had run through her heart when he kissed her still lingered at her core. From time to time, the sensation resurfaced. It was a problem.

Anne clambered into bed. She must have looked suspicious as she pressed her ear against the wall between her room and the one next door.

She briefly listened for any signs of Challe moving. As she was listening—

“Can you hear anything?” someone asked from behind her back.

She answered unwittingly, “Nuh-uh. No, it’s quiet… Wait, ah!”

Anne narrowly avoided falling off the bed. Challe had grabbed her arm to stop her.

Anne was hanging halfway off the bed with Challe looking down at her. His black hair brushed smoothly against her cheek.

“What are you doing?”

“N-n-nothing. Nothing at all.”

Anne broke out in a cold sweat, and her ears turned bright red. When he saw that, Challe, who had one knee up on the mattress, chuckled. “Are you lonely sleeping by yourself?” he teased.

“No way. I’m not a child!”

“Your bed is huge. I’ll sleep in it with you,” he whispered in a sweet voice.

Anne knew it was a bad joke, but just hearing those words set her face on fire.

“No! No thank you, that’s quite all right! Actually, why are you even here?!”

Anne shook her arm free and pushed Challe away. She kept crawling across the bed to escape to where he couldn’t reach her.

Looking amused, Challe climbed off the bed. “You seemed sad when you headed into your room. So I came to get a look at your lonesome, crying face.”

“I’m not crying. And I’m not lonely, either,” Anne replied. She managed to escape to the edge of the bed and sit up properly.

“If that’s true, what were you doing just now?”

“That was… You see, this castle is truly splendid. I was just examining the texture of the wall…”

She made an awkward excuse, averting her gaze.

Challe grinned. He seemed to see right through all of Anne’s thoughts with his deep-black eyes.

He probably didn’t know how often she thought about him. Whenever she considered that he might have figured it out, she felt unbearably embarrassed.

Challe turned on his heel and walked to the center of the room. Utterly at ease, he relaxed on a couch seated there, as if he owned the place. He leaned his weight against the armrest.

His graceful movements were a perfect match for the luxurious accommodations.

“You don’t seem impressed by this castle, Challe. You haven’t looked very excited ever since we arrived. Mithril Lid Pod and I keep being shocked by its size, but not you.”

Anne strung together some words in order to change the subject.

“All castles are the same.”

“Have you been to one before, Challe?”

“I lived in one, for fifteen years. Their construction hasn’t changed much in the last century.”

“You mean…”

Suddenly, Anne felt like cold air had passed through her chest.

You mean the castle you lived in with that girl named Liz?

Only once had Challe opened up to Anne about his past.

A fairy is born when the energy of an object—for example a water droplet, or a flower, or a berry, or a gemstone—is condensed by the gaze of a living creature.

Challe had been born when the energy in a piece of obsidian gathered from the stares of a little girl. The girl’s name was Elizabeth, and she was five years old at the time. She was the daughter of a noble family, and she took Challe back to her estate and gave him shelter. After that, fifteen years passed, and Challe lived with her that whole time. But she was killed by human hands.

Challe called Elizabeth by her nickname, Liz. Anne felt that alone was enough to tell her how close he and the girl had been.

“What?” Challe asked Anne suspiciously when she suddenly fell silent.

Anne, startled by his question, tried to smile.

“Ah, um… It’s just, well—”

The castle that you lived in for fifteen years, was that the place where you lived with Liz?

Anne had been about to ask him casually.

But the words were caught in her throat. Anne felt strangely uneasy, as though someone had ripped off the scab on a wound she had completely forgotten about.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s, uh. Nothing…”

Her chest hurt whenever she thought about Liz. As to why she had such feelings, she couldn’t say.

Anne was overcome by the desire to flee from Challe’s gaze as he stared fixedly at her.

Then there came a knock at the door.

“Ah…come in!”

The sound of this divine intervention caused Anne to jump down from the bed, where she had been sitting. She ran over to the door.

She opened it to find Hugh.

“How is your room? Comfortable?”

“Ah, Hugh. Thank you, it’s very nice. In fact, it’s too fancy. I feel really out of place.”

When she said that, Hugh cackled. He put his arm against the doorframe and looked down at Anne.

“You’ll get used to it after you sleep here for a night. Humans have a hard time adapting to harsh circumstances but quickly get used to a comfortable environment, after all. Anyway, Anne—”

Hugh looked her square in the face and whispered as if he was sharing a secret.

“I’ve got something I want to show you. Won’t you come with me? It’s a place where we cannot bring Challe or Mithril. The invitation is for you alone. However, I can assure you that we will remain on the castle grounds. Honestly, it won’t take that long. We’ll just kill some time before dinner’s ready.”

Anne wanted to escape Challe’s gaze as soon as possible. She nodded without hesitation.

“I’ll go. Right now?”

“Yes.”

Anne turned and looked back but avoided meeting the fairy’s eyes. “Challe. Hugh says he’s got something to show me. I’ll be gone for a little while.”

She hurried out of the room and pulled the door closed behind her. Once she was out of his sight, she breathed a sigh of relief.

With that done, she started to wonder where she was being taken.

“What is it that you want to show me?” she asked as she followed Hugh’s broad back.

“I don’t want to spoil the surprise,” he answered, glancing back at her with a faint smile.

“I wonder what it could be? I can’t even imagine… Wait, oh, that’s right! I can’t imagine where we’re going, but I did just remember something!” Anne picked up her pace a little bit and walked alongside Hugh. “Before I came to Westol, in Lewiston, a Silver Sugar Master named Kat looked after me. He’s an acquaintance of yours, right? He told me to give you his regards if I ever ran into you.”

Hugh looked surprised when Anne brought up Kat.

“Kat did? Huh, really? I guess he’s doing well. But knowing him, the message to me was less ‘Best regards’ and more ‘Drop dead’ or ‘You dimwit’ or something along those lines.”

“W-well, maybe… He may be strange, but he’s a decent guy. He gave me a cape.”

“If it’s one of his, it must be of high quality. You made off with something good, huh?”

In the center of the castle tower was a spiral staircase, built with room for traffic to come and go at each level.

They descended the stairs to the first floor, then proceeded down the corridor that connected directly to the entrance hall. The hallway ended at a wall and split into right and left passages.

Hugh came to a stop in front of that wall.

There was a single door set into it.

“Here we are. Normally, I’m the only one who comes in here. You could say I don’t allow anyone else to enter.”

He opened the door and chilly air, characteristic of a basement, blew up from below.

On the other side was a narrow set of stairs that hugged the wall as they continued beneath the castle.

Hugh retrieved a lamp from a cavity cut into the wall beside the stairs. He lit the lamp and held it aloft as he descended.

“Sorry, it’s brighter during the day, but—”

At the bottom, about twenty steps down, was a circular room. The sound of trickling water echoed through the space.

Brandishing his lamp, Hugh started walking, following the rounded wall. Apparently, there were lanterns installed at regular intervals. He lit those one after another, using the one he was holding.

Once Hugh finished making his circuit, there were eight more lamps burning along the wall.

“This is…”

Anne was amazed to see the circular room that was illuminated by the lamps.

In the center was a stone workbench as long as three adults standing side by side with their arms outstretched. There was a cavity carved all the way around the wall, which served as a shelf for rows of colored powders.

There must have been thousands of glass vials containing colored powders. There were so many of them.

A porcelain pipe was sticking out from a notch in a section of the wall. From the pipe trickled a steady stream of clear water that seemed to come from underground. The liquid collected in a basin, which had been designed so that if it overflowed, it would be drained into the duct around the perimeter of the room.

When Anne looked up, she saw there was no ceiling. The dark, empty space just continued up and up.

They were probably in one of the castle’s other spires, and it was open from the basement all the way to the very top. She could make out several window-like gaps high up above her head.

The space was probably designed so that light from the windows would pour down into the chamber during the day.

“Is it alright for me to be here, Hugh?” Anne asked without thinking.

She was in the personal workshop of the Silver Sugar Viscount.

Even ordinary candy crafters like Anne treated their workshops like sacred spaces. The workshop of the Silver Sugar Viscount was akin to the altar of the Church of Saint Lewiston Bell, the headquarters of the state religion.

This was where Hugh made sugar candy for the royal family.

An extremely sacred place is bound to produce extremely powerful blessings.

That must have been why, even though it was in the basement, the atmosphere was more solemn than gloomy.

The imagination and power of the Silver Sugar Viscount permeated the stone walls. It was as though they filled the hollow spire.

On top of the workbench sat a giant candy sculpture in progress.

It depicted an enormous lion, as tall as Hugh himself. The composition and expression were so daring that it could be seen as unsophisticated.

It was not very realistic and lacking in detail. But it wasn’t crude, either. That much was clear from the overall artistry of the piece. The representation of the lion’s coat, like the swirling of stormy waters, made it seem as if the legendary beast had jumped out of a raging sea.

It was brimming with power. The sculpture attested to the skill of its creator.

Anne automatically approached the piece.

“Incredible. Such a powerful presence.”

Hugh stood beside Anne.

“I suppose so. This sugar candy is for His Majesty’s birthday celebration. It’s got to look strong.”

Anne looked up at Hugh with admiration in her eyes.

“Amazing. Compared with this, the stuff I make…it’s cheap, child’s play.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Do you know why I brought you here, Anne?”

“Why?”

“Because you have the potential to become an amazing candy crafter. You can become a Silver Sugar Master, maybe even one of the best. I’m convinced of it, and I’m expecting great things from you. That’s why I wanted to show you this place.”

“I’m thrilled by your praise, but do you really think I can do that? I’m working hard, but…”

Hugh bent down and peered into Anne’s face. His brown eyes, housing an unshakable will, reflected her features.

“I believe in you. Do you think I don’t have a keen enough eye to see your potential?”

“I don’t think that at all, but realistically—”

“Living alone as a fifteen-year-old girl must be difficult. You’ve still got Challe with you for the time being, but if he disappears, you might even find yourself in real danger. It will be awfully hard to polish your skills while living that sort of life. I bet you’re using up all your energy just to survive day by day. I think that’s a waste. Actually, I’ve been worried about you ever since the Royal Candy Fair. When I caught wind that you had come to Westol, I thought it was divine providence and sought you out. I’d like to make a proposal, Anne.”

“A proposal?”

“Stay here in this castle until you are awarded the royal medal at the Royal Candy Fair. During that time, I’ll look after you. Then once you become a Silver Sugar Master, you can join the Mercury Workshop. You’ll get to work as my assistant.”

The details of Hugh’s proposal slowly registered in Anne’s mind.

To put it simply, Hugh was saying that he would offer Anne his unconditional support. Moreover, he would do so for as long as it took her to become a Silver Sugar Master, regardless of how many years that was.

That alone was surprising, but beyond that, he was even offering to secure her work as his assistant.

For Anne, there could be nothing better. The terms were so favorable, it was almost frightening.

Given Hugh’s personality and social standing, it also didn’t seem like he had any weird ulterior motives. He seemed to be purely interested in fostering Anne’s natural talent as a candy crafter.

However, Anne suddenly recalled the opulent room that she had been in earlier.

If I grow accustomed to such luxury, I’ll probably never want to leave as long as I live.

The thought made Anne shiver. Accepting Hugh’s offer would mean the end of her desire to live a self-sufficient life. She would leave behind the daily, desperate struggle just to get by. She would exchange it for an easy life where she could focus on making sugar candy. That, too, was one way to live. But—

Would I choose that lifestyle? Relying not on my own capabilities, but the power of another?

It would be a frivolous existence, an unreliable way of life.

For fifteen years, she had wandered about the country with her mother. She knew of the hardships and difficulties of that lifestyle, as well as its joys. The kind of life she would have with Hugh’s support would be lacking something important.

“I’m incredibly grateful. Thank you, Hugh. But I’ll have to decline.”

“Why’s that? Is something unsatisfactory?” Hugh asked gently.

“How can I put this…? I want to stand on my own two feet. If I lived like that without putting in the work to earn it, I’m sure I would grow terribly lazy. So when you asked me if something is unsatisfactory, I guess I could say I’m dissatisfied that there is nothing unsatisfactory.”

When he heard that, Hugh stared at her in bewilderment. The next moment, he burst out laughing.

“Unbelievable! What an interesting character you are!”

Hugh stood back up and roared with laughter, rocking back and forth. As he cackled, he ruffled the hair on Anne’s head.

What was that just now?

Challe tilted his head in confusion as Anne fled the room.

When he had found her straining her ear against the wall like a little kid, she had flushed and turned pale. Then the very next moment, she had suddenly dropped all expression, as if defeated.

As he was pondering Anne’s strange behavior, she returned.

Anne came to an abrupt stop in the doorway. She looked surprised to see him.

“You’re still here, Challe. Hugh said it would be time for dinner soon.”

She seemed a little awkward, but Anne informed him about dinner with her usual smile. Then she walked over to the chair across from Challe and perched on the edge of the seat.

“Say, Challe. I’ve been thinking. How about we leave here tomorrow and go to Lewiston?”

“Lewiston?”

“Yeah. There are lots of Silver Sugar Masters running shops there, so normally the competition is fierce, right? That’s why we headed north and came to Westol. But Pure Soul Day is coming up, isn’t it? There’s a huge demand for sugar candy for the holiday, and since the population there is so high, supply can’t keep up with demand. That’s what Mama always used to say. If that’s the case, I’m thinking there’ll be plenty of people willing to buy their candy from a nameless candy crafter like myself.”

“If that’s a possibility, we should go. I’ll go anywhere.”

“Yay! All right, I’ll go talk to Mithril, too,” Anne said happily.

She got up from the chair and left the room.

She was acting no different from usual. Challe wondered if the strange behavior she’d shown earlier might have just been his imagination.

Challe also left Anne’s room and headed for his.

He opened the door to his room and stopped at the entrance. There was an intruder.

“Hey! You’re back!”

Hugh was relaxing in a chair. He raised a hand to Challe in greeting.

“Now, now, don’t be shy. Come on in. This is my castle, but you’re the master of this room for today, Challe.”

Thus instructed, the fairy entered, suspicious.

“What do you want?”

He crossed his arms and looked down at Hugh.

“I came to talk to you about something. About Anne. Will you hear me out?”

Challe prompted him to continue with a look.

Hugh continued, “The fact is, I was thinking I would look after Anne until she became a Silver Sugar Master. I would have her stay here in the castle and polish her skills. Then once she becomes a Silver Sugar Master, I would like her to work as my assistant. I just discussed all this with Anne, but—”

“I don’t suppose she answered with ‘Yes, please.’”

If Anne were the sort of girl who would jump at that kind of proposal, she probably never would have met Challe in the first place. He couldn’t imagine her happily accepting that offer.

“You’re exactly right. She said she couldn’t live that kind of lifestyle if she didn’t earn it herself. I do want to respect her wishes. But the fact is that her circumstances are quite dire. Surely, you’ll admit that? As a fellow crafter, I would hate it if her talent was crushed because of this. That’s why I came to talk to you. To see if there was something we could do to get Anne to stay here.”

“Go find her if you want to persuade her.”

Challe jerked his chin in the direction of Anne’s room. But Hugh waved his hand in front of his face.

“Not a chance. There’s absolutely no way I’ll be able to convince her myself. That’s why I came to you. I thought she might agree if you weren’t around.”

Challe frowned at Hugh’s words.

“What do you mean?”

“Ultimately, Anne thinks she can try and make it on her own because you’re with her. Who knows what kind of danger would befall a fifteen-year-old girl traveling on her own? Anne has spent her whole life on the road, so she must be perfectly aware of that. She’s able to travel safely because you are by her side. So I was thinking that if you weren’t around, she might think about accepting my proposal.”

“Anne set off traveling alone before she ever met me. I’m sure she will continue, whether I’m there or not.”

“No. When humans lose something that they once had, you can’t expect them to return to how they were before they got it. The feelings of loss stay with them, and they grow timid,” Hugh sneered.

His grin told Challe that there was something smoldering deep in his heart.

“If she’s able to achieve her dreams because I’m with her, then I won’t leave her side,” Challe stated.

“I guess you feel an obligation to Anne since she gave you back your wing? That’s even more of a reason for you to disappear and make it easier for her to choose a safer lifestyle.”

“I don’t owe her anything. I just don’t have anything else to do. Which means I’m staying where I’m needed. That’s all.”

“I’m sure there are other people besides Anne who could use your abilities. Especially among your own kind, the fairies. There’s no need for you to remain hung up on this one human girl. Why are you so concerned with Anne?”

Why…?

Challe didn’t know how to answer.

After the Royal Candy Fair several months earlier, Challe had decided he would travel with Anne. As if under a spell cast by the scent of silver sugar coming from her fingertips, he had kissed her hand.

He couldn’t deny that he’d felt needed at the time. But he hadn’t been obliged to answer her call.

Yet Challe had decided to accompany her just the same. Now that he was trying to come up with a reason, he couldn’t say why.

He didn’t know himself. It was just what he had chosen to do at the time. That was all he could say.

Hugh pinned Challe down with his stare. The smoldering emotion in Hugh’s heart was transforming into clear anger. Why was he asking this? Challe felt it was outrageous.

“I don’t have to answer you. Get out.”

He pointed quietly to the door, and Hugh shrugged.

“I thought it would be easy to get you to agree, but I guess I underestimated you.”

Hugh blithely left the room. Challe scowled at the door.

He found the confusion he was feeling unpleasant.

The following day, Anne left Silver Westol Castle for Lewiston together with Challe and Mithril.

Along the way, they passed through a few small villages and sold a few sugar candies at low prices. They managed to find lodgings with the earnings.

Then, after three days, they arrived in the royal capital.

Lewiston was south of Westol. The weather was a bit warmer there, but still not mild enough that they could camp out.

They stayed at a cheap hotel called the Weather Vane, located on the outskirts of the capital. The next day, they set out for the largest of the three marketplaces in Lewiston, which was to the west of the royal castle.

The road, stretching out from the western gate of the castle, was the second widest in the whole capital.

On both sides of the avenue were shops with narrow frontages. They were crowded together so closely that the awnings over their doors butted up against one another.

During the day, rows of tents made of cloth varnished with animal fat were set up across from the stores. People moved from shop to tent and tent to shop, threading their way through the gaps as they browsed.

The street was filled with the shrill voices of vendors, angry voices, arguing voices exchanging jokes, and laughter. Together, they all created a cacophony.

This was the Lewiston West Marketplace, said to be the most bustling place in the kingdom.

Farther away from the west gate of the castle, where the line of shops had largely tapered out, Anne had set up a small table in front of her wagon and covered it with a white sheet. Atop it, Anne had arranged five of her sugar candy creations. Mithril sat cross-legged beside the candy.

On the side of her wagon, Anne had hung a wooden plank that she had gotten from the lumber mill. On the signboard she had painted Sugar Candy—Accepting Commissions.

Customers came in a slow trickle. Most of them looked dubious when they saw that the person making the sugar candy and tending shop was a scrawny young girl.

Anne just stood there, vacantly watching groups of people pass in front of her.

This was her second day doing this. The day before, only five customers had said they would consider placing orders.

She had yet to receive any actual candy commissions.

“I even went to the trouble of paying the five-bayn fee to the marketplace association, but…”

As she spoke, Anne looked down at the dress she was wearing and thought about how she appeared to the customers.

“I guess I won’t get anywhere unless I look a little more grown up, huh? Maybe I should put on Mama’s dress or something.”

“If you need an adult, get Challe Fenn Challe to stand here! Put that lazybones to work!”

Mithril looked up at Anne enthusiastically.

“I’m not sure about that. If I did, I just know someone would say something stupid, like ask me to sell them Challe instead of candy.”

Challe was lying down on the driver’s seat. It was his secret to success. He did it as often as he could in places where there were many people to avoid their stares.

“Excuse me, miss. You made this candy?”

A man who had been passing by suddenly stopped in front of the table of Anne’s candy sculptures.

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“They’re quite well-made. How much do you charge?”

She could tell from his tone that the man was not just browsing. Anne’s spirits lifted.

“Something similar to the ones here would be fifty bayn. One size larger is one cress.”

“Do you have an example of a piece in the larger size?”

“Yes. I have one inside the wagon. I’ll bring it out right away!” Anne said.

She had just turned around to head for the door of the cargo hold of her wagon, when—

“Hey, over there. That girl. Isn’t she the one from the candy fair?”

Anne heard the voice of a young man nearby. When she looked in the direction of the voice, a group of five or six men who looked like tradesmen were pointing at her. There was one familiar face among the group.

“……Uh……Jonas?”

For a moment, she thought it was just a coincidental resemblance. Jonas seemed to have been drinking, and his face was very red. Maybe because of that, his gentle, well-bred features seemed lax, and he didn’t look like himself.

“Hey, Jonas. That’s her, right?” asked one of his companions. “The one from the Royal Candy Fair?”

Jonas’s drowsy-looking blue eyes focused on Anne’s face. “Oh, what’s this? Mm-hmm, that’s her.”

When their eyes met, Jonas smiled and patted the young man next to him on the shoulder.

“No question about it. This girl is Anne.”

“Wow, so that is her.”

“Master Jonas! Please, it would be best for you not to have anything to do with a girl like her!”

A shrill voice came from behind Jonas’s back.

“Let’s go over there. Hey, Master Jonas! Master Jonas!”

Tugging desperately at the hem of his pants was his worker fairy, Cathy. Anne made eye contact with her. When she did, Cathy glared back sharply, as if Anne had done something wrong.

“Master Jonas!”

“Ugh, she’s so annoying,” one of Jonas’s companions said. “Jonas, shut her up. She’s your fairy, right?”

“Cathy! Shut up!” Jonas barked. “Do you want to get punished?”

At that, Cathy bit her lip and let go of his hem.

The group of young men approached Anne’s wagon, smirking and reeking of alcohol. When they did, the customer who had expressed interest in Anne’s sugar candies grew frightened and hurried away.

“Ah…wait, please…”

Anne tried to call out to the customer who was leaving. But one of the young men stood in the way to block her.

Mithril stood up, burning with rage. “What the hell is your problem?! I’ll take you on!”

The young men frowned, looking annoyed.

“I’m the one you’re after, Jonas!” Anne rushed to step in front of the table to protect Mithril. “Are you drinking in the middle of the day, Jonas?” she accused. “Aren’t you supposed to be training?”

“Training? Of course I am. I’m just taking a break today is all. My training is so strict, you know. They’re working me extremely hard, thanks to you screwing me over at the Royal Candy Fair.”

Anne was indignant at his words. “When did I screw you over? You’re the one who tried to pull a dirty trick!”

About two months earlier, right before the Royal Candy Fair, the young man in front of her, Jonas, had stolen the candy sculpture she had planned to enter in the fair. Ultimately, because of his actions, he had essentially lost any chance of becoming a Silver Sugar Master.

“You’re not gonna let her talk to you like that, are you, Jonas?”

The young men had formed a circle around Anne and were slowly closing in on her.

“As craftsmen in the Radcliffe Workshop with Jonas, we can’t stay silent about this.”

“So what are you going to do about it?” asked a frigid voice from somewhere behind the male candy crafters.

The men seemed startled by the menacing inquiry and turned around to see Challe standing there. He shoved through them without any difficulty, as if he were pushing his way through tall weeds, and took a position beside Anne.

“I asked what you’re going to do about it.”

“What did you say, you…?” one of the young men grumbled. But he didn’t have the courage to pick a fight. He just scowled at Challe.

The people walking by took notice of the dangerous aura around the young men, and of Challe. One after another, they stopped and stared.

Before long, a crowd had formed. Jonas noticed and glanced around.

“We’re not going to do anything, are we, boys? We’re upstanding candy crafters, after all. We just wanted to let the fine people of this city know there’s a fraudster in our midst!”

Jonas smiled, pandering to the onlookers.

“We couldn’t just stand by and let all you folks get cheated, could we? Your dead will never rest in peace if you give them Pure Soul Day candies made by this corrupt crafter.”

“Knock it off! That’s completely unfounded! I’m not a fraud or corrupt!” Anne shouted. She wouldn’t stand for his verbal attacks.

Jonas looked at her with exaggerated astonishment.

“It’s not unfounded at all,” he said. “I’m sure some of you in this crowd must remember seeing this girl’s face before. She’s the girl who was called up before the king two months ago, at the Royal Candy Fair.”

When he posed the question, onlookers here and there nodded in sudden recognition.

“You do remember, don’t you? And while we’re at it, I wonder if some of you might remember my face as well. I was also one of the people summoned before the king.”

Jonas continued, watching the crowd’s reaction.

“Ladies and gentlemen, didn’t you think it was strange? Why would her sugar candy sculpture, so small you could hardly tell what it was from where you stood in the crowd, get an audience with the king? The answer is simple: It’s because she seduced the Silver Sugar Viscount and secured his endorsement. His Majesty listened to the Viscount’s words and called this girl up before him. But he obviously found her sculpture undeserving of the royal medal. And the other piece that was there…truthfully, it was my entry. My work was supposed to be awarded the royal medal. But this girl claimed to have made that candy sculpture as well and sowed confusion. His Majesty took offense and ultimately left without selecting anyone to become a Silver Sugar Master.”

At first, Anne was dumbfounded. Then she flared up in anger.

“That’s all lies!!”

“Where’s the lie?”

One of the onlookers said, “I went to watch the candy fair. It looked to me like things went pretty much as that young man just explained.”

In response, several more voices agreed, “They sure did.”

Watching from afar, the spectators wouldn’t have been able to hear the conversation that had taken place at the king’s tent. Things very well might have seemed to go the way Jonas, with malicious intent, had just explained.

As soon as she realized that, Anne felt a surge of frustration. She was seeing red. She felt like crying.

The young men were looking at Anne with sneering grins. Jonas was smirking, too.

I can’t cry. If I cry, I lose. And if I admit defeat, everyone will think that’s what really happened.

“His Majesty the king said he liked my candy. That’s the truth.”

Anne said only that, then started picking up the sugar candies on the table, placing them in a wooden crate by her feet. Mithril saw what she was doing and jumped down from the table, then quickly cleared away the white sheet. Anne put the sheet that Mithril had gathered on top of the crate and picked it up.

“Oh, what are you doing, Anne?”

Anne gave a clipped answer to Jonas’s smarmy question.

“Someone’s being a real nuisance, so I’m closing up shop for the day. Out of my way!”

“You’re running away?” Jonas laughed, taking a few exaggerated steps out of her path.

Anne clenched her teeth as she passed through the group of men and headed for her wagon.

“Going to cry to the Silver Sugar Viscount again?”

“The Viscount’s got some funny tastes! Imagine getting it on with a shrimp like her.”

“Or maybe she gives it to him so good, we don’t even have any idea!”

The young men cackled and jeered at Anne as she went to place the crate in her wagon.

Anne had no desire to respond to their mockery. She endured the jeers with a stoic expression. She knew that the more of a fuss she made, the happier it would make the men. Things would get even messier, and she would be playing right into their hands.

“Silence.”

The crowd tensed up.

At some point, Challe had summoned his sword. He pointed the tip toward the young men.

“I will permit nothing further.”

Both the spectators and the young men gasped. Challe’s black eyes harbored such anger that it seemed he might attack at any moment.

Anne was surprised, but more than that, she felt pathetic. She was ashamed of her cowardliness and how it had forced Challe to act that way.

“It’s all right, Challe. Stop. Put your sword away. You’ll get arrested if you hurt people, no matter what the circumstances may be.”

But the fairy didn’t move. His gaze remained fixed on the male crafters, as if he was calculating the best time to attack. The young men balked at the sight of Challe’s blade.

“Please.”

When he heard Anne’s pleading voice, Mithril jumped up. He landed on Challe’s shoulder and whispered, “Anne’s asking you to stand down. I get how you feel, but you need to withdraw your sword, Challe Fenn Challe.”

Then Mithril rubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands. Challe glanced over at Mithril and slowly lowered his sword. The weapon in his hand dissolved into beads of light and gradually disappeared.

“She’s not crying. Don’t you start.”

That was all Challe said, then he turned his back to the young men. He walked around to the rear of the cargo hold and helped Anne load the crate. She turned to Challe and Mithril and smiled.

“Thank you. Both of you.”

Anne put the display table into her wagon and took down her wooden sign. Then she got up onto the driver’s seat.

The male candy crafters were roaring with derisive laughter, as if elated with their triumph. Anne ignored them, whipped her horse, and left the marketplace. She rode straight back to the Weather Vane.

The hotel had a rusty metal weather vane standing on top of its reddish-brown roof.

The rooms were cheap, and the building was old. But the proprietor was a plump, good-natured woman, and Anne felt at ease staying there. Even so, considering the state of her finances, she could only stay for two more nights.

The three of them entered the inn without speaking.

They came across the proprietor in the restaurant on the first floor, busily tidying up the tables.

That morning, Anne had announced to the innkeeper, “Today’s the day I’ll find work!” before leaving in high spirits. The woman seemed surprised to see her come back in the early afternoon, looking so dejected.

“What’s the matter, sweetheart? Did you find a job?”

“It was no use. There weren’t very many customers to begin with, and on top of that, I got harassed.”

Anne slid despondently into a nearby chair. Then she abruptly collapsed face-first onto the table.

The innkeeper was taken aback.

“What happened?!”

“Grrr, I’m so annoyed!! What the hell, those guys were the worst!! I can’t believe Jonas was hanging out with jerks like that and drinking, to boot! He’s becoming more and more of a good-for-nothing, isn’t he?! Argh, I just can’t stand him! I’m going to become a wizard’s apprentice and cast a curse on him!!”

Suddenly, Anne looked up.

“Ma’am! You don’t happen to know any wizards, do you?!”

A short while before, Anne had truly felt vexed. Jonas’s frustrating words had nearly driven her to tears.

However, once she settled down, she’d realized there was no need to cry. There was no reason to feel down when his false accusations were completely unfounded. She could let her pure rage seethe within her and be as angry as she wanted to be.

Both Challe and Mithril were relieved to see the fire in Anne’s eyes.

“Unfortunately, I’m not acquainted with any wizards…but what on Earth happened?”

As surprised as she was, the innkeeper responded with sincerity.

“Some candy crafters. I think they were probably members of the Radcliffe Workshop. They harassed me! They were drunk in the middle of the day and seemed to be in a good mood. Why did they have to come and bully me when I couldn’t even sell any candies?!”

“Those guys sound like the group that was drinking here until just a little while ago. They said they were gathering their courage and put down quite a lot of liquor.”

The innkeeper pointed at the messy tables. Then she grinned at Anne.

“I may not know any wizards, but if you want some juicy info, I’ll tell you.”

She took a seat across from Anne, who blinked in surprise.

“Why do you think the boys from the Radcliffe Workshop needed to steel themselves?”

“…I’m not sure.”

“You know how in Rockwell Province, which borders Harrington Province to the south, there’s that harbor city named Philax under the direct control of the royal family? Well, the governor of that city is the Duke of Philax. He’s said to be the last seed of conflict in the kingdom, a live coal who could ignite a civil war at any moment, but his noble lineage is indisputable.”

“If I remember correctly, the Duke of Philax is the head of the Alburn line, descended from King Cedric. That would certainly make him nobility. The same bloodline as His Majesty.”

In Highland, there is a legend about King Cedric, the hero who fought against the fairy king and led the humans to victory. He had three sons, and each one founded a noble house.

House Millsland, House Chamber, and House Alburn.

Each region was once ruled by a feudal lord, and Highland was a land of warring states. The country was unified a century ago when the three families descended from King Cedric formed an alliance, resulting in a merger of the smaller states.

The first to serve as the king of Highland was King Aaron of House Millsland.

The other two families, House Alburn and House Chamber, were formally declared vassals to the Millsland line.

The current monarch of Highland is Edmond II of House Millsland.

In short, House Alburn came from the same family lineage as House Millsland, which had produced the reigning king. That was why the Duke of Philax possessed a noble bloodline of equal standing to that of the royal family, and why he was called the last seed of conflict in the kingdom.

“That’s right. And word is that the duke is looking for candy crafters. The announcement went something along the lines of, ‘We are recruiting outstanding candy crafters, regardless of whether they are Silver Sugar Masters or not. Candidates will stay at Philax Castle, and anyone who is able to make a single sugar candy that pleases the duke will be paid one thousand cress for it.’”

“A thousand cress for a single piece of candy?!”

“Yeah, it’s absurd, right? But any candy crafter who earns the approval of the Duke of Philax, a descendent of King Cedric, stands to gain great prestige. It sounded like the crafters from the Radcliffe Workshop are headed to Philax for the money and glory of the duke’s approval. They held that drinking party to get fired up about it.”

Closing an eye, the innkeeper continued, “I bet if you go to Philax, you can knock those guys out of the running and get your hands on that money.”

If Anne had a thousand cress, her current financial situation would instantly improve. This could be an easy win that would enable her to stay at the Weather Vane through the New Year.

Not to mention, she would gain the glory of having her skills recognized by the Duke of Philax. Since Anne wasn’t a Silver Sugar Master, this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. If she was awarded such a distinction, she would surely have no trouble selling her sugar candies.

Anne’s chances were better than nothing. In any case, the Duke of Philax had expressly stated that he didn’t care whether someone was a Silver Sugar Master or not. There was no question that he would be letting skill decide victory or defeat.

“What do you think? Challe? Mithril?”

Mithril was standing on top of the table, staring blankly into space. Maybe he was imagining the ten pieces of gold, worth a hundred cress each.

“A thousand cress. That’d be nice. Honestly, we could work ourselves to the bone and still never earn that much. A thousand cress… A thousand, huh…?”

As a matter of fact, Anne had recently learned that Mithril loved gold.

Next, she directed her gaze toward Challe, who shrugged and quipped, “It seems more constructive than becoming a wizard’s apprentice.”

Right. I am a candy crafter. So I will secure victory with my sugar candy.

Anne clenched her fist.