DTBTHS Chapter 21

"I'm pleased to meet you, Ariadne."

Seliana, now out of her armor and dressed in ordinary clothes, looked like a kindly noblewoman. She smiled gently as she introduced herself.

"I'm Seliana Quiselas, your aunt."

"I'm glad to meet you, Aunt."

"'Aunt'? Just call me comfortably."

The Countess waved her hand dismissively and rested her chin on her palm with a sigh.

"Your uncle sent a letter about you, but the messenger went missing so I never received it. I only heard about your situation from him just now."

Beneath elegantly flowing red hair, deep blue-gray eyes studied Ariadne carefully. Then she said something unexpected.

"You look very strong."

"...What?"

Strong? Had she heard that wrong?

Even though she'd gained some weight recently, her body was still thin as a twig and smaller than others her age. She collapsed at the slightest thing and fell ill often.

By any measure, she didn't look strong. When Ariadne stared up at her in bewilderment, the Countess laughed briefly.

"I said you look strong. Do you think I'm lying?"

"Yes, a little..."

"I suppose you would. But it's not a lie."

The Countess explained to the puzzled Ariadne.

"You've overcome hardships that even adults—no, even trained knights—would struggle to endure, and you showed no small amount of courage to come here."

Her eyes held not pity but deep admiration.

"After fighting such a difficult battle, it wouldn't be strange if you were exhausted and struggling, but to my eyes you look like a warrior preparing for the next battle."

Ariadne blinked in a daze, then leaned toward Seliana and asked.

"I look like a warrior?"

"Not everyone who wields weapons is a warrior. Anyone preparing to fight for victory is a warrior."

The words "preparing to fight" made her flinch. She'd been pondering the Great Labyrinth subjugation she'd need to tackle in the future just moments ago.

'But can that really show just from looking?'

Perhaps because she commanded the Snow Leopard Knights, who fought more subjugation battles than any other order in the kingdom each year, she could sense fighting spirit.

When Ariadne touched her own face, the Countess smiled broadly.

"My husband seems to see you like a sugar sculpture, but physical weakness and strength are somewhat different matters. Am I wrong?"

"...No."

Ariadne slowly shook her head. It was an unusual perspective, but honestly, she felt a little happy. She had to become strong in the future and wanted to become strong.

"Thank you for the compliment."

When she bowed politely, the Countess's smile deepened.

"I really look forward to your future. I wish Erich resembled even half of you."

She complained like a joke, then leaned closer to Ariadne.

"If your uncle or grandfather ever opposes something out of worry for you, come find me."

"Does that mean... even if I try to do something they won't allow, you'll secretly support me?"

"You're clever. Yes, if that happens, this aunt will help you. Behind those two's backs."

The Countess winked slyly.

Ariadne realized she'd gained support of a different kind from the Margrave or Archmage, from an unexpected quarter.

"...Even if it's something you absolutely can't understand, you'll still help me?"

"You won't do anything too dangerous or wrong, will you?"

"Of course not. I won't do such things."

"Then that's settled. I'll believe you unconditionally at least once, no matter what."

She answered readily. Ariadne looked at her with a strange feeling.

'She's odd. To a child she met for the first time today.'

"Thank you, Aunt."

But she was happy. When she smiled brightly and thanked her, the Countess smiled back and pulled a small box from her pocket.

"Oh, this is your birthday present. It was recently, wasn't it?"

"Ah, thank you."

Ariadne carefully opened the box.

It was a necklace with a small, intricately crafted lantern the size of a finger hanging like a pendant.

The surface of the golden lantern was covered in complex patterns, and inside the glass cover was packed full of something like gem powder.

"I had to prepare it in a hurry, so this was all I could find. Do you know what it is?"

"A spirit lamp... isn't it?"

"Right. So you already have one."

"No, this is my first."

"Really?"

The Countess's expression became subtle.

A spirit lamp was a type of anti-contamination item.

The only way for humans to survive in a Blighted Region without dying was to borrow the power of spirits. That was why spirit mages were such a rare profession.

Without a spirit mage, one had to make do with temporary measures using spirit stones created by spirits.

Spirit lamps, which burned spirit stone powder as fuel to produce light, were the simplest and most effective tools among such temporary measures.

If a spirit mage was a submarine, a spirit lamp was merely the level of an oxygen respirator—disposable and quite expensive, making it inefficient, but far better than nothing.

In this world where Blighted Regions undergoing purification existed everywhere and new labyrinths appeared unexpectedly, gifting spirit lamps to loved ones was common culture.

It was especially something parents always prepared for their children.

Usually given as a commemorative gift when a child completed their first errand or outing alone.

Even if wealthy nobles couldn't afford the ornate, small spirit lamps that could be worn as accessories, most parents made sure to provide at least a crude, large brass spirit lamp.

In the novel, when the protagonist Axel lost his adoptive father at a young age and wandered alone, what saved his life was the spirit lamp his adoptive father had given him as a first-errand gift.

Having read the novel, Ariadne naturally knew about spirit lamps. She recognized it as a spirit lamp just from its appearance.

However, she had never once received a spirit lamp as a gift until now.

Since contamination-related experiments were being conducted, the Duke had probably forbidden gifts like anti-contamination items.

"You're past the age when you'd receive your first spirit lamp... Good Lord."

Pressing her forehead and muttering a low curse, the Countess rose from her seat. She strode forward and took the spirit lamp necklace from the box.

Then she personally fastened the spirit lamp around Ariadne's neck.

"You made it all the way here on your own. You did so well, my niece."

The Countess spoke as tenderly as she had during Erich's first errand, then stroked Ariadne's hair.

Ariadne stared up at that "motherly smile" as if entranced, then clutched the spirit lamp with both hands. Her cheeks flushed red as apples.

"Thank you... Aunt."

Seliana silently pulled the child into an embrace and kissed her on the flushed cheek.

Near Snowstorm Castle's western tower, there was another room assigned to Ariadne.

It was a room created at her request for making Elixir.

The Margrave had given her the key so only she could enter, and the Archmage had filled it with materials.

Ariadne unlocked the door with the key and entered alone.

In a small cauldron lit by magic fire, a dull green liquid was boiling.

'Swamp-like green. Good, next—'

After checking the liquid's condition, she headed to the cupboard.

She climbed a ladder and struggled to take out several ingredients. Then she perched on a tall chair and prepared the materials.

'Grind unicorn horn with harpy talons to make powder.'

It wasn't easy work for a child her age. She wrestled with it for quite a while before barely obtaining a handful of fine powder.

'It's definitely hard doing this alone.'

The Archmage had offered to assign her an assistant, or even serve as her assistant himself.

Ariadne had refused.

'For now, I need to keep the Elixir recipe secret.'

When she said she wanted to work alone, the Archmage understood immediately. He even praised her, saying not to tell anyone, that secrets spoken aloud are no longer secrets.

Ariadne's hands, which had been gathering the powder, suddenly slowed.

It wasn't surprising, but didn't they feel any greed? They were remarkable people.

She had decided to trust them, yet couldn't fully trust them and kept clinging to all sorts of secrets.

'...I'll reveal the full recipe when the right time comes.'

She had no intention of monopolizing the Elixir forever like Duke Eldier. She shouldn't, either.

She poured the carefully gathered powder into the cauldron. The green liquid gradually brightened, then turned transparent gold.

'Did it work?'

Knowing the recipe didn't mean she could make the potion in one try.

She had no experience making potions at all, and her young body lacked dexterity. Everything she'd made during the past winter had been failures.

If her stamina had been better, she could have practiced more frequently and completed it quickly, but she collapsed at the slightest overexertion, so she couldn't.

'How exactly did the original Ariadne live until age sixteen?'

It was a question that often arose after learning about the aftereffects of the experiments and her body's condition. A question with no way to find an answer.

Ariadne didn't even know what personality the "original Ariadne" had. She was a character who never properly appeared in the novel even once.

All she could know was the situation and background that girl would have faced, and the explanation of her constitution and talents.

There was no way to know what kind of person she was.

'Since I was born as Ariadne, I'll never be able to know from now on.'

She turned off the fire and waited for the golden liquid to cool, glancing at the mirror.

She saw her own face, looking healthier than before.

A face completely different from her previous life, yet she didn't feel at all like it was someone else's face. She'd had this face since birth.

'Honestly, it's pretty, but I don't like it much because it looks too much like the Duke. I wish I'd resembled Mother more.'

Did that girl think the same thing when she looked in the mirror?

Since she had been born as Ariadne, the original Ariadne had never existed from the very beginning.

There was no meaning in wondering what kind of person that Ariadne might have been, or what feelings she might have lived with.

Yet sometimes these thoughts arose. Perhaps because she still couldn't believe she'd been born as a character in a novel.