‘Mr. Maddix?’
“I’ll go ho now!”
Asha ran out through the back door of the store. At the sa ti—BANG!—the door flew open.
“Asha!”
It was the blacksmith, showing off his strong muscles and ssy long green hair.
“Mr. Maddix!”
I quickly ran up to say hello.
His eyebrows wiggled.
“Ruby? Long ti no see.”
“What brings you here... Ah!”
Suddenly, he picked up and started turning upside down in the air.
“No wonder... I keep wanting to give you pretty pieces of tal. I see, hmm...”
He was mumbling things I didn’t understand.
Oh, right... Everyone in Zelox knew by now that I was a girl.
Feeling a little awkward, I changed the subject.
“Grandpa didn’t co with you?”
Mr. Maddix and I made eye contact.
“Oh, Lord Balrog is banned from coming to my forge.”
“Huh? Why?”
I was about to wipe so soot from his forehead when I stopped.
“He kept bragging about his granddaughter so much, everyone got stressed out.”
“He always talks about his granddaughter. I wanted to stuff iron in my ears and just work.”
Ah, how embarrassing...
“I’m sorry about that...”
“Co on, let’s go.”
Suddenly, I was lifted up again.
Then he sat on his broad shoulders.
“Wah! Why are you doing this?!”
He looked up at with a straight face.
“I guess Lord Balrog brainwashed . Just sit there and be my helt. I’ll forgive you if you make horns with your fingers.”
“I don’t want to be a helt!”
It was too embarrassing! But I was more scared of falling, so I held tightly onto his green hair. He made a satisfied sound.
I looked to Khalid for help, but he just raised his eyebrows and mouthed, “Looks comfy.”
Traitor!
“Oh, right! Didn’t you co to see Asha?”
“Oh.”
He stopped on his way out and looked around the shop.
Ahh, his eyes were darting around.
“But I guess she’s not here... Strange, every ti I co, she leaves quickly.”
He kept muttering.
I thought about how Mr. Maddix had rushed over. Yeah, that blueprint maniac could never leave Asha alone.
‘...Sorry, Asha.’
I knew, but I pretended not to notice.
Anyway, Mr. Maddix carried to the forge on his shoulders.
It felt like everyone on the street was staring at —so embarrassing.
I twisted his long hair into pointy horns out of spite.
After a short but shaful walk, we reached the forge.
“So, what should we do...”
I jumped off his shoulders.
“Mr. Maddix, I brought a new blueprint! I got it from Asha ahead of ti!”
He put a hand on his chest, looking moved, with horns on his head.
“Ruby, I’ll worship you.”
“No thanks.”
Really, everyone is so troubleso!
“Whew, all done! Finally!”
I wiped my forehead.
The glowing blue magic circle faded away.
Khalid gave so magic and put the finished magic tool in the corner.
Now the bell tower just needed repairs, and Khalid would take this to install it!
“Huh, what’s that?”
I noticed sothing sticking out of Khalid’s pocket.
It looked familiar.
“Oh, I thought I threw it away... Sir Oberon probably put it there.”
Khalid pulled out an academy pamphlet and tossed it aside.
The words on the cover caught my eye again.
‘Heart...’
That word kept bothering .
“Aim for the heart. Don’t miss. Everything you want is in the center.”
It felt like sothing was bothering —like a tiny cut under my nail.
‘Thinking about it, it’s a weird thing to say. Why talk so much to soone who ca to kill you?’
I pursed my lips, deep in thought.
“What you want is...”
‘Want...?’
The Seventh in the original story.
What did she want?
As I thought about it, I suddenly let out a quiet laugh.
‘Well... that’s obvious.’
Even though I wasn’t the Seventh from the story, I sohow understood after dreaming about her.
I could sense her feelings and wishes.
‘What the Seventh wanted... Maybe, just like , she wanted to escape the curse.’
Even though she failed.
If so, maybe Leviathan’s words ant sothing else.
Maybe the secret to breaking the curse was in the ‘heart’ {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} or ‘center.’
‘If aiming for the heart wasn’t physical, but a taphor...’
My hand clenched tightly.
Maybe I was just getting my hopes up.
But there were no other clues.
“Khalid.”
I gathered the pamphlets scattered across the floor.
“What are you doing? Wait, you’re not thinking of going to the capital, are you?”
Khalid frowned.
“Yeah, sort of.”
“Do you think you’ll find a clue for your curse there? Did you figure sothing out?”
“I don’t know.”
“...?”
“But I can’t stop thinking about it. I want to check it myself.”
I tapped the academy pamphlet.
Khalid read the ‘autumn camp’ part and looked uneasy.
“But you have to solve the magic problem in the capital first...”
He started to say, but suddenly loud footsteps ca up the dark basent stairs.
Mr. Maddix burst into the workshop.
“Ruby?”
He sounded a little strange, not like usual.
‘What’s wrong?’
Normally, he’d be excited, but today he seed different.
Even checking the blueprint had taken longer than usual.
“What’s wrong?”
“This blueprint is interesting, but sothing is missing. Is this the whole thing?”
He held up the parchnt in his big hands. I nodded.
“Yes, that’s all of it...”
“Hmm, okay.”
He looked disappointed.
Then I suddenly rembered—Asha had made the blueprint.
“Ah! Maybe it needs a magic stone? Since a magician made it!”
I said that, and Mr. Maddix’s face brightened.
“Of course!”
He rolled the scroll out on the big table.
We searched for spots where a magic stone might go.
I wasn’t good at reading blueprints, but if it had a magic stone, it was basically a magic tool.
“It feels like it would go here...”
“Hmm.”
‘This blueprint...’
I looked over the whole thing again. I’d brought it so quickly, I hadn’t even checked what it was.
“Is this a shield?”
He nodded.
“Yes. The shape is simple, but the structure is special.”
“Oh...”
“But the material isn’t what you’d use for a shield. But if you use a magic stone, the strength is boosted!”
I fell silent.
‘No, that’s not it.’
My eyes darted over the blueprint.
‘This is... a shield-weapon that absorbs and then releases power.’
Maybe it was made for fighting giant monsters. Like Ougona or Trivelrops...
I rembered a part of the monster guidebook Liam taught .
‘The magic stone probably stores the power...’
Suddenly, everything clicked in my head.
“Ah!”
I looked up, eting Khalid’s eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Absorb, release!”
“What?”
Magic!
I grabbed Khalid’s arm and whispered.
He jumped in surprise.
“Why are you so excited?”
“Khalid, I found a way to go to the capital!”
“What?”
There might be a key to the curse at the academy in the capital.
But there’s barely any magic there.
“Absorb, release!”
Maybe that was the answer.
I felt the cold bracelet on his wrist and grinned.
“Ohh, I see. That’s an interesting idea. I’ll try it!”
I rembered Asha’s eyes sparkling.
When I told her about my new magic tool idea, she ran straight to her lab.
‘If I can store magic and use it when I need it... even in a place with no magic, I’ll be okay.’
If I adjusted it, I might be able to live there just like I did in Ipsen.
‘The autumn camp is about ten days.’
It’s a short ti, so even if there’s no magic, I could manage.
When I first t Dad, I’d stayed in the capital for a few days too.
‘But it was really hard. And now I have to explore the academy as well.’
I couldn’t let myself get tired or run out of magic.
The only thing left was convincing my family...
Dad hated the capital as much as I did, so I was a little worried.
‘I’ll ask when he cos ho!’
According to butler Adolf, the monster hunt was going very well. Dad might co ho in less than a month.
“Miss, a letter from the capital!”
Just then, Hazel ca in with a tray.
“A letter? From who?”
I stopped drinking my milk and tilted my head.
She placed a shiny, gold-embossed letter in front of .
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