Chapter 43: The Colorless Prince.
The guild hall was busier in the morning.
Adventurers came and went, their boots heavy on the stone floor, their voices layering into the constant hum of a place that never truly slept. Kaede and I had barely stepped through the doors when we spotted them.
Albruna waved from across the room. Adelgund was beside her, examining a quest board. Averhilda stood nearby, her spear resting against her shoulder.
We made our way over. Albruna's face brightened as we approached.
"You came!"
I smiled. "We said we might."
She laughed. "I know. But I was hoping you would." She gestured toward the board. "We were just looking at quests. Want to take one together?"
Kaede glanced at me. I nodded.
"Let's take a look."
The five of us gathered around the quest board. Papers of various colors and sizes covered its surface, some neat and official, others faded and torn. We scanned them together, reading aloud, discussing.
Albruna pointed to one near the center.
Cu Quest
Monster Elimination — Travelers' Road.
Several travelers have reported monsters attacking people along a road outside the town. The guild wants the monsters eliminated before someone gets seriously injured.
Adelgund read over her shoulder. "Sounds straightforward."
Averhilda nodded. "We've done similar quests before."
Kaede studied the paper. "The road is about half a day's walk from here. We could be there by midday."
I looked at the others. "Is everyone agreed?"
Albruna grinned. "I'm in."
Adelgund and Averhilda nodded.
Kaede looked at me. "Let's do it."
I took the paper from the board and turned toward the counter.
"Then let's go."
***
The road stretched ahead, wide and dusty, flanked by fields that had been harvested and left to rest. The morning sun was warm on our shoulders. The doll walked beside me, its button eyes fixed ahead.
Averhilda glanced at me. "What color is your affinity?"
I said nothing.
The question was simple. Adventurers asked it often. It was a way to understand someone's capabilities, to know what to expect in a fight. But it was also a question that carried weight. A question that had followed me from my village to the Fairy Realm and now to this road.
I hesitated.
Albruna noticed. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
The other two looked at me, their curiosity tempered by Albruna's words.
Then Adelgund spoke. "I'll go first." She held out her hand, and a tiny flame flickered between her fingers. "Fire. It's not much yet, but I'm learning."
Averhilda tapped the ground with her spear. A small stone rose beneath her boot, then settled back into place. "Earth. Useful for steadying yourself in a fight."
Albruna smiled. A tiny sphere of water formed above her palm, catching the light. "Water. It's more versatile than people think."
They turned toward Kaede.
She answered simply. "Wind." A small breeze stirred the air around her, rustling the edges of her cloak. The others nodded, accepting it as easily as they had accepted their own affinities.
Then everyone turned toward me.
Silence.
I realized I could not avoid the question any longer. They had shared their affinities openly. They had accepted my earlier hesitation without pressure. But now the question hung in the air, and it was my turn to answer.
"Colorless," I said.
They looked confused.
"I don't have a color."
Albruna's brow furrowed. "But... you can use different elements."
I nodded. "Yes. All of them."
Averhilda stared. "All?"
I nodded again.
Albruna's eyes widened. "I've never heard of anyone who could use every affinity."
Averhilda's expression shifted. She was thinking, her gaze distant.
"There's an old legend," she said. "About a prince."
I glanced at her. "A prince?"
"Born without a color." She paused, letting the words settle. "Colorless."
Adelgund frowned. "I've heard that one. But I thought it was just a story. Something to tell children."
Averhilda shook her head. "My grandmother used to tell it differently. She said he wasn't just a story." She looked at me. "According to the legend, he could use every elemental affinity."
Albruna looked skeptical. "I thought that was only a legend."
Averhilda shrugged. "So did I." Then she looked at me. "Until now."
The words hung in the air.
I didn't know what to say. The legend had a prince. A prince born without a color. A prince who could use every affinity.
Just like me.
The thought surfaced, unbidden. But I pushed it down. It was just a story. It didn't have to mean anything.
Albruna broke the silence. "What happened to him? The prince?"
Averhilda's expression shifted. "No one knows. The legend ends. He simply... disappeared."
Adelgund spoke up. "Maybe he became a legend because he was never meant to be understood. Some stories are like that."
I looked at the road ahead. The legend. The Colorless Prince.
Kaede noticed my expression but did not interrupt. She simply walked beside me.
Then she spoke. "Elsbeth is still learning about herself. But what you saw in the forest, that was real."
Averhilda looked at me, her earlier awe tempered by something more cautious. "If you're colorless, then you're more than just an adventurer."
I shook my head. "I'm still an adventurer. I'm still learning. I'm still figuring out what I'm supposed to be."
The silence stretched. Then Albruna smiled, breaking the tension. "Well, whatever you are, you saved my life. That's enough for me."
Adelgund nodded. "Same here."
Averhilda was quiet for a moment longer. Then she said, "My grandmother said the colorless were legends. She said they disappeared long ago." She looked at me. "If you're one of them, then there's a reason you're here."
I did not know what that reason was. But I knew she was right.
We continued down the road.
***
The road ahead showed signs of recent attacks.
Broken carts lay overturned at the roadside. Claw marks scored the trees, deep grooves cut into the bark. Supplies had been abandoned, a torn pack here, a dropped waterskin there. The ground was churned with tracks that did not look human.
Adelgund took the lead, her hand resting on her sword. Averhilda scanned the surroundings, her spear ready. Albruna's fingers moved, preparing her magic.
Kaede's voice was quiet. "Stay alert."
I nodded. The doll moved to stand closer to me, its button eyes fixed ahead.
We moved forward, cautious and watchful.
The road had been attacked. The attackers were still out there. And we were heading toward them.
Then I knelt and pressed my palm to the ground.
Echoes Vibration opened beneath my awareness. At first, nothing, just the ordinary pulse of the earth, the distant movement of roots and small creatures.
Then… movement.
Several creatures. They were approaching from beneath the trees, their steps heavy and deliberate. Not human. Not animals. Something else.
I opened my eyes. "They're coming."
Everyone prepared. Swords, spears, staves, magic, all ready.
Averhilda looked impressed. "You sensed them?"
I nodded. The girls glanced at each other. I could see the shift in their understanding.
Just then ink well appeared before me.
Black porcelain. Narrow lip. Floating. The same familiar shape, the same quiet presence. I had not summoned it. I had not thought about it. It was simply there, hanging in the air between me and the road ahead.
But the well. It released.
Ink poured from the lip, a smooth, dark stream threaded with starlit blue. Not a trickle. Not a hesitant flow. A steady, confident outpouring, like water from a spring that had been waiting for the ground to open.
The ink curled toward me. It did not need to be guided. It knew where I was. It knew my shape, my stance, the way I held my shoulders when I was preparing to block. It knew me.
It settled around me.
The idle-state armor returned. Weightless. Drifting. Star particles suspended within the deep blue. The same as before. The same flow, the same presence, the same quiet awareness.
Albruna stared at the armour that had materialized around me, her eyes wide.
"That's also one of your magics?" she whispered, her voice barely audible above the clearing's stillness.
Before I could answer, the monster attacked.
It lunged from the treeline, a blur of tusks and fury, its focus locked on Albruna. She was frozen, her water magic half-formed, her body caught between response and shock.
I moved.
The ink, already settled around me, shifted with my motion, anticipating, flowing. I stepped between Albruna and the charging beast, the G-Pen already in my hand.
A circle formed. Fire. Not the controlled flame of the practice chamber, but something sharper, more immediate, a wall of heat that forced the monster to rear back.
Then wind, pushing it off balance.
The ink armour absorbed the impact as the beast swiped at me, claws scraping across the hardened surface. I felt the force of it, but the ink held.
Adelgund was beside me in an instant, her sword catching the monster's attention. Averhilda's spear drove it back. Kaede's wind pushed it toward Albruna's water, which rose and struck.
The monster fell.
I stood there, breathing hard, the ink still flowing around my shoulders. Albruna stared at me, her expression shifting from shock to something else, awe, perhaps. Or understanding.
"You saved me again," she said.
I shook my head. "We saved each other."
The ink softened, returning to its idle drift.
I should have known it was never alone.
From the trees, more emerged.
They moved with a rolling, shoulder-forward gait, their tusks sweeping the air before them. The largest stood at my shoulder. The smallest was still bigger than any boar I had ever drawn. They moved with a purpose that was not quite intelligence, not quite instinct.
Adelgund moved first.
Her fire caught the lead monster, forcing it back. Averhilda followed, her earth magic raising a wall of stone that redirected the others. Albruna's water formed a barrier, slowing the advance. Kaede's wind swept through the clearing, disrupting their formation.
Adelgund moved to the front, her sword sweeping in wide arcs. Averhilda braced her spear, ready to follow.
I raise my G-Pen.
Fire. Wind. Water. The circles formed in rapid succession, each one pushing the monsters back, buying us space. But they kept coming. Their numbers were too many, their endurance too great.
I stopped.
Why not try light and shadow?
The thought surfaced from somewhere deep, a memory of the Fairy King's lessons, of the balance I had learned to hold. Light and shadow together. Not fighting. Not competing.
I drew.
The circle was different from the ones I had used before, not fire, not water, not wind. Something that I have learned in the fairy realm.
Light and shadow, woven together.
The circle activated.
A pulse of light burst outward, blinding the nearest monsters. Then shadow followed, darkening the space around us, confusing their senses. The two forces moved together, not canceling each other but working in tandem.
The monsters faltered. Their attack broke. Adelgund and Averhilda moved in, finishing them off.
The clearing fell silent.
I lowered my hand. The G-Pen was warm in my grip. The ink around my shoulders settled into idle drift.
Albruna stared at me, her eyes wide. "...I have never seen that magic."
Adelgund and Averhilda were equally stunned. They had seen me use fire, water, wind. But this… this was something else.
Kaede was not surprised. She simply nodded once, acknowledging what I had done.
I looked at the G-Pen in my hand. At the doll standing beside me. At the companions who had fought with me.
I had combined light and shadow in battle. The balance had held. And it had worked.
I did not know what that meant for my abilities. But I knew it was important.
The road was clear. The monsters were gone. And I had just shown my companions something they would not forget.
The travelers emerged from behind the overturned carts, their faces pale with relief. They had hidden during the attack, and their gratitude was genuine, bowed heads, repeated thanks, the particular warmth of people who had been afraid and were no longer.
I accepted their thanks quietly. The others did the same. The moment was simple. Ordinary. The kind of moment that happened after every successful quest.
But for me, it was different.
I had not won alone. The others had fought beside me, Adelgund's fire, Averhilda's earth, Albruna's water, Kaede's wind. They had covered each other's openings, supported each other's strikes. The victory was shared.
I looked at the G-Pen in my hand. At the doll standing beside me. At the companions who had fought with me.
This was what it meant to be an adventurer.
We began walking toward town.
Averhilda walked beside me, her spear resting on her shoulder. The sun was warm, the road peaceful.
"You know," Averhilda said.
I looked at her.
"That prince from the legend?"
She smiled.
"I think you're going to make that story much more interesting."
I laughed nervously. The words settled somewhere in my chest, Colorless. A legend. And perhaps not merely a legend anymore.
The road stretched ahead, and with it, the questions I had not yet answered.
But for now, I had companions. I had a path. And I had the quiet certainty that I was no longer walking it alone.
What will happen next...
Next time, same time, same place.
