Miss Liliam called me early in the morning, as well as Janna and Lanette... And they are here... As if nothing had happened.

And it's not just them, everyone is acting completely normal. Did I hallucinate the clowns that killed everyone? Am I going crazy?

I want to ask but I'm too embarrassed.

"Why did you call us?" Janna sounds annoyed, it looks like she was woken up for this.

"Today is your turn to visit the headquarters of the city guard."

""EEEH?!"" It sounds like none of us wants to go.

I know that it's common for orphans to end up becoming soldiers, monster hunters, or explorers, so these visits are meant to help us plan for the future. But I just cannot imagine myself doing something scary like fighting monsters, there's no way I would be good at it anyway.

"B-but I'm already planning to become a farmer!"

"And I'm going to join a theater group, why do we need to waste our time visiting some boring city guards?"

"Every child in this orphanage visits the city guard at least once, so stop complaining. It's always good to have many different experiences."

And so, we all go on a walk to the other side of the city. Lanette keeps hiding behind Miss Liliam while peeking at me, did I do something to scare her?

"And here we are. I'll be leaving you with the sergeant, don't misbehave."

A tall bald man with huge arms came out to greet us. Is she really going to leave us alone with him? He looks very intimidating.

"I thought that there were going to be 3 girls coming today."

"Yes, there are three girls here."

The man looks at me with suspicion.

"Weren't they all supposed to be 9 years old?"

"Uh... I'm 9."

I understand why he would find it weird since I'm almost as tall as he is.

"Well then... I had three uniforms for children ready, I guess it will have to be two for children and an adult-sized one. Go in that room to get changed

So we are going to wear guard uniforms?

The uniform consists mostly of a set of leather armor, this feels very different from the clothes I normally wear.

"Alright, today you will accompany me on my patrol. You'll be city guards for a day."

"Oh! Do we get to arrest someone?" Janna suddenly got a lot more interested.

"N-no! I'm scared of the bad guys..." But Lanette does not share her enthusiasm.

"Don't worry, I won't make you girls do anything dangerous. Although there have been a few times I've had a kid help with an interrogation."

"Really?"

"Yes, maybe you could help with the good guard bad guard method, people tend to lower their guard with children, especially girls... Well, I guess it wouldn't work with all girls."

Why did he look at me while saying that?

We walk around for a while while the sergeant tells us about his job. Then I notice a shadow above a roof.

"Do you also fight monsters that get in the city?"

"Fighting monsters trying to get inside is also part of our job. But we wouldn't encounter any while on patrol inside the city."

"What about that one?"

"Uh?"

I point to the monster dropping from the roof of the building next to us. A black bipedal creature covered in feathers despite not looking like a bird at all, it looks more like a wolf.

"Luna!"

The monster swings a claw at my face! Why does everyone keep picking on me?!

Surprisingly, I don't actually feel much pain, it's closer to a slap than someone tearing off my face. Did I die?

The monster turned around and is now attacking the sergeant, but he doesn't seem scared at all. He calmly stabs it with a spear a few times, and the monster falls over dead.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"I see... Thank goodness you put on that armor."

Eh? Didn't the monster hit me in the face? This armor is amazing! It doesn't cover my head at all and it still protected me.

"Where did that monster come from? Are there more monsters in the city?"

"No, I think that was a summoned monster. Wait, where are your friends?!"

Now that he mentions it, the two other girls are not here. Before I can start looking for them, I hear a woman's voice from the alley behind me.

"Drop that spear, or else."

There's a woman with white hair wearing a tattered black dress. There are bags under her eyes and her body is thin and sickly, she looks like she hasn't been taking care of her health. There's a strange white rose on her shoulder, I can almost see through it.

Behind her two little girls have been gagged and tied to a wall, I think she's used the 'shadow bind' spell, but those ropes she's made seem of poor quality to me. Lanette is crying a lot but Janna looks like she's doing her best to act brave.

"Who are you?" The sergeant asks angrily but drops his spear as told.

"Hahaha. You are the one, right? The one that has been learning forbidden dark magic."

"W-what? I don't know what you are talking about!"

Don't say that in front of a guard!

"Don't lie, the rose told me that it's you."

"The rose?"

Does her rose talk to her? She must be a crazy person.

"You're like me, right? You were also abandoned because of your dark magic. If you come with me, we can take revenge on everyone in this city."

"I don't even know most of the people in this city, what would I even want revenge for?"

The woman looks disappointed, but then she seems to listen to her flower.

"I see, you need to see what your magic can really do."

She grabs Janna's right hand and twists it until it's facing the wrong way.

She grabs Lanette's left hand and pulls until her arm is long enough to reach the floor.

Both of them look at their limbs in horror, the gags preventing them from screaming.

"T-that was flesh-shaping. How can you do that to children?!"

The sergeant seems horrified, and so am I. That forceful way of using flesh-shaping hurts, I know because I did it to myself before I figured out how to use it properly.

"You can also do this, right? Why don't you come closer and show me your magic?"

Show my flesh-shaping? But there's a city guard right here, won't I get in trouble?

No, I have to do it. Lanette and Janna are suffering.

Fortunately, it looks like she didn't mess up their bodies too much, so it's not too difficult to fix them.

"Ah, you helped your friends. But they don't look too grateful."

They look like they are afraid of me, much more than before. Is it because I can use the same magic that did that to them?

"Do you see? Nobody will appreciate your dark magic, you will just end up like me."

"I don't know what you mean, but I don't think I'll become an adult that bullies children like this."

'Shadow needle'

Looks like the guard thought that he could get her while she was distracted, so he picked up his spear and charged at her. It didn't work, she fired a spell at him and injured his shoulder.

"And what were you trying to do? If you are going to get in the way I should just get rid of you right-" The woman suddenly stops and holds her hand. "W-why? I was doing what-"

I don't know what happened, she lost consciousness all of a sudden.

So now I'm the only one who can move, I could heal the man's injury but that would expose me even more. I could also free Janna and Lanette since this shadow bind is of very poor quality, but they seem afraid of me.

<If you pick up that flower, they won't be afraid of you anymore.>

What was that? I feel like I should pick up that woman's white rose, but why?

"Uh, is it ok if I get closer so that I can free you?"

"Eh? Y-yes, of course."

They really seem to have calmed down a little, is this the power of this flower? That must be why that woman had it with her. I think I'll hide it in my pocket.

Now, if I heal the sergeant, I might get in trouble since that magic is supposed to be forbidden... I have no choice though, I cannot leave him like that.

"You can close a wound with flesh-shaping?"

He looks surprised at his healed shoulder.

"No, that was... A perfectly legal healing spell."

"Well, thank you for the healing, but... Who taught you how to do that?"

"Eh?! N-nobody."

"You don't need to be afraid. Was it someone at the orphanage? Or somebody else?"

Wait, does he suspect the orphanage?! Uh, I thought that the only one who would get in trouble was me, this might be worse than I thought...

---

 

"I know that it's difficult to believe, but all of her magic really is self-taught."

"Look, lady. We've seen the notes she had in her room, I don't care how 'talented' she is, there's no 9-year-old that understands magic at that level, much less INVENT it."

In the end, that man ended up reporting everything that happen. I thought that I could convince him not to do it but I guess it's his duty.

So a few investigators came and searched my room. I keep telling them that I did everything on my own but they won't listen, so they have been interrogating Miss Liliam for a while now.

"Luna is unlike any other child I've seen. She loves to practice magic more than anything, I bet that she's trained more and harder than most adult mages."

"Does that mean that the girl is dangerous then? She does seem to have a very sinister aura about her."

"Absolutely not! It's true that she's a bit... odd. But she's one of the most kindhearted children we've had in this orphanage. Didn't she even willingly expose herself so that she could heal your comrade?"

"Mmm, fine, we'll leave it at that for now. Be warned that if we find out that you have been protecting a criminal you might be removed from your position in the orphanage."

With that, the guards finally leave. I cannot hold back any longer and start crying a little.

"I'm s-sorry."

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"B-but you're always *sniff*. You always tell me that my magic could get me in trouble, and I still used forbidden magic in front of a guard!"

"You only did it to help your friends and that guard, right? You did the right thing."

"I still ended up causing you trouble... Miss Liliam, would it be better for everyone if I wasn't here?"

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous."

"No? Isn't dark magic dangerous?"

After all, my parents got rid of me because of my dark attribute.

"Can you promise that you won't use your magic to hurt anyone?"

"Yes! I promise!"

"Then there's no problem."

I get a hug from Miss Liliam and I feel a bit better now.

"..."

"You should go, your friends are waiting for you."

"What friends?"

I turn around and see Lanette and Janna again. Does Miss Liliam think that we are friends? I wish that she was right.

"Luna! Let's go tell the other kids to not be afraid of you!"

"Eh?! What?!"

Janna grabs my right hand and drags me behind her, I guess I have no choice but to meet the children like she wants me to, but this is too sudden! I'm nervous.

<If you prick yourself on the thorns of the ghost rose, you will be able to calm down>

Is that true? I guess I could try. I stab the palm of my left hand with the rose in my pocket, ouch.

We walk outside, and many children are playing on the street, but they stop when they see me.

"Listen, everyone! Luna saved us the other day when some crazy woman captured us. Her magic was really cool, isn't that right Lanette?"

"Y-yes, it was."

Janna sure is good at becoming the center of attention, but they don't look very convinced.

"Alright then, Luna, take these balls and make them float."

She hands me three rubber balls the size of oranges. Uh, I guess I could use a constant mana push to keep them in the air. But what is the point of this?

"Woah!"

"She's good!"

"Is that really magic!"

Why does everyone look so impressed? A mana push does not even count as a spell. Still, this feels nice.

"But isn't dark magic evil?"

"Not at all! Luna has actually learned healing magic."

"What?! Healing?!"

"Luna, I scraped my knee earlier, why don't you show everyone how you heal it?"

"Uh, sure."

"WOAH!!! She can heal!"

All the kids look astonished. Soon, others are asking me to treat some small injuries they have.

Am I dreaming? Not only are they not afraid, but they are also asking me to use my magic. I never imagined that something like this would ever happen.

Wait, something is wrong. My mana is rushing through my body faster than it should.

"Agh!"

I suddenly feel a strong pain in my left hand and my mana flows there against my will.

*Bang*

I'm not sure what happened just now. I can hear screams and there's blood.

Ah, I see. The excessive mana in my hand must have erupted violently in all directions. And then... and then it...

Ah... no... Some children around me got injured. I... hurt them.

Janna also has blood on her arm. She's looking at me like... with the expression of someone who has been betrayed.

The children all look scared, some are crying, and some are running away.

I... I can fix this I just need to heal them.

When Janna sees me about to use magic again, she screams. Of course, if I hurt her once I could hurt her again. I don't know why that happened, if I try to heal them it might happen again.

I don't know... I don't know what to do!

"AAAH!!!"

I start running, I don't know in which direction. I just want to run away, I don't want to see the people I've hurt.

I continue to run and run while crying until I trip and fall. My tears made it hard to tell where I was going, I do not recognize this part of the city, I'd never been here before.

Just why did that happen?

<Because dark magic is dangerous. You are dangerous.>

What do I do now? Do I try to go back?

<Those children will scream in terror if they see you again.>

N-no, I don't want them to-

<Did you see the way Janna looked at you? Do you want to see that expression again?>

I don't want anyone to look at me like that ever again...

<Then you shouldn't go back with them.>

M-maybe Miss Liliam can-

<You promised Miss Liliam that you would never hurt people with your magic. You broke your promise.>

But I didn't want to! I'm sorry!

<How will you be able to look at her face again after this? Do you really think that saying 'sorry' will fix anything?>

Then what should I do?

<Stay away from them, anyone who tries to love you, anyone who tries to be your friend, will be hurt by you. Isn't that why the elves threw you away in the first place?>

T-then... Will nobody love me?! Will nobody be my friend?!

<It is time for you to accept the truth.>

What truth?

<You were born to be alone.>