Chapter Ninety-Four: You, Whom Vizima Cannot Take Away

The farewell banquet was over. Dandelion had originally meant to see Shani off as well, but Angoulême held him back and refused to let him go, insisting that he keep drinking with her.

So, as on every previous occasion when he had escorted the young lady home, Victor walked side by side with Shani through the streets of the Temple Quarter.

"Are you sure you don’t need me to take you tomorrow?" She looked especially beautiful today; the lake-green vest suited her perfectly.

"Really, you don’t need to. I’m leaving with the medical team, and we’ll have a lot to carry, so we’ll be busy. We probably won’t even have much time to say goodbye.

Besides, tomorrow you’ll have to bathe early, put on your finest clothes, and get ready to perform at the palace, won’t you?

What a pity I won’t get to see you in that tight top. I’m sure it would have looked wonderful on you." Compared with when they had first met a few months ago, he seemed to have grown a little taller.

"I meant to give these to you on your birthday, but now I’ll have to give them to you early." He took out Paracelsus's Principles of Pathological Morphology and Forensics and handed them over.

The young lady smiled. "If it’s a birthday present, then I won’t stand on ceremony." She accepted them calmly and tucked them into her herb satchel.

Victor was delighted, because Shani was the sort of person who valued personal distance. If she was willing to accept a gift from someone, it meant she regarded that person as one of her own. Thinking back to when they had first met, she had even refused to take books home to read, and only came when he invited her so persistently.

"Here! I’m giving you back the key to the house." His face had grown oddly endearing once he had gotten used to it.

"No need to return it. Just keep it. You’re welcome in my home at any time." Her fingers were long and lovely.

After only a moment’s hesitation, the young lady took the key back into her embrace.

They were only a few intersections away from the rented rooms when Shani suddenly turned left. That was the opposite direction. Victor, who had almost gone the wrong way, hurried to catch up.

"Come walk with me!" You won’t refuse me, will you?

"With pleasure." I want to be with you too.

...

The two of them passed the Order of the Rose Knights, where the lights still blazed brightly; passed the graveyard of Vizima, where only a single lantern remained; passed the Hairy Bear Tavern, where the late-night revelry was still loud and lively.

It was the full moon overhead, and Victor and Shani climbed onto the lakeside embankment.

The boy took a large square of black cloth from his bag and spread it on the ground. They sat down on the bat cloak and admired Vizima Lake’s famous night view, Moon Reflection on the Water.

"Come to think of it, you still haven’t played the lute for me. Didn’t you say you’d compose a piece for me? Have you finished it?"

"I have, but I didn’t bring the lute out with me."

"That’s fine. You can sing it a cappella!"

The early autumn night carried a chill, and Victor quickly decided to indulge the young lady’s rare playfulness.

"All right. There’s no point in hiding it from you."

Then Shani watched Victor reach into the herb satchel and pull out a lute even larger than the bag itself.

"You... what is that?"

"An endless herb satchel. My grandmother made it for me. The saying goes that the void may have its limit, but my bag has none. In other words, even if the void itself has an end, my bag’s capacity is infinite."

The young lady leaned in curiously. "So it’s a magical cloth bag? Can I put my hand inside?"

"Of course, but no one except me can interact with it in any way." Victor set the herb satchel down between them.

Trying it for herself, Shani reached in and pulled out several bottles of suspicious color and uncertain purpose, then looked at Victor in confusion.

Seeing that the young lady still did not understand, the boy simply lifted the cloth flap of the herb satchel so she could clearly watch the opening. A layer of invisible ripples shimmered there, and his wrist and forearm vanished directly into the air when he reached inside.

Then he raised his arm. As his wrist reappeared from the void, he drew out a bear trap. The magical spectacle made her gasp and cover her mouth.

"This is my secret weapon for slaying demons and exorcising evil. A herb satchel roughly six feet long, six feet wide, and six feet high, with a total capacity of 216 cubic feet. Inside are piled more than a dozen bear traps, all kinds of potions, valuable alchemical materials, and even a crossbow. If necessary, I can pull it out of the bag all at once and fire at close range."

Curious, she reached out and took the bear trap. The cold touch of steel was unmistakably genuine. The whole thing looked no different from a circus magician’s trick.

Shani could not help trying to put it back herself, but the herb satchel gave no response. Victor smiled, took it back, and with the same motion the ripples returned at the opening, swallowing the bear trap soundlessly into nothingness.

Now that she understood how it worked, she laughed. "How amazing. Is this the spatial folding technique that mages use? I’ve heard of objects like this, but I never thought it would be so convenient." Smiling brightly, the young lady helped the boy sling the backpack back over his shoulder.

In truth, the endless herb satchel and a mage’s spatial folding technique came from entirely different systems, but explaining the difference would have been troublesome. It was fine to think of it as spatial folding.

...

With the little interlude over, Victor plucked the strings and began to sing the song he felt was most fitting for the moment.

After hearing it once, Shani said nothing, only gesturing for him to sing it again.

After hearing it a second time, the boy noticed a sheen of moisture gathering in her eyes.

Then she tried singing along on the third round; on the fourth, the two of them sang together; and on the fifth, Shani said she wanted to sing it herself, because the lyrics were almost exactly what she had in her heart.

Shani’s voice was usually rather neutral, but when she sang, it was unexpectedly gentle. As she went on, her voice grew softer... and softer still, until the ending faded to silence.

When the song was over, its lingering resonance still hanging in the air, Victor, who had been accompanying her, turned to look at Shani. The young lady turned her face as well, and for a moment they simply gazed at one another.

She lifted both hands to steady his neck, leaned close, and kissed his forehead, then kissed his nose.

Then she paused.

It was as though the world had stopped.

Shani let go of Victor.

Opening her eyes, the two met each other’s gaze. "I should go back." Her voice was crisp and decisive.

He murmured in agreement. "Yes. There’s still a lot to do tomorrow, so you should get some rest early."

Even so, neither of them moved.

Just then, there came a sudden splash of water. They both turned at once and saw a humanoid figure rise dripping from the water, then stagger ashore up the embankment steps.

Startled by the sudden appearance, Victor immediately stood and went on guard, and Shani also stepped back two paces, ready to defend herself.

But when the figure drew nearer, Victor and Shani were astonished to discover in the moonlight that it was actually Captain Vincent Mace of the city guard, whom they both knew. Did he have a hobby of moonlit swims?

For once not wearing armor, the captain’s thin black hair was plastered flat to his scalp with water. His thin clothes made his little belly stand out all the more, and he looked somewhat disheveled, nothing like his usual imposing self.

"Heh... what an encounter... the Phantom Band’s Victor and Doctor Shani, wasn’t it? Are you two on a date?" Vincent’s voice was low, and his pale, soaked face was rigid with an expressionless stare.

Feeling that something was off, Victor grew more alert. "N-no... the doctor is returning to Redania tomorrow, so tonight we took the chance to enjoy Moon Reflection on the Water. I’m escorting and protecting her."

Vincent scratched his cheek. "Heh-heh... I see. Then let me give you both a word of advice: Vizima nights are not as peaceful as they seem. Especially on nights of the full moon, try not to go out if you can help it." Having said this, Vincent did not approach them, but instead left by the far side of the embankment.

...

The city captain’s habit of moonlit swimming left the two of them with no appetite for conversation, and they hurried away from the embankment.

They did not speak again until they had returned to the familiar streets of the Temple Quarter and passed the entrance to the Hairy Bear Tavern.

The young lady stopped the boy, a smile returning to her face. She gave him a meaningful look and mimed plucking a lute with both hands, hinting that she wanted to sing but lacked accompaniment.

"Now? In the street?" I say, that glint in your eyes is downright dangerous. You’re clearly determined to disturb the peace to the bitter end.

"Exactly. Don’t you think this suits the moment? I’m going to sing for everyone in the Temple Quarter!" I’m going to sing for you. "Or are you scared?"

You clearly have no idea how wild I can get when I’m in the mood. Shrugging, the boy took out his lute and began to accompany Shani.

...

Walk with me a little through the streets of Vizima
Until every last light has gone out, and still we do not linger
You will take my sleeve in your hand
I will tuck my hands into my pockets
Walk to the end of the Temple Quarter
Sit down at the door of the Hairy Bear

- Excerpt from Vizima, a medieval ballad by Anonymous