"Here, your chosen wand."
Ecter tossed the Magic Wand to Altoria.
"How, how do you have this?" Altoria hurriedly caught it, her eyes widening in surprise as she exclaimed, "Wasn’t the chosen wand confiscated by the elders of Ting Tajelri?"
"Who do you think I am?" Ecter said disdainfully, "It’s just a weapon, after all. I could smell its location from a distance, and it was easy to take it out of the village."
Altoria couldn’t misunderstand the meaning of these words.
"...Did you help me steal the chosen wand from the village?"
Altoria, holding what she referred to as the chosen wand, spoke softly.
"It just happened by chance, it’s not like I did it specifically for you."
Ecter said this with a cross look.
"You’re lying." Altoria was very certain, "You clearly did go steal the chosen wand specifically for me."
Altoria’s "eyes" could not overlook this point.
"Tch..." Ecter seemed to have realized something too, smacking his lips in disgust, "So-called Paradise Fairies are really bothersome, still retaining such visions that should have vanished long ago."
Ecter, annoyed as he was, did not deny it further but instead looked directly at Altoria.
"Now, the chosen wand has returned to your side, and you have already freed yourself from the village."
"Next, you should embark on the journey that belongs to you."
"Go on the pilgrimage, Altoria Castle."
Ecter’s words made Altoria’s hand gripping the chosen wand tighten slightly.
"Go." Ecter then said, "This is your mission, and it is your fate, from which you cannot escape."
No sooner had these words left Ecter’s mouth than Reiger, who had been fiddling with a small black knife, suddenly spoke up.
"I disagree with that statement." Reiger, with no apparent reason, suddenly spoke up, "No one is burdened with a mission they cannot defy, nor is anyone’s destiny predetermined from the start."
"That truly is a joke. If you really do not wish to do it, why can’t you escape it?"
Reiger’s sudden words not only stunned Altoria but also drew a sharp gaze from Ecter.
"...Do you know this girl’s story?"
Ecter asked emotionlessly.
"I guess so." Reiger, appearing uninterested, said nonchalantly, "She is the Child of Prophecy rumored in Fairy Country, right?"
———"Child of Prophecy."
This was a well-known existence in Fairy Country.
About sixteen years ago, a chief of a fairy clan left a prophecy.
"When the mysterious island becomes Fairy Country, its fate will be revealed."
"Welcome the innocent ones home."
"This is the profound and fathomless queen’s city."
"Accumulating like rain, piling like dust, melting like snowflakes, vanishing like lies."
"We hope to be kept in the high loft, but still, we are in the queen’s palm."
"However, just a little more patience is needed. After two thousand years, the child of redemption will appear."
"Uniting fairy and human alike, the child of the world will save the world."
"Even if at first only a dim light is seen, unnoticed by all, yet like a moth drawn to flames."
"Iron Town, Sea of Coal."
"When the disasters are repelled, the pilgrimage shall be welcomed."
"The chosen wand will guide them, foreign travelers will watch over them, and the child of redemption will eventually reach the throne."
"The one on the throne shall be the true king, please wear a crown stained with blood."
"Resounding like thunder (anger), sounding like a fierce fire (grief), the six tolls of the bell teach us the way to kingship from henceforth."
"Chased by the Red Disaster, bitten by the Dark Disaster."
"A little delay in work is not a big deal, for we are descendants of free fairies."
"Hope has never been sufficient, sincerely looking forward to a brilliant tomorrow."
The essence of this prophecy was that, sixteen years later, a savior of this nation would appear, who, guided by the chosen wand, would be crowned as the true king to save this world.
This savior needed to embark on a pilgrimage, ringing the six Pilgrimage Bells existing in Fairy Country. When all six bells had tolled, the ruling false queen would be overthrown, and the savior, crowned as the true king, would lead fairies and humans to end the era of falsehood.
This prophecy is now widely rumored in Fairy Country, almost universally known.
And the savior mentioned in the prophecy is referred to by all as the Child of Prophecy.
Legend has it that the Child of Prophecy does not belong to any of the six major clans but is a fairy from "Paradise."
Legend also has it that the Child of Prophecy, upon arriving in this world, would have a chosen wand by their side, accompanying their growth.
Altoria is that Child of Prophecy.
She drifted here by sea on a small boat sixteen years ago; the villagers of Ting Tajelri found her and the chosen wand beside her, thus believing her to be the prophesied Child of Prophecy and raised her.
"I’m now even considered an impostor..."
Altoria said with self-deprecating laughter.
The reason is simple, merely because Altoria’s growth had not been promising.