By Zephyria 
I tossed and turned all night, the unfamiliar bed making sleep impossible.
“I can’t stand it. I have to check on the child,” I thought, and so, in the pre-dawn hours, I crept into the floor where Ruben slept. A sharp presence blocked my way. Caught off guard, I found myself facing Samantha in the hallway outside Ruben’s room, feeling awkward. Samantha, too, couldn’t hide her embarrassed expression, her face a mask of discomfort.
“…You, why aren’t you sleeping?”
“As a guard knight, it’s natural for me to watch over the night…”
“…”
“…”
Blushing and shuffling my feet, I stood there. Samantha quietly opened Ruben’s door. I gave a slight nod and entered the bedroom. The moment the door closed behind me, I was consumed by a burning sense of shame, suffering alone for a long while.
Ruben was sleeping soundly, his breathing soft and even.
If I feel this way now, how can I possibly think of leaving him for a long journey? No, that’s not right. What am I saying? I mustn’t make excuses and run away from what I absolutely must do.
I quietly pulled up a chair and sat beside his bed.
After hesitating for a long time, my hand reached out and touched Ruben’s face. Gently cupping his pale, soft cheek, Ruben stirred with a soft groan, nuzzling into my hand. As my heart melted, my worries and anxieties melted away with it. After a moment, Ruben, who had been leaning against me, opened his sleepy eyes and looked at me.
“…Mika.”
“Yes.”
The child glanced over me once, then closed his eyes again. Leaning against me, he murmured as if in a dream.
“…Vivian’s Divine Object… I thought about what kind of function it might have all night. Vivian is a land of fertile cultivation… I thought, but then… the strange phenomena with the livestock…”
“Yes.”
“Then it might have the ability to enhance earth power… or perhaps it’s related to mild weather, or things like that…”
His mumbled words, unlike his usual speech, lacked proper subjects and predicates. It felt as though he had been forced awake by me while still drowsy, so I gently stroked his shoulder and pulled the blanket back up to his shoulders.
“Please sleep more.”
“…No… …What was I saying?”
“You were pondering the function of Vivian’s Divine Object. …Did you sleep late?”
Then, the child took my hand and pressed his forehead against my fingertip.
At times like this, he looked no different from his sixteen-year-old self, despite his grown stature. The warmth of his breath lingered on my fingertip. Suppressing a smile, I traced his soft lips with my fingertip.
Ruben kissed my fingers one by one, then whispered.
“…I must have been a little cold. Sleep with me tonight…”
“Yes. I will. Please sleep more.”
“…Mm.”
Ruben fell asleep, holding my hand tightly. I sat there until dawn broke.
❖ ❖ ❖
The thick fog obscured my vision, so even though the sun had risen, the view outside the window was still dim.
Before breakfast, Marianne and Boulder entered the birthing room, where they had spent the night layering magic spells.
The birthing room was in a corner on the first floor. The room, which likely served as a storage space originally, wasn’t particularly small, but it felt cramped with our entire party (excluding the laborers), the village chief, and the chief’s eldest son and his wife.
The room was empty, as the sheep had not yet been brought in.
Magic circles glowed vividly on all four corners and the floor. It was remarkable how they had even etched patterns onto the ceiling. Most of the lines, drawn with magic ink, were brown or light purple. The majority of the magic circles on the ceiling were a striking light purple.
“What are all these magic circles?”
“This one here is for detection, this one for tracking, and the ones next to them are set up to conditionally activate Restoration Magic, just in case! An alarm will sound if Contaminated Mana exceeds a certain level, and if anything impure appears, it can be bound with a reverse shield…”
“…Ugh.”
“It looks like there’s a zombie here… Is it okay to leave it?”
While Boulder chattered away, Marianne slumped, yawning continuously. Seeing her state, Ivan playfully teased her without hesitation. Marianne swung her fist fiercely, but Ivan dodged every blow.
Following the advice of the two mages, the village chief’s eldest son and his wife laid out worn blankets at spaced intervals. They also hung a thick tapestry on the wall and brought in several plush chairs, decorating the birthing room so that those guarding it could rest comfortably.
In Vivian, where farmland was more prevalent than grasslands, sheep and goats were not raised on a large scale. Therefore, there was no forced breeding. Sheep, being herbivores, become anxious when separated from their flock, so they were simply allowed to roam freely. When a sheep appeared to be heavily pregnant, a place was prepared for it to rest comfortably at night.
There were three sheep in the birthing room, brought in because they were expected to give birth within a day or two.
The sheep, lying on their sides, merely rolled their eyes without a sound. In the morning, their round faces looked gentle, and their yellow eyes were calm. The dark faces and wool that had seemed unsettling before must have been the work of the night.
Marianne, watching the sheep lie docilely in their respective spots, let out a long yawn. Ruben immediately gestured to the village chief. As it concerned his livestock, the chief and his family were visibly worried.
“Then, leave one or two people here to watch, and if they seem like they’re about to give birth, send word.”
“Yes, yes. Of course. I will do so.”
“Then, I’ll take a nap for now. There are no unusual symptoms so far…”
“I’ll stay here and watch a bit longer. I’m not sleepy yet.”
Marianne immediately raised her arms to shoulder width, signaling surrender. Boulder quickly claimed a chair. I wondered why Marianne, who was young, healthy, and energetic, seemed so much more drained than Boulder.
“Go eat before you sleep,” I said, tending to her, and then casually asked,
“Was it very difficult to draw the magic circles?”
“Mmm… Contaminated Mana tends to sink downwards… so it often moves from top to bottom, like a covering. That’s why I used a lot of Fly magic to protect the ceiling first, and as a result, I overexerted myself a bit.”
“Mage Boulder didn’t help?”
“Would I want help from Michael?”
“…Hmm?”
“Ah, it’s like… a mage’s pride.”
I couldn’t understand it. I just shook my head.
That afternoon.
The village chief’s eldest son rushed in, announcing that the sheep had begun to show signs of labor. To avoid agitating the sensitive sheep, all the knights were stationed outside the door. Only Ruben, I, Marianne, Boulder, and the village chief’s family members who would care for the sheep entered the birthing room.
As soon as the door opened, a pungent smell of blood and a strong aroma of Mana hit us, making us dizzy.
“…”
“…”
Marianne’s and my gazes met and then broke away.
Ruben looked merely puzzled. After a moment of thought, he tightly grasped my hand. This time, Ruben didn’t pull away from my hand. We entered the room together. Several magic circles, installed to detect Contaminated Mana, were emitting a soft glow.
Amidst them, the village chief’s son and daughters, their eyes filled with anxiety, received the newborn lambs one by one and wiped their faces with wet towels. Normally, the ewe would lick her newborn’s face, but it was explained that as they began giving birth to many lambs at once, humans had started to help.
While the first sheep was giving birth, the second and third sheep were also giving birth almost simultaneously.
The newborn lambs stumbled on their wobbly legs, searching for their mother’s milk. The ewes, half-exhausted, glanced at their offspring once. The air in the room felt noticeably heavier compared to before the lambs were born. It was thick with dark, contaminated Mana.
Marianne whispered with trembling lips,
“…It would be better to open the windows.”
“Now? Is that okay?”
“Yes.”
Mage Boulder, standing closest, opened the window. The stuffy, bloody air and the heavy Mana inside the room seemed to rush out all at once. It was an immediate change, causing even the village chief’s family, who hadn’t sensed the Mana, to flinch and tremble.
Marianne immediately asked sharply,
“How many of these newborn lambs are immediately slaughtered?”
“Usually… before they turn six weeks old… only one lamb per ewe is kept, and the rest are all… It’s because sheep don’t produce as much milk as other livestock. If they give birth to only one or two, the mother can manage, but when they have four or five, there’s no way to raise them. As they get older, the meat becomes tougher, and they develop a strong odor…”
“Are there many farms like this?”
“Yes, yes. Not just in our village, but in the next village and the one after that, people are making a living by slaughtering newborn lambs and selling them to the city. Why, doctor? Is something wrong?”
The villagers had never seen a mage before, except for the occasional doctor. Seeing their terrified faces, Marianne, who had been about to retort, shook her head. She simply looked at the lambs, who were tapping the soft blankets with their hooves, for a long time, then covered her face with both hands.
“…You slaughter them and sell them as meat?”
“Yes… Because farming isn’t going well… we don’t have enough grain to eat…”
“How do you deal with the blood?”
“…Usually, we eat it, right? We mix it with well-washed innards and let it solidify…”
Marianne groaned for a while, then said,
“It would be best to just burn the blood of these young lambs. It could be a disease, yes, a disease could be transmitted. Even if it’s been fine until now… continuing like this could be bad for your health. Please burn it again with ashes, don’t eat it.”
“Yes! Yes, I will. Should I tell other villages…?”
“Of course. Please spread the word widely. And tell them to always open the windows when sheep give birth or when they are slaughtered.”
“We will engrave it firmly in our minds and obey your words. Thank you for looking into this, thank you…”
With those words, Marianne, unable to bear it any longer, bolted out of the room. Ruben and I, who had been watching, followed immediately. From behind us, Mage Boulder’s voice boomed.
“Then, these magic circles! Should I erase them all?”
“Yes! Please do!”
“Yes.”
It was the second time I thought bringing Mage Boulder was a very good decision.