Cael, a farmer's son, loses his father when a beast stampede masks an attack on his village. His father's last words: find the ones behind this crest. The brassão he presses into Cael's hand marks one of the highest ranks of the Order of the Eternal Flame — but Cael cannot read it.
Left with only his broken uncle Aldren — a man whose fragmented mind drifts between true and false memory — Cael pushes the wheelchair onto the open road.
Along the way, he meets Lys, a young mage bound for a great
Crest in Ashes - The Woman Who Reads the Stars and the Old Man Who Sings — A Night When Mana Resonates
The forest air was dim and damp even in daytime.
After leaving Rosan, Kale Elden and his companions had been heading steadily north through the woodland region of the kingdom's northern territories. The highway leading to Lueberg wound its way between deep groves of trees. The packed dirt path bore clear footprints of those who had walked ahead.
The wheels of the wheelchair caught on a tree root and jolted with a rattle.
"...Sorry."
Aldren Serius's voice was hoarse, barely audible. His silver hair clung to his forehead with sweat, and his gray eyes, unfocused, stared somewhere far away.
"Don't worry about it. We'll reach open ground soon."
Kale gripped the wheelchair handles again. There were calluses on his palms, some burst and raw. Even hands tempered by sixteen years of farm work were relentlessly worn down by nearly a month of travel.
"Hey, Kale. Are we taking a break yet?"
Lys Kanal's voice came from behind. Turning around, he saw the short-black-haired girl frowning down at her own shoes. The grime of travel had faintly settled on her neat features as well.
"I want to push a bit further before sundown. Looking for a spot where we can build a fire."
"...Camping outside again?"
Lys's voice carried fatigue and a touch of dissatisfaction.
"Sorry. We don't have money."
"No, that's not what I meant. It's just—I'm not used to this."
Lys rubbed her ink-stained fingertips together as if making an excuse. For her, who was aiming for the Magic Academy, the constant outdoor camping seemed to take a toll both physically and mentally. Even so, though she complained, she never once stopped walking.
"Noel went on ahead. She said she'd find a safe spot."
"That person really is fast on her feet."
"She's a scout."
Noel Grenfield had gone ahead about an hour ago. Her figure, with reddish-brown hair tied in a single bundle, had vanished among the trees in an instant. The eighteen-year-old scout moved without hesitation, as if she had the terrain of this forest memorized.
"...The trees are singing."
Suddenly, Aldren muttered.
"The trees?"
"...Old trees. Their roots embrace... the fire at the bottom of the earth."
Aldren's gray eyes flashed sharply for just a moment. But soon they returned to their vacant color. Kale had already grown used to his uncle's condition. He knew something. But that something only surfaced occasionally through the gaps in his broken memory.
"Fire? What kind of fire?"
Lys leaned forward and asked. Ever hungry for knowledge, she latched onto even Aldren's incomprehensible words.
"...The fire sings. In the ashes... la la la..."
Aldren gave no further answer. His neck tilted limply, and his eyelids closed.
Lys pouted her lips in dissatisfaction.
"Again. He always stops halfway."
"Can't help it. That's the kind of person my uncle is."
Kale gently pressed the copper plate hanging from his neck through his clothes. A ring and flame pattern. The cold sensation of the metal reached his fingertips.
(The crest my father left behind.)
(My uncle knows something.)
(But I still don't understand anything.)
From deep in the forest, a bird's cry echoed.
——
By the time the sun began to tilt, Noel returned.
"Found a good spot. There's a stream nearby, and rocks block the wind. We can build a fire too."
Noel wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and grinned. Her amber eyes, catching the twilight, shone golden.
"That helps."
"You didn't trust my guidance, did you?"
"That's not true."
"It's written all over your face. Whatever, though. Come on, this way."
Noel led the way with light steps. Two short swords at her hip. A bow and quiver on her back. Her scout's equipment told the story of how much she had fought during the journey.
The place they arrived at was indeed good. A large rock enclosed them on three sides, and a stream flowed in front. The sound of water echoed quietly, and stars were beginning to appear between the trees.
Kale placed Aldren's wheelchair beside the rock and began preparing the campfire. He gathered dry branches and started a fire with flint.
"You're quite skilled."
Lys said, sounding impressed.
"It's not much different from farm work."
Kale quickly got the fire going and watched as small flames began licking at the branches.
"So, what about dinner? We still have those mushrooms we picked yesterday."
"Are those mushrooms safe? They were strangely red."
"It's fine, it's fine. I may not look it, but I know my forest stuff."
"That confidence is what worries me."
"Rude. I can at least tell the difference between poisonous and edible mushrooms."
Noel pulled out a mushroom with red spots from the bag at her hip.
"...Is that really safe?"
Lys peered at the mushroom anxiously.
"You two are too suspicious. I'll taste-test it for you, so that settles it, right?"
"Taste-test? If you collapse, that defeats the purpose."
"It's fine. If I collapse, then that's that."
"That's way too irresponsible..."
Kale sighed. But Noel was already washing the mushrooms in the stream water.
"Kale, you help too. Lys, you watch the fire."
"Yes."
Lys nodded obediently and sat down by the campfire. The flames reflected in her silver eyes, flickering.
(Lys is getting used to the journey too, bit by bit.)
Kale lined up beside Noel and began skewering the mushrooms.
——
By the time they finished eating and the four of them sat around the campfire, the sky had gone completely dark.
Stars twinkled densely above the forest.
"...Beautiful."
Lys murmured, looking up at the sky.
"Yeah. You could see them well from the village too, but here they look so much closer."
"That's because the air is clear. And there are no city lights."
Noel looked up at the sky while tending to her bow.
"Can you read stars?"
"Read? Stars?"
"Yes. There are people who read direction, seasons, and fate from the arrangement of stars. They're called 'star-readers.'"
"Huh. That's way more impressive than being able to read letters."
"I suppose so. I'm interested in star-reading techniques myself. I've heard that even at the Magic Academy, there are researchers studying the relationship between stellar movements and mana."
Lys's voice was slightly animated. When it came to topics of knowledge, she came alive.
"You really do love studying, Lys."
"It's not so much that I love it—learning things you don't know is fun, isn't it?"
"That's a world I don't understand at all."
"Speaking of which, Kale. Have you been practicing your letters?"
Lys looked at Kale with a teacher-like expression.
"...Well, a little."
"A little, is it. Then, can you read this character?"
Lys wrote something on the ground with her finger. Illuminated by the campfire light, it stood out clearly.
"...Let's see, this is... it looks like the shape of a field..."
"The shape of a field!? This is the 'ma' in 'mana.' There's no way it looks like a field."
Lys raised her voice in exasperation.
"But it's square, right? Like a field plot."
"Just because it's square doesn't make it look like a field. Your head really is full of nothing but fields, isn't it?"
"I'm a farmer's son. Can't help it."
"It's not something you can't help. I've been teaching you for nearly a month now. How can you not even remember a single character like 'ma'?"
"It's not that I can't remember. I can remember it if I think of it as the shape of a field."
"That doesn't count as remembering."
Lys held her head in her hands. Noel was giggling beside her.
"Now, now, Lys. Kale is a field genius, so just let him learn through fields."
"Even you, Noel?"
"But it's funny."
"This isn't a laughing matter. Before we reach Lueberg, I need him to at least be able to read his own name."
"I do want to learn to read. But those symbols just won't stick in my head."
"They're not symbols. They're letters."
"To me, they're no different from symbols."
Lys let out a deep sigh.
"...Well, I did think it wouldn't happen overnight. But please take it a little more seriously."
"I got it. Starting tomorrow, I'll take it more seriously."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I promise."
Kale looked straight into Lys's eyes and nodded. Lys opened her mouth as if to say something for a moment, but in the end only said quietly, "Understood."
The campfire crackled.
——
That was when it happened.
"...Someone's coming."
Noel suddenly grabbed her bow. The laughing expression vanished, and her amber eyes narrowed sharply.
"What?"
"Quiet. Footsteps. One person. ...No, wait. The presence is thin."
Noel quickly stood and nocked an arrow to her bow. Kale also reached for the short sword at his hip.
Lys gripped her staff with a tense expression.
"...I know you're there. Come out."
Noel's voice echoed through the night forest.
A moment of silence.
Then, from the shadows of the trees, a single woman appeared.
Long black-brown hair. Twisted, coil-like locks glinted dully in the moonlight. Deep amber eyes. On both forearms, patterns like minute magic circles were inscribed.
"...I'll disarm. I am not your enemy."
The woman slowly raised both hands. Her voice was quiet and matter-of-fact.
"Who are you?"
Noel's bow remained pointed at the woman's heart, unmoving.
"Isara Thialis. A reader of stars."
"A reader of stars...?"
Lys murmured in surprise.
"Yes. The arrangement of the stars showed me. That your destination would intersect with my path."
The woman who called herself Isara slowly walked toward the campfire. Noel kept her bow drawn, tracking her every movement.
"And you expect us to believe that?"
"Whether you believe or not is your freedom. But I bear no hostility. My only weapon is this."
Isara placed the small cloth bag at her hip on the ground. Then she slowly lowered both hands.
"...If you use any strange arts, I'll shoot immediately."
"I don't mind."
Isara sat down beside the campfire.
That was when it happened.
Her amber eyes caught sight of Aldren.
"——"
Isara's body went rigid.
Her expression vanished.
No, that wasn't it. For an instant, something violent crossed her face. Shock. Fear. And awe.
"...That old man."
Isara's voice trembled faintly for the first time.
"He's my uncle. Aldren Serius."
"Aldren... Serius..."
Isara murmured the name as if tasting it. Her gaze remained sewn to Aldren's face, unmoving.
"You know my uncle?"
"...No. I don't know him. But—"
Isara cut off her words.
"But?"
"...No. It's nothing. The stars around this old man are strangely distorted."
"The stars are distorted?"
"Yes. It's something only I can see. Don't mind it."
Isara finally looked away from Aldren. But her fingertips were trembling slightly.
Kale observed Isara's demeanor carefully.
(This woman... she knows something.)
(About my uncle. No—more than that.)
"...So, what do you want from us?"
Kale asked with caution.
"I ask to accompany you. I want you to take me along as far as Lueberg."
"That's sudden."
"The stars showed me. That on this journey, there is something I must witness."
"Something you must witness?"
"...I can't say yet."
Isara gazed at the campfire flames. Her amber eyes reflected the flickering fire.
"Suspicious."
Noel said, keeping her bow drawn.
"I'm aware I'm suspicious. But I can be useful to you. My knowledge of star-reading should help on your journey."
"...Kale, what do you think?"
Noel deferred the decision to Kale.
Kale looked at Aldren. His uncle, as always, stared at the campfire flames with vacant eyes.
Then he looked at Isara.
She was looking straight back at him. Something deep lurked in the depths of her eyes.
"...Fine. But if you try anything strange, I won't show mercy."
"I'm grateful."
Isara bowed her head slightly.
——
The night deepened.
The campfire flames gradually grew smaller.
Noel volunteered for watch duty and sat on a rock a short distance away. Lys, wrapped in a blanket, fell asleep. Isara sat by the campfire, quietly gazing up at the stars.
Kale sat beside Aldren's wheelchair, hugging his knees.
"...Kale."
Unexpectedly, his
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