“Urie, dear, we'll see you later,” Rivelle bid Urie goodbye, “Wave to our usual spot, alright?” She got back on the carriage with the two maids and left for their tea house reservation.

Urie stood at the gate where children were getting ready for the parade. The magic adepts handling the event approached and ushered him towards a position near the center of the gathering.

—I'm finally going to take part in the parade!

Urie had only ever enjoyed watching the spectacle from the sidelines, but now he was going to march alongside it. All of the children that had turned ten years old before the day of the festival were eligible to attend. At the end of the parade was a ceremony conducted every year to awaken the mana seed within them.

Urie became giddy at the thought of being able to use magic.

He couldn't help but flash a smile towards all of the other children while looking around. A few minutes later, however, a certain detail caused his ears to slightly flush.

—Ah, I knew it... Maybe I should've just worn my shirt...

The others also had their best outfits on but except for a handful of others, most of them wore plain white clothing. Urie mused wryly— in the middle of a field of white tulips, a bright red rose was highly noticeable.

Maybe he should've worn something else?

“No,” Urie chuckled, “This way, mother wouldn't have to strain her eyes looking for me— Hmm?”

At the side, he noticed a girl wearing a dress of pastel yellow. She had the likeness of a vivid sunflower which, instead of facing the sun, was looking over at him instead.

—Do I know her? Hmm... I don't think I do.

Bob-cut black hair and chestnut-amber eyes— Urie turned his head from left to right, just to ascertain if he really was the one receiving her attention. Sure enough, the girl's eyes didn't move from his position.

He had only ever played with his brothers and the younger maid, Patty. He was also home-schooled by his mother. There was not much interaction with other children, so who was this girl that was staring him down?

—Ah, maybe she's just glad she's not the only one wearing something that's not white?

Urie locked eyes with the bob-cut girl and flashed one of his smiles, taking the girl by surprise. She hurriedly turned away from him and placed attention to the front of the parade.

“Oh... She must've been looking at someone else then,” Urie felt a bit embarrassed. He also faced front as it seemed it was time for the parade to set off.

An abrupt thunder-like clap rang at the head of the parade, from the wind adepts amplifying a simple striking of their palms with magic, echoing loudly. Following this yearly signal, they continued with the rhythm of beating drums and the melody of various instruments.

From the entrance of Daerin to the square at the foot of Erden's Tower, the march had begun. Bright banners and decorations lined up on the timber-framed buildings— Urie felt it opposite to the usual quaintness of the city. They drew color to the occasion.

While on the ground, magic adepts emitting the subtle glow of mana were putting on a wonderful performance with waterworks and dancing miniature clay dolls. Parents and bystanders as well, added liveliness as they cheered at the sides in support and excitement.

"Nooo!" some of the children exclaimed. A cacophony of woes and shame.

One of the events that usually occurred during the Harvest Festival, one that bystanders enjoyed while having tea beside the main road, had begun.

—It's even funnier up close.

Urie smiled and chuckled while watching the other kids' reactions, but a certain prop from an hour earlier made a figurative slap at the back of his head. His enjoyment had ceased.

“Don't tell me...” he grimaced. The large roll of cloth that the maid, Ersha, was carrying. Urie was too excited about the festival that the thought never crossed his mind.

At the halfway point of the parade, the screams of the children still continued. He gulped, they were nearing the teahouse where his mother and the two maids had made a reservation.

“Nooo!“ his ears flushed red enough to match the color of his coat.

Urie quickly hid his face when he saw his mother instructing the two maids, Patty and Ersha, to wave around a flamboyant banner embroidered with his name. Although, as the other children were crying over the same predicament, he did not attract much attention.

—Ah! Mother, that thing is too embarrassing! You didn't have to bring that!

The screams died down only when they neared the entrance to the square. Urie looked up as a massive tower had come into view. Erden's Tower, with its top reaching high up into the clouds, he couldn't tell how tall it actually was.

“This is it,” Urie mumbled, as he felt his heart racing. After this, he would be able to use magic. He would be able to help out his father at the wall.

Arriving at the square, Urie closed his eyes after taking a seat by the fountain along with the other children. The adepts in charge of the ceremony positioned themselves behind them and held their arms up at the children's backs.

Various shades of blue, vibrant shimmering yellow, and whimsically swaying green, the magic adepts glowed with mana as they communed with the spirits.

This year, Undine was presiding over the festival, but only to watch over the proceedings. Everyone was aware of her presence, but only until certain prerequisites were fulfilled would she be able to show herself.

In her stead, doll-sized minor spirits manifested and fluttered above the children. Individually they came up to a child and gathered mana towards their chests. This was an act to saturate seeds with mana. When enough had soaked in, one by one, the children began to match the spirits' glow, a sign of awakening mana roots.

“Oooh! That child has a high affinity with the earth spirits!”

“As expected of someone from the Perid House! If the greater spirit of the earth was here, then surely he would have personally given her his blessing!”

There was a cry of admiration from the crowd. They were paying attention to the bob-cut girl who had been staring at Urie. She was not only emitting a vibrant yellow light but around her, dust, stones, and broken pieces of the pavement hovered an inch off of the ground. On her face bloomed a smile of satisfaction.

“Wasn't there the little commander of the Loeth House? Can we expect the appearance of a greater spirit again this year?” a bystander commented. Some had heard his words and began to look for the silhouette of Undine while the ceremony went on.

Until half of the children had already started to give out a steady light— Urie, however, was still seated and patiently waiting for his mana roots to form. Time went on— a few seconds, then minutes, and soon all the children were finished and waiting for the ceremony to end.

—But why!? How could this happen!?

Urie was panicked. Cold sweat had gathered on his palms and he was gradually losing heart. He placed his focus on the motes of mana approaching his red seed and could see them being rejected, forced back outside of his body.

—Spirits! Why? Why have none of them approached me...?

Ethereal representations of the elements, fairy-like beings— they went around all the other children yet why had none come to visit him? They all stayed a distance away as if his mana seed was really a ball of fire that would burn them if they got too close.

[Dear child...]

A gentle, soothing voice resounded within his head and for a moment, his thoughts became clear.

—Undine?

The greater spirit, Undine's. He felt it kind and intimate. Hearing her voice in his head rekindled his hopes as he thought that she had arrived personally to give him her blessing. A moment later, however, he opened his eyes and looked down at his trembling hands.

—I-I can't use magic?

His lips quivered and his shoulders dropped in resignation. It was over, the ceremony was over. For a second he was uplifted, only to be doused of the remaining embers of hope.

Undine's words...

[My heart aches for you...]

They were of consolation.