It was a bright spring day.
This day was dedicated to St. Sharlf, the martyr revered in this region.
The villagers, saying it was the best day for sowing seeds, were planting wheat with words of prayer.
My family, being bakers, did not own any fields.
Thus, on this sowing day, I had nothing particular to do and wandered around the village.
The village was poor.
Despite being the daughter of a baker, I had never in my life eaten my fill. That’s how impoverished we were.
But I didn’t know how to become wealthy. In fact, I didn’t even understand what the word “wealth” truly meant.
On that day, as I wandered around with an empty stomach, the busy villagers shooed me away, telling me to go elsewhere.
So, I ended up heading towards the forest.
The direction of the ‘Forest of Demons’, known to be dangerous.
That dark forest seemed to hide something terrifying.
But… the person I would come to love was there.
The person who would give me everything.
A gust of wind blew from the direction of the forest.
That was the beginning of everything.
The wind from the forest carried a scent, as if something was burning, and I followed that smell…
I found a boy, about my age, roasting rabbit meat.
Seeing his appearance, I immediately knew who he was.
“Aren’t you the son of the lord? What are you doing here?”
Yes, the lord’s eldest son.
Exus.
Even as a child, I remembered hearing people talk about his beauty.
When I first saw Exus, I couldn’t help but sigh at his stunning appearance.
At home, I used to say I wanted to be his bride.
That day, Exus shared some of his precious game meat with me.
The taste of that salty rabbit meat, something impossible to get in the village, is still vivid in my memory.
As the daughter of a baker, shunned even in the village, I naturally began to visit Exus’s secret base in the forest.
One day, Exus rubbed my stomach.
I remember my body suddenly heating up, though I didn’t understand it at the time.
It was only recently that I became aware of my ‘desires’, and I believe there was nothing lewd about it.
Afterwards, Exus told me, “You have the talent for magic.”
Although he explained it, I couldn’t fully understand at the time, but apparently, he was checking for magical ability in me.
And I did have magical power.
From that point on, Exus began teaching me magic.
He taught me not only magic but also arithmetic, rhetoric, and alchemy.
During this time, he shared food he had gathered from far and wide, and I could eat my fill every day.
Especially, a dish Exus called ‘soufflé’, made from pure white flour, eggs, and milk, was like nothing I had ever tasted.
As a baker’s daughter, I knew a bit about cooking, but I couldn’t fathom how flour, eggs, and milk could become so fluffy like clouds.
I didn’t understand, but I loved that cake.
Even now, Exus sometimes makes me that pancake, as soft as a cloud.
Exus, who knew techniques unknown to anyone else, even in something as simple as making pancakes.
To be cherished by such an extraordinary person was nothing short of a blessing.
All I could do was strive to be useful, so I wouldn’t be abandoned.
I studied diligently.
To serve Exus, I first had to learn from him.
Exus knew everything.
He claimed, “I don’t know everything. But when you know one thing, it leads to understanding others. Knowledge is cumulative. I just think and know more than others.”
But I thought, even the scholars in the capital couldn’t have his wisdom.
If they did, this country would be a better place.
Listening to the stories Exus told about international relations made me realize this country’s grim future.
Exus knew how to enrich the territory, how to let people live prosperously, and how to eradicate suffering from the world.
The village chief and the lord didn’t care a bit about making the village or the country better, nor did they know how.
But Exus seemed to understand it all.
Once, I asked him playfully,
“Exus, how do you think this country could become prosperous?”
And he responded with hundreds of words.
“Oh, that’s an interesting thought experiment. First, we’d need to focus on education. Gather children and build schools. But we lack resources, so we’d start with the industry… specifically, primary industries. This land… hence, potatoes would… the introduction of blast furnaces… the separation of church and state…”
I didn’t understand most of it, but when he explained the unfamiliar words, I was convinced.
In essence, he proposed educating the populace, revitalizing agriculture with new crops, turning surplus labor into skilled workers, and renewing old systems to rejuvenate the nation.
It was a brilliant plan.
Such ideas were beyond the king and the nobles, who only cared about taxing the people and spending it on wars and luxuries.
I grew up under Exus’s tutelage.
Then, on the day bandits attacked the village…
I used magic to protect myself in front of the villagers.
After that, everything changed.
The villagers, who usually looked down on me as the strange girl who got along with the lord’s son, suddenly showered me with marriage proposals.
Men, even grown ones, sought to marry me, someone they had previously scorned.
I felt no triumph in their change of heart.
Just disgust.
I was repulsed and nauseated by the way even my own parents started to curry favor with me.
But.
Even in those times, Exus remained unchanged, treating me kindly.
Because of that, I…
So, I decided to live for Exus.
I no longer wanted to stay in the village.
The Departure of Ada von Jibril
Later known as the first subordinate of the ‘Demon God’ Exus, and from the techniques she used, called the ‘Seraph’, the great mage. She was also the founder of the Jibril family, a branch of the Exus von Xanadu lineage.
In the year 268 of the royal calendar, she departed from Rayvan Territory, a small, cold village at that time, almost like fleeing. This humble beginning is often altered in fictional accounts, considering it doesn’t match the grandeur of the legendary hero’s story.
