My Husband Was the Master of the Magic Tower

M5.

Masha has been very worried lately.

In the first place, there were few days when there were no worries, but the worries she has been having these days weren’t the sales of the store or the design of clothes. Or rather, they didn’t even occupy part of her mind.

Because of the person she cared about so much that she had no time to think of anything else.

What she was worried about was none other than her hometown friend. She thought she was dead, yet one day she suddenly appeared and revealed that she wasn’t going to die.

Ei was a friend who always stayed in a part of her heart, even if it wasn’t in the form of concern.

***

Masha still remembers the day her family, neighbors and friends all disappeared at once.

A letter stuck in her mailbox. It contained only a brief explanation of what had happened in the village and words of regret, not the daily life of her family and friends.

It was only about one day that she was able to deny someone was playing this prank. The next day, Masha ran madly to her hometown, and her eyes clearly saw the ruins, where no trace of her past could be found.

The sight that made her anxiety real in the most brutal way.

Less than ten people came to the modest funeral. There, all Masha could do was honor them with tears.

For a week after that incident, she cried at the thought of her family who had disappeared without a trace. The next week she cried at the thought that her hometown was gone, and then at the loss of all those who knew her.

She cried so much that when she thought there would be no more tears to come out, she remembered one of her friends, who had even been slow to reply to her letters.

Ah, how she missed that indifferent face at that moment.

A friend of hers, who always acted as if she was leaving somewhere, but that’s why she was even more grateful that she stayed there, was nowhere to be found. When she thought of that, strangely, the tears that seemed to have dried up a long time ago leaked out again.

Even after that, Masha remembered her family, her neighbors, her friends, and Ei.

Continue, until their faces were worn away from her memory.

***

As 10 long years passed, Masha got better very slowly. She still missed her family endlessly, and though she kept thinking of her hometown, she didn’t end up in her room crying like before.

She didn’t sleep in rage against the warring kingdom. Now she was able to express gratitude to the people who have taken care of her during her hard times, and when she recalled memories of her hometown, she didn’t feel any heartbreak.

But even so, sometimes…

“…”

Sometimes, there were times when she was buried in the past without even being able to touch it. Because the scars left never completely disappear.

There were nights when she wanted to disappear from the world because she couldn’t bear the feeling of loss. Masha stayed up all night on those occasions, trying to dispel the dark clouds in her head.

And before she fell asleep, she always sat still on the bed and fantasized that some of the townsfolk had run away.

Her imagination was close to escape from reality, but it helped a lot to calm her mind. It was mainly Ei, one of her friends, who became the subject of her imagination.

Unlike the other villagers, she wasn’t in the village to begin with, so maybe she could have run away. To a safe place where nothing like a bomb exploded.

She could suddenly disappear and suddenly appear one day with a nonchalant face. Just like the day she casually saved Masha, saying it was nothing.

Of course, it was unlikely that her friend would be miraculously alive, seeing her friend’s lover show his face in the newspaper looking insane. However, in Masha’s small wish, Ei was a living person somewhere. If it’s Ei, she might have been lucky enough to have survived, and she thought hopelessly yet hopefully sometimes.

She knew that it couldn’t be possible, that she only harbored false hopes. That’s why she had no expectations or waiting for her.

However, when she kept thinking that it would be nice if anyone was still alive as there was only longing left…

“…Ei?”

When she saw her friend standing in the middle of the capital, dressed in strange clothes, she thought it really was a dream.

In fact, if Ei had shown up just a few years earlier, Masha would have burst into tears as soon as she saw her. 10 years ago, as if she had gone back to those days when she was young.

However, the story Ei told her immediately after their meeting was so shocking that it made her tear up, so she never cried like the day she lost everyone.

It was fortunate for Masha, who now didn’t want to leave her hometown in tears.

***

Ei, who seemed confused about the identity and current situation of her loverㅡwho had become her husbandㅡquickly regained her senses.

She needed to somehow let her husband know that she was alive, and Masha was worried and cheered for her friend.

The night before sending her friend off, just before she was going to bed, Ei stared at herself and said.

“What if you’re having a hard time because you met me today?”

Masha was a little taken aback by that, but she smiled, albeit faintly. She somehow didn’t seem to ask much of Masha, and she didn’t even talk about the village they used to live in.

This indifferent but not ruthless friend was worried about Masha. Now that the person she thought was dead came back alive, it must have been a dig at her past wounds.

She was worried that her own presence might have aggravated Masha’s wounds.

But in fact Masha, from the time when they read the newspaper together, when Ei pretended not to see her own trembling hands, she had been vaguely aware of her thoughts.

She came back to life after she died, but it’s been 10 years, so she didn’t think she had time to think about it. Yet Masha didn’t say anything else of her own, she just said what she wanted to say all along.

“I’m glad you came back alive.”

“…”

“So find your husband properly. I want to see you and your family again.”

Ei, who seemed to be lost in her thoughts for a moment at Masha’s words, closed her eyes and smiled.

“Mm, I’ll come right over.”

“Phew. Can’t I really follow you? I’m already worried because I think I’ll have to wait here.”

“Don’t worry too much. I can’t tell him not to do something, but, well… I will drag him back somehow.”

And now she knows that she won’t die. Ei laughed as she added as if it were a joke, but Masha couldn’t help but feel bitter. Then she finally said she only sighed once.

“Alright, let’s go to sleep. I still have to get up early in the morning.”

“Are you going to see me off?”

“Of course.”

At Masha’s words, Ei smiled slightly and closed her eyes. Unlike herself who was full of worries, Ei seemed to have no worries, so she barely held back her sigh as it tried to come out.

But it would’ve been rather awkward if you were restless because you were worried.

It was a night deep enough to fall asleep normally. Just like the day when Masha imagined that one of the villagers had run away, she sat on the bed without falling asleep for a long time.

However, today was definitely different from the day she was soaked in loss. Masha knew that this day would remain in her memory for a very long time.

Perhaps, even until the day she dies.

Masha looked down at her friend, who was soundly asleep, and she murmured softly.

“Today I really thought I was dreaming while standing. I never dreamed of you coming back alive.”

She hadn’t seen her for a long time, but she knew it the moment she met her. It’s not difficult to paint over just because it’s faded.

And Masha was extremely grateful to Ei for repainting her own memories. A friend who made the imagination that some of the villagers would be alive, that she couldn’t even tell anyone, into reality.

As much as I thanked you today, I will pray hard for you. Don’t suffer as much as possible and just bring your husband back.

After a bit of playful thinking, Masha was able to fall asleep next to her friend.

***

“Something like a letter… hasn’t come.”

Indeed, how would she send a letter? Masha let out a big sigh and tossed scraps of paper onto the table. She hated every newspaper that didn’t contain the news she wanted, and every letter that didn’t have her friend’s name on it.

Until just now, she felt like she needed something to eat because of hunger, yet as soon as she checked the mailbox, she lost the will to put anything in her mouth. After she reclined on the sofa, she had no motivation and wanted to fall asleep.

Although it’s obvious, there was a lot of work to do. She has to clean up the house, eat dinner, open the strange box in front of the house…

When everything she expected, ‘Is there any news today?’, turned to nothing, she lost all her energy.

“Even if I try not to worry about you, Ei. Your husband is crazy…”

Talking to herself, she fell face down for a long time. She got up only when she thought she was going to die because she was really hungry. She was regretting that she should’ve bought something when she got off work.

Knock, knock, there was a sudden knock on the door outside.

Startled by the sound she hadn’t expected, Masha stopped. She hurriedly looked out of the window to see that the sky had already turned dark.

At first, she thought that some of the neighbors had come to visit. But they had never come at such a late hour, and if they did, they would call her name from outside.

Not keep knocking on the door without saying anything.

“…”

Cold sweat ran down her spine. Since she didn’t answer, they could have just left, yet the other person kept knocking on the door. The constant knocking sound, neither getting smaller nor getting louder, made Masha anxious.

She managed to swallow a dry spit, couldn’t even ask who that was, and then the thought of whether she had to answer crossed her mind.

So, should she reveal the person who kept knocking the door without revealing who they were?

She’d rather pretend no one was there. After a brief thought, she sneaked behind, but unlike before, a bang rang out from outside.

But something was strange. Masha was quick to notice that the sound was coming from a different direction.

If the noise came from the door earlier, it was closer to the window…

As soon as she involuntarily shifted her gaze to the right, Masha saw a man wearing black hood and screamed as hard as she could.

***

The scream, which had woken everyone on the street as well as the house next to her, suddenly stopped.

Afterwards, she had to sweat hard to send back the neighbors, who asked Masha what was wrong. Saying that she screamed because a guest came and she screamed because she thought she didn’t know who he was.

“Ei told me not to surprise her as much as possible, though.”

Masha’s ‘guest’ muttered as he sat on her sofa, still with his hood pulled up.

When Masha heard that, she answered questioningly, because she was dumbfounded.

“Is that the attitude of a person who doesn’t want to surprise me?”

“…”

The way he opened and closed his mouth as if trying to make an excuse was both unfamiliar yet familiar.

Masha looked back on this situation, when her friend’s husband appeared instead of her friend’s letter, and she touched her forehead, calling her friend’s name as if she was suffering.