In the three days since my return to the royal capital, I had entrusted Tilty, Halphys, and Tomas with researching and mass-producing a new magical sword design based on artificial magicite. Now, with that business concluded, I had returned to the development site with Navre and the others. “That’s the plan, Lieutenant Commander! For the time being, we’ll be concentrating on magicite research, so let me know if anything urgent comes up!” I cheered. Dragus, reading over a stack of documents in his office, smiled weakly. “Hmm… Our research facilities aren’t fully up and running yet. Are you sure?” “Actually, this kind of research is better done outside! We’ll be borrowing one of the vacant lots.” “I understand. I wish you the best of luck with your experiments.” “Thanks. By the way, did you run into any trouble while I was gone?” “No, nothing in particular. Only…” “Yes?” “I’m a little concerned about what the monsters are doing. We’ve seen less of them lately. Are they lurking on the perimeter, waiting for an opportunity to strike? Or are they moving away? It would be a relief in the latter case, but there’s still every sign they’re nearby. We may find ourselves facing a small-scale stampede sooner or later.” “Hmm… A stampede, huh? Do you think we could handle a small one with our current resources?” “I believe so, at present levels. But if a magicite monster rears its head, there’s no way to know for sure.” “Got it. Then I want everyone to be vigilant. Anything out of the ordinary, I want to hear about it, down to the most trivial details.” “As you wish.” Hmm. Perhaps our efforts to thin their numbers had taught the nearby monsters caution. If we pushed them too hard, they could start fighting among themselves, which risked drawing the attention of magicite monsters, just as Dragus feared. “Magicite monsters… That could be a chance to get our hands on more magicite, though…,” I wondered aloud. “I hope I didn’t hear what I think I heard, Commander Anisphia…?” Navre remarked. “I just mean, you know… If nothing happens, that’s great. But if it does, as a researcher, well…” “…” “…I’m joking, Navre. Come on. Peace is what we want!” Intimidated by his cold gaze, I looked away, retracting my statement. Navre shook his head; I’m sure he found my behavior incredibly vexing. “I understand your desire to conduct research, but given your present magicite inventory, I don’t see the need to add any more.” “I know, I know. Sorry! I’ll think of ways to make better use of what I already have!” Navre was right. I did have an extensive stock of magicite crystals. When I showed everyone the collection I had set aside for research, they were one and all taken aback by the sheer number of items. That being said, we would most likely have to let the vast majority of them lie dormant for the time being. The chances of being able to handle any particular specimen were low. “Well then, let’s start trying them out!” I called, leading Navre and the others to a deserted lot set aside for later construction. It was an open space a short distance from the outer wall, and though we could see people working in the distance, there was no one in the immediate vicinity. Once we were all ready, I opened the lid of my magicite storage case. “There are so many of them…,” Charnée murmured in admiration as she peered into the case. “My head hurts thinking about how many monsters the commander must have hunted to get these…,” Navre mumbled with a sigh. I glanced at Garkie, worried that he might be feeling a little left out lately, but he merely shrugged his shoulders. “This is Lady Anis we’re talking about, Navre. Surely you know her well enough by now.” “You can’t just let her recklessness slide like that…” “All right now, come on!” I interrupted in an effort to shift gears. “We’re going to conduct a few experiments to see how each crystal reacts. But there’s something I need to warn you about first.” We had to be careful from here on out if we were to respond to any contingencies. Perhaps sensing my concern, everyone wore a solemn look. They knew enough to take whatever warnings I had seriously, and for that, I was grateful. Now that everyone was on guard, I launched into my explanation. “I don’t think you’ll find a compatible piece right away, but if you come across one that responds strangely, let go of it immediately. Worst-case scenario, you might end up absorbing it into your body.” “Absorbing the magicite…? That’s a scary thought,” Charnée exclaimed, swallowing. “The odds of that happening are low, but you should still be cautious,” I reassured her as warmly as I could. “I—I understand!” “Like I said, that’s the worst-case scenario, but we do have to consider the possibility. That’s a key difference between magicite crystals and spirit stones.” “Just how likely is it?” Garkie asked. “Hmm… About as likely as meeting someone who looks like your mirror image, I guess?” “…That would be pretty difficult, unless you’re a twin. Right?” “Like I said, it’s extremely unlikely. But since we don’t have a lot of information to rely on, we’ll have to test and see what happens.” “Hmm. I guess so,” Garkie muttered. “That’s the impression I always got, in my experience. Even here in the Kingdom of Palettia, I don’t think people are doing enough research into magical energy itself. Plenty of people don’t think any deeper than the surface level,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. It was easy enough to say that magical energy—mana—was universal. I believed, however, that there were differences from person to person, which were what gave rise to varying strengths and weaknesses and aptitudes. More to the point, there were people like Tilty who became mentally and physically unwell when using magic. The true nature of magical energy clearly wasn’t fully understood. In the Kingdom of Palettia, magic was considered mystical, and as a result, most people lacked any desire to delve deep into its secrets. The dominant culture led to this lack of curiosity about magic’s inner workings. Those perceptions would have to be changed, slow though the process might be. As it was a matter of faith for much of the kingdom, it couldn’t be rushed. For that reason, I had decided that the best shortcut was to proceed steadily without haste. Today’s experiment was one step in that direction. “Commander Anisphia, is there a quick way to tell if one’s mana is compatible with any given magicite crystal?” Priscilla asked. “Not until you try it. It’s also not certain how much of its power we’ll be able to draw out. There’s every chance it won’t do anything at all.” “That sounds rather challenging…” “In science and technology, progress is all about steady trial and error.” “I see. Is there anything else we should be mindful of?” “Hmm… Right. Spirit stones react to a person’s will when activated with magical energy. The key difference with magicite is that spirits stones don’t harbor their own innate will.” “Does that mean magicite crystals are alive?” Priscilla asked, discreetly raising a hand into the air. Charnée startled at this question, quietly backing away from the magicite case. “It depends on how you define alive. Personally, I don’t think so. Maybe it would be more accurate to say they house residual thoughts?” “Residual thoughts…?” “Magicite crystals are thought to be created when monsters adapt to harsh environments in order to survive, hence my belief that they house strong wills and thoughts.” Considering the dragon magicite that now dwelled within me, I was fairly confident on this point. Bits and pieces of knowledge sometimes flowed from the magicite that I now called my own. That happened only when I was already close to stumbling on the solution to a problem, though—it was no help while I was still struggling to figure it out. Why didn’t you just tell me from the beginning? I sometimes felt like complaining, but it was no use. No matter how I pressed, the magicite wouldn’t respond. Either the dragon’s will had left it, or the crystal was just being stubborn. Personally, I thought it had a bit of a mean streak. Vampires were born the same way. In other words, it made perfect sense to think that magicite crystals possessed some kind of will or consciousness. “To harness the power of a magicite crystal, you either need to be in tune with its will or overcome it with your own. Either way, you can then grow a new crystal inside yourself, and for monsters, they become ever stronger.” “So it’s all about strength of will…?” “Well, I don’t have any concrete evidence to support this theory. That’s what we’re here to confirm! Let’s get started! Taking care not to make any mistakes, of course!” “…That’s all well and good, but why do you not sound particularly cautious, Commander?” Navre murmured gloomily, his shoulders slumping. “Shut up, Navre,” I fired back, holding the magicite case in my arms. “If anything catches your eye, go ahead and touch it. Intuition is key in situations like this.” “Ugh. I’m scared to touch them… They’re so rare…” Charnée, no doubt put off by my explanation, timidly kept her distance. “They don’t hold much practical value, but I do think they’re worthwhile symbols of honor,” I observed. “Symbols of honor…?” Garkie repeated softly. “…? Garkie?” Before I knew it, I caught him staring down at the magicite crystals with uncharacteristic solemnity. Just before I could ask him if everything was all right, he looked up. “Lady Anis, did you bring that crystal, too?” “Which crystal?” “…The one from the demi-human we encountered in Filwach Forest.” “…Ah. Yeah. It’s here.” I understood now why he seemed so out of sorts. During our sojourn into Filwach Forest, we came across a demi-human being chased by a vampire, and it was Garkie who took care of him in his final moments. I indicated the demi-human’s magicite, and Garkie reached out to pick it up. “…If what you said is true, Lady Anis, and magicite holds on to its original consciousness, would we be able to figure out what he was thinking?” he murmured as he held it up to the sunlight. “…I’m not sure.” “I’m just curious, is all. Do you mind if I try channeling mana through it?” “Go ahead, please,” I said. Garkie nodded, tightening his fingers around the crystal. He remained silent for a long moment, with no visible reaction. Eventually, apparently having failed to get a response from the magicite, he shook his head. “…It’s no good,” he breathed softly. “Hmm. You didn’t feel anything?” “It wasn’t that there’s no response. More like my mana wasn’t being absorbed by it. I see what you mean—it feels different from channeling mana into a spirit.” “I see. So just channeling magical energy isn’t enough, then…?” “What kind of magic did the demi-human use…? I mean, his whole body was covered in flames…,” Garkie mumbled, still staring at the magicite crystal—when it began to glow faintly. For a second, I doubted my eyes—but it was indeed emitting a dull light. Just before I could put my thoughts into words, the light vanished. A moment later, Garkie’s hand burst into flames. “Wha…?!” I sputtered. “Hey, Gark?!” Navre exclaimed. “Y-your hand is on fire!” Priscilla screamed. “…Huh? Wh-what? My hand?” Garkie snapped out of his reverie and looked up in panic—and the second he laid eyes on his burning hand, he froze. “Huh?! What the hell?!” “Gark! Let go of the magicite!” “C-can’t you feel it?! It’s literally burning, right?!” “Of course it’s hot…! No, hold on! Huh?! What the hell is this?!” Garkie screamed, waving his hand with all his might. The flames, however, refused to dissipate. Both Navre and Charnée were crying out in alarm, but Garkie was so flustered that he wasn’t paying them any attention. “W-we’ve gotta put it out! We’ve gotta extinguish it!” “Excuse me, Master Gark,” Priscilla intervened calmly, summoning a sphere of water over his hand. But the water evaporated in a cloud of useless steam. Priscilla’s eyes widened in shock. “Oh dear…” “It won’t go out…?!” “It has weakened, though!” “Then maybe another one will do it…,” Priscilla began, when— “…No, it’s all right. I’ll stop it,” Garkie interrupted, regaining his composure. After taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes—and the flames clinging to his hand gently weakened until they were gone. There were no burns on his skin, but still I raised a hand to my chest in relief. “Are you okay, Garkie?” I asked. “Y-yeah. I’m fine.” “And the magicite?” “It’s fine, too. I think,” he said, showing me the crystal. I couldn’t discern any outward changes. Realizing that I was sweating, I breathed a sigh of relief and wiped my forehead. There was a startling amount of perspiration on my hand. “What on earth did you just do, Gark? How did you activate the magicite?” Navre demanded. “I was just imagining how the demi-human might have used it as I channeled mana into it, and then it ignited…” “You mean you re-created the demi-human’s powers?” “Is that what happened…?” Garkie wondered. I never would have expected that it could be so easy to unleash the power of a magicite crystal. “Can you do it again?” I asked. “I’ll try,” he answered, clutching the crystal and focusing his attention once more. He let out a small groan, and the magicite again began to emit its faint glow. Then, in a split second, Garkie’s hand lit up in flame. The flames didn’t seem to be burning him—they simply flickered over his hand, moving gently in the breeze. Very curious. “I did it… This is pretty tough, though, you know?” “Tough?” “I mean, it’s a lot more difficult than regular magic… Pretty tiring. And I don’t think I can control it at will.” “Can you put it out?” “Sure,” he answered, and the flames quickly disappeared as if they never existed. Just as I had expected, there was nothing wrong with either Garkie’s hand or the magicite crystal. The flame itself was very unusual, but what exactly distinguished it from regular magic? “I can’t use magic, so I wonder if it would normally be possible for someone to safely shroud their hands in flame like that?” I asked the others. “No way. I’d be too scared to cover my body with actual fire…” “We can cover staves and weapons with magic, but you would need an expert’s level of control to directly enchant your own body.” “But Garkie’s hand was definitely burning just now from the magicite, right…?” “I wouldn’t say it was burning, exactly. More like the flames were attached to his hand, perhaps…?” Garkie waved his hand through the air, staring at it in muted consternation. I kept stealing glances and second-guessing myself, but he really seemed completely unharmed. What exactly was the nature of what we had just witnessed? “You said you were never particularly good at traditional magic, right, Garkie?” I asked. “Yeah,” he answered. “Tell you the truth, I’m surprised I managed to do whatever that was.” “Navre?” I asked, turning to address him. “Sorry to ask this, but could you try triggering it the same way Garkie did?” “Very well.” Navre took the magicite from Garkie and concentrated his attention on it. The crystal, however, neither lit up nor showed any other reaction. He remained that way for a long moment before finally shaking his head. “…It’s no good. I can’t get any response from it.” “Maybe Garkie’s the only one who can get a reaction from this one?” “Shall I try it?” Charnée asked. “I could attempt it, too,” Priscilla added. One after another, they both tried to elicit a reaction from the crystal, to no avail. In the end, I asked Garkie to try activating the magicite again, and sure enough, the flames reappeared for him. “It’s definitely responding only to you, Garkie,” I remarked. “Why, though?” “Hmm…” The others were all stumped, but I was considering two possibilities. The first was that Garkie’s magical energy simply had a high level of compatibility with the crystal. The second was more complicated. The demi-human had seemed to connect with Garkie for a moment before it breathed its last, and its final actions may have imparted something into the magicite—much like what existed between me and the dragon. They were both plausible explanations, but proving either would be incredibly difficult. Not even I knew how to demonstrate that magicite crystals contained an imprinted sense of will. While I could feel the dragon’s thoughts since absorbing its magicite into myself, that didn’t mean I could communicate with it or engage in conversation. In the end, the difficulty would be in proving the nature of magicite to outside observers. No doubt it would take a great deal of time to find a solution. Right now, however, something else was more important. “Lady Anis,” Garkie called out, tearing me from my thoughts. He was fixing me with an unusually stern look. “You’re going to turn this magicite crystal into a tool, right? In that case…” “Of course. I’ll let you have it.” “…Yes.” He breathed a deep sigh, staring down at the crystal still clasped tight in his hand. With his eyes in their usual squint, I had no way to read his emotions, but I could tell that he was deep in thought. “…Was it frightening?” I ventured. “No. Awe inspiring, maybe? Not simply scary. It’s just…” “Just?” “I’ll never forget what that demi-human looked like at the end, so I’ve got reservations about taking his powers into my own hands… I owe it to him to treat this crystal with the respect it deserves,” he murmured under his breath. His voice was calm and measured—quite unlike its usual tone. It was like a flame burning quietly but surely; not fierce, but reassuring, like a beacon in the darkness. Strangely, this side of Garkie didn’t bother me. Actually, my muscles relaxed as I leaned forward to tap him lightly on the shoulder. “If you keep at it, I’m sure you’ll master its power. After watching you just now, I’m certain of it.” “Lady Anis.” “What you’re experiencing right now must be similar to how I feel about the dragon. Maybe it’s because we’ve taken their lives, their very existences, into our hands. It’s a heavy thing when you put it that way.” Come to think of it, the dragon may well have entrusted its future to me, too. If there was some way to leave part of yourself behind after death… If you could give concrete form to the life you had led… Handing over a piece of magicite, an embodiment of one’s life and being, was its own form of bequeathing. In the grand scheme of life and inheritance, it wasn’t an unthinkable notion. Some might consider this chain of inheritance a blessing, while others might see it as a curse. It was my responsibility, as part of that chain, to ensure that inheritance didn’t follow the wrong path. I had to pray to continue to build on what I had been entrusted with. …My thoughts turned to Acryl—specifically, to a conversation we’d had. We hadn’t seen eye to eye then. This idea was something she might relate to—this chain of life, of living and dying and choosing how to approach the question of one’s existence. …Hold on. Maybe I should try talking to her again? I still didn’t understand a whole lot about demi-humans, and it would be good to get a closer perspective on how they saw the world. If using magicite to build magical tools was taboo in their cultures, I might need to reconsider this whole endeavor. “Lady Anis?” Garkie asked. “Is something wrong?” “Sorry, I’ve gotta go check on something! We’d better report back to Lieutenant Commander Dragus and be on our way!” “Eh?! That’s a bit sudden, isn’t it?! And where are we going?!” “To the frontier! I need to check in with Allie!” “Excuse me?!” Navre gawked. Why hadn’t this occurred to me sooner? I guess because I had just been using the dragon magicite however I pleased! If Acryl wasn’t against putting magicite to use, maybe I could even ask her for suggestions and advice! This would be a vital step in my plan to move forward! “Wait a minute, Commander Anisphia!” “Don’t you have enough common sense to at least give us a heads-up?” Allie grumbled. “I understand you’re oblivious to your position, but surely you’re not incapable of imagining the burden your unpredictability puts on others? Anyone ought to be able to do that much. You’re choosing not to. Aren’t you, Sister?” “Th-that’s why I’m apologizing…” “…You’re such a pain in the neck.” “I said I’m sorry!” We’d rushed to the frontier by Airdra and Airbike, hoping to meet with Acryl as quickly as possible. There, the two individuals I had come to see continued to needle me with a constant stream of snide remarks. Garkie and the others did their best to avoid making eye contact with our hosts. They evidently didn’t want to get involved—even if it meant hanging me out to dry. Allie made no effort to hide his displeasure. “I’m very busy, Sister. Be quick. Tell me what you want.” I mean, I knew he was busy. He had been awarded the title of baron and was spearheading development efforts in the frontier, so his position was similar to mine, in some respects. I guess I hadn’t really given much thought to it before… “Um, I actually came here to see Acryl, so don’t let me keep you…” “Her position here is complicated. By some perspectives, you could consider her a guest and a representative of the Lycant tribe. If you cause her any headaches, well…” “Hey, I didn’t come here to be a bother…” “Isn’t that what you’re already doing? I don’t trust you,” Acryl interjected mercilessly. “Ugh…!” I was to blame here. I knew that, but it still hurt. “We’re deeply sorry for the inconvenience, Master Algard.” Navre spoke up. “I’ll give Her Highness a proper warning later…” “It can’t be easy being my sister’s advisor, Navre…,” Allie said in a show of sympathy.
Chapter 119
19 min read