Each One's Circumstances
Each One's Circumstances
It was ridiculous that I only learned this now, but apparently Magic Power wasn't something you could confirm with the naked eye.
"But Demonfolk felt the Magic Power I had, didn't they?"
"That's literally 'feeling' it. Like feeling warm water and cold water on your skin. Just a sense like 'Ah, Magic Power is moving in that person's body.' And you're telling me you can see Magic Power just by passing through a gate? What the hell kind of body do you even have?"
Since I couldn't exactly reveal that it was a body I'd been reincarnated into by the grace of Epaga, I really had nothing to say. While muttering in lament, Seneran didn't stop inspecting me with various tools like a health checkup, and soon she pulled out that first object—I couldn't tell if it was a syringe or a dropper—and waved it in front of me, asking.
"First, how does this look to you?"
"Well... it doesn't have a very clean, distinct shape. It's like light reflecting off oil mixed in water, I guess..."
Not that it looked messy or anything—it was a very pretty, subtle light, but I just couldn't find the right words to describe it. It would've been like saying it looked like a 3D graphic effect; there was no way she'd understand.
But even with that vague explanation, Seneran didn't mind in the slightest, and she stuck the tool into some kind of machine made of an unidentifiable tin cylinder and started fiddling with it diligently. Meanwhile, I idly looked around the room to pass the time.
Looking around again, it was a truly cluttered and chaotic room. It was hard to even call it unorganized—it was at that ambiguous level where you had to wonder if it was really just a pile of stuff. Besides the things Seneran was fiddling with now, there were all kinds of objects scattered around that I couldn't even begin to guess the purpose of.
There was no need to ask what all that stuff was for. I'd already confirmed during our travels how much her life depended on Magic Power research. It was all probably related to that.
"It's real."
After struggling with the machine for a while, Seneran took out the tool she'd inserted, then pulled three or four similar objects from another drawer and spread them out in front of me.
"This is Magic Power extracted from you. The rest are Magic Power samples from Demonfolk."
"...Simple."
"Simple."
A reddish light. A bluish light. A grayish light. The contents, which I could roughly describe like that, were clearly different from the Magic Power supposedly extracted from me.
"Is that machine for checking what color Magic Power is?"
"It's more of a device that helps you see what you can't with the naked eye. Even now, I can't see what color these are. I have to put them in the machine and fiddle with it a bit to see."
Judging by its appearance alone, it looked like some kind of brewing apparatus—apparently it served a role similar to a microscope. While I was lost in that idle thought, Seneran's expression turned serious as she organized the tools containing Magic Power and continued.
"Artificially storing Magic Power, and examining it like this—both require specialized tools. That goes for humans... and Demonfolk alike. At least as far as I know, no one exists who can see Magic Power directly."
She looked at me with narrowed eyes as if trying to read my inner thoughts, but all I could do was shrug my shoulders.
"I'm just a sword-swinger who uses what he's given."
"...Haa. Right. Do you have time by any chance? If you're okay with it, I'd like to check a few more things."
Maybe if Seneran examined me more closely, we'd learn something concrete. That would certainly be good for me too, but unfortunately today didn't seem to be the day.
"I have a prior appointment today, so I don't think I can. Let's schedule another time."
"A prior appointment?"
"Yes. The Margrave of Levien has graciously given me some of her time after a long while."
Maybe it was because my travels had stretched on without even a proper farewell. When I went to meet Ragnis after finishing all my business in Ogwen, she was in quite a sulky state. Perhaps she'd been busy in many ways herself—she had dark circles under her eyes and there was even a venomous edge to her demand that we meet today.
It had been weeks since we'd set the appointment and finally met—if I blew this off, I was sure a disaster would happen where Ragnis would rip every hair out of my head.
◈
Ragnis woke up, groaned at the fatigue that just wouldn't ease up, and rolled around on the bed before suddenly snapping to attention.
Feeling the lingering muscle aches that had plagued her over the past few weeks, she hurriedly checked the time, belatedly realized she'd woken up in her own residence and not in Radnelbandes's library, let out a long sigh, and lay back down on the bed.
Once the Envelde incident was settled and her political position and personal safety suddenly began falling into place, her workload started to shrink. The first person she sought out was Radnelbandes.
When she went to him after he'd finished his business in the Empire and asked for magic lessons focused on practical combat, Radnelbandes showed no sign of bewilderment and silently granted her request. He didn't even ask why she'd made such a decision and accepted so eagerly that Ragnis, who had steeled herself to propose it, was actually a little taken aback.
From the day Ragnis left Ogwen and first entered the capital, the attitude Radnelbandes had consistently maintained was to protect her, his disciple.
The biggest reason he, who normally didn't move much politically, had started siding with the royal family and running around all over the place day after day was none other than herself.
There might have been loyalty to honor her deceased father and loyalty of the master-disciple bond, but as a result, Radnelbandes actively tried to stop Ragnis from heading to the front lines to reclaim her territory.
Thorough protection. At times, he was so zealous and proactive that he looked like a grandfather trying to keep his granddaughter away from danger.
No matter how much they talked, Radnelbandes had never shown the slightest intention of bending that resolve. And then, as if it were a lie, he had relented and started granting her requests.
Naturally, it was bewildering. But soon after the lessons began, Ragnis began to suspect that she might have been mistaken.
The problem was the intensity. On her first day off after barely surviving the first week, she had to seriously consider whether Radnelbandes had designed a malicious curriculum to break her spirit and make her give up, so brutal were his lessons.
Even if Ragnis had endured tough times, mentally and physically, since her family's fall, honing magic and body under conditions designed to be infinitely close to real combat—an experience she'd never had—was not a smooth process.
But Radnelbandes, even consulting with an illusion mage, persistently tested her limits, and at the same time, showed meticulousness by mercilessly hammering her with theory lessons, leaving not even a moment for her mind to be worn down.
What kept her going was purely her single-minded resolve to lend strength to Eldmia's revenge.
The training was so harsh she sometimes wondered whether he was trying to make her a knight rather than a mage, and it did not even reliably allow four hours of proper sleep a day. According to Radnelbandes it was merely 'simple, basic preliminary study,' and she had completed it two days earlier.
While Radnelbandes prepared the next lessons, Ragnis was given a short break and returned home. After that, she spent her days stuck in bed, unable to contemplate doing much beyond eating and sleeping.
Her heart wanted to do the same today, but her mind, clearer than ever, started forcibly nagging her to get up.
"It's almost time for Eldmia to come..."
With a groan, Ragnis got up, rang the bell to summon the maids, and, dragging her aching body, took a bath while sorting out her thoughts.
Because they kept missing each other, nearly a month had passed without even seeing each other's faces properly. She wanted to protest that they lived in the same city and this was absurd, but since most of the incidents Eldmia had caused were closely tied to her, his busyness was inevitably unavoidable.
But even after hearing that he'd recently left the Ogatorf household and moved into the Adventurer District, she hadn't managed to even go see it, which was inwardly disappointing. The fact that he was only living with Asilie also stung a bit, but since they'd been together since childhood, it was understandable, so she could somehow accept it.
She didn't wonder why he'd left House Ogatorf, nor was she particularly worried. The Eldmia she knew generally understood what he needed and acted accordingly.
Without rushing, he moved under a plan so clear it was almost insulting to compare him to kids his age. She was just curious what he would do next and what plans he had. She had to move accordingly, too.
While continuing her thoughts, she finished grooming herself with the maids' help, then carefully lay down on the bed so as not to wrinkle her clothes and rested. It was a truly rare rest without any thoughts, but her head, which had grown accustomed to hard work, began reviewing the past weeks' training and lesson content on its own.
"I want to rest when it's time to rest..."
After twisting and turning, she realized she couldn't escape the cycle of review that kept chaining itself, so she decided to ponder a different topic altogether.
It was a simple yet elusive topic. What kind of trouble had Eldmia gotten himself into in just these few weeks?
Fortunately, the attempt worked, and Ragnis had to frown and groan until the maid entered to announce that Eldmia had arrived.