Eldmia Ega
Eldmia Ega
The day had passed in a blur.
After we sorted the bandits' gear and belongings, tied up the horses, and moved the corpses of those bastards far from my parents' graves, we reached my house in the mountains.
I'd originally been living in the dugout because I never knew when or how another attack might come, but Asilie said there were no threats left nearby.
The inside of the house was clean.
It felt as if the house was saying that if Mother hadn't gone down to the village that day, the whole family would still be alive, and a sudden surge of grief welled up.
"Let's go. First, we need to wash. Cleanliness is the most important thing in life, after all."
I didn't know if my feelings showed on my face, or if Asilie noticed my clumsy hands while I gathered simple clothes, but she gently spoke as she scooped ash powder from the fireplace to use as soap into a small wooden bucket, and she wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Even though it had only been three days, the human warmth felt like it had been ages.
The valley was nearby, so we didn't have to go far, but it was dark. I thought I'd have to make a torch, but Asilie so naturally summoned a ball of light that it startled me.
The valley we reached turned out to be bright enough even without the light orb, since it was a full moon with no clouds. The thought of washing in the cold autumn stream already made my heart feel like it was stopping, but once again Asilie didn't fail to surprise me.
When she gestured, the stream water rose into a sphere and came flying toward the bank.
"I had the help of spirits for this."
Before I knew it, little fire-lizard-like things flew up from Asilie's fingertips and started circling the water orb floating in midair. I could tell what they were doing just by looking, and I couldn't help but be amazed.
Hot water...! Eco-friendly hot water in this environment! Asilie looked at my deeply moved face, laughed once, and began washing my hair.
"There's a village not far from here. Going by its size, it's more like a town. Selling the bandits' equipment and horses will bring money."
Looking out at the moonlit valley, everything that had happened that day felt unreal. With perfectly warm water continuously washing over my hair, I almost felt as if I were dreaming. I relaxed into Asilie's hands as she washed my hair and listened to her talk.
"We can keep the sword, dagger, and gauntlets; they'll be useful. Those men didn't have much of their own, but they robbed the slave trader who originally had me, so their pockets should be pretty full."
It was the sort of thing she could've just thought through on her own, but whether she was being mindful of our agreement or simply making conversation, she kindly explained every little decision to me. I appreciated it, though her continuing to speak so politely made me uncomfortable.
"Big Sis, just speak casually."
"Huh?"
"No, I mean, contract or not, I'm not your superior, and we're going to be together for the next eight years. It feels weird having you speak so politely to me, Sis."
"W-Would it... be okay?"
"Yeah. Just talk normally."
"Alright, but I still haven't heard your name."
Oh man. With everything going on, I'd even forgotten to introduce myself.
"I'm Eldmia Ega. Son of Radan Ega and Evisher Ruina, Eldmia Ega."
"You... seem to understand what it means to introduce yourself that way. I couldn't have imagined I'd hear an introduction like that from someone your age. The more I see of you, the more fascinating you are."
"Because I don't seem like a kid?"
I asked with a hint of laughter. The hand washing my hair paused for a moment as she chuckled, then resumed.
"You're aware of it yourself?"
"I know. I put a lot of effort into hiding it."
"Hiding? From who?"
"From the villagers and my parents, all of them."
Thanks to that, I was treated as the quiet kid. I didn't have a memory good enough to recall exactly how I'd acted when I was very young, so I just copied the other kids' behavior, which resulted in that perception. I didn't explain in detail, but Asilie chimed in with "That must've been pretty tough, huh." Was this the depth of 120 years of experience?
"Come to think of it, your skill against those bandits earlier wasn't ordinary. How did you do it?"
The change of subject was a little abrupt. She was probably trying to keep me from sinking into gloom while thinking about the past. There was no reason to brush aside that consideration, so I went along with the conversation.
"I strengthened my body with Magic Power."
"What? You already know how to use magic?"
"No. I can't use magic. I can only sense Magic Power, and I can just wrap it around my body to make myself stronger."
If I'd held on just one more year, I might've even learned it. I was thinking that when Asilie's hand washing my hair suddenly stopped, she turned my body around and faced me. I looked up, wondering what was going on, and her face was dead serious.
"How long has it been since you started sensing Magic Power?"
"I don't know the exact date, but it's been at least three years?"
"Three years? When you were five? You didn't get sick or have a fever during that time, did you?"
"I've been healthy my whole eight years of life."
Her reaction was odd. Could it be that? Was I a hidden prodigy? Was I actually someone reincarnated with a real purpose?
I casually asked, "Why?" The answer I got was a shock.
"That... don't do that anymore. At this point, maybe surviving this long wasn't just luck, but normally, doing that would kill you."
"...What?"
With a very serious face, covering her mouth as she mulled it over, Asilie nodded and confirmed it.
"Really... it's hard to say this given what happened to you, but your survival is almost at the level of divine protection. It isn't a matter of maybe. Normally, doing that kills people."
The skill I'd thought of as Eldmia's ultimate move was actually a suicide move. After she carefully composed her expression, she went back to washing me, and the content she explained was shocking in itself.
Mages manifested magic with Mana. Knights strengthened their bodies with aura. That wasn't just a difference in terms; it was genuinely different, hence the distinction.
Magic Power was refined into either Mana or aura. It was nothing more than the raw material.
"Battle mages and magic knights are very rare. If they truly used the same Magic Power, there'd be no reason for them to be rare, right?"
I'd thought an analogy wasn't necessary, but once I heard it, every single part of it rang true.
It wasn't simply because it was hard to master. There are those who only dig one road, and there are always those who try to dig both paths by any means.
Yet they were few. Yet those who made a name for themselves were extremely rare. The reason was that it wasn't just different in theory; it was an entirely different skill.
I'd thought it was like a master baker aiming to be a master cake maker, but as it turned out, there was a gap as wide as that between a master of steak and a master of sushi.
That was it. What I was feeling right now was unrefined, pure Magic Power. Just a lump of Magic Power that no one would ever think to use whole.
"To use an analogy... it's like rock salt. You're supposed to chip off a little, grind it into powder, and consume it bit by bit. You're swallowing whole chunks instead."
It was such a vivid analogy I could practically taste the salt. And because she'd picked salt of all things, it really did sound fucking terrible for my health. When I said as much, Asilie looked even more puzzled.
"You really are more unpredictable by the minute. Humans treasure salt because it's expensive; in fact, there's even a belief that the more you eat, the better it is for you, unconditionally."
Back home, while Asilie fussed over drying my hair and body, I thought about it and wondered if that really was how this world saw salt. But I'd already said it, so I decided to let the matter slide.
"Those guys are just uncivilized, I'd say."
"Hehe. It looks like the next eight years won't be boring. Could this be Asha's guidance?"
Wasn't Asha the guardian of the World Tree and the elves' god? I wondered whether there was some specific religious teaching behind what Asilie had said, but decided to ask another time.
Anyway, rock salt.
Naturally, it's bad for you. They say that just in the records, hundreds of people died the first time they tried it to gain more power.
Like, literally, they went "boom" and exploded to death—how fucking horrible is that!
"Strong mages and knights refine their power and, as their technique improves, gradually increase how much Magic Power they can safely draw on. Even among those who eventually become Archmages, I've never heard of anyone using Magic Power whole like you do. The same goes for knights."
The method a mage had taught me for sensing Magic Power was literally just sensing. No matter how desperately you practiced for decades, it would only go from feeling it on your fingers to feeling it all over your body; it wasn't a way to directly manipulate that sensed Magic Power. In other words, normally I shouldn't have been able to do anything.
It's like having a driver's license for a car but flying a plane without any problem. Then what the hell am I?
"For now, I need to get to know you better too, so let's wait and see. You could be an unprecedented prodigy in history, but I don't want to stake my benefactor's life on such a slim possibility."
"Okay."
There was nothing to be impatient about anyway, so I took it in stride. I'm Eldmia Ega, with a mental age approaching thirty, after all. I'm a guy who knows how to wait.
Asilie seemed about to express concern at my calm reaction, but then she ended with a faint smile and patted my head. I took it as trust.