A Year to Live

A vast, pitch-black shape of a man.

It lunged and tore into every inch of me with its teeth.

All I could do was stare it down until the end.

"Gah—hngh!"

My eyes flew open as water surged up into my mouth.

An unfamiliar ceiling greeted me — but I recognized where I was the instant I saw it, and sat up at once.

"Huuuuaaargh!"

A torrent of black water poured from my mouth.

"What's going—kyaah!"

A nurse burst in late and screamed the instant she laid eyes on me. While she ran to fetch a doctor, I clung to the bed and shook.

What... what the hell had happened?

I was definitely standing in front of the monster's mana stone.

Had I been rescued?

The world spun. My stomach churned — probably from throwing up just now. I was still heaving up the gas rising from my gut when the doctor walked in.

He asked me this and that. Questions about my condition, a few tests. And then the conclusion.

It wasn't the doctor who delivered it.

"Excuse me?"

A mage was sitting beside the doctor — an eccentric who lingered at this hospital in his spare time, looking over patients. That line had come from his mouth, not the doctor's.

"You've got Mana Stone Sclerosis, kid."

What kind of insane thing was he saying?

"...Sir. Mana Stone Sclerosis? Is that even a real disease?"

"It happens now and then. Shows up in freaks born with mana despite having no mage bloodline. Your kind can't digest mana, you see."

He let out a dry little chuckle.

"It always ends the same way, in your people's words. You fail to beat Mana Stone Sclerosis, and the inside of your body turns to mana stone."

The world started going dark. I couldn't even process what I was hearing.

A death sentence? Me? Why?

I'd never had so much as a scrap of mana in my life. Just a weak body leftover from a childhood illness. And now I had mana in me? Did that even make sense?

Then one memory flashed through my mind — the cut on my hand when I'd touched the mana stone.

Had mana seeped into me then?

"...Is there a way to cure it?"

"The method's simple enough."

The mage grinned. It was unmistakably a sneer.

"You just have to become like us."

Become like them. In other words, become a mage.

Mages were a different breed from the start. They were gifted their talent from the heavens, and they ruled over everyone else from above. Could an ordinary person become a mage? If that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had ever been possible, everyone would have done it already.

"Of course, becoming some half-baked mage won't cut it. Looking at the state of your body, you've got quite a lot of mana in there."

As he said that, he pulled something from his coat. A business card with his name on it.

"Come find me when you're about to die. I'll buy your body for a high price."

Meaning: sell him my body once it turned into a mana stone.

I took the card in a daze, and the mage stood to leave.

"Fascinating specimen."

The doctor looked at me with pity. This was beyond what medicine could touch.

"...Doctor. What exactly happened?"

I'd opened my eyes and found myself in a hospital. Which meant someone had brought me here. When I asked the doctor, the answer was nothing like what I'd expected.

"Someone found you collapsed in the village and brought you in."

"...Not inside a monster corpse?"

"Pardon? There was no mention of any monster corpse."

None of this made any sense.

"You're free to be discharged. There's nothing more we can do for you."

And so I walked out of the hospital.

I'd become a dead man walking overnight. The thought left me staring into a void. I lifted a hand to cover my face in a daze—

"Huh?"

On the skin of my arm, something was attached. At a glance, it looked like a closed eye.

"Wh-what is this."

I prodded at my arm, wondering what it was, and pain shot through me — exactly like pressing a finger down onto an eyeball. This thing was attached directly to my body.

I sprinted back into the hospital.

"N-Nurse. There's an eye on my arm."

"What?"

The nurse looked at my arm like I'd lost my mind.

"There's nothing there."

And then her expression shifted into the look you give a lunatic.

Nothing there. She couldn't see it?

It wasn't just her. Everyone else looked at me like I was crazy. Not a single person agreed with me.

...Come to think of it, I just went through all those tests.

If it were visible, they would have found it already. And there had been a mage sitting right next to the doctor. If he'd sensed anything, he would have spotted it immediately.

Had the shock of being told I was dying made me start seeing things? My head was a mess. Had I actually gone insane?

In the end I was the only one who was strange, so I quietly walked back outside.

...I should go to the Monster Hunter Guild and ask what happened.

They might know something more.

I cut through the village streets and arrived at the guild. I pushed the door open, still catching my breath, and every gaze in the room swung toward me. Some of them frowned. Others looked outright incredulous.

What was their problem? The looks they were giving me weren't the usual ones. Normally they just looked down on me. They didn't stare this openly.

But I didn't feel like reacting. I had a year to live. What did any of this matter?

"Haren!"

Oble spotted me and stood up from his seat.

"What the hell did you do?"

"...What do you mean, what did I do?"

I'd need a memory of doing something first. Oble looked exasperated.

"There's a huge uproar that you stole the mana stone!"

"I stole the mana stone?"

What kind of bullshit was this?

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I just woke up in a hospital."

"That's what I'm saying."

"I believe that conversation would be better held with me directly."

A man's voice cut in. I turned. A man in a suit, his hair neatly parted, stood there.

I knew who he was. The guild manager of the Monster Hunter Guild in Laoren, the northern border city. Laorio.

He spent most of his time in the guild master's office except when incidents broke out. The fact that he'd shown up meant something had happened.

Oble looked at me, uneasy. Even so, he was worried about me — we were fellow monster hunters who'd been through a lot together.

"This way, please."

I hadn't stolen the mana stone. And I was dying anyway. What did it matter? I decided to walk in with my head high.

Laorio led me to the guild master's office.

Come to think of it, this was my first time setting foot in here. Monster hunters with actual accomplishments got called in for rewards, but I'd never accomplished a thing. So I was a little tense.

"I believe this is the first time we've met face to face, Haren."

"You know my name?"

"You've worked at our Laoren branch for quite some time, have you not? I remember everyone who's been with us for over a year."

Laoren was a harsh border city, but it was still a fairly large one. And you only started working as a proper monster hunter from your first year onward. In practice, that meant he knew every monster hunter in Laoren.

As expected of a guild master. No ordinary man.

Laorio pushed his glasses up and began.

"The incident unfolded as follows. Haren, you stayed behind alone to clean up the monster. Then, once the others had left, you stole the mana stone."

"No. That starting point is already wrong."

I cut in, and Laorio's brows drew together slightly.

"I am merely reading the report. Please listen first."

"Ah. Yes."

"As I said, after stealing the mana stone, you hid it and then collapsed on the spot. That is what the report states. Does this match the facts?"

"It doesn't match at all."

"Then let us hear your side, Haren."

I told him exactly what I'd been through.

"If I'd stolen the mana stone, why would I pass out right there instead of running from Laoren? I'm not an idiot."

"Indeed."

Even Laorio conceded that point. If I'd meant to steal it, I would have left Laoren already. And more than that—

"This was a monster that a mage handled, wasn't it?"

Nobody in the world touches a mage's property. Do that, and the mage will tear you limb from limb.

"Yes, that's correct. I acknowledge that as well."

"Being branded a mana stone thief is a problem for me. If anything, I'm the victim here."

I'd touched the mana stone and nearly died from the poisoning. And now they were pinning the theft on me? I couldn't imagine anything more unfair.

"Besides, do you have any idea how huge that mana stone was? There was nowhere to hide it, and more importantly, there are no witnesses who saw me move it."

I poured out my grievances in earnest. Laorio was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"I understand that you feel wronged, Haren."

"Then—!"

"However, whether you feel wronged is of little importance to the mages. What they require is a result — and the reality that something of theirs has gone missing."

Clouds gathered against the window behind Laorio, and a shadow fell across the room. In that gathering dark, his eyes gleamed ominously.

"...What are you trying to say?"

"The Monster Hunter Guild has already paid the mage for the mana stone."

My eyes slowly widened. I finally understood what he was getting at.

"And that cost has been assigned to you, Haren."

"Why the hell would I—!"

"Because you were the last witness."

Laorio slid a completed debt invoice across to me.

The figure written there was a staggering ten thousand gold. A sum no one person could earn in a lifetime.

A monster that only a mage could hunt was worth an astronomical amount. Naturally, it was incomparable to a rank-and-file monster hunter's income.

"Why should I pay a bill the guild decided to send on its own?!"

"This is the price of the life we saved. Had we not paid this money, not only you, Haren, but the entire Laoren monster hunter branch would have been wiped out."

My lips worked soundlessly.

The guild had surely sent a search party after the mana stone. But no matter how hard they looked, they never found it. And they had to report to the mage who'd done the hunting. In the end, this was the best move the Monster Hunter Guild could make.

My hands and feet trembled. Neither I nor the guild had any power against a mage. That was why we had to swallow this injustice.

Laorio held the debt invoice out to me, his voice cold.

"I hear you've developed Mana Stone Sclerosis."

The guild had been in contact with the hospital. They'd have been told where their debtor was going, too.

"We'll settle the debt after your death, so you needn't worry."

This debt was the price of my life. And a sum that would be paid naturally once I was gone. For the guild, it was just a matter of waiting a little. Once I died and turned into a mana stone, they'd recover it and sell it.

"Thank you for your continued labor on behalf of the Laoren branch."

He said it like he didn't mean a word.

When I stepped out of the guild master's office, the stares gathered on me again. I didn't care. My life was finished. So was whatever came after. I could barely put any strength into my limbs.

"Haren."

"Hey. Deadbeat weakling."

The moment Oble started toward me, a familiar voice rang out. There was Trenba, the troublemaker, shoving Oble aside as he appeared.

Why did this bastard have to pick a fight every single time? Why did he go out of his way to torment me whenever he saw me?

I knew the reason, actually. This guy singled me out among all the weaklings and hounded me relentlessly. I'd just kept my mouth shut all this time because I knew he'd foam at the mouth if I ever said it out loud.

"Heard you got fucked. Serves you right, stealing a mana stone with those big guts of yours. A piece of trash like you gets greedy, you get what's coming. Should've just lived honest."

Sneering contempt spilled from Trenba's mouth. The moment I heard it, I couldn't take it anymore.

My fist shot out and slammed into Trenba's face. He staggered for a second, then swung right back.

Crash!

His fist caught me and I tumbled across the floor in a heap. The difference in build was overwhelming from the start. My fist and Trenba's weren't even worth comparing.

"You piece of shit. I've been holding back—"

"Hey, Trenba, stop!"

Trenba moved to stomp on me, and Oble stepped in. Trenba didn't hesitate. He backhanded Oble too.

Crash!

Oble smashed through a table and rolled across the floor. That punch had been thrown with no restraint. There was no way Oble could have taken it.

"Get lost, Oble. You're just as pathetic and weak. Stay out of this."

The other monster hunters snickered at Trenba's shout. If it wasn't their business, they treated even their own branchmates like strangers. And Trenba was both foul-tempered and strong. Nobody wanted to get on his bad side.

"...Trenba."

I wiped away the blood running from where I'd bitten my lip.

"You know why Jane never gave a damn about you, but she was interested in me?"

And I finally said the thing I'd been holding in all this time.

Jane, the flower shop owner's daughter that Trenba had a one-sided crush on. She'd been ice-cold even to his passionate confession. Then one day, she'd shown interest in me. She'd written me a letter asking me to get a meal. That was the day Trenba started tormenting me.

"Because you look more disgusting than an orc's head. Open your damn eyes and look in a mirror. What woman would ever like you?"

"Pfft—!"

The monster hunters who'd been drinking and treating the fight like a show struggled to hold in their laughter. Until now, even they hadn't known why Trenba hounded me so relentlessly. Today, the truth I'd kept buried was laid out for everyone to hear.

Trenba's face transformed in an instant. Murder poured out of both his eyes. Those were the eyes of a man who genuinely intended to kill me.

"You little maggot."

Trenba grabbed me by the collar. Then he dragged ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me outside by force. He hauled me into a back alley and started kicking.

"Die! You maggot! Die! Just fucking die!"

He stomped on me without stopping, roaring curses the whole time. Trenba had already lost it. He really meant to kill me.

In the distance, I could see a few monster hunters running over, late. They weren't going to let someone die, so they were coming to stop Trenba.

Rotten bastards. If you were going to stop him, you should've done it from the start.

My consciousness was slipping. Either I'd end up in the hospital again, or this time I'd actually die. One or the other, I thought — and then.

On my arm, something opened.

A new field of vision bloomed. And at the same time, I saw a flame flickering inside Trenba's body. A colorless white flame.

I stared at it blankly, then raised my hand without thinking. The moment I wrapped my hand around that flame, without a thought in my head—

"Ghhk—ghk?!"

Trenba froze mid-kick. His face went deathly white, foam spilled from his mouth, and then his body listed to the side.

Thud!

Trenba hit the ground and convulsed wildly. The instant I saw that, I yanked my hand away from the flame. The white flame was smaller than before.

"Wh-what?"

"T-Trenba went down."

"Haren? Weakling Haren took down Trenba?"

Startled voices rose among the monster hunters who'd arrived late. But I didn't hear them.

My eyes were on my arm.

A new eye, opened there — a pitch-black sclera etched with a crimson line. An eye that called a dragon's to mind.

That eye had opened on my arm.