Chakra (2)
"All right. Let's try again. Focus your mind, and turn the disk that rests across your heart."
Adel did exactly as Sien asked. He closed his eyes, drew a slow breath, and set his chakra in motion. A clear, bright energy bloomed in his chest and unfurled through his entire body. Then, somewhere near his heart, something began to gather speed.
…Hum. Hum— Hum—.
"Can you feel the chakra?"
"...Yes. I can feel something tracing a circle."
Sien smiled softly at his answer. True to a man who had spent years cutting down demonic beasts, the fundamentals of chakra were already firmly in place — how to sense it, how to turn the disk. Most attendants only took their first real step at this very stage. At first they could not turn the disk at all; most could not even detect it. Only a rare handful showed enough talent to sense their chakra from the outset.
Adel had become an attendant only a short while ago. If one had to put a name to it, the word genius would not have been out of place.
"Let's move on. Try spinning the disk a little faster. A band should appear."
"...Yes. I have done so."
"How many bands are there, Adel?"
A brief silence settled between them. She had already heard the answer from Rascal, but Sien quietly hoped it would not be true.
"...One."
"Is it truly just one? Look more carefully. It's easy to miscount sometimes."
It was a common mistake in the early days, when one had not yet handled much chakra. This was not a power you could see with your eyes — you had to read the energy within. People either overestimated themselves or sold themselves far too short. Sien herself had, until recently, believed she possessed only a single band. But the force of her chakra had been far too strong for just one. After hours of painstaking examination, she had discovered there were two.
"..."
Adel's silence stretched on. Eyes closed, lips pressed tight, fists clenched, he sat in a perfect, upright posture, and a dense, compact energy radiated from his body.
Sien carefully crouched down beside him. They had been spending time together ever since they first met, but this was the first time she had studied him from so close.
...This is the man who slaughtered demonic beasts? It's so unexpected.
No matter how she looked at him — again and again — he was simply an ordinary person. Or rather, if one added a little more: an extraordinarily handsome man. Handsome enough that she would have believed he was the son of some noble house. Judging by appearance alone, he did not look like someone who would take up a sword and fight desperate battles. He looked more like a man who would govern a territory in formal dress, or perhaps a high-ranking priest of a temple. Either would have been more convincing.
What a curious person.
Sien thought this as she gazed blankly at Adel.
That line kept coming back to her whenever she was on the verge of forgetting it. At first she had wondered why Adel had said such a thing. Now, it no longer mattered what he had meant by it. Whenever she thought of those words, she found herself trying even harder, without quite meaning to. She wanted to show a better side of herself to the man who said he wished to watch over her. She did not want him to be disappointed in Lichtenauer — or in her. So whatever his intention had been, it was all right now.
"Mm."
A faint sound slipped from Adel's lips. Sien startled and hurriedly rose to her feet. Why was her chest hammering like this? Why was her heart thrashing so wildly? She hadn't done anything wrong. She hadn't committed any crime. Feeling thoroughly ridiculous, Sien swallowed hard.
"...Adel?"
"Lady Sien."
"Yes. Go ahead. How is it?"
"No matter how carefully I look, there seems to be only one."
Sien tilted her head at the news that the disk held only a single band.
Really? Truly just one? He butchered third-grade demonic beasts like they were nothing.
She had already heard it from Rascal, but she still could not quite believe it. When it came to fighting demonic beasts, chakra was an enormous source of power. It made you stronger, faster, sharper. If a soldier was an ordinary human, a knight who used chakra was something beyond that. There was a reason knights were counted among the most vital military assets.
If it had been fifth-grade or even fourth-grade demonic beasts, she could have understood. Their hides were nothing more than thick leather, after all. Well-trained soldiers could stand against those. But among the ones Adel had faced were third-grade demonic beasts — creatures that ordinary spears and swords could not even scratch. Even specially honed weapons often reached their limits against them. That was why it took multiple knights circulating chakra just to face such things.
"Um, Adel."
"Yes, Lady Sien. Please speak."
"Then... you've been fighting all this time with only a single band of chakra?"
"Most likely, yes."
"'Most likely'...?"
Still seated, Adel scratched his cheek.
"I have not used chakra all that often."
The day the attendants began their formal training in chakra, progress on the first day was, as anyone might have expected, nowhere to be found.
"Nngh!"
"Do not put force into the body. Ease the flesh further, and hone the mind all the sharper."
They had been chosen as attendants, which meant they possessed a certain baseline of ability — and among that baseline was, presumably, the capacity to turn the disk. Even so, actually using chakra was no simple thing. The great majority of the attendants poured sweat, straining to turn a disk that showed not the slightest inclination to move. Some bellowed with effort. Others stared wide-eyed, as if they could force the thing into motion by sheer will. Still others meditated, giving it everything they had.
Of course, not everyone failed to turn the disk. A formidable group had been assembled here, and among them were naturally a few with real skill.
"...Instructor. The disk is moving."
"Is it? Good. Do not break your focus. Hold your composure. The first movement is the most important. If you get excited and try to speed it up, you will lose your balance and the disk will scatter. Breathe slowly."
"Hah... hah..."
"There will come a moment when the disk begins to rotate on its own. That is when you take your first true step toward circulating chakra. You're doing well. Focus. Focus!"
Not everyone who could turn a disk was a knight — but every knight, it was said, could turn a disk. To rise from attendant to knight, the circulation of chakra was essential. The essence of martial power. The realization of will. A gift from the gods. Those were the other names by which chakra was known. In an age of calamity, that power was one of the most vital, most decisive things a person could possess.
"..."
Adel remained seated in formal posture, still concentrating. The reason was something Sien had said the day before.
Just a little more — concentrate a little more. You never know! It might not be just one!
Unfortunately, no one knew his own level better than he did. Concentration would not multiply a band that numbered only one. And he had come this far well enough with a single band alone. Perhaps that was precisely why his comrades had treated him like a madman — asking whether he had been facing demonic beasts with nothing but raw physical ability, asking what kind of monster he was supposed to be. At the time, his comrades had been monsters in their own right, so he had laughed it off as a joke. Coming to live among ordinary people, he had realized it had not been a joke at all.
"Adel. How about you?"
The instructor who had sidled up beside him parted his lips. He was the most senior of the instructors present. He had left the other attendants entirely to his juniors, and was currently attending to Adel alone.
"I can feel the disk. I can feel it spinning with speed as well."
"...Impressive."
In truth, there was nothing particularly impressive about it. For a man who had faced demonic beasts, circulating chakra was only to be expected. The instructor nodded and asked again.
"Then how many bands are there?"
"One."
"...One, you say?"
"Yes."
"Truly? Truly only one?"
Everyone who heard it had the exact same reaction. If Adel had been an ordinary attendant, they would have applauded him for it. Those who knew what he truly was could not help but be bewildered.
"Yes. I have already confirmed it several times."
"I... I see. Well. You've only just become an attendant. As you learn more about chakra, you may well come to possess two bands, or even more. Don't be too discouraged."
He had never been discouraged, and he had no intention of starting now. He had fought perfectly well with what he had, and perfectly well without what he lacked. There had been a few inconveniences, but they had been bearable.
Of course, it had not always been nothing. Just once — even Adel had, just once, found himself wishing for more chakra. The moment the light of the Rift had suddenly turned violet. The first time he had faced a first-grade demonic beast. The moment he had thought of death.
That one was genuinely hard.
If he had been able to use chakra more skillfully, he might have spared himself at least some of that desperation. In the end he had brought the beast down and lived, but even now the memory was enough to make him shake his head.
He had taken a step back from the front lines now. There was no particular reason to linger over chakra. He could live well enough without it either way. But then he recalled Sien's expression from the day before, and a nameless premonition quietly lifted its head — that it might be better, perhaps, to put in a little more effort.
"All right. Everyone, focus once more. Feel the power within you, and turn the disk. The moment chakra takes its proper place in your body is the moment you take one more step toward the name of knight. Understood?!"
"Yes, Instructor!"
The attendants answered with a roar, and the instructor smiled.
"Good. You would all do well to work hard. The Northern Coalition is not far off, after all."
The Northern Coalition. The moment the words left his mouth, a spark leapt in every attendant's eyes.
"...?"
Every attendant's, that is, except Adel's.