82
Chapter 82
"...Where are you from?"
My heart felt like it plummeted with a thud once again.
It was spoken casually, but the question carried a clear weight.
'Have I been found out?'
My chest rapidly tightened.
Just what was she basing that question on?
Can she see my original world just by looking at my magic?
Or had I somehow made it obvious without realizing?
Could there be other otherworlders besides me?
As chaotic thoughts swirled in my mind, she looked at my speechless self and spoke.
"Your body structure... is a bit strange."
"...Excuse me?"
"The direction the mana spreads from your heart, the circulation method, the flow. It's a little outside the framework of a normal human."
She slowly added, tracing something in the air with her finger.
"It happens sometimes. The 'Vaiken descendants' across the northern sea, or the 'Ribelian' lineage said to have disappeared from the Central Continent. Kids who inherit that blood have a completely different body structure to begin with."
She studied my face carefully.
"If you're from there... honestly, it makes sense. It somewhat explains how that method of magic is possible."
I couldn't answer at all, my lips merely parting slightly.
...Vaiken? Ribelian?
These were all names I had never even heard of.
Honestly, it felt like a story that had absolutely nothing to do with me.
But soon, the records left behind by the owner of this body came to mind.
They said he was an orphan.
With no parents and no known origins.
The only thing written down was a single name.
...In that case, perhaps even the owner of this body had lived his entire life never knowing that he wasn't a normal human.
I unconsciously swallowed hard.
"......I'm not really sure."
She didn't change her expression.
Instead, she quietly raised her hand and lightly tapped the spot near my wrist where my pulse beat.
"Here. The mana flow is a bit strange."
"...In what way?"
"If it's a normal human, the mana starts in the heart, travels up the spine, goes down from the head, and spreads to the limbs. It literally circles inside the body."
She moved her fingertips along my arm as if drawing a line.
"That's the natural flow. The mana has to circulate within the body for stable use."
Then, she moved her fingertips to the nape of my neck.
"But for you, the mana doesn't go to the spinal cord... it exits to the 'outside' of your body first. It follows a weird path, makes a circle, hits the heart, and only then scatters throughout your whole body. Having a flow like that,"
And she added firmly.
"Divine power. That kind of structure normally only appears among priests. "
For a moment, I felt like my breath stopped.
"It's a structure that pulls mana from the outside using a god as a medium. But you don't look like you believe in a god at all, and you have none of that distinct aura of those bastards from the Order."
She furrowed her brows, concluding her words.
"It's strange."
I couldn't say a single thing.
Well, it's not like I had a guilty conscience or anything... I was just bewildered.
From mana to divine power and whatever else, there were far too many new things I needed to learn.
Right now, my mind was practically in a state of overload.
"Normally, mana slowly settles in from a young age. As it's tamed around the heart, each person develops their own unique method."
She muttered while staring at the ceiling, leaning back in her chair.
"But you don't have any traces of that at all. It's as if your body never had mana to begin with, and then it was forcibly injected from the outside at some point."
Rather than the fear of my identity being discovered, my mind gradually went blank because every single word she said seemed to reveal a truth that even I didn't know.
She quietly reached a conclusion, as if speaking to herself.
"In short, it's not innate, but an artificially created mana ring. The bastards who do such things are pretty much set."
And finally, she spoke clearly.
"Those guys I mentioned earlier. The ones who stole the ways of a god and twisted them for their own use. It's only them."
...So, to sum it up, the way my body uses mana resembles that of foreigners from some distant, unknown country.
From my perspective, having heard everything she said.
'Honestly, so what do you want me to do about it?'
That was the first thought that came to mind.
It was ambiguous whether that method was even correct, and even if it was, there was absolutely nothing I could do about it right now.
Crucially, just hearing that piece of information wasn't going to drastically change my situation anyway.
If there was a silver lining, it was that the fact that I was an otherworlder hadn't been discovered.
It was just exactly that.
As I silently kept my head down, she threw out one last remark.
"Wherever you came from, that body. It's a bit of a waste to just use it normally."
"...My body?"
I asked back with a bewildered expression.
"Is there... anything good about that method you just mentioned?"
To be honest, she talked about mana and its flow and whatever.
But I was still in a state where I didn't even know the first thing about mana.
There was no way I could possibly judge what was good or bad about it.
"Phew, looking at that stupid head of yours, Vaiken seems more likely."
...As expected. She never just gave a straight answer.
It was as if she couldn't be satisfied unless she accompanied every answer with an insult; she was consistently practicing the art of one criticism per question.
'Just what in the world is a Vaiken, that it's being used as a standard for stupidity...'
When I grumbled inwardly and avoided her gaze, she muttered to herself.
"Your body is rare, but your brain can't keep up. It's awkward to use, yet a waste to throw away."
"...The expression of throwing me away is a bit...."
"Then act quiet. It'll be a loss if you end up blowing up while I'm using you."
She suddenly stood up from her chair and lightly tapped her staff.
Walking silently toward the cabin door, she threw out a remark.
"Let's go. We'll take another look outside."
"...Again?"
"Exactly. If only you had remembered properly, we wouldn't have to go through this trouble."
I jumped to my feet and rolled my shoulders once.
The pain was almost gone, and my movements felt natural.
'What does she plan to make me do this time.'
Following the hem of her robe as it disappeared through the door, I realized once again that this place was completely different from the world I knew.
***
Stepping out of her cabin, a wide space that could be called a yard caught my eye.
A dirt ground with short grass growing sparsely.
Between the weeds sprouting up here and there, only the sound of dry grass rustling under my feet played like background music.
She stood in the middle of the yard.
And on the dirt ground beneath her feet, she was drawing something using a dark red liquid.
The liquid was sticky like blood, and clear curves trailed from her fingertips like calculated line segments.
It seemed like she was drawing some kind of Magic Circle, but seeing things like that was always fascinating.
I was also in a position where I used Magic.
But honestly, my method was much closer to the feeling of simply clicking a Skill button.
I didn't know exactly why it activated, nor did I understand its structure.
I just used it because it worked.
In that regard, what she was drawing right now smelled like real Magic.
The process of designing, calculating, and completing something.
It wasn't the magic of merely using that I knew, but the magic of truly handling it.
"...What are you doing there?"
I asked without realizing, but she threw out a brief reply without lifting her head.
"A test."
That short answer actually built up more tension.
She finished the curves with her fingertips, carefully drawing over the lines so the red liquid wouldn't smudge.
Soon, a complex Magic Circle with overlapping circles and characters was completed on the floor.
"Get in."
Without even raising her head, she gestured toward the inside of the Magic Circle with her chin.
"...Me?"
"Yeah. I made it because of you. So get in."
As if this were only natural, she grabbed her Staff and stepped back to secure some space.
I carefully looked at the inside of the Magic Circle, the center of the circle woven by those thin red lines.
I wasn't scared.
But, how should I put it. There was a strange sense of foreboding about stepping into the unknown.
"Hurry up."
At her brief urging, I eventually and carefully stepped onto the Magic Circle.
The moment my foot touched the inside of the line, the entire Magic Circle emitted a faint light and began to vibrate with a whir.
I lightly swallowed my breath and brought my body entirely inside.
Only then did she nod her head and begin chanting a Spell in a low voice.
"Si anima turbatur, et fluxus in corpore vagatur..."
'Chanting a Spell is definitely pretty cool.'
While that useless sentiment passed through my mind, Marley, having finished chanting the Spell, activated the Magic.
"Befanir Style . Detection Formula - [Confirmed Sacrifice]."
As those ominous words reached my ears, my body instantly flinched.
I wondered if I should run away right now, but the Magic Circle only flashed briefly, and I didn't feel any particular threat.
The Magic Circle genuinely flashed once, wrapped around my body, and then slowly scattered and vanished.
It was almost anticlimactic compared to the time spent preparing it.
However, as if the Magic had activated properly, she was staring intently at my face.
With her gaze fixed on me without a word.
I pondered for a moment if it was okay to move, but just as I was about to open my mouth.
"...Strange."
She quietly uttered a word.
"Pardon?"
"There are clear traces of something interfering from the outside... but I can't pinpoint the source."
Without withdrawing her gaze, Marley continued speaking as if to conclude.
"If you were of the Vaiken or Ribelian lineage, traces of those Fake Gods' Mana should remain. But... there's absolutely none. What in the world is it?"
I didn't know how to answer her words.
In the end, it means I don't have that kind of lineage.
Since I was originally gaining power through the concept of a Level Up.
Unless there was a precedent, it wasn't unreasonable for her to be unable to grasp its structure.
Marley tapped the end of the Staff with a finger, falling into a brief silence.
"Anyway,"
She eventually opened her mouth.
"The flow of Mana in your body isn't normal."
"Is that so? Then... in what way is there a problem?"
Honestly, just hearing that it's bad doesn't really hit home.
I need to be told specifically to understand.
"It means your growth is blocked. A normal Magician is meant to increase their rank according to the circulation and enlightenment of Mana. But you're just enduring with power obtained from the outside, meaning power that isn't yours."
"Ah..."
To use a company analogy, it's a situation where I was hired through nepotism thanks to my Father the CEO, but that Father suddenly disappeared.
It meant my company life, or rather my life as a Magician, was truly fucked.
However, there was something she still didn't know.
'I just need to Level Up, though.'
I wasn't getting stronger through training or refined Mana flow like a general Magician.
Just from listening, that method seemed much more efficient and less painful for the body.
...But what could I do? Since things had already turned out this way, I had no choice but to fight my ass off.
She seemed to take my silent, thoughtful state as despairing over my blocked growth.
Perhaps that's why she offered words of comfort, uncharacteristically.
"Tsk, tsk. Would it do for a man to fall into despair over something like that? There are plenty of guys in the world who are much worse off than you!"
Of course, it was a bit much to call that comfort, but at least the intent was clear.
"Besides, there are guys who go around fighting perfectly fine with just a single trashy Magic. In the end, it all... depends on what you do."
"...Is that so?"
I wasn't particularly in despair, but it felt awkward to ruin the mood in front of someone who went out of their way to comfort me, so I responded with a slightly gloomy voice.
More than that, what kept bothering me was...
A person who fights with a single Magic.
Judging by Marley's tone, it wasn't a simple analogy.
I got a strong feeling she was actually thinking of someone when she said that.
Can a Magician fight using only a single Magic?
"Then... am I unable to ever learn Magic for the rest of my life?"
At my question, she rested her chin on her hand and fell into thought for a moment.
"Hmm...."
And then soon, she carefully brought it up.
"Following the method of those guys I mentioned earlier, it might be possible if you apply it well."
"Vaiken?"
"Right. Those guys. The method is just different anyway, the principle isn't vastly different. I'm not certain, but... if you want to learn, it would be right to go look for them."
There was no need to learn Magic right away.
However, it was right to keep the possibility open.
I couldn't just keep receiving and using only what was given to me forever.
This wasn't a game; it was literally reality.
To survive in this world, I had to run on my own two feet and carve a path with my own hands.
Just like when I was learning Blunt Weapon Skill.
By clashing directly.
...Even though my Mace was pretty much just rotting away right now.