Life Reversal
I wasn't particularly startled by the fact that Selene was a sleepwalker.
Childhood sleepwalking—also known as somnambulism—is one of the sleep disorders frequently observed in children whose brain and nervous systems have not yet fully matured. It primarily occurs during the deep non-REM stages of sleep. Selene's body right now would be in that same non-REM stage.
To put her condition simply: because she had not yet entered REM sleep, her motor functions remained active and she could move, yet her brain was sound asleep. That was why her open eyes had no focus, and why she could not answer even when I called her name.
Looks like today really wore her out.
The causes of sleepwalking are many—extreme accumulated fatigue, sleep deprivation, or psychological stress. Watching someone spew blood and nearly die on the training grounds earlier today was more than enough to set Selene's nerves on edge.
"……"
Sleepwalking rooted in childhood usually fades naturally once the body grows through puberty and secondary sexual characteristics, and the brain reaches full maturity. That did not, however, make it a harmless condition.
Forcing her awake would be a bad idea.
Rousing a sleepwalker from deep non-REM sleep can plunge them into extreme terror and confusion, producing abnormal reactions. As I said, the patient's brain is fully asleep even while the body moves. In severe cases they can seize or turn aggressive. The ideal response, therefore, is to quietly guide their direction so they come to no harm, then gently steer them back to bed.
Yes, that was the most ideal and reliable method…
The problem was that I currently lacked the means to carry it out. I had visited the Main Building once earlier that day, but that had been the first and last time. What little of the interior I had seen was only a tiny fraction of the whole, and I naturally had no idea which floor or which room belonged to Selene.
"……"
Of course, not knowing her room did not leave me without options. What a sleepwalker needs most is a safe space. The best choice available to me right now was therefore to lure Selene to my own room and simply help her fall properly asleep beside me. That would have been the perfect solution. Would have been…
Butler lures the young lady into his room in the middle of the night and puts her to sleep.
Just forming the sentence in my head painted an all-too-vivid picture of what would follow.
"Okay. Taking her to my room is vetoed."
Would I, a man desperate to leave the North alive, be insane enough to try that?
"Then the second plan is…"
Stay by her side until someone who actually knows where her room is appears. It was no different from standing an open-ended night watch.
"…What riches and glory am I even chasing here."
Selene would not remember any of this when she woke. Still…
"I still can't just abandon a patient and walk away."
I let out a heavy sigh and nodded to myself. What kind of doctor would I be if I ignored a patient whose condition I understood simply because my own body might get tired?
"The absolute best outcome would be for Selene to just fall asleep right here."
The knights on dawn patrol would pass through the garden sooner or later. I could stay with her until then, explain the situation when they arrived, and have them fetch the head butler. Done.
Except…
"I'd really prefer if you stayed still—you might get hurt…"
Selene showed no intention of standing quietly. The garden paths were paved with hard, rough stone; walking barefoot could easily cut or injure her feet. Fortunately we were standing on a patch of thick, soft grass—the safest place for bare soles.
I carefully approached her from behind and, like children playing train, gently rested both hands on her narrow shoulders. Since I could neither force her to stop nor wake her, the only option was to subtly redirect her steps. As I gradually turned her, Selene obediently began circling and circling across the lawn.
I had no idea how long I kept that up. Just when my own head was starting to spin, hurried footsteps approached from the distance. The figure who burst into the garden was none other than the head butler, cold sweat beading thickly across his forehead.
Looks like he was searching desperately.
It was a situation ripe for misunderstanding. I scrambled to get my explanation out before he could speak.
"Head Butler, I wasn't trying to do anything improper. The young lady was alone, so I was only helping so she wouldn't get hurt—"
"Well done."
His short praise cut my explanation short. He approached while still catching his breath.
"The young lady sometimes wanders at night. Treat everything you saw today as a complete secret."
A brief warning followed close behind.
"Yes, sir."
That was the natural reaction. People in this world did not know what sleepwalking was; they had no way of understanding why Selene behaved like this.
Worrying she might be possessed by a demon is probably more realistic to them.
I lifted my hands from her shoulders. The head butler stepped close and abruptly seized Selene's hand, intending to drag her away by force.
"Wait a moment."
I spoke quickly to stop him.
"Grabbing her hand and pulling is not good for the young lady."
His movement froze. I demonstrated the gesture I had been using and added,
"Like this—gently rest your hands on her shoulders and only slightly redirect her steps to guide her toward her room. That is a far better measure for her."
The head butler studied my face in silence. I could not read the thoughts behind his eyes and wondered for a moment whether he disliked the advice. Then he released a short breath and nodded.
"…Understood."
He carefully placed both hands on Selene's shoulders exactly as I had shown him, gently corrected her course, and began walking slowly toward the Main Building.
Once everyone had gone, I collapsed onto the grass and stared up at the night sky for a while.
"I'm exhausted."
Setting Selene's arm, saving the Imperial Knights Commander, sitting through a two-on-one audience with the Emperor and the Northern Grand Duke, and then helping sleepwalking Selene on top of it all—could anyone believe this entire list had happened in a single day?
"Ah, right. There was also the part where I hauled water until I was half-dead."
Today had almost certainly been the hardest day since I transmigrated.
The next day, an unexpected figure stood before me.
"Before we even exchange greetings, I wanted to make certain I thanked you. Thank you—truly."
It was the Knights Commander whose chest I had opened with my own hands only yesterday.
"And it is good to meet you properly. I am Chancellor, Commander of the Imperial Knights."
He gave me a light nod, then went straight to the point.
"I heard you requested His Majesty for permission to learn magic."
"That is correct."
"For proper lessons, His Majesty has therefore dispatched personnel from the Magic Tower. They are already on their way north."
So a Magic Tower existed. Having never left the North, this was the first I had heard of it.
"It will take them at least a full day to arrive, however. We cannot afford to waste time inefficiently. Since you saved my life, I have come to teach you the basics of mana as repayment."
A knight teaching me magic?
Reading my expression, Chancellor smiled faintly.
"Of course I am a knight who primarily handles Aura, so I cannot impart any deep knowledge of magic itself."
"……"
"But whether Aura or magic, both ultimately deal with the same source—mana. I can at least run a basic test of how well you sense it."
Not a bad idea.
As he said, starting something was better than sitting idle and watching time slip away.
Chancellor jerked his chin toward the center of the training grounds.
"Come on, then. Sit comfortably over there."
I sat cross-legged as instructed. Chancellor placed his hand against my back again and again.
"Feel anything?"
"…No."
Once.
"This time?"
"…Same."
Twice.
"Still nothing?"
"…Yes."
Three times.
"…Truly nothing this time either?"
"…Correct."
Four times.
"…Please tell me you felt something."
"I felt nothing."
Five times.
After roughly that many attempts, Chancellor finally shook his head and helped me to my feet.
"Well… it feels a little awkward saying this to the man who saved my life…"
"……"
"You have no talent for magic. And I mean catastrophically none. It has been a long time since I met a human this insensitive to mana."
He claimed it was awkward, yet he said it just fine. Anyway. So that was how it was. I had no talent for magic.
Fuck this.
Could not leave the North. No talent for magic. Absolutely nothing was going my way. I almost wished I had simply asked the Emperor for money instead.
.
.
.
…There was a time when I thought that way, too.
"…What did you just say?"
"Hmm, looks like you didn't catch it properly. Listen carefully this time. Every person has a fixed space inside their body that can hold mana. We call that space a vessel."
"Yes."
"Yours is large. Not merely large—from what I can tell, it is enormous."
That was before I met the instructor the Magic Tower had dispatched to the North.
"So what you're saying, Teacher, is that I can use magic?"
"That's right. Filling the vessel will be difficult, of course. But once it is full, you could become a mage greater than I am. The size of the vessel is a mage's limit, after all."
Let me organize this for a second.
According to my teacher, my vessel was larger than other people's. And the vessel was the mage's limit. Therefore a person with a large vessel possessed virtually unlimited potential as a mage.
…Had I actually hit the jackpot?
While that thought was still floating through my mind, the teacher removed the hand that had been resting on my back. Looking at me with clear interest, he continued.
"And your mana sensitivity is excellent as well."
It was the exact opposite of the assessment that Chancellor fellow had given me the day before. That guy had claimed I could not sense mana at all.
"Ordinarily, when another person's mana is introduced into the body, most of it is rejected and returned to nature."
"……"
"But your body absorbed every last drop without spilling a single one."
"Is that… so?"
To be honest, I had felt nothing while the teacher poured mana into me—exactly the same blank sensation I had experienced with Chancellor. I had even wondered whether I truly lacked talent. Yet the teacher's voice was thick with excitement.
"All right, then."
His eyes sparkled.
"Let's properly measure exactly how large your vessel is."
An unidentified device emerged from his bag. It was not merely machine-like—it was an actual machine, vaguely resembling a thermometer. The teacher held it up with a sly grin.
"Stay still."
He began gently applying the device to me. Before long—
"……!"
The teacher's eyes flew wide open. His pupils trembled; he looked thoroughly shaken. He began glancing back and forth between me and the thermometer-like machine again and again.