Pra?ise
Pra?ise
I had let some of my secrets slip, but no major incident followed.
Of course, if I had dumped them all out at once, the house would have been turned upside down.
By now plenty of time had passed. The Association and Siyoram had also made public announcements. Thanks to that, the shock everyone else had to absorb was lessened.
- A world without mana... you mean before the Great Cataclysm?
- How did fairies live without mana...?
There was still some shock.
Maybe because everyone had always lived in a world where mana and innate talent existed, they couldn't grasp a world without mana.
Honestly, I was the same.
I had buried myself in this world's culture and comfort. By now, imagining an inconvenient life without supernatural abilities and magic was difficult.
'Still, I'm glad there weren't any real problems.'
Secretly, I had been afraid.
I worried that if I revealed my secrets, the way everyone looked at me would change...
My fundamental birth probably belonged to this world. But in the end, hadn't my soul stayed in another world before coming here?
I thought I might be treated like some kind of alien.
I imagined them being disappointed that I'd hidden such a secret all this time... that kind of repulsive, horrible fantasy kept surfacing, so I had kept my mouth shut.
Fortunately, my imagination didn't come true.
Everyone was surprised by my circumstances, but the way they looked at me didn't turn negative.
Even Lee Ha-sol, the one I worried about most, just said she was relieved, her eyes reddening.
...But the way they looked at me did change.
"Baby... did you have a good dream?"
It was morning, sunlight filtering softly through the curtains.
As I blinked, drowsy and languid, Professor Liana smiled with her eyes and stroked my hair.
Yesterday, I had fallen asleep in Professor Liana's arms.
It was a truly happy time. Buried in infinite affection, I acted as spoiled as I wanted, and drifted into a dreamland, loved and cherished.
"Oh dear, still sleepy? Shall we sleep a bit more, then?"
"Mm... mm..."
"Yes, yes, sleep in Mommy's arms."
Professor Liana gently pressed my head, guiding it toward her chest.
Her sleepwear had a neckline that revealed her cleavage. Thanks to that, my face was fully buried in her voluptuous chest, sharing her scent and warmth completely.
"That's it... good boy..."
The hand stroking my head soothed my mind and body. The consciousness I had barely roused gradually melted away.
'I'm so happy...'
Affection dripped from the eyes of Professor Liana as she held me.
As I basked in that warm emotion, I also caught a glimpse of the pity that had grown more prominent compared to the past.
Commiseration, sympathy, regret.
"My baby..."
"Mmph..."
Suddenly, that emotion intensified. With a bittersweet sigh, Professor Liana pulled my head deeper into her embrace.
Along with happiness, a sense of awkwardness surfaced.
'Mmm...'
Revealing my secrets hadn't caused any harm.
Instead, sentiment against the Tower Masters began to bloom inside the mansion.
For the invading Tower Master, it was fierce killing intent. Toward the Tower Masters on our side, too, there were various complaints and resentment.
Because I had defended them, even while being pinched for it, the resentment had lessened a little.
In exchange, the sympathy toward me had increased significantly.
In fact, after I revealed my circumstances, everyone whose feelings had intensified held me close and soothed me, thoroughly.
Last night, I received such deeply intense affection from Professor Liana that I was utterly stuffed and my head went completely blank.
'...I'm so happy...'
It makes me too happy.
At this rate, I might really turn into an idiot. I felt like I'd become a hopeless human who does nothing but nuzzle into an embrace...
The affection is too excessive...
'...Well, being excessive isn't a problem. Yeah... the word "excessive" for affection is strange to begin with.'
Because affection is something that makes you happy no matter how much you receive. No matter what problems lack of it might cause, there are practically no problems from receiving it generously.
Having finished my rationalization, I rubbed my face back into the soft chest.
The new semester would start in just a few days. As always, there was much to do, so I couldn't stay snuggled in someone's arms forever...
'...Ah.'
While reviewing my to-do list, my eyes suddenly flew wide open at a thought that struck me.
.
.
.
"Master, Master!"
After barely extracting myself from Professor Liana's arms, I hurriedly went looking for my master.
"What is it?"
My master was on the first-floor sofa. She looked so elegant, sitting leisurely with her legs crossed and sipping coffee.
My heart was pounding, but I recalled my purpose and pointed at the window.
"There's something I want to show you, Master! It can't be done here, I want to show you outside!"
"Outside?"
"Yes, yes!"
Her golden eyes blinked. The request seemed to have come out of nowhere. Even so, she rose from the sofa without another word.
"Very well, let's see what this is about."
"Yes, yes!"
"Oh, and don't worry, I'll be right behind you."
As I beamed and spun around, my master let out a soft laugh.
I led my master around to the back of the mansion.
"What's so urgent that you're dashing off like an unruly colt?"
She glanced around as she spoke.
Fairies and spirits nearby had begun to stealthily gather.
Normally they would have rushed into my arms, but as if reading the atmosphere, they fidgeted restlessly while keeping their distance.
Among them was the baby unicorn who had been mingling with the fairies. It looked like it had grown tremendously compared to before.
'I'll have to play with you later.'
After sending out a wave of will-thought around me, I puffed out my chest toward my master.
"Hehe, don't be too shocked when you see this!"
"Must I really not be shocked?"
"...Huh? Uh... well, that's..."
The sudden riposte made me stammer. The whole point was that I wanted her to be shocked, so if she wasn't...
As I stood there fretting, I caught sight of my master's grinning face.
"Don't tease me."
"Heh, sorry. I'll be looking forward to it. Won't you show me quickly?"
My master burst into laughter at my puffed-out cheeks and offered an apology.
Normally I would have kept sulking until I received a few kisses.
"...Hmph, watch closely!"
Mana coiled around my raised hand. At the same time, my blooming innate talent dyed the mana.
- Flash!
- Kyaaak... my eyes...!
The pure white mana blazed. A bright light spread through the surroundings.
The watching fairies flinched and covered their faces, while my master simply blinked, as if unbothered by the glare.
And then her eyes gradually grew round.
"That is..."
"Hehehe...!"
A satisfying reaction.
Chuckling low, I raised my light-wreathed hand.
A light as radiant as the sun. Simultaneously, a brilliance containing a ferocious intensity.
"Yes! It's White Night!"
The innate talent wrapped around my hand was White Night.
"Not imitation—White Night that I have manifested!"
It wasn't mediated through Homogenization. This was my own White Night, completely settled within me.
"You've finally, finally manifested it."
My master's shoulders trembled faintly. Her eyes, brimming with emotion, admired the White Night blooming in my hand.
Ever since she had discovered my Homogenization and the Calamity Flame that had settled within me,
my master had quietly hoped that White Night would also take root inside me.
During training, she would subtly—even openly—address the topic of White Night.
Innate talents imitated through Homogenization gradually become familiar.
The burden and cost of imitation decrease, and in the end, they settle as my own innate talents.
Yet the talents that actually took root were few.
One of them was White Night.
I had used it often in training and, of course, in real battles. There was plenty of observed information. I'd even received direct instruction from my master.
Even so, it hadn't manifested.
From the feel of it, progress had become extremely slow right before the point of manifestation.
"Hmhm..."
I had finally manifested that White Night.
The decisive trigger was probably the moment my master slammed White Night into the head of the Tower Master of the Dead.
To be precise, the moment she slammed in Polar Night, the expansion ability of White Night.
'This makes it nearly certain.'
Innate talents imitated through Homogenization can settle within me.
However, right before manifestation, proficiency improvement slows to a crawl.
'The element that rapidly fills in that gap is precisely the expansion ability.'
An innate talent that has settled within an individual. The expansion ability is the path walked while harboring that talent.
A path that someone else has already pioneered.
As a latecomer, there is much to gain from that path. That information is exactly what fills in the proficiency gap.
'My master couldn't show me Polar Night much during training.'
That's because it's incredibly difficult to control.
White Night's instantaneous output surpasses even Calamity Flame or Heavenly Thunder.
And its expansion ability boosts that output even further. Even if it wasn't a real battle, handling it recklessly was bound to be difficult.
I drew my arming sword and cloaked it in White Night.
- Fwoosh...!
My White Night was a pure white light. The whitened blade was calm and serene. But the fierce power contained within was unmistakably White Night.
I pulled a metal ingot from my subspace and tossed it into the air.
"Hup."
The sword of light flashed.
Even as it swung, White Night did not rampage. It was a rough and fierce power, yet my control was perfect.
It was simply drawn like a brushstroke, and the ingot was cleanly bisected.
- Clink, clatter!
The ingot, split into dozens of pieces, spun.
I tightened my grip on the sword.
- ...Hwoong!
White Night swelled. Then, as it settled back onto the blade, it darkened to black, like the sun setting.
White Night Expansion Ability
Polar Night (極夜)
Blackness spread through the void. Polar Night, following the arc of the cut, devoured the ingot fragments.
- Shwooock!
I recovered the broadly swung sword. The White Night that had stained the blade black scattered. The Polar Night spreading in the air also dissolved into nothing.
Not a speck of the ingot remained. Not a single trace of White Night had leaked away.
"Ta-da! I can even handle Polar Night properly now!"
My master had taught me so extensively about how to utilize White Night.
And as for Polar Night... well... she had shown it to me, briefly and from a distance. I'd also seen how to wield it in real combat, the way she unleashed it against the Tower Master of the Dead.
It was still a truly, extremely difficult power to control, but...
How could I possibly fail to handle it when I could already wield Three Ends?
"So, what do you think? It's amazing, right! How could you not be shocked?"
I tossed my sword into subspace and grinned impishly.
Pretending to cover my mouth, I let out a mischievous laugh.
Hadn't she asked if she really must not be shocked? Could she truly see this and not be shocked?
"......"
My master stood with her mouth hanging open, dazed.
Even when I had merely wielded White Night, she had covered her mouth and been moved.
The moment I invoked Polar Night, she jolted at first, and when I smoothly operated it... that's the reaction I got now.
"Ehehe."
Incredibly satisfying.
This was the reaction I wanted.
Joy, being moved, and finally surprise that goes beyond expectations.
That was the reason I'd hurriedly trained and prepared ever since I realized I had manifested White Night.
"...Really..."
Her golden eyes trembled. Unable to continue her sentence, my master slowly walked up to me. And then the corners of her mouth curled up.
'Praise!'
Though the reaction itself was delightful, I was anticipating the shower of praise that would follow.
Since my master had wanted me to manifest White Night, there was no way she could hold back praise once she saw me handling it.
"Praise...?"
As I waited with a pounding heart, an arm suddenly reached out and wrapped around my waist.
A hug? I liked that too. Her other hand grasped my chin and tilted my head back.
My master's face, steeped in emotion and exhilaration, filled my vision.
This is...
"Mmph, mmuuup...!?"
Her lips pressed against mine before I could even think.
- Huh, huuh...!?
- Oh... wow, the King is...
- A-aren't we supposed to rescue him...?
At the flustered whispers of fairies and spirits, my mischievous expression melted away together with them.
Praise and affection—that part was right.
* * *
Daera ambled out through the back door of the mansion.
Yawning lazily, she suddenly froze stock-still in her tracks.
In her blinking eyes flashed first bewilderment, then embarrassment, and finally sheer disbelief.
"Honestly, now they don't even pretend to hide it."
She let out a hollow laugh at the embarrassing spectacle unfolding between master and disciple far off in the distance.