Tickling

Reading Yuri's letter as she cheerfully rattled off her entire vacation schedule, I couldn't stop the corners of my mouth from climbing.

When I was a student, the second vacation hit I threw any plans out the window and just played. Yet here she was, building a meticulously organized itinerary all on her own. It was honestly admirable.

Maybe watching the other students around her craft packed schedules had lit a fire under her. This was exactly why people said environment mattered. Once again I felt grateful I'd sent Yuri to a prestigious academy.

Still... field training with the Imperial Guard is a bit much.

The note she'd tacked on explained that the Combat Magic Department was sending students on an observational visit to the Imperial Guard as part of their practical training. I understood the intent—introduce the freshmen to working alumni so they could see the department's future prospects.

The problem was the placement itself. They claimed it housed the empire's strongest forces, yet in reality it was all polish and no substance. During the palace terror incident they'd lasted less than thirty minutes against the Fourth Legion before every last one of them got captured.

A unit that can't hold out half an hour against ten thousand legionnaires is supposed to guard someone?

There was also one very, very minor additional reason. An Imperial Guard should be filled with battle-hardened veterans, but the faces under those helmets were all young and handsome. Just looking at them made them seem unreliable. What exactly was she supposed to learn from a bunch of greenhorns like that?

Worse, they might not be able to rein in their youthful impulses and start hitting on the students. I was dead set against this training.

Part of me wanted to throw a full-blown sponsor tantrum right now and force a change of venue. But that only worked once or twice; after the number of scenes I'd already made, another outburst would land me on the blacklist. Complaint-bombing was off the table...

"I'll have to tell Yuri not to participate. Instead I'll arrange for her to receive far more professional training at Belmont Security."

No other choice, then. I would simply order her to sit this one out. Acting a little high-handed as her benefactor felt distasteful, but it couldn't be helped. I refused to send Yuri into a den of sweaty beasts who only thought about women.

"You will... not attend this training... Instead I will arrange something far more rewarding for your time..."

I snatched up a pen and began drafting the reply at once. Hopefully this would be enough for her to understand.

I slipped the letter into an envelope, sealed it, and was about to call for a messenger when a thought struck me.

"Ah. Right. November is almost here."

The Imperial Magic Academy's vacation starting soon meant the academic conference in November was right around the corner. How far had my own research progressed, anyway?

Nowhere. Beyond choosing a topic, I had made zero headway. Instantly a sense of crisis flooded my entire body and my mind snapped alert.

"I don't have time to be sitting around. Silvia."

"Yes, my lord."

"Summon Yulia and Charlotte to the laboratory. We're resuming the research we put on hold."

"Understood, my lord."

The moment I called, Silvia melted soundlessly out of the shadows. After sending her to fetch Charlotte and Yulia, I headed for the lab first.

How far had we gotten last time? Checking the logbook, the final entry was the discovery that I could regulate the power of neodymium.

We've come a long way since then.

Back then I'd simply thought, Oh, so I can dial the output of the giant mosquito net. After the palace terror and the skill evolution, its applications had become endless. What I'd once considered mosquito-net level now drained people to the point of collapse. Most importantly, it was a perfect counter to curses.

If my imperial sister finds out about this, she'll start drooling again...

A full-body chill raced through me and goosebumps prickled my skin. The imperial family had just been thoroughly wrecked by curses and was pouring massive funds into researching countermeasures against powerful sorcerers. If word got out that I was the one who'd unraveled the curse in a single stroke that day, they might forcibly conscript me for life. Terrifying.

Anyway, thanks to the skill evolution, unraveling the source and operating principles of black magic was now the bare minimum. For this conference we could even present practical applications. I could selectively designate the activation point and range, completely siphon someone's mana, dismantle a barrier in an instant even if I couldn't detect it, and locally purge corrupted mana that had been planted inside a body.

Of course, for a body like mine that couldn't use mana at all, whether mana entered or vanished made no difference—everything stayed peaceful. But for mages who breathed mana like air, the ability was lethal. The moment we published this research, demand for black magic would skyrocket; I could already see it.

Good thing I secured the mining rights for neodymium.

Thankfully, the only neodymium mine on imperial soil was already in my hands. Until now no one had bothered digging up what they considered useless rocks for occult hobbyists, which was how I'd monopolized the mine through my imperial sister.

If I simply flooded the market with neodymium, people would go wild trying black magic and end up possessed and driven insane by Evil Gods left and right. Unless you were half-mad like Irene or Aslan already, almost no one could survive under an Evil God's gaze. I desperately wanted to cash in on the price spike that would hit the second we published, but to avoid social chaos I first needed a method for people to endure an Evil God's attention without losing their minds. Only then could I start selling properly.

"We're starting research again, Aslan?!"

"They said they needed me for the research too! What should I do? Huh? Huuuh?"

The laboratory door burst open. The silence that had filled the room shattered into pure chaos in an instant. My concentration snapped cleanly, and I completely forgot whatever I'd been thinking about a second earlier.

"The conference is soon, so we need to produce something halfway respectable."

"Come to think of it, Aslan's ability got upgraded at the palace, so research should be way easier now!"

"Oh, right! So that black haze that shot up into the sky back then was you, Mister?"

"What? Black haze?"

"Yeah! It was thrashing around huge like a giant octopus had appeared in the sky! It even made the newspapers!"

"...?"

What on earth was she talking about? I was still blinking in confusion when Kali's reaction immediately pointed me at the culprit. The "black light" that appeared repeatedly in the old texts was apparently the haze Charlotte was describing. This time the scale had simply been large enough that the black light itself had swollen until it reached the sky.

There was probably a direct correlation between that black light and the Evil Gods... something to uncover as research continued. It wasn't as if a piece of an Evil God's true body faintly manifested in the material world every time black magic was used... right?

"So what are we doing today? What should I do? What role am I taking from now on?"

"I didn't call you as an official researcher, Charlotte. I just need your help for today's experiment."

"Ah..."

"But it is an extremely important experiment. You're the only one here who can fill that role."

"Heh-heh-heh! If you really need me that badly, I guess I have no choice but to help you, Mister!"

Charlotte looked briefly disappointed, then brightened at once and straightened her back proudly. Watching her bounce back so quickly seemed to remind Yulia of herself; she wore a faintly stunned, vacant expression, as if thinking, Was that what I looked like every time Aslan gave me a little praise?

Of course, saying only Charlotte would do hadn't been a lie. Yulia and I each had to handle the experiment and the recording, so we were out. Silvia stored her mana inside her sword rather than her body, making measurement difficult. That naturally left only Charlotte.

"When you use neodymium's power, mana is forced out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the body. But it doesn't leak little by little in proportion to the output. Nothing comes out at all until a specific output is reached, and then it gushes like a dam bursting. I've decided to call that the escape threshold."

"So today's experiment is to find out how high that escape threshold is? Since it'll differ from person to person, we also need to figure out what factors influence the threshold? ...Right?"

"You hit the nail on the head, Yulia."

She was sharp as ever. If the experiment succeeded, simply examining a person's skin would tell us exactly how much output was required to drain every drop of their mana. Black magic, which had looked like some supernatural force, would enter the realm of predictable, calculable science.

"Then Charlotte, could you lie down here? Starting the measurement! ...Okay!"

"I'll raise the output slowly."

I had Charlotte lie on the experiment table, set the activation point of my skill Black Magic to her palm, and gradually increased the output.

Back when it was still Touch of Death I'd had to guess by pure feel. Now it helpfully displayed the exact number right in front of me, making fine control far easier.

The output climbed steadily. The moment it hit 25 percent, mana began streaming ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out of Charlotte's body in a thick stream.

"Now."

"Recorded. Charlotte, how does it feel?"

"I didn't even use Boom-Boom, but my mana's getting sucked out like whoosh. Feels super weird."

"Don't worry. I'll top your mana back up right aw—"

"W-wait a second, Aslan! Eheheh. You almost never get to see Charlotte this weak from mana exhaustion. If we're gonna mess with her, now's the time!"

"Kyaaak?!"

Yulia suddenly wore a wicked little smile and lunged at Charlotte. She attacked her sides and underarms mercilessly; Charlotte dissolved into breathless, shrieking laughter.

The sight of Charlotte completely at Yulia's mercy was so alien I forgot even to intervene and simply watched.

"Ahaha! Stop iiiit! Hehehe!"

"As if I'd stop! This chance is once in a lifetime! When else am I ever going to get to tickle you this much?!"

"Aha! Ahahak! Ah—hngk...! Huh?"

"Ah?"

Yulia's hands froze mid-motion. She hadn't stopped herself. Charlotte, who had been struggling weakly, had seized her wrists in an iron grip and locked them in place.

Hadn't Charlotte just had every scrap of mana drained out of her? Apparently even that short interval had been enough for a little to regenerate—more than enough to overpower fragile Yulia.

"Eheheh. What was that you just said, Yulia?"

"W-wait a second. I think there's been some kind of misunderstanding..."

The tables turned in an instant. Yulia's expression went rigid and her face drained of all color.

"Kyaaaaak?!"

"C'mere!!!"

Screams once again filled the laboratory. Finishing the experiment today was already a lost cause.