Because It's Not a Fairy Tale (7)
Even though there was no sign the Archmage would be coming, that was no reason for me to skip the examination.
So the moment I finished eating, I headed down to the Magic Tower and had my body checked. Since this wasn't an exam for crafting a custom sealing orb, there was no need to go around spamming skills.
"To tell whether mana is involved when a wound heals……"
"But for us to actually inflict a wound is a bit─."
Shunk!
"Aaaaagh!!"
"Waaagh!!!"
All I needed to do was put a wound on my own body.
What, you think it's weird to do it myself? Well, today's duel had already been moved up to yesterday, so there was no more chance of picking up fresh injuries. What else was I supposed to do? I had to make one myself.
Right in front of the mages I dragged the sword across my forearm, the same blade I had just driven into it. I felt it scrape past bone, but that was no big deal. With this many mages around, they could fix something like that no problem.
Better to do it properly in one go than make a tiny cut nobody could even observe, which would just look pathetic. It didn't hurt anyway.
Everything else felt real enough, but somehow damage to my own body still felt unreal—whether that was because my senses were dulled or because the idea that I was still using a game character's flesh still dominated my mind, I couldn't say—and so it wasn't particularly frightening.
"A-Are you all right……?"
I was more fascinated by these mages than they were by me.
It hadn't been the people at this branch, but mages from other branches had been the ones throwing every proposal at me—wanting to research me, wanting me to sign experimental consent forms, wanting me to do this or that. Yet the moment the chance actually arrived they were hesitating.
I couldn't tell whether this branch alone had managed to keep a conscience, or whether the ones who had made those offers simply had none at all. It made me curious for no good reason.
"Check it."
Curiosity was curiosity, and a wound was a wound.
I watched my HP window as I rolled up my sleeve. Under the coat and shirt came bandages; I unwound those without a word as well.
I had stabbed the left arm, not the right, so there was nothing wrong with showing it. Ha-ha!
"Whoa, that's intense."
White Wind walked up with light steps. The other mages were still only stealing sidelong glances at the wound in open bewilderment, but she shoved her face right up to it. Behind her stood the businesslike mage who had been in charge of me last time.
"Still no mana visible……"
Well. Maybe because my HP was still in the safe range? This was the sort of wound that would heal cleanly with simple treatment and never threaten my life.
"Does it only pull mana when life is hanging by a thread?"
I had been thinking roughly the same thing. It was an obvious cliché. Of course a power that only shows up when you're about to die is the classic setup. Not that I had any skill that felt like that.
Whir.
I spun the dagger I had used on my forearm between my fingers.
Where was that spot again—the one where death approaches slowly but is guaranteed once you get stabbed?
"You want me to stab you?"
"If necessary."
"I'll get scolded."
"Is that what scares you?"
"No."
Lung? Liver? I couldn't remember.
Either way, both were fatal wounds, so it should produce the reaction we wanted. I had a skill that nullified death once, and with this many mages around I wasn't going to die anyway.
Thinking that, I undid the front of my coat and shirt.
"Touch the right arm and I will kill you."
"Okay!"
Suddenly I wondered how the party would scream if they saw this scene.
To me it felt no different from experimenting on a game character, so it left no mark. But the others—especially Dev—would probably start yelling, "Self-harming again, milord!"
"If you're going to do it, lie down. Easier to observe."
What could I do? It genuinely felt less like a suicide attempt and more like draining a game character's HP.
And even if I accepted this place as reality, if I didn't solve this now……
I cut the thought off there. I had only just managed to vent some stress; there was no need to pile more on. Overthinking turns people crazy.
What I needed to think about—no, what I needed to do—was empty my head as much as possible and simply live according to whatever situation flowed my way, doing the best I could in each moment.
"Can I cut the bandages?"
"Do as you like."
"Ah, want me to numb it?"
My senses were dulled enough that anesthesia was unnecessary. Whether my chest was showing or not barely mattered either.
So I answered with action instead of words.
This crazy bastard—on purpose.
The white bandages began to bloom with primary color.
"You awake?"
I had no idea when I had blacked out.
I lifted eyelids that felt strangely heavy. My body was a little stiff, but nothing serious. The places I had wounded held not a single ache, exactly like waking up after a sedated endoscopy.
"We're done checking. Just as we thought—when life is in real danger it draws mana to keep itself going."
I blankly touched the skin of my stomach between the shirt flaps. The bandages had already been restored after healing, so I couldn't feel the flesh itself. But there was none of the unevenness a wound leaves, and no pain. That alone was enough to convince me I was fine.
"There are a couple of slightly strange things we found, though… I'll tell you outside! We still need to put the sealing orb back on and get your clothes sorted."
Ah. Right. The sealing orb needed to go back on.
I checked my mana again; the leading digit had returned to 2. Something was rolling around under the sleeve of my coat near the forearm—probably a fragment of the sealing orb.
"For the record, since we already had your chest open we checked the heart area too, and it's completely fine! Nothing to worry about!"
White Wind shot me a crisp thumbs-up. That only made the endoscopy vibe stronger. Hearing her talk about examining the heart also gave it a weird health-checkup flavor.
"The news you're about to hear won't be pleasant, though!"
What was she talking about all of a sudden?
"Milord……"
"Ah, Demon Knight……"
"Comrade, you finally awake?"
I understood White Wind's bizarre remark ten minutes later.
While I was being examined here, the party had arrived. Whether they had seen the whole process or not, their complexions (Berserk excepted) looked terrible. Akata apparently hadn't joined them, given the setting.
"Milord, you clearly promised……"
"This time, this time……"
But if Akata wasn't here, that was the end of it.
It wasn't the first or second time my concept had put the demon ahead of my own life. If the kid hadn't seen it, what was there for me to feel guilty about?
Besides, even if my choice wasn't "right," it wasn't wrong either.
Who knows what kind of disaster might come back to bite us later if I just glossed over it.
The choice I made clearly didn't spare myself, but that didn't mean I deserved to be scolded for it either.
This world is never a fairy-tale story, so there are times when this kind of unavoidable best is all you have.
"You……"
And just as I knew that, the Archmage knew it too.
That was why he didn't lecture me; instead he gently drew the two people who clearly wanted to say something away behind him.
"Next time let us find a better method."
We fought earlier—surely you haven't forgotten that?
"That is none of your concern."
I put on a show of hostility and followed White Wind. The place she led us back to was the same reception room as last time.
"Like I said earlier, the hypothesis itself matches what we expected. You're not going to die easily. The demon energy dwelling in your body—that vast mana—will cling to your life until the very end."
White Wind plopped into a seat and launched straight into the explanation. The people coming in behind us looked even more miserable, but neither I nor Berserk did.
"Oh, so Comrade is half-immortal? That sounds great!"
"No… that's not what it means……"
"Is that not what it means?"
I see… so that's why I kept surviving no matter how recklessly I threw my body around.
I had assumed it was either the system forcing things or just pure luck, but apparently neither.
"But while we were observing the state of your injuries we found one—or maybe two—problems."
A marionette set down tea and snacks. Nobody touched them. My brow twisted hard, and all kinds of groans rose from behind me.
"Did you, by any chance, make a contract with a demon?"
"That question just now had better have a proper basis. If it does not……"
I shouted inwardly.
"I will shatter your neck."
Yes! Finally the hidden setting comes out!
"Hmm. Is that so. Well, it's not as if you would have contracted with a demon anyway."
Even with killing intent pouring off me, White Wind kept her composed attitude. It felt less like I was insufficiently threatening and more like she was simply occupied by other thoughts.
"The reason I asked just in case is that the demon energy was showing a really bizarre form."
"…Bizarre form?"
"First of all, we can't tell whether the mana used to keep you from dying was directed by you or whether the demon in your body intervened to stop its host from dying. We were simply leaning toward the former because it made no attempt to seize control of your body while you were weakened."
While Kimchi Mandu behind me gave a small murmur of agreement, White Wind flipped the topic with a single "However."
"Demon energy that wasn't even mana was adding something. Not only healing your body, but showing a current that wanted to bind and restrain something."
Hearing that, I reflexively furrowed my brow. Bind, restrain—words that had become thoroughly unpleasant while playing this game.
"I don't really know what the target was. It's a method I've never encountered in my life. But no matter how I think about it, it doesn't seem like something you did unconsciously? If you had the ability to suppress the demon even while life and death were trading places, you wouldn't be in your current state to begin with."
"Then the demon─"
"So."
"But if the demon did it, that would be strange in its own way. When it should barely have enough to seize your body, spending that power on something else just doesn't fit."
That much was true. Healing my body I could accept, but doing something else instead of taking control looked more like a scheme than anything else.
"In the end it means this is a higher priority for the demon than taking over your body… If it isn't bound by a contract, then the most likely reason is some kind of benefit. The problem is that even with my knowledge I can't clearly define this act. In other words, we can't figure out what effect it's having on you."
I thought of the demon from the setting.
And I tried considering what would be best from the standpoint of a being— a demon—placed in the exact same circumstances as me.
"So I'll give you a warning right here."
Even if it seized the body, another struggle for control could just break out again… so maybe it was taking a longer view? Erosion, or laying groundwork, or something.
Or maybe it was me……
"From now on, don't get hurt badly enough that you smash the sealing orb and start drawing mana. If you're going to get that hurt, better just die."
I cut off the train of thought before it could spiral past conjecture into pure force of will. Earlier I had sworn to prepare while refusing to buy anxiety and despair in advance.
Three-day resolutions were already plenty back in reality when I tried quitting liquid fructose.
"For you too, that would be better than falling to the demon, right?"
I squeezed my eyes shut instead. Then opened them before it grew too late.
"I will keep that in mind."
Better to just die and retry than clear it while half-dead. Fine, got it. Memorized!
"No, milord. That's not something you should be agreeing to……!"
"In the end we simply need to make sure the Demon Knight never collapses! I will strive harder!"
"Berserk does not really understand… Why would Comrade be eaten by a demon?"
"…I explained it when you joined. The Demon Knight carries a demon inside his body."
"Was that not speaking of hatred toward demons??"
Unlike me, who accepted it quietly, the seats behind us erupted into total chaos. I lowered my brows and kept my gaze only on White Wind.
"The second thing."
"Hm? Ah. This one's a little ambiguous. More of a peculiarity than a problem… When you were injured in the Great Forest the Archmage said he saw black mana. But the mana we saw was closer to gray."
Huh? The color of the mana changed?
I sank into thought for a moment. It wouldn't have changed for no reason; there had to be a cause……
I compared the differences between when I was wounded in the Great Forest and now. Surroundings, attackers, everything was different, but none of that seemed like a real reason… Ah.
Clack.
I took out the orb the Sea Dragon had given me and Sangun had repaired, and set it down.
"…What is this?"
Whether she recognized its value at a glance or not, White Wind's eyes glittered.
"An orb that holds the energies of the Sea Dragon and Sangun. Sangun said it possesses the power to purify impurity. Could this have had an influence?"
"…Probably. But I want to buy this. You're not selling it, right?"
Not a chance. I pocketed the orb again before White Wind could start drooling from the mouth as well as the eyes.
That roughly explained the color change, so from now on I just needed to be careful about getting injured.
"Aaaaaah!! Don't put it away already! Just once, show it just one more time!!"
"There is nothing more to do. I am leaving."
"No, show me that! Showing me that is the work! Demon Knight, don't gooo!!"
I rose from my seat without mercy no matter how White Wind wailed. She threw her whole body at my pant leg—more precisely at my shoe and ankle—and clung, but that was none of my business.
The party members behind me looked back and forth between me and White Wind with expressions that defied description.
"White Wind."
"Just once, just once!!"
"How undignified……"
"Who cares about dignity?! There's a one-of-a-kind item right in front of me!!"
"Let go……!"
Hey, let go of this. I swung my leg a few times trying to shake off the person latched onto it.
But the one who had looked fragile as a twig apparently gained several dozen times her normal strength from research greed. She wouldn't come off easily.
"Aigoo, Lady White Wind, let's let go. You'll get yourself killed!"
"Get off him, please. I already have more things I need to discuss with you."
"You must not do this."
"Nooooo!!"
In the end the Archmage, Deathbringer, and Inquisitor hauled White Wind away. The Archmage hooked his arms under her armpits and lifted her while Deathbringer and the Inquisitor pried her arms free.
"Nooo, my orb……"
"That's not even yours, Lady White Wind……"
White Wind dangled from the Archmage's grip, tears streaming down her face.
"Um, Demon Knight, are you all right……?"
Meanwhile the Inquisitor sidled up and carefully checked my expression. Naturally I kept my crumpled face and yanked the reception-room door open.
"Aaaaagh! Grab the snake!"
"Magic isn't working so we can't catch it!!"
"On three we lift—whoa!"
"Aaaaagh, it's going for my head!"
"Wooooaaaargh!!"
Outside was chaos—no, snake-chaos. Haha.
"Oh, everyone's playing with the snakes? Berserk wants to join too!"
"No, anyone can see the mages are being eaten by escaped snakes!"
"Help us!!"
"Ah, I'm going!"
Ever since coming to Hudelen there really hasn't been a single peaceful day.