Dozens of Eyes
The next day—
When he woke, his mother was nowhere to be seen.
"Mom?"
"Where are you?"
A rustling sound came from under the bed.
"Mom?"
"Boo!"
"Aaah!"
His mother burst out from under the bed, draped in a white sheet.
"Did I scare you, son?"
"Mom! You startled me."
"Well, thanks to you, I'm wide awake now."
"Did you sleep well, Mom?"
"I did. How about you, son?"
"Come on—let's eat and get to training."
"Yes!"
After breakfast, they headed outside.
"The breeze feels so nice today!"
"It does, doesn't it?"
"On days like this, be careful not to catch a cold."
"Yes!"
"Shall we head to training, then?"
"A special guest is coming today."
"A special guest?"
"Though from your perspective, it might be the opposite."
"To be precise… someone you'll have to surpass?"
"Someone I'll have to surpass?"
With those words hanging between them, they climbed the hill together and settled in the shade of a tree, letting the wind wash over them.
Then—
From the foot of the hill, a short-haired figure with a dagger at her hip waved up at them.
"Who's that?"
"Master! Brat!"
At the familiar voice, his eyes went wide.
"It's Lizette!"
"Mom, she just called you Master, didn't she?"
"Huh?"
Armel flinched for a moment, then sprang to her feet.
"Just a second, son."
In the blink of an eye, the mother standing before him was suddenly at Lizette's side.
"Lizette. Haven't seen you around for a while."
"Well…"
"I've been buried in commissions left and right."
"I heard from the guild master."
"He said he gave you time off so you could train."
"That damn older brother of mine…"
"Snitching already, is he?"
"I'll explain everything, I swear…"
"Forget it. You can make up the training you missed today."
"And don't go telling my son any old stories about me. Got it?"
"What?"
"You still haven't told him?"
"Not in any real detail, no."
"Understood."
"Good."
"So get your story straight."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Mom!!!"
"Hurry up and come back!"
"Coming!"
"All right, let's go up."
"Um… Lady Armel."
"Lady what?"
"Still not broken of that habit, I see."
Lizette hesitated, then spoke carefully.
"Am I… still allowed to be your disciple?"
"I did something terrible to your son."
"As long as I think of you as my disciple,"
"and as long as you think of me as your master—you will always be my disciple."
"Understood?"
Her master said it so casually. And yet something about those words made Lizette's throat tighten.
"And one more thing…"
"If you call me Lady Armel—or stick a 'Miss' on the end—one more time."
"You know what happens, right?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Mom, why did you suddenly go down there?"
"You just whooshed away and vanished. You scared me."
"Well…"
"I simply hadn't seen Lizette in so long."
"Hey there, kid."
"It's been a while for me too, Lizette."
"I'm sorry about last time."
"Last time?"
"Oh—that. It's fine."
"One kick from Mom and I was completely over it!"
"Is that so…"
"Truly your master's son."
"Right?"
"Anyway."
"The wind up here feels wonderful."
"There's an ocean right in front of us, after all."
"Oh, right—about what happened with my son yesterday."
"Mom, are you seriously going to tell her?"
"Please… can we just not talk about that?"
"Nope! Not happening!"
His mother proceeded to recount everything that had happened during yesterday's Physical Reinforcement training.
"Are you serious?"
"Just how much mana does he have for that to even be possible…"
"That's what I'm saying."
"Mom!!!"
"Sorry, son. Your reaction was just too adorable."
"I spilled everything before I even realized it."
"That's so mean."
"But why is Lizette here today, anyway?"
"About that."
"I'm going to show you a fight using nothing but Physical Reinforcement."
"A fight with only Physical Reinforcement?"
"No magic."
"Just the body, strengthened by mana alone."
"Uh… Master."
"Is that… me you're talking about?"
"Who else would it be?"
"Understood…"
The two of them put some distance between themselves and the boy.
"Lizette, you've got more daggers at home, right?"
"Yes."
"Good. If this one breaks, I'll compensate you later."
"Come at me with that dagger."
"Yes…"
Lizette raised her dagger with grim determination in her eyes.
"Mom, are you going to be okay?"
"I'll be fine."
"Son, I'll show you a real blade breaking under nothing but reinforcement."
Her voice brimmed with confidence.
"Son, will you call the start for us?"
"Okay…"
"Be—gin!"
Clang.
"Huh?"
He couldn't even track it with his eyes. The instant he shouted the word, all he heard was the sound of a dagger shattering.
"Ha… it broke after all."
"Sorry about that, Lizette."
"It's fine."
"Master."
Lizette stood frozen, as if she herself couldn't quite process what had just happened.
"Well then—looks like we'll have to fight bare-handed?"
"Haha…"
"I'm not confident with my fists, but… I'll give it a shot."
"That's the spirit."
"Son, watch carefully from here on."
Lizette dropped low and charged.
In that instant, his mother's form vanished from his field of vision.
Boom!
The impact reached his ears a beat too late.
"Ghk…"
Lizette skidded across the ground and barely managed to recover her stance.
"Good."
"You caught a little of that one, didn't you?"
"Master… you seem even faster than before."
"I can barely keep up with my eyes."
"I've gotten old."
"I wasn't this slow before."
"Then try harder to block."
His mother's speed climbed higher and higher. Lizette kept getting driven back by strikes she couldn't even tell were coming from.
"Kh…"
"And she calls this slow…"
"How much has she been holding back all this time?"
"Hah…"
"This is getting a bit one-sided."
"Lizette—use magic too."
"What? But…"
"What, scared you'll lose even with magic?"
His mother wore a thoroughly smug little smile.
I've seen that smile somewhere before…
"Ah—that's the same smile Lizette makes when she fights me!"
Her master flinched and glanced at the brat. Lizette did not waste the opening.
Now!
She hastily conjured fire in her palm and shaped it into an arrow.
"Fly!"
"Close. Nice idea, though."
His mother caught the fire arrow barehanded, as if it were nothing at all.
"She… caught the magic…"
Still holding it, she spun once and flung the arrow straight back at Lizette.
KRA-BOOM!
Lizette took the hit full-on and went down hard.
"I lose…"
"You do. But you've improved a great deal."
"At this level, you should sit for the S-rank adventurer exam."
"Me?"
"I'm nowhere near ready."
"I don't think that's true."
His mother held out her palm. A burn mark had formed across her hand.
"Your mana control has become remarkably refined."
"You've been working hard, haven't you?"
Lizette's eyes welled up as she bowed her head.
"Thank you, Master!"
"Mom, how long has Lizette been your disciple?"
"From the smile to the taunting—it was exactly the same as what she does to me."
"Well… about that."
"Back when I was still active as an adventurer, Master saved my life."
"After that, I followed her around for ages, begging her to teach me."
"Wow… in a completely different way, you're pretty amazing too, Lizette."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Master, could you heal me a little?"
"Of course."
His mother reached out and touched Lizette. The wounds across her body began to fade away.
"So this is… healing magic."
"Fascinating, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Does it restore stamina too?"
"No, it doesn't."
"Stamina isn't something healing can fix."
"But instead—!"
Lizette pulled something from her back pocket.
"Drink this and your stamina will recover."
"Is that something Aunt Serina made?"
"That's right."
"How did you know?"
"The mana color is clear and clean."
Lizette held up the vial and studied it carefully.
"Is that so…"
"Can you tell, Master?"
"Honestly, even I can't always tell."
"Looks like my son can distinguish it, though."
"That's incredible."
"A child who can see mana…"
"Well then, son—anything you're curious about?"
"Yes!"
"Tons of things!"
"All right. Ask them one at a time, slowly."
"Um… then how did you catch the magic?"
"That was Physical Reinforcement."
"You can do that with Physical Reinforcement?"
"With basic Physical Reinforcement alone, it's nearly impossible."
"But if you refine your mana with precision, it becomes possible."
"Master."
"Wouldn't it be better to show him directly rather than explain?"
"You might be right."
"Son, try drawing the mana out from inside your body."
"Okay."
He drew the mana out from within himself.
"The brat's mana color is weird too."
"Black and gold…"
"I don't think I've ever seen that before."
"Right? Amazing, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it really is."
"Mom, I got it out."
"Good. Now try reinforcing with it."
"Even when I reinforce, nothing really changes…"
"Then compare it to mine."
The moment he looked at his mother's Physical Reinforcement, understanding struck him all at once.
"So that's it!"
His own Physical Reinforcement was loose and sloppy—the mana itself was soft and formless. His mother's, by contrast, sheathed her arm in precisely the amount of mana required, refined down to the finest detail.
"It's not just about pouring mana through—you have to hold it steady at a constant level?"
"That's not all, brat."
"Come closer and look at Master's mana."
"Don't call me brat."
"Don't wanna."
A flash of irritation made him glare at her.
"Stop picking fights and just look at my son for a moment."
"It looks the same to me…"
"Huh?"
It wasn't simply a matter of maintaining the mana. She had compressed it into multiple layers and stacked them one atop another.
"Normally, reinforcing two or three times is more than enough."
"Master is the exception."
"Then how many times did you reinforce, Mom?"
"In that last fight, I had about twenty to thirty layers going."
"One thing I should tell you, though."
"You can't measure everything against Master as the standard."
"I already know that."
"Both of you, enough."
"Son—first, keep the reinforcing mana flowing at a steady rate."
"We'll start by refining your mana with precision."
"Mom… I'm not very good at controlling my mana."
"That's why I fell into the ocean last time."
"I was sure I was regulating it, but it just wouldn't work."
"I see."
"Then Master—let me try regulating the brat's mana."
"Once he gets a feel for the adjustment through my interference, he'll pick it up quickly."
"You will?"
The boy eyed Lizette with open suspicion.
"I don't trust you."
"Blunt, aren't you?"
"Relax. I'm only going to help with the mana regulation."
"Fine…"
"Then sit down."
"Close your eyes like that and feel your mana."
Lizette placed her hand against his back from behind.
"From here on, I'm going to make contact with your mana."
"Ready?"
Lizette's mana began to flow into him, little by little.
Why is this brat's mana buried so impossibly deep?
Lizette was wandering lost through the boy's mana.
"What… is this."
Then, at last, she understood.
"It's not that the mana is deep…"
She looked around at the space within his mana.
"All of this… is mana?"
She was already inside the boy's mana.
A strange gaze pressed against her from behind.
"Why do I feel like I'm being watched…"
The moment she turned around, dozens of eyes were looking straight at her.
Dozens of eyes blinked, slowly.
In that instant, she nearly screamed.
"What… is this."
"What on earth are these—"
She yanked her hand away from the brat in a panic.
Lizette was breathing hard, staring at Armel.
"Master… perhaps we should take a short break?"
"That might be best."
"Son, would you go down and fetch some water?"
"Lizette looks thirsty."
"Okay, I'll bring some."
Once the brat had gone down the hill, her master walked slowly toward her.
"Calm down."
"What happened?"
"Master… would you look at my mana right now?"
"All right."
Armel placed a hand against Lizette's chest. The moment she checked the mana, her mouth fell open in shock.
"Your mana—why is it…"
"Did it disappear?"
Lizette only nodded, saying nothing.
"Just now, when I sent my mana in…"
"Most of my mana—and for a moment, even my attributes—vanished."
"The attributes themselves disappeared."
"Something like that…"
Lizette was not a child who would lie about such a thing.
But mana and attributes vanishing?
That's no different from existence itself being denied…
"They're back now…"
"But attributes disappearing doesn't make any sense."
"I've seen people who erase magic."
"But erasing the attributes themselves—I've never even heard of that."
"Master, there's one more thing I need to tell you."
"The moment I entered that child's mana…"
Lizette bowed her head, her whole body trembling violently.
"Countless eyes were staring at me."
"As if they were looking right at me…"
"Mom! I brought the water!"
From a distance, the boy came climbing back up with a bright, sunny smile.
Looking at that face, Lizette let out a hollow laugh.
"Behind a child who smiles so innocently…"
"Something like that exists…"
"Lizette."
"I know. I won't tell a soul."
"Thank you."
"And… please don't look at that child like he's a monster."
"I'm asking you."
"He's your son, Master. Of course I won't!"
"Good."
Toward the boy who was coming up in little running steps, she hurried forward and pulled him into her arms.
You, at least—I will protect no matter what.
"Mom, is something wrong?"
"No. Nothing."
"You simply have far too much mana, son."
"We'll probably need to control it through a spirit later on."
"That's a shame…"
"Can't be helped."
"Let's stop here for today and do some sword training instead?"
"Sword training?"
"Mm-hm. Lizette will help you."
"Do I have the right to refuse…"
"Want me to climb up your face?"
"Come on, brat—grab a wooden sword already!"
As she watched them begin their sword practice, Armel fell into thought.