Chapter 3
Hey? They call me a genius. An unfamiliar ceiling. Holy shit, this is rough. I'd always wanted to say that line at least once, but I never thought I'd actually get the chance. If you're isekai'd or reincarnated into another world, you gotta try this stuff out. And in the end, I did it. Not bad at all.
I blinked a few times, thinking that.
First things first. I survived, right? I'm alive, yeah? I wiggled my fingertips. Good, they moved just fine. Once I confirmed my hands worked, I immediately slapped my cheek lightly.
Smack!
"Ow."
Fuck, I hit too hard. Couldn't control my strength. As I rubbed my stinging cheek,
"Oh my?"
A voice rang out. I lifted my head slightly to look. There was someone. On the opposite side from where I was lying. A woman sitting in a chair with her legs crossed.
"You've got some weird sleeping habits, huh? Smacking your own cheek like that. Or did you have a nightmare?"
"..."
Her robe pulled low over her head, with just a glimpse of black hair peeking out—it wasn't ordinary. Seeing that, I propped myself up carefully. Then, cautiously, I knelt on my knees.
"Hm?"
The woman reacted to my movement.
"...Thank you for saving my life."
"You knew it was me who saved you?"
"I remember, sort of."
"Good. I was wondering if I'd have to crack open your skull and inject the memories if you didn't."
"...Pardon?"
Crack open my what? I flinched at her words. Her lines weren't normal. She was clearly an odd one, no doubt. And at the same time...
An outsider. Not from around here. No local would dress that lightly. Someone who doesn't feel the cold even dressed like that. It sounded familiar from the novels. Knights or mages who wielded mana weren't fazed by heat or cold.
...Is she one of those? Seemed like it.
What kind of person is she? No clue. Not to me, at least. Ah, fuck, why does this orphan bastard know so little?
Anyway. Whatever she was, she saved my life. That's all that mattered right now. I survived.
"Kid."
The woman addressed me.
"Yeah?"
"Why'd you grab me?"
Her question made me roll my eyes. Why'd I grab her?
Instinct. Pure instinct telling me to grab that woman if I wanted to live. Nothing else to explain it.
"...I wanted to live, so I caused you trouble. Sorry."
I bowed my head low in apology. Her demeanor and vibe screamed she wasn't common folk. This damn noble society. Even if romance fantasies made it seem soft and fuzzy, Ruin's knowledge told me the rules between nobles and commoners were ironclad. One wrong move, and I'd be fucked. Best to grovel.
But.
"Nah, not that."
"Pardon...?"
She didn't seem to give a shit about that.
"Why me?"
She said, raising her index finger. On top of it...
Whirr.
Light shimmered. It gathered like heat haze, forming something.
"You."
She spoke, the thing still rippling.
"See it?"
"..."
"What're you waiting for? Read it."
She urged me. I awkwardly replied, staring at it.
"Uh... there."
"What? You gonna say you can't see it now-?"
"I can't read."
"...Huh?"
"...I'm illiterate."
I said sheepishly. An orphan with zero parents couldn't read. I'd tried to learn, sure.
But no time, what with scraping for cash. No time for that shit. Fuck, when your life's on the line, who gives a damn about anything else?
"Ah."
She reacted to my answer.
"Didn't expect you to be illiterate. Anyway, you can see it, right?"
"Yes."
"What do you see?"
"...Letters."
"Good."
She nodded, satisfied. Then.
"What about here?"
She pointed her raised index finger at her own chest. There.
That thing? I remembered. What I'd seen before passing out. Vast and grand. Profound and deep. Ah, throwing in every fancy word I could think of. No idea what it was. Just... immense.
But.
Can't see it now? It was gone. No matter how hard I squinted, all I saw was her ample bosom. Not bad, actually? Could I just keep staring? Feels like sexual harassment territory.
As I stared without realizing,
"Can't see it, huh?"
"..."
Busted. I awkwardly averted my gaze. Then.
"Mana sickness amplifying your mana veins? Might be worth researching."
Her voice held more excitement than disappointment.
"Mana sickness?"
"What you were suffering from. When humans awaken to mana suddenly, their bodies can't handle it, so it overloads."
"..."
Awakened to mana? Me? Unexpected info. So it wasn't just some fucked-up disease?
This idiot doesn't even know that? Nothing like it in common knowledge. Not even in the novels. What the hell is mana sickness?
"Usually, family mages calm it down, or the body adapts within days even if overloaded..."
She stared at me intently.
"Never heard of anyone nearly dying from mana sickness."
"Is my body that messed up?"
Days? I suffered for a whole month, nearly croaked. How shitty does a body have to be for that?
She chuckled at my exasperation.
"Messed up...? If anything, the opposite... but no need to explain now. Anyway, kid."
"Yeah?"
She called me and continued.
"Good thing you came to me instead of a priest. Those Holy Kingdom idiots couldn't have saved you."
Holy Kingdom idiots. I let out a groan at that. Few in this world could trash-talk the Holy Kingdom like that.
Who the hell is this woman? Not someone ordinary, that's for sure. Racking my brain for romance novel lore. Fat lot of good it did.
No clue, fuck... wasn't in the 60 episodes I read. No black-haired, badass big-sis type like her.
"They couldn't even suppress mana sickness this bad. If they'd found you, they'd have grabbed you for human experiments, obviously."
"...Human experiments?"
Didn't fit the Holy Kingdom at all.
"If I could, I'd love to drag you around and run tests... but sadly, no time."
"...Should I be relieved?"
"For you?"
"..."
My gut kept twisting. I'd latched onto the wrong person, big time.
"Thought about keeping you around... but that'd be a hassle. More fun to leave you alone. So, I'll let you be for now."
"...Me?"
Like I was some object. Take me or leave me—what kinda talk was that? Then.
"Oh, by the way, I bought you."
"Huh?"
Bought me? She pulled a paper from her bosom. It bore the seal of my orphanage.
Simple meaning: she'd adopted me. Couldn't read, but I knew that much. Holy shit, what the fuck?
How'd she find out? How'd she know which orphanage and adopt me in that short time? Orphan Ruin suddenly has a mom?
"Mom?"
"Call me that again, and I'll cut your tongue out."
"...Sorry."
Had to shut my mouth. Guess I couldn't call Mom "Mom."
"Put a collar on you so you can't run. Behave yourself."
Tap tap. She touched her own neck at my question.
"You won't feel or see it. But it's locked tight."
"..."
That made it scarier. What the fuck is this woman? As it really sank in that I was fucked,
"Lucky me. Coming to this backwater was such a pain, but I found something fun."
Heat in her voice. Uncomfortably stuffy.
"Wait, what makes me fun-?"
I stopped mid-sentence. Sudden dizziness hit me. And.
Drip drip.
"...Huh?"
Blood from my nose.
"This is..."
"Not fully cured. You have too much, so I just patched it temporarily."
"Huh?"
"To recover, study magic hard. At this rate, you'll die the same way in a week."
"A week!? Wait, hold on. Magic in the meantime?"
"What else? Survived mana sickness, so become a mage."
"Me, a mage?"
The ones spewing fire, making ice, pew pew? Me doing that?
Mages. In novels or Ruin's common sense, unreachable without talent. And I could?
As my eyes widened,
"If you can't be a mage, say so now."
She said.
"I'll kill you quick and be on my way-."
"I'll study harder than anyone."
"Good attitude."
She smiled. And just like that, my future as an ex-orphan turned single-parent kid was set.
I had to become a mage. Or die. Either killed by the woman who saved me (aka Mom),
Or.
Buried by mana sickness.
Her noble self said she'd suppressed the outbreak, but mana would rampage eventually. To stop it, raise my mage level. Mana control. Do that, and it'd be fine.
...So how far? Where's the line? When I asked, Mom said,
-Who knows? You'll figure it out as you go.
What a carefree answer. Less than a day with a mom, and I already felt like a filial ingrate.
Just bolt? Tempting. She might be lying. And I was alone now. She'd dumped me in some random room and left. After one assignment.
-Weave the energy in your body into your heart. Form a circle. You have until tomorrow morning.
Circle. The source of magic every mage has. She told me to make one. What if I failed? Mom said,
-Try failing, then.
Fucking filial ingrate vibes. Wanted to throw a proper teen tantrum, but.
...Pathetic. Weaklings like me couldn't even manage that. Have to do it or what?
"At least teach me properly before leaving."
Weave mana into the heart how? Bullshit. Her "method" was one book.
"Can't read, fuck...."
Illiteracy hurts. She did this on purpose, right?
"Haa."
Sigh escaped. Rubbed my dry face repeatedly. Then.
"Fuck it. Just go."
Even if I can't eat it, it's beef. If it doesn't work, it doesn't. But try.
-One day. Should be enough for you.
Some inexplicable faith. One day. Fine, one day it is. Closed my eyes tight.
Whirr.
After the pain and recovery, I moved the energy I felt in my body. Weave into the heart. Weave. Weave. Weave. Weave. Repeating that thought.
Click.
Something wove together, locking into my heart. Huh.
"...It worked?"
Five seconds. Time it took me to form a circle.