Forest Keeper (Part 2)
When the alarm blared over the destruction of the lodging, Yerna rushed back in a panic—only to find the place in a state that could only be called catastrophic.
The door was smashed to pieces, the man lay sprawled out cold, and the interior was completely wrecked and strewn with debris…
For Yerna, an elf who loved neatness and harmony, it was practically a nightmare.
The instant she took in the scene, she shook awake the red-haired male forest keeper who had been unconscious and poured her fury onto him.
The result…
"No, Yerna. Just listen, will you? Seriously, I couldn't help but misunderstand."
"Tsk. Hands up properly. Who wants to hear excuses right now?"
"Yes, ma'am…"
The red-haired giant never even got a chance to explain himself. He was already kneeling facing the wall, hands raised high, taking his punishment.
Luke, watching Yerna scold him, tugged at her sleeve and spoke.
"I-I am unharmed. Will you not forgive him already, then?"
"…"
Yerna, who had been wearing a stern expression, looked down at Luke.
After locking eyes with Lu for a moment, she let out a sigh as if relenting.
"Haa… Fine. Since Lu didn't get hurt, I'll let it slide. Speak."
"So!"
The man sprang up as if bouncing and settled into a stance.
Seeing that, Luke thought he seemed far more like a martial artist than a mage.
"Alright, listen!"
"I'm listening."
"I didn't just fall over by myself, okay? That little kid used magic! Magic! Without even a chant!"
He flailed his hands and feet wildly as he rattled on.
Unable to take any more of it, Yerna asked,
"Huh. Lu, is that true?"
"Of course…"
Luke had been about to confirm it when he recalled what the young man named Marco Alby had said on the bus earlier.
Unauthorized use of magic carries fines and imprisonment, was it…
As a forest keeper, Yerna also held the authority to enforce the law.
Would it be alright to openly admit to her that he had committed an illegal act?
Even if he had not known, it was still illegal.
Would she be able to keep from being disappointed in him?
Luke did not want to disappoint her.
Then would it not be better to say he had not used magic at all?
Luke thought carefully.
"Hahaha, as if. Do I look like someone who could do such a thing?"
A faint cold sweat seemed to be forming, yet Yerna never even dreamed that Luke would lie, so she simply nodded.
"I knew it, right?"
"What! That—that…!"
The red-haired man flushed red all the way to his face, gesturing at Luke while clutching the back of his neck.
Luke, wary that the man might grow excited and charge in to create another situation where he would have no choice but to use magic like before, hid behind Yerna.
Unfortunately, that appearance was exactly like a frightened child ducking behind its mother.
And Yerna could not help but feel pity at the sight.
When she soothed Luke with "Unni will scold him properly for you," Luke simply nodded quietly, judging the misunderstanding advantageous for the moment and making no attempt to correct it.
Seeing that, the man made strangled "Ugh, ugh!" sounds as if about to topple backward.
Fearing he might expose the magic use again, Luke quietly put a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture and furrowed his brows from an angle Yerna could not see.
Yerna, who had missed that suspicious gesture because Luke was hidden behind her, spoke admonishingly toward the strangely furious Dighton with a peculiar expression.
"So the magic was just an excuse, and in the end you just fell over and passed out by yourself. Lack of training, isn't it?"
"Yerna, I really felt mana from that kid's body! And it was mid-to-large monster level! No human would have that kind of mana inside them, right?"
To the man's desperate cry, Yerna replied indifferently.
"Well, our Lu has a circle in her heart, so of course you'd feel mana."
"What! A circle!?"
At the man's even more astonished look, Luke felt needlessly burdened by him and quietly slipped farther behind Yerna.
Seeing the action, Yerna took it for fear and pressed the man harder.
"Quiet. You're scaring our Lu! She must have been hugely shocked because of you already!"
"…"
Luke, having nothing to say, simply kept his mouth shut.
The man thumped his chest in protest of the injustice, but in the end his words never reached Yerna.
In her heart, Luke's trustworthiness already stood far too high.
Looking at the man like that, Yerna spoke with a distrustful expression.
"Then, Dighton Genepper, this is what I'm curious about. Why were you snooping around my lodging?"
"Th-that's… Haha. It just sort of happened?"
Unable to find a usable excuse and floundering, Dighton ended up giving an answer worse than none.
Hearing it, Yerna reacted at once.
"What do you mean 'just sort of happened,' you bastard!"
Whack!
"Guh!"
Yerna had swung a high kick straight at Dighton's head.
Pointing at him as he rolled across the floor, she said,
"I'm on duty today, so fix everything completely before you clock out. Got it?"
"Uwaaah, okay, okay!"
Watching Dighton roll about clutching his head, Luke thought, so even Yerna shows a side like that when she is angry.
Dighton immediately hung the door he had bought and arranged the table.
He cleaned up every scrap of broken debris and overturned items, swept the floor, and wiped it clean.
Luke helped as well.
It had all been a happening born of a minor(?) misunderstanding.
Luke even felt sorry toward him.
"Haa…"
In the end only Luke and Dighton were left alone again.
The air hung heavy.
If the atmosphere had taken form, it would have been a swamp deep in a dark forest.
The one fortunate point was that there was work to focus on, perhaps.
Luke diligently worked the broom, trying to escape that atmosphere.
But it was not only Luke who could not endure it.
"Hey, kid."
Dighton, who had been wiping here and there with a rag, called to Luke.
Yet the word "kid" from his mouth was more than enough to prick Luke's temper.
From Luke's perspective the man was a wet-behind-the-ears youngster.
Though he did feel sorry toward him, he had no intention of letting that form of address slide.
"Call me Luke Irushi."
"Well. Fine, Luke Irushi…"
Scratching the back of his head, Dighton fidgeted while fiddling with the bandage stuck to his forehead.
It was a wound slightly torn from taking Yerna's high kick, and Luke had put the bandage on for him.
"Well… Sorry. I thought you were a monster."
"It is fine. As a forest keeper, such a thing is possible. I understand."
In the forest, countless forms of danger exist.
Among those dangers, of course, there can be monsters that closely resemble humans. No—one could even say there must be.
In that regard, Luke could say he had been extremely lucky.
If he had simply encountered Yerna in the forest, she, mistaking him for a monster, might well have attacked him.
"With those ears and horns, and having that much mana on top of it, I had no choice but to think you were a monster. Forgive me."
"Of course. Then I too must convey my apologies. That was not intentional."
"Yeah, I guess so."
Dighton thought.
Circle magic was magic that carried risk every time it was used.
Magic always held the possibility of failure.
But unlike Class magic, where that risk was almost nonexistent, failure in Circle magic was said to threaten even one's life.
To protect himself from a sudden attack, the child must have had no choice but to respond in such a dangerous way.
But unfair was still unfair.
"But why did you make me out to be a liar? You did use magic, right?"
"Hmm… That was not actually magic."
"Then what was it?"
Luke did not answer and changed the subject.
"By the way, do you also possess Mana Sight?"
"Not quite Mana Sight—just enough to feel it. But 'you also'… so you have Mana Sight?"
"Indeed. Only one side, though."
Luke pointed to his left pupil as he spoke.
But his past self had possessed Mana Sight in both eyes; both pupils had gleamed gold.
Currently only one side remained.
Thus the information readable with Mana Sight was quite limited compared to the past.
In the past, just looking at magic was enough to fully read it all…
Filling the gaps in information with conjecture and understanding was Luke's current method of use—an act possible only because of the overwhelming level of knowledge he had accumulated.
"Whoa."
Dighton let out a breath as if shocked.
"So that wasn't just heterochromia… Sheesh."
Scratching his head irritably, Dighton thought.
Mana Sight was originally extremely rare even when it manifested in just one eye.
Reading magic the moment you see it. If something like that existed, every encryption formula that locked down magic would be useless.
So that's how he countered my magic too.
Nodding in understanding to himself, Dighton said to Luke,
"But who taught you Circle magic? You use it pretty freely."
"I am self-taught."
"What."
Well, who taught Circle magic these days?
Usually, the moment a circle formed in the heart, it was surgically removed.
With circumstances like that there was no way to find a master, so of course most people self-studied until they usually died from mana reverse flow.
But Circle magic completed to this degree…
"You're gonna be something big, this one. Still, Circle magic is dangerous, so restrain yourself."
"If one handles it well, it is quite useful, is it not?"
"If you mess up you die, you brat."
"Then one need only not make mistakes, no?"
"Talk is easy."
Feeling as if he were arguing with a child, Dighton scratched the back of his head and let out a deep sigh.
No—I actually am arguing with a kid.
Looking at Luke, who was smiling faintly while affirming Circle magic, Dighton pressed his brow and said,
"What the heck are you trying to become when you grow up?"
"Is it not obvious?"
He puffed out his chest and spoke with utmost confidence.
"My dream is to become an Archmage."
Even with a body that had become like this.