Regret and Apology
Once the whole uproar had finally settled, Luke finished reading every last book Yerna had handed him in place of an explanation.
But the expression on his face as he closed the final cover was not one of clarity or satisfaction. It was heavy with worry.
Why would a mage — a person who found no greater pleasure than chasing curiosity and resolving it — look like that after absorbing new information?
The reason was simple.
Now that Luke fully understood the concept of putting a price on mana, he had realized something.
"I'm in trouble…"
Why the mana bill had come out so enormous.
It had been entirely his own fault.
He had never skipped a day of meditation, steadily accumulating mana in his body so he could raise his Circle.
In other words, Luke had simply been gathering mana the way he always had.
He just hadn't known it cost money…
"……"
Cold sweat rolled down his face.
It felt like he had learned something he was never meant to know.
He understood he ought to beg forgiveness at once — but he had no confidence he could face Yerna after the truth came out.
Three million gil. Just how vast a sum was that?
With this tiny body, even if he found work, there was no chance he would be paid a proper wage.
Could he even find work in the first place?
This era was not the one Luke had known. He had no idea what jobs existed, and even if he somehow earned money, he would have no answer if Yerna pressed him on where it had come from.
"What am I to do…"
Luke stamped his feet in place.
Far from repaying his benefactor, he had only brought her trouble.
Was there no way out of this?
But Luke had never once lived a life of poverty, so his knowledge of how to make money from nothing was pitifully thin.
Money had always simply arrived once you sat in a high enough seat — and from the moment he became an Archmage, material concerns had ceased to matter entirely. He had never properly earned a living in his life.
In his later years he had retired and opened a general store, but honestly, that had never been about turning a profit.
His only real specialty was magic.
He had heard that ordinary impoverished mages took on all sorts of odd jobs to get by — but Luke Irushi, born to a respectable house, gifted with Mana Sight and extraordinary talent, had never done such menial work, nor even known where one went to find it.
The only work he could think of was monster hunting.
That, at least, was something he could be confident in.
And a forest, after all, was a breeding ground for monsters, was it not?
He was only First Circle, true — but he had already proven to Daiton that he could handle simultaneous chanting with ease. If a hunt succeeded, he could sell the materials.
And if luck was with him, he might even find a mana-herb.
"Luke? Where are you sneaking off to?"
Luke had been trying to slip out the door when Daphne appeared in front of him and blocked his path.
He kept his composure and spoke as if nothing were amiss.
"I, ah — I merely wished to take a breath of outside air."
"Ahh, I see. But the forest is dangerous, so unni will come with you."
"……"
Realizing that refusal would get him nowhere, Luke sighed and finally nodded.
A winter forest is rather cold for a child.
But Luke, having inscribed a First Circle, could apply a thin shield over his skin to keep out the chill wind, so he was not particularly cold.
Of course, that only blocked the wind — raising the air temperature itself was still beyond him — so his clothes remained thick as ever.
If I can just find traces of a useful monster…
With that thought, Luke was scanning his surroundings with sharp, searching eyes.
Unfortunately, to Daphne — watching him walk through the forest, puffing white breath and eyes sparkling — it simply looked as though he was thrilled to be outdoors.
He really must love being outside.
A child in full bloom. Children all loved the outdoors, and with a past like his, he surely had little fondness for being cooped up indoors.
"You like coming out this much?"
"Well — it is rather pleasant, I admit."
That was the truth.
The forest was rich with mana, so his Circle was filling at a rapid pace, and the openness of the space brought a refreshing ease that felt genuinely good.
The satisfaction of it was enough, for a brief moment, to push aside the stifling guilt he felt toward Yerna.
"Ah — you just smiled."
"……"
Had the corner of his mouth lifted without his noticing?
Whether it was because the body was still unfamiliar, or because every new sensation was so strangely delightful, he found himself smiling at the drop of a hat, with no regard for dignity.
Of course, smiling itself was no sin…
But privately, he felt a little ashamed of failing to act his age.
Avoiding Daphne's gaze, Luke stared down at the ground — and discovered something.
"Hmm."
There, at his feet, was a faint trail of mana.
He had seen such traces a few times in the past. Follow them, and he would likely find a mana-herb.
"This way. Let us go over there."
"Okay!"
Daphne followed the oddly high-spirited Luke, and at the end of the trail they found a blue flower.
Its petals, shifting gradually from white into a deep blue, were truly beautiful.
"A Manello."
This mana-herb blooms a blue flower once it has absorbed more than a certain amount of mana.
This was that flower.
"Wow, these are pretty rare."
A wild mana-herb blooming was an uncommon sight.
For one thing, a plant capable of holding mana rarely survived long enough among monsters to flower — and a Manello withered within three days of blooming.
Watching Luke crouch down and study the flower with careful attention, Daphne smiled, thinking it a rather girlish sort of sensibility.
"Do you know about Manellos?"
"Of course."
"Really?"
Luke nodded, his gaze still fixed on the Manello.
"The flower language of the Manello is regret — and apology. Do you know why?"
"Why is that?"
"Before it blooms, a Manello steals nutrients from the plants around it, hoarding mana for itself. But once it flowers, it spreads that mana back out into its surroundings. Does that not resemble regret and apology?"
"I see."
"In the end, a Manello blooms, releases mana for three days, and withers away. But by then, the apology is already hollow."
"Why?"
"Because mana is a resource of no use whatsoever to plants."
What plants needed was not mana.
They needed light, water, and the life force held in the soil — that was all.
Plants produced mana, yes, but only a vanishing few actually required it.
And yet the Manello, in a moment of greed, converted nutrients beyond its station into mana and stored them away — only to regret it once no one remained nearby.
"That's a pretty gloomy story for a fairy tale."
Hearing the tale of the Manello, Daphne thought it far too melancholy for a child Luke's age.
"But it carries a lesson as well."
"What's that?"
"That one ought to apologize as quickly as possible."
Luke carefully channeled mana into the flower and pulled it free, taking care not to damage the roots.
To think of covering it up rather than revealing the truth and seeking forgiveness… At this rate, I am no different from a foolish child.
And he thought that this flower, at least, might be of some small help.
As Luke remembered it, the Manello was a considerably rare flower.
In his era, cultivation techniques for it had not yet been developed, making it extraordinarily difficult to obtain.
Even when one was found, the flower wilted in three days without mana — so nobles measured their standing against one another by how many blooms they could keep.
It had commanded a high price, a finicky and labor-intensive symbol of wealth, and was even used among nobles when offering apologies.
He had no idea how expensive it might be now, but it might still be of some small help.
"Let us return."
"Yeah, let's."
Watching Luke walk along, gazing faintly at the flower, Daphne thought he must truly love flowers.
She could feel the corners of her own mouth lifting.
A little girl growing wistful over a flower — it was the sort of sight that warmed the heart.
"By the way — how much does this flower ordinarily cost?"
Suddenly, economic logic was thrust upon Daphne.
She was a little taken aback, but decided the Manello must have simply caught his fancy, and answered with a smile.
"Ah, that. You can buy one at a flower shop for nine thousand gil. Why? Planning to make a bouquet?"
"……"
"Wh— why do you look so disappointed?"
"It is nothing."
Well — this was an age that could manufacture even World Trees, once called divine trees, artificially.
Of course they could cultivate a mere flower at will.
Luke concluded that the flower would, at best, be able to carry the meaning of an apology — and nothing more.
"Our Lu! Have you been listening to your unnis?"
To Yerna, who burst through the door with oddly high energy, Luke held out a single flower planted in a paper cup.
"Huh? A Manello? And a wild one, at that? Where did you find this? Wait — is this for me?"
Yerna covered her mouth and the area near her chest with her hands, looking deeply moved.
Luke continued, his heart heavy.
"Yerna. Do you happen to know the flower language of the Manello?"
"Of course. Apology, and regret."
"As expected — you know it well."
Yerna accepted the flower, then glanced at Luke's expression with a touch of puzzlement.
"But why the flower language? Does Lu have something he wants to apologize to unni for?"
"Th-the truth is… about that mana bill. It was not a mana leak."
"What? Then…"
Avoiding Yerna's surely not gaze, Luke pressed on.
"I believe I was the cause. I drew in the mana needed to maintain my Circle. I suspect that is what was billed."
"Uh…?"
Yerna was deeply shaken.
Ah — the Circle.
I didn't think of that.
Luke's body needs a Circle just to stay alive. I kept him indoors without realizing, and this is what happened.
Progressive rates probably stacked on top of it, making the total even more enormous.
So who is there to blame for those three million gil…
Yerna let out a long sigh.
"Haa…"
I should blame myself. Who else is there?
Hearing that sigh, Luke flinched hard.
He thought an angry Yerna might transform the way she had with Daiton — and if it would settle her fury, he was even prepared to take a beating.
Whatever anyone said, he currently had no means of earning money whatsoever.
They don't even buy monster materials… What on earth do people in this era do to live?
Luke briefly considered how he might survive alone in this age.
Entrust himself to some facility?
Well. Even there, the mana bill would surely become a problem.
Then homelessness?
Honestly, it was easy to picture himself wandering back alleys, scavenging food scraps.
In his era, orphans like that had been everywhere.
Or else he could go deep into the forest and dig up roots to eat. He knew edible plants well enough.
And if he occasionally hunted a monster suitable for meat…
Yerna patted the tightly wound Luke on the shoulder and called his name.
"Luke."
Knowing she was about to deliver his punishment, Luke immediately set his face into a stoic expression and spoke calmly.
"I am prepared. Do with me as you will. Cast me out, strike me — I…"
"Luke!"
He flinched.
His newly transformed body had made his hearing even more sensitive, and the force in Yerna's voice startled him into silence.
To anger his benefactor.
It was a moment that shamed the name of Luke Irushi.
But Yerna's words were nothing like what he had expected.
"Why on earth would unni abandon you?"
"You… will not cast me out…?"
Luke's eyes went wide with surprise.
As he had first thought, Yerna was neither a noble nor a wealthy woman.
Three million gil was a considerable sum — a burdensome amount to freely pay for a child she had barely met.
Unable to rationally understand her choice, Luke asked once more.
"You truly will not cast me out?"
The way he asked again, as if he could not believe it, was filled with the question of why such kindness should be directed at him.
Yerna found that Luke so pitiful that she pulled him into an embrace as she spoke.
"I'm not abandoning you. Three million is a lot of money, sure, but it's not more than I can handle. How could I throw a little kid out on a freezing day like this? I'd just end up with nightmares."
"……"
Held in Yerna's arms, Luke felt his face grow warm for no good reason.
Honestly, a situation like this was terribly embarrassing for him as well.
Was a fully aged old man not currently nestled in a woman's embrace? How could he not be ashamed?
But the flushed face of Luke looked for all the world like a child's — so Yerna was simply delighted.
"So don't worry too much."
"I understand. I shall never forget this debt, and I swear I will repay it."
"Right, right. So — take care of me from now on, too."