Umbrella
Hunting Week, the first night.
It was the day the greatest number of forest keepers gathered in Luke Forest.
Hunters who had flocked in to hold back the monster wave held their posts and stood watch, each one on high alert.
Yerna, of course, was one of those forest keepers.
But rather than scanning her surroundings the way she usually did, she kept staring at something with a deeply worried expression, sighing heavily again and again.
Daphne found the whole display impossible to ignore. It was the same thing Yerna had been staring at the entire ride over in the car.
What on earth was that?
Any resolve not to ask out of respect for privacy had completely evaporated. Curiosity had taken the lead. At this point she was practically begging Yerna to say something.
"Unnie, what is that? Why are you staring a hole through it?"
"Ah — this?"
Yerna held the paper out to her.
"It's the results of Lu's full examination. They came in the day before yesterday."
"This?"
Wondering what could possibly be wrong with it, Daphne took the sheet.
Height: 136 centimeters. Weight: 26 kilograms… underweight. That, at least, would sort itself out with proper meals. Luke really had been far too thin.
Everything else came back average or better than average. If anything, the body looked healthier than most children of the same age. Nothing serious leapt out at her.
So why all the sighing over this?
"There's nothing here, is there? Aside from being a little light, it says she's healthy."
The weight was almost certainly temporary malnutrition from not eating well for so long. Beyond that, there were no visible injuries, no serious illness, no allergies worth noting.
"Not that. The other part's the problem."
"The other part?"
Yerna pointed to a spot on the page.
The genetic analysis results.
67% match with human…?
"Huh?"
The detailed exam's genetic data indicated that Luke was only precisely 67% human.
How was anyone supposed to take that?
Worse still, 21%, 10%, and 2% were genetic information modern magical technology could not identify at all. Three entirely different non-human patterns mixed in.
Genetic data modern science could not decode — and not one strain, but three? Could you even still call that human? Daphne felt her thoughts scatter.
"This is… Luke's exam result?"
She had thought Luke was human. Luke was not. And three unknown mana patterns were tangled through the rest.
"But the scanner classified her as human, didn't it?"
"The portable unit did, yes. Probably because the human portion was still the largest share."
The scanners the station used were only simplified identity units for classification. They spat out a quick approximation and nothing more.
"Then Luke is…"
Daphne realized what she had been about to say and shut her mouth.
Monster.
With results like these, Luke was something wearing a human shape. Sixty-seven percent human meant thirty-three percent that was not.
Yerna took the results back from her hands.
"Daphne. Are you about to tell me that child isn't human either?"
Daphne pictured Luke.
Always bright. Thoughtful. Quick to flush. Eyes lighting up a moment later…
She shook her head firmly.
"Of course not. There's no way Luke isn't human."
"Right?"
Yerna let out a long breath and tucked the paper into her coat.
"What on earth happened to her, then?"
Daphne was sharp. Her job as a field guide was to process information at a forest keeper's side. Connecting Luke's known circumstances to the results on that sheet was not difficult at all.
Slavery. Confinement. Memory loss. Abnormal mana sensitivity, a circle carved into the heart, and clear experience handling mana. Animal-like behavior. An unnatural appearance…
Clues that had been rattling around separately clicked into place with a single, clean snap.
"…Human experimentation."
The words slipped out before she could stop them. Daphne clapped a hand over her mouth in shock.
Yerna nodded.
"Probably. I think so too."
The era when attaching horns and ears — beastfolk conversion procedures — had been used as a legal loophole was long past. That meant this had not been a device for dodging the law. It had a purpose.
Of course it did.
If someone had simply wanted a toy, they would never have slapped beastfolk conversion on so recklessly. Pile on too many grafts and the subject dies of rejection before you ever get to play with the result — a pure loss. (At that thought, Yerna ground her teeth once.)
And mental magic that stamped animal instinct directly into the mind? You would not even need that. Given enough time, a child's mind could be molded however you liked without it.
If it had only been for play, crude surface imitation plus "education" would have been enough. There would have been no need to leave the instincts seated in the body the way they were in Luke now.
There had been a purpose other than play.
A purpose…
Yerna was certain it had been human experimentation.
The abnormal mana sensitivity and the mana inscribed on the heart? Frame those as the goal of the experiment and they fit perfectly.
Didn't they?
A noble's slave looks at a picture book, spontaneously grasps primitive magic, and escapes? The causality was paper-thin.
But if forced procedures had been performed on Luke as the result — or the purpose — of human experimentation, and that was how she had arrived at her present state? That made far more sense.
"There's something here. Something big. Someone's conspiracy, without a doubt. Is there any more information we can get…?"
Yerna pressed her fingers to her brow and made a low sound of frustration. Daphne spoke as if something had just occurred to her.
"Ah. Speaking of which — that kidnapper from back then."
"The one who just babbled about a 'horned cat' and nonsense? Why him all of a sudden?"
"He's dead. Last night. Cause of death was poisoning. Whether it was suicide or murder, they don't know yet."
"What?"
"Suspicious, right? I think so too. It looks a lot like someone silenced him."
"…Is that true?"
"That he's dead, yes. The rest is my guess, of course."
"Then—!"
That was when the terminal at her hip began to chirp, warning of approaching monsters.
—Beep. Beep. Beep.
Yerna flicked her coat open with practiced ease and drew the steel staff hooked at her waist inside it.
"We'll talk about the rest after we deal with these."
And then — a flash. Blue lightning crashed down over Luke Forest.
Shaaaa…
"So the rain's come."
The weather had followed Luke's prediction from the day before. Clouds had gathered since morning, and now the rain was finally pouring down.
The soft tap-tap of droplets against the window was rather pleasant.
Luke glanced at the pile of laundry stacked beside him and nodded.
Good thing I brought the washing in early.
Waking a little sooner and taking it down had been the right call. Leave it out and he would have had to wash everything all over again. Unnecessary labor was something a mage politely declined. Mages were creatures who always pursued efficiency.
—Luke, school! Luke, school!
Pai zipped around Luke's head, calling out.
"Yes, yes. We're going."
Last night, Pai had spent the entire day staring at the cello with an expression that asked when he would play it again. He had brought it home intending to practice, but the thought of bothering the neighbors above and below had kept the sessions short. Keep producing that dreadful screech for long and someone would have been pounding on the door.
As a result, Pai was thoroughly dissatisfied.
If we were still in the forest, I wouldn't have had to worry about that.
Hunting Week left him no choice. Luke sighed and changed into the school uniform.
Students wore uniforms at school. Rules laid down by that stubborn dwarf — there was nothing to do but follow them.
Not that I particularly want to stand out…
Luke held the umbrella aloft and considered it.
This "umbrella" thing is rather marvelous.
Nothing like it had existed in the past. You simply pulled a robe over your head and took the rain as it came.
At first he had searched Yerna's house for a robe and found none. He had nearly concluded that people of this age simply walked out bare-headed into the weather. Then someone he met in the elevator had mentioned an "umbrella," and he had been able to borrow one from Yerna's place after all.
Tap. Taptaptap. Tap.
The sound of raindrops breaking against the canopy was pleasant — like the soft beat of a tiny drum. It seemed to lift Pai's spirits as well; the spirit's tail wriggled like a fish's fin.
Walking along to that cheerful rain-sound, Luke found his thoughts turning to Yerna.
"Hmm… Yerna worries me."
Guarding a forest on a rainy day would be hard work. Rain muffled sound. Wet earth turned to mud and stole more strength with every step. Rainclouds were dense, so the day grew darker than usual.
There was an old saying that fretting over an elf in the forest was less useful than fretting over a fish in the water… but did that proverb still hold in this age? Yerna had always looked more tired in the forest than out of it.
"I hope nothing's gone wrong."
Luke gave a small shiver in the chill the rain had brought. He should have worn a coat.
"Hmm…"
He glanced around, then murmured under his breath.
"Fire—"
He reshaped it into a buff that produced no flame at all — only a pleasant, gentle warmth. Fire with its output dialed to the absolute minimum. Heat spread through him as if he had settled beside a hearth, and Luke nodded in satisfaction.
Hmm. All that studying has paid off handsomely.
Combining this era's mana circuits and magical theory, he had maximized efficiency through precise targeting while minimizing force. The circle barely spent any mana at all; he could leave it running all day without concern.
The rain sounds lovely, the body is warm, mana is plentiful, and the world is at peace.
Perhaps, just perhaps, he was in heaven already.