The Gray Ruins

When the cultivation ended, Messi's eyes opened. The moonlight had slipped away behind the clouds, and the darkness in the office ran deep — yet it felt brighter than before.

Is this what the mana cultivation method does?

The mana circuits that had formed inside his body were still turning. From this moment on, even as he breathed, ate, and slept, mana would ride those circuits and gather in him.

So that's why they say you should start as early as you can...

Every method accumulated mana at a different pace, but with the same art, an earlier start was always the better one. On top of that, mana circuits hardened with age. Messi had no way of knowing it, but he had gotten an excellent start. His stiffened circuits had loosened; he had effectively gained at least three years.

The Ahental Mana Cultivation Method, a fully ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠realized house art; the Mana Amplification Stone Ereb had given him; and the knights' seasoned feel for drawing mana along. Those three things had made it possible.

Tiny. No bigger than a chestnut.

Small as the mana was, it sat heavy in his lower abdomen. If only he could take mana the way he had taken Gaston's methods of using the body. But mana cultivation was strictly a matter of time spent. Messi had expected as much. It was one of the reasons he had decided to enter House Ahental's service and take their support. For the next few years, he meant to accept training supplies without a fuss and wait for his moment.

He stood and picked up the bundle of papers on the desk. His master's diary. It was time to erase from this world the last remaining breath his master had left behind.

It's like a cipher to me... but the nobles of this world could probably read it just fine.

Hadn't his master said it was a habit formed while studying in his noble days? Ereb would have more than enough to work with. The diary held a great deal of sensitive material, and Messi had nowhere to store it now. Burning it was the surest way to keep the secret. His greatest advantage was that the people involved in those events did not know he existed. He had to destroy it if he wanted to keep that advantage.

What weighed on him was this: he would have to burn these pages, steeped in his master's breath, all over again. When he had left the Forest of Resentment, he had burned his master's house. He had regretted it later, and the thought of doing it a second time sat poorly with him.

"Hah..."

Messi brought the papers to his nose and breathed in, hoping for even a trace of something familiar. All he caught was dust and paper. That was all this was. Dust and paper. He had more important things to finish.

A single circle answered, and flame surged from his hand. The searing fire ate the papers whole and vanished. Nothing remained but ash, drifting slowly down. Messi's heart sank with it, as gray and unhurried as those falling cinders.

"You weren't asleep?"

She stretched as if working a kink from her whole body, fluffing the fine hairs along her sides, then let out a long yawn. If Ayla had seen it, she would have thrown another fit about her heart being in mortal danger.

"You memorized all of it?"

Ah. Right. The creature in front of him was a being that had packed into its own skull knowledge stretching back to at least the ancient era. Extraordinary memory went without saying.

"Thanks. Kkyu."

"That's your name now."

You're one to talk, with that "kyu" at the end of every sentence.

A little miffed at the cheek, Messi pulled out a strip of jerky and stuffed it into Kkyu's mouth.

Mm. That feeling of bestowing food upon one's pet. Not bad at all.

After breakfast, a summons came from Ramang. The purpose was reconnaissance of the ruins. The fatigue from passing through the Ant Tunnels was still considerable, so the plan was to let the knights rest while sending only a few ahead to identify any dangers in advance. Messi thought it was a sound idea.

He himself had never been to the place they called the ruins. His master had tried to keep him from seeing it, and he had only ever come near. He needed to know what the ground was like now, and how it had changed.

As Messi was packing provisions, Ereb approached. Ramang was nowhere nearby.

"Messi. When you head out with Ramang this time..."

"You want me to keep a close eye on him, I take it."

"...You're disgustingly quick on the uptake."

Ereb still suspected Ramang. Messi had felt the same way at first, but looking back, Ramang was not that kind of man. He was strict, rough-edged, honest with his feelings — and, in his own way, kind. If all of that was an act, Messi would concede the point and give him a standing ovation.

"I'll attach Laud and his squad to you. They're all my direct retainers, so the two of you work well together."

The face of the third squad leader Messi had seen in the Ant Tunnels flickered through his mind. A man with a remarkably forgettable face — so he had been this young lord's man?

Ereb's reason for attaching Laud and the knights was simple. It was partly to put more eyes on Ramang. But if a traitor was hoping this mission would fail, the first throat they would go for was Messi's. Without him, they would lose the way back, and the party would wander the forest. Messi's life sat at the center of whether the job succeeded.

In the Ant Tunnels there had been too many witnesses to make a move. In the Woodsman's Fortress, Messi had the top floor to himself, which meant anyone would have to get past Ereb, who occupied the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth floors alone. If a traitor was mixed in among the knights, they would not let this chance slip by.

In the kindest terms, it's protection. In the unkindest, it's fishing.

Ereb was using Messi as bait to test Ramang.

They're not biting, so he's tossing out bait first to see if anything takes it...

It was a nasty streak. But Messi had gone under this man knowing exactly what he was. Who was he to complain?

"Thank you."

When Messi answered politely, Ereb hummed a little tune, apparently in high spirits, and vanished. Strangely enough, Ereb was always in his best mood when he heard those words from Messi.

Once everything was ready and Messi was waiting on the first floor, three knights came down with Laud in the lead. Laud spoke first.

"I don't think we've ever actually spoken."

"I look forward to working with you."

"You've heard what the young lord said. You just do as I tell you. Ken, Vlado. If you've got something to say, say it."

The two knights behind him took turns setting a hand on Messi's shoulder. It was not a light pat. There was weight in it, and feeling.

"What's it like, being trusted by the young lord? Ha. I'm genuinely curious."

"Tell me about it, Ken. Back in my day, I couldn't even imagine something like that..."

Back in my day? Don't tell me these two are that type...

Messi caught on at once that these knights were not particularly well disposed toward him. Hazing the newcomer?

"Getting a Mana Amplification Stone straight from the young lord... Messi, how about sharing the good stuff?"

"Right? There's exactly two of them. One for each of us would be just about perfect."

Cheap threats, and they slung their arms around his shoulders for no reason. It was a completely different act from the one they put on in front of Ereb.

Kkyu, tucked in the pouch hanging from his sword belt, sent the thought across.

It was strange. If they were the young lord's direct retainers, they had already caught a proper line — and men like that were jealous of him? Then again, the demands he had made of Ereb, and the high regard Ereb held him in... there were plenty of reasons to envy him.

"That's enough, you two. Sir Ramang will be down any moment."

Ken and Vlado's quiet bullying cut off at once on Laud's word. That spoke to how tight a grip Laud had on his men. And the fact that they had put on this show in front of him meant the whole thing had been on Laud's orders.

"Everyone here? Let's move."

Ramang came down shortly. He glanced once over the four waiting on the first floor, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠then took the lead out of the fortress.

The ruins were a thirty-minute brisk walk from the fortress. Messi guided them with Fast Walk. Even so, they traveled for over an hour. Whenever Messi stopped, Ramang and the knights stopped with him; whenever he changed direction, they followed. When asked why, he only answered that there were traces of monster movement, and he was detouring to avoid a clash.

Ramang followed Messi without a single question. The three knights who had come along were another matter. A hint of dissatisfaction sat on their faces. They did not voice it, though — perhaps because Ramang was there.

"That's it, Sir Ramang."

From the place Messi indicated, the Forest of Resentment wore a different face. Withered vines had swallowed the ground so completely that the black earth had vanished beneath them. They had multiplied beyond all reason, winding around even the Black Wood trees that stood nearby. Once those dry vines had claimed the place, the violet-and-black forest had gone gray. One glance was enough: something here was wrong. And in a place like this stood the ruins.

Seen from afar, they had the look of an ancient temple built of stone. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entrance was a sorry thing. It had once been packed tight with flat-laid stones, but some now jutted out of line, gaps showed where pieces had fallen away, and the scars of breakage ran through what remained.

That place.....

Messi had to hold down the wave of feeling as he looked at the ruins. He steadied himself at the thought that this was where his master's bitter grudge still lingered.

Ramang tilted his head.

"No sign of the Great Magic Barrier mentioned in the Sky Castle records."

Messi had read that in the files too. According to his master's diary, the timing of his arrival in this world and the disappearance of the mana veil had coincided — which meant the Sky Castle's records had not been updated in at least five years. Even for a formidable intelligence organization, there was a limit to how much attention they could keep paying to a place this remote.

"We split into two groups and search the area. Look for hazards, or anything that could become a variable. Avoid clashing with monster packs if you can. Priority is getting back here safely and reporting."

"When should we return?"

"We regroup when the sun is directly overhead. The forest is thick, so it won't be easy to tell... if you really can't manage that, figure on three or four hours from now."

Everyone nodded.

"Messi, you move with me. You three go separately...."

"A moment, Sir Ramang."

Laud cut in, and Ramang's brow furrowed.

"What is it?"

"Come with me today. There's a lot we haven't had a chance to talk about."

"Talk? All of a sudden?"

"We've been a bit... distant, haven't we."

At Laud's words, scratching his cheek, Ramang remembered his own rank. Knight Commander — the one responsible for looking after the knights' bodies and minds. There was a reason the position sat directly below the Vice-Commander. Laud had something to say in private. It might even be a personal matter. And Laud was a direct retainer of that ill-tempered young lord; he must have plenty bottled up.

"...True, I haven't had time to talk with you separately. Wouldn't hurt to use this chance to build some rapport."

Laud smiled and nodded, and Ramang accepted. Laud came over near Messi and spoke quietly.

"The young lord told me to protect you, so I'll go in your place. Be grateful."

He murmured it under his breath, but to Messi it somehow only sounded like: stay put. Hadn't he already said, before they left, to just do as he was told?

And there was something else that did not sit right. If Ramang were the traitor, he would be throwing away a precious chance to be alone with Messi. And he was agreeing that easily?

Why does this feel so wrong?

In that instant, an alarm went off in Messi's head. What if... maybe...

"Sir Ramang."

Messi forced the words out.

"Messi, what is it?"

"I think it would be better if we all moved together."

At Messi's counter, the three knights' gazes turned ugly. Even Laud, who had been expressionless, did not look pleased.

"Hm? Why? Splitting up would be more efficient."

"This forest is extremely dangerous. Monsters could burst out at any moment. To handle that, we'd be better off staying together. And if there's any bleeding, wouldn't it be better to have me — the healer — nearby?"

"Hmm. Is that so..."

Ramang looked back and forth between Messi and Laud, scratching his chin. On one side, a personal matter for a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knight — perhaps something immediately important to Laud. A friend who did not usually act this way, doing so now, made it weigh on him all the more. On the other, a professional opinion from their guide. Words from Messi, who held a critical position in this mission. He was certainly supposed to take that advice to heart.

It was time to choose. Turn a blind eye to one man's troubles, and he might lose the knights' trust as their commander. Ignore the other, and he would be dismissing an expert's counsel.

Ramang slowly opened his mouth.

"Laud, I think you and I..."

A cute, lively voice suddenly rang through his skull. And that adorable voice had just called him an idiot out of nowhere.

"What...?"

Ramang's mind went blank for a moment at the absurdity of it. Even with everyone staring at him, he completely failed to manage his expression and ended up looking like a fool.

"Uh...?"

"Sir Ramang, are you all right?"

At the puzzled looks aimed at him, Ramang finally realized that the voice just now had been audible only to him.