Chapter 54. Oppa, Don't You Notice Anything Different?
Chapter 54. Oppa, Don't You Notice Anything Different?
The item Ymir gave me was a potion that allowed even the untrained to form a mana circle.
But it only lowered the hurdle considerably. She'd told me that using it properly would still require a fair amount of practice.
Mana was an energy that responded to will but had no fixed form. To wield higher-level magic, you had to shape that mana into a ring using nothing but will and sensation alone.
'Dave, have you ever thought about learning magic?'
And the one who proposed the training was none other than Ymir.
She'd found some free time now that her research was finished, but given her personality, voluntarily offering to help someone train came as a surprise.
'Magic, you mean?'
'Mana manipulation is useful for a whole host of things even outside of actual spells, so there's no downside to learning it. How about it?'
'I'm fine with it, but what about you, Ymir? I mean, you must have other things to do...'
'Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing~ I'm free until those two get back, so honestly, I figured whipping you, the party's only non-combatant, into shape might actually help the party. That's what I thought.'
'...Ah, right. For the sake of the party, is that it?'
For the party, she said.
Words I couldn't have imagined from her back when we first met. But now, she didn't even show the faintest trace of trying to hide her newfound free time.
It was as if something in her heart had shifted after our encounter that day.
'And, well, don't worry about it being too much trouble for me. We've already shared our bodies with each other. Did you think I couldn't even do that much?'
'......'
'...What's with that face?'
'Nothing. Thank you for agreeing to train me.'
Right—for Ymir, whose memories of that day had been erased, the only thing that remained was the fact that we had shared our bodies.
Now, with only the memory of a happy first experience left behind, what she felt toward me could only be described as romantic interest.
So I didn't feel any particular resistance to her proposal.
'So, what kind of training did you have in mind?'
'First, the most important thing is to sharpen your senses. You know that mana is invisible, right?'
'Ah, yes. I've heard that when practicing magic, you should block your sight and hearing as much as possible.'
'Exactly. Mana has to be handled purely through sensation. If your mind is unconsciously pulled toward sight or sound, that in itself becomes interference.'
Even after developing your senses to a certain point, it was common to be misled by sight or sound and botch a spell.
That was why basic training in manipulating mana was a process every single mana-user had to go through, no exceptions.
'But do I have to cover my mouth, too?'
'Frankly, there's no need, but if you end up talking more than you should, it'll just interfere with the training, so I think it's better to seal it. And to properly feel your senses, it's best to get rid of anything cumbersome, so... Mmm, yes. I think it'd be best to take off all your clothes, too.'
'Huh? My clothes?'
'Come on, we've already seen everything there is to see between us. Are you feeling shy?'
'...Th-that was only because we were doing that sort of thing.'
'Well, sure, I guess it'd be a little weird if you kept getting hard for no reason in an ordinary situation. Then let's leave your underwear on. Next, what you need to do... Ah, yes. Just in case of an accident, I think it'd be best to put a collar around your neck.'
But the more she talked, the more it felt like she was screwing with me on purpose.
Could it be that her memories of what actually happened that day had come back?
No, that couldn't be it.
If something like that had happened, even in the worst case, it wouldn't be strange for my body to have been torn into five pieces on the spot...
"Dave?"
"...Ah."
At the sound of my name, my thoughts snapped off, and I finally turned my gaze toward the person sitting across from me.
The outdoor terrace of a bakery situated in the middle of a bustling street.
Sitting on the other side of the table, staring at me sullenly, was a woman with short silver hair.
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
She must have been bothered by me sinking deep into my own thoughts during a date, the first time we'd managed to meet in a while. The table held the sweet desserts the server had brought out, but her drowsy, narrowed eyes were fixed solely on me.
Anyone could see it was a look of displeasure aimed squarely my way.
Feeling an inexplicable pressure from that gaze, I let out a vague, noncommittal laugh and shifted my focus to the fresh cream cake set out as my portion.
"No, it's nothing, really..."
"Is it about Ymir?"
"Huh?"
"Right now. Were you just thinking about Ymir?"
A chill swept over me.
I wasn't meeting her eyes, but I could feel her stare boring into me with even greater intensity.
I didn't know the details, but the vibe was unmistakably bad. For now, I'd better answer carefully.
"...Well, I guess so. I did just come from training, after all."
In truth, Serika had practically dragged me away by force, but Ymir hadn't put up any real protest afterward, either.
Her attitude was that since we were both free at the moment, the training could be done anytime anyway...
Thanks to that, I was relieved to be freed from that absurd spectacle, but that didn't mean what had happened never happened.
"Training. You mean that thing from earlier, right?"
"...Yeah, that's right."
Right, of course it would bother her.
With that thought, I looked over and saw Serika taking a bite of her fresh cream cake while maintaining a sulky expression.
As if she were chewing over that freakish spectacle from before.
"...I still don't like it."
At the end of it all, Serika's voice as she voiced her thoughts unmistakably carried what could only be called hostility.
She didn't mention it directly, but that animosity was almost certainly aimed at Ymir.
"Ahaha, it definitely looked a little strange back there."
Still, wasn't avoiding discord among party members a necessity?
For my part, I was indebted to this party and had my own designs on it besides. I figured mediating so that no ill will festered between them was necessary. Or so I thought, as I began to speak.
"Still, Ymir didn't do it out of any bad intentions, so I think it's best not to see it too negatively..."
"No, that person has always been like that."
But Serika cut me off mid-sentence and just roughly scooped up her cake with her fork.
Oblivious to how unsettling her words and actions seemed from my point of view.
"Acting like the people in front of her don't matter at all and only looking out for herself, and whenever you try to have an honest talk with her, she puts up a prickly attitude and spits out harsh words to keep you at a distance... The way she acts like everything's forgiven just because she's the Grand Archmage drove me crazy."
"...Serika?"
"That's why I was uneasy. Because Dave is so good at looking after people. I was so worried she'd try to take advantage of that side of you for her own selfish gain while I was away—I couldn't stop worrying the whole time I was gone. And now she's even making Dave do things like that... What? Training? No, there's no way that person would ever give anyone training in the first place. Someone who up till now only ever cared about her own research, suddenly saying now that her research is done she'll do something like..."
Grumbling and muttering.
Now, as if she couldn't even hear me anymore, Serika even started gnawing roughly at her fork. The chilling aura radiating from her made my breath catch in my throat for no reason.
Had this girl always been so fond of badmouthing people behind their backs?
No, more than that, the atmosphere was terrible.
Beyond simple hostility, it felt like something heavier and denser was seeping out from her body.
"...She's aiming for him, isn't she?"
Yes, it was a sensation one often felt on the battlefield.
The aura that arises when you view the person before you not merely as an enemy, but as a target to be cut down.
Serika was directing that kind of emotion at none other than a member of her own party.
"Yeah, that's right. There's no way she'd do something like that otherwise."
-Crunch.
The moment her teeth bit down on the fork.
The moment the prongs of the otherwise clean fork were bitten hard enough to leave teeth marks, her murderously sharp eyes began to turn toward a point in the distance.
As if glaring at the mansion we had just left.
"In the first place, even if that woman pretends to be indifferent, she's still a woman, so it's not like she'd have none of those feelings at all... Maybe she already knew Dave wouldn't refuse and laid out the bait beforehand... No, maybe she's already done something. At this point, nothing would be strange..."
The moment I saw her openly baring so much killing intent, I realized my ominous premonition had not been wrong at all.
Of course, she had been wary of Ymir the last time I saw her too, but back then, hadn't there been a sense of cautiousness and confusion in various ways?
On the other hand, the current Serika showed no hesitation whatsoever.
If anything, it looked like her anxiety had grown during the time we hadn't met, and she had long since considered the possibility of turning her blade on Ymir.
"As I thought, I should set a date and deal with her..."
"You seem... really different from the last time I saw you."
The change felt so sudden that, before I knew it, I had blurted out my thoughts unfiltered.
Of course, it wasn't entirely beyond comprehension.
She was the Hero. If she'd been in the field for about a month, she must have gained a corresponding amount of experience, and such rapid growth would naturally cause considerable changes in her psychological state as well.
They say that kind of growth proves her qualifications as the Hero, but seeing her emotions tip toward extremes depending on the situation, it seemed the effects weren't purely positive.
I supposed mediating that would be a task going forward. I felt a tightness in my chest at the thought and was about to take a sip of my juice.
-Clatter.
With that sound, the fork fell from her hand, bounced off the table, and clattered to the floor.
"Wha, what?"
When I looked over in confusion, what I saw was Serika's face flushing bright red.
But the expression on that face was a far cry from the open hostility she'd displayed moments before.
It wasn't the flush of overwhelming emotion. It looked as if my offhand remark had caught her off guard and caused a sudden shift in her feelings.
"O-oh, does it? Does it seem that way?"
"...Serika?"
"W-well, of course I've changed a little. The business in the Great Forest was so rough, I went through a lot of hardship. Ahaha."
Serika's voice trembled as she clutched her glass of juice in response to my words.
In her attitude, there was zero trace of the ire she had shown before.
"But still, I guess I'd say the hardship paid off... Yeah, I've gotten pretty strong? Not as much as Berdia, obviously, but I can definitely pull my own weight now. Dave would definitely be surprised if he saw it. Yeah. But still..."
She had her face flushed red and her head meekly lowered.
Even so, her eyes were intermittently checking my reaction.
Yes, anyone with any sense at all could tell right away. That what she was feeling right now was embarrassment.
"But still, um... I couldn't just show up as-is after finishing the job, so I put some thought into all kinds of things..."
She timidly revealed those feelings as she gently swept a hand through her hair.
"S-so, how is it? How I look right now... nothing looks weird or anything, does it?"
In the shy glance that followed, I could see what was unmistakably hope.
I figured it out right away.
What my offhand comment meant to her wasn't about some inner change. She was asking about what she'd paid attention to before coming here—her outward appearance.
"Your hair. It suits you."
The change was faint, but I had lived my life learning to read the subtlest cues from others.
No matter how small, comparing the image in my memory to her current look to find the difference wasn't hard.
"D-does it look that way?"
Serika beamed as if proving my guess right.
That smile carried much of the same warmth I saw before we had parted ways.
As if to tell me that even if her attitude toward others had changed starkly, it hadn't extended to me.