The Infirmary's Unobserved Area (2)
The first little Irene I found was, how should I put it…
Just Irene.
“I don’t really like hiding, but the adults said it’s better to hide, so I’ve been practicing. Oppa—”
Whack!
I punched myself square in the jaw. Little Irene stared at me in shock.
“W-why did you do that?”
“I’ve got a disease where I’ll die if I don’t hit my own face whenever I get bored.”
“Heeh. That’s amazing.”
Little Irene beamed. She was genuinely adorable. And the thought that this Irene had just called me Oppa made her even cuter.
At the same time, Elena’s “playboy” accusation circled through my head again. It was practically a curse. Looking at my own behavior, though, I had no right to complain if someone branded me one.
Damn it, Frey. Get a grip. Don’t get hung up on weird things!
Ahem. Ahem.
Anyway, she was just Irene. She talked a mile a minute, exactly the way Irene always did.
“Do you like hiding, Oppa?”
“I like being alone.”
“I hate being alone. I always want to be with people. I’m tired of hiding now.”
“Why are you tired of it? Isn’t it comfortable being alone?”
“You’re silly. When you’re alone, you get lonely. And when you’re lonely, you can’t get help from anyone.”
Little Irene gazed into empty space with sad eyes. Was she recalling something?
I felt like I finally understood why Irene usually talked so much. She seemed to hate loneliness.
Had she once been alone and unable to receive help? But she was a princess—how could that even happen?
“So I don’t want to hide. But the adults keep telling me to. That’s why I don’t like adults.”
“Then what about me?”
“Oppa is Oppa, so you’re not an adult.”
“That’s some pretty bizarre logic.”
Then again, kids always talk like that.
“But you know… we can’t keep going like this.”
“What do you mean?”
“The reason I was hiding is up ahead. It’s really dangerous.”
The reason Irene had been hidden? Judging by little Irene’s words, that would be the reason the imperial family had concealed her.
Imperial secrets a commoner like me had no business knowing lay ahead. According to little Irene, I shouldn’t go any farther.
The problem was that the place where Irene’s mana felt thickest was exactly the direction I was heading. The infirmary had no detours, no alternate routes—my only option was to keep moving forward.
I thought it over for about thirty seconds, then decided.
“I’m still going.”
“Really? It’ll be dangerous.”
“I’ll just zip past without looking at the information. That’s the only way to save your real body.”
“Isn’t there another way?”
“Another way?”
“Here.”
Little Irene pointed at my chest—more precisely, at my heart.
“I can feel warm mana. With that, you could melt this whole world in an instant.”
“Sorry, but I didn’t put that kind of method in the plan if I could help it.”
“Why? It’d be so much simpler.”
“People shouldn’t only choose the simple methods. It’s too easy to go down the wrong path that way.”
“Even if that path makes life easier?”
“Little Irene. When your own life gets too easy, other people end up suffering.”
I had learned that when I was young.
Corrupt employers using child labor for next to nothing. Quack doctors fleecing ignorant commoners for coin. City lords who neglected their duties and only fattened their own bellies.
No matter what position you hold, responsibilities come with it. Living comfortably means turning your back on those responsibilities.
No matter the job or rank, nothing truly comfortable exists in this world. If you’re living too easily, there’s a high chance you’re sacrificing someone else for it.
People can’t live alone. But those who live comfortably often forget that.
“I don’t want to become that kind of person. So even if it’s the hard path, I’ll take it.”
“You’re weird.”
“You have to be a little weird to live a bit more righteously. Shall we go, then?”
Whoosh! I scooped little Irene up and set her on my shoulders. Listening to the kid squeal with delight, I moved forward.
Along the path, almost no residual thoughts as distinct as little Irene appeared. Just light, ordinary thoughts, mostly.
[I want some snacks…….]
“Here, eat this.”
I handed over an illusion cookie.
[Isn’t there anything fun around?]
“How about this?”
I gave them a thrilling experience with illusion magic.
[How am I supposed to solve this equation?]
“Just substitute the constant here.”
I even helped with the kind of problems one might struggle with at the Academy.
Continuing like that, I finally ran into a wall. Not metaphorically—an actual wall.
The wall completely blocking the passage was made of ice, its surface bristling with sharp icicles jutting out horizontally in dense clusters.
Little Irene shouted.
“That’s it!”
“It definitely looks dangerous.”
This was nothing like the residual thoughts I’d met so far. That wall clearly radiated hostility, and Irene’s mana was concentrated dozens of times more densely than in the little Irene currently riding on my shoulders.
For residual thoughts to take the form of a wall and look that threatening… Imperial secrets really did operate on a massive scale.
“We’re breaking through. Hold on tight!”
“Like this?! I’m scared!”
“I can’t leave you behind!”
The wall hadn’t threatened me yet. But the moment I closed to a certain distance, it would attack immediately.
Break through before that happens. Punch a hole in that wall and pass through before I can read the information!
“Physical Enhancement, Breath of Wind, Tireless Wolf.”
I cast physical enhancement magic and raised my body to knight-class level, then—
“I’ll need to use mana a bit more aggressively here.”
I drew out mana I hadn’t used much until now. It overflowed from my hands, dyeing them red.
“Residual thought of some part of Irene I don’t know. You won’t mind melting a little, right?”
Thoughts scatter and fall asleep only to wake again by nature.
And residual thoughts that have broken off from the heart? As long as I don’t burn them all away, nothing will happen to Irene.
“My mana’s hot, so brace yourself.”
Right after I said that—
The wall let out a monstrous scream and fired icicles!
“Whoops!”
“Kyaaaah!”
I nimbly dodged on the strength of the physical enhancement magic. Dodging once wasn’t the end. The icicles didn’t only launch from the wall.
This place was filled with Irene’s mana to begin with. In other words, that residual thought was practically surrounding us with its own body on every side!
Front, back, left, right—even from below and above, icicles came flying!
“Oppa! Oppa! This is too dangerous!”
“We’re dodging fine! Just hang on a little longer!”
I barely managed to dodge the icicles that slipped into my blind spots whenever they got the chance. The ones I couldn’t avoid, I melted with my mana, analyzing them as I did.
I can’t get hit even once.
These icicles were probably the same as Irene’s ability that had isolated the infirmary. The moment I got hit, my body would freeze solid into a state where it couldn’t interact with the outside world.
About ten days? In that time, not only would the entire Academy become an Unobserved Area—the damage might even reach the capital. I had to prevent that at all costs.
The problem was that advancing while punching through hundreds of icicles pouring down per second was extremely difficult. Just dodging was enough to make my head spin, yet I still had to break through that wall and push forward.
Little Irene kept screaming.
“How are you even dodging these?! And can you keep dodging?!”
“In about five minutes I’ll probably be an icicle skewer!”
“That means there’s no hope!”
“I didn’t expect it to be this bad! As expected of an imperial secret! But!”
There was exactly one way to break through this crisis.
The problem was that it was a method I didn’t want to use while dodging and blocking hundreds of icicles per second.
After entering the Academy, I’d focused my magic training on illusion magic. I thought that was the kind of magic that would help the young lady. Beyond that, I’d trained in medical magic as well.
But originally, I had a specialty magic of my own. Specialty or not, I hadn’t set aside time to train it separately—because that magic had been extremely familiar from the moment I learned it.
It was like how a person handles a tool they’ve used since childhood as if it were part of their body. The magic I wielded was already on par with an archmage.
The problem was control. You know how when you do something you haven’t done in a long time, you can’t regulate your strength well?
Gently tapping was fine, but using it for real felt a bit dangerous. But this wasn’t the time to be picky.
“Little Irene! Curl up and hold on tight!”
“What are you going to do?!”
“I’m using fire magic!”
“Weren’t you already using it?!”
“What I’ve been using was just raw mana release!”
I’d been melting the icicles with released mana alone. But now I would process that mana and use true magic.
Make it as defensive as possible. Recall it—the same sensation as when casting magic inside a Mana Blockage Circuit.
Adjust the mana flow dozens of times more finely than that. One mistake and that residual thought’s ice wall would get blown away entirely.
Carefully. Very carefully! Even properly chanting the incantation I normally skip!
“What melts the snow is spring,”
“what clears the snow is me,”
“I shall be as spring.”
“Overflow, heat—protect, envelop!”
⟨ Fire Coating ⟩
Whoosh!
Mana surged from my heart. The reason little Irene had pointed at my heart earlier and said she felt warm mana—because the heart was the greatest power source circulating mana.
The surging mana rapidly escaped my body. The roughly released mana instantly spread outward and melted every single icicle bearing down on me and little Irene!
And it didn’t stop there—the insane mana tried to melt all the cold lingering in the space itself! Even with a full chant, my control was a little risky!
“Haaaaah!”
I forcibly reined it in. It mustn’t go any farther out. The only things I need to protect are me and little Irene.
Pulling back the fire mana that threatened to run wild, I charged at the wall. I had to break through quickly and then cancel this magic!
“More! More! Hold on tight!”
“I-I’m already holding on as tight as I can!”
Even so, I gripped little Irene’s legs tighter. Straight into the wall—thud, boom!
Fortunately, I succeeded in regulating the mana, so only a hole just big enough for me and little Irene punched through the wall.
“We made it thr—ugh?”
Wait.
No.
Irene’s memories were being forcibly shoved into me from the wall surface melted by the fire mana! I—I can’t view this information!
I tried to block it. But they had already entered my head.
I absurdly ended up seeing Irene’s memories.