Reconnaissance (4)
Magic users.
At most five, at least one.
They were born with pools of magical power nestled beneath the diaphragm, each with its own distinctive properties, and those could be identified through aptitude testing.
If a mage was also a being who used mana, and if magic itself was just a phenomenon produced through some kind of circuit…
Then wasn’t a mage, in the end, just another kind of machine?
—
[Static]
Chloe, you definitely…
Hold on! That’s my recorder! It only records my voice, you know!
Anyway, that judgment was correct.
In fact, the mages already knew how to use Magic Stones.
The reason they hadn’t bothered to use them, even though they knew how, was…
—
I stared down at the blue stone resting in my palm.
My thoughts started spinning furiously.
It’ll be dangerous.
Yes. Of course it would be dangerous!
Forcing mana into your body by some untested method—if that were safe, that would be the suspicious part.
There were three options left to me now.
One, freeze to death right here.
Two, freeze to death after collapsing from exhaustion halfway there.
Three, somehow make good use of the Magic Stone and survive.
If it were me, I’d bet on the option with even a slightly better chance of survival.
Dying here would make for an awfully clumsy ending. It didn’t suit me at all.
The real problem is how to get the mana into my body….
Truthfully, I didn’t know either.
If the Magic Stone was a battery, if it had polarity and a current like ordinary electricity… then simply putting it into my body wouldn’t necessarily charge anything.
Leaving aside the brute-force method of just eating it, there were only two options left.
Crush it into powder and inhale it through my nose, or dissolve it into some kind of injectable form and mix it into my blood.
Given that the mana pool was felt below the diaphragm, there was a good chance the organ responsible for mana existed separately.
Then again, maybe both options were complete duds.
Besides, both are impossible with my body like this right now.
I didn’t have the strength to smash a hard stone into powder, and I didn’t have anything resembling a syringe. I didn’t even have the knowledge to prepare it properly.
In the end, I put the Magic Stone in my mouth.
Yes. I had discarded the crude method, and now I was choosing it again.
The reason was simple.
It was too late to hesitate now, and if I didn’t do something immediately, I’d die right here and now.
Crack.
I tried to bite down with my molars, but it didn’t break at first.
Crack, grind.
Crunch, crackle.
Blue powder spilled across my tongue.
The disgusting taste of blood mixed with stone dust flooded my mouth, and beneath it came something both cold and hot.
The two contradictory sensations existed at the same time.
If I had to compare it to something, it felt like drinking a very strong liquor…?
A cold flame.
I swallowed it as it was.
“Ghh….”
Something flashed inside my body.
It felt as though fireworks were exploding beneath my diaphragm.
The pool was turning over. The mana that had sat quietly within me began to boil as the foreign impurities poured in from outside and mixed with it.
Cold, hot, feels good, hurts, feels like I’m dying, feels like I’m alive. Ah, ah, ah….
Contradictory sensations surged through me all at once.
Thump.
My heart stopped.
And then, it started beating again.
The pounding reached me directly through my ears. I could feel my heart hammering near my ribs.
The pain slowly receded. Sensation drifted away from my body.
Ah, so the mages of this world aren’t idiots after all.
Only then did I realize why the drill instructor hadn’t told us how to use Magic Stones.
“Hah, ha ha….”
I smiled.
If laughter came, then naturally I had to smile.
My mind was starting to break.
Blood and saliva began to run from the corners of my mouth. With my lips hanging open like that, I must have looked absolutely revolting.
I didn’t care much.
There was no one in this snowy mountain range to see me, so it was fine if I got a little ugly. Fine if I got a little grotesque.
I cast magic again. Before long, the magic tore through me and began to flow outward, toward the world.
The world was so clear. Ah, so this was how beautiful it was. This was the ground I stood upon.
Corpses buried beneath the snowdrifts, broken communications equipment, torn military uniforms and winter gear, blood-mixed snow, and the long, lingering trail left by fading body heat.
The path we’d taken had collapsed and changed so completely it was barely recognizable as a path at all, but the direction still remained!
Walk. Walk. Keep walking.
Even if your knees buckle, stand up and keep walking.
Even if blood rises into your mouth, swallow it and keep walking.
Even if the world blurs blue before your eyes, keep walking.
Even if your brain is falling apart, keep walking.
After all, your body won’t realize that it’s destroying itself.
The Flowing Snowy Mountain had stopped. This silent wonder felt strangely unfamiliar.
But that was better, in a way. It let me hear the sound of my own heart and breath so clearly.
Couldn’t I hear something in the distance?
Who knew whether it was laughter or sobbing, or just the wind brushing past?
When I lifted my head, there was nothing there.
Only the white expanse of the snowfield.
…An hallucination.
Whenever my mind threatened to cut out, I clung to useless thoughts to keep it intact. I tied the knot tight so it wouldn’t come apart.
Anais Schoen’s letter to me, the new expression on Senior Sergeant Misty’s face, Lieutenant Mauer’s strange goggles, Lieutenant Weiss’s narrow eyes….
And Sergeant Muller’s… warning.
—
[Static]
Why was I the last one you asked about?
I’m the type who eats the tastiest part of the cake last.
You go straight for the good stuff, though.
—
I thought about my funeral.
Lots of people had to come. Everyone had to wipe their tears. They had to say my name and regret it.
That was why I still couldn’t die.
If I died now, the only one who’d show up at my funeral would be the aggrieved spirit of Anais Schoen.
My hands were shaking uncontrollably.
I shoved the Magic Stone back into my mouth and bit down again. This time, I crushed it far more skillfully with my molars than before.
“Just this once. Just this once, okay? Really.”
It was a lie.
My vision widened and narrowed; the snowfield drifted farther away and then closer again; I couldn’t tell whether I was walking, crawling, or already sprawled on the ground. Ah, I couldn’t tell anything at all.
And yet I kept moving. That much, at least, I knew with perfect clarity.
The pain was changing places.
Ankles, knees, waist, lungs, heart, throat—pain migrated through my body and even through my eyes.
D Magic was still active, even after all those hours.
.
.
.
And then, at last, there was proof of success.
I could sense tents, mana lamps, and barbed wire. They were buried under the snow, but I could feel them clearly.
I’d made it.
I’d made it… no, not yet.
I still have to get there.
I dragged my rifle along with one hand.
More than once, I almost fell on the way.
Every time I stumbled, it took longer to get back up.
And after a few more falls, I couldn’t stand anymore.
So I decided to crawl the rest of the way. With my hand missing its fingernails, I clawed at the snow and dragged myself forward on my elbows.
Blood trailed behind me in a long line, painting the snowfield red.
Ah, to still be able to think of things in such artistic terms—splendid. Chloe Winterland. Truly.
“Who goes there!”
After dragging myself along for what felt like forever, I finally heard a human voice.
A real voice. Not an hallucination. A real voice….
I lifted my head.
I could see blurred silhouettes of people, and behind them, a gun barrel.
I opened my mouth to answer. I had to give my name, rank, and serial. That was the important part.
“Private….”
No sound came out properly. My voice was shredded.
Every time I tried to pronounce the words, blood, stone dust, and saliva splattered from my mouth together.
I tried again.
“Chloe… Winterland….”
Someone swore.
Someone ran toward me.
“Shit!”
“Medic!”
Someone snatched my rifle away.
Someone turned over my pack.
Someone lifted my body onto a stretcher.
“She chewed Magic Stones!”
“What?”
“In her mouth…!”
So noisy.
I was sleepy.
I wanted to sleep, so why did they keep….
Ah, but I didn’t feel bad about it.
They were looking at me, weren’t they?
They were shouting because of me, weren’t they?
They were panicking because of me, weren’t they?
Ah, ahh….
Really, I’m glad I made it back alive.
I tried to smile.
My lips didn’t rise, but it was a smile anyway.
“Senior Sergeant Misty….”
I had to act to the end.
I wanted to ask after Lieutenant Anke Mauer too, if I had the strength, but this felt like it might be my final words.
My vision began to close.
The warmth inside my body was going out. The last of my life was fading, little by little.
So I was dying now.
Ah, or maybe I was only sleeping.
I couldn’t tell the difference.
Either way, I was honestly relieved I wouldn’t die alone and abandoned.
Even if I was just going to sleep, there were plenty of people beside me now who could wake me up, right? Right?
And then I lost consciousness.
—
[Static]
I lost consciousness and fell into a coma.
The Imperial medical corps made quite a lot of effort to keep me alive.
Cardiac arrest, three times.
Respiratory arrest, five times.
Mana poisoning.
Rhabdomyolysis.
Hypothermia.
Frostbite.
Nerve damage.
Internal mana circuit contamination from swallowing Magic Stones.
That was the diagnosis I received at the time.
—
When I opened my eyes, I was able to reunite with a familiar face.
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