Knight's Mana Vessel
“It’s all been neatly wrapped up... No matter how hard I try to forget it, you’re the reason I can’t.”
“The reason for what?”
“Every time I see it, I’m jealous. Why the hell can’t I use magic?”
“Ah...”
Colt had always envied James whenever he saw him using magic in everyday life. He had simply stopped bothering to hide it.
“I actually had something to say about that, Colt.”
“...Did you find a way to fix it?”
“Not exactly a way to become a magician.”
“Then what is it?”
“Let’s go to the hotel. I’ll explain there.”
James and Colt left the now-empty house, where a vehicle was waiting out front.
Vroom. Vroom.
“Get in. Just throw whatever you brought in the back.”
It was the large pickup truck James kept in his inventory. Colt tossed his bag into the back seat and climbed into the passenger seat, then asked, “When did you pull this out?”
“You’re here now, aren’t you? You kind of have to ride in something.”
“Can’t exactly drive around in a pickup truck outside the U.S.”
James drove his truck back to the hotel for the first time in a while.
“Go, go!”
Whoooom.
* * *
The suite Sotheby had arranged for James was spacious enough for another person to stay comfortably.
“They said it’s fine if one more person uses the room.”
“Really?”
So rather than wasting money on another room, it seemed better to stay together.
“I don’t mind, but are you sure you’re okay with it, Colt?”
In the old days, they wouldn’t have been able to share a room because of the women Colt brought back with him, but things were different now.
“...I’m fine too. It’s not like I’m bringing anyone back.”
“Heh. That makes this easier. If you change your mind, just let me know.”
“What a pain.”
“Fair enough. Then let’s get to the point.”
James opened the black hole in his inventory and took out the box containing the old books.
“What’s in here is a book I won at auction.”
“Oh. That one?”
Colt remembered the antique book James had taken a liking to.
“I said I’d tell you why later.”
“You did.”
James lifted the book out of the box and showed it to him.
“This... this is my master’s handwriting.”
“Ohhh. You found something else?”
Colt had already suspected it had something to do with magic.
“I’m not sure, but I suspect this might be the last one. Still, I can’t say for certain. The last time I found a book, I was told that was the last one too.”
“Heh. Your master seems to have a lot of ‘last ones.’”
“Anyway! I read the whole thing.”
Yesterday, James had devoured the book in one sitting, hoping Colt might find some clue to mana within it. And he had found one.
“There was a method in here.”
“...W-what kind of method?”
“I need to run a test first.”
Colt took a step back.
“It’s not a dangerous test, right?”
“Of course not. I’m not the type to put Colt in danger.”
“Okay. So I just stay still?”
“No. Do that breathing exercise again. The one that was perfect before.”
“But that didn’t do anything.”
“If I tell you to do it, then do it.”
“...If a magician tells me to, I guess I have to.”
“Don’t stop breathing until I say we’re done. Keep going. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Colt settled in place and began the breathing method James had taught him.
Hhhngh. Ssshhh.
The flow of mana is still the same.
The path the mana followed under the magician’s breathing technique was just as it had been before, and the traces of mana dispersing around Colt’s chest were just as clear.
Now, this mana...
James reached toward Colt and began forcibly gathering the mana drawn in by his breathing. Once the strands had gathered into enough density, he started moving them.
...Come down.
The mana gathered around Colt’s chest slowly began to descend.
Swish, swish.
When the clump of mana reached the space just below Colt’s navel, James carefully released the force of his will that had been holding it together.
Slowly...
This was an experiment to determine the possibility before trying the knight’s mana control method.
Even slower...
Unlike a magician’s, a knight’s Knight's Mana Vessel did not use the chest as a vessel for mana. To control the fierce flow of knightly mana, a mana vessel had to be formed deep below the navel. But for now, all they needed to check was whether mana could properly activate in the place where that vessel would exist.
Drop.
A bead of sweat fell from James’s chin, even though he was concentrating so hard his jaw had gone stiff. More sweat had gathered on his forehead.
Just a little more...
That was when the strands of mana, once loosening one by one, stopped scattering and began gathering in place.
“!”
From that moment on, James began releasing the mana more quickly. The suction force in Colt’s abdomen was stronger than he had expected.
Fierce mana... form your home!
The freed mana began taking shape in a round form. Layer by layer, it stacked and condensed.
Damn it! It’s not enough! Not enough.
The mass of mana formed from Colt’s breathing alone was nowhere near sufficient. The mana was running out, but the vessel was still incomplete. If they ended it here, there was no telling when the vessel might form again.
The sea of mana...
James thought of the sea of mana he himself controlled, replacing Colt’s insufficient supply with his own. The mana changed from a small stream into a raging ocean.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
The sea of mana supplied energy with ease. And at last, the knight’s vessel that had drawn in so much mana revealed its complete form.
Fwoosh!
“......”
The vessel James sensed within Colt was clear and transparent.
And... big. Solid.
That was thanks to the sea of mana doing its job.
“Phew...”
James lowered the hand that had been controlling the mana and wiped the sweat running down his chin with the back of his hand.
This wasn’t what I expected...
At first, James had entered the experiment only to gauge Colt’s potential. But because the mana had immediately started trying to form a Knight's Mana Vessel, he had been forced to pour in all his strength.
“Colt. The test is over. You can stop now.”
“...Haa.”
Colt exhaled one last deep breath and opened his eyes.
Flash.
James could tell at once that Colt’s gaze was different from before. The mana vessel had been completed.
“Uh... uh... I feel like something’s changed.”
“Yeah. I’m sure it has.”
James had only suspected as much, but Colt could feel it all over his body.
“The world feels brighter.”
First came the change in sight. Even the tiny specks of dust drifting through the hotel room were suddenly visible.
“And I can smell the hotel air freshener so much more strongly...”
His sense of smell had sharpened too, the air he breathed in through his nose now far more vivid.
“Most of all...”
Colt rose from his seat and felt the strength in his legs, then in his hands.
He clenched his fist tight, testing the force in his grip.
“I feel like I could smash anything to pieces right now.”
It felt as though an unknown power was surging through his entire body. The mana vessel possessed by the Knights of the Round Table now existed in Colt’s body as well.
“Hoo. I don’t even know if this was an experiment or what... ngh.”
Since Colt had stood up, James got to his feet too.
“Jimmy, why are you sweating so much? Are you hurt?”
“......”
It had happened because Colt had suddenly started forming a mana vessel, and James’s eyes locked onto him. Then he pointed at Colt with a trembling finger.
“Me? ...It was because of me?”
“Who else would it be?”
“So it worked? Right? It worked!”
“It wasn’t just a success.”
“Then what?”
“It was a huge success.”
“Heh.”
“Heh heh.”
James pulled one hand back first, and Colt, grinning, drew his own hand back into the same pose. Then, at the exact same moment, they swung their hands toward each other.
“Yeah!”
“Yeah!”
Smack!
Their palms met in the middle with a loud crack that rang through the hotel room.
“Gah!”
James grabbed his hand and dropped to the floor.
“Wh-what? Did that hurt?”
“Colt, you really need to get better at controlling your strength now. I thought my palm was going to split open.”
James blew on his reddening hand.
“Whoa. So I really became something?”
The experiment had only just ended, but Colt already felt like the protagonist of a movie.
“No. Now you have to become something. Ready?”
“Colt. Just say the word.”
“It’s a theory lesson. Grab something to take notes with.”
“...Damn it.”
“Heh. I’m kidding. Just listen for now.”
James’s explanation that followed was well within Colt’s ability to understand. He had already accepted magic, after all, so there was nothing here he couldn’t grasp.
“Mana isn’t something only magicians use. My master was King Arthur’s strategist and great sage, and also a magician. And who was around him?”
“Other magicians?”
“There was only one magician by King Arthur’s side back then, remember?”
“Then... King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?”
“Exactly. The knights. They, too, could handle mana, and this book describes the mana used by knights. I didn’t realize that until after I got my hands on it.”
“......”
Colt looked at the book inside the open box, but he couldn’t even read the title.
“I can’t make out a single word of it.”
“You don’t need to read it. I’ll read it and tell you.”
“Got it.”
“A magician has a mana vessel here.” James tapped his chest. “The vessel formed through the magician’s breathing method that you’ve been training in for all this time. Of course, you never managed to create one.”
Then he pointed to Colt’s chest.
“And a knight doesn’t use the chest. They form and use a mana vessel here, in the abdomen.”
This time he pointed to Colt’s stomach. Colt absentmindedly rubbed it, but of course he felt nothing.
“That test we just ran was originally just meant to determine your potential. Whether you might be able to become a knight... no, I guess it’s more accurate to say whether the knight’s mana training method could be applied to you.”
In this modern era, where the monarchical systems built around kings had long disappeared, the title of knight had become meaningless. And in a contemporary world crowded with guns and missiles, knights riding horses and wielding spears had even less room to exist.
“So it succeeded, then?”
“But the experiment went beyond possibility and took its first real step. A knight’s vessel formed in Colt’s abdomen. That’s why I called it a huge success.”
“A vessel formed in my stomach? Where?”
But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t feel anything like a vessel.
“A mana vessel doesn’t have a physical sensation. Mana is like air. It definitely exists, but you can’t feel it.”
“Okay. I get it.”
You couldn’t see the air you breathed either, but no one doubted it existed. Still, James shot down Colt’s words with firm certainty.
“No. You’ll have to keep trying to understand it for the rest of your life.”
“I can understand it too, you know.”
“I don’t even understand all of mana myself.”
At that, Colt quickly relented.
“...Ah. Fair enough.”
Even James, who had awakened to and wielded the sea of mana, couldn’t say he understood it completely. Mana always offered new stimulation, an unknown world hiding endless mystery.
“For starters, the knight’s breathing method is different from the magician’s.”
“...Very different?”
“The good news is that it only needs a little modification from what you already know.”
“That’s a real relief.”
“The problem is that you’ve trained the magician’s breathing method for far too long.”
“...Yeah.”
Colt had devoted nearly ten years to the magician’s breathing technique.
“It’ll take time to adjust.”
“Heh. I’ve got plenty of time.”
“Just breathing blindly would get boring, so I’ll give you a goal. Look at this carefully.”
James raised one finger.
“I’m just supposed to look at your finger?”
“No. Don’t get impatient. Wait a second. I need to concentrate too, since this is a kind of power I haven’t used often.”
“...Got it.”
James closed his eyes and began focusing mana into his finger. Not as a magician, but through the rough mana wielded by a knight—and among that, a knight-only technique that appeared later in the training sequence.
Crackle.
The mana gathering at the tip of James’s finger sharpened to a razor edge. His finger jutted out like a blade, and mana rippled around it.
“I-I can see it?”
The energy had become dense enough for Colt to see with his own eyes.
Now!
The instant James finished concentrating the mana, he slashed his finger sideways.
Swish. Thud.