The Transmigrator (10)
When I asked, “The director invited me separately for a reason?” she nodded and explained.
“Of course. You didn’t actually think the director would invite the top ranker without a plan, did you?”
“Right. The director isn’t the type to be that sloppy.”
“Exactly. I specialize in suppressing your ability.”
Specialize in suppressing my ability? Oh, no way…
“The flames that burn mana…” I muttered, and she winked, signaling I had hit the mark.
“Bingo! If your ability ever runs wild and sprays mana in every direction, the only power that can suppress you without injuring you is my sacred fire.”
She was right. The rest of the 5 Greats might be stronger than her, but they had no way to stop me without hurting me. Except for Dana, who could burn mana with her sacred fire.
“On top of that, I’m the only flame-type among the 5 Greats. Ultimately, no one else is as qualified to teach you.”
“Now that you mention it, that makes sense.”
Same flame type as me, capable of instantly covering any overflow if I messed up, and a member of the 5 Greats—the nation’s greatest fighting force. Indeed, inside this country there was no one better suited to be my teacher than Dana.
Honestly… seeing this makes me want to thank the director again…
The way he locked me up and used me as a mana dispenser made him look like a total villain… Yet even with a Ten Commandments contract in play, he had prepared this state-of-the-art facility and invited a member of the 5 Greats—who was so busy it was nearly impossible to meet her even once—as my private tutor. He was listening to my requests so sincerely that I was slowly starting to feel some genuine fondness for the old man.
Of course, not romantic fondness. More like the affection you’d have for a friendly grandfather.
“Then shall we move on to the next stage?”
“Sure. What’s the next stage?”
When I asked, she chuckled and, just like before, produced a sacred fire glowing with yellow light from her pure white palm.
“The next stage is exactly this!”
Then, gripping the yellow flame like a baseball, she hurled it with one hand.
-Bang!
Her sacred fire drew a vivid afterimage as it flew like a baseball and slammed straight into the alloy wall behind me.
A deafening boom echoed through the training hall. I instinctively whipped my head around at the roar, but the wall where she had thrown the flame only bore a faint scorch mark. She must have controlled her power; the training room looked exactly as it had before.
“You scared me…”
“How about it? Pretty cool, right?”
“...”
I kept my mouth clamped shut and glared at her. The fireball had brushed past my hair a moment ago, sending a spine-chilling creep through me. There was no way I could answer her with a smile.
“Huh…? You’re going to learn this starting now. Isn’t it cool?”
“No, it’s incredibly cool!”
Of course, if I was really going to learn that technique I could have dropped to my knees and bowed on the spot, so I quickly plastered on a smile and spat out some flattery.
“Fufu, such obvious lip service… Anyway, the next stage I mentioned is this technique—the flame orb. Want to learn it?”
The flame orb was the very first technique every flame-type ability user learned and the most basic of basics. In the game I would never have given it a second glance, but right now I would gladly take anything I could get.
When I nodded enthusiastically, she seemed pleased with my motivation. She created another flame orb in her palm and began explaining the principle behind it.
“The flame orb is the most fundamental attack technique for flame-type ability users. It is the foundation itself. I’ll help you, so follow along carefully!”
“Yes.”
She shook her hand to dispel the orb and stepped behind me, gently grasping my right arm—the one that would form the flame orb.
-Flicker.
A faint sacred fire rippled along Dana’s arm where it held mine.
“The moment you pour in more mana than a set threshold, I’ll burn it away with my sacred fire. So don’t worry and just try! Your current error range is in the triple digits! This much is definitely within your reach!”
Encouraged by her words, I calmed my pounding heart and drew the sun’s flame from my inner world into my mana.
Moderately… Just moderately…
All I had to do was create a flame roughly the size of my own head. With Dana’s assistance I could be confident…!
-Whoosh!
“Ow, hot!”
I had confidently failed like an idiot… I was only supposed to make a flame the size of my head, but the firepower far exceeded my expectations. Dana, her palm burned, was rolling across the floor.
Tsk… That wasn’t what I meant to do at all…
*
“It’s a total mess…”
Two years had already passed since Dana and Plea began their second round of training. And in those two years, how far exactly had Plea’s progress come?
“Plea… Is making a fireball really that difficult…?”
Hearing Dana’s question, I hung my head in unbearable shame.
It had been two full years since I started the second stage of lessons with Dana, and I still had not succeeded in creating a single fireball.
“Um… Plea, you know there’s only one week of classes left, right…?”
I nodded, my face burning crimson.
“Within a week… do you think you can manage a fireball? You’ve improved a lot since the first day…”
I bit my lip hard and shook my head.
For a moment Dana’s eyes clouded with futility, but she seemed determined to view the world positively. She kept her smile in place and clapped her hands.
“I-it’s okay! Even if you couldn’t learn the fireball, there are still lessons to be gained from failure… You’ve picked up all sorts of other things anyway!”
Two years was a long time, so as she said, I had learned a few things here and there. Like flame emission that shot fire from my hands… or eye-blinding light that poured from my palms. Stuff like that.
“But those can barely even be called techniques, can they…?”
“...”
This time Dana’s mouth clamped shut at my answer.
We had given them names like flame emission and eye blinding, but when you looked closely they were just raw discharges of my ability. They were essentially the same as the haze I had released on the very first day I infused mana into my power. The only difference was that the hot wind had changed into flames or sunlight.
Still, with the sheer volume of mana I possessed, they weren’t completely unwatchable, but…
“That’s true, but… anyway, let’s give it our all in this final week…!”
Her energy had visibly dropped compared to the first day. I felt genuinely sorry, knowing it was because of me, but apologizing now would only make the mood worse. So I forced a smile and nodded.
I said goodbye to Dana and headed straight for the mana extraction room.
*
“Haa… This job is exhausting too…”
In the now-empty gymnasium that Plea had left behind, the blonde woman sat down on the spot and let out a long sigh.
Her name was Dana—one of the five strongest in the magical nation of Helline and currently serving as an ability instructor for a certain girl.
To explain why she was sighing like this, we needed to turn back the clock a little.
It was seven years ago, right before Dana accepted a certain girl as her disciple.
In the darkest laboratory of the Helline Ability Research Complex, her lament had begun in the break room of that very facility.
“So you’re telling me… for seven years I should only teach her the absolute basics of her ability?”
A hollow laugh escaped at the absurdity. Dana snorted as she listened to the director’s ridiculous “request.”
One day a message had suddenly arrived in her inbox. The sender was Wilhelm, one of the heroes of the Great Subjugation War from sixty years ago. He had contacted her asking her to raise a child.
The child’s name was Plea. Everything else was classified and could only be viewed after she accepted the job, but Dana hadn’t minded. She trusted the weight of Wilhelm’s name.
Of course, she hadn’t taken the request based solely on his reputation.
Having just entered the ranks of the 5 Greats as one of Helline’s strongest heroes, she had wanted to take on at least one disciple.
For that reason she had signed the contract without hesitation.
And the information about Plea that she read afterward had also satisfied her.
The potential of the girl living in the research institute was on par with the legendary Holy Maiden or great wizards of old. Just judging by her talent alone, she was a genius who could reach S-class without ever attending the academy. That was why Dana had burned with eagerness at the thought of polishing such a raw gem.
Or rather, she had burned with eagerness.
Deep underground in the nameless research wing—a place that required descending far even after taking the elevator—Wilhelm had greeted her and handed over Plea’s detailed classified files.
That was the moment Dana’s illusions shattered.
Because every single piece of information was utterly nauseating.
Dana hurled the documents to the floor and shouted.
“Is this something a human being should do…?!”
The girl shall not see sunlight until she reaches middle age.
The girl cannot leave this country until the day she dies.
The girl cannot enjoy her youth.
The girl cannot receive compulsory education.
The girl is a consumable resource of the state.
The girl will sacrifice herself for the nation.
The girl cannot be freed from any of the above contracts.
And the old man who had written that contract muttered with a bitter expression.
“It is all for the sake of the country and its people…”