Bresen’s days had, at some point, hardened into a familiar shape.
It was July 1st, Year 1113 of the Star Crown Calendar—my thirtieth morning in Bresen.
In the morning, I sparred with Garen, and from late morning until afternoon, I made the rounds through the forest with Roy, Mari, and Kaya.
Facing Blackfang Wolves was no longer unfamiliar. They were still cunning, and as the sun sank lower, they grew even more brutal. If one thing had changed, it was that I could now start to see their movements bit by bit.
Roy held the line, Mari laid down magic, and Kaya pointed out the timing. All I had to do was slip into the gap.
I no longer swung blindly like I had at first, nor did I barely hold on in some clumsy struggle.
Money was steadily piling up, too.
The problem was fatigue.
Morning training, commissions, and in the evening, magic theory with Mari. I had to focus on the sword as the sword demanded, and theory made me use my head in its own way.
By evening, my body grew heavy. There were days when the joints of my fingers throbbed.
Every time that happened, Kaya noticed first and put her hands on me.
Thanks to that, the thought of stopping never crossed my mind.
The sword was beginning to settle into my body, the flow of the party was coming into view, and magic theory was finding its place in my head.
The more things started to come into my grasp, little by little, the less I wanted to let them go.
✧ ✧ ✧
After making do with dinner, my feet naturally carried me toward Mari’s room.
When I knocked on the door two or three times, a sigh-laced voice came instead of an answer.
“...Go away.”
“Open up.”
“I said go away.”
“Open up.”
A brief silence passed. Then the door opened.
Mari looked me up and down once. She didn’t look especially pleased to see me. Still, she stepped aside.
“Haa... come in.”
The room was quiet.
A single candle on the desk, a few sheets of paper, and two or three books.
That was all.
An outer garment was thrown carelessly over the end of the bed. The mana lamp near the wall faintly tinted the room.
I pulled over a chair and sat down as if I belonged there.
Mari lifted her head at the sound of the chair dragging. Her eyes narrowed.
“What are you going to ask today?”
“Magic.”
“I know that.”
Mari clicked her tongue. Even so, she casually floated a small flame above her fingertip.
“What do you think magic is?”
I didn’t answer right away.
The flame floating beside the candle, the blaze that had blocked the Blackfang Wolves, the heat that cut off their path, shook their vision, and made them afraid.
All of it came to mind at once.
“...Bringing something you picture in your head out into reality.”
Mari’s hand paused for a moment.
“What?”
“Rather than just using fire, it includes how it moves, where it touches, what it ends up doing... that kind of feeling?”
Mari looked at me without saying anything. Then she slowly stretched the fire at her fingertip into a long, thin strand.
“...That’s not entirely wrong.”
The corners of my mouth rose.
Mari held out her fingertip. A flame extended thinly through the air. It coiled once around an empty cup, then slid toward the wall as if flowing. Just before it touched the wall, it quietly swelled at a single point.
Pop.
It burst softly.
I blinked without realizing it.
“This isn’t just setting something on fire. It was designed from the start. Its speed, its direction, even when it would burst.”
“So... rather than the fire itself, you first decide what the fire is going to do.”
“The result alone isn’t enough.”
Mari extinguished the embers. After a brief darkness, one tiny flame rose again.
“You decide on the result, then build a structure that makes that result inevitable. Mana is the force that turns that into reality.”
My mouth opened at once.
“Then the structure is ultimately the process.”
Mari’s eyebrow rose. Just a little.
“You could see it that way.”
Mari continued.
“Magic isn’t about attributes. Fire, water, wind, ice... they’re all just names people attached for convenience. The essence is deciding the result first.”
“The result...”
“Whether you’ll burn something. Block something. Draw something out. Frighten something. What you want to create comes first.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Mari flicked her fingertip.
The flame spread wide and grew thin. Its shape vanished, leaving only heat behind. It brushed once through the air around the candle.
“This is for distorting vision.”
This time, it was the opposite. The flame compressed into a single point, then held in the air for a moment, thin as the tip of a needle, before disappearing.
“This is closer to penetration.”
Last, the flame was low. It slowly spread as if licking the floor, then stopped right in front of the corner of a piece of paper.
“This is for cutting off a path.”
Before I knew it, I was propping up my chin.
“That’s interesting.”
“...What is?”
“If fire is the means, then what really matters is the specific design and the output, right?”
Mari looked at me once, then let out a short sigh.
“You understand better than I expected.”
“Well, I’m kind of like that~”
“What are you talking about?”
Even so, Mari went on to explain things she hadn’t before.
“But there’s one thing that’s easy to misunderstand.”
Mari lightly flicked her fingertip. The flame swelled greatly, then immediately collapsed.
“See? Big, fast, intense. If you start with some plausible-looking image, the result ends up like this.”
My eyebrow rose.
“Why?”
Mari didn’t answer right away. Instead, she raised a flame on her fingertip. It was much smaller than before. But it didn’t waver.
“Mana can’t lie. If the structure in your head doesn’t hold up, the mana won’t be able to hold it together either. Not an image that just looks cool—an image that’s actually possible comes first.”
The flame quietly went out.
Watching the lingering heat in the air, I nodded.
‘So... if the image in your head has to work in reality too, then the mana can hold it together.’
The moment that thought reached me, something unfolded in my mind.
‘...No, wait. Then if you have enough mana and the structure holds, wouldn’t the scale not matter?’
For about three seconds, I thought about it with complete seriousness.
A nuclear bomb.
The greatest release of energy humanity had ever created. A term that had caught in my ear while I dozed through middle school history class, something I’d seen to death in YouTube thumbnails, and the thing overpowered protagonists in web novels set off at every climax.
If I could build the structure in my head?
If I had enough mana?
‘Oh, fuck... I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’
Mari was looking at my expression.
“For an ordinary person.”
“Why does that sound so insulting and so good at the same time?”
“You pervert.”
“Heh heh.”
Mari picked up a sheet of paper from the desk for no reason, then put it back down.
“...Let’s stop here for today.”
“Ah, really? Can’t we do just a little more?”
“No.”
“Ah...”
I leaned back and pretended to be disappointed, but in the end, a laugh escaped me.
“But Mari, you said you can use attributes other than fire, right?”
“So?”
“Then why do you mostly only use fire?”
Mari didn’t answer right away. She only folded and unfolded the flame at her fingertip once.
“Everyone has something they’re suited for.”
“Suited for?”
“In theory, you can do everything. But when you actually try, your body figures it out first. There’s a type that forms faster, sticks more stably, and takes less effort. For me, that’s fire.”
My gaze naturally went to the flame.
The fire at Mari’s fingertip wasn’t just a flame. It looked natural, as if it had been meant to be there from the beginning. It flickered, but it wasn’t unstable.
“...That’s cool.”
Mari blinked.
“What is?”
“Just. You.”
The words slipped out.
Mari said nothing. The fire at her fingertip wavered for a moment. It soon steadied again, but the tips of her ears were already red. Mari didn’t look at me.
“Don’t say useless things.”
Her tone was still blunt. But compared to before, there was a little less force in it.
I grinned.
“Can I come again tomorrow?”
“If I’m in a good mood.”
“What about now?”
Mari looked at me for a moment. Soon, her gaze drifted to the side.
“...It’s not bad.”
That was enough.
✧ ✧ ✧
The next evening.
As closing time drew near, the guild slowly grew quieter.
Settlement was the same as always. Even while looking at the ledger, Luce glanced over my body once. Only after checking whether I had any wounds did she read out the amount. I had gotten used to that order by now.
After the settlement ended, the three of them left first. I put the coins into my leather pouch and turned around.
That was when it happened.
Luce’s voice came softly.
“Um... Siyun.”
I turned back at once.
Luce had lowered her gaze, pretending to organize the ledger. So the others wouldn’t hear. Then, for the briefest moment, she looked at me.
“After closing today... do you have a little time?”
The moment the words fell, my heart strangely trembled.
It hadn’t even been this bad in front of a Blackfang Wolf.
I hesitated. Then I smiled.
“Yes. I do.”
Luce let out a small breath.
“That’s a relief.”
“Then... I’ll wait.”
“Yes.”
That brief exchange was all there was, but my heart was beating strangely fast.
‘Ah... this is driving me crazy.’
When I came out of the guild, the three of them were standing in front of the entrance.
“Why are you so late?”
Mari stood there with her arms crossed.
“Ah, sorry. You guys eat first. Something came up.”
“Something?”
“Yeah.”
“What something?”
“Just something.”
Mari’s eyes narrowed. Her mouth started to open, then stopped.
“Got it.”
Kaya was the first to answer. Roy was already walking toward the restaurant as if he had lost interest.
Mari followed behind without a word. Then, after only a few steps, she stopped and looked back.
“Are you coming today?”
I hesitated for a moment.
“Let’s take a break today.”
Mari silently looked at me once. She seemed about to ask something, but simply turned around.
The three of them disappeared around the corner of the alley.
I stood there for a moment, then scratched the back of my head.
“Haa...”
There was still some time until closing.
I stopped by the public bathhouse. I soaked myself in hot water. It felt as if the fatigue of the day was slowly draining into the water. The dull throbbing in my finger joints gradually subsided as well.
After washing up, I straightened my collar.
I sat down on the bench in front of the guild.
The night wind was colder than I expected.
Light was still spilling out from inside the guild.
I opened and closed my hand.
It was strange.
It hadn’t even been this bad before a fight.
For being asked to meet for just a moment, my heart was far too loud.