EP.239 The Way to Become a Black Magician Until the Age of Thirty...
The Returnee observed Siati closely and spoke.
“That’s black magic.”
The Returnee’s assessment was accurate.
She synchronizes the gun barrel with her own finger. Then she breaks her finger. The barrel follows suit.
It resembles the curse of a voodoo doll, yet it is different.
A voodoo doll synchronizes with a doll that uses a sacrifice to harm the opponent’s body, but in Siati’s case, she instead sacrifices her own body to destroy the enemy’s weapons or equipment.
There is a fatal drawback: one finger per use, so she can only do it ten times...
But wait. I just realized. Siati is one-armed, so she can only use it five times! Black magic discriminates against the disabled. That’s so unfair!
‘I know some of the Resistance have learned black magic... but suddenly seeing it like this makes me suspicious again. It’s probably groundless suspicion, though.’
The Returnee gave me a dubious look.
“Hey, your friend seems to have learned black magic. Did you teach her?”
“Where’s this coming from? No way I’d teach her. She picked that up on her own.”
“From where?”
“I don’t know exactly. But is it really that strange?”
I kept driving casually and muttered.
“Half the magic the Military State uses is that kind.”
“...That’s true.”
Thankfully, there was no need to explain. The Returnee, having experienced countless things, easily accepted my words.
The white horse carrying Siati and the princess returned triumphantly. They looked like victorious generals.
Unlike the princess, who couldn’t smile because she was worried about her friend’s injury, Siati was beaming. The joy of snapping the enemy’s gun barrel seemed far greater than the pain of breaking her own finger. Just what kind of scale did she have in her mind?
Well, if the scale’s broken, she can use black magic, and she does.
But Historia, who had been quietly tied up, didn't look pleased. The moment the white horse came back, she leaped from the cargo bed and strode across the auto-carriage.
These people walk on a speeding carriage as though it’s solid ground. Especially you, Historia. A person tied up with ropes shouldn’t walk around like that. The ropes would be sad.
Anyway, Historia glared at Siati’s left-hand glove and the pinky finger, hideously swollen inside it, with a scowl.
“Siati. Your finger.”
“Ah, so you noticed!”
Smiling from ear to ear, Siati thrust out her gloved left hand and answered proudly.
“What do you think, Historia? Am I a little useful now? I’m not the person I used to be. Even with this miserable body, if I use it like this, I can deal the enemy some damage. I’m not as helpless as I was back then.”
“That’s black magic. Stop it. You’ll hurt yourself.”
At Historia’s sensible advice, Siati’s smile vanished and she tilted her head.
“Can someone like you say that? A person who’s one of the Military State’s Six Star Generals?”
“...It doesn’t matter whether I’m a Six Star General or not.”
“Of course it matters. The Military State is in no position to disparage black magic, right? When the magic they teach, the Ritual Magic, is itself a type of black magic.”
Siati narrowed her eyes at Historia, whose mouth was shut tight.
“You’re not going to tell me you didn’t know, are you, Historia?”
A system of magic created by Majang: Ritual Magic.
But here, a small question arises. Before the Military State appeared, Majang was so incompetent he couldn’t even handle a single spell.
How could such a Majang have created Ritual Magic?
An explanation flowed from Siati’s lips.
“When you use Ritual Magic, your body pays the price. Cast a fire spell and you burn; cast a water spell and you freeze or swell up. Even a light spell has the problem of turning your skin pitch black. To counter that, you can either cast the magic so weakly that you can endure the price... or you have no choice but to shift the cost onto a sacrifice valuable enough.”
Seeking to surpass his limits by devouring every field of knowledge, Majang found his answer in black magic. To be precise, he combined the techniques of black magic—which pays the price of magic on one’s behalf—with his own magic.
What came out of that process was Ritual Magic.
Making the extraordinary ordinary. One of the seven great inventions that laid the nation’s foundation.
“Your body is used as the cost of magic. The Ritual Magic created by the Military State... is Ritual (祭式) Magic, prepared for those without talent, where you offer your own body as a sacrifice (祭物) to cast. It’s processed to severely reduce the power and the cost, but in any case, it’s a kind of black magic that grants an impossible miracle to ordinary people at the cost of harm to the body.”
‘Thanks to that, learning this black magic was easy, too. Hah, the Military State did give me something.’
Magic is the manifestation of one’s own world. The act of overlaying the world does not include the concept of paying a price. Although one initially expends a resource called magical power when manifesting it into the world, once manifested, it maintains itself automatically.
In contrast, Ritual Magic, which demands a price every time... is similar to black magic if you think about it.
Well, that’s not all. The chimera beans they created in the southern flood zone—why do you think “chimera” is in the name? The Military State is a nation built atop taboos.
Historia passively defended Ritual Magic.
“...It’s different. Unlike Ritual Magic, black magic only hurts both you and your opponent. It requires strong resentment and hatred, so it gnaws away at the user’s nature.”
“Ha! Historia, are you worried about me? A Six Star General, worrying about me, a lowly Resistance soldier? Then what do you want me to do? Should you destroy the cannons instead?”
Siati had meant it with the utmost sarcasm, but Historia promptly nodded. At that, Siati was at a loss for words for a moment.
“A Six Star General, destroying the Military State’s weapons? Are you joking?”
“...No one would know if I took off my uniform anyway. Not many have ever seen my face directly.”
“I suppose, if they just saw you, they’d think some pervert who likes being tied up was pulling a stunt. This is ridiculous...”
Siati was about to refuse outright. Then the princess, who had been listening to their conversation, hesitated before squeezing her eyes shut and spoke.
“Um, Siati! Next time I’ll go with her! You rest in the back, Siati!”
‘Black magic or whatever, but breaking a finger every time will leave you scarred...! If there’s a way to avoid injury, let’s go with that!’
Contrary to expectations, Historia’s words ended up convincing the princess. Betrayed by the princess she’d trusted, Siati looked devastated and pressed her.
“Princess? That’s a Six Star General. A key figure in the Military State. Even while tied up like that, she could overpower you with her big toe and saunter away into the enemy lines. What could you possibly trust?”
“Trust must be repaid with trust! I trust in her character!”
“I told you. Unlike you, she has no interest in the weak. Why not trust the Military State instead? No. I can’t entrust this to the enemy.”
Siati stubbornly refused, but the princess was just as stubborn. The princess bent forward, pretending to listen to the white horse.
“What? Selpi, what did you say? You don’t want to carry Siati anymore?”
Sharp enough to grasp her master’s intent, the white horse whinnied in reply—He-he-hiing! Nodding with a thoughtful hum, the princess shouted to Siati.
“Selpi says she’s tired of carrying you too! Isn’t that right, Selpi?”
He-hiing!
The loyal horse perfectly read her beautiful master’s mind. At this third-rate play put on by horse and rider, Siati was dumbfounded.
“Wait. Princess...”
“Ah, I can’t hear you! Anyway, next up is General Historia! You’ll go, right?”
Historia nodded firmly.
Does the ability to evade hostility also let stubbornness get its way? Against the princess’s obstinacy, even Siati was helpless. It was decided that Historia would go next.
“There’s an ambush over that hill!”
Just then, the Returnee, who had gone scouting, spotted an ambush unit. The report said an even larger force than before, with more cannons, was targeting our auto-carriage from the high ground.
Given the scale, the Returnee considered stepping in herself, but she was a multipurpose final line of defense capable of countering any attack. Better to deploy a detached force than use her.
Not because it was dangerous for me. Definitely not.
After a brief tussle, it was settled that Historia and the princess would sortie. The princess glanced sideways at Historia, who was seated with her legs together on the horse behind her, and gave an awkward smile.
‘Ah, ahh. Well, she was genuinely worried about Siati’s body. She wouldn’t do any harm, right...! Ugh, don’t worry for nothing, Yerien! In the first place, trust must be repaid with trust!’
Steeling herself, the princess politely greeted Historia.
“Ah, haha. P-please take care of me, Major General...?”
“...Just get me to the front.”
“Yes! Of course! But, um, won’t it be dangerous while you’re tied up? Selpi is a gentle and quiet child, but at full gallop...”
“Even tied up, I can stand on two legs, so don’t worry.”
“It’s uphill, and if there’s any shaking...”
“You worry a lot, leader of the Resistance. For someone so full of worry, did you just sit and watch as Siati broke her fingers each time?”
Struck right where it hurt, the princess jumped as if struck by a whip.
“I-I’m so sorry! I’ll go quickly!”
The princess spurred the horse. In an instant, the white horse reached top speed.
Selpi the white horse was faster than the auto-carriage. Partly because we had nothing else to compare, but with a bit of exaggeration, it seemed faster than the speed at which dusk falls. Before we could even enter the cannons’ line of fire, the white horse reached the vicinity of the enemy unit.
“General? How much further should we go?”
“This is enough.”
Once they were close, Historia, sitting with her legs together, let herself slip off the horse and dropped to the ground. Running at full speed—and with both arms tied—Historia’s dismount looked extremely precarious, but.
Crunch.
Planting both feet firmly into the ground, Historia kept running at the same speed she’d had while riding. Even Selpi, who had carried her, flinched at that pace.
“Wh-what the!”
“A tied-up woman is attacking us...!”
“Wasn’t she a prisoner? Stop her!”
But even tied up, she is a Six Star General. Stomping hard on the ground, Historia sprinted out and stretched her long legs. She leaped over a high boulder in a single bound and dashed straight for the cannons.
Someone in an officer’s uniform thrust a sword at her. The move seemed aimed more at halting her approach than at attacking. Historia flicked the hilt with the tip of her toe, simultaneously twisting her trajectory in midair and grazing the officer’s chin with her heel.
That alone was enough to make the officer’s eyes go hazy before he crumpled to the ground. Historia was already sprinting ahead before his head touched the dirt.
“S-stop her!”
Reaching the cannon in an instant, she spun and kicked it. Then something inevitable happened. With a thunderous boom, the cannon’s barrel bent sideways and dangled limply.
I observed the scene calmly and said,
“Is it more common sense to snap a cannon barrel with black magic, or to snap it with a kick?”
“Common sense is for the driver to look ahead! Stop gawking and steer!”
The Returnee’s answer was so full of common sense it was no fun at all.
Meanwhile, Historia was selectively destroying only the cannons while neutralizing the defensive troops to a bare minimum. She didn’t even need to lift a finger; she smashed the cannons with just her feet. The panicked soldiers tried to turn their guns, but they couldn’t match her speed.
But perhaps because her target was too obvious, the soldiers gathered to protect the last cannon. Among them, a scrawny man in an officer’s uniform blocked Historia’s path.
“This is as far as you go!”
When he blocked her route with his body, Historia hesitated for a moment. The officer aimed a broad scimitar at Historia.
“Impressive skill...! Though just by appearance, you look to be no older than the Military State’s Six Star General, the Gunmaster!”
That was the most powerful attack Historia received all day. As she stumbled on an awkward step, the officer puffed up with pride and shouted.
“But it’s useless! Compared to the peerless prodigy, Major General Historia, your talent is shallow! The Military State is not easy! Allow me, Major Jirant of the Military State, to teach you that you cannot win with both arms tied!”
Major Jirant stepped forward boldly.
But it was futile. Historia personally taught him with her body that if the opponent is a Six Star General, she can win even with both arms tied. She knocked the saber aside with the top of her foot, then drove that same foot into the major’s abdomen, and the fight was over. The result was so pathetic it was almost pitiful.
“I... couldn’t hold the line... I’m sorry...!”
With those words, the officer passed out. The demoralized soldiers tended to the officer, gritting their teeth.
“The Major’s been taken down!”
“That perverted bastard...! Is she showing off that she can win even while tied up?!”
“Is she looking down on us...! Damn twisted hobby...!”
“Damn it! If only we had a Six Star General on our side!”
It seemed Historia had many things she wanted to say, but she couldn’t. Swallowing her words, she ducked her head low so no one would recognize her, ran forward, and vented her frustration by kicking the cannon with all her might.
The Six Star General’s venting was formidable. The cannon the officer had tried so hard to protect wasn’t content to just be cruelly crushed—its barrel outright broke off.
Witnessing that fearsome might, the soldiers lost their will to resist.
“...Hey, but somehow, doesn’t she look like the Major General? Like I saw her from far away a long time ago.”
“What kind of groundless nonsense is that? The Major General isn’t some pervert; she wouldn’t attack us while tied up!”
“Right?”
And Historia lost her will to attack. Leaving the terrified soldiers be, she bolted away. Not from the enemy, but from shame and embarrassment.
Now, in the Military State, a legend will be passed down: a mysterious female master who attacked them while tied up wearing nothing but a shirt. It got a little entertaining.