“…Me?”
“Yes. There’s no need to wait until the Captain brings it up, right?”
“You’re right.”
Iberis let out a faint exclamation. Looking back, most of their relationship had been initiated by Lucas.
It was all Lucas – approaching him saying they needed to get closer for guiding, suggesting living together for effective treatment, realizing his feelings and confessing… Perhaps that’s why Iberis had been somewhat passive in front of him until now.
“I can’t guess what the Captain’s worry is, but… for someone who usually pushes forward like a bulldozer once he’s made up his mind, hesitating for so long means it must be a serious and important matter, right? Then, it’s likely about the topic of your treatment reaching a plateau, as I mentioned earlier.”
Brenda continued her sharp deductions fluently. When it came to romance, she was a step ahead of Lucas and Iberis.
“The point to note here is that you two have already clashed on this topic. In my opinion, that memory seems to be preventing the Captain from bringing it up readily. He’s probably worried about getting into an argument with you if he tries to talk about it hastily.”
“With me?”
“Yes, well… how should I put it, um, normally people don’t want to fight with their lovers, right? I think the Captain is the same. In my judgment, he seems unable to figure out how to broach the subject and in what way to speak about it.”
“Hmm…”
“So in this case, you need to break the ice, Major. Take the initiative and remove the Captain’s hesitation.”
“I see what you mean.”
Iberis nodded as if he understood. Then, with a lightened expression, his eyes sparkled.
“I’ll try what you suggested when I get back today.”
Thank you. Iberis expressed his gratitude softly and smiled at Brenda. She was indeed the best advisor. A few hours later, he would confirm that her guess was correct.
* * *
“…Imprinting?”
The gray eyes widened at the unexpected proposal. After dinner, having returned to their quarters, Iberis faithfully followed Brenda’s advice.
‘Let’s talk.’
Iberis sat Lucas down on the sofa and casually asked if he had any worries lately. And towards the hesitating Lucas, he worked hard to set the mood, saying it was okay to speak freely if it was related to him.
At first, Lucas denied that anything was wrong, but under Iberis’s continued questioning, he finally threw up his hands. Then, with a grave expression, he asked Iberis to wait a moment and left the quarters.
About 10 minutes later, Lucas returned with a bundle of documents in his arms. He neatly spread the materials out on the table. Then he voiced what he wanted to Iberis. And that was now.
“You’re saying we should do imprinting?”
Iberis asked with a face that seemed to question if he had heard correctly.
“Yes, at present, that’s the only way to completely cure you, Major.”
“Huh…”
“I’m not saying this lightly. This is the conclusion I’ve reached after thoroughly analyzing your data over the past few weeks, and investigating hundreds of cases related to imprinting and the treatment records of espers who were given terminal diagnoses like you.”
Lucas spoke more seriously than usual. He had been convinced for quite some time that imprinting was the best treatment method. However, he had been postponing telling Iberis because he couldn’t find a way to completely eliminate the risks, such as side effects. He didn’t know how to persuade Iberis, who would surely reject the idea outright.
But today, Iberis approached him first. At that moment, Lucas realized he could no longer run away. It was time to discuss imprinting with him, regardless of whether the outcome was good or bad.
“The reason your body damage rate is no longer showing improvement… seems to be because we’ve almost reached the maximum that can be treated with guiding and medication.”
Lucas handed Iberis a report summarizing the test results from the past two weeks.
“Regina mentioned it before, remember? That there are quite a few parts in your body that can never be regenerated.”
“Does that mean… further treatment is impossible?”
“No. If we continue treatment, it will improve, albeit slowly, beyond the current state. However, a complete cure would be difficult.”
Gulp. Lucas swallowed dryly and watched Iberis’s reaction. He was worried about how Iberis might be shocked, but Iberis’s expression remained calm as he read the report.
“By my estimation… your body damage rate will likely stop around 12%.”
“So 12% of my body will be dead.”
“Considering the margin of error, it’s predicted to be between 11% and 14%.”
Lucas’s gaze shifted to the document containing the error range calculation results. Currently, Iberis’s body damage rate was 18%. If Regina hadn’t recovered about 4% a few months ago, it wouldn’t have dropped below 15% even with continued treatment. If that had been the case, they wouldn’t have even dared to attempt imprinting.
They say things can change drastically in a short time, and while Lucas felt deeply grateful to his sister, he unconsciously felt a twinge of regret. In this situation, he couldn’t help but wish that the numbers had dropped just a little more when Regina sacrificed her life force to heal Iberis.
What a useless thought.
Lucas bit his lip, inwardly clicking his tongue. He had no intention of asking Regina to treat Iberis again. To say it now, it was almost a miracle that it only ended with sacrificing her hair back then.
Above all, Iberis himself would refuse Regina’s treatment. After returning to the unit, he heard that Regina had suffered from a severe cold for nearly two weeks due to her greatly weakened immune system, and he was plagued with intense guilt. It was clearly the price of sacrificing her life force to regenerate his body.
Regina might have smiled brightly, saying it was fortunate that it only ended with hair loss and a cold, but others couldn’t do the same.
“Recently, there’s a view that even 15% is considered normal… but given that you were in such poor condition to receive a terminal diagnosis, we can only consider it cured if it’s below 10%.”
At this point, there was no specific medical term to define Iberis’s condition. Because espers have various abilities and after-effects, and the causes of irreparable damage and treatment methods differ for each esper, the medical and academic fields broadly called it “Esper Terminal Illness” or “Esper Incurable Disease.” It was common to attach the patient’s specific symptoms and disease type separately.
If one were to name the symptoms Iberis was experiencing, it might be something like “Body Collapse Syndrome due to Excessive Ability Use, Repeated Mana Overload, and Chronic Lack of Guiding.”
Lucas moistened his lower lip with his tongue, feeling a strange uneasiness at Iberis’s face, which still showed no particular change in expression. Then he slowly continued speaking.
“Of course, even if we do imprinting, not all the dead parts in your body will disappear. But like when Regina treated you… some parts will revive. In any case, it’s certain that it will fall below 10%.”
“…Do we really have to try this now?”
“Pardon?”
“According to what you’re saying, if I consistently receive guiding and take medication, there’s still a possibility of improvement, right? At least 4% more.”
Thud. Iberis put down the report on the table and looked straight at Lucas. Like his unwavering eyes, the voice that flowed out of his lips was also resolute.
“So let’s try treatment as much as we can, and if it still doesn’t work, then we can think about it again.”
“Major.”
Lucas felt urgent as Iberis showed the reaction he had been worried about.
“Please listen to my explanation a bit more first…”
“No, I don’t want to hear it.”
“Why not?”
“I know how dangerous imprinting is. If this goes wrong, your body could be damaged too, you know.”
“How do you…”
“Haha. Luke, I’ve been in the military for over 10 years. Do you think I’ve never seen people who’ve done imprinting during that time? I’ve seen both successful and failed cases.”
Iberis let out a small laugh towards the surprised Lucas, then immediately turned serious.
“I absolutely won’t do anything that puts you in danger just to cure me. So let’s forget about this conversation.”
“Don’t say that, please consider it a little more. If you look at this, you’ll see that the probability of our imprinting failing is extremely low. And…”
“Even if the imprinting succeeds, it’s a problem.”
Iberis cut off Lucas’s attempt at persuasion sharply and rebutted.
“If we do imprinting and our souls are connected, we truly become a community of fate. That means if one of us gets seriously injured or dies, the other will be negatively affected.”
“…”
“I’ve seen people who became wrecks after their imprinting partner died. Our late team leader used to do volunteer work at the military convalescent hospital sometimes. They were confined in the special treatment rooms there.”
Iberis’s expression darkened as he recalled old memories. The patients isolated in the special ward for safety were alive but no different from corpses.
“When an imprinting partner loses their life, the remaining one receives a direct impact on their soul, making normal life impossible. Suffering from severe depression or feeling suicidal impulses is just the tip of the iceberg. Some people completely lost their minds or fell into comas. What do you think I thought about them?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
