#96
“It seems I’ll need the Emperor’s throne to achieve what I desire.”
Persis spoke as if the Emperor’s position was merely secondary.
“So please become my strength.”
Hearing those words, the Duke finally smiled.
“Very well. Let’s do that.”
Somehow it felt like everything was proceeding according to the Duke’s wishes. Persis seemed aware of this too, as dissatisfaction was clearly visible on his face. Was this the difference that experience brings?
The conversation we were having in this room could easily be considered treason if it got out. Yet somehow, I felt that the issues that had seemed impossible to navigate were beginning to unravel. We now had a clearer idea of what we needed to do.
Make Persis the Emperor. It would be difficult right now, but at least we had set our goal.
* * *
It had been a very long time since I’d entered this garden. This was my first time since I lost consciousness here as a child when I came with Persis.
After sending Persis and Rikin ahead, the Duke casually suggested we go to the garden. He must have thought it was the ideal space for the three of us—him, me, and the sword—to talk.
The garden was exactly as I remembered from childhood. Trees taller than me created a maze, and beyond the forest stretched a vast flower bed. Previously, there had been a black-gleaming sword in the center. Perhaps this garden had been created to hide the sword.
The Duke and I sat at the rest area built in the center. The sword, who usually initiated conversation by speaking first, remained silent. I suddenly feared that perhaps he could no longer speak, or that his consciousness had returned to the temple.
“Why did your consciousness return to your body in the temple? What exactly happened?”
I needed to know the reason so we could prepare in advance. Only then did the sword, who had maintained his silence, speak.
[It was my fault. I used some power from my main body to help you. That’s how they detected where I was.]
It wasn’t the sword’s fault. His return to the temple was ultimately because of me. If I hadn’t moved further, the sword wouldn’t have ended up like that. Not only that, when I used the sword’s power to escape from Yaksi, it made us more noticeable to the temple.
Things had become more complicated than expected.
“It’s not the sword’s fault. I should have been more careful…”
“It’s our fault. We thought not telling you was the way to protect you. We should have told you sooner… I’m sorry.”
The Duke apologized very calmly. But I wasn’t foolish enough not to feel the emotion contained within his words.
[You can ask anything you’re curious about. I can tell you everything now.]
The sword spoke quickly, trying his best to resolve the situation. The sword stammering in confusion—it was an unfamiliar sight.
I calmly settled the emotions boiling inside me.
“No, you don’t have to tell me.”
[Huh?]
“You don’t have to tell me everything right away.”
Their past might be painful to revisit. I didn’t want to stir them up by forcing them to talk about it.
“When you want to tell me, you can tell me then.”
Using formal speech with the sword felt a bit awkward. But now that I knew who he was, speaking casually as before didn’t seem right.
“Just tell me this. What is your name?”
I had never once heard the sword’s name. The sword was briefly silent, then spoke very softly.
[Mujin. My name is Mujin.]
His voice seemed to tremble slightly as he spoke his own name.
“So how should I address you? What would you prefer? Dad? Mom? Mujin?”
I asked him in the brightest voice I could manage to lighten the mood. He replied in a timid voice.
[Mujin is fine.]
“Alright. I’ll call you Mujin then.”
Mujin didn’t say anything in response to my words. If I could have seen him directly, he probably would have nodded. It wasn’t a bad first step for our relationship.
6.
[No good.]
The cold voice struck my head while I was concentrating. I glanced at the sword leaning against a tree that encircled the open space.
There was no one in the secluded clearing except for me and Mujin.
[I told you. Equanimity. The most important thing when using mana is equanimity.]
I understood what Mujin meant, but when I tried to put it into practice, nothing worked. I thought my usually calm personality would be sufficient, but the moment I focused on the mana Mujin had explained, emotions I’d been suppressing began to surface.
Mana was the power possessed by demons. According to Mujin, I, born as a half-demon and half-human, had possessed both mana and magic power since childhood. That’s why Kara had said my magic power was minuscule. From the beginning, half of my body was occupied by mana, so my magic power was naturally limited.
There were several differences between magic power and mana. Mana could be used for fewer spells, and while mana had greater destructive power than magic power, demons had more difficulty controlling their emotions than humans. That’s why demons learned to restrain their emotions from an early age. In my case, I often handled matters gently and acted rationally, so they had speculated that perhaps I didn’t have demonic traits despite being a half-breed.
This was all information I had heard from Mujin.
The reason I acted maturely as a child and didn’t exhibit excessive behavior was because I remembered my past life. When you already know the personalities of most people around you, what is there to be excessively surprised about? In other words, it was all thanks to the experience I had accumulated, not because I was calmer or better at controlling emotions than ordinary people.
However, my father and Mujin, unaware of the full story, thought I was less affected by mana. In reality, I had been swayed back and forth by mana. The impulsive actions that emerged when I couldn’t control my emotions now made a bit more sense.
[Don’t waver. If you waver, the mana wavers too. Do you want to go berserk like last time?]
Suddenly, I remembered how I had acted recklessly in the temple. At that time, I had only felt the urge to overturn everything in front of me. I wouldn’t have cared if someone died. My reason had flown away to the point where I couldn’t feel the weight of life.
We had been lucky so far, but there was no guarantee things would continue to be fine. I needed to accurately understand and learn how to use the power I possessed.
After taking another deep breath, I felt the mana within my body.
I couldn’t quite grasp how to draw out the hidden mana rather than the magic power I had felt since childhood. If I pulled even slightly too hard, it would start to rampage as if it had been waiting for the opportunity. If I touched it carefully, it wouldn’t budge and would just sink back down.
[Focus. Don’t forget to maintain balance. Your body hasn’t fully matured yet, so your mana and magic power might become entangled.]
This was another fact I learned recently—apparently, there had been several times when my mana and magic power had collided, causing me to collapse. That’s why the Duke had prevented me from leaving the Duke’s mansion and kept Mujin by my side to help balance the two powers.
There was a reason why he readily gave me the sword when I wanted it.
[Don’t hold your breath. Slowly breathe in and out.]
Following Mujin’s instructions, I took deep breaths. I could feel the dormant mana opening its jaws like a beast. It felt like I might be devoured by the mana if I made a mistake. However, if I didn’t disturb it further, the mana wouldn’t rampage either. This was a fact I had realized after dozens of trials and errors.
The real challenge was about to begin.
[There’s no need to rush. Just focus on feeding it evenly.]
Despite the nature of mana, demon magic was precise. The process of releasing mana little by little without stimulating it remained difficult no matter how many times I tried. If impatience and irritation rose at this point, everything would be for nothing. I carefully extracted tiny amounts of mana and used the stick I was holding to draw a formation on the ground. The mana, waiting with its mouth open, only trembled slightly without showing signs of going berserk.
Just a moment ago, I had relaxed my guard here and the mana had tried to rampage violently. So this time, I intended to proceed more calmly.
The formation I was drawing was one that would bind an enemy standing before me. Black cords were supposed to spring from the ground to bind the enemy, but I had never succeeded in creating them. Still, I was firmly determined to produce at least one strand this time as I made the final stroke.
[Now, finally, breathe mana into the formation.]
Following Mujin’s instructions, I tapped the ground once with the stick and injected a consistent amount of mana. The formation began to glow brightly. At this rate, it seemed like it would work as intended. Just as I was about to sigh in relief, my momentary lapse in concentration proved to be a mistake—the formations I had drawn on the ground slowly began to tangle.
[Andelion!]
I tried to gather mana with my last bit of strength, but the situation didn’t improve. The mana that had escaped from within me took advantage of that brief opening and began to rampage. For such situations, I took out the artifact that my father had given me.
The magic power from the artifact created a massive barrier, blocking the mana.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
