by Aneko Yusagi
“So you don’t have amnesia, right?”
“I don’t know.”
How could he not know?
“You better not be hiding something. What are you up to?”
“Am I up to something?”
“How the hell should I know?! That’s why I’m asking you! Don’t answer a question with a question!”
What was wrong with him? It was like he’d lost all ambition. He was acting like a spaced-out junkie . . . No, this was different. Just a second ago, when I said, “say something,” he replied by saying, “something,” didn’t he?
“Itsuki, do a handstand and take your clothes off while upside down.”
“Okay.”
Just as I’d ordered, Itsuki did a handstand and started unbuttoning his shirt with one hand.
“Mr. Itsuki! Stop that!”
When Rishia told him to stop, he got back up on his feet and stood there motionless. Hold on. Did that mean he would do anything he was told to do?
“Itsuki, kill yourself.”
“Okay.”
Itsuki pulled a rope out of his bow . . . Not the bowstring, but a rope stored inside of the bow, like the one I had in my shield. He started looking for a place to tie the rope so that he could hang himself.
“Fehhhh! Don’t do that, Mr. Itsuki!”
“Okay.”
“Itsuki, what do you want to do?” I asked.
“What do I want to do? I don’t know.”
Oh, come on, Itsuki!
Also, Itsuki had always been so secretive and reserved that it was kind of creepy seeing him talk so readily.
“Itsuki, do you not have any idea what’s going on? There are all kinds of consequences for using cursed weapon skills. Is that what this is?”
I felt like I could sense some kind of inauspicious presence completely enshrouding Itsuki’s body.
“When I was fighting in the underground coliseums in Zeltoble I used some special skills several times when things got tough.”
Ugh. So now that Itsuki had been freed from the cursed weapon, the consequences had come crashing down on top of him, I guess. He was in bad shape.
“Well, Rishia is going to take care of you, so just take it easy for now.”
“Understood,” he replied.
Itsuki gazed at Rishia for several moments and then looked back at me.
“Should I be doing something?”
“Is there something you want to do?”
“Umm . . . I guess I should do something. Or maybe I should just stay still. If I move . . .”
Yeah, he had obviously become indecisive. The consequence of his curse was probably a loss of volition or something like that. Sheesh. Why did all of the heroes that showed up at my doorstep have to be under the effects of a curse? Motoyasu wasn’t here, but he had been pretty messed up too.
“Itsuki, spend some time thinking about what it is you want to do. And pay off your debts.”
“Understood. I’ll work to pay off my debts.”
“Mr. Itsuki, I’ll help you fight to atone for your mistakes,” Rishia said.
Itsuki nodded at her docilely. Good. She could work and help Itsuki pay off his debts too.
“Thank you, Rishia. I’ll do my best.”
Itsuki shook Rishia’s hand and a single tear rolled down his cheek.
“Mr. Itsuki?”
“Huh? Why am I crying? Rishia . . . I’m sorry . . . for everything,” Itsuki whispered.
And then he returned to being completely expressionless, as if he had finished letting out all of the feelings he had pent up inside.
“It’s . . . It’s okay . . . It’s okay, Mr. Itsuki . . .”
Rishia was crying. Of course she was. The guy sitting in front of us was a completely different person who only looked like Itsuki. He did exactly what anyone told him to do without complaint.
I sighed. It would be easy to get Itsuki to talk, but we had a whole pile of other problems now. I wasn’t sure what to do. It seemed like I was constantly worrying about something or other lately. For now, I’d hammer the power-up methods into his head. Then I’d have him go recuperate at the Cal Mira hot springs, since they helped speed up recovery from curses. That seemed like a good plan.
It wouldn’t be long before all four of the holy heroes had finally implemented all of the power-up methods.
Chapter Fourteen: Secret Base
“Alright, little Naofumi! You and I are going to have some fun tonight!”
“Like hell we are!”
One night, several days after Itsuki arrived at the village, I decided to have Sadeena teach me the Way of the Dragon Vein. The slaves had gotten over their trauma for the most part, so she didn’t have to spend so much time looking after them at night.
“He’s right, Sadeena! You need to stop fooling around so much!” Raphtalia snapped.
Raphtalia must have finally gotten her nights back to herself too, because she was sleeping at my house again. I’d asked her to fight Atla off if she showed up during the night.
“Oh, by the way, I figured it might be difficult for me to teach you all of the details by myself, so I asked little Gaelion to help out,” Sadeena said.
She stuck her hand out the window and made a beckoning motion. Gaelion came flying over in his baby dragon form and entered the room.
“Hmm . . . So you want to learn the Way of the Dragon Vein, do you? I sense that a divine blessing has already been bestowed upon you.”
“Did he just sp—”
Raphtalia was standing there dumbstruck after hearing Gaelion speak.
“I am Gaelion, the weakest of the emperor dragons. I was slain by the Sword Hero. Nice to meet you.”
Introducing oneself as “the weakest” was kind of strange, but whatever.
“He’s the dragon that raised Wyndia. The Demon Dragon took control of his core, and now he shares a body with baby Gaelion. I didn’t have time to explain before now,” I added.
“Normally I would have introduced myself right away, but I’ve had my hands full keeping my presence hidden from Wyndia, since she’s always around.”
“Little Gaelion can use the Way of the Dragon Vein too. With him helping out, you should be able to get the hang of it in no time.”
“That would be nice.”
I’d been studying a bit on my own, but it wasn’t going very well. Ren and Itsuki . . . Those two still couldn’t even use normal magic without relying on crystal balls or something. I was rushing them to master normal magic, while also trying to work on the Way of the Dragon Vein in my own time.
Then again, now that I had Sadeena and Gaelion with me, couldn’t they just fire off powerful support magic nonstop? I guess it would still be good for me to learn too.
“Mr. Naofumi! Huh?! Brother!”
“Atla! I’m not letting you get away tonight! I’ll show you the fruits of my training!”
“Ha! Do you really think someone like you could stop me, Brother?”
“I’ll stop you tonight for sure!”
I heard a loud commotion coming from outside of the house. I peeked outside and saw an imbecilic pair of siblings brawling while the rest of the slaves looked on excitedly. What were all of them still doing up?!
“I have a feeling it’s going to be hard to concentrate,” I mumbled.
“I think you’re right. Atla will probably be here shortly, so I doubt you’ll get to learn much magic tonight,” Raphtalia replied.
“It would be nice if there was a good place we could go. Should we use my portal and go find a place near the castle?”
“That could work. But if it were only as far as the castle, Atla might still show up riding Chick, for example.”
Who was that? Ah, that must have been Filo Underling #1’s name. I seemed to recall hearing the slaves call it that while petting it.
Zeltoble could work. But on second thought, Zeltoble wasn’t any quieter, and then I’d have to worry about accommodations and dealing with the slave trader. After star
ing out the window and enjoying the commotion for a few moments, Sadeena suddenly spoke up.
“How about I take us to my secret base then?”
“Secret base?” I asked.
“Yep. There’s a little island not far from the village, and my secret base is on that island. I doubt even little Atla could come after you there.”
“Hmm . . . If that hakuko girl is going to interfere with our training, then it does make sense to move to a quieter spot,” said Gaelion.
“Fine. Raphtalia, don’t leave my side, no matter what. You’re the only one I can trust,” I said.
I could only imagine what might happen to me if I ended up alone with Sadeena and Gaelion. Well, mainly Sadeena. But that would have been pretty much the same as being alone with her, so who knew what she might try to do.
“Mr. Naofumi, I think you’re a bit too scared,” Raphtalia replied.
“Oh? I wonder who he’s more afraid of? Me or you, little Raphtalia?” Sadeena poked.
Seriously? Raphtalia, of course! That went without saying! Raphtalia got really scary whenever Sadeena started hanging all over me.
“Should I swim, and you can all ride me? Or should we have Gaelion fly us out there?”
“Gaelion sounds good.”
If something happened, I could sick Gaelion on Sadeena. That should at least buy me enough time to get away.
We all climbed onto Gaelion and departed for the island where Sadeena’s secret base was located.
“Wow. So this is where your secret base is, huh?”
It had been around thirty minutes since we climbed on to Gaelion’s back. The island finally came into view. It was dark, so I couldn’t see well, but it wasn’t a very big island. It reminded me of one of those crescent-shaped atolls I’d seen in travel brochures. There didn’t seem to be any monsters on the island either. I didn’t want to sound like Motoyasu, but it seemed like a romantic little island floating there under the moon.
Once we landed, Sadeena took us to a cave near the edge of the island and lit a torch inside. The cave even had a little hole in the roof, like a skylight. The interior was crude—what I imagined a pirate cave would look like. There was a table made of haphazardly piled-up rocks and a chair that was really just a tree trunk that had been split down the middle. There seemed to be other rooms in the back, but it was dark, so I couldn’t really tell.
“Make yourselves at home.”
“You used to come here with mom and dad, right? When I was little, they told me they’d bring me when I grew up. I remember lying in bed unable to sleep because I was so excited,” Raphtalia said.
I could relate with that. I could remember being little and getting excited when relatives told me they would take me camping. But I had no recollection of ever actually going camping, by the way.
“Oh? So you already knew about this place then?” Sadeena asked.
“Yes,” replied Raphtalia.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure even Atla won’t show up all the way out here,” I said.
“Right?”
Then again, I couldn’t help but feel like she might actually try to swim or take a boat.
“Alright then, little Naofumi. How about we go ahead and get started with the Way of the Dragon Vein lessons?”
“Sounds good.”
“This isn’t the kind of thing you can learn without having a certain amount of aptitude, right? I’d like to be able to use it too, if possible,” said Raphtalia.
“It should be possible if I bestow my blessing upon you,” Gaelion replied.
“In that case, you should join us, Raphtalia. If we can learn it together, then that’s even better.”
Surely that would be a good thing if Raphtalia could use it too. But Sadeena stared at Raphtalia for a moment and then groaned.
“Hmm . . . Teaching little Raphtalia could be problematic.”
“She can’t learn?” I asked.
“Hmm?”
Gaelion placed his hand above Raphtalia’s head.
“Ah, I see. She already has some kind of blessing bestowed on her. It seems to be far too powerful for me to remove in my current state,” he said.
“R . . . really?” Raphtalia asked.
“Does it have to do with the vassal weapon or something?” I asked.
I guess this was a downside to having a vassal weapon from Kizuna’s world. How annoying. That reminded me, I’d forgotten to ask Kizuna and the others about what kind of magic they used in their world. I seemed to remember there being something about that in the manuscripts they gave us, but deciphering that stuff was such a hassle. I guess I’d just have Rishia figure it out. Then again, Rishia had been working on deciphering a different manuscript already and was having a hard time. I guess I shouldn’t expect much. Not to mention, she had to take care of Itsuki now too.
“If I absorbed the knowledge of that other world’s emperor dragon from the core you have, then I should be able to teach her, but . . .” Gaelion suggested.
“It’s all too easy to imagine you getting swallowed up instead,” I replied.
“I’m just lucky that he was a different class of emperor dragon, which is why he didn’t completely assimilate me. If that hadn’t been the case, that would have been the end of me.”
“I see . . .”
So there could be class differences, even if they were both emperor dragons. I guess that meant he could read some kind of basic information from the core stone, but there were fundamental incompatibilities at a deeper level. The Demon Dragon was the whole reason Kizuna got summoned to the other world in the first place. I’m sure the Demon Dragon that Kizuna fought was stronger than the one we had faced recently.
Gaelion pointed at some water in a jug.
“We’ll start by drawing power from that water over there. I’ll show you how it’s done.”
Gaelion placed his hand over the jug.
“I call upon the power of this water to come to me and take form. Earth Vein! Lend me your power!”
“Aqua Seal!”
Some kind of power shot up out of the water toward Gaelion and materialized in the form of magic. I’m pretty sure that spell was supposed to create a magic barrier. It would be effective against fire-based magic. That would come in handy at the scene of a fire.
“So there are no magical tomes or anything, I guess.”
“With the magic you normally use, you materialize your own power using a fixed process. This magic doesn’t work like that. You’re borrowing power from other sources,” Gaelion replied.
It seemed to employ the same basic system as the magic Therese used. She had told me once that she was borrowing the power of her jewels when she cast her spells.
“Dragons can call upon their own power to conjure the magic, but humans should stick to borrowing power from other sources,” he continued.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“We’re talking about your own life force, otherwise. If you overdo it, you’ll end up drawing out every last bit of your own power. You would die,” he replied.
Whoa! That was a risk I didn’t want to take.
“On the contrary, when it comes to materializing magic using your own inner resources, the magic you normally use is more than enough,” he said.
That was true. So normal magic drew from your own power, and the Way of the Dragon Vein borrowed power from other sources. I’d just remember it that way.
“I’m sure you realize this, little Naofumi, but once you are able to use the Way of the Dragon Vein, it’ll be easy to use counter-magic too. You’re reading the opponent’s power in order to interfere with their casting,” Sadeena said.
Oh? So that’s why the Way of the Dragon Vein made things like interference possible. Ceremonial magic and cooperative magic were difficult because you had to attune your power to that of others. This would simplify that process. I think that’s what she was saying.
Gaelion and Sadeena continued to give me pointers, and I spent the next two hours or
so practicing using the Way of the Dragon Vein.
“I told you to stop injecting magic power! I can tell there’s some kind of strange magic power going into the water just by watching!” Gaelion lectured.
“You can see that?” I asked.
“The water is vibrating! Not to mention, it’s glowing!”
Ugh . . . Therese had scolded me about the same thing when I was practicing magic with her. They really did seem to be similar systems.
“It . . . It seems incredibly difficult,” Raphtalia commented.
She was watching me as I struggled to figure it out. She looked concerned.
“Hey, Raphtalia, maybe you remember. The magic back in Kizuna’s world was similar. Maybe you can use the same kind of magic that Therese used.”
“I’ll give it my best shot.”
“Little Naofumi, you have to avoid releasing magic power like you would when using normal magic. Instead, think of yourself as empty and let the power come to you from the water.”
“Yeah, that’s what’s so hard.”
It was a sensory type of thing, and those were always the most difficult.
Alright . . . Don’t use magic power to draw it out. Let the power come to me from the water.
Nothing was happening. The water didn’t respond.
Concentrate! Hey, water! Give me your power!
“Stop releasing magic power!” Gaelion thundered.
Goddammit! This was so annoying! I felt like I was starting to understand why Wyndia could only use the Way of the Dragon Vein. The fact that Sadeena could use both types of magic just meant that she was a bona fide freak. She was a prodigy. I wasn’t. I was just a hard worker.
I continued to struggle, and another two hours or so passed. I was starting to get the idea of how it worked. Since I’d developed the ability to see the flow of magic power, watching Gaelion and Sadeena cast spells and then mimicking their flow had done the trick. In other words, I just kept begging them to do it over and over.
While watching, I created an empty space in my own magic power. Then I carefully extended the magic power out until it just brushed the water’s surface, like reaching with my hand. A pristine flow of power was sucked up into my body by way of the magic.
