by Ryota Hori
Several months ago, Ryoma had his men use thaumaturgy to form a bridgehead across the banks of the river Thebes. He only saw it as a convenient power that filled the role of machinery, but this idea would strike the people of this world as shocking, if not blasphemous. The mercenaries were one thing, but had it not been for the greater cause of building fortifications on the battlefield, the knights may have adamantly refused his order.
Mercenaries and commoners didn’t cling to the faith that much, but for the more privileged knights, nobles and royalty, this was a major issue. They were grown since youth with the belief that they were given the right to rule over others, and that the God of Light granted them the power of thaumaturgy to do so. They perceived it only as a power meant to defend themselves, and only used it in battle.
Ryoma felt there was a stark contradiction in the idea of using a power granted by god only for battle, but religion was rife with such illogical ideas. That said, he had no intention of calling those beliefs into question. The only thing that mattered to him was whether something could be of use to him. If something wasn’t useful, he would simply ignore it.
And having come from Japan, Ryoma saw no need to pay any respects to this world’s gods. They were only tools, and the question of whether they could be used or not was far more pertinent than the question of their existence. This was perhaps how the Japanese belief system influenced Ryoma’s outlook.
“Then if you’re done with the lecture, shouldn’t we begin?” Ryoma asked, to which the sisters nodded and walked around him, standing at his back.
“This should do for the preface, yes. We will begin. Are you sure you’re ready, Master Ryoma?”
“Yeah. Go ahead.” Ryoma sat cross-legged, as formerly instructed, and nodded.
He felt the sisters’ palms press against his back.
““Then we begin!””
The moment the twins made that exclamation, Ryoma felt something hot spill over his back. It spread from the sisters’ hands and gradually crawled up his spine. Ryoma was overcome with the tingling, almost frightening feeling of something creeping up his body.
“Try taking deep breaths, through your nose,” Laura instructed him. “And exhale slowly through your mouth... Calm your heart and try to relax your body... Can you feel something warm spreading through your back?”
Ryoma nodded shortly and closed his eyes, abiding by Laura’s words. He directed his consciousness to the warm sensation spreading from his back, as if trying to control the heat running through his body with his own will.
“It’s like my body’s on fire...” A small whisper left his lips.
His face contorted in pain, and labored gasps escaped his mouth. How long did this all last? Several minutes? Dozens of minutes, perhaps? Whichever it may have been, it felt like eternity to Ryoma. But the fact even Ryoma’s usual stoic facade made way for an expression of pain likely stood as testament to the agony of it all.
What started as a warmth that spread out from the center of the Malfist sisters’ palms had become a burning heat that rushed through his back like wildfire. Ryoma desperately withstood the urge to scream out from the heat and pain. It was then that he noticed the taste of rusty metal filling his mouth — he’d likely clenched his teeth too hard in his attempts to hold back the pain.
“We are now sending prana directly into your body from our hands, Master Ryoma. Put up with it for a while longer... Now, try to manipulate that heat.”
Nodding at Sara’s instructions, Ryoma focused on his back again. The prana spilling from their hands was eating away at Ryoma’s body, and it had only been several minutes. The heat ran through him from the tip of his head down to his feet.
The sweat pouring from his body made his shirt cling to his skin, and formed several wet spots over the blanket he was sitting on.
“How do you feel? If it doesn’t seem like you can withstand the heat anymore, say so.”
The two’s expressions were also contorted in effort and pain. So long as Ryoma couldn’t control his own prana, the Malfist sisters had to continually supply him with their own prana. It was like trying to fill a leaking bucket. And so it was a race against time. Which would come first — would the twins run out of prana to supply him with, or would Ryoma successfully break through the first level...?
“Yeah... It’s... pretty hot... But I can take more. Keep going.” Ryoma stuttered out a reply.
The moment he parted his lips, droplets of sweat flowed into his oral cavity. The taste of the salt in his sweat and the raw taste of blood in his mouth made him reflexively contort his face in disgust.
But he also realized a part of him was enjoying the salty flavor. All that sweat made Ryoma’s body crave water. As well-trained as his body may have been, this was still straining him. But he couldn’t afford to stop this now. Stopping now would mean the sisters would have to start tomorrow’s session by once again forcing prana into his body.
Gaius... Kael... My body has the prana I stole from them... I should be able to do this... I should be able to get my chakras to move...!
Ryoma desperately tried to hold the image of all the heat coursing through his body gathering in his abdomen. He tried to force his still-unmoving chakras to move. The very basics of thaumaturgy lay in using your prana to reinforce your own body.
Sensing one’s own prana and channeling it as martial thaumaturgy opened the way to other forms of thaumaturgy. Be it to have other existences lend him their strength in the shape of verbal thaumaturgy, or to channel it into something and imbue power into an object through endowed thaumaturgy.
And that was because even the latter two methods of thaumaturgy used his own prana. And so long as he couldn’t control the prana coursing through his own body, he could never hope to channel and control it outside his body. It was for this reason that martial thaumaturgy was considered the basis for all other methods.
Acquiring martial thaumaturgy required breaking through three barriers. The first was to recognize your own prana and being able to manipulate it. The second was to manipulate one’s prana to open the chakra said to be the root of all bodily functions — the muladhara chakra, or the root chakra. And the third and final barrier was to be able to willingly close the muladhara chakra after he’d opened it.
Martial thaumaturgy essentially meant opening the chakra within one’s body. If one were to liken the human body to a machine, the chakra could be likened to an engine. A vehicle in operation naturally needed to have its engine active, but once it had finished, it needed to have its engines shut down. Otherwise, the vehicle’s engine would continually consume gasoline. The same held true for thaumaturgy.
Yeah, the logic behind it is simple enough... But I’m struggling just with the first step... If it’s this bad now, I’m scared to think about what comes next... That thought crossed Ryoma’s mind.
Activating his chakra made his body exhibit more power than his muscle strength normally allowed, which became exponentially higher depending on the number of active chakras. A total of seven chakras existed in the human body. The idea was developed in ancient India, where it became part of Brahmanism, Hinduism, and went on to be integrated into Buddhism and Yoga.
But of course, the stark difference between those ideas and thaumaturgy is that mastering the latter would indeed grant one superhuman strength. Ryoma tried to activate the first of those chakras, the muladhara chakra, with the help of the Malfist twins. But things weren’t going as smoothly as he would have liked. Impatience and anxiety tormented Ryoma’s heart.
But his concerns turned out to be unfounded. Ryoma couldn’t tell how long it took, but the anxiety and fear gradually began to fade away, and his heart became clear. It was like he became capable of hearing something he couldn’t make out before — as if the outlines of something were coming into view. He could feel a certain throbbing. First from his breathing and breath, and eventually emanating from every single cell in his body.
He could tell — something about
his body was changing.
I can feel something... This isn’t my blood... And it’s not something coming from their hands. There’s something hot circulating through my body, and it isn’t blood... Is this... my prana?
The moment he realized this, a change took place within Ryoma. Something awakened from the depths of his body, which was stimulated by the Malfist sisters’ prana. An intense throbbing was raging through his body, and Ryoma desperately tried to restrain it. The way it raged felt like a chained beast trying to chew its way through the fetters holding it in place.
The twins’ hands felt a sensation of resistance — as if Ryoma’s body was trying to fight back against the prana they were pouring into it. As soon as they felt that, the sisters let go of his back.
“How does it feel?” Sara asked, her voice full of concern.
“Yeah... I can feel it... It’s like there’s an... animal raging inside me... Ugh!” Ryoma replied cautiously.
Right now, the muladhara chakra, located in Ryoma’s perineum, was jolted into action by the stimulus of the Malfist sisters’ prana. Ryoma felt as if, if he wouldn’t keep his wits about him, he could very well pounce on the sisters like a bloodthirsty animal. Ryoma’s instincts were spurring him onward.
An urge to hurt others. To ravage others. To kill others.
Urge. Instinct. Impulse.
The lust bubbled up from the bottom of his heart. This beast of desire was normally chained up, bucking and heaving in an attempt to tear the bindings of common sense apart. This was what yoga described as a kundalini awakening. An explosion said to be likened to the awakening and uncoiling of the serpent of creation.
Calm down, take a deep breath... Like that... Slowly...
But Ryoma’s body ignored his will, and was activating on its own. His muscles were throbbing and his heartbeat was accelerating. The sensation of his skin became much more acute, and it felt like every cell in his body had gone into overdrive.
The Malfist sisters nodded at each other wordlessly and left the tent. There was nothing they could do even if they were to stay there.
♱
“So, how’s the boy looking? I just came over to report that we’re done with the little ones.” Lione called out to the twins, who stood guard at Ryoma’s tent, after concluding the training with the children.
Today’s training was concluded with a simple explanation of thaumaturgy and with the mercenaries pouring a bit of prana into each of the children. Now they were back to their lectures. Lione had concluded her share of the work for that day, but Ryoma — the one to whom she was to report — was still in the midst of his own training.
“Lione... Master Ryoma is still inside...” The sisters said simply this and shook their heads.
Seeing this, Lione peeked into the tent and nodded in understanding.
“He’s taking a while, isn’t he... He’s been going at it since morning, right?”
It was already three in the afternoon.
“Yes... Five hours already.” Sara affirmed, to which Lione’s eyes went round with surprise.
“Since you two are outside, that means his chakra...”
“Is still open, yes.” Laura nodded, her gaze full of anxiety.
Lione’s expression stiffened. She was concerned about the same thing.
“Five hours, huh... The boy did absorb a lot of prana from all the people he killed... I guess it makes sense... That might be dangerous... That’s why I was against it, actually...”
Laura’s expression contorted at her words. Both Ryoma and the children were going through the same process to learn thaumaturgy, but Ryoma’s starting conditions were radically different. At least in terms of the aggregate amount of prana they’d absorbed, the children had no experience in taking the lives of others and only took in the amount necessary for their bodies to survive. There may have been some individual differences, but most of the children only amounted to that.
But Ryoma, by contrast, was far too different in that regard. He slew both Gaius Valkland and Kael Iruna, men capable of thaumaturgy, as well as countless monsters. As a result, the sheer amount of prana residing in Ryoma’s body was nearly double the ordinary amount.
Normally, having more prana would be a good thing, but when it came to mastering martial thaumaturgy it actually became a disadvantage. It made it harder to control one’s chakra.
It was as if Ryoma went to learn how to drive, but his training car was modified to have a race car’s performance. It was the same car and the driving method didn’t differ much, but trying to drive it couldn’t be compared to a training car.
This was of course all impossible. No beginner starts with a task only an advanced student could tackle, and no teacher would approve of letting their student do that. Much the same as how, regardless of what world you’re in, no one would leave a vehicle costing a fortune in the hands of an amateur.
But when it came to mastering thaumaturgy, there was the small probability of this happening. An apprentice with no control over their chakra might be forced to conquer the large amount of prana residing in their body.
The common sense of this Earth was to wait for the chakra to begin operating normally. That was how most mercenaries from a commoner’s background learned thaumaturgy. But Lione and the others warned Ryoma ahead of time that this might happen, and Ryoma chose to ignore those warnings and forcibly learn thaumaturgy.
He wasn’t overconfident in his talent, and it wasn’t that he didn’t believe in Lione’s words. But he was pressed for time. He couldn’t tell if his chakra would naturally open by the time they were to head for the Wortenia peninsula.
“I guess there’s no point saying that now, though... You two should rest, too. You had to use a lot of prana to open his chakra, right? I’ll keep an eye on the boy, so get something to eat.” Lione said out of consideration for their health, directing a kind gaze at the twins.
“We appreciate your consideration, but... you must be tired too, Lione.” Laura said.
“Laura is right. You had to pour your prana into a few of the kids, right?”
Lione broke out in laughter at the sisters’ suggestion.
“You little idiots. Seriously... Sharing prana into even ten or twenty kids ain’t gonna change much for me. And we only gave them a little taste today. Unlike the boy here, it doesn’t take much to fill their bodies with prana.”
Lione truly wasn’t very fatigued. She had roughly the same capacity as either of the twins, too. This only meant Ryoma’s prana was that much larger than the children’s.
“It’s fine! You two res—”
Just as Lione was about to implore the Malfist twins to rest again, the sound of something toppling over rang out from inside the tent. The three of them went pale at once and hurried into the tent.
““Master Ryoma!””
“Boy!”
Lione picked Ryoma up, who was lying face down on the ground, and placed a hand against his mouth to check that he was still breathing.
“It’s fine. He’s only out cold. I swear, I told him this was reckless... Laura, prepare a place for him to lie down. Sara, go fetch him some water!”
Ryoma’s pulse seemed to be in order, too. It seemed they escaped the worst possible scenario. Concluding he passed out from symptoms of light dehydration and fatigue, Lione swiftly gave the sisters instructions.
““Understood! At once!””
Despite being quite tired, the sisters swiftly followed Lione’s instructions.
“Dammit, boy... I told you not to do this...” Lione whispered, smiling bitterly after concluding his life wasn’t at risk.
Lione knew very well that they had little time to waste, but even if Ryoma alone couldn’t use thaumaturgy, everyone around him could have covered for him anyway. That was all the more crucial because he was the head of House Mikoshiba — in chess terms, he was the king. And the king isn’t meant to fight on the frontlines. Ryoma honestly had no real reason to insist on learning thaumaturgy.
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But despite her sarcastic tone, Lione was actually happy, on the inside. Despite being the head of the house, Ryoma insisted on acquiring thaumaturgy. It was proof he wanted to live while staying on the same level as his comrades. A show of his readiness to dirty his own hands with blood.
She only knew Ryoma for so long, but she understood his personality well enough. And still, seeing Ryoma lying unconscious gave her newfound appreciation of the young man’s resolve.
Boy... I’m glad I gambled on you... If it’s you... You might be able to change our fate...
The fate of a mercenary was clear to see. They would either be betrayed by an employer, or lose their lives on a battlefield. And if neither happened, they would accumulate enough injuries to eventually die.
Whichever end they met, their future was bound to be bleak. There was not a single mercenary that washed their hands of this bloody business’s karma and spent their golden years in peace. Only the luckiest of mercenaries were fortunate enough to have their exploits immortalized by the minstrels.
And this was why mercenaries never feared death. A man who feared death wasn’t fit for the business. But the one thing they hated more than anything was the idea of dying a meaningless, forgotten death. If death was unavoidable, then they chose to die for a purpose.
And at that moment, Lione once again confirmed that she had found a purpose to live, fight and die for.
If it’s you... If it’s for your sake...
She wrapped her hands around Ryoma’s limp body and gently brushed her fingers through his hair. Like a mother cradling a beloved child.
Chapter 3: The Invasion of the East
While Ryoma Mikoshiba was camped out in Epirus’s outskirts and training to acquire thaumaturgy, clouds of war were brewing over the neighboring Kingdom of Xarooda. The O’ltormea Empire, ruler of the continent’s center, bared its fangs against Xarooda. In doing so, it commenced its invasion of the eastern regions of the western continent.
