TGBAP 32

Ria reflexively ran to him.

[Why do you look like this! Who did you fight? Did another dragon show up or something?]

A mere human couldn’t inflict wounds like this on him. It had to be a fight with a dragon or someone on that level.

When Ria brought her hand up toward his face, Kaiser visibly avoided it.

And he looked at Ria with cold eyes.

“It’s none of your business.”

[…….]

Unfamiliar. Had Kaiser ever rejected her before? And what is that attitude, so clearly drawing a line?

“You said you can’t use healing magic, right?”

[Huh? Y-yeah…….]

“I’ll teach you, so learn it. And starting tomorrow, you’re teaching that kid magic.”

That kid, not his name. Kaiser pointed at Lucian with his chin as he said it.

“……Hyung, did I do something wrong?”

Lucian must have felt it too, because he started to tear up. Kaiser’s fingertips twitched, but his cold gaze remained unchanged.

Kaiser stared at Lucian’s bluish neck for a moment, then muttered,

Be healed.

Light swirled around Lucian’s whole body in dragon speech, and soon it was healed cleanly without even a single bruise left.

Lucian fiddled with his neck, which no longer throbbed, and looked up at Kaiser with bewildered eyes.

“That settles my debt.”

Lucian’s heart dropped with a thud. His words sounded like he was saying they were strangers now.

“Do you hate me? I did wrong. Don’t hate me…….”

In the end, Lucian burst into tears. Ria fidgeted, wedged between Lucian and Kaiser.

Kaiser’s eyebrow twitched, and he ran a hand up through his hair.

“I don’t hate you.”

“……Liar.”

“You need to have feelings to hate someone. In the first place, who are you? You’re nothing to me.”

[Kaiser!]

Ria pressed him, asking if he really had to say it that harshly, but Kaiser turned his head away with a scowl.

What the hell is wrong with him? What happened in the basement for his attitude to flip like this?

Kaiser is Kaiser, but first it seemed she should calm Lucian down, so Ria turned her head toward Lucian. But Ria couldn’t help freezing.

Lucian had empty eyes.

Just like Ria, struck speechless, Kaiser also flinched at that sight. But he clenched his teeth and turned away from Lucian.

Lucian stared blankly at Kaiser, then went up the stairs with his head drooping low.

It was painfully obvious he’d been deeply hurt. She had to run right after him and soothe him, but for some reason, she couldn’t move.

Tap-

She heard the sound of Lucian’s door closing. At the same time, Kaiser let out a groan and collapsed on the spot.

Ria looked down at him.

[……Why were you so cruel to Lucian.]

“…….”

[Lucian was so worried about you. He kept telling me I mustn’t hate you.]

“Ha…… that kid is really too kind.”

[Stop sneering and talk straight! Are you trying to distance yourself from Lucian forever?!]

“……I almost killed Lucian.”

At those words, Ria flinched. Kaiser was looking up at her with eyes sunk in despair. He too, no less than Lucian, had been deeply wounded.

“No matter how much I wasn’t in my right mind then, that fact doesn’t go away.”

[……Lucian said it felt like something possessed you.]

“Not wrong…….”

Kaiser wiped his face, then clenched his fist. He ground his teeth and forced down the emotions that were about to surge up.

“I’ll tell you what happened in the basement.”

Kaiser explained what happened in the basement. At some point, he was seized by the lingering thoughts of some wraith, and he was one step away from having his self stolen.

In the process, he almost killed Lucian, and he said he fled into the forest because he thought his condition would worsen if he stayed here.

[Then what exactly were those hallucinations you saw?]

“Probably the wraith’s memories. I don’t want to remember them.”

Besides, since several scenes overlapped at once back then, he couldn’t clearly remember anything anyway.

“Ria, never go down to the basement, and seal it. I’m in this state—if Lucian goes down, he’ll suffer an even greater misfortune.”

[Okay, I understand.]

“We don’t know when this could happen again, and if I attack Lucian again…….”

Kaiser’s lips moved faintly.

“At least Lucian needs to know how to land a hit on me and run away. So starting tomorrow, let’s teach him magic or swordsmanship so he can at least protect his own body.”

[……If you care about Lucian this much, why were you like that just now?]

Kaiser flinched and avoided Ria’s gaze.

“Even if I wasn’t in my right mind, it’s true that I tried to kill Lucian. I can’t be close with Lucian anymore.”

[Is that why you deliberately hurt Lucian?]

“…….”

[……I understand how you feel, but your method is wrong. That isn’t a way of caring for Lucian—it’s a way of hurting him instead.]

Kaiser’s eyes shook.

With a sigh, Ria slumped down and matched his eye level.

[Think carefully about what it really means to be doing this for Lucian’s sake.]

Kaiser’s lips moved, then he said he needed to rest and withdrew.

Watching Kaiser limp away with an arm held, Ria let out a stifled breath.

* * *

Two days after the basement incident. In an awkward atmosphere, the three had to spend their ordinary days as usual.

Yesterday, Kaiser had to take a brief rest to recover, and today, since they decided to teach Lucian magic, they needed to check whether he had magical talent.

The problem was that the only one who could check that talent was Kaiser.

Lucian and Kaiser held hands without meeting each other’s eyes even once.

Kaiser checked Lucian’s mana.

“……Thankfully, you’ve got aptitude. If your mana sensitivity is good, you’ll be able to learn magic.”

[That’s good. Right, Lucian?]

“…….”

It was magic he’d wanted to learn so badly, yet Lucian turned his head away with a blank expression. Then he pulled his hand out of Kaiser’s grip.

Kaiser’s mouth stiffened for a moment. But he didn’t get angry, and continued the lesson right away.

“All magic is basically implementing a spell formula using the mana inside your body. This mana is something whose amount varies from person to person, but you can gradually increase it using something called a mana circle. Today, we’re going to make a mana circle.”

To make a mana circle, first you have to sense the flow of mana within your body.

There was no way Lucian could sense mana flow right away. Someone had to assist and help him, but…….

“Let Ria do it.”

Lucian refused Kaiser and turned his posture entirely toward Ria. At that, Ria looked at Kaiser with an awkward expression.

Kaiser’s eyebrow lifted subtly.

He’s holding back right now, but given his temper, it wouldn’t take long before he exploded.

[Lucian, I’m a ghost, so I don’t use mana inside a body. So this time, you have to do it with Kaiser.]

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not Ria’s body, it’s my body.”

Not wrong, but…….

Burn burn burn-

‘Doesn’t the back of your head feel prickly? Kaiser is glaring at you like he’s about to eat you right now.’

With no choice, Ria grabbed Lucian’s shoulder and turned him back around.

[If you want it to end quickly, then you have no choice but to master it quickly. Right?]

“……Yes.”

Lucian, with a sulky expression, glanced at Kaiser, then snapped his head away and only lightly held Kaiser’s fingertips.

A vein popped on Kaiser’s forehead, and he tightly grabbed Lucian’s palm.

“I don’t plan to do this with you all day either, so just follow along properly.”

Oh dear. In the end, he exploded.

At Kaiser’s open sneering, Lucian’s lips stuck out.

Soon, Kaiser ran his mana over Lucian’s body.

Lucian flinched at the sensation of something wriggling inside him.

“What you’re feeling now is mana flow. Remember this sensation well.”

Kaiser would open the path, and Lucian would follow behind and memorize the path.

They repeated this several times, and Lucian also practiced finding the path on his own.

“You’ve got it now, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Now we’re going to make a mana circle. I’ll breathe mana into you, so you have to pass all of it through your mana flow without losing any, and think of it as binding it to your heart.”

[Lucian, you might not succeed right away. That’s normal, so don’t be too disappointed, and if it gets hard in the middle, you can rest for a bit. Dragon mana might not suit a human.]

“No. I’ll succeed in one shot.”

[Such motivation.]

Lucian’s expression, which had been sulky at first, was now sparkling as usual.

Thinking it was a good change, Ria nodded toward Kaiser.

Kaiser calmly passed his mana to Lucian.

Lucian flinched. Soon his face twisted, and sweat beaded on his forehead.

If learning mana flow just now felt calm like a small stream babbling along, this felt like a waterfall suddenly crashing down and forcibly turning the stream into a river.

Duk, tuduk, tteudeuk!

He could feel his mana channels tearing and being forcibly widened. The pain was significant, and Lucian let out a groan.

“Ugh……!”

[Lucian, you don’t have to force it. Mana circles are hard to make in one try.]

“Rest a moment and try again—”

Kaiser agreed with Ria and was about to let go of Lucian’s hand. But Lucian grabbed Kaiser’s hand, eyes flashing.

“N-not yet…… I can still do it……!”

Ria and Kaiser met eyes. After thinking, Kaiser nodded.

“Fine. Since it’s come to this, let’s finish it in one go.”

Kaiser breathed mana into him again, and Lucian endured the pain and gathered mana near his heart.

Lucian squeezed so hard that Kaiser’s hand turned pale. Kaiser realized Lucian was suffering a great deal.

[Lucian, now draw a circle with the gathered mana!]

“Keep the circle spinning without stopping! This is the last part!”

“Aaaah!”

Following Ria and Kaiser’s advice, Lucian screamed and formed the mana circle.

At first, the shape warped and almost fell apart in the middle, but Lucian focused his whole mind on his heart.

“Khk!”

Suddenly, Lucian began coughing up blood. Kaiser widened his eyes and focused on Lucian’s mana flow.

“……The mana circle is too big. Lucian can’t handle it.”

[What? You should’ve put in an appropriate amount of mana!]

“I did put in an appropriate amount! It’s just that…… my mana is too strong for a human body.”

At this rate, mana runaway is only a matter of time. It’s a body that hasn’t even made a mana circle yet—if mana runaway happens, Lucian’s body won’t hold up.

Either they extract it appropriately, or else…….

[Lucian! We’re going to make two mana circles!]

“What?! Are you out of your mind?”

[Lucian doesn’t have the strength to drain mana! This is the only way!]

Ria gathered the purest mana possible and put it into Lucian’s body. Then she served as a guide so Lucian could form a new mana circle.

[Lucian! Can you feel my mana?]

“Mm……!”

[Half of the mana circle that’s spinning right now will follow my mana. You can do it, right?]

“I-I’ll try.”

Lucian was already exhausted. And with the blood he’d coughed up, his insides were badly damaged, making it hard to muster strength. Even so, Lucian didn’t give up until the end and followed Ria.

The huge mana circle gradually shrank as it began drawing another circle.

[Yes! Like that! Just a little more…… there!]

“Hngh!”

Lucian severed the mana in the middle. Two circles intertwined and began to spin. But their shape soon collapsed.

Because they had to spin at different speeds, in different directions, and maintain their forms, it was an extremely high-difficulty task for a novice who had only just begun sensing mana flow.

[It’s okay, Lucian. You can do it. Just follow me.]

Ria didn’t withdraw her mana and instead assisted as it followed Lucian’s circle flow so the shape wouldn’t collapse.

Lucian, who had been groaning at first, seemed to get the hang of it and slowly drew the mana circles.

In the end, before long, two perfect mana circles resonated and began to rotate.

“Now, Lucian! You remember the magic circle I taught you?”

When you first create a mana circle, you have to implement magic immediately on the spot. By using magic, you discharge mana and calm down the overheated mana circles.

Right before making the mana circle, Kaiser had taught him Light magic.

The spell formula is simple, and it’s a magic that even a 1-circle mage can easily implement.

Lucian steadied his spinning vision and followed the magic circle drawn on the board exactly as it was.

A magic circle began forming at Lucian’s fingertips.

“Light!”

When he completed the entire magic circle and shouted loudly, the space flashed for a moment, and a light brighter than the sun filled the room.

The whole world was dyed white.