Chapter 40: Resisting Talent

“…….”

“…….”

A cold breeze blows between the two people facing each other.

The tip of the spear, pointed toward the ground, almost makes it look like the wielder is hanging their head.

“Humans naturally accumulate mana in their bodies. We absorb the mana dispersed in the air.”

Rihanna begins her explanation quietly.

“It doesn’t just build up infinitely if you don’t use it, because there’s a limit to how much mana your body can handle. Once you exceed that limit, your body automatically expels the surplus.”

Through breathing, sweat, excretion, sleep, and so on.

The body has many ways to prevent an excessive amount of mana from remaining inside.

If there’s too much mana, it can result in ‘Mana Saturation,’ causing the body to swell, or ‘Mana Stones,’ crystal formations of mana in one’s organs.

Mentally, it could lead to ‘Mana Madness.’

“But you have overwhelmingly little storage capacity. To put it bluntly—”

Rihanna hesitates for a moment.

She stammers, unsure how best to explain it.

“A wolf… no, not quite. Maybe even less than a dog. Well, actually, maybe quite a bit less.”

“…….”

“And I’m not sure how it compares to a tree. But at least you have more mana than a flower. I can say that much for sure.”

“You were trying to cheer me up by saying I have more mana than a flower, weren’t you?”

Rihanna presses her lips tightly together.

Isaac, who knows her well, realizes it was meant as comfort.

But to anyone else, it might have sounded like mockery instead.

“Well, aura isn’t necessarily everything, right?”

Silverna, who’s been listening from the side, tries awkwardly to offer some reassurance.

In truth, even if one couldn’t use aura, it wouldn’t necessarily be a crippling weakness.

The Grandmaster never used aura at all.

“I haven’t really needed aura up until now. My father hardly uses it either.”

In the case of Caldias, he’s somewhat skeptical about aura.

Though that’s not because they can’t handle it, but because they developed spear techniques with ordinary soldiers in mind.

Very few regular soldiers can wield aura.

“I agree. Just because you can use aura doesn’t mean you’re necessarily strong.”

Rihanna adds to Silverna’s opinion. There’s a high degree of difficulty involved, and being able to wield aura doesn’t automatically make someone an exceptional warrior.

“But I still need it.”

Isaac needed aura.

Especially after sparring with Sharen’s Aura, the feeling only grew stronger.

“…….”

“…….”

As Isaac contemplates, both women also look concerned, as though they share his worries.

From a distance, a bell rings.

Dang!

Dang!

Dang!

Three times.

“Looks like an attack on the front rampart.”

Silverna hoists her spear onto her shoulder and takes off running. The other two follow right behind her.

****

The assault on the front rampart continued until noon.

But it ended when Silverna’s spear impaled the named demonic beast—a troll—in charge of leading the attack.

The battle that started at dawn finally ended past midday.

Now Isaac has returned to the infirmary inside the fortress.

“Th-thank y— Gah!”

“Careful. You’ve still got a thorn stuck in your body. Don’t talk.”

Isaac had helped a soldier struck by a thorn the troll had fired.

Since the soldier was hit by a projectile Isaac managed to dodge, he felt responsible for helping him to the infirmary.

“Phew, what a day since morning…”

A wizard with dark circles under his eyes bustles around the infirmary, checking on the wounded.

One would think he might use healing magic, but all he does is remove the thorn with a large, sterilized pair of tongs and then stop the bleeding.

Noticing Isaac watching, the wizard gives a tired grin and clacks the tongs together.

“When I first got stationed here, I brought tweezers. But I threw them all away. For something the size of a man’s forearm, these tongs are the best. Borrowed them from the head cook.”

“My name is Isaac.”

“Oh, I didn’t even introduce myself.”

The wizard rubs his hands against his robe to clean them.

“I’m Vivian, a mage from the Tower.”

“It seems you’re not just handling magic here.”

Glancing at the other wounded soldiers on the beds, Isaac mumbles.

Rather than healing magic, Vivian appears to have an extensive knowledge of basic medical treatment.

“Haha, healing magic is quite precious, you see. I only use it for patients who are in critical condition. And to cast healing spells, you need this kind of medical knowledge anyway.”

Despite looking thoroughly exhausted, Vivian seems to have an unexpectedly affable personality.

His haggard appearance probably reflects how tough it’s been since being deployed to Malidan.

“May I ask you something?”

This was perfect timing.

Since early dawn, Isaac has been pondering mana-related issues, and now he might get some advice from an expert.

“Hmm, I doubt the cafeteria has anything but watery soup right now anyway.”

Vivian jokes lightly and smiles.

“What would you like to know?”

“I have a congenital condition that severely limits my mana storage.”

Vivian’s lips slowly turn downward.

The neutral look in his eyes suddenly sharpens with intelligence.

“I want to find a way to increase that capacity if possible. Do you know of any methods?”

“Hmm.”

Vivian nods, then walks slowly toward the window and points outside with a smile.

“Jump.”

“…….”

“Be reborn. That’s the only way. Isaac-nim, do you know where mana is stored?”

Like an actor, Vivian strides back to Isaac, his voice growing more animated.

“It’s in the heart. The heart! I mean, seriously, is there anyone out there who can replace their heart and still live? I’ve never seen it. Never even heard of it.”

“…….”

“That’s why it’s called a core. The ‘mana core.’ And that’s precisely why true mages are so rare.”

A proud smile spread across Vivian’s face, and the palm he placed over his chest was almost as if he were guarding a precious treasure.

“It’s determined from birth, you see.”

‘They say mages have a superiority complex…’

Isaac had heard that mages follow a different social hierarchy.

The Magic Tower stands independent, not belonging to any particular kingdom.

And within that Tower, there are exactly two classes:

Mage, and non-mage.

To them, even nobles or royalty are merely “the lower class” if they cannot wield magic.

“There are all sorts of elixirs in the world. As you know, the Rose Elixir from Helmut is one such example.”

Though he tried to sound as polite as possible, his demeanor and general vibe were anything but.

“Increasing your physical abilities is closely connected to mana in many ways, sure. But that doesn’t mean it actually raises the amount of mana you can store.”

Vivian seemed quite annoyed that Isaac was probing what is, to mages, a near-absolute truth.

“It’s unfortunate, but there are things in this world that are predetermined at birth.”

Vivian bowed slightly and smiled.

“That’s why people are so fascinated by geniuses—because they have something most can never possess.”

“…….”

“Does that answer your question?”

“In a way, yes.”

Isaac nodded, looking much the same as before he’d asked the question.

There was no sign of giving up on his face. He only looked more determined than ever.

“……It seems it didn’t satisfy you,”

Vivian remarked, evidently displeased.

He had taken his time to explain and persuade, yet Isaac’s expression hadn’t changed from the start.

“Listen carefully. In one of the Magic Tower’s papers, there’s this study on ‘The Correlation Between Upbringing and Mana Capacity’—”

“If you had a low amount of mana, you’d have given up on becoming a mage, wouldn’t you?”

“You’re interrupting me now…? Well, of course. It’s a matter of talent. Why challenge the impossible? You just give up.”

It’s a realm those without talent can never even set foot in.

“But some people aren’t capable of that.”

For someone like Isaac—who never gave up wielding a sword even after injuring his leg—those words came naturally.

“Doesn’t look like we get along too well.”

Deciding the conversation was meaningless, Vivian pursed his lips and turned to tend the soldiers again.

Watching him go, Isaac scratched his cheek awkwardly.

‘I guess Jonathan is more my kind of person.’

Jonathan, who admired Arandel so much that he threw away even his instincts and became a knight of Helmut—Isaac felt they were quite similar.

Seeing no point in staying, Isaac left the infirmary when—

“Ah, here you are.”

It was Silverna, standing in the hallway after today’s grand performance.

“…Weren’t you headed to eat?”

“I wanted to eat with you. Ta-da.”

She offered a basket filled with neatly packed sandwich ingredients.

“If we go to the cafeteria now, there’ll be a ‘Round Two’ waiting for us. Better to eat separately in peace.”

“When did you prepare this?”

From the look of it, it wasn’t put together today—more like it was packed up yesterday. But Isaac doubted Silverna would have done it herself.

“Ahem, does it matter?”

‘Anna must’ve done it.’

Well, it wasn’t all that important anyway.

“Come on, I’ve got something special in here, too.”

She rummaged in the basket and pulled out a chunk of smoked meat wrapped in large green leaves.

Judging by the heat still wafting off it, this one must have been prepared today. It steamed with a distinctive smoked aroma.

“Amazing, right? Ever heard of troll meat from the North? If you just eat it as is, it’s tough, but smoke it Northern-style and it’s something else.”

“Pfft.”

“Hey, why are you laughing? This stuff’s not easy to come by.”

Silverna moved beside him and tapped him on the shoulder, laughing as she led him away.

“Let’s go, let’s go. Let’s find somewhere out of the wind and eat these sandwiches.”

‘I shouldn’t be thinking this…’

Yet if she had a tail, Isaac imagined it wagging happily behind her.

Clank.

“Ah.”

Just then, Vivian came out of the infirmary.

Likely headed for lunch, he glanced over at Isaac and Silverna, gave a brief nod, and walked to the dining hall.

Silverna watched them both, then turned to Isaac once Vivian was out of sight.

“What happened? He actually treats people pretty warmly, y’know.”

“Hm…”

Isaac briefly explained how he must have touched a nerve, and Silverna nodded, her expression complicated.

“I’ve never heard of anyone increasing their mana capacity.”

Isaac hadn’t either.

Even in the future, ten years from now, there was no such case.

Silverna glanced at Isaac’s troubled face and asked softly:

“Are you going to give up?”

“Huh?”

“Aura—are you giving up on it?”

“No?”

Isaac replied as though it were an obvious question, making Silverna’s lips curl in a grin.

“Why? People say you can’t do it, that it’s impossible with your current mana capacity.”

“It’s always been like that.”

Isaac followed Silverna, smiling bitterly.

“‘Impossible,’ ‘futile,’ ‘it’s just delusion’—I’ve heard that stuff all my life. Maybe that’s why words like that don’t really affect me. Besides—”

Not even the truth Vivian had spelled out put a dent in Isaac’s determination.

“I’ve never yet done anything I’d call ‘pointless.’”

He scratched his cheek as he added that.

After all, the knowledge he amassed during his years as the ‘Silent Sword’ still forms the core of his skill today.

He may only be laying the groundwork for now, but Isaac was definitely moving forward, one step at a time.

“You little punk.”

Seeing that, Silverna gave him a playful smack on the back and laughed.

“Anyway, isn’t it gratifying? Huh? You should pray to the Goddess every night.”

“Why?”

“Who knows? The Goddess might suddenly be moved by your prayers and grant you an ‘a-maaaaa-zing gift!’”

Exaggerating, Silverna raised both hands high.

The two had emerged outside, chatting away about nothing in particular.

“‘A-maaaaa-zing?’ Why add an extra syllable?”

“Because it’s that a-maaaaa-zing.”

“What’s that even mean…”

“Never mind! Just find a place to eat! A sandwich stuffed with smoked troll meat is really a-maaaaa-zing, okay?”

Maybe she was in a good mood thanks to her success in battle today.

Isaac dismissed her antics and was about to look around for a spot, but then hesitated.

“Is it just the two of us eating?”

“Is that a problem? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Well, that’s true…”

“Quit worrying about weird stuff just ’cause you’re a married man.”

Isaac wasn’t quite sure how to feel.

He’d tried using his married status as a gentle shield, but it only felt like Silverna was using it as a reason to approach him more comfortably.

“What’s with the look, Married Man? If you want your wife to join us, go ahead and bring her.”

“No, that’s all right.”

Isaac cut her off firmly.

“Knew you’d say that.”

Silverna’s mischievous whisper was whisked away by the northern wind, never reaching Isaac’s ears.

– – – The End of The Chapter – – –

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