Chapter 4. The Half-wit
“Why a knight?”
The question lingered, so I had to ask.
“Pardon?”
“It’s a Mana Circle, not a Mana Heart.”
“A knight has a Mana Circle… Why would a knight have a Mana Circle… Your Highness?”
My question seed to have startled Rodrigo. He stared with his eyes wide open as if they were about to pop out, his lips quivering.
‘Was it a mistake to ask?’
I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’m not oblivious. Rodrigo's reaction right now was the very sa bewildernt one would show when asked sothing like, ‘How do you breathe?’ If I pressed any further, I’d probably be seen not as soone who lost his mory, but as soone who's lost his mind.
“Hah, Your Highness.”
Rodrigo let out a lanting sigh and took my hand. Then, he sent his mana through again.
“I had hoped, seeing your complexion return, but you still need to rest. I will clean this place up quickly. So that you can lie down right after you wash up.”
“No, that's… I'm really better than yesterday. I feel refreshed, too. Rest… yes, I probably need it. But it's not like I have to lie in bed all day as you're worrying about, Rodrigo.”
“No, Your Highness. You must rest for now. We have a guest coming this afternoon, so you must rest until then.”
“No, I’m really fine… Huh? A guest?”
I hadn't even fully grasped the current situation, and now a new person…
“Yes, it is the person who has been looking after Your Highness' condition until now. He will be working to help Your Highness recover for the ti being.”
So there was a doctor. Indeed, without soone looking after him, he couldn't have survived for five months in that state. But if a doctor ca, wouldn't he ask why I woke up and check various things? A wave of fatigue suddenly washed over . I had been thinking of washing up, eating, and maybe taking a walk to see what was nearby, but now I felt like lying down, just as Rodrigo said.
“I don't know. Let's just wash up first.”
* * *
“Your Highness, your guest has arrived.”
Elliot said. I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Elliot with hollow eyes. Elliot’s hair was a ss, a testant to how frantically she had been working. Her eyes were wide as if she had seen sothing trendous. The way her lips were parched suggested she was startled. No, who in the world had co to make her act like that?
“Right, the guest.”
“Yes, the guest has arrived.”
“Yeah, I heard you.”
Elliot still had sothing to say, fidgeting with her fingers like a puppy that needed to go.
“Why? What is it?”
“That guest is…”
“Just an ordinary guest.”
Just as Elliot was about to explain about the guest, a nerdy-looking man who called himself an ordinary guest appeared. I, of course, had no idea who he was, so I just blinked my eyes.
“What Rodrigo said was true. That you don't rember anything.”
“I died and ca back to life, so that's what happened. By the way, who are you…”
Since he ntioned Rodrigo, he seed to be the doctor who had been treating .
“It's truly a miracle that you survived. Let introduce myself. I am Edan Chris de Dorléans.
You can just call Chris.”
“Chris… Your title?”
“…Was that important? I am a Count.”
Chris reacted as if it were amusing.
Sothing was strange. Judging by the aura he exuded and his manner of speaking, he didn't seem like a simple count. And he definitely didn't seem like a doctor. Elliot's reaction alone proved that. It felt like she was facing a presence far too great to be just a count.
“Is that you, the one Rodrigo called? I know Rodrigo is a Baron, so it's quite sothing for a Baron to call a Count.”
“It's more accurate to say that I stepped forward rather than being called. I also saw Your Highness when you were unconscious.”
He said he was the one who had managed my illness, so there was no need to be wary. But what could I do, his whole vibe just seed suspicious.
“You have a good complexion.”
Chris, who had been staring at my face, smiled and walked towards step by step. I watched him cautiously.
‘His aura is strange.’
He said he was a count, but he didn't feel like a count. He certainly didn't seem like an ordinary noble. There was a strong, raw scent about him. Like… the sll of soone who lives amidst blood, fire, and dust.
‘A soldier?’
He looked too neat to be a soldier. The glasses, the firm skin. A soldier can't avoid the sun, so such an appearance is impossible. And his way of speaking wasn't sothing you'd hear on a battlefield. It was calm and intellectual. Yes, a scholar. A scholar surrounded by books would be a perfect fit.
“Let see your hand.”
It seed he intended to check my condition by flowing mana through . Unlike with Rodrigo, a sense of tension arose.
“It's alright. There's no reason for to harm Your Highness, is there? You don't need to be on guard.”
“……”
He’s like a ghost. He instantly read that I was reluctant to give him my hand. I'll have to create a suitable obstacle this ti, just like I did with Rodrigo.
“Hmm.”
Chris wore a look of interest. And he stared intently at my face. The sparkle in his eyes made feel strange. Goosebumps on my back…
“What is it?”
“Well, this is interesting. There's a change.”
Chris looked like he understood sothing. At the sa ti, the incongruous feeling he exuded intensified. In order to find out the identity of that incongruous feeling, I sent mana into Chris' body.
‘A 3-circle?’
As expected, he wasn't an ordinary count. He was a man who had achieved three accomplishnts. In that case, his knowledge of mana and his level of using it would be considerable. This is bad. The mana I sent…
“Have you found out everything?”
Damn it.
“My apologies.”
“It's alright. I have confird that Your Highness is not pretending not to know , but truly doesn't know. For your reference, I am not Your Highness' enemy.”
Chris said softly with a smile. I stroked my chin and looked at Chris. He said he had looked after for five months while I was in a coma, so it seed true that he wasn't an enemy, but… I couldn't bring myself to trust him.
“A mage?”
If I could clear up even a little of the doubt I held, perhaps trust would follow.
“Yes, that's right.”
It suited him better than a knight.
A 3-circle mage… It seems the 'mory of Oblivion' was left for Chris. A 3-circle mage would have been able to unravel it. Then why didn't he open the 'mory of Oblivion' for five months? Was he afraid I would die if he did?
“Was the treatnt difficult for five months?”
“I was just about to explain that part. Your Highness' heart was severely swollen. So much so that it was affecting other organs. Proper treatnt required the swelling to go down.
That's why I waited. While making sure your breathing didn't stop.”
Chris' words didn't seem to be a lie. The Mana Circle surrounding the heart had been broken. That ans that area had been attacked. It wouldn't be strange for the heart to be swollen. On top of that, a magic circle for the mory of Oblivion had been drawn there. The mana absorbed through breathing would have circulated around the heart, stimulating it.
“This ti, I will ask the questions.”
Chris said. It seed he didn't like being the only one questioned.
“How did you unravel the mory of Oblivion?”
I knew he would ask. So I had prepared an answer while lying down.
“mory of Oblivion?”
How would a guy who died and ca back to life know what's what? No matter how hard I thought, there was no better answer than this.
“Hmm…”
Chris pushed his glasses up slightly with his finger. I felt needlessly tense. But it was fine. I could answer any question. I had prepared all morning while lying down. So ask away. Co on, test !
“I understand.”
Huh? What? No next question? Aren't you going to ask how the pieces disappeared, or why I set up an obstacle around my heart?
“Shall we go out for a walk?”
“Huh?”
“You've been lying down for a long ti, haven't you? Your heart is fine, so we should check your physical condition.”
“Ah, oh. Right, of course.”
It was an unexpected question. I had wracked my brain for once, but in the end, it was my body, not my head, that I had to use.
“Hmm.”
I walked around the training ground. The two sentries under Rodrigo's command looked at with curious eyes. And Chris was deep in thought about sothing.
“This ti, would you try running? A light jog will do.”
I jogged very lightly as Chris instructed. My body felt lighter than before I created the Mana Heart. Elliot's care had paid off. I had also worked incredibly hard. The Mana Heart must have had an effect as well.
“Your Highness.”
Chris called out to as I was running and sweating.
“What?”
“Where are you storing your mana?”
“...Where am I storing it, you ask?”
Chris gave a strange smile. And he strode towards . The hair on my head stood on end.
Zap!
Sothing small and sharp flashed in Chris' hand.
“What are you doing—!”
There was no ti to ask why. Chris had thrown the lightning shard in his hand at .
“Shit!”
I summoned what little mana I had. A curse lingered in my mouth. The crackling lightning shard exploded on my arm. I felt a stinging sensation like being poked by a needle.
“I suspected it, but you've created a Mana Heart.”
“What the hell are you? Who sent you?”
“Calm down.”
“Do I look like I can calm down right now? If I hadn't blocked it…”
“It would have stung.”
Chris said as if it were no big deal. I was speechless.
“If I intended to harm Your Highness, wouldn't I have done so long ago?”
That was true. The 5th Prince wasn't so ripe fruit, so there was no reason to wait and then attack. Even so, it didn't explain his current attack.
“I'll ask again, why did you do that?”
“Don't be so on edge. As I said before, I am not Your Highness' enemy.”
“You say that, but your actions say otherwise.”
“I can see why you would think that. But I needed to confirm.”
Chris snapped his fingers, creating a small spark. Then he made a ‘whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo’ sound, insinuating that there would be no more attacks.
“Cut the nonsense and just answer my question.”
“It was a confirmation, not an attack. The entire process was. By the way, Your Highness, it feels a bit strange that you don't rember . The old Your Highness liked very much.
And you didn't look down on like you are now.”
Chris' atmosphere changed. The air around him changed because of the breath he let out.
It was sothing seen from a powerhouse of 3-circles or more.
“You're not even nervous.”
Chris, who had been observing , said with amusent. Really, you could never tell what those mages were thinking.
“First of all, I apologize. The reason I shot the lightning needle was literally to confirm the Mana Heart. Since you have no Mana Circle but are absorbing mana, it was bound to be strange. All that ca out when I checked with mana was a grain-sized lump of mana, so I couldn't have thought that it was a Mana Heart.”
It hasn't been long since I made it, so it is quite small.
“But how on earth did you know how to make a Mana Heart?”
“Instinctively.”
“……”
Chris' eyebrow twitched as if my answer was strange. He seed a little surprised, too.
Indeed, if he had looked inside my Mana Heart, he couldn't have helped but be surprised by its purity.
“It's surprising that one can create a Mana Heart instinctively.”
He's surprised by a different point. As if creating a Mana Heart is sothing special. Anyone who feels mana and walks the path of a knight can create a Mana Heart.
“Why is that surprising?”
“Because I've never seen anyone create it instinctively. And it's also the first ti I've seen soone who has created a Mana Heart.”
What is this again?
“First ti seeing a Mana Heart? Then what do knights make?”
“They make Mana Circles. The Mana Heart is a technique that disappeared 200 years ago.”
Chris looked at with pity.
An era where the Mana Heart had disappeared, how absurd. All of a sudden, I had beco a half-wit who had learned a technique that disappeared 200 years ago.
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