40 – 40. Resisting Talent

“……”

“……”

A cold wind was all that passed between the two, facing each other.

The tip of his posture, angled towards the ground, even seemed like his head was bowed.

“People usually have mana that builds up naturally inside them. They absorb the mana that’s diffused in the air,”

Rianna began, her voice low.

“It doesn’t accumulate infinitely if you don’t use it. There’s a limit, inherently, to how much mana your body can take. If it goes over, it’s naturally expelled.”

Breathing, sweat, waste, sleep, and so on.

The body prevents itself from holding onto excessive amounts of mana in many ways.

If there’s too much mana, ‘Mana Saturation’ can cause the body to swell up; ‘Mana Stones’ can form crystals in the organs.

And mentally, ‘Mana Madness’ might appear.

“Your storage capacity is overwhelmingly low. To be honest -“

Rianna hesitated for a moment.

She faltered, as if she didn’t know how to explain.

“Maybe… less than a wolf. Perhaps a little less than a dog. Actually, not a little, maybe much less.”

“……”

“I’m not even sure about a tree, but it’s more than a flower, that’s for sure.”

“You were trying to be comforting when you said it was more than a flower, weren’t you?”

Rianna clamped her mouth shut.

Isaac, knowing her well, could tell that her last words were meant as comfort.

But to an outsider, it would’ve probably sounded mocking instead.

“Well, aura isn’t everything, right?”

Silberna, who had been listening next to them, tried to offer an awkward consolation.

Even not wielding aura, it didn’t exactly spell a crippling weakness.

The Grand Master himself never bothered with aura.

“I’ve never really used aura either. And Father hardly ever does.”

Caldias, for one, held a rather skeptical view on aura.

But this wasn’t because he couldn’t handle it; rather, it was because he developed his spear techniques with the average soldier in mind.

Since only a tiny fraction of common soldiers would ever manipulate aura.

“I agree. Wielding aura doesn’t automatically make you a measure of strength.”

Rianna added to Sylverna’s point. It was difficult, yes, but wielding it didn’t inherently make one a superior warrior.

“Still, I need it.”

Isaac needed aura.

Especially after sparring with Sharen’s sudden descent, the thought solidified further.

“……”

“……”

Seeing Isaac deep in thought, the two women fretted as if it were their own concern.

From afar, the bell tolled.

Dong!

Dong!

Dong!

Three times.

“Sounds like a raid on the front rampart.”

Sylverna, spear slung over her shoulder, immediately took off, the two following behind.

* * *

The attack on the front rampart lasted until noon.

But the situation was resolved when Sylverna’s spear pierced through the named beast, a troll, leading the assault.

The battle, having continued from early morning, only ended after noon.

And Isaac was now in the infirmary, back inside the keep.

“Th-, thank yo- Ack!”

“Careful. You still have quills stuck in you. Don’t speak.”

Isaac had helped support a soldier who’d been struck by quills launched by the troll.

Since it was a quill that he had dodged, Isaac felt responsible and brought him to the infirmary himself.

“Ugh, this morning has been something else….”

A mage, dark circles heavy under his eyes, bustled around the infirmary, checking on the soldiers.

I’d half expected to see some healing magic, but no. It was just him using a large, disinfected pair of tongs to yank out thorns, then stemming the bleeding.

Watching all this, the mage cracked a tired, lopsided grin, tapping the tongs together, *clack clack*.

“When I first got here, I had tweezers, but now they’re all tossed. You need tongs if you’re pulling out thorns the size of a man’s arm. Got these from the cook.”

“I’m Isaac, by the way.”

“Ah, right, haven’t introduced myself.”

The mage rubbed his hands on his robe, cleaning them off.

“Vivian. I’m a mage affiliated with the Magic Tower.”

“Doesn’t look like you just handle magic.”

Isaac mumbled this while looking around at the other soldiers on their beds, already treated.

His knowledge of basic medicine seemed a lot more impressive than his healing magic.

“Hah, healing magic is precious, you see. If it’s not truly dire, I treat it myself. You need this kind of knowledge too, if you’re going to use healing magic.”

Despite his exhausted look, he seemed surprisingly approachable.

His weary appearance could just mean that being posted here in Malid isn’t easy.

“Could I ask you something?”

Perfect timing, actually.

I could ask an expert about the mana issue I’d been mulling over since dawn.

“Well, I doubt the mess hall has anything but broth water right now.”

Vivian chuckled, adding a bit of theatrical flair.

“What’s on your mind?”

“I’m naturally… short on mana storage, you could say.”

Vivian’s smile slowly drooped.

His eyes, previously harmless, seemed to take on a vivid, intense quality, like color had seeped in.

“I’d like to try and increase it. If there’s any way to do it.”

“Hmm.”

Vivian nodded, then slowly went to the window. He turned and, with a smile, pointed out of it.

“Jump.”

“……”

“Rebirth. That’s the only way. Do you know where mana is stored, Mr. Isaac?”

Like a play.

Vivian, closing the distance to Isaac in strides, spoke, her voice rising with what sounded like excitement.

“It’s the heart. The heart. Tell me, is there anyone alive who’s had their heart replaced? I’ve never seen it. Never even heard of it.”

“……”

“That’s why it’s called a Core. ‘Mana Core.’ And this, this is the reason why mages are so rare.”

A satisfied pride bloomed on Vivian’s smiling face.

Her hand, pressed against her chest, seemed to guard a most precious treasure.

“It’s determined from the moment you are born, this is.”

*’So, the rumors about mages having a superiority complex are true, huh?’*

He had heard that the mage’s class system operated differently.

The Magic Tower, independent and unaligned with any kingdom.

Its hierarchy was simple, two tiers only.

Mages and those who were not.

To them, even nobles or royalty were just lower-class beings, incapable of wielding magic.

“There are many elixirs in this world. Isaac, you may know that Helmont’s Rose Elixir is one of them.”

Her tone tried, with some effort, to be polite, but her behavior and manner were already betraying it.

“Increased physical ability is clearly tied to mana density, yes, but that doesn’t mean it increases your mana capacity.”

It seemed that trying to challenge what she considered an absolute truth for mages really irked Vivian.

“It’s unfortunate. But there are some things in the world that are set from birth.”

Vivian bowed her head with a smile.

“That’s why people are so obsessed with geniuses. They have something that others can never possess.”

“……”

“Did that answer your question?”

“Kind of.”

Isaac nodded. His face, however, was unchanged from before he’d asked.

His expression, still weighed down with worry, displayed no notion of surrender.

“……It seems like it didn’t answer it at all though.”

Vivian seemed quite displeased by that.

She had put so much time into trying to explain and convince him, yet he was exactly the same as before her explanation.

“Listen carefully. There’s a research paper from the Magic Tower, titled ‘The Correlation Between Upbringing and Mana Capacity’…”

“If you had less mana, Wizard, would you have given up on being a wizard?”

“Now you’re cutting me off… Of course. It’s a realm of talent. Is there a need to challenge the impossible? You give up.”

A realm where those without talent cannot even get a foothold.

“But there are people who can’t do that.”

It was a statement Isaac could make, having never given up on holding a sword even with his injured leg.

“You and I aren’t very compatible.”

Vivian, seeming to find the conversation pointless, scowled and turned back to the soldiers.

Watching his back, Isaac scratched his cheek, embarrassed.

‘I think I get along better with Jonathan than with that type.’

Jonathan, who threw away even his instincts to become a knight of Helmund because he admired Arundel.

Isaac looked at him, thinking they were similar.

It didn’t seem like there was any more to talk about, so he was about to leave the infirmary when.

“Ah, there you are.”

Silberna, who had played a big role today, was standing in the hallway.

“…Weren’t you going to eat?”

“I was gonna eat together? Ta-da!”

She held out a basket, where sandwich ingredients were neatly stacked.

“If you go to the dining hall now, it’s gonna be round two right away. It’s better to eat separately.”

“When did you prepare this?”

Judging by its state, it didn’t seem like she prepared it today. It looked like she packed it yesterday, and Silberna wasn’t the type to prepare this herself.

“Ahem, what does that matter?”

‘Anna must have done it.’

Well, it wasn’t really important.

“Let’s go, I have something special too.”

She rummaged through the basket and showed a hunk of smoked meat wrapped in a large green leaf.

It was steaming hot and emitted a unique smoky fragrance, showing it was freshly obtained today.

“Isn’t it awesome? Have you ever heard of Northern troll meat? It’s tough if you just eat it, but it’s got a whole different taste when smoked the Northern way.”

“Pfft.”

“Hey, why are you laughing? You can’t get this anywhere.”

She sidled up and bumped his shoulder before dragging him away, laughing.

“Let’s go, let’s go. Let’s find a spot out of the wind and eat our sandwiches together.”

*I shouldn’t be thinking like this.*

If he had a tail, you’d think he was a puppy. Wagging it gently behind him, no doubt.

*Thunk.*

“Ah.”

Then Vivian emerged from the infirmary.

She glanced this way, maybe heading to lunch, then gave a small nod before heading to the dining hall.

Silberna looked between the two of them, making sure Vivian was gone, before asking,

“Did something happen? She’s usually pretty warm to people, even if she doesn’t seem it.”

“Um…”

When he briefly explained how he seemed to have touched a nerve, Silberna nodded with a complicated expression.

“I’ve never heard of someone’s mana increasing either.”

Neither had Isaac.

Even ten years into the future, there was no one like that.

Silberna glanced at Isaac’s troubled face and asked carefully,

“Are you going to give up?”

“Huh?”

“The aura, are you going to give up on it?”

“No?”

What kind of obvious question was that, Isaac retorted, and Silberna’s lips started to twitch upwards.

“Why? They said you couldn’t do it. It’s hard with your mana levels now.”

“It always was.”

Isaac gave a wry smile and followed Silberna.

“Impossible, futile, a delusion. I’ve heard that so much it doesn’t really move me anymore. And -”

The truth Vivian had spilled hadn’t put even a scratch on Isaac’s will.

“I haven’t done anything pointless yet.”

Isaac added, scratching his cheek.

Indeed, the knowledge he’d amassed back in his days with the Silent Sword was the foundation for everything now.

It was still just laying the groundwork, the preparation, but.

Isaac was definitely moving forward, step by step.

“You rascal.”

Silvarna claps him on the back with a ‘thwack’ and laughs, watching him.

“Anyway, was it worth it? Huh? You better pray to the Goddess every night.”

“Why?”

“Who knows? Maybe the Goddess will suddenly be touched by your prayers and grant you a ‘super-duper-huge’ gift!”

Silvarna throws up her hands dramatically.

Now outside, the two of them engage in some lighthearted chatter.

“Super-duper-huge? Why add an extra ‘duper’?”

“Because it’s that super-duper-huge!”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Fine! Let’s find somewhere to eat! The smoked troll meat sandwich is truly super-duper-huge delicious!”

Is she just happy about today’s work?

Isaac shrugs it off, looking around before hesitating.

“But… is this for both of us?”

“Are you uncomfortable? We’re friends.”

“Th-that’s not it.”

“Don’t worry about weird things just because you’re a married man.”

What is this?

He’d clearly used being married as a shield to politely reject Silvarna’s feelings.

Yet, it feels like Silvarna is more casually approaching him now, using his marriage as a reason.

“What’s wrong, married man? If you want, we can call your wife so she can join.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Isaac’s response is sharp as a knife.

“I knew it.”

Silvarna’s mischievous whisper was stolen by the northern wind, so sadly, it never reached Isaac’s ears.