I was starting to seriously want to wake up, but dreams don’t let you choose the timing. At first I’d been thrilled I could finally move freely, but now it was just getting annoying.

While I was spacing out with those thoughts, Isaac stepped away from the table and gestured toward the window-side seating area.

“Let’s talk over there for a bit. ——Rainil, Seiad. You two keep coordinating with the second and third squads.”

The blond, blue-eyed pretty boy and the Japanese-colored beautiful boy both nodded. So the blond’s name was Rainil.

Their whole vibe screamed “we’re using magic right now,” and I was itching with curiosity, but I’m a Japanese person who can read the room. I obediently nodded at Isaac’s invitation and sat on the gorgeous upholstered sofa.

I gave up and accepted Sieghart naturally settling right beside me. And—belated realization—handsome guys smell amazing.

(Ughhh… Sieghart-san smells insanely good… Was my nose just numb earlier? Which means I must’ve reeked that badly. The fact that a guy who smells this nice princess-carried me while I was that gross… I could die of shame, easy.)

I wanted to leap lightly out the window and fly away when Isaac spoke to me in a gentle voice.

“Then, Miss Nagi. I’m going to explain the current situation, but… before that, is there anything you’d like to ask?”

His low, calm voice somehow soothed the listener. I had room to take a deep breath.

I thought for a moment, clasped my hands on my lap, and spoke.

“It’s not exactly a question, but… Since you’re going to explain the situation to me, there’s one thing I’d like to request.”

“Oh? And that is?”

After glancing briefly at the window, I continued.

“From the scenery outside, it looks like early spring right now. But the last thing I remember before waking up in that forest is the autumn harvest festival.”

“…I see. So that’s how it is.”

Isaac’s gentle smile faded slightly as he furrowed his brow.

“I have no idea what happened in the past six months or so. …And I’ve felt several discrepancies between what I remember and what you’ve all been saying.”

So, I looked straight into Isaac’s eyes and said,

“If something huge changed in the world during those six months, I’d be grateful if you could tell me about that too.”

All the little odd feelings I’d had since “waking up” this time—individually minor, but piled up they became a clear sense of wrongness. I’m not usually nitpicky, but since I could finally act on my own will, I’d rather enjoy the dream without that nagging discomfort.

Isaac considered my request for a moment, then nodded and looked up.

“Understood. Then, Miss Nagi, I’ll start by explaining what happened from last autumn until now, in order. After that, you can decide what you want to do going forward.”

“Yes. Thank you very much.”

Honestly, I don’t really like “Rio,” the pure and endlessly kind girl. Not to the point of hate, but she’s definitely not my type.

Still, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time as “myself inside the dream” since I was little. The anger I feel toward whoever defiled that “self” with blood and dumped her in the forest like trash is undeniably my own. If I had a sister I didn’t get along with and someone did that to her, I’d probably feel the same way.

(Yeah. Once we find the culprit, I’ll tie them up so they can’t move, then dump livestock blood from a slaughterhouse all over them and make them feel exactly the same disgusting way I did.)

I don’t know where the Code of Hammurabi is right now, but applying it inside a dream won’t bother anyone.

I’d love to punch them with a running start too, but unfortunately a completely untrained, severely uncoordinated girl’s skinny arms wouldn’t do much damage. On the other hand, the sheer unpleasantness of being doused head-to-toe in blood? I’ve experienced it firsthand and can personally guarantee the effect.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. And blood for blood.

While I was inwardly plotting like some dangerous ideologue, I kept a perfect poker face. Isaac began speaking in a quiet tone.

“It was around the end of autumn last year. Large-scale disturbances in the ley lines began occurring all across the continent.”

“Eh?”

Mana is broadly divided into two types.

One is soul mana—possessed from birth by mages. The other is natural mana—the mana that fills the world itself: sky, water, earth, everywhere.

Among natural mana, the enormous currents that flow deep underground are called ley lines. When natural mana concentrates along those currents and crystallizes into ore, it becomes mana stones. Refining those stones produces the mana crystals used in daily life. Because of this, every country treats mapping ley lines as a top priority.

I had never heard of ley lines becoming disturbed. Isaac continued with a frown.

“In some foreign regions the damage was severe enough that entire mana stone veins melted. In our country the disturbances haven’t yet affected civilian life significantly, but they are by no means negligible.”

I was shocked.

Mana crystals were practically the only energy resource in this world. A few high-ranking mages could crystallize their own mana, but they were rare exceptions.

Mana crystals underpinned civilian life, and the mana stone veins that produced them were directly tied to national power. If those veins were melting, it was nothing less than a national crisis.

“Viewing the situation gravely, the royal palace established our Mage Knight Order to investigate and deal with all phenomena related to the ley line disturbances. Our primary duties are to assess the current state of lands damaged by disrupted ley lines, and to subjugate magical beasts that have turned violent due to the corrupted mana.”

“Magical beasts…”

Even I blanked for a second at the sudden fantasy term.

Fortunately I had a little knowledge. Magical beasts were creatures that appeared in areas rich with natural mana, able to wield race-specific magic. They were universally beautiful, highly intelligent, and possessed far more mana than human mages. Because of that pride, they rarely interacted with humans.

If those magical beasts had suddenly turned violent—thinking about it made me go pale.

“That sounds… extremely dangerous.”

“Yes, it is. However, most of the berserk beasts have tragically lost both intelligence and reason. If we stay calm, subjugating them is not impossible.”

Tragically.

Isaac looked upon these powerful creatures—who had probably become threats to people—with pity.

…I don’t know if that’s correct from his position. But I think I understand the feeling. Having to kill beings that didn’t originally need to die must be incredibly painful.

“Um… is there no way to return the berserk magical beasts to their original state instead of killing them?”

At my sad question, Isaac’s expression turned difficult.

“Even the highest-ranking mages cannot interfere with the flow of natural mana. Only the Saintess can do that. Only Saintesses can regulate disturbances in the natural mana that fills the world. That is why, the moment a Saintess is discovered in any country, the entire nation protects her.”

My brain had already settled on the formula “mana crystals = ultra-high-performance batteries.” Suddenly throwing in “Saintess” like that made everything got a little jumbled.

(…Wait, so that woman we’re chasing pretended to be this super-important Saintess?)

The pieces were slowly starting to connect—and the picture forming was extremely unpleasant.

Comments (0)

Trending Novels

I Became the strongest hero of the previous generation

Archmage on the bed

I was mistaken for an undefeated general

Healers in the martial arts world are obsessed

Became a genius Muggle in the Archmage Gallery

I Wove Earth’s History Into A Fantasy