Chapter 4

The area around Lake City Hall was absolute chaos. Refugees lined up for food distribution—half a rye loaf per meal, and that was it. They'd been starving for days, so the grumbling was inevitable.

"If we hadn't sold Light, we'd be in the same boat."

"If we hadn't, we'd be eating that."

"Yeah, maybe baked. What?"

"There's a bulletin board."

I cut in, pointing to a newspaper page pinned to the wall of the hall. It was about the war. I scanned it and boiled it down to the essentials:

First, the seal that had held the Demon King for a hundred years had finally shattered.

Second, the awakened Demon King had launched a war to usher in an era of monsters.

Third, thanks to the heroic efforts of Special Forces member Marjelo Arnis, we'd managed to barely hold a defensive line.

That was it.

"It makes me even angrier that there's no grand reason for all this."

"At least we don't have to overthink it."

The truth was, the grand reason would come out later, but right now, there was no point in mentioning what only I knew.

"Alright, that's it! We're done! Absolutely nothing left!"

The soldier handing out the food shouted. That comment poured oil on the fire of grumbling refugees.

"You're hiding more!"

"We're citizens too!"

A few people started getting rowdy.

"Let's fill out the forms and get back to the inn quickly," I said.

But as soon as I finished speaking—

"I can't live like this!"

A man pulled out a dagger. He grabbed the tall guy next to him. Black hair, blue eyes. Just under 190 centimeters, maybe 187. That was Kinzo Shua.

"M-Mago."

"Give me more! I know you're just trying to keep it all for yourselves!"

The man pressed the dagger under Kinzo's chin and shouted. The soldiers put down their bread knives and drew the swords at their hips.

"You son of a bitch...! What the hell are you doing!"

"Drop the knife now!"

"I lost my home! I lost my wife! I've got nothing left to lose! You get it?"

The man only raised his voice louder. He was using the crowd around him as cover, threatening others too. If he swung that arm of his, someone—no, more than one person—would get hurt.

This was a moment that called for the soldiers to seize the initiative, but they'd already lost the moment they hesitated. They couldn't respond forcefully—the man had already said he'd lost his home and his wife. If they cracked down hard, public sentiment would turn against them, and tomorrow would be an even bigger riot.

"Put the knife down! Now!"

One of the soldiers barked louder.

"Don't come any closer!"

The man nicked Kinzo's throat—a shallow cut.

I was the only one close enough to take him down. I locked eyes with the man.

"Don't—don't you dare!"

He thrust his right arm out, the dagger gleaming. My vision tunneled on the tip—the line where the spine and the edge met, converging into a single point. That point looked sharper and more lethal than anything in the world.

A ringing filled my head, disorienting me. It mingled with the noise around us, drifting through the chaos.

"That's right... Mago... you've got blade phobia..."

Kinzo muttered, as if he remembered. The man heard him and pushed the dagger closer.

"Blade phobia? What, afraid of knives, are you?"

He even smirked.

"Mago, I'm fine—back off. You'll get yourself—"

"Hey! Say something! Huh?"

The man wore a nasty grin, inching closer. He acted like it was already over.

"Mago! You don't have to do this! Leave it to the soldiers and—"

I closed my eyes.

Just shut them completely.

"Did you say I'm afraid of knives."

"Huh...?"

By then, the ringing had faded. The remaining sounds were distinct, clear. I could hear the soldiers swallowing nervously. The excited man's trembling hand making the dagger quiver. Even the measured rhythm of Kinzo's breathing.

Then—drop.

A single droplet fell. Like a huge stone thrown into the center of a lake.

A blue ripple spread outward. It swept through everything around me—whether human or object, down to every grain of sand wedged in the stone floor cracks. Everything it touched.

After that, everything entered my eyes.

"In the old days, maybe."

There was no light. The world had been leached of color, like water drained away. The world I saw through the spreading ripple was black and white.

Not by overcoming fear, but by avoiding it.

What lay before me had changed. *

In a single breath, I lunged forward.

Before the man could react, I smashed my fist into his face. He lost his balance, falling backward.

For a split second, he hung in the air.

I chased that moment, striking from above, downward.

Into his abdomen.

My fist connected directly. He slammed down, his back hitting the stone floor, and he passed out on impact.

The dagger flew out of his grip, spinning uselessly across the ground. It landed flat on its side and whirled like a top before stopping.

I turned around and found Kinzo staring blankly. He touched his throat—his fingers came away smeared with blood, but there was nothing worse than a shallow cut.

The soldiers who'd been surrounding the man buzzed with confusion.

"What... just happened?"

"I think he closed his eyes..."

They split into two groups. Half of them subdued the unconscious man on the ground. The rest sheathed their swords and crowded around me.

The soldier at the front spoke up.

"Uh... first of all, thank you."

"No. Not at all."

"Where are you from?"

"His place."

I jerked my thumb back at Kinzo.

"No, I mean your hometown."

"Don't know that either."

"Then at least your name..."

"It's Mago."

"That's it?"

"No surname."

"If you weren't trained by a family, then who taught you?"

"No one... really."

"Are you not allowed to reveal your master's name?"

"No, I genuinely have none."

I waved my hands and stepped back.

"Do you two travel together?"

"What line of work were you in?"

The questions kept coming.

"We're just..."

I shot a look at Kinzo. Hand it over and let's get out of here.

Kinzo pulled two sheets of paper from his pocket. He held them out, and the soldier took them.

Printed in large letters at the top: Enlistment Application.

"New recruits," Kinzo said.

Then I told him, "Let's go now."

"Where?"

"Where else? The inn."

"Not the hospital?"

"You're not badly hurt. The hospital's probably overflowing right now. Give the beds to people who need them more."

"I need one too...!"

We traded pointless banter as we walked away.

The soldier who'd received the papers unfolded them and read.

"New recruits... he says new recruits. Haha..."

"Means they'll be trainees starting next month."

"If I'd been born just a year earlier, I'd be competing with that White Hair. Guess I should call that lucky..." *

"Blade phobia, right?"

We were eating on the first floor of the inn when Kinzo asked. Instead of answering, I just nodded.

"My father told me about it once. Said it's a trauma-induced phobia. Added that it makes you easier to exploit."

I stopped my spoon mid-air.

"Ah, sorry. Didn't need to add that last part."

"It's fine. That's the kind of person he was."

"Nothing else scares you?"

"Not a thing."

"That's a weird line to draw."

"I know. I know it's strange."

I tapped my temple. "I get it up here."

"No point asking if you can't fully overcome it. I figure you've already tried."

"You know me well. That's exactly it."

"Then what was that earlier?"

Kinzo had finished his meal and was tidying up his utensils. True to his noble upbringing, his table manners were impeccable.

"You closed your eyes."

He said it seriously. The question was obvious—how had I moved as if I could see even with my eyes shut?

"How did you do it?"

"Hard to say..."

I couldn't tell him I'd learned it fighting the Demon King's army. But I could describe the sensation. How it felt like a single drop of water had fallen in front of me. How a ripple spread out from it. How everything that ripple touched came into my vision as if I'd seen it with my own eyes.

"So," Kinzo cut in, "you're saying you saw everything? A world in black and white?"

"Huh? I never said anything about black and white."

"I'm right, aren't I?"

"How did you know?"

"I've heard of it before."

"See, that's what I mean. I didn't figure it out until the very end."

"'The very end'?"

"Anyway."

"Fine, anyway. The reason I know is simple. Learned it at school. You know I went to Magic University, right?"

Kinzo shrugged.

"Mago, that's called mana."

"Mana? You're saying I was using magic?"

"Yeah. Obviously. What did you think it was?"

"I thought... just heightened senses?"

"What are you, some kind of animal?"

He took a breath and continued.

"Mana is the medium that triggers magical reactions. It exists inside the body and in nature—in the air, too. The level at which you can utilize internal or external mana determines a mage's skill."

"Saying it like that, you almost sound educated."

"I just told you I learned it at school!"

"Why didn't I realize this before? If I'd been able to do this from the start, I wouldn't have had to struggle so much."

"It makes sense you didn't know. You've got your body."

"What do you mean?"

"You never really needed it. By the laws of the wild, you were already strong from birth—born with that resilient body of yours."

"So... I instinctively figured out that I needed to tap into mana as well?"

"Exactly. Your body must have felt the need to read mana in order to survive. Simpler way to put it: awakening. Probably happened around then."

Kinzo touched his fingertips to his chin.

"That day at my house. The day the war broke out."

He offered up the hypothesis after some deliberation. But he was wrong.

It had happened two weeks before my death in my past life—when the 63rd Company was on the verge of being wiped out by a silver-haired woman from the Demon King's army.

Either way, according to Kinzo, my body had instinctively awakened the ability to read mana.

It would have been only at the moment I faced death.

Only after filling the Silver Tomb with gravestones.

"So, Mago."

He held up his index finger.

"Whether they're a novice mage or a grand mage, everyone has limits on mana consumption. It's a matter of degree—no one has an infinite supply."

"I know I can't keep my eyes shut forever. I'm aware of that."

I hadn't skipped experimenting myself. I just hadn't been able to find a way to develop it further. Which made sense, since I hadn't even known I was using magic.

"Right. To use your words, the number of times you can use 'Lake' and its duration will both have limits."

"How do I increase them?"

"Simple. You need to train your mana. The good news is you don't need to train your body—that's already complete. Either way, first you need to figure out Lake's limit. Can you use it right now?"

As if to prove a point, I closed my eyes.

A single drop hit the floor, and a ripple spread outward. The scenery on the first floor of the inn unfolded in black and white.

Kinzo was holding up fingers on his left hand.

"Mago, guess how many."

"Three."

I answered simply.

Then he extended two fingers on his right hand—thumb and index.

"Two on the right, three on the left."

"And now?"

"Both fists clenched."

"Huh? Something's strange..."

Kinzo stood up from his chair. He walked slowly toward me.

"Mago, what about now?"

"Just the pinky on your left hand. Why did you stand up?"

"N-now?"

"You put both hands down. What's going on?"

"What the... how can you..."

He tapped my shoulder.

I had to turn my whole body around to open my eyes and look at him.

He was standing behind me.

"You can see behind you..."