Chapter 170. Timid and Weak
My meeting with Henji ended with the result I had expected.
And what was that expected result?
‘Core Division theory books.’
The theory books Henji handed me totaled four volumes, which was noticeably less than I’d imagined.
I thought it would be around twenty.
But according to Henji—
- I think you may have some misunderstandings. Core Division isn’t a field you can research that easily.
The reason was this.
Splitting a core is an act that already carries extreme risk… and researching it is basically no different from live experimentation.
‘The theory itself isn’t difficult, but the risk is too high?’
Yeah, that made sense.
A core isn’t a cake—you can’t just slice it up however you want. If you fail, you die by default; if you’re lucky, you end up “three-dead.” For the record, “three-dead” means you’re about three-quarters dead.
If you succeed?
‘Even then, from a great house’s perspective, it’s not exactly welcome.’
Because a perfectly fine mage turns into a half-wit.
Ta-da. Your house’s mage—replaced with a half-wit. Something like that.
Because of that, research on core division had made no notable progress even over long years.
Still, there was quite a lot of data piled up, but—
- Even if I give it to you, you won’t read it, right?
- Of course not.
What I needed was the essence.
I reject logical thinking.
Anyway, holding the four “must-read” books selected by “core field authority” Doctor Henji, I left the Magic Studies Hall.
…That was a few days ago.
And now it was a quiet afternoon.
“Hwaaaam.”
I lay stretched out in a carriage with a smooth ride and yawned widely.
One of the benefits of regressing and getting shorter was this—no matter when or where I lay down, my head wouldn’t bump into anything.
Not sure that’s really a benefit, but anyway.
As I stared blankly at the ceiling of the luxurious carriage, faint hoofbeats drifted in through the wall.
Listening to those hoofbeats, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘Core Division… it really is easy, though.’
It had only been a few days since I received the books, but I’d already grasped the core points. All four volumes, too.
That alone showed how easy the theory was.
So I could’ve attempted core division immediately, but there was one problem.
“In the end, it’s about which method you choose.”
There were four books.
And the methods they covered were four as well.
What I was agonizing over was which of the four to choose, and if you looked at them one by one, they felt like this.
First.
‘Literally splitting it.’
A method where you split the core in your heart cleanly in half.
Second.
‘Planting potatoes.’
Like cutting off the sprouted part of a potato and planting it so the stalk grows, you cut off a part of the core and grow it.
And the third was…
‘Keeping Two Households.’
Strictly speaking, it’s a variation of planting potatoes, but the key is that instead of planting the sprout in the heart, you plant it below the navel.
‘And the fourth is Keeping Two Households 2.’
Why the “2”?
Because it’s also transplanting the core, but the location is different.
This time, not below the navel—near the head.
Anyway, with four methods like this, Keeping Two Households and Keeping Two Households 2 weren’t even worth considering.
The process was tedious on top of tedious, and my circle was already located in my heart.
‘So in the end, it’s either splitting or potatoes.’
The two methods had completely opposite pros and cons.
It was structured so that choosing one meant giving up the other.
So it wasn’t an easy decision—and that was when a voice came from outside the door.
“Aster-nim, may I come in?”
It was Ransi.
But was she coming into a carriage while it was moving?
I thought that for a moment, but soon realized it wasn’t that. While I was lost in thought, the carriage had already stopped.
“Yes, come in.”
As I answered and raised my body halfway, Ransi opened the carriage door and entered.
“How is your condition?”
I gave a faint smile.
“My condition… it’s bearable.”
“Just endure a little longer. We’ll depart after we handle lunch, and we should be able to arrive in Amera before dinner. You’ll be able to rest more comfortably than now.”
“Haha, yes. I feel like I’m causing trouble.”
At my weak voice, Ransi shook her head.
“No. For now, please focus only on treatment.”
With that, Ransi bowed her head and withdrew.
I waited for the door to close completely, then flopped back down.
“…Damn it.”
The curse slipped out on its own.
Yeah. I’ll be honest.
Even after the banquet ended, I couldn’t let it go.
Thinking about it, there was no reason to let it go.
If you can cough up blood just from brushing sleeves with someone, you can cough up blood from being hit by a falling leaf too.
‘Since ancient times they’ve said a mage’s internal injuries are impossible to predict.’
That was a real saying.
For truly sensitive types, if they hear a loud noise during breathing techniques, they’ll start retching blood on the spot.
Anyway, a new opportunity found through a change of perspective.
I rolled.
Where?
‘Down the stairs.’
On the way back to my room after the banquet, when there was no one around, I rolled down half a flight and screamed.
To be honest, the execution itself was flawless.
Ransi, Chenbi, and even Demian and the other servants stationed around the young lord’s quarters came running at the noise.
The audience was perfect.
- Gweeeehk!
And the acting was perfect too.
The scenario wasn’t bad either.
‘I’m a timid and weak Troubleshooter.’
A sudden change in environment puts a huge burden on one’s mental state.
It’s only natural to be afraid at your first noble banquet, and if you’re scared enough, it’s only natural you might misstep.
But then why was I now in this carriage?
Because there was one thing I’d overlooked.
‘The Fairies’ Dance is a mana oversaturation phenomenon.’
And mana benefits mages.
Sure, with an ordinary level of mana, staying in Brando would’ve been better, but the Fairies’ Dance wasn’t an ordinary level.
What I traded that day by coughing up blood was only one thing.
Tourism—into convalescence.
Ah, there was one more thing.
‘The carriage became a private room.’
That was the extent of my fate.
…Damn it.
After a simple meal, Brando’s procession set out for Amera.
I returned to the convalescence carriage and became one body with the bed again, and contrary to my worries, the journey was peaceful to an absurd degree.
‘Honestly, even worrying was ridiculous.’
Think about it.
This is the procession of Brando’s young lord.
A one-and-only successor with no proper rivals.
Naturally, the escort was composed of the best of the best, and the scale was large enough to swallow a small or mid-sized territory without blinking.
‘Two Nine Stars came along, for crying out loud.’
In a situation like this, what’s a wyvern?
Even if it were a dragon wraith, there’d be nothing to do about it. Yeah. Exactly.
No… it has to be that way.
Anyway, after shaking off the last thread of anxiety, I reviewed the positive side of this trip.
For one, the Fairies’ Dance itself was a possibility.
‘I heard the mana density is even tighter than the Hamelin Great Forest?’
For me, trying to create circles, that information carried meaning I couldn’t ignore.
The reason I could form my first circle by pulling only ambient mana was because of the abnormally high mana density of the Hamelin Great Forest.
Of course, if you ask whether I can do the same thing now, that’s not quite it, but you never know.
With mana density that high, maybe I can find some kind of method.
So since I’m coming anyway—
‘Let’s focus properly on circles.’
I patted my full belly and steeled myself.
If I don’t at least do that, it’ll be too unfair.
So, how much time passed?
“Friend! Come out!”
I’d dozed off for a moment, and Demian’s voice shook off the drowsiness.
The moment I opened my eyes, the carriage door swung open.
“Can I come in?”
“Looks like you already did.”
“That’s not important right now.”
“…?”
I tilted my head as I looked at Demian, unusually excited.
What is it? Another incident?
I stiffened with a creeping sense of dread, but Demian’s next words made me realize it wasn’t that.
“They said we arrived.”
“Arrived?”
“Yeah, Amera! Come outside. There’s a huge lake!”
That’s right.
We had finally arrived in the Amera region.
The Amera region, as it’s known, is the origin of many specialty products, and dozens of lakes—large and small—are scattered throughout it.
But the part many people misunderstand is that Amera’s forested area is actually larger than its lakes.
The moment Aster stepped down from the carriage, he smiled faintly at the scent of the forest that drove deep into his lungs.
‘Mm. The sense of foreboding has gotten stronger.’
He’d finally forced his positivity circuit into motion, but the moment he saw scenery similar to the Hamelin Great Forest, his spirit sank.
However, it didn’t take long for that feeling to fade, and the reason was the surroundings.
Unlike the Hamelin Great Forest, which was a paradise for monsters rather than people, Amera carried a thick scent of human life.
Even now—look.
In front of him, all he could see was dense forest, but if he only turned around, the fragrance of civilization was strong.
What did that mean?
A town… a bit large to call it a town, but anyway—it meant there was a city.
As Aster let out an inward sigh of relief at that sight, Demian, who had disappeared somewhere, returned holding something.
“…?”
“Fishing.”
What Demian brought was a fishing rod.
“Wanna go?”
“No, not really.”
Aster rejected Demian’s request at once.
Fishing wasn’t a hobby of his, and night would fall soon. Even if he went, it was obvious Ransi would stop him.
And so, with Demian heading off alone to fish—
Aster stood blankly, taking in the scenery around him.
“Still, looking at it like this… it kind of feels like sightseeing…”
It wasn’t bad.
A small city formed around the lake. Dense forest surrounding that small city.
Small and large boats drifted across the vast lake, and for some reason, the sight felt calming.
‘Yeah. Since it’s come to this, let’s rest properly.’
His heart still swung back and forth between anxiety and peace, but now he needed to settle it.
To not waver.
Once again, Aster inhaled the clean air deep into his lungs and shook off even the last handful of tension.
Yeah. Sometimes you need days like this too.
After regressing, he’d been running without really resting at all.
So just this once—sure.
There have to be times when nothing happens at all.
Elite forces protecting Brando’s young lord, plus two Nine Stars. Who would pick a fight with that?
No one.
No one at all.
Someone who could break through this lineup and do something? Ah—if it’s someone at that level, you should just obediently offer up your neck. What else can you do?
So.
“Let’s rest. As much as we want.”
It was a comfortable feeling.
But then, only for a moment—
“…Wait, if the scale on this side gets bigger, doesn’t the accident get bigger too?”
A sudden ominous thought sent a shiver crawling down his spine.
