53. A Shadow Cast Upon the Wind (7)
Taeyusan, the capital of the Pung Empire.
Somewhere in a secluded alley that people rarely visited even there, the air rippled into the shape of a sphere and spat out more than ten boys and girls.
They were the first-year Stella cadets who had just returned from the Persona Gate.
“Whew, this practice was such a mental mess…”
The moment she emerged from the Gate, Ban Diyeon let all the tension drain from her at once, shook out her hair, and fanned herself with one hand. The sweat running down the line of her neck showed just how tense she had been until now.
Then she turned around and checked the headcount to make sure all the first-year cadets had gotten out safely.
Twelve in total. All present.
“I thought something serious was going to happen…”
The mission itself had truly been nothing extraordinary at all, just a very ordinary Persona Gate around the level of 3-Risk.
There had been no variables, and if anything, even among 3-Risk Gates, it had belonged to the easier side.
But the final ending had been the problem.
“A human…”
The girl sleeping on Baek Yuseol’s back. At a glance, that cute child looked around middle-school age, but she was a real person who had been discovered inside the Persona Gate, and incredibly, she was someone Baek Yuseol personally knew.
It was shocking enough that an outsider had suddenly been found inside the Persona Gate as a boss monster—
but the fact that she was actually someone he knew was even more unbelievable.
“E-excuse me… Senior.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“We… almost killed a real, living person, didn’t we…?”
One of the first-year cadets approached Ban Diyeon with a trembling voice, nearly in tears.
Only then did Ban Diyeon relax her expression and walk over to him.
“It’s okay, so calm down and listen.”
“Huh?”
“It’s not your fault. I’m not saying that just to comfort you.”
“That…”
“To be honest, I was startled too, but it’s not as if something like this has never happened before.”
“What?”
It was not in the textbooks, so the cadets would not know it, but cases like this had not been entirely unheard of.
She had never heard of anyone like Anella being found inside despite never having entered at all, but there had often been stories of a comrade becoming completely eroded by the Persona and appearing as a boss monster.
And every time that happened, mages had no choice but to swallow bloody tears and kill their own companion with their own hands, leaving deep wounds in their hearts.
“Persona Gates are notoriously difficult to clear, but they’re also famous for giving enormous rewards. On top of that, the Mage Association counts them for the highest achievement value. Do you know why?”
“I… don’t know…”
“It’s because of the mental stress. Hunting monsters and hunting Darkkin are by no means easier than Persona Gates, so why do you think the Association recognizes Persona Gates so highly? Why do you think senior mages avoid them even though the rewards are so generous? You’ve never thought about that, have you?”
When the junior shook his head, Ban Diyeon patted him lightly on the shoulder.
“This is why. It’s not because the body suffers. It’s because the heart suffers.”
“…Does this happen often?”
Ban Diyeon shook her head.
“Not often. But Persona Gates have many different elements like this—things that torment us mentally. That’s why they’re difficult.”
In a Persona Gate, you had to directly enter some artificially constructed “story,” become one of its characters, and move within it.
In that process, countless mages were wounded, suffered mental stress, and even gave up this line of work altogether. That was why the title “Persona Hunter” existed as a separate profession in the first place.
“I’m heading to the hospital first.”
“Yeah. I’ll take care of the scoring, so go on.”
Ban Diyeon silently watched Baek Yuseol’s back as he hurried away somewhere with Anella on his back.
It was a pity that she had not really gotten to see him act properly during this mission—
but perhaps that was a relief instead.
Because when Baek Yuseol truly started moving in earnest, it was usually only when something really serious had happened.
“Feels kind of anticlimactic.”
“Hm? What does?”
Ryu Derick spoke with a frown.
“That bastard’s not ordinary. I kept my distance and tailed him the whole time, and his pace was better than that of a professional Persona Hunter. I still don’t know why he kept circling around instead of going to the final destination until the very end, but he’s a fascinating guy.”
Watching Ryu Derick talk as though he had uncovered something remarkable all by himself, Ban Diyeon let out a snort of laughter.
“I’m sure.”
“…Are you doubting my eye for talent? That guy is absolutely not an ordinary first-year—”
“Yeah. You’re right.”
“Hey!”
Answering him halfheartedly, she led the first-year cadets out of the alley.
Since the mission had ended in only three days rather than the week they had expected, it would not be a bad idea to spend at least one day sightseeing.
Over the hill drifted the scent of flower-laden wind. When she held down her hair, swaying in the fragrant breeze, her mother would appear in the distance in a white dress and wave.
“Anella, come here and eat.”
As a child, her home had been small and shabby, but it had been a happy home that had everything it needed. Although she had no father, her mother had bravely faced the world alone, and the villagers had loved her for it.
“The Kingdom of Valkamyk.”
A kingdom founded by one of the descendants left behind by the twelve disciples of the Founding Mage; it was said to have once flourished immensely in the distant past, but now it was a tiny country tucked away in some corner.
But what did it matter whether a country was big or small? Yesterday’s me was happy, today’s me is happy, and tomorrow’s me will surely be happy too.
Anella never once doubted that she would live like this for the rest of her life.
Holding her mother’s hand, living prettily, not in abundance but without wanting for anything.
And then growing into an adult.
She had believed it without a single doubt.
“M-mother…?”
The whole world had been dyed red.
On that night when even the sky screamed.
The little house that had protected her mother’s happiness and her own had burned in the flames and collapsed completely.
That place was no longer happy.
Instead, it had become a shackle, praying for her mother’s misfortune.
“Anella…”
Was it an old pillar that had snapped and fallen? Half of her mother’s body was pinned beneath the ruins of the house, and she stretched out her hand toward Anella with a groan of pain.
“Anella, remember this. Run away without looking back.”
“Mother. What about you…?!”
“Mother will follow right behind you, so hurry!”
“O-okay…!”
It was the first time in her life that she had ever seen her mother shout, and so Anella sprang to her feet, sobbing.
“Quickly, quickly, run…”
Stupidly enough, the Anella of that time must have had both eyes full of tears.
She could not remember her mother’s final expression at all.
It was blurred and blotched by tears, and she had no idea whether her mother had been smiling then, or crying.
Anella turned around and ran.
The Darkkin. The invasion of Black Kingdom.
The collapsing royal family of Valkamyk.
She ran and ran.
In order to remain, until the very last moment, a good child who listened to her mother.
…In order to survive.
When she opened her eyes again,
there were tears lightly gathered at the corners of Anella’s eyes. Why had that memory suddenly come back to her? Ever since she had become Darkkin, it had been completely buried and forgotten in her memory. She had sealed it away with her power so that she would never remember it again.
“Ah…”
A pure white ceiling.
Lights swaying just enough not to dazzle her, and sunlight wavering gently.
She blinked several times, then cautiously tried to raise her upper body.
Her waist had been strained badly, and she could not get up. It felt uncomfortable to move, like someone who had not used their muscles in ages.
“Ggh…”
Something felt terribly wrong. As Anella flopped back onto the bed spread-eagle, all the strength draining from her body, she suddenly sensed a strange incongruity.
“Huh? A bed?”
When had she last slept in a bed? Wasn’t the first and last time during the summer, when she infiltrated Stella as an exchange student?
It was not as soft as the bed in the Stella exchange-student dormitory had been, but even so, it was more than comfortable enough. If anything, it felt even more reassuring than back then.
“Ughhh…”
Wondering what in the world this situation was, Anella hurriedly tried to get up. In the process, she tensed her whole body with all her might, but somehow succeeded in raising her upper body, and even managed with great effort to lower her feet and stand up.
Bang!
At that moment, the door opened and a nurse entered.
“Oh! Patient, you’re suffering from mana exhaustion—you absolutely mustn’t be up and walking around already! Lie down at once.”
“Huh? Mana exhaustion, what—whoa!”
She had barely managed to stand up at all.
The nurse ruthlessly trampled all over Anella’s effort and laid her straight back down on the bed. Since she had already spent all her strength merely trying to get up, it felt as though she would never, ever be able to stand again.
Anella’s mood plunged as she buried her face in the bed, but the nurse kept bothering her—lifting her arm to check her temperature, attaching some strange device to her forehead and reading signals—until Anella finally raised her head.
“What on earth is this…”
At first she had meant to shout, but then she met the nurse’s frightening expression and felt her heart shrivel.
“What do you mean, what? Don’t you remember what happened right before you fainted? Your friends said you forced yourself to use mana and fell into mana exhaustion. You can’t do that. What would you do if you ended up never being able to use magic again?”
“…What I asked was what mana exhaustion is.”
“You call yourself a magic warrior and you don’t even know that? It’s the condition that appears when you burn through all your mana without leaving behind even the minimum amount needed to move your body. It’s extremely dangerous, so be careful.”
“W-wait a second.”
That was strange.
To begin with, Anella was not a mage.
Because she was Darkkin, there was no way she could fall into mana exhaustion, a condition suffered by mages.
No matter how much dark-magic control she used, there was absolutely no way to artificially manipulate such fine details as a phenomenon that occurred only in mages, like mana exhaustion.
And yet…
didn’t that nurse sound as though she were assuming Anella was a human mage?
“Mana exhaustion… in my body?”
“Yes.”
“N-no way.”
At that, the nurse pressed her lips together and shook her head.
“The director personally examined you, so saying it’s impossible won’t help. Are you trying to say the doctor at Pungryeong University Hospital made a mistake?”
“Huh? P-Pungryeong University? Then this place can’t be…”
“That’s right. Pungryeong University Hospital.”
“Oh my god…”
Pungryeong University was surely one of the most prestigious medical schools in the world.
Putting aside the fact that Anella’s finances would never have allowed her to come anywhere near a place like this, Pungryeong University Hospital was the greatest hospital in the Pung Empire. The chances that words personally delivered by its director were wrong were infinitesimally small.
“If another patient said something like that, the director would never just let it pass. But since they said you’re a special guest of the Starcloud Merchant Company… well. I suppose that’s different.”
Now Anella understood even less. Why in the world was the name of the Starcloud Merchant Company coming up here too?
“So then, stay still.”
Only after attaching all kinds of things like bandages and electrodes to Anella’s body and finishing several tests did the nurse finally leave the room.
Left alone, Anella stared blankly at the door—then suddenly pressed a hand to her chest.
Thump, thump!
“…Huh?”
She could not feel it.
The black mana of Black Kingdom that had been gripping her heart.
That seed of the Darkkin, which, if Black Kingdom wished it, could have activated at any moment and burst Anella’s heart—
was completely gone.
“H-how is this possible?!”
She could not feel a trace of dark power anywhere in her body. To begin with, even her one and only trait—the power to dig into people’s innermost thoughts and stimulate their trauma—would not activate.
She clenched and unclenched her fists, then punched the air, but instead of the terrifying destructive power she once had, all that came out was the feeble struggle of an ordinary teenage girl.
Her ability.
Her strength.
They were completely gone.
Instead…
all the black mana that had oppressed her freedom had vanished, and in her heart there now flowed pure blue mana.
“I… I really…”
Bang!
As she stared blankly into empty space with trembling eyes, the hospital-room door opened once more and someone entered.
This time, it was not the nurse.
It was Baek Yuseol.
He was holding something like a chart in one hand, and for some reason he looked to be in a remarkably good mood, smiling all over.
“You’re awake.”
“B-Baek Yuseol…”
“I skimmed through it. You’re completely human now. The compound suppression and control techniques engraved on your heart have all been released. And naturally, the seed is gone too.”
“Gone…?”
“Your physical age is apparently around sixteen or seventeen. I don’t know what your actual age is, but that worked out nicely, right? You got younger.”
“S-sixteen? I’m not that young…”
“That’s only your physical age. But you seriously need to exercise. Your muscle condition is terrible. Your mana’s almost at an ordinary person’s level too. You won’t need to train all the way from zero. Since you’ve already got the experience of freely using dark mana, once you start training white mana, you’ll catch on fast. You should count yourself lucky. Because you became Darkkin and then returned to being human, your body now bears the [Blessing of Mana]. And also…”
Baek Yuseol began flipping through the chart and explaining this and that, but none of it properly reached Anella’s ears.
“Human… I’m human…?”
Could it really be true?
Wasn’t this a dream?
It was such a blissful dream that she suddenly feared Black Kingdom might seize her heart at any moment, wake her up, and threaten to kill her. A rush of fear came over her, and she slapped herself hard on the cheek.
Smack!
“Ow!”
It hurt. Enough to make her eyes sting with tears.
But that alone was not enough.
She lifted her other hand to slap herself again, but suddenly she became afraid it would hurt, and her hand trembled uncontrollably.
“…What are you doing? Want me to do it for you?”
When Baek Yuseol said that while looking at her like she was an idiot, Anella nodded hard.
At that, he let out a small laugh and approached her, and Anella squeezed her eyes tightly shut.
She braced herself for the impact on her cheek, but instead of swinging his hand, he simply planted his palm on top of her head.
Not gently stroking it, just placing it there as though setting an object down.
“…Huh?”
“It’s not a dream.”
Baek Yuseol gripped Anella’s head as though it were a basketball and lightly rocked it side to side as he spoke.
“Congratulations. You’ve really become human now.”
“Th-thank you. It’s because of you…”
“No. I didn’t do anything for you. I only said pretty words. In the end, this happened because you yourself made up your mind and held fast.”
“Even so…”
“You’re completely free of Black Kingdom now. You’re free. How does it feel?”
At those words, Anella blankly turned her head and looked out the window.
“Ah…”
It should have been the same scenery as yesterday, yet why did the sky look so especially clear and clean today?
The scene seemed more beautiful somehow, and every little detail looked lovely.
Was this the way the world looked through human eyes?
A warm feeling she had not experienced in a very, very long time.
“I’m… happy…”
At those words that slipped out of Anella without thinking, Baek Yuseol smiled too.
“That’s good, then. That you’re happy.”
And then—
before Anella could even fully enjoy that happiness—
he pulled an envelope full of documents from his bag.
“If you’re happy now, then it’s time for you to suffer a little, right?”
“Huh?”
“It’s a Stella Special Transfer Application. This isn’t something they do for just anyone, whenever they feel like it. There was only one chance for it this time… and from now on, you need to become a Stella cadet—no, you need to gain the ability worthy of one.”
“W-why?”
“Then are you going to stay like this? Now that you’ve finally become human, you can’t keep living exactly the way you did before. And there’s no way your old boss is going to leave you alone either. It’d be better for you to stay under Stella’s protection, at the very least. Though, well, that place has holes all over it too.”
Anella received the documents and stared at them blankly.
“Can I… really do that?”
“Why wouldn’t you? You’re human just like me, and a commoner just like me. Stella is equal. Anyone can get in, so long as they have the ability.”
The words the same human moved her so deeply that Anella almost burst into tears on the spot.
“Okay! I’ll do my best!”
“Forget doing your best. Just do well.”
“Okay!”
Anella clutched the document envelope tightly to her chest.
She had always believed that becoming human and living as a human was the final destination she had been heading toward all this time.
But the destination was not the end. It was a new beginning.
“Transfer into Stella.”
The direction of her new life had been decided.
It was the first goal of her life—not as a Darkkin, but as a human.
[Read only on MugenCodex.]
