Dark Fantasy Normalized

56 – *Jjim!* (Steaming/찜 also suggests ‘picked’ or ‘chosen’ in the romantic sense)

That you wouldn’t know what happened while I was asleep.

I answered with a serious face to Pien’s words.

“Pien. Of course I wouldn’t. I was asleep.”

“…”

Haaa.

Pien, who was looking into the distance with a meaningful expression, sighed as he stared at me with cold eyes.

“Those fifteen days were really nice, though.”

“Fifteen? Holy crap. Amazingly, that perfectly overlaps with the period I was knocked out? Pien. While I was suffering in a lingering coma, what fun did you have on your own?”

“Suffering, my ass. What suffering is it to be lying in bed having people wait on you hand and foot?”

“…Wait a minute!”

That’s when. I realized a shocking fact.

I looked at Pien with a surprised face.

“What! Is your body, is something wrong!?”

“No. It’s not that. Pien. You definitely said it. That I was lying down for fifteen days.”

“Was there maybe, something important? Oh, jeez. Tell me now. Maybe it’s not too late.”

“No. It’s not that either. You know. If I was lying down for fifteen days, then I couldn’t have eaten or drunk anything during that time, right? How did I manage to survive?”

Chop.

Pien covered his face with both hands.

They’re so small, one hand seems like it would be enough.

“Am I really an idiot… Knowing it’s a loss to worry, why do I keep…”

“They say love is stronger than hate, after all.”

Pien looked at me with a pitying gaze.

“Yeah. Let it all out. It must feel so stifling after it’s been building up for fifteen days.”

“Pien. Anyone listening would think I’m expelling some kind of toxic waste.”

“Whoever it is, they’ve hit the nail right on the head.”

Pien gazed wistfully at the days gone by.

“I’ll never forget them. Those dreamlike days when you kept your mouth shut, silently.”

“The emotional range is considerable… Okay. Even for Pien’s sake, I’ll try to fall into a coma more often, if possible.”

“Really? I’m so happy, what should I do?”

Pien turned her back and headed for the door.

“Going out?”

“That sounds like a pretty good idea too, but I’m going to take care of the thing that popped into my head first.”

“What is it?”

Pien didn’t answer and left the room.

And a moment later. She came back carrying a tray with a bowl of porridge and a cup of water.

I covered my mouth with both hands.

It was a gesture that meant ‘completely touched’.

But whether my emotions weren’t properly conveyed, Pien made a disgusted face.

“Just so you know, don’t get the wrong idea.”

“Ah. You brought it for yourself to eat, Pien.”

“…I’d rather you did get the wrong idea.”

Pien put the tray on the small table in the corner of the room, then, grunting and groaning, dragged the table as is next to the bed.

Hoo.

Pien caught her breath and swept her bangs back with the back of her hand.

I couldn’t believe this robust young lady had pretended to be such a frail thing.

Pien, having completed the makeshift table setup, sat down again on the chair next to the bed and said.

“Tell me. How’s your body? What does it feel like?”

At Pien’s words, I finally checked my own condition.

First of all.

I was reminded of that pain that had almost sent me into eternal slumber.

Like a collapse of the flesh.

The overload of agony as if skin was cracking, eyes popping out, internal organs and trachea melting.

“Ugh-“

Just imagining it, my body had an extreme rejection response.

Luckily, that was it. The pain of the overload wasn’t felt anymore.

At least, not at the present moment.

“And?”

Pien, after hearing my story, urged me for the next answer.

“And…”

Unfortunately, even though the pain was gone, it didn’t seem like my body had returned to its peak condition.

How should I put this?

It felt like a game character with full HP but zero stamina.

“It’s not like anything specifically hurts, but it’s like, I just don’t have any energy, you know?”

“…”

Pien nodded.

“It’s just like that person said.”

“That person?”

“Barodros. The high priest of the Order who helped you.”

High priest.

I was too flustered at the time to really pay it any mind, but hearing it now, the weight of that title was considerable.

In a massive organization like the Order, there were probably only a handful of people with a higher position than a high priest.

“Well, what do you know? Never thought a guy like me would get mixed up with someone as high up as a high priest.”

“Is that what you say, someone who was friends with the Masters and treated the Magic Tower like their own house?”

“Oh.”

I’d momentarily forgotten.

Come to think of it, the Masters of the Magic Tower were incredibly high-ranking figures themselves.

I remembered a Master from the Blue Tower, once invited to the family, engaging in a battle of wills with the head of the Bendel family.

Being able to maintain that kind of strength even in front of a prominent nobleman—that was what the Masters of the Magic Tower were like.

“Huh.”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

Could my past self, the b*stard child, have known? That I would be associating with such impressive people?

“So, what did the high priest say?”

“That while the physical problems would be resolved right away, the depletion of your life force was unavoidable.”

In other words, it was like having full HP, but zero stamina.

My experience and the high priest’s opinion were in perfect alignment.

“He said until my energy is fully recovered, I would have difficulty not only with manipulating mana, but with moving my body as well.”

“Did he by any chance tell you how to recover that energy?”

“Yes. It was a very cliché method, but he did tell me.”

“Was it, by any chance, to eat well and rest?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

Pien handed over the bowl of porridge and a spoon.

I took it and answered,

“Wait, did you make this, Pien?”

Pien avoided my eyes, saying,

“I tried.”

“Tried?”

“It all burned while I looked away for a second. It must have been the ingredients.”

“…”

What did you use as ingredients? The wrath of ever-burning flames?

It’s the first time I’ve seen a chef blame burnt food on the ingredients.

“What is it, with that look. Do you have something to say?”

“No. I was just thinking what awful ingredients they must be. Stealing my chance to eat Pien’s cooking. Is this what they call a rice thief?”

While saying that, I tested the consistency of the porridge with a spoon.

Neither too runny, nor too thick, the porridge had the touch of a master.

“Then, what is this porridge?”

“Master Didoa came and cooked a whole pot before leaving.”

“Ah.”

Alchemists. They were, indeed, the magicians of precise measurements.

I immediately understood why the consistency of the porridge was so perfect.

“It was a mess. I stopped them once from setting out a feast, like they were planning a festival, and stopped them again from cooking almost a whole cauldron of porridge.”

The image of Didoa, tirelessly refilling teacups and cookie plates in the lab, surfaced in my mind, making me chuckle.

“Can you eat the porridge?”

“Yeah. I definitely think my body is okay. Seeing it, I’m getting an appetite.”

“That’s good. Then, let’s talk while you eat.”

“What, you weren’t going to feed me?”

“Tsk.”

Pien clicked their tongue with distaste –

and snatched the bowl from my hand as if they had been waiting for this.

“Annoying. What do you think I am, anyway.”

“No. If you hate it that much, you don’t have to do it-“

“There you go. There you go. You’re going to make me the bad guy if I don’t, right? Okay, just open your mouth.”

Pien scooped some porridge with the spoon.

And even after giving it a gentle, “Hoo- hoo-” with a cute little breath to cool it, she offered it to me.

“How is it?”

Pien watched my reaction, her posture strangely tense.

“It’s just regular, tasty porridge. But, because Pien is feeding it to me, it’s become a tasty, killer porridge.”

“Aish. You always have to say something like that-“

Pien grimaced but diligently kept feeding me the porridge.

As my mouth got busy with chewing, Pien filled the silence with the audio.

“To continue what I was saying. That old master said, you were supposed to be dead.”

“Hmm? (Dead?)”

“He said, if a normal person filled a jar with elixirs and chugged it all at once, they might end up in a similar state as you? It was so severe that it would be more unnatural if they didn’t die. If it had been any other case, even he wouldn’t have been able to save you, he said-“

“Hmm? (I knew my condition was bad, but not to that extent. But, what’s the story behind all that? If it had been any other case, even he wouldn’t have been able to save me. Then how am I alive now?)”

“But, that you are still alive and well now is entirely thanks to that ridiculous thing you did.”

“Hmm? (Ridiculous thing?)”

Then Pien stared at me intently before bursting into a chuckle.

“Mastering the blue breath right there on the spot. Just what kind of magician saves themselves in that way.”

“…The old master said that? That I would have died if it wasn’t for that?”

“He said, it wasn’t enough to just suppress the overflowing mana. If you hadn’t strengthened your body with mana, your body would have definitely collapsed. He clearly said that.”

“…”

My blood ran cold.

Death had been right next to me.

“Did he, by any chance, say how I should proceed in the future?”

Pien nodded.

“The old master asked why you had suffered such extreme overload. So, I couldn’t help but tell him about your abnormal magic growth.”

“And then?”

“He said that there’s a high chance that this will happen again.”

“So, I shouldn’t be lazy in strengthening my body?”

“Right.”

“…You’ve mastered the azure breath. So, is learning swordsmanship the next step?”

“Lishir. Have you ever heard of someone wielding both sword and magic at the same time?”

A magic swordsman.

It’s now a solid, established combination, almost a cliché.

At least, that’s how it looks with my modern memories overlaying it.

But looking at it from this world’s perspective-

“Well.”

People who wielded both magic and sword simultaneously were extremely rare.

“Right? Why do you think that is?”

“Because they don’t understand romance?”

Pien hastily scooped some porridge and shoved it into my mouth.

It couldn’t have been to shut me up, I must have just looked very hungry.

“Communing with mana is a delicate process, more than anything else. Even the most talented mage or warrior will quickly become dull if they neglect it. And yet, to wield two powers that aren’t just a little different, but entirely different in nature, simultaneously? That’s the epitome of inefficiency. There are few things more arrogant than walking the path of both magic and sword at the same time. Because of that, the old master expressed deep concern. The azure breath was certainly an excellent temporary measure, but he said it would be a serious obstacle in your path.”

“…So?”

“So, we told him. That he didn’t have to worry about it, we thought.”

Pien let out a self-deprecating chuckle, as if he himself was amazed by it, and spoke to me.

“Isn’t that right?”

“…I’ll try my best to live up to your expectations.”

Back then, when I had just become a mage, would I have known?

That there would come a day when I’d have to do a second class change to a magic swordsman in order to survive.

***

While Pien was spoon-feeding me porridge, he also fed me most of the information I needed to know and what I would be curious about.

“Ah. So this place is… a lodging inside the magic tower?”

“Yes. It’s a room they give to honored guests when they come to the tower.”

As the bowl began to show its bottom,

I had only one last question left.

“Pien. Can I ask just one more thing?”

“I was just about to talk about that. What happened at the magic tower that made them suddenly offer you an honorary mage title – am I right?”

“That’s right.”

A novice mage of the Magic Tower.

If they went around outside puffing themselves up with ‘I’m a mage of the Magic Tower~’, there’d be people happy to smack them upside the head.

None other than the full-fledged mages of the Tower.

Only by going through the novice process and reaching full-fledged status are you recognized as a true mage of the Magic Tower.

On the level scale, it seems like just one step, nothing much, but there were countless mages who couldn’t get past that one stage even after more than ten years.

Actually. In the library I frequented, I often came across journals filled with the stories of novice mages who hadn’t made it to full-fledged mage status, and they described in breathtaking detail just how difficult it was to become a full-fledged mage of the Magic Tower.

That was the reason I vehemently refused Lord Meltas’s offer to become a student of the Magic Tower.

I could manipulate magic, sure, but with no theoretical knowledge, if I’d tried to become a full-fledged mage of the Magic Tower, I might’ve just ended my life at the novice stage.

But then, what the hell.

Suddenly they’re telling me to become a full-fledged mage of the Magic Tower instead of a supporter.

It was like asking if there were any jobs at Stanford and being immediately offered a doctorate to take.

“Pien. Just asking to be sure, is this… common?”

“Are you asking me, if it’s common for the Magic Tower, where they basically despise outsiders and look down on commoners, to give an honorary mage position to a wandering mage with no affiliation to any school or family?”

As Pien said, it was something unimaginable given the Magic Tower’s known image.

Before I heard the full story from Pien, I tried to figure out the reason myself.

‘Exposing the Dark Mage… a deathmatch with Gerhen… a live stream of mastering the Azure Breath…’

I had some guesses, but it wasn’t enough to explain why the Magic Tower was being so ‘rushed.’

I ended up giving up trying to figure it out on my own and was about to ask Pien for the full story, when.

-Knock knock.

A knocking sound came from outside the door.

“Lysir. Are you awake, perhaps?”

It was Lord Meltas’s voice.

Unlike his usual tone, it was somewhat unnatural, as if he didn’t want me to answer.

Of course, I couldn’t ignore Lord Meltas just on a feeling.

“Yes, Lord Meltas. Please, come in.”

“…”

Hah.

I heard Lord Meltas sigh from outside the door.

“I’m coming in.”

And then, the door opened.

The elder with dreadlocks, draped in the distinctive gray robe that signified him as master of the Grey Tower – Lord Meltas – appeared.

And—

“Huh?”

Figures in blue and green robes trailed behind him.

Then.

Pien moved close and whispered low into my ear.

—See those two?

—They’re sweating bullets about the tower losing you.

An offer of Honorary Magus.

Its underlying meaning was nothing less than ‘Get the fuck out of the way! He’s mine!’