🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 43
Sorcerer (1)
A building that soared high enough to pierce the sky.
A train running on room-temperature superconductors.
A massive wall of concrete enclosing the distant horizon.
It was, in every sense, a perfect futuristic city. Even in the 21st century I’d lived in, such a sight was something I wouldn’t have expected to see for another century or two.
What… what is this?
Honestly, I was in complete panic.
My plan had only ever been to find Lilliana, who was wandering lost in her unconscious, and pull her out safely—then use the repulsion between my holy power and her magic to somehow mend the broken circuits. The healing of magical circuits is closely tied to the mind, after all.
So this kind of scenario? Completely outside my expectations.
A sci-fi city inside her subconscious?
If it had been Izumi, I could have understood. Futuristic cities like this appear often in popular media; a sci-fi enthusiast could easily imagine such a city and project it into their mental landscape.
But Lilliana? She was a heroine from a medieval fantasy world. In her primitive era, without even a smartphone, imagining such a highly advanced civilization was impossible.
…Or so I’d thought.
Seriously, what the hell?
As I stood there dumbfounded, a small man—maybe 130 cm tall—walked past me, cleaning the street with a dazed expression.
And then—
“Um, if you’re not going to get on, could you please step aside? I need to get to work.”
The clear young voice from behind made me jump.
“Huh?”
That’s when I finally got a good look at her.
Skin so pale it was almost translucent. A neatly cut black bob with straight bangs. Sharp, cat-like eyes.
And… she looked frighteningly like me—back when I was “Lee Yuna.” We could’ve passed for twins.
“Wow.”
I wasn’t the only one impressed. She, too, stared at me in shock—
“Do you like Les Ondes Vertes? Is this a crossplay of the Cross Lens route?”
“…Excuse me?”
—Or… not?
Confused, I looked down at myself. My clothes were futuristic, but my hair was still white.
As I touched the corner of my eye in bewilderment, she brightened even more and started speaking rapidly.
“I actually love the neon setting too, so I always leave it on! I just finished collecting the 56th ending, and next I’m going for the mute route—”
“…What?”
“…What?”
Her stream of otaku talk abruptly cut off, and her face flushed bright red.
Her eyes trembled violently as if in an earthquake, and with a single, “I’m so sorry!” she bolted into a taxi and disappeared.
…What the hell was that?
“……”
After that bizarre encounter, I continued exploring the city.
Like with Cedric and Izumi, I figured I had to find the Lilliana who existed here and induce her “death.” But in a place this sprawling, finding her was nearly impossible.
Should I just leave?
I was seriously debating it when—
“Saintess!”
“Lilliana!”
Without me doing anything, I was suddenly pulled from the dream. The deafening shout made it clear that Lilliana had woken up as well.
“This is…”
“Lill, are you awake?”
“Yes.”
She answered, still dazed, and Diold, after confirming her condition, cried out with deep emotion:
“Thank you, Saintess! You’ve healed Lill!”
Uh… I didn’t actually do anything.
“Of course. It was my duty.”
Still, I accepted the gratitude.
Next, it was time to check Lilliana over again. I took her bewildered hand and knelt in front of her.
“Saintess?”
“Just a moment.”
I swept my holy power over her entire body.
The results were… exactly as expected. She was awake, yes, but her broken circuits were still leaking magic energy like a sieve.
It looked extremely painful.
“Ugh…”
Sure enough, beads of cold sweat rolled down her forehead. Finishing my examination, I addressed those standing by.
“Could we have a moment alone? I need to take a closer look.”
The king and queen had dropped everything to rush over when they heard Lilliana was awake, but Eustinas did not open the firmly closed door.
Lilliana, for her part, had no mental energy to worry about anyone else. Magic was draining from her body, leaving her wracked with severe neural pain.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“I can… endure it.”
“I doubt that.”
Stubbornness didn’t work on this opponent. With a faint smile, Eustinas took her hand.
And then—shockingly—the pain vanished in an instant. Lilliana’s red eyes widened.
“Did you heal me?”
“No. I only transferred the pain elsewhere for now.”
“…I see.”
She lowered her head.
“What happened?”
“I thought I had to save Diold… so I used magic. I think the backlash shattered all my circuits.”
“You used magic?”
The saintess looked genuinely taken aback, as if she’d never imagined such a thing. Seeing that expression gave Lilliana a strange feeling.
“You also think I’m a hopeless talentless fool, don’t you?”
“Not at all.”
The reply came instantly, without hesitation.
Too firm to be just empty comfort. Lilliana eyed the blind saintess suspiciously.
“…I don’t understand.”
“You do have talent, Princess. You just require special measures unlike others. The problem is…”
Her voice trailed off, prompting Lilliana to press impatiently.
“The problem?”
“It’s that your magic circuits are broken. If they weren’t, I could have enabled you to use magic freely without restriction. But as it is, using magic will cause you immense pain each time.”
It was a shocking statement. Lilliana’s eyes widened.
“You could make me able to use magic? Me?”
“Yes. But personally, I no longer recommend it.”
“Why not?”
At her quick question, Eustinas gave her a peculiar look.
“As I just said, with your circuits broken, contact with magic will bring extreme pain. Using magic in this state… is something only a madman would do.”
“I don’t care.”
Lilliana sat up abruptly, her tone desperate.
“As long as I can use magic—if I could wield it freely without dying or ending it all in one strike like last time—”
She bit her lip.
“I would do anything.”
It was an inferiority complex she’d carried all her life.
A princess of the Earth-blessed royal family, unable to succeed at even a single earth-type spell.
Not even a dull talent—a complete lack of talent.
A person unfit for her position.
Even telling herself she wasn’t the heir and gaining knowledge and culture in other areas could never free her from the despair.
If she could break free from that, she would truly give anything.
Hearing her resolve, Eustinas still looked conflicted. But her silence didn’t last long.
“…Very well. But know this—the life you lead from now on will be nothing like before your circuits broke.”
“…How bad are we talking?”
Her warning was unsettling enough to make Lilliana feel a flicker of fear. Given the saintess’s usual manner, she wasn’t likely to be exaggerating.
“Well then, just a taste.”
When the saintess released her hand, Lilliana nearly collapsed from the violent shock. Pain wrung her body like a wet cloth, and cold sweat streamed down her face.
The agony soon receded, but even that brief glimpse left her panting heavily, half-slumped.
“It could be worse than that. Will you still insist on using magic?”
“…Yes.”
At her answer, the saintess’s lips curved in a faint smile. Lilliana, watching her face, suddenly noticed the woman’s hands were trembling.
Looking closer, her condition was clearly off. Her cheeks were flushed, a light sheen of sweat on her brow. If one didn’t pay close attention, they might miss the slight trembling of her hands and feet.
…And then, like a bolt from the blue, realization struck. Lilliana’s voice shook as she spoke.
“You—this is just a guess, but—”
“Yes?”
“Is the saintess’s ‘healing’… actually transferring the patient’s pain into yourself?”
It sounded absurd.
The saintess performed miracles of healing for an entire nation on a daily basis. Many of her patients must have been in unimaginable agony.
And yet this one person was supposedly taking all that suffering into herself?
How could such a thing be possible?
And just now, for some reason, she hadn’t felt the agony she should have—
Which could only mean Eustinas had taken it from her.
To preserve her own comfort, she would be pushing that pain onto someone else.
For a princess with strong pride like Lilliana, such an act was unthinkable.
But at the same time, the thought of enduring that same pain for the rest of her life filled her with creeping dread.
So she hoped—
She hoped the saintess would tell her she was wrong.
But…
“Miracles always demand someone’s sacrifice. I simply chose to make that someone myself.”
The saintess spoke with calm certainty.
“If giving up one life can achieve a great cause, what could be a cheaper bargain than that?”
