Swamp Girl! Chapter 12

“So that’s how it is, everyone’s really gone through so much… I’m sorry I asked so lightly.”

Isn’t that way overdue! ‘Sorry’ ain’t gonna cut it. But for some reason, I thought it was good for me to hear about their pasts.

Knowing.
It was a heavy thing.
Knowing gave birth to chains, and chains made it hard to leave.
For those of us in the adventuring profession, that was a source of considerable fear.
Today we meet, tomorrow we part.
Maybe one of us will die. An immediate farewell.
In such a world, getting to know someone too well would bring nothing but pain. That was common knowledge.
So I tried to acquaint myself with the two of them as little as possible, for whatever reason I could come up with.

But, they wanted me to listen.
They wanted me to understand.

I guess that’s how they felt.
None of us knew what tomorrow would bring. That was why they wanted to be heard today.
Avoiding such thoughts was bad faith on my part.

“Then, last but not least, we have Chrissy!”

“Stop calling me ‘Chrissy’.”

She was just apologizing for asking lightly, and now she’s bouncing up and down to ask me? I don’t get this chick.
This was already way past girl talk.

“Ehh, isn’t it okay? Even when it’s that cute?”

“Don’t call it cute. ‘Chris’ will do, ‘Chris’.”

While I shut down a wilting Irene, I popped a bite of cake in my mouth. d.a.m.n, that’s good.

“Chris, then. Tell us. Honestly, I’m the most curious about your story. How should I put it — there’s something different, I can feel it.”

She was sharp.
Was that what I should be thinking?
Right now, I had a secret I wouldn’t tell anyone.
The truth is, I used to be a guy… yada yada. Just who the h.e.l.l’s going to believe that?
Then, I was worried about what would happen if someone did believe me. That made me hesitant to say anything regardless of the circ.u.mstances.
Irene aside, Aira, Palmira, or possibly Leon.
If I told them, would they forgive me in the end?

“I’m super curious about that too.”

“Me too.”

Even those two were watching me with gushing enthusiasm.
I guess — I should say it?
I’ve already heard the other two’s stories. So then.

“…Well, if that’s how it’s gonna be. Tomorrow, if we make it out safely, I’ll tell you.”

In the end, I dodged the question.

“Ehhhh… but if something happens tomorrow, we’ll never know.”
Aira pressed me, dissatisfied. She was right, so maybe I should.

“No, it’s not like that. I’d rather come back safe and sound tomorrow and tell you my story then.”

I smiled widely and gave her a wink that even I could tell was awkward.

…Even if I say so myself, I thought that was well-said.
For some reason, my heart ached dully, but I needed resolve. I’d have to say it. But if so, I wanted to choose the timing.

“We get it. Promise us.”

Palmira made a gallant display of understanding. When I looked at the other two, they nodded the same way.

“Of course. We’ll come back after a job well done.”

Still, with this timing, I couldn’t tell them what I really wanted to say: [Don’t die].

“There’s nothing we can do about it, so we’ll hold onto Chrissy’s story until tomorrow.”

It’s ’cause I don’t feel like telling you! I couldn’t help but think that if this loudmouth woman were to find out, I wouldn’t like the consequences.
I decided that if she pushed me tomorrow, I’d make up a fake story just for her.

“Okay, let’s talk about magic now, shall we?”

Irene got down to business as if she’d been itching to do so for a while.
Really, is she alright?
Somehow, my personal estimation of Irene was sinking to the same level as the frivolous man from earlier. Too unsettling.

“Anyway, I’ll first give you a simple explanation of magic before we get to the application.”

Finally…?
Given the way Irene was, there were no nerves or dancing around, but being able to listen to a talk on magic was quite a rare opportunity. It was considered a secret among secrets, after all.
I was more worried about whether it was alright to be doing this in such a casual setting.
Among the ordinary folk who took up adventuring, there was a strong perception that magic is a secret, incomprehensible art separate from everyday reality.
They sincerely believed that people would die as soon as they saw it manifest, and the magi who wield it were subjects of awe.
Like sages peering into the mysteries of the universe.

…Or so they expect. And hey, if you peel back the facade in reality, maybe they really are something like that.
When I asked for a refill, Irene poured me some more black tea as I stared at her in amazement, thinking such thoughts.

“Ahem, then, about magic. First of all, everyone, what do you think magic is?”

Clearing her throat in an effort to create the right mood, Irene began her talk with an unexpectedly philosophical topic.
For some reason, I had the feeling that this wasn’t going to end with “Magic = amazing power!”. It was a little disappointing.
What is magic?
…Alright, now that I was thinking about it, I didn’t really know what it is either. It’s not ‘Amazing power!’, is it?

“Amazing power.”

“Amazing power?”

“Amazing power.”

“You guys are breaking my heart here!”

When we were three for three on ‘amazing power’, Irene hit the desk in exasperation.
Huh, I might have been expecting a slightly different reaction.

“But we can’t help it. To be frank, even I’ve hardly seen magic before. Normally, when you say ‘magic’, that’s the only image that pops up.”

“…Well, so that’s it. Okay then, I guess there’s no helping it…”

The excitement drained out of her. With a vaguely downtrodden air, she took something from her breast pocket and placed it on the table.
A smooth red stone. It was roughly the size of the ring formed by pinching the index finger and thumb together. It didn’t exactly look like a worthless rock, but wasn’t it a little lacking in dazzle to be a jewel…?
It wasn’t ringing any bells, but I had the feeling I’d seen it before.

“What’s this?”

“It’s called a ‘invocation stone’. Essentially, the source of magic.”

Irene took the stone in her hand again. She opened her hand and recited a brief syllable.

“…ジ.”

“Wah, wahwah!”

At that moment, the red rock rose slightly into the air, emitting a dim light as it began to spin round and round.
Suddenly seeing a logic-defying power in person, Aira’s eyes widened with surprise. Of course I was surprised too. And in a rare instance, even Palmira’s face was stiff with shock.

“Now, I’ve entered a state in which I can use magic. Therefore…”

Working toward some arcane purpose, Irene swiftly moved her left index finger as if inscribing something in the air. A small light burned at her fingertip, leaving behind a trail. The trail of light stayed suspended in the air, forming shapes like characters.
As if that wasn’t strange enough, once Irene finished the second character in the string, she let out an “Ei” and stuck her finger directly into a stupefied Aira’s mouth.

“Mmggh!?”

Aira’s eyes snapped open in response to the unexpected event. It was too much for her — she didn’t know how to react.
At which point Irene grinned and immediately pulled her finger out of Aira’s mouth.

“Okay, application complete.”

Upon hearing her voice, dumbfounded Aira suddenly clapped her hands over her ears. At the same time, her face became incredibly agitated.

“O–Oi, Aira, are you okay?”

“That voice…”

When I called out to Aira, who didn’t seem like her usual self, that was all she said. Her face was pale.

“That voice? …Or maybe I should be asking what you’ve done to her.”

I closed in on Irene, just about ready to chew her out.
Irene took the floating red stone in her grasp again and raised both hands apologetically.

“Whoa there, whoa. I’ll explain right now, so calm down, okay?”

Even Irene looked uncomfortable before my menacing att.i.tude, and she began to explain right away.

“Just now, I cast magic on Airi to… That’s right, you heard my voice double, didn’t you? So, umm–”

This time touching the tip of her finger to her own mouth, Irene looked at Aira without a word. As I watched, Aira, still pale and with her hands over her ears, nodded in agreement.

“…Uh–uhm. Yes, I did.”

At this point, Irene used the fingers of her other hand to cover Aira’s mouth.
Her eyes near tears, Aira nodded several times and squeezed her eyes shut.

The h.e.l.l?

I’d been watching them like that for a while, when, as if something had come to an end, Aira opened her eyes. Trembling all over, she broke into a half-confused smile.

“Yep, just now, I used my magic to talk to Airi telepathically, without using our voices.”

Eh–?
Surprised, I look at Aira. Still smiling in confusion, she returned my look and gave me an emphatic nod.

“Big Sister, it looks, um, it looks like I’ve become a mage…”

“By the way, the content of our earlier conversation was [The color of Chris’s underwear today is blue].”

“What the h.e.l.l is with your choice of topic, you two.”

Don’t tarnish the dignity of magic by using it for that sort of shameful conversation. Wait, were they blue today? No, more importantly, why would Aira know that?
Or rather, forget that, Aira’s a mage? As of just now?

“Mm, to be more precise, you might say I used magic to make it possible for her? Basically…”

Based on what she was saying, although we use the catch-all term ‘magic’, the range of magic a magus could use varied from person to person.
Come to think of it, she mentioned it earlier, but she was apparently a magus specializing in enchantment.
Enchantment, in simple terms, was magic that can confer magical power onto something else. In this case, she gave Aira the ability of telepathy.
Incidentally, it seemed to only work on objects. In the beginning, when she stuck her finger in Aira’s mouth, she enchanted Aira’s molars.

“The accepted theory is that this type of magic anchors itself in the molars when cast on a person.”

When she put it that way, all I could do was agree with a ‘So that’s how it works.’
At the edge of my vision, Palmira was delicately consoling Aira, who was disappointed to learn that she hadn’t exactly become a mage herself. Well, if it were that easy, the world would be overflowing with mages, I think.

“Anyway, you get it? With this, even if your voice doesn’t reach far enough, you can still talk to someone over a distance. ”

Ah, come to think of it, that was the point of this talk. I remembered.
Basically, if we received this enchantment, then even if we were caught as slaves tomorrow, we’d be able to communicate without giving ourselves away.
Plus, it was quite rea.s.suring. I didn’t know the finer points of what we were supposed to do after making it inside. If we were in constant communication, then even in irregular situations, there was a high chance they’d be able to give us support.
I was struck by how amazing magic was all over again.
And besides, I had a feeling that this magic had even more possibilities to offer.

“By the way, the effects wear off over the course of a day, so I’ll be recasting it on you before we set out tomorrow.”

At those words, Aira took even more of a shock.
Seems like she thought that, becoming a mage aside, at least this ability would be permanent.
Yeah, that’s too good to be true.

–

–

In the end, by the time I realized that Irene had barely explained anything about magic, dinner was over and I was lying in bed.
For example, if there’s such a thing as specialization, there must be specializations other than enchantment, right?
If there are, then what are they?
What’s the source of magical power? Reasonably speaking.
And what, ultimately, was that invocation stone?

It was at that point that I suddenly remembered.
Getting up from the bed, I picked up the tattered pouch I left on top of the chest. Then I took that mysterious red stone out from it.

This was an invocation stone.

I felt it when I saw Irene’s. Was this the truth behind my feeling of déjà vu? I didn’t remember at the time because the shapes were so different. Compared to that smooth stone, this one was pretty jagged and irregular.
But that smooth crimson, that alone was unquestionably the same.

“Hmmm.”

With only the moonlight illuminating the room, I examined the red stone from different angles. Where did that slaver get his hands on it?
Where does this red stone come from in the first place?
Irene called it a ‘source of magic’, but when I thought about it some more, I realized that I didn’t know anything other than that. Just that it was related to the use of magic.
Just for fun, I placed it in the palm of my hand the way Irene did.

…Nothing happened. Well, duh.

No no, come to think of it, Irene chanted something briefly back then.
I’m sure it was a single syllable,

“ジ.”

I tried making a sound along those lines.
…Nothing happened.
Well, that’s life. I suddenly felt embarra.s.sed. Just as I was about to put the stone back onto the chest, I squeezed it.

In that moment, my vision jolted.

“Eh…?”

Surprised, I opened my hand.
The red stone was shining. The same way as before.
Unable to grasp what was happening, I stared at the stone in my hand.

“–!!”

Again, my vision shook.

Before I could finish thinking ‘What?’, the red stone didn’t rise into the air and spin, but rather began to sink into the palm of my hand.

“Woah–!?”

Fl.u.s.tered, I swung my hand around in an attempt to throw the stone away. No matter how frantic I became, the stone continued to steadily sink into my hand.
It didn’t hurt. But that made it even more repulsive.

“Uh–uaahh!?”

While I panicked, unable to do a thing, the stone vanished into my palm.
It didn’t leave a single mark. Even the light was gone.

“Haahh–, haahh–”

Not even a few moments after that hair-raising experience, I suddenly broke into a sweat, and my breath grew rough.
What the h.e.l.l? This feels disgusting.
I tried rubbing the palm that had absorbed the invocation stone. At least I didn’t feel the rock sitting inside.

“…?”

But something felt out of place. Something wasn’t right–!

“Gaha–!?”

The moment I turned my hand over, my vision jolted once more.
Unconsciously, I covered my eyes with the other hand. From the cracks between my fingers, I saw it.
The back of my hand.
Some kind of pattern had appeared on it, radiating blue light. Round, and labyrinthine.
What is this?
The changes occurring in my body one after another sent shudders running through me.

“Guh–!”

My vision doubled.
The intervals were getting shorter.
Before I could finish forming the thought, zuu–, a blue line emerged from the circle and began to snake up my arm, past my elbow, to my shoulder.

“Uwa–uwaaaahh–?!!”

Half-distracted, my eyes followed after it, but when the blue light reached my shoulder, it drew yet another copy of the pattern and then disappeared toward my back.

“Aahh–??!!”

My vision blurred, much worse than before.
This time, it didn’t stop there, but projected the same blue pattern onto my field of vision. It spun round and round before my eyes, a mutating puzzle.

“Uyaaaahhhh!?”

Screaming, I pressed both my hands against my eyes. But it didn’t go away.
An overwhelming terror seized my heart.

“AAAAAAHHH!”

My consciousness scattering to the four winds, I collapsed where I stood.
At the very end, for a single moment, I glimpsed the door to the room slam open and Leon burst inside.

Author’s Notes
It seems long and relatively difficult to digest.

Last time, when I wrote something like “The ratings — !”, the ratings increased further.
I can’t get past how it was like I was demanding them.
But still, I’m incredibly grateful.
Because this time there were first impressions included too, I was very excited.