Magic Scavenger Part 1 Chapter 12

 Chapter 12: Before Dawn

"Do you know why I was faster than that man and faster than you too?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Well, that's because..."

Because of the mysterious man's surprise attack, half the mercenaries had joined in on the interrogation.

The remaining half were supposed to sleep inside the mercenaries' tent, for the safety of the battlefield-scavenger kids but only Kanata, the one who'd actually tried to deal with the sudden trouble himself, ended up waiting alongside Griare for the interrogation to finish.

Griare leaned her face in close to Kanata's and spoke to him in a low murmur.

"Um, so it's about concentrating mana in whatever part you specifically want to reinforce...?"

"That's right. Just now, I concentrated it in both legs to boost my speed. It's easy to say but hard to actually do. If you're not used to extremely reinforced muscle strength, you will lose your balance.

If your mana manipulation isn't perfect, balance is the least of your worries. You end up feeling like you're carriage-sick."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh... why are you talkin' so quiet?"

"If Uval happened to overhear, that'd be a problem, wouldn't it. Keep your own voice down a bit too."

While they waited behind Uval's tent for the interrogation to finish, Kanata was learning the next stage of mana manipulation from Griare.

Until just a little while ago, Griare had treated him as a kid saddled with a dangerous, not-quite-understood thing called magic. But today, with Kanata managing to act on reflex and helping to save the other kids, though clumsy as it was, her assessment of him had shifted a little.

"Even judging from your movements just now, you're doing pretty well with full-body mana manipulation. Knowing you, you probably practiced every single day even after getting scolded back at the inn."

Kanata's expression froze. Griare had hit the nail right on the head.

Until today, with no Rubbish to collect and no other hobby to speak of, that had been about the only thing Kanata really had to do.

"NUH UH. I DUNNO NOTHIN'."

"Relax. I never expected you kids to follow every single thing I said from the start. You were probably bored on the trip from town too... if you'd actually caused trouble, I'd have left you behind for it. But you didn't so I'll let it go."

Even as she said "I'll let it go," Griare grabbed Kanata's cheek and pulled it upward.

"Y-you shaid you'd let ish go!?"

"That's a separate matter. I just got annoyed that you don't listen to what I say."

"Sho unfair!"

For a little while, Kanata's cheek was Griare's plaything, until she finally let go.

As Kanata rubbed his pinched cheek with his hand, Griare went right back to the topic of mana manipulation, like nothing had happened at all.

"Even at a moment like that, if you concentrate mana in your face, you can dull the pain to some degree."

"Eh, tellin' me that now is so unfair..."

"Adults are unfair creatures. Go on, try it."

Griare gestured with her chin but Kanata covered his cheek with his hand, a little wary.

"One more time... you gonna pinch me again...?"

"I'm not going to pinch you. Anywhere works, as long as it's a spot that's easy to focus on."

"Good... 「Select」"

Kanata chanted the spell and focused his mind.

Already, in Kanata's own mind, it had gone from being some mysterious phrase to being a spell.

It had become a switch that turned him from someone who could do nothing into someone who could actually use mana.

"........."

Griare furrowed her brow, looking puzzled, and watched the whole thing in silence.

She wasn't surprised that he had mana in the first place. The real question was why he'd suddenly become able to use magic at all without going through the proper stages.

Griare still couldn't shake the shock of seeing Kanata burn his sleeping bag that day.

"L-like this?"

Kanata's question snapped her back to herself with a start.

Right in front of her, Kanata had mana concentrated in his hand.

"Ah, yes... you're doing it. Not bad at all."

"Yay... the hand's somehow easy to do, huh."

"Whether it's easy or not depends on the person. For you, your hand is probably just a spot where mana's easy to sense or easy to control."

"Heh..."

Kanata looked at his hand, completely black with charcoal, and smiled.

The way he lit up over having one more thing he could do was about as childlike as it gets.

"Tch... 's what I figured."

"!!"

Maybe he'd finished the interrogation, because Uval came out of the tent. Startled by his voice, Kanata hurriedly reined in his mana.

Maybe because Griare herself was giving off mana as part of standing guard, it seemed like nobody had noticed Kanata had been using his at all.

"Kanata. Lemme hear it for a sec."

"Y-yes!"

Uval crouched down with a stern look on his face, meeting Kanata's eyes at his level. Kanata was the only one who'd been kept behind, naturally, since he was pretty much the one person who'd single-handedly stopped things from getting worse.

But Kanata, faced with that terrifying expression of Uval's, found himself snapping his back straight even though he hadn't done anything wrong at all.

A closer look showed traces of blood scattered around and he was too scared to even ask what had gone on inside the tent. Kanata's tension climbed even higher and he swallowed hard without even realizing he was doing it.

"You know what that man who came at us today was actually doing?"

"Eh, um... I don't really know but he was tryin' to do somethin' to Roa... so I jumped at him..."

"Just Roa?"

"Y-yeah... I think so, at least..."

"How'd you know he was the enemy?"

"T-the campfire went out... and I figured if it was you or one of the other mercenaries, you wouldn't do somethin' like that..."

Hearing that much, Uval let out a deep sigh and grabbed Kanata's head firmly.

Not knowing what was about to happen to him, Kanata flinched, shoulders trembling and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Well done."

"...Eh?"

At the sound of Uval's voice, Kanata opened his eyes.

"Everyone else was asleep but you were awake. Good on you."

"Y-yeah, on nights I pick up Rubbish, I always... stay up lookin' at it so..."

"Ha! Stayin' up starin' at trash, that's what it was?! First time that hobby of yours has actually been useful, huh?!"

"W-w-whoa"

Uval ruffled his hair roughly, messing it up completely and Kanata's whole head wobbled with it.

It was rough enough that his vision swam and wouldn't settle but somehow, Kanata couldn't bring himself to mind it at all.

"Griare. Come morning, we're marchin' right into that pig's camp."

"Understood."

"Contract's off, damn it. Good thing I hadn't touched the advance payment."

Uval's face twisted with annoyance as he glared at the Danres camp, visible off in the distance.

Mercenaries are hired with money... but that doesn't mean they'll accept just anything for the right price.