Dark Fantasy Normalized – Chapter 57

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

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

“Pien, of course I wouldn’t know. I was asleep, after all.”

“…”

Haa.

Pien, who had been gazing into the distance with a meaningful expression, sighed as she looked at me with cold eyes.

“It was nice for a fortnight, you know.”

“Fortnight? Goodness. Amazingly, that perfectly overlaps with the time I was out cold! Pien, what kind of fun did you have while I was suffering in my slumber?”

“You’re talking about suffering? Lying in bed being pampered by others is no suffering at all!”

“…Wait!”

At that moment, I realized a shocking fact.

I looked at Pien with a surprised face.

“What? Is your body not feeling well or something!?”

“No, that’s not it… Pien, I’m certain of it. I did lie down for a fortnight.”

“Was there something important that happened? Come on, tell me now. It might not be too late.”

“No, nothing like that. You see, if I was lying down for a fortnight, that means I couldn’t have eaten or drunk anything during that time, right? How did I survive?”

Slap.

Pien covered her face with both hands.

Considering her size, one hand would have sufficed.

“Am I really this stupid… I know worrying is a waste of time, but why do I keep…”

“Love is supposed to be stronger than hate, right?”

Pien looked at me with a sympathetic gaze.

“Of course. You’ve got a lot bottled up inside after two weeks.”

“Pien, if someone heard this, they might think I’m expelling toxic waste or something.”

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

Pien stared into the distance with a misty look in her eyes.

“I’ll never forget the days that felt like a dream, when you kept your mouth shut.”

“The emotional depth is quite something… Fine. For Pien’s sake, I’ll try to sink into a coma as often as possible.”

“Really? What am I supposed to do with my happiness?”

Pien turned her back and headed for the door.

“Going out?”

“That seems like a good idea, but I need to deal with a few things first.”

“What things?”

Pien left without answering.

A moment later, she returned 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 “I’m totally touched.”

However, perhaps my feelings didn’t come across, as Pien made a disgusted face.

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

“Oh, you brought this for yourself?”

“…It would have been better if you were mistaken.”

Pien set the tray on the small table in the corner of the room and then awkwardly moved the table next to the bed.

Hoo.

Pien took a deep breath and swept her bangs back with the back of her hand.

I thought about how such an energetic girl could act like a sickly one.

After setting up the makeshift dining table, Pien sat back in the chair by the bed and asked.

“Tell me. How do you feel?”

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

First and foremost.

The pain that almost gave me eternal sleep came to mind.

It felt like my body was collapsing.

The agony of skin splitting, eyeballs popping out, and insides and airways melting down.

“Ugh—”

Just imagining it triggered a strong rejection from my body.

Fortunately, that was all I felt. The pain of overload was no longer present.

At least for now.

“And then?”

Pien pressed me for my next response.

“And then…”

Regrettably, the disappearance of pain didn’t mean my body had returned to a perfect state.

How should I express this?

It brought to mind the image of a game character with full HP but exhausted stamina.

“I don’t have any particular discomfort, but I feel like I’m just lacking energy?”

“…”

Pien nodded her head.

“Just as that person said.”

“That person?”

“Barodros. The high priest who helped you out.”

High priest.

I hadn’t paid much attention back then due to the chaos, but now that I thought about it, his status was quite significant.

In the enormous group known as the priesthood, only a handful would hold a position higher than a high priest.

“Wow. What a world we live in. Me, a nobody, getting mixed up with someone esteemed like a high priest.”

“Aren’t you the one who used to hang out with masters and visited the mage tower like it was your home?”

“Oh.”

I had momentarily forgotten.

Come to think of it, mage tower masters were quite high-ranking individuals as well.

I recalled the time when a master from the Blue Mage Tower, invited to our family, was engaging in a tense stare-off with the head of the Bendel family.

Even in front of a respectable noble family head, the mages could keep their composure.

“Huh.”

Suddenly, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Did the bastard child of that time know that one day I would associate with such remarkable people?

“So, what did that high priest say?”

“He said that while your physical issues may be resolved, you won’t be able to escape the depletion of your vitality.”

In other words, my HP was full, but my stamina was at zero.

What I felt and what the high priest observed matched perfectly.

“He said until your vitality is fully restored, operating mana, not to mention handling your physical body, will be inconvenient.”

“Did he tell you how to restore that vitality?”

“Yes. It was a very cliché method, but he did share it with me.”

“Is it something like eat well and rest?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Pien handed me the bowl of porridge and a spoon.

I replied as I accepted it.

“Did you make this yourself?”

Pien avoided my gaze as she said.

“I tried.”

“Tried?”

“It burned while I was distracted for just a moment. The ingredients were the problem.”

“…”

What did she use as the raw materials? The eternal flames of wrath?

I had never seen a chef blame the ingredients for burnt food before.

“What’s with that look? Do you have something to say?”

“No. I just thought the ingredients must be terrible to steal my chance to eat your cooking. Is this what they call a food thief?”

As I spoke, I checked the consistency of the porridge with my spoon.

It was neither too watery nor too thick, showcasing a touch of craftsmanship.

“So, what’s this porridge?”

“Master Didoa came over and prepared a pot for you.”

“Oh.”

An alchemist—truly, a master of potions.

I immediately understood why the porridge was so perfect.

“It was quite a scene. I had to remind her not to prepare a feast like it was a festival and then nearly stop her from boiling almost an entire pot of porridge.”

Thinking about Master Didoa, who kept bringing cups and cookies to the lab, made me smile for no reason.

“Can you eat it now?”

“Yeah, I think my body is fine. I feel my appetite returning.”

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

“What? You’re not going to feed me?”

“Tch.”

Pien clicked her tongue in disgust—

As if she had been waiting, she took the bowl from my hands.

“Ugh, what do you think of me?”

“No, if you hate it that much, you don’t have to—”

“Again. Again. You want to make me the bad guy, don’t you? Fine, just open your mouth.”

Pien scooped some porridge with a spoon.

Then, she blew gently on it, cooling it down before offering it to me.

“How’s that?”

Pien watched my reaction with a strangely tense posture.

“It’s a normally delicious porridge. But since you fed it to me, it tastes even better.”

“Ugh. You really know how to get under my skin.”

While Pien looked disgusted, she faithfully moved the porridge to my mouth.

As my mouth became busy chewing, Pien filled the silence.

“Continuing from that, the high priest said you were originally supposed to be a dead person.”

“Huh? (A dead person?)”

“He said that if a regular person filled a jar with elixir and chugged it all down in one go, they’d end up in a state similar to yours. It was so serious that it would be nonsensical to still be living. If things had gone normally, he wouldn’t have been able to save himself either—”

“Huh? (I knew my situation was serious, but was it that serious? By the way, what’s this about ‘if things had gone normally, he wouldn’t have saved himself’—how am I even alive now?)”

“And yet, the reason you’re here, alive and well, is solely thanks to the absurd thing you did.”

“Huh? (Absurd thing?)”

Just then, Pien looked at me and burst into laughter.

“Learning the Blue Breath in place… what kind of wizard saves themselves like that?”

“…Did the high priest say that? If it weren’t for that, I’d be dead?”

“He clearly stated it wasn’t enough just to restrain the overflowing mana. If you hadn’t strengthened your body with mana, your physical form would have surely collapsed.”

“…”

A chill ran down my spine.

Death was right next to me.

“Did he mention what I should do going forward?”

Pien nodded her head.

“The high priest asked why you suffered such extreme overload. So, I had no choice but to mention your abnormal mana growth.”

“And then?”

“He said there’s a high chance this could happen again in the future.”

“So, I should keep up with physical strengthening from now on?”

“Exactly.”

“…Since I’ve grasped the Blue Breath, does that mean I should also study swordsmanship?”

“Ricir, have you ever heard of someone who wields both sword and magic?”

A magic swordsman.

Now it was practically a cliché combination.

That’s how it would look if I projected my modern memories.

But from the perspective of this world—

“Not really.”

It was extremely rare for someone to handle both magic and sword.

“Isn’t that right? Why do you think that is?”

“Because they can’t appreciate romance?”

Pien hurriedly shoved a spoonful of porridge into my mouth.

She probably didn’t mean to imply I should keep quiet, but maybe I looked really hungry.

“The harmonization with mana is a task more delicate than anything else. No matter how excellent a mage or warrior is, if they become complacent, they’ll quickly dull. And to handle two powers of completely different natures at the same time? It’s the pinnacle of inefficiency. Walking both the path of magic and the path of the sword is quite the arrogant venture. So, the high priest expressed deep concern. The Blue Breath was surely a wonderful temporary remedy, but it could cause serious obstacles to your future.”

“…So?”

“So we said, it’s probably nothing to worry about.”

Pien chuckled as if she found it absurd even on her own as she spoke to me.

“Isn’t that right?”

“…I’ll do my best to meet expectations.”

Did the me who had just become a mage know that one day I would need to switch classes to a magic swordsman to survive?

Pien fed me spoonfuls of porridge while also passing on most of the information I needed to know and the details I was curious about.

“Oh, so this is where I am? An inn in the mage tower?”

“Yes. It’s a room given to important guests at the tower.”

As the bottom of the bowl became visible, I was left with just one last question.

“Pien. Can I ask one last thing?”

“I was just about to mention it. Why did the mage tower suddenly want to confer the honorary title of mage to you?”

“Exactly.”

The apprentice mages of the tower.

If they were flaunting around saying, ‘I’m a mage from the tower~’, there would definitely be some people surprising them from behind.

Those would be the official mages of the tower.

One had to go through an apprenticeship process to be recognized as a true mage of the tower.

It might seem trivial considering the one step of progress, but there were countless mages who spent over a decade without overcoming that single phase.

In fact, it was common to come across autobiographies in the libraries I frequently visited that detailed the hardship of not becoming an official mage, illustrating just how tough it was to attain official status.

That was the reason I had adamantly refused the offer from Sir Meltas to become a scholar of the tower.

While I could handle magic, someone without any theoretical knowledge might meet their end right at the apprenticeship stage.

But lo and behold.

Suddenly, they were telling me to become an official mage instead of a support role.

It was akin to being told there was a PhD position available at Stanford just by asking if there were jobs.

“Pien, is it common for such things to happen?”

“Are you asking if it’s common for an outsider magician, with no affiliation to any faction or family, to be given the honorary title of mage in a tower notorious for excluding outsiders and looking down on commoners?”

Just as Pien said, it was unfathomable based on the tower’s societal reputation.

Before Pien would clarify things further, I tried to deduce the reason myself.

“Searching for black mages… Fighting against Gerhen… Grasping the Blue Breath in real time…”

I had an inkling, but that wasn’t enough to explain why the tower showed signs of ‘impatience’.

In the end, giving up on figuring it out myself, I was about to inquire about it with Pien when—

*Knock knock.*

I heard a knock at the door.

“Ricir, are you awake yet?”

It was Sir Meltas’ voice.

His tone was unusually unnatural today, as if he didn’t want me to respond.

Of course, I couldn’t ignore Sir Meltas just based on one feeling.

“Yes, Sir Meltas. Please come in.”

“…”

Hoo.

I could hear Sir Meltas’ sigh from outside the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened, revealing Sir Meltas, wearing his distinctive gray robe denoting his status as the master of the Gray Mage Tower and a reggae-haired elder behind him.

Then—

“Huh?”

Figures clad in blue and green robes followed behind them.

At that moment.

Pien leaned in closer to me and whispered softly in my ear.

– Do you see those two?

– The tower is starting to feel anxious about losing you.

The offer for the honorary title of mage.

The underlying meaning was simply ‘Get the hell out of the way! That’s mine!’