“A cursed one. Look, he’s wearing a hood. He’s doing that to hide that he has no ears.”
“Cursed…!”
“Don’t come any closer.”
Taeyon had said there was no such thing as cursed ones. He’d said it was superstition. He wasn’t even a beastkin to begin with, but if that was just an absurd discriminatory remark, there was even less reason to be hurt by such words.
Because he didn’t want to deal with them and fight, Kaniel obediently stopped at a somewhat distant spot.
“Wait, that’s all nonsense.”
“That’s right. They’re not cursed, they were born that way because they have an ancestor from long ago who married a human.”
The ones who stepped forward were two small rabbit beastkin. The two children with sharp-looking impressions crossed their arms with fierce expressions.
The deer beastkin sneered mockingly.
“So that means they’re cursed. Humans are an extinct race. Plus they were warmongers and perverts in heat 365 days a year. Having ancestors like that is being cursed, isn’t it?”
“By that logic, mister, you’d have cursed blood too. All beastkin have human blood mixed in.”
“What? Are you done talking? You’re saying I have human blood mixed in?”
The deer beastkin puffed up his muscles and shouted threateningly. Yet the two young rabbit beastkin weren’t frightened at all.
“That beastkin have human blood mixed in is written in the latest thesis from Oblyad Castle. It’s official information.”
“…How do you kids know that?”
“Because we’re trainees from Oblyad Castle.”
At those words, the beastkin murmured. The title of trainees from Oblyad Castle seemed to form trust toward the children, and the way they looked at them changed.
Even the deer beastkin who’d been acting rough closed his mouth.
The rabbit beastkin who snorted “Hmph” grabbed Kaniel’s hand and pulled him inside the group.
“Hyung, it’s okay so come here.”
“…Thank you.”
It was a strange feeling.
Different from when Taeyon had comforted him earlier saying it was just superstition, he felt a ticklish sensation inside his chest.
That’s when it happened.
Crash! With the sound of something breaking, Taeyon’s body soared into the air.
The moment that sight entered his eyes, even knowing he wouldn’t be helpful at such a scene, his body almost reflexively jumped out. He didn’t because Taeyon nimbly rotated his body and landed lightly. He didn’t seem hurt anywhere.
Following that, the bear somehow screamed, then turned its body and swung its front paw at Taeyon. Taeyon dodged by lowering his body, then rather charged toward the bear.
And shortly after, behind Taeyon who pulled out his body, the bear tumbled.
“…What just happened?”
“Hyung’s eyes are bad too. That knight just sliced the bear’s knees swish swish.”
“Really? The knees?”
At the story that Taeyon had really attacked the part he’d mentioned, Kaniel’s cheeks flushed with excitement. He believed what I said. And it worked!
“Yeah. Then that bear monster couldn’t walk properly. Now killing it is just a matter of time.”
Thank goodness. Kaniel breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thanks for explaining.”
“Not at all!”
With the relief that the danger had all passed, fatigue seemed to wash over him. Kaniel was pushing back his hood slightly to get some air when he suddenly noticed someone was looking this way.
It was on the cliff. A giant white wolf was standing on the cliff. Its appearance shining with a bluish tint in the moonlight was fantastically mysterious, so Kaniel unconsciously stared blankly at that sight.
Then it was the moment his eyes met the white wolf’s. The white wolf’s eyes suddenly glowed red. A chilling shiver ran down his back. The fist he’d unconsciously clenched was covered in sweat. Kaniel, who’d been holding his breath without realizing it, stepped back as if released from shackles and drew in a breath when the white wolf blinked.
An instinctive sense that something was wrong surged up.
“Wolves! There are more wolf monsters!”
Suddenly the battle scene side became noisy.
A gray wolf monster that had lightly jumped over the wooden fence charged at Taeyon. That wasn’t all. Following that, one more jumped into the market interior and began running toward where Kaniel was.
The guard members seemed too busy dealing with their respective badger monsters, and only civilians were here.
What should I do?
Should I step forward?
But can I use magic?
What if I collapse again?
While his head was in confusion and he stood frozen, the rabbit beastkin who’d said he was a trainee from Oblyad Castle drew his sword with a determined expression. The rabbit beastkin blocked the gray wolf beastkin’s front paws several times. Each time the front paw wearing no weapon clashed with the iron sword, a metallic sound of “Chaeng” rang out and sparks flew.
However, that was only for a moment. After the offense and defense continued about five or six times, the rabbit beastkin was pushed back by the force and tumbled.
“Kugh…!”
The gray wolf monster raised its front paw high as if to trample the rabbit beastkin.
In that instant, his body moved on its own. He had no leisure to do things like think.
Kaniel rushed in front and spread both arms.
I hate pain. I’m scared. His heart trembled at the thought that it might hurt horribly enough to make him faint.
But right now, rather than such things, only the thought that he had to protect this small rabbit boy who’d defended him filled his head.
“<A barrier to protect allies…!>”
Protective barrier magic swelled greatly from Kaniel’s hands and enveloped all the gathered civilians.
Crash!!
The gray wolf monster’s front paw struck the protective barrier. The barrier shook and became slightly hazy, then became clear again. However, that wasn’t the end. The gray wolf monster raised its front paw several more times toward the protective barrier. But each time, the claws only scraped violently over the protective barrier and slipped.
“It doesn’t… hurt…?”
Kaniel opened his tightly shut eyes. After coming down to the surface, when using mana, the pain that had tormented him several times didn’t come at all.
Come to think of it, a few days ago when I gathered mana in my hand, it was fine too. Did the conditions for pain to come not get fulfilled this time either?
At the situation that made his resolved courage meaningless, Kaniel grinned. What did the reason matter? Right now, he was happy about the fact that he wouldn’t immediately lose consciousness. Because he could protect the beastkin behind him.
Crash, crash, each time the gray wolf monster struck down the protective barrier, claw marks appeared on the barrier and sparks flew. Each time, mana wore down quickly to repair the damaged parts, but it was still okay. Fortunately, the amount of mana accumulated over the past few days was considerable.
Taeyon will come before the mana runs out.
When he turned his head to check, Taeyon was just about to behead the gray wolf monster that had blocked his path. He just needed to hold on a little longer.
It was when mage Kaniel glared at the gray wolf monster with a confident expression.
“Ugh…?”
Kaniel groaned lowly in surprise at the pain that subtly pressed down on his ribs. It resembled the pain he’d felt when using mana before, but it was a faint sensation that could be called about 1/100th compared to that.
Crash!! The moment the gray wolf monster struck down violently on the protective barrier once more, the pain suddenly intensified. Pressure to the degree of making it slightly hard to breathe.
If the pain intensified with each attack like this, he might not be able to hold on long. It was a crisis. But at the same time, it was also an opportunity to reveal why pain came every time he used mana, why it hurt sometimes and didn’t hurt other times.
It was certain that this pain was related to mana. It had been fine while coming down from the Floating Island to the surface. Then the first pain came while giving mana to the horned bat monster after landing on the surface. The second time was when he used magic to prove to Taeyon that he was a mage.
And several days after that, when he tried gathering mana in his hand, it didn’t hurt. It was also okay when he first created the protective barrier.
But the pain was deepening each time the gray wolf monster struck the protective barrier.
There was only one conclusion.
It’s the amount of mana.
The mana on the surface was heavier than on the Floating Island. Sometimes his body felt heavy to the point where just walking made him out of breath. That much mana was always pressing down on his body, and the force enduring it was the mana inside his body.
When he used magic and mana decreased, the enduring force weakened, and eventually the body became crushed by mana.
The amount of mana remaining now was about half.
So on the surface, if he didn’t maintain more than half of his total mana, pain would come.
“Kugh…!”
He was happy to have found the cause of the pain, but right now he couldn’t conserve mana. Kaniel endured the pain as if crushing him and maintained the protective barrier.
From some point on, he closed his eyes entirely and concentrated only on magic.
Just a little more.
Let’s endure just a little bit more….
Please.
“Kaniel.”
“……”
“Kaniel!”
It was Taeyon who shook Kaniel’s shoulder. When he came to his senses, the gray wolf demonic beast that had been attacking him was dead and gone.
“It’s over now.”
“Really…?”
“Yeah. So you can stop now.”
All the strength drained from his body. Taeyon caught Kaniel, who’d stopped the protective barrier magic and was staggering about to collapse.
