Though Kaniel believed Taeyon wouldn’t lie, he couldn’t imagine how Taeyon planned to deal with the swarming monsters.
“Kaniel, can you keep holding onto me?”
“What? Right now?”
“Yes.”
Kaniel stared blankly at Taeyon, who was making a request that didn’t fit the situation, but soon nodded. There was no way Taeyon would make an unreasonable request. For some reason, staying held like this must help with combat… or something. There had to be a reason.
Then Taeyon lifted him up.
‘Ah. He’s going to carry me and run away.’
Then just say so. Kaniel habitually wrapped his arms around Taeyon’s neck and clung tightly. If they were going to flee from now on, it would be easier to run while clinging close.
However, what happened next was completely different from what Kaniel had imagined.
Taeyon started walking leisurely.
“T-Taeyon?”
Monsters that had already swarmed in began prowling around the area. And having rushed over sensing the burst of magic only to find nothing to eat, they gradually grew excited and started rampaging. It was perhaps inevitable that their fury would transfer to Kaniel and Taeyon, the only ones nearby.
The eyes of the hyena-like monster charging at them with an irritated growl gleamed chillingly.
“There’ll be a loud noise. Don’t be afraid.”
As soon as those words ended, lightning struck. From the cloudless sky, dozens of bolts of lightning lashed the ground. Each time, violent thunder echoed in all directions.
KWANG!
KWANG! KWAANG!
In some places it struck just once, in others it struck five or six times in succession.
When Kaniel, who had squeezed his eyes shut in surprise, opened them again, black smoke was rising thickly all around. It was that black smoke that appeared when monsters died and their corpses scattered.
“Good heavens…”
Taeyon crossed through it as if nothing were amiss. He could hear the monsters’ cries and threatening growls with his ears, but when he turned his head to look, only black smoke remained there, dispersing.
“The monsters…”
“I won’t let them get close, so don’t worry.”
Monsters were dying all around them.
If he possessed such a powerful ability, why hadn’t he used it much until now? When fighting monsters, Taeyon preferred to use his sword over his ability. It seemed he didn’t use his ability unless it was absolutely necessary or when there were too many enemies to deal with one by one.
As Kaniel pondered this, he recalled a conversation he’d had with Taeyon about abilities before.
‘It’s not exactly amazing. The penalty is severe.’
In the first village they’d visited, the rabbit beastkin had said something like that to Kaniel, who was gasping from excessive magic use.
‘Could he be doing this now because of ability use? What should I do in situations like this… Right, a Tuner! They said after using an ability, you need a Tuner!’
Was it a system where some penalty generated from ability use was resolved through an existence called a Tuner? If so, now without a Tuner, using his ability so freely like this would be a problem…
“Taeyon, is it okay to use your ability so recklessly like this?”
Then Taeyon looked down at him with gentle eyes.
“Right now it’s fine.”
“Right now… you say?”
“Right now my ability wavelength isn’t rampaging.”
“What happens when your ability wavelength rampages?”
“My nerves become on edge, and every stimulus around me feels amplified. Touch, smell, sight, hearing—everything.”
“Then…”
That must be really hard.
Thinking this, Kaniel looked up at Taeyon worriedly.
“Then I go berserk and rampage. But.”
Taeyon pulled the arm holding Kaniel toward himself, embracing him even more tightly. The area where their skin touched expanded, and Kaniel’s cheek touched Taeyon’s nape.
“Right now it’s fine. Really.”
He wanted to ask why it was fine right now, but somehow Taeyon looked so satisfied that it was difficult to ask further. Kaniel decided to let it slide, thinking, ‘Even if he explained, I probably wouldn’t understand anyway.’
That was also because he too felt good and peaceful right now. He’d escaped the situation of being dragged off to become a slave, and he’d reunited with Taeyon, whom he thought he might never see again.
Thinking that everything had returned to normal, a pleasant fatigue washed over him. Kaniel entrusted his entire body to Taeyon and just blinked his eyes to look around.
Lightning was striking all around with loud crashes, yet only the two of them were wrapped in tranquility amidst it all.
It was truly a strange feeling.
‘Even though I’m using my ability like this, my body is perfectly fine.’
Taeyon fully savored the strange feeling. Each time he mercilessly struck down lightning and his wavelength tried to rampage, Kaniel absorbed those unstable parts.
Even without verification, he could tell this wasn’t the typical ‘Tuner’ method. In fact, receiving tuning simultaneously while using an ability was impossible.
If this had been possible, beastkin would have long ago sought ways to participate in combat bringing their Tuners along. Mock battles between knights might have evolved into a format done together with Tuners.
Taeyon had lifted Kaniel simply to protect him from the lightning while simultaneously seeking peace of mind. There was also the calculation that if he kept holding him, he could receive tuning immediately when he stopped using his ability.
But surprisingly, his ability wavelength stabilized in real-time. He’d thought Kaniel’s tuning worked in a unique way last time too, but the more he learned, the more astonishing it was.
Just what was Kaniel’s identity? Was this amazing feat possible simply because he was a mage?
‘Should I tell Kaniel?’
Taeyon’s reason, which had long pursued what was right, was telling him he should. Kaniel had the right as a Tuner to choose the ability user he wanted.
However, the selfish desire that Taeyon didn’t even know existed within him whispered that he wanted to hide Kaniel away in secret and keep him as a Tuner for himself alone. That if Kaniel, who could tune any ability user, learned the truth, he might want to choose a different ability user.
KWAGWAGWANG!!
Dozens of lightning bolts poured down on the location where five or six monsters had been, creating a tremendous roar. Startled, Kaniel reflexively clung even more tightly to Taeyon’s neck.
Then, amazingly, the unreasonable anger melted away like snow. Taeyon smiled bitterly, suppressing a hollow laugh. This was the first time since childhood that he’d had such difficulty controlling his emotions.
‘…To think I’d become like this…’
To be honest, Taeyon was currently expending a great deal of patience just suppressing his boiling desires. The desire to strip Kaniel bare and devour him thoroughly. He wanted to at least kiss him. If only he could press his lips to him, it felt like he could do anything.
But if he did that, the small mage squirming in his arms might flee in terror. Even for Taeyon, whose reason was half-clouded, he knew this should only happen after gaining Kaniel’s cooperation and building a proper relationship.
Above all, Taeyon had grown up receiving teachings at Oblyad Castle that discouraged contact not following proper procedures. Contact for helping others or for protection was fine, but contact to fulfill one’s own desires was an act that shouldn’t be done carelessly.
In fact, just holding Kaniel like this was already quite a violation of his family’s teachings for Taeyon.
But what did such things matter?
Taeyon, who had recently forced a proper lifestyle on Kaniel, now excluded not only Kaniel but himself from those old-fashioned rules.
He embraced Kaniel even more tightly.
My Tuner.
Nothing was more important to him than Kaniel right now. Even he hadn’t expected to have such thoughts. The saying that a beastkin before and after meeting their Tuner was a completely different person must have meant this.
Taeyon decided that no matter what happened, he would keep this man by his side.
EP 4. The Forest Hermit
The horde of monsters swarming toward the magic was endless. Because the massive magic had caused a huge explosion, it seemed to have drawn in even distant monsters.
So it wasn’t until the two had gotten quite far from where the magic stone had shattered that they could escape from the monsters. The lightning that had been falling ceaselessly gradually subsided, finally turning the last monster into black smoke.
“…But where are we?”
The fact that such a question only occurred to him after he thought they were safe showed he’d been tense the whole time.
Kaniel looked around.
While it was natural for the Surface’s scenery to be unfamiliar to Kaniel, this vicinity was even more so. Before being kidnapped, at least the colors of the grass and trees had been normal green like on the Floating Island, but here everything was silver-white.
It looked exactly as if snow had fallen.
“Orfar Forest. It’s quite far north from where we were.”
“North… Th-that’s why it’s so c-cold…”
Though it wasn’t actually snow, the temperature was as chilly as snowy weather. For Kaniel, who had been kidnapped right after bathing while lightly dressed, it was a temperature difficult to endure.
