Chapter 93 - Dispatch (2)

“Has the equipment been serving you well?”

Morrigan brought it up the moment they arrived at the combat training grounds.

“Yes. It’s been an enormous help.”

Naturally, that was his answer.

He had easily overwhelmed the imperial prince in their recent battle, but that had less to do with Aiden’s own skill than with his thorough preparations.

And no one could honestly call Aether’s contribution small.

Even without using all its functions properly, the mere fact that it maximized the efficiency of the supernatural power imbued into it had contributed enormously to boosting his base stats.

“Then, as its maker, I should explain its functions in more detail.”

“Pardon?”

Hadn’t Sier made this? As Aiden tilted his head at the thought, Morrigan continued her explanation impassively.

“The intermediate material processing and finishing were performed at the Workshop run by that elf, but I was the one who actually ‘made’ Aether, Master.”

... Aha.

Come to think of it, hadn’t Sier said that while he handled the Mana processing, he outsourced the final production to someone else?

Aiden remembered the Workshop’s proprietor treating Morrigan as someone exceedingly special, finding it difficult even to speak of her.

Now that he had seen her, he understood why.

‘Because she’s part dragon.’

Among all the demihuman races, dragons were unquestionably special.

They were the source of Mana, the energy that had ruled the continent before the gods’ supernatural powers spread among humanity. They wielded primordial ‘Word Magic,’ on an entirely different level from the ‘arcane magic’ practiced in the Magic Kingdom.

‘... Maybe the only reason there hasn’t been an uproar is that people don’t know yet.’

He was honestly certain Noel and Katya would already have been beside themselves if they knew she was part dragon.

They probably thought she was some ordinary reptilian demihuman.

He could see why she kept it hidden, too.

Before the gods’ supernatural powers spread among humanity, dragons had led the demihumans who originally ruled the continent. They were exceptionally powerful even among nonhuman races, and their violence and arrogance were every bit as legendary as their strength.

Even compared with other demihumans, they were particularly hated.

“Would you bring out Aether for a moment? There is something I would like to show you.”

He obligingly did so, and what Morrigan showed him certainly substantiated that impression of her race.

As soon as she received Aether, she spread it out around her in a dense array of tiny points.

‘Impressive.’

The thought came unbidden. Manipulating something like that so quickly, in such a short time, certainly deserved the praise.

Every supernatural power had its own unique qualities. And the defining quality of Mana was...

‘Precision.’

It alone enabled the finest, most meticulous movements, unmatched by any other supernatural power.

Apparently, beyond combat, it allowed movements so extraordinarily precise that it was perfectly suited to surgery or precision manufacturing.

That was presumably how she had made something like Aether in the first place.

“Aether has many advantages, but the ability to change its shape at will is a major one. It lets you combine two types of attack at once.”

As she spoke, Morrigan immediately shaped Aether into a spear.

Rather than the sleek weapon one normally pictured, it was a massive lance, the kind one might use in a joust.

“Adding another ‘function’ to the weapon’s existing form will let you use it far more efficiently. Like this, for example.”

Having shaped Aether into a lance, she pointed its tip at a nearby training dummy.

Then she drove it straight in.

THUNK!

The Aether lance easily pierced the dummy’s center. A weapon that size would normally have been unwieldy, but Morrigan handled the enormous lance without any particular difficulty.

As befitted a demihuman, she possessed tremendous strength at odds with her slender frame.

Indeed, the lance she wielded one-handed pierced the dummy as easily as paper.

But clearly, that was not all she intended to show him.

“This is how I recommend you use it.”

Another burst of Mana detonated within the embedded lance.

Like a gun firing, compressed supernatural power erupted from the tip buried inside the dummy.

‘... Oh.’

Aiden marveled inwardly at the sight.

The principle was to pierce the opponent’s outer defenses with the lance, then fire supernatural power from the embedded tip.

It was like setting off a cannon inside the opponent. He immediately recognized it as a clever application.

‘That makes use of all its functions.’

She had combined the liquid metal’s ability to take any desired shape with Aether’s particular strength in ‘releasing’ supernatural power.

“This method would be especially suitable for someone like you, Master, who can wield several supernatural powers. All the more so if you used a mixture of qi and divinity.”

“...”

... She even mentioned making use of the equipment’s excellent supernatural-power conductivity.

Aiden let out an incredulous chuckle.

This woman.

She was talking about his ability to wield multiple supernatural powers as though it were a given.

‘... She really did work for Ganesha.’

Information about him was just flowing naturally from her lips.

Having made equipment tailored to those abilities, she could reasonably have guessed its user possessed them. But offering advice about precisely which powers he should use was a bit much.

“I suggest we determine the best combination. You have quite a few possible combinations, after all, Master.”

Aiden nodded.

That made sense. They could test them one at a time to find the optimal combination.

What did not make sense was what she did immediately afterward.

Morrigan turned the lance-shaped Aether around, drove it into her own arm, and discharged its supernatural power.

BOOM!

Blood spurted up with the explosion.

As a member of a race armored in dragon scales, the very symbol of defense, she had not been badly wounded. But she was wounded all the same.

Aiden’s jaw dropped.

“What the... What are you doing...!”

“I will hand it over now.”

Yet Morrigan, who had actually done it, simply passed Aether back to him as though nothing were wrong.

“Now you can strike me to compare the power of each combination. We will begin the experiment using that last combination as the ‘baseline.’”

“... Pardon?”

“Try attacking me. Despite appearances, I am quite confident in this body’s defenses and vitality.”

... So.

This woman was telling him to use her as a target?

“...?”

At first, he could not understand what she meant.

It was simply too absurd.

“... Why would you do that?”

“The dummy will be easily destroyed no matter what you strike it with. I am confident in my durability, and my body can heal reasonably well. I believe I would make an ideal test subject.”

Her matter-of-fact answer left Aiden speechless for a moment before he finally managed to speak again.

“... Do you enjoy that sort of thing?”

People like Katya did exist in the world, after all. He asked in case she shared those tastes.

“No. I do not particularly enjoy pain.”

“Then why are you asking me to do it?”

His voice was incredulous, and once again, her answer came immediately.

“Does efficiency not take priority? You always seem to act on that basis.”

Aiden’s expression hardened.

“I exist to help you. You may use me however you please, freely, in any way you like. I am merely recommending a method I consider efficient.”

With dull eyes devoid of even a trace of emotion, Morrigan enunciated each word.

“There is no need to feel guilty. For my race, this is not a particularly serious injury. So long as it helps you, I do not believe what I ‘feel’ matters very much—”

Her mouth clamped shut before she could continue.

“You.”

Because...

“Just what do you take me for?”

... Anyone could see that Aiden, standing before her, was absolutely furious.

▣

From Morrigan’s perspective, his reaction was honestly incomprehensible.

Had Aiden Kellermain not always treated growing stronger quickly as his highest priority? The patterns of behavior she had observed alongside Ganesha had invariably followed that principle.

She had merely recommended the best method she could think of, assuming he would have no particular objections since he often did this sort of thing with Katya anyway.

And yet...

... The anger he was showing now was far from ordinary.

“Master, but you do this with Deathwish without hesita—”

“I do it for her because she enjoys it! You said you feel all the pain!”

Aiden snapped back fiercely.

“I can’t stand people who treat their lives like that. I can live with a walking nuisance or a lunatic, but I can’t stand people like you!”

Breathing hard with anger, he summoned his skill window immediately after those words.

He had a rough idea of what was needed to heal a dragon, a life-form made of Mana. Fortunately, he had a means of doing so.

-System Message

▶ Copying ‘Special Supernatural Power: Mana.’

Black ‘lines.’

Where qi appeared as smoke, divinity as flame, and dharmic power as spheres of light, Mana differed in manifesting in this clear, distinct form.

Morrigan’s eyes widened enormously at the sight.

“... You can wield Mana?”

“Can’t you see that?”

“... B-but how—”

Aiden paused at the sight of Morrigan stammering.

‘Oh, I see.’

These people knew he could wield ‘multiple supernatural powers,’ but apparently they did not really know how he could do it.

Fair enough. How could anyone predict the way a person who could snatch skills through affection would grow?

Realizing they had not completely figured him out either prompted an involuntary chuckle, but more important right now was the reaction of the woman before him.

“So you can look surprised, too.”

The instant she heard that, Morrigan’s expression froze.

Aiden’s eyes narrowed at once.

‘... This woman.’

As far as he could tell, she seemed to regard the very act of ‘expressing’ such emotions as wrong.

His earlier impression had been exactly right. She wanted to be used as a ‘tool.’

An emotionless tool, handled however someone else wished.

As though she had grown up being taught that this was ‘right.’

And Aiden could not stand the fact that she had projected those values onto him as well.

‘It’s disgusting.’

He did not know what she had been through to become like this.

He did not know whether Ganesha had treated Morrigan that way. If he had, Aiden would have to break his nose the next time they met.

One thing was certain.

Being treated as no different from scum-of-the-earth bastards like that infuriated him.

So he had to have a word with Morrigan for thoughtlessly doing such a thing.

Shaping the Mana he had drawn out into bandages and winding them around her arm, Aiden rebuked her in a level voice.

“Live your life expressing yourself like that. It looks much better on you. Like a person.”

“... Pardon?”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. If you want to help me, live a little more like a person. Take care of yourself.”

“... I did not know you cared about such things. With Deathwish—”

“Keep dragging Katya into this and I really will get angry. Are you and she the same?”

Well.

She, at least, was utterly honest about her own feelings.

She did things because she wanted to. She hurt herself because she wanted to feel something. That was why she asked Aiden, and knowing that, he did it without reservation.

But doing it despite the pain, despite not wanting to, abandoning yourself in the process—that was nothing more or less than torture in Aiden’s eyes.

“...”

One thing was clear. This woman was... ‘empty’ somewhere inside, so much so that she could not understand even that simple difference.

“And another thing.”

Aiden clicked his tongue and continued.

“Stop calling me Master. I won’t answer unless you call me Aiden.”

“... Pardon?”

“The concept of human rights has been around for ages. ‘Master,’ my ass. Are you here to film a historical drama?”

“...”

“You and I are both people. Equals. With the same rights. That’s how I’m going to treat you.”

With that, Aiden sighed and stood up.

“Get that wound treated. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“...”

“Try to hurt yourself like that one more time, and I really won’t let it slide. Understood?”

Morrigan stared blankly after Aiden as he said that and walked away.

... As though she could not even comprehend what she had just heard.