Chapter 77
The first thing I did at the Nebula Duchy was change clothes, lie down on the bed, and rest.
It was the first time I'd placed all [Restrictions] and unleashed my full power.
In other words, I'd only ever imagined my full power; I had no idea how much it actually amounted to.
But after burning through mana and using major techniques in succession, I found the fatigue quite considerable.
"Yaaawn..."
After going to sleep like that and waking up, it had long since grown dark outside.
"Are you awake?"
"Ah, yes."
As always, I greeted Mist, who was quietly watching me at my side, then gave a small yawn and rubbed my neck.
"..."
No, wait. Mist, who was always by my side watching me?
I'd grown far too accustomed to that wording.
'This might be dangerous...'
Glance.
Once that thought occurred to me, I found myself looking at Mist through half-open eyes.
"Hmm? Is something wrong?"
"No..."
Right. Well, we'd long since passed the point where I could say anything about it.
If anything, considering Mist's past attempts to seduce me under the guise of beauty-trap training, I decided this was nothing by comparison.
Once I'd finished thinking that, I unconsciously rubbed my slightly empty stomach.
Come to think of it, I'd eaten lunch, but I still hadn't had dinner, had I?
Mist also seemed to have guessed my situation.
"I'll prepare dinner immediately."
"Hmm... no, forget it. Just bring out some simple snacks."
When I checked the clock, dinner time had long since passed.
Cooking was work too, and since dinner time was already over, I didn't want to make her do extra work.
"Let's have some cocktails."
In truth, I made it sound grand, but I simply wanted to drink the cocktails I'd been unable even to touch during the mourning period.
Mist quietly watched me at my words, then nodded slightly.
"Understood. May I ask what kind of cocktail you plan to have?"
Cocktails often involved mixing several kinds of liquor, seasonings, or fruit syrup, so they had a fairly broad range of possible accompaniments.
"Hmm... I don't know."
At Mist's question, I paused to think about what I wanted to eat right now.
A cocktail characterized by a heavy aroma of alcohol?
Not particularly.
But I wasn't craving a refreshing cocktail, either.
Then perhaps I should try something sweet or sour...
"Just prepare some cheese and biscuits."
Good. I've decided.
There was a cocktail I knew about from my previous life's knowledge but had never tried, wasn't there?
"Understood."
A short while later.
Seeing the simple cheese, biscuits, and other snacks Mist had brought, I slowly began taking out the ingredients for this cocktail.
Salt, a fruit similar to the limes of my previous life, and two kinds of liquor that were high-proof but tasted somewhat bland.
"I definitely remember."
It was the cocktail where you rubbed fruit around the rim of the glass, then coated the rim, still wet with pulp, in salt, right?
Once I remembered the recipe, I immediately made the cocktail myself.
A cocktail you drank with the refreshing fruit aroma and the salt clinging to the rim of the glass.
Margarita.
"Oh, this is pretty good."
The harmony of tart fruit, salt, and strong alcohol on my tongue.
It wasn't bad for my first attempt.
Of course, after tasting it, I thought a woman would like it more than a man, so I handed one to Mist as well.
"It's delicious."
"Right?"
Just as I was passing the time mixing various cocktails.
"Hmm."
"Hmm? What's wrong, Mist... Ah."
A sudden presence.
Mist and I naturally looked toward my door, where the presence seemed to be coming from.
Knock. Knock.
I called it a presence, but it was a fairly familiar feeling of mana.
How should I put it? Ah, yes. It was mana with a feeling very much like an utterly tranquil plant.
"Come in."
Creeeak.
[I'm sorry to disturb you while you're resting.]
A beautiful woman with striking purple hair.
Bellias, the boss of [White Shadow], entered my room with cautious movements.
And the moment she entered, her voice rang out in my head.
"No, it's fine."
[Ah, that's a relief. I have something to pass along.]
"Something to pass along?"
[Yes.]
She readily nodded at my question and began to speak.
Though by 'speak,' I mean she was sending telepathy into my head.
And what she had to tell me was very simple.
There had been a group that observed the fight between Azak and me near Saria Island.
Put simply, it was probably this.
[They observed and recorded the battle from as far away as possible.]
"Hmm."
At Bellias's words, I nodded without much concern.
In fact, it was a situation I'd half expected.
Clink.
As I listened to Bellias, I slowly let the cocktail I'd made linger in my mouth and rolled it over my tongue, savoring its aroma.
'Ugh!'
A cocktail whose only truly strong flavor was alcohol.
It was a failure.
[They seemed to be wary of your mana sense, Abel.]
Buzz.
As she said that, Bellias began sending a certain memory into me.
And in that memory, a person in a robe that looked suspicious at a glance was watching the fight between Azak and me from quite a distance.
"Good grief."
They look suspicious at a glance.
"Mana sense. Well, that's the answer, isn't it? That's why they acted like that."
Mana sense.
In other words, it was one of the applications of mana: spreading it over a wide area to create a kind of rudimentary radar.
And on the day I released all my power through [Restrictions], I naturally activated mana sense over a fairly wide area.
I knew that too.
I knew that the more widely my abilities became known to others, the more dangerous it would be.
But using mana sense over too vast an area would tire me out, and it offered no particular benefit.
So, roughly one kilometer.
A distance at which it was impossible to pick up sound, and even a high-resolution camera couldn't make out my lip movements.
I could have set the range even shorter, but this was a world of superhumans who wielded mana.
It was a world where there was no reason someone with absurdly keen eyesight, achieved by concentrating mana in their eyes, couldn't exist.
"So, what follow-up measures did you take?"
[Yes... First, we decided to attach a small fragment of mana to that suspicious person and track their location.]
"Hmm..."
[I considered moving on the assumption that we'd capture them, but judged that it wouldn't benefit us in the long term.]
"A long-term judgment."
Long-term... long-term...
"Explain why you came to that conclusion."
[Yes. In the past, there was a period when I pursued the [Organization] that poisoned the current head of the duchy.]
Ah, right. I heard about that when I was in the space I used for private meetings with her and for training.
[We barely caught a lead, only to realize later that it was a trap.]
"..."
[So this time, rather than move immediately, I attached only tracking mana to that suspicious person so we could identify the enemy's hideout.]
Besides.
[I also judged that letting this information leak could be useful in limiting the enemy's actions.]
I thought about her words for a moment.
If I captured that suspicious person and tortured them... No, no. If I interrogated them, I might be able to obtain a considerable amount of information.
But what then?
What would come after obtaining that information?
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I continued thinking as I tapped the desk with my finger for a moment.
If I captured the suspicious person, things would end with what I'd mentioned earlier.
But what if I let them go, leaving the enemy with only knowledge of their location?
Then we'd be able to predict the enemy's actions, at least roughly.
The enemy had reported a video or information about me to a comrade or superior.
And the battle they reported was my fight with Azak after unleashing all my power.
Then what conclusion would the person who received that battle report draw?
Ah, this guy is strong at long and medium range, so let's fight at long or medium range!
Would they come to that conclusion?
What idiot would make such a foolish decision?
Probably every last one of them.
"Close range."
That's right. Close range.
Nearly every fight I'd had so far had mostly been a mid- or long-range battle.
After all, my fight with Charon, a member of [White Shadow], had been my first close-quarters battle.
[Yes. We can probably limit the actions of the enemies—in other words, the enemies targeting you, Lord Abel.]
"Hmm..."
[Moreover, although the tracking mana was lost once along the way, investigating where it disappeared might produce a clue that could lead us to another trail.]
I see.
It was a perfectly convincing opinion.
Certainly, even if I caught that suspicious person right now, there was information I could gain.
But there were also benefits to letting them go.
If I put those two possibilities on the scales, it was more advantageous to let them go and prepare for what came next.
To be honest, considering they were enemies—members of the [Organization] trying to start a world war—I didn't particularly expect torture to make them talk anyway.
But.
"So does that mean I have to fight at close range?"
I really hate that.
Moving my body and even exercising were fine, but I avoided close combat because using the techniques from my previous life embedded in my soul made me feel as though bugs were crawling all over my body.
"..."
Once again, when the close-quarters fighting technique that had unconsciously emerged when I fought Charon made me feel as though bugs were crawling all over my body, I couldn't help but frown.
[...]
Bellias, who had quietly watched me, slightly shook her head.
[No. I think it'll be fine. We're planning to assign an escort from our side as well.]
"An escort?"
At her words, I looked toward Mist, who had been in this room all along but had deliberately kept her presence to a minimum.
Wouldn't she be enough?
Mist was also a member of [White Shadow], after all.
[Ah, of course Mist would be sufficient as an escort. But if, in your public identity, only she—a maid of the Nebula Duchy—accompanied you, it might instead seem suspicious.]
In truth, my current situation was a little abnormal.
The heir whom the head of the Nebula Duchy had unequivocally designated was wandering around without an escort?
It was only because this was a truly urgent matter; if an heir of another ducal house did this, it would be serious enough to leave that family foaming at the mouth in shock.
"Tsk... Well, I suppose it can't be helped."
[Ah, but I think it'll be fine since it isn't an actual person.]
"Huh?"
"It isn't an actual person?"
At my reaction, Bellias cautiously raised her mana and brought out an automaton.
A doll that looked like a sturdy, broad-shouldered man at a glance.
If that automaton hadn't emerged from subspace, and Bellias hadn't shown me that she was moving the doll with threads of mana streaming from her hand, I would have mistaken it for a real person.
[It's an escort automaton I made.]
Swoosh.
As she finished speaking and withdrew the mana threads, the automaton carefully knelt before me.
[It has no self-awareness and was designed to focus solely on escort duty, so I think it will feel a little less stifling.]
"Hmm... Nice. This should do."
With the matter seemingly settled, Bellias was about to leave the room to adjust the escort automaton.
"Ah, wait a moment."
[Yes?]
"There's something I'm a little curious about."
The place where the tracking mana I attached to that suspicious person earlier disappeared.
"Where exactly did that mana disappear?"
[Ah...]
As though she'd just remembered, Bellias slightly parted her lips at my question and began naming the location where it had disappeared.
[The city of Marita. It seems to have disappeared in Marita, which is famous as the city of artists.]