Chapter 23
After being taken in by Marquis Haiorne's household and constantly having the difference between himself and his younger adoptive sister flaunted before him, Cyril began studying magic to acquire a weapon of his own.
With an aptitude for magic, he could gain an advantage even in noble society.
His younger adoptive sister had no talent for magic, but Cyril did. Born with more magic power than average, he studied magic with single-minded desperation... and eventually developed a disease.
──Magic Power Overconsumption Syndrome.
Humans possess a vessel for storing magic power, but cannot generate magic power inside their bodies. They recover by gradually absorbing small amounts of magic power from outside their bodies.
At that point, the human body cannot store more magic power than the vessel can hold. Once the vessel is full, the body rejects any more magic power and stops absorbing it.
Even after the vessel is full, the body continues to judge itself deficient in magic power and absorbs it on its own──that is Magic Power Overconsumption Syndrome.
It might be similar to binge-eating disorder. Just as a malfunctioning satiety center makes someone crave food, Cyril's body failed to recognize that it was full of magic power and kept absorbing more and more. The excess magic power then corroded the human body and caused magic power poisoning. That was why he needed to regularly release the excess magic power that would not fit in his vessel.
According to his doctor, the disease had apparently been caused by repeatedly putting himself through reckless training.
When he developed the disease, Cyril fell into despair. He was certain the House of Marquis Haiorne would cast him aside.
But Marquis Haiorne──his adoptive father──had prepared a magic tool for Cyril that absorbed and released magic power. It was the brooch he always wore at his collar. As long as he wore it, it would absorb the excess magic power inside his body and release it outside.
With this brooch, his daily life should have been unaffected.
(...and yet, why...?!)
Cyril wandered unsteadily through the forest behind the dormitory and chanted a short spell.
The tree before him froze solid and became an ice statue. Using magic reduced the amount of magic power in his body and gave him temporary relief... but his body soon began absorbing magic power again.
The rate was clearly faster than usual. Far too fast. No matter how much magic he used, the magic power in his body would not be depleted. If anything, it was only increasing.
The excess magic power spilling over from his vessel was eating away at his body. His head throbbed painfully. He felt nauseated.
Cyril dropped to his knees and crouched down, clutching the brooch at his collar.
Marquis Haiorne──his adoptive father──had prepared this custom-made brooch for him.
With this, it should absorb his magic power.
With this, he should not lose control.
With this... he should be able to live up to Marquis Haiorne's expectations.
(...I must live up to those expectations!)
Cyril wanted to live up to the expectations of the adoptive father who had taken him in, though his previous life could hardly be called noble.
He wanted to live up to the expectations of the Second Prince, who had told him he was needed and chosen him as vice president.
And more than anything else...
──I want ×× to have expectations of me.
That was why Cyril had no business crawling along the ground in a place like this.
Yet, against his will, his body continued absorbing magic power. Cyril chanted a spell rapidly and released ice magic.
The rock before him froze solid, and he felt a little better... but just as he thought so, his body began absorbing magic power again.
His absorption rate had occasionally gone haywire when he was unwell, but even so, this speed was abnormal.
(Why? Why, why...!?)
Ah, he had to chant quickly and use the next spell──but his pulse became erratic, and his breathing began to falter. He could not chant like this. He could not use magic.
...Aah... ngh...
Cyril clawed at the ground and convulsed, cold sweat pouring off him.
His vision went completely dark, and just as his consciousness began to fade...
He heard a cat's cry.
＊ ＊ ＊
Using Rin's wind magic to slip out of Monica's dorm room (Rin proceeded slowly at Monica's strong insistence), Monica, Nero, and Rin followed the traces of magic power into the forest and watched Cyril from behind a tree.
Cyril writhed in agony while firing off ice magic over and over. He was clearly not in a normal state.
"For secret magic training, his condition seems rather strange to me."
Monica nodded at Rin's words.
"I-I think... Ashley-sama is suffering from magic power poisoning."
Rin and Nero chorused, "Magic power poisoning?" Apparently, neither of them knew about the disease.
"H-Humans have lower resistance to magic power than spirits and dragons, so taking in a large amount makes them ill... That condition is called magic power poisoning... At worst, it can be fatal."
When Monica was still attending Minerva, she had seen several people with the same symptoms.
"Ashley-sama is probably... someone whose body absorbs magic power easily. People like that usually use magic frequently to reduce their magic power, or wear a magic tool that absorbs excess magic power, so..."
The fact that Cyril routinely converted magic power into cold air and made ice in his glass was probably for that reason. He had been releasing the excess magic power inside his body that way.
His excessive concern for the brooch at his collar was probably because it was a magic tool that absorbed magic power.
After hearing Monica's explanation, Rin made a circle with his index finger and thumb and peered through it at Cyril.
"I have confirmed the flow of magic power. The brooch at his collar appears to be gathering magic power released outside his body and returning it to him."
"I knew it! The magic tool is malfunctioning...!"
The magic tool was functioning in reverse of its intended purpose. They needed to remove the brooch as soon as possible.
But if Monica approached him, Cyril would demand an explanation for her being there.
Monica was at least wearing a hooded cloak meant for going outside, but if she got close enough to touch the brooch, he would certainly notice her.
As Monica hesitated, Nero let out a valiant "Nyaow!"
"If that's the case, leave it to yours truly!"
＊ ＊ ＊
Nero sprang out from behind the tree, pounced on Cyril, and bit down on the brooch at his collar.
"A-a cat...!? Stop... Don't touch that!"
Cyril swung his arms to resist, but Nero easily dodged them and pulled the brooch free. He then backed away from Cyril.
"Give it back... Give it baaaack!!"
Cyril's eyes were bloodshot as he screamed hysterically and began chanting a spell at rapid speed.
In an instant, the path ahead of Nero was sealed off by a wall of ice.
(Gah...!?)
Nero hurriedly changed direction and tried to flee into the forest... but the ice wall spread rapidly, cutting off his escape route.
Before he knew it, Nero and Cyril were surrounded by walls of ice.
(Damn it... I'm terribly weak to cold...!)
The cold air flowing around his feet made Nero draw in on himself.
Even so, he held tightly to the brooch and refused to let go.
"Give it back... Give that back..."
Cyril approached Nero with bloodshot eyes.
Between his ragged breaths, a hollow mutter could be heard.
"That... my adoptive father... gave it to me... I have to be acknowledged... acknowledged..."
Cyril's eyes had lost all sanity, clouded by obsession.
Nero could not help but pity him.
(Why are humans all such idiots...?)
Surely this human had his own reasons for clinging to the brooch. But that had nothing to do with Nero.
Cyril chanted a spell rapidly. More than ten ice arrows appeared around him.
Each one was as thick as an arm, making them closer to stakes than arrows. Whatever they were, a direct hit would be devastating.
"I... I was acknowledged... by my adoptive father... by His Highness... So why...?"
Cyril's fever-bright eyes stared hollowly at Nero.
Even so, the person he was looking at now was not Nero.
His entire body ravaged by magic power and feverish with delirium, Cyril was seeing a hallucination of someone Nero did not know.
"...Why...?"
His handsome features twisted in pain, looking as though he might cry.
"...Why won't you acknowledge me, Mother?"
At that moment, the walls of ice collapsed without a sound.
The walls of ice and the ice arrows floating around Cyril were all engulfed in flames and burned up.
The ice Cyril had created melted away in a matter of seconds, and the flames that melted it gathered in one place as though they possessed a will of their own. Before long, they became a great serpent of fire.
Standing beyond the collapsed ice wall was a petite witch with her hood pulled low over her face.
A wielder of magic without incantations, and one of the Seven Sages.
〈Silent Witch〉 Monica Everett.