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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Proof (2)
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Magic is a miracle born from a transaction with the Scales.
The user pays mana to the Scales.
In return for the mana received, the Scales grant a miracle befitting the payment.
This is a universally accepted truth in this world, a common belief.
However, I was a person far removed from such common notions.
That's because I knew how to deceive the Scales, and until now, I had received miracles without ever paying mana.
— The Deceiver of Scales (Lv.9)
This trait, the first I acquired after transmigrating into an unfamiliar world, had been of immense help.
I could wield mana as if it were an infinite ocean.
I could easily transcend the limits of my physical body whenever I wished.
Thanks to this, I was able to learn the Divine Sword style and high-level magic from my master, and I could easily cut down calamitous foes.
Perhaps that's why. At some point, I began to take it for granted.
That this was a privilege unique to me, a transmigrator, and that it would continue to provide me with convenience.
But tragically.
Looking back now, the trait I had considered a privilege was, in fact, a poison to me.
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*Should the Vessel shatter completely, you will perish. (Durability: 75/100)
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I don't know why this message appears in my status window.
But I know better than anyone that this message is true, and that the number changes every time I deceive the Scales.
This was one of my biggest concerns until recently.
It was a natural concern. After all, it was a matter directly related to my life.
Recently, someone offered me a solution. Well, to be precise, it was a skeleton.
"You foolish junior. How many times do I have to tell you? Pay by burning mana! Don't just dump it in like a chump! Ugh, this is frustrating!"
The skeleton, visibly exasperated, rapped its ribcage with a bony hand and glared at me with disdain.
I was just as frustrated.
I had never failed to learn something easily, despite all the teachings I'd received.
But this 'Mana Burn' that Malik taught me? I couldn't even imitate it.
"No, what can I do if it doesn't work? Does this really even work?"
"Of course it works, why else would I have done it, you blockhead junior. This, back in my day, even dogs and cows could do it. Honestly, why are kids these days so dramatic? What's the world coming to… Tsk."
Though he had no tongue, Malik made a tsking sound and spoke annoyingly.
"Watch closely again."
Still, perhaps wanting to teach, Malik began to manipulate mana.
I barely suppressed the urge to smash Malik's skull, staring intently at him with my Heavenly Insight.
His pure mana moved slowly.
A minuscule amount of mana gathered at his fingertip, bubbling as if water was boiling.
The mana vanished.
— Fwoosh.
A large flame erupted from his fingertip.
Magic had manifested.
And at Malik's fingertip, there was now twice as much mana gathered as before.
With my Heavenly Insight, I meticulously observed every step of the process.
"Easy, right?"
"…"
It was such an irritating question, it almost made me imagine his non-existent hair was frizzing up, but I couldn't answer.
"Don't tell me, you still don't get it?"
That wasn't it. I understood exactly how every process Malik demonstrated was achieved.
Burn mana, turning it into vapor.
Pay a portion of that vaporized mana to the Scales.
The unpaid vapor increases in volume through amplification magic, and soon returns to its original mana form.
If one can repeat this process countless times, as naturally as breathing, without consciously realizing it, then they can wield immense mana without deceiving the Scales.
"It's not that I don't understand, but…"
"Then why can't you do it?"
"My mana won't burn."
I sighed deeply as I replied.
It felt incredibly stifling, as if my insides were clogged. I clearly understood it, and I was doing exactly as Malik did, yet my mana simply wouldn't burn, as if it were non-flammable.
"Ugh, with a junior as thick-headed as you, I, your senior, feel so frustrated I might just live forever."
"…Doesn't sound so bad."
"If I weren't stuck as a skull, maybe. Ugh, I hate to say this, but when I was your age, I learned one thing and understood ten. Back in our day, that was just how it was."
"…Maybe your time was just… unusual?"
My feelings were hurt by Malik's taunt, and I pouted my lips as I replied.
Did he dislike that?
Malik straightened his posture and said in a somber voice.
"…Let's say it was special. No, let's say it was special and desperate."
Perhaps it was because I had heard some of his old stories.
Feeling sympathy for Malik's sudden gloom, I nodded and offered words of comfort.
"…I'll practice and learn quickly. Then I can finally send you, Senior, over the rainbow bridge."
It was a remark others might misunderstand, but not Malik.
That's because Malik was bound by a contract that prevented him from dying, even if he wished to.
'What kind of damn contract is this, tormenting people like this?'
Malik isn't the only victim.
My master is, and so am I.
My master is bound by a cursed contract, and I am tied to an unforgiving quest called 'Ancient Contract'.
"That's irritating, but strangely comforting. Oh, by the way, does the sword I gave you feel familiar in your hand?"
Meanwhile, Malik's voice reached my ears.
He was looking at the 'Sword of Good and Evil' hanging at my hip as he asked.
"Of course."
— Shing.
I drew the sword from its sheath.
The worn blade was revealed, and the two embedded orbs reflected the light.
"It's tougher than it looks."
"It'll get even tougher once you fill all those empty holes," Malik said, looking at the five holes pierced in the blade.
"Then I might even be able to send you, Senior, to a better place."
And then I, too, could be free from this 'Vessel' fate.
"You blockhead, hurry up and master Mana Burn. Then I can finally cross that rainbow bridge or whatever."
Malik chuckled as he replied.
'He's definitely not a bad person.'
Of course, just a few days ago, he was someone I wanted to separate bone from bone.
And honestly, his personality was quite obnoxious.
But after experiencing and observing him for a few days, Malik was a benevolent person who was willing to give everything he had without reservation.
He was also the one who told me information I needed, information no one else would ever know.
'I'll definitely send you off.'
As I made that promise to myself, the door of the log cabin creaked open.
"Master…"
I turned my gaze and saw Rose, looking somewhat crestfallen, trudging in with a sword in her hand.
"Oh, Rose! What's wrong?"
"What you taught me isn't working. No, actually, I don't even understand it."
Realizing why Rose looked so crestfallen, I shook my head sympathetically.
It was all too obvious how this situation would unfold.
A disciple who couldn't properly understand what was taught,
And a kkon-dae master who loved saying, 'Back in my day.'
Perhaps, unlike me, Rose, with her short temper, might drop Malik's skull on the floor again today.
"Back in my day…"
Sure enough, the voice, a symbol of the kkon-dae, was heard.
"Even that much was a great feat. So, my dear beloved disciple, there's no need to be discouraged."
"Re-really?"
Oh, really?
"When I was your age, Rose, I was even worse. So, straighten your shoulders and let's go out together. I'll watch you again."
"Yes, sir!"
Malik, with a smile more kind than ever, led Rose outside.
"…"
Watching them, I felt the warmth in my chest grow cold. I pulled out an artifact from my pocket and fiddled with it.
"Malik."
It was the name of the man who would be my meat shield before he crossed the rainbow bridge.
****
Inside a cave deep within the Adenia Forest.
The stout man gnawed on something, muttering incessantly.
"I'm hungry! I want to go home quickly!"
"Honestly, as if he weren't Gluttony…"
The platinum-haired woman watching him sighed deeply and waved her hand.
A black subspace opened, and countless foodstuffs began to pour out of it.
"Will this be enough? Your sister wants to have a little fun while she's out for once."
"No! Not enough! And it's not fresh!"
"…"
Envy clutched her throbbing head with her right hand and waved her left hand in the air.
This time, another subspace appeared, and from within it, several living girls were pulled out by an intangible force.
"Will this be enough?"
"My, my siblings! Yes!"
Seeing them, Gluttony nodded vigorously, delighted.
"H-h-help me, please…"
"H-hiccup…!"
The girls, seeing the mountains of monster and human corpses piled in the cave, shrieked in terror, whimpered, begged, or fainted.
"Don't worry, my dears."
Envy smiled alluringly at the girls who hadn't fainted yet.
"That child thinks of you as his own younger siblings right now. So…"
She then brushed a lock of hair from one of the girls who still retained some composure and whispered.
"It might be scary, but please take the best care of him until this big sister returns. If you do that, he will continue to think of you as his own younger siblings."
"Th-then, will we, we live?"
"Of course."
When Envy replied with a bright smile, the girl slapped her cheeks repeatedly, then approached the other girls and began to speak to them.
And for a fleeting moment, a thread of hope flickered in the eyes of the girls who had been gripped by fear.
"Poor things."
Envy looked at the girls steeling their resolve and recalled Gluttony's past.
"Siblings! I'll protect you! I'll be good to you!"
Gluttony carefully approached and hugged the girls.
Envy found the sight repulsive, yet also amusing.
"You're better off not knowing why he became Gluttony."
Before he became a Sin, he had eleven younger sisters.
"It brings back so many old memories."
Before she became a Sin, Envy had once drawn her sword to subjugate Gluttony when he was transforming into a Sin.
"I wonder how he's doing these days."
Envy, recalling a certain person who had been with her when she wielded her sword, turned and began to walk out.
She was eager to see him.
Her old comrade, and the man who was her first love.