Five days later.
At dusk, a sharp knock rattled the door to my private room in the mansion.
“Merlin? You can come in.”
“Excuse me, Master. The investigation into Sheryl’s brother—the student named Brad—and his immediate surroundings is officially complete.”
“Is your body holding up all right?”
“It was recovery magic cast by the Thunder God Emperor himself, so I am perfectly fine.”
“Good to hear. That particular spell is tailored specifically to my own biological makeup, so it tends to be significantly less effective when used on others…”
I flipped through the stack of documents she handed me, letting out a heavy sigh as I skimmed the contents.
“So it really is the dark arts after all, huh?”
“Yes. We leaned on the underworld guilds and tracked the flow of funds tied to illicit narcotics and toxic substances. The financial backing came to light almost immediately.”
Judging by the list of raw ingredients, they were employing the exact same methods as that devil-worshipping religious cult I crushed during my past life.
As for the effects:
- An explosive, unnatural spike in magic capability.
- Increased aggression and violent tendencies as a primary side effect.
- A severely compromised, rapidly decaying lifespan as a fatal drawback.
The shortened lifespan was genuinely horrific. To put it plainly, this was a substance designed to burn through your entire life force in a matter of a few short years, manufacturing a synthetic superhuman for one fleeting instant.
Because it shared aspects with an evil-god pact ritual, the enhancement required the absolute consent of the subject to function. And that was the exact detail I couldn’t quite reconcile.
Wanting a shortcut to power is an unfortunate constant of human nature. But would a young student really willingly accept a deal that left him with only a few years left to live?
“Well, let’s set that aside for a moment. Tell me, Merlin—even granting that this drug exponentially forces a subject’s magic to grow, do you honestly believe a substance like this could allow someone to wield a Level 10 spell?”
“Impossible,” Merlin asserted flatly.
I nodded in complete agreement.
“For a start, any magic ranking at Level 9 or above has been lost to this era. It isn’t a simple matter of artificial enhancement or anything else.”
“Yes. If it were that easy, your own current magic ceiling wouldn’t be capped at Level 8, Merlin.”
Hmm… Musing over the thought, I read further down the documents, and my eyes suddenly went wide.
“Brad’s magic aptitude is… completely non-existent?”
“Yes. According to the academy’s internal records, Sheryl’s brother possesses absolutely zero magic aptitude. Furthermore… Brad is the biological son of Sheryl’s adoptive father.”
“Care to explain that in detail?”
“Very well. Sheryl Oldis—though she has since been disowned—is the adopted daughter of a prominent ducal house from a foreign nation. House Oldis is a legendary bloodline within the magic community. When the duke realized his eldest son and heir, Brad, possessed no magic aptitude whatsoever, he fell into utter despair. He went on to father several other children afterward, but not a single one displayed any promising talent. Brad, however, was the only extreme case born entirely devoid of mana.”
“I see… and that’s where Sheryl’s adoption came into play?”
“Precisely. Whispers began circulating through the royal court that the issue lay entirely within the duke’s own seed, and the duke eventually grew to fear fathering children altogether. That was when he turned to adoption.”
“Right. That makes sense.”
“Under the guise of keeping their underhanded spirit dealings buried, the family used an astronomical sum of money to purchase Sheryl—who possessed a magic aptitude that could only be described as a miracle—alongside her twin older sister. It saved the family’s honor. If they married her off to one of the duke’s biological sons down the line, she would legally and practically become part of the bloodline.”
“Hmm? Wait… hold on a second, Merlin. What twin older sister?”
“There are records of her sitting for the academy’s entrance examination at the exact same time as Sheryl. Her test scores were even higher than Sheryl’s… results so flawless that the only fitting description would be a child prodigy. However… she never actually enrolled.”
“What happened to her?”
“…She passed away shortly before the start of the term. The official cause of death was listed as sudden mana depletion… but the underlying mechanism was forced mana siphoning.”
“Siphoning, you say? Are you telling me she was murdered?”
“Yes. In short, siphoning is the dangerous technique used when a mage forcefully transfers their own mana to a completely depleted healer during a perilous adventuring expedition. Someone slipped into the twin sister’s bedroom dead of night and extracted it all. Curiously, nothing else of value was stolen from the room, leaving a vast number of suspicious, unanswered questions.”
“It seems that girl still hasn’t fully opened up to me, huh. I haven’t heard a single word about any of this.” I shrugged.
“Yes. The Ice God Emperor Isaac was a notoriously secretive individual as well… he carried himself in much the same manner.”
“Two of a kind… I guess that trait carried over with his power.”
“In any case, it brings us back to Brad. A boy with absolute zero magic aptitude suddenly wielding Level 10 magic… no matter how I look at it, something feels entirely wrong.”
“No, it’s quite the opposite.”
“The opposite?”
“It’s precisely because his magic aptitude is zero that Sheryl’s brother Brad was able to reach Level 10. It’s only a faint inkling, but… I think I’m finally starting to understand the puzzle.”
I quietly turned the specific keywords Sasha had dropped during our encounter over in my head.
- An ancient artifact.
- The ‘Root of Roots,’ rumored to be the absolute cure for non-existent magic aptitude.
- Reincarnation, the goddess, and the nature of magic aptitude itself.
And then, there was the Fire God Emperor.
He had been extensively researching ancient civilizations and the mechanics of magic aptitude as well… there was no way that was a mere coincidence.
Taking it a step further: the fundamental alteration of souls that artificially lowered the magic ceiling across this entire world… the entity responsible for triggering the catastrophic Magia Burst, and the one who ultimately assassinated Isaac… was the Fire God Emperor.
When you factor in the goddess of reincarnation who governs the flow of souls, and the literal soul-warping nature of the Magia Burst’s lingering effects, I couldn’t bring myself to believe these events were unrelated.
That was precisely why I had been adopting a cautious, watchful approach, even after successfully curing Sheryl’s own mana depletion. Ever since I cross paths with Sasha at this festival, I hadn’t been able to shake the persistent feeling that the Fire God Emperor’s shadow was constantly flickering in the background of everything happening here.
“Tell me, Merlin. One in a hundred thousand… do you know what those odds represent?”
“No… my deepest apologies, Master, but I have no idea.”
“It’s the exact statistical probability of a human being born with absolutely zero magic aptitude. I… refuse to believe that my situation is a coincidence.”
The fact that I lacked any inherent magic aptitude during my second life as well, and the idea that it was entirely inevitable… Sasha had hinted at exactly that during the natural flow of our conversation. The connection was glaringly obvious.
“Certainly… if you view it through that lens, it makes terrifying sense.”
“Well, as for the finer details surrounding all this, I’ll have no choice but to corner my master and demand answers once the Thunder God Emperor Festival draws to a close.”
Absorbing the information, Merlin gave a small, respectful nod.
“By the way… have you noticed the other situation, Ephthal-sama?”
“Which one are you referring to?”
As if slightly exasperated by my feigned ignorance, Merlin let out a soft chuckle.
“You really do see through absolutely everything, don’t you?”
“Well, if you mean the first issue, it’s about Sheryl.”
“Yes. The fact that she is secretly communicating with the very brother she claimed to have completely lost all contact with.”
“Yeah, there’s no way I’d fail to notice a magic familiar being utilized as a glorified carrier pigeon right under my nose.”
“Then… how much do you know regarding the massive anomaly currently hidden inside the magic academy itself?”
“There is a large-scale magic circle rigged deep within the academy grounds, set to a timed trigger. Furthermore, it’s an Undead-line forbidden circle.”
“Soul Eater,” Merlin murmured, her expression darkening. “A catastrophic formula engineered to violently devour the magic power of every living soul within its radius until they are reduced to nothing but empty, lifeless husks. If you’ve already noticed it… is it truly wise to leave it completely intact without crushing it immediately?”
“No, it’s perfectly fine for the time being. I am deliberately leaving it alone, knowing exactly what it is and what it’s capable of.”
“…And the logic behind that decision?”
“There are still far too many variables I don’t know yet, and I want to see exactly how the opposing side intends to move their pieces. I can dismantle the circle itself at a moment’s notice, and since the timed trigger isn’t scheduled to detonate until immediately after the festival’s final match, we have plenty of time.”
With that, I pushed myself out of my chair and stood up.
“Where will you be going, Master?”
“To see Sheryl. We’ve gathered as much documentation on her background as humanly possible, and if the paperwork still can’t provide the answers I need… simply asking the girl myself is bound to be much faster, don’t you think?”