12

Before Ains stood the boy Rito, his resolve set, carefully holding his younger sister in his arms.

“Now then, Rito. Do you know how magic is used?”

“I don’t know. But I’ve seen people mutter something like spells and then use magic.”

“Ah, spell-form incantations. I see, I see.”

From that exchange, Ains confirmed how Rito perceived magic.

“Magic is the act of causing the laws and phenomena that exist in the natural world to occur through mana.”

“Huh?”

Rito looked unconvinced.

“For example, lightning, fire, and wind are natural phenomena. Objects falling from above to below—that’s a law. Magic is manipulating such phenomena and laws according to one’s will.”

“I see.”

Rito showed understanding.

“Then how do you use magic? By gathering, dispersing, and otherwise controlling the mana inside your body—in other words, through mana control. Think of mana as a power without a fixed shape. You give that shapeless power form and output it. That’s how magic occurs.”

“But how do you give it form?”

Nodding as he spoke, Ains continued.

“To give mana form, you need to solidify the image of the phenomenon or law. Solidifying the image leads directly to shaping mana. ‘Incantations’ simply assist in fixing that image.”

By explaining in words like a dictionary, one fixes the image of the phenomenon or law, thereby giving mana a clear form.

“So if you can imagine it properly…”

“Then incantations aren’t necessary. If you can give mana form at the stage of controlling it, you can manifest magic without incantations. That’s what’s called magic manifestation.”

In short, it depended on how deeply one understood and could visualize natural phenomena and laws. That determined whether magic required incantations or could be manifested directly through mana control.

“But I can’t use that magic…”

“You can’t. In your case, Rito, the amount of mana you possess is overwhelmingly small. If the power is weak, no matter how you try to control it, nothing will manifest.”

Rito bit his lip as if resenting his lack of mana, gazing at his sister, who slept with shallow breaths.

“This is magic. Magic manifestation takes effort, but in the end, what matters most is the innate talent of mana capacity, which is mostly decided at birth. Of course, you can slightly increase your mana limit later in life, but dramatic growth isn’t possible.”

Like Commander Gaus and Sophia. Commander Gaus could open the Original Canon because he possessed sufficient mana—a talent. Sophia did not.

And Sophia likely possessed enough mana to use mid-tier magic. That too was talent. Rito didn’t even have enough mana to use beginner-level magic.

Magic was a world ruled by differences in talent. That was why spellcasters with large mana reserves, who refined their skills to wield advanced and supreme magic, were valued. Taken to an extreme, that thinking produced elitism and supremacy—the ideology held by the group called the Next-Era Luminaries and by Corbelli.

“But don’t worry, Rito. You have talent in a different vector—sorcery.”

“Sorcery…”

“And those who use sorcery are called sorcerers. Becoming a sorcerer doesn’t require talent. Anyone has the qualification to become one, but not everyone can. That’s what a sorcerer is.”

Ains raised his index finger as he spoke.

“What a sorcerer needs is a heartfelt plea. Your plea, Rito, is the wish to save your sister. I can tell whether the strength of someone’s wish qualifies them to be a sorcerer, and for those who seek knowledge, I provide it.”

The sun began to hide behind clouds, and its light no longer reached the bushes. The wind grew cold as it brushed Rito’s cheek.

“—Sorcery is a method of interfering with the world using laws and phenomena that do not exist in nature. Let’s solve the problem of your mana capacity through sorcery.”

Ains stepped closer to Rito and spoke.

“—Restriction release: Miracle Right Arm.”

From the right sleeve of Ains’s jacket, fluttering in the cold wind, a pale-blue, semi-transparent right hand emerged. It wasn’t a human hand—something unnatural, something not of the natural world. Even young Rito understood that.

Ains removed the white glove fastened to his right shoulder with his left hand and put it onto the right hand.

He opened and closed it a few times, checking the sensation, and muttered,

“All right.”

He placed his right hand atop Rito’s head.

“…”

Rito felt no warmth from the hand, but he also felt no urge to reject it.

“I’m going to send the knowledge you need directly into your mind. There won’t be pain, though you might feel a bit uncomfortable, like something inside you is being fiddled with.”

Rito nodded quietly and accepted it.

“Good boy. Here we go.”

Rito unconsciously hugged his sister more tightly.

Within Rito’s mind, information beyond words streamed past like a revolving lantern.

“…That’s it. Rito, you know what to do now, right?”

It was an instant.

Yet to Rito, it felt like a familiar toy he’d played with since birth.

“Restriction release: Benevolence Through Seizure.”

Rito interfered with the world using laws that did not exist in nature. To save his dying sister, Rito—who possessed no mana—interfered.

Gentle light radiated from Rito’s right and left hands as he held her, enveloping the girl’s entire body. Deep wounds and countless small injuries vanished in an instant, even old scars from playing together disappeared. Color returned to her face. Her clothes, once stained red, were completely cleansed, as good as new.

Her shallow breathing became calm, steady sleep.

“I see. So that’s how you supplemented the mana.”

Ains had observed the entirety of Rito’s sorcery.

“…Mana can only be used and controlled if it’s your own.”

Yet the natural world contained humans, animals, magical beasts—plants and even tiny insects. All of them possessed mana.

“You took mana from others without consent.”

It was possible to receive mana from those who agreed. But taking mana without consent was not supposed to be possible.

Using stolen mana to heal others—this was Rito’s sorcery.

“You showed me something wonderful, Rito. Thank you.”

Receiving thanks from the one who had taught him left Rito flustered.

“No, I should be the one thanking you, Ains—”

At that moment—

Time stopped.

Ains froze. Rito froze. Only Rito’s consciousness remained.

A void appeared in midair, and from a black hole emerged a terrifying, semi-transparent right arm.

“One who touches the laws of the world. A restriction shall be imposed upon you.”

A voice echoed, neither clearly male nor female.

“For the rest of your life, you are forbidden from harming others.”

As the voice faded, the arm passed through Rito as if grasping him and withdrew into the black hole.

After the arm vanished, the rift and hole disappeared as well, and time resumed.

Seeing Rito’s sentence cut off, Ains understood.

“Did you receive a restriction?”

“Yeah. It said I’m forbidden from harming others for the rest of my life.”

“…Sorcery resembles magic, but it’s fundamentally different. And Rito—sorcerers can touch the laws of the world, so they can survive and respond to things that ordinary magic would not.”

Ains narrowed his eyes gently and continued while looking at the sleeping girl.

“But if a sorcerer breaks their restriction, they die easily. It’s a weakness. That’s why you must swear not to break it—why you must form a pact. So Rito, don’t tell anyone else about that restriction, okay?”

“…Okay.”

Rito had obtained sorcery that forcibly took mana from others. Yet he himself bore a restriction: if he harmed others, he would die.

“Well then, with that, you’re a sorcerer now!”

Ains clapped his hands once, brightening his tone as he spoke to Rito.

“Let’s see… I made you a sorcerer, so that makes you my disciple. …All right! From now on, call yourself ‘Rito the Bloodless.’ Sounds cool, right?”

“…Rito the Bloodless.”

Ains removed the white glove from his right hand. The pale-blue, semi-transparent hand vanished, and the right sleeve of his jacket fell limp.

“All right, I’m heading out. Laika and Sophia should be waiting over there.”

With those words, the one-armed, one-eyed specter with a prosthetic left leg departed from before Rito.

The clouds parted, and the sun revealed itself once more.