Chapter 43: Origin Mana?

Boom!

The foul sensation at the tip of my fist was, for this moment, a welcome one.

Thud.

The enemy's corpse collapsed, its head shattered.

“Kuh…….”

As Muno’s body staggered for a moment in relief, a cracking sound echoed from within him as his broken and dislocated bones set themselves back into place.

The pain was considerable, but bearable.

It was just a waste that a significant portion of the demonic energy I had devoured was being used to heal the injuries to my body, including my shattered left arm armor.

Still, just learning that the demonic energy I swallowed, or more accurately, the mana it was converted into, could also be used to heal injuries was worth it.

Besides, it felt like my skills would improve quite significantly with just the energy left over after healing my injuries.

‘It’s funny that I still don’t know everything about my own ability…….’

Still, the feeling of growing by learning things one by one like this wasn't bad.

Of course.

‘A mere scratch gave no sensation, but it being completely shattered hurt more than a broken bone.’

I reconfirmed a drawback(?) of my ability.

The relief of having safely overcome the dizzying threat to my life was the greatest feeling.

But that moment of peaceful reflection did not last long.

Just as I was about to contemplate how the mana generated after devouring demonic energy, which healed the body and fundamentally enhanced its abilities, was essentially different from other types.

“What are you staring blankly at! Call a priest, quickly!”

Ah!

Rasmia’s shout shattered my concentration.

“Klarm!”

Only then did the blue-haired knight, lying collapsed and bleeding from his head, come into view.

‘Damn it……!’

I cursed myself for letting my guard down after defeating the enemy and ran towards Klarm.

An annoying voice was heard.

“Who do you think you’re ordering around……!”

“Shut up and call a priest!

Or I’ll tear you to pieces first!!”

Kane, who had just been staring blankly until the fierce battle ended, was pointing a finger at the shouting Rasmia.

‘That bastard…….’

The moment my evaluation of the man, who I had a bad impression of from the start, plummeted vertically.

Kwadedeuk.

The mana, moved unknowingly by my surging anger, sucked in a broken piece of armor from the fallen Collid and created a metal dagger.

My arm swung out naturally in that moment.

Shwaak.

Paaaaaaang.

The small ‘blade’, flown accurately by my metal manipulation ability, grazed Kane’s ear and embedded itself in the wall behind him.

Vrrrrrr.

“Hup!?”

As Kane's startled blue eyes turned towards the dagger that had grazed his hair.

“This crazy bastard……!”

Muno shouted, with no time to rejoice in finding a new way to utilize his Spirit Arts.

“Shut up! And call a priest! If something happens to Klarm here, do you think you’ll get away unscathed!?”

That voice ate Kane’s words and made his face flush even redder.

But.

‘Damn it…….’

Seeing the headless body of Collid, which was already starting to rot as befitting one who dealt with demonic energy, and the decapitated body of the Spirit Master Razman, he could no longer lash out.

He had talked back out of pride, but there was no way he didn't know how serious the current situation was.

“Damn it! Call a priest! As fast as you can!”

Only then did his escort knights move, and even the servants, who had been lying prostrate on the floor praying for the suddenly started disaster to end, began to flinch.

‘Damn it, what in the world is this…….’

As Kane’s eyes, shaken with bewilderment, darted around continuously.

Rasmia was stopping the blood flowing from Klarm’s head.

“It’s okay. The wound isn’t deep. It wasn’t pierced. It’s okay. He’ll be okay…….”

Rasmia's expression, as she muttered continuously, looked far from okay.

‘I guess they’re still siblings despite all their fighting.’

But even so, she was showing a wondrous skill of moving the wind to help Klarm’s breathing and control the blood.

‘Dominion over wind and water, is it?’

The characteristics of Spirit Arts, which utilize the surrounding environment, being applied to first aid.

However, watching it, a question arose in Muno’s mind.

“Can’t you heal him directly with mana?”

“……Don’t talk nonsense! Do you think this is a joke……!”

Rasmia, who had been shouting at the absurd words, trailed off abruptly as she saw Muno’s serious gaze.

“You, your wounds?”

“Pardon? Me, I was healed like that……you see.”

That answer and his perfectly fine-looking body threw Rasmia into confusion.

“How!?”

“If you ask me how, I have nothing to say…….”

Muno too couldn't help but be bewildered.

He had been guessing that his rapid recovery was thanks to mana, but seeing Rasmia’s reaction, it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“You’re a Spirit Master of Metal!”

“What does that have to do with…….”

“It’s not like you’re repairing broken equipment, does it make sense to heal a body?

Is your body made of metal!?”

“Well, that’s…….”

……It does.

Because a part of his body was certainly metal.

But.

‘Besides the armor, my arm and shoulder bones were healed too?

Don't tell me my whole body is treated as metal……?’

Come on, it's not like I'm the Terminator or something.

No matter how I looked at it, it was a stretch to say that the metal mana I used had healed the wounds on my body.

What was actually consumed in restoring the armor was the mana converted after swallowing demonic energy.

In a word.

“……I can’t, but it seems I can use mana that restores life in limited situations?”

“What kind of nonsense is that! Are you saying you can use Origin Mana or something……!”

Crack.

Rasmia, who was about to shout again in the urgent situation, trailed off once more as she saw Klarm’s slightly dented skull being restored the moment Muno touched it.

Conversely, Muno’s expression brightened.

‘It’s working!’

He could vividly feel the mana he hadn’t absorbed yet, the energy Rasmia called Origin Mana, healing Klarm’s body.

Of course, its efficiency was far lower than when healing his own injuries, so most of the remaining Origin Mana was consumed.

But he could feel that power had certainly healed even the brain inside Klarm’s damaged skull.

That convinced him.

‘The mana generated immediately after devouring demonic energy possesses the power of life.’

Perhaps the Origin Mana Rasmia was talking about referred to such mana that possessed the power of life.

That's why if I absorbed it directly, my wounds would heal or my physical abilities would increase, or I could heal others like this.

The demonic energy of a 5-Star Magic Knight, bordering on the level of a 4-Circle mage had been wasted in thin air.

‘Who cares, I saved my savior's life.’

I was satisfied just by confirming this new possibility.

Of course.

“You, you, how……?”

This situation just seemed to be confusing for Rasmia.

And for Muno, it was a little disappointing as well.

Because he had realized something else in the process.

“This is, well…….”

His gaze turned to his left arm armor, which had been shattered but was now fully restored.

Even though it’s my body now, it’s also metal.

‘If I had just endured the pain and controlled the metal mana, it would have healed quickly. Hmph…….’

Though it probably would have taken a little more time if I had.

He felt regretful about the Origin Mana wasted on the armor, but decided to treat it as paying tuition.

“……This, my artifact, it seems to decompose the demonic energy after defeating a magician or Magic Knight. I think that’s how it creates what you called Origin Mana.”

It seemed this artifact excuse had become an almost all-purpose lie.

However, Rasmia didn’t accept it so easily this time.

“Nonsense. There’s no way that’s possible……. Since when could it do that?”

“This is the first time I’ve learned of this effect myself.”

“Then that’s not an ordinary artifact but a Transcendence-grade……. That can’t be.

Ah, could it be because you became a Spirit Knight?

I’ve heard many strange legends, but I’ve never heard of such a synergy with an anti-magic use artifact…….”

Rasmia, lost in confusion, began to forcibly piece together a logic within her own common sense.

“By the way, is Sir Klarm really okay?”

“Ah. Right!”

Rasmia immediately reacted to the words I brought up to change the subject before one lie could beget another.

She once again lifted Klarm’s eyelids and began to check his pulse.

Then, she let out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks to you, it seems he’s definitely over the worst of it.

Thank you, Muno.”

“Don’t mention it. It was the natural thing to do.”

“But no matter how I think about it, it’s too surprising.

Should I really research the Spirit Knight legends again?”

I was curious about what those strange legends about Spirit Knights were, but now was not the time to ask.

“But will it be okay?

Given the situation, I did say some harsh things to Grand Prince Kane.”

I had lashed out at Kane without thinking in the heat of the moment, but thinking back on it now, I felt a little uneasy.

However.

“Hmph. Who do you think holds the most responsibility in this situation?

That guy should be worrying about how His Excellency will react.”

Rasmia’s subsequent words greatly eased that burden.

And just as they were smiling and talking.

An old priest wearing brown priest’s robes and a headdress rushed into the office.

“Grace be to the merciful Mother of the Earth…….”

The summoned old priest was a priest of ‘Lu’, the Earth Mother Goddess, one of the most popular deities among the various cults.

It was said that priests of ‘Reu’, the god of life and animals, were usually the best at healing people, but for now, a priest of the Earth Mother Goddess was more than enough.

Flash.

Swaaaaaa.

Five wings of light shone faintly from behind the old priest's back, and light poured out from his hands.

Then, Klarm’s head wound began to heal rapidly before everyone's eyes.

“Oh……!”

So this was real.

A wondrous miracle as if turning back time.

It was a healing ability that seemed to be of a completely different school from healing wounds with Origin Mana.

‘If only the priest had come sooner, I could have absorbed all the Origin Mana myself. Tsk.’

Muno, seeing a priest perform a miracle for the first time in his life, let out an exclamation of wonder without realizing it.

Then, conscious of the many eyes glancing at him, he immediately shut his mouth.

‘Yeah, I’m a country bumpkin. So what if I find it amazing…….’

He grumbled inwardly with words he couldn't say out loud.

“He is healed. Fortunately, it was not a serious injury, so he will regain consciousness soon.”

Those watching let out sighs of relief at the priest’s smiling words.

‘Not a serious injury, my ass. A moment ago, it was really, ha…….’

I pouted again, feeling the waste of the Origin Mana.

“You did more work. I know.”

“No. Not at all.”

As Rasmia patted his back and smiled.

The atmosphere in the room began to grow heavy again.

“Kane, you are aware of how serious this situation is, aren’t you?

Follow me.”

“……Yes.”

Count Enoch Trian, who had been contacted in the meantime and had come here to watch the treatment.

When he gestured to his eldest son with fearsome eyes, Kane had no choice but to follow him with a wretched face.

And two middle-aged men watched this scene with secret smiles.

They thought they were smiling secretly, but there was no way it wouldn't be obvious when everyone around them was looking at those two.

‘They should at least pretend to be serious.’

Muno clicked his tongue inwardly as he looked at Enoch’s second and third sons, who resembled Kane.

‘Is this even a family?’

- A knight of the Aslan Ducal family was a Magic Knight, and he died while attempting an assassination in Trian.

Just thinking about it this way, one could easily guess that the aftermath of the incident that had just occurred would be enormous.

And they’re smiling?

‘To be happy in this situation, they must be truly stupid.

The second and third sons are definitely not cut out for it.’

Of course, putting aside their capabilities as the next head of the family, to be smiling when such a big problem has occurred in the family means there is a problem with their character.

‘Short-sighted, and their character is rotten.

This family is a complete mess.’

Honestly, Kane’s daughter, Roanna, was certainly an extraordinary talent.

But that young lady didn't seem to play the role of an ordinary daughter or granddaughter either.

It didn't feel like a proper family.

Count Enoch Trian gave off the impression of a mountain or the sea, but it certainly seemed he had failed at raising his children.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. For now, I’m just glad that Sir Klarm is okay.”

“Glad my foot……”

Rasmia snorted as if it were nothing.

The anxious look she had before Klarm had fully recovered was now completely gone.

The change was a little funny, but.

“The real trouble starts now. There’s no way Aslan will just let this go……. Things have gotten bigger.”

The story she brought up was not something to be laughed off.

The Aslan Ducal family.

One of only two ducal families in the Iron Kingdom.

Considering that the kingdom's only Seven-Star, the Dragon Sword Duke Kyle Dragon, was not expanding his family's influence, Aslan was practically the most powerful family in the kingdom.

A family that had established its base south of the capital, not in the barren North like Trian, and had accumulated immense wealth and power based on its vast territory and farmlands.

And they were the most influential maternal family, having produced both the current king's official queen consort and his third concubine.

In short, it meant they were the mainstream power in the kingdom that no noble family, except the royal family, could easily go against.

“How do you think they’ll react?”

“First, they’ll deny it even if we shove that crazy old man's rotting corpse in their faces.

They’ll probably denounce it as a self-staged play to tarnish their family's honor, and naturally demand compensation.

The price for a dead 5-Star knight and a 4-Class Spirit Master.”

“They were the ones who secretly infiltrated. And the old man even killed the Spirit Master.”

“There’s no way for us to prove that.

They’ll say all the witnesses and evidence were fabricated.

Plus, they’ll insist that Grand Prince Kane invited them to go into hiding.

And in reality, that part wouldn't be far from the truth.”

“I……guess so.”

“But we can’t just concede everything from our side either.

What’s unfair is unfair.

His Excellency won’t back down.

For the honor of the family, if nothing else.”

“Hmm. Then…….”

“If we're unlucky, it could escalate into a major incident involving Trian and all its subordinate families.

His Excellency will have to handle the aftermath well.”

Unlike someone who had wanted to leave Trian right away, Rasmia’s gaze was nothing but serious.

And just as she predicted, this incident brought with it a massive aftermath.

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