Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Finn quickly flew to Kaian and whispered into his ear.

"That's residual mana."

"It imitates the appearance of its original owner."

"According to Eldarin, once you reawakened your inner world and the flames weakened, it revealed the power it had been hiding."

"It's trying to take over your inner world."

Kaian remembered hearing his mother's voice when he first entered his Core Area.

Perhaps the residual mana had imitated Liana's voice back then too.

Kaian clenched his fists.

I was so happy thinking I might hear Mother's voice again...

But in the end...

It was only residual mana.

Residual mana trying to steal his inner world.

Kaian felt foolish for allowing himself to hope.

Then Finn poked his cheek.

"Are you listening to me?"

Kaian finally controlled his expression and greeted her.

"Hello."

"So you're the spirit whose hair I burned."

"Hah."

"You finally remember?"

"My name is Finn."

"Don't just remember me as 'that spirit.'"

Still watching the fake Liana carefully, Kaian whispered,

"Finn, nice to meet you."

"If it's okay, I'll apologize properly later."

"But for now, can you help me?"

"I can't sense the outside world at all."

"I could do it back at the vein..."

The strange sensation of his inner world overlapping the physical world.

The mysterious awareness that had allowed him to see and feel all of Eldargrove while sitting inside his Core Area.

It was completely gone now.

Finn pursed her lips.

Then she sat cross-legged on Kaian's shoulder.

"That's probably because of the magic the residual mana placed on this mansion."

"You remember what your Outer Region looked like, right?"

"Is it still full of fire?"

"The fire is almost gone."

"But it's a complete mess because of smoke."

"Now look at these windows."

"They're full of warm sunlight."

Kaian stared toward Liana, whose face was still hidden behind light.

"An illusion...?"

"I don't know exactly."

"But there's definitely some kind of magic here."

"Then what do we do?"

"Can Finn dispel it?"

"Idiot."

"How is a spirit supposed to use magic without a contractor?"

"The simplest way to dispel an illusion, or any magic really..."

"Is to get rid of the caster."

Kaian's head snapped toward Finn.

"Get rid of it?"

Of course, he knew that thing was not really his mother.

He also knew it threatened his inner world and had to be dealt with quickly.

But hearing someone else say it aloud made his stomach churn.

Finn answered casually.

"Yeah."

"Eldarin taught me a spell that can erase residual mana."

"So just repeat after..."

"No!"

Kaian shouted over her.

At that moment...

As if responding to its master's will...

The entire room flashed turquoise.

"Kyaaah!"

"What are you doing...?!"

Finn squeezed her eyes shut.

But she never finished the sentence.

The walls around them began to surge like enormous waves.

"...!"

They were not ordinary waves.

They were made entirely from Kaian's Mana Matter.

Wooden blocks.

RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE!

A tremendous number of wooden blocks poured down at once.

They separated Kaian from the fake Liana.

Then...

In the blink of an eye...

The blocks stacked themselves into a wall.

Click! Click click click!

And then into an enormous maze.

Kaian scratched his head as he looked at wooden blocks filling the space from floor to ceiling.

"Uh..."

"Is this a little too much?"

Finn's mouth hung open.

The maze formed before her was obviously far larger than the original room had been.

After a long pause...

Finn finally managed to ask,

"You just..."

"Expanded your Core Area?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah."

"Was I... not supposed to?"

Finn looked so horrified that Kaian immediately began explaining.

"No, look!"

"I know that isn't really my mother!"

"But destroying it just..."

"I don't feel comfortable doing that yet."

Finn shook her head, cutting him off.

"Wait."

"Wait."

"Hold on."

"Let's go back."

"How did you expand your Core Area?"

"Huh?"

"How?"

"I just thought we needed to separate ourselves from the residual mana, so..."

"So?"

"It just got bigger."

"...Ha."

Finn stared at the maze and shook her head.

I don't believe this.

The Core Area was where mages stored Mana Matter.

Mages spent entire lifetimes training techniques, tempering body and mind, and searching for rare elixirs just to make that place a little larger.

All so they could store a little more Mana Matter.

But the number of mages who had successfully expanded their Core Area through training could almost be counted on one hand throughout Mana Gaia's history.

That's why everyone eventually becomes obsessed with magic tools and artifacts.

Unless they cover themselves in those things, there's no way to carry additional Mana Matter.

Yet this foolish-looking little boy was claiming he had "just" made his Core Area bigger.

Only minutes after reawakening it.

Finn looked at him seriously.

"Compared to your original room..."

"How much bigger is it now?"

"Hmm..."

Kaian scratched his head.

Then spread all five fingers.

Finn's face became even more serious.

"Five times?"

"Huh?"

"No."

Kaian shook his head and laughed.

"If it was only five times bigger, the maze would be tiny."

"Fifty times?"

"Something like that."

"Hmm..."

"Maybe it's even bigger?"

Finn went pale.

Fifty times.

I've never even heard of anyone expanding a Core Area that much at once...!

And he's eight years old...!

Finn began biting her nails in panic.

Could there be side effects from expanding a Core Area so violently?

What was she supposed to tell him?

What would Eldarin do?

Should she intervene somehow?

Dozens of fears and questions filled her mind.

Kaian simply looked up at her with beautiful turquoise eyes.

"Finn."

"Is fifty times too small?"

"If we have enough time, I think I can make it a little bigger."

"H-Haha..."

Finn could only laugh dryly.

That elegant face and absurd statement left her without words.

Hey, Granny Twofold.

Are you watching?

Your insane Eldarin picked up a monster.

Twofold naturally gave no answer.

Finn desperately controlled her expression.

Then she picked a fight with Kaian to change the subject.

"Ahem."

"Anyway..."

"Your Mana Matter is wooden blocks?"

"Even for a child, that's kind of childish."

Kaian immediately bristled.

"Huh?"

"You really don't understand anything."

"You can make anything with wooden blocks!"

Kaian's Mana Matter took the form of wooden blocks roughly the size of an adult palm.

As Finn mocked...

A single block looked extremely plain.

There can be Mana Matter shaped like sand.

Gold coins.

Stars.

Kaian admitted those sounded more glamorous than wooden blocks.

A desert blooming inside a room.

That would look incredible.

An oasis.

Huge flowering cacti...

Just imagining it was beautiful.

But that was all.

No matter how beautiful other Mana Matter looked...

A room filled with wooden blocks seemed much more interesting and fun to Kaian.

He placed one hand against the maze wall.

They're even sturdier than I expected.

The blocks had locked together as if screws had been driven through them.

Every section had been carefully fitted so there were no gaps along the ceiling or floor.

The resulting structure possessed a presence impossible to describe with the phrase just wooden blocks.

To Kaian...

The possibilities of wooden-block Mana Matter were endless.

Excitement filled him as he imagined everything he might build in the future.

"Finn really doesn't understand what's cool."

"Hmph."

Finn snorted.

"Big talk from someone who made a maze just to run away."

"So what are you going to do now?"

Kaian immediately became gloomy.

"That..."

"I don't really know either."

Just as Finn said...

He had run.

He could not bring himself to destroy magic wearing his mother's form.

So he created a maze.

Put distance between them.

Bought himself time.

But there had been another reason Kaian created the maze.

He sniffed the air.

"Still..."

"I think we're outside the illusion now."

"Huh?"

"How do you know?"

"You said it smells smoky outside the mansion, right?"

"I can smell it."

Finn sniffed too.

There really was an acrid smell of smoke.

"It's true..."

"Then did the illusion completely disappear?"

"Hmm."

"I'd say half and half."

"If I'm right, the illusion was caused through vision."

Kaian had been thinking about the illusion the entire time he confronted the fake Liana.

What if it had been caused by something invisible, like smell?

Or by consuming medicine?

In that case, escaping behind maze walls would not have been particularly useful.

But Kaian was convinced the secret of the illusion involved sight.

"The residual mana imitated Mother..."

"But it never imitated her face properly."

"Instead, there was always a strong light around her face."

"So I guessed the illusion was being produced through sight."

"I don't know the exact method yet."

Finn's eyes widened slightly.

"Then what do you mean by half and half?"

"We can escape the illusion while the maze walls block our vision."

"But if we go back into the same space as the residual mana, there's a good chance the illusion will start again."

"We'll have to find another way then."

Finn looked over Kaian's face again, newly impressed.

"What?"

"You're not a complete idiot after all."

Kaian scratched his neck and smiled bitterly.

"But I still ran away, just like you said."

While confronting the residual mana, he had hesitated because...

He wanted to see his mother's face one last time.

Just once.

But the harder he tried...

The more unnaturally the light around her face twisted.

Constantly reminding him of reality.

That wasn't Mother.

He knew.

He knew, but...

Kaian's voice trembled.

"...I can't erase the last trace of Mother like this."

"Her voice is all I have left."

He had waited desperately for the day he could hear his mother's Word Magic again.

Part of him had even believed that once he became strong enough, he might be able to hear her whenever he wanted.

But now...

Erasure?

Finn sighed deeply when she saw Kaian on the verge of tears.

"Haah."

"Amber was right."

Then she removed a jewel attached like an ornament to her clothing.

She handed it to Kaian.

"Take this, idiot."

"What's this?"

"A Sealing Stone Amber gave me."

"She was completely convinced you wouldn't do what Eldarin told you."

"It can seal an opponent's mana exactly once."

"Since you hate the erasure spell..."

"I'll teach you the activation phrase for the Sealing Stone instead."

Relief immediately appeared on Kaian's face.

"Thank you, Finn!"

Finn waved him off irritably.

"Thank Amber later."

"Mana Sealing Stones are extremely precious."

"You can't even buy one with money."

"Okay!"

"Thank you!"

"I said enough already!"

"Seriously."

No matter how much Finn snapped at him...

Kaian simply smiled with flushed peach-colored cheeks.

Eventually, Finn shook her head and settled on his shoulder.

"You still won't be able to avoid fighting."

"Are you okay with that?"

Kaian's eyes brightened.

"Yeah."

"Probably."

"I've got a good idea."

One corner of Kaian's mouth curled upward strangely.

At that moment...

Finn realized something.

That smile looked exactly like Eldarin's.

Granny Twofold.

I'm getting nervous.