Chapter 5

“Didn’t I tell you?”

“I never said I could see behind me!”

“So you didn’t.”

“There are detection mages now and then, but to have no blind spots at all—what even is this...?”

“Is it rare?”

“Of course it is! I’ve never seen anything like it. Mago, this won’t do. I have to run a few more tests on you...”

Kinjo’s eyes sparkled as he spoke, voice trembling with excitement.

“Anything’s fine, but let’s do it tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Why?”

“The limit you mentioned is right now.”

So, two days later—

“Let’s call it a day. Here, take this.”

Kinjo handed over a single sheet of paper.

I unfolded it.

[Lake]

— Date: Year 607, 1st–2nd January

— Usable twice within 24 h

— Duration per use: ~5 min

— Pond diameter per use: ~50 m

— Note: Opening eyes during use expends one charge regardless of remaining time

Results after two days of testing:

Twice a day, five minutes each.

The lake forms a circle about fifty metres across.

That was the ceiling.

The only difference was Kinjo acting as spotter; otherwise, the limit matched my solo experiments in the previous life.

It manifested exactly as I remembered.

“I figured there’d be a cap, but twice a day feels stingy.”

“Kinjo, could we stretch the duration? Maybe twelve hours?”

“As I said before, it’s theoretically possible—if we find a teacher to train you.”

“Can’t you teach me?”

“I can’t use detection magic myself. All I can do is sheath your weapon in fire through reinforcement. That’s it.”

“Set my weapon on fire... about that spell, Kinjo.”

“For you, it’d be a puny flame—pretty much useless.”

“No, it could be effective.”

“Effective?”

“I’ve thought it through. It might not help anyone else, but for me it’s huge.”

Back in the war, everyone—myself included—had dismissed the spell as worthless.

Yet for me, at least, it wasn’t.

I only realised that after Kinjo died, a regret that still gnaws at me.

“If I don’t put the flame on my weapon, but on the enemy’s...”

A louder voice cut mine off.

“Found you. Black-hair, white-hair. Quite the noisy monochrome.”

A voice I didn’t know.

Faces I didn’t know.

Uninvited guests in the empty lot—four men.

“Mago, they’re looking for us.”

“Local thieves, I’d say.”

“Hm?”

“That ruffian from before—pulled his sword first. Didn’t look ordinary. Guess these are his friends.”

“So, revenge?”

“Probably.”

I nodded and glanced behind me.

A beat later, we burst out together, just as planned.

“Get them!”

“Stop!”

We darted into the first alley we saw, cutting inward at every corner.

The chase lasted until the alley dead-ended.

“Always a wall, huh.”

Kinjo looked up at the stone blocking our path.

“Kinjo, stay behind me.”

I turned my back to the wall—and to him.

Moments later, the four thieves arrived.

They caught their breath, then drew daggers.

All daggers, each a different shape and length.

Before they closed in, I shut my eyes.

Closed them, and focused.

I pictured the lake in my mind and waited for a single drop to fall.

“What’s he doing?”

“Ha! Praying with his eyes closed?”

They laughed at will.

“Mago, what are you doing?”

Kinjo’s voice reached me—only faintly.

Not the crystal clarity I heard when the lake was active.

Behind my eyelids lay only pitch black.

“I’ve already used it twice today.”

“I just wanted to see if it might work. When I first got this power, I hoped a crisis would push me past my limit. Guess not.”

The experiment ended today.

Twice.

Every ounce of my limit, spent.

With my eyes shut, there was no trick to facing four at once.

Yet if I opened them, the thieves’ daggers gleamed too clearly.

“Sorry, Mago. I’ve got nothing left. Can’t cast Enhancement Magic, and you’re empty-handed.”

Kinjo muttered.

“You remember that half-finished idea? That the spell might still be useful?”

“Hm?”

His Enhancement Magic.

Fire that clings to weapons.

“Look.”

I pointed at the daggers the thieves held.

“Put it there and I can fight.”

“Boost their blades? You serious?”

I said nothing, slid my left foot back, and clenched both fists.

“Make the enemy stronger...”

“Hey, White Hair.”

One of the thieves called out.

It had been a long time since anyone used that nickname.

“Done praying?”

I ignored him and slowly closed my eyes.

Until Kinjo kindled the flame.

“Mago, a heated blade hurts like hell.”

“I know.”

“Could kill you.”

“I know.”

I answered with my eyes still shut.

“Any other choice?”

At that moment—

“No.”

Red light glowed through my eyelids.

I opened my eyes at the same instant.

Tongues of fire curled around their daggers.

Shimmering heat-haze.

Flame that danced wherever it pleased.

Of course, fire has no edge.

“Good. That’s enough.”

It would do.

“Magic!”

The thieves reacted to the blaze.

Fire licked their blades.

Each response was different.

“Huh?”

“Isn’t this... better for us?”

“What’s he playing at...?”

Now.

I charged the moment they hesitated.

The nearest thief slashed wildly.

“Raaah!”

I ducked low and slipped inside his guard.

An uppercut to the jaw.

He toppled backward, graceful as a felled tree.

He tried to rise, then went limp.

Second.

I swept his legs, stomped his face.

A scream vibrated through my sole.

“Nice, Mago!”

Kinjo cheered from behind.

The last two.

One rushed in.

I caught his arm and twisted.

Kept twisting as I advanced.

The angle sharpened, pain mounting.

“G-gah...!”

He back-pedaled to straighten the arm—

—and wound up in front of the final man.

I yanked harder and hurled him into his partner.

They tangled and rolled across the ground.

In heartbeats, it was over.

In this life, my weakness began to hide.

The lake.

Kinjo’s Enhancement Magic.

Not perfect yet, but with eyes closed—

even open—I could fight.

Joy surged; I secretly clenched my fist.

Then I rifled the thieves’ pockets.

“Nothing useful.”

“Looks like you’re robbing thieves without even trying.”

“Still, thanks to these guys we’ve racked up real combat experience.”

“True, even if the order to ‘help the enemy’ was ridiculous.”

Kinjo laughed as he cut in.

“A whole month left before we ship out to the Training Center—think they’ll keep coming at us?”

They would. As he said, this wasn’t the end.

Fresh ones would storm in until they finally crushed us.

“Ever consider the Special Task Force? Not an easy place to get into, but if you set your mind to it...”

“Of course I want in. Black Knights are cool.”

“Besides that.”

“More than anything, it’s where I can kill the most demon beasts.”

He said it flatly, as if it were obvious.

“Then we’ll both aim for that.”

“Agreed?”

“Might as well sync our breathing early—against these thieves.”

* * *

The capital, choked with refugees, had as many problems as people.

Squabbles were routine; muggings and assault came next, and worse—filthy, ugly crimes beyond naming.

The refugees’ panic showed in every twitch of their eyes.

Which only let the thieves flourish.

Their numbers swelled daily, and so did the damage they left behind.

Kinjo Shua swept his gaze through the building’s interior.

His eyes glowed a sharper blue than usual, the color of mana drawn tight with focus.

Clairvoyance.

He stared at the ceiling and called, “Mago! Shift a little right—that patch is iron!”

No answer.

“You heard me, right?”

Moments later, five thieves sauntered out of the gloom.

‘He was right. How did Mago even know this place is their hideout?’

The first thief barked, “Hey, what are you?”

“Deaf? What’re you doing here?”

“Must’ve wandered in without a clue where he is.”

“Beat it, lost kid. Nothing here for you.”

They laughed among themselves, shooing Kinjo like a stray dog.

“On the contrary,” Kinjo said, finger stabbing toward the floor. “I’ve arrived exactly where I meant to.”

“Here? You knew what this place was?” A sneer. “So you came to fight?”

Kinjo let the clairvoyance drop. The glow left his pupils; his eyes looked heavier without it.

The thieves caught the shift and drew steel—hatchets, daggers, longswords, knuckles, even a wooden club.

“Nice variety.” Kinjo’s lip curled.

“Get him!” the lead thief bellowed.

Kinjo snapped his fingers.

Flames erupted along every blade.

The thieves froze, blinded by the sudden glare.

“A mage...!”

Fire licked up their weapons; heat shimmer warped the air.

“Wait, he’s not attacking—”

“Is he... powering up our gear?”

Kinjo snorted. “That reaction never gets old.”

He pointed overhead. “Your weapons aren’t the only things I lit.”

On cue, Mago knelt on the second floor, fist poised. He’d slipped up earlier and waited for the signal.

From below, the spot was ceiling; from above, it was floor—specifically the weakest seam Kinjo had found: a patch of planks begging to break.

“The fuse is already burning.”

Kinjo’s voice rang again.

Mago slammed his fist down.

The punch detonated the boards into splinters beneath him, and the second-floor gave with a thunderous crack.

Mago dropped to the first floor.

Splinters of wood and clouds of dust burst into the air.

“What—”

“Above us...!”

Before the Thieves could finish their shouts, Mago—now on the ground floor—silently cut them down. One punch, one man. Clean, swift, and final. In the blink of an eye the Thieves were rolling across the floor, subdued.

Mago exhaled a long breath.

“Kinjo.”

He strode straight toward him.

“M-Mago.”

“I’ve told you every single time. This makes five.”

“Just a second, Mago.”

Kinjo backed away, hands raised in surrender.

“I said don’t layer the Enhancement Magic all at once—wait for my signal and hit one at a time.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“Got so much mana it’s coming out your ears? Why’d you even slap it on a knuckle-duster and a wooden club?”

“Mistake, honest! There were five of them, okay? One-by-one is hard in the heat of the moment.”

“Call it a mistake, but if your mana runs dry—”

Before he could finish, more Thieves poured in from the next room.

Mago slowly closed his eyes.

* * *

At the same moment, a Soldier spoke up.

“Here are the enlistment forms for this batch.”

He handed a thick sheaf of papers to the Chief Instructor of the Imperial Army 1st Training Center. The Instructor took the stack with the hand that wasn’t holding a cigarette.

“Let’s see what brand of idiots we’ve got this time.”

He flipped through the heavy forms at speed.

Idiot... this one’s an idiot too, he muttered—then froze on one page.

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