Guiding the Male Lead out of His Trauma - Chapter 43.2
Though several spare uniforms hung in the closet, I didn’t want to wear something uncomfortable all the way until the evening rest period I was finally given after so long.
With the pouch Millia had given me in hand, I went down to the first-floor terrace in casual clothes.
With not much time left until roll call, a good number of cadets had already returned to the dorms. The place, now noticeably quieter, was filled with a strange, unfamiliar stillness.
“Your hair’s still damp.”
“It’s not cold, so it doesn’t matter. I even put on a cloak just in case it got chilly after sunset.”
He let out a weary sigh.
No doubt he’d started to nag and then gave up.
“Still, I should at least explain briefly and go. Make sure you dry it properly before you sleep.”
There was no need to respond to something like that, so I didn’t. Cassiel seemed to have given up on me too.
“Give me your hand.”
I held out the arm with the control stone bracelet. Finally, he got to the point.
With a terse gesture, his finger pointed to the red gem embedded in my bracelet.
“First of all, control stones react to the flow of mana and suppress it. Unlike mana stones, which are natural resources, control stones are synthetic and artificially made by humans.”
“I know control stones haven’t been around that long. We were only able to establish the Awakened Management Law because of them.”
“Exactly. It’s also thanks to them that the Agency can directly detect when a manifested individual uses mana. All control stones are copies of the very first synthesized control stone.
Control stones that are duplicated identically don’t share reactions with one another, but the original one—the base stone—shares the response from all mana activity.”
“…And the Bureau’s the one storing that base stone?”
He nodded.
“But control stones don’t detect every type of mana flow.”
Cassiel spread out the documents he’d brought and flipped through the pages before stopping.
There was a newspaper clipping pasted to the page, and below it, notes written in his own handwriting filled the margins.
“This is about the explosion incident at the Paleorth research lab.”
The article was short.
It explained that the mana from a mana stone had mutated and exploded inside the Paleorth lab, where mana stone research was being conducted.
“You get what I’m trying to point out here?”
“…Not at all.”
“Read the notes.”
Among the handful of memos, one had a section of a report attached to it. It was a summary of the research being done at the Paleorth lab.
– The differences between mana from mana stones and from the Manifested
– Issues of mana imbalance
– Research on enhancing the grades of Manifested using mana stones
“This report… how did you get your hands on it?”
“I had it. Found it in Claire’s room.”
Cassiel, his face expressionless, traced the logic again.
“If this kind of research was being conducted, there must’ve been a Manifested at the lab.”
“So that means…”
“They would’ve been wearing a control stone bracelet to suppress their mana. But the reason this incident made it into the news…”
His finger slid down to the final paragraph.
“Because the lab was located on the outskirts of the city due to the research risks, the Agency’s response was delayed.”
I placed the pouch Millia gave me on the table.
As the loose pouch opened and revealed its contents, Cassiel’s face hardened.
“Where did you get this.”
What Millia had given me… was a mana stone.
Unbelievable.
A dull headache began to press against my temples, but I had to confirm whether the conclusion he was leading me toward was what I thought.
“…Are you saying control stones can’t suppress the mana of a mana stone?”
“Unless it’s been specially modified for a particular use, mana stones aren’t accessible to the general public. I asked you where you got it.”
“I can’t tell you right now.”
Unlike the red hue of the control stone, the mana stone held an entirely different color.
It sparkled like a deep blue, but if you looked closely, it shimmered with a green glow, like a tiny forest frozen in time.
It looked like the hardened sap of an ancient tree. Just as I was about to reach for the translucent mana stone, Cassiel stopped me.
“It’s too convenient. As if someone knew I’d figure this out ahead of time.”
“I can’t tell you now, but I will before deployment. Who gave it to me. So let me use it first.”
Despite how stifling this place was, the sound of crickets could be heard from somewhere.
I pressed Cassiel, who still couldn’t bring himself to let me touch it.
“It’s almost time for the instructor to start roll call.”
This was the third time I’d seen that powerless expression on Cassiel’s face.
The mana stone he returned was warm with his body heat.
Once again, I was the one who left first, and in the end, I didn’t get to see when he returned to his room.
After barely making it through the instructor’s roll call,
I stood in front of my desk instead of lying in bed and took Nexium.
There was no need to draw in external mana from the surroundings.
‘If the control stone can’t detect the mana of a mana stone…’
Instead of absorbing mana from outside, I activated the mana contained within the mana stone itself.
A force so powerful it could shatter the control stone despite its suppressive properties.
The image of Acteon’s overwhelming mana manipulation crossed my mind, but I didn’t need power on that scale.
The mana within the stone struck sharply against the control stone.
The bracelet that had seared my wrist for so long now didn’t react at all—as if it had been a lie.
And then—
A small shock tickled against my skin.
Click.
Except for that single time, my wrist had never been exposed to open air since I manifested. Now it felt cool. The sensation was unfamiliar.
A thin piece of metal rolled across the desk.
The bracelet was released.
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