Chapter 3

"Today's... this part... is like this... Ha, it's a strange shape..."

Late at night, wrapped in a patched sleeping bag, Kanata was writing something on a stone with charcoal. Relying on the light of the nearby crackling fire, he was examining the magical residue he had picked up that day.

Kanata's hobby of collecting magical residues started two years ago, the same time he began scavenging battlefields. His father had disappeared, and his mother died in front of him while protecting a noble's child during a shopping trip in town. The people in the village where he used to live were all kind, but they couldn't afford to keep a child without parents for long... After a little over a year, Kanata joined the Karejas Mercenary Group at the age of eight.

It wasn't a tragic incident. His parents were rather kind, and he was hardly exposed to the malice of adults in the village where he lived. There were a few instances of mean-spirited pranks by other children, but nothing to be overly pessimistic about. There was no malicious intent to make him unhappy; he was simply left alone by sheer bad luck. He couldn't blame anyone, and he didn't even know who to blame.

He couldn't consider being picked up as fortunate, and even if he was told that being alive was fortunate, he couldn't really feel it. Who could feel fortunate after losing their parents right in front of them? The environment around him changed rapidly, and in the midst of these changes, he couldn't find a target for his emotions. What caught his interest was the magical residue he found during his first battlefield scavenging.

"Are they using the same magic...? Lately, I only find fire attributes..."

The discipline and education he learned in the Karejas Mercenary Group... He was able to absorb them positively not only because the group diligently taught battlefield scavenging but also because he had something to be interested in. Initially, he didn't get along well with the other children, but thanks to his character as a weirdo who collects magical residues, he no longer had such issues. He genuinely enjoyed working here. Even if others pitied him, Kanata didn't think that way. He could earn his living by scavenging battlefields and simultaneously collect magical residues as a hobby. The leaders, who allowed him to pick up meaningless things as long as he met his quota, made this place very comfortable for him.

"Connecting it to what I wrote three days ago... it looks like a circle."

Kanata, who had been collecting magical residues and staring at them until they disappeared, noticed that there were patterns inside them. Sometimes they looked like angles, circles, or even animal paws. Because of this, he began to think of magical residues not as remnants of magic but as fragments of magic. Over the past two years, he was delighted whenever he found strange patterns in the residues that he collected and then lost. The magical residue he picked up three days ago had a pattern that looked like part of an ellipse, and when connected with today's three residues, the patterns fit perfectly. It was like a puzzle, and Kanata, who didn't know much about entertainment, found it very enjoyable.

"Oh, no! It's disappearing...!"

While he was smiling, the magical residue started to fade. Magical residues are clumps of excess magic infused into spells. Magic that has left its user eventually disappears and merges with the ambient magic. The magical residue Kanata picked up today seemed to be from a very inexperienced user and was already fading before tomorrow. Kanata hurriedly wrote down the pattern he could see inside the residue with charcoal. He could see something that looked like letters, but since he hadn't learned to read, he couldn't understand what was written.

"Hmm... Kanata... Are you still awake...?"

"Sorry, Roa! It's disappearing, so later!"

"Not later... yawn... go to sleep..."

Kanata's voice was a bit louder because he was surprised by the residue disappearing, which woke up Roa, who was sleeping next to him, but she quickly fell back asleep. Ignoring Roa's words, Kanata continued to stare intently at the fading magical residue. The strength of his grip increased to prevent it from escaping, but the residue continued to fade.

"Ah... Ah... Ah... Ha..."

Kanata watched the magical residue disappear with a deeply disappointed sigh. The place where he had held it firmly was now empty, leaving only his charcoal-stained hand. Over the past two years, this was the only thing that still made him feel disappointed. It was sadder than the melting snow in winter, which at least left some trace. Even a carelessly formed snowball left some trace, but magical residues truly disappeared without a trace.

"Magic... huh..."

Kanata tried to grab the air with his hands. Of course, no matter how much he tried, there was nothing in his charcoal-stained hand. Magical residues dissolve into the ambient magic, but Kanata had no ability to sense magic. The mercenaries in the group could manipulate magic, but even watching them didn't make much sense to him.

Kanata reached into his pocket. The three magical residues he picked up today, if they were from the same user, had all disappeared. Over the past two years, he had gotten used to many things, but this was one thing he could never get used to. His favorite treasures would always disappear no matter how many he collected. He didn't yet have the sensitivity to find beauty in such fragility. He was just sad and lonely. That's why he wrote the patterns he saw in the magical residues on the stone to distract himself from the loneliness. Even if he couldn't read the letters, he could recognize and write the patterns. He calmed himself by looking at the stone he had just written on, which made him feel less sad about the magical residues disappearing.

"I did a good job today... Yeah... It can't be helped..."

The stones he picked up, unlike the magical residues, didn't have any attribute colors. He looked at them until he was satisfied and used them to distract himself until his next job. He didn't think they looked beautiful even when held up to the light. Kanata convinced himself that today's work, combined with the previous one, was well done. The pattern looked like a semicircle with unknown letters, as if it were part of a single shape. He didn't know what it meant, but the explosion sounds and heat from the fire he felt on the battlefield today came to mind. Perhaps the magic chanted from afar had such a shape. Just imagining it made him feel as if he had touched a fragment of magic. Of course, he knew it was just a dream, as the leader Uval had mocked him, and he couldn't use magic after two years.

"...Huh?"

Yes, it was supposed to be a dream.

"What... I can't even read letters..."

The incomplete shape with the semicircle and unknown letters. As he stared at it, words began to form in his mind as if he were reading them. The heat of the fire and the explosion sounds he felt on the battlefield, and as usual, the image of himself using magic. Amidst these fantasies, some words suddenly appeared.

"...'Selection'?"

A click sounded in Kanata's mind. Different words appeared. It wasn't a memory, but a sudden fantasy. The image of himself appeared along with the words.

"'Prayer to the Fire Spirit...?'"

The moment he spoke the words that formed in his mind,

"Huh? Huh!? Huh!?"

The sleeping bag Kanata was in caught fire. Without time to think about what was happening, he quickly shed the sleeping bag. All he could do was stare in shock at the burning sleeping bag. The other children, who were used to sleeping near the fire, didn't wake up even when the sleeping bag burned, but to Kanata, what was happening seemed like a dream.

"......Huh? Huh?"

Eventually, the sleeping bag burned to ashes, and the cold wind blew harshly against his exposed skin. In the quiet night, only the darkness heard Kanata's dazed voice.

"Kanata... You..."

"Griare... Deputy Leader... What is this...?"

...Of course, there was no such convenient thing. The deputy leader, Griare, who had immediately rushed over upon seeing the unnatural fire, had clearly seen what happened. With a look that seemed to say, "I want to ask you the same thing," Griare stared at Kanata with wide eyes.