Chapter 28

Today is a bit longer.

"Ain is the only one who's a perverted mother-obsessed dark knight who eats magic stones!"

Suddenly hearing those words, Ain felt an indescribable irritation but managed to barely suppress it.

"What are you talking about, Katima?"

In Katima's laboratory, the two of them were conducting their usual research, which was actually a rather dangerous development.

Today's main focus was the mysterious magic stone that Ain had purchased for 300,000G.

"When I heard about a magic stone that curses people, I thought there might be someone else like you."

"Are you picking a fight?"

While Katima had been reading books and past cases during Ain's absence, she still hadn't figured out what kind of magic stone it was.

This had caused her some stress.

"Come to think of it, I didn't have any friends my age. Being a mother-obsessed, magic stone-eating loner dark knight... Ow! Ow! Owowowowow!!"

Fed up, Ain finally pulled Katima's ears.

Thinking of it as disciplining a mischievous cat, his heart didn't hurt.

"I'm fine being alone. I'm not a loner."

"Who? Tell me."

"I have one friend named Crowne, so I'm safe."

"Where is she?"

"She's coming to Ishtalica on a ship soon."

"Oh, the guest from Heim. So you're a loner now... Ow! Owowowowow!!"

While Katima's persistence was annoying, Ain was somewhat enjoying this exchange.

After all, for someone who didn't have friends, this was a fun time. Whether it was his true intention or not was a different matter.

"Let's get back to it. We shouldn't be doing such silly things."

"K... Kuu, that hurt..."

"We still don't know what kind of magic stone this is."

"There is one thing I figured out, though."

"Huh? What is it? I haven't heard about it."

Katima showed a slightly smug face and said she had figured out one thing.

"This magic stone is at least from the same era as the Dullahan's magic stone, or even older."

"Then we should look through the records from that era."

"It's not just that. It's as strong as a Dullahan. There are no records of such a magic stone. Even the magic stone of the Demon King in the throne room isn't well understood. If I figured out its strength, that's two things I know."

Ain hadn't expected it to be from such an old era. However, hearing that it was as strong as a Dullahan and had no records, he felt a bit excited. Still, the curse was a major concern.

"What exactly is the curse on this magic stone?"

"…How about we just absorb it?"

Katima's suggestion was something Ain had considered before.

While he thought poisons wouldn't affect him, what about curses?

Curses were certainly not like poisons. The thought of something happening to his body made him hesitate.

"The curse is the problem. Poisons don't scare me."

"Meow. You won't be cursed to death the moment you absorb it."

"Probably not, but still..."

"If a Dullahan could use curses from when they were alive, it would be easy."

"Then it's still a no, right!"

Even with his EX poison decomposition, Ain wasn't particularly resistant to anything else or had any special cheats.

A curse, without any resistance, could easily kill him.

"Ain, the previous owners of this magic stone possessed it without it being sealed, right?"

"Magolica said something like that."

"Hmm. How about we take it out of the box?"

Katima's suggestion was to take it out and place it nearby.

Since those who had been cursed before only had strange dreams and didn't die, this was a brute-force approach.

"Here? With you around?"

"I won't let you have all the fun."

While Katima's boldness was a bit off-putting, Ain decided it was okay.

He reached for the sealed case.

"Wait a minute. If the curse affects the castle, it could be dangerous. It's too risky to open it here."

"This laboratory is sealed more securely than the case. It's a special design, so it's safe."

"Oh, right."

It turned out his worry was unnecessary, and he reached for the case again.

While he knew Katima spent a lot on her research, he hadn't expected her to have curse protection in the laboratory.

"Let's open the case and take out the magic stone. But don't touch it yet."

Following her instructions, he opened the case.

"..."

"Sure enough. It feels like it's breathing or something. I can sense something from the magic stone."

"I don't feel anything. What kind of presence?"

"It feels like it wants to be noticed. Even when it was sealed in Magolica's shop, I could sense something. I couldn't feel it in the laboratory, though."

"I assume it's because of the excellent curse protection here."

It made sense. Ain could also feel the strength of the curse protection in the laboratory.

"Feeling like it wants to be noticed... Does that mean you're already possessed, Ain?"

"Don't say such ominous things."

"But it doesn't make sense. Why would it suddenly attach to you now? What are you, anyway?"

"I'm just a normal boy."

If he had to describe Ain, he was a half-dryad with the EX poison decomposition ability, which allowed him to absorb magic stones. He was also a reincarnated human. Considering this, he wasn't exactly a normal boy.

Ain had become so accustomed to this world that he sometimes forgot he was reincarnated.

"Mother-obsessed."

"I'll pull your ears again."

"Alright, alright. Ain, you can 'completely' control the absorption, right?"

"I think I can. At least, I won't unconsciously absorb a magic stone just by touching it."

"If you were still unconsciously absorbing, you would have absorbed everything in Magolica's shop."

While Katima had said something a bit risky, Ain had already mastered controlling the absorption.

"I won't do that. But if someone I don't like has a lot of magic stones, I might absorb them."

"Ain, you're terrible."

"So, what happens if I can control it?"

"…How about you hold it?"

"Are you serious?"

Katima pointed to the magic stone.

She thought holding it might reveal something.

"It's too dangerous."

"If you don't absorb it, the link won't be established. You used to unconsciously absorb magic stones from a distance, so it should be fine now."

Indeed, Ain used to unconsciously absorb nearby magic stones when he couldn't control the absorption.

Now that he could control it, absorbing from his arm was no problem, so Katima hypothesized it would be fine.

"What if something goes wrong?"

"We'll seal the entire room. That will prevent the curse from spreading, and we can then think about destroying the magic stone or something."

"…Are you sure?"

Since there was a plan in place and it wasn't particularly dangerous, Ain decided to pick up the mysterious magic stone.

"Sure. Magic stone research always comes with some risk."

"Alright. But be on guard, just in case."

He positioned his hands next to the magic stone.

"Ready?"

"I'm ready. Let's do it!"

At her signal, Ain picked up the magic stone.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, a voice echoed throughout the room, not just in Ain's head.

"Found it… Found it… Found it… Found it!"

"Meow!? What is this!?"

The voice didn't stop.

"Ain! Put it back in the box!"

"O-Okay!"

Judging it dangerous, Katima told Ain to put the magic stone back in the box.

Unexpectedly, something happened to Ain's body.

"What… Why? Why are these illusory hands appearing?"

Two, three, four… Illusory hands kept appearing from Ain's back, reaching for the magic stone.

"What are you doing? Ain!"

"It's not me! They're appearing on their own… What is this!?"

Ain was confused by the sudden turn of events. He couldn't let go of the magic stone even if he tried to put it back in the box.

"Meow… Put it back! Put it back!"

Katima tackled Ain from behind and forced his hand back into the box.

She then pulled his hand out of the box with great effort and closed it.

The illusory hands gradually returned to Ain's body.

"Ha… Ha… What was that?"

"Katima, I feel really tired…"

"Of course, with that many illusory hands appearing. What was that really… Ain!?"

"What? Is there something else?"

"Your body! Look at it!"

Katima was unusually anxious, and Ain quickly moved to a mirror. Meanwhile, Katima headed to the bookshelf.

"What… What is this…"

Ain had entered the laboratory in his usual clothes.

But now he was wearing black armor, a size that fit his small body.

The aura emanating from him was black, with a mix of red and blue.

It looked like the armor of a Dullahan.

"Found it! Ain, look at this!"

Katima brought out an old book. It contained a drawing of the black armor Ain was now wearing, and the page described a certain monster.

"Dullahan…"

The book was a valuable collection of old monsters, and the page Katima opened described the Dullahan.

The illustration of the illusory hands was next to a Dullahan wearing black armor, identical to what Ain was wearing.

"Ain, to be honest… Did you absorb a little bit?"

"I didn't absorb it! The illusory hands just appeared, and then I ended up like this!"

Katima pondered.

Various hypotheses and calculations swirled in her head about what had just happened.

"First, let's absorb this. A Healbird's magic stone. Healbirds have a special magic stone that isn't toxic to humans and can be used for healing. If Ain absorbs it, it should have the same effect."

Katima handed Ain three Healbird magic stones.

Exhausted, Ain absorbed them all at once.

He didn't have time to taste them, but a minty, refreshing scent filled his body.

The scent and coolness helped ease his fatigue, and by the time he finished absorbing, Ain had regained some composure.

"Thanks, Katima. I feel a bit better."

"I'm glad. …The armor seems to have disappeared too."

It seemed that as Ain calmed down, the Dullahan armor also vanished.

"Just to be sure, have you practiced any Dark Knight skills other than the illusory hands?"

"No. I didn't even know what skills there were."

"To be honest, I didn't know either. I was scared you might have practiced them."

"Then why did you ask…?"

While the Dullahan was famous for its strength, the details of the Dark Knight skills were still unknown.

In fact, the discovery of the armor was a historical find.

"It's all confusing."

"But you heard the voice, right?"

"Yes. That's a discovery, but… hmm."

"Why do you think the Dark Knight's illusory hands sought out that magic stone?"

"I have a hypothesis."

The illusory hands had activated on their own and sought the magic stone. There were many unknowns about the magic stone itself, and the appearance of the Dullahan armor and its pursuit of the magic stone were also puzzling.

"But it's a far-fetched story. The first hypothesis is that the Dark Knight sought this magic stone because it felt it was related to its growth. The second, more bizarre hypothesis is that the Dark Knight, or the Dullahan, had some 'connection' to the magic stone or the monster that possessed it."

"Meaning, the Dullahan magic stone I absorbed. Its original owner was related to this magic stone or the monster that possessed it?"

"That's right. Considering the curse and what just happened, it's not that strange."

To be honest, Katima could only come up with far-fetched hypotheses.

Even for someone who had dedicated her life to research, everything about this magic stone was a mystery.

They continued discussing the hypothesis, but the conversation didn't progress much.

Eventually, they decided to end the day's research, and both Ain and Katima left the laboratory.

*

Some time after the magic stone incident, Ain was on a rare long trip.

His destination was the largest port town in Ishtalica, which he had visited on his first day in Ishtalica.

Usually, a royal water train would depart for such a trip, but since it wasn't a grand occasion, he was traveling on a water train for nobles.

The group included Ain and Chris in the car Ain was in.

In the car ahead were Warren and a few other officials, along with the knight guards.

They were heading to the port town to meet a ship that was arriving.

The ship, which would take about three hours to reach the port, was carrying many sea crystals brought back from Eulor.

Warren was going to inspect the condition of the sea crystals.

Ain was accompanying him because Silvado thought it would be a good experience, and Olivia had agreed.

Olivia wasn't coming because she was helping Queen Lalura with her duties.

She wanted to come with Ain, but she entrusted the task to Chris.

"We're almost there, Master Ain."

"It's been a while. I haven't come this far in a long time."

"That's right. This is the first time Master Ain has been this far from Olivia, isn't it?"

Hearing Chris's words, Ain realized it was true.

Thinking about it, he had never traveled far without his mother, Olivia.

He had taken entrance exams for the academy, but that was still within the capital, so it didn't count as a long trip.

"Thinking about it, I'm starting to worry about Mother. What should I do…?"

"Olivia would be thinking the opposite, I'm sure."

"You're right."

"Master Ain will have many inspections and public duties in the near future. This inspection will be a good experience."

Chris was right, and Ain was grateful.

Currently, he was just being supported, so he wanted to do as much as he could for the future.

"I'm grateful to Grandfather, but he's been nagging me lately every time we meet."

It was about the incident during the entrance exam.

Olivia had said breaking a promise was bad, but from Silvado's perspective, it was too lenient.

Olivia couldn't be strict with Ain, so Silvado, who was usually lenient, had strongly reprimanded him.

1. Using a skill he was told not to use.

2. Learning the consequences before using a technique.

Since then, Silvado had been reminding him of this.

"It's not something we can do publicly yet."

But there was one good thing for Ain.

It led to the start of training with the illusory hands.

Since regular knights couldn't handle it, Lloyd was the one who usually trained with him.

"Lloyd is a bit too tough, don't you think, Chris?"

"A, ahaha…"

During the exam, Ain had broken the examiner's bones, but with Lloyd, he couldn't do that much damage.

Even when he used the same amount of magic power as during the exam, Lloyd could block it with one armored arm and wasn't blown away or knocked off balance.

"Wasn't the training with the illusory hands supposed to be for safety? To understand the danger. But with Lloyd, it doesn't seem dangerous at all, so the purpose seems to have changed a bit…"

The training was supposed to help Ain understand the strength and control of the illusory hands.

But with Lloyd, it didn't seem dangerous at all. In fact, Lloyd would say "Okay, next!" after taking a hit, which made it seem completely safe.

"…I'll talk to Lord Lloyd about this."

"Thank you."

Chris, who was holding her head, thought Ain had improved in using the illusory hands.

He was getting better at fine movements, but he still hadn't deepened his understanding of the danger.

"Recently, Lord Lloyd has been trying to increase the output a bit."

"That's not good."

Ain had to consider other types of training since Lloyd was already starting to focus on strengthening him.

He also got a good understanding of Lloyd's strength, the former marshal of the great nation of Ishtalica.

As they talked, they arrived at the port, and Chris suggested they get off the train. Ain nodded and stepped off into the port town.

*

"It's so much bigger than I thought."

When Ain got off the water train,