Chapter 59: Night Before The Storm (5)

Elissa unbuttoned the top button of her uniform shirt before I could even stop her.

When I was frozen in surprise at the sudden disrobing, Elissa’s fair fingers pulled at the collar of her shirt.

Revealing her collarbone. And revealing the fake Stigmata engraved on her collarbone, Elissa said.

“…I, actually have a fake Stigmata too.”

Elissa’s expression, saying that, was dark. Complex emotions were felt on her face, which was close to expressionless.

Worry and fear that I might despise her. An anxious heart that doesn’t want to lose me. And the relief after unraveling the facts that she had kept tightly hidden and suffered inside.

Elissa, in a state of confusion mixed with various emotions, couldn’t meet my eyes. Elissa, who gathered both hands at her chest, was avoiding her gaze diagonally downward.

So, I deliberately made a bright expression and answered Elissa.

“I see.”

“…Yes?”

“I see. I said.”

Elissa’s expression became blank for a moment.

Elissa, who was prepared for cold words, scorn mixed with contempt, and even outright condemnation, was rather embarrassed by the reaction that it was nothing.

Elissa’s eyes, like a calm surface, trembled.

“I, like that Marcus guy who caused a disturbance at the restaurant, have a fake Stigmata. Is that okay?”

“Yes. Didn’t I say? I never abandon my friends. Elissa is the third friend I made. So there’s no way I’ll abandon you, right?”

While releasing Elissa’s hands gathered at her chest with my left hand, I gently grabbed Elissa’s chin, which was facing elsewhere, with my right hand.

Elissa was surprised by the sudden approach, but I didn’t care and turned the girl’s head towards me.

Elissa’s blue eyes tried to avoid me. I didn’t like that, so I brought my face close. The distance between Elissa and me becomes close enough for our breaths to touch each other.

“Ugh…”

It was really a distance where our lips would collide if we were about 5 centimeters closer. If it were me as usual, I would probably have turned my cheeks bright red and trembled cutely.

But somehow, this distance didn’t feel burdensome at all today. Maybe it’s because I and Elissa were alone in a quiet space where the sunset light poured in.

Atmosphere had the power to make people brave. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like that applied to Elissa.

Elissa was trembling her eyes pitifully.

Maybe it’s because this distance is too burdensome. She tried to push me away somehow, but Elissa’s strength stat as a magician was much lower than mine.

I smiled at the cute resistance and continued to speak slowly.

“And well, I was somewhat expecting that Elissa was a fake Stigmata holder. So I’m not that surprised.”

“Eh…?”

“Where did I get caught? Hmm, first of all, there have been a few times when you unconsciously hinted that you know about the fake Stigmata.”

After fighting with Marcus. Before Elissa put out the fire, Elissa had unconsciously brought up the story about the fake Stigmata holder.

I just passed over it because I was out of my mind at the time, but when I thought about it again, it was strange.

“And first of all, the feeling of mana used by fake Stigmata holders is a little different. Considering how the fake Stigmata is made, this cannot be hidden unless you are a magician who has reached the realm.”

Of course, that only applies to special cases like me or overwhelming strongmen like Elin-sensei.

Ordinary teachers or students can feel that Elissa’s mana is a little strange, but they don’t know exactly what it is. Like Yelena did.

“I see…”

“Still, don’t worry. No one knows that you are a fake Stigmata holder except for me and Elin-sensei.”

“Eh, Elin-sensei also knew…?”

“It’s still in the realm of suspicion. A strong person like Elin-sensei can recognize the unusual points at a glance.”

“Ah…”

“Still, don’t worry. I’ve talked to Elin-sensei well, so what you’re thinking won’t happen.”

I said that and stroked Elissa’s hair. Water-colored silver hair flows softly between my fingers.

“Elissa doesn’t have to worry. I, never abandon my friends. Elissa is as precious to me as I am to Elissa.”

“R, really…?”

“Yes. Didn’t I say? Until I came to the academy, I couldn’t trust anyone. Because of the guys who always tried to stab me in the back.”

I said that and slowly brought up the main point.

“So, how did Elissa end up having a fake Stigmata? The Elissa I’ve seen so far doesn’t seem like someone who would reach out to the Dark Cult first.”

My people-seeing eye isn’t absolute… but I think it’s quite reliable. Rising from the bottom to a gold-ranked adventurer means that you basically have a built-in eye for people.

And the Elissa I saw was definitely not a girl who would fall into inferiority complex and reach out to the Dark Cult.

In the first place, as I knew that Elissa had a fake Stigmata, this was the most important story. Finding out Elissa’s past.

Elissa, who had been silent for a while, carefully opened her mouth.

“…Hmm, do you still have a lot of time? I think it’s going to be a pretty long story.”

“Yes. Anyway, I’ve finished all the preparations for the midterm exam.”

The fake Stigmata holders are already being monitored unknowingly by the teachers.

In order to prevent dangerous situations that may occur when dismantling the fake Stigmata, several priests were also brought from the Holy Kingdom.

Preparations for the terror that will happen in the midterm exam are already over.

However, I just couldn’t decide who to protect. Because it was questionable whether they would really aim for the barrier stone after revealing such clues.

If they pretend to aim for the barrier stone and aim for another target, we had no way to stop it.

And, the most likely target of the Dark Cult was Elissa. Based on the original work, there is nothing in the academy that the Dark Cult can aim for.

“It’s going to be a little, long story.”

So I concentrated on Elissa’s story.

Mana excess is caused by the body creating too much mana.

Therefore, mana excess patients are extremely rare. It’s not simply because mana excess is an abnormal phenomenon, but because it’s difficult for the body to produce so much mana that even oneself can’t handle it.

Even Sian, who has a C-rank mana amount, often suffers from mana shortage. Even though C-rank is the mana amount of a top-ranked magic department graduate.

Then, how much mana is needed to be able to constantly emit mana around?

Probably, if you want to express Elissa’s mana amount numerically, you’ll have to put 3 or more + after S. Even the great wizards of all time did not have that much mana.

The Dark Cult also focused on this point. If they can control such an enormous amount of mana, they can secure a great wizard-level force.

Where do you get mana excess patients? You make them. The way to forcibly cause mana excess was surprisingly simple. Just grind the lives of living people.

Gather hundreds of hearts, the organ that generates mana, make a potion, and force-feed it. It’s not that the Empire and the Academy didn’t know this fact, but they couldn’t. That was the difference between the Dark Cult and them.

Mana excess patients can’t control mana? It doesn’t matter. The Dark Cult had fake Stigmata. Using the fake Stigmata, they could control the overflowing mana of the girl.

Of course, this was a terrible thing. If you forcibly suppress a hose from which water is flowing, the hose will swell tightly.

The experimental subject with the fake Stigmata had to feel the pain of all the blood vessels in her body tearing apart every time she activated the fake Stigmata and used magic.

The problem was that the Dark Cult didn’t care about the pain the experimental subject would feel.

Elissa, who was kidnapped by the Dark Cult at the age of seven, was forcibly made to suffer from mana excess, and a fake Stigmata was implanted in her, and she had to be used for their experiments.

“Let’s practice basic magic today.”

“I, I don’t want to… It hurts, no more…”

“I see. It hurt a lot?”

The Crusader of the Dark Cult assigned to Elissa did not force Elissa to participate in the experiment.

Because there was no great meaning in training with pain if it was painful even if she participated in the experiment and painful even if she did not participate.

Elissa was a very smart child for her age. Unlike her peers, she was a difficult case to control with indiscriminate violence.

“Then your family will have to suffer the pain instead?”

“Ugh, ah… I understand! I’ll do it…!”

So, he touched Elissa’s family. Elissa couldn’t just stand by and watch her family, who loved and cherished her, suffer.

As time passed, Elissa’s body and mind gradually broke down.