Chapter 167 - Rain and a Friend's Plea
(Author’s Note: This is where the suspenseful arc begins. The payoff starts in Chapter 175, with everything resolved by Chapter 182.)
"Huh, it's already this late..."
They had gotten so caught up in reading and discussing the book together that more time had passed than they'd realized. It was getting quite late.
After dinner at the tower, they had opened the monster encyclopedia from the neighboring country that they'd bought the other day and sat side by side at the table, reading it together.
The beautifully illustrated Sköll and Unicorns, the impressively imposing Great Forest Serpents, and the terrifying Hydra were all captivating in their own way.
The book also covered how to raise Magical Silkworms and how to pasture Crimson Cattle and Magical Sheep, making it clear just how much the neighboring country valued monster husbandry.
"So Cockatrices take a long time to charge up before they unleash their petrifying breath. I guess that's when you should target them with magic or arrows... I've always gone straight for the head."
"I knew a Cockatrice's beak could prevent petrification, but apparently its feathers can also be used as a one-time petrification prevention material, as long as you have enough of them."
Volf was surprised by the information about monsters' weaknesses, while Dahlia was amazed by the ways their parts could be used as materials.
They had both thought themselves reasonably knowledgeable, but some things commonly known in the neighboring country were entirely new to people in their own.
The two of them wholeheartedly agreed that books like this really were valuable.
"It's raining... Would you like to stay a little longer?"
When they listened carefully, they could hear what sounded like rain. Approaching the window, they saw thin silver streaks falling through the darkness of the night.
"No, I shouldn't stay too late..."
As if interrupting Volf, the rain suddenly grew heavier.
Beyond the window, the rain had turned into a downpour. The two exchanged glances and laughed.
"Volf, why don't you stay just a little longer?"
"I think I will. Thank you."
As the heavy rain continued to pound outside, Volf suddenly furrowed his brow.
"Someone seems to have arrived."
"Huh? At this hour?"
The gate bell rang amid the torrential rain. Looking out the window, they saw someone standing there in a cloak.
Wondering if something urgent had happened, Dahlia hurried outside.
"Sorry to bother you so late..."
"Marcella-san!"
Marcella stood before the gate, soaked to the skin. Dahlia hurriedly ushered him into the tower.
Marcella stepped just inside the doorway and bowed deeply. Drops of water dripped from his sandy-colored hair onto the floor.
"Dahlia-chan, I'm sorry to ask this of you, but please, help Irma! I'm begging you...!"
"What happened to Irma?! Is she hurt?"
"Irma's pregnant. But she's very ill... Her life is in danger."
When Marcella raised his head, his eyes were terribly red.
"Marcella-san, please tell me what condition Irma is in."
Dahlia handed Marcella a towel and asked him right there.
Soaked as he was, he declined Dahlia's offer to go upstairs and sat down on the stone steps instead. Pressing the towel against his eyes, he finally began to speak.
"Remember when the four of us had dinner a little while ago, and Irma couldn't make it down the tower stairs?"
"...The day of the summer festival."
Dahlia remembered it well because Marcella had carried Irma home in his arms.
It had been nearly three weeks since that day.
Dahlia hadn't seen Irma once during that time. She had written to her once, but Irma had replied, Sorry, I'm swamped! Dahlia had assumed that they simply hadn't been able to meet because their schedules didn't line up.
"Irma hasn't been herself since that day... She kept throwing up, so I thought she'd eaten too much or caught a cold. But she didn't get better, and when we went to the doctor, we found out she was pregnant. I was happy at first, but then she gradually became less and less able to move..."
"Is Irma at the doctor's now?"
"No. There's nothing the doctor can do for her anymore. She's at the temple."
"The temple? Are they using healing magic to treat her morning sickness?"
"No... It's 'Magic Overload.' They told me the baby's mana is too strong, and Irma won't be able to endure it much longer."
"How can that be..."
Dahlia caught her breath at the shocking news.
Magic Overload was a condition in which the body could no longer withstand its own mana.
It could cause the heart to stop or make breathing impossible. Uncontrolled mana could also cause injuries such as burns and frostbite.
Back in the academy, Dahlia had heard that the condition occasionally occurred in children born to noble families. But she couldn't understand why Irma, rather than the baby, was suffering from it.
"Why does Irma have Magic Overload? ...Irma's mana level is one or two, right? What's yours, Marcella-san?"
"...Fourteen."
"What?"
For a moment, Dahlia thought she must have misheard him.
That was higher than Dahlia's own mana level, which she had only managed to raise to ten after drinking mana potions.
A mana level of fourteen was common among those of high-ranking noble blood, but extremely rare among ordinary commoners. It was high enough for someone to enter the academy's mage program on a special scholarship, if they wished.
"...Marcella, could it be that you had 'Late Blooming Magic'?"
At Volf's tentative question, Marcella lowered his eyes and nodded.
"Yeah. When I was seventeen, I nearly died in a carriage accident, and my mana awakened late. Before that, it was only four. The people I call my parents are actually my uncle and aunt. My real mother worked in the pleasure district, and I don't know who my father was. He was probably a noble, though..."
"Marcella..."
"Hey, Volf, Dahlia-chan. Have you ever wondered why my name is 'Marcella,' even though I'm a man? Doesn't it sound like a woman's name?"
Marcella gave them a rueful smile, one they had never seen on his face before.
In this country, boys were indeed more commonly named Marcello, while girls were more often named Marcella.
"'Marcella' was my mother's name, exactly as it was. She gave me that name so that if my father ever came looking for me, he'd be able to find me even after she was gone. It was meaningless, though."
"Marcella-san, your mother..."
"She died shortly after giving birth to me. Maybe she had Magic Overload, too..."
Marcella's bitter words fell to the floor along with the raindrops dripping from his clothes.
"Before we got married, the doctor told us that Irma and I would almost certainly never have children because the difference in our mana levels was more than ten. We'd discussed it before the wedding, too, but now this happened..."
"I see..."
Irma had told Dahlia that she wasn't thinking about having children because she still had debts from building her beauty salon and wanted to focus on her work.
Irma loved children, but Dahlia had assumed it was simply a matter of career choices and timing.
"The priests have been casting healing magic on her, but she can't eat anything... Her fingers have become as hard as stone, and she hasn't been able to move them for three days... Why did our child have to have earth magic, of all things, when I hardly ever use it myself?"
His face, usually lit by a reassuring smile, now looked as though he might burst into tears at any moment.
Marcella bit his lip hard, stood up, and bowed deeply before her.
"Please, Dahlia-chan. Convince Irma to give up the baby! Otherwise, she's going to die... She won't listen, no matter how much I talk to her or beg her... I know this is a terrible thing to ask, but I thought she might listen to you..."
"Marcella-san..."
Faced with her friend's desperate plea, Dahlia couldn't bring herself to agree. Instead, she turned to look at Volf.
He understood what she meant and nodded.
"I'll get a carriage. Let's go to the temple together. Dahlia, get ready to leave."
"Please, Volf. Marcella-san, let's all go to the temple together. Then let me talk to Irma."
"...I'm truly sorry, both of you."
The rain grew louder, as though trying to drown out their conversation.
As Marcella bowed his head once more, he seemed painfully small compared to his usual self.
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