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#016. Children of the Street (6)
Squeak─ bang.
Ray closed the door quietly.
I followed the girl through the shelves.
I walked inside and took in the scenery inside the bookstore.
The gentle sunlight seeping through the glass.
Dust floating leisurely between them.
Bookcases lining the walls and storage cabinets of various sizes placed here and there.
Sniff sniff.
…and a smell I’ve never smelled before.
Musty? Damp?
I couldn’t figure out what to say about the smell.
However, what was clear was that it was not a particularly unpleasant smell, and rather, it felt strangely addictive.
It was a little later.
It is a fact that the scent is actually the ‘smell of books’ and that many people enjoy it.
widely.
The girl stopped walking.
I turned around and looked at Ray.
The trembling and startling of the bowl had subsided considerably.
Curiosity flashed in the girl’s red eyes.
“I am Veronica.”
veronica.
It was the name written on the bookstore sign.
“ray.”
“Ray. I see.”
Veronica repeated Ray’s name out loud several times, as if trying to commit it to memory.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you when I first saw you. I thought you were one of those kids who throw rocks at you every day.”
Ray answered indifferently.
“I think it was a situation that could have easily been misunderstood.”
“Thank you again for helping me earlier. If it weren’t for you, I would have been in real trouble.”
That was true.
In the lower sectors, there was no police, not even a security force.
People were indifferent to each other, so when difficulties arose, they had to rely solely on their own strength to resolve them.
“thank you so much.”
Bow.
A slightly bowed head that then rises.
The rich red locks covered my master’s face and then returned to their original place.
“… … .”
Ray looked at the sight expressionlessly.
I didn’t quite understand why Veronica kept saying thank you.
Strictly speaking, he had already received compensation for his help in the form of an ‘encounter with a wizard’.
Help and reward.
It was like a kind of deal.
“You don’t have to be so grateful. I just wanted to come into this bookstore and take a look.”
“Huh? Well anyway….”
“I just thought it would be harder for you to come in here if you got hurt.”
“… … .”
Veronica was embarrassed.
Isn’t it normal to add color to situations like this?
It seemed like the other person wasn’t just being humble, but really didn’t think there was any need to express gratitude.
Something feels strange.
For a brief moment, Veronica noticed that Ray was different from other children she had seen before.
‘… Well, he broke other kids’ arms without changing his expression at all.’
I guess he’s not an ordinary kid.
I don’t know where he learned it, but he used magic of a high degree of perfection.
“Okay. But you─. Oh, wait a minute.”
Veronica suddenly stopped talking.
I carefully reached out my hand to Ray’s cheek.
Because they were of similar height, the girl’s hand could easily reach the boy’s cheek.
“There is a wound.”
“… … .”
The girl’s slender fingers slowly touched the wound on her cheek.
It was just a light scratch.
Blood was dried from his cheek to his ear.
It was a wound that Ray himself was unaware of, as it had been inflicted during the same fight every day.
“I see you got scratched somewhere. It’s okay.”
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“Just a minute. If you leave it alone, it’ll get worse.”
Veronica spread her palm and placed it on Ray’s cheek.
Ray watched Veronica’s actions silently.
What on earth are you trying to do?
A wound like this will heal if left alone.
At a time like this, it would be nice if you could quickly guide me to the wizard.
But the next moment something completely unexpected happened.
Woof─
The white mana that had been in the air began to gather into Veronica’s palm and transform into light.
There were no other colors mixed in.
There was only white mana.
A few seconds passed like that.
Mana was all reconciled with light, brightly covering Ray’s cheeks and then disappearing.
A palm that fell off with a slap.
The boy touched his cheek.
“… … !”
Ray opened his eyes wide after confirming that he could not feel any wounds on his fingertips.
“How did you do it?”
“Huh? What are you going to do?”
Ray took a big step closer.
“I just moved the white mana. I used it to create light and erase the wound.”
Veronica flinched in surprise, but Ray didn’t care.
Ray could manipulate every color of mana that existed in the atmosphere.
But there are some exceptions.
That was the white mana that Veronica was using just now.
No matter how much I concentrated, the white mana did not move.
It was frozen in place in the atmosphere like hardened cement.
At first, I thought so.
If you feel the associated emotion, you will be able to move white mana.
But it soon became clear that this assumption was meaningless.
Because he himself could not feel the emotions associated with white mana.
It was different from other emotions that could be felt subtly if you focused your mind and touched the traces left in your heart.
‘I think I have a rough idea of what kind of emotions I should feel.’
Help others.
Be considerate of others.
Either dedicate yourself or sacrifice.
White mana seeped into their vessels when people engaged in such actions.
The girl was like that just now.
The bowl was permeated with white mana.
I thought that the fundamental emotion was probably ‘concern for others.’
A conclusion reached after much thought.
At the same time, I felt a sense of emptiness.
Because he was a person who could never truly worry about others.
For example, when the golem heads towards the culvert.
The scene of Pale and his siblings being badly injured by the golem clearly appeared in his head.
I think I was worried because my heart sank for a moment.
But that wasn’t a concern for the children.
The concern was that the children would die and the ‘debt of life’ would not be fully repaid.
… Honestly, I wasn’t sure about the feelings I had at the time.
But I thought there was a high probability that it would happen.
Because he is emotionally incapable.
Veronica said, flustered at Ray’s sudden excitement.
“I just used healing magic. But it was white mana?”
“You dragged it out of the air… Ah.”
Ray stopped talking.
“There was no mention of color? That mana has colors.”
“Color? I didn’t say anything like that. I said that mana isn’t something you can see.”
It was because of the words that came to my mind.
Niles’ words seemed to be true.
That is, if you look at the other person’s reaction.
“I don’t know much about white mana. Is it perhaps the element of regeneration?”
Veronica said hesitantly.
It seemed like he wanted to help in some way.
“Element of Regeneration?”
“Yeah. The element used in the magic just now was one type. That’s usually the case with healing magic. It just uses one element of regeneration, or adds a few auxiliary elements to it.”
“… … .”
Niles’ words came to mind again.
“Mana is made up of various elements. I think there are about 100 of them. It was also said that the number and type of elements that can be handled are determined by one’s constitution.”
Niles also talked about the elements.
“How many types of that element are there?”
“Oh, um. There are a lot. There are over 20 basic natural elements. If you add auxiliary elements like amplification, interference, manipulation, and regeneration… .”
Veronica tried counting on her fingers, but soon gave up.
“It’s probably more than 100. My grandfather told me the exact number, but I don’t remember.”
It was consistent with what Niles said.
After a moment of thought, Ray was able to conclude that his previous guess was correct.
Mana divided into several colors while waiting.
That is to say, it is called an element.
However, other people seemed unable to see the color of mana.
A small excitement rose in Ray’s chest as he realized one by one the facts he had not known.
I wanted to meet my grandfather as soon as possible.
I’m sure you know more about magic than this.
“Is Grandpa on the second floor?”
“Yeah. He’s not feeling very well. He can barely get out of bed.”
Veronica turned around and continued guiding Ray.
Knock, knock, knock
“How did you learn magic?
Veronica asked.
Without turning his head.
“My grandfather said that you can never use magic unless someone teaches you.”
I didn’t learn it, but I ended up using it on my own.
“… … .”
An answer that doesn’t come back.
Veronica moved on to the next question on her own.
“You don’t have a separate house? Where do you sleep?”
“Just out there, here and there.”
“I see. It must be very difficult. I also lived outside before I went to the orphanage.”
There was a lot of conversation about this and that.
It was mostly girls asking questions and boys answering.
In the meantime, I arrived at the stairs leading to the second floor.
“Would you like to sit here at the table and wait? I need to check if Grandpa is awake. He often falls asleep because of his illness.”
Ray nodded.
Veronica hurried up the stairs.
The sound of footsteps gradually fading away.
The air on the first floor became quiet again.
Instead of sitting on a chair and waiting, Ray walked slowly around the bookstore.
Countless letters poured into my field of vision.
“On the… ontological… significance of man. Caledric… travelogue. Interpretation of the… unconscious.”
Ray fumbled to read the title.
Reading itself wasn’t a problem, but there were a lot of words I didn’t know the meaning of, so there weren’t many books from which I could infer the content.
I absentmindedly reached for a book and stopped.
“… … .”
His own palms were dirty.
Bloodstains dried on the dust and black grime.
I heard that books are very expensive items.
If you touch it with these hands, the value of the product will definitely drop.
Ray retrieved his hand.
There was no such thing as a proper bath for slum children.
Very rarely, really.
When it rains relatively cleanly, rather than black rain.
At that time, going outside and getting rained on all over my body was all I could enjoy about showering.
And in Ray’s memory, it had been at least half a year since it had rained clearly.
Sniff sniff.
I smelled the back of my hand.
A pungent, acrid stench clung to the nasal mucosa.
Strictly speaking, it couldn’t be called a bad smell.
For a boy with dull emotions, pleasure and displeasure based on smells were very rare.
But I was definitely aware that it was the kind of smell that people hated.
‘Does this kid have a bad nose? Or did he just put up with it?’
Veronica had not shown any sign of discomfort from the moment she came inside the bookstore to the moment she came outside.
He didn’t frown or show any sign of disgust.
“… … .”
Veronica didn’t come back upstairs for longer than expected.
Ray continued to walk through the bookstore.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any books that seemed to have anything to do with magic.
But his eyes did not lose their curiosity.
I thought that even if it wasn’t magic, I would be able to learn all the knowledge I needed for my future journey through the books here.
“… … .”
As I was walking, I arrived at the counter.
In the spacious interior, there was a large desk facing the wall, with a reading desk, a stand, notebooks, and open books scattered about in a mess.
Squeak─
I opened the counter door and carefully went inside.
I looked over the contents of the unfolded note.
Tiny letters filled the pages.
There were a dozen or so notebooks piled up on the table next to me that looked like they were already used.
Ray read the contents out loud.
“Research on… the distribution of elements… by sector… and the cause of the… spread of black rain…?”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
That’s when I heard a sound.
Someone was coming down the stairs.