Unnamed Memories - Chapter 12.2

When Oscar woke up, he found himself lying in a dark room. It wasn’t his private chamber.

 

All his wounds had been healed; the blood had been wiped off, and he had been changed into a new tunic.

 

Getting up and looking out the window, he saw the moon shining over a vast plain. No other room was at such a high place – he was in the witch’s bedroom, situated on the top of level of the tower.

 

Oscar turned around. The door to the adjacent room was slightly opened, and there was light pouring out from the crack. He opened the door and saw the witch standing in the center of the brightly-lit room, her back to him. Her attire was different from before: her long black hair was put up, and her magician robe had a high slit on the left.

 

She was holding her hand above a water basin and chanting a spell at the diagram floated above it. She seemed to be very concentrated, and didn’t notice him entering.

 

Oscar came to stand behind her and stroked her exposed pale leg. He kissed her thin shoulder.

 

The witch only noticed his presence then. She looked behind and said ‘You’re awake?’ with a wry smile. In the face of such a calm manner, Oscar let go with a frown.

 

“You’ve let your guard down too much.”

 

“I’m concentrating… I’ll notice if there’s an intruder.”

 

“That’s not what I mean. You should get angry at being touched all over like that.”

 

And that came from the very person who had touched her all over… Tinassha frowned at the irrationality of his words. She spelled the diagram to freeze, then turned around to face him.

 

“Rather than telling me to get angry, you shouldn’t have touched me in the first place. Besides, if it tickled and became a nuisance, I would have complained. I’ve already got used to your way.”

 

“……”

 

As Oscar fell silent with an indescribable and complicated expression on his face, the witch left the room to prepare some drinks. Five minutes later, she returned with some warm, sweet, sugar-added fruit wine.

 

“I’ve sent a message to the castle.”

 

“Ah, my bad.”

 

Oscar accepted the cup and took a sip.

 

It was quite sweet, enough to make one get dizzy.

 

He involuntarily raised his face after one sip.

 

“Drink it.”

 

The witch’s voice came from above his head as if she had seen through his intention. He reluctantly raised the cup to his lips; he could feel the unknown world approaching with each sip.

 

After managing to down half of the violently-sweet drink somehow, Oscar put the cup down. Before the witch could notice, he changed the topic.

 

“In general, what is actually magic, or magic power?”

 

“You’ve asked a very basic question…”

 

“But I don’t know.”

 

Tinassha sat down on a large chest by the window. The moonlight shone upon her and created faint shadows on the floor.

 

“Magic is the interference upon phenomena by the use of magic power via the individual’s will.”

 

“…I don’t understand at all.”

 

“Please listen to the end…”

 

The witch snapped her finger with an exasperated expression, and the lights in the room went out. The same darkness as the outside dominated the place.

 

“For example, I want this room to be bright. ―――― So, I turn on the light. Whether the light comes from magic or from lighting a lamp, the result is still the same. It will become bright.”

 

She snapped her fingers again. Lights came back into the room.

 

“This is interfering with a phenomenon with one’s individual will. It is what humans do to live. Magic does it not by physical actions or words, but by magic power.”

 

“Ah, I see.”

 

“That’s what it is. If we go into more details, there are many rules regarding physical interferences like things will fall from a higher place to a lower place, or an object will move if you touch it with force. There are also such rules regarding magic. However, as magic is slightly different in terms of hierarchy despite being the same as the visible world in terms of spatiality, its rules normally do not work like in nature. They simply exist. Are you alright so far?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Oscar nodded while drinking some water from a pitcher to wash away the lingering sweetness.

 

“Magicians use magic to pull up these rules and use them to interfere with phenomena. With physical interference, you can easily use a lever or wheels to move a heavy stone you can’t move directly. With magic, you can use compositions. With the same amount of magic power, you can do more using a magic composition than not. It’s difficult to put together a complicated composition, but the result will be grand.”

 

She said, and snapped her fingers again. A diagram appeared, made from intricately intertwining red threads. It was probably one of the compositions she had mentioned. Tinassha made it disappear with a shake of a hand and continued.

 

“Several rules to use magic are known, but many are probably still undiscovered. Even with the known rules, differences in using compositions will result in completely different arts. …Do you understand?”

 

“Generally.”

 

He did understand, but it felt like taking a lecture from a magician. Oscar continued to ask:

 

“What determines whether we have magic power or not?”

 

“It’s still unknown whether it’s decided by the body or the soul, but it’s completely congenital. Lineage does have some influence, but not entirely. Those who have magic power are born with it, and those who are not born with it can’t be trained to have it.”

 

“What about me?”

 

“…You have it.”

 

“I didn’t know.”

 

Up until now, there had been no magicians in the direct line of the Farsas royal family. Even though it was not decided entirely by lineage, it still felt rather unexpected. Or maybe there had been those with the talent but never noticed it?

 

Tinassha smiled wryly and pointed to the sword he was carrying.

 

“But you can’t use magic as long as you carry Akasshia. The magic power inside you won’t be able to converge. I had to make a rather complicated composition for my protective barrier to coexist with it.”

 

She had said that she didn’t want to undo the barrier because it was troublesome; now her words finally struck. A sword that nullified all magic and the magic that protected the sword’s owner from all attacks; of course it was difficult to think that they could coexist. It once again came to him how much skills she must have put into it, and how difficult it was.

 

She tilted her head and continued with a smile.

 

“As you do possess magic power, you should be able to see it. You can’t because you think you can’t, don’t you? Please be aware of that from now on.”

 

“…I see.”

 

Tinassha got down from the chest she was sitting on and came to stand in front of Oscar. She showed both her palms in a sweet gesture.

 

“So, what now? Shall we return to the castle? Or I’ll make something if you’re hungry.”

 

Oscar was a bit taken aback by the last option.

 

“You can cook?”

 

“I very much can. How many years have I lived alone, do you think?”

 

“About a thousand year?”

 

“If you really mean it, I’ll make sure to blow you away tomorrow.”

 

She smiled as if saying she could blow him away right now, and Oscar patted her head as he always did.

 

“Well, cook then.”

 

“Yes yes.”

 

The witch turned around and disappeared into the kitchen. There were still two weeks until their month ended.

 

Oscar wasn’t blown away the next day; he was surrounded by a sea of flame instead.

 

The ring of flame Tinassha had shot out had encircled him. His sweats wouldn’t stop even though he just stood still, and the heat was enough to make him feel faint.

 

“Please break out of it before you collapse or get burned.”

 

The witch floated up and said lightly while looking down at Oscar. It was as cheerful as if he was going out to have fun, and she was telling him to come back at noon.

 

“It’s quite hot…”

 

As a test, Oscar tried to slash at the wall of flame in front of him. The red wall parted just a crack as if to avoid Akasshia, but once the sword had passed, it closed up and became a whole mass again just as before. The witch gave him an advice:

 

“Don’t just slash at it as you normally do; look at the magic flow. There should be a point acting as a linchpin of the composition.”

 

“You’ve told me that…”

 

In the past two weeks, Oscar had realized that Tinassha could be merciless once she had made up her mind to train him. Of course she had been careful about it, but it was such a wonder that he hadn’t died already.

 

But thanks to that, Oscar truly felt that his skills had improved. His sword skills were above Tinassha to begin with, and his intuition in actual combat was good. Thanks to the precise training of his guardian, he had absorbed the method to fight against magicians like dry sand soaking up water.

 

“I didn’t tell you to look with your inner eyes or something. Please use your own two eyes. The magic composition should be within the flame.”

 

“Understood.”

 

If he lost his focus, he would collapse. Oscar wiped away the sweats on his brow and stared into the wall of flame. The flickering flame retained its essence even while changing color and shape; it seemed to waver to confuse any observers.

 

Oscar slowly took a breath, and stopped. He cleaned his mind; he just trusted the witch’s words. He closed his eyes while breathing lightly; when he opened them, he saw a thin thread in the same color of the flame swaying in the fire. It formed a spiral shape while circling the flame wall, creating a large circle.

 

He turned his head to watch the circle. There was only one place where the thread grew stiff. Oscar held Akasshia ready and walked up to the flame; he cut at that place.

 

The moment the point of his sword touched the linchpin, everything broke off. Having lost the composition that formed its shape, the ring of flame scattered as if time was rewound. Only the choking heat remaining after that.

 

“Well done!”

 

When he sheathed his sword and looked up, the witch clapped in delight.

 

He was able to see magic quite fast. Tinassha had said ‘You don’t even need a month.’

 

For him to be able to sense not only the magic compositions but also the magic power coming before them, of course training took the form of actual combats.

 

“Hm, I kinda want to let you fight against humans.”

 

Leaning against the wall, Tinassha said. She had just defeated the demon she had summoned for the training. Oscar was wiping the demon’s blood from his blade with a cloth.

 

“Don’t say it like you’re telling insects to fight each other.”

 

“I’ve never played that kind of game before…”

 

“I have.”

 

Tinassha made a disgusted face. She waved her hand, and the demon’s corpse disappeared from the floor.

 

“What about our magicians?”

 

“If the usual magicians become your opponents, they’ll have nightmares. Someone with no strings attached is better.”

 

She shook her head and said. At that moment, the wall opposite her quietly opened. There were some people standing on the other side of the door.

 

“Eh?”

 

“You didn’t shut the door?”

 

“Seems so.”

 

Tinassha muttered ‘What a fail, what a fail’ and went to Oscar’s side, which was near the center of the room.

 

There were five men outside. As they cautiously came in, they seemed surprised to see two other people were already inside. They seemed to be especially taken to Tinassha’s beauty.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“To challenge the tower?”

 

Oscar and Tinassha exchanged troubled glances hearing their answer, but the witch seemed to think of something and clapped her hands with an innocent smile on her face. Oscar could generally guess what she was planning, and he wished from the bottom of his heart that his guess was incorrect.

 

Tinassha took one step forward and floated up. The five visitors watched her in surprise. They have two swordsmen, one magician equipped with a middle-range weapon – a bow, one magician with a long-range weapon, and the last magician seemed to specialize in defense.

 

A flawless, bewitching smile appeared on the witch’s face.

 

“Welcome to my tower. I’m sorry for it being so sudden.”

 

Her greetings caused a commotion. Oscar was perplexed. One of the swordsman pointed his sword at Tinassha and asked:

 

“You are the witch?”

 

“Yes. Have you come here due to some business with me?”

 

“Can you grant our wishes?”

 

“If you have the strength.”

 

The men whispered amongst themselves. Another young swordsman stepped forward.

 

“Will you grant any wishes? …For example, you look like a very fine woman. If I say I want you, will you grant it?”

 

“It’s not a problem.”

 

“Tinassha!”

 

While giggling, the witch came down and stood beside her contractor, who was full of annoyance.

 

“But like I said, you have to have the strength. Originally, I’ll ask you to climb to the top of the tower, but it’s an exception today.”

 

She snapped her finger, and the opened door shut close. Having lost their retreat path, the man gasped.

 

Pointing a pale finger at Oscar, Tinassha said charmingly:

 

“Fight and beat him. If you can do that, I’ll grant your wishes.”

 

The men lost some tension. This seemed to be easier than the tower challenge, where losers were said to not come back. The magician with the bow stepped up.

 

“One on one?”

 

“No, all of you at once.”

 

Tinassha once again floated up and whispered into Oscar’s ears:

 

“I’ll intervene if someone might die, so please fight to your heart’s content.”

 

“You…”

 

“Fighting-“

 

She actually looked like she was enjoying this. Oscar had the feeling that he had become an insect himself.

 

But it was no use to complain. He put his hand on Akasshia.

 

The baited men got into battle stance one by one. He looked up at the witch, who was watching from the air like it was a sports game, then at the young swordsman. The one who had been captivated by Tinassha just now.

 

He muttered with a sarcastic expression:

 

“I’ll start with him.”

 

Tinassha clapped her hands. With that as the signal, the battle started.

 

It ended up being an almost instant kill.

 

Oscar came towards the young swordsman with incredible speed, broke through the barrier the magicians had set up with Akasshia, parried his sword, and slashed his sword down at him.

 

Just before Akasshia could touch his body, he disappeared. Seemed like Tinassha had deemed that it would cause a fatal wound, and had transported him.

 

The other swordsman rushed at him. Oscar parried him, leapt to in front of the magician who was about to shoot an arrow, and slashed at his body.

 

Oscar leapt back without looking at the magician’s surprise face as he was being transported away.

 

The swordsman closed in on him again. He glanced at the magician to confirm that he had begun chanting for a magic attack. They exchanged blows for a short while, and Oscar swung his sword downward on his shoulder on the fifth strike.

 

The magician finished his chant just then, and a powerful wind rushed at him in the form of a jaw. Oscar extended his right hand and crushed the magic composition’s core. He leapt towards the dumbfounded magician. He could feel an invisible binding spell from the other magician reaching towards him from behind; he cut it off in one stroke. He thrust his sword towards the panicked magician, who had begun to chant another spell; he disappeared.

 

Turning around, Oscar saw that the last magician had fallen down on his backside. He put his sword to his throat.

 

“It’s finished.”

 

The final challenger was transported away with a clap.

 

“It’s disappointing.”

 

“Your taste is bad.”

 

“Sorry.”

 

The witch descended while apologizing; she was in a good mood. Oscar sheathed Akasshia and took her body into his arms. Tinassha smiled while combing her fingers through his disheveled hair.

 

“It was faster than I expected. Let’s stop our training today.”

 

“Is that alright? There are still five days left.”

 

“There’s not much meaning to continue after this. You’ve worked hard.”

 

The witch came down from Oscar’s arms to stand on the floor. Watching her dainty body, Oscar suddenly said with no special intention in mind:

 

“If I fight you with all my might, can I win?”

 

He didn’t really think about it – She was the strongest witch. Yet, it still rushed out of his mouth.

 

But Tinassha slightly tilted her head and looked up at Oscar with eyes an endless loneliness:

 

“That… It’ll be boring if you know now, won’t it?”

 

The witch lowered her long, black eyelashes. Her dark eyes were glittering. A smile appeared on her lips.

 

At that moment, she looked both like a little girl and a witch who had lived a long, long time.

 

Oscar faltered a little from her gaze. But he pretended not to notice it and patted her head.

 

“If I win, grant me something.”

 

“It’s fine if it’s something I can do right away. You’ve worked hard until now. …Anything except marrying you.”

 

“Don’t be so precautious.”

 

“I’ve learned.”

 

Tinassha replied nonchalantly and opened the gate to return to the castle. She reached her hand towards Oscar.

 

When he took her hand, she smiled a relieved but a bit sad smile for some reason.