Chapter 11: Seal Release

"Smarter than... Gaia...?"

Rate turned his gaze toward Sakika with what seemed like trepidation.

Sakika didn't particularly think he was smart. He certainly had a lot of knowledge—reading was his hobby, and he devoured even specialized texts.

But whether that could be called intelligence was questionable. Just because someone had extensive knowledge didn't mean they were smart, in Sakika's opinion.

As Sakika tilted his head at Rate's stare, Gaia, who was sitting next to him, suddenly hugged him. Being hugged by Gaia wasn't unpleasant at all. It was just the sudden, forceful nature of it that was a problem.

"Why does Gaia look so proud?"

Gaia's behavior must have been unusual for them. But unlike Naoma and Rate, who stared at them in stunned amazement, Lilith seemed genuinely curious about Gaia and Sakika's relationship.

"Sakika's like a little brother to me. Of course a big brother would be happy when his little brother is outstanding."

As Gaia ruffled his hair, Sakika started feeling genuinely embarrassed. No matter how much time passed, Gaia still treated him like a little brother. Nothing had changed since the day they first met.

"...Gaia, this is embarrassing."

"Come on, it's not like you're losing anything."

He had a point.

"Was Gaia always like this?"

"Who knows...? I've been with him since elementary, but this is the first time I've seen Gaia act like this."

"Is Gaia... gay...?"

Heat rushed to Sakika's face at the three of them whispering among themselves, completely forgetting the main topic. But at least he could deny Lilith's last comment—Gaia had a female fiancée.

As for Gaia's personality that Rate mentioned, Sakika didn't really understand it either. Gaia was normally serious and well-behaved. He was brilliant and upright—someone he looked up to.

For certain reasons, he'd left his family to live at the guild, where his current personality had been shaped by the harsh communal life. Originally, he'd been such an uncontrollable troublemaker that anyone who only knew him now would find it impossible to believe.

If he'd been raised by his parents, it wasn't hard to imagine what kind of personality he might have developed.

Sakika glared at him with a face red from embarrassment. None of that mattered. He was just embarrassed. Gaia's arms around him could be shaken off if he tried, but he didn't want to.

Gaia, who had been looking at the other three, turned his gaze back to Sakika. Their eyes met for an instant. And then, immediately after—

"...Huh?"

Still expressionless, blood began dripping from his nose. Sakika frantically pulled out a handkerchief from his chest pocket and pressed it to Gaia's nose.

"A-are you okay?"

"No problem."

Gaia reluctantly pulled away from Sakika and held the handkerchief himself. When he looked toward the other three, they had turned away with red faces for some reason.

"L-let's continue the conversation."

Sakika forcibly returned to the topic with an obviously fake cough.

"Lilith's magic core has been sealed."

Her magic core had been sealed to suppress the quality of her magical power—more specifically, a interference spell had been cast to degrade her magical quality and reduce the power of her magic.

This made her magical quality lower than average. If you could sense the magic circle, the seal placed on her was a powerful spell among magical quality sealing circles, and her original magical quality was probably quite high.

"A... seal..."

Lilith repeated the word as if chewing on it.

"A seal... what kind exactly? And how did you figure out she was sealed in the first place?"

"Well..."

At Rate's question, Sakika looked at Gaia. To explain this, he'd have to reveal something about himself.

Gaia silently shook his head. If he didn't want to say it, he didn't have to.

"Let's just leave that aside for now."

At Gaia's words, no one pressed further, and the conversation returned to the main topic.

"What's on Lilith's magic core is something that seals magical quality."

"Seals quality? What does that mean?"

Lilith asked in response to Gaia's words. Since it concerned her, she should know the details.

"It artificially degrades magical quality."

Lilith fell silent. Her expression was hidden by her hood, but Sakika could easily imagine she looked puzzled.

"Why would something like that be on me...?"

She probably had no idea why. Seeing Lilith lost in thought, Sakika spoke up.

"...This type of magic circle is sometimes placed on young children whose magical quantity or quality is too high for them to control... to prevent magical power from going berserk."

Young children can't fully control their own magical power. As they grow, they unconsciously learn to control their magic, but small children can't do that yet.

Children with high-quality magic or excessive magical power sometimes cause their magic to go berserk.

Sakika had once seen a child whose magic had gone out of control.

Powerful magic swirled around, the pressure from the magical power knocked out everyone nearby, and at the center, roaring like a mindless beast, was a child barely five years old.

Once a child's magic goes berserk even once, that child is forever seen as an object of fear—due to people's instinct for self-preservation.

However, this sealing magic circle was highly difficult and required an enormous amount of magical power. It wasn't something that could be cast easily.

That's why even children with excessive magical quantity or extremely high quality sometimes couldn't get it cast on them.

Lilith raised her face and looked toward Sakika.

"...So that means I have magical quality so high it could go berserk?"

"Yeah... Normally, the seal would be broken by age twelve..."

Around twelve years old, magical power stabilizes unless someone has exceptionally strong magic. That's when the magic circle is usually removed.

But she hadn't even known about the seal residing in her magic core. Why hadn't her parents told her about the seal or had it removed?

That question was instantly resolved by Lilith's words.

"I'm an orphan. So if it was cast when I was little, my adoptive parents probably don't know about the seal either."

Sakika's face went completely blank. He wasn't showing contempt or pity—he was just shaken by those unexpected words.

He didn't have parents either.

"...I see."

He struggled with what to say and that was all that came out.

Sakika looked down and forcibly suppressed his turmoil. He'd been without parents since childhood; there was no reason to be shaken by this now.

Even without birth parents, he had kind warm adoptive parents. Wasn't that enough?

"Hey."

Rate suddenly spoke up. Sakika composed himself as if nothing had happened and looked over.

A pair of blue eyes was watching him.

"Sakika, your magical quality is high too, right? Were you sealed?"

Sakika blinked at his words. Had he deliberately changed the subject, or was it—

"...I wasn't sealed."

"I went berserk once, though."

Was he managing to smile properly?

He started to remember that scene but pushed it away by focusing on maintaining his expression.

Rate and the others exchanged silent glances. Fortunately, they didn't pry further, and the conversation returned to the main topic.

"Lilith is already fifteen. The seal isn't necessary anymore... Let's break it."

"Huh... you can break it?"

Lilith's eyes went wide at Gaia's casual statement.

To break a seal, you need either someone more skilled than the person who cast it, or the original caster themselves.

Lilith, along with Naoma and Rate who looked equally surprised, probably knew this.

Though Gaia hated troublesome things, he'd apparently do something like breaking a seal for a friend. Still, his expression looked somewhat reluctant.

"Of course I can. It's okay to break it, right?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, of course."

Lilith nodded with a half-convinced look, and Gaia cast his spell without chanting.

"Magic Disruption Barrier"

Non-attribute advanced magic "Magic Disruption Barrier."

As the name suggested, it was a barrier that blocked magical power.

Barriers were a type of defensive magic, different from normal defensive magic in that they completely isolated space. That's why barriers were more difficult than other defensive magic.

"I'm breaking the seal now"

That was his only preamble—hating troublesome things, he wanted to finish quickly and immediately began chanting.

"I am the one who breaks the seal cast upon you. I, Gaia Rentria, release the seal that hinders the magical quality of you, Lilith Krone. Seal Release"

The moment the chant ended, blinding light burst from Lilith's body. The barrier was instantly filled with her dense magical power.

"Ugh..."

"This is... intense..."

Rate and Naoma seemed to be struggling—both their faces had gone pale.

Powerful magical energy becomes a kind of pressure that harms others. If you have magical power equal to or slightly less than (or cruder than) that magic in quantity or quality, or greater, there's no problem at all. But for those with little magic or low quality, it attacks them as pressure.

After about a minute it subsided, and when Rate and Naoma's color returned, Gaia released the barrier.

"How do you feel?"

At his blunt question, Lilith murmured with a somewhat dazed expression.

"...I don't know, I feel... fulfilled somehow."