"This is fairly useful"
Kuon murmured to himself, turning two metal plates over in his hands.
On each plate was an unfamiliar name, along with official patterns and a stamp marking the holder as part of the Kingdom of Czes'na. Though Kuon had initially been unsure the identity cards would be of use, his doubts vanished the moment he saw the gate guard flip his card over with a careless glance and wave them through.
"The system is primitive."
Beside him, Kanon threw out the remark without hesitation while pressing her fingers to her temple, her face tight with pain.
"Well, this is a fairly ancient civilization. Are your eyes still hurting?"
Though Kanon had said her eyes had mostly adapted, the reality was she still struggled to keep them open for more than ten seconds at a time. Every time that window ended, a burning pain would strike her eyes and shoot into her brain—which somehow also made her nauseous.
As expected, hoping for Kanon to fully adapt to the current conditions was asking too much—especially given how broad the range of Kanon's magical sight was.
'Right now Kanon can see magical currents clearly up to two or three kilometers, but … in a place this crowded, that ability is going to be torture.'
"Didn't Schesile teach you something like how to turn it off?"
Kanon answered by shaking her head. "Schesile said it's a passive ability that fully activates every time I open my eyes, so I can minimize the effect by keeping them closed. But… in exchange, my vision becomes completely paralyzed."
Kanon had already explained that she wasn't completely blind. Her eyes could still receive light and the silhouettes of nearby objects, and that was what she had been relying on for navigation all this time. If she lost that too, it would leave her completely unable to function.
"So in short, it's either you're in constant pain, or you go completely blind. Right. That's inconvenient, so let's find an inn as quickly as possible so you can rest."
Kuon stepped forward, sounding the chimes at his belt, and Kanon followed at once, asking as she walked, "Do you already know where we're staying?"
"More or less. I asked the guard about cheap lodging. Our funds are limited, so I apologize in advance for not being able to offer you any luxury. Ahh, that applies to our meals going forward as well."
The money they had on hand was what they had found at the bandit base. Despite the settlement being fairly large with an impressive number of occupants, Kuon hadn't found much usable currency.
" … I survived almost a month in the forest on nothing but salty apples, so don't worry about it."
Kuon lifted one corner of his mouth with a scoff. "As for lodging, I'm also planning to rent only one room. Do you mind?"
That made Kanon stop moving, her eyes focusing on Kuon for a moment. But the next second she had wrapped her arms around herself and turned her face slightly away from him.
Of course, Kuon was fully aware of what was going through Kanon's mind, but without losing his composure he answered, "Relax, the room is yours to use as you please. I won't do anything, and frankly, I won't be there much. I can sleep in a chair or on a sofa, so it's no problem."
"I know. I was just joking."
"…."
Kuon only looked at her without saying a word, while Kanon showed no change in her expression whatsoever. This surprised him somewhat, since he hadn't expected Kanon to be the type capable of joking like that.
'Was my read on her wrong?'
While Kuon was lost in thought, Kanon spoke again. "But even though I said that as a joke, I genuinely don't mind your decision. No, I'm certain there won't be any problem even if we sleep in the same room."
Kuon turned back, halting his intention to step into the narrow alley—the route to their inn—and fixed Kanon with a cold look.
"Why would you think that?"
Kanon couldn't see him, but she could feel the shift in the way Kuon was looking at her. She tilted her head. "—'Why', you ask? Because I trust that you won't do anything, of course. Aren't we both cooperating on the basis of trust?"
Saying that, Kanon formed a faint smile on her face while tapping her cane against the ground beneath her. "Besides, even if you did do something, I wouldn't care at all. Because either way, I could kill you on the spot with a single slash of the dagger to my own throat."
"Hmm … is that so?"
Kuon turned back and resumed his delayed steps, and Kanon followed behind. But even on what should have been a quiet walk, Kanon didn't stop voicing her thoughts.
"Besides, I'm certain that someone who announces his noble goal with such confidence, like you do, wouldn't stoop so low as to attack a helpless woman."
"If you ever did that, it would mean my judgment was wrong—you wouldn't be a king, just a petty villain who becomes a stepping stone for the hero in some fairy tale. At that point, you would also have failed to fulfill your first oath of giving me a meaningful death."
'Says the person who massacred a bandit camp single-handedly.'
Kuon kept that critique to himself and instead flicked one of the chimes at his belt—using it as the signal to turn left. "I didn't expect you to be so talkative. I have to admit, my first impression of you was wrong."
Her face might not have carried many expressions at this point, but Kanon had already said quite a few things that, strangely, were refreshing to Kuon's mind. That was entirely unexpected, since he had initially taken Kanon for someone who mostly kept quiet.
Kanon felt her way with her cane and turned left after catching the signal from Kuon. As she walked, she spoke between steps. "This is who I actually am. But it's true that normally I would just stay quiet and talk to myself inside my head. Somehow, moving with you makes me talkative. Even I'm surprised, because this is the first time words have flowed out of my mouth this naturally."
While adjusting the monocle over his right eye, Kuon let out a small sound that Kanon interpreted as a laugh. "I'll take that as a compliment. For now, we're here."
Kanon stopped walking and tried to make out the silhouette before her.
It looked like a building with several floors. But that was all she could make out. She needed help for anything more.
Kuon, on the other hand—somehow understanding what Kanon was keeping to herself—promptly explained. "The guard said this is the most suitable inn for our budget and our numbers."
" … This place is very quiet."
She didn't need to see it to know that. From the atmosphere and the sounds around her, Kanon could already tell this was a secluded place. But she didn't ask anything further and simply followed Kuon in silence.
The room Kuon had booked was on the building's second floor. He had chosen that floor with Kanon's condition in mind, since she might struggle with stairs. The first floor, on the other hand, was too close to the access of strangers, and he didn't want anything bad happening when he had to leave Kanon here alone.
As planned, the room had only one bed, sized perfectly for Kanon alone. Across from it sat a small desk complete with a chair.
"Use the bed and rest. I've already laid out a plan, and we'll be busy starting tomorrow."
Kanon set the suitcase she had been carrying in the corner of the room and began removing the cloak she had worn all this time. Beneath it was the same simple dress she always wore, slightly dirty from the journey that had continued without stopping since morning.
"A plan?"
Kuon nodded. "There are many things we need to do, and we can't afford to let our guard down for even a moment. By the way, can you read braille?"
That question made Kanon pause her hands for a moment. She simply faced Kuon in silence with the freshly removed cloak in her hands.
" … I'm proficient at grade one, but I can also understand some things at grade two."
That answer made Kuon let out a relieved breath. "Thank goodness, this will speed things up considerably."
Kanon only tilted her head in confusion, but decided not to dwell on it. That dismissal, however, would end up causing her a fair amount of regret later.
***
" … Kuon, what is this?"
The following morning, after breakfast in the dining area on the first floor, Kanon turned to face Kuon sitting beside her, her expression anxious and full of questions.
Before her—placed squarely on the dining table—was a stack of books whose weight she could already feel without even looking directly at them.
For a moment, Kanon remembered Kuon's question from the day before—about whether she could read braille. A bad feeling began to fill her, making her adopt an expression that seemed to be pleading with Kuon.
" … Surely not, right?"
Kuon gave a single nod while adjusting his monocle. "Those are all perfect copies of books containing complete information on magic theory and Aether. I am not certain how effective the content is, but I want you to check them first. Besides, my sensitivity to Aether is fairly poor, so that's probably why some things in those books aren't working well for me in practice. Beyond that, well… I'm trying to develop my own method."
"Then let me use the same method as you."
Kuon picked up one of the books and held it directly in front of Kanon's face. "No, it's better to study what's here first. My method is still at the experimental stage, so I can't waste your considerable potential just waiting for the research to be complete. For now, try to work through all of these—eight books in total, each two to three hundred pages, all copied perfectly in the braille you can read."
'When did he find time to make all of this?'
Kanon was taken aback as she tried opening the book and checking its contents. Exactly as Kuon had said, everything was written in braille she could understand immediately. But making all of this must have taken a very long time, and when Kuon had managed to do it was the real question.
'And why does he even know braille?'
Kanon shut her eyes in a panic and tried to find answers from the ever-growing number of viewers.
> Anon3123: "He genuinely didn't stop for a single second making those all night, so just give up, miss."
> Anon3124: "There's nothing wrong with a little reading."
> Anon3125: "Why does he even know braille? Was he a volunteer worker or something?"
Useless. Kanon opened her eyes again after finding not a single person who could save her from this situation.
She wouldn't have minded one or two books, but this number was clearly excessive. On top of that, the way Kuon had said it made Kanon fairly certain he would be adding more later.
"…."
Seeing Kanon give no response at all made Kuon mildly concerned. But regardless, this was an unavoidable situation. It would be better for Kanon to study everything on her own rather than be taught by someone else, especially Kuon.
Kanon had been able to use her magic effectively on instinct alone, which clearly showed an extraordinary level of sensitivity and talent for anything magic-related. That was precisely why, rather than having her learn from someone else, Kuon judged it better to give Kanon the chance to try everything on her own.
"Listen, I know this is a lot, but you don't need to read everything at once. Read slowly and try out whatever catches your interest. That's your task for now—leave the rest of the problems to me. But, if possible, I'd like to see meaningful progress within a week. Is that too much?"
Kuon's voice carried a note of concern as he began to explain himself. Kanon lifted her face and turned toward Kuon sitting right beside her.
" … You're in a hurry?"
"Is that too obvious? Well, there's no point hiding it from you. There are many problems, and our current goal is too large to reach with our current state. But the biggest problem right now is … we're poor."
"…."
Kuon turned his face away with a pained expression as Kanon's face shifted into a mix of concern and confusion.
"I ran the calculations last night, and our biggest priority right now is indeed money. We have some left over from the bandit base, but the amount is nowhere near sufficient given our goals going forward. On top of that … I need a great deal of resources for my research and training my own abilities, so this isn't easy."
The previous night, while searching for materials to make Kanon's braille books, Kuon had visited many shops and compared their prices.
The money he currently held was 4.000 Creda—the same amount as one week's stay at this inn. With that, they could at least hold out until next week. But they still needed to prepare for everything, including the resources Kuon required. On top of that, he also needed to buy other things for Kanon, so the money would run out before next week even arrived.
'I never expected to be worrying about expenses….'
Kuon exhaled and cleared everything useless from his mind. He looked back at Kanon. "That's why, after one week, I want the two of us to move. As it happens, I found something interesting while looking around last night."
The previous night, Kuon had found one particular building that was still very active even in the dead of night.
'I thought it was a gambling den, but it turned out to be a gold mine.'
"Remember the monsters I told you about?"
Kanon nodded. Her mind immediately formed an abstract picture of the monster figures that Kuon and her viewers had described.
"It turns out there's a global organization in this primitive world called the UAA, and they can give us good work."
"UAA?"
Kanon closed her eyes as she thought about the unfamiliar term, trying to find an answer from her viewers. But Kuon answered before she could do that.
"Unified Adept Authority. They're an organization that can channel work to us freelancers—especially military-type work, like monster extermination. Think of them as an association that will help us find high-paying jobs as Adepts."
"Monster-related work…."
Thinking about it made Kanon hesitate for a moment. She had never encountered a monster, but instinctively she knew the danger they carried. A single mistake on the job, and she could easily die.
But why bother thinking about it? Kanon had never truly felt close to or far from death. In fact, if Kuon hadn't found her that day, she would surely have ended her own life in that emptiness. What was the difference between that and the situation now?
Kanon made her judgment quickly and opened her eyes again. She could sense Kuon looking at her without a trace of worry or guilt—whether out of confidence or indifference to the possibility that Kanon might die.
"In your current state, finding work is difficult, especially with your eye ability still uncontrolled. And I also need a large sum of money as quickly as possible, so this is the best option we have. What do you think? If you agree, I'll handle all the registration immediately—ahh, we'll also need new identities."
The identities they were currently using were random ones whose names they hadn't even bothered to care about. But for their activities going forward, it would be better to have something that could legally establish their standing.
Fortunately, Kuon had already found a suitable place to deal with that matter.
After a moment of thought, Kanon gave a direct nod. "I'm in. But … I can't guarantee good results within a week."
There were still so many things she needed to learn, so she needed more time for everything. But that wasn't what Kuon cared about.
"That's fine. What matters is that we're both ready when we start our first job as Adepts. Besides, finding money isn't our only task right now, so please prepare yourself well."
" … There's still more?"
That news made Kanon pause for a moment, and Kuon nodded.
Kuon tapped his finger once on the table as he spoke. "Our first task—naturally, developing our own strength, and I also need to continue my personal research."
His finger tapped the surface again. "Second, we need to gather information about everything related to Lios—this world. Because even after visiting this city of Narc't, there is still so much we don't know."
On that point, Kanon nodded. She only knew from what Kuon had told her and the viewers who commented on her stream, but it turned out there were so many races living in this world—more than she could count on her fingers.
Even what Kanon knew as 'humans' weren't called 'humans' here. They were classified as an entirely different race—a race called 'Czanktian'.
Within her thoughts, she heard Kuon's finger tap on the table again. "Third, what we've already been discussing—finding money."
And finally, two taps together. "Then, building our reputation and learning about other Drifter. All of these goals can be achieved optimally if we take on work as Adepts for the time being—at least until we have enough money to enter the first stage of my plan."
Learning about other Drifter was something Kanon could do by asking her viewers. But as much as possible, Kuon wanted to avoid relying on them and use them as little as possible. Because unlike information he gathered himself, information from stream viewers on Earth couldn't be verified for accuracy.
Kanon nodded as she understood the underlying intent. She too, as much as possible, wanted to limit her reliance on the stream viewers.
***
'Becoming an Adept, huh?'
That evening, lying in bed and running her fingers over the braille text in her new book, Kanon swung her legs idly as she thought about what Kuon had said that morning.
It wasn't a bad idea, and Kanon felt that she would surely crumble eventually if she were simply left in this inn room without any real progress. If that happened, she would blame Kuon for failing to keep his promise.
Beside her bed, Kuon was sitting at the work desk, conducting experiments Kanon didn't understand.
Kanon would glance over occasionally and silently guess what Kuon was doing. From what she could see with her ability, Kuon kept manifesting his Aether without any truly visible output. This was probably one of the experiments relating to 'miracle manipulation' she had heard him mention briefly.
'His Aether is so clean….'
It was entirely different from every form of Aether she had ever seen, and that was surely because of the transaction he had conducted with Schesile.
Kanon kept shifting her focus between reading the book before her and watching Kuon's experiments. For a moment she stopped paying attention to the book and focused on Kuon, who seemed to be on the verge of manifesting something. But in the end, he failed again and dispersed his Aether without any result.
On her side, Kanon's own learning was going fairly well. She had found several things that might prove useful when she put them into practice tomorrow.
Having freed herself from the weight of thoughts that had been pressing on her for days, Kanon felt, for the first time, genuinely interested in learning something.
Magic was nothing like anything on Earth. It was a form of wonder that could be held and owned—something she had only ever heard of in the fairy tales someone had told her long ago.
Yet it wasn't what she had imagined. Magic here turned out to be something deeply systematic, demanding the user's own thought and logic to build the wonder from the ground up. Even a single book Kuon had given her only covered a small fraction of the full explanation. If she only read, it might take far longer still to develop her own magical abilities.
But somehow, that only stirred Kanon's desire to try many things for herself. Without realizing it, she smiled faintly—and for the first time in her life, she genuinely looked forward to tomorrow.