Waking up in the morning, Hiro did his routine of exercising followed by magic training. At this time, he had managed to realize something. While the limiters on his magic were not causing any problems themselves, there did appear to be a change in his body and mental landscape.

For starters, the limiting rings he had made in imitation of the circles from one culture. They had began to solidify and become permanent, no longer just a mental image. They weren’t fully formed, but he could feel the change of them, becoming more solid and dense in comparison to before. Not only that, while they contained roughly the same parameters, they were starting to grow larger.

Second was his restraints for his combat instinct and knowledge. He had previously formed several rings similar to the limiters, and placed them around a cube representing everything that was hiding. While the change wasn’t much, the same thing was happening to these rings, making them stronger and more real. Even his cube was getting more dense, more refined, as if things were being concentrated and then expanded.

While both his mana pool and core were not actively being utilized, they had still been affected. In particular, his mana pool still remained at the same quantity, but had begun to shrink. It was becoming more concentrated, compressing and shrinking, most likely to fit within his limiters in time.

Mana Core and Aura Core. Named them so, he theorized how long it would take until his inner workings stabilized. Making sure he could do so, Hiro tested if he could still draw out the both of them while all the limiters and restraints were still in place. He still could, but he did feel like it had more resistance to it, drawing on his mental power to do so. It was miniscule at the moment, but no doubt it would be a problem in the future.

Well, it’s fine. Situations where I’ll have to force it out, such as in dire situations, shouldn’t be a problem. As long as I rest enough. (Hiro)

Aura Core, Aura Rings, Mana Core, Mana Rings. Doing some quick experiments, he found that he could reduce the mental fatigue caused by bypassing the limiters by taking it slowly. As for the rings themselves, he tried releasing some limiters and restraints to see how they reacted.

In response, the smallest ring, the one closest to the core, would begin to spin around the core while glowing, showing it was active. He suspected the end result would be where the core would be limited to a small space, each ring being a wall. Once each wall was turned on, the mana could expand and leak more out. That is how he pictured it, so it would probably lead in that direction.

After all, it was a creation of his own imagination, so it would probably just fulfilling his wishes. He wasn’t averse to having these changes happen permanently. Whatever happens would happen, and he would take them as they come. After all, he only had to release restraints whenever he wanted more power, and he wasn’t fully sealed off to the point that he would die before releasing his restraints. He still had enough instinct to react to life threatening situations, and could draw out power as much as he wanted as long as he was prepared to sleep a bit longer the next night.

Well, he expected all of this would only fully happen after a month or two.

The final change he noticed, was that by prevent his mana from leaking out, he had essentially built a dam. Theorizing a bit, he guessed that people typically didn’t have to worry about the miniscule amounts of mana that radiated out of them, because it was so little. But for him having so much, it was much larger in comparison. If a mana pool was a cup, then a tap dripping into it was the body producing and replenishing it, even when it was full, causing bits to overflow.

For himself, his cup was a lake, and his tap was a river. If mana potions were a thing, it was probably like pouring another glass of water into their cup to try replenish it.

But the point he was figuring out, was the side effect of this dam he had built around his mana pool. Long story short, he felt that if he released his limiters, it would overwhelm the surrounding area, as if bursting a dam. Well, that was a cliche he would love to see, at least. Some tropes are overused and troublesome, some are just damn fun to see for a carefree person like himself.

There was also a point he had thought of as to why this was happening. Previously he had been in his thirties, but now he was only just reaching his twenties. That much of a change, and yet his mind was still the same, with all of his knowledge. This world had a strong connection between mind and body. It may be possible that his now undeveloped body was adjusting to his mind and this world. A growth phase as such. Which means, having applied those limiters and changes in his mind, had caused it to become part of him.

With his hour of theorization and contemplation done, Hiro used a sack to store the weapons he had made last night. Where did he get the sack? Stealing. Don’t mind the details. For his own weapons, he only had one of the katana on his waist, sheathed in a black scabbard. For the hilts and guards and scabbards and everything necessary for a weapon… Well, let’s not think about it. He got them before he went to bed, and that is all we need to know.

He even had to make some himself from the nearby resources like wood, and use magic to dry them, shape them, and so on. As for the amount of effort he took to do all this… well, he would rather not speak about it. Because it was too troublesome. And honestly, he wished he hadn’t made that deal now because of the amount of effort he had to use.

Going downstairs dragging this heavy sack of weapons, he found Syldis at the counter, talking with Viktor.

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“Ah, you’re up. I’ll get you some breakfast.” (Syldis)

Walking into the back kitchen, Syldis disappeared, leaving Viktor and Hiro to talk. There weren’t too many guests, but they were noisy enough that they could talk quietly without being overheard.

“Here’s the weapons. In return, you guard outside.” (Hiro)

Having a look at one of the weapons, even Viktor with his easygoing attitude had to open his mouth wide in astonishment when he saw the color of the metal. Looking them over in detail and checking everything he could without actually fighting with it, he sheathed it an put it back in the sack.

“... You… I won’t ask where the hell you got so many weapons made of Living Metal, but you know you’ve overpaid us. Not that I’ll return them now.” (Viktor)

Living Metal? Ah~ they must not have a name for steel. It does bend without breaking, so I guess the name comes from that. (Hiro)

“Overpaid? No. It’s an investment. Looking forward to working with you in the future.” (Hiro)

Looking at Viktor with a peculiar gaze, it seemed the mercenary understood that Hiro was using this to gain their favor and get benefits from them in the future. In other words, make connections. It really made him wonder what the future had in store for them to warrant such quality weapons.

“How did the follow up go last night?” (Hiro)

“They were skilled. They got away in the end, so we can expect a lot of trouble at the Landgrave’s place. Probably best to move at night. They’ll believe they have the advantage of the night, and we’ll also not have to worry about anyone getting curious.” (Viktor)

“Agreed. One of the tailers was a patron before I had gotten here, most likely knowing that Syldis was a friend of the one they had trapped. They’ll know a bit of our plans, so things may be tougher than expected.” (Hiro)

“True. Well, I’ll be gathering my men in the afternoon and bringing them here. Until then, I guess we’ll be practicing with our new weapons.” (Viktor)

With a nod, Viktor left the tavern followed by his other friends he was here with the other day. As for Hiro, he ate his breakfast before talking with the Bear for a while longer. He didn’t have much in particular to do, so he went to his room and used his cloaks stealth function before leaving again, heading back to the castle.

While making sure to be stealthy considering the high alert from the previous day, Hiro entered the castle to look first for the maid. Getting there, he found that they hadn’t been able to undo the chains, and she had even struggled, as evident of the red marks on her wrists and ankles. Well, there was enough chain so that she could move about a bit. There were plates, which probably had food on them. Seems she was doing alright.

Well, physically, anyway. She had a blanket and whatnot, so her body would be okay. But her mind seemed to have taken a hit. Her eyes seemed a bit devoid of life. Peering at her for a while longer, he sighed as he modulated his voice, imitating Murakumo.

“So you’re still here? Well then. Who knows what may happen to you if I release you back to your Master. Let’s do this then.” (Hiro)

While still hidden, he let out Murakumo’s voice, and started manipulating his mana. The chains withered away before vanishing, and the rope bindings were removed, revealing marks that would probably remain on her body for quite some time. And then to finish off, he pried open her mouth and formed a small, soft ball the size of a fingernail. Making her swallow that, he left after leaving a message on the wall.

P U N I S H M E N T S E R V E D

Well, no one would understand it since it was written in English, but oh well. Maybe it would become a trend. Next, he walked towards around until he found the King, seeing him with his wife in the King’s Study. They were probably not wanting to separate for a while after that last ordeal. They had extra guards around them too.

The Queen was looking at the pendant he had passed to her, contemplating what she should do with it, and whether she could trust it or not. Thinking about it, Hiro should probably make one of those each night before going to sleep, since his mana would restore by morning anyway.

As he walked onward to the training hall, he made one of those pendants now, making sure that the mass of mana wasn’t detected. When it was done, he placed it in his pocket as he arrived at the training hall, finding it under guard with the princess and the mage girl once again in there, though not as enthusiastic as before.

The tension from the day before hadn’t faded for anyone, whereas Hiro could only shrug his shoulders and sigh, shaking his head that everyone was so caught up on this. For himself, he had killed people and harassed a maid.

For himself, he didn’t feel anything. In fact, ever since coming to this world, he had barely showed any real emotion aside from the fake ones he showed. And his real ones were barely there at all. As if this life, this world, were nothing but words on a page with no affect on him.

Finding nothing else of interest here, he left the castle and waited in his room at the Drinking Bear. Having lunch silently, having a few drinks, contemplating magic theories, nearly finishing his infinite storage spell, so on and so forth.

In the end, it still felt like time was passing too slowly, so he started listening to music in his mind. A neat trick with his improved memory, he could remember a song and repeat it in his head clearly.

When the rainy day started to night, he went downstairs and had dinner, talking to Syldis for a bit.

“I’ve been having these meals and drinks, but still haven’t really paid for much. As much as I appreciate a free meal, I was still raised to earn my keep. After we get Max back, I’ll be starting as a Merchant earnestly, so I’m going to have to find some commodities to buy and sell.” (Hiro)

“Make sure you register with the Merchant’s Guild first. They handle quite a bit of the goods distribution. A bit more expensive, but they are usually reliable. How far you thinking of traveling?” (Syldis)

“Hmm… Anywhere, really. As long as I’m making some sort of profit.” (Hiro)

“Then I got a deal for you.” (Viktor)

Saying so, Viktor took a seat next to Hiro and ordered a drink. There was still a half hour or so until they needed to get going. Looking behind him at the tables, Hiro saw 6 people sit down at a table, who were with Viktor.

“I’m listening.” (Hiro)

“Come with us. We do our mercenary business wherever there looks like there’s a profit. Even if you can’t fight, you could be in charge of buying and selling what we need, as well as do trading at whatever places we go to.” (Viktor)

“Interesting proposal. But the places you go, may not be the places I’d like to go. And profits will be different compared to what you look for.” (Hiro)

“Well, worth a try.” (Viktor)

Viktor shrugged, half-hearted in his attempt, and noticing the youth was only entertaining the idea for conversations’ sake. As the two of them sat there silently, drinking their ale, they rain started to let up, becoming just a light shower, the noise dying down. At the same time, the two of them downed the last of their drinks, and hit their tankards on the countertop.

“ “Let’s go.” ” (Hiro/Viktor)