Episode 109 – About Life (1)

About Life (1)

When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital room.

My body felt heavy, but my mind was strangely clear. It seemed I had slept for quite a while.

“You’re awake.”

Someone spoke from beside my bed. It was a nurse.

“Uh… so, it’s over?”

“Yes. The treatment was successfully completed. The professor will explain the details to you.”

I looked at my stomach. There was no trace of anything. I felt somewhat lighter, but could this be a placebo effect?

The door opened just then.

“You’re up.”

Professor Yu Hains. After sending the nurse away, he checked something in a file and spoke.

“As you know, the Magic Core is a vessel that holds mana. It’s also an organ that converts mana into power. This core exists in the human body like a nucleus. My treatment involves directly irradiating the core with mana quark particles to destroy cancer cells.”

The Magic Core usually has a fixed position from birth. The reason is unknown. It just so happens that mana accumulates around the stomach every time a human breathes, and it develops like an organ surrounded by a transparent magic membrane.

“The treatment itself was successful. The size of the cancer cells has reduced by 5%.”

“I don’t quite understand when you put it that way.”

“It’s equivalent to the effect of undergoing drug treatment for three months.”

“Oh?”

Professor Yu Hains seemed to think ‘it’s only this much’, but to me, it was quite surprising. It was a sufficient result. If it meant skipping that terrible and malicious drug treatment for three months.

“I thought it would be-”

“That’s good.”

“……”

At my modesty, Professor Yu Hains was momentarily speechless. But he resumed speaking with his usual indifferent face.

“The survival rate is still less than 1%. It’s just life-prolonging treatment. Even if you receive treatment every month in your current state, the expected lifespan is two years.”

Cancer of the Magic’s Core is originally like that. I’ve lived unusually long.

I’ve managed to hold on for a whopping 12 years after being diagnosed.

“But I guess I can’t receive treatment every week?”

“It’s a method of directly irradiating the Magic Core. If you push too hard, a hole could be punched in the Magic Core. If a hole is punched in the Magic Core, it’s immediate Possession.”

“Hmm… But is there no cure scenario?”

I tried to be a little greedy. Honestly, it gets tiring to always think about death as a certainty and pretend to be cheerful.

“You keep saying less than 1%. Less than 1% means it’s not 0%.”

Professor Yu Hains looked at me. It was the extremely cold eyes of a doctor.

“Right now, it’s 0%. But if you continue to survive, and if this facility continues to develop, there might be a chance of healing. That’s why it’s 1%.”

I asked him.

“Would 12 years be possible?”

“The probability would increase significantly. However, as I said, your expected lifespan is-”

“I will live at least 12 more years.”

Then, Professor Yu Hains’s complexion darkened. His face showed that he dismissed the patient’s words as nothing more than baseless hope, trusting instead in the statistics and cases he’d seen so far.

I chuckled.

“I’m serious. I won’t die from Cancer of the Magic’s Core for at least 12 years. I mean, I could get hit by a blind punch and die, but…”

I got up from the hospital bed and put on my hoodie.

“I’ll be coming in every month, then.”

I looked around the hospital room. The single room surrounded by curtains had just the right temperature and humidity. The exterior was outdated, but the interior was better than most hospitals.

“That mana quark treatment machine you mentioned. You said you were developing it, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Do you take investments?”

Professor Yu Hains looked me up and down. He didn’t say anything, but his gaze seemed to say, ‘A man who can barely afford 200,000 Ren…’

“So you do take investments? I’ve found another reason to live harder.”

I want to bring down Libra. Even if it costs my life, even if it costs my soul.

But, I also want to live. If I can.

There’s no one who wants to die.

“I’ll have to earn a lot of money, too.”

The knights of Libra start with a monthly base salary of 300,000 Ren. Add performance bonuses to that, and many knights take home 600,000 to 700,000 Ren, even over 1,000,000 Ren.

If I add some side jobs based on the future I know, I could provide a significant amount of money.

“I’ll be back next month.”

My hope hasn’t disappeared yet.

It’s standing right in front of me now.

“Book it for a month later.”

Professor Yu Hains.

He has poured his money and passion into the ‘worthless’ Cancer of the Magic’s Core. Just as I’ve staked my life on Libra, he’s staked his life on treating Cancer of the Magic’s Core.

That’s the future.

It’s enough to trust and entrust my life to.

“Yes. See you next month.”

As soon as I left the hospital room, I was startled. The view outside the corridor window was too dawn-like. I quickly picked up my smartphone.

It was 3:30 a.m. on Monday.

Since I came here on Saturday morning, I’ve slept for nearly 36 hours.

The weekend was deleted during the evaluation week, but it’s okay because Monday is Latinel.

______________________________________________________________________

4 a.m.

At the time when Shion was discharged from the hospital.

Elise received a background investigation file on Shion Ascal.

[Shion Ascal File]

From Elise’s position, investigating one person is a very easy task.

Click, click, she opened the file with two clicks. She stared at the laptop screen.

[Mother: Eren Ascal]

[Father: Delric Ascal]

His mother was Eren Ascal. She died three months after giving birth to him.

His father was Delric Ascal. A lower-ranking knight of Libra, he died in battle when Shion was five.

After that, Shion himself was admitted to an orphanage and diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Elise scrolled down.

[The following content is a compilation obtained by investigating people who lived with Shion Ascal at the Orphanage.]

In the Orphanage, Shion grew up being ostracized due to the scar from his brain tumor, and shortly after overcoming the brain tumor, he was diagnosed with leukemia and admitted to Petra University Hospital. Despite this, he never gave up on learning and passed the Endex entrance exam.

“What is this…”

There were many facts that Elise didn’t know. No, it was a human victory to the extent that even she could sympathize, but the last paragraph of the report caught her attention.

[Eren Ascal died three months after giving birth to Shion Ascal, but the detailed facts were redacted.]

Redaction.

It’s a ‘request for prohibition of information disclosure’ that Senators of the Congress usually impose when they want to conceal some information.

“…A redacted?”

A redaction is not imposed on an ordinary case or an ordinary person. The figure who can impose a redaction is a Senator, and if a Senator is disqualified, the redaction will be lifted.

This redaction cannot be lifted by Elise or even her own agent.

“Why?”

It’s too harsh a measure to be imposed on the Ascal family, a family of commoners with nothing special.

There must be something.

“…”

Elise chewed her nails in thought, but suddenly one person came to mind.

Yael.

In Elise’s opinion, Yael is a person who can’t be friends with anyone, and the same goes for Shion Ascal.

But if two people who seemed to have no friends became friends with each other, they must know each other very well.

“That person again…”

Should I go find him?

Elise gritted her teeth, but in the end, she called someone.

Ring- Ring-

─Hello.

“Yes, mom. It’s me.”

Her mother, Celine. She spoke in a tone of surprise.

─Hmm~ What’s the matter at this hour? Aren’t you studying?

“I am. I have a Latinel exam tomorrow.”

─Latinel is good~ But why did you call? Oh~ I heard you received an invitation to the Sermones Laertes. Congratulations. You’ll meet in the same social circle as your mom and dad?

“This time, I think I have to go see Yael again.”

Elise cut off Celine’s words.

─……

Celine suddenly fell silent.

Her mother and father don’t want her to meet Yael. If they meet each other, it will attract unnecessary suspicion.

“He’s at Petra University Hospital. I won’t be suspected even if I say I’m going to meet him. I need to control it properly at times like this. You said you’re not going to kill him anyway.”

─…That’s true. But how can you kill the blood you gave birth to without disturbing your gut?

“When I become the head of the family, that person will die.”

At Elise’s assertion, Celine let out a small breath. Soon, she sighed deeply and asked.

─Can you control it?

“Of course. I’m not the old me anymore. I’ll go right after today’s Latinel exam. So.”

Elise thought of the surveillance camera in the corner of the visiting room.

“Please ask father to turn off the surveillance camera. I think we’ll have a bit more to talk about this time.”

______________________________________________________________________

The next day, Monday at 9 a.m., the assessment schedule began.

The first was the elective subject, ‘Latinel’.

“…The exam hall is here?”

But the location was a bit extravagant. About 120 chairs and desks were generously placed in a place that looked like a noble’s castle or a top-class hotel.

There were quite a few people. Over 100 students from all over the country who were taking Latinel as an elective had gathered here. Each one of them was clearly a refined noble.

“Hey, it’s Shion!”

Suddenly, someone called my name. I turned to look in that direction.

“Shion. Did you study hard~?”

Layla walked over. She had a headband on her head, a very thick backpack on her back, and several summary notebooks in her arm.

She looked like a typical person who can’t study, but Layla was surprisingly good at studying. She was among the top students in the school.

Layla showed me a bright red notebook.

“Look at this~ I have a teacher who I know very well. I got it from that teacher~.”

By the way, that teacher is [At Your Service]. It’s the note I wrote for her. It’s not so much a note but guide that points out the important parts.

“I’m jealous.”

“Right?! I didn’t even show this to Elly.”

Of course, I didn’t listen to the class very diligently either, but the complex parts would be necessary. I just pointed out what seemed complicated and explained it.

“…But where’s your friend?”

“Elly? She’s over there.”

Layla pointed somewhere. Elise was already surrounded by nobles.

“I’m also popular~ I purposely ran away to study~”

“I see.”

Knock-knock-

There was a knock at the front. Four people who looked like exam supervisors appeared. One of them looked familiar.

It was Professor Beatrice.

“Please take your seats.”

Everyone stopped chatting and sat down. Beatrice stood at the podium first and spoke.

“Welcome to the Latinel assessment. Today is the time to pour out what you’ve learned.”

I’m not worried. No matter the test, I’ll get a perfect score in Latinel.

“We will now distribute the Latinel test papers. You have 90 minutes to solve it. If you finish early, you can submit your test paper and leave.”

Beatrice said so and glanced at me.

“Now, please turn over the test paper.”

Rustle-rustle-

The test paper came over from the seat behind me.

[Latinel Assessment]

I quickly skimmed it. A smile naturally formed at the corners of my mouth.

It was easy.

At least for me.

All the contexts and paragraphs of Latinel were easy, and there were no unknown words or usages. I quickly understood the passages and questions that took up nearly half of the test paper.

Tick- Tick- Tick-

I just solved the problems as if checking them off.