— That house had been arranged by House Sirclay to confine the youngest daughter.
The blind girl, Shannon Sirclay, understood that well.
The Sirclays’ judgment — to hide their blind daughter — was on the merciful end, comparatively.
(Better than being killed, right? But — the day they didn’t kill me, eventually…)
In her room, in a chair, she looked out the window.
She was thought to be blind. She wasn’t.
The world she saw was different.
“Warm today.”
The sunlight from the window warmed her body.
Without sight, her other senses had sharpened. Not merely sharpened.
To the point of compensating for what she lacked.
She could hear breathing, heartbeats, judge distances by them.
She could live a normal life — just without seeing.
She hid it on purpose.
Because it was fun. Everyone pitied her, dropped their guard around her. That was fun.
And—
“Seeing mana-flow is nice. I see most things.”
Her eyes could see mana.
The ability to see the unseeable flow of mana was the result of her unseeing eyes and her Skill.
Just as lost sight had sharpened her other senses, her Skill had specialized to compensate.
Shannon was a girl with the so-called magic eye.
“That Lyle guy was really on his guard… and there’s something off about him. I want him out fast.”
Since Lyle and the others had moved in, Shannon had been irritated.
She’d wanted to live alone with her sister; they were in the way.
Lyle in particular had — seven strange lights visible around him. A type of mana she’d never seen. Her wariness had risen.
“It was finally starting to go well, the breaking — and now they’re in the way…”
She did love her sister, but right now Miranda was more like a toy.
With her new power, Shannon could read another’s emotions from their mana’s movement.
She’d gained the magic eye while still in the capital, Central.
It happened when she saw one girl.
The blind Shannon had seen a massive lump of mana.
A girl her own age — yet carrying a mana-lump bigger than anyone else’s.
A daughter of a count house — and the Sirclays had a connection.
That mana’s light seemed to pull the surrounding mana to it… beautiful, terrifying, almost spellbinding. She remembered.
”…Someday I’ll surpass her. With these eyes.”
Something completely different — descended into a human world.
Shannon had greeted that girl. The girl hadn’t looked.
A timid blind girl was all she’d been seen as.
That had hurt. Not that she’d wanted to be liked. But not even being looked at meant she was being told that’s all you are.
And what the girl was interested in—
“I want to break her quickly, and turn her into a doll who can’t function without me… I’ve been practicing on the help, so I think I’m pretty good now.”
The magic eye saw mana, and could manipulate it.
Extend her own mana, scramble the other’s.
Only she could see it; no one noticed.
Manipulating the scrambled, Shannon had practiced on the help.
For Shannon — the once blind girl — this had broadened her world enormously.
Same time, it planted dark feelings.
“Bright and beautiful and the ideal sister… I want to break her quickly. Then someday I’ll surpass that person. I’ll become that person.”
Captured by that person in her own twisted way, Shannon closed her eyes once and opened them.
The gold of her irises had shifted toward a brighter gold.
“First, the sister becomes my doll. Moving exactly as I want.”
The sister that that person had taken a shine to — Miranda — Shannon held twisted feelings toward.
A rapt expression. She watched out the window—.
◇
“So this is a managed dungeon.”
Damian Bale—.
Having taken the pervert’s request — one of the scholarly city’s Seven Geniuses — I stepped into the managed dungeon and muttered.
Unlike Darion’s dungeon, thin metal plates intersected and overlapped, forming a maze.
Some areas faintly glowed; round objects flickered red here and there.
A distinctive vibe, this managed dungeon.
The dungeons in books were brick corridors or caves. Aramsus was different, I’d known, but I hadn’t expected this.
“Oi! Dead end this way!”
“Get downstairs fast!”
“Damn, no monsters!”
With the request granting entry, lots of adventurers had taken it. Floor B1 was packed.
The adventurers who regularly hunted here looked very annoyed as they pushed deeper.
(Right — Seven Geniuses requests cause collateral nuisance is true.)
Novem lit the area for a bit, then stopped.
Others were lighting too — we didn’t need it.
“More than I’d imagined.”
A wry smile. Aria agreed.
“They said it was popular because you don’t have to go out hunting, encounters are easy… but…”
A mixed expression. Same here.
Skills showed every monster downed, every chest opened. The map in my head had so many yellow markers it was hard to read.
The Fifth.
“View the map at a workable zoom. Whole-area zoom-out, you can’t see anything. — And, as you know…”
I gripped the Jewel.
“Novem, Aria. We turn right at the next corner.”
“Yes, Lord Lyle.”
“Wait, why. Everyone’s going left.”
Only Aria didn’t buy it. There was a reason to avoid left.
Yes — the monsters were down.
But monsters weren’t the only ones with hostility.
Among the yellow groups moving, red responses were sprinkled in.
(Not just us. Other adventurers are also prey, by their read.)
Not necessarily killing — but theft, threats, taking traders’ gear off them.
Some parties showed as entirely red.
I avoided them because we were three, and only one man.
(Short manpower is a problem.)
In moments like this, it pulled trouble.
I confirmed congestion and told them to head back.
“Pull back today. No need to push earnings; this’ll calm down.”
“After coming this far?”
Aria, dissatisfied. Novem persuaded:
“True, pushing further means monster encounters, but that’d be floor 5 or deeper… they say the deeper, the stronger the monsters, so it could be dangerous.”
For me — I had constant map awareness. I wouldn’t be ambushed, and I’d ambush them easily.
But saying that was pointless.
“Too many people. Now I get why management is necessary.”
The Fifth.
“There’ll be guys aiming for the deepest floor and the treasure there. This depth — wonder what kind of treasure’s down there.”
The Third.
“Treasure chests — supposedly the dungeon recreates fallen adventurers’ belongings. Eats the bodies and gear to grow, I’ve heard. Wonder if it’s true. — Want to see.”
The Second pulled back.
”…Nope. Hard nope.”
“Eh?”
The Fourth.
“Wanting to see something that grotesque — hard nope.”
“Eh? Wait?”
The Third in a flap was unusual, but heading back was the priority.
“Right, heading back.”
“You know the way? — And actually, explain your Skills. How many can you use?”
I answered.
”…Eight total.”
Aria’s face froze.
Novem… was just smiling.
The Second-through-Fourth banter set aside, a voice came at me.
The Fifth.
“Lyle.”
I touched the Jewel — acknowledging.
“Come to the council room tonight. I’ll teach you my, the Sixth’s, and the Seventh’s Skills. The Third’s too, while we’re at it.”
That surprised me a little.
Skills they hadn’t taught me before, all at once.
And the second-tier applications of their own Skills, on top.
(What’s the rush, Fifth… he’s usually not in a hurry.)
Strange, but I’d follow.
◇
Late at night.
When the house was asleep, I sent my consciousness into the Jewel.
I just had to lie on the bed; consciousness could go.
The ancestors were chatting at the round table.
(They probably converse out of my hearing.)
I sat in my seat.
The Fourth, presiding, saw me, stopped the small talk, clapped three times. All stopped.
“Right. Lyle’s here. Meeting begins. — Fifth, you summoned today.”
The Fifth, elbow on the table.
“Teaching Lyle Skills. The Third’s and Seventh’s. Watching how Lyle handles them, he shouldn’t fail.”
Failure with Skills meant chaining them until mana ran out.
Best case: you faint. Worst: you die.
When we’d fought the bandit boss, he’d over-used Skills and bled from the entire body.
The Third nodded.
“Sure. — Though basically, applications I can’t teach.”
The Fifth nodded fine. He looked at the Seventh.
”…With the condition that use is limited to twice a day.”
The Seventh would teach the Skill under a use-cap.
For these two — the Third’s Skill was iffy.
The Seventh’s was absurdly mana-heavy.
“What kind of Skills are they?”
The Third, smiling.
“Mine is [Mind]. Mostly mental attack-and-defense. I can make targets see illusions; with practice, I can move them as I please… oh, but maybe that’s too stimulating for Lyle?”
He covered his mouth.
The ancestors sighed.
The Second pulled back.
“You have a bad personality, you.”
“Do I? — Now, the Seventh.”
The Third tagged the Seventh in.
The Seventh stood and demonstrated.
“Mine is [Box]. Spatial. Convenient, but mana-heavy. Mess up and you lose mana entirely and pass out.”
The Seventh snapped his fingers; a magic circle appeared in front of me.
From it, a treasure-chest-like box emerged.
“Box size scales with mana. Maintenance is free; summoning is the expensive part. Contents are preserved at frozen time — quite useful.”
Absurdly useful.
Why didn’t you tell me earlier? — I looked at him.
”…Once invoked, my Skill can’t be canceled mid-cast. Mess up and you can die. Mana’s gone up a touch, but don’t push, Lyle.”
“R-right.”
Convenient and dangerous.
I’d ask about usage later. I looked at the Fifth.
The Sixth picked it up.
“Right — the Third’s and the others’ Skills, we’ll cover soon. But the main topic is different.”
“There was a main topic?”
He cleared his throat.
Hard for him to say.
The Fifth got impatient.
“Oi, you giant — don’t get shy. If you won’t say it, I will. It’s relevant to me too.”
The Fifth too.
The Sixth sighed.
”…Lyle, those Sirclay sisters — they look like my sisters.”
The Sixth’s siblings counted thirty-plus.
I’d wondered if at that scale family feeling persisted; apparently the one he’d been close to.
“Treat them well, like the First did? I’ll attend to it where I can.”
He shook his head.
“That too. But that’s not the main.”
(He said that too. Said it. — I don’t need more women around me! Don’t tell me to marry them? The Fifth and Sixth normally had mistresses, so this value-axis is different…)
Felt rude to interrupt; I kept listening.
“Older sister Miranda — looks just like my sister. Personality similar. Mireia was a very kind girl.”
He recalled. The Fifth nodded.
“Most docile of my daughters. No backtalk. Easy to handle.”
What a dry comment.
To his own daughter — a bit harsh.
The Sixth continued.
“Younger sister Shannon — she has the eyes Mireia had.”
”…Eyes?”
I’d been told Shannon couldn’t see. The Sixth and Fifth knew something.
They explained.
The Sixth—
Shannon had the magic eye.
“Magic eye?”
“The Skill probably compensated for the missing vision. Her will plays in, but more it’s instinctive. Heard the saying? Lose one sense and the others sharpen?”
I’d read it. I nodded.
“When a Skill backstops that, this kind of thing can occur. Those eyes — Shannon’s eyes — are Mireia’s magic eye.”
The Fifth cut in.
“Mireia couldn’t see normally, but the magic eye let her see mana. On top of that, she could reconstruct visual data from other senses. She saw better than normally-sighted people. — And she could touch invisible mana-flows. A troublesome power. — That mischievous little brat. Playing with Mireia’s eye.”
Anger in his voice.
Mireia’s magic eye — it was Shannon’s manifestation, but the Fifth had his personal feelings.
(He cared for Mireia, then.)
”…Proof Shannon’s Skill is active?”
I’d grasped what the two were saying.
The strange events since we’d moved in — were Shannon’s doing.
The Sixth.
“When you activated Skills, her eyes moved. She looked at the Jewel too. Mireia could detect Skill use immediately too.”
I’d thought stop Shannon’s pranks was the ask. Worse.
The Fifth, serious—
“Lyle. Stop Shannon. If you can’t reform her… the eyes need to be destroyed.”
— Destroy her eyes, he said.