Chapter 121: Orsted's Visit
I gathered everyone in the house for a little family meeting.
"I just want to make sure everyone here is aware. Orsted is coming to visit tomorrow morning."
"I don't trust that guy", Sylphy said with a pout.
"I know, I know, you've all said that before."
"Orsted...", Eris said with a shocked look on her face.
"You've heard of him?"
I was a little bit surprised. Eris wasn't here the first two times Orsted came by the house.
"Yeah... Ghislaine and Gal both seemed afraid of him. Is he really that scary?"
"He's a bit intimidating, but honestly it's his curse."
"His curse?", Eris questioned.
"Yes. I've told everyone else here already, but Orsted has a powerful curse that causes everyone he meets to fear or hate him. I'm sure that you won't trust him either when you meet him. Even if I warn you beforehand, that's just how strong his curse is."
"How can you trust him then?", Eris rightly asked.
"I seem to be immune to his curse. As far as we're aware, I'm the only person that applies to. Even other strong people like Ruijerd and the Sword God were terrified of him."
"I don't like this", Sylphiette continued. "Given your weakened condition, should we really be allowing him here? What if he uses this opportunity to attack?"
"It's precisely because of my condition that I invited him here. He's coming to see if he can help me overcome it. Don't be mistaken, if he were my enemy, there was no need for him to wait to attack. There's a reason he's known as the strongest in the world."
"It's only been one day, Rudy! You can't give up after just one day. I'm sure the two of us can figure this out together!"
"I'm not giving up. I'm sorry if I made you think that way. I really do appreciate your help, but I'd be crazy not to take advantage of Orsted's offer for help too."
"Then you don't mind if I'm there to help too."
"I want to meet him too!", Eris exclaimed before I had a chance to answer Sylphy. "Anyone who can make Ghislaine and Gal afraid... I have to see what he's like."
"As long as you promise not to attack him, I don't mind. Remember, because of his curse you will be afraid and distrustful of him the moment you see him."
"His curse is basically the same as Ruijerd's, right? I was able to be friends with Ruijerd once I got to know him."
"You know what, you're right. Maybe you guys can learn to get along. Then again, Orsted's curse seems to be stronger for whatever reason. Just try to keep an open mind, ok?"
"You don't have to worry. I won't attack him. I promise."
"Umm... Would it be alright if I got to meet him too?", Roxy asked nervously. "I get the feeling this guy is scary, but if he's a friend of yours I'd like to get to know him."
I looked around and everyone seemed interested in meeting Orsted. Then again, I was starting to get nervous at the idea of having our meeting with so many people. No, it would probably be best to start small and work our way up.
"I don't mind, but it would probably be best to stop with you three, due to his curse, Orsted isn't the most sociable person. I wouldn't want to overwhelm him with too many people."
I put that out there before anybody else had a chance to directly ask to be included in the meeting. Thankfully, everybody seemed to understand and actually agreed.
The following morning, everyone in the house seemed to be on edge. I was chatting with Eris when the two of us jumped as the loud knockers rang against the front door.
"Is that him? He's here!?", Eris questioned excitedly.
"No, I don't think so", I answered. "He said he was going to teleport here using the scroll I gave him. He wouldn't be at the front door."
Eris and I answered the front door together to find a familiar face.
"Ghislaine!", Eris shouted.
"I'm glad to see you're doing well", Ghislaine said with a smile.
"I'm surprised to see you here", I replied. "I thought you had traveled back to the Sword Sanctum."
"That was the plan, but after hearing about what happened I decided to come back to Sharia and wait for you and Eris to return. I just found out that you guys made it back today."
"Well, I'd love to invite you in, but it's kind of bad timing. You see..."
Right as I was about to tell Ghislaine about Orsted's impending visit, she suddenly lowered her stance and gripped the hilt of her sword. Eris, who stood beside me unarmed, seemed to have tensed every muscle in her body.
I didn't notice anything, but from there reactions I could tell. Orsted has arrived.
"Calm down Ghislaine! I was about to tell you. Orsted is visiting today."
"What!? The Dragon God is visiting!?"
"Uh... yes?"
"You act like you're like buddies or something...", Ghislaine said with her mouth agape.
"Well, yeah. We kinda are."
"After everything I've seen you do, you'd think I'd stop getting surprised", Ghislaine said with a sigh as she loosened her grip on her hilt.
"I'm sorry Ghislaine, but I really don't want to keep him waiting. You can come in if you want."
After saying this, I walked towards the basement with Eris and Ghislaine following me. We heard a *knock* as we approached. I opened the door to find Orsted standing at the top of the stairs.
"Welcome, Orsted. Thank you for coming here on such short notice."
"It's no problem", he answered. "Your timing was actually quite good. Teleporting to Sharia has saved me a good amount of time in my travels. Your expertise in writing these teleportation circles is quite convenient I must admit."
While the two of us talked cordially, I could see Eris and Ghislaine had both backed away about fifteen feet from us. They both looked incredibly tense, but neither were acting hostile at least.
"Eris Boreas Greyrat and Ghislaine."
The two of them tensed even further as Orsted mentioned their names.
"I'm surprised to see you here. I thought you were both in the Holy Land of Swords."
Eris seemed like she wanted to answer but couldn't muster the words so I answered for them.
"They had stopped by to celebrate my fifteenth birthday. Then... well, a lot happened."
"Your fifteenth birthday?", Orsted said curiously. "Well, I suppose congratulations are in order."
"Thank you", I answered. "Please come upstairs", I said as I motioned for him to follow me. "We can talk in my study like your last visit."
Orsted followed me upstairs to my study. Eris and Ghislaine followed the two of us from behind, while leaving a 'safe' distance between us. When we arrived, Roxy and Sylphiette were both already there waiting for us.
"We are meeting in a group?", Orsted questioned.
"If you don't mind."
"It's not a problem. If you trust them, then I can trust them as well."
Sylphiette had a determined look on her face. She appears to have drummed up the courage and resolve to keep an open mind during this meeting, for my sake. Roxy on the other hand looked like she might run out the door screaming at any minute. Her knuckles were turning white with how tightly she gripped the arm rests of her chair. I placed my hand over hers for reassurance.
For everyone else's sake I wanted to try and avoid as much awkward silence as possible so I started the conversation immediately.
"Like I told you in the message, I've determined that Geese Nukadia is an apostle of Hitogami."
I explained in detail everything that happened, starting from the letter I received from Geese on my birthday, all the way through how I was betrayed and tricked into getting trapped in the mana crystal. I also explained in detail my unknown condition that has caused me to lose control of my mana, and all the different trials and effects I've discovered.
Orsted listened patiently until I finished my story.
"I see", he said as he pondered the information I just dumped on him. "You're lucky to have so many who would risk their lives for you."
"I truly am. My friends and family are my greatest strength."
Orsted put his finger to his chin and thought for a moment.
"I had deluded myself into believing there was no way that Geese could be one of Hitogami's disciples. This must mean that he has always been a disciple but hid it perfectly. You did well, Rudeus. Geese was Hitogami's trump card, but no longer."
"You know Geese?"
"I know almost everyone"
"That's right. You acted like you knew me too, but we've never met."
"We haven't met yet, but we were destined to."
"What does that even mean?"
Orsted furrowed his brows as though the question bothered him, causing Eris to flinch thinking she said something wrong.
"Hmm... I suppose you need to know", he said while giving me a meaningful look. "That Hitogami would expend such a valuable card to attack you directly proves that he considers you a threat. It would be wrong of me to continue being suspicious of you."
"Well... that's good to hear?"
It wasn't that reassuring to hear that he had been suspicious of me up to this point, but on the other hand, at least he's saying he trusts me now.
"The truth behind my knowledge lies in the reincarnation magic that my Father invented."
"Reincarnation magic!?"
That word really resonated with me. Now I really had to know.
"Yes. You had told me when we first met of a dragonfolk ruin in which you discovered ancient dragonfolk magic that the First Dragon God used to travel through time. The truth is... that magic is the same that my Father had cast upon me. The magic reincarnates your soul into a suitable body. My father sent me ten thousand years into the future with the sole purpose of avenging our people and killing Hitogami. What you don't know about that magic is that it is designed to repeat the reincarnation until the stated goal has been achieved."
'Repeat the reincarnation? Is that what would happen if I were to die? I don't remember attaching a goal to the spell.'
"Does that mean-"
"Yes", Orsted interrupted me. "I've failed in my goal countless times. Every time I failed I would reincarnate into this body."
"I assume the stated goal is to kill Hitogami?"
"Yes. If I die or fail to kill Hitogami within two hundred years of my reincarnation, I will be reincarnated once again back to the winter of year 330.
"How many times have you reincarnated?"
"I stopped keeping track after one hundred."
Several audible gasps could be heard when he said that. That's incredible. It would make him at least 20,000 years old!
"That is how I seem to know everyone despite having 'never met' them. In all of my previous loops, I could never find proof that Geese was a disciple. Even when I suspected him of it he never admitted it, even when he was on the verge of death. This is why I say he was Hitogami's trump card. He must have been a disciple in every loop, working behind the scenes but hiding it perfectly."
"I can see how this is hugely important information then. Still, it came at a great cost if it ends up costing me my magic..."
"I'd like to help with that in any way I can", Orsted said. "From what you describe, it sounds like you've undergone a mana mutation and it is interfering with your spellcasting. If only you could see your own mana with that demon eye it would make things a lot easier to decipher."
That's true. In fact I had the same thought while I was in the training hall yesterday. It really sucks, but the Magic Power Eye seems to filter out all of your own mana. I suppose that would normally be for the best, but in this situation it would have been really useful.
"If that's the issue, maybe I could help", Ghislaine volunteered.
"That's right. You do possess a Demon Eye, don't you?", Orsted responded.
"Y-yes... I have the same Demon Eye as Rudeus."
"Take a look then", Orsted directed. "Tell us what you see."
"Y-yes sir!"
After receiving an order from Orsted, Ghislaine tensed up once again and immediately removed her eye patch to follow his command. After talking for a while, we all had calmed down considerably, but despite this, his curse was still having an effect. It really was stronger than Ruijerd's curse.
Ghislaine removed her eyepatch and studied me closely.
"Your mana definitely has changed..."
"What do you see?"
"Well, I remember seeing your mana once before with this eyepatch off. Back in Roa right before the Mana Disaster. I was shocked when I first saw your mana, but due to Almanfi's attack I didn't have the time to think about it. Your mana was so dark it was almost black. It was like looking into the night sky."
I knew from my experience using the Magic Power Eye that the more concentrated mana became, the darker it looked. Different types of mana were differentiated by their color, while the amount of mana was shown by its shade.
"Your mana is still just as dark, but now it is a dark shade of red instead of blue."
'Red?'
Mana from a human was typically blue. A demon's mana looked green. Beastfolk had yellow mana... but I've never seen anyone with red mana before.
"On top of that, your mana is swirling all around you. It looks like a raging storm rather than a calm sea."
It's swirling? What could that mean? Normally a person's aura was uniform all around them as though they were radiating out ambient mana.
"That's strange, but it could explain why you've lost control of your spells", Orsted added. "You're probably casting the spells as correctly as you always have, but the swirling mana surrounding you is distorting the mana of your spells similar to how we use disturb mana to interrupt another's spell."
"Well that's a big problem. How am I supposed to fix that?"
"I'm not aware of any way to change your natural mana. One's mana is a part of who they are. A mana mutation is similar to a genetic mutation. There's typically no cure."
"So there's no way to fix this? I can never cast spells again? That would make me basically useless."
"That's not true!", Sylphy shouted, finally speaking up in our conversation. "You're so much more than your magic."
"Sylphiette is right", Roxy agreed. "Your magic has always been impressive, but that's not what makes me love you."
"Huh?"
Everyone in the room (other than Orsted) looked over to her in surprise as Roxy effectively confessed her love to me out of nowhere. Roxy's face turned beet red in embarrassment.
"W-what I meant, was, uh-"
"Thanks Roxy", I said with a smile. "And thank you too, Sylphy. You guys are right. There's more to life than just magic."
"I don't mean to interrupt this touching moment", Orsted said. "But I never said you wouldn't be able to use your magic."
"What do you mean?"
"The answer is simple. The mana you naturally radiate is out of control and interfering with your spellcasting. All you need to do is rein it in."
"Reign it in? You make it sound so easy."
"It won't be easy. Especially for someone like you, but it's definitely possible. Pulling in your mana and coating your body with a thin layer of it - Warrior's call it battle aura. It's impossible to reach the level of Saint or above in any of the sword schools without mastering your battle aura. Many warriors don't even realize they are doing it."
"Oh... Yes, Badigadi once tried to teach me how to use battle aura, but then he told me I didn't have any talent for it."
"Hmm?", Orsted raised an eyebrow not realizing that I was friends with a Demon King, but then he quickly moved past it.
"Yes, battle aura is more difficult to control when you have more mana, but it also becomes more powerful when used with more mana. I suspect that your body contains even more mana than myself, but I have quite the large pool to draw from. If I was able to master it, I don't see why it would be impossible for you to do so as well."
It was a bit daunting to think of having to master battle aura, which I've never had any success with in the past, but at the same time I felt a great amount of relief just knowing the answer to what was going on and knowing that there was a possibility, however small, that I could regain my magic.
"Your teleportation circles have been very convenient for me. Thanks to that I have some time to spare to train you. Perhaps, working together, we can move past this obstacle."
"Can I help too?", Sylphy asked a bit nervously.
"Of course", Orsted answered.
Despite his calm demeanor and welcoming smile, everyone acted as though he were glaring at them. I can understand how they feel. It took me a while to get used to his expressions and I'm immune to his curse.
"I'll help too if you don't mind", Ghislaine offered. "My ability to watch your mana could prove useful."
"I would appreciate it."
"I'll spar with you!", Eris added.
"I'm not sure what I can do, but... I'll do what I can!", Roxy said with some determination.
"Well let's get started then", Orsted said as he stood up.
"I know a good place where we won't be bothered", I suggested. "Follow me."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Coolex
Coolex Just so you're all aware, Rudy's mana mutation is not that he is able to use Touki. In fact, learning how to use touki is just a byproduct of what he has to do in order to use his magic effectively again.
Something DID happen to Rudeus' body due to the mana mutation, only he doesn't know what it is yet.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone