Dark Fantasy Normalized

4 – Normalization

“Gogos~”

The master screamed.

Stomping his feet, the master approached the plant zombie that had turned into a stop-stop.

Restless hands gathered the grasses that had formed Gogos.

“This is the child I cherished and raised.”

“…Master?”

“It’s alright, Rishir. Gogos will understand. A child from the soil has simply returned to the soil.”

“Oh. Yes. Senior Gogos, I’m sorry. May you find peace in the arms of the Plant Lord, in the plant heaven… Anyway, what I wanted to say is not that-“

I spoke to my master, who faced me after picking up a seed from the remains of Gogos.

“Master, didn’t you do this?”

“Of course not. Why would I deliberately harm Gogos?”

“I thought you did it to revive my spirit.”

The master examined the seed of Gogos for a while and then spoke.

“Rishir? My disciple.”

“Yes, Master.”

“That thing just now. Want to try it again?”

The master once again commanded the plant zombie.

This time, twice as many vines danced.

The vines were so robust that they could almost be mistaken for trees.

“…Master?”

Our senior Gogos.

In that industry, he was indeed a cutie.

A plant giant with multiple arms like branches extending from a tree appeared before me.

It didn’t move like Gogos.

It just stood there.

The original intention of assisting with swordsmanship training was vividly faded.

Teacher. Our class is learning addition and subtraction.

What is calculus? Where did the numbers go, and what are these squiggles? This is English.

“Master. By the way, what I just did was simply swinging a sword. It’s embarrassing to even call it swordsmanship.”

“Yes. It looked like that.”

Wound.

“But Master, will I have to face such creatures with a sword anytime soon?”

“This child is called Mumum.”

“Oh my. Gap moe.”

The master had already lost sight of the original purpose of improving swordsmanship through practical experience.

The master’s silver eyes were not watching my swordsmanship, but me.

Oh well, whatever.

Let it be.

I swing my sword with all my might once again.

The plant giant did not budge.

Mumum, what will become of my reputation if you act like this?

I just miss Senior Gogos, who used to burst with my single strike.

“Master, I’m sorry. I couldn’t finish Mumum.”

“What a terrible thing to say.”

The master went to check on Mumum’s condition.

Oh my.

Oh my, oh my, oh my.

The master, who kept making such sounds while checking, covered their mouth with their fingertips in surprise.

“Duran?”

＜What is it? Don’t make a fuss. Just so you know, I refuse any development where that guy turns out to be a swordsmanship genius.＞

“That’s not the problem right now.”

＜What?＞

“Our disciple. It seems they have a unique color.”

＜…Really?＞

A peculiar expression. Shining eyes.

It was the expression of the master and the book.

The book has no face, but I could tell, having spent many years with Mr. Duran.

“Um, master?”

“Yes? My unique disciple.”

What’s with the title?

“What is a unique color?”

“A unique color refers to mana that has its own properties and influences.”

“Own properties? Like the moving plant I just faced?”

The master shook his head.

“No. That’s just one branch of magic. Anyone can do the same thing if they learn the same magic. There might be slight differences due to specific factors, though.”

“Then what happens if someone with a unique color learns that magic?”

“Shall I give you an example?”

The title of ‘Star’ given to the great mage who has reached a historic position.

The master mentioned the Ash Star, the great sage of the Red Tower.

“His innate unique color is ‘Combustion’. What if he learned the same magic as me and commanded the walking grass?”

“Are you saying it would become blazing grass?”

“That’s right. You would see the spectacle of plants burning while moving.”

“Then, what happens if that Ash Star uses water magic?”

The master gestured towards the ground of the training yard.

The dry soil of the training yard slowly became wet, and soon a small puddle formed.

“To create this amount of water in a place without any…!”

The master scooped up the water from the puddle with his hand and sprinkled it on my hand.

“How is it?”

“Ah…”

＜Stop acting so ridiculous, you two＞

“Is it just ordinary water with no special characteristics?”

“Yes. As you can see, it’s just ordinary water with no special characteristics. It’s a magic that creates such ordinary water. Since I don’t have a unique color, the result is as it is. But what if the Ash Star uses this magic?”

“Would it produce water that burns everything it touches…? Like boiling oil or lava.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Uh… Is there a magic that creates lava?”

“Are you curious about what happens if the Ash Star uses it? Probably, it would produce much hotter lava that doesn’t cool down for a long time.”

A unique color grants properties and sometimes enhances them.

Thanks to this, mages born with a unique color show distinct strengths in certain magic, and sometimes create new magic that didn’t exist before.

“Thus, a unique color is a blessing for a mage. But unfortunately, only a very few mages are born with a unique color.”

“…”

After the lecture on unique colors ended, I looked down at my hand.

“So, you’re saying my b*stard rank has been upgraded from B- to S+?”

The master smiled with amusement.

“Oh my. How composed.”

＜Seeing you spout nonsense in this situation, you must be quite something.＞

“Is that so? How should I have reacted?”

“If it were Duran, he would have rolled on the floor screaming.”

＜I am a book.＞

“And you, Master?”

“Me? Hmm. Let’s see.”

Master pondered for a moment with a face of delightful imagination.

“If it were the kind of unique color I wanted, I probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep for days out of excitement.”

“The kind of unique color you wanted…?”

Come to think of it, what is my unique color?

I am such a cold-blooded b*stard.

Instead of being happy about the trait, I am worried about the possibility of it being a dud.

As if reading my mind, Master showed me the seed he had just harvested.

“Lysir. How does this seed look to you?”

“Isn’t it like the core of Gogos? The walking grass. But it looks surprisingly ordinary?”

“Now, come here and look at this too.”

Between the gaps in the body of the plant giant made of vines, I saw the seed located at its center.

In terms of shape and size alone, it was the same seed as Gogos’.

But its state.

Roots were entangled on the surface of the seed, pulsing like blood vessels.

Is it the difference between being alive and dead?

“It’s not because Mumum is alive.”

“Excuse me?”

As if reading my thoughts, Master spoke.

“Originally, Gogos’ seed should have been like this too. Even if Gogos’ body is destroyed, the magic and traces contained in the core remain. But Gogos not only had his body destroyed but also his core – no, should I say it was destroyed.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Master tapped his lips with his fingertips, eyes closed.

When our Master does it, it seems like a mysterious magic that calls forth deep memories with a knock.

After a moment, Master exclaimed ‘Ah!’ and waved his finger cutely.

“Yes~ Restoration. Let’s say it’s restored.”

“Restoration?”

“Yes. This core wasn’t destroyed. It was restored to its normal state before it contained magic.”

“Normal state… normalization…”

“Normalization? Oh, that’s good. It’s the perfect expression.”

The master clapped his hands in agreement at the words he had uttered without thinking.

It’s not good. That word. For some reason, it doesn’t feel right.

“No, Master. Let’s just keep calling it restoration.”

“No. I think Rishir’s expression is more accurate. As Rishir said, the seed of Gogos was normalized under the influence of Rishir’s unique color. If Rishir’s power had been sufficient, wouldn’t Mumum have been the same?”

“Uh… So my unique color is restoration?”

“It’s too early to say definitively. It could be annihilation, or conditional destruction. That’s why the more general term normalization is appropriate.”

“Is this why I wasn’t affected by your cognitive interference magic, Master?”

Clap clap clap clap.

“Yes. Yes. That was also a factor. Rishir was affected by the cognitive interference magic but quickly normalized.”

“Master, please… restoration…”

“Oh my. Oh my. Duran, my disciple Rishir really seems to be a holder of a unique color.”

＜Unbelievable. So the Vandel b*stards have been neglecting a holder of a unique color all this time? Just because he’s an illegitimate child? Even if they are a swordsmanship family and couldn’t recognize it.＞

“So am I the first to recognize my disciple’s true value?”

＜When you brought that noble b*stard as the price of the contract, I thought you had finally lost your mind.＞

“Shall we call it the normalization of the contract? It’s my disciple’s unique color.”

“…”

The dark elf and the book repeated a certain word excitedly for a while.

*

In the office of the head of the Vandel mansion.

Someone other than the head of the Vandel family stood by the window overlooking Heyern.

“It’s truly a beautiful place. Heyern.”

She was the head of the Diltan family, which bordered the Vandel territory.

Her visit was conducted very quietly.

Also, without any hospitality, she would leave immediately after the conversation ended.

Diltan had been a family that had continued large and small conflicts with Vandel for many years due to geographical issues.

But it seems that today will be the last.

“Are you really okay with this?”

Bendel asked with an uncertain attitude.

“You already know, but that guy is-“

“It’s about my daughter, how could I not know?”

“…”

“Since it’s also a matter of your family, Lord Bendel, you must know about my daughter as well.”

The head of the Diltan family, who had been staring out the window, sighed deeply.

“I too am reluctant to bind my daughter to a half-blood like Bendel.”

Bendel did not take those words as an insult.

Neither did Diltan.

To those of such pure and noble bloodlines, b*stards were such beings.

“I just hope this will be the knot that ties our two families together.”

“Understood.”

Only one person among the parties involved.

It was the moment when Rishir’s betrothal was mentioned without his knowledge.

“…”

Diltan barely concealed his dismay as he looked at his daughter sitting opposite Bendel.

She looked as fragile and harmless as a dandelion before it turns white.

“This isn’t a dream, is it? That Lord Rishir will be my husband…”

At the mention of the betrothal by the two family heads, she smiled like a sunflower.