"The Sacrificial Magic"

Pianna actually didn't like children very much. As for why she had approached little Yelena...

Anyone could figure that out.

If you wanted to understand someone, you first had to understand the person closest to her.

Of course, this wasn't exploitation.

It was an honest, aboveboard transaction!

She was a demon, after all. Transactions were her profession.

"Then can you tell Big Sis what kind of trouble you ran into? I'm a good friend of your big sister's, you know. I can help you.

"Everyone can."

The girl squatted down, bringing herself level with the child and making herself seem more approachable.

A Sarkaz.

Yelena had been spacing out—not because she disliked the person in front of her, of course.

It was simply because of the word "Sarkaz."

The one who had defeated her with ease had also been a Sarkaz.

The impact that mercenary had left on her was simply too deep.

It was as if she fought with the resolve to drag her opponent into death with her, completely unconcerned with her own survival. But if her opponent cared about staying alive, they had already lost half the battle.

It was terrifying. At the very least, that bloody aura was impossible to forget.

And yet the person in front of her was the complete opposite. She had thought all demonkin were as evil as the rumors claimed, and that mercenary had only confirmed those rumors.

But the girl named Pianna seemed a little different.

Or perhaps the rumors were simply false.

"Are all Sarkaz people the type to fight as if they don't care whether they live or die?"

Perhaps she was afraid of upsetting the girl in front of her, but also curious, so the little girl asked in a voice so faint it was almost inaudible.

"Pfft."

What she received in response, however, was an amused laugh.

Huh?

"That is indeed how Sarkaz people are. What, did someone like that bully you?"

Though she seemed a little embarrassed, little Yelena still nodded.

Sarkaz people were naturally highly resistant to Originium-related products.

The situations that would kill ordinary Terrans because of their high initial infection rates were hardly a serious problem for Sarkaz people.

That was why the saying that everyone in Kazdel was a heavily infected person was no false rumor.

But there was nothing they could do about it. After all, Kazdel was a nation eternally shrouded in the flames of war.

"That's normal. A lot of people like hiring Sarkaz mercenaries for exactly that reason. They're strong, after all, and know a little bit of everything."

But that was only an excuse. If she wanted to approach someone close to a person, she needed to offer some benefit before she could blend into their circle.

That applied equally to Kazdel's nobles and the unscrupulous merchants of the commercial alliance.

It was the same when dealing with children.

"Mm~ So, little Yelena, would you like to····

learn magic?"

···········

I worked really hard on today's chapter, so there'll probably be three updates today. After that, I'm considering opening a reward campaign. I'm still asking what kind of rewards would be reasonable. After all, although I have some chapters saved up, I feel like I'll still end up owing quite a lot.

Also, I asked Orange Mama, and apparently there are recommendations to be earned after two hundred thousand words, so the sooner the better. Most likely, I'll publish more chapters first and open the reward campaign afterward. I might throw out all my saved chapters this time, I guess. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Anyway, as long as you're enjoying yourselves, that's all that matters. Ehehe.

By the way, isn't the holiday coming up soon? Or has it already started? If it's a holiday, I won't have to update at a fixed time every day. I can update whenever I want—write however much I can and publish that much.

Section 61: Chapter Fifty-Nine—The Magic of Sacrifice

Sarkaz people were naturally highly resistant to Originium products.

Naturally, Sarkaz people also had considerable affinity for using Originium Arts.

They could overclock more recklessly, unleash greater power at the same scale of use, and even ignore the standard methods of use because of the special nature of mercenaries.

Among mercenaries, all kinds of unorthodox methods could be found.

As long as it could kill someone, there was no distinction between academic and non-academic methods.

And Sarkaz people alone would never waste much thought on anything besides killing.

As for Sarkaz Originium Arts, that was an extremely profound field of study.

After all, Sarkaz Originium Arts were incredibly ancient.

The Demon King came from Kazdel, the royal courts had once stood in Kazdel, and even now, if you wanted to find the most reliable mercenaries in Terra, Kazdel was still the place to go.

A nation that specialized in exporting war and violence would naturally devote more effort to Originium Arts, that highly efficient art of killing.

So...

Why a knife???

Yelena was holding with both hands a strangely shaped dagger that Pianna had produced from who knew where, her face adorably blank.

What happened to the promised magic?

But the girl had also noticed Yelena's confusion and explained with a smile.

"Of course you need an Originium product as a medium to use Originium Arts. You weren't really planning to use the Originium Crystal in your own body as a medium, were you?!"

"Pianna... is a mage?"

"That's right. A perfectly standard Sarkaz mage."

The girl looked up and down at the gentle, polite, graceful girl before her. She was a blonde with crimson eyes, soft hands that had never done hard labor, slender arms, and clothes that looked extremely expensive.

She still harbored some doubts.

Her big sister also looked like someone who couldn't fight at all but could actually take down a whole group of people. But it wasn't as if one could encounter that kind of person all the time, right?

Even if the odds were high, she couldn't possibly meet someone like that every single time... could she?

Pianna wore an amiable smile as she slowly removed the glove from her right hand.

The long glove covered her entire forearm, and it did look quite attractive.

However, it was only when she removed the glove that Yelena understood why she wore such a glove.

From her cuff to the glove's edge, where fabric had originally concealed her forearm, there was not human flesh, but...

Hideous metal, and interlocking... gears!

What was this?!

Through the gaps in the metal framework, one could see the internal mechanisms continually adjusting their operating sequence in time with the arm's movements.

All ten fingers were incredibly agile. They were no different from the original products granted by nature and made of flesh and blood—if anything, they were even more flexible and much sturdier.

Seeing the girl's shocked expression, Pianna smiled in satisfaction.

"Now you understand why I'm a mage, right? This is an Originium product."

The mechanical arm, dyed dark red, even bore some white characters and serial numbers. Unfortunately, Yelena couldn't recognize any of the markings.

But she had never seen anything like this, much less heard of it.

Was... was this the power of the rich?!

Pianna, a noble girl from Kazdel, had shattered the little girl's worldview with a single move.

After all, Ursus was rather backward. Though it was not lacking in high-end industries, those things were simply too far removed from ordinary people's lives.

And infected people, who were treated like rats crossing the street, did not even have the qualifications to hear about them.

That day, little Yelena finally realized just how vast the class divide in this world truly was.

She glanced at the dagger in her hand, then at Pianna's arm.

Suddenly, she realized something.

The girl seemed to think the question was important, so she pattered over to Pianna. Under the girl's slightly puzzled gaze, she touched her right arm.

"This is purely a mechanical structure. How could it have any sensation?"

Pianna said it with a smile. But Yelena didn't seem to care about that.

"Then... what about the original arm?"

"Hmm..."

Pianna blinked, and her face suddenly became mysterious.

"That is a very, very long story. If we have time in the future, I'll tell you about it."

"But..."

Looking at the girl, Yelena finally showed her concern.

"Didn't it hurt?"

"········"

If you're too kind, you won't live very long.

Pianna smiled as she thought that, but didn't say it aloud. She merely continued smiling, as if she didn't care about the question.

····························

What was magic?

It was the embodiment of imagination, a legend praised into existence, a madman's creed, a frenzied idea.

To wield and drive a power that did not exist in this world—that was Originium magic.

The oldest codices had already established that, in the earliest eras that could be traced, human civilization had records of discriminating against Originium-infected people.

Of course, Originium Arts and Oripathy were inseparable, just as Originium and the world of Terra were inseparable.

Originium could condense energy. That was its earliest application.

But once Originium was stimulated, it would devour everything around it to increase itself.

It would corrode and assimilate everything around it, turning it into part of the Originium.

That was why one could often see enormous Originium Crystal formations rising above the horizon in the wilderness. They were magnificent.

And also cruel and beautiful.

After all, this was the source of both the world's sickness and its development.

That was why a mature Originium Arts system would not have someone use the Originium in their own body as a medium like some madman. That would only turn them into a chunk of ore while they were still alive.

The true method of use required a good Originium product to serve as the medium.

"Although many people like using Originium Staffs as casting tools, that's just the stubborn thinking of the academic school. In reality, every Sarkaz mercenary has at least one head belonging to a mage like that.

"But mages who have truly been tempered by war and crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood prefer to use knives."

As she spoke, the girl toyed with the Originium dagger in her hand.

It was the gift she had given Yelena, though it could also be considered an item used in a transaction.

After all, if she wanted to earn a child's trust, she had to spend something.

The dagger was mass-produced, but it was still one of the better examples of mass-produced goods.

Its metal hilt and blade mixed with Originium particles gave it both toughness and hardness, and it could also be used for casting.

As long as it wasn't some grand spell, this little thing could handle it.

She tossed the dagger into the air, caught it again, and then skillfully spun it through a flourish.