"I see..."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but our last contact with your son was two weeks ago. You know how things are in those areas."
"... Oh, yes, of course."
"And don't worry, the compensation for his death will be deposited today."
"..."
"Well, I'll be going now."
"..."
I closed the door right after the two men left. My heart was heavy...
My son...
Because of us...
Because of me...
I couldn't cry as I lay curled up in bed. Alone. Clinging to his belongings.
Guilt clouding any reaction.
All because of our incompetence as parents...
My son deserved a better mother.
... If I can even call myself that...
.
.
.
Two weeks earlier...
I stared at the mana stones for a few moments, when the big guy handed them to me...
Sigh.
"Is there any way to use this?"
[Absorb.]
"Seriously? That's it? Is that the only thing a constellation can tell me?" I asked, playing with the mana stones, tossing them up and catching them.
I certainly wasn't burning up from the energy... Definitely not. Anyone who said otherwise was lying. Anyway...
"That advice is kind of useless, since I already know that. Tell me the truth—you just want to see me suffer a little longer, don't you? My body has low mana conductivity; you must already know that."
[Yes.]
"... Fair enough. But at least try to hide it a little."
... Yeah, there's not much else to do then. I don't know any other method besides absorbing these bombs, and my time is running out anyway...
What's a fart to someone who's already shit?
"Big guy, protect me." I smiled, giving a thumbs-up without the thumb in the face of your clear hostility, and shoved the mana stones into my stomach. My pale face lost even more color.
But it was the most efficient way now...
I ran my hand through my hair one last time.
Goodbye for now, my friend.
... On top of everything, I'm still going to be burned alive. I should have just died right away.
I smiled, feeling my body burst into flames. A crimson blaze spread for dozens of meters, engulfing me.
... It burned everything it touched instantly, contained only by the big guy's intervention.
I looked at my friend, smelling a strangely pleasant scent as my skin melted, watching how he was faring, but...
My feathered friend really had his ass turned to the moon. His digestive system was better than expected.
The bond was broken—otherwise, he'd be burning right now. Or maybe not...
I don't know.
He was different from me. And that wasn't exactly a bad thing.
Not to mention his high mana conductivity. So, probably nothing would happen.
Bastard…
Not even to burn a little bit alongside his buddy here.
Tsk, is that what you call friendship? Where's that whole "suffer together" thing?
Of course, I also used that moment for something else. I snapped—or at least tried to snap—my fingers in flames the moment the bond broke.
That little show was mandatory.
I hope the big guy believes I can control it or not when his son suffers. Otherwise, I'll die on the beach after coming this far...
... Well, now what? How do I control this thing? I'm going to end up losing about 70% of all that energy, and I might not be able to heal myself completely. No, that's a fact.
I spent a few minutes trying to control it and came to a conclusion...
It was like flying a plane with a Peugeot engine, using the T. rex itself as direct fuel.
Tsk, what a waste...
It really was a waste to use condensed mana for this and in this way.
... I could very well improve my mana conductivity or create mana circuits normally, but what can you do.
At least it'll purify my body this way, so my mana conductivity will improve by about 10% when I'm done. Work is work, and a gain is a gain. No one can say otherwise.
... My scent really is nice...
What a shitty situation—two days ago I was debating whether breasts, butt, or personality were best at Zé's little bar.
Of course, I said I preferred personality...
A voluptuous personality, full of curves and thick thighs, where I could sleep peacefully...
Now I'm here burning alive.
How curious. Life really is curious...
The only thing we can really do is live it the way we want...
No regrets. Experimenting and doing whatever we feel like.
... Yeah, maybe this experience wasn't all bad; I learned something obvious and gained a story to tell my future grandchildren. That is, if I manage to get out alive—it doesn't even have to be in one piece, just alive.
What am I going to do next? I'm kind of tired of living for others...
As I delved deeper into my thoughts, time passed. Minutes. Hours. Days...
Rain and sun, the darkness of night too.
... The big guy watched me the whole time, while my feathered friend recovered as the days went by. He still couldn't fly, but it was a start.
It was also something to see him stumbling through his attempts.
About two weeks had passed when the flame finally went out, and I clenched my hand, missing two fingers. My fingers and my eye were truly beyond repair...