IBTHM Chapter 37

Fan over him?

"...What's that?"

Still holding him tightly, Aisha nodded and said, "It's a thing. Starting today, I'm going to serve you as my ultimate bias."

"What?"

Though Aisha was spouting incomprehensible things, Hades was satisfied regardless.

The results of that arduous dawn were significant.

Since Aisha was no longer addicted to mana suppressants, she would be fully able to manifest her mana and hide her core stone.

Thinking this was fortunate, Hades spoke urgently.

"Starting today, you'll need to train again to hide your core stone. Until now, your weak point has been dangling out there..."

Before he could finish speaking, Hades was surprised.

The moment Aisha slipped out of his arms, gripped her left arm, and concentrated briefly—

The core stone embedded in her left wrist vanished into her body in an instant, disappearing without a trace.

"Ohhh..."

An impressed exclamation burst from Aisha's mouth.

The white core stone had disappeared as if it had never been there.

Looking at Aisha's now-smooth left wrist, Hades blinked slowly.

True, she had been training, but Aisha had never once manifested mana in her entire life.

With the suppressant's blocking effect gone, she had probably used her own power for the very first time since birth.

Just as a newborn baby experiences trial and error before learning to walk, hiding a core stone should have been the same.

But Aisha had hidden her core stone in one go, as if she'd been waiting for her mana to return.

This was genuinely impressive.

Looking somewhat surprised, Hades raised an eyebrow and said, "So you couldn't use mana, but you're not stupid. Nothing to worry about."

"This is nothing!"

"It's something. You can be proud."

"It's all thanks to your excellent teaching, Your Grace. I want to try using abilities too..."

"You just succeeded at putting away your core stone and you're already rushing ahead? Half the imperials never manage to unlock their abilities in their entire lives. Don't be impatient."

Even as Hades said this, he was inwardly curious about how far Aisha could unlock her white attribute abilities.

There was no way to determine everyone's exact mana levels.

However, by observing the level of abilities someone used, you could roughly gauge how much mana they possessed.

White attribute imperials were rare to begin with, and as far as Hades knew, there was currently no one in the empire who had fully unlocked their abilities.

One person—if there was a capable white attribute imperial who suddenly flashed through his mind...

Abella Esclife.

500 years ago, she had been revered as a saint and was known to have fully unlocked her white attribute abilities.

A completely different level from the various temple priests who had merely unlocked the pain-offsetting absorption ability.

'A fully unlocked white attribute ability is definitely terrifying. I've never actually seen it, but there's a reason it's classified as the weakest recessive attribute.'

Hades found himself newly impressed by the saint Abella Esclife from 500 years ago.

Beyond purification and healing, a fully unlocked white attribute "ability" was passed down only in ancient texts and had never been witnessed in reality, so it didn't quite feel real...

'If a saint were truly to return—'

The empire would be turned completely upside down.

Not because of the saint's existence itself, but because that saint would be the "only" one capable of fully unlocking white attribute abilities.

Those abilities were so tremendous they were dangerous.

Countries wanting power would covet the saint's existence, and countries possessing the saint would try to exploit them to the fullest.

In fact, according to records from 500 years ago, dozens of invasions occurred because of Abella Esclife...

Suddenly, Hades's eyes narrowed with a certain suspicion.

It was a suspicion he could have because he'd spent all dawn absorbing Aisha's pain as her mana unlocked.

What if—what if Aisha had possessed the same faint mana levels as other Esclife family members?

There would have been no reason to administer mana suppressants in the first place, and the pain when her blocked mana was released would have been minimal.

But how had it actually been?

"...Your Grace!"

"Uh, um..."

"Teach me how to use abilities too! How do I do it? Please?"

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I am in a hurry! Really urgent, truly!"

"But why?! Are you hurt somewhere?"

It hadn't even been ten minutes since she'd unlocked her mana and hidden her core stone—he couldn't understand why she was already whining about what was so urgent.

Despite Hades's confusion, Aisha just threw a tantrum stubbornly.

"If I know how to use abilities, I can help you and the young master too."

"Look, Aisha."

Hades shook his head and said, "I understand what you're worried about, but it's truly a needless concern. Where in this empire is there an ability user who could harm even a hair on my head?"

"Ah... yes, yes."

Aisha nodded, but somehow didn't seem convinced.

Feeling irrationally upset at her apparent doubt, Hades protested, "You don't know, do you? How many magical beasts there are in the north? This place isn't normally this peaceful!"

"Yes, yes."

"Ha, you must not understand because you've never actually encountered a magical beast. Even a small baby goblin could flick its finger and send you flying all the way to the south. You know that?"

"Oh come on, that's a bit of an exaggeration."

"That's how strong and ferocious they are, I mean. Do you know why they tuck their tails in and don't even leave their habitats? Hm? Do you?"

"Of course I know. Because you periodically storm in there and incinerate them all."

"Exactly! And normally when we go to subjugate magical beasts, casualties and deaths pile up left and right. But I have never! Not once!"

Hades emphasized this with bulging veins in his neck.

"Been injured by those things."

Ahem. Adding a cough and haughtily lifting his chin, Hades tried to look dignified, but Aisha just nodded with a completely unimpressed expression.

"Yeeees, yes..."

Incensed by Aisha's lukewarm response, Hades started to say something more, then just held back.

What would a delicately raised noble young lady know anyway?

"In any case, I appreciate your concern that I shouldn't get hurt even a little, but there's no need for such worry. So you don't have to obsess over unlocking your core stone abilities. Understand?"

"Yes, I understand. But how did you learn to use your abilities, Your Grace? What kind of training did you do?"

Haaa...

Understand, my foot. She clearly doesn't understand at all.

Though he found it puzzling that Aisha was so persistently fixated on unlocking abilities, she asked with the air of someone ready to diligently take notes if he'd just tell her something—anything.

Hades stared at Aisha like that, then sighed once as if defeated and said, "Does that even require training? I've just been able to use abilities since my mana unlocked."

As he shrugged nonchalantly with an expression suggesting it was no big deal, Aisha—who had been blinking her large eyes blankly—sniffed once and wiped her nose.

"Yes, of course. You're perfect, Your Grace."

"Don't misunderstand. It's not that I don't want to tell you, I really just didn't need training or anything, I simply..."

"..."

"Knew it all from birth."

"Haaa..."

Aisha let out a long sigh and rubbed both hands over her face.

Watching her with a blank expression, Hades said, "Training methods probably differ by attribute, but for white attributes, wouldn't you need injured targets?"

"Mm... that's true. Right."

"Then wait a bit. The troops I sent to subjugate monsters in the Tegrot Mountains should arrive tomorrow or the day after. Those guys are always an absolute mess after returning from a subjugation."

"Oh! That's perfect! If I can help, it'll be killing two birds with one stone! Training and healing both."

"That would..."

Hades, who had been nodding in agreement, had his expression stiffen strangely for some reason.

At Hades's odd look, Aisha tilted her head.

"What?"

"Never mind. Now that I think about it, that's not a good method."

"Why not?!"

"Anyway, it's not. I'll be your training target when I get injured, so just stay put quietly until then."

"But you're the one who said injuries are so rare for you!"

"Anyway, stay put."

"That's not fair!"

"Aisha!"

As Hades scolded her sternly with a falsely reproachful expression, Aisha was dumbfounded.

Ignoring Aisha's reaction, Hades casually changed the subject.

"Well then, I'm exhausted, so..."

"Ah. Now that you mention it, you must be tired. Mm... sorry for bothering you."

"No, well, you don't need to apologize."

As Hades waved his hand dismissively and tried to get up, Aisha grabbed him.

"What?"

"Shouldn't you sleep?"

"So?"

"Sleep here. Why bother going back to your room?"

"What?!"

Hades, who had been halfway up from the bed, swayed in shock.