Reason to Live

Report: The Great Fire of Nicte Forrest.

Agent: Giano.

Overview: On Sept 04, 11XX. I had been in the Nicte capital, Apanii. While I was eating at a stall with a friend, we were assaulted by the heat. It felt as though I was right up against a campfire. A great pillar of fire ascended into the heavens. This pillar had been over 300 Meters from the capital, yet could be clearly seen.

The people surrounding me panicked, thinking that hell had descended onto the land. The elves, despite the citizens' reaction, are quite experienced with fires. One must be when living in the forest. They immediately went into action, forming a perimeter around the fire. I joined them, as an agent of an ally, I was welcomed without suspicion.

We spent 3 hours holding back the fire, many water specialist magus helped, but the fire neither expanded nor shrinked. At nearly exactly 3 hours since it appeared, the fire mysteriously fizzled out all at once.

Next, we underwent a search. Wary of the burning coals, we searched the remains of what was once known as Nina town, known for its wines and beers. We found nearly nothing but ash, only one survivor remained.

This survivor is currently in a coma. Will update when progress is made.

Addition: Survivor is awake. Underwent an interview. The victim claimed that the night of the fire, (Redacted) portrayed a sense of anger. I asked for details, and she claimed (Redacted) This is contradictory with the towns list of residents and visitors, which it kept strict records of.

The local god, Hanasakuya, was known to report any missed visitors, adding more doubt to the victim's claims.

Conclusion: From the testimony of the survivor, it can be theorized that (Redacted).

Re:Conclusion: The cause of the great fire can be determined as an accident caused by Gila flowers going off near the alcohol storage. The initial blast is theorized to have killed to local god, whose energy then mized with the blaze, causing the large and devastating size.

The survivor of the tragedy can be theorized to have survived because of protection from the aforementioned god before their death.

As for the Survor’s testimony, it can be determined to be a psychological issue. Not only is it contradicted by the logs the city had kept, which had survived the fire due to the magical fire-proofing of all legal documents. It is also contradicted by the death toll, which numbered 20,176. This matches with the total population, 19,497, and the number of visitors, 678.

In conclusion, the Great Fire of Nicte Forest was a tragedy brought about by an accident.

🕮🕮🕮🕮🕮🕮🕮

“Good morning, Miss Manako.”

A man in a suit said to her.

I had just slept for a long time.

“Mor… Ning.”

“Mm, I’m agent Giano. I’m investigating what happened to Nina.”

“Hk!”

“I know it may be hard, but please… Try to tell me.”

“...” Manako hesitated only for a moment, communicating what she had seen. “ I can’t remember anything after that…”

“I see…” Giano watched Manako clench her teeth together in anger. “And you said it was a three-headed snake?”

“Yes!”

“I see… I believe you, Miss Manako.”

“You… do?”

“Yes, i’ll return after I look into some other things.”

“Th- Thank you.”

Giano simply smiled and left.

In the days after I woke up, the idea of those who caused it getting caught kept me going… I was still hopeful then.

“I’ve concluded that the Nina incident came about by a rogue set of Gila flowers, expedited by the death of your god.”

“W-wha? What about the men?!”

“Miss Manako. There were no men, the body count matches perfectly with the amount of people in the city. There's no other people.” Giano explained with a serious face.

“No, nonono! There was! They were there! I’m sure! I saw them!”

“Manako!” Giano interrupted her, “There was nobody else. What you remember is something your mind came up with to help you understand what happened! There was nobody else.”

“N-no…”

“Now, the government has offered to pay for treatment… It’s best you take it and move on…” Giano put on his top hat and stepped to the door. “Move on, Manako… It’s what they would’ve wanted.”

The neither large nor small back left for the last time.

“... No… hk…” Tears fell my face for a long time.

–

Years went by. The time for my entrance to Saionia came and left.

I floated my way through life, wandering, doing what I was told. I was given enough money to live for the rest of my life. I simply stayed in my room, unmoving.

I forgot about the men.

I had given up on life.

I didn’t grow. I didn’t change.

There was no reason to keep living.

Until 6 months ago-

“Hey! The names Astolat! Astolat Anael!” A purple-haired woman entered Manako’s room.

“H-huh?”

“Well… You see, I was going through the lists of past prospective students and saw your name! It gave me a shock!” There were few who had the surname Nina, even less who had the Elven traditional family name. This number fell astronomically after the fire. Only travelers, a missing elder, and Manako still bore it.

“O-okay…”

“So, I thought I’d come see if you still wanted in!” The woman’s silver hair and warm skin swayed left and right as she walked toward Manako.

“I… I… No…”

“Wait!”

“Eh!?”

“Before you answer, take a walk outside!”

“O-outside?”

“Yup! Go walk, check out something you're interested in… Then come find me and give me your answer!” Having said her piece, the amethyst hero rushed out of the room.

“Eh?!”

Manako was left alone once again, but the atmosphere in the grim room had changed.

–

Manako, wrapped in clothes that covered every inch of skin, aside from her face, walked down the street.

After some trial and error, Manako found that while less crowded streets with less men meant not having to be near them, it also meant there were less people to stop things from going badly.

She now chose to take the main streets.

It had been years since she had been out, the wind, the birds, and their song playing filling her ears.

However, she also became very aware of how much she hated men. They scared her, her body freezing up and a deep anger welling from her heart.

Still, she continued her walk, walking past many shops and stores. She paused in front of a apothecary, thinking for a moment before walking away.

After both moving to a new place and not exploring at all, Manako inevitably found herself at a dead end of the main roads.

Her two options were to go back the way she came or take a tiny side road.

While she wanted to turn back around, she found herself moving into the alley.

She wanted to see more, to know more.

Her curiosity reached her peak when she came across a tacky store front, the sign reading- The Hanged Man.

–

Manako entered the shop curiously and cautiously.

Inside, the place was a mess, random books, weapons, and trinkets scattered all over.

“Hey.” A pudgy man says from behind the counter, his cheeks covered in lumpy red skin.

“U-uh…” Manako shrinks back.

“Heh, don’t worry… It’s fine.” Despite his words, the man seems strangely hurt. His eyes seemed as if his best friend had said they hated him.

“I…” Manako began to say, before seing a small sign on the counter. “Th-those..?”

“Hm? Ah, these… I just had someone buy one.” The man explained, picking up a ticket from the counter. “This? You want it?”

The coincidence of a ticket being sold, right while she had been deciding on whether to attend caused Manako’s heart to stir.

“...Yes…” Manako answered as the man held up a ticket to Delphoscere.

“I see…”

“How… Much?”
“Hm… I don’t need money… How about you just let me say something?” The man asked with a warm smile on his face.

“O…okay?”

“I’ve been thinking for a long time… If there's no reason to live, is there no reason not to live?”

“Eh?!”

“Well? Maybe you can come up with several reasons to die… I sure have… But there aren’t any reasons for, as long as you are alive, not to live, right?”

“...”

“Like, since you haven’t died yet… Why not live?”

“...” Manako’s eyes clouded over, unable to answer.

“Haha… Here.” The man says as he holds out the ticket.

“T-thanks…”

“Yeah…”

Manako walks to the door, pushing it open.

“Oh, Manako!”

“H-huh?!”

“Goodbye…I really am sorry.”

The door shut before Manako could answer.

Having someone you don’t know talk to you as if they know you, Someone saying your name without you saying it, is creepy.

Manako walked quickly, attempting to escape the vision of the store.

But when she looked back, the entire store was gone.

–

“Have you decided if you want to attend?” Astolat Anael asked the newly arrived Manako.

“I…”

“I do.”

🕮🕮🕮🕮🕮🕮🕮

The red-scaled dracoling lunged toward Manako.

His tattoos, which scarred itself on tan scales, which had been slightly reddened by its presence.

Manako’s gaze lingered on it for a time, feeling a glass shatter in her mind. Its contents, like a red wine, seeped forth and dyed the carpet of her mind with anger.

An old anger, one kept inside for many years, An anger she had been told to forget. Forced to.

“NOOOOO!” Manako’s scream echoed through the halls, the fire faltering.

“GRAAAAAAH!” The dracoling Shaw screamed as he attempted to erase his target. As a slave who had been made to kill a large amount of people, his movements are precise and effective, even in his crazed state.

Manako’s mind races, anger and fear fighting for prevalence. The battle happens in a split second. Her anger had won, and remembered a detail for the sake of survival.

Manako had seen the dracoling cast magic, just before the dragon had shown up. How had he done so? There are few ways it can be done, the most common is to use a Clewe of some kind and borrow its enate mana.

That's it!

Manako had witnessed the man grab a large amount of Gila flowers. The man had also made use of them to kill on the train. The two had a connection, and the obvious answer was that Shaw was using the flowers to use magic.

But how is he using them? Where are they?

Looking at his body, there was nowhere to hide them.

In his body!?
Much like the tea on the train, he consumed it and is using that to use magic?

“GRAAAHAHA!” Shaw had finally reached Manako, swiping with the flame’s protruding from his body.

By activating a small amount of the Gila flowers, he could exume the magic from his body using his Pneuma, which allows him to control fire in the area around his body. This allowed him to use magic despite the lack of mana.

In this way, Manako’s guess was correct, however she had made a mistake. Shaw had not consumed a tea, but rather a drug made from the Gila flowers.

In most cases, this would have made her subsequent attemp futile, increasing the margin for error by more than double.

However, Nina Il Manako had once been a prodigy.

“Ohpikiw!” Manako calls out.

Shaw immediately feels his body shake. His being, consumed by the drugs it had been exposed to, feels as if each and every Gila flower burst into flames. Over the course of his imprisonment as a slave, he had consumed, at first by force then through addiction, hundreds of thousands of Gila flowers.

However, Shaw’s pneuma still gives him an escape. He controls the overwhelming heat and amount as he forces it all downwards.

“I WONT DIEE-!” Shaw mutters his final words as the fire, which he had condensed into an even more powerful flame shot out of his body, splitting his waist in half. Both pieces flew toward the walls in opposite directions.

Shaw, who couldn’t even remember his last name, had died due to his lack of education. If he had been able to live out his life and attend school, he would have known to spread out the flames rather than condense them, saving his life. Yet he died, never returning home.

“Haah! Haah!”

“Whoa!”

Manako looks up, her eyes catching on the new figure who has just appeared.

“Nei-a?”
“H-hey” She says, an awkward look on their face.

“You're late.”

“S-sorry… You didn’t help me with the bugs either.”
“Hehe!”

“... What's that look like?”

“O-on his chest… Tell me what's there?” Manako asks, attempting to rise to her feet. However, her legs refuse to move.

Despite what she asked, Manako could expect what came next. It was something she was used to.

The body of Shaw, the dracoling that had continuously caused problems for the prospective students, lay dead next to the wall. On his chest, no symbol appeared.

“N-no, it was there! I promise, it was-”

“I know… I know. I saw it.”

“R-really, you believe me?”

“I do.”
“But… What was it then?”

“ A three headed snake, wrapped around the globe, eating three moons. It disappeared as I moved it.”

“Y-YES!” Manako couldn’t help it; her body fell forward. Neia quickly moves to catch her.

“You okay?”

“They said I was crazy…” Tears appear in Manako’s eyes.

“But your not.”

“The government, both Nicte and everyone else, said so!” Manako cried out, as if trying to prove herself wrong.

“How did it go..? ‘If someone says, the government wouldn’t do that, yes they would’?”

“Eh?”

“It’s from a book I read… Means the government isn’t that trustworthy…” Neia, holding Manako, looks to the side awkwardly. “Sorry, not the time for that…”

“Heh, hahahahah!” Manako laughed, then felt herself drifting to sleep

Please, don’t let this be a dream.

“Thank you…”

For being alive!

I’m so happy I lived.