The time limit is one hundred and twenty hours.
After that, the longer it takes, the more Suella’s life will be in danger.
No, she’s already in danger.
That time is only for saving Suella.
It was the time limit for the doctor to perform the procedure safely, and also the time limit for saving my and Suella’s child.
“………”
That time has long passed, and less than forty-eight hours remain.
I’ve used up the three-day grace period, and my achievements within it are zero.
I’ve long surpassed hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of books.
I’ve easily surpassed the amount of text I’ve read in my entire life, and I’m probably reading the largest amount of text in history.
The library within Amelia, called the Sage’s Knowledge.
The book itself is the embodiment of the concept of knowledge into an object called a book.
Compared to normal books, there’s a difference in strength comparable to paper and iron.
That’s why, even when turning pages under the benefit of Valse-san’s acceleration, there’s no fear of tearing.
It’s not for show that it bears the name of time and space; my perceived time accelerates, and I collect knowledge at a speed that makes my body creak.
“………”
Amelia said that while I’m quickly reading the text at a speed that’s incredible for the naked eye, to an observer, it looks like I’m classifying books at a speed that leaves afterimages.
That momentum is slowing down.
“Time, Contractor-san.”
“………I see.”
“Jiro-san.”
My senses visually become slower, and as a reaction, my body becomes abnormally heavy.
At first, I was confused and anxious, but after doing this many times, a cycle has been established, and I’m no longer confused.
“Amelia, please.”
“Okay.”
So, I suppressed my urge to panic and simply asked Amelia for the next action in a dry manner.
“Jiro-san.”
“Sorry, Memoria.”
Guided by Amelia’s faint voice, the one who greeted me as I emerged from the Sage’s library was Memoria, who had been reading a book.
She noticed our return, quickly put down her book, and approached me.
“Here.”
“Ah, and please wake me up in two hours.”
“Yes.”
That was the extent of our conversation.
On the first day, we reported that it was no good, or that we were trying a new direction, but as time passed, perhaps due to the increasing anxiety, our conversations became shorter to save time.
I know it’s not good.
But both Memoria and I, while understanding that, settled into this stance.
A break space set up in a corner of the party room.
“Amelia-san, please.”
“Thank you!”
Then, Amelia and I downed the Magic Potions handed to us by Memoria.
A flavor slightly more bitter than an energy drink spread in my mouth, and a sensation of fullness spread from the pit of my stomach.
Slightly contorting my face, I accepted the next Magic Potion.
One potion is enough for Amelia, but I have to drink a dozen or so at once.
My stomach is in a really bad situation, but this is necessary to repeatedly summon Valse-san in the Sage’s library, and there’s no other way to recover all at once.
“!”
Even though my body is reinforced by the magic crest, it’s not designed for overeating.
Even if my magic is replenished, I’m tormented by the feeling of drinking too much.
Forcibly suppressing the urge to vomit, I slowly lay down next to where Memoria had been reading.
“You’ve worked hard. Please rest well now.”
“Thank you.”
Her gentle hand holding mine brought a moment of relief to me, who was forcibly suppressing my anxiety and enduring the fear of time ticking away with each passing moment. I closed my eyelids.
If I don’t recover my body in two hours, it will be difficult to use the next twenty-two hours to their full extent.
Even without that, my body is accumulating a great deal of fatigue from Valse-san’s time acceleration on consecutive occasions.
If I hadn’t rested, I would have already collapsed from exhaustion.
I thought about the space Valse-san had prepared for us back then, but there was nothing there to begin with.
It seems it can be deployed, but doing so would overwrite Amelia’s spirit and cause immense damage.
If that happens, the Sage’s library would also disappear.
For both reasons, I cannot do that.
So, I have to do my best.
“………”
Feeling Memoria’s slightly cold but undeniably present hand in my right, I try to fall asleep, but I can’t fall asleep immediately.
I close my eyes, relax my body, and surrender myself to the simple bed I’m lying on.
However, in my mind, I’m reflexively thinking about how to save Suella.
Baby Drain.
The principle is that when a child grows to a certain extent and their body begins to stabilize, they start to crave magic in addition to nutrition.
It occurs the moment their magic aptitude is determined.
It is said that magic can only be received from the mother through the umbilical cord, so depending on the mother’s magic capacity, there are cases where both mother and child are put in danger.
Suella’s current situation is that she carries the high magic aptitude of twins within her, which is why she is in such a dangerous state.
“………”
Logically speaking, let’s assume there’s a tank containing a single body of water.
That tank is Suella, and the hose that supplies water from the outside is the magic crest.
Water is consumed through methods like magic, but it is replenished by being supplied.
And unlike us Earthlings, Suella and others from another world enter a state of life-threatening danger when their magic runs out, which is equivalent to life-threatening danger.
This is because spirit particles and magic are said to be the source of life.
We Earthlings are presumed to be a species that evolved to live without magic.
The reason Jiro and Kaido have magic aptitude is believed by the Demon Lord’s Army researchers to be a remnant of that.
Magic aptitude that isn’t used deteriorates, and in some cases, it disappears, while in environments where it can’t be used, high aptitude is born as an adaptation to harsh conditions, creating a dichotomy.
Getting back to the topic, unlike us, who can survive in a magic-zero environment, Suella and other members of the Demon Lord’s Army will die instantly depending on their species if they have no magic, and even humanoids like Dark Elves will begin to suffer from malnutrition and weaken if they are in that state for a long time.
“………”
The more I think about it, the more my sleepiness seems to recede, but fortunately, my enhanced body recovers to a certain extent if I rest like this.
The Recovery Potion I drank after the Magic Potion also contributes to the recovery of physical fatigue.
So, I will continue to think.
Suella’s situation is like the water tank having another hose attached, and that hose is branched.
That hose is thicker than the supply hose and has a higher flow rate.
And there is no other supply method.
Naturally, in such an environment, the water will be depleted, and even if it is replenished, it will all be sucked up by that hose.
To improve this situation, the simplest conceivable method is to increase the magic supplied to Suella.
However, this method depends on magic aptitude, so it’s not a method that can be easily improved.
The case I encountered is a case of extreme rarity.
Even if the magic storage capacity is increased, it’s meaningless if the supply volume doesn’t increase.
Create another supply source.
If magic can be supplied through a method other than the magic crest, there will be two supply sources, and we can control the magic capacity of the increased supply source.
But…
“Will Suella’s body hold up…?”
Increasing the flow rate beyond normal could exceed the amount of water the tank can hold.
If the magic crest pathway is used, that pathway will break down, and even if a large amount is flowed through the other pathway, it will experience a flow greater than the normal inflow, naturally increasing the burden on the body.
Will I need to provide assistance to Suella’s body through body reinforcement or some other method, or will I have to do it with a delicate sense of flow rate?
The most ideal scenario would be to form a line that can directly supply magic to the child.
I’m searching the Sage’s library for that method or other possibilities, but knowledge related to childbirth is scarce.
There is some, but it’s all content that could be found in a readily available wisdom book.
Currently, I’m mostly just sifting through the magic-related tomes.
As I’m thinking about such things, sleepiness gradually creeps in, combined with my fatigue.
I surrender myself to that drowsiness and lose consciousness.
“………”
Then, I was woken up by Memoria, and with my fatigue gone, I came to the Sage’s library again, but as always, the knowledge I’m seeking is nowhere to be found.
I found the shelf for recovery-related knowledge and focus my search there, but I keep accumulating surgical and internal medicine knowledge.
Methods for dealing with injuries like fractures or bleeding, and herbal remedies for illnesses and internal organs.
I skim through them, hoping to find something useful, but it’s not what I’m looking for.
As I return the book I just looked at to the shelf and reach for the next one, my eyes catch the title.
“Bearer of the Ore Tree.”
The content is written in an extraterrestrial language.
It looks like a miss.
Thinking so, I was about to put it back on the shelf, but I suddenly stopped.
The Ore Tree can connect with me and produce high-purity magic.
It circulates magic, flows magic into the Ore Tree itself, and purifies it.
Then, could that be applied to create a new magic bypass?
The moment that thought appeared, my hand opened the book, and my eyes followed the strings of text.
Rationally thinking, I only briefly heard about the ecology of the Ore Tree when I first purchased it.
A being that combines minerals and plants.
Its ecology produces metals of higher purity the more time it takes.
And it can be a material for a Holy Sword.
That’s all I know, but this tree has many mysterious effects the more it’s used.
Its roots wrap around and connect with my body, and eventually, it even incorporates dragon bones, making it a partner that can do anything.
Perhaps there’s a clue there, I thought, as I continued to read.
And with each passing page, the remaining pages dwindled, and just as I was about to give up.
“Hmm.”
My gaze stopped at one particular item.
“Regarding magic circulation by the Ore Tree.”
It was a lineage of Ore Tree evolution, a rare case among many.
This Ore Tree was in a staff shape and supported its user’s magic.
It could store more than double the user’s magic and was used to assist in battle, essentially an external magic tank.
“………”
That alone wouldn’t solve the problem.
If the supply route is through the magic crest, then it would still be the same, I thought, but the more I read, the more it seemed different.
“………A drawing of a mage?”
There was an illustration of the user, and the staff in their hand was wrapped around their arm with roots, just like mine.
There were many common points.
And I found a passage that seemed to be a comment from the mage.
“My Ore Tree staff, which has been with me for many years, is a second source of magic for me. When my magic ran out, the Ore Tree gave me its own magic. It was high-purity magic, refined to suit me, and my depleted body was instantly replenished with magic.”
A second source of magic, does that mean a separate magic source not through the magic crest?
I continued reading, hoping for more detailed information.
“I lost my right arm and left leg in battle. I probably won’t be able to fight on the battlefield anymore. Therefore, I will pass this art on to future generations. I’m sure it will be useful in the battle against the Demon Lord.”
From there, it was about the history of the Ore Tree’s owner, but I persevered and continued reading, finally hoping to find knowledge about the Ore Tree.
“Is this a magic circle? No, an engraving?”
What appeared was a magic circle-like diagram with what looked like a mathematical formula.
Even seeing it, I couldn’t understand the content.
I didn’t know how long it would take to understand it.
So, I skipped that diagram for now and turned the page further.
“The greatest weakness of us mages is the depletion of magic. This is a destiny that cannot be avoided, no matter how immense the magic power of the possessor. Therefore, by using the Ore Tree to create a pseudo-magic storage, we can escape that destiny.”
It explained the purpose for which it was used and how to use it.
“By engraving a magic crest on the Ore Tree itself and having the Ore Tree absorb spirit particles, the absorbed magic circulates within its own body, producing high-purity magic. Combined with the absorption of its own magic crest, it can achieve twice the normal magic recovery, no, even more.”
And finally, the words I was looking for appeared.
This is it!
I suppressed the excitement that ran down my spine with certainty.
If it’s combined with my own magic crest, then the Ore Tree’s pathway is another magic supply source.
With this, if I can prepare an Ore Tree, I thought, and tried to read more detailed content.
“?”
However, after all the methods were explained, the final sentence was written as if a completely different person had added it.
“The staff of the great sage, Adsarel Garmer, has never been created. While connecting with an Ore Tree may be possible, the method to bring it to that state has yet to be discovered, and no matter how many researchers have attempted it, none have succeeded. We, in respect of having reached that point, name this staff the Staff of Adsarel.”
This means that it is impossible to create this staff.
However.
“What about my Ore Tree?”
I have it in my possession.
Although the shape is different, a sword and a staff, I believe their abilities are the same.
If I can engrave this inscription, a magic crest tailored to the Ore Tree.
“There is a possibility of being saved.”
If there is a god, let me thank him.
Thank him for letting me encounter the Ore Tree at that time, at that moment.
“Then, all that’s left is to bet on it.”
With no time to spare, I unhesitatingly drew the magic circle and took notes.
Today’s Word:
Even an impossible challenge will never end unless you take the first step.
Thank you for your usual feedback and for pointing out typos.
If you find it interesting, please leave a review, rating, bookmark, etc.
*The first volume of the book has been published by Hayakawa Bunko JA.
It was released on October 18, 2018.
The e-book version was released on October 31 of the same year.
Additionally, the second volume was released on December 19.
The third volume was released on February 20, 2019.
The content has been revised and expanded from the version posted on Narou, with the addition of unreleased interlude chapters.
Please consider purchasing the new releases as well!!
A comic adaptation is being serialized in Kodansha’s “Young Magazine The Third.”
We hope you enjoy that as well.
We appreciate your continued support for this work.
