By Zephyria 
The Royal Physician Mahir brought was an old man I had never seen before. Perhaps that’s why I was even more on edge.
After a brief greeting, he started examining Aska first. I couldn’t sit still on the sofa and wait like Mahir. I stood next to Aska, leaning over, watching the Royal Physician take his dazzlingly white hand.
Then, Mahir, who couldn’t bear to watch any longer, sighed with a troubled expression and called me.
“Kyle. Come here.”
“I’m comfortable here.”
“You may be comfortable, but the Royal Physician is not.”
At those words, I stared silently at the Royal Physician’s profile. I expected him to say it was okay, even if it was just a polite gesture, but the old man only sweated and didn’t open his mouth.
“Are you uncomfortable?”
I had no choice but to ask directly. I clearly shot him a look that said I wouldn’t let him off if he said he was, but he wiped his sweat with a handkerchief and nodded.
“Yes.”
“……”
It was an answer that was the complete opposite of his apologetic expression. In the end, I took a step back. Even though I had conceded a lot, Mahir called me again in a scolding tone.
“Kyle.”
I didn’t answer and turned my head to glare at him. As if he read my mind, telling him to please just stay still, Mahir closed his eyes and took a long breath.
The Royal Physician was touching Aska’s wrist and the back of his hand more than necessary. It was as if he was trying to check the condition of his skin, not just taking his pulse. It’s not like he has a rash, so why? It’s not like he’s just touching it without realizing it because it’s soft, is it?
“There’s nothing particularly strange, and he’s very healthy…”
The Royal Physician finally took his hand away and opened his mouth, as if the examination was over. But before he could finish speaking, Aska’s nails grew long. The Royal Physician was startled by the absurd sight and flinched.
Rather than being surprised, I was more dumbfounded. I clearly told him to stay still, so why doesn’t he listen? The fact that his nails changed like that meant he had transformed into that form, like in the Ruins. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like wings or a tail had come out.
Could it be that this is his true form, so he has to transform like this to get a proper examination?
“Excuse me.”
The Royal Physician quickly regained his composure and reached out his hand again.
“Be careful not to touch his nails. If you touch them, your fingers might get cut off.”
I was just going to give a light warning, but without realizing it, my voice came out sharp. The Royal Physician sweated and carefully took Aska’s pulse. Then, Mahir, who had approached from the side, said.
“We’ve captured quite a few Magical creatures in the last few years.”
I nodded without taking my eyes off Aska’s hand.
“There were individuals with various characteristics, but most of them were highly aggressive and had no intelligence. Then, in the Ruins we found in the deep forest of Gaulaprum, we met a Magical creature.”
Met? Something felt off about the sentence. I turned my head with a puzzled expression, and Mahir looked at me too. Then he said something unbelievable.
“We could communicate.”
“……”
“It wasn’t just that we could talk, but he also had considerable knowledge. How should I put it? An old sage? A transcendent who had mastered the world? Anyway, he said he didn’t have much time left to live, so he asked me to keep him company, so I stayed with him for a few days.”
Can that be called a Magical creature? If he can communicate and feel those emotions, he was an intelligent being.
“I wasn’t alone, I had a few subordinates with me. One of them is Suard.”
Mahir said, looking at the Royal Physician.
“He taught Suard how to distinguish between Magical creatures and non-Magical creatures in exchange for keeping him company.”
It was an interesting story, but I didn’t understand. I frowned and glared at the back of the old man’s head.
“Is that method massaging his hands like that?”
“Your Highness, I’m not massaging, I’m circulating Mana through the passage.”
Suard opened his mouth without permission, as if he felt wronged.
“What passage?”
“Think of it as something similar to blood vessels. Just as there is a path for blood to travel, there is also a path for Mana to travel.”
Sometimes, when I use magic, my senses become more sensitive. I’ve felt like bugs crawling all over my body and my blood rushing quickly, is it something similar to that?
“Anyway, he wasn’t a Magical creature. He didn’t tell me his name, he just said he was a Forgotten Race.”
“What did he look like?”
“He looked exactly like a human, except that he was excessively beautiful.”
As soon as I heard the words “excessively beautiful,” that’s what I thought. If that’s a racial characteristic, then Aska’s abnormal appearance is understandable.
But when I think about it, Aska’s original form couldn’t be called human at all. Of course, that form is pretty too, but anyway… I cleared my throat and asked.
“Were there any other characteristics?”
“The most noticeable difference was the shape of his ears. The tips of his ears were long. About a hand span.”
A hand span wasn’t just a little long. And I had seen something similar in a dream.
‘On behalf of all the children of the earth and sky in the world, I declare. From now on, any being who inherits your blood and flesh will be cursed with eternity in exchange for a noble sacrifice.’
A beautiful woman with long ear tips solemnly announced the beginning of the ritual. But I still have no idea what that means, or what that ritual was.
“He said that Magical creatures are creatures that have been transformed by exposure to the unknown.”
“The unknown?”
“The unknown is a substance beyond the boundaries of the world that cannot be seen, touched, or heard. Once you cross the boundary, you can’t go back, but sometimes there are those who somehow tear through the gap. They lose everything and are just remnants of shells.”
Mahir told me what he had heard at the time without changing a single word. It was a vague statement, but there was a word that caught my ear.
“Tear through the gap?”
“There’s a barrier that protects the world from the unknown outside. So, if you imagine the world as a sphere, it’s like a wrapping cloth that covers the sphere completely and ties it tightly.”
At the word “wrapping cloth,”
“Anyway, that’s why you need to be able to distinguish between Magical creatures and non-Magical creatures. I think that’s where it starts. If you can’t distinguish them, even if you meet the Forgotten Race again, you’ll think of them as Magical creatures.”
“So you’re saying that you can tell by circulating Mana through the passage like that?”
“That’s how you can check accurately, and most of the time, if you can make eye contact and talk, you can assume they’re not Magical creatures.”
Then Aska wouldn’t be a Magical creature either. Mahir brought Suard to confirm that. To be exact, it felt like he did it not to confirm it himself, but to confirm it for me.
I don’t care whether Aska is a Magical creature or not, but I felt inexplicably suffocated by the thought that Mahir was taking such good care of me.
But if he’s not a Magical creature, then what is Aska? Like the long-eared sage Mahir met in the Gaulaprum forest, is Aska also a Forgotten Race?
While we were talking, Suard, who had been massaging Aska’s hand for a long time, finally got up from his seat. His forehead was covered in sweat, as if it was quite a difficult task.
I approached Aska, put the back of his hand back into his sleeve, and whispered.
“Put your nails away.”
I was disinfecting Aska’s hand inside the cloth, touching it, rubbing it, and interlocking my fingers with his, when I heard Suard’s voice.
“It seems impossible to confirm.”
At those words, I frowned and turned my head. Mahir also frowned, as if this was the first time he had encountered such a case.
“Why?”
I mean, it’s either yes or no. Suard bowed deeply and answered with a troubled expression.
“When exposed to the unknown, scars remain. Your Highness, those scars have been confirmed in several places…”
“Scars?”
Mahir must have thought that Aska wouldn’t have such scars. Is it because he made eye contact and talked to him?
“This is the first time I’ve encountered such a case, so I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to make a judgment arbitrarily.”
“Isn’t it just a mutation or something?”
When I said it casually, Suard shook his head.
“Once exposed to the unknown, they said you can never return to your original form. It’s impossible because it violates the laws of the world, like resurrecting the dead.”
“So is he a Magical creature or not?”
Suard sweated as I frowned.
“He could be a Magical creature, or he might not be…”
“……”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Suard, who had been speaking irresponsibly, quickly lowered his head when he saw my cold gaze.