And yet, it was certainly not unpleasant. Quite the opposite, in fact.
What is this sensation?
Koyoi was bewildered. It was as if her brain had been directly stimulated. It was the emotion called lust. No one who had experienced it before would ever mistake it. She, however, had spent her time in Zipangu training day in and day out, and since coming to this continent she had devoted herself to her work for the adventurers' guild. Her knowledge of sex was extremely limited. She did, however, know a way to cope with that sensation.
It's because mana is trying to enter my body. So, if I do this...
She took a talisman from her pocket. A new one, with nothing written on it. She held it between her middle and index fingers, and brought it to her mouth. She whispered words into the talisman that did not belong to Zipangu, or to this continent, or to anywhere in this world. Her voice was so faint that it was impossible to hear anything other than that she was whispering. She did not know who was on the other side of the ramparts, but the voice of a woman who still had her reason could only belong to an enemy.
As her incantation rustled the talisman, deep black characters were being traced upon it. When Koyoi's lips stopped moving, the talisman was full from top to bottom with writing. She loosened her sash, and opened the front of her tightly-shut garment.
She let out a short gasp. The intense mana directly touching her skin made the irritating sensation even stronger. She affixed the talisman in her hand to the spot without a moment's delay.
The writing on the talisman glowed faintly, spreading from her belly to permeate her entire body. She let out a sigh. The dangerous sensation was quickly suppressed, and her thoughts grew cool. She flashed a faint smile at her success, but there was not much strength in it.
This is no better than water on a hot stone. Still...
The area was devoid of allies. That meant that the only one currently capable of fighting the ringleader — who was presumably inside the castle — was herself. She took deep breaths, and somehow managed to calm her heart beat, which had risen with fear and stress. Keeping her knees from trembling, Koyoi stepped over the threshold of the castle gate.
Everything around you is meaningless noise and distractions! Concentrate; you have to look into the castle.
She repeated the breathing techniques for refining mana that she had performed every day until she could no longer stand it when she had been in Zipangu. She was conscious of the sensation of the air she breathed in, wreathed in mana, building up in the point just below her belly button where she had just affixed the talisman. The mana remained in her body, and she breathed out only the air.
The Amanomiya clan had learned, through long years of training and research, that women's ability to generate mana within themselves was less than men's. And that, conversely, women were more proficient than men at absorbing mana from outside themselves.
As I thought, the quantity and quality of mana here is on another level.
She sensed that the mana flowing into her was amassing an order of magnitude higher than usual, and with an order of magnitude less waste. Still, it was so dense that even an untrained commoner could see its color with their naked eyes. She did not know that drawing in mana from outside herself here in Lescatié, which was blanketed in the stuff, would backfire. The point below her navel where she was storing that mana was used in meditation. It was also her womb.
"Come now, surrender yourself to pleasure."
She walked along a well-maintained, milky-white gravel path. This was the enemy's stronghold; there was no telling when she would be attacked. She would have to proceed quickly, but also stealthily.
Talismans imbued with sound-dampening magic were affixed between the two wooden teeth of Koyoi's geta. She sent a small portion of the mana stored behind her navel down her legs to them. The writing on the talismans flashed white for an instant, and the sounds of her steps on the gravel completely disappeared.
"That's right. That's the way to release the chains around your heart. Once you've done that, you can be free."
Free.
Her mind, cleared by meditation, became suddenly disturbed. Every time Koyoi heard the woman's voice, it disarranged her thoughts.
"Your head's buzzing, and your bottom feels itchy, right? Right now, your heart is trying to break free of the heavy burden of humanity."
Burden.
Koyoi thought back. Her own life had been nothing but burdens. The burden of being Amanomiya. The burden of being in line to become head of the clan. Burdens heaped on her from all sides. And, as if to match their weight, she had kept as quiet as a stone.
"Your eyes still look a little frightened. It's alright. All a monster has to do is be with a man she likes. She doesn't need anything else. A world just for two."
A man?
She had almost no direct experience of the opposite sex. She had her older and younger sisters, and since she was very young she had spent her days cooped up in the mountains, enduring her grandfather's harsh training. Apparently her betrothal had been decided in her infancy, but she did not know the face, the voice, or even the name of her fiance.
After Tōtetsu's passing, the faction of her relatives that had schemed to make her head of the clan had scrutinized her life day and night. She had not even been able to go outside as she pleased.
Doon's face rose in her mind.
He was... different, she decided.
She had not seen Doon as an object of romantic love.
But when he had fallen to Finé, she had felt frustrated that she had not been able to protect him from the monster.....