Definitely Not Suspicious

Raisa frowned at my proposal.

"My assumption is that you are not referring to the one that we had gone to previously. I do not believe my bodyguard would allow it, she had declined it last time. Why did you bring it up again?"

I tilted my head to the side.

"There was a method to increase my magical aptitude that I thought of involving that. Basically, it would require a large amount of iridescent crystals, and that's probably the only place where I could get them for cheap."

Raisa furrowed her brows somewhat.

"How many would you say that you need? And what are you even going to use them for?"

I scratched the side of my head. If I was going to rely on the strategy of forcefully implanting them, then I would need quite a bit to get to the required power. In other words, pretty much every part of my body would need to be cut open. I would definitely have to be quite worried about my health as there would be side effects, but I would think about that later.

"Preferably at least... one hundred. The plan I have is a bit complicated."

Raisa frowned.

"That... if you really need that much, it would be hard to get it through legal channels. At least they are crystals rather than iridescent stones."

Stones were more expensive by the way. The reason being that they held a higher mana capacity compared to crystals, but they did have a drawback of slower mana regeneration.

They kinda worked like mana potions, but they were awkward because you couldn't supplement your own mana since it wasn't properly attuned to match each other. That meant the mana for any spell you cast would be limited to the mana in the stone.

This was why the stones were so much more valuable.

But in the case of crystals, mana capacity wasn't as big of a drawback if I was inserting them into my body, as that attuning problem was dealt with. Whether or not I try to implement it would depend on the price.

"Do you know where the black market is? If you could mark it on a map and give me instructions on how to get inside, then I would owe you one."

Raisa let out a soft sigh.

"I'm not too confident about the specifics right now, but I should be able to get you those after a couple of days."

A small smile formed on my face.

"Thanks."

She pressed her lips together, then stared at me with a bit of annoyance.

"Mm... but if you didn't go and do that, then we would've had more time to talk to each other and be friends."

I looked at her blankly for a few moments. Was this girl actually stupid?

"Were we not talking like friends this entire time?"

Raisa tilted her head to the side with a dazed look.

"Eh? It was?"

A wry smile formed on my face.

"Did you not drag me here to bring up your concerns about my safety? Is that not what a friend would do?"

She was lost in thought for a moment before letting out a gasp.

"Ah! That means I'm being a proper friend?"

I gave a weak nod.

"Yes. You could say that."

Raisa smiled brightly as though she wanted to show off how proud she was of herself.

"Ah! I did do it properly! I told you that I was able to be a proper friend! Heh, I didn't even have to use any of the topics and responses I memorized!"

My eyelid twitched.

"If you did use topics or responses you memorized, then you would have failed."

Her face paled after I said that, and her smile froze on her face.

"Wh-What? But I worked hard making sure that the lines looked as natural as possible!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"The fact you went over lines in the first place means they weren't natural.

Raisa's jaw dropped.

"Eh?! Then how am I supposed to plan it properly?"

I reached over to flick her forehead with a small smile.

"Idiot, you aren't supposed to plan anything in the first place. I'm pretty sure I already told you this."

Raisa pouted and rubbed the spot I had flicked her.

"But... it's too scary to try it without a plan."

A chuckle escaped me.

"You're doing it right now, aren't you? And I think you're doing just fine."

Raisa was a bit confused, but began smiling.

"A-Ah, right! I'm doing it properly!"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, do you want to do that mana training we did before?"

Raisa's eyes lit up when she heard that.

"Oh! Yes, my control over my mana had improved so much I could hardly believe it!"

From there, I grabbed onto her arm and cleared my throat.

"By the way, do you think it would be too much if I forcefully held on while trying to manipulate your mana?"

Raisa blinked a few times.

"Um... I'm not sure, but I think it's worth trying."

I gave a small nod and began trying to move the mana I felt within her arm.

"Tell me if it's too much."

Like all the times before, she immediately tried to pull away, but I kept a firm hold on her arm. Raisa continued to try to pull away and grit her teeth. Her green eyes were filled with panic.

Was this too much?

"Um, are you ok?"

"I'm fine!"

Though while she did say that, her other hand grabbed onto my wrist and pulled desperately in an attempt to pry it off. To be honest, I couldn't help but find this scene quite strange.

Hm. It totally looked like I was that evil guy in stories that forcibly grabs onto some girl's arm.

Her tugging was definitely painful for me, but my physical fitness appeared to be a few steps above hers, so it wasn't too hard to maintain the grip.

After a couple more seconds, I could see sweat had formed on Raisa's forehead. Her struggle gradually became more violent, as she began kicking at the ground to push herself back, but that ended up making her lose balance on the chair, falling backward.

Seeing this, I decided to stop but continued holding on so she herself wouldn't fall.

After the chair clattered to the floor I shot her a glare.

"Hey, if it's really that bad, then just say it."

Raisa was breathing like she was drowning just a few moments ago, unable to even respond to me properly.

"S-Sorry..."

I took a deep breath.

"You don't have to apologize to me. If anything, you should be apologizing to yourself."

Raisa gave a weak nod, with her eyes glazed over. Her trembling was clear to me from the arm I was holding.

"Y-Yeah. Could we do this on my bed though? If we do this on the chair or floor, then I'll probably hurt myself."

...I really wish she were a little more specific in her word choice, as it makes it sound like we were doing something else.

Not to mention, her current state made it look like I drugged her or something. Nobody would walk in to see this, right? She did tell all the servants not to disturb us, so my worries were probably for nothing.

"Bryson?"

"Oh, yeah. Doing the mana training on the bed is fine."

With my assistance, she hobbled over and collapsed onto her bed.

"Ah, grab onto both my arms so I don't use the other to try and pry it off."

I hesitated, but grabbed onto her other arm as well. She was now directly facing me with an innocent expression, not seeing anything wrong with this at all.

Shouldn't you be more aware of this? I mean, didn't some guy like... try to rape you and all that?

It totally looked like I was about to violate her. Of course, I wasn't going to do that. There was no way I was giving my first time to her. You may say I'm stupid for valuing my virginity as a male, but I still had my pride.

"Um... I'm ready. You can start."

I took a deep breath.

"Alright then."

From there, I began trying to manipulate her mana. As expected, she began struggling. At this point, I arbitrarily decided to try and manipulate the mana in both her arms after splitting my focus between the two.

Surprisingly, it was far easier than I had imagined. It was like comparing trying to use two pencils to write at the same time and typing on a keyboard with both hands. One was essentially impossible, while the other was something many people did easily.

However, Raisa did not seem to be having it. She kept tugging violently away from me, essentially throwing her entire body away to do so. Honestly, this kind of reminded me of the way someone reacts when tickled.

Now that I think about it, there was one time when I had a massage, and this one part made me feel incredibly ticklish. I would unconsciously move my hands to push the massager's hands away even though I wasn't intending to.

Though, it seemed the intensity was definitely on a different level. Because Raisa had already slammed her foot into my face, trying to push me away. Thankfully, she had taken off her shoe, so it wasn't too painful with the sock in my face.

Seeing how violent her reactions had become, I decided to stop even though she hadn't said anything, unless you consider grunts and groans speaking.

Raisa weakly collapsed in the bed, trembling rather violently. However, a bright smile had formed on her face despite how terrible she looked.

"Wait... I think I..."

I let her go, after which she hurriedly sat up and mumbled to herself something about mana. Suddenly, I found myself able to sense her mana quite clearly. She was moving it around and I quickly recognized what she was doing.

She was casting the fire spell.

After a minute had passed, a small ball of fire appeared above her hand. Despite watching the process unfold, I was still rather shocked.

"Woah."

A bright smile was on Raisa's face.

"I improved so much in just a couple minutes! This is basically a month of training in an instant! I... I almost can't believe it!"

For reference, she took a minute and thirty seconds to cast the fire spell before. She had cut off a third just like that. Raisa was catching up to how fast I could cast.

Raisa dispelled the fireball before grabbing onto my shoulders.

"D-Do it for even longer this time! It will be even better like that!"

...Seriously, why did you have to word it like that?

"Are you sure? You don't look that good right now."

I wasn't exaggerating. Although her eyes were bright and a smile was on her face, some of her long white hair was matted with sweat and wrapped on her, while her entire body was trembling almost like she was possessed by the spirit of a hummingbird.

Raisa let out a somewhat crazy-sounding laugh.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! Just do it again! If it's really too much, then I will tell you to stop."

Huh. While her body was sending out many different signals saying that it definitely wasn't ok, her mind seemed to be completely oblivious to that.

But while she was getting overly excited over the benefits she was getting, it wasn't as though I was getting left in the dust either. It was incredibly vague, but doing it like this made me quickly get a handle on manipulating her mana.

In fact, in those brief moments where I yanked out her mana and pushed it into my hands, I could feel my body automatically trying to attune it, albeit lazily. While unsuccessful due to Raisa's instinctive struggle, I was still incredibly interested in this.