Does Spring Come Even for a Dying Esper

She’s likely an unregistered user.

From their conversation so far, Iberis guessed that Regina Lowell Blake was probably an unregistered ability user. If so, he understood why Lucas was putting up a wall, saying he couldn’t say more.

Basically, all ability users are obligated to report their awakening to their country’s government and register. However, more ability users than expected hide their awakening and live unregistered. People call such individuals “unregistered users.”

The reasons for becoming unregistered include the risk of becoming more vulnerable if their grade is low or power is weak, or becoming targets of villain organizations. There’s also the risk of forced mobilization by the government when rift-related incidents occur. Even the Defense Force tries to recruit people who awaken in defense zones.

Since Regina’s health was said to be poor, Iberis thought that Viscount Blake, as her brother, might have hidden her awakening to protect her.

Whatever the truth, it wasn’t Iberis’s concern. What he wished for was that the kind doctor’s children were living happily and well. So he sincerely prayed for Regina’s recovery.

“I hope Regina gets well soon.”

“…Yes. No, she will.”

Lucas, who hesitated for a moment, agreed in a slightly hoarse voice. It sounded like a vow that he would definitely cure Regina.

“…It seems the porridge has arrived.”

Lucas stood up at the sound of knocking. He shook off the melancholy rising in his chest and received the tray brought by the cafeteria staff. Then he skillfully set the table connected to the bed.

“It’s hot, so eat slowly.”

“Thank you.”

Iberis looked at the steaming egg porridge for a moment before slowly moving his spoon. Although it tasted different from what his mother used to make, he ate a good meal for the first time in a long while.

“It’s good to see you eating well.”

Lucas’s lips curved up slightly as he watched Iberis blow on the porridge and eat it spoonful by spoonful. It was a scene from a night where the two had learned a bit more about each other.

* * *

Twirl, twirl.

Long, elegant fingers spun a fountain pen continuously. The slightly furrowed brow repeatedly creased deeply and smoothed out. This was Lucas’s behavior when he had something on his mind.

“Hmm.”

A low sigh escaped Lucas’s lips as his chest suddenly felt tight. He stared at the examination results on the desk with dejected eyes. A few days ago, after his personal office was completed and the examination machines promised by Winfried had all arrived, Iberis’s detailed examination results were not good.

“Did I expect too much…”

Tap, tap. The fountain pen tapped the innocent paper. Lucas checked the numbers on the result sheet once more. It was still not good.

“What’s the problem?”

As his mind felt heavy, he kept talking to himself. His golden eyes, darker than usual, narrowed. Lucas glared at the result sheet, lost in thought.

Honestly, looking at the objective figures, there was definite improvement from the beginning. As he performed guiding daily, the internal mana contamination level decreased and mana circulation increased by about 10% each. Judging from the anemia and liver function approaching normal levels, the medicine was also effective. Thanks to not skipping meals and having a balanced diet, his weight also increased by 1.5kg. Anyway, the figures were better than the initial examination. However, the recovery speed was much slower than expected.

Someone might say he’s being too greedy when the body is improving, but Lucas had objective evidence in the form of statistical changes in espers he had guided over the past few years.

So he had made a treatment plan for Iberis based on his experience and data so far. However, today’s results completely missed his expectations.

“Why?”

Lucas muttered again, as if not understanding the unexpectedly meager results. There was a reason for his reaction. During his service at the central headquarters, Lucas had treated several espers who had fallen ill due to chronic lack of guiding. And they showed improvement in as little as a few days.

Of course, the espers he treated then weren’t as severe as Iberis. Still, most were in poor condition. Having successfully treated such cases, he might have become a bit overconfident.

“The biggest problem is…”

Lucas’s gaze moved to the bottom of the result sheet. The least change was in the physical damage rate. Although it had decreased by about 3% from the initial examination, it was still in the most severe category. Moreover, there was a high possibility of it worsening again if he used his ability enough to cause after-effects.

“If it could at least go down to severe…”

There’s still a long way to go for that. Feeling suddenly overwhelmed, Lucas raised his hand and pressed his temples. Perhaps due to stress, he kept getting headaches.

“I was prepared for a long battle, but…”

It had been exactly one month since Lucas came to N-zone and started treating Iberis. Lucas calmly reviewed what had happened during that time. He needed to find what was hindering Iberis’s recovery.

Over the past month, Iberis had restrained from using his ability as much as possible, following Lucas’s advice. After Lucas joined, Iberis had gone to the field a total of four times. Among those, the time he used his ability the most was during the operation against the rift where the Lycan Sloth appeared.

Iberis thought he had fallen asleep then, but he had actually fainted, unable to withstand the after-effects. Even now, Lucas felt dizzy remembering the moment when he hurriedly put the unconscious Iberis in the car and performed emergency treatment.

‘Cold, huu, so cold…’

When Lucas carefully wrapped Iberis in a thick blanket and held him close to perform guiding, Iberis shivered like an aspen tree and groaned in pain. All the while, he kept burrowing into Lucas’s embrace.

Every time the icy breath tickled his neck, Lucas felt increasingly anxious. He only stopped guiding when he felt a faint warmth return to the body pressed against him and the breath brushing his skin no longer felt cold.

Even though Iberis’s expression seemed more relaxed and his mana appeared stable, Lucas strangely couldn’t feel at ease. He became anxious several times until they arrived at the unit. He only felt relieved after moving the still unconscious Iberis to the infirmary and confirming his vitals through a simple examination.

‘In the past, using this level of ability wasn’t a strain. There were after-effects, but not severe enough to make him lose consciousness and collapse.’

While waiting for Iberis to wake up, Lucas talked with Brenda, who had returned after finishing up. He questioned her thoroughly about Iberis’s average ability usage time over the past few years, when his physical condition had rapidly deteriorated, the effectiveness of sedatives and purifiers, and how long it took to recover after experiencing after-effects like mana overflow symptoms.

‘Side effects appear faster than before. In the past, he could use his ability for hours without problems. But a few months ago, before you came here, Captain, mana overflow symptoms started appearing in less than an hour.’

‘In less than an hour?’

‘Yes. From last year, symptoms of mana instability often appeared even during missions… We thought it was unavoidable due to his chronic lack of guiding. But this year, when various abnormal signs appeared, the Major secretly asked me to look into hospitals.’

‘Was it due to the risk of information leaking that you didn’t use military hospitals?’

‘That’s right. As you know, Captain… There are quite a few people hoping for the Major to weaken. Moreover, the military hasn’t been able to solve his problem so far.’

‘It’s understandable to have distrust. I get it.’

‘As this unstable situation continued, that incident you know about happened. The Major continued to use his ability to tackle an S-grade rift even as mana overflow symptoms appeared. And right after defeating the boss, he collapsed and remained unconscious for days.’

Brenda’s face darkened like a cloudy sky as she recalled the day Iberis fell into a coma.

‘The Major must have felt the gravity of the situation because as soon as he woke up from the coma, he visited the ability user specialist hospital I had lined up. The results are as you know, Captain.’

Her gaze, heavy with guilt, turned towards the deeply sleeping Iberis. Brenda’s eyes twisted as she murmured in a depressed voice.

‘If only I had been stronger, the Major wouldn’t have had to push himself so hard…’

Brenda blamed herself for Iberis overexerting himself to the point of receiving a terminal diagnosis.

‘From what I can see, the Major still seems trapped in that incident from a few years ago. The day when he was isolated in a hidden dungeon due to former Lieutenant General Logan’s plot and lost all his comrades.’

Brenda involuntarily shuddered as she recalled the painful memory. Being trapped in the hidden dungeon was a great trauma for her as well.

‘Weren’t you trapped there too, Lieutenant?’

‘Yes. At the time, I was just an intern… I couldn’t do anything properly and only caused trouble for the Major. Perhaps because of that, he still seems to think he needs to protect me.’