Galen Straiver, a 38-year-old veteran adventurer plagued by back and knee pain, decides to retire. While on his final job in the frontier town of Rusty Cog Tavern, he discovers a bizarre new ability: Counter-Attribute Adaptation. In the presence of others' magic, he generates tiny opposing forces—dark spikes near a holy saint, ice shards near a fire knight.
He finds himself forced into the role of support for a trio of magically gifted but profoundly problematic young women: Lilia, a pure-heart
The Counter-Attribute Uncle's Chaotic Support Log - The heart dies before the magic essence runs out—The Counter-Attribute Uncle was rebooted with a lap pillow
Galen Straver still remembered vividly the morning after Fiona burst into the Rusty Gear Tavern. The burned fence in the training grounds, the sensation of wet clothes clinging to his chest, the tightness around Lilia's lips when she'd started to say something and stopped——all of it was etched into his body along with the muscle soreness.
At thirty-eight years old, Galen thought, memories accumulate in your body.
◆
On the first floor of the Rusty Gear Tavern, a crowd had gathered in front of the request board.
Morning light slanted through the wooden floor, faintly illuminating the parchment requests. Among them was one with a red border. Hydra Morse——the branch director of the Adventurer's Guild Tornica branch and an old acquaintance of Galen's, a boisterous forty-five-year-old——pushed through the crowd just as Galen finished his second spoonful of iron-pot stew.
"Galen,"
he said, slapping the request ticket directly into his face.
"...That hurts,"
"It's urgent. Read it,"
Galen peeled away the parchment and checked the contents. The northern section of Ash-branch Forest——deeper into the broadleaf woodland that surrounded Tornica——was experiencing simultaneous abnormal concentration of holy and flame attribute mana. Multiple attribute magical beasts appearing, request rank B equivalent, immediate response required.
"If we leave it, it won't just be another Flame Leo incident,"
"I understand,"
Galen took another sip of stew and stood up from his chair. His back creaked. First one of the day. He almost pulled out the retirement notice from the drawer——the one that still said "Galen Str" and was gathering dust——looked at it, and closed the drawer again.
At that moment, the door to the Rusty Gear Tavern opened.
The hem of a pure white holy vestment caught on the threshold.
Lilia Argenes burst in headfirst——having come straight from morning duties at the Tornica Minor Temple, her silver-white wavy hair still carried a faint hint of morning mist. The silver ear cuff on her left ear glinted as it caught the morning light. As she stumbled forward with that momentum, Galen's arm reflexively caught her wrist. Twenty years of active duty had left a certain reflexive speed in his body, separate from presbyopia and lower back pain.
Lilia's body stopped.
The distance was close. Silver-white hair brushed past his nose, and the sweet lingering scent tinged with holy attribute mana——a fragrance like flowers and light combined, difficult to put into words——touched Galen's consciousness. Body heat transmitted through the skin of her wrist. Soft, small, pulse racing.
An unnecessary extra beat struck in his chest.
Creak.
His back made its second sound.
Lilia looked up at Galen with pale aquamarine eyes.
"I'm coming too!"
The declaration was serious, but since she said it while still stumbling over the threshold, the impact was reduced by about thirty percent. Galen gently released her hand and took a step back.
"Understood. Thank you... My back is my problem. Don't worry about it,"
"I wasn't saying anything,"
That was fair.
Then BOOM!! The door received a second impact. Crimson short bob, golden eyes, burn marks on her gloves——Fiona Kaiash burst in.
"Let's go burn it!!"
"Don't burn it,"
"Then what are we doing?"
"Calming it down,"
"Burn it first, then calm it?"
"Don't burn it from the start,"
"But if the opponent is flame attribute, then flame——"
"You'll just strengthen it,"
"If I burn it after strengthening it——"
"Don't strengthen it,"
"Then how do we——"
"We should depart soon or the sun will get high,"
With a smile, but a face that showed she'd completely learned the pattern, Lilia cut in. Galen and Fiona both closed their mouths simultaneously. It seemed Lilia held the correct answer.
On the way, Galen was reading his handwritten strategy notes with his arm extended. His near vision was getting worse with age, and fine text up close was painful. Extending his arm helped a little, but it came with the side effect of making him look quite foolish.
Lilia said "I'll look too" and peered in from the side.
Standing on her tiptoes, her forehead pressed against Galen's shoulder. The sleeve of her holy vestment touched his arm. That sweet lingering scent drifted over again. Galen continued walking without saying anything, pretending not to notice his heart beating irregularly.
Fiona cut in from the opposite side and squeezed in with "I'm looking too!"
The three of them ended up walking in a line. Galen, silent, looked toward the direction of Ash-branch Forest.
◆
The moment they stepped into the northern section of Ash-branch Forest, the quality of the air changed.
Among the densely packed ash-elm trees, there was a sensation of skin tingling and numbing. Galen knew from experience that this was what happened when holy and flame attribute mana mixed and interfered with each other. It was one of the sensations he'd learned in twenty years.
"Carefully——"
Before he could finish speaking, Lilia was already running.
A human figure appeared in the shadow of the undergrowth, bleeding and collapsed. Lilia's reflex as a holy maiden was faster than Galen's restraint.
"Wait!!"
She couldn't stop.
Galen's twenty years of experience screamed "It's a trap." Four small Noctus Gel emerged from around the collapsed figure——a type of dark attribute slime with the troublesome property of becoming active near holy attribute users. About fifty centimeters in diameter, they absorbed physical attacks. By the time Galen realized the figure was an illusion, Lilia was already surrounded.
(Again...)
Galen sighed internally. The tempo of failures happening before he could finish speaking was alive and well today.
"Leave it to me!!"
Fiona readied her flame sword Blast Flame. The sword was literally burning. She aimed it at the center of the encirclement where Lilia was.
"Don't burn her! The holy maiden is in the middle!!"
"My flames only avoid Lilia!"
"What kind of logic is that?"
"Just a feeling!!"
"Don't throw the holy maiden into fire on a feeling!!!"
Galen activated his counter-attribute adaptation——his internal mana core reacted to nearby attributes and produced the opposing attribute's power, an ability no one had witnessed in thirty-eight years. He extended four threads of dark attribute, restraining the Noctus Gel and stopping their movement. Lilia broke free and crashed into Galen's chest with the momentum.
Silver-white hair brushed past his nose. Body heat transmitted through her holy vestment. Soft. Sweet lingering scent, here again.
Galen's consciousness blanked for two seconds.
Warmth——scent——the pulse in his chest——the futile analysis that "this isn't recovery magic or anything"——all of it happened within two seconds.
In those two seconds of opening, a flame attribute fireball flew from between the trees ahead.
Fiona shouted "Here it comes!!" and knocked it down with all her strength.
The fireball was absorbed into the flame sword.
Flame Leo——the flame lion, danger rank B——grew larger as it took the flame into its body.
"Why is it getting stronger!?"
"I told you,"
"Say it louder,"
"I said it multiple times,"
"You certainly did say it,"
"...Then let me try one more time with bigger flames!!"
"Don't scale up the same mistake!!!"
Galen clicked his tongue and deployed a thin mist of ice from his counter-attribute adaptation——the ice attribute reaction to flame attribute. The surface temperature of Flame Leo dropped. Fiona cleanly finished it off with physical close combat.
One down.
Before they could catch their breath, sounds came from the surrounding trees. Three small Flame Leos. Two Noctus Gels. Newly appeared.
The attribute rampage-induced multiplication wouldn't stop.
◆
Galen began rapid-firing.
Dark threads toward the Noctus Gel near Lilia. Ice mist toward the Flame Leo near Fiona. Again toward Lilia's direction, light fragments toward newly spawned slimes. Switching attributes continuously, all twenty years of judgment was devoted to support. Protecting both while simultaneously selecting optimal assistance.
The edges of his vision began to whiten.
Early symptoms of mana depletion syndrome. Dizziness, whitening of vision, unsteady feet——he'd never experienced it, but he'd heard about it many times from senior adventurers. His internal mana core was running dry.
At that moment, Lilia attempted an incantation.
A purification incantation toward the third small slime——her concentration wavered, and holy light shot vertically into the sky. Tree leaves scattered down. Lilia's face reddened and she began a second incantation. This time her concentration became one-pointed. Holy light concentrated on the hem of her holy vestment, and the white fabric took on a faint glow.
For an instant, a white silhouette appeared in the corner of Galen's vision.
(Don't look)
He told himself while driving dark threads into the slime. One beat late. That one beat of delay cost him extra mana from his core.
"There's more over there!!"
Fiona discovered a new group and charged without listening to restraint.
The flame attribute magical beasts scattered in four directions. Part of the scattered group headed toward Lilia.
"Fiona!! Don't scatter them!!"
"They're already scattered!!"
"That's why I said don't scatter them——!!"
"Commenting after I do it is too late!!"
"You're the one who did it!!!"
Galen went all out.
Ice mist toward Fiona's direction and light fragments toward the slimes heading for Lilia, activated simultaneously. Simultaneous reaction to both attributes——he'd never attempted such recklessness before. He felt his internal mana core bottom out. A sensation of something deep in his body being wrung completely dry.
His vision tilted sharply to the side.
His legs wouldn't obey.
"Both of you——I'm counting on you from here,"
He dropped to one knee. The ground was close. He could see the roots of ash-elms.
He collapsed.
Silence.
◆
Galen didn't see Lilia's face the moment she turned around.
As his consciousness sank toward the depths, he could only hear Fiona's distant shout. Next, two sets of running footsteps. Vibrations transmitted through the ground.
Consciousness slowly sank away.
◆
The first thing he perceived was warmth on his cheek.
Soft and small. Trembling slightly. The warmth of a palm.
Next, scent. Holy attribute's sweet lingering fragrance——a flower-and-light-like scent that gently caressed the surface of consciousness.
Next, vision.
A face too close.
Aquamarine eyes looked down at him, their edges reddened. A single bead of sweat traced down her forehead. Silver-white hair hung from both sides, framing the edges of his vision.
Lilia Argenes' face was there.
It took five seconds for Galen to realize his head was resting on her lap.
"Thank goodness..."
The voice came from a closer distance than he'd imagined. Small, trembling, but certain.
Galen tried to move. His body wouldn't move.
The warmth of her palm remained on his cheek. A part of him didn't want it to leave, which his reason tried to process as "this is the effect of recovery magic." It couldn't process it completely.
In the distance, a dull THUD!! sounded.
"Take this!! One final blow!!!"
Fiona finished off the last Flame Leo with physical force, striking it with the flat of her greatsword. A bold fighting method. The magical beast fell. Fiona turned around.
"Don't go creating atmosphere!! The old man was almost dead!!!"
Her eyes were red. Her voice was shaking. She had no impact whatsoever.
Galen looked at the ceiling——dappled sunlight filtering through gaps in the ash-elm leaves in the twilight.
Fiona's face, looking like she was about to cry while trying to yell, appeared in the corner of his vision.
(So she yells while looking like she's about to cry...)
It was somehow funny, yet the fact warmed something deep in Galen's chest.
Galen tried to sit up. His body still wouldn't move.
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.