The next day.
After eating a light breakfast, Lillian set out for Priscilla's residence at around nine-thirty.
The wager from the previous day had truly been an unexpected gain. At the time, he had not placed much confidence in his own hypothesis. He had simply thought that if he won, that would be ideal; if not, sharing some knowledge of the modern world with her would be no great loss. Either way, he had nothing to lose.
But now he not only had a path to learning magic, he had also avoided owing the Sword Saint a favor. As for Priscilla—being a representative of the aristocratic class and possessing such a peculiar divine protection, she actually had a high probability of becoming king. However, if Subaru insisted on supporting Emilia, he might deliberately choose death to reset events and alter the course of the story. Still, even if that situation arose, it would only occur much later. There was no need to consider it for now.
Arriving at the address Al had given him, Lillian saw a towering palace standing before him. The stone pillars were imposing, and the walls exuded an austere, intimidating presence. Within the entire capital, perhaps only the royal palace itself could rival this structure's grandeur.
Beneath the seven- or eight-meter-high outer walls, several soldiers stood guard before a massive metal gate. When Lillian approached, they immediately stopped him.
"State your identity."
"I've come to see Miss Priscilla."
"You are Lillian?" The soldiers seemed to have been informed in advance. After examining him briefly, one of them took a small mirror from his robes and handed it to him. "Use this to contact Al-sama for confirmation."
Lillian nodded and accepted it. It was a magical device of this world—taking the form of a mirror, it allowed communication with its paired counterpart. At that moment, Al's helmet appeared in the reflection.
"Brother, you're here. Gate guards, please let him in."
"Yes, Al-sama."
After putting away the magical device, the guards stepped aside and jointly pushed open the metal gates.
Upon entering, Lillian was greeted by a vast sea of flowers stretching as far as the eye could see—reds, greens, blues, and yellows blending in dazzling confusion. The air was filled with a sweet fragrance.
"She's really wealthy…"
Maintaining a garden of thousands of square meters within the royal capital was not merely a matter of wealth—it also suggested that Priscilla held considerable political standing. However, she likely cared little for such matters. Though intelligent, she was excessively confident in her good fortune. After the small lesson Lillian had given her yesterday, perhaps she would become slightly more cautious.
Walking along the flower-lined path, it took him about fifteen minutes to reach a diamond-shaped plaza paved with marble. Priscilla was already waiting there. Just as when they had met the previous day, she wore a magnificent red gown, her orange hair tied into a low side ponytail that rested upon her shoulder.
"You have arrived. Do you feel honored?" she asked as Lillian approached.
"To be personally instructed by me—though first, we must confirm whether a 'Gate' exists within your body."
"Mm."
Lillian had already learned about this beforehand. Priscilla, however, looked at him with a trace of curiosity.
"Your combat abilities are quite formidable, are they not? Why are you so insistent on learning magic?" Having witnessed him shatter the ground beneath his feet the day before, even someone like her—who rarely cared for others—could not help but take some interest.
"There is something very important I must do."
"Is that so? Very well. I have no interest in the matter."
Priscilla stepped closer and placed her slender hand upon his shoulder. Her expression was slightly stiff, clearly suppressing her discomfort.
"Let me say this in advance—I dislike being touched by others. This will be the only time."
You're the one touching me, Lillian thought.
The next moment, he felt a strange sensation envelop his entire body. It was like a current of electricity flowing from Priscilla's fingers into his shoulder, then spreading throughout his body.
"Do not resist," Priscilla murmured softly as she controlled the mana entering Lillian's body. "I am searching for the 'Gate' within you."
The higher a mage's talent, the more Gates existed within their body.
However, more than ten seconds passed—and she failed to find even a single Gate within him.
Priscilla did not immediately reach a conclusion. Instead, she cautiously controlled the flow of mana once more, carefully circulating it through his body. In the end, she examined every part of him except the brain—yet found nothing at all.
"There is no 'Gate' within your body," Priscilla said, withdrawing her mana as she addressed Lillian. "You cannot become a mage."
"…I see."
Lillian's face appeared calm, but a flicker of disappointment flashed unmistakably in his eyes. Priscilla noticed it and gave a light snort.
"There is no need to show such an expression. In this world, not even one person among ten thousand necessarily possesses the talent for magic. Your combat abilities alone are enough to secure your place."
"…"
She was not wrong. Mages were extremely rare in this nation—indeed, across the entire continent. Calling them one in ten thousand was no exaggeration. There was nothing surprising about lacking a Gate.
After all, Lillian himself was merely an ordinary transmigrator. Unlike Subaru—who seemed to be some kind of reincarnated existence with countless ties to this world—Lillian having no Gate was entirely natural.
"It's fine. Now I can finally give up," Lillian said. He believed Priscilla had no reason to deceive him, but he still asked, "Does something like a Gate really exist throughout the human body?"
"Yes. I examined every part of your body with mana—everything except your brain. There is no Gate."
"My brain?" Lillian caught the key word. "Why exclude the brain?"
Priscilla looked at him as though he were an idiot.
"Do you wish to become a fool? The brain is the most delicate part of the human body. Although you irritate me greatly, your punishment has not yet reached the level of turning you into an imbecile."
Lillian said nothing in response. Instead, he concentrated intensely on his body. A portion of the mana Priscilla had used to examine him seemed to remain within him, and he was now gathering it together with all his effort, guiding it toward his brain.
Truthfully, he had grown impatient. He had been unable to progress for a long time. Though he had honed many combat techniques in the world of SAO, such skills were fundamentally useless against the curse afflicting him. If he wished to resolve it, he could only turn to something fantastical like magic.
Therefore, even if the chance was only one in a thousand, he wanted to try.
The mana he controlled wavered unsteadily as it reached his brain. With his eyes closed, Lillian suddenly felt as though he could see inside his own body. His perspective seemed to follow the flow of mana as it approached the brain—and there, something appeared to exist.
What is that?
A golden seed… Why is there a golden seed inside my brain…?
Lillian stared at the golden seed within his brain core, utterly shaken. He completely lost awareness of the outside world.
Priscilla frowned at his strange behavior and lightly tapped his shoulder with her fan.
"What are you doing? You're a grown man—surely something this trivial wouldn't cause you to—"
Boom!!
Suddenly, a dazzling mass of golden flames erupted, engulfing Lillian entirely. The violent shockwave sent Priscilla flying backward. She performed a midair flip and landed steadily on the ground.
Staring at the brilliantly burning golden flames, an overwhelming pressure gripped her heart. Her eyes remained fixed on them.
"What… is that…?"