“Learn to read the room, Edgan.” “Ya really are the worst.” “Sometimes, in life, you must learn not to get involved.” As Sieg intervened in a fluster, Yuric shot Edgan an icy gaze, and Grandel delivered the coup de grâce. Freyja turned in Edgan’s direction. “By nature, spirits have no gender.” Her broad grin exemplified the master Mariela knew so well, and for some reason, this came as a relief to the young alchemist. Evidently, even Edgan’s monkey attributes had their uses. “It’s not my intention to interrupt your reunion, but I would like an explanation, if possible. Even if you say this place is the Akashic records, that’s not something those unfamiliar with the subject matter can follow.” Taking it as a blessing that the mood had changed, Franz continued the conversation. Every word was filled with respect for the lake spirit, Lyro Paja. Yuric looked up at Franz anxiously as she held his hand. “That’s easier said than done. Mm, Mariela, you explain it.” It was possible that Freyja wasn’t aware of what Franz and the others didn’t know. To her, both this place and the world where people lived were equally normal, and apparently, she couldn’t guess the misgivings Franz and the others who had gotten mixed up with this place had. Mariela, whom Freyja had delegated the response to, placed her forefinger on her chin and went “mmm” as she considered briefly before beginning her explanation on the Akashic records. “Umm, the Akashic records is like a place where every piece of the world’s information is recorded? It’s said appraisal skills access this place.” “Information? Then are our bodies here not real?” Franz let fly a pointed question at Mariela’s incoherent detailing, and just as Mariela floundered to reply, Freyja cut in. “This place isn’t the Akashic records themselves, but rather a space with all kinds of information related to Lyro Paja over there that I anchored to the present world with my superior magic. You can think of it as one of the spaces between the material world and the spirit one. Your bodies are the real deal, and although its speed is different, time does flow here. I’m sleeping under the Magic Circle of Suspended Animation, so my body doesn’t age. It’s just my soul that’s here.” Freyja’s supplementary explanation was one that would help you understand further, until you thought about it carefully and then didn’t comprehend at all. However, when she said, “Look, worlds are continuous even if they seem to be separate,” those who had cocked their heads in befuddlement now nodded in understanding. “Then what about the towers we woke up in? Things I was familiar with were scattered all about that place. It’s not a big deal, but I can’t say givin’ forms to people’s memories is the best hobby,” Donnino remarked, offering his honest opinion. When he joined up with Mariela and the others, Donnino had declined to have his memories peeped at, but he may have realized something when he investigated the tower he woke up in. “Donnino, you’re rather shy despite your appearance. Heh-heh, no need to glare at me like that. I wasn’t expecting visitors, so the most reliable way to enable you all to be here was to send you to the memory towers. The Akashic records contain all information, but y’know, that doesn’t mean beings like humans can comprehend it all. If dozens of people were speaking in foreign languages all at once, you wouldn’t be able to understand them, right? It would sound no different than simple noise. If you get used to noise, it doesn’t bother you. If your name is called, you can hear it even in the middle of such a cacophony. I connected you guys with things you’re familiar with so you could remain here.” The towers, which equaled the number of humans present, functioned as anchors to this realm for Mariela and the others. “Guuulp, gulp.” Koo, incapable of understanding speech, was doing as he pleased, drinking water from the lake. Seeing this, Freyja laughed and admitted, “Your memories weren’t enough to make a tower from, so you gave me the most trouble.” “Do the black monsters steal memories because they’re influenced by the nature of the Akashic records storing information…?” Sieg asked knowingly. “The memories from the ones I defeated were released on the spot, and you’ll get the memories you recovered back through dreams. I’ve got the ones that haven’t returned to you yet, too, so don’t worry,” Freyja replied. Was the reason they couldn’t recover any memory stones when the salamander defeated black monsters because the recollections were immediately set free? And did Mariela see everyone’s memories in her dreams only because her master in salamander form was with her? When they had no memory stones, she’d had visions of her master’s past. Mariela had thought this to be because she was connected to the ley line, and thus her master, through her Nexus. After realizing how it worked, Mariela had seized the salamander and slept with it in her arms. “Ya can just leave Edgan’s memories the way they are.” “Hey, Yuric, losing my dazzling memories of love would be a loss for mankind!” “Are you fine with Lady Frey seeing those memories, too?” “Ha! Sieg, you’re smart! …Whoa, I just can’t decide.” To Mariela, who’d glimpsed Edgan’s tragic past, Yuric’s icy words weren’t as funny as they usually were. Edgan had remained unflapped and had whispered to Sieg, however, so perhaps Edgan’s history held more than sad memories. Maybe it contained many inconsequential Edgan-esque ones, too. At the conversation between Edgan and the others, Freyja and Lyro Paja looked at each other and smiled. They seemed to be enjoying Edgan Theater. “Then, maybe, were the alchemist workshops on the first and second floors Libraries?” Freyja nodded in response to Mariela’s question. “The Libraries are also part of the Akashic records. The world is overflowing with all kinds of knowledge, and you can get your hands on whatever you want to know to a certain extent, but there’s no way to learn everything. If you’re not aware there’s a continent on the other side of the ocean, you’d never expect there’s another kind of people who live there, or that they possess a different language and culture, right? What is way, way high up in the sky, and what kind of creatures live in the deep chasms of the sea? Human knowledge comprises only a tiny bit of the world, and they aren’t even aware of how little it is. Libraries contain information restricted to matters of alchemy from that greater sea of knowledge, and they can be accessed through alchemy skills.” Mariela nodded in understanding at her master’s explanation. “In other words, the first and second floors of the outer wall were strongly influenced by the Libraries and old memories of the Fell Forest, while our memories strongly influenced the towers. And that’s why there were memories of famine and plague on the first and second floors…? Master, after you defeated the calamity monsters, you diligently burned them. And morning coming and the world filling with water after we defeated lots of those inky monsters was because the corruption decreased and Lyro Paja was returning to their true self, right?” Freyja’s mouth gaped at Mariela’s deduction. “…Look at how smart you’ve gotten, Mariela!!!” Freyja’s rude remark came out of her like she was squeezing it out. Even worse, everyone, even Sieg, nodded in agreement. “You’re so rude,” Mariela replied, but the edges of her mouth turned up in the shape of a smile, revealing that she was quite pleased. “Hee-hee. I knew you didn’t live all that time just to defeat the Labyrinth and help the Labyrinth City, Master. I don’t know if you just happened to help the City because you had the chance or if it was a part of your plan, though. You know, for a long while, I was bothered by what you said when you left. You told me we’d meet again during my lifetime. Oh yeah, the alchemists in the Library. So that’s why…?” Mariela’s words made her master awkwardly avert her gaze. “It’s fine. What you really planned was to come right before I died, right? If so, I don’t have a problem with that. But, you know, you’re so distant. I wanted to talk to you, and I wanted you to tell me about many more things. I don’t want to hear you say we’ll only see each other one more time. Don’t you want to spend a bunch of time with me?” “Yeah. I’m sorry, Mariela.” Mariela saw that Sieg and the others were confused, and she laughed. “See, in the deepest part of the Labyrinth, you gave me all your alchemy experience, right, Master? Likewise, all your former pupils gave you theirs before they died. And I will, too.” “How did you…?” There was only one answer. “It was all to save the lake spirit, right, Master?” Mariela inquired. She wore a smile that suggested she didn’t harbor the slightest bit of blame toward Freyja, who would someday take away her alchemy experience. Rather, Mariela seemed to accept the world as it was, like spirits did. 06 Once, the fire spirit who possessed a human heart had desperately sought a way to free the lake spirit. However, beings who simply existed in the world and had no physical body didn’t have the power to intervene in the world themselves and couldn’t cause change. Even if that fire spirit stirred up an inferno and incinerated everything, she couldn’t purify the lake spirit steeped in corruption, nor staunch the flow of desecration that still streamed into the being. That’s why she incarnated by feeding on the many humans who had been destroyed in her own blaze, and thus she gained a finite life in this world as a being who wasn’t a spirit. After acquiring a corporeal form, Freyja could no longer exist with flames, but she was able to borrow the power of the spirits in exchange for offerings. Above all, she harbored her own will in her heart, acted of her own accord, and had the power to change the world. She wasn’t a vague, never-ending being that came into existence and disappeared like a spirit. Freyja had form, a beginning and an end, a life and a death. She had watched things for a long time as a spirit, and she took in stride even the deluge of information known as the Akashic records, something a human wouldn’t have been able to achieve at all. Piece by piece, Freyja was able to learn the process needed to make her wish come true. It was incidental and splintered, like pieces of a poem engraved on leaves that sometimes lightly fluttered down before one’s eyes, but Freyja had followed the bread crumbs up to this point. Perhaps because she had started her existence as a spirit, her body aged far slower than those of humans, but even Freyja’s life had a limit. That’s why she separated from her body with a Magic Circle of Suspended Animation when she didn’t need to be in the world of humans and worked hard to purify the corruption in this realm of the lake spirit. Only when she understood her next step did she awaken and intervene with the physical world. For example, taking in and raising Mariela as her pupil during the Kingdom of Endalsia’s final years and waking up once again in the present world to guide Mariela and the others to the deepest part of the Labyrinth were likely necessary steps in the process of saving Lyro Paja. “The Elixir is the ultimate secret medicine that can be made by removing the corruption from the core of a labyrinth. And I thought if I achieved that, I would discover how to purify this ley line, too, but…” Freyja smiled sadly. The information she was able to acquire from the Akashic records wasn’t complete, and it wasn’t as though she could predict everything. It was like reading a story about saving Lyro Paja. She could only turn the pages one by one and put into practice what was written on them. Freyja didn’t know the details of the tale, and she couldn’t even turn to the next chapter on her own. “I’d rather my alchemy experience was put to use before I die, and even now, I want to help as much as I can, but…I’m sorry. I made the Elixir by sending home the corruption in the ley line’s core, but its destination was the ley line, so…” Mariela’s words were hesitant. It had merely been a case of transferring the corruption, not purifying it. “No, that was enough. Thanks to you and the others coming and completely burning away those black monsters, most of the accumulated corruption has been cleansed. Right now, I’m able to manifest because you summoned me, but y’know, normally I’m in my soul form, and my body is in suspended animation, so I can only use power gained from the ley line through my Nexus. The power of a physical body really is something. The best I could do while incorporeal was to keep the corruption from increasing. No way could I have eased Lyro’s burden this much like that. I was able to speak with Lyro again after a long time, too. Since the corruption gets in the way at night and the water gets in the way during the day, I was never able to get far on my own,” Freyja said. —I would also like to extend my gratitude for this brief rendezvous, pupil of Freyja.— Did Lyro Paja really bear no grudge against humans despite it being their fault that the spirit had been tainted with corruption and had even lost their sanity? People hate people. Just as Lyro welcomed this concept that Mariela had seen in her dream, Lyro Paja accepted the human, Mariela, as Freyja’s pupil. “But won’t new corruption keep flowing in?” The spirit Freyja had fought so long to save resided in a mass of desecration. Thanks to Mariela’s group defeating the memory stealers, a considerable amount of corruption had been purified, but as long as the spirit existed with that lake, they would be polluted again, and this place would probably sink into the darkness of night many times again. In this realm, connected to information about Lyro Paja recorded in the Akashic records, no matter how many times the lake spirit lost their true character, they could regain it as long as the desecration was exorcised. Thus, Freyja had lived for a long, long time to someday acquire a way to purify all the corruption and its source and save Lyro Paja. “It seems this era wasn’t the one where I’d find a way to free Lyro. Surely I’ll find it someday, though. I’m sure of it. Don’t make that face, Mariela. I’ve lived a long time, and that will continue. I might get to meet your children, grandchildren, or even their descendants. It’s a lot of fun to have connections with people and watch the world change.” As long as Lyro Paja was a lake spirit bound to this ley line, they couldn’t be saved. At the very least, a way to do so didn’t exist right now. Burdened by this knowledge though she was, Freyja flashed her usual smile. Although it was a grin Mariela was intimately familiar with, her heart ached, and she couldn’t bear to gaze at Freyja’s expression for long. She couldn’t count how many ways her master had helped her, yet Mariela now found herself incapable of giving Freyja something in return. Even though Mariela had made the Elixir and was the most extraordinary alchemist, it still wasn’t of any help. When Mariela thought about that, it quickly became too much to bear, and she hung her head and clenched her hands. “…Now, it’s about time for you to go home. Could I ask that Peeping Tom spirit over there to guide you all on your way? Come out, Illuminaria. I’ll burn you, y’know? …What? You have no power to manifest? Sieg, share a bit of your magical power.” Freyja’s gaze shifted to the baggage Sieg carried on his back. Immediately, everyone else turned to look at the large jar Sieg took out of his rucksack. “Wha, Slaken?! How did he get so huge? And what’s with that branch?!” “Umm, Mariela. I missed my chance to explain before, but this is what happened…” What occupied more than half of Sieg’s rucksack was a jar containing the slime, which had swelled to about a hundred times its original size. Although it used to be an adorable Slime-in-a-Vial that could fit within two palms, it was so big now it required a barrel or a bathtub. It was the second coming of the giant slime. A soft-bodied creature of this size honestly didn’t seem cute at all. And although the nucleus didn’t seem to be injured, a sacred tree branch with two leaves was stuck into the top of it and shook back and forth. As Sieg sent magical power from his Spirit Eye into the branch, he began his explanation, which smacked very slightly of an excuse, to the astonished Mariela. “Mariela, both Slaken and Illuminaria are familiar with your magical power, right? So if you put in a branch of Illuminaria’s like this…” —It can move under my control!— “Slaken spoke?! No, wait, that voice is…Illuminaria?!” After receiving Mariela’s magical power, a thumb-sized Illuminaria stood at the tip of the branch lodged in Slaken. “Illuminaria guided me here.” —Because there are so many sacred trees in the Fell Forest! I figured out Mariela’s location through the network they form. Amazing, right?— “Um, so. I thought you might get mad at me, but there was something I wanted to get from the bottom of a lake in the Labyrinth… I consulted with Illuminaria, and she got it for me like this, but when she returned, Slaken’s body was…” —It was the first time it had been outside in forever, so it got excited. It went a liiittle wild and overate. Since it’s got kraken in it, this creature can do quite a lot underwater.— Shake, shake, shake. The sacred tree branch stuck in Slaken shook proudly. —Hey, don’t shake. Stop it!— Since Illuminaria was angry, it seemed to be Slaken who was shaking the twig. With Illuminaria’s branch stuck in Slaken, could it be possible for them to strive for a mutual understanding? “What?!” The devastatingly serious atmosphere had relaxed for just a moment. Mariela’s voice, lower and unhappier than anyone had heard it before, echoed in the area. The strength of the anger dwelling in that tone caused not only Sieg, but Illuminaria to seize up, and even Slaken stopped moving its branch. “Sieg, Illuminaria, aren’t you being selfish? You took Slaken without telling anyone? And to the Labyrinth? It ate too much, and there were monsters there, right? You took it to such a dangerous place! Besides, Slaken has a Magic Circle of Subordination carved into its nucleus, so it’ll die if I don’t give it magical power! You know that, right?!” Mariela was furious. Sieg briefly glanced toward Mariela to offer an excuse, but when he saw her eyebrows curved upward in rage, he quickly shrank back. For some reason, even Freyja, who was behind Mariela and shouldn’t have been able to see her expression, straightened up and temporarily paused the conversation she’d been having. Was the mild-mannered Mariela always this frightening? Sieg had been born with the Spirit Eye and thus had been treated like a pampered prince during his upbringing, so not even his father had ever been this cross with him. He’d suffered greatly under his master during his time as a debt laborer, but that was a different perspective. In this moment, Mariela might’ve been more terrifying than the wyvern that had taken Sieg’s Spirit Eye. “Are you gonna say something?!” “Ah, I’m sorry!” —I’m sorry!— Shake, shake. The two people(?) and one creature, no, one branch, all apologized in response to Mariela’s rebuke. “You’re gonna get a major talking-to later… Slaken, have some magical power. You’re hungry, aren’t you? I’ll make sure these two go without dinner and Drops of Life-infused water for a little while. Ahhh, what should I do? You’ve gotten so big. I can’t keep you in Sunlight’s Canopy like this…” Ignoring Sieg and Illuminaria, bowed at a right angle and frozen in apologetic postures at the words go without dinner, Mariela gave magical power to Slaken through the giant jar. Illuminaria and Sieg could siphon from the ley line or go out to eat, respectively, so they were capable of feeding themselves, but the meals they got from Mariela were that much more delicious. Since Slaken madly shook the sacred tree branch lodged in him in joy, he probably was hungry after all. On a closer look, some Mariela memorabilia that Sieg had been carefully saving had accumulated undissolved at the bottom of the jar. Slaken had probably been receiving magical power from Mariela’s discarded items and potions. Still, it couldn’t have been all too much. Even though Slaken had eaten Sieg’s Mariela memorabilia, this was karma for his mistakes, so Mariela ignored both them and him. —Mariela. The nucleus stayed small because it didn’t have enough magical power, so it should return to normal if you chop up the body.— “‘Chop up’? Will it be okay if we do something like that, Illuminaria?” —Yeah. If you give it enough magical power, it won’t die!— Illuminaria, wanting to help Mariela and avoid the going without dinner punishment, hastily offered a solution. “Really? Thank goodness.” Mariela had been furious for a moment, but Slaken was safe, and apparently, it could be returned to what it once was. After hearing that, Mariela felt a little relieved, and she finally noticed the gazes of those around her and remembered her surroundings. “I’m sorry, Master. I completely got lost in my own thing…” “Naaah, you really impressed me, Mariela! I should expect no less from my pupil!” —The flame had told me the children of humanity were fascinating, but this was undoubtedly an enjoyable time.— The comments from the pair of spirits who turned toward Mariela when she apologized were like words of parting, and Mariela suddenly became aware of her own powerlessness. As long as Lyro Paja is a spirit bound to this ley line, they can’t be saved… Illuminaria, who was relieved that Mariela’s anger had been diverted, remained on the edge of the alchemist’s peripheral vision. Although she was a sacred tree spirit who couldn’t move from the place she was planted, she could remotely control a human pet at will and travel away from the tree. If I don’t give her a good scolding, she’s liable to go out of her own accord again. Even my master used to be a fire spirit and always strolled around as she pleased. Selfish, irresponsible, incarnation and possession; her existence itself is careless. I wonder if that’s what it is to be a spirit… Wait, huh? Mariela looked at Slaken and Illuminaria, then Freyja and Lyro Paja. “Lyro Paja, you live in this lake, but since you’re a lake spirit, that means you’re a water spirit, right?” —Yes.— At Lyro Paja’s response, Mariela asked the question she had hit upon. “Lyro Paja, is it possible for you to stop being a spirit?” Asking something similar to a human would be absurd, but Mariela’s master was person-like, and she was capable of something similar. Even Illuminaria, who was young by spirit standards, had come to a place like this despite being a sacred tree spirit. She’d used a branch as an intermediary to possess a slime. What’s more, Sieg’s ancestor Endalsia, the queen of the forest spirits, had eventually become the warden of the ley line as a spirit, but she’d also produced a child with a human hunter. Surely, she had to have been something similar to a human during her time with her beloved. “You know, spirits are pretty careless. I mean, their existence, the way they are.” —A careless…existence…— As one might’ve expected, Lyro Paja was speechless at Mariela’s frank words. It was just by happenstance that the spirits around Mariela were oddballs. Not all of them were so eccentric after all. “Well, you’re close with Master. I wonder why you couldn’t incarnate and move from this lake…?” The corruption in the imperial capital streamed into this pool because a path for it had unknowingly been carved. As long as Lyro Paja was a lake spirit bound to this ley line, they couldn’t be saved. But if Lyro Paja could leave this lake… “!!! So that’s how we do it!” Wondering why she hadn’t thought of Mariela’s solution herself, Freyja clapped her hands. —I oversee this ley line, however…— Lyro Paja’s response was more respectable. Apparently, not all spirits were that careless. “The Labyrinth City doesn’t currently have a warden, you know? And my master seems like she was an incredible spirit, but did she oversee the imperial capital’s ley line?” “Nope. I was incredible, but managing a ley line is a bother, so I’ve never done it. The imperial capital seemed like it’d be just as annoying because it’s packed with humans, and I wouldn’t be able to stabilize it.” Freyja’s answer was just about what Mariela predicted. She had a feeling there was some information mixed in that she shouldn’t hear, but she let that pass and thought, I knew it. My master would never do something that seemed so difficult. “Hey, there seem to be a lot of places without a warden nowadays.” —Mm, however…— Lyro Paja had never considered giving up overseeing the ley line, and they didn’t seem to be following Mariela’s proposal. “What would happen if you stopped being the ley line’s warden? Everyone in the forest has taken on their share of the corruption, right?” —The corruption flowing into the lake would coil up and most likely no longer diffuse evenly. Many monsters would arise from the pool of desecration, and a stampede may occur.— “A stampede happened two hundred years ago even though you were here, didn’t it?” —Monsters will overflow if the corruption ever becomes too much, as well. Endalsia’s actions led to a series of events that caused the negativity to grow too great to hold back.— “So you’re saying if there’s no warden, the corruption will accumulate and cause frequent stampedes of a much smaller scale?” —Indeed.— After listening to the conversation between Lyro Paja and Mariela, Sieg whispered to Edgan: “If that’s the case, I think the imperial capital and the Labyrinth City could both cope fine… What do you think, Edgan?” “Mm? Well, it might be fine, no? Ever since the Labyrinth City became the humans’ territory, Haage’s lamented that we can’t have the Orc Festival anymore. It might actually be a good thing…” Lyro Paja showed concern toward the humans, but the subject of the spirit’s fear was nothing more than an omen of a new festival for the present Labyrinth City. The people of the city had become a bit too robust. Lyro Paja had an expression implying they couldn’t comprehend the humans who, recalling the Orc Festival, exclaimed, “I hope tasty monsters come!” with delighted looks on their faces. Confused, Lyro Paja murmured, —Festival?— Freyja happily declared, “Booze!” “Then, if we can manage the corruption, the spirits of this forest can take on the oversight of the ley line, right? That’s how it is in the Labyrinth City. Illuminaria, there are a lot of sacred trees in the Fell Forest, right? You said you used them to find me. In that case, there must be tons of spirits like you, right?” —Yeah. None of them are as powerful as Queen Endalsia, but in terms of sheer numbers, the place is full of them, and they grow along the ley line. All the forest children are easygoing, though. Their roots are connected to a spot deep in the ley line, so they can communicate even if they leave, and if there’s no warden, they’d likely work hard to manage the ley line to keep themselves from withering.— After hearing Illuminaria’s response, Mariela turned to gaze at Lyro Paja. Her eyes made her look like she wanted to say something very badly. A look could speak as well as mouths, and Mariela seemed to be conveying harsh remarks that she couldn’t put into words. Something like “Taking on a responsibility so large all by yourself was never possible,” or “It seems like things’ll be fine even without you,” or “How about learning from my master’s example and living carelessly?” “Lyro, come with me!” Freyja’s method of coercion was far less complicated. She splashed into the lake and opened her arms in Lyro Paja’s direction. —Frey… I…— Freyja faced Lyro Paja straight on. Lyro Paja looked down at the lake, then at the forest beyond, as though avoiding Freyja’s gaze. Although Mariela and the others couldn’t see them, there were probably beasts and monsters in the forest, so many that the Fell Forest practically overflowed with them. —I share the corruption with this forest and the monsters, and I cannot abandon them like Endalsia did.— “So then just live in the forest. It’s all right. I’ll be fine in the woods. But how about you quit carrying this burden alone?” Lyro Paja’s choice differed from that of Endalsia, that spirit who once fell in love with a human hunter, decided to live with people, and isolated herself from the monsters. Lyro Paja had existed with corruption alongside the monsters of the Fell Forest for many years. As such, they couldn’t give up everything for a single person, Freyja, who had spent so much time among humans. Freyja, understanding as much, accepted Lyro Paja’s choice as a matter of course. “I wonder why I never noticed. And here I’ve become so close to humans, got a ton of knowledge from the Akashic records, and was even called the Calamity Sage. Maybe I’m still a spirit at my core.” The flame neither faltered nor hesitated anymore. “Lyro, I wanted to do something about you shouldering the corruption all by yourself, but I didn’t think of your ruling over the ley line on your own as the problem. If a fire happened in the forest, the trees there would burn. It’s a lot like that. I was convinced that things were static. Surely, the spirits living in this forest think the same way. You oversee the ley line, take the majority of the corruption that streams in, and purify the entire wood. Since it’s been that way for such a long, long time, I thought it ever would be. You’ve always thought that way, too, even at the cost of your true character…” Faster than Freyja could say “I’m sorry,” Lyro Paja touched their right hand to Freyja’s cheek. —It seems the one who has lost their real self isn’t me, but you.— When Freyja laid her own hand over Lyro Paja’s, ripples spread from where her fingers made contact. Even though Freyja had taken human shape, Lyro Paja’s body was entirely water, and perhaps it felt like liquid as well. Freyja’s fingertips moved as though she were caressing the surface of a pond, and she formed words that sounded like sighs. “Aah, I wish I could touch you, Lyro… More properly, that is. You don’t have to become a human. You can live with the trees and the monsters in the Fell Forest forever. Everyone can do their part for the corruption and the ley line. It’ll be all right. Monsters are really strong creatures, and the trees aren’t weak saplings. It’s already a magnificent forest. It will surely persist, even without you shouldering everything by yourself.” Freyja’s golden eyes reflected Lyro Paja. Her smiling face shone like her glittering golden eyes. It was reminiscent of the lit lamp the humans who feared the darkness held up a very, very long time ago, and it made Lyro Paja recall the day they first met—when Freyja was a tiny fire spirit. Although she used to be such a small glow, now she sent light all the way to the deep, dark bottom of the water. Mariela and the others gazed at Lyro Paja from behind Freyja. They resembled the humans who had crossed the forest many times to reach this lake, but they were far stronger, and they possessed the power to survive. —……I suppose you’re right. Perhaps they no longer need help.— And thus, the lake spirit Lyro Paja decided to close the book on the current state of themself and the world. 07 “Are you really sure this kind of material is okay?” —So much so that I consider it excessive for a temporary body.— Mariela was a bit perplexed after Lyro Paja told her the substance to be used for their incarnation. “Hey, when I decided I couldn’t stay as a spirit if I wanted to help Lyro, I was born from ashes, you know? My body came together with a rumble-rumble-rumble feeling, so unsurprisingly, I was in a rush. I remember thinking I wanted to wear fluttery clothes and be pampered. As you can see, I wound up with a pretty nice form!” —Apparently, when Queen Endalsia thought “I love you, I love you, I love you” toward the hunter, she’d become a human before she even knew what had happened. Well, we dwell in sacred trees, so in a way, sacred tree spirits start out incarnated.— Freyja and Illuminaria gave rough accounts of their incarnation experiences as the former struck a swaying pose that was more octopus-like than sexy. They should have been very precious stories, but both were so disappointing, it was hard to choose which one was worse. In particular, what was with this “nice form” of Freyja’s? The pencil-shaped Mariela felt excessively irritated because her master was a beautiful woman with such a curvy body. Mariela had thought Freyja to be a careless human, but she’d actually been irresponsible since the day she was born. The details of what led to her incarnation should have been quite serious, but Freyja kept to vagueness about her own desires, only saying things like “fluttery clothes” and “being pampered.” “Spirits really are reckless after all…” Mariela threw a cold gaze at the strange creature she called her master as she turned toward Lyro Paja to prepare for their incarnation. “Let’s see, we should confirm the plan. First, I’ll make a core and transfer some of Lyro Paja’s existence and magical power into it. As long as Lyro Paja can adapt to the core, the body will be very accommodating, and then I’ll chop off Slaken’s oversized, sticky body and use that.” —Yes, that’s right.— “Lyro’s a diligent being and finicky about incarnation specifications, too.” Freyja teased them as being choosy, but the material they’d settled upon was horrible. In the midst of what had shifted all at once into the usual, carefree atmosphere, Mariela was the only one who was diligently going over everything. Lyro Paja had come from the center of the lake to the waterside, where Mariela and the others were. In front of the spirit, Franz fidgeted over and over again while Donnino and Grandel held him back. Yuric, who was restless with worrying over Franz, had seemingly gone soft in her animal taming skills, as she was desperately trying to bring back Koo, who’d begun happily chasing after small fish in the lake. As for Sieg, the one who should have been the most reliable… “Congratulations, Lady Frey. Lyro, I am Siegmund, a companion of Mariela’s.” With a full business smile, he presented himself as an agreeable youth in the hope of scoring points with the being who might become Mariela’s adoptive parent’s spouse. “Ummm, Lyro, are you Freyja’s honey? Her hubby? Or, would the two of you hubba-hubba with me?!” Next to Sieg, Edgan was making his usual sort of fuss. He was using a lot of H words. Since spirits had no gender, Erotigan would have no issue if Lyro became a woman when they incarnated. In fact, Edgan endorsed it. The strange cry of “Become a woman, become a woman” in Mariela’s ear was getting obnoxious. So tiring and tedious. It was just like the atmosphere at a school in the Labyrinth City right before one of Mariela’s lessons began. Smack! Mariela clapped her hands, then turned to her out-of-control companions and declared, “Attention, everyone! We’re going to begin making the core now,” just like when she began one of her classes. “Let’s see, Lyro Paja has been immersed in corruption for a long time, so wouldn’t the spirit adapt better to their new form if I added just a tiny bit of the source of human sin when I make the core? I’m going to take just a little bit of everyone’s memories.” “Source of sin…? By memories, do you mean the memory stones?” asked Franz, who had listened to Mariela’s explanation the most earnestly. It might have been because of the instinct that compelled him to be useful to the water spirit. —Indeed. The memories of your blood are particularly troublesome. If that quality is passed on to your descendants, it may cause trouble for me. There is Greed in those feelings.— “I see… All right. I am grateful for your benevolence.” If Franz offered the memories of his blood, he would lose his longing impulses regarding the water spirit—the emotion that had sprung up from within Franz and roused him so. Although the feeling was extremely troublesome, it was also an important part of Franz. But after looking first at the water spirit, whom his blood sought, then at Yuric, who stood next to him with a worried look, Franz resolved himself to offer his memories. “It’s all right, Yuric. My future is mine to make. You’ll be there to help me with it from time to time, too, won’t you?” “Of course, Franz!” After happily nodding at Franz’s decision, Yuric turned a gaze of gratitude and just a little anger toward Lyro Paja, who was taking away Franz’s memories. “What should I offer?” —Don’t be so angry, handler of beasts. I shall take a little of the Wrath overflowing from your small body. No matter how much you hate them, the children of humanity must live among one another. It would be better if you loved humans a little more.— As though to interrupt Lyro Paja to keep the spirit from saying “And not just the man next to you,” Yuric replied in a fluster, “Okay!” “Then, what shall we surrender to you?” Grandel inquired. “Could you do it without needless lecturing?” Donnino added. —Envy and Sloth.— Lyro Paja requested Envy from the mild-mannered gentleman Grandel and Sloth from the diligent Donnino, who maintained the Black Iron Freight Corps’s armored carriages. They hadn’t identified Donnino’s tower, but expensive-looking bottles of alcohol and perfume containing colored water and cheap aromas, respectively, as well as worn-out silverware and clothing, had been in Grandel’s tower. Yuric had commented, “Show-off” upon beholding it all. Mariela wore some incomprehensible expression as she looked at Grandel, which caused just a bit of discomfort to show on his face. “My family has been a distinguished one of shield knights for generations. Throughout the years, we had all inherited superior shield skills. However, ever since my great-grandfather’s time, the children born to my family have always been frail. No matter how excellent one’s skills are, you cannot do as much as you’d like with a body like this. It took me a very long time to realize that things such as bloodlines, honor, and prestige were foolish.” In his usual fashion, Grandel chuckled as he tugged at his handlebar mustache. “That’s like me. Have you ever heard of a ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’? I can’t go beyond what ordinary people can do and become top-notch at something. Aah, it’s a crushing feeling, Sloth. But I understood. I couldn’t perfect anything for the life of me.” Donnino scratched at his head before continuing, “If somethin’ like that is fine with you, by all means, take it.” Catching a glimpse of the trauma of an older, more experienced person was somehow unsettling. The one who destroyed the suddenly heavy atmosphere was, as expected, Edgan. “I’ll give you my overflowing love!” —Yes, I shall receive Lust from you.— “Huh?! Lust?!” “That makes sense,” Mariela replied in agreement. “He’s the worst,” Yuric judged, harsh as ever. “That’s great, Edgan! Someone finally accepted your affections!” As if to say it didn’t matter what happened afterward as long as the situation at hand was settled, Sieg gave the sort of equivocal coaxing he often did when Edgan was around. It hardly seemed like the remarks of a true friend. Perhaps some of Sieg’s bad habits from his younger days had inconveniently surfaced for a fleeting moment. And to Sieg, Lyro Paja said… —Sieg, was it? I shall receive Pride from you.— “Ha-ha-ha—pr—ha-ha-ha—ide! Ha-ha-ha! Sieg, he said you’re arrogant. You’re so important! The great Sieg! How’s that treat you?” “Shut up, Erotigan.” Sieg cast his eyes downward and bit his lip at Edgan’s roars of laughter. Even Mariela said to Sieg, “It wasn’t nice to take Slaken out on your own,” leaving the poor man at a loss for words. “I’m the last one. What should I give you?” Mariela inquired. —Gluttony.— “Bwah?!” As the last one of the group, Mariela gave her memory of her irresistible “snack meals”—Gluttony—and all seven human sin sources were assembled. Lyro Paja easily removed the memory stones from Mariela and the others by touching their foreheads. The spirit’s cool fingertips felt like drops of water trickling down their brows. Like a bead of liquid, each memory rolled down its respective person’s forehead and fell into its owner’s hands as a stone. “Because this place is the Akashic records, taking memories in and out is simple. Even though Lyro said they were receiving your memories, that doesn’t mean they’ll be entirely gone, like what happened with the black monsters. They’ll still remain as information. The change should be negligible in your daily life.” Just like Freyja explained it, Mariela didn’t forget the fact that she’d greedily indulged in snacks while Sieg and the others were absent, even after her memories of Gluttony were drawn out of her. However, the particulars of the sweets she’d scarfed down became vague, and Mariela had trouble recalling their taste. It was as though the recollection of that time had become somewhat ambiguous and changed into someone else’s, leaving Mariela to guess at how she felt back then. Even after Mariela safely returned home, she would probably want to eat sweets, but maybe in the future, she wouldn’t devour pastries like she was filling the holes in her heart. Mariela had a somewhat ominous feeling. Everyone probably had similar sentiments. They all gazed keenly at their memory stones. “Say, Master. These are bad human memories, right? If I use things like that to make the core, will Lyro Paja be okay? You said Lyro Paja will stay in the Fell Forest, but won’t they despise us humans? And Lyro Paja also said it would be a ‘temporary body.’ In other words, they won’t last long with this core, right?” Mariela asked Freyja, with the Gluttony memory in her hand. Lyro Paja had suffered for a long time because of human corruption. Wanting the spirit to be fond of humans was presumptuous, but if possible, Mariela didn’t want Lyro Paja to hate them. And the spirit’s expression, temporary body, made Mariela feel uneasy. “The memories from all of you will be fine. These are recollections of wrongdoing, but y’know, they’re not entirely corrupt. They also contain joy, sorrow, and feelings of consideration for others. Those memories hold the good and bad points of humanity, so the temporary body will still last a long time. I’m positive it’ll do the trick.” Freyja answered Mariela’s concerns with a grin. She was full of confidence. I can’t help feeling unsure… Previously, Mariela would have taken her master’s words at face value and believed that pure smile. However, the Mariela who had created the Elixir in the deepest part of the Labyrinth and had become the ultimate alchemist would not be deceived. “Master, you said ‘Mariela will be able to make the Elixir’ similarly, but if you remember, I was just short on experience. What would’ve happened if I hadn’t had the ley-line shard Lynx gave me…?” “Well, that, uh, was part of the final miracle…” “You don’t know, do you? What I mean is, it’s better to do things properly so you’ll be fine even without a miracle. Lyro Paja is finally going to incarnate, but what would you do if they became an enemy of the humans? Lyro Paja is close to monsters, while you’re similar to humans, right? Do you want a huge battle to happen between you?! If so, that would cause a new crisis in the Labyrinth City, wouldn’t it?! We can’t take that chance!” “Guh… I’m lost for words.” “And yet you said that aloud. Really, Master!” Somehow, Mariela was talking down to Freyja. Her attack power exceeded what had been her greatest offensive skill up to that point, the “No Dinner for You!” maneuver. With this, the pampered child Sieg would probably have to prepare himself to be dominated by Mariela for the rest of his life. He didn’t realize it himself, but he’d already become a perfect doormat. —There is truth to your pupil’s words. It would probably be best to add some sort of goodness to the core.— Mariela nodded at the prudent Lyro Paja’s words and thought briefly about what would be suitable. “Something good… Something good…” Mariela looked around the area. Freyja and Illuminaria, filled with confidence in their own merits, were looking over at Mariela as they chuckled among themselves. For better or worse, humans had been too much of a bad influence on those two, and they were quite likely to have taken on bad habits. Even by this point, they’d both amassed the quirks of various overly eccentric characters. The final piece probably needed to be something purer. At first, the plan had been to create a core by adding memories of wrongdoing from Mariela and the others to a ley-line shard the size of a fist that had formed at the bottom of this lake. Mariela could feel a strong force from the ley-line shard, though not as much as from the Core of the Labyrinth, as well as the presence of water. A ley-line shard was a lump of energy, an object that disappeared once it was used up. Even the memories of Mariela and the others that would be added to it took the shape of stones in this world, but they were formless by nature. After Lyro Paja incarnated, the spirit would probably take in energy through meals, but was it really okay to have a core made of things that were unreliable as physical substances? As if that wasn’t enough, Mariela had a hunch the properties of a ley line with the presence of water and those of the group’s memories differed. Could there be something with a more reliable existence that could adapt to both liquid and Mariela’s group and also possessed powerful innate goodness…? I feel like…there’s gotta be something… Mariela’s waist pouch rustled as she rummaged through it. What rolled out from the bottom of the satchel she always wore was a pale, transparent, wondrous stone that emitted light like the moon’s. “I wonder if we could use this?” “Is that a mermaid’s tear, Mariela?! That’s such a high-grade item!” —Moreover, it is filled with feelings of gratitude. A rare object, indeed.— Freyja and Lyro Paja were astonished at the marvelous stone Mariela had produced. The tears mermaids shed changed into stones. That legend was true, and very few of these scarce, valuable jewels were circulated in the world. The only way to obtain one was to either find it washed up on a beach by chance or to harvest it from a captured mermaid. In the latter case, it was easy to imagine what the apprehended mermaid went through. For that reason, mermaids’ existence had become half legend, and when a certain quantity of mermaid’s tears appeared on the market, it was whispered that the creatures were real. Mariela had met one such mermaid before. That was around the time when the Labyrinth Suppression Forces had just subjugated the Sea-Floating Pillar. Mariela and the Black Iron Freight Corps were invited to the beach cavern on the Labyrinth’s fifty-fourth stratum. Mariela had gone into the sea while Sieg and Lynx, tired from their fun, were asleep. What awaited her at the place she floated to as though invited was an injured mermaid who couldn’t return home. After Mariela had healed the mermaid’s wounds with a potion, the creature returned to the sea, but afterward, Mariela had discovered a single mermaid’s tear in her pouch. It was a token of thanks. Mermaids weren’t monsters, but people in a different form. Because they were hunted for their tears, Mariela felt sorry for them, and thus never told Sieg about her encounter with one mermaid. However, this seemed as good a time as any to make use of the tear. “Then it’s an item that’s inherently good, compatible with the water spirit Lyro, and filled with gratitude.” —I have no objection to using it as a core, but it has high worth to humans, too, does it not?— If it was suitable for Lyro Paja… “There’s no reason for me to keep it.” Mariela blew on the mermaid’s tear and wiped it with a hand towel. Since she’d left it in her pouch, there was dust and dirt on it. The jewel was undoubtedly worth a small fortune. Was it really all right for this girl to be treating it so mundanely? Mariela’s efforts somehow made the little object shine like a pearl again in no time. Everyone was in agreement, and the tear was chosen as the core’s final piece. 08 “Well then, first, the mermaid’s tear and the ley-line shard…” Just by bringing the extra-large ley-line shard Lyro Paja gave Mariela near the small mermaid’s tear, the latter sucked up the former. Items belonging to the same water element seemed to be extremely compatible. The mermaid’s tear, no bigger than the tip of one’s finger, swelled to the size of a plum after absorbing the ley-line core, and it changed from the color of the moon to a blue reminiscent of a deep body of water. Most likely, no one would have been able to guess from its soft appearance—like liquid wrapped in a transparent membrane—that it had once been a mermaid’s tear. Next was adding the memories from Mariela and the other humans. Although not as compatible as the ley-line shard and the mermaid’s tear had been, Mariela could sense that the memory of Greed from Franz’s blood was strongly drawn to the powerful presence of water. While everyone was quietly gazing at the blue core in Mariela’s hand, Mariela brought the Greed recollection close to it. “The first one’ll be the hardest, but y’know, if the memory is drawn to it this much, the rest’ll probably go smoothly.” Just as Freyja said, when the powerful desire for the water spirit Franz had inherited from his forebears touched the blue core possessing the heart of water, it instantly dissolved and mixed into it. “Next, Wrath.” The memory of Yuric, who preferred beasts over humans, wasn’t bad in terms of compatibility. She relaxed around Franz more than anyone else, and because his memory had blended in first, hers was able to mix in smoothly as well. “This’s going better than I thought. Now that we’ve made it this far, the rest should be simple,” Freyja declared. She was right. The memory stones of Envy, Sloth, Lust, and Pride melted as if they were following the connections between the people. With the final addition of Mariela’s Gluttony memory, Lyro Paja’s new core was complete. —Ahh, it has turned out well. Now I will surely be able to get along with humans. I am grateful.— After accepting the completed core, Lyro Paja swallowed it. Immediately, the spirit’s current form began to break down. The transformation started from Lyro Paja’s head, as though matching the core’s path from mouth to stomach, and the spirit returned to the water. “Lyro…” The core fell onto the lakeshore where Lyro Paja had just stood. Freyja picked it up and gently placed it on top of the portion of Slaken’s sticky body that had been cut off earlier. The shaking of the viscous material, centered on the core, was like the surface of a pond quivering, and the core began to sink into it. After it reached the very center, both the body and the core rose up like a geyser, changing shape before everyone’s eyes. The mass took the form of Lyro Paja, who had just been standing on the lake not a few moments earlier. “Lyro! Ahh, you finally incarnated!” Lyro Paja accepted Freyja’s embrace. The spirit was no longer in an indefinite frame that looked like it would melt away. “Ahh, Frey. I feel so impaired by how limited this physical body is, yet I can move freely in it.” Freyja was the first person Lyro Paja touched and held close, and Mariela was overjoyed. It was a touching sight. So much so that it seemed like Mariela might get teary-eyed. How could the mystical sight of an incarnation and the fact that a fire spirit and water spirit could at last hold each other after so long not be moving? Mariela’s eyes reflected the beautiful pool deep in the forest and the two human figures holding each other tight amid that scenery. If this wasn’t beautiful, nothing was. If it hadn’t been for the background noise of the perverted monkey thoughtlessly chanting, “Become a woman, become a woman,” there’s no doubt it would have been truly perfect. “Edgan handed over his Lust memory, but he seems exactly the same…” “I’m not gonna lose my identity after something like that!” Edgan paid no heed to the icy looks he was getting from Mariela and the others. Perhaps one should have expected as much from a man who’d overcome many cold places like the stratum of ice and snow and the Ahriman Springs in winter. “It seems your memory was rejected. ‘That much isn’t needed.’ Edgan, what do you think about going to search for an identity somewhere else?” Sieg’s comment was rather direct. He refused to say something equivocal like “That’s our Edgan! People who don’t doubt themselves are popular!” as he usually did. Although Sieg still relied on others to attain his goals, his arrogance had evidently quieted down, and he’d become somewhat of a gentleman. “Well? Well? Lyro Paja properly turned into a woman, right?! Lyro Paja!!!” “H-hey, Edgan, read the room a little!” Completely ignoring Sieg’s attempt to hold him back, Edgan went to confirm Lyro Paja’s gender, and what awaited him was… Lyro Paja gazed at Edgan, who was fixated on sex, with extreme curiosity and gave a rather bland reply. “Slimes are agender. I am neither one.” How exactly was one to behave in this situation? Edgan’s pondering was easy to see through. Sieg clapped him on the shoulder and shook his head. “Lay off this unsightly behavior, Edgan.” “Guh!” Siegmund had scored a critical hit. That much was due course for a bow user. His shot had been ruthlessly trained on Edgan’s weak spot. However, Edgan also had considerable defensive power, and he moved to counterattack. “What about you, Sieg? Well? You’re a grown man who removed the obstacles in your way, yet making that final leap still seems too much for you, huh? You’re a master of ranged combat, right? Why not take the castle in one shot? I mean, why did you take Slaken out? Are you still ignoring what’s important?” “Agh. You say that, but there are too many people around in Sunlight’s Canopy! How can I close the emotional gap when there’s never a chance?!” “Create your own opportunity!” Dual wielders were quite troublesome. At the sudden ferocious rush, Sieg showered Edgan with shots. It was a violent exchange of verbal blows, but the pair also seemed like close friends to onlookers. Sieg and Edgan look like they’re having fun. As Mariela gently squeezed the soft Slaken, who had reverted to the size of her palm, she turned her gaze back to Lyro Paja and Freyja. She saw the incarnated former-spirit duo flirting as they sought physical contact. Nearby, even the usually reserved Yuric was conversing with Franz with more intimacy than usual. “Franz, are you okay?” “Sorry for worrying you.” The old man duo with no partners, Grandel and Donnino, were completely prepared to return home and had begun to search the area for something to take back with them from this mysterious world. “…Wanna go home soon, Slaken?” Mariela suggested heading back not to Sieg, but to Slaken. Curiously, Mariela felt exhausted. She had initially run away from home because Sieg had thrown Slaken away. Of course, taking Slaken out on his own was probably enough of a reason to get angry, but since the creature was unharmed, Mariela wasn’t mad enough not to go back to Sunlight’s Canopy. In addition, finding her master was a better than expected level of achievement, worthy of a gold star if Mariela were a student. “Next time we have a fight, Sieg, you can be the one who leaves!” Mariela, whose self-confidence had increased after a real sense of personal growth, clenched her small fist. She didn’t look mighty at all, but her will undeniably was. Freyja was in her own little world with the newly incarnated Lyro Paja, and Mariela felt very uncomfortable with how many people were present. It seemed that in the future, at least for a while, it would be better to drive out Sieg than for Mariela to run back to her master when she and Sieg fought. After returning Slaken to its jar, Mariela said, “Illuminaria, please show us the way home,” and fastened the bag with the giant jar inside to Koo’s back. “Wait, Mariela. At least let me explain. I don’t want things to end like this,” Sieg pleaded as he ran over. There was a little earnestness in his expression. Mariela was already quickly preparing to make the return trip on her own. She could easily see through Sieg’s outward facade, but this time she sensed he had made up his mind about something. Apparently, he’d talked with Edgan and come to a decision. “What, Sieg? Even if you apologize, you’re still going without dinner, you know?” Despite Sieg’s appeal, Mariela kept him in check by implying she didn’t want to forgive him for taking Slaken out. She’d only recently realized that Sieg behaved like a spoiled child if he was pampered. When push came to shove, she needed to be strict with him. Although Sieg groaned at Mariela’s cold treatment, he didn’t falter. Instead, he got down on one knee in front of Mariela and dug through his pocket for something. “I had Slaken search for this blue stone at the bottom of the lake in the Labyrinth. I… I hope you’ll accept it,” he admitted. Sieg was offering Mariela a ring with a blue jewel the same color as his left eye. “Sieg’s finally doing it…!!!” While no one said this aloud, it was obvious that everyone was thinking as much. With this, the former-spirit duo and Yuric and Franz, who were all busy flirting, couldn’t help but stop and watch with intense interest. Admittedly, Sieg’s proposal came without any lead-up, but since the other party was Mariela, something like this might’ve been perfect. Mariela was an alchemist who really did rank practicality above aesthetics and food above romance. Faced with this ring, however, the girl looked taken aback. She’d expressly lost her memory of her excessive appetite. It sure would have been nice if her interest in love had been awakened in exchange. “What…? Um, Sieg, thank you? It’s a super pretty ring… But it’s not my birthday, so what’s it for?” “?!!” Mariela stared at the trinket in her hand with confusion, and Sieg was struck silent at the reaction.
Chapter 205
51 min read