As Emilia had pointed out, the massive stone pillars, shockingly large as they were, had nevertheless crumbled away in places. I could only imagine the beauty and splendor the venue possessed before the terror the Argent Armors rained upon the mermaids.
“To soothe the spirit alone, ’twas a most impossible task, ♪” Frederika sang. She was striking a cool pose as she emerged from the water onto the stage, much like a performer beginning a routine. “What’s more, as their rage endured, my time did pass—now matured, my days onstage could no more last. ♪”
“O-Oh! You’re back, Frederika,” I observed. The gloomy verse Frederika had greeted us with, coupled with the exhausted look on the face of the crew member who’d been dragged along by her weird antics, sucked all the levity out of what I imagined she’d intended to be a slick entrance. I wasn’t sure how to react to the glum atmosphere she’d managed to drum up.
“Whoops, things got a bit sad and dark up here, huh?” Frederika said. “Oh, I know! Wait here! I’ll grab some costumes that’ll get you all pumped up!” She flashed a bright smile and splashed back into the water. The crew member was still hovering in the air, frozen in place with his arms now empty.
I see you, buddy. Hang in there.
When we finally arrived at the large stage, we prepared to dock the vessel and disembark. Then, guided by the other crew members, we finally set foot on the stage, and I gasped with awe, impressed by its sheer size. Noa, Emilia, and Lily were running around happily as we watched on with a smile.
“Um, judging from what we heard earlier, won’t suits of armor come flying at us the moment we approach the stage?” the prince asked.
“Hmm, about that... I feel like the armor simply destroyed this place to prevent anyone from heading for Xeoral,” the queen replied. “I don’t think they’ll come back here.”
“I think the only chance that they’d return is if anything they deem a danger comes here,” Rachel added, tilting her head to one side as she looked around. “Like if the spirit came back, for example, that might provoke a response. I don’t sense the spirit anywhere nearby for the time being, however.”
While elves only had ties with the spirit tree, I supposed a spirit was a spirit, all the same—it made sense to me to think Rachel and the rest of the elves would be capable of sensing the spirit sea.
Based on Rachel’s observation, I felt it’d be best that we remain quiet and not startle the spirit or the armor. Worriedly, I turned to check on Emilia, our resident troublemaker—she was darting to and fro with Noa and Lily and didn’t seem to be causing any harm, however.
“My, what do we have here?” Sita asked, as curious as ever. “Is this stage ancient technology? I think these etchings are a magic circle.”
“Since the engravings encompass the entire stage, I presume they serve a ritualistic purpose,” Magiluka wondered. “What should we make of the fact this magic circle remains here undamaged by the suits of armor?”
I didn’t consider Magiluka and Sita to be troublemakers, but I was without a doubt suspicious of where their enthusiasm might take them.
“I don’t know,” Sita said. “What do you think, Lord Orthoaguina?”
Crickets.
“Lord Orthoaguina?” Sita asked. “Hello? Sita to Lord Orthoaguina. Do you read me? Anyone there?”
She kept speaking to the book dangling from her waist, but unusually, there was no reply.
“I’d forgotten all about him, but now that you mention it, he’s been real quiet since we entered the spirit sea’s domain,” I remarked. “Is he asleep? Or is he sulking because no one’s paying attention to him?”
“You fool! I’m not asleep!” Orthoaguina roared back. It really had been a while since I’d heard him speak up last. “And I’m not sulking either! This is the domain of a spirit. With a powerful existence such as myself present in the area, it’s entirely possible the being we seek to placate will find itself too unnerved to back down. I’d been hiding my presence so as to not stir up any trouble!”
I was impressed that he’d been being so considerate. I wanted a certain spirit tree who manipulated a subspecies of a mandrake without a care in the world to learn a thing or two from him.
Uh, I know I asked the question, but is it all right he answered me?
“Orthoaguina, you just responded, so isn’t your presence kind of...known now?” I asked.
He fell silent, but I could practically see the sweat dripping off the book’s pages. As the one who’d encouraged him to come out, I was sweating bullets myself...
“Lady Mary, seawater is getting onto the stage,” Magiluka pointed out.
When I looked down at my feet, I realized that some water had splashed onto the stage, and the nearby sea was beginning to stir as waves rose angrily.
“The water level rose,” I said. “Does this place have high tides and stuff?”
“I doubt that would occur here in a domain where the ocean keeps still,” Magiluka replied. “Is this the work of the spirit?”
“Sorry! This is my fault, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s my fault,” Sita replied. “I tried speaking to him first.”
“No, Sita, you aren’t to blame,” Orthoaguina said. “The blame lies with Mary, who claimed that I was sulking from the lack of attention.”
“H-Hey!” I cried. “I thought you were keeping quiet!”
“I’ve already been discovered. It’s too late,” Orthoaguina defiantly prattled on. “In any case, what will we do now? I sense something coming from the skies as well.”
We all looked up at the sky and we saw tiny dots flying toward us from far away. Uh... So, the suits of armor and the spirit are all about to gather here, huh? The worst-case scenario was about to happen, and it was due to my careless comment. I was afraid getting on my hands and knees and begging for my friends’ forgiveness wouldn’t be a sufficient apology for this blunder...
I wasn’t skilled enough to battle both parties at once. Since I was the one who’d screwed up here, I at least wanted to resolve one of the problems myself, though. Do I go for the spirit? Or the suits of armor?
“Snow, let’s ride!”
“Yeah, yeah, saw this coming from a mile away,” Snow replied. She’d been sleeping in the ship until now, completely unconcerned by our goings-on, but now she was at my side.
“Sita, I’ll handle the situation in the sky,” I said. “I’m sorry, but could I ask you to handle the spirit?”
“Hey, you aren’t trying to push the more troublesome task onto Sita, are you?” Orthoaguina asked.
“N-N-No, not at all!” I stammered. “T-T-To the right man goes the right role, you know?” Try as I might to use the gravity of the moment to delegate tasks, I couldn’t slip my scheme past him. My eyes darted around frantically.
“Well, I admit that I’m partially to blame for drawing the spirit,” Orthoaguina relented. “Very well. Leave it to us and go forth!”
He sounded confident I could leave it to him, but he was just a book dangling from Sita’s waist. Will they really be all right? I feel like you’re jinxing yourself, Orthoaguina.