Chapter 163

After a few moments of basking in her world of numbers and magecraft formulae, Monica suddenly snapped back to reality. After confirming Emanuel was unharmed, she sighed in relief. Oh, thank goodness. Now we just have to destroy the flute… As Emanuel knelt on the ground, head down, Louis approached him, ax in hand. But as soon as he was near enough, the Gem Mage’s arm shot up and grasped the silver flute around his neck. Louis stopped, frowning. “One last futile act of resistance, Lord Gem Mage? I would rather you not force us to resort to violence…” That was quite the thing to hear from a man who had declared he would hang the Gem Mage and then had proceeded all the way to his cabin, cheerfully swinging around an ax. Monica doubted that even Louis would bring his ax down on Emanuel. But if the man resisted, he might hit him, at least. As she watched anxiously, Emanuel tore Galanis off the chain around his neck. But just when she thought he was about to hand it to Louis, the old man’s wrinkled hand plunged it down into the ground. “How thin this world’s mana has become…” The voice belonged to Emanuel, but something about it was wrong. Still holding onto the flute stuck into the ground, the man threw his head up toward the sky. “The spirits have dwindled, and my worth with them.” At that point, Monica noticed that Emanuel’s eyes were now dyed a metallic silver as he looked sadly up at the heavens. Just then, she felt her breathing become labored. Her heart grew heavy, and her vision blurred. Clapping a hand over her veil to cover her mouth, she sank to the ground. Is this…mana poisoning? The mana density around them had suddenly skyrocketed—enough to make even a Sage like Monica sick. Louis had gone pale and had a hand over his mouth, too. Ray had collapsed and was now on the ground in the fetal position. “Are you okay?!” Raul shouted at him anxiously. The Witch of Thorns had the greatest mana capacity in the kingdom, and Monica wasn’t surprised he was still doing fine. Bradford, whose capacity was second highest after Raul, scowled in disgust. “What the hell is this? The forest’s mana density just spiked.” “I have poured what scant mana I’d accumulated within my body into the lands.” At Emanuel’s—no, Galanis’s words, Monica’s face turned white. He was contaminating the land with mana, exactly the situation she’d feared. “If I fill the land with mana, there will be more spirits. And the more spirits there are, the stronger I shall become!” Galanis, now controlling Emanuel’s body, gave a loud, sonorous laugh. The ground around the flute was turning silver, and the color expanded outward like a flowing pool of liquid metal. Louis and Bradford paused their attempts to restrain Emanuel and backed off from the silver ground. The area was too contaminated with mana, and they had to avoid it. Monica, despite her shallow breathing, managed to squeeze out a hoarse voice. “If you…do that…then the Gem Mage…will die…!” She didn’t know how much Galanis was protecting Emanuel’s body. But the fact was, he was at the center of the contamination, facing the brunt of it. And yet Galanis, through Emanuel’s face, smiled in rapture. “Heh-heh. I shall not allow that to happen…no matter what I must do.” One hand still holding the flute, he put the other to his chest, as if Emanuel’s mind was trapped there. “Rest assured, my master. They may tear off your limbs or leave your entrails to fester, but I will do everything in my power to keep you alive. If you can no longer walk, I will have an earth spirit carry you. If you cannot breathe, I will give you the aid of a wind spirit. If you cannot swallow, you shall have a water spirit help.” Galanis narrowed his eyes as if intoxicated by his own words, then spread his arms wide and cast his gaze to the skies. “In this way, I promise to make a hero of you. After all, I dwell ever in the shadow of kings. I am the kingmaker! To make kings of men is my true desire!” Monica remembered her fight against Starweaving Mira. She had burned with love for a human man, then killed him—she’d been nearly impossible to reason with. Galanis seemed to be just as bad. Should I use mental interference magecraft like with Starweaving Mira? …No, I can’t. Not at this range… She’d have to get closer, and with Galanis already polluting the area around him, that wasn’t possible. “You want me to handle it?” asked Raul, looking around at the others’ pale, sickly faces. “I think I’m the only one who can withstand the mana density—” “No need.” Louis cut him down smoothly. “We’re showing him the combined power of the Seven Sages, remember? All seven of us are fighting together.” “Oh!” squeaked Monica in response. Just then, at the center of the silver patch of ground, Galanis’s eyes widened in shock. He looked up to the sky and shouted. “No… No! Why have you come here, Starweaving Mira?!” After releasing the Starspear, Carla—who had been using detection magecraft to keep an eye on Emanuel—turned to look at Mary. “Seems like the mana contamination has begun, Lady Mary.” “…I see,” Mary said sadly. She raised her slender, pale right hand. She wore a bracelet connected to a ring by a golden chain with a ruby set into it. “Come, little Mira. It’s your turn.” The star ruby on the back of her hand flickered, almost like a sorrowful maiden blinking. Starweaving Mira spoke with the voice of a young woman. “Galanis, Flute of the False King… I cannot allow you to do as you wish—to drag this land into a terrible conflict.” Starweaving Mira flickered. A red sigil appeared on Mary’s fair fingers as her voice combined with Mira’s. “It is time to read the stars.” Mary’s right hand stroked the ground. “Grief sunken into the land, I shall return you to the stars.” “Desire corrupting the land, I shall return you to the stars.” This was a prayer for peace and tranquility. Particles of light began to drift up from the ground, gently funneling into Starweaving Mira’s red gemstone. The ancient magical item could absorb mana from the land as well as release it. “O stars, O stars, the boughs of trees you rock, of life you sing.” “O stars, O stars, the water’s surface shakes and life you weave.” The mana Starweaving Mira absorbed became beads of light released from Mary’s fingers. Before they could float up to the heavens, they were drawn into the trees and foliage of the forest, where they faded from sight. Together, Mary and Mira were distributing the mana Galanis had poured into the ground across the entire forest. They would return Kelielinden to its rightful state… Not for the sake of the spirits, but for the convenience of humans. Nevertheless, the Starseer Witch prayed and sang with single-minded faith in the turning of the heavens. The land stained silver by Galanis’s power began to regain its original, earthy coloration. Starweaving Mira, under Mary’s direction, had drawn the mana out from the contaminated soil.