Arc remained absolutely still, like a discarded corpse.
Ariane’s voice wavered. “What should we do, Chiyome? He’s not breathing. After all he’s done for me, after he so patiently helped with all my requests… I never had a chance to return the favor!”
A tear ran down Ariane’s purple cheek and dropped onto Arc’s face.
“Calm down, Ariane. We don’t even know for sure that Arc is dead. He never breathed when he was alive, remember?”
Ariane wiped her eyes. “I don’t know about that. He used to sigh from time to time, you know. He even ate food.”
Chiyome turned to face Ariane. “Maybe we should ask someone who knows more about things of this nature.”
Ariane immediately thought of a certain Dragon Lord they’d met earlier. “Villiers Fim?”
Dragon Lords lived much longer than even the elves. With that came great wisdom, accumulated over long years.
“Villiers Fim almost certainly knows the spring’s effects. I’m going to ask.” Ariane looked through the ruins of the ceiling at the Lord Crown towering above them. She called out in a loud, strained voice. “Do you know anything about this, Villiers Fim?”
The Dragon Lord had been napping at the Lord Crown’s base until Ariane’s shouting woke him. He begrudgingly made his way to the mountaintop and bent his neck to look down at Arc, lying motionless in the roofless ruin.
Hmm… Villiers Fim narrowed his large, reptilian eyes. As far as I can tell, nothing is wrong with his soul. However, his spirit is deeply troubled, and incredibly weak. With some rest, he should be fine. You must wait for him to awaken…and try not to worry in the meantime.
Ariane put her hands to her chest with a deep sigh of relief. “Do you know when he might wake up?”
Villiers Fim shook his head, his long neck twisting from side to side. That, I do not know. The time it takes for one’s disturbed spirit to settle depends greatly on individual disposition. Judging by what I see now, I would guess four to five days, perhaps. He looked back down at Arc. Something is very peculiar about this man. I had no idea that a skeleton lurked underneath all that armor.
“Arc collapsed shortly after the spring gave him his human body back. Do you think it may have poisoned him somehow?”
Villiers Fim’s large pupils shrank as he looked at Ariane, almost as if he saw straight through her thinly-veiled accusation. Hmph. It was you who asked me for permission to use the spring’s power, no? I don’t recall anyone asking me what its effects were. Large, reptilian fangs poked out of Villiers Fim’s mouth as he smiled. However, regularly bathing in the spring would almost certainly do him some good, no?
“How do we know we won’t just repeat this whole ordeal if Arc gets back into the spring?”
Villiers Fim ignored Ariane’s accusatory tone, letting out a raspy laugh. He collapsed because the curse had never before been lifted from his body. He will be able to tell you more when he wakes, but from here on out, returning to his living form will not affect him spiritually as it did this time. However, if his soul is harmed, he truly will become a corpse. The Dragon Lord’s voice was barely above a growl as he gave this final warning.
Chiyome, who’d watched the conversation unfold, swallowed hard.
Villiers Fim raised his long neck and looked away, his face twisted and tense, his wings draping the abandoned shrine below in shadow. His body simply returned to its previous form. The next time he enters the hot spring, he won’t suffer such trauma. He returned his gaze to Ariane. Now, I would appreciate it if you fulfill your end of our bargain. If you need anything, I will be soaking until your friend awakens.
Without another word, the Dragon Lord lifted his massive body and lumbered off toward the hot spring.
Ariane kept her head bowed as Villiers Fim walked away.
“Kyiiii!” Ponta ran to Ariane, cocking its head to the side in an attempt to cheer her up.
“If what the Dragon Lord says is true, we’ll spend at least a few days here.”
“We’re running low on supplies,” Chiyome said. “We’ll have to forage for food.”
Ariane pulled one of the nearby rucksacks over. “All right. After we make sure that Arc’s okay, we’ll take turns foraging.”
“Villiers Fim said that Arc would need to use the hot spring regularly to bring his body back,” Chiyome added. “Should we try the spring’s powers on Arc again before he wakes up?”
Ariane nodded, conviction in her eyes. “I think his body changed back once the spring water evaporated. If we pour the water over him where he’s lying now, I think it’ll have the same effect.”
The two women brought their skins to the spring and filled them while Villiers Fim looked on, uninterested. They returned to the shrine, and Ariane poured a little water onto Arc’s hand.
Even though she expected it, Ariane was still surprised when, slowly but surely, skin formed around Arc’s fingertip. The flesh extended down to his palm, revealing more brown skin.
“Do you think this is okay?” Ariane asked.
“Looks like it.”
Ponta ran over and lapped at Arc’s damp finger, which quickly turned back to bone.
“Kyii?” Ponta looked quizzically at the skeletal finger.
Chiyome reached down and rubbed Ponta’s damp nose.
“Now we just need to take Arc’s pulse. We’ll pour water onto his arm and—huh?!” As Ariane tilted the leather waterskin, Ponta’s cotton tail swished and tickled her arm, causing her to accidentally douse Arc’s face.
For a moment, the room was silent, as Ariane and Chiyome gaped at Arc’s wet human head and dry skeleton body. Under normal circumstances, it would have been an odd sight, but it actually calmed them both.
However, Arc’s eyes remained shut.
Ariane, her heart filled with a mix of comfort and worry, sighed heavily.
“Well, he’s breathing at least. Why don’t you see if the shrine has any supplies we can use? I’ll go search for something to eat.”
“Got it.”
The two set off to complete their respective duties, leaving Ponta to watch over Arc.
✦ ✦ ✦
Thanks to the Dragon Lord, there were no large predators anywhere on the mountain, which meant there was no shortage of prey.
The animals barely took notice of Ariane as she entered the forest, continuing to munch grass as if she didn’t exist.
Ariane tried using magic to shoot stones at rabbits and other small creatures, but they were just too miniscule for her to hit. All she managed was to send plumes of dirt into the air, scattering the animals.
“We’d be eating already if I could just get my hands on something large. I’m no good at hunting these tiny things. I guess I’ll just collect plants.” Ariane muttered to herself as she trudged through the trees, looking for anything she recognized from her monster-hunting expeditions in the Great Canada Forest.
In these woods, untrodden by either humans or elves, fruit and herbs were abundant. In no time, Ariane stuffed her hemp bag full of two or three days’ worth of supplies.
“This should hold us over.”
Ariane sighed in satisfaction and headed back to the peak.
✦ ✦ ✦
Chiyome, finished with her search of the shrine, stood in the kitchen using water-based spirit magic to entertain Ponta as it continued to watch over Arc. The fox wagged its tail excitedly as it chased a fluttering butterfly made entirely of water.
“I’m back. Did you find anything useful, Chiyome?”
Ariane’s rucksack hit the ground with a thud as she let it drop from her shoulder. The water butterfly disappeared in an instant.
Chiyome reached into her sash and pulled out a diamond-shaped jewel that glimmered like a rainbow.
“I found one of the Jinshin clan’s mystical treasures in a hidden chamber deep within the shrine.”
“Wow, that’s a pretty gem. Is it magical?” Ariane scrutinized the glittering jewel. Its prismatic glow flickered slightly, as if it were running low on magical energy.
Chiyome nodded. “Figures that an elf would recognize a magical item. This is a pledge spirit crystal. Hanzo left them behind. If you summon the spirit that resides within, and make a pledge to it, you can unlock powerful ninja techniques.”
Ariane understood. The mountain people were known for their physical strength, but compared to the elves, they were weak when it came to magic. However, pledge spirit crystals gave them the ability to use spirit magic.
“So, it’s pretty similar to the magic elves use. I have to be honest, though… I’ve never heard of a pledge spirit crystal before.”
“It’s a well-kept secret among the Jinshin clan. Besides, only ten pledge spirit crystals exist. We don’t even know how they were made, or where they come from.”
Chiyome slid the pledge spirit crystal back into her sash, near her heart.
Ariane suddenly heard a stomach growling loudly. Her hands flew to her belly, to make sure it wasn’t hers. She perked up her ears to listen, eyes fixed on Ponta. The spirit creature was the source of the noise.
“Well, I guess we should get dinner ready. I’m famished!”
“Kyi! Kyiiiii!”
Ariane pulled provisions out of her pack.
Ponta wagged its tail fervently at the mention of dinner, eliciting smiles from the two women.