“And that’s where this will come in,” Mira said, partially summoning a holy knight as she explained all of this.
Indeed, she’d been plotting on teaching Bruce how to use partial summoning.
Perhaps because he was quite like-minded, Bruce hopped right on the bandwagon. And, upon being taught just how to do it, he immediately began practicing.
And so, Bruce, who was busy coming up with all kinds of ideas, made his way up the rainbow stairs together with his instructor Mira. They continued preparing even after arriving in Valhalla.
In the training area that Alfina and her sisters normally used, Bruce practiced partially summoning over and over and over again. And yet, this was a technique that even Cleos had needed a considerable amount of time to pick up. Ultimately, they called it a day when he could somewhat stably summon a tower shield. Bruce had hit his limit.
Barely even able to stand, he put his arm around the shoulder of Elezina, who helped him back to one of the guest rooms in the palace.
Furthermore, while teaching Bruce how to use partial evocation, Mira had been sealing the remaining fragments of the Monster-Ruling God’s sword.
Standing close beside her was Alfina, armed and ready in case she needed to step in.
“…All right, that’s the last one. Now I just have to give the fragments to Wallenstein tomorrow and it’ll all be done,” Mira declared to Alfina, having successfully sealed all the fragments with the amrute that she’d recovered from the shack.
“By the way, I’d like to stay here for the next week to train Bruce. Would that be all right?” she added.
Her first priority, sealing the fragments of the sword, had been completed. This meant that she no longer needed to stay in Valhalla, and yet it seemed to her that when it came to training Bruce, the most effective way would be to simply stay over in Valhalla.
Not only did it have training facilities, but it would also be easy for Bruce to work together with Helknae and her sisters. What’s more, thanks to the denseness of mana in Valhalla, the natural speed at which one regenerated mana was higher as well. In short, they could train longer and harder than they might down on the surface.
One could certainly say there was no better place to teach Bruce how to become proficient enough to use partial summoning in combat.
“A week?! Of course!” Alfina replied immediately. Hearing that Mira would be staying not just for a day or two, but for a whole week, Alfina looked as if she’d died and gone to heaven. She was so joyful that she said Mira could call her over whenever and wherever she needed; in fact, she said she could do so even if she didn’t need anything.
Being the ruler of First Valhalla, Mira’s personal room was the ruler’s quarters inside the palace.
Relaxing in this private abode, Mira discussed everything that’d happened with the Spirit King.
“…I never would’ve thought that that quick chat you had before would’ve led us to find out how dark demons were created.”
“I was surprised as well. To think something like that happened while I was cooped up in the Spirit Palace… When I came down to the surface to fight the Monster-Ruling God, I learned a good many things from everyone, but never did we figure out what caused them to come into being.”
“When we talked before, you mentioned its remains and whatnot. It looks like its malign influence is starting to let itself be known. I wish I could write it off as a coincidence, but that doesn’t quite feel right.”
Even though it’d died, the Monster-Ruling God was indestructible. Therefore, they’d split its body into pieces and sealed them very securely. However, someone or something had carried off one of these pieces.
In addition, there was the incident with the monster-repelling amulets. Mira wanted to believe that nothing further would come of it, but there was no blaming her for not feeling terribly optimistic about the whole situation.
“But it’s strange. Responding to the demon situation, they assigned an angel to take over the job inspecting the seals. And so, if the sword had disappeared, they should’ve reported that it’d gone missing,” Martel added, raising yet another question.
All of the demons had transformed into dark demons, and so Marchosias’s old job of inspecting seals and whatnot had apparently been reassigned to an angel.
In which case, they ought to have realized something wasn’t right when they did their very first inspection. This was because, at that point, the sword was already missing from where it should’ve been sealed.
“Maybe I should go do a little investigating myself. I could try to see if I can get in contact with an old friend of mine,” the Spirit King said, apparently now harboring some doubts after hearing the question Martel had raised.
The world as the Spirit King knew it today was drastically different from how it’d been way back then.
It was one of the Spirit King’s great joys to learn about just how different the world was through Mira’s eyes, as well as through the spirits she had contracts with. And yet, there were some issues that he needed to learn about right away.
Or so the Spirit King said before announcing that he’d put in a bit more effort to gather information. And to do so, the first step seemed to be to get in contact with someone.
Sensing that the Spirit King’s old friend had to be some sort of bigwig, Mira, hesitant yet curious, asked who exactly this friend was.
“Ah, he’s the leader of the angels, the Archangel Gabriel. I believe he’ll know what the angels are up to, so if I can chat with him, we might very well learn something.”
“I-I see…” Mira stuttered, feeling understandably intimidated at hearing of the great Archangel Gabriel, who inevitably came to mind whenever anyone heard the word “angel.”
What’s more, the Spirit King’s investigation centered around the spirits that Mira had contracts with. Now unable to leave himself, it seemed that he now relied on Salamander, Wasranvel, and other such spirits who could hear his voice to handle various things behind the scenes.
In short, if he could get in contact with Gabriel, Mira would be involved in all of this because it was done through those spirits. And yet, this was something that she had yet to realize.