“It all began with a call from Elexis,” Crimson said.
“From Elexis, huh?” The name caught Koutarou’s attention. “What is he doing right now, anyway? I heard he was something like a mercenary.”
During the battle for Ralgwin, he had seen that Fasta had joined up with Elexis. So he knew that Elexis had some sort of shady dealings, but he didn’t know any specific details. That interested him.
“Elexis is working as an illegal carrier,” Green answered.
“An illegal carrier? Well, he’s always doing something illegal.” Koutarou shrugged.
Whether or not Elexis felt the same as before, he had once tried to overthrow the state, so he wouldn’t be able to find any decent jobs. Therefore, anything he did would inevitably be illegal.
“Apparently, they started off doing legal transports under a fake name. But after you and the empress messed with the transport industry, he couldn’t do that anymore,” Crimson said and grinned. She found the situation funny and teased Koutarou.
“Well, sorry about that...even though it was his own fault...” Koutarou smiled wryly.
After DKI had earned too much through PAF sales, Koutarou had decided to invest the returns into the struggling transport industry of remote regions. By helping out those regions, he returned the profit to society. But since Koutarou felt like the money had come from the people, he didn’t want it to be spent irresponsibly, so he wanted to confirm that companies were legitimate. That had ultimately caused problems for Elexis. If his company was scrutinized, his deception would be exposed. Before that could happen, Elexis had shut down his business and gone underground. That naturally meant that their cargo had become shadier.
“Anyway, after going underground, Elexis got a job from Fasta,” Crimson said. “And the cargo was—”
“Ralgwin, huh?” Koutarou started seeing the full picture. Fasta had needed a skilled carrier who could take on a shady job. Elexis and Maya most certainly had the skill, and they also had a high performance ship they’d taken from DKI. It must have been both luck and destiny that had brought them together.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Crimson nodded. “Ever since then, Elexis and Maya have been allied with Fasta. Not that I don’t know how they feel...”
Maki giggled.
“What?” Crimson looked at her.
In response, Maki put down a cup of tea in front of Crimson. “I was just happy the tea turned out so well.”
“Hmm, if that’s all...” Crimson said, taking a sip. Like Maki said, it had a refined smell and taste.
So, it’s not like you don’t know how they feel, huh? Hehehe... Maki thought. She had laughed after sensing how close Crimson and the others had become. Back when they had been in Darkness Rainbow, they had only seen each other as people to be used. But the girls were different now. She didn’t think it was strange of them to cooperate with Fasta, who wanted to save Ralgwin. What had happened to Maki had now also happened to Crimson and the others, which made her happy. But there were plenty of things it was best not to say out loud. So Maki kept her thoughts to herself.
“And that’s when Elexis and Maya contacted us,” Green concluded. Since Crimson was drinking tea, she answered in her place.
“So it’s not just some catching up, then,” Koutarou said.
“Yes, they asked for our help.”
“What did they say?”
“They want help casting a ritual spell to resurrect Ralgwin,” Green answered.
“Resurrect Ralgwin?! Is that even possible?!” Unable to hide his shock, Koutarou shot up from his seat. While this was a welcome event, it would clearly be difficult.
“We’ll do the same thing they did,” Crimson said. “Remove Maxfern’s elements from the soul and use Ralgwin’s residual thoughts to fill up any gaps.”
“And since Maxfern is already an example of success, it’s definitely possible!” Koutarou couldn’t accept Maxfern taking over Ralgwin’s soul. It was far too unfair an end. But now a way to correct that unfairness had appeared, and Koutarou’s expression brightened.
“But there’s a problem with that, isn’t there, Crimson?” Maki said, looking serious.
It wasn’t like she was against Ralgwin’s resurrection, and Koutarou’s wishes were hers. The problem she saw however, was a technical one.
“You get it.” Crimson nodded.
“How are you going to get your hands on Maxfern’s residual thoughts?” Maki asked.
Maxfern’s current soul was a fusion of Ralgwin and Maxfern. In order to extract Maxfern’s soul from that, they needed fragments of Maxfern’s soul, namely residual thoughts. But it would be difficult to collect enough thoughts to remove Maxfern. Maki knew that, which was why her expression was so serious.
“Grevanas has already collected most of them. If not, he never could have resurrected him,” Crimson said.
Grevanas had needed a large number of residual thoughts to resurrect Maxfern. He had used Ralgwin’s soul as a base and overwritten it with the gathered fragments of Maxfern’s soul. Since it had been over two thousand years since Maxfern had died, that was the only possible method. Grevanas had had no other choice.
“Which means it would be impossible to find any more residual thoughts,” Maki said.
Grevanas had gathered Maxfern’s residual thoughts on Earth, mostly centered around the People of the Earth. And after returning to Forthorthe, he had gathered more residual thoughts from places and items connected to Maxfern. Since it was his precious lord, Grevanas wouldn’t have taken any risk, and him choosing to resurrect Maxfern meant that there were no more residual thoughts to be found.
“It would be impossible to resurrect Ralgwin like that,” Maki said with a bitter expression. She thought it would be better for him to be resurrected as well, but she couldn’t find a good way to bring him back.
“It’s not impossible,” Green said. “Although it depends on how cautious Grevanas is...”
“What do you mean, Green?” Maki looked up at her.
“We’re predicting that not even Grevanas could be completely assured that his resurrection spell would work on the first try,” Green explained.
“Right! That’s definitely possible!” Maki’s expression brightened.
With her wealth of magic knowledge, she understood why Green felt like it was possible.
“He should have gathered enough residual thoughts to have some spares in case he failed,” Green continued. “Not to mention, they are planning on starting a war, so Maxfern could die in battle. He should have been gathering spare residual thoughts in case of that as well.”
“So we just need to steal those?!” Koutarou exclaimed.
Grevanas was likely to have gathered even more residual thoughts in the event that the resurrection spell failed or Maxfern died in battle. If they stole those, they could resurrect Ralgwin.
“But the problems start there, Blue Knight.”
“What do you mean?” Koutarou asked. Crimson had spoken with a more serious expression than usual. Seeing that, a chill washed over him.