“IT’S my job to revive Goddess Yuna?!” Nichika leapt from her seat. The chair fell over and clattered against the floor. Too ruffled to notice, she organized the information Ini provided aloud. “Uh, hold on. I’m not sure I get this. Isn’t Yuna a mythological being? You know, just a legendary character that went down in ancient history as possibly a god?”
As Nichika scraped together the bits and pieces of information available to her, Lambert tossed in his two cents from the seat next to her. “Righto. And now there’s a rumor floating ’round ’bout her having died several months ago.”
“Mana has been actin’ up and not functioning properly since. I heard you can’t use magic at all in some areas. They say that’s why monsters have been rampaging lately,” Wolfie continued after him, lying on the floor across from her, his ears pricked upright.
Ini cast down his gaze and woefully replied, “I truly do feel bad about the issues we’ve caused on that front. As a representative of the Celestial Realm, I offer you our deepest apologies.”
Celestial Realm. The sudden mention of a phrase right out of a fantasy novel rendered Nichika speechless. Did that mean another realm existed in the skies above Arcanshiel?
Exasperated with his apprentice who fell silent, her eyes having rounded into perfect circles, Oswald prodded her from where he sat to her left.
“Why the dumb look this time?” he sighed.
“Master, what’s the Celestial Realm?!”
“……”
She turned toward her master with all the vigor of a lioness pouncing on her prey. He eyed her like she was some kind of rare exhibit on display at a mystery shack. Fuming at his reaction, she sought an answer from him.
“Oh gosh! You’re giving me THAT look again! Yeah, yeah. I get it. I’m OH SO ignorant when it comes to the ways of your world. But you know what? They say: to ask may be a moment’s shame, but not to ask and to remain ignorant is an everlasting shame!”
Nichika was proud of herself for having her first good comeback in a while. Oswald blinked several times before answering her without his usual snark—though his answer seriously lacked in the useful department.
“The Celestial Realm is what it sounds like it is: the world where the celestial beings live above the skies… Or so they say.”
“Why do you sound so uncertain?” she asked, thinking that was rare for the man who often lauded his extensive knowledge over her.
He crossed his arms at his chest. “The Celestial Realm is as much a fairy tale to us as the legend of Spirit Priestess Yuna is. No one has breached the realm before, and its residents rarely see it fit to show themselves according to the records, but…” he slid his judgmental gaze over to Ini and snorted, “then you get some worldly, perverted celestials like this one who ruin your whole image of the heavenly host.”
Ini returned his remark with a snicker and retorted, “Why, I was wondering what all the buzzing in my ear was, but I see it was just my empress’s manservant prattling. Your dismal face is still such a bore.”
“And you’re still parading around like an idiot ruining the moment. Have you found any of your missing screws yet?”
“Ahem! Save it for later!” Nichika shouted, stepping between them before the conversation derailed completely. “Is it true that Ini is some sorta god?!”
The golden pervert cracked a goofy, self-satisfied grin. “We call ourselves celestials, so we’re probably on par with gods to those who look up to us from the surface.”
Ew, I wouldn’t want a sexual harasser for a god. Nichika kept that thought to herself. She didn’t say anything out loud, giving way for Ini to launch into a story of his own.
“I used to serve Yuna as her attendant…”
In those days, the world revolved around the continent of Arcanshiel and had only two big countries, rather than the dozens of independent nations that made up the land today.
Those two countries absorbed even the smallest settlements scattered around the continent, eventually splitting the world into two main factions. The conflict between the White Kingdom based in the north and the Red Kingdom governing the south was plain for all to see.
Unsurprisingly, the two countries moved to conquer the other. They commanded the spirits to massacre and used their crafty witch’s items to kill millions of innocents. Some sorrowful spirits sealed their power and disappeared for good.
“It’s just like the story I read…” Nichika observed as she recalled the picture book she found in Cherry Blossom Kingdom.
“That much is covered in the books of this realm,” Ini confirmed. “But this next part has only been passed down in the Celestial Realm and can’t be found in any book.”
The celestials, who usually hid their existence, saw the gravity of the situation for what it was and finally got off their lazy butts to take action. After all, with their deep connection to the spirit realm, they determined the long, drawn-out war to be nothing more than a blight on the world at large.
Thus, they prepared a lone girl to enact their plans, believing offering up a heroine would prove more effective in touching human hearts on the surface below.
“And that was Lady Yuna?” Wolfie interrupted for the first time.
“It’d definitely be a lot easier for the masses to get behind an adorable girl coming down from the heavens on God’s mission to punish evil than a buncha butch men.”
Like Jeanne d’Arc? Nichika thought after Lambert’s remark but kept it to herself because she didn’t think anyone present would get the reference.
Ini went on with the story.
The Celestial Realm’s plan was a huge success. In particular, the settlements that were forced to surrender and be absorbed into the two nations gave Yuna their full support. Yuna traversed the continent recovering the spirits forced into doing evil and sheltered them in the magic orb. Eventually, the small rebel armies popping up in each region grew bigger, and the war finally came to an end by defeating the kings of both countries. White and Red kingdom were dismantled, and the people dispersed to start the several dozen nations that made up the continent today.
After listening through Ini’s history lesson, Nichika confirmed the historical ending she had garnered from reading. “Yuna became the Spirit King after that, right?”
“The correct term is Spirit Goddess. The person in that role doesn’t order the spirits around, but rather acts as their representative,” Grindieda explained as if teaching a lecture on the topic.
Ini closed his eyes beside her as he recalled the distant past. “Exactly. She was truly radiant during those days. War Maiden has never suited another more than she.”
“…Uh, you saw her? In person?” Nichika asked, hung up on the nostalgic way he spoke of Yuna.
“Of course! For I had accompanied her on her journey to punish evildoers!” Ini proclaimed as if it were a given.
“Didn’t that happen hundreds of years ago? Just how old are you?”
The man who looked no older than mid-twenties put his hands on his hips and leaned back. “I stopped counting once I hit the third digit. I’m forever twenty-six!”
“Sorry for calling you an old man when you’re actually a fossil.”