Chapter 469: The Mailman is Weak to Dryness
Inside the building, the walls are adorned with a geometric pattern made of sun-dried bricks, more intricate and larger than what I’ve seen in town. Some sections of the wall feature a floral design that is carved out, casting shadows of those patterns onto the floor.
Is this a region where rain hardly falls? Yet, there’s an abundance of water. There are no glass panes, and unlike Kanum, there are no shutters either. The breeze flowing through the gaps in the patterns feels refreshing.
As I venture deeper, I start to see bricks in colors of green, blue, and white mixed in. They must have been glazed and fired only on the surface, right? The geometric patterns dominate, but other designs are beginning to appear as well.
There are many motifs of lions depicted. Yeah, it’s impressive how clearly they resemble actual lions. It must be quite a task to color each brick with the necessary hues and combine them to create a large image. Plus, some of them are slightly embossed.
Walking down the corridor, I admire the massive lion mural.
“Are there any of those creatures nearby?”
“Yes, but they won’t come close. It’s a distant relationship, you see. It’s dangerous for both sides.”
A distant relationship…
If it’s dangerous for both, that means the Mailmen must have some means of attack as well. This world has Demon Beasts, and it’s hard to gauge how formidable lions are, but considering they have a granary and haven’t been attacked by humans, it must mean something.
I think about how strong the Mailmen might be in a fight, but since I have no reason or need to battle, I’ll just enjoy the sights at my leisure.
I’ll have to fight Demon Beasts and the Black Spirits at some point. I need to gather materials, and I should accumulate combat experience too, just in case. I don’t know if I’ll end up fighting, but they’re probably similar to me—“Doll-kun.”
The ceiling is high, and the flowers displayed here are arranged in pots that look like they’ve been carved from stone rather than made of pottery. The room is generally dim without any lights, but it’s pleasantly cool.
I can hear the sound of flowing water from beneath the floor. Maybe, like my island, the water flows out from here.
“This area is off-limits. Sorry about that!”
“It’s fine. It’s my first time here anyway.”
I wonder if it’s really okay to let me in this far.
Being stopped here likely means there’s something important further ahead. Should I be told where that important thing is? It could be a case of there being something truly important elsewhere, or it might be a false lead.
“Can I see the fields and the outside of the town?”
“Sure. You can step on the wheat, but please don’t step on the flowers, okay?”
So now, I’m outside the town. Large-scale irrigation, just as I thought, and water flows out from the town. The water splits into two directions, flowing with more volume than I expected, branching out and spreading far.
I can’t see the distant waterways, but the greenery is thick and linear, indicating their presence.
“Water Magic?”
“It’s not magic. But it seems easier for those who come by boat to understand it that way.”
Though there are irrigation channels, the Mailmen working in the fields are in a spot with hardly any shade. They’re all encased in Water Spheres, with a thin film of water parting in front of them as they reach out.
It’s similar to how I ask the Air and Wind Spirits to create an Air Layer around me when I dive into the lake with the Dogu. I’m not sure if mine counts as magic, but it feels like it’s the same concept.
Since there are waterways, there must be plenty of water-related Spirits around, but I don’t sense any of them individually granting wishes. However, I can feel the “little ones” flowing out from the Spirits and gathering around the Mailmen.
A vast field of wheat, trees by the irrigation channels, and colorful flowers. The Spirits flit about among the leaves, resting by the waterways and enjoying their carefree time.
“Do the people here feel closer to the Spirits than those who come by boat?”
It’s the Water Spirits. They feel more Spirit-like than humans or the Earth Folk.
“Yeah, but not as much as you. You’re hard to understand.”
“I don’t really understand myself either. I’m me, but my body was created by the Spirits.”
“Are you a Hero? Your presence feels strange for one.”
So, they can sense the attributes of the Spirits. A Hero is supposed to lean toward the attributes of the summoned deity, so I must have a really odd presence since I’ve even captured Black Spirits.
“I came here the same way as a Hero, but I’m a stray. I wander around, sightseeing while naming Spirits, and I’ve been naming them all, including the black ones, so that’s probably why it seems strange.”
“Even the black ones?”
“Yeah, I have resistance to them. —Oh, the green one I gave you is a Magic Stone, so be careful not to be influenced if you decide to use it.”
I’ve heard that the larger ones are influenced by the black ones, and since the Mailmen are closer to the Spirits, they might be more susceptible to that influence.
“It’s fine. I’ll clean up anything scary. Are you not naming the Spirits here?”
“I named a few before coming to the town, but it seems like the people here coexist with the Spirits, so it feels wrong for me to name them.”
The Mailmen clearly see the Spirits, living as if they were butterflies fluttering nearby.
I can’t help but think it would be unsettling for the Spirits right next to them to be under the influence of someone unknown.
“You really are different.”
I’ve been told I’m different by a Mailman…!