Chapter 79: Apparently Unrelated
It was two days later when Ash and the others returned.
Just as I was starting to think it was about time, there was a knock at the door while I was reading a book in the rented house. I hadn’t ordered anything, and no one else was likely to visit, so it had to be Ash and the others.
“Welcome back!”
“Yeah, we made it back safely.”
Ash’s hair was wet. It seemed he had taken a bath—or at least a wash in a basin—at home.
Az, not fond of his damp hair, had been sitting a bit further away than usual, but he moved closer to me.
“If you had told me, I could have boiled some hot water for you.”
When I tickled Az with my fingertips, he curled his small body closer to me.
“This is a souvenir. —I apologize, but I would like to ask a favor.”
The bundle he presented seemed to be a gift from their subjugation mission.
What is it? It’s too small to be a lizard’s skin, and it doesn’t look like a horn either. But that aside…
“Didn’t you take a bath?”
“It was in a state that made me feel bad about borrowing. I think it’s a bit better now, but…”
He frowned, furrowing his brow. He looked scary—really scary.
“Ah…”
I could relate. I remembered the first time I took a bath at home; it had been quite the ordeal.
They must not have been able to bathe in the river or use the steam bath due to the length of their investigation and the number of people around. Meanwhile, the butler was apparently still wrestling with the basin.
“I’ll boil some water right away.”
“I’m sorry to trouble you, but I really can’t stand it anymore.”
Ash lit the fire in the hearth and poured the water he fetched from the well into a pot. He placed the pot over the hearth and fireplace, and now we just had to wait for it to boil. Hmm, I could pretend to put it in the bathtub and swap it with the hot water from home.
“If it’s just for boiling water, a thinner pot might be better.”
The pot we had was quite thick. It was great for simmering for a long time and stayed warm for a while after the fire was out, but it took a bit longer to boil water.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
I brewed tea with the water from the kettle that was on the hearth. What would be good for snacks? They must have eaten nuts during their expedition, so cookies would be fine for now.
I took out some cookies from the tin. Checkerboard-patterned icebox cookies, round and thick diamond cookies.
“Here you go.”
“Thanks. But could you please stay a bit further away? I still feel like I smell a little.”
“No, that’s not true… But if it bothers you, let’s keep some distance.”
Now, how far should I keep?
“Magic Iron?”
When I opened the souvenir bundle, I found several rough black lumps that looked like chunks of lava.
“The sword you have is just regular iron, right? Mixing in Magic Iron increases its toughness and flexibility. You should take it to a blacksmith.”
It seemed that Magic Iron could occasionally be found in the stomachs of demon beasts from riversides or swamps, and they had collected it from a lizard in a swamp a little way past the campsite.
I wondered if it was something that had swallowed iron sand along with its prey and had clumped together in its stomach? It felt expensive, but since they had gone out of their way to bring it, I wouldn’t hold back.
“Thanks. How was the forest?”
“Ah… Do you have a brother, Jean?”
After taking a sip of tea, Ash responded to my question with another question. It seemed he had gotten used to calling me by my name.
“No?”
“I see.”
“What’s up?”
“I met someone in the forest who looked like you.”
Spit!
“What kind of person?”
I felt a bit flustered inside. Could they see my face from under the robe?
“He was accompanied by a Spirit, able to grasp the Spirit, and was gentle.”
“Hm?”
Gentle?
“Also, while it’s not a similarity, there was a mysterious aura about him. It felt like he moved without a defined attribute.”
Ah, that must have been because the Spirits were working hard inside the robe. It seemed he was indeed talking about me.
“There was someone in the subjugation squad who was possessed by a Black Spirit, and as they went deeper, they started acting strangely. But then the Gold Rank archer, Nina, was attacked and fought back. It seems the possession transferred to another man there—”
The three Gold Rank members were Amedeo, the archer Nina, and the robe woman, Rosa, who was a healer. I called it a Black Spirit, but it seemed they referred to it as a black spirit. Well, it was probably the same thing.
Once a Spirit hides inside a body, Ash and the butler couldn’t see the Spirit due to the presence and magic power of the body’s owner.
“Where did that man pick up the Black Spirit?”
“Do you know that there’s a war going on between small countries in Nakahara?”
“Yeah.”
I knew that several countries were swapping conflicts back and forth. I kept my distance, though.
“One of those countries, Haldia, apparently used large-scale magic. Given the long conflict, the Spirits had already scattered and were few in number, so it seems a large number of Black Spirits were born.”
“Is that country foolish?”
Even if they couldn’t see it, they should have exercised restraint if they understood the mechanism. Living in this world, they must have experienced the damage caused by Black Spirits in the past, right? It was worse than my sister, who probably couldn’t grasp the reality because she hadn’t experienced it.
It seemed the Hero’s party was unrelated to this. Wait, could it be that the guild’s opinion about the Black Spirits in the forest being influenced by the war was correct? No, I couldn’t believe the Gods were wrong, so it must be both.
I felt like I was working double time with Spirit Naming.
“Most injured Spirits will first flee. It’s rare for the person who used them to face direct retribution.”
“Either way, they’re foolish.”
“Yeah. —Haldia won’t be able to expect a good harvest this year.”
Before the contracted Hero passed away, the Wind Spirit made two covenants. One was to pacify the Dragon and ensure it wouldn’t attack people over the sea. The other was to nurture the small Spirits with its power, even without a forest.
Due to the second covenant, after losing the source of power that was the Hero, the Wind Spirit began to lose its strength. According to Yukihyo, it seemed Rishu had taken a big bite out of it.
Even now, the Wind Spirit’s retainers were carrying small Spirits, blowing across Nakahara. In terms of natural phenomena, they were delivering nutrient-rich black soil to the barren lands and moist air to the dry areas.
They should barely be able to harvest wheat and such, but if they had reduced the number of Spirits, that would be impossible. The nutrients would be drained from the black soil, and water wouldn’t reach them.
“By the way, Rosa said that the robe man who appeared might be a descendant of the People of Luf. There are many mysteries surrounding the People of Luf.”
Ash paused, stopping the cup he was about to bring to his mouth.
—It was something I had just learned very recently.