AN: This chapter marks the start of a new arc.
UPDATE 20/11/18: Edited so that Mary is referred to by her birth name in the narration
In the middle of a field, two warriors stood face to face.
Heinrich had his hand ready on his sword, his eyes never leaving his opponent.
His opponent was no less alert. She was a four-tailed Kitsune, dressed in a simple kimono designed for ease of movement. Sheathed in a wooden scabbard was her tsurugi, a straight double-edged sword.
The two of them gazed at each other for several seconds, scoping out any signs of weakness. Then they drew their swords and clashed.
Heinrich swung his sword with a speed that would have been unthinkable a few months ago. The Kitsune parried his attack and launched an attack of her own. But Heinrich didn't lose his balance, instead parrying the Kitsune's sword and attacking again.
They fought for almost a minute. Each clash filled the air with a metallic ring, for their swords were genuine steel, albeit without true edges. Heinrich parried nine out of ten attacks, but the remaining one in ten left shallow cuts on him. He was also able to land attacks on his opponent, but there were far fewer of them.
As the fight dragged on, Heinrich realised that he would definitely lose at this rate. He was fighting at full strength, quickly wearing himself out, yet the Kitsune showed no signs of fatigue. And there was a clear disparity in strength as well as stamina. Each clash of their swords sent tremors running up Heinrich's arms.
Trying to keep up with a monster in a physical contest is already unthinkable. Heinrich thought. If I'm going to have any chance of winning this… I'll have to take a risk.
Heinrich focused his attention inward, towards his own body. He felt the blood surging through his veins, the heart that beat furiously to pump this blood, the muscles that contracted and relaxed to move his body.
More… more…
Straining his mind to the limit, just barely managing to keep away the Kitsune's sword, Heinrich reached his goal. He felt the energy flowing through his body, the energy that humans did not normally sense. He reached inside and tried to grasp the energy, to shape it in the way he needed. It was a difficult task at the best of times, like scooping up water only for it to escape through one's fingers, but in the end, he succeeded.
His heart quickened, pumping blood at an even greater pace. His muscles burned energy even faster, bringing out a strength and speed that surpassed human capabilities. He had never done this outside of a dedicated training session before, so there was the risk of not paying attention to the outside world and getting hit by an attack that could otherwise avoided.
Heinrich swung his sword once more. With his increased strength, he managed to knock the Kitsune's sword back slightly. Heinrich didn't let that opportunity pass. He dashed forward into extreme close range. In theory, he was close enough that neither of them could swing their swords effectively. He planned to follow up with an elbow strike –
– then he felt a powerful impact to his stomach and collapsed. While gasping for breath on the ground, he looked back up at his victorious opponent.
"That wasn't a bad idea, but against a skilled fighter, it's not enough," the Kitsune said as she leaned down and pulled Heinrich back to his fight.
"Thank you, Izuna-sensei." Heinrich said. He wasn't that familiar with the Yamatai language yet, but he had picked up some of its conventions.
"You've managed to use ki to enhance your body during battle," Izune said proudly. "I knew you'd get it eventually."
Heinrich lowered his head in embarrassed happiness. He had never thought that he'd be able to use magic – or ki as the people of Yamatai called it – before. When he was growing up, he'd heard that humans needed to study for a lifetime to be able to use magic. However, in Yamatai he had learned that this principle only applied if a human wanted to use magic to affect the outside world. Using magic to enhance one's own body was much simpler. Indeed, he had been told that many elite human fighters used this limited form of magic, and this was how they were able to perform the incredible feats described in stories, like lifting boulders, running on the surface of water, and fighting while grievously wounded.
Raising his head, Heinrich said, "Thank you for the praise, Izuna-sensei. If it's alright with you, could we spar again?"
Izuna was about to answer, but she looked at something behind Heinrich and her ears twitched. She said, "Normally, I would agree, but it seems that your friend has other plans."
Heinrich turned around and saw that Mary was approaching. One thing that caught his eye was that she was wearing her travelling outfit again. In these past two months, she had taken the opportunity to experience Yamatai fashion, wearing a new outfit almost every week. She also carried both her staff and her travelling pack.
While waving her hand, Mary said, "Hello! Hope I'm not interrupting anything!"
"No, we've just finished sparring," Heinrich said. "So is it time to go?"
"Well, technically it is, but it's not like we have to leave urgently or anything," Mary said. "If you want to stick around for a few more days – "
"No, it's fine," Heinrich replied.
Mary looked Heinrich up and down and said, "You've really managed to get yourself roughed up, haven't you? Hold still just a sec – "
Mary waved her staff and the round crystal on the end started glowing with a gentle white light. Just looking at the light gave Heinrich a feeling of serenity. Then Mary chanted, "Spirit of life, heal his wounds," and the light floated from the crystal and entered Heinrich's body. The light wasn't solid, but Heinrich felt a wave of warmth spread rapidly through his body. The various small cuts on his body stopped bleeding and shrank until they were no more than thin pink lines, as if they'd had several weeks to heal.
After taking a step back to observe her handiwork, Mary said, "Sorry, I can still only manage this much. A proper white mage would be able to heal without even leaving any traces."
"No, you've done great," Heinrich said. "I still can't believe that you managed to learn so quickly."
Both of them had spent the past few months doing more than just playing around. Heinrich had trained under Yamatai swordmasters, causing his skills to advance by leaps and bounds. Mary, on the other hand, had opted to learn a new skill in white magic. According to herself, she had slept through her previous classes on white magic because she hadn't been interested. She now considered this an important skill to learn, as she could use it to: heal Heinrich whenever he got hurt, heal herself to avoid giving away her real identity, and to heal other people they came across.
Izuna cleared her throat to gather attention. She bowed towards Heinrich and said, "It's a pity that you must leave so soon, Heinrich-san. You have been an excellent student. Good luck on your journey."
Heinrich returned the bow. "The same to you, Izuna-sensei."
Heinrich parted with Izuna and walked off with Mary. They walked through the field and headed to the path leading out of the village. Along the way, Mary munched on a roll of sushi, a type of Yamatai cuisine, and talked excitedly about what she had gotten up to lately and everything she wanted to experience in the future.
Heinrich was just glad that she was able to talk normally again. A month ago, she had still been suffering from nightmares, waking up in the middle of the night and either screaming and crying. But thanks to the efforts of others, especially Tamamo, she was more or less back to normal.
Then Mary's face lit up with the clear sign of an idea. She said, "Hey, I just thought of something. Actually, two things. First, I've been going around with my real appearance, but that's just too much of a risk. I haven't run into any monsters who know me so far – it helps that this is the first time I've left Hellgondo – but I should actually disguise myself from now on."
Mary concentrated, and her features began to shift. In a matter of seconds, she had given herself dark brown hair, grey eyes, and a light spattering of freckles. Only someone who was extremely familiar with Mary would be able to recognise her now. Though, in Heinrich's opinion, she was still dazzlingly gorgeous – not that he would ever say that to her face.
After pulling out a mirror and checking her appearance, Mary said, "Okay, that should do. Now for the second thing: what should I call myself from now on?"
Heinrich blinked, then realised what she was talking about. While they were in the isolation of Yamatai Village, Mary had gone by her real name – though she'd still concealed her position – but that obviously couldn't be done in the outside world. He thought about it for a while and said, "Well, do you want to go back to the one before? 'Aliceto' – 'Mary'?"
Mary shook her head. "No, now that I think about it, that wasn't all that good of a name. Not only is it hard to say but nobody else has it, so it just stands out. I don't think I ever told you this before, but I literally came up with that name by combining the name of the Monster Lords with the name of a flower that happened to in sight."
That's… that's actually not that surprising, all things considered, Heinrich thought.
Mary spent some time thinking, then brightened up and said, "I've got it! Like I just said, I need a name that won't stand out, so there's no point in thinking of anything complicated."
"Okay, so what name are you thinking of?" Heinrich asked.
"'Alice'," Mary said simply.
Heinrich paused. He thought that he must have misheard her somehow, that she must have said something similar like 'Eris'. But he realised the truth and said, "Wait, what? Didn't you also just say that 'Alice' was the name of the Monster Lords? Don't you need to hide that part of your identity as well?"
"Yes, that's true, but think about it!" Mary said. "It's only a famous name among monsters. I'm still disguising myself as a human, and there are plenty of humans named 'Alice', aren't there?"
"Hmm… yeah, there are," Heinrich said. "But still, there are plenty of other ordinary names to choose from."
"But there's another reason for the name 'Alice'," Mary said. "Since it's what I'll be calling myself eventually, I may as well get used to it now. And – " Mary paused and looked away for some reason, " – and it would also be good for you to get used to it too, just – just in case we meet each other after that happens."
"Well, okay then," Heinrich said. "So then… let's continue our journey, Alice."
Mary beamed, a dazzling smile that left Heinrich lost for words. "Alright, let's go, Heinrich!"
She strode off, and Heinrich hurried to keep pace with her. This was easier than it was at the start of their journey, freeing up his mind to think of other things.
It was now the middle of August. After crossing the mountains back into the main Noah region, they planned on heading south. Assuming that nothing unexpected happened, they would make it to the Natalia region by the beginning of September. Heinrich couldn't wait to see what lay in store for them there.
After the Natalia region, they had two options: to cross the South Sea to the distant Ilias Continent, or to head northwest to reach the arid Safina region. Understandably, Mary had expressed her distaste for the former option, so it looked like the Safina region would be their next destination. Of course, that was a while in the future, and things could always change.
But then another, less pleasant thought entered his mind. He recalled a line from the recent conversation: "Since it's what I'll be calling myself eventually". It was easy to forget, given the way that Mary interacted with everyone regardless of their station, but she was royalty, and royalty of an entirely different species at that. Sure, right now she was travelling around the world under the guise of a commoner. But, in the end, she would return and take her throne, and be far removed from a nameless orphan like Heinrich.
The Heinrich of a few months ago wouldn't have cared that much. After all, everyone parted with each other, sooner or later. But now, there was a feeling inside him, a resistance to being away from her. The him of the past would have been repulsed by such feelings, but now?
Heinrich shook his head. There was no sense in dwelling on what could never be.
-ooo-
"Wake up, Lucifina."
These words were delivered in a clear and melodious voice, with an impression of holiness that no mortal could produce. If a human were to hear this voice, they would have prostrated themselves in awe. But the voice had no effect on the one it was directed towards.
Lying on a simple bed was an angel. She had light brown hair, blue eyes, a pair of white feathery wings on her back and a ring of golden light above her head. She was beautiful to a truly divine extent, with a face and figure that even master artists would struggle to replicate. This was only accentuated by her minimal clothing, which consisted of white ribbons wrapped around her body. Currently, she had her eyes closed and seemed to be sleeping.
The other person in the room narrowed her eyes. She bore a great resemblance to the one on the bed, with the same halo and wings and the same divine beauty. This was only natural, since they were, in a sense, sisters. She differed in that her hair was golden blonde and her clothing was green in colour, but otherwise they were almost identical. She raised her voice and said, "I know that you're awake, Lucifina. Stop this nonsense. We have important business."
Lucifina remained on the bed for a few more seconds, still feigning sleep. Then her eyes opened and she leapt out of bed, landing smoothly on her feet. Despite the sudden movement, the other angel did not even flinch. Lucifina raised her arms and yawned exaggeratedly, then said in a cheery voice, "Good morning, Micy! What's going on?"
The other angel didn't rise to the obvious provocation. She said, "It is the afternoon now. And I will not tolerate you using such nicknames. But, to answer your question, Goddess Ilias has requested your presence."
"What, again?" Lucifina said. "That's the third time this century. Just what does she want now, Micaela? Does she want me to cut up some monsters, give a hero the standard reward, or kiss her ass?"
Micaela's expression remained unchanged despite these words. Allowing only the slightest trace of steel to enter her voice, she replied, "She did not tell me. And you need to learn to respect our Goddess and creator."
Lucifina rolled her eyes. "There's this nice principle that humans have, which I think applies to this situation," she said. "I'll only respect her when she starts respecting me. You should follow it as well."
"I do not have time for this," Micaela said, turning towards the door. "Come."
She walked out of the room, and Lucifina followed her after a short pause.
The two of them walked through a series of hallways, all of which were lavishly decorated. The walls were made of polished marble. The floors were covered by soft red carpets, while chandeliers of the purest crystal hung from the ceiling. And of course, paintings and murals of the one true Goddess could be found everywhere, ensuring that all could behold her incredible visage at any time.
Visible out of the many windows was an absolutely breathtaking scenery. There was neither land nor sea, only an endless expanse of clouds. Many other buildings could be glimpsed among the clouds, and the tiny silhouettes of angels flitted among them. This was Heaven, the holy realm in the sky. However, to the two angels it was an ordinary sight, not worthy of any particular attention.
As they walked, the two of them passed by many other angels. Though these lesser angels had a halo and wings like Lucifina and Micaela, the presence they gave off was orders of magnitude weaker. This was only natural, for these were angels of the ninth and lowest order, while Lucifina and Micaela were of the first and highest order, the Seraphim. The lesser angels stopped and bowed as the two Seraphim passed. They showed respect towards Micaela, who returned the courtesy with polite nods… but towards Lucifina, they could not suppress their shivers of fear.
Lucifina had a bored look on her face. When there were no other angels in earshot, she said casually, "Hey, can I ask you something?"
Micaela hesitated for a moment. With a hint of resignation in her voice, she said, "What is it, Lucifina?"
"You know how angel names usually end in '-el', right?" Lucifina said. "To show that we're 'of Ilias' and all that. But the two of us are the first angels ever made, but our names don't end in '-el'. Why is that?"
"I… I cannot say that I know the answer to that question," Micaela admitted. "I can only say that it is the will of Ilias that we have these names."
Lucifina rolled her eyes again at this answer. It was clear that this was far from the first time that she had heard it. She then let her hand drift down to her side, only to manifest a sword out of thin air. Faster than the eye could see, she thrust it at Micaela's face.
There was a metallic, bell-like clang, and Lucifina's sword was repelled by another one that Micaela had summoned in the same manner. Micaela glared at Lucifina, though without the burning hostility that she would direct towards a true enemy.
"For the hundredth time, Lucifina, cease this nonsense," Micaela said. "This is not the battlefield."
"Actually, this makes one hundred and thirteen times now," Lucifina said breezily. "Anyway, I'm just making sure you stay sharp. It's been far too long since we had a real battle after all."
Micaela's eyes hardened. She said, through gritted teeth, "Battle is not something to long for. It is something to be avoided at all costs. Remember that."
"Yeah, yeah," Lucifina said. She pulled her sword back and returned it to the pocket space where it was normally kept. Micaela did the same, and they continued walking.
As they neared their destination, they passed through a hallway with windows on one side, giving a view of the adjacent room. With nothing else to attract her attention, Lucifina casually looked into that room
It was one of the few rooms in the building to have both humans and angels. The humans here were those who had distinguished themselves with incredible acts of faith, giving them the right to be lifted to Heaven. The angels here had the duty of rewarding the humans for their faith… but not in the way that they expected.
Lucifina smirked at the sight. The human believers thought of angels as pure and innocent, their divine beauty being divorced from anything sexual. Those who were fortunate enough to reach Heaven found that nothing could be further from the truth. Some of them objected, often claiming that this must be Hell in disguise and refusing to give in to the temptations of what they thought to be monsters. But a taste of angelic flesh soon banished any objections.
Micaela stopped and turned to Lucifina, having clearly noticed something. She said, "What is it this time?"
Lucifina laughed. "Oh, I was just thinking about how, for all that we claim to be higher beings, we angels are just as horny as monsters in the end."
"What did you say?" Micaela said, barely suppressing her anger at this blasphemous insult. "You – ugh, there's no point in trying to change your ways at this point. Rewarding the faithful is one of our most sacred duties."
"Sure, sure, if that makes you feel better," Lucifina said. "But you know, I never understand how anyone would think of us as pure and innocent. I mean, just look at these outfits!" Lucifina gestured towards her and Micaela's clothes. "You can't possibly convince me that no man ever looked at one of us and thought 'Oh, she's an angel! I definitely don't want to - '" Lucifina paused, then added in an apologetic voice, "Sorry, I shouldn't have talked to you about this. I forgot that you don't have any experience to speak of."
Micaela flushed crimson. Shaking her fists, she retorted, "Wha – you're just as much a maiden as I am!"
Lucifina laughed. "Yeah, that's right. Millions of years old, and neither of us has ever gotten any. Isn't that funny? In your case, you're too serious and dedicated to the old bitch, while in my case…" Lucifina tilted her head. "In my case, I guess it's because my only love is in killing things. Unlike most angels, I'm only interested in cutting people to shreds and painting the earth with their blood." As she said this, she reminisced about the past and licked her lips.
Micaela covered her face with a hand and refused to speak any further.
Finally, they arrived at a set of double doors, which were so large that they reached the ceiling. Carved into the front of the doors was yet another depiction of the Goddess Ilias. It was extremely detailed, with even the individual strands of hair visible. Nothing less for the door to the Goddess' very chamber.
Micaela put her hands on the doors and, despite their size, pushed them open without any signs of effort. She entered the room and Lucifina followed her, stifling a yawn.
The room was the largest one in the entire building. Multiple average-sized houses could have fit inside it, with plenty of room to spare. The ceiling was made entirely out of countless sheets of stained glass, casting a dazzling array of coloured light onto the room. There was no furniture save for a huge throne in the very centre of the room.
Seated on the throne was none other than the Goddess Ilias, the embodiment of light itself, the self-proclaimed creator of everything in the world. In appearance, she was quite similar to Micaela, with blonde hair and blue eyes, but the atmosphere she gave off was on an entirely different level. Though she had a pair of feathered wings, like her angels, she lacked their distinctive halo. She wore a sleeveless white dress that was cut low in the front and slit to the hips, and had a pale purple sash wound around her arms. Jewellery of the purest gold adorned her head, neck, wrists and hips.
Standing next to Ilias was another Seraph. She had brown hair and, unlike the other two, four pairs of wings: three on her back and one smaller pair on her head. Unlike the others, she wasn't wearing anything. This was Eden, the third Seraph and the younger sister of Micaela and Lucifina.
The two occupants of the room reacted differently to the new arrivals. Ilias merely lifted her head slightly in acknowledgement of their presence, while the naked Seraph smiled and almost jumped in excitement. The latter hurried over and said giddily, "Oh, it's been so long! It's great to see you again!"
Lucifina forced a smile on her face, though most people would be able to recognise the disdain hiding behind it. She said, in a sickly-sweet voice, "It's so nice to see you too, Eden. Did you enjoy the gift I sent you?"
"Yes!" Eden said, though her smile fell slightly. "But, um… did you really have to make it explode and squirt ink in my face when I opened it?"
"Why, of course I did!" Lucifina said. "It's all for your sake, to train you into being better at spotting deception."
"Cease this nonsense!" Micaela snapped. "Don't pretend that your cruel pranks are meant to help her in any way. And Eden, please don't believe everything she says."
Eden looked between her two older sisters, confused as to who she should listen to. Before the conversation could drag on any further, they were interrupted by a firm voice.
"Enough."
All three Seraphim, even Lucifina, turned towards the throne and kneeled.
"Lucifina," Ilias said. Even though her face and posture were relaxed, the Goddess exuded an undeniable authority. "What is your opinion of humans?"
Lucifina was confused by this question, for Ilias had never asked anything like it before.
Sensing her hesitation, Ilias added, "I want an honest answer. Speak as you please."
Well… if that's what she wants, might as well, Lucifina thought. Looking up into Ilias' eyes, she said, "I think humans are incredibly interesting. Certainly, on average, they are far weaker than us angels or even monsters. Their lives are short – even if they don't fall to injury or sickness, they die in just a handful of decades. But despite that – no, because of that, they have a special trait of their own."
"Oh! You mean how, because of their short lives, they're passionate and driven to…" Eden interjected, excitedly at first, though she then wilted under the harsh gaze of Ilias.
"That's an interesting idea… but no, I was thinking of something completely different," Lucifina said. "As I was saying, humans have a special trait that distinguishes them from angels. Unlike us, they are honest about their natures."
Ilias merely raised an eyebrow in response. She said, "That seems an odd thing to consider interesting."
"Then allow me to explain," Lucifina said. "When a human wants something owned by another, whether it's food they need to avoid starving or a sack of gold they want out of greed, they simply take it. When they want someone else dead, they stab that person and leave them to choke on their own blood. When they want pleasure, they either find a whore or, again, simply take what they want. They don't pretend to be pure beings, devoid of base desires."
When Lucifina made this speech, the other three all had a different reaction. Micaela glared at her, partly out of disbelief that she would be so brazen to the Goddess' face. Eden had a questioning look, suggesting that she hadn't even managed to pick up the meaning of Lucifina's words. And Ilias maintained the same neutral expression as before… something that unsettled Lucifina far more than any obvious emotion would have.
Eventually, Ilias nodded, seemingly satisfied. She said, "It is an honest answer, which is all I asked for. That brings me to the reason I summoned you. I have a task for you, one that will entail your spending significant lengths of time on the surface world, among humans."
This was a surprise to Lucifina. "Are you certain about this, your Holiness?" she asked. "I believe that there are other angels, those with experience f – interacting with humans, who would be more suited to the task."
"Not for this kind of task," Ilias replied. "This requires someone of your particular… demeanour."
With that, Lucifina understood. She was reminded of the Great Monster Wars – a time of tragedy for most, but for her it was the last time she had felt truly alive. Back then, each of the three Seraphim had gained a unique reputation.
Micaela had been the shining hero. She had the power to fight against the elites of the monsters, the tactical and strategic knowledge to command an army in any situation, and the charisma to inspire her allies to fight against overwhelming odds. Every angel knew of her feats, like the time she had held a city against a seemingly endless army of monsters that had even been led by two of the Six Ancestors.
Eden had been the loyal servant of Ilias. While there were fewer tales about her, that was simply because she had remained steadfastly by her Goddess' side for most of the war. The few times that she had taken to the field, she had proven herself to be a match for any one of the Six Ancestors.
And Lucifina? She had been the butcher. No angel, not even her sisters, had killed as many monsters as she had. It was said that the blood she had spilled could fill an entire lake. Her epithet, "Daystar", inspired dread in angels as well as monsters. Moreover, she had never hesitated when it came to violence. Whenever they found a village where humans and monsters lived in peace and tried to stay out of the war, it was Lucifina's duty to handle them. While many of her fellows would have tried to spare the humans, believing that they might be convinced to repent for their sins, Lucifina had simply killed them all.
"Well, if that is your desire, I shall do my utmost to follow it," Lucifina said. Speaking in such a polite and formal manner made her want to vomit her entrails out, but she persevered. Even she knew better than to anger someone who, for all of her faults, undoubtedly merited the title of Goddess.
"Thank you for accepting," Ilias said. She smiled, an expression that would have caused most humans to faint from excessive joy. But to Lucifina, it simply increased her sense of revulsion.
"Now then, allow me to explain the context for this task of yours. The current Monster Lord has been acting oddly as of late. She has ordered her daughter to do something truly perplexing, and I would have you find out more."
-ooo-
Heinrich watched the boiling contents of the pot carefully. Beside him, Mary was drooling and barely able to hold on any longer.
Finally, from the wafting aroma and the colour of the rabbit stew, Heinrich decided that dinner was ready. The moment he made that announcement, the future Monster Lord pounced. She scooped up a bowlful with incredible speed, somehow without spilling any, and began wolfing it down.
"Mmm! Amazing!" Mary managed to get out these words, still without spilling or spitting out anything.
Heinrich laughed as he used a ladle to fill his own bowl. Being able to carry around heavy equipment like this large iron pot was one of the perks of having a space-warping magical cabinet. In fact, this pot was one of the things that Mary had packed right from the beginning of her journey, but she had forgotten about it until recently. She had only found it again while she was rummaging through the cabinet for something else.
Today, they had crossed the river that marked the border between the Noah and Natalia regions just before setting up camp for the night. Having never been outside of his country of birth before, Heinrich was giddy at the thought of what they would encounter next.
His thoughts then turned to the past. During their time in Yamatai, Mary had contacted her mother the Monster Lord using telepathic magic. The concept of instant communication across such a long distance had sounded incredible to Heinrich, yet she had treated it as something normal. Anyway, Mary had explained everything to her mother, revealing all of the sordid details. The response had surprised both of them: the Monster Lord had told her that she was doing well and to continue her journey, and to leave the issue in Plansect Village to her.
After some discussion, they had worked out the probable reasons for this response. While Heinrich had no personal experience with being a leader, he did have a decent amount of experience with the darker side of humanity. It was easy for him to imagine that a leader, human or monster, would need to be able to make difficult decisions. It was therefore likely that Alice VII may have expected such an incident to occur and for her daughter to learn from it. Said daughter hadn't been happy at this conclusion, even if she now understood the reasons for it, breaking a tea cup in her hand and letting out an imaginative array of expletives.
After leaving Yamatai, they had headed south, passing by the enormous forest that lay in the middle of the Noah region. Plansect Village lay somewhere within its depths, but a group of plant monsters at the edge had warned them not to enter the forest because of the current tension. They did, however, reveal that the Monster Lord had visited several weeks before, something that had clearly been shocking to them. It seemed that the Monster Lord had made use of her daughter's information, delivering judgement to all those connected to the kidnappers and taking their captives to the Monster Lord's Castle for rehabilitation.
Heinrich was troubled by the fact that mother and daughter hadn't decided to meet each other, despite being apart for several months. Mary described her mother to be a failure as a parent, though she was now beginning to grudgingly admit that she was at least competent at her job. However, Heinrich couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to it.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Mary finishing off the last of her stew. As usual, she had finished eating first even though she had the lion's share of the meal. She cleared her throat and said, "I'd like to talk about what we'll be doing next. Do you want to finish first, or – "
"No, it's fine, go ahead," Heinrich answered.
"Okay, so the first place we'll be going to is the Forest of Spirits, which is close to the border," Mary said rapidly. "It's home to fairies and elves, which you haven't seen yet, but also a lot of wind spirits. And among those wind spirits is the Great Spirit of Wind, Sylph. From what I've heard, Sylph is worshipped by many people in the Noah region, and they even have an annual festival for her, the Sylph Festival. It's kind of like the monster worship we saw in Yamatai. Though I've also heard that Sylph isn't an ordinary monster, but is the – what were the words again? – the elemental embodiment of the wind itself."
Heinrich wasn't fully able to keep up with this barrage of words. He seized on the part that he understood the least and asked, "Wait, what's an 'elemental embodiment'?"
"That's – hmm…" Mary said, holding her chin in thought. "To answer that, first I need to explain what elements are. Basically, the elements are the basic things that make up the world. Everything in this world is made up of one or more elements mixed together in some way. Though, confusingly, people have come up with two ways of classifying them."
Mary raised her hand. She performed a series of gestures, and there was a small breeze, then a group of pebbles floated up for a few seconds, then droplets of water coalesced into a small translucent ball, then a small flame, then a mass of what could only be described as shadow, and finally a tiny glimmer of white light. "The first system of elements has the four elements of the material world and the two of the spiritual world. The four material ones are easy to understand, they're wind, earth, water and fire. As an example, a person's body has all of these: it's made from earth and water, it takes in and lets out air by breathing, and it burns food for energy. The two spiritual elements are darkness and light. Darkness is found in monsters, while light is found in angels and their goddess. Got it so far?"
Heinrich nodded, and Mary continued. She repeated her previous demonstration, but this time in a different order and with more elements. She conjured up flame again, now followed by a chunk of ice, then generated a miniature bolt of lightning, then conjured wind, earth, water, light and darkness. "The second system is confusing to explain. It actually has all the same elements as the first one, but with another two added: ice and lightning. Fire, ice and lightning are grouped together and called the magical elements, while wind, earth and water are grouped separately and called the natural elements. Darkness and light are still treated as above the rest, though.
"And, finally, an elemental embodiment is a being who is a particular element. Technically, all spirits of an element could be called embodiments of it, but usually the word is used for the Great Spirit of an element. Oh, forgot to mention, spirits are beings who are made completely or almost completely of one element. Most spirits are small and weak and are basically animals. However, the Four Great Spirits are as intelligent as us, will never die, and are incredibly powerful. In the case of Sylph, she is all of the wind in the world, and all of the wind in the world is her."
Upon hearing this description, Heinrich imagined something along the lines of a living, intelligent tornado. He then realised that it was a silly concept, especially since someone like that would have destroyed any forest in no time.
She must have noticed his thoughts, because Mary giggled and continued, "Well, while she is certainly a very powerful monster, from what I've heard she's also really friendly. So there's nothing to worry about."
Heinrich finished off the remaining stew in his bowl and thought for a bit. He said, "You mentioned that there are Four Great Spirits – so I'm guessing that the other three are for the other three – what did you call them – material elements?"
"Yes, that's right," Mary said. "They are: Gnome, the Spirit of earth; Undine, the Spirit of water; and Salamander, the Spirit of fire. There's one of them in each of the four regions of the Sentora Continent. In fact, Undine is right here in the Noah region, at a spring that's not far from Grand Noah. Though, well… she isn't the most sociable of people, from what I've heard, so I decided not to try visiting her." Mary then let out a breath. "Hah… I haven't tried explaining magical theory like this since – well, I've never tried explaining this to someone else before. If you got even half of it, that's better than I expected."
"No, I actually understood pretty much all of it," Heinrich said. "That's another thing you've gotten better at. You should be proud of yourself."
Mary turned her head away. In the flickering light of the fire, Heinrich couldn't quite catch the expression on her face. Mary said, "…Thanks."
After all this conversation, they decided to retire for the night. Heinrich had the first watch. He took out a knife and wood and spent the time practicing his woodcarving. He had improved quite a bit from when he'd first started, now working on a crude figure of a stag.
And… done, Heinrich thought, inspecting his handiwork. The antlers could use a little more work, but they're at least symmetrical. Now for something different… maybe a person?
Heinrich glanced at the sleeping Mary, watching her chest rise and fall. He imagined himself devoting all his spare time trying to reproduce her appearance, to try and replicate each strand of brilliant hair, each flawless curve…
He shook his head vigorously. In an attempt to take his mind off the awkward topic, he thought about the place that they would be visiting tomorrow.
-ooo-
The next morning, they packed up and set off. In just a few hours, they had reached their destination.
The Forest of Spirits had a unique atmosphere. Heinrich had seen many different kinds of forests so far, yet he couldn't help but feel unsettled by the one before him. The trees grew close together, not so closely as to make it difficult to walk through, but close enough that it was impossible to see any great distance inside the forest. The sounds of birds and other animals were present, but there was something slightly off about them.
Heinrich remembered a monster story that had been told to him when he was young. It claimed that fairies and elves were malicious pranksters, who would sneak into human villagers and cause all manner of strife. They would wipe out crops with blight, cause animals to attack humans, even steal human infants and replace them with their own. These fairy infants, or changelings as they were called, would be a lethal burden on their human caretakers, while the kidnapped human infants would be transformed into fairies if female or used as sex slaves if male.
Of course, Heinrich now knew that such stories were false. But when combined with the eerie atmosphere of the Forest of Spirits, he couldn't stop himself from shivering.
Mary looked at Heinrich and said, "Don't worry, there shouldn't be anything dangerous here. Even if there is, you'll be safe as long as you're with me."
Heinrich thanked her, but on the inside he couldn't help but feel… inadequate. He thought of what little he could do after all his training, and compared it to what he had seen Mary accomplish without breaking a sweat. He knew that it was absurd to try and compare himself to a future Monster Lord, but he would settle for being strong enough to at least not need protection.
But how long will that take? Heinrich thought.
Suddenly, Mary turned around. Heinrich turned as well, and spotted someone approaching.