Chapter 188: of Spirit Verse: Remnants of Old

“It’s a spirit.”

Everyone’s eyes fell on the Elder, surprised at her revelation.

“A spirit… you say?”

“Yes, Mr Korwen. A spirit.”

The Elder looked up at the giant creature in front of her, gently stroking it.

“This is… a spirit…”

I took a step back, taking in the giant thing in front of me. It was impossible… it was too huge. I couldn’t see where it began and where it ended…

“Miss Elder, I thought spirits are beings of mana? But this is…”

“It’s a spirit with a body, yes. That is correct, Karen. It is a creature similar to our elven spirit trees. A spirit invoked into a living creature. The scale is simply much grander. Much, much grander…”

While we were still surprised by the view in front of us, Korwen knocked against the wall—the spirit—before asking the Elder a question.

“Is it alive?”

“... I am not sure but I don’t believe it is.”

“Dead, huh…”

“Most likely.”

This giant spirit… was dead?

“In that case… is this an old spirit from the Spirit War?”

“... Most likely.”

“I knew it.”

A spirit from the Spirit War? Wasn’t that… that war the Elder had told us about? The one that involved the Great Spirits and the Witch, Yumias? But how did Korwen even reach that conclusion?

“No wonder that this place is like this… This is a spirit grave.”

“A… spirit grave?”

I tilted my head at the unfamiliar words.

“Yes. They’re places where spirits that died in the Spirit War are laid to rest… or something like that. I am not all that familiar with the details. Mostly because they’re locations that are inhospitable to most living creatures.”

An inhospitable place… Because of the mana, huh? But with the way he talked about it, there were other places like this?

“Calling them graves… The humanoid races sure found an apt name for them.”

“The elves have a different name?”

“Yes… Translating it is a little difficult, though, as your language doesn’t quite possess the word for it. If I had to describe it… ‘A place where the souls gather to become spirits’ would be it.”

“A place where souls become spirits, huh? Are you saying that this is a birthplace for spirits?”

“At least, according to our beliefs, it is.”

In other words, they didn’t exactly have proof for it?

“The mana of the dead spirit births young spirits and feeds them… or so we are taught at a young age. But there aren’t many places like this so I cannot say I have seen it with mine own eyes.”

The Elder turned away from the spirit’s body, towards Korwen.

“Either way, what shall we do, Mr Korwen? This isn’t a place we should linger in for long.”

“Mmm… You’re right about that… I’ve expected a lot of things but not a spirit grave, to be honest… No choice… Ria, how long can you keep that spell up…”

“Mmm…”

Ria, who had been looking at the spirit while we talked, turned around, thinking for several seconds. After a few moments passed, she held up three fingers to Korwen before she returned her attention back to the spirit…. All that without even saying a single word. Even for her, that was a little…

“Around a quarter-hour… Guess that’s to be expected. Well, we won’t have to hurry back immediately, at least.”

“... I am impressed that you figured out how long with only that.”

“It’s easy if you know what she means and as long as you know your numbers. It’s three dozenths of an hour. Or in simpler terms, a quarter.”

Three dozenths? That was… a little awkward but it did make sense… So a quarter-hour… Or half an hour in my old world. That was still quite a bit of time, although we had to account for the way back as well.

“Either way, for now… I’d say we should take a look around but I don’t think we should stray far from Ria… Not to mention that there doesn’t seem to be anything here anyway except for that large spirit corpse.”

“Nn, the area that Ria keeps safe isn’t that large…”

In fact, Korwen would only need to do two steps to the side and he’d be outside her bubble. Which was something he probably should avoid.

“As I thought… Well, in that case, let’s have Ria take a look until she is satisfied.”

Hopefully, before her spell ran out. Ria was quite absorbed in examining the body of the spirit.

“Hey, Miss Elder.”

“Yes, Yumi?”

“Most spirits are immaterial, right? And this is a spirit invoked into a body, as you said… But how come the body is still here? Doesn’t it… well… rot?”

Who knew how long this body had been here… Yet, if someone told me this spirit was actually still alive, I’d believe them. It might not move, but it had no signs of decay or anything either. Then again, neither did it show signs of life. But the creature was just so gigantic, I didn’t even know where the front and end were.

“That is a curious question… But while it is a spirit invoked into a body, it is still more spirit than a living creature. If anything, its existence would be more similar to you, I believe. Save for the absence of a mana crystal.”.

More similar to me… Well, if it wasn’t quite a living creature, then I certainly could see where she was coming from.

“Similar to Yumi… Hey, Yumi, can you absorb the mana around here?”

“Nn? I mean… Probably? Wait…”

Considering the absolutely massive amounts of mana here… wasn’t this quite a boon?

“I would recommend refraining from that, Yumi. Spirits are kind by nature, but they can be incredibly vicious if angered. How do you believe the Spirit War started?”

”Uhhh… So that’s no good? Also, I have no idea how it started…”

“You don’t? Oh, right… You were a little… lacking in general knowledge.”

“... It has to be bad if the person who was shut-in for such a long time says that to me.”

Not that I could deny it.

“The whole story is rather long but the Witch pretty much angered the Great Spirits with her actions, upon which the Great Spirits sought to… remove her from this world. The resulting war was nothing short of devastating. Places such as this were very rare before the war… but with many spirits, including several Great Spirits, dying in the war…”

The Elder shook her head.

“It’s not a pretty tale. But that’s something to be told for another time. Just keep in mind, that angering the spirits is not a path many dare to take.”

“I have no intentions of doing so…”

“That is good.”

With spirits being creatures made of mana, I wouldn’t even know how to defend myself from them…

“Mr Korwen, you should keep that in mind as well when deciding what to do about this.”

“Ha, you’re talking as I would know what to do about this at all! Tell me, what should I do with this? I don’t have the slightest idea.”

While complaining, he shrugged his shoulders.

“Unfortunately, I do not know either… I believe it would depend on what you want to achieve.”

“Frankly, I’d like to get rid of this place. This… spirit is the reason for the odd behaviour in the forest, is it not?”

“It would seem so.”

“Haaaa… I hoped to find out what the source is and whether there’s either a way to make use of it or get rid of it… But I have no idea how to do either.”

Neither did I. If the spirits would get angry for messing with this place, then there weren’t really any choices left to us, were there?

“There’s a good reason countries hide spirit graves or forbid people from entering them… They’re just dangerous. Haaa… Did Will know about this? He definitely did, didn’t he… Tsk.”

Someone was in a rather bad mood now… Not that I could hold it against him.

“We’ll need to think about what to do with this… Miss Elder, what is the stance of the elves on this matter?”

“Nothing much. These places are important to us but due to their inhospitable nature, we, too, avoid them. As long as the spirits are not angered, we don’t really care for whatever you plan to do.”

“Thought as much… Well, it’s better than you all getting angry over something.”

The Elder chuckled, apparently thinking it amusing.

“Fear not, we won’t. However, I cannot promise that my brethren won’t show… interest in this place.”

“... They’re not going to dig a hole, are they?”

“I doubt they would. They wouldn’t be able to, anyway. Remember that we, too, cannot stay long in this place.”

“Ahh, right… but that just brings us back to the original problem. What do we do about this?”

Good question.

“Captain, will it be a problem if we can’t solve this?”

“Well, Yumi, it mostly means that our means of procuring food are limited. We cannot hunt in a forest with next to no animals. We’d be reliant on Auria for food. While that’s not a problem by itself, it would make things easier if we could hunt and be more self-sufficient.”

“Ahhh… I See, that would be a problem…”

“Not to mention, you know how men are. If you give them the choice between meat and wheat nobody’s going to touch the wheat.”

“...”

Admittedly, I couldn’t deny that for myself either.

“While the men would be fine with fish, it’d be still better if we could procure a stable source of meat. And in the first place, I’d like to eat meat as well. Fish is great but… yeah…”

Not something he wanted to eat every day for the foreseeable future?

“Mr Korwen, if you were to curb the spirit’s influence, monsters might begin to settle in this place as well.”

“Mm… That might happen, you’re right… But dealing with a few monsters wouldn’t be a real problem. If anything, we’d get materials and crystals out of that. Depending on what kind of monster would settle here, they might make for good training for our recruits as well. But that all means nothing if we can’t deal with this…”

He sighed as he stared at the spirit in front of him.

“If only we could stop it from spreading all that mana… Can’t you stuff it somewhere else?”

“Mr Korwen, mana isn’t something you can just relocate. If you wanted to achieve that, you’d have to relocate the entire body.”

“Let’s do that.”

“Apologies for being frank, but I believe moving that would be impossible.”

“Thought so.”

Another sigh escaped him.

“If there was at least a use for this…”

Alas, there wasn’t… It would be difficult for Ria and the others to make use of the raw mana present in the air and while I would be able to, there wasn’t really much point in it, short of absorbing it. Which the Elder already discouraged me from.

Or maybe there’s something I could use it?

If we could use at least the mana leaking into the forest, we might be able to deal with the problems, no?

“Miss Elder, if I don’t absorb the mana, would there be a problem in using it?”

“Absorbing or using it is essentially the same, Yumi.”

“Oh… That’s true, I guess.”

Thinking about it, there wasn’t really much of a difference…

“Did you have something in mind, Yumi?” asked Korwen.

“Nn, well… I thought that if we used up the overflowing mana, wouldn’t that solve the problems with the forest?”

“Limiting it to only the mana that’d overflow, huh… If we could do that, it’d be great.”

It would be.

“... Actually, that might be possible.”

“Huh?”

“Really, Miss Elder?”

“Yes. The spirits are only active in the area around this place. If you were to… Mmm… place a ward—I believe you would call it that—then you could limit the overflowing mana to only a portion of the forest.”

“A ward? That’s an interesting idea… But would that actually work?”

Korwen looked rather dubious, hearing the Elder’s idea.

“If you refer to revitalising the forest, I admit I am not sure. Animals are very sensitive, they might avoid the forest nonetheless. However, I believe it would be worth an attempt. If nothing else, it would make the forest a more comfortable place to live in.”

“Mmm… I guess you’re right. There’s nothing to lose by trying it. That leaves the question of how we should construct such a ward… I am not very familiar with magic, so I am not sure how you would go about that.”

“There are various ways of accomplishing it. Like Yumi suggested, using up the overflowing would be the simplest solution. Other than that, something akin to Miss Ria’s spell would be possible, too.”

Did she mean the bubble she was currently using to protect us? If she were to invert it, as in, trapping the mana inside the area… Yeah, that might work.

“Alternatively, we elves might also have a way of helping out… However, you would need to discuss that with them first.”

“Mm… I see. But having a few options is already a step forward. We’ll have to see what will be feasible when we return.”

Korwen nodded, grinning slightly. I guess he was rather happy with having some possible solutions now.

Seriously, this is quite the troublesome thing we found…

With a wry smile on my lips, I stared at the giant wall once again. In front of me, Ria was still examining it. This had to be quite an interesting find for her, too.

“A spirit, huh… Hey, Sis, what do you think…. Nn? Sis?”

When I turned around to ask Karen about the whole thing, I found her staring up at the spirit’s corpse, not reacting to me.

“Hey, Sis, is something?”

“... Eh? Ah, sorry, Yumi, did you say something?”

“Nn… I wanted to ask for you thoughts about the whole thing but… Is something bothering you?”

“No, we…”

Karen furrowed her brows a little ash stumbled over her words.

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“I’m not quite sure… Looking at this, it makes me feel… a little queasy.”

“Queasy? You’re not feeling well?”

“It’s just a little… I’m sorry, I don’t quite know either. It’s like something is pressing down on me…”

“...”

I stared at Karen for a few seconds. She looked outwardly fine but if she said she wasn’t feeling well… I turned around to Korwen and the Elder, both of who were still discussing possible ways of dealing with our problems… But before I could speak up, Karen put a hand on my shoulder and turned me back around.

“It’s nothing serious, Yumi. Really.”

“... I’d rather not take any chances, Sis.”

“I’m not even sure if I’m not imagining it, to be honest…”

“Still…”

“We’ll leave soon anyway.”

I stared at Sis for a few seconds, unsure what to do. Thankfully, I didn’t really have to think about it much when Korwen’s voice called out to us from behind.

“Yumi, Karen, we’re about to leave.”

“... Got it, Captain.”

What fortunate timing this was.

“Sis, if you feel even a little bit worse, tell me immediately, okay?”

“Yes. Yumi, you’re way too overprotective.”

“Of course I am. You’re important to me.”

Hearing that, Karen averted her gaze from me, blushing a little.

“Sorry.”

“Tell me earlier next time.”

“I will.”

“Nn, good.”

I took Karen’s hand and gently pulled her along, following Korwen and the others.

The way back was as uneventful as the way to this place. The density of mana surrounding us slowly lowered until Ria could finally release her spell once more. Once she did, Korwen heaved a sigh of relief.

“Have to say, even if I know that Ria is doing her job, it’s a relief to know we’re in a safe area again.”

I could wholeheartedly agree with that. Next to me, Karen also looked relieved.

“Feeling better?”

“Yes. Like a weight being lifted from me.”

“That’s good.”

I was still a little worried and decided I’d pay some attention to Karen’s state for the remainder of the day. Just in case.

“I do wonder why I felt like that, though… Did you feel nothing, Yumi?”

“Not really? I was a little astonished at the pure size of that place and the spirit but that’s about all.”

Ria’s spell did keep us safe, so there wasn’t an issue with the mana either. Though it might still be the case that the dense mana wouldn’t bother me that much anyway.

“I see…”

“What did it even feel like?”

“I’m… not sure how to describe it… Like something was pressing down on me… It was only a little but…”

It made her feel uncomfortable enough.

“Weird… I didn’t feel anything at all, though.”

In the first place, how come it was only Karen who felt ill? Was it because she was a demonkin?

“Let’s ask Ria.”

“Eh? Ah! Yumi!”

“Ria.”

Ignoring Karen’s attempt at stopping me, I called out to Ria in front of me.

“Mmm… Is something… the matter?”

“Sis is saying that she didn’t feel well back there at the spirit grave. We wanted to ask if you know anything about that.”

“Mm…”

Ria tilted her head before looking at Karen.

“You felt… unwell?”

“... A little.”

“Mm… What exactly… did it… feel like?”

“Like something was pressing down on me. It was only a little but it made me feel uncomfortable.”

Resigning to her fate, Karen repeated what she told me to Ria.

“Pressing down… Mmm…”

“Any ideas?” I asked her.

“No… Not really… I didn’t… notice anything… strange… Mm… Did you… feel something… similar before?”

“Not that I can remember.”

At this point, Korwen and the Elder had also noticed our conversation, turning around in curiosity.

“Did something happen?”

“Mm… Karen was… feeling unwell… at that place…”

“She did? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Korwen turned to Karen, a stern expression on him as if he was admonishing her.

“... I wasn’t sure… whether I was imagining. I only felt a little ill at most.”

“I see. Next time, even if you aren’t sure, you should tell us immediately. Got that?”

“Yes, Mr Captain.”

Seeing her looking a little dejected, Korwen smiled wryly.

“So, Ria? Why did she feel ill?”

“I don’t… know… Mm… Karen… I’d like… to examine you… when we are… back… to make sure… nothing is… wrong.”

“Okay…”

Great, with that, Ria could make sure that there really isn’t anything wrong with Karen. A weight was lifted from my shoulders.

“A pressure… How odd. Is it because you are a demonkin? Or maybe because of your unique circumstances?”

“Miss Elder?”

“Ah, don’t mind me, I was just wondering out loud. Let us for now return and see what Miss Ria has to say.”

The Elder quickly deflected from her mutterings. But Karen’s unique circumstances? Was this about her being similar to the demonkin's ancestors? Though, that would still not quite explain why she felt unwell.

“The Elder is right, let’s get back first. This isn’t exactly the place to start an examination.”

Upon Korwen’s words, our group of five hurried back. Soon enough, the holes in walls came into sight, together with the rainbow hoggies occasionally crossing our paths. When we entered, they got out of our way but this time, as if they had gotten used to us in that short amount of time, they basically ignored us, leisurely going about their way. Seeing the hedgehog-like critters was a rather adorable sight, but having to be careful about avoiding them was just a tiny bit annoying.

“Okay, there is the exit. I probably… don’t need to ask if everyone can get out on their own, do I?”

His eyes fell on Ria and then on me.

“Haa… Karen, help your sister. Ria, come here.”

Korwen swiftly climbed out of the hole and then pulled up Ria.

“Yumi.”

“... Nn.”

With a smile, Karen turned to me. There was no escaping this, was there? Well, it was true I wouldn’t get out of this so easily. I might be able to if I used magic but… I felt like I was better off not suggesting that. And so, resigning myself, I lifted my arms and allowed Karen to lift me and help me out of the hole. After that, with a similar swift movement, Karen got out as well.

“Excuse me… Karen…”

That only left the Elder.

“Would you be so kind?”

“... Of course.”

It was great to see that I wasn’t the only one who needed help. Actually, together with Ria, we were three out of five. We were the majority!

“You all desperately need some training…” muttered Korwen.

Yes, we definitely needed training…

“Whatever… We should probably do something about this hole… Well, for now…”

Korwen walked up to a table that was left in this room and lifted it. Then, he went to the entrance of the tunnel and placed down the table, upside down, plugging the hole.

“Not exactly the best solution we have but it has to suffice for now until we find something else…”

Indeed, there was a random table in the middle of the room. That wasn’t suspicious at all. Well, it was only a temporary solution.

“That reminds me… What are we going to do about that anyway… I mean, are we going to keep this place a secret?”

It would be better to know that in advance. Though I wasn’t planning on telling this to anyone without Korwen’s permission. It was rather clear that we probably shouldn’t make a big deal out of it.

“For now, don’t tell anyone about it. Until we have found a solution for this… problem, at the very least.”

“Nn, got it.”

“I’ll gather everyone later to discuss the details of it. If you have any ideas or suggestions, keep them in mind until later.”

“Nn.”

Assuming we had any. Without saying anything else, Korwen led us out of the hall and back where all the other mercenaries were, the large hall that was steadily filling with supplies. Seeing the mercenaries working relieved me a little.

“Okay. Ria, you’ll go ahead and give Karen her check-up. I guess Yumi will want to be there as well. In that case, Miss Elder comes with me, there’s something I’d like you to do.”

“Nn.”

“Yes, Mr Captain.”

“Mmm…”

“Understood, Mr Korwen.”

“One of these days, maybe I won’t hear four different replies all at once.”

Impossible. That’d be boring.

“Anyway… Mm?”

“Captain!”

Korwen was opening his mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by a mercenary running up to him from behind. Why did this situation feel familiar? Oh right, something similar happened earlier.

“What’s the matter?”

“Captain, sir, something arrived for you!”

“Mm? A letter?”

The man handed a small letter to Korwen. It was rather plain but sealed with wax. That was the first time I ever saw a letter like this.

“... This already looks troublesome. Good job in delivering this. Return to your post.”

“Yes, Captain!”

With a salute, the man left, leaving us alone again.

“... I guess we’ll have to delay things for a while. I’ll have to deal with this first.”

“Is that letter important?”

“Yes, Yumi. Unfortunately, it is. It’s a letter from Ruben.”

“From Ruben?”

That was a surprise. I didn’t exactly peg that man to be someone who wrote letters.

“Yes, so we’ll have a change of plans. I’ll take a look at this first. Miss Elder, I’ll call for you later. Take a break for now.”

“Understood.”

“Yumi, Karen, you two can also take a break once you are done with that examination. Ria, report to me when you are finished.”

”Yes, Captain.”

“Yes, Mr Captain.”

Seeing that we acknowledged his orders, or rather the lack thereof, Korwen took his letter and left, returning to the camp through the portal. He probably wanted to open the letter somewhere where others couldn’t accidentally spy on it.

“Well then, it seems I am left with nothing to do. I hope you will not mind if I accompany you, Yumi, Karen?”

“Nn, I don’t mind.”

“Neither do I.”

If anything, maybe the Elder would be able to help us out as well.

“Mm… Let’s go… to my… examination… tent… I have… everything… I need… there…”

“Nn, that’s okay.”

With Ria taking the lead, we returned to the camp as well.

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