Ep 62. Get A Life, Will You? (2)

 

“…You know, I’m starting to think it would’ve been better if I went to Rosa instead of here.”

“Wouldn’t you have to travel a lot then?”

“Traveling sounds a lot better than…this.”

Patrick leapt down from Ilias onto the snow-covered field. The mage could see the town gates just up ahead, which he slowly began walking towards.

In all fairness, it was a nice day. The snow was beautifully decorating the earth, and not a single cloud blocked the sun’s rays that made them gleam like diamonds.

‘Would be nice if that’s all there was to it.’

The enforcer winced as his cloak fluttered against a sudden, chilling breeze, which he quickly took hold of to wrap around himself again. He hadn’t cared to dress any warmer than usual for their visit to the forest; suddenly being flown over to a snow-covered mountain range wasn’t anything he’d prepared for.

The mage looked over to the red dragon accompanying him. If anything, it should’ve been worse for her; at least Patrick wasn’t wearing shorts. But strangely, the dragon didn’t seem bothered one bit.

“So, Ilias, uh…aren’t you cold?”

“Cold? I don’t get cold easily. Takes a lot more than this for me to feel cold!”

“Are dragons immune to cold or something?”

“Not really. But my affinity’s fire, so I can keep myself warm pretty easy. Must be really cold for you, huh?”

As soon as she finished her piece, Ilias’ tail swung behind Patrick, tightly wrapping around his waist. The dragon grinned at the sight of her new friend sighing in relief from the permeating warmth.

“There, better?”

“…Sure. Other than the fact that I look like a slave being apprehended old-school.”

“Better than freezing, right?”

“…I guess?”

Soon after, the pair was stopped at the gates by a sentry – who needed a minute to process what he was looking at, and another few minutes to be convinced that Ilias wasn’t holding Patrick hostage. He only let them through once he saw Patrick’s enforcer identification.

Even then, the sentry threw odd glances at the pair until they were gone from sight.

Oh well.

 

✧   ✧   ✧

 

Otoka plunged the rear end of his staff into the boiling cauldron. He began to stir it clockwise, taking care to keep the speed consistent.

“The scalium, if you will.”

As soon as the archmage spoke his next ingredient, Light brought over the bowl of pre-powdered mineral, sifting the contents into the murky contents of the cauldron. The liquid began to simmer in response, and Otoka threw a brief glance towards Karas after.

“Now, keep the heat consistent. It needs to stay perfectly still.”

The professor was sitting by the cauldron’s base with both hands stretched towards its lower end, keeping a roaring fire alive through magic. He briefly nodded back to the archmage, focusing to keep the fire spell at its current level.

Meanwhile, Serenis and Aldrid were watching it happen live without lifting a finger. And the dragonlord wasn’t exactly comfortable with the whole situation.

She looked towards the deity who, as far as she could tell, didn’t exactly seem to be doing anything.

“…Aldrid. Explain what this is again, will you?”

“Of course! Mr. Lairaff’s crafting an item for us that’ll be able to house small bits of divinity. Once I share my own divinity into the finished product, it’ll act as a defensive ward against the divinity of death.”

Serenis returned her gaze back towards the boiling cauldron. She knew too little about alchemy to properly tell, but as far as she could see, Otoka was cooking, not crafting.

Then again, he was putting rocks and grass into the mix, so what did she know.

A brief sigh escaped the dragonlord as she watched the others working tirelessly to complete this craft.

On the night they’d first spoken, Aldrid had offered Serenis to take her divinity shard whole. And, as much as the dragonlord loathed the thought of carrying a piece of the First within her, it was the easiest solution to rendering her impervious to the divinity of death.

However, what resulted from the attempt was a fierce resistance from her own body. The golden shard had violently refused to synthesize with the dragonlord. If Serenis had forced it so, one of the two would have broken: the shard, or herself.

- ‘That’s strange. Lord Serenis, you don’t happen to be carrying a divinity shard already, do you?’

- ‘No such thing. I only have my former heart.’

- ‘Your former heart…? Do you mean your dragon heart?’

- ‘Yes. Why do you ask?’

- ‘Maybe that’s why. You see, a human body can only carry one shard at a time. If you’re truly in a human’s body right now, and your former heart works similarly to the First’s fragments, then it makes sense that your body is refusing to accept another one.’

And so, the alternative Aldrid had devised was to share a piece of her divinity through a small artifact – which everyone was working tirelessly to make. Otoka had tasked everyone with either helping the craft or delivering ingredients; Aldrid was also responsible for its finishing touches.

However, Serenis remained idle beside the deity of life. An uncomfortable gaze fell onto the blonde woman.

“…I believe you said there would be something for me to do as well.”

“There is!”

Aldrid pulled on her chair as she turned to face the dragonlord, scooting herself closer. Her eyes were beaming with delight and excitement.

“I’d like you to tell me everything that’s happened to you. Reincarnation and all.”

“…How exactly does this concern the craft?”

“It makes the deity of life more willing to help.”

“…”

“And who knows? Maybe I can figure out how you were able to live again.”

Serenis furrowed her brows at Aldrid’s blatant audacity. It was a threatless threat; one she couldn’t wriggle out of. A brief sigh followed as the dragonlord answered.

“Very well.”

“Oh, and do try not to hide any details. I promise I won’t tell.”

“…Very well.”

Serenis began to trace her memories. It’d been a while since she’s had to remember the day of her awakening.

 

✧   ✧   ✧

 

“I see…so you’re actually a student named ‘Zion’ right now.”

Aldrid nodded her head as she reflected on the dragonlord’s story. There were some obvious parts, some extraordinary parts, and also some nonsensical parts – but overall, the story explained quite well how Serenis had wound up in the forest.

Meanwhile, a poor half girl was audibly groaning by the cauldron, mixing its contents with a long, oversized metal ladle. Her arms were beginning to tremble from all the stirring.

“Ugh…this is unfair…”

“…Think of it as a part of your workshop, Light. Unfortunately, we’re not dragons. Or an archmage.”

“That doesn’t help, professor.”

“Would you rather I lecture you on how scalium reacts when left to rest in heat?”

“Don’t they corrode?”

“Yes, and they emit toxic substances. If that happens, it’s quite likely that we’ll have to start all over again.”

“…”

Light fell silent as Karas lectured her from the cauldron’s base, sitting in the exact same position as before. While he would’ve traded places with his groaning student, Light had almost no affinity in fire magic, and even lesser expertise with keeping a fire spell alive and steady.

Otoka was leisurely sitting by the side, supervising the craft. After his old arms had given away, he’d asked Light to continue the stirring in his place – but she was clearing reaching her limit.

‘Well, it’s been a good hour. I suppose she’s done what she can.’

And, most importantly, Light was pretty much the only person here that he actually felt bad for. At least somewhat.

“That’s enough stirring for now. Fetch more limen leaves from outside, will you, child? There should be a few trees just up the hill behind the cabin.”

“Finally!!”

As the archmage took the ladle from her hand, Light let out an exasperated groan as she stepped back, rapidly nodding her head. Her legs strode over to the door in lightened steps, but her powerless arms had to struggle for a few seconds against the doorknob before she could exit the cabin.

Aldrid let out an apologetic laughter as the half girl exited the cabin. She turned to Serenis afterwards, new interest perking in her eyes.

“So, Lord Serenis. You told me how you met everyone, but how come they followed you all the way here?”

“They had their own reasons; I simply happened to be a trigger. I believe Light only wanted to skip her classes when deciding to follow along.”

“Ohh…is that so? For a moment, I thought you were recruiting allies or something.”

The dragonlord let out an ill laughter at the comment. She knew all too well what it was like to challenge a divinity – especially to the death.

“…Against a deity of death? All of them would die at the wave of a hand.”

“But at least one person is free from such constraints, right?”

Serenis furrowed her brows at the comment.

“Free? Who?”

“The professor over there? He isn’t exactly alive, right? Even Master Felicir can’t ‘kill’ someone who isn’t living.”

“…?”

Serenis curiously looked over towards Karas, who was far too focused on his task to listen to their conversation. She couldn’t understand what Aldrid was saying.

“What exactly do you mean, child? He looks plenty alive to me.”

“But he’s a monster though?”

“…Monster?”

“Mhm. Or, perhaps you’re more familiar with the term ‘manaspawn’? They’re the same thing, really.”

Manaspawn was just an older term. Monster, which was a term more commonly used by man, was perfectly synonymous.

But that wasn’t the issue at all. Serenis squinted her eyes as she spared a brief glance at the focused professor, then back at Aldrid.

“Karas…isn’t a half?”

“…You didn’t know?”

“No?”

She didn’t know. There was no way Serenis would’ve known when Karas went around claiming to be a crow half, looking like a crow half, and being indicated as a crow half on file.

But what’s a file’s worth before a deity of life?

Aldrid darted her gaze between Karas and Serenis. She briefly rose to her feet, approaching the professor to gain his attention.

“Excuse me. Professor Karas, was it? If you don’t mind me asking…what race are you?”

“…Hm?”

When Karas looked up from the fire to meet Aldrid’s gaze, he couldn’t find a single hint of curiosity in the deity’s eyes. She was clearly asking a question that she already knew the answer to.

“…I believe you would know the answer already, Deity Aldrid.”

“Perhaps. But do others?”

“…”

Serenis curiously observed the professor as his gaze gradually shifted over to her. When their eyes met, she could see a glimpse of guilt in the crow’s eyes.

A sigh followed suit as Karas began his confession, speaking loud enough to be heard by the dragonlord.

“First…Serenis, I’d like to ask you to keep this a secret.”

“…? Were you truly not a half?”

“No, I am not. In truth, I am a monster – a mana phenomenon.”

“And you hid it all along? For what reason?”

The professor chuckled at the dragonlord’s question. In a way, it was almost innocent.

“It’s difficult to find a reason not to hide it. Monsters are wont to be feared and discriminated – the notion of monsters is still that of dangerous beasts. Had I revealed my actual race, my position as an institute professor would have been impossible.”

“…Impossible…”

Serenis reflected on her own era as Karas’ explanation sank in.

True to his words, monsters never had much positive connotation to them, past or present: a large majority were no different from dangerous, vicious beasts. In fact, because a monster’s death left behind crystallized mana rather than hide and meat, their reputation was considerably worse during the dragonlord’s era.

‘But how exactly does that relate to one’s state of living?’

Soon, the dragonlord shifted her gaze back to Aldrid.

“…Child. Whatever did you mean that he isn’t alive?”

The deity cleared her throat to explain her earlier statement.

“A monster is closer to a natural phenomenon than a living entity. It’s similar to…say, a storm. Or a wave. While they exist, they cannot truly be described as ‘alive.’ A state of death would imply that the soul has been severed from the body, but because monsters possess no soul, there is no sense of death in them. Just like how we are able to break a wave, but not kill it.”

“…Is that so?”

An ominous glint radiated from the dragonlord’s eyes as a rather evil grin curved her lips. When she turned to face the professor once more, Karas began to sweat profusely. He quickly added onto Aldrid’s explanation in case the dragonlord was perceiving him to be immortal.

“…While I don’t quite understand where this topic is coming from, a monster is not immortal. We may not possess a lifespan, but we still ‘die’ when our bodies are sliced in half.”

“Not a worry. The demonlords of olde were just the same.”

“…?”

Serenis also rose from her seat to approach the professor. The flame beneath the cauldron began to flicker as Karas’ focus waned, but even Otoka was too scared to intervene in the middle of a dragonlord’s work.

The dragon knelt down on one knee to speak to the professor at eye level.

“Karas. I could not say this when Patrick was present, but…my current aim is to eliminate the deity of death.”

“??? Wh…is that even possible?”

“It is. The very craft you’re working on is a ward that will protect its wearer from the divinity of death.”

Karas briefly darted his gaze towards the cauldron, then back at Serenis. Despite his relative proficiency in alchemy, it’d always been a mystery what this thing was – and why Otoka had suddenly enlisted every single one of them for help.

When the professor’s eyes turned back to her, Serenis continued.

“However, Aldrid has just told me that monsters, like yourself, are wholly free from the divinity of death even without such items – for you are not truly alive.”

“…It’s strangely sounding as if you wish for me to challenge a divinity.”

“Precisely.”

A long silence followed as the professor’s dubious eyes tried to find the joke in Serenis’ statement.

As per usual, there were none.

“…Do you take me for a madman, Serenis?”

“Not at all. You were so eager when I told you that I was headed to see the deity of life. This shouldn’t be that different.”

“This is entirely different. Meeting a deity and challenging a deity are completely different things. And according to historical records, the Reaper is nowhere near as benevolent.”

“Hmm…”

When the two came to an impasse, Aldrid quickly intervened in the middle as she put herself between her lord and the professor.

“Come to think of it, professor, what exactly was the reason you wished to see me?”

“Oh. I, well…I thought…that perhaps, a deity of life would hold the answers to my research.”

“Research? What research?”

 A brief silene ensued as Karas contemplated on speaking the answer. But if he didn’t, then Serenis likely would anyways.

“…A research on souls. And the phenomenon known as reincarnation.”

“Huh? But reincarnation shouldn’t even be possible for you, given how you don’t possess a soul to begin with…”

“The research wasn’t particularly for myself, per se.”

“Oh…that makes it obvious then. There’s been a few like yourself throughout the past. I’m guessing a loved one passed away? Someone you wish to reincarnate?”

“…Something like that, yes.”

“Welllll….”

Aldrid dramatically stretched her audible pondering, tapping on her cheek. A mischievous grin was on the deity’s face when she spoke again.

“It’d be difficult to find the soul of your loved one in the first place…but even before that, reincarnation is a manipulation of the soul. Not only does it delve into realms of divinity, but it’s against the laws of nature. I’m afraid I shouldn’t really be telling you its workings.”

“…”

When the professor’s evident disappointment became clear in his eyes, the deity slipped a small snicker as she continued.

“Then again, it IS a realm I oversee, at least regarding contemporary life. I suppose I could share its workings with you. However, such knowledge will inevitably come at a very high cost.”

“A cost?”

Aldrid returned a firm nod. She gestured over to the dragonlord standing beside her.

“How about it? Perhaps you’re feeling a little more like a madman now?”

“…”

Well, shit.