Chapter 10 - Spirit (4)
Spirit King.
It didn't take much to describe them.
No, rather, the description could be finished in one word.
'God.'
They are gods existing in the Material Realm.
They are the foundation of nature that makes up the Material Realm.
In other words, they are the personality of this planet where living creatures tread and live.
That was why Deltain spat out his doubts.
'What the hell is that woman?'
What on earth is Agnes Levadein that they are managing her directly?
Why did they put out a warning against a rash spirit contract?
Simply having high Spirit Affinity couldn't explain the reason.
There existed an indescribable gap between the Spirit King sending her favor and controlling her contract.
Deltain, who had been glaring at Agnes and pondering for a long time, soon thought of one cause.
'...Demon Flower?'
Demon Flower Extrias.
It might be related to the spirits.
No, if I shift my thinking in that direction, it was.
Couldn't the cause of Agnes's abnormal Spirit Affinity be the Demon Flower?
Come to think of it, was there even one ordinary thing among the materials for the Eternal Contract?
Just looking at what we've obtained so far, it's the organs of the highest-ranking demons that could even covet the throne, and the eyeballs of a magic beast that ruled the seawater at the bottom of the deep sea.
Approaching it from that perspective, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that 'No.9 Demon Flower Extrias' is related to the Spirit King.
"Deltain. What do we do now?"
Agnes asked in an instant.
Deltain's expression became more serious.
'It's all still just a hypothesis.'
He needed more clues.
Deltain expanded his thinking to recall the attitude he should take in the current situation.
"Ask it if I can ask a few questions."
Agnes's head turned.
Soon, she muttered something with her lips and nodded.
"It says yes."
Deltain's thoughts focused on a single point.
*
Agnes looked at the spirit in front of her.
'It looks really fascinating.'
As Deltain said, the spirit had no fixed shape. It was just a shape of viscous light, like clay, wriggling here and there.
It was the color of a red rose, just like this garden.
As soon as she thought of it, the spirit answered.
[That's right. I was born in this garden.]
Agnes's fingertips twitched.
"You can read thoughts too?"
[Yes.]
"Don't. It's creepy."
The light mass shrank.
[...Sorry.]
It looked somewhat dejected.
Agnes laughed.
'It's more well-behaved than I thought.'
It's quite different from what I heard from Deltain.
While she was thinking that, Deltain said.
"Ask it why you can't make a contract with it."
[I don't know.]
"It says it doesn't know."
"Why doesn't it know?"
[I was just told not to. It said I have to wait.]
"It says you have to wait. It doesn't know anything beyond that."
As Agnes said that and looked at Deltain, his face crumpled.
It was an expression he often showed when he didn't like a situation.
"Then for the next question. Ask the spirit if it knows about the Demon Flower."
[I don't know. But you do smell like flowers. It's very fragrant.]
"It doesn't know about the Demon Flower, but says you smell like flowers. It says it's very fragrant."
"Ask it what the hell it actually knows."
[I hate that guy.]
The spirit puffed up its body as if sulking.
Agnes blinked, then burst into laughter.
"It says it wants to kill you."
"Tell it to bring it on."
Deltain said that and ruffled his hair.
His expression was getting darker, and it looked like he might explode in anger soon.
But the voice that followed was calm.
"...Ask where the Spirit King is."
Whether it was curiosity about a new discovery, or a competitive spirit regarding a situation that wasn't going his way, Deltain's question was different from the ones before.
The spirit answered.
[It is everywhere. But it is nowhere.]
"It says it's everywhere and nowhere."
"Does it think I don't know that? I'm asking where the Spirit King can manifest."
When Deltain clicked his tongue and spoke, the spirit trembled and answered.
[The place you are going to go.]
"The place we are going to go."
Deltain's head snapped up.
"The snowy mountain?"
[Yes.]
"It says yes."
A glint appeared in Deltain's eyes. The moment he muttered something, perhaps because something else came to mind, the spirit flicked its body in dissatisfaction and said.
[I hate that guy. I don't want to tell you anything else.]
"It doesn't want to tell you anything else because it hates you."
Deltain's face went blank.
Agnes burst into laughter, her shoulders shaking at the expression.
Deltain asked, veins popping on his forehead.
"Do you find this situation funny?"
"Your expression is just too cute."
"I'm not in the mood for jokes."
Bloodshot veins appeared in Deltain's eyes.
Agnes ignored that and looked at the spirit.
"Then are you leaving?"
[Yes, I talked to you, so that's enough.]
Agnes tilted her head.
"With me?"
[I wanted to keep talking. There was something I wanted to ask.]
The spirit formed a hesitant shape.
It was just the flickering of a light mass, but Agnes could naturally feel the vibe.
'Ah, did it say it was born here?'
Agnes, who belatedly recalled that fact, asked, thinking this spirit might have been watching her for quite a long time.
"What is it?"
And.
[Is Lea gone now?]
She shuddered. Even so, the spirit continued.
[I can't see Lea. She was always in this spot, humming and tending to the roses, but at some point, I couldn't see her. The person who tends to the roses has changed. I miss Lea. I liked it when I heard Lea's humming because it made me sleepy.]
The spirit's vibe was dejected.
It resembled a child looking for its parent.
No, that wouldn't be wrong at all.
This rose garden was built for her, who was Agnes's mother and the wife of the Duke of Levadein.
[Huh? Where is Lea?]
Agnes felt the door to her closed memories open at those words.
She faced a scene playing in her head in the form of passing thoughts.
A woman standing in the middle of a fresh rose garden, her smile, and her warm voice.
-Agnes.
It pressed down on Agnes once again.
Agnes's answer was quick.
So quick that it felt like she hadn't even thought about it.
"She's dead."
What came to mind was a smile.
But there was no emotion in it.
It was just empty and transparent.
"My mother passed away. 10 years ago."
The spirit flinched.
[...Then I can't see her?]
"You can't. Ever."
The spirit's form wavered.
Agnes looked at the spirit with empty eyes until then.
[She's gone....]
"You didn't know for 10 years?"
[I don't know time. I can't perceive it. It has no meaning to us.]
"You guys are idiots."
The spirit looked at Agnes.
Only then did it realize something.
Her height, which had always only reached about Lea's chest, had grown significantly.
[...I see. Lea is gone now.]
"Are you sad?"
[Yes, I think so.]
"That's an ambiguous answer."
[I don't know. I've never learned it. But....]
The spirit looked at itself.
It compared the definition of sadness that humans speak of with its current emotions.
Only then did it speak.
[...I will keep thinking about Lea. Because I don't know time, forever. And every time I do, it will ache like this. I think this is sadness.]
The spirit blamed itself.
It was because it thought it had already done the thing it must never do, which it had heard from another spirit long ago.
'I am a fool.'
A spirit's life is infinite.
It is eternal as long as the nature that serves as its basis does not perish, and it is also constant.
Because its heart is like that, it must not love.
-We cannot let go of love once we hold it. So, do not love things that will disappear. The sweet moments will be short, and the longing will be incomparably longer than the moments.
Even though it heard the advice, it had already fallen in love.
The spirit, faced with the reality that it would now miss Lea's humming for the infinite time to come, closed its eyes.
[I'm going to sleep.]
It said that and disappeared.
*
The night of the day the spirit contract failed.
Deltain sat in his office, lost in thought with a serious expression.
'The Demon Flower is related to the spirits.'
It was a fact with many implications.
Of course, hadn't a clue appeared for the extraction of the Demon Flower, which had been sluggish until now?
Besides that, there was now circumstantial evidence that the spirit of the snowy mountain might be related to the Demon Flower.
Deltain did not dismiss the reason the rose garden spirit specifically pointed to the snowy mountain as a coincidence.
Since it was an order directly issued by the Spirit King, it was clear that he would be able to obtain clues about the Demon Flower in the process of obtaining 'No.3 Token of Endless Winter'.
No, it wasn't just to that extent.
Under certain conditions, they can forge a material form and manifest even in front of those without affinity.
Deltain had something he wanted to ask the Spirit King.
'Those guys might even know what the Eternal Contract is.'
In other words, the Spirit King is a god.
They are beings that intervene in the providence of this world.
If it were them, they would surely know what this quest points to.
Now the options had been unified into one.
'I must take that woman to the snowy mountain. No matter what happens.'
Deltain jumped up.
"Gerhart!"
"Yes."
"I'm changing the car. I'm going to tune it from now on, so get it ready!"
The problem right now is Agnes's disastrous mental defense ability.
In other words, the demons are the problem.
Forming a mental barrier through a spirit contract is also impossible.
Then, it's just a matter of defeating the demons in another way.
'I'll make a mobile Saint Hall.'
It would be a hassle, but the aforementioned problem would be solved if he made the car itself a Saint Hall.
*
<167 days left until the blooming of Demon Flower Extrias.>
Time passed, and it was the day of departure.
Deltain looked at the vehicle he had barely managed to finish tuning by the deadline.
It was a large black sedan.
The angular body and large wheels were clunky, but the silver silhouette wrapping over it was elegant.
Design-wise, it was quite a magnificent sedan.
<4th-rank Magic: Saint Hall has been applied.>
<It is an abbreviated spell.>
<Efficiency drops to 50%.>
Deltain let out a long sigh while looking at the completed sedan, then threw the engraving tool he was holding into a corner.
'Complete.'
The magic itself wasn't difficult, as he had previously created it on the scale of the Imperial Capital.
He simplified it as much as possible, leaving only the essential performance, so the performance dropped, but Deltain didn't get greedy.
'If I add anything else here, the fuel efficiency will drop.'
The more engravings he added, the more mana the vehicle would consume, and the vehicle's speed would drop.
As it was a journey to the northern end of the continent, such mana consumption was not desirable.
'Now....'
I should wash up and change clothes.
And then I'll just have to pick up Agnes Levadein and leave the Imperial Capital.
Deltain roughly gauged the time with the watch on his wrist and called Gerhart.
"Gerhart!"
"Yes."
"What about the Hounds?"
"They have finished preparations. They will be waiting at the North Gate of the Imperial Capital first."
"Good. I'm going to wash up and come out, so load the luggage into the car. And a sandwich too."
Saying that and about to leave, Deltain paused and looked at his wristwatch again.
It was 4 PM.
As it was quite far from mealtime, Agnes would also be hungry.
Deltain thought for a moment, then said to Gerhart.
"...No, two sandwiches. One with extra pickles."
He said that and left the garage.
Deltain remembered Agnes eating a sandwich full of pickles.