Episode 97: I Respect You, Teacher Carrier
Dharma Protector Cheong, who had kept to their side the whole way looking thoroughly cowed, suddenly flew into a towering rage.
"Frederica's music box is cursed as it stands. If I do not tune it, it is nothing more than a device for taking lives! Why in the world would you do such a thing?!"
He immediately hauled Izdi onto his back and bolted down the mountain. Ekaterina caught him in a flash, seized him by the scruff of the neck, and began devouring the slopes in great strides, her face as grave as someone who had just lost family.
"You should have said that a lot sooner!!"
Mom's going to die because of me?
Really? No. Mom was good with spirits. There was no way she would pass that easily. Absolutely no way.
And so, scrambling to settle her panic with a victory of pure mental gymnastics, a thought crept in.
...What if Mom makes Frederica hers, too?
Then Lupin would hold her to account for all of this. Why did you hand me something that dangerous, she would say. She might even tell her that they really should have parted for good after all.
Ekaterina's heart dropped like a stone. She glared at Dharma Protector Cheong.
"A way. Is there a way? What's happening right now? Isn't there anything we can do from out here?!"
Unable to withstand her badgering, he muttered.
"There is no way to help from the outside."
"There had better not be a hair of a lie in that."
"I am telling the truth."
A deep sigh followed.
"Those ice thorns are much like a cocoon that births a fusion of spirit and human. Frederica is taking the human body apart stitch by stitch, remodeling it into an environment fit for a spirit such as herself to dwell in."
If, along the way, the compatibility was judged too low, the cocoon would be destroyed and the person inside would die. The insides would already have been torn apart at random, and then the very spirit that had meant to enter would reject the body. How could anyone survive that?
"Destroying the cocoon from outside changes nothing. For a human, it is much the same as cultivating aura. The spirit raises a barrier because it feels vulnerable. What do you suppose happens if that barrier breaks?"
"...It'd ditch the work halfway and run."
"Correct. And that, likewise, is a dog's death."
Ekaterina's temple twitched. Even if it went perfectly, the mind of the person meant to become the vessel would be blown away anyway. Wasn't that the same worthless death?
Failing to read the shift in her mood, Dharma Protector Cheong went on.
"Moreover, the music box has been cursed. Even if Frederica descends properly under these conditions, the body itself will be left in tatters, and the odds are high she will simply discard it...."
There was, however, one thing. A truly slim chance remained that the person trapped inside might survive.
"If the one who wound the music box possessed a spirit affinity high enough to subdue even a spirit king, it might be another matter. But in an age when spirit-users have all but died out, there is no chance such a person exists...."
Hearing that, Ekaterina thought it over. Didn't Lupin have exactly that kind of potential? Every last pigeon she handled had been a spirit. Hundreds of them had raised a whirlwind at her command, and some had even attacked Ekaterina herself.
The deathly look that had been on her face until a moment ago twisted even further.
Mom will make it out.
Ekaterina began plotting how to flatten herself to the ground and beg forgiveness. How many times should she crack her forehead against the floor? Better to loosen her aura so the blood actually ran....
She wound the spring about ten times, and when it wouldn't turn any further she decided that was plenty and popped the lid at once. A grotesque sound rang out—so grotesque she had to wonder whether this music box had really been made for human ears. The one she'd opened after being tricked by Maze Rat had its pins all out of place and a wretched tone, and this was worse. If a cursed song for summoning demons existed somewhere in the world, she imagined it would feel exactly like this.
Even Lupin, doubting this could possibly be right, tried to shut the box. The spirit king's descent ritual had already begun.
KRAK-KRAK-KRAK-KRAKKK.
From the point where her hand met the music box, ice crystals exploded outward at a tremendous speed. Fast as Lupin was, her hand froze first, and after that there was no escaping. Anyone else would have called the situation dire. Lupin had exactly one thought.
How is there this much ice where there isn't any water?!
For someone who had lived through an age ruled by science, it was honestly astonishing. She was dying to know where the pigeons kept appearing from, too, but there was no way to find out. Anyway, she was completely sealed in ice. How was she supposed to get out? She couldn't even put her strength to use like this. Was she about to become the world's first human ice fossil?
...Oh. A Growth Value was ready to rank up.
Freeze Resistance IV can be ranked up.
Pain Relief II can be ranked up.
Lupin clicked, and at once her training gauge began filling on its own again. Her hands and feet had been throbbing from the hard, cold ice, the feeling in them gradually fading—so that was why the training was running automatically. The status window didn't strictly need a physical touch anyway. Decisions registered the moment she willed them, so being unable to budge an inch wasn't much of a problem.
Whoa. Fully automated grinding.
Maybe she'd wait until both of them hit Rank X. Once she got there, the numbness would clear and she might even be able to break out.
And so, with a cheerful ding, di-ding, Lupin quietly built her resistance to bitter cold and frostbite....
She was basking in the realization that her star spoon was downright invincible, waiting on the next Growth Value rank-up, when it happened. A cold so sharp it set every nerve on edge climbed the nape of her neck.
"Nngh—?!"
A flood of sensation she couldn't begin to understand, and Lupin blacked out on the spot.
Spirit Affinity V can be ranked up.
The last thing to surface before her consciousness cut out was the training window, and she slammed YES in her heart. Whether it actually registered was anyone's guess.
"...Huh?"
The woman who had just lost consciousness opened her eyes at once in a strange place. Everything, in every direction, was rainbow. It felt as if she were drifting in the sky—this cloud rainbow, that cloud rainbow, and the pigeon flying in from over there rainbow too. Somehow it looked like that gentlemanly King Pigeon she knew.
"Contractor. What brings you here?"
Wait. That was the pigeon. His speech had grown even more courteous, so Spirit Affinity had probably ranked up to VI. ...But why did the colors look like this? The longer she looked, the more her stomach turned. Piercing rainbow hues mixed every which way without ever muddying, each one holding its own pure, brilliant color.
"Why do you look like that? ...More importantly, I think I'm hearing you with my ears, not in my head?"
"Because this is the Spirit Realm. How did you come to be here?"
Spirits could not hold a form in the Spirit Realm, but with their contractor before them they had naturally taken shape so Lupin could recognize them. Lupin, of course, had no idea about any of that, so she explained what she had done with a perfectly straight face.
"It was hot."
"The weather was bad."
"It was scorching."
"I was about to die of heat, so I wound the air conditioner. I mean—Frederica's music box."
"Why would you do such a thing? Has life on the ground as a Star Apostle grown so dull? To think you would offer your precious body to a spirit king."
Ah. So this wasn't an air conditioner.
Lupin sighed inwardly and asked.
"Offer my body? I wasn't planning on that...?"
"At times, merely using certain objects counts as consent to a contract."
Even the worst villains usually hid their trap clauses in the paperwork. These people had hidden theirs in a music box. Lupin, who would normally have blamed the box, admitted this time that the mistake was hers. This was already the second time a relic had gotten her, after Hororing. She did not, of course, forget to defend herself: anyone walking around with a steam room forming on their face under that stinging sun would have done the same. Wasn't this Big Sis Byeol's fault? Or Big Bro Taechang's? If she could cultivate aura, this wouldn't be happening, would it? I want to cultivate aura too!
Having finished her private case for the defense, Lupin asked the King Pigeon.
"So do I have to stay trapped in here?"
"If you wish to reclaim your body, you should be able to. Unlike an ordinary human, yours has not frozen solid. In that state, even the King of the Cold Wave cannot make a place for himself within the flesh."
In other words, an ordinary human might starve to death in here the moment they contracted with Frederica. She turned for a look around. There was truly nothing—clouds, sky, clouds, sky. A space so dull she had to wonder how spirits endured living in it. Maybe that was why they all lost their minds over aura. Anyway, the star spoon had come through like a star spoon once again. What would she have done if she hadn't raised Freeze Resistance?
"I want my body back, and I want out of here. Is there a way?"
"It seems winding the music box was an unforeseen accident."
Lupin subtly looked away.
"...O-of course it was."
"Understood. I shall gather the flock and help you reclaim your body."
"I knew it! The King Pigeon always has a plan!"
The King Pigeon cooed—a cry more resounding than any pigeon call she had ever heard. The clouds churned, and spirit-like lights burst from within them, whirling around Lupin. The clumps of light gradually took form and transformed into a shape she knew well. It was as if the Pigeon Magic she used every day had manifested inside the Spirit Realm in brilliant five-colored splendor.
"If the contract with the Star goes awry like this, we are in just as much trouble. There is no chance the King of the Cold Wave, having monopolized your body, would show us any mercy. Spirits are as selfish as they are pure before power."
"Good. We're on the same page. What do you need me to do?"
"One as full of starlight as you need not trouble yourself to step forward. Our authority, contracted to the Star, is mighty even among spirits. A contract struck between the Queen of the Cold Wave and mere humans can be made as if it never was."
"Oh, really? Hmm.... Still, this happened because of me. Feels like I ought to do something."
"If you simply continue to summon us to the human world as you do now, our authority will accumulate of its own accord. Do not concern yourself."
Well, in that case. She had been neglecting them lately while training with the sword, but Lupin was someone who couldn't live without spirits. Tomorrow, the moment she reached the city, she meant to head out on a night prowl.
"Don't worry about the work drying up. You and I are together for life, until the day I die."
The King Pigeon bowed so deeply his head nearly touched his own breast. A fierce resolve entered a voice that had always been grave.
