The Heavenly Spirit War

“All right. Shall we talk out here?”

I led the knight out through the hotel’s front entrance. If we’d kept arguing inside, that noble’s garbage would have shattered Ruby’s mental state into dust — that much was obvious.

A rush of night air sank deep into my lungs. Outside, frost-laced moonlight settled over a world whose very atmosphere felt layered differently from the room we’d left. Moments ago we’d been standing in a powder keg ready to blow; out here, even a breath seemed liable to freeze solid.

In front of me, a pair of eyes colder than eternal snow looked down upon me.

With a sharp motion, the knight yanked off her helmet and tucked it under one arm. The face revealed belonged to a beauty of cool, severe features, her platinum-blonde hair pulled tight into a high knot. But those alluring red lips were twisted into a sneer, and the ears rising through her hair were far longer and sharper than any human’s.

On her chestplate gleamed a silver leaf emblem — the mark of an elite knight of the elven noble house of Silverrain.

“……How insolent.”

She growled, looking at me as if I were filth on the roadside.

“A mere human, making a pureblood of noble lineage wait outside?”

“I told you we were in the middle of a session.”

I stood with my weight on one hip, facing her at a slant. My counterpart was a high elf knight clad head to toe in mithril armor, her sharp beauty dripping with the superiority complex of the chosen. An ordinary human would have gone weak at the knees — but I had no intention of yielding so much as an inch of presence.

As Geumbalgeoyudaisuki had advised on the gallery, in this world there was no weapon more powerful than professional authority.

“And let’s correct that. Not just a ‘human’ — a psychological counselor dispatched by the Holy See.”

That was my cover, after all, so I needed to be shameless about it. I pulled an ID card stamped with a silver cross from my coat and dangled it before her eyes.

“Interfering with my work is tantamount to desecrating a sacred duty of the Holy See. Is the Silverrain family so eager to start a diplomatic incident with the Church over a single counseling session?”

“……!”

The knight’s brow twitched. She’d taken me for some disposable little counselor — and flinched the moment I dropped the title of the continent’s greatest power. As expected: no matter where you go, a big-company business card is king.

She bit her lip and took an awkward half-step back. But that haughty, arrogant gaze never wavered.

“……You’ve got a long tongue, don’t you. Fine. Where is that bitch?”

“That bitch?”

“That filthy half-breed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bitch. Ruby Scarlet.”

The knight took a heavy step forward, as if ready to storm back inside that very second.

“By order of the family head. Drag that bitch out here at once! A criminal, living it up in a hotel — she doesn’t know her place——!”

“I will not hand her over.”

I cut her off flat.

“What?”

“Ruby Scarlet is in an extremely unstable psychological state right now. If someone like you barges in, she could go berserk all over again.”

I stroked my chin with a deliberately grave expression, glancing sidelong at the hotel entrance.

“Didn’t you feel it earlier? That killing intent seeping through the cracks in the door. If that friend of mine detonates here, this hotel won’t be the only casualty…… that beautiful platinum hair of yours might not make it out intact either.”

“Ridiculous…… You think I’d lose to some half-baked mongrel?”

This bitch was bluffing hard.

I let out a sigh and a low, mocking laugh.

“Well…… she’s not just any mongrel. If it’s Ruby with a Spirit King sealed in her body, doesn’t that change the conversation?”

“……!”

Her reaction confirmed it — WhiteMage’s intel had been spot on. The spirit dwelling in Ruby Scarlet’s body was a calamity that bore the title of King itself.

I smiled faintly at the expression she couldn’t quite hide.

“Could you handle that, Knight?”

“Y-you…… how do you know that?”

I savored the panic flickering in her eyes and waved a dismissive hand.

“Ah, don’t worry too much. I’ve no intention of spreading it around the neighborhood just yet. So……”

Standing with my back to the firmly shut hotel door, I held out my hand.

“State your business. Or just leave.”

“Y-you insolent…… human bastard.”

Even if she cursed me out here, I had nothing to answer for. I had no intention of handing Ruby Scarlet over, and she herself knew that dragging her off by force would be no easy task. The reason she’d come alone with such confidence was probably a calculated bet — that the person beside the rage-disorder case would at least be someone power could talk to.

“Anything else to say?”

“…….”

The knight’s skirt-armor rattled as she trembled, and at last she roughly yanked a red-sealed envelope from a leather bag and slammed it against my chest.

“……Deliver this.”

She spat the words with venom in her eyes. I calmly smiled and picked up the envelope.

“What is this?”

“A notice of participation in the Heavenly Spirit War.”

“The Heavenly Spirit War?”

The Heavenly Spirit War…… One of those terms I’d only half-heard in the game’s lore. I was fairly sure there was some kind of survival tournament the elves held among themselves. Was that it?

“Yes. The last mercy the family head is granting that half-breed bitch.”

The knight’s mouth curled into a thin, mocking smile.

“Win the tournament, and all her sins will be pardoned. She will be recognized as a member of the elven race.”

……Ruby Scarlet would just love to hear that. Even as a third party, it sounded like pure bullshit to me.

“But deliver this as well. Rather than thrashing about without knowing her place and burning to death — biting her tongue and dying now would better serve elven honor.”

Having dumped everything she came to say, she spun on her heel. Long hair streaming behind her, she vanished down the corridor as if she couldn’t stand another second of conversation with a filthy human.

An irritating woman to the very end.

“……Ha.”

I stared after her and let out a hollow laugh.

Mercy? Pardon her sins? A passing dog would laugh at that.

I looked down at the envelope in my hand. A lavish invitation trimmed in gold leaf. But to my eyes, it didn’t look like an invitation at all. Something about it felt like the ultimate trial for Ruby Scarlet — a bloodstained summons.

For the moment, the counseling session had put out the immediate fire. Ruby had asked what those Silverrain bastards had come yapping about, but I brushed it off — said they’d just spouted some nonsense and left — and ended the session.

All right. From here on was what mattered.

Intel on the Heavenly Spirit War. I didn’t trust the gallery users a hundred percent, but even a rotten mackerel has its uses — anything worth referencing, I’d reference.

I unlocked my phone and logged into the community.

I’m getting dragged in too?

What the hell did that mean?

……Of course I knew. But not the details. I’d only understood it as some kind of sparring contest the elves held among themselves.

Crazy bastards.

In plain terms, they wanted to open a dopamine-spiking colosseum. But then why was I competing alongside her?

Haa……

Having to participate myself meant I couldn’t just run around and leave everything to Ruby. I was being forcibly shoved into a genuinely brutal arena.

Fuck, it’s that Gogumador bastard ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠again.

I frowned and checked his comment.

The more I thought about it, the more it was a no-win situation. Sighing, I hammered out a reply with all my frustration.

Of course. To restate it: the arrival of this invitation might well be a main event. A route that could save Ruby Scarlet.

If we didn’t do it, there was a high chance the scenario simply wouldn’t progress. On top of that, the prize list written on the back of the invitation included things that caught my eye hard.

Title: Elven Knight-Commander, and 10,000 PT.

And the Spirit King’s Tear.

“……Whatever it is, we have to participate.”

Either way…… whatever else it was, participation in the Heavenly Spirit War was decided.

All that remained was to persuade Ruby Scarlet to set foot in this hellish battlefield.