Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Identity of the "Spirit"
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...
...
...
The sky is red, and the earth is parched.
A single blade of grass enters your vision.
You know what that grass is.
The resilient weed famous among farmers, earning glorious epithets like "devil's," "damned," and "cursed."
As you touch the weed, it crumbles to dust.
It feels as if all the blessings and life force that made this place have been voraciously devoured by something.
You know this place.
Was it always this barren?
As far as you remember, no.
Everything in the world changes, but this place has changed far too much.
Of course, you have no intention of blaming the innocent flow of time.
You know who the culprit behind this wretched transformation is.
"Oh no, Ver!!! How could you eat that!!!"
The entire area fell silent.
Because no one had words.
"...Ah!"
In the midst of it all.
The tall woman beside Palag and Drey finally came to her senses.
Her name was Bellota.
One of the six holy swords of the first hero.
She was a scholar belonging to the 'Jane' hero party, which possessed the sixth sword.
For some reason, she had visited Bondaress with the hero party and got caught in Drey's information network as a talent scout. In the process, she joined the investigation team to uncover the identity of the 'fluid.'
And thus, she proved her worth as a scholar of the hero party.
The many scholars drawn by Frozen Breath and the talent scout's name.
Among them, the one who most accurately hypothesized the 'fluid's' identity was none other than Bellota.
Therefore, Bellota understood better than anyone here.
The gravity of the situation unfolding before her eyes.
'She accepted the Fluid of the Faceless One...!'
The Fluid of the Faceless One.
It was a fragment of a high-ranking demon, a noble among devils: 'The One Who Covets Faces.'
It could become a relic granting the power of a high demon,
Or an egg harboring the existence of a high demon.
The last fluid Bellota had seen was closer to the latter state.
It had accumulated vast power inside its host, and upon the host's death, absorbed that power and life.
It was on the verge of 'blooming.'
Currently just a mass of immense power, but if certain conditions were met, a sense of self and 'corruption' would dwell within it.
The reincarnation of a demon.
In other words.
That little spirit girl was no different from having accepted a demon fetus into her body.
A reckless act that could even corrupt and lead to the fall of a high spirit's dense energy.
No young spirit could handle it.
The young spirit's energy would be corrupted in an instant.
What next?
The spirit's fall?
Or the demon's reincarnation?
Either way, considering the vastness and nature of the power within the fluid, it was certain to bring horrific results.
"You!!!"
In that fleeting moment, Bellota finished all those thoughts and urgently shouted at the spirit girl's master, Rishir.
"We must remove the fluid from that child right now!"
"Ah, yes!"
Startled, Rishir grabbed the spirit girl under her armpits and hoisted her up.
Puff!
The spirit girl, furrowing her delicate brows in fury at the distasteful taste, still surrendered to his touch.
Her limp arms and legs dangled.
Their eyes met.
"Ver, why did you do that!"
"I thought it'd be tasty! But it's not!"
"You can't do that!"
"Can't!? Got it! Then it won't be tasty!!!"
"Oh, you're so precious—no, that's not it. That thing just now! You can't eat it! You have to spit it out!"
"Spit it out!? Got it!!!"
The baby spirit's tiny hands clenched with all their might.
"!!!"
Her brows curved even sharper in rage.
How long had the baby spirit been squeezing out her strength?
Pffft.
Her little chest heaved slightly, and a puff of air escaped her mouth.
The meaning of that action was obvious.
The Fluid of the Faceless One.
Digested inside the spirit girl.
"..."
Bellota covered her gaping mouth with her hand.
What am I seeing right now!?
She was an outstanding scholar and intellectual.
Naturally, she couldn't accept the situation before her eyes at face value.
A young spirit absorbing a demon fetus?
'No way that's possible!'
What you see isn't everything.
Don't let your guard down; additional measures are needed.
That requires full cooperation from the spirit master, and in the worst case, the spirit's annihilation.
Bellota concluded thus.
No room for doubt.
It was the most rational, optimal judgment possible.
In fact, Drey and Palag must be thinking the same.
'If Frozen Breath and the talent scout speak up, even that spirit master has no choice but to cooperate!'
Having made her judgment, Bellota turned her gaze to Palag and Drey.
To confirm their reaction, surely the same conclusion as hers.
"Duke Palag. Don't tell me... it was absorbed? The fluid into Rishir's 'spirit'?"
"Seems like it. The 'spirit's' energy feels perfectly stable."
"Then..."
Yes!
Say it!
Drey looked at Rishir and his spirit.
Bellota urged him inwardly.
"It's all resolved!"
"?"
Heads tilted at an angle.
Eyes widened to their limit.
That was Bellota's expression now.
-What the hell?
She could almost hear that voice.
Bellota remembered.
Throughout the investigation, Drey's relentless questioning bordering on interrogation alongside Palag.
He absorbed information at an astonishing speed, perfectly keeping up with—sometimes even leading—the conversation flow that left other scholars struggling.
Having been overwhelmed by Drey through repeated such experiences.
If not for seizing the conversation's initiative with her knowledge of the fluid, she would have been helplessly swept along in any other setting.
Thus, Bellota couldn't hide her bewilderment.
This talent scout, showing such a dim-witted reaction?
Feeling a mild headache, she looked at Palag.
Unlike her, the grand magus could correct the grand noble's folly.
The grand magus nodded deeply after profound contemplation.
"Indeed. As you say, it seems everything's resolved."
"W-Wait a minute!"
Unable to hold back, Bellota rushed toward them.
"E-Everyone...? Was my explanation insufficient!?"
"Hm? No, Bellota. You fulfilled your role admirably. You hypothesized the fluid's identity that no one else could, presented valid evidence, and even tried to suggest proper countermeasures and solutions. Impressive performance. I'll remember that."
Their responses only deepened Bellota's confusion.
She thought they were off earlier, but now they snapped back to normal at her words.
The grand noble's sharp tone, delivered in his characteristic aristocratic speech, asserted superiority on its own.
The grand magus's stern gaze tested the opponent by itself.
No mistake.
These were the two she'd dealt with over the past few days.
Exacting heavyweights who thought and doubted relentlessly until convinced.
That was when.
"Everyone. What do we do about this? It seems like... that Fluid of the Faceless One thing—my kid digested it."
The spirit master, Rishir, spoke to them awkwardly.
The girl spirit stood beside him with arms crossed.
"!!!"
Her defiant expression, eyes fierce, seemed to say, "Go ahead and scold me if you dare."
"Nah, it's fine. Don't worry about it. That thing was something you got by catching the face thief anyway, right? Plus, its mere existence was harming the surroundings. Handling it deserves praise. Who could blame you for this?"
"Drey's right. You just did what needed doing. Something only you could do, at that."
"Pardon? Only I could do it?"
"Countless scholars racked their brains to dispose of that thing. But no real answers came. No one found a way to fully eliminate it. Not until your spirit swallowed it."
"...Ah! Is that so? Whew, that's a relief. I was scared for a moment there. Thought Verbanthiu! had caused big trouble."
Bellota, listening vacantly to the exchange.
Horror rapidly spread across her face.
"W-Wait a second!"
She hurriedly interjected, asking Rishir.
"W-What did you just say!?"
"Ah! Is that so!?"
"Not that! What did you call the spirit? That spirit?"
"Verbanthiu!?"
"Verbanthu..."
Chewing the name, Bellota's pupils began to shake violently.
Her breathing grew ragged.
Gasp.
Gasp.
Flustered for a moment, she suddenly grabbed Palag and Drey's hands forcefully, dragging them away from Rishir.
An outrageous breach of etiquette unforgivable for a grand noble and grand magus, but Bellota had no time to care.
"You two. Don't panic, listen calmly."
Bellota said this despite being the least calm of all.
Believing they'd panic even more than her upon hearing her story.
"That girl spirit with the guy named Rishir. She might be—Verbanthus."
"Verbanthus?"
"The Sand Mountain that Covers the Sun. The Eternal Night of the Desert. It's a demon whose rank far surpasses the Faceless One."
"Are you certain?"
Palag asked gravely.
"If not, what else could accept that monstrous thing and remain fine?"
Bellota answered hurriedly.
A supreme demon disguising itself as a spirit and infiltrating human society.
An unprecedentedly serious matter.
In extreme tension, she awaited their responses.
"That explains it."
Palag's reply.
"I thought she wasn't an ordinary spirit."
Drey's reply.
And—
"...?"
That was it.
"Everyone...?"
Her common sense utterly denied, Bellota now asked in fear.
I explained this much, and they don't grasp the severity?
"Ah!"
Then Drey spoke to Bellota as if remembering something.
"Bellota, you just said: Sand Mountain that Covers the Sun. Eternal Night of the Desert. Any relation to sandstorms, by chance?"
Finally!
Bellota nodded vigorously.
"Yes!"
Snap!
Drey snapped his fingers crisply.
"Duke Palag, remember? That mental image of Rishir's we saw before—"
"Ah, yes. The mystery's solved. I wondered how such a young spirit could manifest something so terrifying. So that's it."
"...?"
Not finally?
What are they suddenly talking about?
Bellota's gaze darted frantically between them.
"Bellota."
Then Drey asked her again.
"Y-Yes...?"
She answered, feeling a bad premonition.
"By any chance, among what you know, is there a spirit—no, demon—related to this one?"
A massive pillar of black flame reaching the sky.
An endless sea of blood.
Those were the two things from Drey's mouth.
"..."
Grasping the implication, Bellota's legs gave out, and she collapsed.
'No...'
Too early to conclude.
Believing it her misunderstanding, she asked them.
"Where... did you see those?"
"Rishir's mental world?"
"?"