The Ache in the Heart
The carriage carrying Bayul, his friends, and the Death brothers arrived at the inner gate of the Leonett estate. Just as on the way in, they would have to switch to a different carriage here before they could return to the city of Carrington.
"Now the real operation begins."
"You guys seriously need to be careful! If I get caught, I'm not dying alone!"
Aidan delivered the warning in a low crouch beneath the carriage seat.
"Would you look at him talk. Is that really something you say to the people helping you?"
"I was against this from the start. That's exactly what I'll say if we get caught."
"Wow, Quinn! I never took you for this kind of guy. You're unbelievably selfish."
"I've only ever looked out for myself."
"Anyway, let's agree on our story right now. If we get busted, you're the only one in real trouble, so why should the rest of us go down with you? We're only doing this because you begged and pleaded until we took pity on you."
"Rai, you're saying that without knowing Demon Number One and Number Two. They are not the kind of demons who'd ever let an accomplice off the hook."
"…Is it really that bad?"
"Everything will be worse than you can imagine. So please, be careful, my friends."
Aidan beamed with an easy, breezy smile that sat poorly with the gravity of the situation. At that, Eli made a sober proposal.
"Should we just leave him behind?"
"Excuse me?"
"We're not late yet. We could simply claim we never knew."
"Oh my god, you little—!"
"Shh! Someone's coming!"
Not the guard who had watched the front gate when they visited in the daytime, but a complete stranger came walking toward them. Night had fallen, the sun long since sunk, but lamps burned bright in front of the gate.
"You would be young Master Aidan's friends, I take it."
"Yes."
"The Chairman has instructed that you be escorted safely to the city. A carriage is waiting outside the gate, so please follow me."
Just as expected, they would have to change carriages. It was a security procedure, and there was no refusing it. All they could do during the transfer was hope Aidan went unnoticed.
"Thank goodness it's night, at least."
Quinn muttered under his breath and stepped down from the carriage first. The rest of the group filed out after him, subtly positioning themselves to conceal Aidan from the guards' line of sight. For once, the fellow's slight frame was actually coming in handy.
"…!"
They were just about to board the new carriage when it happened. Apparently catching something suspicious, one of the guards standing off at a distance abruptly began to approach.
Wh-what do we do?
Quinn and Eli had already climbed aboard; only Bayul and the Death brothers remained outside. Bayul froze, tension mounting—when a strange sound suddenly issued from the bushes.
Rustle!
It sounded like some beast, or something, tearing swiftly past. The approaching guard's attention naturally swung toward it.
Could it be…?
Bayul lifted his head and glanced at Bar. As a Beast Tamer, the man could command animals. He had wondered—and when he caught Bar winking at him, there was no doubt the demon had used his ability.
Thank you.
Bayul mouthed his gratitude and hurried up into the carriage. The Death brothers took their seats side by side after him, and the carriage set off safely toward the city.
"Yes! Finally, a clean escape!"
Only then did Aidan straighten up from where he'd been huddled under the seat, arms thrown up in triumph. Then, all of a sudden, he whipped around and glared at Eli.
"Rai, you meant all of that earlier, didn't you?"
"Meant what?"
"You said we should ditch me!"
"Quinn said he'd rat us all out if he got caught, so why am I the only one getting grief?"
"Fine, you're a heartless bastard by nature, I'll grant you that—but you don't get to say that to me. Is this really all our friendship amounts to?"
Truly stung, it seemed, Aidan rattled off the accusation without pause.
"You ungrateful wretch! None of this would've been a problem if you could just use invisibility magic in the first place! What kind of top student of the Magic Department can't even manage that?"
"Do you even know what circle that spell is before you open your mouth?"
"How should I know? It's killing me over here!"
The situation now unfolding was what you might call getting slapped on one cheek and taking your frustrations out somewhere else entirely. Aidan, who couldn't bring himself to say thank you for the help but never stopped bickering, left everyone so exasperated that they couldn't even find the words to respond.
"By the way, Bayul—Tempesta's a wind spirit, right? Couldn't he just, you know, carry you flying?"
"…Huh?"
"Because it seems totally possible to me. Then you could've just flown away nice and easy. Why don't you ever summon the guy?"
Bayul hadn't yet told anyone that he was learning to fly by way of Tempesta, but Aidan had picked up on it with uncanny accuracy.
"Aidan, I don't think that's a conversation for right here?"
"Huh? Why not?"
Looking at Aidan's innocent, blinking face, Eli shot a meaningful glance toward the Death brothers.
"Oh! Don't worry. They already know all about the spirits."
"They know? Why?"
"Rai, isn't that a strange question? In situations like this, you're supposed to ask 'how,' not 'why.'"
"Is that really what matters right now?"
The spirits were a secret known only to their circle of friends. That he now had to share it, of all people, with those dead-eyed brothers left Eli deeply put out.
"It just… worked out that way. So feel free to talk openly."
"You heard him. I think everything through before I speak anyway, so no need to fret."
Aidan returned to the matter at hand and turned to Bayul.
"Bayul, is Tempesta not around? He's the one I've been dying to see."
"He's… in a bit of a sulk right now, actually."
"Sulking? Why?"
Bayul laughed awkwardly and stumbled through an explanation.
"He's a little upset with me for not taking his side. So I'm giving him a few days to cool off."
"Tempesta fought with someone and you didn't take his side? With who—Innocent? Shame? No, wait, was it Spinel?"
Bayul's eyes drifted across the carriage toward Death. The true culprit was him—but then, the two of them hadn't actually fought.
When Rayegar had come to visit, Tempesta complained that Death had kept him from eavesdropping on their conversation and demanded Bayul scold him for it. Bayul had simply let it slide, and this was the result.
"It was nothing, really. He'll get over it soon."
"Bayul, I've handled plenty of kids, and take it from me—these things don't just blow over. They take effort. If you let it all pile up and it all comes out at once later, you're in real trouble."
"…Is that so?"
"So please, take good care of our precious little Tempesta. It would break my heart to see those darling eyes of his cry a single tear."
"Hey. I told you not to use that word."
Eli, silent until now, bristled at the word precious and fixed Aidan with a fierce glare. Aidan realized his mistake at once—but to the fellow, Eli was still a traitor.
"Why should I care what the man who suggested abandoning me has to say?"
"What did you say?"
"Fair warning—if you don't apologize properly, I'm holding onto this for a long, long time. If you knew how much I suffered at home, you'd never have said it."
Oh.
Aidan's uncharacteristic hysteria was the aftereffect of being tormented by Demon Number One and Number Two over the break. Realizing he'd failed to consider that for even a moment, Bayul moved to smooth things over.
"Oh, that reminds me, everyone—I still haven't told you something really important."
"Something important?"
"What could there be besides Spinel?"
"It's about the spirit stones."
"Don't tell me you found another one? Where—back in Hamilton?"
Just as he'd expected, his friends' full attention snapped to him.
"I didn't find a new one, but I think I've figured out the spirit stones' secret. Aidan, do you remember the talk we had in the imperial garden?"
"The imperial garden? What did we talk about again?"
"How the weather in Carrington was strangely good. You said it was a relief there were so few natural disasters here compared to other places, but that it felt like the calm before a storm and made you uneasy."
"Ah, right, that!"
"Huh, now that you mention it, it's true. The weather here is mostly clear and sunny. Bayul, you said your hometown of Hamilton did nothing but rain, right?"
"Meanwhile, the capital is so dry my eyes and throat used to sting. But what does any of that have to do with spirit stones?"
"I believe it's the spirit stones that have been shielding Carrington from natural disasters."
"Spirit stones ward off natural disasters?"
"On what grounds?"
It was a claim that defied easy understanding. How could a spirit stone possibly meddle in something like the weather?
"When I was in Hamilton, the spirits couldn't use their power properly. That had never happened before—and they'd barely used any strength at all before they were exhausted."
"And it's not like you were overusing their abilities like before, either."
"Exactly—it was baffling. Then Innocent said she wanted to go rest at the Water Garden, and something about it felt off. It got me wondering: what on earth was different between Carrington and Hamilton?"
"So you're saying the only difference is whether a spirit stone is there or not?"
At Eli's summation, Bayul nodded and went on.
"The spirits said they draw a sense of comfort from the spirit stones. My theory is that's because the stones carry an energy similar to the spirits' own. When that energy is close by, they can draw on far more power—that's how they grow stronger."
"If you're right, Bayul, then there must be other spirit stones in places with few natural disasters?"
"Yes, exactly. What do you all think? Does my reasoning not hold up?"
It was all still nothing but hypothesis. Nothing could be guaranteed until it was tested.
"But here's what puzzles me. Remember what Innocent and Shame said? That your energy feels similar to a spirit stone's, Bayul. That being near you feels good to them."
"Right, they did say that."
"Then why couldn't they use their power in Hamilton? By your logic, having you around should have been enough."
"Good point. For someone who inherited the power of the previous Spirit Kings, that part does seem a bit odd."
"You fools! Have you already forgotten what I said about the seed?"
Eli pointed a finger at each of the two friends and clicked his tongue.
"His power is still sealed! Nobody has any idea how long it will take before he can use it properly."
"Ah, right, that's how it goes."
"What if we pulled up that spirit stone and planted it in Hamilton? Think the rain would stop?"
"Do we only need to plant one? Then what happens to this place?"
"We'd never see a clear sky again, I suppose."
"Hmm, that might be a problem."
Opinions were flying back and forth at full tilt when—
"It would be faster to simply promote the spirits."
Death cut in out of nowhere.
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"And by what method, exactly, would you promote them?"
"I see he hasn't told you yet."
At Death's words, every gaze in the carriage swung to Bayul. The looks in their eyes made themselves clear: confess, and confess now.
Finding himself, quite against his intentions, in the position of the man who'd been hiding something important, Bayul stammered out the truth of where Spinel's earrings had come from.
"Wait—there were earrings hidden inside the spirit stone?"
"According to Spinel, the spirit stone melted in the magma and turned into her earrings."
"Then what are we sitting around here for? Shouldn't we hurry off and smash some spirit stones?"
"Smash them?"
"Yes! There's bound to be another earring or gem inside, right? Hang it on one of the spirits, have Bayul give it a little tap, and boom—instant promotion to Intermediate Spirit!"
"You really think it's that simple?"
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right, Bayul?"
In truth, hastening to Carrington had partly been for exactly this purpose. If Bayul had been charged with the task of restoring the Spirit Realm, then the first thing to be done on his behalf would be raising the spirits up into Spirit Kings. Beyond that, there was the faint hope that once they became Spirit Kings, they would know what to do next on their own.
"No need to hear the answer. One look at his face and I know—we're heading straight to the Academy."
"The Academy?"
"Every spirit stone we know of is there, isn't it?"
The Water Garden, and the Forest of Corruption.
It being the break, the Academy's gates would be closed—but that hardly meant there was no other way in. They already knew exactly where the hole in the fence was.