The End of the Endless Rain
From the day after arriving in Hamilton, Bayul was out and about from morning till night, hurrying from place to place. Stopping the rain was not nearly as simple as he had imagined. No matter how far Innocent had come as an Intermediate Spirit, the working could only be brought off perfectly if it was cast at precisely the right moment, in precisely the right place.
He couldn't have said exactly what had changed in him, but for some reason Bayul felt more confident than before, and he had at least a dim sense of how the whole endeavor ought to unfold.
"On the map, this spot marks the center of Hamilton."
Today's survey had brought Ian and Death along with him. Since Ian already knew about the spirits, there was no longer any need to conduct their business in secret, which made things a great deal easier. As for Death, Bayul had asked Butler Cunning's leave and brought him along on the off chance the man might have some useful counsel to offer.
"We'll have to pour out everything we have, all at once, just barely manage to stop it. Hamilton has no Spirit Stones, you see, so recovering our strength afterward will take a very long time. It has to be finished in a single stroke."
"Then these Spirit Stones of yours—could we not dig them up out of Carrington and plant them here?"
"And bring disaster down on Carrington instead?"
"Ah. So it would."
Ian clicked his tongue as though it were a genuine pity.
"Innocent!"
Bayul called over Innocent, who was dancing in midair beneath the falling rain. Unlike her days as a Lower Spirit, energy positively brimmed off her now.
"How about here? From this spot, I feel like the power would spread cleanly across all of Hamilton."
"Hmm... shall we give it a try right now, then?"
"What? You want to do it now?"
Today's outing had been meant purely as a field survey, so they had come without any preparation at all. Nothing in the way of supplies was actually required, granted—but Bayul hadn't yet steeled his heart for it.
"Is it really all right to just launch into it like this?"
"I'd say you ought to be worried about that one over there before you worry about me."
Arms crossed, Innocent jerked her chin toward Tempesta, who stood off at a distance. He had recovered completely from his injuries and was as adorable as ever, but unlike before, he was in a state of deep dejection.
"Still in a huff, I see. Honestly, pathetic."
"Innocent, go easy on him. Tempesta only wants to become an Intermediate Spirit too. That's all this is."
Ever since her evolution, Innocent had been boasting to Tempesta at every spare moment. She strutted about as if being first to awaken entitled her to a noble rank—so puffed up with pride that Bayul could only manage a wry smile watching her.
Spinel, who had been an Intermediate Spirit from the very beginning, couldn't have cared less, but Tempesta was another matter entirely. He wore the most aggrieved expression in the world, great tears rolling down his cheeks in his sorrow, and it took a considerable stretch of patient effort to console him.
Shame was far too taciturn for any of that, but even so, Bayul could sense the envy smoldering quietly within him as well. It became the reason Bayul resolved that the moment Hamilton was settled, he would give everything he had to raising both spirits' ranks.
"And remember—this time, we can't succeed without the other spirits. I told you cooperation was the key, didn't I?"
"Yeah, I remember."
For Innocent, spirit of water, to gather the rain falling across every corner of Hamilton, the help of Tempesta, spirit of wind, was absolutely indispensable. Any rainwater that slipped away, Spinel, spirit of fire, would have to evaporate with her heat; and Shame, spirit of earth, had to shield the waterlogged land so it would not be swept away.
All of it had to be done at once, smoothly and seamlessly—only then could the rain be stopped. It was their first attempt, so there was no telling whether it would take hours or days.
The important thing was that Bayul had staked everything on this plan.
Restoring Hamilton to what it once was.
It was, after all, a promise he had made to his father.
News had arrived from the imperial capital that midday. Over the question of launching the campaign, the court was deliberating day and night, and Crown Prince Lindemann had been barred from leaving the palace for the time being.
War demanded vast numbers of soldiers and supplies alike. Long deliberations would have to pass back and forth over how they were to be procured, managed, and overseen before any decision could be reached.
An affair that had hung both the Crown Prince's life and Bayul's in the balance would end in exactly the decision Duke Randert willed—war. But when that day would come, Bayul worried even as he found himself waiting for it.
"Spinel."
"Yes, Bayul."
Spinel came toward him, steam billowing from her whole body. Remembering how Ian had stumbled backward the first time he witnessed the sight, Bayul felt laughter rising without warning.
It was simply what happened when cold rainwater met Spinel's flames—and to anyone seeing it for the first time, it was certainly strange enough to be unsettling.
Of the four spirits, Spinel had taken the gravest wounds in her duel against Vandine; standing at the front lines had seen to that. Fortunately, perhaps because she was an Intermediate Spirit, her recovery was the fastest of them all.
Perhaps it was the tremendous skill she had shown that day. For whatever reason, Bayul found himself leaning on Spinel a great deal. He had been honestly astonished by her true caliber—the way she had traded blows evenly with the man hailed as the Dwyer Empire's supreme master. If only the demon contract had not been fulfilled at the very last moment, it was a battle she could have won. Only then did Bayul grasp anew just how powerful and magnificent spirits truly were.
"Can you begin right away?"
"I stand ready whenever you command."
A dependable answer, as always.
"And Shame?"
For once, Shame had come up above ground rather than remaining beneath it. His long hair and beard held up fine even in the rain.
"I, too... am fine..."
Which left Tempesta. Unlike the other two, he would have to be coaxed along, step by careful step, before he would listen. Rather than call out to him, Bayul went over himself.
"Tempesta, what are you doing all the way over here?"
Tempesta was perched atop a thick tree branch. They stood on the crown of a hill, angled so that the whole city lay below them.
"Nothing. Just sitting."
Faced with that sullen look, Bayul's heart ached. He and Innocent had always been rivals in everything but name, so her evolution must have struck him that much harder. Honestly, watching him act out in a fit of temper would almost have been preferable.
"The thing is, I need Tempesta's power right now. Would you lend it to me?"
"My power?"
"Mm. Nobody but you can do this, Tempesta."
"...And what exactly is it that only I can do?"
Tempesta, who had always longed to be special, loved nothing more than remarks like this that held him up. Through their time together, Bayul had learned a good deal about handling him.
"Innocent is going to stop the rain. But she can't do it alone. I want you to use your power so the rain can gather all in one place."
"You're telling me to help that girl?"
Bayul reasoned with him calmly as Tempesta bristled.
"When it comes down to it, you wouldn't be helping Innocent—you'd be helping the people who live here. The rain's been so relentless that everyone is worn to the bone."
"Water is always a headache."
Tempesta stuck out his lips, as if Innocent alone were proof enough of that.
"So you'll help, then?"
"...Fine. If it's what you want, Bayul, I'll do it."
"That's it, Tempesta. You really are a good kid. Thank you."
He was glad he'd learned how to handle the little one from Aidan. His only regret was that Tempesta sat too high up for Bayul to reach over and pat his head.
"Shall we gather everyone, then?"
Bayul beckoned, drawing the spirits together into one place. He let nothing show, but inwardly this was a nerve-racking moment. Never before had he exerted his influence over a domain this vast. His heart hammered in his chest at the question of whether things would truly go as he hoped.
"I've already explained everything, so I won't repeat myself. You all know the objective, right?"
"Just leave it to me, Bayul!"
With her confidence shooting straight for the heavens since her promotion to Intermediate Spirit, Innocent answered without a flicker of hesitation.
"I'm counting on every one of you."
I trust you.
Bayul clasped both hands tightly together and offered a silent prayer. On either side of him, Ian and Death watched the spirits' movements with quiet fascination.
Innocent moved first. Spreading both arms wide, she rose slowly into the sky. Then, with her at the center, Spinel, Shame, and Tempesta scattered to the three remaining directions.
It was a moment worthy of being written into history—the first great stride of Bayul, who would command nature itself.
Thump, thump. The beat of his heart quickened.
"Hm?"
That was when it happened. Death's eyes narrowed at the corners, as if he had sensed something odd.
"Death? What is it?"
The instant Bayul asked, the world abruptly stood still. The downpour froze in midair just as it was—precisely as though time itself had ceased to flow.
"How... how astonishing."
It was Ian, at last experiencing firsthand the power of spirits he had known only by hearsay. He reached out and touched a raindrop hanging in the air before his eyes. An eerie chill spread through his fingertips.
Then it came.
The raindrops that had hung suspended in the air as if time had briefly stopped began to surge skyward all at once. What had fallen from above had reversed its direction entirely. And at the center toward which all that rainwater converged glowed Innocent, wrapped in blue light.
"Is she... absorbing the rain?"
Ian asked, but it was Bayul's first time seeing it too, and he had no answer to give. Where on her delicate little body was such a vast storage (?) space hiding? The rainwater was being sucked into her without mercy.
Spinel vented heat from her whole body to ease Innocent's burden, while Tempesta stirred up winds that helped the rain gather all the more easily. Shame endured doggedly through it all, holding firm to keep the softening ground from being torn apart in the process.
And so they exerted their power, without rest, for a full twelve hours.
Even standing below and doing nothing but watch, Bayul found himself out of breath. As the spirits' strength sank steadily toward its bedrock, a creeping unease closed in on him.
Had it been too much for them after all? Should they have practiced first, and only then attempted the real thing? A tangle of stray thoughts sprang up, leaving his mind in disarray.
Midnight passed, and dawn arrived.
Shame and Tempesta, still Lower Spirits, had long since dropped out of the working entirely; only Innocent and Spinel were straining on to the last. The moment Bayul, thinking he would run them into the ground at this rate, opened his mouth to call a halt, he suddenly realized that the rainwater which had been flecking his skin at intervals had stopped reaching him some time ago.
"Huh? Wait... is it...?"
Bayul looked around with a bewildered face. The sky was still hazy, but a faint moon hung in it. And through that dim moonlight, he saw it, unmistakably.
"The rain's stopped! It's not falling anymore!"
"Heavens! I-it really is!"
As though the truth had yet to sink in, Ian shouted back a beat late, stammering. He lifted his hand and waved it through the empty air, but all he felt was the cold. The rainwater was truly, completely gone.
"Hm. Looks like it's well and truly finished."
Through every one of those hours—tedious, if anything could be—Death had kept vigil at Bayul's side. When even he nodded his acknowledgment, Bayul at last felt the reality of it land, and let out a whoop of joy.
They were finally free of the rainy season that had seemed like it would never end. Hamilton was delivered at last from the flood that had tormented it for so long.
Inexpressible elation came surging up through his whole body.
"Innocent!"
Every one of the spirits had given their all, but her contribution was by far the greatest. The instant Bayul called to Innocent with all his strength, she dropped limply toward the ground like an angel robbed of its wings, as though she had been waiting for exactly that. She had run herself into exhaustion yet again.
Bayul darted forward and caught her in his arms. The hours must have been grueling, for she was already fast asleep.
Spinel alighted lightly beside them, looking a touch worn and pale.
"You've all worked so very hard."
That was all Bayul could offer. But it seemed to be more than enough; Spinel smiled quietly.
"I find myself looking forward to this morning."
The morning face of Hamilton, unchanged for nearly half a year, was about to be transformed.
How would the citizens react when they saw the rain had ceased? Rita would be jumping for joy, of course.
His body was tired from the sleepless night, but curiosity seemed to have made sleep altogether out of the question. At the thought of seeing clear skies over his hometown again after so long, Bayul, too, began to brim with excitement.