The Value of Tears
Frost first explained to Bagan and Elizabeth that he had no choice but to be sensitive about the Icicle Tree. He had lost it once before. For that reason, he shared the story from back then.
“What kind of experiment was it?”
Bagan mulled over the fact that Jude had performed such an experiment. If anything from the game’s story rang a bell, even if only similar, he might find a clue. Unfortunately, no relevant memory surfaced. The current timeline was clearly earlier than the game’s main events, so it could have been something that happened before. Yet nothing came to mind. Which meant one of Bagan’s own actions must have triggered it.
‘In other words, Palamus’s early death and final desperate act created a new event.’
In the game, Frost would never have awakened, so it was almost certain. ‘This is getting complicated.’
He didn’t know much, but he laid out everything he did know and explained it to the spirit.
“Shade’s contractor is a demon. An evil person who gained power by making a deal with the devils of Pandemonium—the place called hell.”
Frost’s form twisted violently. The sounds of ice smashing and shattering rang out one after another. Crack! It seemed he was forcibly suppressing his rage so it wouldn’t harm Bagan or Elizabeth.
Frost was searching for Jude’s location, but that was something even Bagan didn’t know. He might learn it later, but at this point in time he had no idea where the man was or what he was doing.
“I don’t know. Even I can’t know everything.”
The distress Frost displayed seemed to stem from something more than the simple danger the Icicle Tree posed.
“Why?”
Seleana spoke up to reinforce the point.
Bagan more or less understood. After all, the reason Spia had created the spirit realm was partly so she herself could exist. Born as the goddess of space, she had guided unformed concepts into the spirit realm. The beings born from that process were the spirits—mental entities that governed each concept. She could do so because she herself was a mental entity and had modeled them after her own existence. Thanks to that, spirits found it difficult to interfere with any world other than Harmonia.
If an Icicle Tree had existed in Harmonia, he might have been able to interfere with the human world through a medium or a contract. But since the Icicle Tree itself had become the medium, neither a contract nor another medium could be established.
“Then you have to stay here forever?”
It was an extremely difficult situation. What creature could endure an eternal winter? Yet treating Frost as the root cause of the incident and erasing him felt presumptuous—a pointless sacrifice. Forcibly annihilating a Frost who had only just regained his former self was not the only path forward.
“Bagan, is there really no way to send Frost to the spirit realm?”
In truth, the one more desperate than Bagan was Elizabeth, whose duty was guiding lost spirits back to Harmonia. She was the one who had to find a way to return Frost to the spirit realm.
While she agonized, one fact occurred to Bagan.
“Elizabeth, how do you normally send other spirits back to the spirit realm?”
Elizabeth thought of all the spirits she had guided so far and answered.
“Usually we find their medium and cancel the summoning. Unless they’re a Spirit King, they can’t return on their own.”
Bagan pondered whether there was anything to learn from her methods. In the end, only one solution came to mind.
‘The Icicle Tree is the medium. If I cancel the summoning…’
That was unacceptable. In the end, Bagan asked Frost directly.
“How long does it take for the Icicle Tree to regrow?”
The moment the Icicle Tree was mentioned again, Frost roared. He wasn’t about to attack; it was a warning. Still, Bagan needed to know. It would help him find a solution.
“I need to understand to come up with a plan. When Shade cut the Icicle Tree in Harmonia, your mind broke, but they replanted it here. Conversely, if we plant it in Harmonia…”
Since it had come from Harmonia to the human world, returning it from the human world to Harmonia should work.
Elizabeth nodded in agreement with Seleana’s words.
“She’s right. And even if the Icicle Tree grows back completely, there’s no spirit to wake it. The Cold Spirit King has no subordinate spirits and is currently asleep.”
From what both of them said, this plan seemed doomed as well. But at that moment—
It was Frost who spoke.
“What are you saying? That would erase your own position.”
Elizabeth scolded Frost for the absurd suggestion. Cold spirits were special beings that did not have subordinate spirits. If a new one was born, the Spirit King position that had been Frost’s would vanish. In the end, Frost would still walk the path of annihilation.
Yet in the words that followed, Frost expressed his guilt.
“Her?”
He couldn’t fully grasp what had happened between them or what emotions had passed between them. But at least he now understood why the key that pointed to this place had been Elion’s Holy Grail.
Having heard Frost’s true feelings, Bagan asked once more.
“Are you really sure about this?”
Frost gave a quiet nod.
“Elizabeth, we have Frost’s permission. It’s time to move the Icicle Tree to Harmonia.”
“…Yes. I have an idea.”
Elizabeth nodded reluctantly and explained her method.
“Use your blessing to weaken the Icicle Tree’s power. Then the shrunken tree can be delivered to Lady Elion by Elestra. Once she hears the circumstances, she’ll handle the rest.”
There was no flaw in her reasoning. It came from years of guiding countless spirits.
“So I just need to absorb Frost’s power? You’re really okay with that?”
Bagan asked one final time. After all, having his power absorbed might feel unpleasant.
It seemed Frost had already steeled his resolve. Bagan approached the Icicle Tree in silence and began to absorb it.
Shuuuuk!
The cold energy poured into him, filling and storing itself within Bagan’s body.
It was unfortunate for Seleana, a high spirit of fire, but there was no helping it.
What was she talking about? The Icicle Tree continued shrinking. Frost stood silently beside it, enduring the absorption. Bagan glanced at Seleana. They had come too far to stop now.
“Should I stop?”
Whether she had grown used to it or was simply forcing herself to hold on, he had no way of knowing. The uncertainty worried him.
Then—
By now the Icicle Tree had grown so small it could no longer function as a medium. As silently as he had endured everything else, without so much as a scream, Frost quietly vanished.
A sudden wind blew snowflakes across their vision. When Bagan opened his eyes again, white crystals were drifting down gently.
“It’s done. Elizabeth, collect the Icicle Tree.”
“Right. I’ll summon Elestra again.”
She resummoned Elestra, who had been sent back earlier. Fortunately, the reverse-summoning to Harmonia had only happened because her spirit power had run dry. Now that she had recovered somewhat, she could call the spirit once more.
Boing!
Water droplets formed in the air, and Elestra appeared again.
She must have learned everything through Elizabeth. She took the Icicle Tree and departed. As if winter had never been there, warm sunlight poured through the leafy branches and began melting the snow.
“It feels strangely empty,” Bagan muttered.
“Tell me about it. That was my first time seeing a Spirit King in person. My heart was pounding the whole time.”
Elizabeth refused to let the moment break her spirit, true to her proud nature.
“Still, it worked out. Right, Sally?”
Bagan turned toward Seleana. But—
“Sally? Sally!”
His worry had come true. Having forcibly absorbed too much power, Seleana had reached her limit and been reverse-summoned back to Harmonia.
It was Elestra, just before leaving.
“…Please do.”
Praying that she would be safe, he entrusted the rest to her. With that, Elestra returned to Harmonia as well.
“Elizabeth, she’ll be all right, won’t she?”
“You don’t have to worry so much. Spirits feel most at peace in Harmonia. If anything happens, Lady Spia will help.”
Bagan nodded, but he couldn’t shake the unease in his chest.
“Now that I think about it, it’s not cold anymore.”
Warm sunlight fell across Elizabeth’s face.
“Let’s stop by Blue Wave Village first.”
Elizabeth showed him the Holy Grail and gave it a little shake. Bagan nodded and followed her lead.
Meanwhile, Seleana, who had been summoned to Harmonia, found herself in a space she had never seen before.
“Kia… It’s so cold. I feel like I’m going to die.”
It was as if she lay in the king’s own bedchamber within a palace. Seleana rested on a lavishly decorated bed. Her weakly flickering flame could not warm anything around her.
Dazed, she tried to sit up and look around, but a beautiful voice spoke, gently pressing her back down.
“Not yet… Your body is not healed. Stay lying down.”
Seleana’s eyes widened.
“L-Lady Spia… why?”
The one nursing her was none other than Spia, the goddess of space and of spirits.