Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Heroes Grow by Fighting - 2
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The Tetra Territory had long suffered from frequent earthquakes.
But the quake that struck around this time before my regression was on an entirely different level from those in the past.
It didn't just demolish civilian homes—it crumbled even the sturdy castle walls. The earth split open, mountains collapsed: a colossal disaster.
Ten percent of the territory's residents lost their lives, and the numbers of injured and property damage were beyond reckoning.
It was a catastrophe said to have set Tetra Territory's strength back by twenty years.
[You're planning to stop that? Even as a hero, how the hell would you do it?]
‘I never said I would.’
[Eh?]
‘It’s not an artificial earthquake triggered by magic. How’s a human supposed to stop a natural disaster?’
[Then?]
‘Warn them ahead of time. I guess you could call it playing the prophet.’
I’d proclaim in my own name that an earthquake was coming and urge evacuation.
Sure, it might earn some backlash at first, but once the massive quake hit for real, all that resentment would flip straight into renown.
If the situation allowed, minimizing the damage with Neril’s magic or Jenia’s spells on top of that would be perfect.
‘The only real issue is.’
I fell silent for a moment before speaking up.
“By any chance, does anyone here know about spirit mages?”
Everyone exchanged glances.
Adwin spoke.
“Heh heh. Spirit mage—a pretty nostalgic name, isn’t it? You mean Magna Neros, member of the continent’s inaugural hero party?”
“That’s right, but why’s your way of talking suddenly so weird?”
“Memories always pull you back to the past. A dull-witted criminal wouldn’t get that sentiment... Why, why are you—?”
Jenia had grabbed Adwin by the shoulder, handling his spirit.
She dragged him toward the back of the carriage as she said,
“You held out pretty well these past few days. Come have a quick private chat with big sis in the back.”
“Haha. Let go. I never gave permission to touch my body... Hey, that hurts?”
While Jenia conducted her interview with Adwin at the rear of the carriage, Neril spoke up.
“A spirit mage isn’t really something you can call a proper class. Aside from Magna Neros, the hero from the first hero party, not a single one has ever appeared.”
She was right.
Unlike priests, clerics, necromancers, or mercenaries, spirit mage wasn’t an established profession.
The only person in history to reveal the existence of spirits to the world and wield their myriad harmonies was Magna Neros of the first hero party.
But soon, the world would learn.
The name of the second spirit mage.
‘Risel Bindt.’
Kaild’s very first recruit and a total sunflower who only had eyes for him—she was a spirit mage so exceptional she was called the reincarnation of Magna Neros.
I opened my mouth slowly.
“There’s a spirit mage among Kaild’s companions.”
“......!”
“And a spirit mage is someone who can command the spirits dwelling within great nature. There are no records, so I don’t know how it works, but.”
“......”
“Risel could probably stop the Tetra Territory earthquake outright.”
Neril’s expression darkened, as did those of Jenia and Adwin, who had just finished their talk and returned.
“Stop an earthquake? Is that even possible with human power?”
“Spirit mages are highly specialized for halting or altering natural phenomena.”
“......In that case, we’re in serious trouble. None of the spells I know, and none of Neril’s magic, can handle something like that.”
Neril furrowed her brow.
“My elemental deletion magic might offer a sliver of hope. Iori developed it in the first place to prevent floods—another natural disaster.”
“But that’s literally a deletion spell. What, you gonna delete the ground to stop the quake? Then where do the territory folk live afterward?”
“Hmph. Suddenly got smart, huh.”
“I’m always plenty smart.”
Jenia had a point.
If we went purely by raw combat stats, Offense was basically on our side anyway, so Maide’s party had a solid edge over Kaild’s.
But this time, the battlefield was way too skewed in their favor.
‘How do I handle this one.’
I racked my brain.
But soon enough, a good idea struck.
Right—we didn’t have a spirit mage among our four.
But didn’t we have someone who could summon the soul of a spirit mage?
“Adwin.”
“Yes?”
“Can you summon the soul of the original spirit mage, Magna Neros?”
Everyone’s faces lit up at my question.
Jenia clapped her hands.
“I see. Magna’s soul could definitely stop the earthquake. More reliably than this Risel person.”
“Not sure about more reliably, but it should work.”
“Huh? You seem to rate this Risel pretty highly, Maide. Even though you’ve never met her.”
“Anyway. What do you say? Adwin.”
Adwin didn’t reply to my question.
He was already chanting, opening the gate to the netherworld.
It was urgent, after all.
I smirked and waited patiently for his response.
Whoosh.
A breeze seemed to stir inside the carriage.
Adwin’s sleeve billowed, and the incantation etched on his body began to glow.
Then, after a moment.
He slowly opened his eyes and said,
“Uh... it’s not there? The soul.”
Adwin scoured every corner of the netherworld until we reached Tetra Territory.
By the end, he was so drained that Jenia had to nurse him.
“Huff... huff...”
“Stop now. You’ve done more than enough.”
“But...... This was the first time I could’ve actually helped the party.”
His shoulders slumped in disappointment.
Jenia patted Adwin as she said,
“First time? You already forgot about separating Repia’s soul?”
“But that was...”
“Without you back then, we’d have been done for. We’re all so grateful.”
Jenia glanced at me and Neril as she spoke.
We each responded.
“Of course.”
“I’ll say thanks for now.”
Adwin’s face brightened a little.
He snorted and said,
“But this really is a first for me. If it just didn’t answer my call, I’d get it. But not being able to find the soul at all...”
“......”
“A possibility to consider—like the soul itself being destroyed or something.”
I nodded along.
“The first Demon King was the Demon King of Destruction, after all.”
“But there are no records of even souls being destroyed. And Magna survived killing the Demon King. Lived a good long time after that, too.”
“It’s prejudice to think history records everything in detail. Plenty’s missing or miswritten.”
“Sigh. Anyway, sorry again.”
I smirked and reassured him.
“Don’t say that—it’s not your fault. We’ll find another way.”
Neril asked,
“To counter a spirit mage like Risel, don’t we need one on our side too? What other way is there?”
Trail bounced up as if in direct response.
[You called?]
‘No.’
[If you did, no helping it. I’ll assist.]
I let out a deep sigh.
I didn’t like seeing this guy get all full of himself, but right now, there really weren’t other options.
If we couldn’t borrow Magna’s power, we had to stop Risel from using spirit magic.
Which meant digging into her secrets.
I recalled the Blood Letters hovering over Risel’s head before my regression.
[You remember that?]
‘Not every single one, but the ones registered as representatives? Yeah. And Risel only sinned against about five or six people total.’
[A good person, then.]
‘Yeah. Really.’
So who was the representative again?
‘Ah. Dorman O’Neil. Show me the secret between Dorman O’Neil and Risel Bindt.’
[Got it.]
[Used Eye of Omniscience.]
[Current Eye of Omniscience level is 3. Viewable secret grade: B-grade.]
[Selection condition: ‘The secret between Dorman O’Neil and Risel Bindt.’]
[Corresponding secret grade: D-grade. Viewing.]
A screen soon popped up.
Alright. As the representative, this should be her deepest, darkest sin, right?
Wonder what it is.
......
Huh?
Risel on the screen looked extremely young.
Barefoot, body covered in wounds, clad in tattered clothes.
She was running while cradling something precious in both arms.
“Thief! That brat stole bread from our house!”
Someone chasing after her.
Didn’t need to ask—I could tell that man was Dorman O’Neil.
‘This? This is supposed to be her deepest sin?’
I let out a hollow chuckle.
No way something this minor could shake Risel.
[Hey.]
‘What.’
[Check the top right.]
‘Huh?’
I looked at the top right of the screen.
The timestamp showing when this secret had originated.
My eyes went wide.
‘Wh-what the hell?’
Snap.
The screen cut off right then.
‘......?’
[......?]
‘No. You don’t get to put a ? there.’
[Eh? You heard that?]
‘The screen glitched just now. Like you tilting your head.’
[You’re one impressive guy.]
‘Anyway, looks like an error with your Eye of Omniscience. Explain.’
Trail sounded extremely flustered.
[Well... what in the world happened?]
‘Quit that habit of switching to polite when it’s bad for you.’
Just stay polite all the time.
Truth be told, it wasn’t Trail’s fault.
No one would expect a glitch like that from an outlandish ability like the Eye of Omniscience.
‘It’s just flat-out illogical.’
I scratched my head vigorously.
Neril wrinkled her nose.
“Dandruff.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“Why the sudden weirdness? You said you’d find another way. Did you?”
I gazed at the distant mountains and gave a hollow laugh.
“Hm. Nice scenery.”
We arrived in Tetra Territory.
As we searched for a decent inn, I sank deep into thought.
What even are spirits?
No idea.
No one’s ever seen one, heard one, or touched one.
Heck, Magna Neros was the first to even name them.
Neril brought that point up.
“But is this Risel really a spirit mage? There hasn’t been one in recorded history since Magna Neros.”
“Yeah. No doubt about it.”
“Hmm. Well, if you’re that sure, I guess it must be.”
She had every reason to ask.
‘Risel’s reputation was already in the gutter before my regression.’
[Eh? Even as a super-rare spirit mage?]
‘Yeah. She never once took center stage.’
[......]
‘Hates being in the spotlight, I guess. Always stayed behind Kaild, using her abilities only to boost his name.’
A huge chunk of what got credited to Kaild before my regression was actually Risel’s doing.
I found out by pure chance...
And Risel ended up asking me, who’d figured it out,
“Please, Maide. Just pretend you didn’t see. I want it recorded as Kaild handling it.”
Risel was the type who was incredibly timid and shy by nature.
Even with companions she’d quested alongside for ages, a few words a day was her limit.
For someone like her to speak at such length—and so earnestly—I had no choice but to listen.
“Damn devoted, huh. Why tie yourself so hard to Kaild?”
“Kaild said it. He has to keep building his renown nonstop.”
I didn’t get it back then, but now it hit me like a gut punch.
Even at that point, Kaild must’ve seen his ‘path to becoming a hero.’
That’s why he chased fame so desperately.
“If even my accomplishments go toward Kaild’s renown, he’ll be pleased.”
“Kaild might be. Not sure about anyone else.”
“If Kaild’s happy, I’m happy.”
“Ah. Got it.”
I ran out of words and just nodded.
Looking back now, maybe Risel was in love with Kaild.
[Looking back or not, it was obvious as hell.]
‘How do you tell someone’s feelings from talk like that?’
[Classic lifelong bachelor line.]
‘I let it slide back then, but I can’t anymore. Take it back.’
[What? You’ve got a girlfriend?]
‘I will soon. So it’s not lifelong.’
[......]
In the meantime, Adwin had found a nice inn.
We parked the carriage, unpacked, and gathered in the first-floor dining hall.
As we ate a simple dinner, Neril spoke up.
“When’s the earthquake hitting?”
“What, you ask like it’s obvious.”
“Yeah? You don’t know?”
“One week from now.”
“......”
She pressed her forehead lightly and continued.
“Anyway, for anything else, I’d say we handle it before those Kaild bastards show up—but we can’t here, so it’s tricky.”
“Yeah. Let’s visit the lord tomorrow, at least. Not sure how much he’ll listen, but warning about the quake ahead of time seems smart.”
“Kaild’s really coming, huh.”
“According to Offense’s intel, yeah. He’s definitely coming—the question is timing...”
I trailed off midsentence.
Thud. Thud.
Very familiar footsteps echoed from outside the inn.
I couldn’t help but grin at the sound.
Just as Adwin could glimpse a person’s life trajectory by viewing their soul, I could roughly gauge someone’s skill from their footsteps alone.
Thud.
Except for one guy.
Thud.
‘No real caution. No standout habits or quirks.’
Thud.
All I sensed from those footsteps was pure confidence.
-A hero fears nothing.
The steps seemed to declare it outright.
Thud. Halt.
Creeeak.
At last, the inn door swung open.
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