The Ruined Spirit Stones
“Oh my god……”
[Gasp.]
I liked to think I was immune to shock at this point, but this was on another level.
Even Rai, that slippery snake of a spirit, was at a complete loss for words.
“No way… that can’t be it, right? It’s not. It can’t be.”
[……Who in their right mind would do something this barbaric?]
“This can’t be real!”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
One of the only nine non-attribute spirit stones left on the entire continent!
The legacy of the ancient spirit masters!
The final treasure of spirit masters that would never appear again!
“My spirit stone!”
[It’s not yours, Master.]
Argh!
“It’s ruined anyway! How could they do this?!”
The two spirit stones had been mercilessly and blatantly destroyed. A massive hole had been drilled straight through the center of each one.
That’s right. Someone in the tribe had turned them into necklaces. And they’d made the holes far larger than necessary.
“Ughhh……”
I collapsed onto the floor without realizing it, letting out a wail. The loss was so painful I felt like I might cry tears of blood.
“Sob… why would you turn something like this into a necklace?!”
[They really had no idea. Then again, they didn’t even know how to use them properly.]
“This is just common sense! You don’t do this!”
Clinging to a sliver of hope, I picked up the necklace that had been displayed on the altar.
When I poured mana into it, it gave off a faint glow for a moment, but that was all.
I could feel that the power wasn’t circulating properly. The contract circle inside was unstable and couldn’t fully accept the mana.
It was like a wheel spinning uselessly in place.
I examined it more closely under Adore’s light and realized the damage was even worse than I’d thought.
A significant portion of the most critical contract circle engraved inside the gem had been completely erased.
Once the spirit circle inside a spirit stone was damaged, it could no longer be called a spirit stone at all.
My hands trembled as I clutched the necklace, collapsing in utter despair.
The joy of discovering two spirit stones had quickly twisted into a horrific sense of loss.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had given me something precious only to snatch it away again.
After ten long years, I’d finally found them… only for them to be turned into these ugly necklaces.
I remained slumped on the cave floor for a while, too stunned to do anything.
“This is insane. These can’t be remade… and out of the original nine, one was already shattered when Adore was summoned, so really only eight were left… if two more are like this… that leaves six… one is with me… so where are the other five… I hope they’re safe……”
I was muttering to myself in a daze when Rai spoke up cheerfully.
[It’s okay, Master! You have me! Cheer up!]
“Huh? What are you going to do about it?”
The shock had drained me so thoroughly that I didn’t even have the energy to scold him properly.
[We can fix them!]
“……What?”
[I can restore them. Those things.]
What was this guy even saying?
This spirit who couldn’t do anything except eat metal… I shot to my feet and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.
“You can fix them? You said before that you couldn’t! You said it wouldn’t work on items with magic cast on them!”
I shook him violently.
He’d better not be joking around with something this important!
[Back then it wasn’t possible. You were too weak, Master. But ten years is enough time for mountains and rivers to change. Naturally, I’ve also……]
“Grown strong enough to kill me?”
[That’s not it.]
“Can you really do it? Really? Then do it right now!”
[Not right this instant.]
If he weren’t a metal spirit, I would’ve punched him ages ago.
“Are you messing with me? I’ll kill……”
[Whoa, whoa, calm down, Master! You’re getting way too worked up!]
“After dangling something in front of me and snatching it away, you expect me to stay calm?!”
[I can do it! It’s just going to take some time! The spirit stones have been damaged for far too long. They’ve been in that state for over a thousand years, so restoring them to their original form won’t happen overnight!]
I had been snarling and huffing, but since it sounded like it really was possible, I forced myself to calm down and released his collar.
Well, technically it was his chest fur.
“How long will it take?”
[Hmm, much longer than removing rust. It’s a similar process, though. I have to remind it of its original shape and restore it……]
“Just the bottom line.”
[About three months?]
Not bad at all.
Compared to losing the spirit stones completely, three months was something I could wait for with grace.
I had been a little too worked up from the mental shock earlier.
I nodded in satisfaction.
[If there are cleanly severed pieces, restoration will be even faster. I’d just have to reconnect them.]
“You said they’ve been damaged for about a thousand years.”
[That’s what it looks like to me.]
“Then there probably aren’t any pieces left. They would’ve turned to dust when the holes were drilled.”
Still, the fact that they could be fixed was a relief.
I gave Rai a few pats on the head as a reward and turned my attention back to the problematic necklace.
I no longer felt as devastated as before.
It was frustrating to see something so precious ruined out of pure ignorance, but at least there was hope.
“Judging by the aura… the brown one seems like an animal-type spirit stone. Right?”
[Correct.]
“That much is easy to tell now. What about the other one? A forest spirit?”
[No, that’s not it. Forest spirits are quite high-ranking. If we compare them to the four major elements, they’d be at the supreme grade. Their aura is far larger and more majestic than this.]
“Then what is it?”
No matter how I looked at it, the green spirit stone practically reeked of the forest. I focused my senses on it once more.
Damage shouldn’t have changed its inherent aura. So what was this refreshing, grassy scent?
[I’ll know for sure once I restore it… but I believe it’s a plant spirit. A spirit that serves under the forest spirit.]
“Ohh.”
[Actually, forest spirits can handle almost every element. Water, fire, wind, earth. As well as living things like plants and animals, and even light and shadow.]
“Even fire? That’s impressive. They seem completely unrelated……”
[Not if it’s a forest spirit that lives near a volcano. In their own forests, those beings are practically gods.]
It was surprising to hear Rai, the arrogant king of spirits, openly acknowledge another spirit. The forest spirit must be truly exceptional.
My interest was instantly piqued. I wanted it. I wanted that spirit!
[Ah! There it is again, that greedy, possessive look in your eyes…… Could you please stop being so greedy! You already have me, your one and only, strongest, cutest spirit!]
“I want to have everything good! I’m a greedy person!”
[When you say it so openly like that, I can’t even argue! Besides, it’s true.]
The fact that I probably couldn’t obtain it only made me want it more.
To contract with a non-attribute forest spirit, I’d have no choice but to use the ancient summoning circle that had brought out Rai. The fact that Rai had come out of it was clearly an incredible stroke of luck.
Even though I’d tried summoning spirits with the ancient circle every few months since then, nothing had appeared in over ten years.
It wasn’t a matter of my skill.
After all, I was the one who had successfully summoned Endairon, a spirit that was said to be extremely rare even among upper spirits.
That left only one answer.
Just as Rai had said, that summoning circle had truly become a ‘forsaken path.’ There was no more hope there.
I stared down at the spirit stones that had become a necklace and murmured.
“It might be excessive greed. But I don’t care. I want to collect every last one of the remaining spirit stones. I want them, and I will have them.”
The spirit stones left behind by the ancient spirit masters were now the only way for humans to summon non-attribute spirits.
And there were probably only a handful of people who even knew that fact.
Perhaps I was the only one.
***
I often found myself secretly contemplating the ice spirit stone in my possession.
Whether I should share its existence with other spirit masters, or keep it to myself. Since I still hadn’t made up my mind, the chances were high that it would only be revealed after my death.
I had a habit of wanting good things all to myself. I wasn’t generous enough to share what was mine, and I didn’t particularly feel any guilt about it either.
Sharing something I had struggled to obtain with others didn’t feel like the natural thing to do at all.
‘So what should I do about this?’
As I emerged from the narrow cave holding the spirit stone necklace, my greedy mind was so busy trying to figure out how to make this mine that I wore a rather serious expression.
Even if its original purpose had been lost, it was still a charm that prayed for the village’s peace. They probably wouldn’t hand it over easily. And trying to tempt them with gold and treasures didn’t seem like it would work on the jungle tribe.
What should I do? The only thing I could offer was money.
Now that Rai had practically become the spirit of precious metals, I could produce as much as I wanted, like it was sprouting from the ground.
In times like these, it was actually convenient to be a greedy person.
“Sister.”
When I stepped out of the cave, still worrying about money in my own way, I saw Arnel standing guard near the bushes.
Her bronze skin blended perfectly into the darkness. The only thing clearly visible was the pair of chillingly sharp twin swords.
Did she know how solid and beautiful she looked standing there with her swords drawn, back turned to me? It was almost like a statue I’d want to have cast in bronze.
Why did I like Arnel so much?
Was it simply because she was my savior from childhood?
Or because she was the first strong woman I had ever seen? Or maybe because she treated me like a daughter and I didn’t have to reject that kindness, which put my mind at ease.
Completely unaware of what I was thinking, Arnel sheathed her swords and approached.
Even though walking through the forest usually made noise, her approach was utterly silent.
In the faint moonlight, I could see her smiling. She reached out with a gentle hand.
“Goodness, Jeanie. What happened to your pretty hair? It’s full of spiderwebs and bug corpses……”
Everything that had stuck to me inside the cave had left my hair and clothes in complete disarray.
We stood side by side for a moment, picking the mess off each other.
“Did you bring Galata out with you?”
“I wanted to look at it more closely. Was that not allowed?”
“Not at all. It’s fine. It used to be something the chiefs always wore around their necks. These days they say it’s old-fashioned and don’t wear it anymore.”
It seemed even the jungle had trends in fashion. I pointed at the thick, three-colored cord that had been threaded through the holes.
“This shouldn’t have been turned into a necklace. Look. Because of these holes, the core parts have been damaged. That’s why it can’t function anymore.”
“I see. We don’t really understand magic, so……”
“Who on earth came up with the idea to drill holes in it?”
“In the past, we used to wander from place to place. There were constant fights between tribes… We only settled in this area a few hundred years ago.”
What did wandering around have to do with drilling holes in it?
Seeing my crooked expression full of dissatisfaction, Arnel gave a light shrug.
“Because we had to keep moving, we developed the habit of always carrying important things on our bodies. You never knew when you might have to flee or fight. It must have happened during those unstable times.”
“Ah……”
“If it seems like an incredibly foolish act to you, a spirit master, then I apologize. Please don’t be too upset.”
“It’s not like you’re the one who should be apologizing, sister.”
“I get angry too when someone mishandles a sword.”
This was exactly why I couldn’t help but like her.
“Anyway, you really are amazing. You figured out what was wrong at a glance. As expected of a professional.”
“It’s not that impressive. Any mage or spirit master would be able to tell the cause just by looking at it.”
“Is that so? Still, people usually don’t show it to outsiders.”
It was touching that they trusted an outsider like me this much, but that only made things more difficult.
It made it even harder to ask for the necklace.
I thought of a few excuses I could use to borrow it, but none of them seemed like they would work.
“So, what do you think?”
“About what?”
“About Galata. Does it have any value at all?”
Arnel looked straight at me with her clear, innocent eyes and asked.