“Tch, your help was unnecessary.”
Uzuma muttered something, glancing at one of the spirit folk in the circle behind her unhappily. The older dwarf woman was kneeling with her hands pressed against the ground. Uzuma spun the spear in her hands before launching a single blow at Rio with all her might. Rio received the attack straight on.
What ridiculous strength! The impact was stronger than anything he had ever felt until now, sending the sword clutched in his hands flying away.
“Gah...!” Rio felt a sharp, agonizing pain run through his entire body like lightning. Uzuma had placed her hand against his body and released a high voltage current of electricity. With his body paralyzed, Rio’s vision soon darkened as he collapsed onto the ground. The last thing he saw was Orphia’s panicked figure running towards him, and the stern glares of the spirit folk looking down on him.
Chapter 5: Misunderstanding
Sara and the other spirit folk brought the unconscious Rio and Latifa back to their village with them. Rio was restrained with a magic artifact and escorted to the rarely used jail cell in the village town hall, while Sara’s group carried Latifa to a guest room within the same building.
A werefox elder waited for them in the room to receive their report of the incident. As the representative of their group, Sara explained the circumstances to the elder first.
“...Hmm. Don’t you think you were a little too rough, dear Uzuma?” The elder looked at Uzuma coldly after hearing the report.
“B-But it was an emergency situation...”
“Well, that may be true... however, this child... I have never seen her around here before. And I’d definitely remember a child this cute.”
“Yes. In regards to that, we discovered supplies in their camp that we believe to be travel equipment belonging to this girl. It’s possible that she isn’t one of the villagers...” Sara clarified from the side with a slightly pale face.
“Orphia. Alma. Bring the captured boy here immediately.” The expression on the elder’s face changed instantly, and she gave her order in a somewhat cold tone.
Orphia and Alma both stutteringly agreed to the elder and hurried out of the room.
Latifa opened her eyes soon after.
◇◇◇
Latifa opened her eyes to find herself in an unfamiliar room. She was on a soft and comfy bed, under a warm and snug blanket. Compared to camping outside, it was far, far more comfortable and pleasant to sleep on. And yet —
“...Onii-chan?” Latifa murmured, glancing wildly around the room.
Her precious person wasn’t here, where he should be. Instead, she was surrounded by strangers: the silver werewolf Sara, the winged werebeast Uzuma, and the werefox — like Latifa — elder. The three of them sat on chairs facing each other, conversing with conflicted expressions on their faces that immediately halted when they noticed that Latifa was awake.
“Hmm, seems like you’re awake now. Good morning, brethren of mine. How do you feel?” The werefox elder smiled, speaking in the language of the spirit folk. However, Latifa couldn’t understand a single word.
“...What are you saying? Onii-chan... Where’s Onii-chan?” She tilted her head and spoke in the common language of the Strahl region. A downcast look fell over Sara’s and the elder’s faces.
“Human language. Elder Ursula, this girl really...”
“So it seems. This child isn’t from the village,” Sara and the elder said to each other conclusively.
Latifa, on the other hand, couldn’t understand what the two were saying, and warily looked around the room. She twitched her nose, secretly sniffing out Rio’s scent to locate him.
Suddenly, Latifa’s nose caught onto his faint scent.
There’s no mistaking it. It’s Onii-chan — unable to bear it any longer, Latifa jumped out of the bed and broke into a run.
“Ah, hey! Stop right there!” The sudden turn of events delayed Sara’s reaction, allowing Latifa to give her the slip and dip into the hallway.
“Augendae Corporis!”
After successfully making it to the hallway, she chanted the only magic spell she could use. Her body instantly became lighter, strength flowing through her as she ran in the direction of Rio’s scent. Sara and Uzuma chased after her.
“Humm. This seems to be taking a turn for the worse,” Ursula muttered to herself, her expression darkening.
◇◇◇
Several moments earlier, before Latifa opened her eyes...
Rio regained consciousness on a shabby bed in an unfamiliar room. With a fuzzy head, he wondered where he was; his body felt sluggish, as if he had caught a cold. In an attempt to assess the situation, he moved to sit up in the bed, when a sharp pain suddenly stabbed through his stomach area.
Accepting his defeat, he gave up and flopped back down.
He moved his hand to his stomach in order to treat himself with magic, when he realized there were shackles restraining his hands.
These are... Enchanted Sealing Cuffs, huh. They were even careful enough to bind my neck and feet, too.
Rio ground his teeth. Enchanted Sealing Cuffs were an artifact that could contain the magic essence of the wearer. Normally, it was enough to attach just one, but they could be broken depending on the capability of the wearer. Because of this, high-class sorcerers would be made to wear multiple cuffs.
Even managing my essence is too difficult, much less healing myself. Damn it...
Rio frowned as he gazed up at the ceiling above him. Dim moonlight and a cold breeze entered from the iron barred window in the corner of the room. At some point, they had stripped him of his equipment and clothes; Rio was only clothed in a thin underlayer. The temperature of the room was less than ten degrees... He was almost guaranteed to catch a cold like this.
He would have preferred to move around a bit and warm himself as much as possible, but now wasn’t the time for that. Rio endured the stabbing pains in his stomach and focused on recovering naturally.
Then, a short while later...
The chill against his skin had already passed his limits, making an unpleasant feeling shoot through him. Eventually, his mind started to nod off into the darkness. He knew it was bad to sleep, but he couldn’t find the strength to keep his eyes open.
Then, several minutes after Rio completely lost consciousness, he found himself in a pure white space. He had no idea where he was, nor what was happening.
“Haruto...” A clear, beautiful voice resounded.
Rio looked around in surprise. Before he realized it, an unknown girl stood before him.
Her long rose-gold hair fluttered behind her as she stared at Rio’s face with eyes like rubies. There was no emotion in her expression, but her features were unbelievably refined.
“You’re...” Rio murmured.
He felt like he had seen her face somewhere, but would he really forget the face of someone so overwhelmingly beautiful, a face that emitted such a divine aura?
“Who are you?”
“Me? Who am I... I wonder.” The girl tilted her head to the side.
“You don’t know?” Rio asked.
“Yeah...” the girl nodded sadly.
“But you know who I am, right?”
“Haruto? Haruto... Haruto is... just Haruto.”
“That’s not much of an answer. Okay, then why do you know me?”
Her somewhat philosophical yet redundant answer made Rio give a strained smile and change his line of questioning. She reached up to touch Rio’s cheek gently and, after a beat, squeezed his hand. It felt so natural for her to be doing so... Rio simply stood there and held his hand out as she wanted. Her hand felt so unreal, it was almost artificially drained of life — yet at the same time, it was strangely warm.
“I am... connected to Haruto.”
“Connected to me?” Rio didn’t really understand what she was saying.
“Yup. But now is not the time... Haruto, I only belong to you, and I will always be by your side. Your weaknesses,
your strengths, your everything — I accept them all. So don’t give up. Don’t be afraid. And believe in yourself a little.”
“W... Why...?”
A dumbfounded expression overcame Rio’s face; he was just barely able to find his voice. The girl smiled as though she had regained some of her lost emotion.
“Because you’re the only one left for me... for... for what?” she said, blinking with a somewhat confused and mystified expression. Then, the girl widened her eyes with a gasp as her figure suddenly started to fade away.
“...Sorry. It looks like... time’s up.”
“Time?” Rio asked the girl, but she didn’t answer him.
“Sorry. I can only... do this much... for you. Sweet... dreams...”
She hugged Rio softly. Her eyes sluggishly struggled to stay open, as though her consciousness was fading away. Rio, too, followed her into that darkness soon after.
Then, not long after, another voice —
“Haru-kun.”
He thought he heard a familiar voice. A girl. Rio knew this girl’s voice... No, Amakawa Haruto knew this girl’s voice. The memories he had desperately tried to seal so long ago came rushing back to him clearly, as though they had happened just yesterday.
“Wake up, Haru-kun!”
Haruto’s childhood friend — Ayase Miharu — was shaking his shoulder.
“...I’m awake.”
“Ah! Haru-kun’s up!”
Haruto blinked his eyes open against the dazzling light to see Miharu beaming at him. Miharu’s smile... Just seeing it made Haruto happy, filling his heart with warmth.
“What’s up...? I was sleeping so nicely too.”
He glanced at the clock. It was still early in the morning.
“Don’t give me that! Today’s the day of the excursion! You have to get up early!”
Excursion? Why are we going on excursions at this age? Wait, that’s right! Today was the first excursion of first grade — Haruto widened his eyes with a gasp as he remembered that. But after a few moments hesitation...
“Hmm. Good night, Mii-chan,” Haruto said, burrowing back into his blankets, despite being more than awake now.
He was really looking forward to the excursion — that was why he hadn’t been able to sleep the night before. But for some reason, he really wanted to spend the day with just Miharu. However, she had been really looking forward to the excursion, so she whined like a child whose precious item was being taken from her.
“Y-You can’t do that! We agreed to sit next to each other on the bus and go together!”
Oh, that kind of sounds tempting too, Haruto thought at Miharu’s words, but he made no move to leave the blankets. Wanting to see her reaction, he couldn’t help but tease her a little.
“Come on, Haru-kun, get up. Pretty please?” Miharu shook Haruto gently.
“Mmph...” Haruto grumbled in response. Then, somewhere next to the bed, Miharu began fidgeting with something.
I guess I should get up now, Haruto thought, but just as he did —
“Geez! I’ll definitely get you up!” Miharu said, jumping on top of his blankets.
“Whoa, huh?! Wait! Hold it, Mii-chan! I surrender! I’ll get up!”
Haruto resurfaced from his blankets in a hurry to find Miharu smiling smugly down at him.
“Fufu! Good morning, Haru-kun.”
Honestly, that cuteness was unfair... But Haruto wasn’t about to take it lying down, either.
“There!” Haruto mischievously dragged Miharu into the blankets with him.
“W-Wah! Haru-kun!” Miharu blushed furiously at being hugged so tightly by him under the blankets.
“Do you want me to let go?” Haruto asked cheekily. Miharu was in front of him. That was enough to make him very happy.
“Uugh... What’s wrong, Haru-kun? You’re awfully bold today.”
“It’s because I love Mii-chan. Well? Do you want me to let go?”
He really was being bold today, Haruto thought impassively as he spoke.
“Y-You’re being mean, Haru-kun. There’s no way I want you to let go.” Miharu flushed an even deeper scarlet as she mumbled.
“Really. ...Then is it okay if we stay like this a little longer?”
Just for now, at least, Haruto thought as he hugged Miharu.
For an instant, it felt as though Miharu would drift somewhere far away... Haruto continued to pester Miharu to distract himself from his worries.
“Yeah,” Miharu nodded with a small smile.
Haruto gently brushed away strands of Miharu’s hair, then gently stroked her cheek.
...But his hands suddenly refused to move, as though they had been restrained by something.
Before he knew it, Miharu’s warmth disappeared.
“Please get up.”
Haruto — no, Rio — returned to reality, summoned awake by someone’s voice. It was an unfamiliar voice; one of a young girl, but definitely not Miharu’s.
Let me stay asleep, I want to see this dream a little longer... Rio deeply wished for that from the bottom of his heart. However, his consciousness wouldn’t allow that now that he was awake.
“Um, please get up.”
Rio was shaken awake with a blink. Then, his expression immediately changed into one of devastation. Of course, it wasn’t Miharu before him — it was the elf girl Orphia and the dwarf girl Alma.
Was it... a dream? Rio thought hazily through his burning fever and fatigue.
An indescribable feeling of loss overcame him, making tears fall suddenly from his eyes.
Amakawa Haruto was dead, and he would never meet Miharu again. That was why he did his best to stop remembering Miharu. The thoughts and feelings he had sealed until now flowed out of him alongside his tears.
Rio still had regretful feelings towards Miharu inside him; his dream just now had emphasized that keenly. However, even with that awareness, Miharu did not exist in this world.
Reality was cruel.
“Erm... Good morning.” Orphia said hesitantly as Rio sadly shed his tears.
“Good... morning,” Rio responded on reflex, despite not seeing Orphia and Alma at all. He bit down on his lip in an attempt to stifle his emotions.
Suddenly, he felt someone wrap a blanket over his body. They probably couldn’t bear seeing a similar-aged boy in his underwear, even one of a different race. Well, who cares about that, Rio thought offhandedly.
An awkward silence fell over the room — over Orphia and Alma, to be precise. That was when the door flew open with a bang.
“Onii-chan!”
Latifa appeared in the doorway. A few moments later, Sara and Uzuma entered, too. As soon as Latifa entered the room, she burst into tears and clung onto Rio’s horizontal form in the bed.
“...Why are you crying, Latifa?”
“Because you were gone, Onii-chan. I don’t want that... Please don’t leave me. Stay by my side, please?”
“I’m right here, aren’t I?” Rio said gently with a strained smile. Seeing Latifa cry had somehow made him calm down instantly; his emotional disposition had disappeared.
“Then will you always be with me? You’ll never leave, right?” Latifa asked, squeezing Rio’s body even tighter.
“Oh, dear. Could you hug me a little softer? It hurts,” Rio said with a troubled face, evading the question.
He couldn’t answer yes. If he did, it would probably be a lie. It felt somewhat shameful to lie directly to the face of a young girl who admired him.
“Huh, you’re hurt? Why — What’s this?!” Latifa finally noticed the cuffs around Rio’s hands and feet. She tried to pry them open by force, but it was futile.
“Don’t worry about me. Did they do anything bad to you, Latifa?”
“Yes. They hurt my Onii-chan,” Latifa answered immediately, making Rio blink with a blank expression.
“Then everything’s okay.” He said, amused.
“Nuh-uh! That’s not true. Who did this to you?”
Latifa sh
ook her head furiously with tears in her eyes. Then, she looked around the room and spotted Sara, Orphia, Alma, and Uzuma — the four who seemed to be in the know. She glared at them suspiciously, silently demanding them to explain what happened.
“U-Umm...”
Unsure of where to begin, Sara’s face paled as she opened her mouth. The other three wore similar expressions. Suddenly —
“Good grief, why can’t you all walk a little slower? I’m here now.”
Belatedly, Ursula arrived. Once she saw Latifa clinging to Rio, she bowed her head and sighed. “Figures. Human boy, please accept my apologies. I’d like to ask you some questions about that girl. Would you kindly cooperate with us? We’ll pick a better place to talk, of course.”
“Who cares about that! Are you the ones who did this to Onii-chan? Answer me.” Before Rio could respond to Ursula’s question, Latifa cut in and made a blatantly hostile demand.
“That’s right... hm?! This is... quite a fierce killing intent.”
The moment Ursula confirmed Latifa’s accusation, Latifa took on a protective stance over Rio. Her eyes were as sharp as a guard dog’s, glaring at the occupants of the room.
“You were mean to Onii-chan. I won’t forgive you.”
Before they knew it, a thick intimidating air swept through the dim room. It was directed towards everyone in the room. Everyone except Rio, that is. Sara’s group all stiffened at once, sweating nervously. The winged werebeast, Uzuma, stepped forth and took on the full effect of Latifa’s skin-piercing gaze.
“Stop it, Uzuma.”
“You too, Latifa. I’m glad you feel that way, but stop. I’m fine, so let’s listen to what they have to say.”
Ursula and Rio intervened, not wanting the situation to get out of hand.
“If Onii-chan says so, then...” Latifa reluctantly backed down.
“Thank you both. Before we relocate, allow me to undo those cuffs. Where is the key, Uzuma?”
“...I gave it to Lady Sara,” Uzuma answered Ursula in a stilted voice.
“Then, Sara. Undo those cuffs immediately.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am! ...Excuse me.” Sara nodded, running towards Rio in a hurry. The cuffs around his neck, hands, and feet were unshackled one by one.
Blessing of the Spirits Page 11