Blessing of the Spirits

by Yuri Kitayama

  And so, one way or another, their life in the village had a fairly good start.

  Chapter 6: Life in the Village

  The day after Rio and Latifa settled into the village...

  Rio was receiving a lesson on spirit arts from Ursula and Orphia in a courtyard near their house.

  “Lord Rio, you mentioned you used spirit arts by imitating sorcery, but that isn’t the real way to use spirit arts. Let’s start by explaining what spirit arts actually are.”

  “Please do.”

  “Hm... The concept of spirit arts can be very abstract and difficult to understand, but you’ve already acquired all the technical skill required to use them. Not to mention the fact that you’ve formed a contract with an upper ranked spirit. You’ll be a top-notch spirit arts user in no time,” Ursula said with a merry smile, before continuing.

  “Let me start from the beginning. Spirit arts are techniques that manipulate ode to impart your will into mana, causing phenomena that alter the world around us. Ode is life energy... or what the humans refer to as magic essence, while mana is the energy of nature itself. Since you can use spirit arts, you must be able to detect and visibly see ode, as well as detect the presence of mana. Would that be correct, Lord Rio?”

  “That’s right. I can see and detect ode. With regards to mana, I can’t see it with my eyes, but I have been able to feel a strange power in the air at times. I wasn’t entirely certain about it until now, though.”

  Ever since the first time he used spirit arts in this world — no, since he was taught how to use spirit arts by that mysterious girl — a sixth sense had awakened within Rio. His senses had become sharper, allowing him to feel things far beyond his former abilities.

  Looking back now, that girl must have been my contract spirit.

  She had appeared in his vision like an illusion, leaving him with the bare minimum of advice before disappearing once more. Rio recalled how, back then, the girl had appeared extremely exhausted, and Dryas’ comment about how she had fallen into a deep sleep certainly seemed correct.

  “I see. Normally, it would take a great amount of training to reach that level of mastery, but it seems like Lord Rio is an exception due to the contract with a spirit of at least a high rank.”

  “Does the ability to use spirit arts enhance when a contract with a spirit is formed?”

  “You may think of it in that way. A spirit arts user and a contract spirit are deeply linked together. Spirits are manifestations of mana that have their own, clear consciousness. They have an extraordinary affinity towards spirit arts, which is the act of manipulating mana itself.”

  “...Spirits are manifestations of mana with their own clear consciousness, you say?”

  Rio wondered what it meant for mana — the energy of nature itself — to obtain its own consciousness and become a spirit.

  “Hm. It’s like I said earlier — Spirit arts are techniques that manipulate ode to impart your will unto mana, causing phenomena that alter the world around us. The reason why this happens is because mana itself has a vague sense of consciousness. Spirits are beings of mana that, under some miraculous alignment of circumstances, come to form their own clear sense of self.”

  “I see... That’s why they can create their own form and communicate. What kind of forms can spirits take outside of humanoid ones?”

  “It would be faster if you saw it for yourself. Orphia...”

  “Yes, Head Elder. Ariel.”

  Prompted by Ursula, Orphia nodded and called out the name of her own contract spirit. Particles flowed together and gathered beside her to form a four-meter-long eagle-like creature. Rio swallowed back a gasp at the phenomenon that had just occurred before his eyes.

  “Spirits normally reside within the user’s body in their spirit form, but they can take on a physical form like this when summoned. To a spirit, the arts user’s body is a source of ode supply. It’s comfortable for them to stay there.”

  “Can it speak like Dryas can?” Rio asked as he watched Ariel fool around with Orphia.

  “It cannot. It can understand our words, and has a simple telepathic connection to its arts user, but only humanoid spirits can hold conversations. Once your spirit awakens, Lord Rio, you should be able to converse with it all you like.”

  “Yes... There’s a lot I’d like to ask once it wakes up.”

  “Hm. If there’s anything you don’t know at this point, we can try to answer you to the best of our ability.”

  “Thank you very much. Then, to start... I’ve always wondered why I couldn’t obtain any magic through spell contracts before. Up until now, I assumed it was because I had a peculiar physical make-up... but could this also be caused by my contract with a spirit?”

  Spell contracts were one type of sorcery: a ritual that absorbed formulas into the body through sorcery, allowing magic to be obtained. However, all of Rio’s attempts to make a contract until now had always failed at the stage where he had to take the formula into his body, forcing the ritual to come to an abrupt halt. He had never once succeeded at the ritual.

  “Exactly. Taking a spell formula into the body is essentially like turning the human body into an artifact. In other words, it turns a natural being into an unnatural one. And spirits are natural existences — they wouldn’t want their contracted body to become unnatural.”

  “Thank you. My longstanding question has finally been answered. This means that if I hadn’t formed a contract with a spirit, I would have been able to acquire magic through formula contracts, right?”

  “That would be the case, yes. But in return, you would no longer be able to use spirit arts. Magic is similar to spirit arts in that it manipulates ode to make mana alter reality. However, in the case of magic, the mana is being put to work by the formula instead of the user. When the formula is within the body, mana becomes unable to accurately perceive the will of the user.”

  “So it’s either one or the other when it comes to spirit arts and magic. Once you learn one, you can no longer learn the other... I can understand that much, but is there a particular reason why spirit arts haven’t spread at all in the Strahl region?”

  “You may not have noticed it yourself, Lord Rio, but spirit arts are much more difficult to learn than magic. I touched upon this in the beginning, but to use spirit arts, you must be able to detect ode, visibly perceive ode, and detect mana. However, the only requirement magic needs is the ability to detect ode. Out of all the intelligent beings out there, humans have especially low affinity towards spirit arts. Since magic is easier to acquire, it is emphasized as the foundation for humans to learn. And in the case of the Strahl region, the Seven Wise Gods were also deeply involved in bestowing magic upon the humans living there.”

  “The... Seven Wise Gods? Not the Six Wise Gods?”

  Rio’s eyes widened. As far as he knew, the gods that the Strahl people worshiped were referred to as the Six Wise Gods. He had never heard of them as a group of seven.

  “Oh, do the humans only speak of the Six Wise Gods? According to our legends, there were seven gods that appeared in the Strahl region during the Divine War that occurred over a thousand years ago. The seventh god was exiled by the other six, so the humans must have completely erased that part from their history.”

  “I had no idea...” Rio’s interest was piqued by the difference in their history, but now was not the time to ask about it. He decided to refrain from questioning any further and derailing the topic at hand: learning more about spirit arts.

  “Hmm. Incidentally, there are spirit arts users amongst the humans of the Yagumo region to the east. The use of magic didn’t spread over there during the Divine War. Speaking of which, I completely forgot to ask... Lord Rio, were you born in Yagumo? You seem to have come here from Strahl, yet your hair color is that of the humans born in Yagumo.”

  “No, I’m originally from Strahl. But my parents were migrants that moved from Yagumo to Strahl, so...”

  “Ah, is that so. That must be why
you’re heading to Yagumo.”

  “Yes,” Rio said simply, without adding any additional details. He gave an evasive smile and a short nod instead.

  “I see, I see. Hm. My apologies — I seem to have gone off track. What were we talking about?”

  “The difference between magic and spirit arts, Head Elder. And how the story of the Seven Wise Gods came to be,” Orphia informed Ursula, making her grin.

  “Oh, that’s right. Thank you, Orphia. Which reminds me... there was one more thing I need to ask you, Lord Rio.”

  “What is it?”

  “Well... We spirit folk use not only spirit arts, but sorcery as well. There are some things spirit arts aren’t suitable for, after all. However, the one thing we make sure to avoid is writing magic into our bodies. That is where my question segues in: has Latifa acquired any magic?”

  “Just the one. Don’t tell me... Can Latifa no longer use spirit arts?” Rio asked, expression clouding over slightly.

  “No, it won’t be a problem. It is possible to remove formulas from the body. We will take it out of her before she begins her spirit arts lessons. When that happens, Orphia, you shall be her teacher.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to teach her yourself, Head Elder? Latifa is your...” Orphia examined Ursula’s expression carefully.

  “It’s fine. If I took on the role, I’d be too soft on her,” Ursula beamed widely.

  “My words were out of line. Please forgive me,” Orphia said, bowing her head.

  “It’s fine, it’s fine. Let us return to the topic at hand. Anyway... Depending on the capability of the user, spirit arts can cause phenomena far more freely than magic, and even do some things that magic can’t do. For example, this,” Ursula explained, using her spirit arts to create a small ball of fire at her side. Then, the fire changed its form into a person, an animal, a sword, and then a spear — each transformation taking less than a second.

  “That’s... amazing. Magic formula can be altered before the spells are cast, but they cannot freely change shape after they’ve been activated. So that’s what you meant.” Rio watched the fireball with round eyes.

  “Hm. As long as you continue to use spirit arts to imitate magic, the mana will only alter phenomena in response to your image of magic. In order to use spirit arts more freely, you must first discard that preconception of yours. It may be best to start with your specialty elements. What spirit arts are you good at, Lord Rio?”

  “Spirit arts I’m good at? I don’t have any particular strengths or weaknesses. I’ve heard that people have magic they can and cannot learn, but I have yet to encounter a magic I couldn’t imitate...” Rio answered, making Ursula’s eyes widen this time.

  “Oh? Normally people have their own individual affinities for particular elements. You must be an all-rounder type like Orphia, your resident high elf. It might be better to simply start learning from what you want to learn instead. What kind of spirit arts would you like to learn? You could even learn how to fly, if you wanted.”

  “Flying...?”

  “Correct. Orphia, show him.”

  “Yes, Head Elder.” Orphia nodded. Suddenly, a draft of wind started to blow around her, lifting her body up into the air. Rio’s eyes widened in shock.

  “That’s amazing. Will I be able to do that too?”

  “Of course. Being able to fly should make your travels much easier as well, Lord Rio. Let us start with how to float in the air, then practice various flight controls little by little.”

  “It sounds like a worthwhile art to learn. Please give me your guidance.” Rio gave a fully motivated smile and bowed.

  Meanwhile, at the same time as Rio’s spirit arts lesson with Ursula and Orphia, Sara and Alma had invited two of the village children over to introduce them to Latifa.

  “Arslan, Vera. This is Latifa. She can only speak the tongue of the humans right now, but I hope you can all get along,” Sara said, gesturing towards Latifa, who was sitting beside her.

  “Okay! Hi, Latifa. My name’s Vera. Let’s be friends!”

  “H-Hey. I’m Arslan. Nice to meet ya.”

  Sitting on the sofa across from Latifa was the silver werewolf Vera, whose greeting was energetic, and the werelion Arslan, whose introduction was shy. Vera and Arslan were both of village council bloodlines — Vera was Sara’s little sister — and were taking lessons on how to lead the village in the future. The two were the leaders of their age group, so by becoming Latifa’s first friends, they could encourage the other children to warm up to her one at a time.

  “N-Nice to... meet you. I’m... Latifa,” Latifa introduced herself hesitantly.

  “Ehehe! I’m so happy to make a new friend! Let’s talk about lots of things together!” Vera said, standing up from the sofa and moving to sit down next to Latifa instead. “Here’s a question for you!” she said, throwing out questions one after another.

  Arslan was a little bashful, but did his best to speak to Latifa, too. It didn’t take too long for Latifa to open up to them.

  “Arslan, you’re acting a little weird. Why won’t you look at Latifa in the eyes? And your face is a little red, too.” Vera tilted her head at Arslan, who seemed rather nervous and uncomfortable.

  “He’s just being shy. Latifa’s cute, after all.”

  “Yes, that’s right,” Sara and Alma said, smiling happily.

  “Wha — that’s not it! You’re wrong! What are you two saying?!” Arslan denied with a furious blush on his face.

  “Ehehe... Arslan’s right. Because Vera’s so much cuter. You’re just shy, right? I am too.” Latifa took Arslan for his word.

  “Wahoo, that makes me so happy! But I think Latifa’s cuter,” Vera said, hugging Latifa tightly.

  “Ah, no, that’s not it...” Arslan mumbled as he tried to take back his earlier words, but Vera’s loud voice drowned him out. His shoulders slumped at his mistake.

  “Fufu. That tickles, Vera.”

  Vera rubbed her cheeks against Latifa’s, making her giggle at the ticklish sensation. Their ears flicked happily on top of their heads.

  “Since we’re such close friends now, what do you think about playing outside together? Would it be okay if I introduced Latifa to the others, sister?” Vera asked after she was satisfied with how much they had played together.

  “Sure, go ahead. But remember that there will be children who can’t understand her tongue, so you two have to mediate between them. Got it?” Sara said, giving her permission after stating her one condition.

  “Of course!” Vera chimed in. “Yeah! Let’s go already. I wanna play tag!” Arslan added.

  Vera and Arslan took Latifa’s hands and pulled her into a dash towards the entrance. As they headed outside, they ran into Rio, Orphia, and Ursula, who had just returned from their spirit arts lesson. Seeing Rio made Latifa’s expression liven up in a flash.

  “Ah, Onii-chan! Welcome back!”

  “Wahoo, is this Latifa’s brother? He’s so cool!” Vera looked at Rio’s face and grinned.

  “Hoho, how lively,” Ursula said.

  “Ah, Head Elder! Good day.”

  “Hello, Head Elder.”

  Arslan bowed politely at Ursula, with Vera following in kind.

  “Are you going out, Latifa?” Rio asked.

  “Yup. We’re going to play outside. Is that okay?” Latifa said timidly.

  “Of course that’s okay. I’m glad. I’ll make dinner and wait for you, so go play all you want. Thank you for treating Latifa nicely, you two.” After giving permission for Latifa to go out, Rio turned to Vera and Arslan.

  “I see... So Latifa’s brother is the human who came from outside the village. I’ve heard the story from my sister, Sara. It’s very nice to meet you,” Vera greeted Rio politely, as Arslan bowed nervously.

  “P-Pleased to meet you.”

  “Thank you. It’s very nice to meet you too. I hope you’ll be good friends with Latifa.”

  “We sure will!”

  “Yes!�
��

  Rio returned the greeting, to which Vera and Arslan both nodded enthusiastically.

  “If you’ll excuse us, Sara and I will accompany the children.”

  “We’ll leave the rest to you, Rio. Orphia.”

  Sara and Alma left to supervise Latifa and the others.

  “Okay! We’ll have some tea and start making dinner. Have fun.” Orphia saw the outside group off with Rio and Ursula.

  “We will. We’ll be back soon — hey, you! Wait up! Don’t run ahead!” Sara chased after Latifa and the others in a hurry.

  “Hoho... How energetic they are,” Ursula mumbled with a smile. Rio’s mouth was also turned up in a peaceful smile.

  ◇◇◇

  And so, several months passed since starting their life in the village. With so much to learn, the busy and bustling days went by in a flash. On one such day, after Rio and Latifa had become accustomed to life in the village...

  Rio was in the middle of his spirit arts lesson with Ursula and Orphia, when Latifa came running toward them at an incredible speed.

  “Onii-chan!” She skidded to a stop just before colliding with Rio, then latched onto him. Then, she wrapped her arms around his neck and climbed up his back, until she could peer over his shoulder at his face.

  “W-What’s wrong?” Rio asked, slightly thrown off-balance. At the same time, Vera and Arslan appeared, followed by Sara taking up the rear.

  “Hey, you!” As soon as Sara appeared, she scolded Latifa, Vera, and Arslan.

  “What did you do, Latifa?” Rio asked again as Latifa rubbed her cheek against Rio’s face innocently.

  “Sara won’t give us any break time. She said I couldn’t come see Onii-chan!”

  “Don’t lie, Latifa. Your statement is intentionally misleading; I said you could see him once you finished studying. I’m only mad because you snuck out before you were done,” Sara responded to Latifa’s unhappy words in a logical manner. Latifa puffed up her cheeks in a pout.

  “But studying every day is boring! I want to learn spirit arts too.”