Blessing of the Spirits

by Yuri Kitayama

  “It’s true that we have been living together. You help us with our training and teach us how to cook, too. H-How should I put this... Even though Latifa’s learned to love us like older sisters, there’s still this sense of distance when it comes to you. And that feels a little... l-lonely, you know? We’ve become sworn friends now, so...” Sara’s cheeks blushed crimson as she avoided Rio’s gaze and spoke with a sharp tone.

  “We jus’ wanna be better fwendsh. Ehehe,” grinned Orphia. In the end, it all came down to that one simple phrase.

  So that’s why they’re being so clingy... and bold... in their actions. Though I don’t think it was the right way to approach this... He was happy they decided to express their feelings in such a straightforward manner. Rio glanced sideways at Latifa, who had climbed onto his back and was peeking over his shoulder. She was grinning happily as she watched over the course of events.

  Was Latifa behind all this? Sara and the others don’t usually act this way.

  With that thought, Rio couldn’t help but smile. The girls had gone this far out of their element just to become closer friends with him. That fact made him very happy.

  “W-What’s so funny?” Sara asked with a red face. She was either drunk, or feeling embarrassed by how directly she had expressed her desire to be closer friends.

  “Nothing, I’m just happy. Thank you, everyone. It’s part of my personality that I’m not very sociable with others, so I would be very grateful if we could continue to get along well.” Rio smiled gently, looking around at the girls and bowing slightly at them.

  “Y-Yes! We would love that!”

  After blinking blankly for a moment, Sara and the others nodded in delight. They took each other’s hands and jumped around with noisy cheers.

  “Now we can all be best friends!” Latifa said happily from where she clung around Rio’s neck.

  “Gahaha! Looks like that’s all settled. Here, I brought some food and sake over... Now you can deepen your relationship with this.” Dominic suddenly appeared out of no where and approached the group with a hearty laugh. Ursula stood behind him.

  “I knew you two would be involved as well...” Rio said with a troubled look.

  Ursula gave a good-humored cackle. “Oho, it looks like everything went exactly as planned.”

  “Grandfather Dominic, what is the meaning of this?” Alma looked at the proffered food and drink curiously.

  “You’re a dwarf, too, aren’t you? All you need to do is eat, drink, and laugh, of course!”

  “Please don’t include me in that muscle-brained species stereotype of yours.”

  “Gaha! What a handful this one is! How about it, Rio, my boy? She may be a little uptight with her jokes, but she’s a beauty, and she’s got her cute moments, too. Now that you’re a sworn friend of the spirit folk, how about you take a spirit folk bride with you?” Dominic brought up with a blinding smile.

  “Umm, that’s a bit...” Rio struggled to respond.

  “D-Don’t say such absurd things!” Alma blushed furiously and objected, causing Rio to force a smile on his face.

  “That’s right. You need to consider how the person feels... Especially when it comes to women,” Rio said, making Dominic look at Alma in surprise.

  “Why? Don’t you like Rio, Alma?”

  “N-No, it’s not that I dislike Rio or anything. It’s just that I’m still young, so there are other things I’d like to do first...” Strangely, Alma replied to Dominic quite seriously, her face red.

  “Alma ish so cuuuute. Then... I’ll be Rio’sh bride, too!” Orphia said, petting Alma’s head.

  “Ohoho. You can’t lose to them, Latifa. You too, Sara.”

  “Yup!”

  “W-Why am I included?!”

  Latifa nodded innocently, while Sara yelled her protest in a panic.

  “Gahaha. Rio, my boy, you should just take all four as your brides. The spirit village allows polygamy, after all,” a red-faced Dominic jeered, laughing loudly and boorishly with Soul Sake in one hand.

  “It seems like this old man has finally reached the status of a full-blown drunk...” Alma shot Dominic an exasperated glare.

  The others laughed at the sight. Before he realized it, Rio was laughing too. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had laughed this hard... it was a happy moment in time.

  While they laughed, chatted boisterously, and watched the entertaining side shows that performed, the majority of the spirit folk in the grounds had passed out drunk. Latifa, Sara, Orphia, and even the alcohol-tolerant Alma had fallen asleep next to Rio. Alma had been tipping back the stronger drinks to hide her embarrassment, resulting in her current predicament.

  “Hm. This is quite the spectacle,” Ursula said to Rio with an uneasy smile.

  “If that’s what you think, then please make an effort to stop them next time,” Rio replied fluently while his face was flushed red.

  “Bwahaha! Were you not having fun, Lord Rio? You could have used spirit arts to sober them up at any time, but no one would do such uncouth things at festivities like this. Why don’t you loosen up a bit more?”

  “No, I’ve had enough fun.” Rio shook his head with a slightly strained smile, then looked over at Latifa, who was sleeping happily.

  “I’m thinking of telling Latifa soon.”

  He didn’t specify what. Ursula would understand what Rio needed to tell Latifa even without him saying it.

  “...I do believe it’s still a bit early, but that may actually be for the best,” Ursula said, gazing lovingly at the sleeping Latifa.

  ◇◇◇

  The day after the Grand Spirit Festival...

  Rio woke to the morning rays filtering through his window. None of the other inhabitants of the house were awake yet, so he cooked a thin porridge for everyone — that was easy on the stomach — and ate alone. After leaving behind a note, he went outside, and wandered aimlessly around the village. In the aftermath of the banquet yesterday, there were far fewer people awake and walking outside than usual.

  Rio made his way to the deserted village square, then proceeded to lie down on the ground, face-up. He closed his eyes and felt the wind against him, and he remained that way for what may have been several hours.

  “Onii-chan?”

  An anxious voice sounded from above his head. Rio blinked his eyes open, and Latifa’s face looked back down at him.

  “How did you know I was here?” Rio asked with a somewhat strained expression.

  “I’m a werefox, remember? I have a good sense of smell, and I’d never forget Onii-chan’s scent.”

  “Oh, that was right. So what’s up? You don’t look too good.”

  “No, I’m okay. Onii-chan wasn’t there when I woke up, so I got really scared for a moment. I thought maybe Onii-chan had left and gone far away.” Latifa smiled with a look of deep relief, shaking her head.

  “...Hey, it’s been over half a year since we came to this village, right? Are you having fun living here?” Rio suddenly asked, a contemplative look on his face.

  “Hm? Yup! It’s super fun! Sara and the other girls are here, Vera and the other kids are here, Ursula and the elders are really kind, and most of all — Onii-chan’s here!” Latifa nodded, beaming with a carefree smile. Rio felt a twinge deep within his chest, but he had to keep going. After several seconds of hesitation, he spoke.

  “...Latifa. I’m thinking of leaving this village after a while.”

  Unsure of how to break the ice, he ended up phrasing it rather bluntly. He watched for her reaction.

  At some point, while he had been distracted, all traces of emotion had disappeared from Latifa’s face. She was frozen stiff, looking at Rio’s face blankly, even though she had been smiling so cutely mere seconds ago.

  “You’re... leaving?” Latifa managed to ask in a hoarse voice.

  “Yeah, I have to leave. You remember how I was originally heading east, right?” Rio answered her truthfully with a serious face, purposefully pushing back h
is own emotions.

  “...No.” Latifa mumbled in a quiet voice, but Rio continued to speak anyway.

  “I won’t be able to bring you with me, Latifa—”

  “N-No! Never!” Latifa yelled loudly, as though to drown out Rio’s voice.

  “Latifa, please, listen to what I have to say.”

  “I’m not listening! I don’t wanna!” Latifa fretfully backed away. Her eyes darted about, before she suddenly broke out into a run away from Rio, refusing to listen to him anymore.

  “Hey, Latifa?!” Rio called after her fleeing back, but Latifa made no move to stop. Perhaps she had applied the physical enhancement spirit art that she learned from her recent progress in training, because her small and light frame ran like the wind.

  Where is she going? Rio wondered, expression darkening.

  At the very least, she wasn’t heading in the direction of the house. She was running off in a direction away from the center of the village. Rio’s movements had been numbed by his guilt towards Latifa — even if he chased after her now, it was obvious any conversation they’d have would only turn sour.

  Standing still and clenching his fist, Rio hesitated, wondering if he should chase after her anyway.

  ◇◇◇

  Latifa panted harshly as she continued to run aimlessly.

  “Hah... hah...”

  Her surroundings were changing at a dizzying speed, but she didn’t stop running. Right now, she just wanted as much distance from Rio as possible.

  No, no, no, no!

  Her heart was entirely focused on getting away from him. In her mind, as long as she didn’t have to listen to him, he wouldn’t leave.

  This presented a contradiction: even though she didn’t want him to leave, she was trying to leave him. Thankfully, there weren’t many people walking around the village because of the banquet, which had run late into last night. In this way, she wouldn’t run into anyone who would question her behavior and try to stop her.

  Before she knew it, Latifa was outside of the village. She had no idea how much time had passed; it may have been a minute, ten minutes, or even an hour.

  With all other presences completely gone from her surroundings, Latifa finally came to a stop.

  A tranquil silence had fallen over the forest, with no sounds other than the chirps of birds and cries of small animals. The village was surrounded by several layers of strong barriers; while it had its weaknesses, it was generally protected from outsiders under most circumstances. Even if there was a trespasser, the warriors of the village would come running immediately.

  Furthermore, there were no roads in the forest, making it very easy to get lost — though Latifa could make her way back to village using her sense of smell at any time. There was no need for her to fear getting lost or running into dangerous creatures.

  And yet, at that moment...

  Latifa noticed that the skies above her were rather noisy, and looked up. Through the gaps of the trees, she saw several of the village’s warriors flying through the air, conversing in rather loud voices. It was Sara, Orphia, and Alma.

  They could be searching for her — realizing that, Latifa looked around in a panic, but sighed in relief when she noted that she was still alone.

  With that, she ran off once more, putting further distance between her and the village.

  ◇◇◇

  While Rio was speaking to Latifa in the village square, far above the skies near the great forest, a single griffin was soaring through the air.

  “Mr. Reiss, did we pass through a forest this large on our way here?” The boy, who was carefully carrying the large egg, asked Reiss in a worried voice. Reiss was manning the reins of the griffin.

  “Did we, I wonder?” Reiss answered indifferently. His gaze was fixed sharply on the great forest below them, so he was barely paying any mind to the boy.

  Statistically speaking, most of the force field should cover the ground below. However, the closer the distance to village, the more the barrier would protect the sky, too. I would love to carry this out in a smart way, but I only have three pawns to use, and who knows when that will come for its egg. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I suppose — I shall have to speed things along, even if it’s a bit more risky. Reiss looked coldly between the boy, the egg in his arms, and the griffin between his legs. With a small chuckle, he adopted a gentle tone as he addressed the boy. “Shall we take a water break? I’d like to let the griffin rest a little, too.”

  “Y-Yes, sir. But will it really be all right? Resting in a place like this.”

  “Well, it does seem like a peaceful forest. This is a rare opportunity... Why don’t you make some memories instead of being afraid? You may never lay your eyes on nature like this again.”

  After that, Reiss lowered the griffin down next to a suitable spring. At the moment, they were located within half a temporal hour away from the village, if traveling by air.

  The boy led the griffin to the spring by the reins. After he tied it to a nearby tree, the griffin began to drink the spring water. Then, the boy moved to refill his canteen with water, too.

  “Now, I’m going to take a little look around this area. I shall be back soon, so swallow this and wait here for me.” Reiss handed the boy a small stone. The stone was transparent, like a jewel.

  “Swallow... this?” The boy, understandably, expressed some resistance. Very few people would willingly swallow jewels for fun, after all.

  “It’s a type of artifact. A precaution prepared in the unlikely event that I am separated from you. As time passes, it will slowly dissolve inside of you. The absorption itself will pose no harm to you. But, if you don’t want to eat it, I won’t force you...”

  “I-I’ll take it, if that’s all it is!” Taking Reiss’ words for what they were, the boy hurriedly accepted the jewel and swallowed it with some water.

  “Good — now I can leave without worrying.”

  “You’ll be back soon, right?”

  “Indeed. If anything happens, feel free to leave me behind and get away on the griffin. You should run in that direction, by the way,” Reiss said, pointing where the giant tree was hidden from perception by magic barriers.

  “Okay!”

  “Oh, and one more thing. Do carry the egg with you carefully. In the unlikely event that you need to run, of course.”

  “I understand.” At Reiss’ emphasis, the boy nodded with a huge, exaggerated smile.

  “Now, if you’d excuse me.”

  With that, Reiss slowly wandered off into the forest. Less than a minute later, the boy’s figure by the spring was completely out of sight.

  “I’d love to take the remaining eggs back right now, but I must wait for that to arrive in search of the decoy egg first. The demi-humans could also appear at any moment, so I must make haste.”

  Reiss gave a small sigh. Immediately after, his body started to float in the air. He rose high into the sky before flying away, placing distance between himself and the village.

  ◇◇◇

  Meanwhile, Latifa was still running through the forest. A four-meter long bird — Orphia’s contracted spirit, Ariel — had been flying above the forest near the village. Orphia and Uzuma were also patrolling the skies, along with several other warriors from the village.

  “Another intruder, huh? That makes two in the past six months. These aren’t very peaceful times,” Alma murmured from where she sat on Ariel’s back. Sitting next to her, was Sara.

  “It’d be fine if they just left like this,” she said. “And if they’re human, we can just ask what their motive is. Uzuma, make sure you don’t make the same mistake as that time with Rio.”

  “I-I know that!” Sara’s stern warning made Uzuma nod in guilt from where she flew nearby.

  Their urgent flight continued for another quarter of a temporal hour (roughly 30 minutes). Sara’s group arrived in the vicinity where the greatest ode reaction was observed; all they had left to do was investigate the area and locate the target
.

  “Orphia, are there any suspicious ode reactions nearby?” Sara asked.

  “...Two near the spring over there.” Orphia replied a few seconds later.

  “There’s a human! And that’s... a griffin!” Uzuma spotted the target instantly with her sharp vision.

  “...Let’s descend into the forest first. Then, as we discussed earlier, we’ll listen to what they have to say, peacefully. If the human tries to make a run on the griffin, we’ll restrain them.”

  At Sara’s orders, the party moved down into the forest and towards the spring.

  ◇◇◇

  The boy paced in circles around the spring.

  “He said he’d be back soon... Damn it!”

  Thirty minutes had passed since Reiss left to explore the area. Yet there was still no sign of his return. Just then, the bushes nearby started to rustle.

  “Mr. Reiss?!”

  The boy’s expression brightened as he turned towards the sound. But the moment he spotted who had appeared from the bushes, the color immediately drained from his face.

  “D-Demi-humans...” The boy murmured in shock at the sight of Sara’s group. Sara’s group seemed to be able to hear his words, as their expressions furrowed in the slightest.

  “We would like to talk to you. Will you come with us quietly without putting up a fight?”

  “Eh? Ah, umm... haha.”

  The boy moved his left hand to his waist in a panic, pasting a fake smile on his face as he cautiously backed away towards the griffin. He shot a glance towards where the egg was.

  “...What kind of egg is that?” Sara asked in suspicion and looked at the egg.

  “Oh, umm, I wonder...” The boy picked up the egg in his right hand as he gauged their faces for their reactions.

  “Please refrain from making sudden moves. We do not wish to do this the hard way, but we do have appropriate countermeasures prepared if we sense any hostility from your actions. Will you answer our questions?” Sara asked sincerely as she attempted to negotiate a compromise.