Wiedergeburt

by Brandon Varnell

  “Maybe…” While I decided to drop the subject for now—we had no proof to incriminate the Leucht family with, and even if we did, I wasn’t sure what we’d incriminate them of—I couldn’t help but think that Dyr and the Leucht Family were definitely connected. That said, I also had to wonder… just who was Skygge?

  Having given my presentation to Dante, the next place I made for was the training ground I was using with Kari and Fay. We had actually been offered to use the training courtyard at the Imperial Royal Palace. I had declined. I wanted a space with lots of obstacles to help the girls train in how to properly use the Flash Step.

  On that note, Lin could not use the Flash Step since she didn’t have feet. Perhaps that was the reason she had declined to train with us. I wondered if she would join us later on when we began training in how to properly use the elements.

  While making my way to the training ground, I thought about what Dante had said about Hagen Leucht, the head of the Leucht Family. I was positive he was the person Dyr had been talking about, but I really didn’t know what to do with this knowledge. It wasn’t like I could storm the Leucht Family manor and slaughter everyone there. As one of the Three Heavenly Families, they had more power, politically, than I did. If I did something to them, I’d be the one branded as a criminal.

  I also wondered about Dyr. The girl wasn’t very strong, couldn’t fight, and didn’t have any sense of spatial awareness. What had she been doing in the Demon Beast Mountain Range? Why would this Skygge person even take her out to such a dangerous location? No matter how many times I asked myself this question, I always came up blank.

  My thoughts on Dyr and the Leucht Family were shaken off when I reached the training ground. Fay and Kari were already there.

  They were wearing clothes meant specifically for training.

  Fay’s shirt wasn’t something I felt could accurately be called a shirt, since while it did cover her breasts, it left her stomach exposed. Her hips were covered in black shorts that wrapped around her firm bottom like a second skin. This drew my eyes along the magnificent lines of her body, from her wide hips, her flat and toned stomach, to her amazing chest. The black stockings and brown boots she wore matched her clothes.

  On the other hand, Kari was wearing the weighted clothes that Fay and I had been using to build up our strength and stamina. That meant most of her body was covered. She also must have been wearing breast bindings, because her chest looked much smaller than usual. While Fay appeared relatively fine, Kari was breathing hard as sweat poured down her face and neck. I watched as one droplet trailed the left side of her neck and disappeared into her vest.

  “Is this… really what you two did… to get stronger?” asked Kari as she went through the routine of pushups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, pull-ups, and several other strengthening and endurance training exercises.

  “It is.” Fay nodded as Kari slowly bent her knees, hands on the back of her head and back straight until her body was squatting down, then moved to stand back up. Her legs were shaking. “When I first began training with Eryk, this was the routine we did every day before training our Spiritual Power.”

  “Ugh…”

  I wished her pants weren’t so baggy so I could see her butt flex, but I recognized that I was getting distracted and shook my head.

  Kari had only begun training with us a few days ago. In fact, I don’t even think ten days had passed since she joined us—if we didn’t include the time spent in the Demon Beast Mountain Range. That said, we hadn’t been able to have her do this particular routine at the time because she didn’t have the weighted clothes. Now that she did, I guess that meant it was time to put her through the paces as well.

  “Kari, once you finish these exercises, I want you to begin practicing the Flash Step,” I said as I walked further into the clearing. Kari whimpered but didn’t complain. “While you are doing this, Fay, you and I will begin our game of tag.” I smiled at her. “I hope you last longer this time than you did the last time.”

  Now it was Fay’s turn to whimper.

  Fay did last longer than she had last time, but that was like comparing apples to oranges. It was only a five-minute difference. Still, for ten minutes, she had managed to use the Flash Step nonstop before exhausting herself and tripping. My goal for her training was to make it so she could last for at least half an hour. If she could do that, then it meant her stamina and reserves of Spiritual Power were at the same level that Kari’s had been in my previous life, which also meant she had the power, if not the skill, to defeat a B-Rank Demon Beast by herself.

  Both Kari and Fay were utterly exhausted by the time they finished training. I’d had to carry Fay back to the clearing that Kari was using because her legs weren’t working. She was hanging limply in my arms, her legs swinging back and forth as her head rested on my shoulder. Even her arms weren’t working.

  “No fair,” Kari mumbled when she saw us. “I want to be held like that too.”

  Her words made me chuckle just a little. I was sure she’d said that out loud without realizing it.

  I had packed some lunch for us all to eat, though it was just a simple basket full of sandwiches. The lunches came from a bakery that specialized in catering for parties. A lot of what they made was mostly finger foods. What I had bought was simple, just several servings of meat and vegetables smashed between two slices of bread with a light spread, but they would satiate our hunger. I also had a large flask of water to share between the three of us.

  “How long do I need to keep these exercises up?” asked Kari as she munched on her food with little decorum. I wondered what her fans would say if they saw how she was stuffing her face. I thought it was cute, but I was sure they’d be appalled by her lack of refinement.

  “Once the weights in your clothes reach a maximum of six hundred kilos, you can stop using the weighted clothes,” I said.

  Kari grimaced. “I don’t even think I’m at two hundred kilos yet. It seems I still have a ways to go.” She put the flask to her lips and drank deeply of the cool water inside, releasing a sigh of relief after quenching her parched throat. She refocused her attention on me. “If you don’t mind me asking, how much weight did you end with?”

  Tilting my head, I thought for a moment as I calculated how much weight I’d had by the end of my weighted clothes training. “Well… let’s see. I stopped using the weighted clothes after they ripped from having too much weight. Those clothes are quite sturdy. I’d say… I must have had at least 2,500 kilos by the time I was done.”

  “2… 2,500 kilos?”

  By this point, even Fay was gawking at me. She probably didn’t know how much weight I had been packing into those rune-inscribed cylinders. Every day, I had increased the amount substantially from the previous day. I think it was something like I doubled the amount each time I trained.

  “Thereabouts,” I affirmed their question.

  Kari blew out a breath. “We need to train harder.”

  “Yes.” Fay nodded. “I agree. I can’t afford to let myself fall behind.”

  It sounded like Fay planned on going back to training with weighted clothes, but I didn’t think that was necessary right now.

  “No, at the moment, it is more important for you to practice the Flash Step and the Rotation Fire Fist. As of right now, you are way stronger than any Spiritualist, physically speaking, which means we should be working on giving you attacks and techniques to supplement your combat style. If you can master the two Spiritual Techniques currently at your disposal, your overall power will increase far more than if you gained mere physical strength.”

  After listening to my explanation, Fay placed her hands on the ground behind her and leaned back. She considered my words for a moment. Then, as if reluctantly agreeing, she nodded slowly.

  “So I see. Yes, that does make sense. But how will I know when I’ve mastered these techniques?”

  “When you can use the Flash Step consecutively without stopping for thirty minutes,
I will have considered the first stage mastered. That said, I’d prefer if you could use it for an hour without stopping. As for the Rotation Fire Fist…” I rubbed the back of my neck and thought about the technique. “My understanding is that it’s a Spiritual Fire Technique where you generate fire using the rotation of your fist, and then launch it outward in a spiral-like pattern that slams into your opponent at range. Currently, your attacks don’t have that spiral pattern. You just shoot large fireballs. I believe the spiral is what gives your technique its increased range and power, so I’ll consider the technique mastered when you can create a spiral with enough power to destroy a large boulder from fifteen meters away.”

  “In other words, I have a really long way to go,” Fay said with a sigh.

  I was sure the wry smile on my face had nothing to do with amusement. “Pretty much.”

  “And you?” I asked Kari. “How is the Divine Buster Cannon coming along?”

  “It’s really not coming along at all.” Kari’s smile was a tad self-deprecating. “I don’t want to make excuses like ‘it’s because I haven’t had time to practice,’ but this Spiritual Technique has kind of fallen by the wayside in favor of physical conditioning and learning the Flash Step. I still can’t generate a beam wide enough or powerful enough to really deal damage to my enemies.”

  “And the Flash Step?”

  Kari’s smile brightened a bit. “That’s at least going well. I can now reach the target without overshooting or undershooting in a single step. I’ve also been able to extend the distance. Currently, it only takes me one step to travel sixteen meters.”

  Her analysis of her own abilities caused Fay to grimace, which I knew was because it had taken her a lot longer to reach that point. I didn’t say anything right there. However, I would talk with Fay later. Kari was uniquely suited to speed techniques thanks to her affinity for the light element. Fay wasn’t because she had a fire affinity. That was all there was to it.

  “In that case, let’s work on the Divine Buster Cannon for now.” I stood up, causing the two girls to also climb to their feet. “Fay, I’d like you to work on the Rotation Fire Fist. I sadly won’t be able to fully help you because I don’t know the mechanics behind it very well.”

  “I understand.” Fay nodded before moving off to practice on her own.

  Turning to Kari, I said, “And I will be helping you right now.”

  Kari beamed at me, seemingly happy that she and I would be training together. To start off, I asked her to show me the Divine Buster Cannon.

  I stood about five or so meters from Kari, who had adopted a standard battle stance used for polearms, her dominant foot forward, knees bent, and her ranseur held at an angle as the tip pointed toward the ground. She took a slow, deep breath, then burst into action. Moving forward on swift feet, she gathered Spiritual Power. Then she spun her ranseur in a complicated pattern and thrust it forward.

  The beam of golden energy that erupted from the spear was certainly much smaller than the one she’d launched in my previous life. I remembered how the beam had burst from her spear, shooting across the ground as it overwhelmed entire hordes of D and C-Rank Demon Beasts. Her attack had a range of about fifty meters and was able to create a huge gap in the enemies’ formation. Her current Spiritual Light Technique only produced a beam with a range of about fifteen meters and was much smaller. At most, she’d be able to incinerate a single line of enemies.

  “I think I see the problem here,” I said after analyzing her current abilities and comparing them to what I remember.

  “What is the problem?” asked Kari.

  “The first is simply that you don’t have enough Spiritual Power. You’ll have to build up your reserves if you want to unleash that attack at full power. Saying that…” I walked up to Kari as she set the butt of her ranseur on the ground. “It looks like the movements you’re using to generate that power are a little weak. I want you to try again, but this time, when you take that first step forward, I want you to add a spin to your movements.”

  I took the ranseur from her and showed her an approximation of what I wanted. Granted, I was sure my example wasn’t the best. Polearms were not something I specialized in. However, I’d seen Kari do this enough times in my previous life that I could at least imitate her movements to some extent.

  “Think you can do that?” I asked as I gave the staff back.

  “I can definitely try.”

  It was probably a testament to her trust in me that she didn’t even question why I asked her to add a spin. As I walked back to where I’d first been observing, Kari’s face gained a look of absolute concentration. She took a deep breath, held it, then took several swift steps forward, spun, and released a loud cry as she twirled the tip of her ranseur around in complex patterns.

  I used Spiritual Perception to watch her Spiritual Power as it surged through her body. There was much more this time. I could see the way her Spiritual Power flowed through her Spiritual Pathways, up her ranseur, and then exploded from the tip as she thrust the weapon forward. What shot from her weapon this time was a beam of about two meters in diameter. It flew for twenty or so meters, slammed into a tree at the other end of the clearing, and burned straight through it. As the tree groaned and fell to the ground with a loud crash, Kari looked at what she’d just done with a flabbergasted expression.

  “That… how…?”

  “The spin you added after taking those first steps forward helps generate the power for your technique,” I said.

  “I see.” Kari’s eyes soon returned to normal as she bit her thumb and looked at the damage she had done.

  “Now you just need to increase the amount of Spiritual Power you have,” I suggested. “I recommend firing off this Spiritual Technique as many times as you can. You have those Three-Way Spiritual Widening Pills I gave you, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Take one right now and begin practicing like that.”

  “I will.”

  As Kari raced over to where we’d set our bags and began rifling through hers, I traveled deeper into the forest. Our journey into the Demon Beast Mountain Range had revealed my own limitations to me. I wasn’t as strong as I needed to be, which meant it was also time I increased my own training.

  I was fairly exhausted by the time the sun was setting. After giving Kari and Fay a kiss goodbye, the three of us parted ways—or rather, I parted ways with them. It looked like Kari and Fay were heading off somewhere together when I last saw them.

  My destination was the Nadine Library, which had become even more crowded than before. There were a lot of people standing around outside. Several people were even peeking in through the windows. I wondered what they were looking at, but I couldn’t be bothered to figure it out… not until I entered, at least.

  The inside was packed. There wasn’t a single space left at the tables. I noticed that all of the people sitting around were also mostly teenage boys and men in their early to mid-twenties. This confused me for a moment, since the boy to girl ratio was normally fairly even unless Kari showed up—then I saw most of those men glaring with jealousy at a table near the back.

  I looked that way and felt an intense burning in my gut.

  Lin sat at the back of the table, studying humanity’s written language with due diligence, but she was also being pestered by a pair of boys. It looked like one of them was the leader. He was a man with a powerful build, somewhere in his early to mid-twenties, and wore leather pants, a white shirt, and a leather jerkin. While his outfit appeared plain at first glance, the quality and material were made from expensive Demon Beast hide.

  “If you wish to learn our language, I would be more than happy to hire tutors for you,” the man was saying. “In fact, I could even tutor you myself, if you’d like.”

  “No thanks,” Lin said. “This princess isn’t interested in letting anyone but Darling, Big Sister Kari, and Fay tutor her.”

  Those words, the mentioning of “Big Sister Kari,” ga
ve the man pause, and I used that opportunity to walk over to the table.

  “Lin,” I greeted the girl.

  “Oh! Darling!” Lin looked away from her book to present me with a glorious smile. “Are you done training?”

  “Yeah… it went a bit longer than I expected.”

  “That is all right. This princess has been catching up with her studying. She didn’t have any time to study recently because we were in the Demon Beast Mountain Range.”

  I nodded as the man who had been hitting on Lin glared at me, but all that did was make the fire inside me burn hotter. It wasn’t jealousy. At least, I didn’t think it was. It was just that the idea of some fool hitting on Lin bothered me. I didn’t like it. I could also tell when I focused on the Ring of Marji that Lin was irritated by his actions as well. That was probably why I did what I did.

  I wasn’t jealous at all.

  Lin gathered her parchment, ink, and quill. As she turned back around to face me, I leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips. It was nothing more than a quick kiss; it could barely even be called a peck. However, the action caused Lin’s eyes to widen. Smiling at her as I leaned back, I held out my hand, which she took on reflex rather than any conscious action.

  “Are you ready to head home, Lin?” I asked.

  “Ah, um, yes,” Lin answered in a soft, dazed mumble.

  Still smiling, I stared at the man, who I belatedly recognized as someone who’d taken part in the Spiritualist Grand Tournament. He was Catalyna’s brother. What was his name again? Markus? Mark? No, that wasn’t it. Oh, right. I remember now.

  “Marko, I appreciate you keeping Lin company while she was studying,” I said.

  Marko, who had the appearance of a man who’d just been metaphorically punched in the face, could not stop himself from stuttering. “That… what… but you… how…?”