“With Miharu... Really?” Rio’s eyes widened, and he looked at Miharu.
“Yes. Apparently, we have quite a large amount of magic essence within us? I don’t really get it, but I told Ai-chan she could use whatever she needed.” Miharu didn’t seem to fully understand it all yet, but nodded firmly anyway.
“...I see. I’m relieved, then.” Rio was interested in how the three of them had a large amount of essence, too, but was glad that that was the case so he didn’t have to worry as much about them.
“Please go safely, Haruto,” Miharu said.
“Yes. You don’t have to see me off from here,” he replied.
“Have a safe trip, Haruto.”
“See you later, Haruto.” Aki and Masato offered their words of parting to Rio as well.
“Thanks. Make sure you two listen to Miharu and Aishia.”
“Ahaha, we know.”
“That’s right! We’re not kids anymore!”
Aki and Masato nodded with strained smiles.
“You’re still a brat, though,” Aki noted.
“And there’s only one year difference between us,” Masato retorted, starting their usual bickering.
Rio watched Aki and Masato get up to their usual antics with a smile. “Looks like you’ll be all right to me. I’ll be going, now,” he said, and turned on his heel. He was relieved to see the youngest of the three showing no signs of worry.
Rio opened the front door and waved back at Miharu and the others, who were waving with all their might. Finally, he looked at Aishia with an entrusting smile, before the door shut.
“The three of you need to study until Haruto returns,” Aishia said.
“Ugh, so we’re doing the same old thing even with Haruto out.” Masato hung his head gloomily.
“We don’t have a choice. If we can’t speak the language, it’s too dangerous to even go outside. You’re the most behind, so work harder,” Aki said with an exasperated expression.
“Fufu. Let’s show Haruto how much we’ve improved when he comes back,” Miharu said with a smile.
◇◇◇
Once Rio stepped outside, he spoke the activation spell to use the Time-Space Cache on his left wrist.
“Dissolvo.”
The air above his hand warped, and a jade green spirit stone appeared. While it was the same color as the Time-Space Cache, its size was larger than the other spirit stone.
“Transilio.”
Rio activated the spirit stone in his hand — the teleportation crystal. The air around Rio and the teleportation crystal instantly started to distort in an exaggerated way, and in the next moment, Rio disappeared. The view in front of Rio’s eyes changed immediately, too.
“Looks like I made it back safely,” Rio murmured to himself.
Gentle rays of sunlight filtered through the trees of the forest scenery spread before him. It was his first time actually using the teleportation crystal, so he was surprised at how the scenery had changed in an instant. Thankfully, it seemed as though he had been able to teleport to the correct coordinates.
The crystal changed from green to turquoise; as the amount of magic essence inside a spirit stone increased, the color changed from colorless to blue. As it continued to increase, the colors changed to turquoise, leaf green, then finally jade green — so quite a large amount of essence was used.
I don’t think I should be that far from the village, but where is this exactly?
Rio put the teleport crystal away into his pocket and smiled at the vaguely familiar scenery. Then, he kicked off from the ground and rose into the air to check his current location, breaking through the canopy and into the skies above the forest.
I’m outside of the residential area... but pretty close to the village — about one or two minutes away by flight. At this distance, they may have detected the distortion in essence from the teleportation sorcery I used.
Someone may have set out to get him already. With that in mind, Rio began to fly toward the residential district visible in the distance at a leisurely pace.
Sure enough, a group of people were waiting in the skies above the village. There were several warriors of the village, with Orphia among them.
“See, it is Rio after all! You came back fairly quickly this time,” she said with a happy smile as she approached.
“Hello, Orphia. I have a little news this time... and a request,” he said somewhat apologetically.
“I see... Then we should hurry to the elders immediately. Follow me — it’s this way.”
Orphia seemed to sense that Rio had an important matter to discuss and began to lead him away without asking any further questions. The villagers around them followed.
“Thank you very much. The truth is... my contract spirit woke up,” Rio said as he flew alongside Orphia.
“Eh, really?!” Orphia asked with widened eyes.
The spirit sleeping within Rio had been a humanoid spirit, after all. To Orphia, who held spirits in high regard, the awakening of Rio’s spirit was a big deal.
“Yes. Due to certain circumstances, she isn’t present right now, but I’ll discuss more about that — as well as my request — with the elders.”
Orphia nodded. “I see... I’m sure everyone will be shocked. Let’s hurry over!” She watched Rio’s expression carefully before raising her flight speed by a small amount.
◇◇◇
Rio and the others landed before the giant tree house that was used as the town hall of the village. Latifa was waiting there, along with Sara, the silver werewolf, and Alma, the elder dwarf.
“Latifa... Sara and Alma too...” Rio’s eyes widened when he spotted the girls.
“Ehehe. There was a big pulse of mana, so everyone was excited that Onii-chan might have come back. We saw Onii-chan flying in the air and hurried here,” Latifa explained proudly. She must have run, as she was still out of breath.
“The two of them were in such a hurry — it was a huge pain,” Alma interjected with a wry smile.
“Y-You’re the one who decided to come along, Alma,” Sara added on in embarrassment. Orphia smiled.
“Fufu, so the two of you both wanted to see Rio again as quickly as possible.”
“Mrgh...” Sara and Alma groaned in embarrassment, but their lack of denial implied it was the truth.
“Onii-chan, you came back quickly this time.” Latifa beamed a smile full of purity and innocence.
“Yeah. My contract spirit woke up, and I have a lot of other things I wanted to discuss,” Rio answered with a faintly strained smile.
“Y-Your spirit has awoken?!” Sara and Alma were both taken aback.
“Yes. She’s not here right now, but I’ll bring her along next time.”
“In that case, we have to hurry to the head elders quickly. They should be upstairs,” Sara urged, and the group stepped into the town hall.
◇◇◇
Roughly half an hour later, in the meeting room on the top floor of the hall, Rio faced the council of elders that had assembled on short notice. Latifa and the other girls remained gathered in a corner of the room.
“So, is it true? Lord Rio’s contract spirit has awoken?” Syldora, the high elf seated in the middle of the three head elders, asked.
“Yes. She woke up just a month and a half ago.”
“...A month and a half ago would be the same time as when that vast torrent of ode and mana surged from the direction of the Strahl region,” Syldora surmised with a contemplative look. The pillars of light hadn’t been visible from the position of the village, but the aftermath of the ode and mana torrent was something that they clearly detected.
“So the waves reached here as well,” Rio said with a wry smile.
“Was that surge possibly related to your contract spirit’s awakening, Lord Rio?” asked the werefox head elder Ursula.
“No... I am not sure. However, the surge of ode and mana that everyone felt was most likely created via the sorcery of the six pillars of light.”
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“...Do continue,” Ursula pressed.
“I believe the true form of those six pillars of light to be a type of time-space sorcery... something that can summon humans from other worlds into this one. There are religions in the Strahl region that believe in the deities called the Six Wise Gods. According to their ancient texts, it is said that six heroes who played an active role in the Divine War will return once more alongside six pillars of light. That is why the rumor of the heroes returning is spreading throughout Strahl like wildfire.”
“Heroes... you say?” The elders in the room burst into a commotion after hearing it was possible that heroes from the Divine War had returned.
Rio glanced over at Latifa; her eyes were round as she carefully watched him. Like Rio, she also had memories of a life in another world. She must have been curious as to whether the other world involved was Earth.
I’ll explain everything to Latifa later, Rio thought to himself with a strained smile.
“Does everyone know of the tales of the heroes passed down within the Strahl region?” he asked the elders sitting across from him.
“Even us spirit folk retain records of the Divine War that unfolded over a thousand years ago. It affected our ancestors, who lived toward the center of the continent, after all. It is said that they fought to drive away the evil forces,” Syldora replied.
“In order to assist the upper high class spirit participating in the war, the village sent warriors out toward Strahl, too... Though most of those, including the upper high ranked spirit, never returned. It was said that the heroes appeared toward the final stages of the Divine War, but by then, the upper high class spirit was gone, and many of the warriors from our village had lost their lives...” Ursula continued.
“...So you don’t know any of the specifics, then?” Rio asked inquisitively.
“Indeed — we do not know much about the heroes. The Seven Wise Ones... No, they were already six by that time, so they were what the humans called the Six Wise Gods. Those Six Wise Gods had seemingly appeared from nowhere, and were all equipped with Divine Weapons. That is all we know,” Dominic said contemplatively.
“I have been wondering this for a while, but why do you seem so certain of the existence of a seventh god?” Rio asked. “No one in the Strahl region seems to acknowledge anything like a seventh god.”
“Because our ancestors encountered the one who named themselves the seventh god during the beginning and the end of the Divine War. They visited the village early during the war and requested help from the upper high class spirit of the time to fight. Their goal for visiting the village toward the end of the war wasn’t recorded, but it was noted that they were already exiled from the other six by that time,” Dominic explained.
“...The seventh god didn’t leave any information about the heroes?”
“That I am not sure of, since it was not recorded.”
“Why do you believe those heroes were summoned here from another world, Lord Rio? Even if you say they appeared from outside of this world, I find it hard to believe...” Ursula asked Rio somewhat suspiciously.
“Because I am currently looking after two girls and a boy who used to live in that world.”
Ursula’s eyes widened. “...My word. So those three are the heroes?”
Rio shook his head. “No, they are not — they were in a location irrelevant to the pillars of light. It seemed like they were in the company of two other people just moments before they were summoned here, and they claimed to witness distortions in the air similar to summoning magic. I believe the other two were the ones summoned as the heroes, while the three under my protection were merely dragged along for the ride.”
“Hmm... You were able to communicate with otherworlders?” Syldora asked without a moment’s delay. It was a well-justified question.
“...I was. Or rather, to be more precise, I already knew the language they spoke.”
With a completely serious expression, Rio answered honestly, but vaguely. He wanted to be as truthful as possible to the people he was about to ask a favor from. He already owed the spirit folk so much, and could no longer deceive them this far into their relationship.
“What do you mean by that...?” The elders all looked confused. The only one who understood was Latifa, who was speechless with shock.
“Please forgive me. I doubt my reasons would be believable even if I explained them here, and they are greatly off-topic to the current issue at hand. For now, could I ask that you take what I say at face value and accept that I was able to communicate with them? If necessary, I will explain further at a later date,” Rio said, bowing his head deeply at the elders.
“...I do not mind. I want to hear more about your contract spirit, too.” Ursula seemed to comprehend Rio’s feelings and readily agreed. The other elders exchanged looks before nodding hesitantly.
“All right. Then, is your contract spirit currently with those three people?” Syldora asked, changing the subject.
Rio nodded in acknowledgment. “Yes. Her name is Aishia, and I’m having her stay back in Strahl to protect them,” he replied somewhat apologetically.
“Does Lady Aishia know anything about the summoning of the heroes? Or did you find out anything about her identity?” Syldora asked.
“No, Aishia knew nothing. Not about why she was contracted to me, who she was, or even her own name. The name Aishia was something I gave to her.” Rio shook his head uneasily.
“...I see. Well, that seems fine. A high ranked spirit has awakened; for us, it is an exceedingly auspicious event. Lady Aishia... You named her with the ancient language of us spirit folk, yes? Warm spring, beautiful spring... An appropriate name for this season,” Dominic said, laughing cheerfully.
“Heh. Well, it’s exactly as Dominic says: there’s nothing to be discouraged about, Lord Rio,” Ursula agreed with a gentle smile. The other elders nodded, too, letting a bright atmosphere naturally fall upon the room.
“Thank you very much. Honestly, I pondered quite a bit over whether I should have returned to the village at this point in time. But when it came to Aishia and the other three I’m protecting, I was hoping I could get some information and help from everyone here, so I decided to visit.”
“...While I doubt we will be much help regarding Lady Aishia, it may do you some good to visit the Great Dryas with her. Bring her to the village anytime,” Syldora said with a pensive look.
“However, if I were to bring Aishia to this land, it would become necessary to bring the three under my care along as well...” Rio said, watching Syldora and the others carefully.
“They are your companions, after all. You are free to bring not only Lady Aishia, but the others as well. We will do whatever is in our power to assist you. I’m sure you currently have your hands full with those three, no?” Syldora said, adopting a welcoming attitude toward Miharu and the others.
“...Yes. The three of them wish to seek the other two from whom they were separated from — if they did in fact end up in this world — and return to their own world... but as of right now we’re completely unable to progress. Above all else, I currently have no knowledge about time-space sorcery that can cross worlds. I was hoping that the people here who use time-space sorcery would be able to provide some clues to how they can be returned to their own world.”
“Hmm... To be honest, we also have no idea about time-space sorcery that allows for teleportation across worlds. Of course, we will scrounge through the old texts in our village, but it may be best not to get your hopes up.”
“No, that is more than I could ask for. I had actually feared you wouldn’t allow a complete outsider into the village... I truly do not have enough words to express my gratitude.”
“Hm... With regards to the three, we’ll have to have them agree to a contract of complete confidentiality for when they return to Strahl after having gained knowledge of us. I’m sorry, but the existence of the village cannot be exposed,” Syldora explained.
&nbs
p; “Of course. I’ll make sure to explain it to them myself,” Rio agreed reassuringly.
Their stay had been accepted with merely that as a condition — it was not an exceptional request.
“Well, you have watched over them for a while now, and decided to seek help from us on their behalf. I have no concerns with regard to their personalities. There should be no problem,” Ursula offered pleasantly, the corners of her lips turned up in a smile.
“Ursula is right,” Syldora said, followed by the nods of Dominic and the other elders.
“...I am most honored by your faith in me.” Rio bowed his head deeply, his heart filled with emotion. He was, quite simply, so grateful at how he was able to meet such people who believed in him without any doubts in their minds.
“Now that that’s decided, we must prepare to welcome Lady Aishia and the others. We must also inform the Great Dryas of her.” Dominic changed the topic heartily, as though to clear the intimate air that had come between them.
“That’s right. Will you be returning to Strahl immediately, Lord Rio?” Syldora asked, latching onto Dominic’s subject change.
“Yes — I don’t want to keep them waiting for too long. I intend on departing again within a few days.”
“Hm. Then, make sure you stay in the village today, as there’s much more we’d like to discuss about Lady Aishia and the three otherworlders.”
“Of course.”
◇◇◇
Their conversation continued into the afternoon over a light meal. Rio told them various things about Aishia, then decided with the elders what rules would be in place for Miharu, Aki, and Masato’s visit to the village. By the time their discussions had concluded, it had already become evening, so they decided to call it a day.
Rio ended up staying at Ursula’s house that night. After dinner, he was told to rest and relax — which probably meant to look after Latifa.
Rio called her over to the room he was staying in to speak with her alone. Latifa had looked somber ever since the midway point of the discussions, so he needed to explain a few things to her.
“Hey, Latifa. Could you understand the discussion today?” Rio said as he watched her expression. The two of them sat in chairs facing each other.
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