“Who are you?” she asked.
“Ha ha. That’s a good joke,” I said in a dry voice. “Maybe you should consider changing your career from librarian to jester.”
“I am sorry,” Ms Nadine said slowly. “However, I don’t know anyone who has such a dry wit or wears such pompous looking clothes. Could you be at the wrong library?”
I rolled my eyes. “Just go home already. I’ll take care of closing the library.”
Ms. Nadine nodded and stood up. There was a book sitting on the counter. A quick glance at the pages revealed that it was a cookbook. She slammed the book shut before I could see what she’d been planning to cook, picked it up, and walked toward the door. However, just as I was about to sit down, she stopped and turned to face me.
“You look good in those,” she said before leaving.
I snorted at the compliment. Ms. Nadine was considered a middle-class citizen, a basic commoner. While she worked at the library, her husband was a carpenter. I’d met their children a few times before. The clothing they wore was sturdy but not as fashionable as something like this, which was clearly clothes only a noble would wear.
Maybe I should have changed back into my original outfit?
I pondered this as I helped a few of the people who entered the library find the books they wanted.
While I was helping someone locate a book on historical figures, the doors opened again and Kari walked in. She had chosen to wear a white dress that day. The dress didn’t have any sleeves and was held up by a pair of strings. It only went down to about the middle of her thighs, allowing me to see her long legs. Due to the sheerness of the fabric, her breasts seemed a bit fuller, which several other men noticed as well. Fortunately, she also wore a dark cloak, which did an admirable job of not allowing anyone to see too much.
Her sandals clicked against the floor as she walked over to the stairs. She looked around for several seconds as though searching for something. Her gaze passed over me completely, and then she stopped, paused, and looked back.
I smiled at her shocked expression.
“You seem surprised,” I said, grinning at her as I walked over. “Could it be your shocked by my new clothes?”
“I am,” she said finally. “But in a good way.” She smiled. “They suit you.”
“Thanks.” I looked down at my outfit. “I wish I could say I was the one who picked them out, but…”
“Oh?” Kari raised an eyebrow when I trailed off.
I gave her a noncommittal smile. “I’m planning something of a business venture. You know those alchemy pills I’ve been refining for you?”
“Of course.” Kari’s eyes lit up as her lips curled in a gentle smile. “How could I not? They’ve been a huge help in my training.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” I smiled back before continuing. “Well, I know how to make a few other useful pills, though none of them can be used for training. I want to sell them. However, no one knows who I am, and without being a prestigious and well-respected member of society, no one is going to buy my pills.”
“And so you are going to ask a noble for help,” Kari concluded. I nodded at her. However, rather than smile at me, she pouted.
“What is it?” I asked.
“You could have asked me for help,” she said, her frown growing as she placed her hands on her hips. “I would have gladly helped you.”
“Oh?” I gave her a teasing grin and took a step closer. “That does make me happy to hear. I’m glad you want to help me, but does that mean you know some wealthy merchants who can help me with the sales and distribution of my pills?”
“Well… no,” she admitted reluctantly.
My smile softened as I stepped even closer until she and I were barely a dozen centimeters apart. I looked down at the girl, who could only look up. She was about two heads shorter than myself. She only came up to my chest.
“I really am happy you want to help me,” I said in a soft voice meant only for her. I didn’t want the people who were blatantly listening in to hear my words. “However, I also want to do this myself. Using my connections to meet this noble, brokering a deal with the Alchemist Association, and trying to convince the noble I’m meeting to work with me… I want to use my own abilities to do all this.”
“Why? With my reputation and status, I could easily make them do what you want,” she said. While her eyes appeared to innocently gaze into mine, I could tell she was testing me. Kari was sharper than the rauseur she wielded.
“It’s true that I could rely on your status to get what I wanted, but using your status to elevate myself is the same as using you to get what I want. You mean too much for me to do that.” I shook my head and spoke from the heart. “I also know that you dislike using your status to get what you want. I won’t abuse your kindness to do something that I know you wouldn’t like.”
My words caused Kari’s cheeks to turn pink even as her eyes welled up with emotion. The vibrant luster of her eyes captured me in ways nothing else could. The flutter in my chest that I’d felt after being with Fay this morning paled in comparison to what I felt now, reaffirming my belief that I really did love Kari.
“Thank you,” she said in a soft voice.
“You’re welcome.” I paused before starting again. “You know, I’m all done with my work for the moment, so if you wanted to talk, I’m available.”
“I’d like that.”
Her smile growing brighter, Kari took my hand and led me toward the stairs. I let her take the lead. Neither of us paid attention to the many stares being directed our way as we headed to the second floor.
Chapter 5
Meeting the Head of the Valstine Family
Kari woke up two days after I did. I don’t think I’ve ever cried as much as I did when she finally opened her eyes. I had been miserably waiting for her to finally wake up, and each day that she didn’t had been another spear piercing my soul.
While I was relieved that she finally awoke, not everything was good. I was forced to inform her about what happened to the boy who’d been with us, the last survivor of our group, who had died from dehydration and heat stroke. Like me, Kari had shed bitter tears of regret, which made me cry again. I held her in my arms that day as we cried ourselves to sleep.
However, life continued on. So long as you were alive, a person could do nothing but to continue struggling, and that was just what we did.
Zane had been incredibly gracious to us both. Not only did he express genuine joy that Kari had awoken, but he provided us with food and water, even though I knew his people did not have much to offer. We gratefully accepted his aid, though. As much as it pained me to take from people who were already struggling, it wasn’t like we had a choice. I promised myself that I’d help him as much as possible once my strength returned.
Our bodies were a wreck, our spirits exhausted, and our hearts heavy. We had found a home, but it had been cruelly taken away from us. We had fled into the desert and nearly died. The heat combined with a lack of food, water, and sleep had weakened Kari and me greatly. It took six days before we were even fit to walk, nevermind help protect Zane and his caravan.
On the seventh day, Kari and I decided we’d finally had enough sitting in the carriage and feeling sorry for ourselves. We asked Zane if there was anything we could help with.
“Currently, there is not much help that you can offer,” he admitted. “At the moment, we are traveling to a city several hundred kilometers west of here. It will take us about twenty-four more days to reach it, provided nothing untoward happens.”
Kari and I were walking alongside Zane at the head of the caravan. There were several other people present, but most of them were directing the strange creatures that were pulling the carts. They were very odd birds with long legs, fluffy bodies, and large necks. The feathers covering them were a light brown like the desert sands.
“What about Demon Beasts?” I asked. “Are you not afraid of being attacked?”
Kari
and I had been attacked several times when we fled through the desert. Those strange creatures with powerful dorsal fins that swam through the sand and leapt out had killed several of our comrades. I couldn’t believe they weren’t a threat.
“They would normally be a problem, but we have a way around that.” Zane grabbed a pouch dangling from around his neck and undid the strings keeping it tied together. He flipped the pouch over and a small round pill fell onto his palm. It was dark black and seemed to absorb the light. “This is called a Barrier Pill. It creates a scent that can be detected by Demon Beasts within a twenty-meter radius. They hate this scent so much that none dare to come near us. Ha ha! Oddly enough, if a Demon Beast were to eat it, this thing would act as an aphrodisiac. This pill also has a liquid form that can extend the radius of effect, but the effects wear out more quickly because the liquid evaporates within a few hours.”
While the information was interesting, that one sentence of his made me grimace. I had no desire to imagine two horny Demon Beasts going at it.
“Does that mean there are no threats to you in the desert?” asked Kari.
She looked a lot better now than she had upon first waking up. Her face still looked shallow, her body still thin, but the strength and vitality that I’d come to know her for was slowly returning. She was currently wearing a dark cloak that hid her body from the sun. It was likely very hot, but it would keep her from getting burned.
“You mean aside from the heat and dehydration?” asked Zane, a slight smile on his face. “There are a few dangers. Between here and Alab there are several groups who would gladly attack a caravan like ours. There’s a group of bandits calling themselves Red Scorpion who are known to attack caravans on sight and kill everyone traveling with it. They’re bloodthirsty thieves. Beyond that… the greatest threat would definitely be the Lamias.”
Kari and I glanced at each other.
“What are Lamias?” I asked for the two of us.
“They are snake-people,” Zane explained. “They live deep within the Endless Desert and hoard many of the oasis located from here to Alab. Fortunately, they are small in number. However, each one is extremely powerful, able to perform incredible Spiritual Techniques, and they are highly intelligent. Their leader is a woman named Queen Medusa. She is a legendary figure in these parts. No one has seen her for several years, but the last time she showed up, she completely destroyed one of the outlying towns by herself.”
“This woman sounds pretty dangerous,” I muttered.
“She is indeed dangerous.” Zane nodded. “A truly powerful foe who I hope we never meet.”
As we continued walking along the desert, I adjusted the hat on my head to shield my eyes from the sun and tried to imagine what a Lamia would look like. Zane said they were snake-people. I imagined a terrifying snake dozens of meters long, with fangs that could release deadly venom, and a mouth large enough to swallow a person whole.
I would be incredibly surprised to learn that my vision of a Lamia was nothing like the real thing.
Several days passed since Fay bought me that nice set of clothes. I hadn’t worn them since that first day. They were the only set I had, and I didn’t want to ruin them by not washing them properly.
My days were spent in a myriad of ways, which was my way of saying there was never a dull moment. Some days I would train with Fay, other days I would teach Feinrea how to create alchemy pills, and some days I would open or close the library. On days where I closed the library, I would usually spend that time talking with Kari.
Thanks to my instructing of Feinrea, I had been allowed full access to the Alchemist Association’s stash of ingredients, which allowed me to refine Body Forging Pills and Three-Way Spiritual Widening Pills. I didn’t want to take advantage of their kindness, however. That was why I only made enough for two more months. Judging from the way my Spiritual Pathways were growing and my body was strengthening, I determined both pills would be useless by that point anyway.
Even though I had created enough pills for my purpose, I still planned on going through with the plan to sell my pills. The Alchemist Association had helped me a lot. What’s more, this could help Fay with her problem. To make matters even better, bringing Alchemy back to Nevaria could only be a good thing. It would strengthen the city state as a whole.
Of course, I still needed to wait for Fay to tell me I could meet with her father, the Head of the Valstine Family. He was apparently very busy right now. According to what Fay had told me during training the other day, she had barely been able to see him this past month. There was some kind of crisis happening within the family.
I was currently in the library, which I had opened like usual. The snake had decided to come with me again despite Ms. Nadine’s warning. I’m pretty sure it had forgotten all about that woman’s threat.
“Is it just me, or have you grown much bigger?” I asked the creature that was hanging from the rafters. The snake just hissed at me. “Don’t give me that. I know you’ve been drinking the Body Forging Pill water from my bath. I’m pretty sure that’s somehow made you larger than you were before. You’re getting fat.”
The snake didn’t seem to take my comment on its increased size well, for it hissed some more in an angry manner. Several of the patrons sitting at the table far from us looked over and shuddered. I wondered if they were afraid of the snake or me.
“U-um,” a timid voice suddenly reached my ears. I looked to my left and found a young woman with frightened eyes splitting her attention between me and the snake.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“Er… I’m looking for a, uh, a book… but I can’t find it,” the young woman said. She was more of a girl really. At a guess, I’d say she couldn’t be older than fourteen years of age.
I nodded and wandered over to the girl, who seemed to shrink back. Really now. That was a pretty rude thing to do. I get that the big, bad snake was a bit scary, but was I that frightening too?
“Do you know the title? If not the title, then just tell me what it’s about and I’ll cross reference my memory to try and find it.”
The girl nodded and hurriedly gave me the book title. It was called Son of Skorn, which I recognized as a historical reference textbook about the legendary son of a man called Skorn the Berserker. He was a classic figure during Nevaria’s darkest age after the Catastrophe.
I went to where the book should have been, but it wasn’t there. The girl told me that she had checked this spot, too, thinking it would be there. After thinking about it for a minute, I remembered seeing a book with similar bindings being put away on another shelf. I went to that shelf. Lo and behold, it was indeed the book she was looking for.
“Here.” I handed her the book.
“T-thank you very much!” The young woman gave me a quick bow before scurrying off.
I watched her go, then returned to the counter. The snake saw me and hissed several times in what sounded suspiciously like laughter.
“Laugh it up,” I muttered. “You’re the reason she’s so afraid of me.”
The snake didn’t seem to take well to that, for it flicked its tongue and turned away from me. I sighed.
Even though I had grown used to this snake, I still felt like there was something incredibly off about it. Aside from the fact that it could understand me, the snake seemed to possess a very haughty and arrogant personality. It lounged around my house like it owned the place, drank my bathwater without a care in the world, followed me whenever it pleased, and rarely ever listened to a thing I said. Really, it acted like one of those incredibly rich and self-entitled nobles.
Another hour passed before Ms. Nadine arrived to relieve me. She took one look at the snake hanging from her rafter, and then she looked at me.
“Is this yours?” she asked.
“No,” I said back immediately.
“Hmph!” Scoffing as she eyed the massive snake, which eyed her right back with a challenging—at least, that was what I assumed—stare, M
s. Nadine looked back at me and said, “I thought I told you not to bring this thing. I promise you, the next time you bring this snake here, I really will chop its head off and grill it for dinner.”
The snake seemed to think this was a threat. It looked seconds away from lunging at the woman, but then Ms. Nadine stared at the creature, and it froze solid like it had become encased in a block of ice. The snake and Ms. Nadine locked eyes. Then, as if it had seen something truly terrifying, the snake slithered off the rafters and hid behind me.
“I told you this would happen, but you didn’t listen,” I sighed.
The snake didn’t even so much as hiss.
I glanced at Ms. Nadine, who wore a satisfied smile, and then at the shivering six-meter-long snake behind me.
“You are one terrifying woman,” I said to Ms. Nadine.
Ms. Nadine’s response was to flip her hair.
Thanks to having access to the Alchemist Association’s warehouse of ingredients, my training was progressing smoothly again. Each day I felt just a little stronger. Each day my body seemed a little sturdier. Each day my Spiritual Pathways became stronger, wider, and more powerful than they were before.
I could now perform most of my lower-rank Spiritual Techniques. I had found some time to train alone and test them out. Most of them were simple techniques like Pale White Raio and Paralysis Stinger. Well, I called them that, but my techniques were really just pure elemental manipulation. They were completely unlike anything a normal Spiritualist could do until they reached the Third State of Spiritualism. I also had the first level of the Flash Step down as well. That said, all of them were only the equivalent of a B-rank technique, except for Flash Step, which was an A-rank due to its complexity and usage. I still didn’t have the control for any other A-rank techniques, nevermind the ones that were S-rank and above.
Fay was doing great as well. Not only could she keep up with me, but the amount of weight she had added to her vest was about triple to how much she weighed. I was currently packing about 1,560 kilos in when you combined all the weight in the cylinders. Fay was working with about 460 kilos. Considering she had started later than me, that was pretty damn good.
WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior: Volume 2 Page 8