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Chapter 182 : Nabrash (6)
Chapter 182: Nabrash (6)
Serena had grown up in the wild.
Her oldest memory was of climbing a mountain to pick wild raspberries.
From the moment she was born, she had always been alone, living by instinct without even knowing what civilization was.
When she was hungry, she searched for something to eat. When she felt sleepy, she slept, then woke and wandered again.
Strangely enough, she had never starved or encountered a Monster.
The pale, hazy things that hovered around her trailed after her, protecting her from danger.
At the time, she did not know they were spirits.
She simply regarded them as beings to be grateful for, and before she even learned the human language, she learned how to communicate with spirits first.
By the time an ordinary child would have grown enough to help their parents with work,
she met another person for the first time.
“Hey, kid. What are you?”
“……?”
“You. Yeah, you. Are you a Spirit Mage?”
“…….”
“If someone asks you something, you’re supposed to answer. Say something, you brat.”
“Aeaeo… saaeua?”
“Are you messing with me right now? Huh? Speak properly!”
The man with his hair slicked straight back tugged hard at Serena’s cheek.
At the time, she could not understand his actions.
She could not understand his words, and the appearance of a stranger frightened her.
Terrified, she called for the spirits’ help.
“Eoeoah!”
Whoooosh.
A gentle breeze seemed to blow, then a gust slammed into the man.
He set Serena down and raised one eyebrow.
“Well, would you look at that?”
The wind kept blowing, forming a whirlwind as it tried to send the man flying.
The vortex grew larger and larger, enough to surprise even Serena herself.
“What’s this? You called it and now you’re spacing out. Hey, are you just going to leave it? At this rate, you’ll get swept up too.”
“Uuuuuu!”
She wanted to drive the man away, but just as he said, she was about to be caught up in it herself.
But the spirit that had always stayed by her side concealed itself.
Not knowing what to do, she stamped her feet in panic when the man’s hand suddenly pressed against the crown of her head.
Whoooooo…….
The whirlwind vanished as if it had never existed.
“Eaeueo?”
“Good grief. To think there’s still a primitive like this in this day and age.”
“Woshii?”
“What’s your name… no, of course you wouldn’t have one. What am I supposed to do with you…….”
Even as he pondered, the man did not remove his hand from Serena’s head.
He did not grip her forcefully, but slowly stroked her hair.
At the first human touch she had ever felt, Serena’s entire body froze.
It was warm enough to erase any thought of running away.
“Well, this must be fate. Follow me. I’ll teach you how to live like a human.”
“Iaaae?”
“My name is Lexus. I’m the hero who saved the world.”
“Eeoeu?”
“Consider yourself lucky. In this era, there isn’t a Spirit Mage more outstanding than me.”
Lexus took Serena in and taught her the knowledge she needed to survive.
Language, writing, culture, hunting, gathering. Every bit of it was precious wisdom, and among them, what interested her most was spirit arts.
Even in Serena’s eyes, Lexus’s skill was remarkable.
Once, when he was drunk, he summoned a water spirit, and a whale large enough to cover the sky appeared, pouring down rain as if the monsoon had come.
The spirit Lexus commanded was on an entirely different level, enough to make one worry whether it would cause a flood.
Though he seemed like a whimsical drifter with no plans, there was much to learn from him.
Following such a master, Serena honed her spirit arts.
With the hope that one day she would break his pride.
“Have you ever fought another Spirit Mage?”
“Of course I have.”
“What if you meet a Spirit Mage stronger than me as an enemy?”
“Why? Planning to stab me in the back?”
“Yes. I want to beat you.”
“Don’t bother. Even if you died and came back to life, you couldn’t beat me.”
“Then tell me the method. Are you the greatest Spirit Mage and don’t even know that?”
When Lexus snapped his fingers, a spirit of the earth appeared.
A cute green hedgehog sniffed the air.
“A mercenary I know once told me. You don’t need grand techniques or weapons to kill someone. Aim for the vital point, that’s what he meant.”
“I’m not a mercenary. Tell me a method a Spirit Mage can use.”
“Well. What could it be? You could crush them with sheer Ether. Or coax their spirit to switch sides.”
“Didn’t you hear me? What if I meet a Spirit Mage stronger than me?”
Lexus withdrew the hand that had been stroking the hedgehog.
“If this won’t work and that won’t work, then there’s no choice but to send it back.”
“Send the spirit back? What do you mean?”
“There’s a place called the Spirit Realm, their homeland. You send it there.”
“Teach me right now.”
“If it were that easy, do you think Spirit Mages around the world would be twiddling their thumbs? Stop scheming and work on improving your affinity instead.”
After receiving a flick to her forehead, Serena never got her answer.
She later learned that opening the Spirit Realm was nearly impossible.
And that was also the reason Lexus wandered the world.
He collected all kinds of Antiques in search of a way to reach the Spirit Realm.
Was it true when he called himself a hero and the greatest among Spirit Mages?
Step by step, Lexus approached that absurd goal.
At last, he found the method, and when only the final step remained. Serena was fifteen years old.
“Don’t go.”
“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
“Don’t… go.”
Clear tears fell in heavy drops.
It was the first time.
She had never known that parting with someone could be this difficult.
“Haven’t I told you countless times? My dream is to become a spirit.”
Lexus spoke jokingly, but Serena’s tears did not stop.
“If you leave… how am I supposed to live alone…….”
“Why wouldn’t you? Before you met me, you lived just fine on your own.”
“That was in the past!”
As she shed tears like beads, Lexus only spouted nonsense.
Was he really unaffected?
Disappointment surged like a rising tide when a warm hand gently settled on her head.
“I’m sorry.”
“…….”
“You can curse me if you want. Hate me all you like. But I have to go. Putting my own will aside, it’s something that must be done.”
That day, Serena hurled more curses than she ever had in her life.
More than half the curses she had ever spoken were directed at Lexus that day.
Even so, Lexus listened in silence.
Only after she grew exhausted and closed her mouth did he speak casually.
“If you really feel that way, you can come over later.”
“You’re saying we should die together?”
“Who knows? Maybe someday there’ll be a way to go back and forth.”
“You call that an answer…….”
Snap.
Lexus flicked his fingers.
Tree roots gathered from the ground, forming a single staff.
“Take it. A gift.”
“What use is a staff to a Spirit Mage…….”
“If you don’t want it, forget it.”
Serena quickly took the staff.
As if he had expected that, Lexus burst into laughter.
Despite her words, Serena hugged the staff tightly.
“You’re not alone.”
“Just what kind of nonsense are you about to spout now.”
“Make lots of friends. I’m sure there are people somewhere in the world who’ll suit you well.”
That was the last memory Serena had of Lexus.
The master who had taken her in when she was no better than a beast, unable even to speak.
Lexus left Serena in order to achieve his goal.
“Ugh… where is this.”
Isadora opened her eyes and looked around.
Just moments ago she had been in Nabrash, yet this was a place she had never seen before.
No—when she lifted her head, she could see Nabrash beyond the translucent sky above.
She could even see Drake fighting.
“Drake!”
She shouted at the top of her lungs, but Drake did not react.
Quickly giving up, she searched for an exit first.
An unfamiliar environment, as if gravity itself had lessened.
She had never come here in her life, yet she knew where she was.
The homeland of spirits. She had fallen into the Spirit Realm.
“I’d only heard about it in words—who would’ve thought that crazy bitch could open the Spirit Realm.”
As a Spirit Mage, she knew what kind of place the Spirit Realm was.
A domain of spirits entirely separate from the physical world.
That was why humans could not live here.
That much was all Isadora knew about the Spirit Realm.
She had never heard of a Spirit Mage who had opened it, nor had she ever known such a thing was possible.
“Wait. Then does that mean Leod is here too?”
Isadora called the name of the spirit who had been with her for so long.
“Leod? Leod! Can you hear me?”
“I told you. Leod is gone now.”
Contrary to her hopes, the one who appeared behind Isadora was Serena.
“Wh-what! Where did you pop out from!”
“Behind you.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Instinctively, Isadora gathered Ether.
Normally, a fire spirit would have manifested, but nothing happened.
Like pouring water into a cracked vessel, the Ether only drained away.
“What’s wrong with this……?”
“Calm down. There’s no good in fighting each other here.”
“You know how to get out, don’t you? Tell me quickly!”
“Well. This is my first time coming over too.”
Isadora’s expression stiffened.
The frustration that her ability as a Spirit Mage did not work, and the fear of being cut off from reality.
“Don’t tell me… we have to stay here forever……?”
“Maybe.”
“Speak properly!”
She grabbed Serena, demanding an answer, when something approached rapidly from afar.
A pale spirit without any attribute.
Seeing the primal spirit, Isadora asked in a trembling voice,
“Le, Leod? Is that you?”
The hope in her voice soon turned to disappointment.
It was not the spirit she knew.
Then what was that?
“It’s coming to devour your Ether.”
“Th-then! Even if it’s a primal spirit, I can control it!”
Isadora gathered Ether once more, hope blooming anew.
The primal spirit flew toward her even faster.
Just as she swelled with the thought of taming it and somehow escaping,
another primal spirit appeared.
And it did not end there.
Two became three, four, five…….
They increased beyond control, all of them hurtling toward Isadora.
In the process, they collided with one another, and each time they did, they repelled each other with explosions.
Like wild beasts fighting over prey.
“This has never happened before…….”
“Primal spirits are especially difficult to commune with. Like disobedient children.”
“Wh-what should I…….”
When she turned her head, Serena had already distanced herself.
As Isadora stared blankly, the primal spirits rushed in.
The result was horrific.
Crunch.
“Aaaaargh!”
Unable to withstand the pressure, Isadora was crushed into a round shape.
The primal spirits paid no heed to what happened to the Spirit Mage and greedily devoured her Ether.
“S-save me!”
Reluctantly, she begged Serena for help, but there was little Serena could do.
There was no reason to save an opponent she had originally fought as an enemy.
Only a shriveled corpse, dried like a mummy drained of moisture, floated upward.
Fwaaaash.
Having finished their meal, the primal spirits vanished, leaving behind a small jewel as if spitting out the dregs they could not digest.
Holding the transparent jewel, Serena looked up.
Sigbard was fighting frantically.
He must have grown anxious after she disappeared.
“Wait for me, mister. I’ll come find you again.”
Crack.
When she swung the jewel, it shattered as if thrown against a wall.
At the same time, a small passage opened, absorbing the remnants of Ether that remained.
Before leaving, she glanced at Isadora.
“In your next life, live kindly.”
Attempting to steal Ether—Isadora had likely been close to evil.
Without regret, Serena turned her back and crossed over into the world she had been in before.
It was time to lighten Sigbard’s burden.