Chapter 129 - Damn Reincarnation

Lightning Flame

Melkith continued marveling throughout their walk through the forest. Its lush vegetation was hard to believe for this time of year. Primal spirits and all manner of other spirits suffused every part of the scenery.

“This forest is the paradise every spirit mage dreams of!” Melkith cried excitedly.

“Seriously, I’m not exaggerating! In all my decades practicing spirit arts, I’ve visited dozens—hundreds—of spots famous for having spirits. But I’ve never seen anywhere with so many spirits, or spirits this lively!”

“Ah, yes.”

“In this forest, even someone with the bare minimum of affinity could make a contract with a spirit right away. Even if they already had a contract, simply living here would advance their spirit arts. No, no! Not just their spirit arts! What is this place? How can there possibly be so much mana?”

So excited that she was flapping both hands like a bird, Melkith suddenly lunged at Eugene and grabbed him by the collar.

“Why are you taking it out on me?”

“This is a crime!” Melkith shrieked. “A spot overflowing with this much mana and this many spirits, privately owned by a mere family!”

“Uh... um... I don’t think the Lionhearts qualify as a mere family...”

“Listen, you! Even Aroth, the kingdom of magic, doesn’t have a mana spot this huge! Not just Aroth, either. I bet every other country on the continent is the same!”

“Helmuth probably does.”

“... Weeell... I suppose... it might. Oh, anyway, this isn’t just a mana spot! Even Helmuth wouldn’t have a spirit spot of this caliber... hmm... though I suppose it has plenty of dark spirit spots...”

Melkith floundered, unable to organize her words. But she soon reached her conclusion.

“... Can’t I really live here?”

“I told you, no.”

“Then instead of living here, maybe two days a week...”

“No.”

“You’re such a miser. Come to think of it, this forest isn’t even yours. Lady Lionheart seemed very pleased with my gift... Can’t I negotiate with her?”

Eugene stared at Melkith sullenly without answering. In truth, he had no reason to reject her outright.

It was just that the bizarre behavior Tempest had told him about bothered him. What if she ran naked through this forest at night, just as she had while holding Wynnyd? Eugene did not want to imagine that sight...

“... Stingy brat. You don’t have to glare at me like that. You’re so, so stingy that I’m not going to ask anymore. Actually, I don’t need anything from you, you know? I already stand at the pinnacle of spirit arts.”

“How splendid.”

Melkith glared at Eugene, grinding her teeth. Then she spun around and resumed walking through the forest.

“... Come to think of it, where’s Mer?”

“I’m here.”

Eugene’s cloak lifted, and Mer peeked out. For a moment, Melkith felt a jumble of emotions at the sight. The Cloak of Darkness, once her treasured possession, was being used as that tiny girl’s home...

‘... I never imagined it being used that way.’

“... You certainly are putting it to good use.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll return it in perfect condition in six years.”

“Of course you will. If it gets so much as a scratch, this entire forest...”

“...”

“I’m joking, joking. Honestly, why don’t you have any respect for your elders? You glare at me like you want to kill me every time I say a word. You’re scaring your big sister half to death.”

“Calling yourself my big sister is a bit...”

“Be quiet.”

However she looked at it, this was all because that bastard, the Green Tower Master, had made such a disgraceful spectacle of himself. Of course, Melkith hadn’t wanted him to win the duel, but she was certain his disgraceful behavior was why Eugene had lost all respect for tower masters.

“Anyway, where are you going?”

“Somewhere full of spirits and mana.”

“That would be anywhere in this forest.”

“But there’s one place where they’re especially concentrated. You don’t need to guide me. I can already feel it, and I’m being guided there.”

She thought this was the perfect opportunity. Smiling, Melkith gave her coattails a showy flutter. The ground beneath her rose like a wave.

“The spirits of this land are guiding me.”

Eugene looked up at her with an unimpressed expression. Waiting for his admiration, Melkith still stood atop the earthen wave with her arms spread wide.

“... Shall we go?”

“Want a ride too?”

“No...”

“No need to refuse. Riding this is pretty fun!”

Melkith crooked a finger, and the ground beneath Eugene stirred. ... To be honest, it was impressive. The ground wasn’t moving through magic. It was all the work of spirits.

‘Well, she does have a contract with the Earth Spirit King.’

Eugene stopped walking and stood still, while Melkith remained atop her wave. They moved forward, standing on the moving earth. As they did, Mer wriggled out of the cloak and came to stand beside Eugene.

“Have you ever surfed?”

“No.”

“If you like it, just tell me whenever you want. You won’t need to go to the sea. I’ll make waves just for you.”

“That’s a little much...”

“Why? Did your big sister’s words make your heart flutter?”

“Don’t say creepy things.”

Eugene answered with a look of disgust. Mer, however, looked quite pleased, whether because she liked what Melkith had said or simply enjoyed riding the heaving ground.

“... Oh...”

After crossing the forest, they reached the recently completed elven village. Perhaps today was a supply delivery day, as wagons were lined up from the village entrance.

“Master Eugene. What brings you here?”

Narissa and Levera were standing in front of the wagons, checking the supplies being unloaded.

“Your... tastes are really... unusual... and... uh... um... shocking.”

Melkith stammered as she stared at Narissa and Levera.

Two elves wearing Lionheart maid uniforms. One wore a prosthetic leg, and the other covered one eye with an eyepatch...

Using elves as servants wasn’t particularly rare. But the fact that both elves had suffered damage to some part of their bodies led Melkith to imagine something sinister and decadent.

“Don’t get any strange ideas.”

“... I’m someone who tries to understand all tastes. There’s no need to be so embarrassed. Uh... you know quite a few of my embarrassing secrets too.”

“And don’t say things people could misunderstand.”

Narissa and Levera, who had bowed in greeting, were staring at them. The two apprentice servants at the annex had become Nina’s trusted confidantes while Eugene was away. The nonsense Melkith was spouting would reach Nina, then his father, Gerhard.

“So this is the place full of spirits and mana?”

“Ahem... ahem...”

“Seriously, stop thinking weird things.”

“All right. Don’t be so embarrassed.”

Melkith cleared her throat and raised a finger.

“Over there.”

She pointed behind the elven village, where the World Tree saplings had been planted. It hadn’t even been a few weeks since their planting, but they were already far larger than when they had been uprooted in Samar.

“... Those are the fairy trees you brought from Samar, right?”

“Yes.”

“This is my first time seeing a living fairy tree too. Could I break off one nice, sturdy branch as a gift?”

“That depends on how you behave, Melkith.”

Grumbling, Eugene approached the fairy trees. Following him, Melkith noticed a cabin a short distance behind them.

‘That’s the center of the forest.’

The Lionhearts’ spirit vein.

‘Are the fairy trees’ roots connected to the spirit vein? Is that amplifying its power, so the mana... No... wait... There’s something different about the spirits here...?’

Primal spirits with no selves of their own. Those were familiar to her, but the primal spirits here were somehow different from the other spirits in the forest.

“... Am I imagining it?”

“Imagining what?”

“The primal spirits here... something’s diff—Good heavens! These aren’t fairy trees, they’re World Trees?!”

With a shriek, Melkith rushed at a sapling. She leaped up and wrapped her arms and legs around its trunk like a cicada clinging to an old tree.

“To think I’d live to see a World Tree!”

“Technically, it isn’t the World Tree. It’s a sapling branched off from it...”

“Good heavens, good heavens!”

“How did you know?”

“Levin and Yanos told me! How, how can this be! World Tree saplings in a mere family’s forest! Three of them!”

“And who are Levin and Yanos?”

“The Lightning Spirit King and the Earth Spirit King!”

“Are you going to stay like that?”

Some time later, Melkith slid down from the tree.

“... You wouldn’t give me one even if I asked, would you?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Ughhh... I think I understand the circumstances well enough that I can’t even keep pestering you. How depressing. Be thankful for the humanity I still have left.”

The elves brought from Samar. The elves’ domain where Senya was said to be living in seclusion. The World Tree saplings must be here both at Senya’s wishes and for the elves’ sake. Melkith gazed up at the saplings with eyes full of lingering longing.

‘... If I could have my way, I’d put one in the White Tower...’

But she couldn’t. Sighing heavily, Melkith plopped down beneath the tree.

“Come here.”

“Are you going to try negotiating with me?”

“Nothing like that. I’m going to start your spirit contract, just as I came here to do.”

Melkith opened her coat wide, pulled out a large box, and set it down in front of Eugene. Then, still seated, she moved her fingers this way and that.

Light extending from her fingertips inscribed formulas on the surrounding ground, beginning to form a magic circle. Eugene watched as he sat down across from her.

“Should I sit down too?”

Melkith firmly shook her head at Mer’s question.

“No. You stay outside. What’s about to happen could interfere with your delicate formula.”

“... Is it dangerous?”

“The mood is important when making a spirit contract. Lightning spirits are especially bad-tempered, you know? If a familiar who isn’t the contractor sticks around for no reason, they might throw lightning at it for no reason too.”

As she spoke, Melkith looked Eugene up and down.

“... Want to take your clothes off?”

“... Do I have to undress to make a contract?”

“That’s how I prefer it. Approaching spirits in your primal form, stripped of unnecessary adornments, improves your resonance with them.”

“Tempest said that was superstition.”

“... Every spirit has different preferences. Anyway, my advice is to undress. You should at least take off your shirt. It might burn up during the contract.”

Eugene’s brows knitted tightly. Still, he didn’t ignore her advice.

“My little brother’s got a nice body!”

Melkith whistled at Eugene when he returned without his shirt. He gave her a thoroughly fed-up glare and plopped down in front of her.

“Just open the box. I’m curious what could possibly justify all this fuss.”

“Hehehe!”

With a sly smile, Melkith snapped her fingers toward the box.

The box opened. Eugene stared into it with wide eyes, and at that instant, the thing crouching inside flashed brightly and sprang up.

“What is this?”

CRACKLE!

Lightning ran wild inside the barrier Melkith had made, moving almost too quickly for the eye to follow. Light ricocheted off the barrier walls, leaving afterimages. Every time the thing sparked, the skin of Eugene’s bare upper body stung.

“Lightning flame.”

Melkith watched the lightning flame darting about with an affectionate gaze.

“Among magical materials, there’s something called thunderstone, which holds lightning. It’s a precious raw stone usually used to make artifacts, but a skilled spirit mage can process it to hold a lightning spirit itself.”

SNAP!

Melkith’s thumb and forefinger struck together. The rampaging lightning flame flinched to a halt and dropped straight down.

“This is thunderstone processed through alchemy. It’s raw stone, yet no longer raw stone. We refined it into flame.”

“What difference does that make?”

“It makes a difference. Raw stone is still stone. However much you work it, stone can’t grow beyond its original size. You cut it, break it, make it ‘smaller.’ But flame?”

Melkith smiled brightly and leaned her head toward Eugene.

“Flame can change freely depending on how you handle it. Water needs a vessel to hold it, but flame doesn’t even need that. It grows, shrinks... and it’s violent. In other words, it’s a very aggressive yet convenient material.”

“Aha...”

“Of course, this isn’t ordinary flame. It burns like flame, but it contains primal lightning spirits in its very composition. In other words, it has no self, just a vicious temperament. Well? Don’t you think it’s an appealing material?”

“It is, but...”

“What a bland reaction! Do you know how much trouble it took to make this? We used several tons of thunderstone just for this flame. We turned it into flame, and I personally! Summoned! The Lightning Spirit King and packed it full of high-powered lightning!”

Eugene narrowed his eyes at the lightning flame. Crouching there, it was about the size of a campfire... but he could feel the immense mana condensed inside it.

“Don’t worry about compatibility,” Melkith said, shaking her head.

“The reason I specifically gave it the shape of ‘flame’ is the Lionhearts’ White Flame Formula. Mana circulated through it takes on the form of flame. It might seem meaningless, but that’s actually quite important. You might call it adding color to finished clothes you’re already wearing... We’re making it ‘familiar’ to compensate for your lack of affinity.”

“... How do I make the contract?”

“Grab the lightning flame.”

Melkith spread her hand wide before Eugene, then clenched it tightly into a fist.

“Make it resonate with your mana while using the White Flame Formula. The trick is... yes. Your mana... your power. Your existence. You yourself. Try changing the lightning flame’s shape to reflect those things. As you do, it will naturally resist the outside mana.”

“You mean I should subdue it?”

“As a spirit mage, I prefer words like harmony and fusion to subjugation. But that’s something you’ll have to reconcile for yourself. For now, it’ll be faster to try it.”

Indeed. Eugene nodded and reached toward the lightning flame.

‘Look at this bastard.’

As his outstretched hand drew near, the lightning flame flinched and grew larger, as though it meant to swallow his entire hand. Eugene snorted and activated the Ring Flame Formula.

Pure white flames surged around Eugene’s body. Soon, they took on a bluish tint. With his flame-wreathed hand, he seized the lightning flame.

CRACKLE!

Lightning sparked. Both his arms tingled, and his teeth clicked together. The muscles in his arms trembled involuntarily, and his arms grew hot as though burned. But Eugene didn’t let go of the lightning flame. Instead, he tightened his grip and pulled it closer to his body.

“Hmm... wouldn’t it be better to be a little gentler?”

“You said whether it’s subjugation or harmony, that’s something I have to reconcile for myself.”

Eugene smiled, his cheek twitching. Its resistance was stronger than he’d expected, which made this rather entertaining.

CRACKLE!

Under his pressure, the lightning flame began gradually shrinking.

“Uh... um... that’s... true. For now, if you keep doing that... you should feel a spirit drawn out by the lightning flame.”

It wouldn’t be a low-ranking spirit. He should be able to contract with at least a mid-ranking spirit.

‘A high-ranking one would be out of reach.’

Actually, the spirit’s rank wasn’t important. Once a contract was established, affinity could develop afterward depending on how the spirit was handled. Even if he contracted with a low-ranking lightning spirit now, he could later contract with one of a higher rank.

‘Or Levin, how about helping a little more? Bring a high-ranking lightning spirit right from the start...’

[“A contract must be fair.”]

Levin, the Lightning Spirit King, answered inside Melkith’s head.

[“I was displeased with the creation of that lightning flame in the first place. Melkith, I relented because you stubbornly pestered me. I have already accommodated him to that extent. He must make the contract himself.”]

‘How stingy...’

[“If you wanted him to use a high-ranking spirit so badly, why not simply make an artifact inhabited by one?”]

‘That would just be using a spirit inhabiting a weapon, not a contract.’

That was why Wynnyd was such an absurdly precious treasure. The sword didn’t merely ‘contain’ a spirit. It allowed its wielder to contract directly with the Wind Spirit King.

“... Hmm...”

Eugene’s expression changed as he kneaded the lightning flame. Amid the lightning it spewed, he had sensed an unfamiliar ‘presence.’

With her overwhelmingly superior affinity for lightning, there was no way Melkith could have missed that presence. Her face lit up as she spoke.

“A spirit is entering it.”

“... Low-ranking?”

“No, mid-ranking. Just as I expected. Now, focus on that spirit and make the contract...”

“It’s too weak.”

Eugene answered with a frown. The spirit’s ‘power’ he could currently feel was less than that of the lightning flame, and couldn’t compare to the lightning fired by the Lightning Bow.

“Don’t be too greedy. Just make the contract first...”

“Let’s knead it a little more.”

He could still reshape it as much as he wanted. This wasn’t baseless conjecture. Eugene’s control over mana was so prodigious that even Senya had acknowledged it. The lightning inhabiting the lightning flame consisted of primal spirits, and primal spirits were simply another form of mana.

Eugene couldn’t sense primal spirits. But with primal spirits ‘processed’ and captured like this, he could sense and manipulate them just like mana.

The Ring Flame Formula. His core spun faster. As explosions repeated within it, Eugene’s mana amplified. The flames surrounding his body turned completely blue.

CRACK! CRACKLE!

Each time he kneaded the flame, blue fire and lightning mingled.

Sparks scattered. Mana dispersed. He drew it back in with the Ring Flame Formula, guiding it into his core without waste.

... Lightning mixed into his mana. Lightning flowed into his body, into his core.

“Uh... uhhh...”

At a loss for words, Melkith watched the scene. Was it all right for him to do that? ... She didn’t know. She had never imagined such a thing was possible, much less tried it. She hadn’t made and brought the lightning flame for him to use it like that in the first place.

“Are you... okay? Doesn’t it hurt?”

Eugene didn’t answer. He simply ground his teeth and glared at the lightning flame with wide eyes. His vision flashed. Each time he kneaded it, the lightning flame shrank, and each time the Ring Flame Formula produced an ‘explosion,’ it swelled again.

[“... Melkith?”]

Levin watched Eugene through Melkith’s eyes.

[“... What in the world is that fellow?”]

‘... I don’t know.’

[“He can manipulate primal spirits like that...?”]

Levin’s astonishment was only natural. Primal spirits were the pure essence of spirits. Though weaker than low-ranking spirits, they retained their own existence even within a low-ranking spirit’s power. Every spirit in the world had once been a primal spirit, and the Spirit Kings were no exception.

[“... Melkith.”]

‘I don’t know either, so stop calling me!’

[“No... I wasn’t going to ask. You are too absorbed in this.”]

‘What?’

[“The barrier is breaking.”]

Startled, Melkith lifted her head. Levin was right. The barrier she had erected to keep the lightning flame from running wild was cracking, unable to withstand the power moving within this space.

‘Is that all...? I can just make another barrier, can’t I?’

[“... No. Leave it be for a moment.”]

As Melkith was about to cast her magic, Levin immediately stopped her.

‘Why?’

[“... Look at those cracks.”]

Levin’s voice trembled. Unable to understand why, Melkith looked at the cracks.

Soon, her own eyes widened in shock.

[“The spirits of the World Tree are responding to the lightning.”]

Lightning flowed in through the cracks. It joined the lightning flame and was guided into Eugene through the Ring Flame Formula.

“... What in the world...”

The moment Melkith stammered those words—

CRAAACK!

The lightning exploded.