That seemed to be the end of the ceremony. The Dweorgs began dispersing. I looked at my companions, as if asking them what we should do now, but none of them seemed to know either. However, Hreidmar, who was handing his warhammer off to a Dweorg who’d been standing beside him, gestured for us to come over.
“I think it’s time we spoke about what te do from ‘ere on out,” he said to us.
“Yes,” Erica began, “that is certainly something we should talk about.”
We were led back to Hreidmar’s throne room, where the Dweorg king sat on the golden throne. His battleaxe, which I guessed was used for battle as opposed to the ceremonial warhammer, was still leaning where it had been against the throne. Since there were no places to sit, the four of us made do with standing.
“My people have been forced into hiding fer hundreds of years,” Hreidmar began in a tone so solemn I would never have associated it with a man who’d just finished smacking caskets into a lava pit with a warhammer. “Ever since our Great Overlord sacrificed himself fer us, we have had no choice but te flee as our cities were taken one by one. We’ve done what we could te stave off destruction, but I believe the time of my kind may be coming te an end.”
None of us were certain what to say, so we said nothing.
“Ye might be shocked te know that this realm o’ ours did not always look as it does now,” Hreidmar continued. “It used to be a vibrant realm with plenty o’ resources that we Dweorg took fer granted. The bloody sky, the barren grounds… all that came about after the Sekbeist invaded our realm. They used up the realm’s resources without considerin’ the cost. This realm won’t be able te sustain life fer much longer.”
“I don’t believe you are saying this because you intend on giving up,” Tungsten said.
“Hmm…” Stroking his beard, Hreidmar looked to be considering his words. “I have not given up on my people, but I am giving up on this realm. I believe it is time we abandoned it.”
The words didn’t shock me like I felt they should have. Given what I had seen, Hreidmar was right. This realm was done for. I was honestly surprised it could even sustain life right now.
“Then what do you plan to do?” I asked. “If you are giving up on this realm, then it means you hope to take your people to another realm, correct?” I narrowed my eyes. “Our realm?”
“That is right.” Hreidmar acknowledged my words with a nod. “I am hoping te take my people te Miðgarðr.” He raised a hand as if to forestall any arguments. “Our kind do not require much in the way of resources, and we have much te offer yer people. Our craftsmen are far more capable than any among the other Eight Great Races. We were the ones who built those Warp Gates that allow fer travel between worlds. If yer people can provide us with a suitable location te live, preferably an active volcano, we can help craft weapons and armor fer ye. Ye’ll be needin’ those if ye want te battle the Sekbeists.”
It wasn’t a bad proposition from what I could see, and these Dweorgs were indeed a talented race of craftsmen. Also, and maybe my thoughts were wrong, it wasn’t like anyone could deny them a place to live in our realm. We didn’t have a monarch who granted land. The Northern Plains were ruled by sects. These Dweorgs could even form their own sect once they arrived if they wanted.
“We certainly do not mind letting your people live in our realm,” Kari was the one who spoke now. She stepped forward, the look of a diplomat or perhaps even a queen about her. “In fact, I’m sure no one would object to it. The problem is we still don’t know how to return.”
“Ye needn’t worry ‘bout that,” Hreidmar said. “I’ve got a plan te get us te yer world.”
“I am going to take a shot in the dark and say it involves traveling to your capital,” Tungsten said, eyes narrowing as his stern features became even sterner. “But from what you told us, the capital city is overrun with Sekbeist.”
“Yer a sharp one,” Hreidmar said with a grim smile. “It is a plan we have been craftin’ fer some time before ye humans showed up. Originally, this plan was te be a suicide run. We’d storm the capital and kill all the Sekbeists we could as a final act o’ revenge, but now that we have ye here, we can change the plan te somethin’ that gives my people a chance te survive. So, what do the three of ye say? Will ye help my people?”
The four of us silently conferred with each other, though it didn’t take long for us to reach a decision. Our enemies were their enemies, which meant they were our allies in this struggle, and what’s more, they had craftsmen who were far more skilled than any human craftsmen ever would be. Furthermore, we needed their help if we wanted to return to our world.
The choice was a no-brainer.
“We will help you,” Erica said to Hreidmar.
Hreidmar smiled at us, a pure joy shining in his eyes, a hope that hadn’t been present before. I only just now realized it, but his eyes had been dark and foreboding until this very moment. He must have been on the verge of giving up.
“In that case, ye’ll be needin’ better armor and weapons than what ye have now.” Hreidmar’s smile turned into a vitality-filled grin. “Let us visit the blacksmiths and see if they can make ye something worthy of storming a fortress.”
It had now been four months since I’d gone back in time. A lot had changed since that day four months ago, when I had woken up to discover that I was in the body of my seventeen-year-old self. However, while a lot had changed since then, very little had changed about my lifestyle in the past month. I woke up every morning, had breakfast with Lin, and then either went to train alongside Kari and Fay, help Lin study our written language, or speak with Dante or Feinrea. Sometimes I would be called to the Imperial Royal Palace to have tea with Empress Hilda, but that had only happened about three times in the sixty-three days that had passed since that first time.
The Blood-Replenishing Pill had been introduced thirty days ago, and as I had suspected, it was a huge hit. I couldn’t walk through the Merchant District without seeing the Valstine Family’s stalls being surrounded by Spiritualists, both mercenaries and those belonging to the Nevarian Spiritualists, who wanted to get their hands on it.
Of course, this was good for me since it meant I made a lot of money. Just this month alone, my total earnings had come to 695,500 valis. That was more than I had ever made working at the library. It was close to the monthly earnings Brave Vesperia used to make, but that money never went to me because I had to budget it for my sect. To be honest, it was more valis than I knew what to do with, so I’d gone to the Eieran Family and had my valis converted into jewels. I also ended up buying a vault to store most of the jewels inside.
I was sure it would fill out fast.
While very little about my life had changed, if there was one change that I had to say was significant, it was definitely my relationships with Kari, Fay, and Lin.
“Hup!”
I used the Flash Step to disappear from Kari’s line of sight. This allowed me to avoid the massive beam of energy that tore across the ground. Divine Buster Cannon, the technique that Kari had been working on alongside the Flash Step, overtook several trees as it raced through the forest, annihilating everything in its path. The attack was truly impressive. Of course, using it required time to activate that she normally wouldn’t have in a fight, but fortunately, she had a partner who could keep me distracted.
As I landed on the ground several meters from where Kari’s attack had unleashed devastation, Fay suddenly appeared in front of me. Her Spiritual Aura was flaring wildly, a powerful flame that had become almost entirely blue with just a hint of red licking at the edges. She rotated her fists and brought them into her torso. Fire gathered around them, so hot it would have caused sweat to burst from my brow had I not used the water element to keep cool. Barely a second had passed since she appeared, but then she thrust out her fists and unleashed a powerful technique.
Rotation Fire Fist was listed as a C-rank Spiritual Fire Technique, but with the impressive output of Spiritual Power that Fay
was releasing, along with using two fists instead of one, it could easily be given a B-rank in terms of firepower.
Two powerful spirals of fire like tornadoes rushed across the space between us, burning everything. The earth was charred black, the trees burst into flames, and even the boulders in her Spiritual Technique’s path melted. After traveling for about twenty meters, the spiraling flames finally dispersed as they ran out of Spiritual Power.
Unfortunately, their target—me—had already vanished.
“Did you get him?” asked Kari as she walked up to Fay.
“Nope,” I responded before Fay could.
The two girls quickly turned to me as I walked out from behind a tree. My body suddenly disappeared as I used the Flash Step to appear before them. I moved faster than before, faster than they could keep up with. With my Dragon's Tail Ruler in hand, I launched a powerful attack, my weapon coated in lightning.
Kari and Fay were quick to move away from me, using the Flash Step to move in separate directions. They had learned the hard way that trying to take my attacks head-on was foolish. Their physical strength was impressive, but even now, trying to block a swing of my ruler would result in them getting sent flying and shocked by electricity at the same time.
As they both appeared on either side of me, the two prepared to unleash their Spiritual Techniques. Fay rotated her fists and tucked them into her torso. Kari spun around and gathered Spiritual Power on the tip of her ranseur. Their Spiritual Auras flared and became increasingly bright, a powerful golden hue and a burning blue flame. I could tell they were preparing to unleash their last attacks, to end this before I could.
I decided I wouldn’t let them.
I was sure the pair were confused when I suddenly appeared before them both at the same time, despite Kari and Fay being separated by at least ten meters, and slammed a fist into each of their solar plexus. I used the lightning element to penetrate their Spiritual Auras and strike their bodies directly. Simultaneous gasps erupted from their mouths as they fell at the same time. Kari and Fay coughed as their Spiritual Auras were disrupted. They fell to their knees, placing a hand where I had struck them, while I suddenly appeared back in the same spot I had been standing before my attack.
“Wha… what was…?” Kari managed to get out as she looked at me, but my punch had deprived her lungs of oxygen, so that was all she could say.
“That was a variation of the Flash Step,” I told her. “I call it Illusion Step, but that’s not an accurate name. It doesn’t create an illusion or anything like that. All I’m really doing is moving so fast that it appears as if I’m in two places at once. With that, I attacked the two of you within less than a one-hundredth of a second of each other, which made it look like I hit you both at the same time.”
“D-damn… and here I thought we might have finally had you,” Fay muttered as she stood to her feet, rubbing the spot underneath her chest. Despite her disheartening words, her eyes were filled with an intense fire.
“You’ve been going easy on us all this time, haven’t you?” asked Kari, also standing up. She looked like she was about to pout at me.
“It would be more accurate to say I’ve been growing alongside you,” I corrected her. “I only gained enough speed to use the Illusion Step like this in the last several days. While you two have been practicing your own Spiritual Techniques, I worked on mastering this so I could use it during our spars.”
“So you’re basically just staying one step ahead of us,” Fay concluded with a sigh. “It’s still a little depressing to know that we can’t defeat you even after nearly half a month of sparring like this.”
I grinned at her. “You should consider this a compliment. You two are getting so strong that in order to keep ahead, I have to train twice as hard.”
To be honest, I was shocked by how strong these two had become. They had both perfected their respective Spiritual Techniques and were good enough at using the Flash Step that they could use it continuously for an entire hour. This also meant their Spiritual Power had increased by a factor of about two. I was pretty sure both of them could now take on a B-Rank Demon Beast that had the same amount of power as that Giant Svart I had fought in one-on-one combat.
Of course, I hadn’t been standing still either. While I didn’t know how strong I was now, I did feel confident that I could defeat one of the weaker A-Rank Demon Beasts on my own, maybe something like a Crested Dragonewt or even a Steel-Scaled Fire Salamander.
We hadn’t gone into the Demon Beast Mountain Range since our first expedition, but that wasn’t because we had no intentions to. Fay and Kari had been deeply affected by my battle against the Giant Svart. They told me they wanted to become stronger before going there again, so to that end, the three of us had been training nearly every day—even on days when they went to the Spiritualist Academy.
“It looks like it’s getting pretty late,” I said as I glanced at the sky, visible through the canopy of trees. We had been training since early morning and the sun was now in the center of the sky, high above our heads. “Let’s pick up Lin and get lunch together.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” Fay placed a hand over her stomach, which was gurgling. “I’m starving.”
“Me too,” Kari added. “I feel like I could eat a whole bovine.”
“You do have quite the appetite,” Fay muttered. “I wonder where all that food goes.”
Unconsciously, Fay and I stared at Kari’s chest. It didn’t look any bigger now than it always did, but considering how thin her waist still was despite how much she ate…
“What are you trying to imply?” asked Kari with a faux glare.
“Nothing,” Fay and I said at the same time.
Because of how much we had sweat, all three of us took a quick rinse in a nearby spring. Kari and Fay removed their tops and allowed me to clean them. I used a cloth and a bar of soap to wipe away the sweat covering their backs, shoulders, arms, stomach, and chests, though they still wouldn’t let me touch anything else. After I had washed them, they cleaned me. Kari had the front that day while Fay washed my back, but they had this habit of switching who cleaned which side. I just let them do as they pleased.
On a side note, Fay still seemed a little hesitant about physical intimacy while Kari had become a lot more enthusiastic. In some ways, it felt like they had traded places, with Kari acting like the confident one and Fay the shy one who kept blushing and keeping her distance. I was sure Fay only agreed to bathe together like this because Kari had convinced her to.
My future wife could be very persuasive.
Very persuasive indeed.
We gathered our supplies after getting clean, popped a Spiritual Recovery Pill into our mouths, and left the now destroyed training ground, which was covered in craters, burn marks, and destroyed trees.
As we walked, I felt my Spiritual Power slowly recovering. It sort of felt like my vitality was slowly being restored. This sort of sensation was hard to describe with just words, but if I had to, I would say it was like when you drink caffa after just waking up.
When someone exhausted their Spiritual Power, the feeling they had was similar to physical exhaustion. Spiritual Recovery Pills helped replenish the Spiritual Power after it was used up. It was great to use after training, though it was dangerous if taken in large quantities. All alchemy pills could become addictive if someone wasn’t careful in their consumption. That was why I always regulated how many we took.
“I think we’re going to need to find a new training ground,” I said with a heavy sigh. “This is the fourth one we’ve destroyed.”
“Maybe we should build our own training ground?” Fay suggested.
“I suppose we could,” I muttered. I was pretty sure I had the money, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to. It was probably because I had grown paranoid, but I didn’t like the idea of building a training ground where people could spy on us, even though I knew that, logically, such an occurrence was very unlikely to happen.
“I wonder how long it will take before we can learn the Illusion Step,” Kari changed the subject as we passed through the eastern gate. The two Nevarian Spiritualists guarding the gate greeted us with a wave, which we returned.
“Once you’ve learned how to enter the Second State of Spiritualism, you will be able to learn the Illusion Step,” I told them.
“Second State of…” Fay’s eyes widened at me. “Then does that mean you have—?!”
“Yes.” Nodding at her, I hid my amusement as best I could. “I reached the Second State of Spiritualism about ten days ago.”
“And you didn’t think to tell us this?” Kari asked with a mild pout.
I shrugged. “I wanted to surprise you.”
The three of us kept up the banter as we made it to the Nadine Library, but we stopped upon seeing the crowd of people gathered in front of it. Several young men were loafing around outside. Most appeared to be commoners from their clothing, but there were also a few nobles, easily noticeable by their silk doublets, suede pants, and extravagant shoulder capes. A lot of them were peeking in through the windows. As one, the three of us released weary sighs. I could already feel a headache coming on.
“I never imagined Lin would become this popular,” I groaned.
“Well, I mean, Lin is really exotic,” Kari explained. “That dark skin and snake tail are things people in Nevaria have never seen before. Plus, she has that really cute and sexy dichotomy going for her. It’s no wonder she’s become so popular.”
I began complaining under my breath, but I guess I wasn’t quiet enough because Kari and Fay gave me a look that seeped amusement.
“Are you feeling overprotective of her?” asked Kari with a mischievous smile.
Fay’s smile matched her friend’s. “Or maybe you just don’t like the fact that so many people are infatuated with one of your women.”
I snorted at the thought. “If that were the case, I would hate your fan clubs as well. Don’t forget that you two are every bit as popular as Lin. The issue I have with these people is how blatant and obvious they are about their infatuation. It’s one thing to discreetly admire someone who is already taken. It is quite another to so flagrantly ogle someone who is already in a relationship.”
Wiedergeburt Page 15
