Bonus Story: The Lich and the Beast of Death

Bonus Story:
The Lich and the Beast of Death

 

—1—

 

A FEW DAYS AFTER the attack on Manaloch, Kanata, Pomera, and Philia went to the forest outside of town and summoned the spirit Wolzottl to play with him.

“Woof, woof, woof!”

Wol lay on his back while Kanata rubbed his belly. The giant dog yipped like he was ticklish but also rolled around like he was enjoying it.

Spirits responded to summons from humans, but normally, they wanted some sort of transaction in return. There were some spirits who were simply interested in human company, but the majority needed some sort of equal exchange. If you took their help without satisfying their demands, they would nullify the contract.

The payment Wol wanted was affection. It wasn’t something they could do in town, but Kanata went deep into the forest where no one would see so he could play with the dog spirit and pay him back for all he’d done. Despite his fearsome appearance, Wol was just a big, powerful, lonely puppy.

“Kanata…aren’t you afraid?” asked Pomera.

She and Philia were watching from a little ways off. Philia was hiding behind Pomera and gripping the white mage’s robes in unease.

“I’ve always liked animals. I used to have a cat, and when I was young, I used to play with my grandpa’s dog all the time,” said Kanata.

“Th-that’s not really what I meant.”

“They obviously like having their bellies and heads rubbed, and scratches at the base of their ears, but they also really enjoy having their chins or their hips and shoulders scratched. Their muscles can get stiff easily, so the trick is to rub pretty hard to release the tension. There are some who don’t like that though, so you just have to watch how they react,” continued Kanata absently as he petted Wol.

“Woof!” Wolzottl stretched out his neck happily, and Kanata scratched under his chin.

“Awooo…waah…” the spirit opened his mouth wide and let out a big yawn that showcased all his shining teeth. When Philia saw that, she leapt out from behind Pomera and dashed toward Wol.

“D-don’t eat Kanata! Philia won’t ever forgive you!” she shouted.

Wol looked at Philia with a puzzled tilt of his head. Philia jumped when their eyes met, but he held his gaze firmly and she raised her fists.

“Ph-Philia, that’s dangerous! Philia and I should really stay farther away, Kanata. I’m not sure it’s safe…” said Pomera as she tugged on Philia’s hand.

Philia’s mouth turned down into a frown, and she continued to glare at Wol. His twin tails raised and started to swing back and forth. The way she was acting seemed to make him wonder if she was going to play with him as well.

“Oh… W-wait, Wol. Calm down,” said Kanata when he saw how Wolzottl’s tails were wagging. The dog spirit had a habit of jumping up when he got too excited. If he were a normal dog it might be cute, but he was a level 2,000 nature spirit that stood over ten feet high. His playing could easily prove fatal for most people in Locklore.

“Awoo!” Wolzottl leapt up and rushed toward Philia. He’d desperately hoped one of the girls would decide to play with him, and now one of them was! This was turning out to be a fantastic day.

Philia jumped in surprise and let out a squeak just before Wol tackled her to the ground in a puff of dust.

“Philia?!” screamed Pomera as Kanata rushed to chase after Wolzottl.

Wol was sitting on top of Philia, licking her face.

“Woof, woof, awoo!”

“Aaah! Kanata, K-Kanata, help! It’s eating Philia!” shrieked Philia as she waved her arms in shock, unable to escape from the spirit as he drooled on her face.

“Wol, stop it! Philia’s scared!” called Kanata.

“Unnn…” whined Wol as Kanata managed to pull the dog away.

“Ph-Philia! Philia, are you okay?! Stay with me! Was your soul eaten?!” cried Pomera as she hugged Philia to her.

Kanata thought she was being a bit dramatic, but Wolzottl’s tongue did actually have the power to draw mana from others.

“Ugh… So sticky…” moaned Philia. “Philia thought she would be lunch…”

Even though she’d been pinned down and licked by Wolzottl, Philia wasn’t called the God of Terror in ancient times for nothing.

Kanata was relieved that Philia was all right, but he also secretly hoped she would eventually overcome her fear of dogs and become friends with Wolzottl. A person needed to be around level 2,000 in order to withstand Wolzottl’s version of playing, and there weren’t too many people like that in the world.

Suddenly, Kanata looked up at the sky.

“What’s wrong, Kanata?” asked Pomera.

“I just felt like someone was watching me… It was probably just my imagination,” said Kanata, but he bit his lip. It felt the same as when he’d faced the Red King’s self-destruct sequence. He was certain someone was watching him just now, and one name weighed heavy on his mind: Naiarotop.

 

—2—

 

MEANWHILE, Lunaère sat on the tall city walls of Manaloch. Her beautiful white hair peeked out from her black robe.

In her hand was a glowing yellow crystal, and inside that was an image of Kanata playing with Wolzottl.

“That dog spirit is adorable… I’m so happy Kanata seems to be enjoying himself,” said Lunaère with a smile as she covered her mouth with her fingertips.

“Lunaère, I thought you were gonna stop spying,” said Noble peevishly.

“Wh-what are you talking about? I’m only… Bad things keep happening around Kanata, I was worried…and so I was just checking how he’s doing! This is not spying.”

“Definitely looks like spying.”

“B-besides, you said I should stop using Medjedross to keep surveillance on him. And you were right, using that spirit to watch over Kanata was bad. I have mended my ways,” she said with a smug look. “This crystal is different. It isn’t a spirit.”

“Wha… No! That’s not it! It wasn’t the spirit that made spying bad,” replied Noble.

“Spirits are supernatural beings, many of them with access to strange powers. I understand now that using them to watch Kanata when he’s in private settings is not a good thing.”

“That goes without saying. But that’s not what I was—”

“While this crystal can be adjusted with magic, it’s really only capable of normal scrying. It might be a slightly high performance crystal that I’ve spent some time fine-tuning, but crystals for far viewing are sold in Manaloch’s shops. This is completely normal. I can’t observe him twenty-four hours a day, and I can’t view inside rooms. You could say this is within reasonable limits… Yes, it’s just as if I were walking through the forest.”

“That just means you went from being an effective stalker to a lousy stalker!” shouted Noble angrily, causing Lunaère to jump. “How come you get like this about Kanata? There were signs when we lived with Kanata in Cocytus, but you were never this bad back then…”

Lunaère frowned but couldn’t come up with a quick comeback.

“B-but it’s obvious that someone is after Kanata,” she said. “There is no other explanation for all these dangerous events occurring near him. It’s possible that I raised his level too high and now he’s caught the attention of some great being. If that’s the case, I must protect him. Are you saying I should just let Kanata die?!”

“O-of course not, but…”

Lunaère sighed. “Are you done, Noble? It’s not like I came after Kanata just because I wanted to spy on him. Don’t randomly make assumptions about me.”

“S-sorry… Wait, but what about your past…?” For a moment, Noble twisted his tongue in discomfort, but then he quickly drew it back in his mouth. He had almost fallen into her rhetorical trap. “Lunaère, if all that was true, shouldn’t you just go talk directly to Kanata?! I told you to stop chasing him around in secret! That was close—you almost had me fooled!”

“I-I would talk to him if I could! But I told him I was going back to Cocytus! And what am I supposed to say to that half-elf girl if I meet her again?!”

“You are impossible!” Noble let out a heavy sigh.

“And…when I think of that half-elf girl being with Kanata all the time…it makes me upset. She’s gotten to know Kanata in a way I haven’t. He’s caring for her when I can’t see. They’re becoming closer, and thinking about that… And even if it became the three of us—Kanata, the girl, and me—all I can think is that I would be there and not know what to say as the two of them had fun conversations… I don’t know what I’d do if I had to interact with that girl all the time.”

Lunaère’s hands shook just thinking about it.

“Just a pessimistic loner…”

“Well, what do you expect! I spent a thousand years in Cocytus so I wouldn’t meet anyone!”

“Fine, I get it. I won’t push you, so do whatever you want.”

Noble collapsed on the top of the wall like he was too tired to deal with it anymore. He opened his mouth and let drool dribble out.

“Anyway…Kanata’s dog spirit was so cute. I wanted to try petting him as well. I do have the unholy impurity, so I wouldn’t be able to pet him too much, though—even if it’s being suppressed by my robe.”

“Cute…? He looked pretty dangerous to me. Guess all the spirits you have contracts with are more creepy in comparison, though.”

Lunaère raised her head, looking like she’d just had a great idea.

“That’s it! I’ll make a contract with Kanata’s spirit!” she said.

“Huh?”

“If I do that, I can have the spirit keep an eye on Kanata! I could even nudge Kanata in certain directions using the spirit!”

“That’s exactly the kind of thing a stalker would do! I thought you just said you weren’t going to use spirits to spy on him anymore!”

“I-I would just happen to coincidentally make a contract with the same spirit as Kanata. It’s not spying. It’s just like asking a mutual friend how things are going with him. That’s what normal people do. My primary goal is to spoil that cute dog spirit, anyway!”

Noble let out another heavy sigh. What about this was coincidental? What about this was normal? Sure, it was normal to ask a friend how another friend was doing, but it was not normal to make a friend specifically for the purpose of asking about a person you loved but refused to talk to. That was just being weird.

“You look like you have something to say, Noble.”

“Yeah, I think… You know what? Nah. You just do whatever you want.”

Lunaère quickly decided to buy the items in Manaloch that she would need to summon Kanata’s spirit.

 

***

 

Kanata used the Four Gates Ceremony when he first summoned Wolzottl. He’d offered four items which the spirit would take, and in return, it agreed to negotiate a permanent contract.

Only small changes in the items offered or the conditions of the summoning could mean she ended up summoning a completely different spirit—it was difficult to determine in advance what spirit would answer this ceremony’s call until she actually did it. This would be tricky.

Lunaère spent a day going around Manaloch buying the necessary items. The next day, she went deep into the forest to where Kanata had summoned Wolzottl and arranged the four items to prepare for the Four Gates Ceremony.

“I couldn’t prepare the exact same items that Kanata used, so it seems I will have to make some adjustments with my mana. This was about how it was, wasn’t it?” she said.

She created a magic circle, placed her hand in the middle, and poured mana into it.

“Spirit who resides within the earth, lend your strength to this child of man.”

The light from the magic circle grew in response to Lunaère’s call. The four items used for the Four Gates Ceremony disappeared into the light, and a spirit in the form of a large blue dog appeared in front of Lunaère. This was without a doubt the spirit that Kanata had summoned: Wolzottl.

“It’s s’posed to be tough to reproduce the same results, but you got it right. We can still count on your magic skills, at least,” said Noble.

“The ‘at least’ isn’t necessary, Noble,” replied Lunaère.

“Not based on how you’ve been acting lately…”

Even if she’d used the Four Gates Ceremony to call the desired spirit, that didn’t mean the summoning contract was complete. It only meant the spirit came to negotiate. The next step was to get him to accept her. Hopefully he wouldn’t be stubborn.

Lunaère wasn’t worried about that. She had watched Kanata enter a contract with Wolzottl, and she was aware of Wol’s people-loving personality. The spirit quickly accepted Kanata just because he could handle Wolzottl’s playful nature.

Wolzottl opened his golden eyes. He saw Lunaère in front of him, and his two tails started wagging in excitement. His attitude made Lunaère smile slightly. She took a step back and faced Wolzottl.

“Noble, stand back. Mr. Spirit, whenever you’re ready,” she said.

“Awooo!”

Wol howled and rushed at Lunaère. She raised her right hand and gently pressed two fingers to his forehead as he lunged. He stopped in his tracks.

“Uun?”

He tried to raise his head, but it wouldn’t budge. Those two fingers were completely restricting his movement, but Wolzottl didn’t understand why.

He’d worked so hard and spent so long searching for a human that could befriend him, but he was never able to find one. Then he finally met Kanata. Kanata could keep up with him during play even if he let himself go a bit crazy. He was overjoyed and entered into a contract.

But Wolzottl could never have fathomed that there was a human who could handle him as easily as a puppy.

The force of Wolzottl’s tackle pushed the hood of Lunaère’s black robe back, revealing her face. Her bicolor emerald-and-crimson eyes looked at him, and she smiled as her unholy impurity started to leak out.

While only a tiny portion of her unholy impurity was released, Wolzottl was a spirit with a nose for mana and auras. Too late, he understood exactly what he’d leapt at.

“You seem energetic,” said Lunaère, her eyes crinkling in a smile. “Sit.”

“Uun…woof…” Wolzottl sat sadly where he was.

“Good boy.”

Lunaère stared at Wol’s neck and gently grabbed him and turned his face toward hers. Wolzottl’s body stiffened in surprise.

“Hee hee, touching him like this, it almost gives the illusion that Kanata’s warmth is still here. Of course that’s not possible, since it’s already been a day since Kanata touched him. I’m just a bit jealous of Wolzottl, even if he is a spirit,” she said.

“Don’t say things like that. It’s creepy,” said Noble.

Lunaère thought about Kanata playing with Wolzottl the day before, and her expression turned to absentminded joy as she squeezed her hands in Wol’s fur. It felt nice to touch him—but when she thought about how Kanata hugged Wol, she couldn’t help thinking of how it felt when Kanata had hugged her in Cocytus. Because of her unholy impurity, Lunaère had only intended to lightly stroke his fur, but soon her fingers rubbed feverishly around Wol’s neck.

As she did, the big dog shrank back and trembled.

A person of unknown identity—who was far more powerful than him and dripping with unholy impurity—was forcefully gripping his neck while looking ecstatic. He had no idea how this had happened, or why this girl in front of him had summoned him, or why she was grabbing on to his neck.

But he knew he felt threatened. All living beings had an instinctual aversion to unholy impurity. It was lessened somewhat thanks to the Impurity Sealing Robe, but with the hood down, it was still overpowering.

His neck started to feel hot where she’d touched him, and that heat came with feelings of despair, sorrow, and suffering.

Instinct told him that if he made a wrong move, he could die in an instant. Wolzottl sat stiff and trembling, doing his best to endure the terror.

“Hey, Lunaère! You’re scaring him!” called Noble.

“Hm…? Oh, ah! He should have some resistance because he’s a spirit, but I suppose he isn’t that high level,” said Lunaère as she hurriedly withdrew her hand and pulled her hood back up.

Wolzottl seized the opportunity and was suddenly surrounded in pale light that quickly turned translucent.

“Huh? No! W-wait! Come back! I want to ask you something! It’s very important!” shouted Lunaère as she quickly tried to grab him, but her hand passed through him as he disappeared.

“He’s outta here. Not surprising,” said Noble.

“I-I’ll gather the items and summon him again, and then I’ll convince him to stay.”

“I doubt he’ll respond to the Four Gates Ceremony again.”

“Then it will take some effort, but my only choice is to forcefully summon him using the Cursed Binding Method… It’s not a method I’d like to use on someone who I wish to become friends with, but…”

“Just give it a rest.”

“B-but that spirit misunderstood me based on just one interaction!”

“Was it really that much of a misunderstanding?”

“If I leave things as they are, that dog might tell Kanata unpleasant things about what happened. I have to prevent that at all costs!”

“Ugh! Just let it go already!”

And so, Lunaère’s Hug Wolzottl Strategy ended in failure.

 

—3—

 

“LOOK, PHILIA-CHAN. It’s all right, I’ve got hold of him,” said Kanata.

“Yip!”

The day after Lunaère’s Hug Wolzottl Strategy failed, Kanata again summoned Wol deep within the forest.

Philia had said that Wol was scary but she wanted to get along with him, so Kanata decided to help. Kanata prepared by holding back the spirit so Philia could stroke his shoulder.

Philia closed her eyes and forced herself to reach out her hand. Her fingertips touched Wolzottl’s fur.

“Philia-chan, you touched him!” said Kanata.

“Y-yeah! Philia touched a dog!” she cried in joy. Wol looked back at Philia with happiness, like it was a miracle.

“Good job, Philia-chan. Look, Pomera-san, Philia-chan got over her fear. Do you want to try?” asked Kanata.

“I’m not exactly afraid of dogs, so that’s not the problem…” replied Pomera.

Just then, Kanata felt a strange presence and raised his head. Someone was watching him again.

“Naiarotop…?” he murmured.

“What’s wrong, Kanata?” asked Pomera.

“Hmm… It’s nothing.” Kanata forced away his concerned expression.

Naiarotop’s interference wasn’t something he could come up with a countermeasure for. And so far, they seemed very unwilling to interfere directly. Telling Pomera about it wouldn’t do much more than scare her for no good reason.

“Uuun…” Wolzottl sat, his body trembling.

“W-Wol? What’s wrong? Wol!” cried Kanata.

With his delicate senses for mana and unholy impurity, Wol realized that the presence was the same as the girl who’d summoned him the day before.