Chapter 16: Girl, Rescues
Chapter 16: Girl, Rescues
THEY left the city at dawn, when the delirium of the pleasure quarters had just begun to cool down to a quiet simmer. Walking through the brush to cut around the city, they arrived at the knoll behind the castle. The sun had completely risen in the sky by the time they made it to their destination, stinging Nichika’s eyes after a restless night of no sleep.
“I didn’t know there was a hill behind the castle,” she muttered.
They climbed the steep knoll trail winding between the sparsely grown trees and walked on in silence for a long time. Looking at her feet as her boots crunched the ground, Nichika muttered again, “I wonder if Wolfie’s doing okay.”
She had said it more to herself than to Oswald, but unexpectedly got a response from the man walking several steps in front of her.
“I set up several contraptions for him before I left, so I’d say he’s getting along fine.”
“Contraptions?”
“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, you should spend more time worrying about yourself than Wolfie right now.”
“Why?” She looked up from her boots, surprised by his reply, but he was taking big, fast strides ahead without glancing back.
“Fire mana is infamous for its bad temper. I heard there’ve been cases of people carelessly approaching the Fire Temple and getting shot at by flames, or even entirely catching on fire.”
“Are you kidding me?!”
Now that he mentions it, it does feel like it’s getting hot. Feeling an unnerving sweat spill down her back and arms, Nichika’s feet dragged like there was lead in her boots.
“If you upset the Fire Spirit then—Oi, what’re you slowing down for? Keep up the pace.”
“I-I have business with the spirit. I’m not being careless, so… I’ll be okay, right?”
“…Just pray that the spirit feels like hearing you out before roasting you alive.”
“At least tell me it’ll be okay, even if it’s just a lie!” She chased after Oswald on the verge of tears.
They hiked up the hillside for a while longer until the temperature spiked.
“It’s so hot…” she mumbled.
“We’re close. Stay on guard.”
Though he said that, withered, charred trees were the only things around. Where was the temple? Nichika was about to ask him, when her ears caught wind of someone moaning.
She glanced around and asked Oswald, “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Moaning—there it is again!”
Oswald, however, heard nothing. Without wind, stillness hung over the area, making it unlikely he couldn’t hear what she did. He gave her a skeptical look, but, determining she wasn’t trying to play a trick on him, he answered honestly, “No, I don’t hear it.”
“I can hear it! It’s probably coming from there—” Nichika lifted her hand to point, when a woman’s shrill, drawn-out scream ripped through the copse of scarred trees.
Nichika and Oswald exchanged looks and sprinted toward the scream fast enough to send the sweat flying off their bodies. The screams continued.
“Whoa!”
The ground abruptly dropped off into nothing—Oswald grabbed hold of Nichika as she was a hairsbreadth away from falling off the ledge. The top of the knoll had given way to what was apparently an open pit.
“Watch where you’re going!”
“S-Sorry. Hm? That’s…”
Nichika strained her eyes toward the bottom of the pit. A large sacred tree towered in the center, with a small arrangement of rocks around it. By all appearances, it was the entrance to the Fire Temple they were headed for. Her eyes focused on the figure of someone who had collapsed onto the ground a meter from the tree.
She screamed upon recognizing who it was, “Princess Yura?!”
Her glamorous kimono had been scorched so badly the damage was visible from a distance; terrible burns marred her exposed right arm, where the kimono entirely incinerated off. Soot smeared her beautiful face.
Nichika immediately tried to run to the anguished woman. “We have to help her!”
“Wait!” Oswald caught her arm, forcing her to turn toward him. Narrowing his eyes, the suspicious man scrutinized the woman on the ground. “It may very well be a trap. We can’t be sure Princess Yura hasn’t sold us out—”
“Now’s not the time to be hung up on that!”
“Agh! Come back here!”
Unlike her master, Nichika acted on her emotions. Swatting his hand off, she skidded down the cliffside into the pit, kicking up a sandstorm behind her, and sprinted to Princess Yura in one fevered rush. Wrapping her arms around the woman, Nichika propped her up and called her name over and over.
Princess Yura cracked her crusted eyelids open and stuttered hoarsely, “Y-You are…”
“Please stay with me! What happened?!”
Princess Yura’s eyes bulged and she seized Nichika’s arms. Startled by her unbelievable strength, Nichika instinctively tried to shake her off, but before she could, the words of a desperate appeal reached her ears.
“Leave this place right now!”
“Why?”
“You’re going to be burned to death!”
By who? Nichika opened her mouth to ask, but her words were engulfed in a thundering boom. Pillars of fire shot out of the ground without warning—before she knew it, they were in a cage of wild, dancing flames, and it was closing in around them.
“What in the world is this?!”
“NNGH!” Princess Yura cried out, the heat too much for her open burns.
Red-hot winds ripped at their clothes and hair. The columns of flames intensified, cordoning off the twenty meters of open space marking the temple’s center. The wall of flames prevented Oswald from being able to see inside and Nichika from seeing beyond the orange barrier.
Nichika protected her face from the flames sweeping in almost close enough to lick her skin and shouted over their roaring blaze, “Princess Yura! What is this?!”
Princess Yura ignored her question and instead desperately appealed to the temple in front of them. Facing the distinctly tempestuous mass of blazing flames, she begged, “Please stop this, Emperor of Flames! This girl has nothing to do with what has angered you so!”
“I SHAN’T. All humans must be burnt to ash!”
Nichika was taken aback by the oppressive roar booming through the pit. Suddenly, from the center of the flames, a brightly burning man appeared. He was a shirtless, muscular man rising over two meters tall, sitting cross-legged in a meditative pose with a frighteningly stern visage. His entire body burst with wild flames, compounding his surreal and intimidating air.
Is this the Fire Spirit?
The flaming man shot her a death glare, paralyzing her with fear. At the wave of his finger, fire accumulated above his head—he launched it right at the two girls.
“Perish.”
Nichika couldn’t move. The fireball would blast her to pieces once it hit her, but facing true, hateful bloodlust for the first time had debilitated her reflexes.
But right before the terrifying torrent of fire hit, Princess Yura jumped in front of her. Immediately after came a dying scream so traumatizing that she wanted to cover her ears.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHH!”
Nichika leapt to the writhing woman’s side.
“P-Please hold on, Princess Yura! Princess Yura—ah!”
Though rolling around in the dirt had put out the flames, there were hideous burns blackening her back when she limply laid face-down like a charred corpse. Her stunning, long black hair had seared off, filling the air with an indescribably horrific scent.
Something snapped inside of Nichika.
“You’re still standing? Worm. I’ll smite you to dust!”
“Wh-What?! What’s YOUR problem?! I’m not scared of the likes of you!” Nichika burst out, bristling with anger.
“Hrm?”
Nichika’s shaking had stopped. Climbing to her feet, she stood upright and furiously thrust a finger at the blazing spirit. “You have some nerve to do this to Princess Yura! Weren’t you worshipped here?! Why are you doing this?! WHY HAVE YOU DECIDED TO GO MAD!”
“……” The fire spirit was at a loss for words, bewildered by her fearless accusations. After a momentary pause, he spoke hesitantly as if delirious, “Why, indeed? …Why did I suddenly come to despise humans?”
“You don’t know?!”
“I do not know. I cannot comprehend. But my hatred is so great…IT WON’T END! RRRRAAAARGH!”
At his bestial howl, the flames burned ten times hotter as they coiled around his threatening figure, transforming him into a white-hot dragon.
ROOOOOAAAR!
The fire dragon went berserk, slamming its long tail in multiple directions, sweeping away dirt, rocks, and burnt trees. The flames blurring her vision intensified further, until they blotted out everything else. All she could see was the red of a violent firenado.
ROOOOOOOOAAAAARR!
“BURST OUT, MY FLAMES! INCINERATE EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD TO NOTHINGNESS!”
I can’t last much longer…it’s hard to breathe… Something was flickering among the flames, faintly calling back Nichika’s fading consciousness.
“GRRRRRAAAAAHHHH!”
What is that?
An arrow was jammed into the tip of the dragon’s whipping tail. Straining her eyes against the glare of the flames, she could make out an ominous purple aura emanating from it.
I feel like I’ve seen that color before… Rewinding her thoughts to a rather recent encounter, Nichika gasped. The conversation with Ini, who she had met on the Whale’s deck, rushed back to her. Wasn’t this the very poisonous purple aura he had pointed out to be devouring this world?
What can I do? If I could at least get a little closer to it, I could do something…!
She was frustrated that it took all her energy just to remain standing on her feet. Her boots sunk into the red sand as torrential winds struck against her. Suddenly, a familiar voice cut through from the other side of the flames.
“HEY, STUPID APPRENTICE OF MINE! You still alive down there?!”
“Oswald?! …GHK!” Responding to the distant, yet close voice made her accidentally breathe in the blisteringly hot air, and she choked on it hard. However, her hacking seemed to convey her location to him.
“That’s where you are, huh? Listen to me well. I’ll make it rain once. I can’t keep the rain going long, so come out here while the flames have lost some of their intensity.”
“WAIT!” she coughed out, then, between sharp inhales of smoky air, she asked, “Can you…focus…that rain…on one spot?”
“Why?!”
It hurt so much to breathe that she couldn’t risk an explanation. Wringing out her last breath, she wheezed, “Concentrate it…a quarter to the left from where you are!”
“…Alright, here we go!”
Black rain clouds manifested from thin air, gathering over a section of the furiously burning sky. A humid, nauseating odor racked her nose as water came pouring down from the clouds like someone had flipped a bucket over. Directly under the downpour, the flames coiling around the dragon’s tail weakened.
NOW! In a final burst of strength, Nichika made a mad dash for it. With the rain mercilessly pelting her, she lunged for the uncanny arrow and seized the dragon’s tail. I’m almost there. Stick with me!
Praying internally, she wrapped her hands around the shaft. The tail swung wildly, but she clung on tightly, enduring the pain as she focused any remaining strength she had into the hand clutching the arrow. She felt it slip out of his scales and heard something gushing—the dragon roared.
“YAAAAAGH!”
Nichika was sent flying with the arrow she had finally managed to extract. She collided with the ground on top of a wet patch of moss. Oswald ran over to her as the flames abated with the dragon’s pain.
“Nichika!”
“How’s the dragon?!”
Nichika struggled painfully to her feet and jerked her head toward the center of the smoldering flames. She watched the blazing dragon writhe agonizingly in prolonged pain before it succumbed at last and sunk to the ground with a resounding thud.
“Is it dead…?!” Nichika gasped, choking on the smoke still in her lungs.
“You think a spirit would die that easily? You oughta be more worried about the one over there.” Oswald pointed at the heap known as Yura.
The flames encompassing the area slowly petered out after the possessed spirit lost consciousness. Once the fire had dissipated enough to let them through, Oswald and Nichika rushed over to Princess Yura’s side.
“Please get a hold of yourself!” Nichika entreated, pulling the lifeless Yura onto her lap. “Open your eyes!”
“This is bad…” Oswald muttered.
At that moment, they heard a leaden voice, making Nichika jump.
“Why, is that not the Cherry Blossom Kingdom’s Yura? Who in this universe would dare to harm her so?” it inquired.
Nichika fearfully looked over her shoulder. The eyes of a flaming dragon were fixed on her from where he was still laying on the ground. His lack of guilt sent the blood rushing to her head.
“It wasn’t just anyone! How could you ask that?!”
“Hrm?”
“You’re the one who did it!”
He blinked at her accusation. Though it was hard to read a dragon’s expression, she sensed he was perplexed.
“You claim this handiwork is mine?” he inquired, truly unaware of the situation.
“You went on a horrible rampage trying to fry us to death moments ago… Don’t you remember?” Nichika asked, gesturing to her burned clothing and the flame-scarred walls of the pit.
The fire dragon didn’t answer her but stared hard at Princess Yura as if to assess her wounds. Shortly after, he acquiesced with shock lacing his tone, “Certainly, those are the marks left behind by my flames. Could you move aside for a moment?”
Oswald yanked on her mantle, pulling her off the ground and away from Princess Yura.
“Whoa!”
Quit yanking on my collar! Nichika whined internally, I’m not a cat!
Air whooshed through the area in a low rumble. The dragon snapped open his jaws and began to suck something in. Instantly, a red haze was extricated from Princess Yura’s body and flew into the dragon’s mouth.
After swallowing the haze, he proceeded to explain in a deep, peaceful voice, “I’ve absorbed the heat and the burns from her body for now. The pain should be at a tolerable level.”
“Princess Yura!” Nichika shook off Oswald and darted over to her, confirming that her pain-contorted features had indeed softened considerably. Her breathing had relaxed as if she were in a deep sleep. “Th-Thank you? But that doesn’t seem like the right thing to say now…um… Why did you do it…?”
Why did he attack her if he’s going to heal her? The dragon picked up on Nichika’s unspoken doubts and sighed, a puff of steam escaping from his nostrils.
“I doubt you will believe me, but I have not even an inkling of a recollection of attacking you.”
“You don’t?”
“I should’ve been asleep, yet when I came to, I was in this predicament. What did I do? Will you enlighten me?”
Nichika found it hard to believe him, but tranquility filled the eyes of the serene fire spirit, leaving no room for any of the insanity that had sent him rampaging earlier.
***
NICHIKA agreed to detail all the events that had occurred since she had arrived, although she still retained a wary distance from the fire dragon.
“You really mean it? You aren’t going to suddenly take a chomp out of me?” she had asked several times, confirming that he was still sane through her narrowed, doubtful eyes.
“I shall not,” he assured her.
“You were being controlled by someone, Fire Spirit,” Oswald calmly informed him, having finished examining the broken arrow beside them. “This arrow has been enchanted to derange the flow of mana.”
“Are ye certain?!”
“Um, what does that mean?”
Oswald looked at his ignorant apprentice with eyes full of pity as if she were the most pathetic thing on the planet. “You’re so slow on the uptake. If you’re really my apprentice, why don’t you open your mouth after you’ve thought things through a little more?”
“Wh-Why do I have to be mocked over a question?!” she stuttered, then countered, “It’s your fault for refusing to teach me even the basics of the basics of being a witch!”
Her master produced a glass ball from his pocket. Blue smoke swirled inside, flickering between light and darkness. “Let me word this in a way your pea-sized brain can comprehend. This is the Witch’s Item I used to make it rain. Breaking it causes smoke to rise and directs water mana existing at higher altitudes to accumulate in the desired location.”
“Neat! So that’s why rain clouds suddenly formed on such a clear day. You’re like a wizard,” she said in awe.
But her words instantly soured his mood. “Don’t be stupid. I keep telling you, I’m a witch. Wizard is an occupational title that refers to people with the ability to issue direct orders to mana.”
“Hmm? Isn’t that the same thing?” Nichika cocked her head, then tried to summarize what he had said in simpler terms, “Okay, so, you’re saying that you use magic by giving commands to what’s called ‘Mana’ in this world. The difference between the occupations is that wizards directly give the commands, while witches enchant items with them. Is that what you mean?”
For some reason, Oswald was pulling a wry expression, but he didn’t refute her. He pocketed the glass ball and held up the arrow, which was still unleashing a sinister purple aura, in front of his chest instead.
“…Getting back on topic—essentially, Witch’s Items are supposed to output a specific, determined command, but the commands enchanting this thing you removed from Mister Almighty Fire Spirit here are incoherent nonsense. Normally, this would be counted as a failed item and chucked into the trash.”
“…What’s the problem with that?” she asked, taking a slight pause to consider the facts again, “If the commands are a mess, doesn’t that mean it wouldn’t even function?” She received a painful flick to the forehead. “Ow!”
“Wrong. Wrap your head around this: the all-powerful lord spirit we’ve got here is the manager and boss of fire mana—you can think of him as a gigantic pool of mana that’s taken shape. Just try shooting a screwy command into him and see what pops out as a result.”
“Ah!” Nichika blurted, finally getting the idea.
The fire dragon, having listened attentively till then, puffed out another sigh and slowly flicked his tail. “You’re insinuating that I was unable to defend against that command and went on a rampage as a result?”
“That’s the idea.” An evil glint flickered in Oswald’s eyes, a devious sort of curiosity coloring his expression. He fiddled with the arrow with the excitement of a boy who had gotten his hands on a new toy. “But you’ve got to wonder, what else is at play? What made it possible to pierce an incorporeal spirit with an arrow? If I can figure out how they applied this technology, I’ll be able to create goods that could easily level kingdoms—”
“I’ll be taking that,” Nichika announced, confiscating the arrow.
“Ah! Hey!”
She dropped it on the ground and stomped on it hard. The ill-omened purple aura instantly dissipated, leaving the remains as nothing more than broken junk.
“You little water flea!” Oswald snarled, infuriated. “What good is it to ruin such useful material?!”
But Nichika had no intention of standing down. “And what good comes of spreading something so dangerous? Are you sure you weren’t the one who created it?” she retorted, glowering at him.
Oswald thrust his finger at her nose and spitefully laid into her, “Sheesh! Now look what you’ve just done. The stupidest, most wasteful thing possible. How did I ever get stuck with an idiot apprentice like you?”
“Stop inventing things that attract the wrath of others! It’ll come back to bite you in the butt someday!”
“Hah! Too late for that! You think you can feed yourself just by doing good and merrily throwing away your efforts for world peace, trashy novel heroine?!”
“What’s your problem, quack?!”
They went for each other’s throat like dogs, until a moan at their feet interrupted their argument. Nichika crouched and worriedly called, “Princess Yura! How are you feeling?”
Princess Yura had regained a hazy consciousness, which cleared when she noticed the peacefully swaying dragon. She gave him a weak smile. Though her stunning kimono and fabulous hair were in tatters, her smile was still beautiful.
“Emperor of Flames…I am so relieved to see you have regained your sanity.”
“Yura…my apologies, child. All of this is the result of my weakness…”
“No, it is not,” she reassured him, “I believed in you all along.”
Princess Yura sat up by herself and listened to Nichika’s summary of what had gone down while she was unconscious.
“I see… It was you who brought Emperor of Flames back to his right mind, then.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I was just so frantic, I’m not really sure what happened. Ahaha…. I’m glad everything worked out in the end!” Nichika bashfully exclaimed.
Behind her, Oswald gave an exasperated sigh and flicked her right where she was sheepishly scratching her head. “You always act rashly without planning things out. You wouldn’t have had any bones left to bury if you had been off the mark by even a smidge.”
“Ugh… Well, all that ends well is well, right?”
Princess Yura giggled behind her hand at their squabbling, but her face stiffened when her eyes came across the broken arrow’s fragments on the ground. She knew the Great Spirit hadn’t been acting normal by all accounts, but she never fathomed that he had been pierced with such a sinister item.
Tapping the soot off her seared kimono, she revealed, “Before dawn, I had a strange premonition come over me. In the moments following, I heard the most chilling moan, and consequently, I came to the temple to confirm the situation. But our Emperor of Flames was already going on a violent rampage… Who might dare do such a thing?”
The moan Princess Yura had heard most likely belonged to the Fire Spirit and was the same noise Nichika had picked up on. The group sunk into silence, each contemplating the circumstances of the mysterious attack. It was broken by Oswald, who swiftly cut across the clearing in huge strides and grabbed Princess Yura by the collar. Nichika jolted in shock and rushed to stop him, but he held out a stopping hand.
“I have a question for you. Last night, someone attacked us in an alleyway. This was dropped at the scene.” Oswald dangled the cartridge in front of the princess, earning a wide-eyed look. He continued in an icy voice, “Wolfie was shot by the bullet I just sold all the rights of to you. Would you care to explain?”
Despite his polite tone, his choice of words squarely laid the blame upon the princess. Saddened, she smiled softly and placed her hands on top of the one clutching her collar.
“I see, the mighty witch doubts me.” She seized his free hand and brought it to her throat. “Very well. Please strangle me to death as you desire, here and now.”
“You acknowledge your guilt, then?”
“I do not. But I do believe that any words I may use to explain myself shall inevitably sound like excuses to you.”
“P-Princess Yura…” Nichika whimpered pathetically.
Princess Yura offered a small smile to comfort her, then faced the man before her, locking him in a steely gaze. From within her deep-crimson eyes, the light of dignified resolve glimmered. “However, you must have confidence in this one fact: Cherry Blossom Kingdom’s Yura never betrays. Please make your decision with that in mind.”
“……”
Quietness fell upon the clearing, leaving no sounds other than the occasional crackle of flames from the fire dragon’s body and the puffs from his nostrils. But Nichika moved faster than Oswald could make his decision—she hurtled herself on his arm with reckless abandon.
“Stop this! You already heard her defense!” she fervently pleaded.
“Tch! You’ve been deceived by her obvious act,” Oswald scoffed.
“Either way, nobody died! Isn’t that all that matters in the end?!”
“Is that something someone who almost lost their life should say? You’re something else, all right. Are you some kind of saint?”
Nichika recoiled from his scornful, judging glare but continued holding onto his arm. Looking straight into his eyes, she spoke with confidence ringing clearly in her voice, “I’m not a saint, but Princess Yura protected me from getting fried. Someone who was trying to kill me would never put their life at risk to save me.”
Oswald skeptically scrunched up his nose at her reasoning. Though honestly, he was weak when it came to these eyes of hers. They reflected her will to remain unbroken no matter the pressure and a pure heart he had abandoned long ago.
“This doesn’t work in my favor…” he muttered under his breath, turning his face aside.
“…?”
…I’m hesitant to make a decision here. I know there’s someone pulling the strings behind everything, but I don’t have any proof yet. In any event, I need to draw the line between personal emotion and business, and—
Oswald squeezed his tightly clenched hands and decided. Right at that moment, noise broke from the brush behind him and a black shadow lunged for him.
“What?!”
Caught off guard, he fell to the ground when the shadow landed on his back and shoved him forward. Oswald rapidly spun around to fight back, only to be dumbfounded.
“MASTEEEEEEEEEER! Master! Master! M-A-S-T-E-R!”
“Wolfie?!”
The brown furry beast that had “attacked” him was only the familiar he had left back in the city to recover from serious injuries. The wolf’s snout dripped with snot from crying, and he excitedly licked Oswald’s face all over until it was sopping with drool.
“I finally found youuuuuu,” Wolfie howled. “This area reeks of burnt stuff, so it was so hard to find youuuuuu!”
“Stop it, mutt! You’re…heavy dammit, you big fat wolf!” Oswald grabbed the wolf by the scruff and tried to throw him off, but couldn’t do it because he was in the wrong position. Taken aback by the master and familiar tumbling around kicking up a fuss, Nichika ran over to them.
“Wolfie! Don’t you need to stay in bed?!”
“That’s right! What about your wounds?!” Oswald quickly checked where the wounds had been when he had operated on the wolf, but the marks had disappeared entirely, even from where he had left stiches. His eyelids peeled back.
Completely nonchalant, Wolfie answered, “Somehow, they all healed when I licked them.”
“…How did you remove the stiches?”
“They snapped, so I removed them with my teeth.”
Oswald punched the wolf square in the head—he didn’t hold back either. “Don’t screw with me, mongrel! Pay me back for all the hard work and worrying I wasted!”
“Oooowie,” Wolfie whimpered, “Animal abuser! Master hit me, Nichika!” He ran over to Nichika, sobbing dramatically, and wrapped himself around the back of her legs.
She smiled dryly and pet him on the head. “There, there. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Hmph. He would’ve gotten better even if we’d left him on the road to die, damned wild animal.”
“Now, now. That’s not true,” Nichika reminded, “He got better because you treated him. He would’ve bled to death without you.”
The wolf, who had recovered from near-death at a frightening speed, happily wagged his tail at the woman standing slightly away from the group. “Oh? Princess Yura is here too? Why are you covered in soot?”
Still not convinced of her innocence, Oswald snorted and warned, “Don’t go near her. She might be the one who shot you.”
Wolfie, however, flashed a wolfish grin and downright rejected the theory, without even an ounce of doubt. “Eh? She’s not. You’re an awful person for doubting Princess Yura, Master.”
“Excuse me?”
“The person who shot me gave off no smell at all. Princess Yura has a unique odor. I’d never mistake it!” Wolfie confidently bragged, silencing Oswald.
“……”
Nichika took over and prompted her brown furry friend for more detail, “What’s her unique odor?”
“Maybe she’s wearing some sorta sweet, sweet perfume? She can be one kilometer away and I’ll still know exactly where she is.”
“I certainly do perfume both my kimono and body with a particular rose fragrance, but to hear that it reveals my location to that degree…”
Oswald bitterly screwed up his face for a long while. Finally, he acquiesced and deeply bowed his head to her. “You have my apologies. If he says you are not the culprit, I’m inclined to believe it is true.”
“You trust Wolfie?” Nichika interjected, astonished. Oswald had believed Wolfie so quickly this time that she couldn’t help but ask.
“I acknowledge how good his sniffer is,” Oswald replied, without lifting his head, “After all, its precision allows him to track down even those he’s never met, provided that they’ve come in contact with someone he knows.”
Oswald seemed bothered by his mistake, but Princess Yura smiled and kindly forgave him. “Please lift your head. It is I who is responsible for losing some of the bullets.”
“You ‘lost’ some of the bullets?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Somehow, a box disappeared during transport to our armory.”
Princess Yura’s first thought was that the box had simply been misplaced, but after hearing about what had happened to Wolfie, it was evident that its disappearance had been deliberate. In all likelihood, the true culprit had stolen it during transit, in order to frame Princess Yura.
Nichika and Oswald both thought back to the person cloaked in a white robe, who had ambushed them before vanishing into the air.
This time, it was Fire Spirit who interrupted, having patiently observed their interaction until now, “Is this connected to the being that controlled me?”
“We don’t have proof yet, but we can’t deny it either,” Oswald admitted.
“Then, does that mean the culprit knew we were coming here?” Nichika asked, then gasped, “Oh yeah!” Pulling the fist-sized orb out from her pocket, she held it up so the fire dragon could get a good look. “Great Fire Spirit, I have a favor to ask of you!”
“Hrm?”
“I’m on a mission to collect the powers of the Great Spirits. Would you be willing to cooperate with me?”
Princess Yura had been smiling calmly, but hearing Nichika’s request turned her blue in the face. Rushing over, she caught Nichika’s arm and whispered a warning, “Do you understand how presumptuous it is to ask for such a thing? And of all things, you are requesting the Emperor of Flames, one of the very pillars of the Four Great Spirits, to serve you!”
“Serve me? Serve how…? Ummm?” Nichika had been totally unaware of just how insolent her request was when she made it. Embarrassed, she wildly waved her hand in front of her as she took it back. “I’d never be absurd enough to ask you to serve me! I’m so sorry! I’m ignorant to the customs of this world!”
Princess Yura made a confused face. “This world?”
“E-Err…”
Fire Spirit laughed heartily at the flustered girl. Once the rumbles akin to distant thunder had ceased to resound through the pit, he made a big nod with his long neck. “Very well. ‘Tis the request of the very person who preserved my honor. I can’t turn ye down now, can I?”
“You mean it?!” Nichika’s face lit up at his ready consent…and was promptly put out by a cynical remark that slapped her from behind.
“Pft. Being ignorant about the ways of the world can sometimes be a weapon of its own, eh?”
“And whose fault do you think it is that I know nothing?!”
She glared vindictively at her master, but he averted his eyes as if it was no concern of his. I seriously think he’s not telling me on purpose, so he can get a kick out of my bumbling into one disaster after another!
Miffed, she squinted as he kicked some dirt with the tip of his boot, when the Fire Spirit stolidly inquired, “I am to imbue this magic orb with my power?”
“Yes! Please do.” She hurried over to him and held the magic orb under his nostrils.
Fire Spirit blew his breath into it, instantly filling the transparent orb with a swirl of magical red light.
“Gorgeous…” She was enchanted by the gentle warmth of the light. Constantly changing, it rose and fell between light and dark tones as if it were breathing.
“That is now evidence of our bond. Even if ye are far away, I shall be able to lend you my power. By the way, child…” Fire Spirit paused, snaking his face abruptly close to hers and gazed deep into her eyes as if seeing through to her core. “You are hiding a tremendous power within. But the shackles around your heart have rusted.”
“Pardon?”
“You will not be able to adequately draw out my power as you are. Allow me to take a closer look.” Faster than Nichika could react, the dragon placed his sharp-clawed paw on her head. She stepped back, afraid he’d crush her, when—
“…!”
The world opened before her.
What Nichika experienced was similar to flipping on all the lights in a pitch-black room. Her vision rapidly cleared, and she became capable of seeing her surroundings with striking lucidity. More than seeing with her eyes—she felt it with her entire being. Something glittered and glowed in Fire Spirit, in the trees around her, in the ground spanning below her feet, and, most abundantly, in the atmosphere.
“Butterflies?”
Crimson glowing butterflies were fluttering together, surrounding Fire Spirit and Nichika. One landed on her finger, and its form unraveled—only for it to fly away as a light and reform.
“Great Fire Spirit, um, what is this?”
Butterflies flitted all around her body, gathering in abundance to the orb that had received Fire Spirit’s power. The dragon fondly watched them as he answered her in a gentle, timorous voice, “Those are what humans call mana. They are the origin of all that breathes in the world, the great coursing current.”
“Current?”
“Try giving a command.”
Randomly being told to give a command to a luminescent creature, rather, to a butterfly, utterly bewildered her, but Nichika tried to speak to the red butterflies landing on her hands anyway. “Will you lend me your power?”
The butterflies burst into flames, transforming into fireballs as if answering her call. They burned with intense heat, but curiously, did not feel hot against her skin. Nodding with satisfaction, Fire Spirit gave his stamp of approval.
“Well done. This power shall protect and assist you henceforth.”
“Amazing! Thank you oh so very much, Great Fire Spirit!”
“Be careful out there,” he said in parting, then burst into flames and disappeared into a literal swarm of butterflies that took off in every direction. She stood there watching the breathtaking scene, a look of pure astonishment on her face.