Chapter 12: Girl, Goes on a Date
Chapter 12: Girl, Goes on a Date
NICHIKA and Oswald left Sylmia’s house and didn’t make it more than a couple of feet without one villager or another speaking to them.
“Oh, aren’t you this year’s winner? Are you well enough to be walking around?”
“You’ve got some mad flying skills. This old man hasn’t seen anyone spin through the skies like that since I was a wee lad.”
“The clock tower’s mostly repaired! Don’t ya worry. We’ll have it up and runnin’ in no time!”
“Here, lassie, take this with you! Don’t be shy. Business is booming with the birth of the new Wind Spirit Successor.”
“It’s a little worrying the successor is our Master Lam though.”
“You can say that again! Gahaha!”
Arms full of apples, candy, and cookies, Nichika whispered to Oswald walking in step with her. “So Lord Sylmia decided to keep Lam being the culprit a secret?”
“The villagers only know that you and Lambert worked together to destroy a trap someone set to ruin the race. There’s no need to specify who it was.”
“That’s true.”
The culprit had put his life on the line to reduce casualties. No point in digging up the past and making the people miserable when he already paid the price with his life.
As a refreshing breeze blew by, Nichika glanced to her side. Oswald wasn’t wearing his usual black coat today, but instead he dressed casually like the townspeople. He wasn’t sporting any accessories, not even his glasses, but the simple attire only enhanced his natural good looks. Nichika strolled beside him in a cashmere dress and cardigan unsuitable for travel.
In this moment of peace, she realized that they always walked at a brisk pace to get from place to place, never letting down their guard for even a second in case a monster attacked. This may have been the first time they had ever gone on a leisure walk, with their stroll being the purpose, not a means of going somewhere.
It’s like we’re on a date. The moment she thought it, she couldn’t stop thinking about it that way, and her face flushed.
Oswald noticed her swinging her arms like a robot and showed concern which was extremely rare for him. “What’s wrong?” he asked softly.
“N-Nothing! A-Anyways, look over there! We can see the clock tow—”
She pointed to the city symbol visible around the corner, trying to change the topic…and locked up. The reason? A huge bronze statue was being built on top of the tower that had been half-destroyed by the blast.
“……”
“……”
Her finger went limp and weakly fell to her side. Both she and Oswald felt like they were looking at the most draining thing yet. Why? Because of the bronze statue’s model.
“Hi there! I’m glad to see you’re too moved for words!” Sylmia sauntered toward them from across the street. Nichika lunged at him and grabbed the front of his shirt.
“What in the world is that monstrosity?! What are you trying to pull here?!”
“Ha! Ha! Ha! Rebuilding a normal clock tower is too plain and boring for my village. Isn’t it an absolutely beautiful work of art?”
The identity of the bronze statue’s model? Jutting out of the destroyed portion of the tower was a humongous statue of Sylmia. If that was all there was too it, it wouldn’t have been so bad—well, it was still in bad taste—but the real issue was the addition of two smaller statues. Namely, Nichika and Lambert clinging adoringly to his arms. Worst of all, Sylmia mistook her rage for uncontrollable joy.
“What happened that day was a huge incident that will go down in Windy Village’s history!” he proudly trumpeted. “And now no one will ever forget it!”
“STOOOOOOOOP IT! It’s super embarrassing!”
“They made the statue look prettier than the person,” Oswald unhelpfully put out there, tossing oil on the fire.
“Shut up! Why don’t you put up a petacolon statue instead?!” Nichika roared, face hot from embarrassment.
Just as she was contemplating casting a spell to blow the statue up, the other victim strode over to them.
“I told ’im not to do it, too,” he commented, gazing up at the statue modeled after him.
“Lam, save me from this humiliation! I won’t ever visit this village again!” she pleaded, teary-eyed.
“Ah, well, I’ll tell the sculptor to obscure your facial features,” he placated. “Oh, and I figured out where lil’ wolf is.”
Nichika immediately quieted down to hear what he had to say. Turns out their cheerful wolf friend had gone missing ever since they parted ways in front of the village. He hadn’t responded to any of his master’s calls, and Oswald’s forced summonings were being blocked. Oswald had asked Lambert to look into it while Nichika was resting.
“A merchant who left the village happened to pass by lil’ wolf,” he continued reporting with unusual seriousness. “Sounds like he was dognapped.”
“D-Dognapped?!” That unsettling word drained the color from her face. Nichika held her hands to her cheeks and began freaking out. “Oh no! What can we do?! That boy is overly friendly with strangers and has such a cute face. Some evil person fell in love with him and took him away!”
“I don’t think he’s that cute.”
“He’s cute to me!”
She glared at her master for making an unnecessary comment. Tears misted her eyes. Worry that she may never see him again flooded her thoughts. But Lambert’s investigative skills were better than she could have hoped.
“So ’bout the dognappers, it turns out it was a girl with vibrant red hair and a morose young man with a plain face. Seems like they were headed north of here to Brownie Village.”
“Let’s hunt them down, Oswald!” Nichika proposed on the spur of the moment.
Oswald sighed. “What kinda trouble did he get himself into this time?”
***
NICHIKA and Oswald, back in their travel clothes and ready to go, were at the village exit opposite the gate they had entered. Villagers came to see them off and gave them lots of farewell gifts, but Nichika politely rejected the ones she couldn’t carry. Among those that she handed back with a twitching smile was a small replica of the clock tower’s new statue.
“Guess this is goodbye for now,” Lambert said with a grin, jumping right to the farewells.
It hadn’t been long since he’d become a spirit, making him too unstable to travel with them. Sylmia shared in private that although Lambert didn’t show it, he was struggling with the parts of himself that were no longer human.
He properly faced Nichika and said his goodbyes with a sad smile. “Stay safe, Nichika. You’ll probably be okay with my pal on your side, but still.”
“I will. Good luck with your training—wah!”
He brushed up her bangs and pressed his lips against her forehead. Heart thudding in her ears, she opened her eyes and found kindness reflecting back in his intense green eyes.
“Will I see you again?” his lonely voice rang close to her ears.
“O-Of course!”
“See you later, then.”
Lambert patted her on the shoulder on his way to see Oswald. Pressing her hands against her forehead, Nichika turned her back to the others. Otherwise they might see how red her face was.
I just can’t seem to build up a tolerance. No, it’s not my fault. It’s the fault of this world being full of good-looking people galore. Brooding, she stared at the road ahead.
The straight path was drawn into the mountain range opposite of Fog Valley. The sky was blue, and wind mana pranced through the meadows laughing. When she held up the magic orb, red and green lights swirled alternately, creating a fascinating color.
I’m halfway there now. Only halfway? Already halfway?
Dangers like she experienced in this village may be lurking down the road ahead. She had to keep moving regardless of what waited.
It will be okay, Nichika. You will definitely be okay.
Forcing her lips into an optimistic smile, the girl harbored both vague apprehension and hope for the future.
***
KEEPING his gaze trained on her back, Lambert made his intentions clear with Oswald. “I’m coming after you guys once things are settled here.”
Though he spoke with his typical playfulness, there was an awfully sincere undertone. Oswald folded his arms and answered him with the exasperation he felt.
“You don’t have to feel that responsible for what happened, you know? She was never angry at—”
“It’s what I want,” Lambert said over him.
“……”
Oswald sucked in a breath when he sensed the hostile glint in those green eyes. “You…”
“I’ve come to seriously want her. She’s the first person to ever face me head-on. So…” Grinning, Lambert smacked the man in black on the back and declared war. “Please be sure to thoroughly protect my precious woman.”
***
NICHIKA had been soaking in her hope for a bright future until she was flicked in the back of the head and yelped. The expected culprit stalked past her.
“Get moving.”
She ran after him, turning around one last time to bow to the people seeing them off. “Thank you so much for everything! Goodbye!”
The villagers called out encouraging words of “Do your best” and “Come back anytime!” Nichika gave one last big wave before looking forward and running off. She rushed to catch up to her master who briskly walked off without looking back. He didn’t even try to wait for her or slow down.
“Wait for me! I know you’re worried about Wolfie, but give me a second to catch up!”
She finally reached him and still he only slid a perfunctory glance her way and made no attempt to match her slower pace. Confused, she probed him to see what his problem was.
“What now? What’s got you so grumpy?”
She settled into walking a few paces behind him in silence since he didn’t answer her. She searched for anything to talk about and went with the first thing that popped into her head.
“Oh yeah, weren’t you the one who said only women ride brooms? But you still came to rescue me on one. Thank you.”
“……”
She braced herself for the snippy comeback that never came. Getting extra worried, she walked a little closer and barely caught him saying something in a low, threadbare voice.
“What do you…think of Lambert?”
“Who? Lam?” Puzzled as she was by his abrupt question, she answered him honestly. “Hmm. We met in the worst possible way so I was definitely scared of him at first, but it turns out that he’s funny and kind.”
His charming and endearing smile came to mind. His sharp, narrowed eyes had softened since they met too.
Nichika smiled and spoke of the young man in her thoughts. “He’s got a bit of what you might call bewitching charm? He looks like a punk kid, but he’s surprisingly mature and thoughtful on the inside. The complete opposite of you.”
“You’re the last person I want to hear call me childish.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped back.
Oswald started walking even faster. Irked by the way he walked without thinking one bit about her pace, she threw a sarcastic remark right back at him.
“NOBODY said you’re childish though?”
“Zip it and walk in silence.”
“Aaaah, I really wish Lam had come with us. Then I could have…”
The words she accidentally let out in the heat of the moment brought her master to a dead halt in front of her. He slowly turned and flayed her with eyes registering subzero in the frigid department. Oswald enunciated each word amid the nervous tension sparking between them.
“And then you could have what?”
“L-Like I was saying, I could have explained my special circumstances to him and had him do ‘that’ for me in your—hey! Why are you coming toward me?! Don’t come any clos—mmph!”
He grabbed her collar and pulled her into a deep kiss, devouring her lips. He insistently explored her mouth, and when he finally released her, the strength went out of her legs and she sunk down.
He wiped his mouth and sneered, “Say what you want, but you know you can’t be satisfied by anyone other than me.”
Oswald walked off, leaving behind the sexiest smile yet. The girl, who incoherently muttered under her breath for a while, finally got a hold of herself and shouted at his broad back.
“That part of you is what’s so CHILDISH!”
Apparently, Oswald was also considerably influenced by the magic crystal. In other words, he was “jealous” of Lambert.
But the bickering master and apprentice didn’t realize it at all. The noisy duo loudly argued for a while afterward. The startled birds soaring through the blue sky flew in the opposite direction to avoid them.
***
AFTER seeing the travelers off, Sylmia jumped over the village’s protective walls and used his unparalleled communication ability to send his mind to a distant land. Locating his desired conversation partner, he spoke without warning.
“By the way, Gaagaa, I wanted to talk to you about something that’s been bothering me.”
As for the person he spoke to, he held his silence for a long moment before drolly replying, “…Sylmia, did ye never learn to greet before cutting to the point?”
“Who needs greetings when you’re as close as you and me?”
“Ye risk giving me a heart attack by sending just thy voice into my head without prior notice.”
“We don’t have hearts. Nahahaha!” the Great Wind Spirit chuckled without a care in the world. He couldn’t see the Great Fire Spirit, but he didn’t have to see him to know he had one of his big claws pressed against his forehead about now.
Understanding that chiding the wind spirit would get him nowhere, Ghazan urged him to get to the point. “So? What is it that bothers ye?”
“Right. You know that Nichika is trying to revive Yuna, yes?”
“I granted her my power only after hearing why she needed it. So, yes.”
“According to my son, Ini’s the one who instructed her to do it.”
They were both familiar with that name. It was the last name the fire spirit expected to hear.
“…Ini? The weird one who trailed behind us and was repelled by Yuna?” Ghazan confirmed, doubt lacing his rumbling voice.
“The one and same little Ini who fell obsessively in love with Yuna and became her hardcore stalker.”
Forcing that memory out of the dark pit where he had sealed it silenced the fire spirit. It was the kind of memory none of them wanted to remember, but Sylmia kept digging it up.
“That creeper who rejoiced when she punched him, and not only creeped out Yuna, but also Lulu.”
“Enough. Do not utter another word. Please do not remind me of him.”
“Nostalgic, isn’t he? He was beautiful so I couldn’t hate him.”
“Ye always just watched as a spectator from atop the trees! Meanwhile I was playing arbitrator every single time. Grrr. Now that ye bring this up, ye always did—”
The wind spirit stopped his friend before he could launch into a lecture about the olden days. “But that stalker had quite the outrageous amount of authority for a creep. Though we never did hear the full story about him from Yuna.”
“……”
“After everything was said and done, he took Yuna away with him to the Celestial Realm. What do you think happened between them during that time?”
Ghazan didn’t have the answer to Sylmia’s question. “I do not know,” he answered in a grave voice after a long pause. “We hath merely maintained the balance in this world as she requested of us, and now even that balance has been put in jeopardy…”
“It has. Have you noticed it yet, Ghazan? How our powers are gradually weakening?”
“Does this mean that the world was only in balance because Yuna managed it from above?”
“Great, isn’t it? We only noticed now that she’s gone. At this rate, I might not be able to maintain my human form for long. Aaah, if that time comes, how my fans will fall apart lamenting my loss!”
The Great Wind Spirit chose now of all times to break the serious mood with a joke. Ghazan was stunned speechless. Sylmia tilted his head at the lack of reply.
“Hello? Hello? Anybody there? Strange. Did my wind whispers get cut off?”
Dealing with this man tires me out. Ghazan brought their conversation to a close in a voice that betrayed how he felt.
“In any event, unlike I who cannot move from this place, collecting information is the ‘wind’s’ forte. Notify me immediately if ye learn anything new.”
“So you can hear me!”
Sylmia childishly puffed out his cheeks like someone hundreds of years younger than him, but went ahead and took over the duty of collecting information as requested. In the back of his mind he thought of an old ally—of the Great Earth Spirit who ruled over the land.
“Guess I’ll start by contacting good ol’ Gnocky.”
“Weren’t ye originally the one responsible for keeping all of us ‘Joyful Servant Corps’ in touch? Hasn’t it been ages since we last spoke with Gnockoak?”
“That’s not true. I only recently spoke with him seventy years ago.”
“Unbelievable…”
***
ON the road, the master and apprentice had more or less stopped bickering. Nichika glared at Oswald and got one last cutting retort in.
“You really are the enemy of all women.”
“Not my problem.”
The mountain road was leaps and bounds easier to traverse than Fog Valley. They had descended the gently sloping hills and stopped to meet a wagon coming down the road.
“Hello. Fine weather we’re having today,” Nichika cheerfully greeted the middle-aged man. She was always the one who struck up conversations with strangers while Oswald watched.
“Hello there, young lady. Sure is a fine day. Coming from Windy Village?” The friendly man halted his horse and wiped his forehead with the towel wrapped around his neck. From his straw hat and sun-kissed skin, he appeared to be a local farmer.
“Yes, we are. Is this the correct route to Brownie Village?” she asked with an engaging smile.
“That it is. Keep on this road until you come to a three-way intersection. There’s a sign showing which road leads where, so you should be able to figure it out on your own, but you just have to go straight to get to Brownie Village.” The farmer flashed a toothy smile and pointed down the long road he’d come from.
Since she had him here, Nichika decided to collect what information she could. “Did you happen to see a girl with red hair and an unmemorable young man shadowing her?”
The red-faced farmer laughed heartily and floored her with an inconceivable bit of information. “Of course I saw ’em. As I understand it, the girl is the Spirit Priestess Nichika and the young man with her is the brilliant witch aiding her in her holy journey. They walked past me quite some time ago, so they’ve probably already arrived at Brownie Village.”
“Pardon?”
“Huh?”
“Rubbernecks are flocking from all over to see the big celebrities dropping by that tiny village. If you’ll excuse me now. I’ve gotta get back to the farm. Safe travels.”
Nichika returned the farmer’s wave and watched his wagon go.
“Uh, what did he mean by that?” she asked, incredulous.
“You got me.”
They were about to find out exactly what the farmer meant whether they wanted to or not at the next village.