CHAPTER 39

Another Matter

I head back to the café with mixed feelings, wearing rings and rosaries and carrying the vase under one arm, and the first thing I do is complain to Aria.

“Will I really be able to seal curses after training like that? I mean, that was hardly training. It was more like shopping if you ask me.”

“Hmm… It sounds like the rumors about Baldr were spot-on. A-at any rate, you were only learning how to seal curses as a fail-safe, right?”

“Yeah, but it cost me almost all the money I had, so I wish I could see at least a little difference. It’s depressing.”

Aria then creases her eyes as she gazes into mine.

“But, Rista, you are overflowing with divine energy.”

“Huh?! No way! Really?!”

I suddenly hear a cheerful voice behind me.

“Wow, Rista! You’re even brighter and more divine now!”

I turn around to find Kiriko excited and holding a tray with a cup of coffee on it. I then turn my gaze to the vase and rosaries in gaping astonishment.

These divine items really work!!

I feel a little better after learning that I didn’t totally waste my money. I smile at Kiriko as she hands me the coffee.

“Thanks, Kiri!”

“You’re welcome!”

When she cheerfully replies, I notice she’s wearing an apron. It looks like Cerceus is genuinely putting her to work.

“So how’s working with Cerceus? Has he been nice to you?”

But just then…

“What is this?!”

I hear Jonde yell. When I look over in the direction of the voice, I see Cerceus and Jonde facing each other by a table, their faces stern.

I—I knew they wouldn’t get along!

I rush over.

“Come on, guys! Please don’t fight!”

But there is something clearly wrong here. Jonde sends Cerceus a passionate gaze while holding a plate with a half-eaten piece of cake on it.

“I’ve never tasted anything so delicious in all my years!”

“R-really? Is the cake I made that good?”

“‘Good’? It’s beyond that! You are a genius!”

Jonde tightly grips and shakes Cerceus’s hand, much to Cerceus’s surprise.

“I must do something to repay you for such an amazing treat! Please allow me to help, too! How about I start with the dishes?”

“Oh! Well, if you insist, then…”

As Cerceus stares at Jonde in blank amazement, Kiriko suddenly shows up.

“Cerceus, is it okay if I set the table like this?”

“Yeah, that should be fine…”

Even after Jonde and Kiriko leave, Cerceus idly stands in place like his soul has left his body. I decide to walk over and pat him on the shoulder.

“Congratulations, Cerceus! Looks like you found yourself some good part-time workers!”

But when Cerceus turns around, I’m even more surprised…because of the rivers of tears running down his cheeks!

“What?! Why are you crying?!”

“Mm…! It was wrong of me to judge them by their appearance just because they’re monsters! They’re such good people! Sniffle!”

“Sure, I get that, but that doesn’t mean you have to cry…”

After shedding some manly tears, Cerceus wipes off his face.

“Tell them they can stay here forever.”

I return to Aria’s table with a radiant smile.

“Aria! It sounds like they’re really getting along!”

“Yes, it fortunately looks like they hit it off.”

After I pleasantly chat with Aria for a while, her face lights up as a memory returns to her.

“By the way, Rista, Seiya came back to the café after talking to Great Goddess Ishtar, and he asked me about souls.”

“About souls?”

Seiya apparently asked her about reincarnation, what souls are, and things like that. Aria curiously continues:

“But he was never interested in things like that before. I told him everything I know…but he still didn’t seem satisfied. He just said, ‘Oh well. At any rate, I need to start training to face Celemonic,’ and left.”

Seiya wants to know more about souls? Does that have anything to do with why Ishtar wanted to talk to him?

“S-so where is Seiya training now?”

“Um… I think he said something about improving Berserk Mode? Then—”

“He said what?!”

D-don’t tell me he’s trying to learn Phase Three! But Zet said it’d kill him!

“I’m gonna go check on him! Aria, hold on to this vase for me!”

“Rista?! Let me finish. He—Ah! This vase is really heavy!”

Leaving Aria behind, I rush back to the Divine Forest. If he’s trying to reach Phase Three, then he must have gone to the Well of No Return to train under Zet.

The crimson sky of nightfall reigns over the forest. The twilight glow illuminates the trees as if they have been painted with blood, giving it an eerie atmosphere unbecoming of the spirit world. I head for the Well of No Return, hoping to somehow make it back before it’s completely dark. But on the way, I am stopped by a familiar voice.

“Oh my. If it isn’t Rista. Where are you off to today?”

She asks while lowering her bow and arrow. It’s the perverted goddess—also known as the Goddess of Archery, Mitis—who once got completely naked and tried to jump Seiya. She sends me an innocent, beautiful smile, almost making me wonder if we just imagined all our prior experiences with her.

“Oh, uh… I need to go to the Well of No Return…”

“Is that so?”

Mitis replies with a finger on her chin.

“But it must be lonely walking through these woods all by yourself. I could go with you if you wanted.”

“R-really? I’d appreciate that!”

The forest is going to get only more frightening as I get closer to the well. Plus, my night vision isn’t great, so it would be reassuring having someone around who knows the forest. While Mitis is a creep who pounces on any man she can get her hands on, I can relax knowing that she’s harmless around other women. Therefore, I take her up on her offer.

We walk side by side through the woods while talking about my journey in Ixphoria. While it feels like it takes forever when I’m walking alone, the trip surprisingly goes by really quickly as we talk along the way. It isn’t long before I can see the eerie old well.

“Oh! That’s the Well of No Return!”

I dash over to it, then begin climbing down the rope ladder.

“Allow me to accompany you.”

Mitis ends up coming with me, but…

“What the…?! Why?!”

I am completely shocked when I reach the bottom. The bottom of the well was a vast, open space when Seiya came here to train last time, but now Mitis and I can barely fit. It’s nothing more than an old, dried-up pit, and Zet is nowhere in sight. I feel like I’ve lost my mind.

Z-Zet’s gone?!

Countless ideas are spiraling in my head when…

“Rista.”

Mitis’s voice suddenly brings me back to my senses, so I turn around…and my brain instantly stops working.

“Wh-wh-what…?!”

Mitis has taken off her dress and gotten completely nude when I wasn’t looking!

“Mitis?! What in the world are you taking your clothes off for?!”

After I scream in utter confusion, Mitis slowly approaches me in the dim well.

“I train in the woods every day, all by myself… Countless days go by with no male contact whatsoever…so recently, I’ve been thinking…”

She looks at me seductively.

“Maybe a woman wouldn’t be so bad.”

“You’re kidding, right?!”

I shudder…as Mitis simultaneously wraps her arms around me.

“Come, Rista! Let us make passionate love!”

“I-I-I’m not into stuff like that!!”

But she’s not even listening to me! Mitis tries to tear off my dress as she breathes heavily.

Wh-what power! And what a high sex drive!

“Hya-hyaaa-haaaa! The floodgates have burst open! There’s no going back now!”

Eek! The way she’s laughing and the look on her face are freaking me out! And “floodgates”?! What does that even mean?! There’s no hope for this goddess! She’s sick! It’s like she’s cursed! …Ah!

As she pushes me onto the ground and straddles me, I realize something. I pull a rosary off my wrist and point it at her.

“H-hey, heeey! Hey, hey, hey, heeey! Begone, accursed lust!”

I chant my heart out. While Aria may have the vase, I still have plenty of rosaries and rings all over my body that I bought from Baldr! They should be at least somewhat effective!

But Mitis just blushes as I scream “hey” and bites her thumb.

“Oh my… Look who’s excited! You really want it, don’t you?!”

“Hey, h—No!”

But nothing happens, no matter how long I scream. Her face gets closer to mine as she gazes into my eyes rapturously. But just as I’m about to cry…

Rustle. Rustle. Rustle.

Countless fine, long white threads fall onto my face. Mitis’s eyes open wide the moment she realizes that they’re her hair.

“I-is that… Is that my hair?!”

I give her a stern look as she rubs her head in astonishment.

“I—I let you off easy this time, but if you try anything else, I’m gonna make you completely bald!”

Mitis lunges away from me, suddenly aware of her appearance. I guess she is a goddess, after all.

…After climbing the rope ladder out of the well, we begin walking back with some distance between us.

“I can’t believe you, Rista. I was only joking around…”

Yeah right! She was going to have her way with me if I hadn’t made her hair fall out!

“Anyway, you surprised me, Rista. Since when did you become the Goddess of Hair Removal?”

“I’m not! Ugh, Mitis, please just shut up!”

After leaving the Divine Forest, utterly exhausted, I return to the café, where Aria tells me that Seiya is training with Adenela in the Summoning Chamber.

…I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. I heard he was going to do some berserker training, so I thought he was going to be training with Zet, but he was actually just trying to refine his swordsmanship while in Berserk Mode with Adenela.

Sigh. What a waste of time that was.

Dropping my shoulders, I open the door to the Summoning Chamber.

“Hmm…? Rista, get out. I’m in the middle of training.”

Seiya, whose eyes and hair are red due to his berserker status, stops sparring with Adenela to glare at me, but I’m so tired, I don’t even care.

“So you were training here just like you always do…”

“Hmph. I’m going to overpower and defeat Celemonic before she can cast a single curse.”

Seiya then gets back into a fighting stance with his sword, and without his even having to say anything, Adenela gets ready for combat as well.

“Berserk: Phase 2.7…!”

And with those words, the exhaustion dragging me down instantly melts away.

Phase 2.7?! He was able to reach only 2.6 when he was fighting Grandleon and Oxerio! Does this mean he was able to slightly increase his max phase?!

But that isn’t the only thing that surprises me. Despite both of Adenela’s arms being Divine Swords, Seiya still breaks through her guard and raises a platinum sword high into the air.

“Atomic Split Slash!”

The Summoning Chamber’s floor explodes with an ear-piercing roar, and the powerful shock wave blows me away! I somehow manage to sit back up, but the part of the floor that took a direct hit has caved in! The aftershocks even sent fissures across every square inch of the ground.

“What power…! Wait! Seiya?! What happened to Adenela?!”

“I’m holding back. I never planned on hitting her.”

I look in the direction Seiya’s pointing to find Adenela descending from a high leap into the air to dodge the attack.

Oh, thank goodness Adenela’s okay! Anyway, I can’t believe how powerful that was! I mean, Atomic Split Slash is already a powerful attack, but after he multiplied his attack power through Berserk Mode, it was just…

“H-hold on! I thought you couldn’t use magic or skills while in Berserk Mode! Zet said it wasn’t possible to use both at once!”

“It’s possible once you get the hang of it.”

I—I can’t believe it! Just who is this Hero?! He always does the impossible no matter what people tell him!

As I stare with mute amazement, Seiya casually explains:

“It’s like reading a book while eating. It isn’t polite, but it’s not like you can’t do it.”

So that’s what it’s like…! Then maybe I can do it, too? …A-actually, on second thought, I probably shouldn’t take a genius’s word when it comes to what’s easy and what’s not.

“Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee! Th-that was perfect. You’ve g-gotten even stronger, Seiya.”

And I’m not the only one with great respect for the genius Hero. Adenela’s smile is dripping with satisfaction.

“I-it takes a lot of time and r-requires difficult conditions t-to cast a powerful curse. C-curses are useless against q-quick fighters l-like us.”

Seiya nods, then sheathes his sword.

“Berserk: Phase 2.7 and being able to use moves during Berserk Mode should be more than enough to defeat Celemonic.”

“Oh, nice! So you’re already perfectly prepared, huh!”

But Seiya sends me a reproachful gaze.

“Rista, I heard you were training to learn how to seal curses.”

“Oh… Yeah, I learned how to do it, but…”

“At any rate, I won’t be needing help.”

“C-come on! I only learned just in case things don’t go as planned! It’s like you always say: You need to be prepared for anything!”

“That’s why I’m training with Adenela. This is for ‘just in case things don’t go as planned.’ I already created a sturdy fortress in the south of Rhadral on the coast, where I plan on stopping the Vengeful Empress Celemonic. However, in the unlikely event that proves difficult, I am going to use Berserk: Phase 2.7 with a skill and swiftly take out the enemy.”

I swallow my breath in the face of his overflowing confidence and piercing gaze.

I-it really does look like he’s not gonna need any of my help! But I spent almost all my money…

Feeling listless, I ask:

“So are we heading back to Ixphoria now?”

But Seiya’s answer isn’t what I expected.

“No, I plan on staying in the spirit world for another day or two.”

“Huh? But I thought you were perfectly prepared.”

“I am perfectly prepared to handle Celemonic. However…”

Seiya glances at me like he wants to say something, then averts his gaze.

“I still have another matter to take care of.”

“‘Another matter’?”

As a man of few words, Seiya turns on his heel and leaves the Summoning Chamber.

I wonder what it could be. Does it have something to do with why Ishtar wanted to talk to him…and maybe something to do with what Aria said?

I feel like staying in the spirit world even after being completely prepared for the enemy isn’t something Seiya usually does, but I expected to be here for a few days anyway. We end up staying a little longer after that.