CHAPTER 40

The Land of the Lifeless

It’s our third day back in the spirit world. After waking up, I head over to Café du Cerceus to see Kiriko. Past the table with the umbrella where I usually chat with Aria is a small building with a kitchen where Jonde and Kiriko are resting.

“Hey, Kiri? I’m coming in.”

I walk into the room that was given to Kiriko and find her in the corner of the small living space under the sheets.

“Oh, sorry! Were you sleeping? I…I didn’t even know you slept.”

Kiriko bashfully scratches her head.

“I’m actually not sleepy at all, but Cerceus told me I had to sleep after working so hard, so…”

Uh… Why is Cerceus putting a robot to bed? I always had a feeling, but Cerceus is so dumb!

“I’m sorry, Kiri. I’ll tell that doofus that you don’t need to sleep.”

But Kiriko shakes her head.

“It’s fine! I am really grateful for everything Cerceus has done for me! It makes me so happy to be treated like a human!”

“R-really?”

Well, if she’s happy, I’m happy.

“Then come over here for a second.”

I sit Kiriko before the dresser in her room.

“You are a girl, right? I have something that would look so cute on you.”

I stick a flower pendant that I brought with me onto Kiriko’s chest.

“Wh-what’s this?”

“It’s one of the flowers you took care of in Termine! I put one in my pouch and preserved it before it wilted. It’s a present!”

Kiriko is overcome with surprise for a few moments before she takes my hand and shakes it up and down.

“Thank you so much, Rista! I’ll cherish it forever!”

I just knew Kiriko would love it. The peach-colored flower on her chest makes her look slightly less threatening despite her Killing Machine body. I contentedly watch Kiriko in the mirror, but she appears to be gazing at me.

“You’re so pretty, Rista!”

“Whaaat? No, I’m not.”

I act modest, but I’m secretly overjoyed. Seiya usually insults me so much that I’ve become sensitive to compliments. I take a look at myself in the mirror.

Yeah… I am pretty, aren’t I? After all, I am a goddess…so why can’t Seiya see how attractive I am?!

I’m pretty… Pretty… Giggle… I am pretty, aren’t I?

My narcissism slowly pokes its head out while I’m in a trance…until I suddenly realize that my lips are drooping in the mirror.

“Huh…?”

And for some reason, I can clearly see pronounced smile lines as well!

“Uh…?”

Countless tiny wrinkles begin appearing on my head and at the corners of my eyes! My once-beautiful blond hair gradually turns white!

“Wh-wh-wh-what’s going on?!”

“R-Rista?! Y-you suddenly turned into an old woman!”

In the midst of our panic, I hear a calm voice next to me.

“Hmm… You aged extremely quickly. What power.”

“What the…?!”

When I look to my side, Seiya is pointing the red blade of his sword at me! And a sinister reddish-black aura is radiating from the sword and wrapping itself around me!

“So this was your doing?! Seiyaaaaaa!”

“It’s the sword’s power. I made it by synthesizing one of the Dark God’s Amulets I bought from that beastkin with a sword that absorbs life force.”

When Seiya pulls the sword away from me, the wrinkles disappear, but when he brings it toward me, I turn back into a wrinkly old lady.

“Can you stop making me age back and forth already?!”

“It’s a mysterious sword. I should probably appraise it.”

I twitch my nose while using Appraise along with Seiya.

“The Holy Power Draining Sword… It can absorb divine energy from deities! This sword will age and weaken deities just by being near them!”

I faintly tremble as I scream:

“What the…?! That sword is completely useless!”

“‘The Holy Power Draining Sword’… That’s a mouthful. From now on I’m calling it the ‘Granny Rista Sword.’”

“Seiya?! What the hell?! Enough joking around, damn it!”

“I’m not joking around. I’m developing a sword to replace the platinum sword, since I’m sure any weapon powerful enough to defeat the Demon Lord no longer exists in Ixphoria.”

“There’s no way you’re gonna beat the Demon Lord with that garbage!”

“It’s too early to say it’s garbage. It could come in handy one day. If possible, I want to make a spare as well.”

“You’d be wasting your time!”

I glare at Seiya disdainfully as he tucks the ominous sword away in his item bag.

“Wait. Was this why you wanted to stay in the spirit world longer?! To make that thing?!”

“No. This was for a separate matter.”

What does that even mean?! How many separate matters are there?!

“I still haven’t made any progress with the issue I mentioned before. Nevertheless, staying in the spirit world any longer isn’t going to solve anything, so we will be returning to Ixphoria today. Make sure you’re ready.”

That’s all Seiya says before leaving the room.

“What is wrong with him?!”

First he turns me into an old woman. Then he tells me to hurry up and prepare! I seethe with rage, but Kiriko cheerfully snickers:

“Seiya must really love you, Rista!”

“Wh-what?!”

“Seeing you two get along so well makes me really happy, too!”

What part of that made it look like we get along?! Hmm… I guess Kiri is a robot, after all. She doesn’t understand relationships between men and women at all.

After pulling myself together, I tell Jonde and Cerceus we’re going back to Ixphoria, and Cerceus looks a little sad when he hears the news.

“You’re welcome here anytime you’re back in the spirit world.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate what you’ve done for us.”

Cerceus firmly shakes Jonde’s hand, then turns around to Kiriko.

“I want to thank you as well, Kiriko. Business was great thanks to you.”

“Wh-what?! I didn’t do anything special…!”

Café du Cerceus has been slightly busy these past two days since word got out that there was a café in the spirit world where monsters serve you. Cerceus stares at them while wearing a serious expression for a change.

“My biases clouded my judgment, but I was able to change my way of thinking thanks to you two. Even as the Divine Blade, I had always been—Gwaaaaaah!”

Out of nowhere, Cerceus is blown a few dozen meters away, where he is ungracefully flipped over and foams at the mouth.

“C-Cerceus?!”

“Ahhh! Cerceus!!”

Jonde and Kiriko scream his name. Standing where Cerceus once was is Seiya, his leg retracting after the kick he delivered. Jonde points at the unconscious café owner and screams:

“What did you kick him for?!”

“I was getting the feeling that his ridiculous speech was going to drag on, so I sped things up.”

“You kicked him that hard because of an assumption you had?! How horrible!”

Seiya ignores Jonde and says to me:

“It looks like you’re ready. Let’s go.”

“O-okay…”

I keep my mouth shut in fear of being kicked as well and open a gate. But before we walk through, Aria and Adenela come to see us off.

“Seiya, Rista, I know you can do it.”

“Thanks, Aria!”

After expressing my gratitude, I hand the divine items I bought from Baldr over to Aria.

“Th-there’s nothing to w-worry about anymore. S-Seiya has become extraordinarily strong. Th-there is probably no one left in th-the human realms who can defeat him.”

I nod back at Adenela with a smile before turning to face Seiya.

“All right, Seiya, shall we head back to Termine?”

“No, I want to do some work on the fortress I created on the southern coast of Rhadral.”

“Near Galvano, right? You got it.”

But as we’re about to leave, Jonde looks at Seiya apologetically and asks:

“I’m sorry if this is too much of an imposition, but would it be possible to go to the northern lands of Baraque now that the machine corps is gone?”

“Why?”

“Although the machine corps ruled the continent, there may still be survivors like with Termine.”

“Hmm…”

Seiya falls silent for a few moments and considers, but…

“Seiya! If possible, I want to see what’s going on in Baraque, too!”

With that, the warrior nods decisively. It looks like Kiriko got through to him. While he may be coldhearted sometimes, he’s still a Hero. If there are lives to be saved, he’ll be there. Of course, I feel the same way. Be that as it may, I need Ishtar’s permission if I’m going to open a gate to a place I’ve never been before.

“Rista, I’ll ask Great Goddess Ishtar for permission.”

After overhearing our conversation, Aria closes her eyes and begins conversing with Ishtar. A few moments go by, and she opens her eyes.

“You have been granted permission to open a gate to the continent of Baraque, but…”

Aria wears a solemn expression and continues:

“Great Goddess Ishtar seems confident that there are no survivors…”

I gasp, but Seiya isn’t convinced.

“But Ishtar’s clairvoyance was weakened because of the demon, right? We won’t know if there aren’t any survivors until we see for ourselves.”

“Y-yeah, Seiya’s right! Let’s go!”

Jonde and Kiriko agree as well, so we end up setting out for Baraque after Seiya sends an earth serpent through the gate to make sure it’s safe.

Jonde, Kiriko, and I are speechless the instant we cross the gate. Well over a hundred skeletons are littered throughout the burned fields that extend as far as the eye can see.

H-how cruel…! I guess there really aren’t any survivors…

But in contrast to our astonishment, Seiya speaks up with his usual indifferent tone.

“Well, while there are unlikely to be any survivors, let’s start searching. It’s possible that this area is the only one in ruins.”

Seiya then gets on one knee and places a hand on the ground. It looks like he’s creating some scout earth serpents, prompting a question from Jonde.

“Won’t it take a long time to scout the entire continent? While not as expansive as Rhadral, Baraque is relatively large.”

But at the very next moment, the ground around Seiya swells. As if a pebble was dropped into water, the ripple spreads out at an incredible speed in all directions, moving away from Seiya.

“While training under the God of Earth, I was able to learn how to create earth serpents that can move exponentially faster than before. It shouldn’t take much time to scout the whole of the continent.”

Seiya closes his eyes. It appears he has linked his eyes to the countless earth serpents, and he gives brief reports from time to time like a machine.

“West side, all deceased within a fifty-kilometer radius.

“Same in the north. No survivors.”

Right now, Seiya must be witnessing horrific images that the rest of us can’t see.

“Hey, Seiya…are you doing okay? You must be suffering right now…”

“I’m fine. While it takes a lot of concentration to share sight with so many earth serpents, it isn’t really a problem.”

“O-oh… You don’t say…”

It looks like he’s not shaken up even after seeing so many dead bodies. It’s gotten to the point that the things he and I worry about are on two completely different planes. More importantly, I suddenly notice Kiriko lowering her head behind Seiya, but before I can say anything, Jonde places a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you okay, Kiriko?”

“Fathe—Oxerio said my real parents were dead as well. Does that mean that their bodies are somewhere here, too?”

Her question clearly takes him by surprise.

“N-not necessarily! I’m sure there are still survivors somewhere! I’m certain your parents are okay!”

“I hope so, but…”

I approach Kiriko as she stares at the ground, then bend my knees until we’re eye to eye.

“Hey, Kiri? You’re a really good girl, and good things happen to good people.”

“Really…?”

“Yes, really.”

Jonde chimes in as well.

“She’s right! We might even find a way to turn you human again one day!”

“M-me…? A human…?”

“It could definitely happen!”

“R-really? Th-that would make me…so happy…”

A cheerful note brightens Kiriko’s voice.

“Thank you so much! I feel so much better now!”

But out of nowhere, Seiya interjects coldly with his back to us:

“Some people live good lives only to die with nothing. There are even those who do evil yet live comfortably without ever being judged. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Not missing a beat, Jonde heatedly objects.

“What is wrong with you?!”

Yeah! I can’t believe Seiya would do that, especially after how hard we worked to cheer her up!

Seiya turns his head and glares at Kiriko distantly.

“Kiriko, you’re a machine. Maybe you’ll be able to become a human again one day, but don’t get your hopes up.”

I can’t sit back and listen any longer.

“Seiya! I can’t believe you! Why would you say that?!”

“The disappointment would crush her if it ended up being impossible, and it would be your fault for getting her hopes up.”

“B-but…”

“Don’t give people false hope.”

Seiya stands with his back still turned to us.

“Rista, open a gate. We’re done here.”

“What?! D-does that mean…?!”

“I’ve finished scouting the entire continent of Baraque. Ishtar was right. There are no survivors. There are still remnants of the machine corps scattered throughout the continent, though.”

“H-hold on! You’re being rash! There is no way of knowing that in such a short time! You may have missed something!”

“I didn’t miss anything. My investigation was thorough and perfect. There isn’t a single survivor.”

Jonde has been around Seiya long enough to know that what he’s saying is true. As a heavy silence reigns over us, Kiriko mutters:

“I knew my father and mother were dead…”

“It’s no surprise, though. We knew this coming in. This was done only to make sure and as a formality. Besides, even if your parents were alive, you don’t even know what they look like, right?”

“Yeah…you’re right…”

Seiya then shifts his gaze from Kiriko to me.

“Well, that was a waste of time. Rista, we’re heading to the fortress as originally planned.”

“S-Seiya! Have some empathy! Think about how Kiri must feel right now!”

“I-it’s fine, Rista! Let’s go to the fortress. B-besides…I don’t want to be here anymore…”

“Kiri…”

Jonde bitterly kicks up some dirt. He doesn’t come out and say it, but he’s probably regretting asking to come here to search for survivors.

Beaten down and disheartened, we set out for the southern coast of Rhadral.