Chapter 81 – Master (1)
“It seems I’ve unintentionally given them a vacation.”
Patrick, Rina, and Lila are still staying in the city where Maria was found. Though not right now, I felt like I would need to send them a message to come here soon, keeping an eye on things.
“Do you plan to take them on the expedition?”
“Well, Lila needs to continue her training. The other two also have tasks they can assist with.”
Though not as mature as Arisa, the seasoned Elf warrior, Lila was growing quickly for her age and experience, developing as a Spirit Knight.
Patrick, fully equipped with skill and experience, was a perfect choice to act as an agent, while Rina specialized in attending to my needs.
If I had my way, I would want to keep moving with them. It was just that I couldn’t be together with them as soon as I revealed my face.
“So you all need to have your basics covered as much as possible.”
I tossed the newspaper I was holding down, then turned my serious face to Maria, who was standing beside me.
Having been cleaned up and dressed nicely, she looked like quite a pretty girl, except for the fact that she was a bit thin.
“Um, I don’t know what to do.”
“That’s because the power you have is something no one can teach you.”
I did not deny her words. The Hero Ian and the other Saintess Melisa had a sort of curriculum built by their order.
But Maria was different. She had to discover her power purely on her own.
“I can only help you to a limited extent. The rest depends on your effort.”
Fortunately, I had been able to assist her at least a little because of the water spirit we had interacted with.
The earth spirit specializes in stability, the wind spirit in freedom, and the water spirit in flow.
By making good use of that flow, Maria would be able to get help in using the power lying within her.
“Come here.”
I stood up and placed my hand on her body. This was not simply about lending my mana; it was more about guiding the power she possessed.
Ultimately, it was the water spirit that decided all of this. After all, it was something I didn’t fully understand either.
“Ugh…”
Feeling something strange, Maria recoiled and hesitated. Arisa was watching us with an intrigued expression.
If I were a hairy old man instead of a girl whose body was almost the same as Maria’s, this would have looked strange.
“If you can feel the energy flowing in your body, that’s enough. What’s important is practical application, which you can’t do in situations like this.”
Power moved through the wrist I held, casting itself in the shape of crackling sparks at her fingertips. She could now freely draw out the power of the spirit without needing a contaminated artifact as a medium.
However, this was merely the first step, like a baby taking its first steps.
“This is my power…”
As I slowly released my hand from her and took a step back, Maria was dumbfoundedly staring at the power she had summoned.
Still, rather than fear or hesitation, she seemed excited and happy, which suggested she had a good mindset.
“Did you bring everything I mentioned?”
“Yes. Here it is, the report regarding erosion from all over the continent that our order has collected.”
I couldn’t stay next to Maria all the time. Walking briskly while acknowledging everyone I encountered, who greeted me nervously, I pushed the door open forcefully, startling the priests inside the meeting room.
Leber was just calmly handing over the things he had prepared for me.
“The number of occurrences has increased, yet there’s not a single solution found. Am I right? To completely close off the holes, special power is required.”
The information network of the Light Order, as widespread as Ethan’s organization, was precise and quick. While there were advantages to Ethan’s organization being hidden from the light, some things could only be done openly, just like the Light Order.
“Isn’t it enough to deal with the enemies popping out from the holes and seal the area?”
“That’s just a temporary fix. We don’t know when another enemy might emerge from that hole.”
One of the priests said something foolish, and I glared at him to indicate he should stop talking nonsense.
The phenomenon of erosion, the starting point of the great apocalypse, was discovered and widely known, yet people remained so complacent—this was one of the reasons.
Even when erosion occurs, nothing particularly catastrophic has happened yet.
Of course, it is common for people to die or get injured from the monsters crawling out of it.
But nothing significant enough to be called an ‘apocalypse’ has happened yet. Suddenly, a movie I once saw in the past came to mind.
No matter how much scientists warned, the powerful and the citizens ignored it, resulting in disaster.
“We need to close it completely before the scale increases. First, let’s clean up the area before the erosion grows larger and then deal with the places we’ve cleansed afterward.”
“B-but that takes considerable effort. Especially, it means that the rulers governing each nation must resolve their past conflicts and join forces.”
“…If they want to all go down together, then let them continue on that path.”
I could only scoff at the excuses of the priest. With their unjust civilization, they lived lives no different from the past.
Competing and fighting and conflicting… Of course, I understand that it’s a natural law. Desires breed competition across species, ensuring no development occurs unless there is competition based on those desires.
The problem is that if they’ve been functioning this way until now, they need to cooperate now.
“I’m not going to give an easy answer about unifying the world. Instead, those who are trying to solve the issues should be granted some authority to move without such restrictions, just like how the Adventurers’ Guild or the Light Order collaborates with most nations.”
No ruler would like armed groups wandering in their territory. However, it was not impossible.
What I desired was a level of solidarity to that extent.
“What will you do about those who refuse to cooperate?”
“Do you want to die because of them? No, right?”
I glanced at Leber, who was hesitantly speaking up, and smiled as I replied. Whether he understood the significance of my counter-question, Leber nodded as if he anticipated my response.
“Damn it, this isn’t what I intended…”
When I first realized that this world was ten thousand years after the tower collapsed, I felt lost and filled with emptiness.
No matter what I did, that emptiness didn’t disappear. It felt like I wasn’t meant to be here.
But not anymore. There was so much to be done that I didn’t have time to feel emptiness.
“Please tell me the meaning of this passage. Long ago, the ancestors of the order recorded it on the wall. It must be part of a great scripture that has yet to be deciphered!”
“You must have been a person with nothing to do. It’s just song lyrics.”
“N-no way!”
At least the most work piled on me was the ‘translation’ tasks that came flooding in. Numerous individuals from the order came to me, claiming it to be artifacts and records from the Mythical Era that they were researching.
Thanks to the privilege of the language and script given to climbers, I could read anything, but most of it was trivial.
Ethan, who I had a hold on due to artifact purification, would be infuriated if he knew this, but I had to showcase some useful talents for my position.
“How about this? What’s written here is certainly a title associated with entities that the people of the Mythical Era deemed divine. Therefore, this…”
“Chicken God is just fried chicken. It looks more like something someone wrote lamenting their desire to eat fried chicken rather than a scripture.”
Through this process, I learned more clearly how an entire discredited era influences future generations.
The memories of that time, which were so obvious and still vivid to me, were nothing more than a mirage to them, leaving only faint traces in the thick fog.
“It’s impossible for me to explain everything.”
Even though I was called a ten-thousand-year-old High Elf and an ancient being, I was just an ordinary person.
No matter how much I had lived in that era, could I truly explain it all? Wasn’t I someone who had forgotten nearly everything I specialized in?
“During the Mythical Era, everyone was equal without discrimination in status. We must do the same!”
“Stop talking nonsense! Just how many records of social disparity from that era have been left behind to say such things…”
I stared blankly at the two priests fighting over research topics up ahead.
No matter how much I thought about it, it seemed impossible for me to correct and inform them of every fact. It was clear that even what I said would twist and transform through rumors.
There were plenty of people who would maliciously manipulate my words for their own benefit.
“Best to go separately.”
I thought that what had been handed down through unimaginable eons already held value in and of itself.
I wasn’t someone with a deep sense of mission, so was it even necessary to correct and fix everything?
“Let’s focus on what we need to do, Arisa. How are the little ones?”
“They seem to be training hard under their masters.”
Leaving the scholars to quarrel among themselves, I got up from my seat with Arisa and moved to another space.
The truth is, being able to take it easy like this was thanks to the youths who were not yet fully prepared.
