WIEDERGEBURT Act V: Chapter 35

Cathrine Hildre was once again working on cataloging the effects of a rare ingredient that she still didn’t have a use for. This time, she was working with what appeared to be a curved piece of jade. Only someone who was extremely observant and knowledgeable about Demon Beasts would recognize that this was not actually jade but a bone. It was a piece of the tailbone from a Demon Beast called Nine Colored Phoenix.

The Nine Colored Phoenix was a rare Demon Beast and one of the few non-aggressive Demon Beasts that were still given the S-rank. She had come across this creature many years ago when she was still young. Back then, she had been impetuous, full of vigor and vim. She had thought herself invincible. That arrogance had nearly spelled her doom. Were it not for the Nine Colored Phoenix saving her life, she would have truly died that day.

Nine Colored Phoenixes were not only so rare the chances of seeing one was one hundred billion to one, they were also the only benevolent Demon Beast in existence. They did not attack humans. If a person was lucky enough to see one, there was a chance that Demon Beast would bestow something great on them. For Cathrine, that had been this tailbone fragment.

The tailbone was unlike anything she had ever seen. Not only did it have the luster of jade, but it was constantly emitting a vibrant and lively Spiritual Power. Even now, after forty years, the Spiritual Power it released had not waned in the slightest. To make matters more intriguing, this tailbone was constantly producing bone marrow.

It was the bone marrow that Cathrine was interested in.

As of yet, she had not found any ingredients that were suitable to mix with this bone marrow. None of the reactions were volatile. In fact, the bone marrow was so gentle that it was compatible with every ingredient she had. It was just that none of the ingredients produced an effect that couldn’t be replicated using other, less valuable ingredients.

Just as Cathrine was about to try mixing it with another rare ingredient she only acquired the other day, someone knocked on her door.

She frowned and glared at the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Fay,” a slightly familiar voice said from the other end.

Cathrine’s eyes widened. While she had gone to see Fay several times, this was Fay’s first time coming to see her. The young redhead often preferred working on her own or helping those two female alchemists. Some people might have found this lack of acknowledgment off putting, but Cathrine admired how dedicated Fay was to her alchemy studies. She also appreciated the woman helping her with those two problem children.

“Hold on just a second!”

Cathrine didn’t even bother stowing away jade bone as she hurried toward the door and opened it.

On the other side of the door was Fay. The young woman was wearing the familiar white and gold robes of a Master Alchemist. They suited her particularly well. Even Cathrine thought she was beautiful.

Fay was not alone. Aside from her son also being present and currently resting within his mother’s right arm, Kari and Lin were there as well. Cathrine knew these two, of course. She had been introduced to them both during the tournament, but she hadn’t really focused on either of them. For just a moment, Cathrine looked at Kari’s almost fairy like beauty and couldn’t help but feel a little envious.

“Fay… I see this isn’t a house call,” Cathrine said. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“We are hoping so.” Kari was the one who spoke, stepping forward, her posture suddenly becoming regal and refined, elegant and imposing. Even Cathrine, who had more than four decades on this girl, suddenly felt very small.

“It sounds like this is important. Please come inside.”

Cathrine let the group inside, eyes twitching at how long it took the lamia to get her six or seven meter long tail past the door. She closed the door behind them. Then she turned around. While Kari only seemed mildly interested in the numerous medicinal ingredients sitting on shelves, in alcoves, and growing from her own hanging gardens, Fay was looking at everything with bright eyes.

“Is that Dragon Zoysa?” asked Fay, pointing to a plant with thick leaves vaguely shaped like the wings of a dragon.

“It is.” Cathrine smiled. “I am surprised you recognize it. Not many alchemists have ever seen this leaf.”

“It’s a key ingredient in the high-tier alchemy pill, Glazed Treasure Heart,” Fay said. “I myself have never been able to refine it because I lacked the ingredients, but I know the recipe by heart.”

“Do you really?” Cathrine suddenly became excited. “I know of the pill, but I do not have the recipe and have never been able to create it. Perhaps you and I can work together and refine this pill?”

In that moment, Cathrine completely forgotten about Kari and Lin being in the same room as her. Someone so close at hand knew the recipe for Glazed Treasure Heart? Had she known this before, she would have long ago dragged Fay over and began grilling her on how to refine it. Now that she knew, there was no way she could let this matter go.

“Ahem.”

And yet just before she could really delve into this matter, a light coughing sound echoed around the room. It was relatively soft. It also carried a refined aura to it. However, there was an incomparably powerful Spiritual Pressure filling that sound.

Cathrine turned to Kari, who still retained her mild and refined elegance, only now there were dark shadows cast across her face. In that moment, she looked less like an elegant princess and more like an inhumanly beautiful but demonic entity.

“I have absolutely no trouble with you two talking shop in your own time, but we are currently here for a reason,” Kari began. “Perhaps we could get to that reason? What we have to discuss is a very concerning matter.”

“Right… my apologies,” Cathrine muttered, suddenly blushing. While it was true that she was an eccentric who cared more for alchemy than her own life, she at least had a sense of propriety. This was the first time she’d ever lost her cool like that in front of someone so important.

Because her room was used purely for refining and alchemy, she did not have any places to sit. However, the room was connected to her sleeping quarters, which contained her bedroom, the room she ate dinner in, and a bathing room. The one she led these four to could have been considered her dining room, though it was small and the table was barely large enough to fit all of them.

“Sorry I don’t have enough chairs,” Cathrine said.

Cathrine had never accepted guests before, so of course she’d never bothered getting extra chairs. She had two because it looked weird to have a table with one chair. That was the only reason Kari was able to sit down. Meanwhile, Fay, Lin, and Raul were behind her. The two other women stood at attention like bodyguards, though Cathrine had never seen a bodyguard with a baby at her hip before.

“It’s fine.” Kari waved off her apology with a gesture that was so smooth it was like gently flowing water. “We don’t plan to take up too much of your time.”

Cathrine nodded. “You said you wanted to speak with me about a matter that concerns you. What is it?”

“A little while ago, myself, Fay, and Lin were attacked by a group of assailants,” Kari began. “We defeated them, of course, but we learned something very… disturbing.”

“What did you learn? And what does this have to do with me?” asked Cathrine.

“The people who attacked us were working for a man named Rohan Incelflos,” Kari said in a voice so mild it was like she was speaking of the weather instead of how she was attacked. “Perhaps you’ve heard of the name?”

Cathrine sucked in a deep breath. Of course she’d heard of that name. Rohan was one of her greatest alchemists, a rare genius who had become a Master Alchemist at the tender age of 25 years-old. Many people often thought he would become the next Grandmaster Alchemist, but he had yet to take the Grandmaster Assessment Test.

“Are you sure those people weren’t lying to you?” asked Cathrine.

Kari’s smile turned into one of dark amusement, and Cathrine felt a chill suddenly crawl down her spine. She did not like that smile at all. It made her feel like someone was sticking blades into her flesh.

“The person I questioned was so terrified he pissed himself. Lying was the last thing on his mind.” Kari tilted her head and looked at the table. Cathrine suddenly realized she hadn’t even offered this woman refreshments, but before she could ask if Kari wanted tea, the woman continued speaking. “You might not be aware of what has been happening, but Fay has been getting harassed by Rohan for the past seven days since she started coming to the Alchemist Association. Every day he asks her to lunch, asks her to meet his family, all without considering the fact that she is already married. During their last conversation, Fay told Rohan in no uncertain terms that she was not interested in him and asked him to stop bothering her.”

Cathrine did not say anything for the longest time. However, the longer she remained silent, the greater the pressure she felt. Kari was not doing anything. She was just sitting there with a mild smile, and yet it felt to Cathrine like something was crushing her. There was a weight on her chest that made it hard to breath.

“There have been complaints about Rohan before,” she finally confessed, unable to withstand this silent pressure.

“So this is not the first time something like this has happened?” asked Kari.

Cathrine bit her lip but continued. “It’s not. Several months ago, Rohan was rebuffed by a young woman. A few days after being rebuffed, that young woman disappeared. Her parents complained to the Alchemist Association since she was a well-known alchemist, an Expert Alchemist who was close to reaching Master Alchemist. We eventually discovered that she had run away to live with Rohan.” The frown on her face grew more prominent. “She was perhaps even more talented than Rohan was, but when we discovered her living with Rohan, all her ambition and drive to become a Grandmaster Alchemist had disappeared. She said her only desire was to provide for her husband.”

Kari shared a look with Fay and Lin that Cathrine couldn’t interpret, but it nevertheless made her feel a chill in her bones. She couldn’t help but wonder what these women were thinking.

“That sounds an awful lot like brainwashing to me,” Kari said, turning back around to face Cathrine. “Did it never occur to you that he might have brainwashed her or used drugs to force her into compliance?”

Under that cold but pleasant expression, Cathrine could not help but break out into a cold sweat. She was out of her element with this woman. Cathrine was an alchemist. She preferred spending her days refining pills and studying medicinal ingredients, not talking politics and dealing with people.

“It did occur to me… but we checked her for drugs and poison and found nothing,” Cathrine said with a sigh. “We also could not afford to look too deeply into this matter. Not only is Rohan the prized son of the Incelflos Family, but the Incelflos Family itself is incredibly important to our Alchemist Association. They have consistently produced the best alchemists our association has, with each generation being more talented than the next. Not only is every member of their family a talented alchemist, but more than a fourth of our Master Alchemists are from the Incelflos Family.”

“And so you decided it was better to sweep this matter under the rug rather than investigate into the issue too deeply,” Kari said, her voice cold.

Cathrine did not have much to do with the Incelflos Family, or any of the Four Great Alchemist Families. All the matters regarding the political workings of the Alchemist Association and the associated families were left to her advisors. They dealt with everything. She just received reports after the matter was resolved.

“You’re a very hands off leader, aren’t you?” asked Kari with a small grin.

Cathrine felt like she’d been dumped in a tub of ice. The look in Kari’s eyes had been polite up to this point, but now it seemed more condescending and mocking. She felt like she should be angry by those eyes, but she was too scared to feel much of anything.

“What… what exactly do you want me to do about this?” asked Cathrine, swallowing hard.

“Nothing. I don’t want you to do anything.” Kari’s answer surprised her, but the woman continued before she could breathe a sigh of relief. “We will handle this matter ourselves. All I want is for you to turn a blind eye to this matter. Once we have dealt with the Incelflos Family, you can announce their misdeeds and say they were punished by your Alchemist Association.”

“N-now wait just a minute!” Cathrine stood up and pressed her hands on the table. “Just what do you plan on doing?!”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Kari remained seated and still looked calm, despite Cathrine’s nearly bloodshot eyes staring down at her. “The Incelflos Family is a blight upon your association and a danger to the continued prosperity of the Northern Plains. We can’t have people like them ruining your good name, so we are going to dismantle the entire family for you.”

“Dismantle…? You can’t! The Incelflos Family might not be filled with good people, but they are still one of our strongest pillars of support! Without them, more than a fourth of our Master Alchemists will disappear! We do not have enough Master Alchemists that we can afford to lose so many at once!”

If Cathrine had felt like she’d been dumped in a tub of ice before, then now she felt like she was in the middle of a snowy peak during a blizzard. This woman spoke of destroying a family so easily, like it was nothing. That frightened Cathrine more than she cared to admit. However, it was the look in Kari’s eyes, the expression that said they were doing this and no one could stop them, that really caused her heart to stop beating.

“Actually, I can,” Kari said. “We have already gone to Commander Ashten and informed him of what happened. He has agreed to support us. If you try to fight against us, we will simply have him deal with you.”

Cathrine’s legs lost strength as she fell back into her seat. Her breathing felt constricted. This was a disaster. A complete disaster. When she’d brought Fay on as an alchemist for the Alchemist Association, she never could have imagined something like this would happen.

“Don’t worry,” Kari soothed. “While you will be losing some decent alchemists, we aren’t going to destroy that family without giving you something of equal value.”

“What?” Cathrine looked at Kari’s face, her own expression quite bitter. “What can you possibly give me that can compensate for the loss of fifty of our best Master Alchemists?”

“Fay?” Kari looked at the woman with the toddler in her arms.

Fay stepped forward and summoned something from her storage ring. They were scrolls. There were only seven in total, made from brand new paper. The redhead set each scroll down on the table, then stepped back.

Cathrine realized without having to look at them that these scrolls were recipes for alchemy pills, but she didn’t think these pills would be worth an entire family of alchemists. Even so, she was curious. What sort of pill recipes could this woman possibly think were worth fifty Master Alchemists?

She unrolled the first one and looked at it.

Her heart stopped beating.

Then her heart rate sped up.

“This… this is… Elemental Enlightenment Pill?!”

Cathrine stared in shock at the pill recipe in her hands. The Elemental Enlightenment Pill was one of the legendary lost recipes that had disappeared from the continent during the Great Catastrophe. Said to be a pill that was capable of helping someone break through the bottleneck between the Second and Third States of Spiritualism, this pill was one that alchemists had been attempting to recreate for a thousand years without success.

“How… did you get this…?” she asked.

Kari’s response was to smile. “Does it matter? If you agree to turn a blind eye to what we’re about to do, then I’ll agree to give those seven pill recipes to you.”

Cathrine bit her lip. Her hands were trembling. As the top ranked alchemist family, the Incelflos Family was admittedly important, but these pill recipes could launch the Alchemist Association to new heights.

She looked at another scroll. Yin Body Reinforcing Pill. Another lost pill, though not as important or legendary as the Elemental Enlightenment Pill. Even so, this was another pill that had been lost to the ages and could not be recreated by anyone.

“I… will turn a blind eye to what you are about to do,” Cathrine finally said, looking away from the recipe in her hands with great effort.

The loss of an alchemist family would indeed be a huge blow, but the truth was the Incelflos Family had still committed numerous crimes. That they had managed to get away with it for so long was not because they were skilled at covering up their misdeeds, but because they were too important to the Alchemist Association to lose. However, even if she lost two hundred Master Alchemists, these pills would easily make up for that loss until more Master Alchemists could be trained.

“I’m glad we could come to an agreement,” Kari said, her smile widening.

***

The Incelflos Family did not live in Midgard, though they did have an estate there. It was a large mansion built near the western wall, surrounded by a large wall that was at least ten meters tall. While the wall looked like it was solid and easily defensible, it was not built with the intention of defending the family who lived there but keeping others from seeing what that family was up to.

“As expected of a family of alchemists,” Kari muttered as she stood on the roof of a building alongside Fay. “Not only is their second house massive, but it’s guarded by over a hundred Spiritualists who have reached the Second State of Spiritualism.”

Indeed, on top of the five meter tall wall surrounding the mansion, there were also nearly a hundred Spiritualists patrolling the wall. Slipping in would be impossible unless the person doing the sneaking was able to move faster than the speed of light.

“So how should we do this?” asked Fay.

“There’s no need to be subtle,” Kari said without hesitation. “Commander Ashten already knows what’s going to happen and has agreed not to interfere, and now Cathrine has also agreed to turn a blind eye. We should simply destroy this mansion and the people in it.”

Fay glanced at her sister with an odd look in her eyes. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re scary when you’re angry?”

“I’m not angry.” Kari smiled at Fay, but it was a dark smile. “I’m furious.”

Fay did not say anything, but even though she was stronger than Kari, she could not help but shudder at the tone in Kari’s voice.

Since they weren’t going in with a plan, Kari and Fay decided to merely assault the mansion from the front. The two disappeared from the roof and reappeared several meters from the gate. Two Spiritualists were standing guard. They both looked shocked when the two women appeared before them, but they proved how capable they were by blocking Kari’s and Fay’s path.

“Halt! This is the property of the Incelflos Family! Unless you are expected by a member of their family, you’d best turn—”

That was all the man could say, for in the next second, his body was embedded into the wall, having been sent sailing backward by Kari’s kick.

The other Spiritualist didn’t do anything. Everything had happened so fast that he couldn’t even respond, which left him wide open. Fay capitalized on that man’s distracted state, slamming her two palms into his chest. The armor he wore shattered as he flew backward and slammed into the wall like his counterpart.

“All right.” Kari rotated her right arm as though she was stretching it out. “I know you’re stronger than me, but let me take care of this door for you.”

The door she was talking about was actually the massive iron gate that kept people from entering and exiting the Incelflos Family’s estate at will. Not only was it around nine meters tall, it was also several dozen centimeters thick. A Spiritualist at the Second State of Spiritualism would find it impossible to break down unless they had a technique like Erica’s Rising Phoenix Ascent, which she had used to destroy the gates at Vahn in Kari’s previous life.

Kari cracked her knuckles as she walked up to the gate. She placed a hand on it, channeled her Spiritual Power, and then sent the light element through the gate. While her element could not be considered the most destructive, if she compressed that light to the limit and then forced it to expand, it could turn into a destructive force comparable to fire.

Cracks emerged from the gate, expanding and growing as light shot out from within those cracks. It looked like the iron gate might rupture, but then, just as it appeared the gate would explode, it suddenly disappeared in a burst of light. Of course, it hadn’t really disappeared. Kari had used the light burst to disintegrate the gate.

“Are you showing off?” asked Fay as she walked past Kari and the now gateless archway.

Kari grinned as she caught up to the woman. “Maybe a little. You, Lin, and Siv are so much stronger than me. I feel like I have to show off every now and then to prove I can keep up.”

Fay didn’t say anything, but it wasn’t because she didn’t have anything to say. They were surrounded.

“Young beauties, I do not know what you two are doing here, but unless you are planning to show us a good time, it might be better if you leave.”

The person who said these words stood before them, a man dressed in silver armor with Runes etched onto the surface. Kari recognized the Runes. They formed a protective barrier that could block Spiritual Techniques to some extent, but they had clearly been made by an amatuer.

The Spiritualists around them all wore lecherous grins at those words. A few were chuckling, but most merely smiled as if they were already imagining what they would do to her and Fay.

“Fay? Do you want to handle this, or should I?” asked Kari.

Fay did not say anything, stepping forward to confront the man before her. The guard took a step back. His cheeks had already turned a little red as he looked at her. Perhaps it was because she wasn’t wearing armor but had instead dressed in her normal clothing, but he probably didn’t think she was a threat and only saw a beautiful woman.

“Are you planning to show me a good time?” asked the man with a lecherous grin.

“Something like that,” Fay said with a nod.

And then she disappeared.

The man in front of her did not have enough time to be surprised because Fay struck him not even half a second after vanishing. She planted her fist in his face. A powerful shockwave erupted between them before the man flew backwards, smashing into several dozen guards and sending them all flying.

Before the other guards had a chance to respond, Kari created a golden ranseur made out of light and disappeared within a Flash Step. Screams erupted from the guards as she methodically attacked them without killing them. She would not needlessly slaughter these people who were only here because they’d been paid, but she wouldn’t let them off either.

Her first attacked removed a Spiritualist’s hand. As the man screamed, she kicked him in the chest, sending him flying into another guard. Then she spun the ranseur around and sliced into the back of someone’s left leg. The attack severed their tendons and sent them to the ground. That person would have to live the rest of his life unable to walk.

“Shit! This woman’s strong! Quickly surround her! Surround her and attack!”

The Spiritualists finally got their acts together and surrounded Kari. All of them released their Spiritual Auras, then entered the Second State of Spiritualism and launched a concentrated wave of Spiritual Techniques. There was no rhyme or reason to these techniques. Some were fire, some were lightning, some were water, and still some were wind.

Kari jumped into the air. The numerous Spiritual Techniques exploded underneath her. A fierce wind shoved her higher into the air, causing her to ascend far above the heads of everyone else. After reaching a certain point, she began falling back down, but she didn’t panic. With narrowed eyes, Kari produced several needles of light, which she threw at the people down below. None of her attacks were fatal, but each needle had the effect of paralysing the people she struck.

As Kari lightly landed on the ground, she looked over at Fay, who was just beating the snot out of everybody near her. Unlike Kari, who relied on technique, Fay relied on force. Her attacks blasted people off their feet. Each time one of her fists sailed through the air, one or more bodies were sent flying, crashing into the ground and not getting back up. They weren’t dead. However, their bodies were certainly broken.

Kari stopped focusing on Fay and instead continued systematically destroying every person nearby. She removed arms, legs, and crippled all the people present. This was their punishment for following a family like the Incelflos Family. Before long, Kari and Fay were standing in the middle of a pile of groaning bodies.

“And that’s the last of them,” Kari said. “Let’s hurry up and deal with that Rohan guy. Then we can take care of the rest of his family.”

Fay frowned at her. “You seem oddly enthusiastic about this.”

“Do I?” Kari shrugged. “I guess I’m just looking forward to putting another self-entitled prick in his place.”

It was easy for anyone who knew her to see that Kari was angry. She very rarely spoke like this. The fact that she had also mentioned “another self-entitled prick” made it easy for Fay to realize the reason her sister was so angry. This Rohan character was a lot like Grant Leucht, and if there was one person Kari despised, it was that man.

No wonder she was so enthusiastic.

With all the guards indisposed, there was no one to stop them from entering the large mansion. Kari destroyed the door and the surrounding wall, walked into the entrance hall, and looked around before gesturing for Fay to follow her.

There were no guards inside of the mansion, but there were a lot of maids dressed in skimpy uniforms. Each one was a beauty that could have put the stars to shame. Kari felt her heart ache when she saw these women who had obviously been forced into servitude and brainwashed by the master of this house. Just thinking about that man attempting to do this to Fay sent her into a fit of rage.

The maids panicked and ran away when they saw the two, but Kari barely paid them any mind as she destroyed doors and blasted holes in the wall in her search for Rohan.

“What the hell is going on here?!”

While her attacks didn’t seem to do anything more than cause property damage, the man in question eventually ran out of wherever he’d been holed up. He was only wearing a loose robe and nothing else. His hair was disheveled, sweat covered his body, and it was clear from his sopping wet dick that he’d been having sex.

Kari turned to him with blank eyes. “Are you Rohan?”

“Ah?” The moment Rohan saw Kari, it was as if he’d suddenly gotten tunnel vision. He was so surprised by the woman’s beauty that he couldn’t even respond for a moment. “T-that… yes, that is right? And you are… Fay?” He finally noticed that Kari wasn’t alone. “What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you finally came to see me? Who is this woman with you? Is she—”

The man was asking questions at a rapid fire rate, but Kari no longer cared to hear this man’s voice. She raised a hand, pointed a finger, and sent a sharp burst of the light element at the man. The lance of light pierced him through the heart. It was an instant death. Rohan fell backward, striking the ground with a dull thud. It happened so fast even Fay could only stare stupidly at the corpse.

Kari snorted. “And that takes care of that. Come on, Fay. Let’s find all the dirt we can on this family. We’ll hand the evidence off to Commander Ashten and let him take care of the rest.”

“Yeah… okay…”

Fay followed Kari as the woman began searching for an office or another room where incriminating files might be kept. As she trailed after her sister, Fay could only shake her head. Kari might have seemed like the most polite and mild-mannered person among them, but when it came to her family’s well-being and safety, she was easily the most vicious.