WIEDERGEBURT Act V: Chapter 15

“Darling, do you really believe this commander guy will be willing to divulge the information on these killings to you?”

“I think he will. When you and Kari were talking with Alexis, he came to the Antiquity Inn and apologized to me. That’s when I learned about Fritz and how he originally possessed the lightning element.”

It was after the end of the first round of the tournament, and I was on my way with Lin to visit Commander Ashten, who I was told left the arena immediately after due to an emergency situation.

Kari, Fay, Siv, Raul were currently with Erica and Alexis. Since I didn’t think all of us were needed for this, it was just me and Lin right now. I honestly would have gone alone. Lin, however, had been adamant in coming with me, and I didn’t have a reason to refuse her.

The seven towers located within the center of Midgard were the most prominent features of this massive city. The closer we got, the larger they became, until they looked like goliaths piercing the sky. Lin could not help but let out a loud exclamation when we reached them.

“How can humans make something so big?!” she asked.

“I don’t think humans made these,” I said as I walked into the central tower. Lin scrambled after me.

Every tower looked relatively similar. The very first floor was dedicated to what could be considered a lobby. While the Midgard Spiritual Knights were not a sect, they were in charge of Midgard’s safety and security, so whenever someone had something they wanted to report, they did so on this floor. Even now, I could see several people sitting at benches and chairs as they spoke with a Spiritualists dressed in the symbolic armor typical of the Midgard Spiritual Knights.

“Excuse me? Did you need to file a report with us?” a man asked as he walked up to me and Lin.

“Actually, I was hoping to speak with Commander Ashten,” I said.

The man’s smile became fixed. “I am terribly sorry, Sir, but Commander Ashten is not only busy at the moment, unless you have a high amount of authority, or are the leader for one of the Six Great Sects, you cannot see him.”

While I couldn’t say this man’s answer surprised me, I almost sighed when he gave it. This would pose a problem.

Lin’s tail bristled as she hissed at the man. “Listen here, you pompous snotwad! This princess’ husband is the strongest person in the entire world, and he has already spoken with your commander several times! Let us see him now!”

I almost snorted at Lin’s insult. Snotwad. That was probably the most original insult I had ever heard. I only managed to restrain myself with an effort of sheer will. On the other hand, the man who had just been insulted had several veins throbbing on his forehead and looked ten seconds away from exploding.

“Listen here, snake. This is the headquarters for the Midgard Spiritual Knights. Do not go thinking you can just casually insult one of its members without receiving punishment!”

Lin drew herself up on her tail and stared down at the man. “And just who is going to punish this princess? You? A pathetic little Spiritualist who has only reached the Second State of Spiritualism two weeks ago? Ha! Do not make this princess laugh. Now hurry up and get your commander, or this princess will crush you like a pancake beneath her tail.”

The Midgard Spiritual Knight’s entire face burned with anger and shame as Lin tore into him, speaking in a voice so loud every person present could hear it. I glanced around. Several of the other Midgard Spiritual Knights were pointing and laughing at the man, and even some of the people filing reports were snickering behind their hands. I myself wished I could laugh, but that wouldn’t have been very appropriate.

By this point, the Midgard Spiritual Knight’s entire body was shaking with rage, and I could tell he was seconds away from attacking Lin. I realized I needed to stop this from getting out of hand. If this man did attack Lin, then she would retaliate, and if she retaliated, this man would probably be accidentally killed.

“What is going on here?”

And yet, just before I could say something, a calm and cool voice spoke up. The Midgard Spiritual Knight froze like someone had used a Spiritual Ice Technique on him. Lin and I looked in the direction of the voice to find Commander Ashten walking over to us.

“Uh… Sir—no! Commander, these two were—”

“Commander Ashten,” I said, turning to face the man. “I wanted to speak with you about the matter we discussed the other day. Someone said you had already left the arena after the first round ended, so I came here.”

“I understand,” Commander Ashten said after a moment. He hesitated and looked at Lin.

“Don’t worry. Lin is my wife. You can trust her,” I said.

Commander Ashten’s face took on an odd quality that I couldn’t figure out the meaning of, but then he gestured for us to follow him before he turned around and headed toward the elevator. Lin and I followed after him. Behind us, the flabbergasted Midgard Spiritual Knight we’d been arguing with watched with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

“Waaa! This thing moves?!”

The moment we entered the elevator, Commander Ashten pressed a button that closed the doors and made the elevator move. Lin squawked in shock and latched onto me. The blood was already in the process of draining from her face.

“Darling! This chamber is moving! W-we’re no longer on the ground!”

I chuckled at how panicked Lin sounded right now. Because of how powerful her earth element was, she was always connected to the earth. This also meant she was practically invincible on the ground. However, if you could get her off the ground, she lost nearly half of her power. Subsequently, because she was so intimate with her element, she disliked not being in contact with it.

“These elevators were made by the dwoerg,” I told her. “It utilizes over seven million Runes to operate.”

“This princess does not know anything about that, but she knows she does not like this one bit!”

“Just hold on to me the entire time. Don’t let go.”

“She has no intention of ever letting go!”

I felt a little bad for Commander Ashten, who looked really uncomfortable as he shifted on his feet while listening to our conversation. It wasn’t like our conversation was intimate or anything. Even so, I could tell he was a man who generally did not concern himself with relationships or intimacy.

The elevator eventually stopped and we exited. Lin was the first. She rushed out of the elevator and dragged me along behind her. After that, the still bemused commander took the lead, walking to a private meeting chamber with several chairs arranged around a round table. There were also a number of bookshelves and cabinets lining the walls. That said, this chamber was very sparse and had nearly no decorations to speak of.

“You said you wanted to discuss the matter we talked about yesterday,” Commander Ashten prompted.

“That’s right.” I nodded. “I’ve been giving what you told me a lot of thought. There is no way someone can gain a second element so quickly. It is especially impossible for someone to reach the Third State of Spiritualism for an element they were not born with in less than twenty or even thirty years, and yet this man apparently has.”

“I suspect he gained this element through artificial means, though I do not know what those means were,” Commander Ashten confessed.

“There is a ritual among the lamia that can absorb a person’s Spiritual Power and turn it into nourishment for an unborn child,” Lin said, divulging one of the lamia’s greatest secrets like it was no big deal. “Maybe his ritual is like that?”

If Commander Ashten was disturbed by this new information, he did not say anything. Cupping a hand to his chin, he pondered what she told him, then sighed.

“That might be it, but without solid proof or knowledge of this ritual, I cannot say whether that is the case with any certainty.”

“We can ask Morrigan if she might know something,” I said, then pressed on. “Regardless of how this man acquired his darkness element, I have reason to believe he is the one responsible for all the killings you mentioned.”

Commander Ashten sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The fact that he would give such a gesture told me how tired he was.

“I believe you are right. In fact, I already suspected him myself. However, we have no proof, and without proof, we cannot do anything.”

“But what if we caught him in the act?” I asked.

Commander Ashten frowned. “How do you plan to do that?”

“These murders aren’t random. Whoever is killing people, they are targeting Spiritualists. What’s more, this person is sick. When Rinne of the Battling Valkyries was killed, the person who used Spiritual Drain on her also violated her. Right now, Alexis and her Battling Valkyries are enraged and seeking blood. She has agreed to help us draw out the perpetrator by using the members of her sect as bait,” I quickly explained what Alexis and I had discussed during the tournament. Commander Ashten did not say anything as he listened to me with narrowed eyes.

Lin was also silent, but I think that was because she was still shaken. While she could feel the earth through this tower, it was not as strong as when she was on the ground floor. She probably couldn’t wait to go back down.

After several seconds of silence, Commander Ashten took a deep breath. “I normally would never ask an outsider for help, but my Midgard Spiritual Knights are baffled by this case. We have not been able to find the killer, and more people are dying the longer we leave this unresolved. I just got back from another murder not long ago. You are right about this man being sick. The victim was a female Spiritualist belonging to the Divine Sword Sect. She had been thoroughly violated.”

“In that case, can I see a map of Midgard? And if possible, please mark the map to show where all of the victims were killed,” I requested.

Commander Ashten nodded before heading toward one of the cabinets. I realized when he opened it that there were dozens of scrolls inside. Each one appeared to be a map of Midgard, which the Midgard Spiritual Knight Commander unrolled on the table before taking a feathered quill and marking two hundred spots on the map with an X pattern.

“These are all the areas where the victims were killed,” he said.

Looking at the markings revealed absolutely nothing. The victims were all over the place. It looked like whoever was killing these people did so at random, like they were an opportunist who merely killed whenever the chance presented itself. No matter what angle I looked at this map from, nothing changed.

“It doesn’t look like there’s any pattern to the killings or their location,” I said at last.

Commander Ashten gave me a grim smile. “That is why we have been so baffled. If this killer had some kind of pattern, we could use it to predict where he would kill his next victim and track him. However, look at this mess. He’s killing people completely at random. This makes it impossible for us to know where he will appear next, and since we don’t even know what he looks like…”

I understood. It was impossible to find a man when you didn’t even know what he looked like. They were searching for a single Spiritualist within a sea of Spiritualists. Even someone who could Spiritual Perception would have trouble locating one person with so little information to go on.

“In that case, it looks like baiting them really is the only option.” I sighed and tugged on my bangs. “I’m heading to the Battling Valkyries’ branch office. My other wives are there with Alexis. I’ll let her know what I found out, come up with a plan, and contact you again.”

“That sounds fine,” Commander Ashten nodded, then paused. “Wait. Did you just say wives?”

“Come on, Lin. Let’s go.”

I took Lin’s hand, ignored the flabbergasted expression on Commander Ashten’s face, and left for the elevator.

Poor Lin screamed on the way down the elevator.

My ears were ringing by the time we got off.

***

Lin and I went back to the Battling Valkyries branch office after our meeting with Commander Ashten ended. We found the rest of my wives sitting in a lounge with Alexis and Erica. Kari was sipping some kind of lime green beverage, while Siv was sleeping with her head resting on Fay’s shoulder. Raul was also there. Like Siv, he was sleeping on Fay. The redhead looked like she had become a sandwich.

“You are back,” Alexis said. “How did it go?”

I sighed and shook my head as I walked hand in hand with Lin into the room. “I was able to speak with Commander Ashten and learned what he knows, but I’m afraid the knowledge won’t help us catch this killer. On the plus side, he has agreed to not stop you and the Battling Valkyries. I think he’s willing to accept any help he can get at this point.”

Lin sat down next to Kari, who scooted over slightly to accommodate the lamia. She became rather surprised when her younger sister grabbed her arm in a fierce hold and began shivering.

“What’s wrong, Lin?” she asked.

“C-can’t… no ground… moving floor,” Lin mumbled.

Kari raised an eyebrow, face expressing how befuddled she was quite clearly, and then sent that same questioning gaze to me.

“We found out she doesn’t like elevators,” I said.

“Ah.”

Kari nodded as though everything now made sense. Lin shivered again at the mere mention of that dreadful word.

Alexis and Erica frowned at me as they sipped their own drinks. The one in Alexis’ hand was bright red like blood and seemed to be glowing. I could tell it was alcoholic because of the strong scent wafting from it. On the other hand, Erica appeared to only be drinking naturally carbonated water. It was sparkling and bubbly.

“Why won’t the knowledge he knows help us?” asked Erica.

“Because it hasn’t helped them.” I shrugged, then looked at Alexis. “Do you have a map of Midgard?”

Alexis nodded, set her glass on the table, and stood up. She made her way over to a desk before coming back seconds later with a scroll in her hand. I noticed once the scroll unfurled that it was a highly detailed map of Midgard, just like the one that Commander Ashten used.

Once she set the map on the table, I summoned an ink bottle and a feathered quill from my storage ring. Dipping the quill in the ink, I began marking the places on the map where people had been killed, using the memory from my meeting with Commander Ashten to remember where the murders happened. Each area was marked by an X. Alexis, Erica, and Kari leaned in with frowns on their faces. I was sure Fay would have leaned forward as well, but she currently couldn’t move.

“What can you tell me about the killer and his patterns?” I asked.

“Nothing.” Kari was the first to notice it. She sighed and leaned back. “I can’t tell a single thing about his patterns. It looks like he was killing people at random.”

“Exactly,” I said. “This man has no real pattern for killing people. I think when he finds a strong Spiritualist, he just follows them and kills them whenever they are alone.”

“That would make finding him difficult,” Alexis said as she, too, discovered what the issue was.

Erica discovered the problem seconds later. “Then what are we supposed to do? How do we catch this person?”

That was indeed the problem. How were we supposed to find the killer when he didn’t seem to be staying in one area but randomly appearing wherever he pleased? The answer was that we couldn’t.

“How big would you say Midgard is?” asked Kari.

Alexis frowned at the question but answered nonetheless. “Midgard is about… I want to say it’s around 430 square kilometers, give or take.”

That was a lot of ground to cover. Thinking about it, even if Alexis mobilized the entire Battling Valkyries, there still wouldn’t be enough people to cover all that ground. There wasn’t even enough people to cover a third of that. We could never search the entire city for a single person we had no knowledge on.

“Hmm… I don’t think we need to worry about searching the whole city,” Kari murmured at last. “Our goal isn’t to search for him, but to make him come to us. The only issue I’m seeing is that none of the Battling Valkyries except maybe you two can fight against this man, meaning they will be in danger unless we have some means of getting to them quickly.”

Kari studied the map again, tapping her index finger on the coffee table. Lin was watching the blonde woman with her golden eyes. Alexis and Erica were also focused on Kari as she thought long and hard about this problem.

“If it is just getting to them, couldn’t Lin do that using the earth element?” Fay asked.

It seemed like an inane question rather than a suggestion, but it caused all of us to look over at Fay, who didn’t appear to realize how genius her idea was.

Of course. Lin, as someone who had reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism, could travel instantly through the ground to reach any location—provided the distance wasn’t too far. There were, of course, limits to how fast she could move. For example, she could not instantly travel from Midgard to the Endless Desert. That said, she could probably make the trip in under an hour. That was how incredible her ability was.

“Fay, you are amazing!” Kari suddenly shouted.

Fay looked startled. “I-I am?”

“I could kiss you right now!”

“Please don’t.”

Kari’s eyes were sparkling, and she looked so excited, like she normally did when she was getting ready to explore a new ruin. I’d seen this look enough times to know what it meant.

“You have an idea?” I asked.

“I do.” Kari beamed at me. “It will take a day or so to implement, however. I need to make some items we can use for this, but if I work through the night and tomorrow’s tournament, I should be able to finish them in time.”

It sounded like Kari was planning to work overnight without sleeping, which was something Spiritualists like us could do. We didn’t necessarily need sleep. Our bodies were filled with incredible amounts of Spiritual Power, which kept us energized at all times. Of course, that didn’t mean we didn’t enjoy our sleep, but we could go several weeks without rest and still feel perfectly fine.

“Alexis, do you have an empty room I can use?” Kari asked.

Alexis blinked. That was the only sign she gave that she was surprised by the seemingly random question. Even so, she answered with a nod.

“We have several empty rooms you can use.” She looked at the woman by her side. “Erica?”

“Yes, Lady Alexis,” Erica said, standing smoothly to her feet and smiling at Kari. “Follow me please.”

Kari bounded to her feet with an energy I hadn’t seen from her in awhile. After saying goodbye to all of us, she left the room with Erica.

“Do you have any idea what your wife is planning?” asked Alexis.

“Not a one,” I said with a smile. “But whatever her plan is, I imagine it will work. I’ve never seen one of Kari’s plans go awry.”

***

I did not see Kari at all the next day. After Erica escorted her to an unused room, my wife locked herself inside and didn’t come out for any reason. While that did worry me a little, I had confidence that she wouldn’t do anything to harm herself like not eat in favor of working nonstop.

My other wives and I had spent the night at the Battling Valkyries’ branch office, and so when the sun rose in the sky, our group ate breakfast with Alexis, Erica, and Janet before we all left for the arena.

Even though it was early in the morning, there were many people heading into the arena. Different people of different species were all congregating here. I could see groups of lamia, catfolk, and humans. They were the main races found in the Northern Plains, though there were also some people who looked like lizards. They were nothing like Siv, who appeared almost entirely human if you discounted her wings, tail, and the scales along her skin. These people were like bipedal reptiles. Lizardfolk was what I believed they were called.

Erica and Janet parted ways with us and traveled toward the competitors booth. Meanwhile, we traveled upstairs and entered Alexis’ private viewing booth.

Someone was waiting for us. Multiple someones.

“Commander Ashten, Rainere,” I said with a slight frown. “What can we do for you?”

“Come now,” Rainere began with a friendly smile. “Can we not just be here to visit you some more. We never got to finish our conversation from the other day.”

“If you wish to converse with Eryk, do so on your own time,” Alexis said with a huff as she walked over to a chair and sat herself down. She then gestured toward the spot next to her and glared at me.

I gave Rainere and apologetic smile before sitting down. Rainere didn’t seem to take offense as he chuckled. It seemed he was well-acquainted with Alexis. Actually, now that was I thinking about it, he seemed to be the only person who could truly get under this young-looking woman’s skin.

Rainere didn’t stand on ceremony as he walked over and tried to take the chair on my right, but he soon found himself blocked by Lin, who unceremoniously plopped down beside me, curling her tail so it rested lengthwise across the bottom of the viewing glass. She didn’t seem to realize the sect leader’s intentions. Rainere looked putout as he stalked over to an empty chair and sat himself down. On the other hand, Alexis was smiling like she’d just won first place in a stall vendor’s lottery.

Commander Ashten came up to me. “About the matter we were discussing yesterday. If you come up with a plan, be sure to let me know. I will mobilize my forces to assist you.”

I glanced at Alexis very briefly before nodding. “We will do that. Actually, my wife Kari is currently in the process of creating a plan to deal with this. I’m sure she will be done by the time we get back from the second round matches.”

At the mention of my wife, Commander Ashten frowned and glanced at Lin. I could tell what he was thinking. The other day, I had introduced Fay as my wife during the tournament, and then when we met at the Midgard Spiritual Knights’ headquarters, I had introduced Lin as my wife. There were four women traveling with me. It was pretty obvious from this that all of them were, in fact, married to me.

With a shake of his head, Commander Ashten pardoned himself and left the room, leaving Rainere with our group.

“Daddy!” Raul suddenly waddled up to me. “Tournament start soon?”

I nodded and reached out to ruffle his hair. “It will probably start in a bit.”

“Watch with me?”

“Sure, I’ll watch with you.”

With a grin, I let the boy grab my hand and pull me out of the seat. Fay was with us, and she smiled tenderly as Raul also grabbed her hand and pulled us to the large viewing window. The only thing we had to be careful of was Lin’s tail. It was still resting against the glass.

“It looks like he is going to take after you,” I said to Fay.

“You think so?” she asked, twirling a strand of fiery hair between her fingers.

“Definitely. Just look at how excited he’s getting about this tournament.”

I remembered how, years ago when Fay was trying to become strong enough to take control of her life, she and I entered the Spiritualist Grand Tournament. During that time, Fay had fought against many opponents and realized how exhilarating combat was.

Outside of spending time with her family, there were only two activities Fay loved beyond anything else: Alchemy and combat. She enjoyed pushing her body to its limits by fighting strong opponents. Sadly, now that she was at the Fourth State of Spiritualism, the only people who posed a threat to her were myself and Lin.

That made me wonder whether or not I should talk to Fay about refining more Yin-Yang Spiritual Enhancement Pills so Alexis, Rainere, Erica, Tungsten, and Commander Ashten could reach the Fourth State of Spiritualism. It would certainly help us out a lot if we had more people with that kind of strength. If we’d had people at the Fourth State of Spiritualism in my previous life, we would not have suffered so many losses when the Sekbeist invaded our realm.

“Dad! Tournament start!”

At the sound of Raul’s voice, I shook those thoughts off and decided to focus on the tournament. I could always talk to Fay about this later.