WIEDERGEBURT Act III: Chapter 47

She was dying. I knew it would happen eventually. It was inevitable. For the past several months, I had watched her grow weaker, watched the episodes where she collapses grow more frequent and last longer. Her body was giving out.

I had spent an entire year with this woman now, learning from her, listening to her, being saved by her. She taught me everything she could. I learned alchemy, learned how to get in touch with my Spiritual Power, how to become more intimate with my element. Thanks to her, I had a far clearer understanding of my strengths and weaknesses than I ever had before.

It was all thanks to her.

I suppose that was what made this situation all the more bitter for me.

“Why are you crying?” she asked.

“Because… you’ve given me… so much, and I… I can’t do… a single thing for you…”

She was lying on the bed, her hood draped over her face, casting what little I could see in shadows. I sat on the old chair she often sat on when eating, though recently she’d been spending more and more time in bed. In fact, it had been about a month since she left the bed. Back when she had first been forced to remain in bed, she had been able to at least sit up, but now she couldn’t even do that much.

“Is that how you see this?” she asked, and I thought I sensed a smile in her voice. “Because if so, then you and I see things very differently.” There was a prolonged pause as the woman sighed. “After the Demon Beast Invasion—no, even before that, when I was searching for a way to cure my Spiritual Poisoning, I had nothing to live for. I was alive, but I wasn’t living. That changed last year, when you returned to Nevaria and I discovered you, unconscious in the remains of our former home. Knowing that I wasn’t alone filled me with so much joy, and being able to spend time with you has given my life meaning. I now believe that the reason I didn’t die back then was so I could meet and help you now. Never forget, you gave me a reason for all the years I have struggled just to survive another day. Thank you.”

I gritted my teeth against the onslaught of emotions welling up inside of me, but tears continued to fall from my face, spilling over my cheeks and dripping onto my clothes.

Ever since Kari and Kayli were killed, I’d been without emotions. No, it would be more accurate to say the only emotion I had left was hatred. That was what I believed, but I’d begun to realize after meeting this woman that my previous thoughts weren’t true at all. My emotions had simply been buried so deep that I could no longer feel them… until now.

I didn’t think it would ever be possible to feel a pain like this again.

“Even so… why can’t I? Why can’t I ever save the people who matter to me?” My own helplessness at the situation came crashing down upon me. “I couldn’t save my wife and daughter. I let them get killed because I was too weak to protect them. And now you’re lying here, dying from the same disease you cured me from, but I can’t do the same for you. How is that fair?”

“I don’t think ‘fairness’ has anything to do with life,” the woman said with a strained chuckle. Her breathing was growing labored. “Life is not about fairness. It is about chance. Some people are dealt a bad hand at birth. Some people are blessed from the moment they are born. Some people are able to turn their misfortune into fortune through opportunities they received by chance, while others will never be able to raise themselves up no matter how much they fight against fate.”

She paused here to catch her breath. I could hear the raspy gasps from beneath her hood. Her breathing grew ever more labored, like her lungs were giving out.

“I was dealt a bad hand. Life was never fair to me. Chance determined that my life would never be what I wished it to be, and thus I would always have to struggle just so I could survive. But life is also what we make it. I struggled for years, wondering what I even had to live for before you came along. You were my chance. My life has not been fair, but because of that, I had the chance to meet you, and I feel incredibly blessed.”

I didn’t want to hear this, but I forced myself to listen. She was on death’s door, but here she was, telling me that I had given her a purpose, that I had done something good. I didn’t want to believe it. After everything that had happened, after failing to protect the people who mattered, I simply couldn’t believe that I had ever done anything good in my life.

But I listened to this woman, who was strong, who had survived countless hardships, and who was telling me that she was grateful to have met me. If nothing else, I would choose to believe what she was saying.

“T-thank you,” I said through a choked sob. “I also… feel blessed to have met you. You saved me, not just physically, but emotionally too. I was on the verge of becoming a monster, and you stopped me.”

The hood shifted. I think the woman had turned her head toward me.

“If you’re really grateful, then I have a few requests. Will you listen to them?”

“Of course.”

“My first request is to never take off my hood. The face underneath this hood is one that I’ve grown to despise. It is not the face I was born with, so I’d prefer you never see it.” I nodded to show that I would do as requested. “Second, I want you to bury me in Nevaria—specifically, I’d appreciate it if you buried me beneath the mountain where the Imperial Royal Palace sat.” I nodded again. “My final request is that you get rid of the Demon Beasts infesting Nevaria. It doesn’t have to be now, and it doesn’t have to be all at once, but I would like it if you could eradicate them.” I nodded one final time. “Thank you. You are a very kind man.”

The woman raised a hand that was shaking like crazy, fingers and arms trembling and twitching. Her body was already at its limit. She shouldn’t have even been able to move. The fact that she could lift this hand was a testament to her strength of will.

How could I do anything but reach out to grab it?

“I think the only regret I have is that I did not meet you when I was younger,” the woman said. “Perhaps if I had, things would have been different.”

I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t think her life would have been different even if she had met me when we were younger. It wasn’t like I had been able to cure Spiritual Poisoning back then. What’s more, I had been with Kari. While I felt like I could honestly admit that I loved this woman, I still loved Kari more. If a choice came down to choose between one or the other… well, I felt awful for thinking it, but I would have chosen Kari.

Silence reigned after her last words. Her breathing had become so labored she could no longer speak, and I didn’t say anything—more like I couldn’t say anything. All I could do was hold her hand as her breathing grew slower and slower, until eventually, it stopped altogether. I waited for a few seconds, then placed her hand on the bed. Reaching out, I put my hand over her chest (I didn’t want to accidentally remove her hood) and felt for her heartbeat.

There was none.

The woman who had saved my life and kept me from turning into a monster was dead.

***

I stood inside of Feinrea’s office, carefully watching the woman as she read from a sheet of parchment with furrowed brows. The woman with orange-tinted red hair was biting her lip.

It had been quite awhile since I found myself in this office. I hadn’t delivered any new alchemy pills to Feinrea as I had been incredibly busy running the Nevarian Braves. The only time we spoke was through correspondence regarding matters like the delivery of Alchemy Pills to the sect for us to sell as a third party.

Feinrea’s office had not really changed in the time that I’d been away, with nothing in the way of decorations. A few columns did line the wall, but that was about it. The only thing this room had was bookshelves, Feinrea’s desk, and the small alchemy garden. The desk normally had an advanced alchemy set sitting on top of it, but that had been stowed away at present, and instead a stack of papers had been placed on the surface.

The woman sitting behind the desk looked the same as always. Her orange-tinted red hair had been tied into a slightly messy bun on her head. Several strands stuck out and a few bangs framed her face. She was still wearing her alchemist robes, which had been heavily modified and showed off a good dose of cleavage. Brown eyes continued reading the contents of the page before she set the parchment down and looked at me.

“This is quite the concoction you’ve invented,” she said at last. “Mixing Red Fire Grass with Giant Toad Oil and the crushed powder an B-rank monster core from a Demon Beast with a fire affinity is going to create quite the volatile mix.” She glanced down at the parchment again. “These other ingredients are… enhancers, if I’m not mistaken.”

The heady scent of plants filled the room. The last time I was here, Feinrea had converted one side of this room into a small alchemy garden. A glance to my left revealed that the garden was coming along quite nicely. There were several plants that I recognized growing in the soft soil.

“That’s right.” I nodded. “The Red Fire Grass, Giant Toad Oil, and monster core powder made from a B-rank monster core with a fire affinity, when mixed together, create a very intense flames that can harm any monster B-rank and below. The army we’re going up against has A-rank Demon Beasts among them. This mixture won’t be effective against those, but even if all we can do is get rid of the Demon Beasts B-rank and below, it will be a huge help in the coming battle.”

Feinrea cupped a hand to her chin and studied the parchment some more.

“We certainly have the ingredients necessary to create this, but it will take awhile to make this in the quantity you want.”

“How long do you estimate it will take?”

“I’d say… about six days.”

“Six days should be fine.” I sighed in relief. “The army won’t arrive for another twenty at least due to its size. We should have plenty of time to set these traps.”

“In that case, I’ll have my alchemists get started on making this right away.”

“Thank you.”

“By the way… here is the latest report regarding your earnings from the Alchemist Association.” Feinrea grabbed a sheet of parchment from the desk and held it out to me. “I’ve been sending these to you through our correspondences, but since you’re here, I figured I’d deliver this one in person.”

“Thank you.”

The dried parchment crinkled under my hand as I took it from her, studying the contents in detail, which stated that my total earnings for this month was 654,560 valis and my total earnings for the year was 4,568,920 valis. That was a lot of money. Most of that money had been converted into jewels and was locked away inside a vault owned by the Eiran Family. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure what I would do with all this money.

I spoke with Feinrea for awhile longer, but then I left the Alchemist Association and headed back to the Nevarian Braves headquarters. There was a lot of work that I needed to get done.

Fay was outside in the back sparring with several Spiritualists when I returned. It looked like she was beating up on two younger recruits in a two-on-one battle. I watched her gracefully dodge several attacks before delivering a series of punishing blows with her fist for a moment before heading up to our living quarters. It looked like she was busy.

Kari wasn’t present inside of our living quarters when I arrived, but Lin and Siv were there. They were sitting on one of the two couches with a large leather bound book on the coffee table before them. A bottle of uncorked ink was sitting off to the side. Siv was holding onto a quill. The sound of the quill scratching against parchment echoed around the room.

“Darling, welcome back,” Lin greeted me when I entered.

“Thank you.” I closed the door behind me as Siv stopped writing and looked up. Her eyes brightened as I wandered over to them and checked her work to see how she was progressing. “It looks like you’ve managed to learn a few letters of our alphabet. You’re progressing pretty quickly.”

It hadn’t even been a day since Siv started living with us. I’d asked Lin this morning if she could help Siv learn our language. I think Lin was more receptive to helping because we had sex the night before. She had promised to teach Siv everything she knew, which was a far cry from how reluctant she’d been to speak with this girl the previous day.

I think she felt threatened about having another non-human living with us.

“Siv is… I am doing my best. Learn… Learning language… of humans,” Siv said, using more complete sentences than before. This was probably a result of Lin’s tutelage. It looked like she was a very good teacher.

“I’m glad you’re doing so well. Keep up the good work,” I said before leaning over the couch and placing a kiss on Lin’s cheek. “And you, please keep teaching her. I’d do it myself, but I’m not a very good teacher.”

“You can count on this princess!” Lin said with enthusiasm.

“I know I can.”

Leaving the two girls to their studying, I went behind my desk and grabbed a blank sheet of parchment. There was a large stack of paperwork already waiting for me, but I had something else I needed to do first, which was writing down the details for a sect-assigned B-rank quest. I opened a desk drawer and took out an unopened bottle of ink. After uncorking the lid, I dipped the tip of my quill inside and began writing out the details of the quest, which were as followed:

Quest Rank: B

Quest Details: To dig several trenches in the area highlighted on the map. Trenches must be a minimum of ten meters deep and five meters wide.

Quest Payment: 3,000 valis per one day of labor. Payment will be made based on the number of days worked.

Quest Completion Date: This quest will end on the seventeenth day of this month

Requestor: Eryk Veiger
 

After writing down the quest details, I signed and stamped it with my seal of approval, then stood up and made my way back toward the door.

“Where are you going now, Darling?” asked Lin as she and Siv looked at me.

“I just need speak with Felman and ask him to make several hundred copies of this quest,” I said. “I’ll be right back so just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“Okay.”

I left my living quarters and traveled back down to the lobby where sect members could take quests. The lobby was pretty crowded at present. All the benches were taken up by Spiritualists who looked like they were waiting for something or someone, perhaps members of their party. There were also people sitting or standing around tables and other people standing in front of the quest board or the desk. The two receptionists were quite busy logging down quests that had been accepted and delivering payments for completed quests.

“Dagny, do you know where Felman is?” I asked the receptionist after she delivered a payment to one of the Spiritualists who’d just finished a quest.

“Oh, Master Eryk!” Dagny said in surprise before registering my words. “I think he’s in the storage room checking our supplies.”

“Thank you.”

I entered the door behind the receptionist desk and traveled down a hallway before reaching the storage room. Just as they had said, Felman was there. He had a parchment in his hands and looked like he was studying the list and then checking the supplies to make sure everything was accounted for. I believe we just recently had a new shipment of food and alchemy pills delivered, which would explain his actions.

“Felman,” I said in greeting.

“Master Eryk.” Felman stopped working and straightened his back as he turned to me. “What can I do for you?”

The storage room was pretty large, contained numerous boxes, crates, and bags filled with a variety of different items such as alchemy pills, preserved foods like dried pasta, and equipment such as whetstones. The air was a bit stale because the room wasn’t well-ventilated. Fortunately, nothing inside of this room smelled.

“I need you to make several hundred copies of this quest and inform everyone in the sect about it.” I handed him the sheet of parchment containing the quest details. “This is a sect-assigned quest with a time limit and should be given highest priority. I also want you to send out letters to all of our sect-mates informing them that in two days time, I will have an announcement to make, and they should be present to hear it.”

Felman read over the quest details, raising an eyebrow over something before he looked back at me.

“It says here you’re paying 3,000 valis for a single day of labor, and that the more days they work, the more they get paid. That’s a bit much for just digging trenches, isn’t it?”

I shook my head. “Maybe in normal circumstances, but something has come up recently that makes this task incredibly important. This needs to get done. The higher the pay, the more likely our Spiritualists are to accept it. Money is not an issue.”

With several million valis to my name, even if I were to pay every Spiritualist in our guild for ten days worth of labor, it would still not even be a drop in the bucket.

“Well, all right.” Felman accepted my words easily enough. “I’ll get started on making copies of this quest. I’ll write out the letters after this.”

“Thank you,” I said before heading back to my office.

That paperwork wasn’t going to do itself.

***

During the two days that passed, I managed to get the majority of my paperwork done, though more papers were always coming in. Fortunately, in this time, Empress Hilda had placed Nevaria in a state of emergency, so no new quests were being delivered to me at present. With no new quests, my own paperwork slowed down.

Lin continued teaching Siv how to read, write, and speak the human language. Of course, it hadn’t been that long since she began learning, so Siv still spoke in a halting voice and often corrected herself, but she was improving at a remarkable pace. Kari and Fay also helped Siv a lot. Kari had begun teaching her etiquette while Fay merely spent time with her. I think she believed the dragon girl deserved a break from all the learning.

I did what I could to help out, but I was also busy working. The only time I could even spend with the girls was during dinner, when we took a bath, and at night.

Siv had been watching me a lot. I’d catch her staring at me whenever I was present, but she would look away when she realized I had noticed her.

Perhaps because of how shy she was, Siv had yet to leave our living quarters. I didn’t want to push her, so I didn’t say anything, and it had only been three days since she arrived in Nevaria. She’d eventually have to get used to being outside and around people. However, for now it was fine if she stayed inside like this.

After breakfast on my third day back in Nevaria, I found myself standing on a podium outside with Lin, Kari, Fay, Catalyna, Geirolf, and Bjark all lined up behind me. They were the current highest ranking members of the Nevarian Braves. There were a few other B-rank Spiritualists among the group, but these six—Catalyna, Geirolf, and Bjark in particular—were also among the top ranked in terms of the number of quests completed and their authority.

In front of me were all the Spiritualists who had joined the Nevarian Braves. They filled almost every nook and cranny of the training ground out back, a literal sea of faces and hair.

Today was the day I informed them about what was happening.

“Thank you all for coming,” I said in a voice that carried even to the very back. “I have a grave announcement to make, so be sure to listen well to what I’m about to say.”

Several people had been talking, speculating about what I had called everyone here for no doubt, but they stopped the moment I began speaking.

“At present, a large army of Demon Beasts and intelligent humanoid creatures known as Sekbeists are heading toward Nevaria,” I announced. “Their intentions toward us are anything but benevolent. The Sekbeists are a violent race who murder and pillage everywhere they go, and they have somehow learned how to control Demon Beasts through unknown means. We’ve estimated that they will arrive near our city within the next eighteen days.”

A nervous tension suddenly filled the air. People turned to each other and began talking, discussing what I’d just said and wondering why they were only now hearing about it. My announcement was indeed not a pleasant one.

I waited for them to calm down before continuing.

“At present, Empress Hilda is creating a plan of action to deal with this threat. She has requested the help of the Nevarian Braves, and we will help her.” I paused again, but not for long. “Our current task is a sect-assigned quest made by me. We’ll be digging trenches along key traveling routes of the Demon Beast Mountain Range. This is a B-rank quest and the pay will be 3,000 valis per day worked.”

The nervous tension suddenly gave way to excitement. 3,000 valis was more money than most commoners made in a year. The average living expenses for a commoner was less than 1,000 valis a year. Even most quests accepted by our sect only paid, at most, 400 to 500 valis.

I was willing to pay so much for this quest because I wanted everyone to get onboard with it, because the more people who worked on this, the faster it would get done and the better off we would be. If we could get this done within a few days, I could create another quest to have them fill these trenches with the special oil I was having the Alchemist Association prepare.

“The quest will be handed out by my captains here.” I gestured to Kari, Lin, Fay, Bjark, Catalyna, and Geirolf. Each one of them was holding a stack of parchment. “If you wish to take part in this quest, go see them and ask for the quest details. That is all I have to say for now. Thank you for listening to me.”

I stepped down from the podium with my “captains,” who had basically been appointed due to their contributions to the sect and their abilities. The six followed me as I walked.

Meanwhile, the Spiritualists who had joined us were directed to line up in front of a long table that had been set up beforehand for this moment. Anyone who wanted to take part in this quest could grab the parchment detailing the quest from one of the six people, then take the parchment to Dagny or Eira in the lobby and have the quest logged in their name.

It looked like everyone had lined up. That was to be expected. They were going to make a lot of valis for very little work. It was basically easy money. As I stood there and watched, Felman came up to me.

“It looked like your plan worked,” he said. “Everyone is excited to work on this quest. I suspect it might even be finished within five days instead of ten with this many people working on it. What will you do now?”

“I have to write another quest to enact the next stage of our plan for dealing with the Sekbeist threat to Nevaria,” I said. “After that, I plan to visit Empress Hilda and ask her what role she would like us to play in defending Nevaria against the coming army.”

Felman nodded as he accepted my explanation.

“In that case, I think I’m going to help Dagny and Eira deal with logging in these quests. If you’ll excuse me.”

With a polite bow of his head, Felman headed inside the Nevarian Braves headquarters. I watched him for a moment before turning to look at the people as they accepted the quest and traveled inside to have it logged in our quest book. Everyone looked enthusiastic about this quest. They were all smiling despite the dangerous threat looming over our heads.

A sigh escaped my lips. I had hoped no one in Nevaria would ever have to deal with the threat of Sekbeists, but it seemed this hope was going to be dashed within less than half a month’s time.