WIEDERGEBURT Act III: Chapter 6

The one on the right called himself Bakh. The one on the left called himself Ergoth. They were a lot more well-versed in combat than many of the other Sekbeists I had fought, which made me wonder if perhaps they were elite members of their race.

I leapt back alongside Erica and Karen as Ergoth swung his halberd at us, avoiding the blow and watching helplessly as it disintegrated the floor, leaving behind a perfectly smooth trench. My eyes narrowed. It seemed that not only was this Sekbeist more skilled at combat, he also had much greater control over his powers than the other ones I’d fought.

That wasn’t the end of Ergoth’s attack, however, and the halberd suddenly writhed as if it were a living creature. Tendrils of darkness burst from the blade and flew forward. I grimaced as I activated the Flash Step and did what I could to avoid the ones coming my way. Meanwhile, Erica was swinging her claymore around and producing large crescents of flame. Most of the tendrils were destroyed by the flames, but every time a tendril did reach her, the Runes on her sword would activate and she’d slice clean through it.

While Erica and I had our own way of dealing with the tendrils, a loud scream echoed from Karen as one of them stabbed into her shoulder. It overpowered the Runes, which fizzled out, punctured her flesh, and then ate away at her body.

“KAREN!”

Erica rushed forward and sliced into the tendrils, but it was already too. Karen’s body disintegrated into black ash and disappeared.

“Karen…! NO!” Erica screamed.

“Ha ha ha! You humans are so pathetic! You always leave yourselves wide open when a member of your kind dies!”

Ergoth cackled as he turned his halberd into a spear and threw it at Erica, who could do nothing but prepare to receive the attack head on.

I had no intention of letting her take that. I could already tell that it had enough strength to overpower her runes.

Setting myself in a wide stance, I channeled massive quantities of Spiritual Power into the Dragon’s Tail Ruler, enough that lightning crackled out and gouged chunks out of the floor. Swinging this blade coated in blue arcs of lightning and water, I activated its primary feature. The segments separated and rapidly extended. It slammed into the spear and knocked it off course.

The spear flew past Erica and struck the wall behind her.

The wall disappeared.

A part of me shook upon seeing the damage done. I couldn’t figure out how that attack worked. It was clearly the darkness element they were using, but it seemed so much more powerful than anything I’d ever seen before.

“It seems the one I need to deal with first is you, you damn half-breed!”

Ergoth scowled as he turned to face me. I squared my shoulders and released my Spiritual Power, activating the Flash Step Version 3: Lightning Step. It was easy to feel my body transforming into lightning. My sense of touch became numb, my vision sharpened, and everything began moving in slow motion. Of course, that was just my perceptions changing. Lightning moved as fast as light, after all.

With my body fully transformed, I launched myself at Ergoth. My plan was to ram into him and blow a hole straight through his chest.

That wasn’t what happened.

A dark black barrier suddenly sprang up in front of Ergoth. I slammed into this barrier and screamed as agony raced through me. It was like my entire body was being slowly burned away! It was like my front had been dunked in lava and was melting! It hurt! It hurt!

Because my body had transformed into lightning, I was able to launch myself backward. However, as I struck the floor and rolled across it, I changed back into flesh and bone. A scream of pain escaped unbiddingly from my mouth as my shoulders were pried from their sockets and my head cracked against the stone floor.

The moment I felt the damage done to my body, I began channeling the water element through me, healing my injuries as I scrambled to my feet.

I looked up when I heard a sound. My eyes grew wide when I saw the massive wall of darkness coming toward me. No, it wasn’t a wall. It was thousands of those black tendrils. They were so numerous they formed a wall that I would not be able to escape from.

Just when I was about to try something drastic, a giant, flaming phoenix appeared before me. This phoenix released a furious screech and flapped its wings. Waves of fire rushed out and crashed against the tendrils, burning them to cinders. The heat was so intense that even I felt like I was being cooked alive, and I wasn’t even the recipient of these flames.

When all the tendrils had vanished, the fire phoenix disappeared, and Erica was standing in its place. Her legs wobbled before she fell onto her hands and knees. I rushed up to her and knelt down.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

Erica looked up and gave me a wan smile. Sweat covered her face and her breathing was heavy. She’d clearly exhausted almost all of her Spiritual Power with that last attack.

“I am fine. I just… used up way too much Spiritual Power.” Her smile turned into a grimace as she coughed. “Unfortunately, I do not have your talent for the Third State of Spiritualism. I’m all out of Spiritual Power.”

“I understand.” I stood up. “Leave the rest to me.”

Erica couldn’t argue even if she wanted to.

I walked in front of her and faced off against the Sekbeist again. Ergoth rolled his shoulders as the darkness in his hand once more transformed into a spear.

“Are you planning to fight me on your own, half-breed?”

I wondered why these creatures always referred to me as half-breed. I got it. I was half-human and half-something-else, but would it kill them to at least tell me what I was? None of the Sekbeists I had ever met told me what my other half was. It made me wonder if they knew at all. Maybe they could tell I wasn’t completely human, but they couldn’t figure out what else I was?

I shook my head. Now wasn’t the time for such thoughts.

“It shouldn’t be too hard to kill you,” I said with a shrug. “I’ve killed a lot of your kind.”

“Hmph! I believe you will find it a fair bit harder to kill me. I’m not like those pathetic fools who are so full of themselves they aren’t willing to train and grow stronger. I’ve learned from my thousands of years of life to never underestimate my opponents.”

“It doesn’t matter how much you’ve trained.” I gripped the Dragon’s Tail Ruler in a loose stance over my shoulder and spread my feet wide, adopting a pose similar to the horse stance. “No amount of training will be enough to beat me.”

Tungsten was currently locked in battle against the other Sekbeist, Bakh, alongside three other members of the Paladin Sect and the remaining two Battling Valkyrie members. It didn’t look like they were winning. Tungsten had lost an arm, which cut his efficiency in battle by about half, and the others were also extensively injured. The other Sekbeist was a whirlwind with those two swords of his.

Behind me, Erica took a Spiritual Recovery Pill and tried to replenish her Spiritual Power. I hoped she would help Tungsten once she recovered.

Taking a deep breath, I swung the Dragon’s Tail Ruler and channeled lightning through it. The blade extended to incredible lengths as the segments separated. I attacked Ergoth with it, but he once more created that barrier of darkness. My weapon slammed into the barrier, the Runes on my weapon lighting up as I tried to break through, but that black dome was just too strong. My weapon glanced off it and retracted.

I expected the barrier to go down after it blocked my weapon. That wasn’t what happened. Instead, several black spheres shot from the barrier and attacked me. I used the Flash Step to avoid them, and it was a good thing I did because each time one of those spheres hit the floor, a small hole appeared. They were disintegrating the stone.

Knowing that no ordinary power would be able to break through this barrier, I realized that I’d have to use my strongest attack. I set the Dragon’s Tail Ruler on my back. Then I channeled a combination of lightning and water into my hands. A small sphere formed above my hand. It was light blue and flowed like water, but lightning was crackling all around it. As I condensed the sphere, the lightning and water merged together, forming a pure white energy, which I further molded with my will until it extended into the shape of a ranseur similar to the one Kari used.

After dodging the latest projectile attack, I skipped forward a step and threw the spear, which flew forward so fast even I couldn’t see it. It struck the black dome with a powerful crackles that echoed around the room. A scream of pain erupted from inside of the black dome. My attack, which had no name but could probably be called Storm Spear, had pierced right through it.

The dome shattered. Ergoth, now visible, stared in disbelief at the spear that had pierced his chest and erupted from his back. The crackling weapon hadn’t dispersed since the Spiritual Power I had used to create it still existed. That attack was one that continued to exist until the energy that formed the weapon ran out of Spiritual Power. As he touched the spear as though attempting to remove it, the crackling lightning fried his hands, and the beast screamed again as he jerked his now smoking appendages away.

This was my chance.

Grabbing the Dragon’s Tail Ruler once more, I disappeared within a Flash Step, appeared right next to Ergoth, and swung my weapon, which I had once more coated in lightning. Ergoth was unable to do anything but stare at me as I severed his head from his shoulders.

Landing on the ground, I took several deep breaths. That battle had been harder than many of the others I had fought. My opponent had forced me to use an attack that was still in the experimental stage and took a lot of Spiritual Power.

Reaching into a pouch at my side, I grabbed a Spiritual Recovery Pill and popped it into my mouth. The pill broke apart and liquid gushed down my throat. It tasted awful. However, I could feel my Spiritual Power recovering, so I put up with it. Once I recovered my Spiritual Power, I planned on helping Erica and Tungsten, now the only two remaining Spiritualists battling against Bakh.

However, before I could do much more than think about helping them, a terrifying Spiritual Pressure slammed into me, forcing me to my knees and making my breathing heavy. I pressed my hands against the floor. I tried to suck in a breath, but my breathing had grown stilted. It felt like something was crushing my chest!

Loud cracking sounds echoed all around me. It took a great effort, but I lifted my head and gazed at the platform where Hreidmar had been doing something to a crystal coffin.

Except the coffin was no longer there.

Neither was Hriedmar.

I found the Dweorg in question lying on the ground some distance away, but I couldn’t do anything. All of my attention was focused on the being now floating in the air where the coffin had been.

He was a luminous being more beautiful than the Sun, a creature of such incomparable beauty that I could not find a single flaw on his perfect face. Pure white robes covered his body. Long and silver hair flowed freely like a waterfall down his head all the way to his bare feet. His long, pointed ears were the clearest signs that he wasn’t human.

He did not have a very muscular body. In fact, his body appeared quite feminine, not wholly dissimilar to how I used to look in my youth. He was slender and willowy. However, I didn’t let that fool me, and even if he had been a woman, I wouldn’t have underestimated him. I knew plenty of strong women.

As I gazed at this man—no, this creature—in awe, he slowly opened his eyes, and I sucked in a breath. His eyes were unlike anything I’d ever seen. There was no white in his eyes. Dark red irises that reminded me of blood were surrounded by an inky and unfathomable blackness.

Erica, Tungsten, and Bakh had stopped fighting. While the Sekbeist knelt in front of this figure, my two companions were on the ground and gasping for breath. Like me, they were trying to keep themselves from being crushed by this overwhelming Spiritual Pressure.

The otherworldly being floating in the air looked around, dismissing the two humans without so much as a glance. He looked at the Sekbeist. Then his gaze turned toward me. Our eyes locked. I saw his crimson gaze widen, but then his eyes narrowed as a surge of hatred appeared within them.

I was frozen with fear.

“You…” The man murmured. “To think there’d be another one of your kind still left. Are you here to stop my glorious resurrection? No matter. As you are now, you lack the power to consider yourself even close to being my equal.”

A loud rumbling echoed around the room we were in as this man’s Spiritual Power exploded from his body. Cracks spread across the ground. Columns broke apart merely from the released power. The walls, floor, and ceiling was also breaking apart underneath this man’s incredible Spiritual Pressure.

The man raised his hand and pointed at me. “It is time for you to die. I shall kill you before you can ever become a threat.”

As I stared into those cold red eyes, I realized that this man, this creature, really was going to kill me.

However, before that could happen, the world around us suddenly crumbled. The ceiling collapsed, the ground broke apart, and I found myself falling.

I realized with shock that the entire floating island had actually broken apart merely from this man releasing his Spiritual Power, but I didn’t have time to be impressed. I slammed my foot against a chunk of the island and used it as a springboard. Hopping from chunk to chunk, I quickly located Erica, Tungsten, and Dagan—who had not been battling. All of them were unconscious. I grabbed them and activated the Flash Step Version 2: Jump Step.

I traveled as far as my Spiritual Power would take me, but the floating island was located several kilometers out at sea, and I had already used so much Spiritual Power during the fight. It wasn’t long before I exhausted myself.

My body became heavy and darkness began consuming me. Just before I closed my eyes, I saw the bright blue sea rushing up to meet me, and then I saw nothing.

***

The day after Kaleb Eieran showed me the building that would become the headquarters for the sect I planned to create, I showed it to Kari, Fay, and Lin. All three approved of the building. They did complain that it was too empty, but when I mentioned I’d be meeting with an interior designer from the Eieran Family, the trio expressed their excitement and said they would be coming with me. I didn’t have a problem with this.

Thus the three girls helped me and the Eieran Family’s interior designer decorate and furnish what would become our home and base of operations.

Because we were relying on the Eieran Family for decorating and furnishing, we ended up using shops and carpenters who worked for them to create our furniture. There was a lot that we needed to have made. We were able to use some furniture that was premade, but most of what we needed had to be custom made.

After the multiple carpenters we hired created the furniture, we had movers help us deliver the furniture. From this point on, Kari, Fay, and Lin all but took over as they issued orders to the movers regarding matters such as furniture placement and the like. Even the interior designer found herself at a complete loss since it seemed she was no longer required.

The days went by swiftly as the four of us worked hard to make the headquarters ready. I found myself being ordered around by the three girls to move this couch over there or that table over here, though I didn’t really mind. Finally, after six days worth of work, the headquarters to our sect was finished.

“I like this,” Kari said as she looked around.

Fay, also observing the lobby, nodded several times. “I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to matters of decorating, but think we’ve done a good job.”

“This princess is pleased,” Lin added with her hands on her hips.

The stone tiles were polished to a shine. Meanwhile, several benches had been placed at even intervals in front of the counter, where people would be able to take quests. There was also a board near the table now. It was currently empty. The purpose of the board was to show which quests were available to low-ranking sect members. A majestic red rug made from the wool of a Fire Bison lay on the floor in front of the table.

It wasn’t just the lobby that had been decorated; the loft that could be reached via the staircase in the lobby had also become fully furnished. One sofa meant for four people and two couches on either side sat with a low table between them. There were also several bookshelves filled with everything from historical tomes to adventure stories. Aside from the lobby and loft, the mess hall, kitchens, training room, library, and bedrooms had all been decorated and furnished with brand new furniture.

“What do you think, Eryk?” asked Kari.

I nodded and smiled at the three. “I think you’ve done a great job. It looks good.”

Kari, Fay, and Lin smiled, pleased at my response. Meanwhile, the young woman who was supposed to have done the interior decorating but found herself demoted to mere observer coughed into her hand.

“It looks like this building is now ready for your use. I shall inform Lord Alexander that preparations for this building have been completed. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to know that we have finished the task set before us by Empress Hilda.”

I felt kind of bad for the woman, who looked a little put out that she hadn’t been of much help.

“How much will all this furniture cost?” I asked.

Shaking her head, the woman said, “Nothing. Empress Hilda herself requested that we bestow you with a building that can be used as a headquarters for your purposes. Lord Alexander considers the chance to aid Empress Hilda and her daughter payment enough.”

In other words, he wanted Empress Hilda to owe him a favor that he would cash in on eventually. While I wanted to believe Alexander Eieran truly was doing this out of the kindness of his heart, I could not believe that a noble family who relied on its many businesses to sustain themselves would do anything for free. He clearly wanted something.

“In either event, I will be leaving now.” The woman adjusted her glasses before bowing to us. “Should you require our aid in the future, please feel free to come visit the Eieran Family. We can do more than just supply you with furniture and housing. We also have many competent individuals that you can hire on as staff.”

“We will be sure to do that,” Kari said for me. “Thank you.”

The woman nodded and left the headquarters of our now fully-furnished sect. Silence settled upon us. It wasn’t awkward or stifled, but I didn’t much feel like letting the silence extend.

“Now that the sect headquarters has been built, we do need to begin hiring staff and work hard to get our feet off the ground,” I said.

“Mother has already begun letting the town criers inform the people that we are forming a sect and looking to hire, so I imagine it will not be long before people become interested,” Kari informed me. “I believe it will be a good idea to begin holding interviews within the next few days.”

“Interviews, huh?” I sighed, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess that is something we will need to do.”

“What sort of staff do we need?” asked Fay.

I didn’t know much about this, so I turned to Kari, who quickly began listing off all the types of staff we needed to hire off her fingers. “We need chefs, maids, butlers, and clerks. First we should begin hiring maids and butlers since it will be their job to keep the building clean. Given the size of this building, we’ll want at least four, two maids and two butlers. Then we should hire the chefs and clerks. We’ll only need one clerk starting out, but once our sect begins growing, we’ll want to hire multiple clerks who can work in shifts.”

“Makes sense to this princess,” Lin said with a nod. “How do we go about informing people that we’re looking to hire? Are we just supposed to rely on your mom for that?”

“No, we won’t be relying solely on Mother for this.” Kari shook her head. “I don’t want to be reliant on her for everything.”

“Then what should we do?” asked Lin.

“Simple,” Kari began with a growing smile. “We post flyers.”

***

It took a few days, but we finally managed to post flyers across most of Nevaria. Furthermore, Empress Hilda agreed to have the town criers announce that Eryk Veiger and Princess Kari Astralia were looking to hire butlers, chefs, clerks, and maids, and that we would be holding interviews to find suitable candidates. We also went through the Eieran Family and compiled a small list of people from them, but we didn’t want to rely solely on them to employ people.

Our names must have carried a lot of weight because when the four of us arrived at our new sect headquarters the day after the announcement was made, there was already a long crowd of individuals standing outside. They were a mixture of men and women wearing various types of clothing. Some were dressed as simple peasants, but there were also people in maid and butler outfits, and people wearing crisp tunics that made them look sharp and professional. Of course, there was also a fair number of shady types, men and women who wore worn clothes and had several scars. I wasn’t sure if they realized what our job entailed. Then again, it wasn’t good to judge a book by its cover. For all I knew, they could be amazing at number crunching.

“That is a lot of people,” Fay murmured as we stopped in front of the crowd.

“T-this princess hasn’t seen this many people since she used to go to the library.” Lin hid behind me and shuddered as if she was experiencing several bad memories.

“Well?” Kari looked at me with a wry smile. “We wanted to conduct interviews, and it looks like there are a lot of people to interview. We should probably get started.”

“Right.” Sighing as I realized how much trouble this was going to be, I stepped forward and spoke with a voice amplified by Spiritual Power. “Everyone! Thank you all for coming! I assume you are here to be interviewed for a position at our new sect! I would like all of you to enter the lobby and find a place to relax! We’ll be interviewing each of you one at a time!”

After saying this, the four of us walked toward the building, the crowd parting for us, and entered the lobby. The people here for an interview streamed in after us. They filled every nook and cranny of the lobby and loft. I couldn’t even being to guess as to how many people had come, but there must have been several hundred if not a thousand individuals.

We decided to use one of the meeting rooms to conduct interviews. First, we created small slips with numbers starting from one and ending with 2,000 (I created 2,000 because I didn’t know how many people were present), and then had each person take a slip. Once that was done, we had the person who’d grabbed the number 1 slip enter the meeting room to be interviewed first.

“H-Hello! My name is Jessie Vanderburg! I-I’m here to apply for a position as a maid!”

The girl currently sitting in a chair in the center of the meeting room was our first interviewee. She had brown hair and brown eyes, a pale face with pink lips, and a lithe figure. I’d place her age at about 16 or 17. She clearly wasn’t a Spiritualist. I had used Spiritual Perception to see how strong she was, and she was so weak her Spiritual Power appeared only as a very small ethereal red flame.

“Do you have any experience with cleaning and housework?” asked Kari.

“Y-yes!” Jessie squeaked. “I… um, I come from a very large family. As the oldest child, I’m often asked to look after my siblings so my parents can work. I’ve learned how to cook, clean, do laundry, and even look after kids.”

The meeting room was rather simple. Kari and I were sitting behind a desk. It wasn’t big enough to fit all four of us, especially Lin with her 6 meter long tail, so she and Fay were standing behind us.

Kari asked most of the questions, which ranged from “how many siblings do you have?” to “how many hours a day would you feel comfortable working?” She asked things I would have never dreamed to ask in my wildest imagination. I think even Fay and Lin were shocked by how many questions were asked. Not only did she take control of basically the entire interview, but she had me write down everything Jessie said in a leather notebook.

“Thank you for answering our questions.” Kari gave the girl a disarming smile that made her blush bright red. “Once we’ve had a chance to go through all the information we’ve received from these interviews, we’ll have someone contact you to let you know whether you’ve gotten the position or not.”

“T-t-thank you very much!” Jessie stood from her seat, bowed so low her long brown hair touched the floor, then rushed out of the room.

“That girl reminded this princess of a frightened mouse,” Lin said.

“I kind of like her timid nature, though,” Fay admitted. “She seems very earnest.”

“Being earnest is good, but we have to make sure she is also competent,” Kari told Fay. “Eryk, list her down as one of the maybes. I like her personality, but I’m not sure she’d be able to deal with the rowdiness of Spiritualists.”

“Okay,” I said, dipping my quill in ink again and jotting that notation down at the end of the interview sheet.

“Well…” Kari stretched her arms above her head and released a deep breath. “Let’s keep these interviews going.”

This was how all the interviews were conducted. One by one, people were called in, asked questions by Kari, and then left. I made sure to write down all their answers, and then wrote down the opinions of Kari, Fay, and Lin at the very end.

Generally, Kari’s opinions ran one of three ways: Yes, maybe, and rejected. The people with a “yes” at the end were those Kari would definitely hire, the maybes were in-between, and the rejected were people she’d never in a million years hire for a position here.

There were not many yeses. Out of the 1,465 people we interviewed, only about 13 received a yes, 46 received a maybe, and everyone else received a rejection. Kari’s standards were just as high in this life as they were in my previous life.

While all this writing caused my hand to become horribly cramped, I couldn’t help but find myself enjoying these interviews. It reminded me of the time when I first began Brave Vesperia. Back then, Kari and I had conducted interviews very similar to what we were doing now. In fact, aside from the addition of Fay and Lin, the interviews were almost identical to how it happened in my previous life, with Kari taking charge while I followed her directions.

By the time the interviews had finished, it was already late in the evening. The sun was dipping below the Demon Beast Mountain Range, the twin moons had come out, and I wanted to fall asleep.

We were eating a late dinner. The chefs at the Imperial Royal Palace had prepared a wonderful dish of lightly salted fish, freshly baked bread, and a desert of fresh fruit dipped in honey.

“Thish ish sho good!” Lin hummed happily as she stuck a whole fish in her mouth and chewed, her ears emotively wiggling like they were expressing her joy.

“Please don’t talk with your mouth full,” Kari said.

“Yesh—oops!” Lin swallowed her food and gave Kari a sheepish smile. “This princess meant; yes, Big Sister.”

“Better.”

The four of us were sitting around the table inside of the informal dining hall. No one else was present. I assumed Empress Hilda and everyone else was busy. That said, I didn’t know where Kari’s brothers were.

“How long do you think it will take to hire people for the positions we need?” asked Fay.

Kari finished chewing her food and said, “It won’t take too long. I personally already know who I want us to hire, but I figured we’d share our opinions before coming to a decision.”

“There weren’t that many people you felt certain would do a good job,” I said.

“If it were just a matter of finding people who can cook and clean, many of those people would have been suitable, but we need more than just chefs, maids, and butlers,” Kari explained. “We’ll be forming a sect, which is like a mercenary company, right? That means we need people who can handle Spiritualists who have a rougher personality.”

“That does make sense.” Fay cut a piece of fish with her fork and placed it in her mouth. She chewed, swallowed, and then grabbed a small mug of mead. “Not just anyone can deal with people like that. I didn’t understand why you were judging people so harshly, but I get it now.”

“It will be better if the maids, butlers, and chefs are also Spiritualists,” Kari said with a nod. “That way they can handle the other members if they ever get too rowdy.”

I wasn’t surprised by how much forethought Kari had put into this. She’d been the same way in my previous life.

We continued to discuss the matter, though our topic switched from the interview itself to the interviewees. However, as our dinner was winding to a close, the doors burst open and Dante enter the room.

The man looked frantic. His hair was in disarray, his eyes looked wild, and sweat poured from his face as his shoulders and chest heaved. He was wearing the silver armor of a Nevarian Spiritualist Commander, meaning he’d likely been working. It looked like he had run all the way here from the northern garrison.

“Eryk!” he called out to me. “We need your help!”

I ignored the unfinished bowl of fruit in front of me and stood up. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s… it’s my sons! Only two of them returned from the Demon Beast Mountain Range, and both are extremely injured!”