WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 20

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before we were summoned again, but I believed a few days had gone by. While the damage done to this underground city was minimal, there had still been a need for repairs, especially on the entrance door. What’s more, there were quite a few dead that needed to be given a ceremonial send off.

These Dwoerg seemed to have a custom of creating metal caskets for the deceased and dropping them into the boiling lava. Since we had taken part in the battle, Hreidmar had invited us to witness the ceremony. Samreak had been one of the deceased, which we found out after the battle, so Kari and I felt obligated to witness it.

The ceremony took place on a platform on the highest floor of the mountain city, Jordiskger. Several caskets were lined up near the edge of the walkway. They stood upright as opposed to lying lengthwise. Dressed in ceremonial golden armor, Hreidmar stood before the caskets, a large warhammer even bigger than his body gripped in one hand and a mug in the other.

“These be the brave warriors who risked their lives te fighting the good fight,” Hreidmar exclaimed to those gathered. There was quite the crowd. Myself, Kari, Tungsten, and Erica were in the back of what appeared to be several hundred Dwoergs. As I watched the group, Hreidmar continued. “Be not sad that these brave souls have disappeared from our world. Be glad that they are now with their forefathers. They lived as warriors and died as warriors should.”

“AYE!” a massive rumbling shook the floor as all the Dwoerg present shouted in unison.

“Now! We drink te the fallen!”

Hreidmar raised the mug in his hand and guzzled it down. The other Dwoergs also raised their mugs and began drinking. Kari and I looked at each other, down at the mugs, and then, with a shrug, we also began imbibing the burning alcohol. The pleasant burn of the liquid running down my throat and settling into my stomach was nice, but I wondered if it was okay to drink like this when performing a ceremony to honor the dead.

It seemed the Dwoergs had different ideas when it came to burials and how to honor their deceased.

After everyone had finished drinking, Hreidmar shattered the mug in his hand and raised his warhammer high over his head. Then, one by one, he slammed the hammer into the caskets, which were launched clear into the air before descending deep into the lake of bubbling lava below.

That seemed to be the end of the ceremony. The Dwoergs began dispersing. I looked at my companions, as if asking them what we should do now, but none of them seemed to know either. However, Hreidmar, who was handing his warhammer off to a Dwoerg who’d been standing beside him, gestured for us to come over.

“I think it’s time we spoke about what te do from here on out,” he said to us.

“Yes,” Erica began, “that is certainly something we should talk about.”

We were led back to Hreidmar’s throne room, where the Dwoerg king sat on the golden throne. His battleaxe, which I guessed was used for battle as opposed to the ceremonial warhammer, was still leaning where it had been against the throne. Since there were no places to sit, the four of us made do with standing.

“My people have been forced into hiding for many years,” Hreidmar said. “Ever since our Great Overlord sacrificed himself fer us, we have had no choice but te flee as our cities were taken one by one. We’ve done what we could te stave off destruction, but I believe the time of my kind may be coming te an end.”

None of us were certain what to say, so we said nothing.

“You might be shocked te know that this world o’ ours did not always look as it does now,” Hriedmar continued. “It used to be a vibrant world with plenty o’ resources that we Dwoerg took fer granted. The bloody sky, the barren grounds… all that came about after the Sekbeist invaded our world. They used up the world’s resources without considering the cost. This world won’t be able to sustain life fer much longer.”

“I don’t believe you are saying this because you intend on giving up,” Tungsten said.

“Hmm…” Stroking his beard, Hreidmar looked to be considering his words. “I have not given up on my people, but I am giving up on this world. I believe it is time we abandoned it.”

The words didn’t shock me like I felt they should have. Given what I had seen, Hreidmar was right. This world was done for. I was honestly surprised it could even sustain life right now.

“Then what do you plan to do?” I asked. “If you are giving up on this world, then it means you hope to take your people to another world, correct?” I narrowed my eyes. “Our world?”

“That is right.” Hreidmar acknowledged my words with a nod. “I am hoping te take my people te Miðgarðr.” He raised a hand as if to forestall any arguments. “Our kind do not require much in the way of resources, and we have much te offer yer people. Our craftsmen are far more capable than any of the other races. If yer people can provide us with a suitable location te live, preferably an active volcano, we can help craft weapons and armor fer ye. Ye’ll be needin’ those if ye want te battle the Sekbeist.”

It wasn’t a bad proposition from what I could see, and these Dwoergs were indeed a talented race of craftsmen. Also, and maybe my thoughts were wrong, but it wasn’t like anyone could deny them a place to live in our world. We didn’t have a monarch who granted land. The Northern Plains was ruled by Sects. These Dwoergs could even form their own Sect once they arrived if they wanted.

“We certainly do not mind letting your people live in our world,” Kari was the one who spoke now. “In fact, I’m sure no one would object to it. The problem is we still don’t even know how to return.”

“Ye needn’t worry ‘bout that,” Hreidmar said. “I’ve got a plan te get us te yer world.”

“I am going to take a shot in the dark and say it involves traveling to your capital,” Tungsten said, eyes narrowing as his stern features became even sterner. “But from what you told me, the capital city is overrun with Sekbeist.”

“Yer a sharp one,” Hriedmar said with a grim smile. “It is a plan we have been craftin’ fer some time before you humans showed up. Originally, this plan was te be a suicide run. We’d storm the capital and kill all the Sekbiests we could as a final act o’ revenge, but now that we have ye here, we can change the plan te somethin’ that gives my people a chance te survive. So, what do the three of ye say? Will ye help my people?”

The four of us silently conferred with each other, though it didn’t take long for us to reach a decision. Our enemies were their enemies, which meant they were our allies in this struggle, and what’s more, they had craftsmen who were more skilled than any human craftsmen ever would be. Furthermore, we would need their help if we wanted to return to our world. The choice was a no brainer.

“We will help you,” Erica said to Hreidmar.

Hreidmar smiled at us, a pure joy shining in his eyes, a hope that hadn’t been there before. I only just now realized it, but his eyes had been dark and foreboding until this moment. He must have been on the verge of giving up.

“In that case, ye’ll be needin’ better armor and weapons than what ye have now.” Hreidmar’s smile turned into a grin. “Let us visit the blacksmiths and see if they can make ye something worthy of storming a fortress.”

***

It had now been four months since I’d gone back in time. A lot had changed since that day four months ago, when I had woken up to discover that I was in the body of my 17 year-old self. However, while a lot had changed since then, very little had changed about my lifestyle in the past month. I woke up very morning, had breakfast with Lin, and then either went to train alongside Kari and Fay, helped Lin study our written language, or spoke with Dante or Feinrea. Sometimes I would be called to the Imperial Royal Palace to have tea with Empress Hilda, but that had only happened about three times in the 63 days that had passed since that first time.

The Blood Replenishing Pill had been introduced 30 days ago, and like I had suspected, it was a huge hit. I couldn’t walk through the Merchant District without seeing the Valstine Family’s stalls being surrounded by Spiritualists, both mercenaries and those belonging to the Nevarian Spiritualists, who wanted to get their hands on it. Of course, this was good for me since it meant I made a lot of money. That month, my total earnings had come to 695,500 valis. To be honest, it was more than I knew what to do with, so I’d gone to the Eieran Family and had my valis converted into jewels. I also ended up buying a vault to store most of the jewels inside.

If there was one change that I had to say was significant, it was definitely my relationships with Kari, Fay, and Lin.

“Hup!”

I used the Flash Step to disappear from Kari’s line of sight. This allowed me to avoid the massive beam of energy that tore across the ground. Divine Buster Cannon, the technique that Kari had been working on alongside the Flash Step, overtook several trees as it raced across the ground, annihilating everything in its path. The attack was truly impressive. Of course, using it required time to activate that she normally wouldn’t have in a fight, but fortunately, she had a partner while I didn’t.

As I appeared several meters from where Kari’s attack had unleashed devastation, Fay suddenly appeared in front of me. Her Spiritual Aura was flaring wildly, a powerful flame that had become almost entirely blue with just a hint of red licking at the edges. She rotated her fists and brought them into her torso. Fire gathered around them, so hot it would have caused sweat to burst from my brow had I not used the water element to keep cool. Barely a second had passed since she appeared, but then she thrust out her fists and unleashed a powerful technique.

Rotation Fire Fist was listed as a C-rank Spiritual Fire Technique, but with the impressive output of Spiritual Power that Fay was releasing, along with using two fists instead of one, it could easily be given the B-rank.

Two powerful spirals of fire like tornados rushed across the space, burning everything. The earth was charred black, the trees burst into flames, and even the boulders in her Spiritual Technique’s path melted. After traveling for about twenty meters, the spiraling flames finally dispersed as they ran out of Spiritual Power.

“Did you get him?” asked Kari as she walked up to Fay.

“Nope,” I responded before Fay could.

The two girls quickly turned to me as I appeared from behind a tree. My body suddenly disappeared as I used the Flash Step to appear before them. I moved faster than before, faster than they could keep up with. With my Dragon Tail Ruler in hand, I launched a powerful attack, my weapon coated in lightning.

Kari and Fay were quick to move away from me, using the Flash Step to move in separate directions. They had learned the first time that trying to take my attacks head on was foolish. Their physical strength was impressive, but even now, trying to block the swing of my ruler would result in them getting sent flying and shocked at the same time.

As they both appeared on either side of me, the two prepared to unleash their Spiritual Techniques. Fay rotated her fists and tucked them into her torso. Kari spun around and gathered Spiritual Power on the tip of her ranseur. Their Spiritual Auras flared as they became increasingly bright, a powerful golden hue and a burning blue flame. I could tell they were preparing to unleash their last attack.

I decided not to let them.

I was sure the two of them were confused when I suddenly appeared before them both at the same time, despite the two being in separate locations, and slammed a fist into their solar plexus. Simultaneous gasps erupted from their mouth as they fell at the same time. Kari and Fay coughed as their Spiritual Auras were disrupted. They fell to their knees, placing a hand where I had struck them, while I suddenly appeared back in the same spot I had been standing before my attack.

“Wha… what was…?” Kari managed to get out as she looked at me, but my punch had deprived her lungs of oxygen, so that was all she could say.

“That was a variation of the Flash Step,” I told her. “I call it Illusion Step, but that’s not really an accurate name. All I’m really doing is moving so fast that it appears as if I’m in two places at once. With that, I attacked the two of you within less than a tenth of a second of each other, which makes it look like I hit you both at the same time.”

“D-damn… and here I thought we might have finally had you,” Fay muttered as she stood to her feet, rubbing the spot underneath her chest.

“You’ve been going easy on us all this time, haven’t you?” asked Kari, also standing up.

“It would be more accurate to say I’ve been growing alongside you,” I corrected her. “I only gained enough speed to use the Illusion Step like this in the last several days. While you two have been practicing your own Spiritual Techniques, I worked on mastering this so I could use it during our spars.”

“So you’re basically just staying one step ahead of us,” Fay concluded with a sigh. “It’s still a little depressing to know that we can’t defeat you even after nearly half a month of sparring like this.”

I grinned at her. “You should consider this a compliment. You two are getting so strong that in order to keep ahead, I have to train twice as hard.”

To be honest, I was really shocked by how strong these two had become. They had both perfected their respective Spiritual Techniques and were good enough at using the Flash Step that they could do so continuously for half an hour. This also meant their Spiritual Power had increased by a factor of about two. I was pretty sure both of them could now take on a B-rank Demon Beast with the same power as that Giant Svart in one-on-one combat.

Of course, I hadn’t been standing still either. While I didn’t know how strong I was now, I did feel confident that I could defeat one of the weaker A-rank Demon Beasts on my own, maybe something like a Crested Dragonewt or even a Fire Salamander.

We hadn’t gone into the Demon Beast Mountain Range since our first excursion, but that wasn’t because we had no intentions to. Fay and Kari had been deeply affected by my battle against the Giant Svart. They told me they wanted to become stronger before going there again, so to that end, the three of us had been training nearly every day—even on days when they went to the Spiritualist Academy.

“It looks like it’s getting pretty late,” I said as I glanced at the sky, visible through the canopy of trees. We had been training since early morning and the Sun was now in the center of the sky, high above our heads. “Let’s pick up Lin and get lunch together.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Fay placed a hand over her stomach, which was gurgling. “I’m starving.”

“Me too,” Kari added. “I feel like I could eat a whole bovine.”

“You do have quite the appetite,” Fay muttered. “I wonder where all that food goes.” Unconsciously, Fay and I stared at Kari’s chest. It didn’t look any bigger now than it always had, but considering how thin her waist still was despite how much she ate…

“What are you trying to imply?” asked Kari with a faux glare.

“Nothing,” Fay and I said at the same time.

Because of how much we had sweat, all three of us took a quick rinse in a nearby spring. Kari and Fay removed their tops and allowed me to clean them. I used a cloth and a bar of soap to wipe away the sweat covering their backs, shoulders, arms, stomach, and chests, though they still wouldn’t let me touch anything else. After I had cleaned them, they cleaned me. Kari had the front that day while Fay washed my back, but they had this habit of switching who cleaned which side. I just let them do as they pleased.

On a side note, Fay still seemed a little hesitant about physical intimacy while Kari had become a lot more enthusiastic. In some ways, it felt like they had traded places, with Kari acting like the confident one and Fay the shy one who kept blushing. I was sure Fay only agreed to bathing together like this because Kari had convinced her.

We gathered our supplies after getting clean, popped a new alchemy pill I had introduced, Spiritual Recovery Pill, into our mouths, and then left the now destroyed training ground, which was covered in craters, burn marks, and destroyed trees.

As we walked, I felt my Spiritual Power slowly recovering. It sort of felt like… like my vitality was being restored. When someone exhausted their Spiritual Power, the feeling they had was similar to physical exhaustion. Spiritual Recovery Pills helped replenish the Spiritual Power after it was used up. It was great to use after training, though it was dangerous if taken in large quantities.

“I think we’re going to need to find a new training ground,” I said with a heavy sigh. “This is the fourth one we’ve destroyed.”

“Maybe we should build our own training ground?” Fay suggested.

“I suppose we could,” I muttered. I was pretty sure I had the money, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to. It was probably because I had grown paranoid, but I didn’t like the idea of having a training ground where people could spy on us, even though I knew that, logically, that was very unlikely to happen.

“I wonder how long it will take before we can learn the Illusion Step,” Kari changed the subject as we passed through the eastern gate. The two Nevarian Spiritualists guarding the gate greeted us with a wave, which we returned.

“Once you’ve learned how to enter the Second State of Spiritualism, you will be able to learn the Illusion Step,” I told them.

“Second State of…” Fay’s eyes widened at me. “Then does that mean you have—?!”

“Yes.” Nodding at her, I hid my amusement as best I could. “I reached the Second State of Spiritualism about ten days ago.”

“And you didn’t think to tell us this?” Kari asked with a mild pout.

I shrugged. “I wanted to surprise you.”

The three of us kept up the banter as we made it to the Nadine Library, but we stopped upon seeing the crowd of people gathered in front of it. There were a number of young men ranging in age from their mid-teens to early-twenties loafing around outside. A lot of them were peeking in through the windows. As one, the three of us released weary sighs. I could already feel a headache coming on.

“I never imagined Lin would become this popular,” I groaned.

“Well, I mean, Lin is really exotic,” Kari explained. “That dark skin and snake tail are things people in Nevaria have never seen before. Plus, she has that really cute and sexy dichotomy going for her. It’s no wonder she’s become so popular.”

I began complaining under my breath, but I guess I wasn’t quiet enough because Kari and Fay gave me a look that seeped amusement.

“Are you feeling overprotective of her?” asked Kari with a mischievous smile.

Fay’s smile matched her friend’s. “Or maybe you just don’t like the fact that so many people are infatuated with one of your girls.”

I snorted at the thought. “If that was the case, I would hate your fanclubs as well. Don’t forget that you two are every bit as popular as Lin. The issue I have with these people is how blatant and obvious they are. It’s one thing to discreetly admire someone who is already taken. It is quite another to ogle someone who is already in a relationship so flagrantly.”

My words must have had quite the effect because the both of them blushed, their cheeks and ears turning a light pink. This normally would have been the part where I teased them some more, but our stomachs let out simultaneous gurgles, reminding us that we hadn’t had lunch yet.

“Let us step into the breach,” I said as I reached out and grabbed their hands.

The two of them clutched my hand as we waded into the crowd of overly hormonal men, pushing our way through. Some of the people parted for us, having recognized who we were, but there were also a lot who didn’t. These people glared at me like I’d committed a crime against them. I was forced to use intimidation tactics, unleashing my Spiritual Pressure to make them back off.

While the outside was bad, the inside was worse. No longer filling up just the tables, the number of people who were now inside was enough to fill most of the isles. If they had been at the library for a legitimate reason like research, it wouldn’t have been that big a deal, but all of those people were gazing enviously at the table where Lin was sitting. I was sure Ms. Nadine was throwing a fit right now.

We moved through the crowd, coming upon Lin’s table soon enough, where I discovered, to my intense displeasure, Marko Kriger once more trying to chat Lin up. He didn’t come by every day. That said, the number of days I caught him hitting on Lin equaled about twice the number of days he didn’t show up. While Lin didn’t respond to his words with anything more than a few two or three word sentences, it annoyed me that he hadn’t given up.

“Lin,” I called out.

Lin looked up at the sound of her name being called, completely ignoring Marko as she twisted her body around to face us. Her eyes lit up.

“Darling, Big Sister, Fay,” she greeted as us she gathered her supplies. She closed her leatherbound notebook, capped her bottle of ink, and placed her quill in a small carry case. Moving her long, sinuous snake body, Lin stood up and slithered past the angrily twitching Marko Kriger to greet us.

Hugs and kisses were exchanged, but they weren’t anything extravagant. Lin gave Fay and Kari a big hug complete with tail and greeted me with a short kiss on the lips. It was the same greeting we always received now.

After the kiss, I glanced at Marko, whose face had turned puce as he glared at me. It looked like he was going to explode. I was honestly surprised he hadn’t challenged me to a duel yet, considering he came from a family of warriors, but perhaps he was worried that doing so would anger Lin.

“Thank you for keeping Lin company again,” I said.

“Not at all.” Marko’s smile twitched, appearing stiff and forced. “I’m always happy to spend time with her.”

“I’ll bet.” I think some of my anger leaked out of my voice, because Marko’s smile became a tad more vindicated.

Trying to contain my scoff, I left the library alongside Kari, Fay, and Lin. It was almost amusing to watch the crowd disperse after I picked up Lin and lefft, but it was also bothersome. I felt sorry for the two newcomers who Ms. Nadine had hired to watch the library in my place.

We went on a journey to find some food. The busy afternoon air was filled with life. Over here, a group of young woman were tittering about the latest gossip. Over there, various workers were traveling to and fro as they carried equipment and supplies. Many people were walking into and out of shops. There were quite a few people buying bread from bakers, or meat skewers from stall owners.

Our group still stood out a lot—we were still rather famous, but it looked like everyone had grown used to seeing us by now. Several people greeted us, a few people bowed to Kari, and no one gave Lin frightened stares anymore. That was what I felt most grateful for.

There weren’t any places where we could sit down and eat. The taverns were all full, and to be honest, I wasn’t keen on going into one. None of them could accomodate for Lin’s large snake tail anyway. That being the case, we traveled around the various stands and stalls, buying a load of different foods, and then we traveled toward a park.

Nevaria had a number of parks, which varied in size based on location. Parks closer to residential districts tended to be larger, while ones located in places like the Merchant District were smaller because there was a less likely chance of people using them. With it being midday, most of the parks weren’t in use. Our group of four entered a park that was located about midway between all of our respective houses.

Parks in Nevaria were defined by their lush grass, myriad of trees, colorful array of flowers, and the walkways that led to several gazebos. This one was no different. We walked along a wide walkway made of smooth, square stones. There were a few other people around. I could see a mother and father watching their two children wrestle around in the grass, and there was a couple sitting on a park bench several dozen meters to our left. We headed toward one of the gazebos.

The gazebo was a beautiful structure made of white stones. The half-dome roof sheltered the stone table, which was in turn surrounded by a series of columns and balustrades. I sat on one bench in between Kari and Fay. Lin, who was much longer than any of us thanks to her tail, had a bench to herself. She pouted a little, but she didn’t complain. I lived with her, so she actually saw me more than the other two.

We spread out the food we’d bought, which had been placed into a basket and carried by yours truly. There were all kinds of different foods. Meat skewers and meat pies for Lin, a variety of sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, and crackers.

Since everyone was pretty ravenous, we didn’t talk at first, instead choosing to satiate our hunger. I wasn’t sure what amused me more: The way Lin and Kari stuffed food in their mouths without regard to etiquette, or how Fay tried to eat in a refined manner despite how hungry she was.

“Oh, my gosh! That was so good!” Kari said after she finished her food. I handed her a flask of water, which she drank deeply from before passing it to Lin.

“I feel a lot better now,” Fay added as Lin, finished drinking, handed the flask off to her.

“This princess understands how you feel,” Lin added. “Even though she hasn’t been moving around a lot, studying for such a long time makes her hungry.”

“Speaking of, how goes your studies?” asked Kari.

“Hm hm.” Lin let out a strange laugh as she thrust out her chest. “This princess is pleased to say that she has officially memorized all 15,831 syllables.”

“That’s excellent!” Kari clapped her hands together. “In that case, I’ll have to give you a quiz to see how well that information has sunk in.”

“This princess is prepared for anything you can throw at her.”

“It is pretty impressive that Lin has managed to learn our written language in just a little over one month,” Fay admitted as she placed her hands on the table.

I nodded. “I don’t remember how long it took me, but I’m pretty sure it was more than a year.”

“Well, she still hasn’t learned any of the rules yet, but just memorizing every syllable we use to write with is impressive enough.”

Lin’s studies had indeed been progressing well. I couldn’t say how many syllables she memorized in a single day, but every time I picked her up at the library, she’d have a new leatherbound notebook filled with the symbols our written language used. Her bedroom actually had a bookshelf now, which I had bought so she could have someplace to store her notebooks, and there were something like sixteen of them currently lining the top shelf.

As had become our habit, we stayed together and spoke for several hours, until the Sun was on the verge of setting, and then we left the park.

This would normally be the part where we parted ways. I was actually halfway toward giving Fay and Kari a goodbye kiss—when something suddenly caught Kari’s attention and caused her to point at something behind me.

“What’s the crowd over there for?” she asked.

All of us turned in the direction she was pointing to, and indeed, there was a large crowd a few meters from us. Judging from the armor those people were wearing and the weapons held in their hands, they were all Spiritualists. None of them looked like Nevarian Spiritualists or members of the Imperial Royal Guard. Were they a group of mercenaries? No, they looked too young and untainted to be mercenaries. Also, their armor was far more pristine than the standard mercenary company.

“Hey… isn’t that Catalyna Kriger?” Fay muttered the question so softly I almost missed it.

Glancing over the crowd, I just barely made out a head of curly blonde hair. I couldn’t see anything else from this distance.

The others were also curious. We made our way over to the crowd. I was a good bit taller than most of the people present, who were men and women in their early twenties. That meant I could see the woman Fay had been talking about, and the blonde hair that went down her her shoulders, sharp blue eyes, and innocent facial features definitely belonged to Catalyna Kriger.

“I wonder what’s going on here,” I muttered.

One of the people beside us, a young woman, turned and gave me an incredulous stare. “You mean you don’t know? Catalyna is recruiting people for an expedition into the Demon Beast Mountain Range.” The woman paused just then, eyes widened as she stared at me, then Kari, Fay, and Lin before going back to me. “Hey, wait a minute. Aren’t you—?!”

I raised a hand to stop her from saying anything more. Tapping on the person in front of me, I got their attention.

“Could you please move aside?” I asked.

The young man, who I guessed was around 16 or 17 like myself, Kari, Fay, and Lin, opened his mouth with a haughty expression—and then quickly closed it. He looked between the four of us. Recognition entered his eyes. Maybe it was me, or maybe it was the company I kept with me, but he obviously knew who we were.

“Uh, sure,” he said.

“Thanks.”

I walked forward alongside my companions. The people in front parted to make way when they saw us, which allowed me to reach the front of the crowd, where Catalyna was currently talking. She stopped, however, when we came into view.

“Well now,” she muttered with a surprised smile. “Eryk Veiger and Fay Valstine. I haven’t seen either of you since the Spiritualist Grand Tournament.” She paused, then, her eyes turning to both Lin and Kari. “Princess Kari Astralia, it is a pleasure to see you again. It has been far too long.”

Kari, now in her princess mode, gave Catalyna a polite smile. “Yes. I don’t think we have had a chance to meet since Grimm Kriger’s birthday six months ago.”

“Ha ha! That’s right! Ha… that was an interesting party. Then again, anything involving that old man tends to be amusing. Your grandfather was pretty hilarious as well.”

At first, I thought they were talking about Grimm Kriger, an old Spiritualist who was once lauded as one of the best. I remember hearing that he’d won the Spiritualist Grand Tournament once before. Sadly, that was all I knew about him.

However, at Catalyna’s words, Kari grimaced. “I apologize for what my grandfather did back then.”

“Oh, no need to worry.” Catalyna was grinning as she waved Kari’s apology off. “I personally found the whole situation amusing, though I suppose I might have felt differently if I’d been one of the women he saw.”

So the situation had been caused by Kari’s grandfather? Come to think of it, I had never met her grandfather, nor had she told me anything about him before. I wondered what kind of person her was…

“I heard you four took a trip to the Demon Beast Mountain Range a little while ago,” Catalyna continued. “How was it?”

“It was an enlightening experience,” Kari said, still keeping up her act as the Princess of Nevaria. “I learned a lot about myself and the dangers of the Demon Beast Mountain Range. In fact, Eryk, Fay, and I have been diligently training together so we would be more prepared the next time we traveled there.”

“So you plan on entering the Demon Beast Mountain Range again?” While Catalyna looked surprised at first, that expression was soon replaced with a strange gleam. “In that case, how would the four of you like to join my party? I’m looking for strong Spiritualists who are willing to join me on my expedition.”

“Before we agree to join you, why don’t you tell us what you plan on doing in the Demon Beast Mountain Range?” I asked.

Catalyna nodded several times as though she’d expected one of us to ask that question. “You bring up a good point. One cannot expect to have people follow them when they don’t even explain why you should follow them in the first place. Very well.” Flipping her blond hair over her shoulder, Catalyna explained why she was recruiting people. “On my last trip into the Demon Beast Mountain Range, I managed to discover a map with the location to an as of yet unexplored ruin. It’s about five days journey from Nevaria and is located in an area of the Demon Beast Mountain Range where several groups of powerful B-rank Demon Beasts have set up territories. I am looking for strong Spiritualists who are willing to join me.”

An unexplored ruin, huh? That was a rare thing in this day and age. Most of the ruins that could be explored had been explored. All the ones that were unexplored were located deep in the Demon Beast Mountain Range, where the A-rank Demon Beasts, monsters with so much power most people wouldn’t stand a chance against them, had created their territories. Finding one that wasn’t located in A-rank territory was like finding an oasis in the Endless Desert by chance.

“So how about it?” asked Catalyna with a brilliant grin, extending her hand toward us as though in invitation. “Care to join me? I promise you the rewards will be with your while.”