WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 16

We didn’t want to spent much time in the room after washing up, so Kari and I got dressed and walked over to the door, which slid open as we came near, almost as though it had expected us. Both of us were rather astonished. We’d seen this yesterday, but the two of us had been far too exhausted to really pay attention.

“I wonder how this door works,” Kari mumbled as we stepped outside.

“Who knows,” I replied with what I was sure was bafflement. “It looks almost like Spiritualism, but…”

“There’s no Spiritualist.”

“Right.”

As we exited the door leading into a hallway that was smaller than the large ones we’d been led through on the way to see Hreidmar, a guard standing just outside our door turned toward us. He was stout, had a head full of brown hair, a large nose, and wore the same gleaming armor as the others. I really wanted to know what that armor was made of.

“Excuse me,” Kari said with a polite smile. “Would it be possible for us to take a look around the city?”

“Ye can wander all ye want,” the Dwoerg said. “Just know tha’ some areas be off limits. Don’t be wandering around the forges either. It disrupts the smiths.”

“We understand.” Kari gave the Dwoerg a polite bow before grabbing me by the hand and pulling me forward.

“He seems rather gruff,” I muttered as we wandered down the long hallway.

“The Dwoergs as a race seem to be gruff,” Kari answered me. “All of them have the same mannerisms. I think it’s just how they are as a people.”

I gave her a noncommittal nod as we left the hall, which widened out into another, much larger hall. This one looked a lot more decorative. There were several branching paths for us to take, so we chose one of them at random. While I wasn’t sure why these Dwoergs built such large halls, I couldn’t lie and say they weren’t impressive. I also did not fail to notice how these hallways looked almost identical to some of the ruins Kari and I had explored.

Our wanderings eventually took us to a wide space that looked like…

“Is that a town?” Kari was blinking rapidly as if trying to decide whether or not her eyes were deceiving her.

I wasn’t much better. “Seems like it.”

What stood before us was indeed a town, but it wasn’t just a town—it was a massive, multi-layered city that had been built into the very rock of the mountain itself. Rocks carved in the square shape of houses jutted from the interior. There must have been thousands of them. We were only on the first floor, but it looked like there were six floors after that, which could be reached via a series of ramps that, like the buildings, appeared to have been carved out of the mountain instead of made. What’s more, everything appeared so intricate and artistic that it left me breathless.

These Dweorg were amazing craftsmen.

“This place is incredible!” Kari exclaimed. When I looked over at her, I saw that her eyes had already begun twinkling like the dazzling stars at night. She was in full-on explorer mode now. “Come on, Eryk! Let’s go!”

I wasn’t given much choice in the matter as Kari dragged me into the city, where we literally spent several hours looking at everything. We journeyed into the buildings, which seemed to consist mostly of shops and taverns, and traveled around to the other floors.

It seemed only the first two floors were shops and taverns. The floors above that were actually houses, which Kari and I discovered when we walked into one and got yelled at for invading someone else’s place. We were chased out after that and decided not to enter anymore buildings that didn’t have signs on them.

“This place really does resemble those ruins in our world,” I said. “The designs and architecture is more or less the same.”

Kari was nodding to my words, but then she said, “Except this is far larger and more grandiose.”

“That’s probably because the ruins in our world were just bases used to let people come over from the other nine worlds.”

“Probably.”

One of the things I noticed as we walked and talked was the attention we got. Everyone stared at us when we passed them, their eyes bulging and their heads turning to keep us in their sights. That was only natural. It seemed there were no humans in this world, so these people must have been seeing our kind for the first time, and it wasn’t like we had been any better after meeting our first Dwoerg.

While walking around on the third floor, Kari’s and my stomachs chose that moment to rumble. We looked at each other. Kari was blushing and wore an embarrassed smile.

“Shall we get something to eat?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. I’m starving. Let’s go down to the first floor and visit one of those taverns.”

As we traveled to the first floor, I did have a minor worry about currency, which I had only thought about now that we were going to eat something. Our world used valis—copper, silver, gold, platinum, and jade coins—but that didn’t mean this world had the same currency. It was another world. Would our valis be accepted?

Those thoughts left me when we entered a tavern. The bright glow of lamps hanging from the ceiling and the walls lit up the interior around us, revealing the numerous wooden tables and chairs, filled to bursting with Dweorgs as they drank mead and ate a type of meat I’d never seen before. They were making a lot of noise. I could barely hear my own voice and had to shout in her ear just so Kari could hear me.

“Let’s find a table!”

“Okay!”

We wandered further into the tavern, drawing a few stares on our way, but then, just as we were wondering where we could sit, I spotted Erica and Tungsten out of the corner of my eye. They were sitting at a place further removed from the tavern’s main floor, quietly sipping some kind of frothing ale from copper mugs. I tapped Kari’s shoulder, then gestured toward the two. She nodded and we changed direction.

“It looks like you two had the same idea as us,” I said as we sat down at their table.

Erica smiled while Tungsten took a large swig of his drink. “We didn’t want to remain cooped up in our rooms, so we decided to explore a bit after getting some sleep. It’s good to get a feel for our surroundings in case something goes awry.”

“Which is likely to happen.” I nodded along with her.

“Certainly, given how much has already gone wrong.”

“What do you two think of this city?” asked Kari.

“It is certainly impressive,” Tungsten grunted. “These Dwoergs are great builders and craftsmen. Nothing we humans have made can possibly compare. Even their weapons far exceed what our current blacksmiths can make.”

“I noticed that as well.” Taking a moment, I hailed down a Dwoerg who was serving ale and ordered some for Kari and myself, and then refocused on my companions. “I wonder if I can get a weapon made here. I really should get one.”

“You’re still searching for something that suits you,” Kari added. “I remember we tried several, but none of them really felt right…”

“Or they broke,” I added.

“Broke?” Erica made a face at my words.

Giving her a wan smile, I said, “Every weapon I’ve ever used has been unable to withstand my Spiritual Power. Even some of the weapons made by the best blacksmiths in our world break after a couple of uses.” Pausing as our drinks arrived, I took a quick swig of the frothing ale and almost coughed. “T-this is strong stuff.”

“Right?” Erica grinned at me, and even Tungsten looked like he was amused. “Don’t worry. We both reacted the same way.”

“That so?”

I didn’t feel much better hearing that, but now that I knew, I would be more cautious while drinking. This time I took a smaller sip. A warm liquid that was slightly bitter, slightly sweet, and with a strong kick traveled down my throat. I sighed after the first sip, and then took another, slightly longer sip. Beside me, Kari, who had been forewarned by my own mistake, didn’t cough like I did when I first started drinking.

“Anyway,” I continued where I’d left off, “I even tried using a weapon that was made from the bones of an A-rank Demon Beast, but it only lasted slightly longer than the others before shattering on me.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a problem,” Tungsten said.

“Eryk has always had a strong Spiritual Power,” Kari admitted.

“What sort of weapon are you looking for?” asked Erica.

“You know, I’m really not sure…”

I’d tried all kinds of weapons in the past—swords, staffs, maces, spears, staves, morning stars, sickles… none of them had felt right. Most of them were too light, but all the heavier weapons like spears and polearms didn’t suit my fighting style.

As we were discussing what sort of weapon I should be using, a massive rumbling shook the tavern. The Dwoergs around us screamed in surprise. All four of us stood to our feet as the table shook and our drinks spilled everywhere. We looked up at the monster core lamps above our heads as they swung erratically.

“What in the blazes is going on?!” shouted Tungsten.

“Let’s go outside and take a look!” Erica suggested.

While the Dwoergs were panicking, the four of us raced between the tables and traveled outside, where we soon learned that the entire mountain appeared to be shaking. The shaking stopped eventually. However, it was only for a second before an even more powerful shaking hit the mountain. It wasn’t just a powerful tremor, though. It was…

“That sounded like an explosion,” I said.

Kari nodded. “That was definitely an explosion.”

As we came to this conclusion, we found a familiar figure running passed us. It was Samreak. We quickly ran up alongside him.

“What’s going on?” asked Erica.

Samreak looked grim as he continued running, forcing us to keep up. “It seems the Sekbeist have found us. We’re under attack.”

***

Two days after our attack on the Water Nymphs, I found myself standing in the place where our group had been attacked by the Giant Svart. The bridge was gone. However, my weapon, The Dragon Tail Ruler, was still embedded into the ground where I’d left it.

“We decided to leave it there as a grave marker,” Mikkel replied to me as I stared at my weapon. “Of course, there is also the fact that your weapon was simply too heavy for us to carry. I’m honestly not sure how you can carry swing around such a weapon with so much ease.”

“I’ve trained my strength so I could carry it,” I said as I wrapped my fingers around the handle and lifted the blade out of the ground, then set it on my shoulder.

Mikkel shook his head in faint disbelief.

Kari, Fay, Lin, and Dyr were standing by the cliff face and looking across the ravine. The uncertainty on their faces made me realize what they were thinking about. I walked up to them.

“Fay, do you think you can use the Flash Step to cross this gap?” I asked.

Biting her lip as she judged the distance between the side we were standing on and the other side of the ravine, she soon shook her head. “No… it would take at least two steps for me to be able to cross it.”

“And you haven’t learned the second stage of the Flash Step.” I rubbed my chin as I pondered that, and then ran a hand through my hair. “Well, I guess that just means I’ll have to carry everyone across myself.”

“How are you going to do that?” asked Dyr.

“Like this.”

Since Kari was the one closest to me, I hooked one hand under her legs and the other around her shoulders, and lifted her into a princess carry. The blond beauty’s cheeks turned red as she gave me a startled look. I just smiled at her and said, “hold on tight,” before activating the Flash Step.

It was over in an instant. One moment I was standing next to Fay, Lin, and Dyr. The next I was on the other side of the ravine, setting Kari back on her feet.

“That is a really impressive technique,” Kari said as she gazed at the distance we had crossed in less time than it took to blink.

“Yup. Doesn’t it motivate you to learn it?” I asked, winking.

Kari giggled. “It does actually. I’d love to be able to use something like this. It’s comparable to my mother’s Spiritual Technique, Three Thousand Steps.”

“We’ll keep working on it when we return home,” I assured her. “Anyway, wait here while I bring the others over.”

I used the Flash Step to appear back on the other side, and then carried Lin, Fay, and Dyr across the ravine in quick succession. Once the girls were on the other side, I turned to the three guys. Earland, Geirolf, and Mikkel didn’t look like they were as interested in being carried over by me. Geirolf was the most adamant of the three about not letting himself be carried.

“No way. No how.” He crossed his arms in front of him, forming an X-pattern. “There’s no way I’m gonna let myself be carried like some kind of princess!”

“So I should just leave you here?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Geirolf scowled. “I’ll find another way across!”

“How?” I spread my arms wide. “The other side of this ravine is blocked off by mountains no matter how far you travel. There’s no other way to reach this section except to cross the ravine. Unless you plan on climbing up to the other side…”

Reticence flashed through Geirolf’s eyes as he looked from me to the ravine, and I knew he understood what I was saying, but then his petulance came back and he stubbornly backed away from me, as though to say he still refused. I shrugged and turned to Earland and Mikkel.

“What about you two?”

Mikkel scratched the back of his head and released a weary sigh. “I don’t see any other way to cross right now, so I suppose there’s no choice.”

“I don’t care one way or the other,” Earland added.

With their agreement, I quickly grabbed the two older brothers and used the Flash Step to bring them across the ravine, where the girls were impatiently waiting for us. Once both were on the other side, I Flash Stepped back and looked at Geirolf.

“No,” he said.

I raised my eyebrow.

“No way.” He shook his head.

I tapped my foot against the ground.

“I’m not gonna do it! You can’t make me!” he screamed, but I was having none of it. I decided if he was gonna be stubborn, then I wouldn’t give him a choice.

Using the Flash Step, I appeared behind him, knocked his legs out from underneath him, and hauled him over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Geirolf didn’t seem to realize what was happening at first, but then he screamed and began to struggle. Before he could really begin fighting, though, I used the Flash Step one last time and appeared on the other side of the ravine, where I dropped the boy on his ass.

“All right!” I clapped my hands several times and smiled at everyone as Geirolf rubbed his sore bottom. “Let’s get a move on and return home.”

Everyone glanced at me, then at the blushing and heavily scowling Geirolf, and then back in my direction. No one said anything. They just slowly nodded. Thus our journey in the Demon Beast Mountain Range came to an end.

***

“It’s good to be home,” I said as I stretched my arms above my head. All of us were standing before the north gate, having just returned to Nevaria.

“It does feel rather nice to return after such a long journey,” Kari added with a smile. “This was a lot of fun… despite some of the things that happened.”

I’m sure she was referring to when I had fallen down that ravine, but I didn’t say anything about that as I nodded and agreed with her.

“I feel like I learned a lot during this trip,” Fay told us, her expression quite serious. “I’ve learned that I’m still too green and lack experience. I’ll need to work even harder than before so I can be prepared for the dangers we might face if we travel into the Demon Beast Mountain Range again.”

Kari nodded at her friend’s words, but while the two of them appeared to have recognized their own weaknesses, Lin merely crossed her arms in an uncaring fashion. “This princess is just glad to be back. She can’t wait to take a nice, hot bath.”

While the three girls were chatting amongst each other, Geirolf, Earland, and Mikkel all walked past our small group. While the youngest and eldest continued on (Geirolf was grumbling something under his breath, though I couldn’t hear what), Mikkel turned to us with a smile.

“We have to report back to our fathers and inform them of what happened. We’ll need someone to go out and remake the bridge. We also need to let them know about the Giant Svart that attacked us. A B-rank Demon Beast this close to Nevaria spells trouble.”

“I understand. I also plan to speak with Dante a little later. There are some things I want to talk to him about, and I have an idea about the bridge.” While Mikkel gave me a curious look, I shook my head. “It’s nothing important right now.”

Nodding, Mikkel said, “see you later,” before moving to catch up with his two brothers. As they disappeared from sight, I glanced at the girls I was courting, who still appeared to be chatting among themselves, and then looked at Dyr.

I paused.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Huh?” Dyr stiffened up when I spoke to her, but then she gave me a fake smile. “Oh, yeah. Everything is fine. Just fine. Anyway, I really should be going. I’m sure Hagen and Skygge are waiting for me.”

“Right. I’ll see you later,” I said with a wave.

Dyr waved back as she took off at a quick trot down the street. I watched as she watched, turned back to me, gave a quick smile, and then disappeared around a corner. Hmm. Something about that girl bothered me. I wasn’t sure what, and I didn’t think it was the girl so much as her circumstances, but I was really bothered by unidentifiable something as I saw her vanish.

“Did she just say ‘Hagen’?” asked Kari, brow furrowing.

“Something wrong?” asked Fay.

Kari continued frowning in the direction Dyr had disappeared in, but then she shook her head, slowly, and said, “No… I suppose not.”

There must have been something on her mind, but no one said anything. It seemed to me like we were all too tired to really talk much longer.

Fay mentioned that her father was probably worried about her, so after giving all of us a quick goodbye, she left next. That meant it was just me, Kari, and Lin. I could probably count the two gate guards who were staring at us in that equation too.

“Well,” I began, turning to Kari, “do you want me and Lin to walk you home?”

With a slow, hesitant shake of her head, Kari gazed at me with large, innocent eyes that were more clear than the sky. The imploringness in her gaze made me pause. “Actually, I was wondering… if I could stay the night at your house.”

“Huh?” I asked in the most eloquent voice possible.

***

I stood in my bedroom, my alchemy set sitting on the table in front of me, and tried to ignore the sound of splashing coming through the wall. Kari and Lin were both in the bath. I’d drawn the bathwater and heated it up by adding two fire affinity monster cores. I’d also gone a step further and dropped a pair of Body Forging Pills in the water, which would help heal their aching muscles and make them stronger at the same time.

While I had let Kari come to my house, I wondered if that was okay. It seemed to me that letting the Princess of Nevaria stay the night with me was a bit improper. While it was true that I had never cared about propriety before, I at least understood that, as of this moment, I needed to tread carefully when courting her. Hilda Astralia was not a woman I could afford to cross, especially if I wanted to strengthen Nevaria with the knowledge I had.

Shaking my head, I stopped thinking about that, at least for now, and instead focused on the two ingredients I had acquired during my time in the Demon Beast Mountain Range. I had 12 Water Nymph monster cores, about 30 Water Nymph Bones, and two dozen Four Tongue Clovers.

The Four Tongue Clover was a plant that grew in underground lakes, or in damp, dark places that had plenty of water. Their name was derived from their appearance. Each leaf was wide and shaped to resemble a tongue. There were four in total to each stock, and they spread out from the stock, branching in four directions to create a cross-shaped pattern.

Each Four Tongue Clover was laid out side by side. I had grabbed two dozen simply because I was hoping to convince Feinrea to create a building specifically for cultivating more so we wouldn’t have to travel into the Demon Beast Mountain Range every time we needed some.

“Tomorrow, I will have to go see Feinrea and teach her how to make the Blood Replenishing Pill,” I mumbled to myself. I also had to speak with Dante. I wanted to propose several ideas that could help increase the defensive strength of Nevaria, and I wanted to ask if he knew anyone named Hagen and Skygge.

As I was thinking about all the things I needed to do tomorrow, a knock sounded at my door.

“Eryk?” Kari’s voice echoed from the other side.

“It’s open,” I called out, turning around.

The door opened to reveal Kari on the other side. She was dressed in the attire she’d worn during our excursion into the Demon Beast Mountain Range—sans her leather armor. Dressed only in a black shirt, skirt, and stockings, the daring lines of her body drew my eyes to admire her. I couldn’t help but notice that she wasn’t wearing breast bindings either. Her bust strained against the shirt.

Her hair was still wet, showing she’d finished taking a shower. She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

“Thank you for letting me use your shower,” Kari said.

“You’re welcome,” I replied simply. “Lin isn’t with you?”

“She’s asleep.” Taking a few more steps into the room, Kari smiled at me as she placed her hands behind her back. “I think she was exhausted after our adventure.”

Her comment made me imagine Lin as she slept underneath the blankets of her large bed, dozing away as her snake tail thumped against the floor. The thought made me smile for a moment. I shook the thought off, however, and soon turned my attention back to Kari, who was looking at me with a strange smile.

“I’m surprised you’re not heading to bed as well,” I said.

“I am tired, but I also wanted to speak with you about something,” Kari admitted, and here, she seemed a tad embarrassed. A gentle trace of pink sprang to her cheeks, making me once more realize how utterly stunning this girl looked.

“What did you want to talk about?” I asked.

Bringing her hands to her front, Kari gripped her skirt, and gazed at me with eyes that trembled with an emotion she seemed to be only just restraining. “When you fell down that ravine, I felt… like my heart had stopped. I already realized some time ago that I loved you, but until that moment, I never… never realized how much you meant to me…”

A small droplet of water like a tiny crystal leaked from her left eye, slowly wound its way down her cheek, and dripped off her chin. One soon became two and two became three. Kari raised her hands to her face and tried to wipe them away, but she didn’t seem to be having much success.

I closed the distance between us and cupped her face with my hands. I used my thumbs to wipe the tears away as Kari closed her eyes and seemed to nuzzle my hands. After I finished, she took a shuddering breath, opened her eyes, and continued.

“My own feelings came as a great shock to me,” she gave me this painful admittance as though even she couldn’t believe the intensity of her own emotions. “It felt like someone had ripped open my chest and pulled out my heart. It was like some part of me that had always been there had suddenly disappeared.”

Kari had stopped crying now—it had only been a few tears—but I continued to rub her cheeks with my thumbs. She hadn’t told me to stop.

“You’ve been holding that in this whole time, haven’t you? Ever since I returned,” I said, already knowing the answer.

“I didn’t want to appear weak in front of my brothers,” Kari admitted.

“But you don’t mind appearing weak in front of me?” I teased. I didn’t mention how she and Lin had both cried into my chest, which I believed her brothers would consider a bigger sign of weakness than what she was doing now. I honestly saw nothing weak in her actions.

“Y-you’re different! I mean, you and me… we’re together, and you’ve always listened and accepted how I feel without reservation, so I… it’s like I feel more comfortable talking about stuff like this around you.”

When Kari’s face and ears turned red as she tried to explain herself, I chuckled just a little. She pouted at me, her cheeks swelling up like a chipmunk with acorns in its mouth, but I drew her close. Hugging the girl to my chest, I placed my chin on the crown of her head. She smelled of the shampoo and soap I had bought. In response to my actions, Kari wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight as though afraid I would disappear when she let go.

“I’m glad you feel that way.” I ran a hand through her hair. “I want you to be able to talk to me about anything. Whenever you’re troubled or uncertain, you can come to me, and I’ll listen no matter what it is.”

Perhaps it was in response to my words, but Kari buried her face even further into my chest as though trying to burrow through me. Her muffled “thank you” was barely heard.

I wasn’t sure how long we stayed like this. It felt like hours. However, I was sure only a few minutes had passed. At some point, Kari’s body completely relaxed against me, becoming so slack she would have fallen to the floor had I not been hugging her. I realized from her slow, even breaths that she had fallen asleep.

Scooping the girl into my arms, I went over to my bed and used my toes to pull back the covers. I decided to leave her clothes on since I didn’t think stripping her was a good idea right now. I set her down, paused for a just a moment, and then pulled the covers back. While I was tempted to slip into bed with her, she hadn’t given me permission yet.

That night, I decided to take the couch.

***

Dyr returned “home” soon after parting ways with Eryk. The moment she appeared before the Leucht Family gates, she was let into the mansion and directed toward the basement, where she was then locked away.

Her room could scarcely be called such, as there was literally nothing in this room except for a simple cot with a threadbare blanket. Dyr couldn’t help but notice, as she laid on the hard cot and shivered underneath the blanket, that it was nowhere near as warm as when she shared a sleeping bag with Fay.

She missed them already, those people who had treated her with kindness and warmth despite the fact that she was a complete stranger. She missed Eryk. He had treated her well immediately after they met, let her travel with him, fed her, and didn’t get upset even after she’d accidentally eaten some of that Demon Beast Repellent. She wished to return to his side, though she knew that wasn’t possible.

As she lay there, voices came from the other side.

“So you failed to kill Eryk and his party even after I lent you Dyr,” said a voice she recognized. It was Hagen.

“Ke ke ke. This was just a trial run,” another voice said. Skygge. “I didn’t expect to be able to kill Eryk this time. I merely wanted to see how Dyr’s abilities worked and whether we could use it to dispose of him in the future.”

“Hmph. That’s a likely excuse.”

“Eryk Veiger is powerful, and his companions aren’t weak either. Ke ke. If we wanted to kill him now, it would have required more preparation on our part.”

“What about that master you keep telling me about? Surely he can afford to send someone who is powerful enough to wipe them out. Could you not do that yourself? I thought you were the greatest assassination within your group.”

“Ke ke ke. I’m not so sure there’s anyone in our group who has the power to kill Eryk Veiger on their own. And my master is currently dealing with something else. That is why I’m looking to see if we can use Dyr’s abilities to do the job for us. And I might be an assassin, but Eryk Veiger’s ability to sense Spiritual Power is rather frightening. Ke ke ke ke. Even if I can hide from him when I’m Shadow Walking, I can’t hide once I step out of the shadows.”

Dyr bit her lip as she listened to the two as they spoke. She didn’t like where this conversation was going, but she also couldn’t do anything about it. Even if she wanted to warn Eryk and his friends about this, she understood that she wouldn’t be allowed to leave. All she could do was listen.

“Then what do you propose?” asked Hagen.

“Ke ke ke. This experiment of mine was rather successful,” Skygge replied. “Even without the ritual, we were able to forcibly release Dyr’s power and attract a Giant Svart. The next time Eryk Veiger travels into the Demon Beast Mountain Range, we will follow him and wait until his guard is lowered, and then we’ll use a larger version of the ritual to attract multiple Demon Beasts. If we can summon several B-ranks or even an A-rank Demon Beast, not even Eryk Veiger will be able to escape.”

“I suppose that is the best I can hope for,” Hagen said after a several second pause. “However, I expect you to finish him off next time. My family has been supporting you and your master for thousands of years. You wouldn’t have been able to get where you are today without us. I expect you to pay back this debt in full.”

“Do not worry. Ke ke. My master never forgets to repay his debts.”

The conversation appeared to be done. Dyr listened to the sound of footsteps as Hagen walked off. Skygge had probably disappeared into a shadow since she couldn’t hear his footsteps.

As she lay there, her legs curled into her chest, Dyr prayed that Eryk and his friends would never travel into the Demon Beast Mountain Range again.