WIEDERGEBURT Chapter 26

Grant was in the training hall, a massive room that was at least the size of a well-off commoners house. He shuffled along the matt, moving to a rhythm only he could hear. Every time he moved, he would throw a powerful punch or unleash a swift kick. When he did, fire erupted from his limbs, shooting into the air and burning the ozone.

Even though it was late at night, he refused to stop training. He was so angry. All he saw was red.

“That damn peasant!”

An image appeared in front of him. It was of the calm, indifferent face of that girlish boy who was spending time with his Kari! She wasn’t that brats! She was his! His! With a ferocious roar, he threw a punch that sent a plume of fire at the illusory face, causing it to evaporate.

“How dare he challenge me!”

Spinning around on the ball of his left foot, Grant threw a reverse heel kick. His heel caught fire, creating a wide arc of bright red flames that didn’t dissipate until well after he had stomped his foot on the matt. More flames erupted from the bottom of his foot. The matt turned a blistering red, but it didn’t melt or combust.

With a growl surging in the back of his throat, Grant knelt on the ground and pressed his hands against the matt, which immediately began glowing red as heat surged from his fingertips. A second later, the heat exploded. Hot air and flames spewed from underneath his hands and feet. Grant was launched into the air, spinning around like an acrobat. His movements generated more fire as he twisted. His body was like a corkscrew that caused innumerable amounts of flame to spew from all over his body, creating a tornado of fire.

Grant landed on the ground with a fierce stomp. Steam rose from his body. However, he wasn’t injured in the least. His body felt like it was on fire, but it was an energizing flame. He let out a deep breath and smoke poured from his lungs. After settling down, he stood back up and resumed his stance.

“It seems young Master Grant is still practicing even this late at night. Ke ke. How admirable.”

At the sound of the old voice, Grant ceased training and turned around. “How long are you going to keep hiding in the shadows? Come out.”

“Ke ke. I am only remaining unobtrusive because I do not wish to disturb you.”

A cloaked figure walked out from the shadows of a massive column, his body seeming to emerge from within the shadow itself. Very little could be seen of this person. The cloak covered most of his body. Despite the sound of their wisened voice, the cloaked individual stood with his back straight and walked with a vitality found in someone at their physical peak. Even so, Grant could still see the wrinkled old flesh peeking out from the sleeves when the man moved his arms.

“Skygge,” Grant said. “Did you do as I asked?”

“I did indeed follow Alf and Arvid as you requested,” the old man named Skygge said. “Just as you asked, they confronted the one called Eryk and proceeded to fight him.”

“And?” asked Grant.

“Ke ke. Both of them were beaten to a bloody pulp.” Even though Grant could not see his face, the amusement seeping out of Skygge’s voice was undeniable. “Not only did he beat them with complete ease, he didn’t use a single Spiritual Technique, so I could not get a truly accurate estimation of his abilities.”

“Tch!” Grant bit his thumb in anger. “I knew those two would be useless!”

“That might not be completely true. Ke ke. While they failed to force Eryk into revealing any of his abilities, we can still use their defeat to our advantage.”

Grant removed his thumb from between his teeth and stared at the cloaked man. He tried to peer past that hood of his, but he couldn’t. The space within the hood was pitched black. It was as though the light feared going near this man’s face.

“What do you mean?” Grant asked.

Skygge spread his arms out. “We will inform the Himmel Family about the fate of these two. While Alf and Arvid aren’t heirs, they are still members of the Himmel Family, and their humiliation at Eryk’s hand will not be taken lying down, especially if you tell that friend of yours. In fact, you could probably convince Albert to attack him for you. When he does, we can get a measure of the young man’s abilities then.”

Grant crossed his arms and tapped his left index finger against his forearm. He narrowed his eyes in thought. After several seconds of pondering the suggestion, he nodded.

“I doubt that peasant would be able to defeat Albert, but it’s a good idea. Very well. We will do that.”

“Ke ke. Young Master Grant always makes very sensible choices.” Skygge cackled as he slowly backed away. “I will send one of my puppets to observe him further. Unfortunately, our abilities rely on the darkness, so we will not have much luck spying on him during the day. That boy’s senses were quite sharp. He sensed my presence even though I was using Shadow Walking. I recommend using your family to spy on him when the Sun is out.”

“Fine. I’ll have my Leucht Family keep an eye on him during the day.” Grant frowned at the man. “But you make sure you are also doing your part. My family has aided you for many centuries. I expect you to do as you’re told.”

“Of course. Of course. Ke ke. Young Master Grant has no need to worry about a thing. My master and I are quite grateful to your family, so we will continue to aid you.”

Walking back into the shadow of the column he’d emerged from, the man slowly sank into the darkness and disappeared soon after. The only thing that remained was the sound of his laughter.

***

I returned home to find Lin lying on my bed. She was on her back, staring at the ceiling with a bored expression. Because her tail was so long, it hung off the bed and curled around on the floor. I was once again reminded that she needed clothes when I saw her bare breasts rise and fall with each breath she took.

“I’m home,” I called out.

Lin sat up, her eyes brightening a little. “Welcome home, Darling.”

“You didn’t go out at all, did you?” I slipped out of my boots and wandered into the room.

“Of course this princess did not go outside.” Lin appeared put out that I would even have to ask such a question. “She knows better than to randomly wander outside after you told her not to. However, it has been terribly boring being stuck inside of this place. There is nothing to do here.”

I sent her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry about that.” I paused for a moment, considering something, and then asked, “Is there something I can do to make up for you being forced to remain inside all day?”

“I would like to have se—”

“Anything else?” I interrupted the girl before she could finish that sentence.

There was a several second silence as the Lamia narrowed her eyes in thought. She looked at me, and then glanced around the room before, finally, her eyes alighted on the tub.

“This princess would like to take a bath,” she said at last.

“I can do that.” I nodded.

“However, it must be a hot bath,” she continued. “We Lamia are cold-blooded. A cold bath will cause this princess to freeze.”

Her words made me frown for a moment, but I eventually agreed to letting her have a warm bath. There were methods of heating up bathwater, and I could accomplish at least one of them right now. It wouldn’t even be very hard.

“Wait here while I fill up the bathwater.” I grabbed a large pale, slipped my boots back on, and walked to the door.

Lin spread her hands in a helpless gesture. “What else is this princess going to do?”

I traveled down the stairs, which led into a hallway, and then turned and walked toward the back. Emerging from a door, I wandered down the path a short distance to the stream.

The stream didn’t look like much. A person would more accurately call it a babbling brook. The tranquil water from the stream flowed past the large building I lived in along with several others. It was peaceful. I might have even called it idyllic—at least during the night when no one else was around. Most of the people living in this building were older ladies who had a tendency to gossip while they washed clothes.

I went back inside after filling up the bucket, dumped it into the tub, and then walked back outside again. I repeated this process numerous times under the watchful eyes of Lin, until the tub was full.

“Now to heat it,” I murmured.

I went over to my bookshelf, but it wasn’t the bookshelf that was my target. There was a large drawer that stood next to it. This was a new piece of furniture. Opening the first drawer revealed several different types of monster cores. All of them varied in color from bright red to pale blue, letting me know which element these monster cores were aligned with. I grabbed a red one.

Going back to the tub, I paused for a moment, sighed, and then channeled my Spiritual Power into the monster core. The D-rank monster core lit up with a bright glow. Heat seeped from between my fingers, steam wafting into the air as the monster core was activated. I dropped the monster core into the bath immediately after activation. It sank to the bottom of the tub, waves of heat emitting from it, causing the bathwater to ripple. Only a few seconds had passed before steam began rising from the water’s surface.

“That should do it.” I turned to Lin. “The bath is already for you.”

Lin could barely contain her excitement. Her body shivered as though she wanted to rush over, but she physically held herself back, instead slowly slithering up to the bath and myself. She paused before entering to look me in the eye. Her golden orbs contained gratitude, and the elegant smile that blossomed from her lips was something even I had trouble resisting.

“This princess thanks you, Darling,” she said before climbing it. Because she didn’t have legs, her method of getting in was a bit odd. She first turned around at the edge of the tub, grabbed either side, and then slowly lowered herself into the water.

Because her snake-body was so large, quite a bit of water seeped over the edge, causing me to release a sigh. I grabbed one of the towels I had just washed the other day and used it to dry the wet floor. I didn’t want the water seeping into the wood panels.

“This is nice,” Lin sighed as she leaned back and stretched her arms above her head. “It has been so long since this princess has been able to take an actual bath.”

More than half of her tail was lying on the floor. This tub was only about 1.5 meters long. Lin was over 6 meters long. Her snake half was at the very least 6 meters by itself, so she was probably about 6.4 meters total. There was simply no way for all of her to fit inside, but at least she was able to soak her human torso in the water.

“The fire monster core should last for at least an hour,” I informed her. “It’s effects will expire soon after, so don’t stay in too long after that, okay?”

“Mmm… this princess will get out once the bathwater begins to cool,” Lin murmured, her eyes fluttering closed as she sank into the water until it was up to her nose.

I ignored Lin for the moment as I went back over to my drawer and gathered several different alchemy ingredients: Water Snake Bone Marrow, Ten Petal Sakura Blossom, Aged Water Reeds, Earthen Seven Year Roots, and Matured Underground Milk. With all these ingredients in hand, I went over to a small section beside my bed, set them down, and then set brought out my alchemy set.

Despite being offered an advanced alchemy set, I still only used the beginner’s set. My home consisted of a single room that already had very little space. I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to use an advanced alchemy set, which possessed nearly two times more supplies than the beginner one.

The first thing I did was place the Ten Petal Sakura Blossom into the mortar. Most sakura blossoms had only five petals. This one had ten, and all of the petals were a good deal larger than the ones found on a normal sakura tree. I mashed up to Ten Petal Sakura Blossom into a fine paste, and then added the Aged Water Reeds and mashed those up too. The sakura blossoms were pink, while the reeds were green. The end result was a mushy, light brown paste.

“What are you doing, Darling?” Lin finally took notice of my activities and called out to me.

“I’m creating a Bone Strengthening Pill.” I used a stir rod to scrape the paste into the 500 mL beaker, and then I added Matured Underground Milk until it reached the 300 mL mark. I continued speaking as I worked. “It is an alchemy pill that is used in conjunction with a bath. By adding the pill into the water and soaking the nutrients into my body, my bones will become refined and strengthen to many times what they are now.”

“Why must you strengthen your bones?” asked Lin.

“Because human bones are brittle. It is very easy to break them, especially if you push your own body really hard. Currently, everything else in my body is strong. My muscles, skin, and organs have all become very durable. However, my bones are still weak.”

As I spoke, I stirred the mixture in the beaker until it became a light silvery brown. Once finished, I grabbed a small disc made from the monster core of a fire elemental monster, activated it, and set it underneath the beaker. While waiting for the mixture to come to a boil, I took the Earthen Seven Year Roots and used a small knife to shave it into numerous peelings.

The liquid had come to a boil while I was shaving the Earthen Seven Year Roots. I grabbed a few and tossed them in. The moment the shavings touched the boiling water, they emitted a low hiss. Steam rose from them as they melted and coagulated into the mixture. Their addition didn’t change the color of the concoction, but a faint sulfurous scent did begin wafting from within the beaker. I tried not to grimace.

“You humans are very fragile,” Lin muttered.

“The upper body of a Lamia is not that much stronger than a human’s,” I argued, grabbing the Water Snake Bone Marrow. While it was called Water Snake Bone Marrow, it was actually one of the ribs belonging to a Water Snake, a C-rank Demon Beast found in freshwater rivers and lakes.

“Hmmm… this princess admits that you have a point,” Lin agreed, though she sounded reluctant. Twisting her body around, she placed her forearms on the lip of the tub, rested her chin on her forearms, and watched me with an interested expression.

I placed one part of the rib on the mortar and bashed it several times with the pestle. Nothing happened at first, but I began applying more strength, and cracks formed on the surface soon enough. Once a hole appeared on the bone, I ceased trying to break it. I took the bone, cracked the top part off, and tipped the now broken end over the bubbling concoction in the beaker.

A gel-like ooze slowly spilled out. It dripped into the beaker and emitted a sizzling hiss as puffs of smoke emerged from the contents. I used a stir rod to scrape out all of the bone marrow, and then used that same rod to stir the contents. What had once been a light brown liquid with a silver tint soon turned a slight blue. I deactivated the burner, grabbed the beaker, and dumped the contents into the cauldron. Only about half the cauldron was filled.

I took a deep breath as I grabbed the cauldron, preparing myself for the next part: Refining the pill.

Refining an alchemy pill was a matter of willpower. Alchemists would direct their Spiritual Power into the cauldron, enforcing their will upon the ingredients to compress it into a compact pill shape. It didn’t require much Spiritual Power, but it did take a lot of concentration.

As Spiritual Power surged from my hands, I willed the liquid in the cauldron to change shape. The contents bubbled and sizzled. Slowly but surely, the liquid seemed to shrink, even though the amount in the cauldron didn’t actually change. It was just being compressed like when a powerful natural force exerted a great deal of pressure on an object. In other words, it had the same amount of mass. It was just the volume that was decreasing.

After five minutes of refining, the liquid transformed into a pill about the size of my palm that rested on the bottom of the cauldron. It looked like a light blue pill at first. However, when I picked it up and held it to the light, I could see gentle ripples located on the inside. There were ten ripples in total.

“Done,” I said with a relieved sigh.

“This princess is also finished taking a bath,” Lin said, slowly climbing out of the water. Goosebumps broke out on her body before I handed her a towel, which she used to quickly dry off. Her hair was still wet as she walked over to me just as I was putting away the Bone Reinforcement Pill.

“It is quite late,” she said at last. “This princess believes it is time for bed.”

“Yeah…” I agreed before pausing. “Wait. What should our sleeping arrangements be like?”

The frown Lin gave me, like I had said something stupid, made me also frown. The Lamia crossed her arms.

“What do you mean by sleeping arrangements? Obviously, you and this princess shall be sleeping together.”

“Yeah… that’s not going to happen.”

“And why not?” The Lamia girl narrowed her eyes. “You and this princess have been sleeping together ever since you let her live with you.”

“That was because I thought you were a normal snake,” I replied with a roll of my eyes. “There are numerous reasons why I can’t sleep with you now.”

“And those would be?”

“One: You are a Lamia. Two: I do not love you. Three: I am in love with someone else and do not want to betray her.”

As I spoke, I held up my hand and extended a finger with each point I made. Lin shifted her stare from my hands to my face several times, the frown on her own face growing.

“This princess does not understand why any of those points should matter,” she said. “Does being a Lamia make make this princess ineligible for you to sleep with her? Does love factor into us sleeping together? This princess has already said you may have concubines. She will not get upset or jealous that you have someone else for whom you feel affection toward.”

“Number two and number three kind of go hand in hand here.” I rubbed my tired face. “I won’t sleep with someone who I don’t love. Furthermore, I love someone else, so I won’t betray her by sleeping with you. As for you being a Lamia…” I trailed off for a short second, and then shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter to me. You being a Lamia wouldn’t be a problem if I loved you. However, the only reason I let you sleep in my bed was because I thought you were an ordinary snake. If I’d known you were a lamia, I would have refused.”

My words caused Lin’s face to grow increasingly sullen. Her eyes grew dim. Along with her rejected expression, her shoulders began slumping, until it looked like a great weight was pressing down on them.

I felt bad for being so harsh. However, I think these things needed to be said. I ignored the problem this morning because I hadn’t been able to get my head on straight, but now that we were in this situation, I needed to be firm.

“Then are you planning to kick this princess out?” she asked, golden eyes growing even dimmer at the thought.

I clenched my hands. Thinking about this logically, I probably should kick her out. She was a Lamia who had somehow decided I was going to be her husband, without giving a single thought to my opinions on the matter. At the same time, while it would be easier on me if I did remove her from my home, I also knew that she had nowhere else to go. Kicking her out after having already taken her in was something only the most heartless of individuals would do. There was also the fact that she’d probably be killed by the Nevarian Spiritualists if I did kick her out.

After thinking about this situation for several moments, all I could do was sigh. I decided that I would need to find a new home—an actual home with multiple rooms where individuals could sleep alone. Then she could have her own bedroom, and I wouldn’t have to worry about our sleeping arrangements.

That night, while Lin slept with her tail wrapped around my body like tourniquet, I decided that immediately after my meeting with Feinrea tomorrow, I would begin looking for a new home.

***

Kari sat in the stone bath of her private bathing room. Steam rose from the surface as she kept her eyes closed and allowed the fragrance of medicine to gently pervade her nose, relaxing her mind. Some of the steam coagulated on her breasts, forming water droplets that slid into the valley of her cleavage, but she barely paid the adventurous drops any mind. Her thoughts were elsewhere.

Relaxing in the tub had become a lot more enjoyable as of late, mostly because the alchemy pills that Eryk had refined for her. Not only did they ease the tension in her body, but they also relaxed her mind and enhanced her physical conditioning. Maybe it was just an illusion. However, as she sat there in the tub, Kari could swear she felt her body growing stronger with each passing second.

At some point, the red hue of the tub vanished as all the medicinal ingredients were absorbed into her skin. That was when Kari stood up and slowly wandered out of the tub. She padded across the stone tiles, water dripping from her body and onto the floor, before she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her torso. She grabbed another one for her hair.

The steam still rising from the stone tub that was embedded into the floor made it difficult to dry off, so Kari left her private bathing room and wandered into her bedroom. Tiles shifted to carpet. The soft thump of her feet reverberated against the material as the cool air hit her body. The sudden shift from hot to cold brought a slight chill to her skin, causing goosebumps to break out on her flesh, but she ignored that and walked over to her armoire.

Donning a pink nightgown that went down to her feet, Kari finally turned and studied herself in the mirror.

Many people had often called her an exquisite beauty. The number of compliments she had received from nobles, peers, and common folk alike were uncountable. She couldn’t go a day without at least ten people complimenting her appearance. However, none of those compliments had ever made her feel pretty.

Eryk made her feel beautiful.

Objectively, she was aware of her own beauty. However, her looks had never really mattered to her until she had met Eryk. Where before she used to throw on whatever clothing she saw first, now she actually thought about what she should wear before heading to the library. She wanted to look good in front of him. That was why some of her clothing had been more revealing as of late.

The thought made her blush, but it soon left as a frown replaced it.

“Fay also loves him,” she murmured to herself.

While the knowledge that Eryk had turned Fay down made her heart sore, it also made her chest ache. She could tell that he was conflicted. What’s more, Fay had been her dearest friend until a few years ago. She knew being rejected would hurt the girl she dearly wished to befriend again. More than anything else, perhaps even more than being with Eryk, Kari wanted to rekindle that cherished friendship she used to have with the fiery-haired girl.

“I should talk to her when I get the chance,” Kari concluded to herself with a nod.

Turning away from her reflection in the mirror, she walked over to the window at the other end of her room, and placed a hand on the windowsill. She gazed at the city of Nevaria far below, and then lifted her gaze even further, toward the Demon Beast Mountain Range, which she wished to one day explore.

“Maybe one day I can even explore it with Eryk and Fay,” she said with a smile.

The twin moons shone brightly overhead.