Wfb: Chapter 65

When People Start Talking all at Once in a Meeting, My Habit is just to Zone Out and Start Making up Fantasy Stories in My Head; at Least it is until I Learn How to Sleep with My Eyes Open

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K-tan k-tan

I’m climbing the steps of the staircase erected at the pavilion in the center of the room called the Water Corridor.

Leaving tea and some dense cakes with Seimei-san, I leave Seimei-san in the care of Ragnall in order to explore the Water Corridor.

The staircase is only 5 stories high, so it won’t take long.

Though Seimei-san expressed some interest in exploring as well, he lethargically decided to stay behind. I wouldn’t be surprised if he just curled up and took a nap. Please eat the sweets I left behind and regain some energy, Seimei-san.

Luckily, the food in this world is already at a high level. Although sugar cane is impossible in this area, sugar beet plantations have already been established on the 2nd level of the Labyrinth.

Only fried food is a little behind, as oil is more precious and used in other industries as well, but even the street stalls carried some fried food, though at a higher price than other foods.

The cakes and sweets are pleasingly sweet, and the flavors of the other ingredients can be tasted. It’s not some baked sweet that’s just filled with sugar in order to seem luxurious.

It really isn’t all that bad of a world to have ended up in.

Haa… I’ve finally reached the top of the pavilion.

At the top, a globe of the “water” jittered and sparkled, floating above a square pedestal.

This was what I was interested in.

There is nothing known about the people who built the ruins on the 3rd level. Nothing but the ruins of a great, white city was left, and some people say the Labyrinth itself built the city. Even less is known about the Water Corridor.

What is the water that spans throughout this room?

It doesn’t have a blue tinge, rather, it’s clear and glistens with light. It has the texture of honey thinned with water. It doesn’t feel cool or hot, no matter who touches it. It doesn’t stick to your hand and make it wet either.

In order to harvest the ‘water’, a delicate process of splitting some off with a ladle and coaxing it into a bottle is needed. It’s not like it doesn’t follow gravity once you separate it from the corridor wall, but it does seem to want to return to the wall if it’s within range.

I approach the globe of water on the pedestal.

Unlike the rest of the ruins there are picture designs carved into the floor here, and the pedestal was carved to be overflowing with ornate designs.

Like Lor had told me, there is no doubt that this place is the center of whatever civilization built these ruins. Only this place was worthy of being decorated.

As I step closer, there’s a humming vibration in the air.

Somehow, I feel compelled to touch the globe of water.

Well, it was what I intended to do to begin with, so I let myself go along with the atmosphere.

Taking a deep breath, I place both hands on the globe of water.

Ssss

An overwhelming sensation takes hold of me, and I feel like I’m being drawn into the globe of water.

A bright light erupts all around me.

—

Oh a person.

It’s a person.

A person has come.

How long since a person has last come here?

Yesterday?

1,000 moons ago?

1,000,000 moons ago?

A few seconds ago?

It’s a person.

Oh a person.

A person has come.

It felt like I had plunged into the ocean. Sparkling towers of bubbles seemed to engulf me, caressing my skin and dancing ever upwards.

I definitely hadn’t heard of THIS from anyone!

The most that could happen was a spark of light emitting from the globe – is what the other Adventurers and scholars had told me.

Strangely, though, I don’t really feel like panicking.

Somehow, I have a feeling like, Ah, the sea really is the source of all life, even though I don’t know what this is that I’m floating in.

A sparkling light, like the light from the early morning of a bright and sunny day, permeates all throughout the area within my vision.

Voices resound in my head as I’m taking it all in.

Genderless, with a pitch that changed even in the middle of a word, the voices clamored for my attention.

“Where is this?”

It doesn’t feel like my voice when I speak.

Strange person.

Person who doesn’t know where this is.

To be able to come here without knowing.

Ah, how strange.

No, this is THAT person.

THAT person?

Ah, so it’s that person.

The one closest to us.

So it is.

This place is a place for those who have mastered [Light Magic/Aether].

This place is a place created by those who have mastered [Light Magic/Aether].

Because we are [Light Magic/Aether].

A pleasant tremor runs up my body. I hear both ‘Light Magic’ and ‘Aether’ spoken in the same breath.

I am speaking to the embodiment of Light Magic, something that calls itself Aether.

“Has it been a long time since the last person who knew of Light Magic came here?”

Time?

What is time?

Yes.

No.

What is time?

There are only records of people who could use Light Magic from ancient days. When I asked Lor about all the elements, both Light and Dark are elements that are no longer understood well. Those who can use them to an extent can only use them in imperfect spells.

Somehow, I get the feeling that the last people who came to this place and talked to the Aether were the people who had built the ruins.

Centuries upon centuries have passed since then, but to Light Magic, it could be seconds or eons. Light Magic has nothing to do with time, huh?

“What do you mean by the person closest to you?”

It was us.

Our doing.

It was us who called you.

It was us who brought you.

You and your kind.

It was us who received compensation.

For you and your kind to come.

We brought you.

You and your kind.

Because we were asked to.

Because we received compensation.

From your world.

To this world.

It was us who brought you.

You and your kind.

A different sort of chill runs up my spine.

What! What is this? To think I’d hear something so important here, so unexpectedly!

I swallow hard, an unpleasant feeling erupting from the pit of my stomach.

“Why did you bring us here?”

Because we were asked to.

Because we received compensation.

From your world.

To this world.

We brought you.

You and your kind.

Because we were asked.

Of course. If this is Light Magic, then there’s no reason for them to do so. Or like, there’s no such thing as magic that has its own will. They did it because someone asked them to.

There’s someone out there that knows who we are because he, she, or it summoned us here, and we have no idea what that someone intends to do by calling us here.

Could it be a country like Carnus? An evil wizard? A divine sage?

Not knowing anything about it, I’m suddenly drenched in cold fear.

“What … was the compensation?”

Life.

All life born of [Light Magic/Aether] must have life returned to [Light Magic/Aether].

Life born of [Light Magic/Aether] requires much more life returned to [Light Magic/Aether].

Many lives returned to [Light Magic/Aether] for one life born from [Light Magic/Aether].

That is the compensation.

The compensation was paid.

We brought you here.

You and your kind.

With the compensation.

Then your bodies were born.

Out of [Light Magic/Aether].

Because we were compensated.

We brought you here.

Gave you bodies.

From [Light Magic/Aether].

This really isn’t making me feel better about the situation.

“Can you send us back?”

Impossible.

Impossible.

Not possible.

There is no one on the otherside to pay compensation.

There is no [Light Magic/Aether] in your world to call you.

There is no way to make life from [Light Magic/Aether] in the other world.

Compensation was required to call you to this world.

There was need for compensation to transfer you to this world.

The life you had there was sacrificed as compensation.

The stream you were in was close enough.

The information provided was close enough.

For building your bodies, the information we received was enough.

And so we took compensation.

We brought you to this world.

But you were different.

You were different from your kind.

You were incomplete.

Information wasn’t enough.

But we received compensation.

We had to build you a body.

Our wellspring.

To complete your body, we used a wellspring.

You are a wellspring of [Light Magic/Aether].

You are the closest to [Light Magic/Aether].

You are different.

You are now complete.

You are something beyond your kind.

The Spirit Tree, the wellspring of [Light Magic/Aether].

Life incarnate, your body was completed.

You and your kind.

We brought you to this world.

Because we were asked to.

The light and the sensation of water ebbed away, and I came to, finding myself alone, standing at the pedestal with my hands held out in front of me.

“Jun-kun!”

“Jun!”

I hear Ragnall and Seimei-san calling from below.

“Did you feel that surge of magic?”

“Did something happen up there?”

An unpleasant feeling has risen from the pit of my stomach, and now it feels lodged in my throat.

“… Ah, yeah, everything’s fine…”

I hurry back down the stairs.

There’s something I’m going to need to discuss with Seimei-san. The other gamers will probably reach Nyl City by the time we emerge from the Labyrinth. I think it’s only fair that I let him know all of this information before hand.

I think the others would feel more comfortable if he’s the one who tells them.

—

Later that day, after we blitzed back through the Water Corridor and picked a spot in the Water Maze that wasn’t covered in water, I bluntly tell Ragnall that there’s something I need to discuss with Seimei-san before the others of our kin arrive in Nyl City, and as usual, he takes it in stride.

He prepared the campsite as I sat, talking with Seimei-san with Translate turned off.

Seimei-san’s face has turned dark.

“So what we know for sure is that we were brought here at someone’s request, at the cost of many, many lives. Also, either our bodies or our avatars’ bodies have been killed off and there is just about no hope for going home.”

I didn’t tell him about the details of my creation, just that I was probably separated from them because of my incomplete character status.

“It can’t be Carnus …?”

Considering how the others had shown up in Carnus, I can’t help but wonder if someone in Carnus had called us.

“I think it’s unlikely, but only a fool would completely rule out the case. I haven’t heard of any mass deaths or epidemics, and Carnus isn’t at war or anything, so on the surface at least, they aren’t the ones who paid the compensation.”

On the surface, at least. Like Seimei-san says, we can’t rule anything out, but it won’t do to start suspecting people without proof.

To tell the truth, I don’t suspect Carnus either. Timidly working with the gamers for mutual benefits, it doesn’t seem like that’s how people who selfishly called others from another world at the cost of many lives would act.

But we can’t completely ignore that possibility.

I’ve already been analyzing the cursed necklace Seimei-san had been using up until now, and I think I can reverse-engineer several in case we run into the situation where we’ll need to hide as ordinary citizens of this world.

I will also modify one to have a limit of 5 million MP, especially for Seimei-san.

Now, I take out the ice drake’s body, carefully peel back some scales, and then sever the tail of the drake. I replaced the rest of the ice drake’s body into Inventory.

There’s really not much I can do, but it makes me nervous that Masaki’s in the center of all the attention in Carnus.

That’s what I’m thinking as I carefully remove a set of tools used specifically for shaping monster parts into weapons.

A mithril-edged knife, black steel tongs, diamond coated awl, and a special whetstone called huornell, made from (strangely enough), a type of petrified tree.

This set of tools, naturally, cost quite a fortune. I’ve paid half of it off, and the other half will be paid in monthly installments.

Interest free, since I bought them from Helward’s Forge.

A drake’s materials can only be shaped after heating them with plasma, but it’s not too hard to do if you understand how plasma is formed. I have to move a little bit away from Seimei-san and Ragnall, though.

All through the night I work endlessly on the ice drake’s tail fin, worrying about the future.

—

The blade is wider than a katana, and the curve is more prominent.

The ice drake blade is fashioned after Middle-Eastern cavalry blades.

As a Dragon Knight, Masaki is experienced in mounted combat – or that’s how the story goes.

I have my doubts about it, but Seimei-san says he can fight well on both ground and flying mounts. Before he advanced to Dragon Knight, Masaki had been a Cavalry Knight, so he still retains the ability to tame and mount beasts other than dragons.

Although he doesn’t have a dragon, it seems he can tame lizard and snake monsters to use his Dragon Knight skills with, but … for all that he likes dragons and dinosaurs, Masaki’s scared of lizards and snakes, so is he going to be ok?

It’s not my fault, right? I didn’t scare him that badly, chasing him around with garden snakes and lizards as kids, did I?

Anyway, even if he doesn’t use it while riding something, the sword is designed to gouge deeply into an opponent, so it should work well with for an inexperienced Masaki if he swings too shallowly.

I’m not sure how well the gamers will be able to use their weapons without actual training. I can only use Seimei-san as a standard, but he is 100% mage. It is a useless standard.

Ragnall takes us back up to the surface through the normal route, and the return journey takes 4 days.

This time we take care to rest properly, mindful of Seimei-san’s stamina.

After 7 days, we emerge from the Labyrinth.

Through Friend Chat, he was able to arrange it so the 3 gamers who came to Nyl City would be waiting in the Guild hall to meet us.

As we enter lobby, a notice pops up in front of me.

『MASA IS TRYING TO REGISTER YOU AS A FRIEND. CONFIRM REGISTRATION: Y/N?』

After so many months, Friend Chat finally connects to Masaki.

At the doors to the Guild hall are several soldiers, as well as 3 Japanese people.

I quickly accept the Friend Registration.

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<A/n: … No, well, I planned for this to happen at this point, but at the same time, why do I feel like I’ve been trolling everyone this entire time? It feels like I just gave more questions than answers.>