Part Twenty-One

I can barely remember a time when I wasn’t surrounded by gluttons. And this one isn’t even cute.

*…*

And now it’s just staring at me.

*…*

Yep, this is just fine. Not odd at all.

*…*

“Kuuu~!”

“Oh thank god. The comedic relief is here.”

“Ku? Ku kyu? Ku, kuuuu~!”

I’d had Gwyn distract Regis while I was attempting the spell, but he must’ve run out of jerky since Regis suddenly popped into the room. How he got in I didn’t know, but I’d just accepted that he possessed some mysterious ability to infiltrate any room I was already inside. Did that make me irresponsible by not fully investigating it? Yes. But in my defense, Regis is an idiot. Case-in-point….

“Kuuu? Kuu? Kuuu~!? Ku!”

*…*

“Kyuuuuuu! Ku? Kuuuuu! Grrrrrrr!”

Wait, what happened to his little purring sounds there? He actually growled at it. And why’s he talking to it in the first place? This whole scene is giving me a headache.

*…*

“Okay, that’s enough out of you. I’m pretty sure you’re just trying to rile him up, but he does that well-enough on his own, so cut it out. I know you can understand me.”

*…*

I felt the Spirit flinch through our connection, though nothing about it visibly changed. This connection that had been established was very hard to understand. Describing what I felt as emotion wasn’t quite right. It was something less tangible, like the Spirit was trying to understand itself. It was like raw, unprocessed desire was flowing through, and it was nerve-wracking to feel that.

*…*

And the Spirit felt my understanding of it, which caused it some distress of its own. Or something along those lines. I didn’t fully understand it myself. And Regis wasn’t making it easy since he kept alternating between growling at the Spirit and tugging at the cuff of my pants.

“Regis, calm down. It won’t hurt you, probably. Uh, can you, like, disappear or something? I doubt he’ll calm down until you do.”

*…*

It thought for a moment, then sent something resembling affirmation along our connection, before dispersing completely, although I could still sense it.

Hm, I bet if I called it, it would reform for me. That’s good to know. Now, let’s deal with the dang fox. He’s been barking ever since I started communicating with the Spirit. Wait, is he jealous?

Calming Regis down took me a few minutes. He really didn’t seem to like the Spirit for some reason, though maybe it was just because of its nature. I doubt many animals would like the presence of something primarily made of Grudge and Miasma. Even if they were maybe possibly a monster themselves.

I’d wanted to continue experimenting with what the Spirit could do, but I was interrupted by a knock on the door before I could.

“Hey Michael, you done doing whatever the heck it is you’ve been up here doing? Because we’re waiting on you to start our meeting.”

“Ah, sorry Alicia. I’ll be down in a minute. Just let me clean up here real quick.”

“Ah, don’t worry about that. We probably won’t be using this house much longer. Unless you’re trying to start a fire. Then you should worry about it.”

“No, nothing like that. Just a little experiment. Hm, I guess it really doesn’t matter all that much. Okay, I’m coming down.”

I grabbed Regis, who’d been sniffing around the room in search of either the Spirit or loose pieces of jerky, and followed Alicia down to where everyone else was already waiting. They’d already known I was doing something new up there, so no one really complained that I’d been late.

“Finally done? Good, let’s get this shit over with.”

Okay, almost no one complained, but it was almost par for the course for Gwen to bitch about something at least once a day. It just happened to be me today.

Gwyn, on the other hand, was much more gracious about it. Because he was a gentleman.

“How did your experiment go? Did you successfully cast the spell?”

“I did. Those Gems you found me came in handy, so thanks Gwyn. Though I’ll refrain from showing you the Spirit it produced since it’ll just get Regis all riled up again.”

“Ah, alright then. Happy to help. Now then, I’d like to discuss our current options. I doubt any of us expected the city to be this overwhelmed by monsters. This is more than enough excuse to head somewhere else. But at the same time, we have a little more than a week until the date our pickup is set to occur, so looking elsewhere could lead us to miss it. Plus it would be a shame to miss out on all the opportunities here, wouldn’t it Kalia?”

“Hm? Oh, yes. It would be.”

Okay, what’s up with her? Kalia had been... odd lately. First there’d been the uncharacteristic idea she’d had when we returned, then she’d gone on a bit of a manic spree with her training. Instead of refining the spells she already knew like usual, she’d pushed herself to learn new Blessing Magic spells, though she had been successful. It had been especially surprising since I thought she wanted to focus on Healing Magic herself, with which she had a higher potential with. And now she was distracted during a meeting.

She’s been…twitchy, the last couple days. Like she can’t exactly sit still. And she’s not really the type to talk to others about her problems either, so they’re probably just being bottled up inside her. I’m pretty sure Alicia’s noticed, but I wonder if Gwyn has yet or not. He’s perceptive enough that it wouldn’t surprise me if he has.

The changes had been gradual enough that I’d only recently noticed them, but they might go back, further than I thought. Gwyn had said that she was different from the last time he’d seen her. Though I’d like to think this problem was more recent than that.

“However, in the interest of safety, I’d like to propose that we do not head too far into the city. Being surrounded by hundreds of monsters would surely lead to our demises. Instead, I think we should circumnavigate the city's outer edge, picking off minster nests and Dungeons as we go. Also, we should under no circumstances go out alone. And that goes for all of us, understood?”

“Boo. But yeah, that makes more sense than I’d like to admit. Even I get overwhelmed on occasion.”

“Good. Any other questions?

“Are we not going to divide ourselves up for Dungeons anymore? Because that worked pretty well the last two times we did it.”

We’d found two E-Rank Dungeons over the past week, and had cleared them in trios, making sure Gwen was there for each one. As a result, she’d gotten a decent full-body armor set from one of them, and a rather nice looking lance from the other. I’d had my doubts about her using such a weapon, but she was actually quite skilled with it. Her fighting style was a little straightforward since she primarily focused on stabbing monsters. While it had flaws against certain kinds of monsters, it was highly effective against Beasts, which didn’t have the intelligence to consider her shield.

She’d also acquired two Skills. The first was one that apparently made it easier to stab enemies or something, while the other was good old Shield Bash. Seeing that particular Skill get pulled off always made me happy.

“No, we’ll still do that. Anyone not participating will just stay at the entrance so as to not attract monsters.”

“Ah, that figures. Then I’m good. Who’s got first shift tonight?”

“That would be me.” “Kuuuuu~!” “Yes, yes, you can come too.”

“Then I think we’re done here. Kalia, you have the second watch, while Gwen has third. Good night everyone.”

“””“Night.””””

Everyone dispersed for the night, leaving me alone with the gluttonous fox, and the still invisible Spirit. Just another night for me.

***

[Kalia’s POV]

I’m so tired, but sleeping now will just set off another nightmare. They’ve only gotten worse since we left Southampton. The further west we go, the more anxiety that seems to build up in me, and now it’s even affecting me physically. I haven’t felt that level of hyperactivity since I was seven and ate all of my cousin's Halloween candy.

The sudden manic state she’d entered had left her exhausted, like a sugar crash. A good night's sleep would fix that, but that was the one thing getting harder and harder to get. The nightmares she’d nearly stopped having due to her Aries Pendant had returned with a vengeance.

She knew that if she just told the others they’d be understanding, but she also didn’t want to bother them with this. It was her problem, and one she knew how to deal with. That was why she’d channeled all that manic energy into learning Blessing Magic up to the fourth-grade spell [Remove Fear]. It was a very convenient little spell that would, well, remove one's fear, albeit temporarily. It was basically a courage spell. And this wasn’t a waste of time or effort either, as the other two spells would come in handy at some point after she’d refined them a bit more. Though it should also be mentioned that the effort of doing all that in a short period of time had nearly given her Mana Exhaustion, which would’ve exasperated her current condition.

I just need to keep calm. We’ll only be here another week, then we’ll head back and I’ll go back to normal. I can hold on that long, right? Right?

***

*…*

“Hm, so to summarize, you need more than just Miasma to Evolve? You need souls? That doesn’t mean a live sacrifice, does it? Because if it does, that’s gonna be a tough one.”

*…*

“Hm, you just need to be around when something dies, then you can prey upon the defenseless soul? Alright then. Do you need to be like this, or can you eat souls in your dispersed form?”

*…*

“Either way works fine? Okay. Is there anything else you can do for me right now?”

*…*

“……No, you can’t eat the fox.” “Kuuuuu!?”

With everyone else gone, I’d decided to have a thorough discussion with the Spirit. Talking with it was weird. I technically didn’t have to speak, as we could use the connection between us to communicate via something that wasn’t quite telepathy. It was more like sending pure intent, but since that had given me a headache after ten minutes, I’d switched to asking my questions out loud, and just translating what it sent over. This was far easier for me for some reason. Magic I guess.

Hm, I guess I could use it for scouting if it comes to it. Since it can become intangible, it would be hard for most creatures to sense it like that. Plus I already know that I can communicate with it when it disperses like that. This seems, useful, to say the least. Much better than the fox…..maybe I should let it eat him.

“Kuuuuuu!? Kuuuuuuuuu!”

As if sensing danger, Regis, who’d been on my lap glaring at the Spirit the entire time, let out an adorable cry before leaping off of me and racing off into the dark corners of the house to hide. If nothing else, he certainly provided me with entertainment.

“Okay, that happened. Well anyway, how long do you think it will take until you first Evolve?”

*…*

“It depends on the soul…? Okay, I don’t know what else I expected. Oh, can you follow me in your dispersed form, or is there a limit to how far you can go like that?”

*…*

“No, but your senses are weakened like that? Well, that makes sense. Hm, I could still use you like that, but it wouldn’t be as effective as I’d hoped………I guess I’m done for now. You’re dispersed.”

As I watched the Spirit break apart again, I couldn’t help but wonder what tomorrow would bring. Though, I often thought that. The world was a much scarier place than it had been.