After talking to Vermeer, we head back to the room.
But first, we stop by the others’, where the girls are having a pillow fight.
Till throws one at her master with full force, and Iris falls when it hits her face. And Lela beautifully dodges one thrown by Iris.
They… Look like they’re having a lot of fun.
I’ve never seen Till all energetic like that. I feel like knowing she can be like that is a big find.
Till notices us, and rushes to turn on her normal cool mode, but it’s too late.
And since that creates an opening, Iris throws a pillow at her. But Till suddenly dodges, and it smacks me in the face instead.
Till’s ‘oops’ expression here is really cute.
“Mister Loyd, Mars! Come play with us! We’re having a lot of fun!”
Says Iris while waving.
Mars and I look at each other, and decide to join.
We jump on the bed and throw pillows until it gets late. It’s probably bothering our neighbors, but it’s a lot of fun.
Traveling really is nice. We should all go somewhere again.
Once things wind down, we tell them about that stuff with Undine, without getting too deeply into it.
They’re not really related to it, but still. They’re intellectual, so they might know something I don’t.
I’m having an audience with Undine the day after tomorrow. I agreed to it on the spot, but it’s actually a big responsibility.
Undine is the ruler of the seas around the Kingdom of Merzelia. I read about it in one of Isolte’s books, so Undine is a great spirit that’s even mentioned in history books.
Undine’s influence has ruined countries, and she can become unmanageable when angered.
She can create big tornadoes that block sea routes, and wipe out a country with tidal waves. The scale of it all is really large.
If the demon king Albatross was the emperor of the continent, the water great spirit Undine is said to be the emperor of the seas.
The girls know about Undine, but it’s mostly stuff similar to what’s in the books.
It makes sense, considering none of them have actually met her.
She’s moody, gets angry easily, and is sometimes kind. This is how people nowadays typically see Undine.
One thing that never changes is that it’s really bad to make her angry.
“By the way Mister Loyd, are you planning to stay here tomorrow?”
“No, I’m going back to Minerva. I need to take care of Al.”
Al is the nickname of the demon king Albatross. As we got closer, we started calling her that before we knew it.
I’m going to the Kokkoro mine, do the holy war, and come back here.
It’s a lot of distance to cover, but I can’t just abandon the demon king.
“But… That sounds like a lot of hassle. It takes half a day just to get here.”
One hour at sea, plus two to Minerva by wagon, plus four hours to the mountain, plus an hour from the mine to the demon king’s space, place an hour for the holy war. That’s a total of nine hours.
I can shorten it by using Artemis, but the distance still makes me dizzy.
“You’re right, but I can’t abandon Al.”
“How about I take over for you. I don’t really have plans, right Till?”
Says Iris, and Till quickly takes out her notebook.
“Yes, there won’t be a problem if you take over tomorrow.”
Seriously? That really helps. Then let’s let them…”
“Then can I ask you to do it?”
I ask while bowing.
“Yes, leave it to us! We’ll make sure Al is happy!”
Says Iris with a big smile. It’s nice to have good friends.
Thanks to them, I get a good bit of breathing room. Knowing I don’t have to run around with Artemis at full speed is a load off my shoulders.
Tomorrow, after saying goodbye to them, I’m going to do some image training for that audience.
I’m not as nervous as I was before the audience with the Queen of Merzelia, but I might be more nervous about this than I know.
But as that runs around in my mind, Mars and Lela get interested in what we’re talking about, and cut in.
“Hum, can I ask a question?”
Asks Lela.
“Sure.”
Says Iris.
“Who is this Al you’ve been talking about? Loyd’s illegitimate child?”
Of course not!
Come to think of it, we’ve never talked about it with them, but I think we can trust them with that.
And so, I tell them about the demon king like she’s a friend, and naturally, both are surprised.
“I knew you were great, but you know the demon king…”
“Maybe it’s just me, but I get the feeling that sensei has a lot of female friends.”
I think that’s just you.
The next morning, after having breakfast in the hotel, we check out, and head to the lighthouse we talked about yesterday.
It’s on high ground at the end of a path that starts in town, and the scenery is incredible from here. We can see the whole town and the harbor.
Mars and Lela are near a cliff, acting like a detective who has cornered a phantom thief.
“I finally found you, phantom thief Lela!”
“Detective Mars. I applaud you for tracking me this far. When exactly did you realize my true identity?”
“I thought it was suspicious how everyone orders the morning set, but you and you alone order the ham sandwich.”
Can’t she just like ham? What can you eat, if a ham sandwich is suspicious?
“Hmph, you really are a brilliant detective. But can you really apprehend me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Listen and be shocked. I am carrying your baby, detective!”
“W-what!? I have no memory of this! When could a baby…”
“Remember how we held hands two weeks ago? That was when I got pregnant.”
“I-impossible…But if you really have a baby inside you, I have to let you go. Don’t be a phantom thief anymore.”
“Sure.”
What’s with this hack skit? I don’t even know where to start with it.
“The backstory is that I’m actually a phantom thief girl righteously stealing back her father’s heirlooms, that were stolen by villains and are being displayed in museums all over the world.”
“There was none of that in there.”
I say.
“It’s a nice story. I was especially moved by the scene where detective Mars risks his life to protect phantom thief Lela from goblins.”
Now it’s Iris, talking about scenes that weren’t there. What do those eyes of hers see?
…Well, jokes aside, it really is a great view. And the sea is calm this morning.
The sunlight reflecting off the surface of the sapphire water feels like endless blue jewels.
My eyes turn to the lighthouse again before we leave.
It’s about thirty meters tall. It’s pretty tall, but was it made with dwarven techniques too?
It looked small from a distance, but not so much up close. It’s also a pretty old building, and it’s been painted over a lot of times.
“Oh? Mister Loyd… Look over there.”
Iris points at the top of the lighthouse, where something that looks like a blue string is sticking out from the handrail.
That blue thing then flutters in the wind. What is that?
“Mister Loyd Mister Loyd, let’s go see. I’m curious.”
Iris grabs my hand with enthusiasm, and proposes we go inside.
“Eh? But can we really just go in there? Won’t people get upset?”
“Hmph, that won’t be a problem for the phantom thief known as Iris.”
“It’s nothing but problems. It’s breaking and entering.”
It’s not a good excuse at all, but I’m curious too.
And if someone gets mad, we’ll apologize.
Iris and I head to the lighthouse, while the others wait outside.
Once inside, it’s too dark to see anything, so I use the common magic spell Shine I often use in the Kokkoro mine.
A gentle light shines from a baseball sized white ball, getting us the illumination we need. And it follows us.
There’s a stone spiral staircase that goes up like it’s wrapping around the lighthouse.
We have to walk slowly so we don’t fall, because the middle of the lighthouse is empty, when suddenly, I hear a strange noise.
And then, a big round rock rolls down from the top of the stairs.
“W-w-w-w-w-why is a rock falling in a place like this!?”
“It might be a trap to deter intruders.”
I can’t use magic in the building, so I cast Grow, and hold Iris in my arms before hopping over the rock.
But we don’t get a moment to rest, before three more come at us.
There’s some space between them, so I hop over them in turn. I feel pretty athletic.
“Good job Mister Loyd!
“Yes. We still don’t know why those rocks came rolling down, but we shouldn’t worry about the little things!”
“Yes, I agree! I’m sure this is just that kind of attraction!”
The excitement of traveling overrides the questions, and Iris and I are just happy about clearing the attraction.
We keep going up, open a door, and step outside.
There, we see a girl about the same height as Iris. It was her really long ahoge we saw from down there.
I think she’d be better described as water in the shape of a person. Her whole body is blueish, and clearly not human. Her skin, hair, clothes, everything is that same substance too.
Is she a water spirit that lives around here?
The spirit is sitting down, sniffling. Should we talk to her? Yes, I should say something.
“Excuse me lady, but why are you crying?”
“Sniff sniff sniff.”
No response, she just keeps on crying.
Iris and I look at each other, and approach the girl, before Iris tries talking to her.
“Could you tell us what is going on? Maybe it will help to talk to someone.”
Her very soft and gentle voice really shows her character.
And this time, the spirit girl slowly responds.
“I’m just so frustrated.”
“About what?”
The spirit girl raises her head, with one eye hidden behind her hair.
Her expression in that face made of water is vague, and it’s hard to read how she’s feeling, but her voice shows she’s sad.
We sit next to her so we can listen to what she has to say.
“Recently… I confessed to a human boy and was rejected.”
That’s heavier than I expected.
Responding in the wrong way here would hurt her more. This is a big responsibility.
I wonder why she was rejected.
She said human, so maybe it was that difference in race. But humans and spirits can even have children, so should I tell her to not give up and keep persisting?
No, I don’t know anything about what happened, so it’s too soon to reach a conclusion.
I really should just listen. Also, I think the girl is currently looking for approval, not a solution.
We continue talking to the spirit girl.
“That’s… Too bad. You can throw all those emotions at me if you want. I don’t know you, so it would be hard to give advice, but I can talk to you.”
Says Iris.
“Sniff sniff… T-thank you. He gracefully made excuses. ‘You’re the one who misunderstood, my heart was always Goethe’s’ he said. I won’t forgive him for toying with my heart…!”
She says before wailing.
Then her tears turn into small rocks, that gradually turn into big rocks, that roll down that staircase.
So she made those… They weren’t a trap at all.
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