After meeting up with Siphon and the others, I ask them how they’ve been.
“We’ve been mostly here, and Rurika and Sera have been bringing us food. We haven’t been out, and we haven’t seen a giant in a week.”
There’s a reason for that.
Apparently the giants dropped by to see how they were doing pretty frequently at first.
After that, Rurika and Sera became responsible for bringing their food, and they stopped seeing giants.
And then, there was a change in Argo and the others, as their hatred for the giants slowly wore off.
But it was not completely gone, and not only did they somehow always knew where the giants were, but they also felt an urge to go in that direction.
“It’s the curse.”
I hear Caloto’s voice in my head.
This is why they’ve been completely cut off from the giants.
“I feel so powerless.”
“No kidding.”
Say Leight and Argo, but according to Calotos, it’s a curse from the fairy god, so there’s nothing they can do about it.
In fact, it’s pretty incredible how Goblin’s Grief can resist it and maintain their sanity.
“They have been working with you, so that might explain why they have some resistance.”
Says Calotos, but I don’t understand.
“What now?”
“They say Mia might be able to lift this curse, and we’re planning to try tomorrow. And Chris and I will try to raise the barrier again.”
Kaina lost her powers as miko, but retained the knowledge, so we’re going to try to raise a similar barrier.
Calotos says Mia can do it, but we still don’t know how well that will go.
We also don’t know if monsters won’t attack again.
Siphon says they feel hatred when they look at the giants, but it seems the mere existence of the giants draws monsters to them.
◇ ◇ ◇
The next morning, we visit the elder to start working on the barrier.
“Are you the ones who will put up the barrier?”
“Yes, so we would like to be taken to where the magic item that produces it is.”
Says Kaina, leaving the elder looking perplexed.
“It’s all right. These two have received the divine protection of Mister Calotos and Miss Eliana… The spirit goddess.”
Says Kaina, and the elder’s expression changes.
I didn’t get any divine protection. I have this bracelet so he can move around, but it’s not like what Eliana gave Chris.
“That grandiose introduction just makes me worried in case it fails.”
“It’s fine.”
I’d like to know where she gets that conviction.
“And I wanted to reassure the elder.”
I guess there’s nothing I can say to that.
“Sora, we just have to make sure it works.”
Says Chris, raring to go.
She wants to help the giants too, but I’m sure she also wants to learn about barriers from Kaina.
That’s Chris for you, always hungry for knowledge, especially when magic is involved. Apparently Rurika had to tell her to go to sleep last night.
How do I know that? Because Rurika grumbled about it to me. No, I wasn’t in the room with them.
“It’s here.”
As I think that, we reach our destination, where I see a stone statue.
“It’s similar.”
I say without thinking while turning to Kaina.
“Apparently the first elder made it. So…”
“Yes, this seems to be it.”
Kaina points to the jewel the statue is holding. It’s holding it like it’s something very precious.
“Do you feel magic energy, Sora?”
Asks Kaina, but I don’t feel any, so I shake my head.
“Use Analysis to see what happened to it.”
I do just that, and letters carved inside the jewel pop up in my mind.
Part of it is blurred, so I tell her I can’t see everything.
“All right. Let’s make a new one. It would be easy if we could use the jewel as is. But make use of this.”
Says Kaina while touching the jewel, and it comes off easily.
The elder looks surprised.
“Now do as I said yesterday.”
Chris and I put our hands on the jewel, and make magic energy flow.
I’m using holy, light, and earth magic energy, while Chris is using water, and wind spirit energy.
I can feel the jewel filling with magic energy. I adjust the magic energy as I make it flow, and control it so it mixes.
And then, the jewel is enveloped by light.
“Chris, now.”
Says Kaina, and Chris pumps even more magic energy.
This time, it’s fire power she’s borrowing from spirits, which surrounds the jewel like a film.
Once that’s done, the shining jewel returns to normal.
“Sora, Analysis, please.”
I use Analysis on it, and see that I can now read the parts that were blurred before.
“Yes, it worked. But this is only a temporary measure.”
The elder hears that, but still looks happy.
Kaina nevertheless warns him that this only makes it so enemies aren’t drawn in from outside, and they will still hate them if they see them.
“So Argo and the others still can’t come out…?”
“They can go back to the village, as long as they don’t meet any giants.”
So we should talk to the others about that.
But first, we need to see if Mia can lift the curse.
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