Novel Bin Chapter 129: Spirit and Spirit
When I chased after Estia, I discovered that instead of going to the Valkyrie Paladin Corps training grounds, she went towards the official entrance of the stable which I didn’t even know about.
” … It looked like she entered here? Why would Estia need to come to the stable?”
I tilted my head as I gently opened the door to the entrance of the stable.
Since it was night time, the magic lamps in the stable were lit in the lowest setting, giving the place a dim feeling but visibility was maintained.
While peering around as I moved forward, I found Estia’s figure peeping into each and every one of the stalls.
“Is there nobody else around other than the manager Yanbus-san? Is she only looking for a horse? Or is she looking for Fornoir?”
Questions popped into my head one after the other but Estia looked like she was disappointed when she finished peeping into the stalls and backtracked towards my direction.
I quickly hid inside one of the empty stalls.
It didn’t look like she noticed me so before I chased after Estia, I tentatively checked all the stalls and found that all the horses were sound sleep.
“Did Estia make them sleep?”
Was there a reason why she made them sleep?
While thinking about that, I also confirmed that Yanbus-san and the 2 other caretakers were asleep at the rest area.
“Did Estia cause them to sleep?”
I applied 「Recover」 and woke the 3 of them up.
“Fu~Ah? Ain’t it Luciel-sama?”
“Good evening Yanbus-san. Were you napping in the middle of your duty?”
” … I was asleep?”
“Yes. You don’t remember?”
“That’s bad! Hey, you guys wake up.”
Yanbus-san woke the 2 caretakers and went to peek into the stalls.
“Did Estia make them sleep? Or did the Darkness Spirit do it? … Although I’ve told Pope-sama, I have no choice but to find out about Estia’s intention to know if bringing her here was the correct choice.”
Losing the desire to head for the Labyrinth of Tribulations, I called out to Yanbus-san and returned to my own room.
I was honestly surprised when I returned to my own room.
“? Estia, why are you here? Rather than that, how did you know that this is my room?”
Estia was waiting in front of my room.
After I called out to Estia, she looked slightly troubled as she began speaking.
“Luciel-sama, I have a request. Could you please let me meet that horse once again?”
” … Are you referring to Fornoir when you say that horse?”
“Yes. The black horse that Luciel-sama rode on.”
After saying that, Estia lowered her head.
“I’ll be honest. I am wary towards Estia.”
“Eh?”
A seriously surprised expression was on the face that looked up.
If this was an act, I’ll never be able to see through her lies.
I’ll be forced to yield if that’s the case … I spoke as that thought passed through my mind.
“Even in the Dwarf Kingdom, there were those who lost their memories regarding you, Estia. And then, this time, you walked to the stable without getting lost and either under the direction of the Darkness Spirit or by borrowing the strength of the Darkness Spirit, you made Yanbus-san and the horses sleep, so I am conflicted as to how to deal with you.”
The Darkness Spirit may have saved Estia from her predicament but I must make a decision if she were to use that for evil.
I must remove all harm that can befall people related to the church, Pope-sama first and foremost. The only person who can do so is me as I can’t be affected by status abnormalities and I also have the responsibility for bringing Estia here.
However, Estia showed me an unexpected reaction.
” … Ha~ oh Luciel. I’ll also give you my blessing so let me see elder sister.”
” … What are you saying?! Are you not Estia?”
“You should have noticed it vaguely right? I want to meet elder sister so I borrowed Estia’s body to appear in front of you.”
Different from before, I was starting to feel overwhelming pressure.
“Darkness Spirit? Why did you imitate Estia after possessing her body? Furthermore, the person I was talking to just now should have been the real Estia.”
“Hou. So you can tell to that extent. That’s because Estia was awake until just earlier.”
Perhaps because it had possessed Estia’s body, I was beginning to hear 2 voices.
” … What is your goal? What do you mean by elder sister? Rather than that, what are you making Estia do?”
“You’re nothing but questions huh. I was just tired of listening to Estia. So, I induced Estia to move to the stable and I merely made the humans who saw this child sleep for the sake of this child who has a fear of strangers. It’s not like I harmed them.”
“It might be trivial to you Spirits but to the humans who were affected by Estia, it was an obstructive behaviour to their duties. Did you not notice me chasing after Estia?”
“Ha~ I did notice. My goal is to meet elder sister and apologize. As you see, I hope you can let me see elder sister.”
The Darkness Spirit-possessed Estia lowered her head.
Because I couldn’t feel the usual pride that Spirits usually possess, it felt slightly anticlimactic but integrating everything the Darkness Spirit had previously said, there was only 1 existence that it has been calling elder sister.
“Fornoir is your … the elder sister to the Darkness Spirit?”
“Yes. So please.”
I chantlessly invoked 「Sanctuary Circle」, 「Dispel」, and 「Recover」.
“To try to figure out if I’m a malevolent being, you sure are quite prudent.”
The Darkness spirit possessing Estia gave an unsuitable laughter.
” … They totally don’t work huh.”
“With me being the Darkness Spirit, there are many who misunderstand but I am not a malevolent being in particular.”
” … So it seems.”
“Please, let me meet elder sister.”
“This may be pointless but do you swear to not harm the spirit Fornoir?”
“There’s no way I would do something like that to elder sister … I swear.”
Believing in the Darkness Spirit that showed a human gesture for but a moment, I took out my Key of the Hermit and opened the door without minding that we’re in the middle of the corridor.
“Please speak from here. As long as Fornoir doesn’t wish to come out on her own …”
Before I could say everything, Fornoir came out from the Hermit’s stable and sent Estia’s body flying.
“Fornoir, calm down. Estia’s body and Darkness Spirit’s body is different right?”
I stroked her neck to soothe her and she was only slightly agitated but she did not go violent.
“Fuu.”
It looked like the same thing would happen again if Estia’s consciousness returned now so I applied Heal and I could see the Darkness Spirit’s considerable exhaustion trying to stop Estia’s consciousness from returning.
The next instant, black light manifested and wrapped around Estia’s body, in response, Fornoir also wrapped herself in white light and they both stared at each other without moving.
I could only watch over the proceedings.
Without hearing any voices, I could surmise that a conversation between just the 2 of them was happening.
“You, thank you. Also, I entrust Estia’s body to you. I’ll appear again when my strength returns.”
After saying that, Estia fell towards me as if her strings were cut so I supported her and Fornoir also entered the Hermit’s stable.
“I can no longer understand what’s happening but what should I do?”
I didn’t want to gain unwanted suspicion so recalling that it was Granhart-san’s job to question her, with no other choice, I traveled towards Granhart’s room and decided to carry Estia to the guest rooms.
“I was able to predict that it would turn out like this but … so terrible.”
It was as if the Darkness Spirit was plainly flaunting its power, I walked while waking up about 20 church officials sleeping along the corridor on the way to Granhart-san’s room.
“If this is the case, I can easily imagine that Granhart-san would have been also made to fall asleep … no other choice, maybe I’ll bring her to Rosa-san’s place.”
When I reached the dining hall, they had finished cleaning up and I discovered Rosa-san and the others about to return so I entrusted Estia to her.
“Sorry. There would various problems if I took care of her so please help me guide her to the guest rooms.”
“If that’s the case then leave her to me. Luciel-sama and others have a mock battle tomorrow as well so you can entrust her to me.”
Rosa-san smiled as she carried Estia in a princess carry and walked away.
I saw Rosa-san off while looking at her reliable back.
“I’ll invite her to the clothes shop next time to buy her clothes as a present.”
I murmured as I was finally able to return to my own room this time.
A lot was going on in my head regarding Fornoir but I would not understand even if I thought about it so I threw in the towel and forcibly slept using the Angel’s Pillow.
Author’s note:
Thank you for reading.