HUFF, HUFF.
Rokiyan continued panting and spoke in an exhausted voice.
“You worked hard, Young Master.”
HUFF, HUFF.
All I had done was climb a nearby mountain with Rokiyan, walk around under the pretext of looking over this place, and tend the flower garden a little, yet I was this out of breath.
The flower garden had been somewhat large, but even so, this body was truly despairingly weak.
‘Before I figure out how I came to this place, I have to recover my former internal energy as soon as possible. With this body, even a little walking is exhausting.’
KNOCK KNOCK.
“Young Master!”
A beautiful appearance and a deep voice.
That one was beautiful as well. However, he too was a man, so I must never judge elves by appearance alone.
He touched my body here and there and asked with a worried expression.
“Is your body all right, Young Master?”
He was one of the elves I had seen inside the cave…
“Wh-who are you?”
“I am Peno. Have your memories still not fully returned?”
Come to think of it, how had the man called Kellick lost his body, and how had I come here?
I had been able to learn about the relationship between the elves and dragons, the current state of the declining elves, and the circumstances of this place not only from Rokiyan but also from the elves I had met outside. However, I had far too little information about the original owner of this body.
For now, I greeted Peno and asked,
“Yes. What is the matter?”
“The King summons you!”
“King Hellorn does?”
Rokiyan spoke in a flustered voice.
“Could it be that he found out His Highness lost his memories, brother?”
“Hmm? When you were walking around outside with His Highness, you told everyone you met that His Highness had lost his memories and asked them to take good care of him, so I naturally thought it had already been reported to the elders and the King.”
“It is not his fault. I merely had many things I wished to ask.”
Rokiyan spoke to me with a slightly tense expression.
“Young Master. I will guide you.”
Following Rokiyan’s guidance, I walked until I saw a three-story hut atop a tree thicker and larger than the others.
“I will wait below the tree.”
I looked at the hut, whose exterior was more decorated than the other crude huts, and nodded.
“I simply have to go in, correct?”
“Yes!”
KNOCK KNOCK.
“Who is it?”
“It is Kel… Kellick.”
CREAK.
When the door opened, an elf with a long beard stood before me.
Judging by his appearance and the atmosphere around him, was this man my father? Since I had been told my father was the king, the one who had opened the door was more likely a senior figure or an elder.
“Come in.”
STEP, STEP.
The interior of the hut was more orderly than I had expected.
Wooden chairs were arranged on both sides, and the floor was covered with the hide of some unknown animal.
I quickly examined the interior without turning my head around too obviously.
At the deepest part of the hut, a man sat on a chair. He looked somewhat tired, but his gaze was dignified. I had heard about my father, King Hellorn, but I did not know his exact appearance, so I thought he might be my father.
His expression seemed filled with deep concern, and three elves stood around him.
I had heard that my father, King Hellorn, had lived for more than seven hundred years, so I had expected an old man who might even find it difficult to move. Yet although his beard was long, his face and body looked to be around thirty years old.
‘Since they said the race is different, I must not think from a human perspective.’
I glanced at the man I presumed to be King Hellorn, then bowed politely after reading the atmosphere.
“Ki… Spirit King.”
Along with my greeting, the people who looked like elders standing beside the man seated on the chair began to whisper among themselves.
“They said he lost his memories. Is it truly so?”
“There seems to be nothing wrong with his body.”
“Enough.”
STEP, STEP.
King Hellorn, whom I had heard was my father, slowly approached me and clasped my hand tightly with an expression full of worry.
“Are you all right?”
Unlike the vice cult leader, who had been my father in my previous life, his expression truly seemed to worry for me.
An unfamiliar warmth.
Was fatherly love this warm?
Still wary of the unfamiliar atmosphere, I cautiously nodded.
“I am all right.”
“I am sorry… If we had been stronger, you would not have had to push yourself and prepare a summoning ritual before your coming-of-age ceremony…”
The elders also heaved deep sighs and said nothing.
Because they were already overwhelmed merely blocking the dragons’ attacks and had no opportunity to launch any counterattack, defeat seemed increasingly inevitable. It resembled the situation when we had lost the battle in the Central Plains and received reports that the righteous sects and the Martial Alliance bastards were coming to the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
The difference was that the Ellar Kingdom had King Hellorn, who occupied a position like that of the Heavenly Demon.
Then could they not hold them off? Or were they only barely holding on because he was there?
Among the elders, whose expressions were deeply stained with defeat, someone broke the silence.
“The fact that His Highness’s ears are still blunt means he has not yet fully absorbed the spirit’s power.”
“Could it be that His Highness failed…”
BANG.
King Hellorn slammed his fist into the chair and answered in a dignified voice.
“Enough!”
“But, my King! Did His Highness not receive the Oracle of the Spirit when he was ten?”
“It said that we elves would gain the power to end this war… If His Highness cannot obtain that power, then our four-thousand-year history will…!”
King Hellorn must have felt a headache, for he rested his forehead on his hand and cut them off in a quiet voice.
“Enough…”
KNOCK KNOCK-!
Spirit King! The High Priest has arrived!
“Tell him to enter.”
An old man dressed in white robes and carrying a staff entered gracefully without the sound of footsteps, then knelt on one knee and spoke.
“Spirit King.”
“High Priest. Examine Kellick’s body for me.”
The High Priest looked at me, then nodded without any expression.
“Understood!”
He rose from his place, approached me, placed a hand on my shoulder, and spoke calmly.
“Young Master, please relax and breathe slowly.”
When his hand touched my shoulder, I began to feel a warm energy, and his energy began to spread throughout my body.
The High Priest let out a deep sigh, removed his hand from my body, and said nothing for a while.
“High Priest. What is His Highness’s condition?”
“It is strange. I cannot sense the spirit’s energy at all.”
At that moment, the elders began to murmur.
“Silence!”
When King Hellorn gave the command, they quickly fell silent and watched one another’s expressions.
“High Priest… Is the fact that you cannot sense its energy all?”
His voice was filled with hope, however faint.
The method of reading energy did not seem different from that of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, so I knew as well.
There was no energy in my dantian.
“There is no way the Oracle of the Spirit could be wrong…”
“His Highness did not obtain the spirit’s power, so why did he lose his memories?”
The High Priest let out a deep sigh, closed his eyes, shook his head, and answered.
“I also… do not know. I apologize. Later, when my son Doidra returns after completing his investigation mission, I will ask him.”
“Indeed. If it is Doidra, who has studied spirits for a long time, he may know.”
The elders and the king, who were always exhausted from maintaining the barrier while living in a state of war, wore expressions even more powerless than before and said nothing to one another. The High Priest broke the silence and spoke.
“The Oracle of the Spirit has never been wrong. In the Oracle of the Spirit that His Highness received when he was ten, it clearly said that His Highness would save us, did it not? There is no need to be so disheartened, Spirit King.”
“Th-that is right, my King.”
King Hellorn looked at me and answered with a benevolent expression.
“Even if the Oracle of the Spirit is wrong, it does not matter.”
“Pardon? What do you mean by that?”
“If my son simply grows up healthy, that alone will make me happy.”
He was different from my father, who had pursued strength by any means necessary. I was not this man’s son, but I could fully feel that he cherished his own child.
“My King.”
“Yes, Elder Philn.”
“The time we can endure with the barrier is… Ah… No, never mind.”
The one called Elder Philn glanced at me as though checking my expression, then held his tongue.
The Oracle of the Spirit they mentioned.
After Kellick heard that oracle, he had entered the cave every day. And if the place where I had awakened was that cave…
As I was lost in thought, King Hellorn’s voice reached me.
“I am sorry… for placing such a heavy burden on you.”
Kellick was the king’s son, so he could be regarded as holding a high position, like the Young Cult Leader.
Those in high positions had to bear the weight of that position, so should they not be raised to be strong?
Why was he speaking to me with eyes that told me not to worry, instead of forcing that burden upon me?
The King stroked my head and spoke in a gentle voice.
“If there is anything you need, come to me separately and tell me. I will grant whatever I can.”
“Thank you, Spirit King. I will take my leave now.”
I bowed and carefully turned around to head toward the door. As I did, a very faint voice reached my ears.
“My King, are you simply going to shield your child?”
“High Priest! Do not cross the line.”
“Is the Oracle of the Spirit truly real?”
“The oracle, you say… We must believe it, if this is the only method left to us…”
When I came outside, Rokiyan bowed to me.
“You have returned… Huh? Wait, Young Master!”
Rokiyan hurriedly ran in front of me, wiped my lips with the edge of his clothes, and asked,
“What happened inside? How hard did you bite your lip to be bleeding like this?”
Was it because I had never been treated this way before that I had failed to control my emotions?
“What… did you hear?”
The feeling of being ignored because I was weak was something I had felt only once in childhood, and it was something I had never wanted to feel again. Yet this powerless feeling was far too familiar after so long.
“Rokiyan.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Guide me to the cave.”
“Pardon? The night is deep. Are you planning to go without sleeping?”
“Do you have a torch or something that can provide light?”
“Do you mean fireflies? Shall I prepare them?”
“I had intended to go tomorrow after sleeping, but I must go now.”
***
Rokiyan held a glass jar containing fireflies in one hand and stopped at the entrance of the cave.
“This should be the place.”
I nodded and said,
“Let us go in.”
“Me as well?”
I looked at Rokiyan, then looked at the glass jar providing light.
“You have to light the way, do you not?”
Rokiyan looked around the cave this way and that, then slowly entered with an expression that clearly showed he did not want to go in.
‘Just what did this body of mine do here?’
We continued deeper inside, but discovered nothing.
After about fifteen minutes of entering the cave’s depths,
a blue light appeared deep inside.
“What is this grass with glowing beads on it?”
“Luminous pearls? Ah, this is Nightglow Grass! Do you remember that you liked it, Young Master?”
The farther we entered the depths of the cave where the Nightglow Grass had taken root, the brighter the gentle light became, and an unknown wind stirred along with it.
“This should be the end. You once drew something incomprehensible on the floor here. I and the others wanted to help, but Young Master stopped us, saying you had to do it alone.”
What had he drawn?
As I looked around, I unconsciously stared at the glass jar Rokiyan had set on the floor.
At that moment,
“Wait.”
Rokiyan jumped at my words and looked at me, then stared blankly at the floor where I was looking.
On the cave floor, there were traces that seemed to have been carved out one by one by hand with a blade or stone. If he had worked on it alone, the marks would have taken him at least several years to make. I carefully traced the marks carved into the floor with my finger.
What had Kellick drawn here, and why?
!!!
As I slowly traced it, chills suddenly ran through me, and my finger stopped moving.
This was the Heaven-Defying Formation that had existed in front of the altar of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult for five hundred years.