470 - Cody and the Spirit Bag
Once my birthday passed, I would have had costume fittings for the Remembrance Festival back when I lived in the royal capital, but this year I am free. Since I cannot leave the house, it seems Leonardo declined my participation in the Remembrance Festival as a spirit-favored child in advance. Or rather, since I have passed the age of adulthood, people will soon stop calling me a spirit-favored child. Of course, the existence of a spirit-favored child is just something humans call as they please, so interference from the spirits will likely continue. The term spirit-favored child is merely something the humans of this world use; in reality, it refers to a soul brought from another world long ago. Spirits treat souls of this world and souls of other worlds distinctly, but they make no distinction between adults and children. Whether a soul from another world is an adult or a child, it is simply a soul from another world. They will lend a hand when they choose to, but they also play pranks. This will likely not change, no matter how old I get.
...Even if I realize this, I will not point it out to Leonardo-san.
Since I have reached adulthood, the forced animal costumes during the winter have also ended. Animal costumes for the Divine King Festival are originally intended for children. They are not something I, having reached the adult age of this world, should be forced to do. Much less, I refuse to wear animal costumes all year round just because they say I will be kidnapped by spirits.
...That costume is also just something humans say, and it doesn't seem to be very effective against spirits.
Just as I was thinking that I could spend this year's Remembrance Festival leisurely, Cody showed his face at the lord's manor. Cody, who had completely returned to being a traveling merchant, seemed to have come to Grenore for business to coincide with the Remembrance Festival.
"It has been a long time, Cody."
"Yes. Christina-ojousama... no. Christina-sama, I am glad to see you are doing well."
Since my condition was still strange the last time he saw me, Cody seemed to have been concerned about me even while returning to his former life. I had no mental leeway during the winter and hardly remember Cody. I heard he had returned to the town of Grenore a week before the Divine King Festival, but I have almost no memory of the time before that, and I did not even remember when Cody left the manor after the Divine King Festival.
"It seems both I and my big brother Leonardo were greatly helped by you, Cody. Since a traveling merchant conducted business on an unplanned itinerary, have you not offended any of your previous customers?"
"It is true that I could not conduct business as usual, and there are towns where customers left me... but conversely, there are connections that expanded thanks to Christina-sama."
In the end, it seemed to be zero or slightly positive. Rather, considering future business, there was even a possibility it would become a great plus.
"The hard parts were when I went to the royal capital seeking medicine for my nephew, and when I went to Quebia seeking Laroche seeds. Those were completely my responsibility, so it is not something Christina-sama and the others need to worry about."
"I believe the latter was an errand I requested."
"Carrying a letter to the Divine King's Domain, Quebia, was a thank-you for providing the Mustaine Medicine, so it is still my responsibility."
Ignoring his business, he drove the carriage toward Waiyakku Valley, and upon hearing the news of Aurelia's death, he changed the destination to the royal capital of the Ivizia Kingdom. It was all well until the Mustaine Medicine was safely obtained, but this time he headed to the Divine King's Domain, Quebia, with Alfred's letter, so Cody did not conduct business on the way back either. Because of this, Cody apparently lost many customers within the Saenard Kingdom. However, since his nephew's life was saved thanks to this recklessness, Cody seemed to have no regrets. Although he lost some customers, he received a reward from the Ivizia Kingdom for bringing back the Laroche seeds. Even after losing customers, he was not in a state of poverty, and since he received rewards from Leonardo for carrying letters a few other times, he said there was no worry of his family starving immediately. Cody smiled reliably, saying it was up to him how he would regain the trust of his customers and capture new ones from here on.
"Is it truly not something to worry about? I have been too indebted to you, Cody... because of that, I was concerned that you might be suffering a disadvantage."
When I told him that Leonardo intended to wrap up several gold coins as a thank-you, and that he should either wait for Leonardo's return or stop by the Grenore Fort, Cody suddenly turned pale. Leonardo and the others had paid the various expenses regarding my rescue as they occurred, and in the first place, it had been used as a sales channel to spread the bobbin lace instruction manuals, so he had made a profit from that side as well. He felt he had already received too much.
"I have received more than enough, so please spare me any more..."
"Cody, you have no greed. That humility is likely why you are liked by the spirits."
Seeing Cody truly troubled, I couldn't help but laugh a little, though I felt bad. Cody's bewildered expression was cute, and I felt like teasing him a bit longer, but I decided against it because it would be pitiful to be mean. I play little pranks on Leonardo, but I am not a bully.
"I consulted with my brother, and we thought you would decline the gold coins... so I will give you my bag, Cody."
"Christina-sama's bag?"
"It is not money, so please accept it. It is a well-made, sturdy bag, so it will be useful for you as you travel, Cody."
Receiving my gaze, Mirsche stepped out of the room once. When she returned, the spirit bag that had been prepared in advance was placed in her hands.
"This bag... I believe, Christina-sama had..."
Cody, who had carried me in a carriage from the Zoogary Empire to the town of Grenore, naturally remembered the bag that was said to be made by spirits. That would make sense. Even if I did not remember, it seems I had been using it all along. He must have seen me with this bag in his carriage as well.
"It is not money, and since I used it, it is not new. It is just a well-made, sturdy bag."
I swallowed the words that this would make it easier to accept. Saying that would be far too pushy.
I swallowed those words thinking so, but even if Cody looks like a good person, he is a merchant. He clearly heard the true intention embedded in my words. With a troubled, wry smile, he accepted the spirit bag, feeling that further refusal would be rude.
"I will use it with great care."
"It is a bag that holds more than it looks, so please take good care of it."
I also told him the performance of the bag as a spirit bag in a joking manner, saying that a spell is cast on it so it returns even if lost, and it is optimal for storing valuables because it bites anyone other than the owner who tries to put their hand inside without permission. Cody, wearing a wry smile, probably thought it was a joke or something, but far from it. The returning and the biting are all true. Furthermore, the contents do not get wet even if put in water, and if anything, you can even use it to carry water. The more I experimented, the more I realized it was a mysterious bag.
...Of course, because it was scary, I did not do an experiment of setting it on fire.
Because I would have hated it if it actually burned, I did not do any experiments involving fire. However, as a bag, it is an all-purpose spirit bag. I am sure it would not burn even if thrown into a fire, and you could probably carry fire inside it as well.
"...That really is a sturdy and wonderful bag."
Cody's face, as he smiled and said thank you, no longer held a look of bewilderment. He probably thought that a girl (me) who was shut in the manor and bored had simply told him an amusing story about a mere secondhand bag. Because of my youthful appearance, the content sounded like nothing more than a girl's fantasy.
...Even though it is all true, you know?
Even if Cody only half-believed me, the effects of the spirit bag I told him about were all truth. Thinking calmly, it is a bag with a value that cannot be replaced by money. If he understood its value, Cody might have held his head in his hands, thinking that gold coins would be easier.
"I have given the bag to Cody. As expected, he declined the gold coins, so it was good that we put them inside in advance."
I gave the spirit bag to Cody saying, Please accept it because it is not money, but I had firmly packed gold coins inside the spirit bag, which has a value that cannot be replaced by money, beforehand. Since I understood that Cody would decline, and that Leonardo and the others felt uneasy about giving a large sum of money to the good-natured Cody, I had worked things out with the bag. The spirit bag was surprisingly understanding if you talked to it, so I asked the bag, Please give them out when the owner is in trouble, and Please hide them so it is not realized that gold coins are inside unless it is a time of trouble. Of course, there was no reply from the bag, but all the gold coins Leonardo prepared disappeared into the side pocket, and since the gold coins were not visible even when peering inside, it is probably fine.
"As long as the thanks properly reached Cody, that is fine. I want to properly thank that honest man, but I do not want to invite danger upon him."
I did not think the spirit bag would be useful in this way, I thought as I sat down beside Leonardo, who was bringing post-meal coffee to his lips. In the mythical era when the Divine King was on the surface, spirits also lived in this world. Normally, it is a story one would laugh off as, Such a myth is just a fairy tale..., but I have actually encountered the Divine King and been kidnapped by spirits. At the very least, mysterious existences like the Divine King and spirits actually exist in this world. It is unlikely that all of the myths are made-up stories.
"...I was taught at the Menhishumi Church that spirits lived in this world long ago, but were mysterious bags like that common back then?"
"Since they made them on their own without being asked... maybe they were common? Even if not that common, they probably were not so special that they wouldn't just pop one out for someone they liked."
A long time has passed since spirits disappeared from the surface. It has been a while since it became a memory of my previous life, but for me, who has memories of being born and raised on Earth, things like spirits and magic do not quite click. I was familiar with the words spirits and magic themselves, but that was in the context of anime and games. They were not positioned as things that I felt with my skin as having once existed.
"The trigger for spirits disappearing from the surface was the incident where the Divine King-sama vanished, but once all the Spirit's Seats are destroyed and the Divine King's generation change occurs, will spirits return to the surface?"
"I wonder? However, if that is the case... I feel that the more Spirit's Seats are destroyed, the easier it will be for Tina to be kidnapped by spirits...?"
That is how it is, right? Leonardo frowned. I am someone who is kidnapped by spirits even when it is not winter. If we return to a world where it is normal for spirits to exist, perhaps spirit-favored children all over the world will be troubled by the pranks of spirits.
"Now that you mention it, I feel that way too. When I was in Meiyu Village, I was never kidnapped by spirits even once."
The first time I was kidnapped by spirits was the night of the Divine King Festival. At that time, I considered stories about spirits and the Divine King to be superstitions, and my animal costume was a half-hearted effort, consisting only of the cat ears attached to the coat's hood. The next time I was kidnapped, was it the abduction by the Divine King's hand in the royal capital? In the middle of the conversation, I was thrown into a Spirit's Seat by a spirit, and the following year I was taken away by the Divine King again. Then, in the Spirit's Seat where I was thrown once more, I destroyed the Spirit's Seat that was at my feet.
"I wonder? Like... thinking back on it now, after meeting the Divine King-sama and destroying the Spirit's Seat, it feels like the number of times I get caught up in mysterious phenomena has increased...?"
Going back, I think the first trigger was being kidnapped by spirits at the Divine King Festival. Among the procession of the dead, I met a mysterious youth who looked different. His identity is a mystery, but I found him among the myths and superstitions I researched as part of the Menhishumi Church classes. I learned how he was called by people at that time.
He was likely a youth called the Key to the Orphanage, the Flame of the Hearth, or the Guardian of Children.
Watching over the procession of the dead since the mythical era, he occasionally keeps watch for children who have just lost their parents and wander into the procession. There, if he judges that the child has a home to return to and should still live, the youth returns the child to the hearth of their home. And, if he judges that they have no home to return to and cannot be happy even if they survive today, the youth leads the child to the parents proceeding in the procession of the dead.
Recalling that day after learning this story, I was indeed a child who had just lost my parents, and I had not truly become attached to my new guardian, Leonardo. If the youth's face had not started looking like Leonardo halfway through, I probably would have died that day. I remember him being a kind person, but he is that kind of existence.
...I believe the Divine King-sama originally came to me by following that person's presence, right?
I feel like I was told something like that. Because that presence remained, he must have made a mistake, he said.
...Wait? Thinking about it carefully, is the reason I am targeted by spirits because I never got used to Leonardo-san? The first time was when I wandered into the procession of the dead, right?
I wandered into the procession of the dead and was saved by a mysterious youth. I encountered the Divine King at the Remembrance Festival, attracted by that youth's presence. After that, because I was a human the Divine King cared about, I began to be cared for by spirits as well. Because I was cared for by spirits, even for small things, the spirits began to call the Divine King to seek help. Since I once angered the spirits, they should not have lent a hand so easily, but for some reason, it seems spirits have taken up residence in the house, and the number of times I have made mysterious long-distance trips is incomparable to when I was in the royal capital. Besides the detached palace of the royal capital, Aurelia's house in Waiyakku Valley, and Augun Castle in the Zoogary Empire, I have also been to the Mondays' manor. In the period from spring to summer alone, I have been in a situation of being kidnapped by spirits this frequently. This is now undoubtedly an increase in the mysterious phenomena caused by spirits year by year.
"...I have started to wonder if it is really okay to just destroy the Spirit's Seats."
"It is too late for that now. Only two left. Since Tina was helped by the Divine King, let us destroy the Spirit's Seats."
"I am aware that I was helped by the Divine King-sama, so I want to grant the request, but..."
I wonder what will happen to the number of times I am kidnapped by spirits. So far, the prankster fairies have not thrown me into dangerous places, but the opponent is not a human, but an existence with a different way of thinking, such as a spirit or a fairy. I do not know what would trigger their anger, and I might be cut to pieces as I was in the royal capital. Originally, it would be more desirable for us to not interfere with each other.
"You found one in the Zoogary Empire, right?"
Then, where is the last one. The words that almost spilled out continued, but I swallowed them along with the coffee. I still needed sugar and milk, but I had become a little used to the bitterness of the coffee.
Tina: "Ah, among the myths and superstitions I researched around chapter 181, there was a story where I thought, Is this about the Divine King-sama?"
Divine King: "...I see."
Tina: "It was a ghost story treated as a monster, where someone pats your head from behind, and when you look up, blue eyes are shining brightly. They say if your eyes meet, you are dragged into the land of the dead..."
Divine King: "...(I cannot accept this. That is treated as the Guardian of Orphans, and I am treated as a monster!?)"
Typos and omissions will be fixed at a later date.