kscans

Chapter 140 - The Little One and the Gods' Banquet, Part Eight

"You’re right. Where should I begin?"

Awaiting them in the gazebo was a spread of tea, with a table laden with countless sweets and snacks. Sapphard’s gaze seemed distant, as if lost in thought. The twins accepted the tea he offered and waited for him to speak.

"I don’t need to explain things like otherworld reincarnation or gods, do I? The three of us are souls from Earth."

Sapphard was originally from Earth too?

He gave a small nod to the wide-eyed Little One and began to speak of his past. He told of his youth, when he had been arrogant and had taken many lives. He no longer even remembered what had possessed him to do such things back then.

"To stain those souls who committed such evil deeds with even greater darkness, the Higher Beings cast them into Arcadia. A great many of them."

The Little One listened with rapt attention to this new story. Cesare, who was one of those involved, looked as though he had bitten into something sour.

"But it didn’t go well. Because, in order to bind those souls, the Higher Beings always took away something precious to them."

Just as they had reincarnated Lucrezia’s soul as the Little One to control Cesare, the Higher Beings had reincarnated the loved ones of the castaway villains nearby, giving them power over life and death. Because of this, the villains who retained their past memories had a change of heart and began to accumulate good deeds, all to bring happiness to the ones they held dear. The Higher Beings do not understand the subtleties of the human heart. They never imagined that the hostages they prepared to control souls stained by evil would have such an effect.

In the end, the exasperated Higher Beings forcibly stained Cesare with darkness through cruel and vicious means.

Knowing this, Sapphard glanced over at Cesare.

"My precious person was near me, too. Merda’s soul at the time was that person. So, I worked desperately to found Frontier, you know? Ah, those were happy times."

Sapphard chuckled to himself.

Then, his expression turned serious, and he fixed the twins with his sharp eyes.

"I know what the Higher Beings are plotting. But to be honest, I want no further interference from them. That’s why I timed your arrival and waited for you here."

According to Sapphard’s explanation, the Higher Beings find the Dark Spirit King in the Abyss to be a nuisance. To eliminate him, they prepared Sapphard as a Soul of Light and Cesare as the new ruler of darkness. Their plan was to use the friction between these opposing forces of light and dark to erase the current Dark Spirit King.

The Little One tilted her head as she listened to Sapphard’s dispassionate explanation.

That’s strange. Why do something so convoluted? If the Higher Beings wanted to, they should be able to make even the gods vanish in an instant.

The Little One had seen it in her past life. An apostle of the gods had dispersed a young god with a single hand.

Why would the Higher Beings, who should possess such one-sided power, resort to such indirect methods? It was strange. Something was off.

The Little One fell deep into thought.

Even as she pondered, the girl’s hands moved unconsciously, and she shamelessly helped herself to the sweets and snacks. Sapphard watched her with a gentle gaze, then turned his eyes to Cesare.

"They’re trying to use us, the Higher Beings are. What do you say? Shall we form a united front?"

"A united front?"

"You bet. If either of us is missing, they’ll be at a dead end. Now that both light and dark are coming together, this is our chance. I wanted to hash things out so we won’t have to do their bidding when the time comes."

Having witnessed everything since the dawn of humanity in Arcadia, Sapphard had also heard about the general course of the gods. And he had realized something. The gods and the Higher Beings did not know about Earth’s other dimensions. More accurately, they knew of them, but they did not understand their true nature. Sapphard, being originally from Earth, noticed this and spent a long time building the Table of the Gods. He gathered relics from Earth at the mountain’s summit and created this lush, green place.

"I see. I had a feeling when I saw that magic circulation device. Is that also a relic from Earth?"

"Correct. With help from the Celestial Realm and the Spirit World. I’m using it to separate this place from Arcadia. When the Table of the Gods is active, time in Arcadia stands still. No one can eavesdrop on our conversation here."

Only the Higher Beings could manipulate time. However, Earth’s Celestial Realm, which possessed a similar power, had ways to interfere with time even if it couldn’t control it.

Stopping time.

This was an ability the Higher Beings did not possess, granted only to the Celestial Realm of Earth. The other dimension, having branched off independently from the gods, had grown and developed in ways different from the gods’ own principles.

"Does that mean time has stopped for the gods right now as well?"

"Yes. Only those with souls from Earth can move."

The Little One instinctively looked around, following the smirking Sapphard’s gaze. She saw that many people were now standing there.

"Let us welcome our new child."

Four figures stood with beautiful, elegant grace.

"I am the Flame Spirit King."

"I’m the Wind Spirit King."

"I am the Water Spirit King."

"And I’m of the Earth. Welcome, children of Earth."

After introducing themselves to the stunned twins, the four Spirit Kings looked at Sapphard and smiled.

"It has been a long time."

"Yes, it has. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your cooperation."

Sapphard and the Spirit Kings nodded to each other with deep emotion.

It seemed they had been fighting together for a long time to free Arcadia from the yoke of the gods.

"I can only meet them here at the Table of the Gods. This is the only place I can stop time."

Sapphard smiled wryly.

Apparently, the reason he built this mountain, the Table of the Gods, was to escape the domination of the Higher Beings. So that many people would possess spirits and grow to distrust the world, Sapphard borrowed the power of the other dimension and installed the magic circulation devices. However, to reach this summit, one had to possess three of the four great spirits, and he seemed to have felt a sense of despair as the principles of magic were being lost in Arcadia. At this rate, they would be at the mercy of the Higher Beings. Feeling a sense of urgency, Sapphard sent an SOS to the other dimension and had them connect the summit of this mountain to the Spirit World. This was so that, in a pinch, Arcadia’s kind spirits could take refuge, or conversely, reinforcements could be sent from the Spirit World.

"It has been a long, a truly long time."

"To think that someone could reach this place."

"Especially you, you connected to the Spirit World on your own!"

The Wind Spirit King grinned. At his words, the Little One realized she recognized his face.

"From that time?"

When she repelled the servant of the Dark Spirit King in Castrato, she had caught a glimpse of a beautiful world. Was he not one of the people standing there? The Little One then realized that the faces of all four were the people she had seen at that time.

"You were the Spirit Kings…"

"That such a miracle could happen is perhaps thanks to Arcadia’s Twin Gods making a mistake, no, showing the compassion they should have as gods."

The incident that Chaos and Abyss regretted.

The fact that they had filled Arcadia with golden magic. As it turned out, that very act was now trying to save Arcadia. The creation and installation of the magic circulation devices required an immense amount of magic. But the people of Arcadia at the time could never have produced such a quantity. What supplemented it and made it possible was the golden magic. The failure of the now legendary Twin Gods had ended up helping Sapphard and the others back then.

Wow. It really is true that fortunes are unpredictable. You never know how life will turn out, nyo.

"And so, we wish to grant you the right to manage this place."

"The right to manage?"

"Yes. It is our blessing to you."

The four of them surrounded the Little One and held out their left hands.

"Flames like pillars of fire that scorch the very heavens."

"Winds swift as meteors that pierce the very heavens."

"Waters that glitter like tears and cover the very heavens."

"Mountains and earth that tower to pierce the very heavens."

A glittering wind blew from the hands of the four, swirling around her.

""""In the name of the Spirit Kings, we grant this unto you.""""

The swirling winds of four colors danced around the Little One like ribbons, then burst with a paan and scattered like stars. The four colors, floating gently, mingled together, and a seven-colored glimmer drifted through the air.

"What in the world?"

The fluffy floating lights gathered, and a small sphere was born there. The sphere squirmed, poyo poyo, and shimmered like a soap bubble.

"Is this…?"

"A water spirit. It is our first time creating one, but I believe it went well."

The Water Spirit King smiled elegantly. Apparently, this land itself served the same function as a magic circulation device. There was another proper water magic circulation device, but the spirit for the Golden King’s exclusive use was a special creation made by all the Spirit Kings together.

"You were never able to reach the water magic circulation device in your lifetime, were you, Sapphard?"

"It’s frustrating. Still, I was able to visit the others, so I have no regrets."

When Sapphard was alive, the same thing had been done at the other magic circulation devices, and spirits for the Golden King’s exclusive use were born. That was why the Little One could obtain the other spirits simply by pouring her magic into the circulation devices.

"Is that why you brought me here?"

"Well, I also wanted to talk. There were things I couldn’t do through the magic circulation devices. Like the Spirit Kings’ blessing."

"A blessing…"

Come to think of it, something echoed in my head. Was I just hearing things?

The Little One stared blankly up at the sky. From the mountaintop, the clouds seemed close.

"Words that can destroy even the heavens…"

Kotodama. It is said that words hold power. Words that can destroy even the heavens? What could they be?

As the Little One was lost in thought, the poyo poyo sphere before her rose up three-dimensionally.

…A slime?

A water creature known as the weakest of Arcadia’s monsters. Slimes, which change form depending on their habitat, had earned the nickname "the seven-formed." In watery or marshy areas, they were liquid. In mountainous regions, there were individuals that looked like they had turned to stone. The one she found and touched in Flowers before had felt like a rubber ball. This one was right in the middle. It was a typical forest-dwelling slime, a plump sphere like a water manju. Except, its color was of seven hues. It was transparent like a soap bubble, with seven rainbow-like colors flickering within it. It approached the Little One with a pote pote hop and looked up with its eyeless face.

Huh? This is kind of cute, isn’t it?

"Doesn’t it want a name? You should give it one."

Chihaya, who had switched places at some point, was staring at the slime with envy.

Right, a name.

The Little One looked up at the sky and thought. Then her eyes widened, and while looking at the clouds in her vision, she looked down at the slime.

"Then, your name is Mousse. It’s nice to meet you."

The slime bounced joyfully with a po-wan and vanished into the air. But after having orthodox spirits like a Salamander and a Gnome, why was the wind spirit a dragon and the water spirit a slime? The Little One couldn’t help but murmur her question, and the four Spirit Kings exchanged glances and burst out laughing.

"That is because the Golden King’s influence is present in their creation."

The Flame Spirit King explained, glancing at Sapphard. Sapphard quietly averted his gaze.

"When I heard ‘spirit’… well, for a while, I pictured them normally. But… dragons are cool, right?"

The Spirit Kings roared with laughter.

In other words, the form that was pictured in the Golden King’s mind at the time of birth was reflected. Huh? Then, does that mean?

As the Little One made a dumbfounded face, the Spirit Kings watched her with amusement and nodded in unison.

"That’s right. The water spirit you pictured was that one."

The Wind Spirit King broke into a grin.

Nnoooo! You should have told me something that important sooner!

The Little One screamed in her mind again, but it was too late. She could not yet imagine that an era was coming when many slime spirits would walk the lands of Arcadia.

But Sapphard smiled to himself, knowing that it would be a very happy sight.