[Side Story] Wind Flower (7)
There is something called a ‘salt record magic device’.
This is an item that was previously used by Assistant Professor Clare during the Occupation of the Ofilis Building to investigate the dark side.
Basically, it is a magical engineering product managed by the Sylvanian Academy, and is a device larger and heavier than the body of a strong man. I understand that it is usually disassembled and carried in several bags.
Basically, there are many unstable aspects as it uses the less researched aspect magic theory. It is a treasure of treasures, with all kinds of high-quality materials applied to ensure stability, and the best researchers at the university rushing in to perform repeated maintenance.
Basically, if you want to use this magic engineering product, you must go through a strict internal review by the academic committee.
The bachelor’s budget for this one device is enormous, so it’s practically like carrying around a huge mansion.
The reason such valuable items were able to be taken out of the academy was ultimately because of the value of the name Ed Rosstaylor.
This is because taking away even an expensive magic engineering item is not a problem, as we are in a position to receive all the consideration that can be received within the Sylvania Academy.
“Basically, it is difficult to see the past for more than a year with the salt record magic, no matter how much magic you pour into it. However, if you can handle aspect magic, the story is very different.”
The place was the square of Toren Village.
This is because we had to get help from the villagers to install the magic equipment.
A large magical equipment installed straight in the center of the square. Gears embedded here and there were turning here and there, and mysterious light was flowing from the magical orbs that were visible in between.
Even with help from the villagers, it took almost half a day to install.
“There may have been limitations when Assistant Professor Claire and the academic staff used it, but now that some research has been done on aspect magic, the performance is completely different. Even a few hundred years ago, you might be able to catch a glimpse.”
“Well, is it that much? Isn’t this truly groundbreaking? If you want, you can see any past, so even old unsolved cases can be solved… ”
“Of course, looking into the distant past is not that easy.”
Wouldn’t it be nice if things in this world could be solved so easily?
If you want to send a flow of magic into the distant past, you need a suitable medium.
I shook my hands and looked around.
Thankfully, the Toren villagers who helped with the installation were sitting together and watching, and Yenika was also right next to them, looking up at the equipment.
“Now that we’ve finished collecting basic information, where… “Let’s check it out.”
There was a request from Yenika, but anyway, the purpose of my coming here was to conduct academic research.
If I bring the right results, won’t I be able to survive?
There was someone who could act as a medium.
I quietly lowered my head and gathered the magic power of my body. As I gave a strong sigh, the spirit response in my entire body began to heat up.
– Hwaaaaaaaaa!
A huge wind blows, and a huge wolf appears and stands up. The gigantic wind spirit, which radiated intimidation just by its presence, made all the villagers fall silent.
– Kuung
Merylda stands proudly in the alpine wind, her white fur fluttering.
The villagers all swallowed their saliva as they watched the scene. Most people saw the high-ranking spirit itself for the first time.
– ‘No, that’s ridiculous…’ The wolf… A wolf the size of a house… ‘
– ‘Shh… be careful… I might get eaten… !’
For a moment, the villagers were so nervous that they could not even breathe, and the wolf let out a sigh-like snort and wrapped himself in the wind.
The shape of the manifested body changes, and it lands on the floor, becoming a girl with white hair pulled up into a ponytail.
[This is what happens in the end. ]
Merilda appeared, patted the hem of her skirt, looked at Yenika and me, sighed, and shook her head.
[Yes, if I use my magical power as a medium, it will be possible to observe the past trends related to Sylvania to some extent. Because we shared a lot of our magical power. ]
“They are more cooperative than I expected.”
[What can I do if I resist? Will you listen to me? ]
After looking at the dumbfounded villagers, Merilda sighed again and turned around.
[Because we can’t make Ed Nauri return to Bachelor’s with empty hands. Yes, you have to hold something in your hand. Check it out. What a terrible end the highest-ranking wind spirit met. ]
Listening to that story, I raised my Aspect magical power this time.
Leaving behind the villagers who were startled by the magic power of the Aspect they had never seen before, I gritted my teeth and poured all the dark red magic power I had raised into magic engineering supplies.
Next, dark red magic flowed out from the salt recording device. I quietly closed my eyes, feeling the scenery engraved in my mind as if it were engraved in my memory.
* * *
Katen Palover was just an ordinary girl who liked to occasionally tend to the pansies that bloomed on the mountainside.
She was the kind of girl who felt fulfilled in life just by watching the pansy flowers along the road swaying here and there in the alpine wind.
Her hair was braided. Unlike Yenika, who braided her hair along the side of her head, this girl had her long, waist-length hair braided and rolled down in front. Her red hair was as beautiful as the pansy flowers blooming on the side of the road, and the village people always praised her pretty hair.
The girl was born with some level of spirit sensitivity, but it was not at an exceptional level.
Occasionally, one can feel the presence of a corporeal spirit or have a conversation with a feeble lower-level spirit. There was no more ability, no potential for further growth… She was just a girl destined to live as a village woman.
Until they found Tyr’kalax lying in the forest, mortally wounded.
“… ”
The scene unfolding through the salt recording device unfolds before your eyes as if it were reality. I heard that it was a method that was directly imprinted in the brain, but I never thought it would be this realistic.
A feeling of floating in the air. I don’t get used to the feeling of observing the object of death right next to me.
Still, experiencing it in this form makes it clearer just how shocking the scene Katen Failover discovered while walking in the forest was.
A girl wandering through the forest carrying a basket full of eggs discovers a young man lying under a huge old tree.
There is almost no magical power left to maintain the manifest state. An unimaginable amount of blood was splattered around the young man.
What catches the eye most of all is the corpse of a huge snake. Just looking at the snake’s corpse, cut in two, lying behind the fallen young man makes me feel nauseous.
I know the identity of that snake. This is a name you might hear once when studying elemental science.
High Dark Spirit Pkurox.
If Glaskan had not been occupying the position of the highest ranking dark spirit, he would most likely have been sitting there. It is exceptionally strong among high-ranking spirit entities, and is famous for its cruelty, so its name still remains in history books.
It was recorded that at some point it disappeared according to the laws of nature and no longer appeared, but in reality, it met its end at the hands of the highest-ranking wind spirit, Tyrkalax.
Even if it is powerful enough to overcome the highest ranking spirit, I heard that the poison and curse that the snake spreads lasts for hundreds of years. There was a city on the Western Continent that was completely destroyed by the poison of Plecurox. It’s a very old story now.
‘It was Tyrkalax who subdued Pkurox… ?’
At this point, it is already a major discovery that will change the records of many historical books.
First of all, I felt like I had taken care of any achievements that could be heard at the level of academic research.
– ‘this… Unbelievable… ! Trigrams, are you okay?!’
Katen Palover was so surprised to see the fallen young man that he rushed to give him first aid.
The manifest Tyrkalax took human form to minimize magical power consumption, but was unable to properly control his magical power due to the curse left by Pkurox right before his death.
Spirits have no concept of death. There is only a cycle of reducing it to nature and returning it to a fluid spirit.
Flukrox also knew this very well, so he engraved a curse on Tyrkalax just before being reduced to a fluid spirit.
By trapping Tyrkalax in a weak human form and disrupting his magical power, he is made to struggle endlessly in the pain of wounds that cannot be healed.
The absence of death is both a blessing and a curse. Because of the imprinted curse, he cannot properly control his magic power and must constantly be in the throes of his wounds.
The curse drives the mind into a corner. The goal is to make you writhe in excruciating pain and eventually lose your mind.
Tyrkalax in such a state was discovered by a third-rate spiritist named Keitin… It must have been some kind of twist of fate.
From then on, it was all smooth sailing.
As expected of a girl who grew up among country women, Katen Pailover was dexterous and had good living skills.
For a young man who was always in excruciating pain and struggling in pain, we gathered grass to make a bed, and when that seemed to not be enough, we gathered wood to make a shelter.
It was truly impressive to see him create something so quickly with his small size and tiny body.
Tyr’kalax did not want to be seen by humans. Spirits are extremely wary of becoming involved with humans who are not spirit masters. The reason was obvious. This is because the words of spirits who communicated with humans more than necessary were usually not good.
Katen understood Tyr’kalax’s feelings and always looked after him whenever she went to and from the forest.
We bring cotton and cloth from the village and make a proper bed.
At night, in case it gets cold, we light a fire and protect it next to it, and set up a proper tent in case it rains.
Plucurox’s curse was weakening with each passing day, but at a very slow rate. The girl, who always thought it would be difficult to care for a young man in this kind of environment, thinks of an abandoned cabin deeper in the forest.
For a long time, this forest was used as a base camp by hunters who used this forest as a hunting ground. It was an abandoned hut that is no longer in use.
Katin drags the young man’s heavy body there over a period of two days.
Light a campfire in front of the cabin and bring the proper tools. That’s how I continue my caregiving life.
The sun rises and the moon sets. Even though it was raining and snowing, Katin sat in the hut all the time, sitting next to Tyrkalax and listening to his story.’
They brought cooking utensils and made hot soup every time, but the young man didn’t put it to his mouth properly. Eating food did not mean much to spirits.
Rather, in order to unravel the tangled flow of magical power, I had to rely on Katin’s weak talent as a spiritist.
As he lay in his hospital bed every day and observed the flow of Tyr’Kalax’s magic power, Katin’s spirit sensitivity also improved little by little.
This is because it was rare for anyone to have the opportunity to communicate so closely with the highest ranking spirit.
Little by little, my understanding of spirits improves in order to help Tyrkalax. She was able to easily communicate with the spirits of her lieutenants, and in Toren Village, she became a source of pride as a proper spirit master.
In this way, Tyrkalax’s condition improved, and he began to take care of himself.
It’s not yet fully humanized, but at least we’ve reached the point where we don’t have to leave Katin to manage the cabin camp by herself.
I lead my tired body around the camp, take a simple walk, and check my horsepower. As my body improved, I started chopping firewood and doing cabin maintenance.
So, Tyr’kalax lived as a human for a very short time.
It may have been only a fleeting moment in the long life of the highest-ranking spirit, but that brief memory was forever imprinted in Tyr’kalax’s mind.
The person who was always by my side during those moments was a girl named Katin.
A girl who would roll up her sleeves and make a fuss whenever he did something, and would come forward and check on Tyrkalax as if she were confident. A useless human girl who is infinitely weak and cannot live for less than 100 years.
Although he knew full well that being involved more than necessary would only cause trouble, Tyr’kalax followed the girl and thought about her.
Walking along the ridge and looking at the Pulan Mountains together gave me a unique sense of stability.
Mountain range at sunset. Tyrkalax liked the scenery.
I walk behind Katin, who is holding a picnic bag and moving forward at a brisk pace while humming a song. The scenery of the mountains overlooking her remains in her heart like a painting.
– ‘You know, the people in our village call the pansies that bloom along the ridge like that ‘wind flowers.’
– ‘Windflower? ‘You mean those pansies?’
– ‘huh. As you know, it’s always windy in the alpine areas. When you look at a pansy flower, it’s always swaying this way and that depending on the wind.’
I sit on the fence on the side of the road and feel the wind.
Tyr’Kalax’s dark red hair was also shaking, extending in the same direction as Katin’s head.
– ‘You’re looking at the direction the wind is going.’
– ‘is it… Do humans give that kind of meaning… ‘
– ‘Ahaha, it might seem a bit pointless to Tyr’kalax. It may be difficult to understand, but humans like to give meaning to such meaningless things. Look at this.’
Katin smiles brightly, jumps off the fence, and looks at the pansy flowers blooming on the side of the road.
The pansy flowers swaying helplessly seem as if they are looking in the direction the wind is blowing.
– ‘There are such cute and pretty flowers. Then you’ll want to tell a story about something.’
– ‘Do you think that way too?’
– ‘Well, well. I am giving it a slightly different meaning.’
Katen looked at the swaying pansy flowers and then slowly closed her eyes.
– ‘The wind roams freely through the world, but a single pansy stays still, rooted in the ground. I just bury my feet in the dirt like this and just stare blankly at the wind blowing around the world.’
– ‘… ‘
– ‘The reason I shake my head towards the wind is probably because I wanted to play along with the wind. But, if you pull out the roots of a flower, it dies.’
What is the feeling of a flower stuck in the ground, always looking up at the wide expanse of sky?
It is like the appearance of ordinary people who desperately want someone who cannot be reached even if they stretch out their hands, and who sincerely yearn for someone who is far and high.
Is this the image of a crowd of people quietly looking at someone who moves through the world like the wind and freely spreads his or her will, while remaining rooted in reality?
The pansy flowers blooming along the ridge seem to be a collection of longings and wishes.
Is that the appearance of Katin who loved Tyrkalax? Or is it the image of Yenica Palover, who admires Ed Rothtaylor?
Or maybe both?
– ‘Will the curse be somewhat resolved soon?’
– ‘okay… ‘
– ‘Come visit once in a while when you think of it~ Humans are weak beings that, from the spirits’ point of view, will just pick them up and die if they don’t see them for a moment. So don’t forget, and be sure to come when you can!’
Seeing him laughing and patting Tyr’kalax’s chest like that, Tyr’kalax ended up laughing.
And I had to admit it. That he felt more than a bond with this girl.
Even though I knew that such feelings were nothing short of poison to a spirit that lived almost forever, I had no choice but to admit it. Of all the people she had ever met, there was none as special as this girl.
Let’s reminisce about the present.
Tyrkalax had no choice but to console himself. And he thought it was the right thing to do.
Until I confirmed that the curse of Flucurox had appeared on the back of Katin’s hand.
* * *
“… … .”
[The reason why Flurox’s curse was able to annihilate a city is because it has the property of being contagious through magical power. ]
As Merilda’s voice whispered in my ear, I gently closed my eyes. The story that followed didn’t seem very pleasant.
Actually, I knew it. Their story does not have a happy ending.
That’s why Merilda didn’t want to tell this story to Yenica.
