ch41-ch60 · 059-ch51

Chapter 51 — Shadow Mystery Tale ③

After the battle, Sai's group decided to set up a safe area and take a break.

This safe area was a product from the other world — a magical tool engraved with a concealment enchantment.

It was mainly used when camping out or resting, a handy tool for keeping monsters and bandits away.

The group each began their rest.

Sai kept watch on the surroundings while checking his own condition.

At his age, his body wasn't what it used to be.

Hexaria, the moment they stopped, immediately started sleeping. "Suya puu..."

Her sleeping breaths were kind of cute — but that was strictly between us.

Hiyori and Mio were doing a post-battle debrief.

"Haah, that was rough! We really fought, huh."

"For a first battle, that many was quite a shock."

They'd expected combat in Kakuriyo, but they never imagined they'd end up fighting continuously for over an hour.

Even with Body Enhancement, it was pretty damn exhausting.

The stamina potion soaked into their tired bodies.

Sai walked over.

"Oy. You two doin' alright?"

"I'm tired."

"METOO~..."

"You kept fighting the whole time. What about your magical power?"

At Sai's prompting, the two of them finally noticed.

It had been nearly an hour of prolonged combat.

Normally, it wouldn't be strange for their magical power to be completely drained.

Even trying to fight with low consumption, there had to be a limit.

And yet, Hiyori and the others still had plenty of magical power left in their bodies.

"Now that Sensei mentions it... haven't we barely used any mana?"

There was a sense that their magical power had decreased.

But it didn't feel like they'd lost as much as when they fought in Shinjuku Tower.

"Right. I'd say about... thirty percent consumption. Physically it's tough, but I could still use plenty of magic."

What an inconsistent feeling.

Hearing that, Sai nodded and began to explain.

"That's a feature of this world."

This place had the same properties as the demon world in the other world.

In a demon world, the atmospheric mana was abundant, making it easier to recover magical power beyond what you consumed.

That was because the human body absorbed mana from the air and recovered its magical power.

Hence, they could keep fighting continuously.

"So if we train here, we could practice magic without worrying about mana consumption..."

"No, it's not quite that simple."

One thing they had to note was that the mana in a demon world was rich in something called "magical essence."

If you kept absorbing magical essence, your body would start to transform.

This applied to all living things and plants.

Animals could become monsters like demon beasts, and plants could become sentient monsters like treants.

"Ugh... so we'd turn into monsters?"

"A few days is fine. Magical essence exists in the present world too, after all. But a human's capacity can only handle so much — looks like we'd end up oversaturated. Better not stay long. I read it in some old book once. For ordinary people, it takes anywhere from two months to a year, I think. The timing varies by person, but they say if you stay long enough, people turn into the demon race."

In the other world Sai had been in, there were books that researched the origins of the demon race.

One adventurer party had documented, in diary form, their days until they became demons. They'd gone to the demon world to hunt demons, only to realize they themselves were turning into demons.

After hearing Sai's explanation, Hiyori suddenly realized something.

"Is that maybe why demons are born?"

"I shall explain that part."

Ginreibo, who'd been listening, spoke up.

"You lot lump them all together as 'demons,' but they have different origins. First, there are those born spontaneously. The group of oni you just fought are that type. What Sai-dono just called 'magical essence' — in our terms, it's likely the same thing as miasma. Nameless oni born from miasma. Hungry ghosts that endlessly spawn, always in a cycle of eat or be eaten. The ones causing trouble in the present world are, by and large, these fellows."

Indeed, there had been unfamiliar ogres among them, but most were ogres they'd fought in the present world before.

Since they were weak, they slipped through the world's barrier easily — that was probably why they could run wild in the present world.

"Next are those born from thoughts — tengu like us are this type. Beings shaped by the world to be as they are."

This was something Ginreibo had heard from his master long ago.

When he'd asked where they came from, his master had answered.

The answer was that the emotions of humans and demons became thoughts, and the world drew upon those to create them.

In that sense, they were similar existences to weaker demons, but the fact that they were shaped by someone's thoughts seemed to be the major difference.

Alternatively, the presence or absence of intellect, or having a name, might also be distinguishing points.

"There are demons who live ordinary lives in this world, and those with particular power come to be called Majin. Like me."

"I see..."

Every demon that came to the present world had attacked people with malice, but it seemed she needed to reconsider that assumption.

At the very least, she should probably distinguish between demons and hungry ghosts.

"Now that I think about it, I've heard stories about people falling to evil..."

"That is possible too. It happens when a person is seduced by evil and falls."

Magical essence existed in the present world too.

In recent years, magical power had been scarce, so such things hadn't occurred, but hundreds of years ago it likely did. Magical essence — when miasma and emotions intertwined and mixed, the result was falling to the demonic path — becoming a demon was possible.

Throughout history, there were countless tales of people being possessed or turning into monsters.

Some of them were probably based on real events.

"On that topic... some say that evil is that which does not obey, but in the end, it is a gathering of those who cannot change their own convictions."

Because they couldn't bend their convictions, they were seduced by evil, darkness crept in, and they fell to evil.

Hence they did not obey — they did not submit to heaven, did not yield, and walked their own path.

The result: falling to become a demon.

"I see..."

Some of the demons Hiyori and Mio had fought might have originally been human.

It was a thought-provoking talk.

Mio listened with keen interest.

Hiyori fidgeted as she listened.

...Fidget.

"...I hate to bring this up during a serious talk, but uh... y'know, um..."

Her face was slightly red.

Hiyori didn't say anything, but Sai understood.

Not saying a word and just handing it over was the mercy of a warrior.

"It's a ring engraved with a concealment enchantment for one person. It won't last long, but if you hold onto it, no one around will detect you. Go on, don't worry."

After that explanation, Sai and Hiyori nodded at each other.

Hiyori took the ring and ran straight toward a nearby bush.

Mio wondered what was going on, but it was so-called "picking flowers."

For adventurers, whether in a dungeon or anywhere else, a quietly serious problem was being attacked while picking flowers. If you got attacked in the middle of it, no matter how skilled an adventurer you were, you'd land in a pinch.

...What a dirty subject.

◇

So, Hiyori had left the safe area on her own.

She finished her business and was about to head back when—

She found a crying spirit.

A spirit crying with little sniffles.

Its hair was all tangled, and the clothes it wore were tattered.

Looking closely, its whole body was covered in small wounds.

It was a tiny humanoid spirit.

At first, she thought it was a demon.

Right now, thanks to the concealment enchantment, her presence wasn't detected.

So she'd considered just silently cutting it down.

But it didn't have that Kakuriyo-like "feel" to it.

If anything, she could sense a clean presence.

Come to think of it, earlier Ginreibo had said "spirits are a delicacy to demons."

Also, having seen Hexaria's little maids — spirits — meant she'd somehow learned to distinguish spirits.

...This one's a spirit, right?

She didn't sense any demon presence around.

It didn't seem like a trap either.

Judging that, Hiyori ended up calling out to the crying spirit.

"Hey, what's wrong? ...Are you lost or something?"

The spirit, startled by the sudden presence, let out a "Pyeh!?" and started covering its head with its arms.

Of course, that didn't really hide anything.

What an adorable spirit.

It was desperately trying to say something, but no words came through.

Occasionally she heard "pyi pyi," but it wasn't human speech.

But Hiyori seemed to understand.

Her expression shifted from a big sister consoling a lost child to a serious one.

"I see... you tried to take down the Shadow-Eater, but got taken down instead, huh."

Happy that it was understood, the lost spirit chattered with fluttering gestures.

"It's okay, we're gonna fight it. Huh? Do we really look that weak? ...I mean, yeah, you've got a point. But trust me. My Sensei and Hexaria-san — that onee-san over there — are super strong! We can beat it!"

The lost spirit looked down, deflated.

It seemed worried.

"...If you're worried, wanna come with us?"

The spirit looked up.

Its eyes were a little surprised.

"I promise it'll be fine! See!"

Saying that, Hiyori held out her hand to the tiny spirit.

The spirit hesitantly placed its hand in hers.

"Everyone's right over there. Let's go together!"

The girl took the tiny spirit's hand and started walking back toward the safe area.

It seemed they'd picked up another travel companion.

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Thank you for reading.