Vermillion

Chapter 35.4

Kei reflexively asked, which caused Valgren staring at him impressed.

“You can tell?”

“Don’t tell me, is that the Fairy of White Light?”

“…Color me surprised. You are quite knowledgeable.”

Valgren opened the lantern’s lid and muttered Thorborg, causing the ball of light to float out of it.

“No, well… I’m seeing it for the first time too.”

“Damn, that’s super rare…”

Both Kei and Aileen excitedly stared at the small light creature sitting on Valgren’s shoulder.

Fairy of White Light was a species of low-ranked Spirits titled Fairies. Depending on their mood, Fairies manifested wherever they wished, and you could contract them as long as you had some sweets with you. The catalysts they demanded in return were also commonplace things like flowers, sugar, and crystals, so they were known as weak but cheap Contracted Spirits.

However, Fairies of White Light were special among them. Unlike the other Fairies that controlled things such as sleep and bewitchment, these Spirits were commonly described as a natural phenomenon, controlling Pure Healing Light.

At the very least, in ?DEMONDAL? they were Spirits that could use a limited number of highly efficient healing spells, and were essential for creating magic illumination items. Due to their rarity and usefulness, many clans reached out to the players contracted to them, and even offered real money for their acquisition. They were so rare that even Kei, who was known as a game addict, had never directly encountered one.

“…Could it be that the illuminations at the library were made by you, Mr. Valgren?”

Since he was obeyed by a Fairy, he was without a doubt a magician.

“No, that was done by my predecessor. I am merely doing some maintenance on them… But still, you surprised me there, Mr. Kei. Are you familiar with magic too?”

Kei vaguely nodded at Valgren’s question.

Perhaps he was too relaxed at that moment.

“Yeah… Actually, I’m contracted with a Wind Spirit too.”

Thus, he gave an honest reply.

At this moment in time, he never would have expected that his words would lead to a certain situation…

“…What?”

Valgren’s expression changed.

“T-The Wind Spirit should be a Great Spirit that controls the wind element…”

Seeing Valgren’s agitation, Kei realized his slip-up. But it was too late to start denying it now, so he avoided his gaze while mumbling, “W-Well…”

Valgren remained shocked for some time, but eventually, he groaned and held his forehead.

“Your Excellency… Isn’t this person simply jesting…”

Kazimir, who stood next to the telescope with nothing to do, humbly offered his opinion. Valgren glanced at him and spoke.

“I told you to drop the Your Excellency… But to answer your question, I think he is telling the truth.”

His eyes shifted to Kei.

“…From the moment we met, I found it strange that your… no, both of your magic powers were incomparably high for your ages.”

This time, Aileen’s eyes started to dart around too. Kei was shocked that their magic powers were detected without a magic tool, albeit he didn’t give voice to his astonishment.

“Could it be that the Spirits are ordinary existences in your homeplace?”

“No, that’s not it… If I had to say, we are special cases.”

“Hmm… I see…”

The two remained tense at Valgren’s continued eerie silence, but the old man eventually gave a tired sigh.

“…Well, I suppose I can accept that explanation. I suppose that was the reason why all your arrows hit the marks, right, Mr. Kei?”

“…What do you mean?”

“I mean, you have the Wind’s Spirit’s protection, no?”

Valgren tilted his head as if acting silly to soften the atmosphere, but Kei felt triggered by Valgren believing that his archery skills stemmed from the Spirit and not his own ability, so he answered, “That’s wrong. My contracted Spirit is quite petty. She’s a stingy fellow who won’t do anything without an offering.”

The moment he said that — the atmosphere underwent a bizarre change.

Just as they looked up, wondering what was going on, a violent gust of wind blew towards them.

“Uwahh?!”

“What the?!”

“Your Excellency!”

Kei got hit by the blast of wind and fell over, while Aileen got down on the ground and Kazimir rushed to Valgren.

But it only lasted for a moment. Before they had any time to do anything else, the wind disappeared as if it had never existed to begin with. All that remained was a startled trio, and Kei, who groaned on the ground after hitting his head during the fall.

“Gaaaahhhh, Siv, you damn little…!”

“A-Are you okay, Kei…?”

Aileen approached him and helped him get back up.

“G-Goddamnit! I didn’t lie in any way since you’re so damn greedy! You keep constantly demanding luxurious gems like emeralds, while also sucking up my magic power to the very limit….!”

“…Actually, why do we even need Esperanto if she understands English…”

As Kei ranted towards the sky, Aileen muttered her own doubts while stroking his head.

“…Ah, sorry, I lost my cool. Are you alright, Mr. Valgren?”

He spoke and stood up while rubbing his temple to rid himself of the pain, but there was no reply.

“Mr. Valgren? What is the…”

As he looked toward Valgren — he froze.

For a moment, he failed to identify the person standing over there.

He quickly confirmed his face and realized that it was, unmistakably, Valgren. However — something was definitely different from the Valgren a few moments ago.

Nothing.

There was nothing there.

“B…Bald…”

Aileen muttered with a tremble.

Valgren had become bald.

His unnaturally beautiful silver mushroom hair was nowhere to be found.

“……”

Eyes wide open, Valgren stood there like a stone statue. His hand hovered above his head, petrified in mid-air.

The Fairy of White Light giggled innocently and took a seat on his head.

Shining — yes, it was shining.

Just like the Light Spirit—

“……”

Kei and Aileen felt how the atmosphere teemed with bizarre levels of tension.

“…Your Excellency.” Kazimir started, his head lowered into a retainer’s bow, “I shall go look for your hair.”

Then he turned around and dashed away from the rooftop.

It took them a few moments to realize that he had run away.

“…Mr. Kei.” After Valgren had rebooted, he smiled gently, as if nothing had happened. “…Shall we look at the stars?”

“Ah… Y-Yes.”

Kei also came back to his senses, nodding promptly. Aileen mustered all her strength to avoid staring at the shining head, and gazed up to the night sky instead. Kei quickly rushed over to the telescope to get it back up, only to raise a desperate yelp.

The wind, which had toppled the telescope, had also broken its lens into tiny fragments.

On top of that, the elaborate ornaments had scratch marks from chafing against the brick floor.

“……”

On that day, their party disbanded right then and there. By the way, they apparently failed to find the wig, too.

†††

During their parting, Valgren said “I will contact you later,” and staying true to his word, he sent Kazimir to their inn as a messenger on another day.

According to him, Valgren said, “I would like you to teach me astrology on another day, but I don’t have any free time in the foreseeable future, so I don’t know when I will be able to free up some time. If you wish to head to the Haunted Forest before that, feel free to do so.”

When Kazimir pressed them for the answer, both of them answered without any hesitation.

Several days later, they gathered their luggage, said their goodbyes to Holland of the Cornwell company, Alyssa from the library, and other acquaintances, and set out on a journey as if to flee from Urvan.

Their destination was the Haunted Forest of Northland.

Close to two and a half months had passed since the two came to this world.

A/N: This marks the end of the easygoing chapters.