Chapter 152: Speaking Without Thinking

Grandma Felica returned with two elders and introduced them.

“These are Elder Norlandiska and Elder Melvinska. I told them about your spirits because you’re someone accompanied by spirits.”

“Since you know of Faranka’s circle and have already been taught about spirits, we would like you to stand within this village’s circle.”

“Before that, may we see the spirits attached to you?”

Felica nodded. As in Faranka, knowledge about spirits seemed to be restricted to those directly involved—or perhaps outsiders knew spirits existed, but not the distinction between being accompanied by them and being connected to them.

I had them dim the room slightly and called the spirits out. Their presences flooded the room in an instant.

“Oh! What an extraordinary number of spirits!”

“I doubted the story when I first heard it, but you truly are connected to this many…”

“May I ask you something about spirits?”

“By all means.”

“I have only heard of circles in Faranka and Helnenka. Yet I occasionally encounter people accompanied by spirits elsewhere. Why does that happen?”

“I don’t know the reason, but even near ordinary settlements there must be places where spirits gather, though not to the extent of a circle. Judging from the number around you, perhaps you know more than anyone.”

Apart from the pit near Zandra, there were probably other places where spirits clustered like clouds of gnats, but I had never noticed one. Smaller clusters in grasslands or forests would remain unknown because their presences could only be sensed from very close range. Perhaps spirits attached themselves only when someone happened to pass directly beside such a place.

“I do know one place where spirits gather, though it’s smaller than Faranka’s circle. Reaching it would require an extraordinary chain of coincidences.”

“As I thought. So you reached it by chance, Lord Leon?”

“Yes. I nearly died there, but I found a small cluster of presences. When I left, several followed me. I didn’t learn that they were spirits until the Faranka elders explained it.”

“You appear deeply connected to them. How much help do they provide?”

“They have healed my injuries and helped me use magic.”

They had also protected me and counterattacked on my behalf, but mentioning that would only complicate the discussion.

“If they healed injuries, one of them must be a Healing Magic spirit.”

“Yes. It seemed to prevent both a headache and a bump from forming.”

“But if it’s connected to you… no, perhaps it healed you precisely because of that connection.”

“I’ve never heard of someone connecting with a magic spirit unrelated to the magic they possess. And I was told you appraised a spirit and identified its skill?”

“When I first appraised a spirit—”

“Appraisal would be useless for most people.”

“Why is that?”

“I can appraise them only because there are so many around me. If someone has one or two spirits, they’ll almost certainly match the magic or skill that person was granted. Any others would probably be connected to the person’s work, as Felica’s are.”

When I pointed to the spirits swarming around me in the dim room, they fell silent and considered my explanation. Normally, a spirit couldn’t even be selected as an Appraisal target unless it first revealed itself. Very few people would ever possess both my number of connected spirits and the ability to use Appraisal.

“By the way, you entered Faranka’s circle, did you not? What was it like?”

“Honestly, I would rather not go near another one.”

“Why?”

“Before I went to Faranka, a little over a dozen presences—spirits—were attached to me…”

“Could it be… they increased at Faranka?”

“Yes. It was overwhelming for a while.”

I had no wish to increase their number, so I declined the invitation to approach Helnenka’s circle. They said it was outside the village as well. If a circle stood within a settlement or beside a busy road, people with keen Presence Sense would be unable to ignore it, and strange rumors or ghost stories would soon spread.

At dinner, I gave them my home address and explained that Father, Mother, and my sister all lived with me.

When I asked whether I could have one of the glasses I liked, they agreed immediately and even wrapped up various dishes and ornaments as a housewarming gift.

From the third day onward, with the elders’ permission, I began searching for medicinal herbs around the village.

They told me the general directions in which the herbs grew, and I searched by appraising plants one after another. Most attempts found nothing useful, or only herbs common around Lynas. None matched the samples.

Whenever I grew bored, I rose into the air for a flight. When I checked the creatures caught by Detection, I found many bears and tigers in addition to wolves. It was obvious why only high-ranked adventurers could reach Helnenka.

The steep terrain and deep valleys seemed to prevent those beasts from approaching towns very often.

Carlandas grows on shaded slopes. Without Wind Magic, gathering herbs from those moss-covered inclines would be difficult.

Shraunda is parasitic, so I had to fly through the forest searching the branches of broadleaf trees.

Enbes is a shrub three or four meters tall, and I was told to look for pairs of maple-shaped leaves. Then they added that it grows amid densely packed trees in sunny places. Just hearing that was exhausting.

For someone searching from the air, dense stands of shrubs were terrible: my updraft shook the leaves and branches so much that I couldn’t distinguish anything. And those “pairs of maple-shaped leaves” were actually overlapping leaves on twin stems. What a scam!

After searching for nearly ten days without success, I returned to Lynas. I thanked the elders for pointing me toward the growing areas and presented them with a Golden Goat from my Magic Bag—though not entirely for free. They promised to introduce me to experienced herb gatherers the next time I visited.

After resting at home, I went to my sister.

“Welcome back. You were late.”

“I was gathering herbs. Not enough yet, but I’ll go again.”

“Flying makes it convenient, doesn’t it? So, how was it?”

“Grandma Felica looked only a little older than Mother. Grandpa Roy looked old enough to be Felica’s father. The age difference becomes much more obvious over time between a full-blooded elf and a catfolk.”

After handing over the herbs I had gathered, I moved to the real subject.

“Sis, we have distilled water stored away, right? Distill some of it again.”

“For what purpose?”

“Just do it. And rinse the inside of the equipment with distilled water too. It matters.”

She tilted her head, but ever since I had instructed her in magic, she had become fairly willing to follow my directions.

I appraised the redistilled water: [Appraisal — Distilled Water]. Well, of course.

I divided the distilled water into portions, handed one to my sister, and had her release mana into it. While she held the container between her palms and followed my instructions, I brought out some of her previously prepared magic water and appraised it.

[Appraisal — Mana: 13]

The stored batch had been made by infusing Water Magic-created water with mana. The distilled water she had infused once measured [Appraisal — Mana: 8].

“How many times did you infuse mana into the stored magic water made with Water Magic?”

“Three times. That’s enough to extract the medicinal components from herbs.”

“So Water Magic-created water infused three times measures thirteen, while distilled water infused once already measures eight.”

“There’s that much difference between magic-created water and distilled water?”

“Make another batch, but this time throw the mana into the distilled water all at once, the same way you release it when casting a spell.”

“Throw the mana into it? How?”

“Release it as though you were casting—send the entire amount directly into the distilled water in one burst.”

“Sounds suspicious.”

“I’m trying to find an easy way to make high-quality magic water. Cooperate.”

“Are you truly thinking this through? It sounds as though you’re making things up as you go…”

“Judge after we test it. You just made magic water with a mana value of eight in a single attempt.”

“I can’t use Appraisal.”

“That’s why I’m appraising it and telling you. Now do as I said.”

She glared at the container of distilled water, extended her hand toward it, and pressed her palm against the side. “Become magic water… Hah!”

The distilled water swelled and rippled for an instant. Then she looked at me as if to ask, Well?

[Appraisal — Mana: 18]

“Mana eighteen. I suspected that throwing it in directly would be more efficient than feeding it in gradually from the side.”

“Really?”

“Yes, definitely eighteen. Try once more.”

“The magic water we used at the guild measured only ten to twelve. Eighteen would be considered upper-middle grade…”

“Then let us see whether we can make high-grade magic water.”

Shaking her head at her younger brother, she glared at the finished magic water and prepared to infuse it again. “Become high-grade magic water… Hah!”

The water again appeared to swell for an instant. Now, what was the result?

[Appraisal — Mana: 34]

Huh? If she had infused the same amount, should it not have been thirty-six?

“Well? What’s the result?”

“Mana thirty-four.”

“Really?”

“Trust me. It’s definitely thirty-four.”

“As expected of Leon. You may be my younger brother, but I can trust the word of my magic teacher.”

“Did I not just hear you say that I sounded as though I was making things up?”

“You imagined it. Shall I make you a potion for your ears?”

“A potion for my ears? Now that really is something you made up. More importantly, using distilled water should let us produce high-grade magic water from now on.”

“I’ll do that. One infusion gives eighteen and two give thirty-four, which is easy to understand.”

At this rate, unless my sister learned Appraisal, she would work me mercilessly whenever I was home. Perhaps it was time to test the idea I had conceived in Helnenka.

Back in my room, I sat on the bed and imitated my sister.

I called one colorless spirit from those floating around me and appraised it: [Appraisal — Weaving Skill].

Heh heh heh… I have awakened. I was in danger of developing a full case of chuunibyou, but I should have appraised the spirits immediately when the idea occurred to me in Helnenka.