As the tension from the recent battle began to fall, I slowly approached the cauldron and carefully removed the last Adventurer’s Sage near the base of the makeshift fire. Then, I added it to my spatial storage to complete the 10 copies of the common plant for my first official quest as an adventurer.
Unfortunately, my curiosity had also gotten the better of me, and I “peaked” over the rim of the cauldron to see the contents in full. My stomach felt nauseous as I immediately regretted my decision. Inside, was a whole assortment of human body parts, crudely chopped into various bits and pieces to fit within the metal chambers. The broth was a gut retching brown which reeked as the aroma assaulted my nostrils with its sharp, rotten flavour. Human heads could be seen floating near the surface, wearing an expression of fear, anguish, and horror. Additionally, some of the skin had begun turning a reddish colour as the boiling mixture started to cook the human flesh. While I was taking in the horrible scene, Inari caught up to my location and started whispering to me.
“Great job Ko, that was expertly handled! Now, all that’s left is to deal with that abnormal mana signature inside the cave.”
Gripping my sword tightly in my gauntlets, I looked up at Inari, then directed my gaze towards the dark, cavern entrance. Outside the rocky entranceway, there were sharp, wooden stakes creating a type of barricade to deter intruders. Some torches were also impaled into the dirt on either side, yet unlit. That’s when both Inari and I, started to detect the mana signature moving, along with the entire ground shaking at our feet from each heavy impact it created. Whatever the owner of this signature was, it was clearly very large, and heading towards the cave’s entrance. Backing up slightly, and before visual contact with the unknown variable, I once again heard the sickening sound of the serpents in my mind.
“Hisssss.... Finalllyyyy! A worthy foe! Stab it! Stab it good!!! Feed usssss it’s core!!!! Feed ussssss! Feed usssss now!!!”
Well, clearly my shield was all for the idea of viciously slaughtering whatever it was approaching us from inside the cave. Eventually, the mystery surrounding this object was dispelled as it emerged from the dark caverns.
Standing at roughly 12ft tall, with sickening, yellowish skin, holding an accompanying ripped tree trunk for a club, was the familiar fantasy creature known as an ogre. It’s body was large and bulky, with massive arms and legs to support it’s heavy stature. It’s face wore a dumbfounded expression, as vibrant, red blood covered it’s mouth and cheeks from a recent meal. It’s left eye was rapidly moving around, assessing the situation, while the right eye stayed conspicuously still. On the right eye, I could also see what looked like a floating, red, runic circle commonly seen in shows for activating magic. In it’s left hand, it held the half-eaten, upper torso of a human female, most likely it’s current “snack”. Their clothing had been ripped to shreds, and large, vicious bite marks could be seen along the body as obvious chunks of flesh were missing. Finally, compared to some of the goblins, it was “thankfully” wearing a loin cloth of some sorts to cover its more... Sensitive parts...
Then, in a shaky, and startled voice, Inari hurriedly whispered to me. I could tell she was incredibly frightened staring at the ogre.
“Ko! We.... We have to get out of here, fast! There’s no way we can take on an ogre! Those things... They aren’t supposed to be in Solara! They are only known to exist in the region of—”
“Colosseum...?”
Both of us, were startled. Completing her sentence, the ogre spoke in a crude and deep voice. Not wanting to stick around, I felt Inari cast an illusion spell over us as she grabbed my hand to quickly flee from the situation. Both of us started running when.
[Notice – Abnormal Magical Interference Detected – Warning! Illusion Spell Has Been Disabled – Caution – Magic Canceling Artifact Detected In Nearby Vicinity]
While the shimmering vale of light had quickly obscured our location, it was dispelled equally as fast by a mysterious force. Apparently, there was an artifact nearby responsible for this behaviour. Looking at Inari, she was both speechless, and frightened. I got the feeling she had never experienced her magic being tampered with in such a way before. For all of the skills she possessed as a mana weaver, they were seemingly easily undone in the presence of this monster’s power. Then, in an attempt to stop us, the ogre slammed it’s massive club into the ground, causing me to lose my footing. As a result, I tripped and fell onto the rough dirt. However, that was the least of our problems.
When the ogre’s club struck the ground, massive, earthen walls shot up all around us, encasing us in a temporary “arena”. The rocky walls were easily 20ft tall, and completely surrounded us with their imposing, towering structure. Inari and I, were now trapped in a large, circular enclosure, with this intelligent monstrosity. Quickly, I scrambled to my feet to catchup to her as she was already at the rocky perimeter. I could feel her trying to gather mana to cast a spell, but then all of the energy would seemingly disperse without any effect. That’s when I tried casting as well.
I pictured in my mind the flaming spear spell I had used when I first arrived on Terra, except this time, it would be a powerful explosion to blast through the rocky wall, creating an opening for Inari and I to escape! My right hand felt warm as mana started to gather when–
[Warning – Mana Unable To Materialize Into Desired Effect – Interference Detected – Danger! – Spell Casting Capabilities Severely Restricted Or Disabled]
“Shit!”
I cursed under my breath. Somehow, it appeared this ogre was interfering with our ability to cast magic, and I had no idea how it was doing so, other than some potential “magical artifact” my assistant was warning me about. That’s when Inari spoke to me, confirming my findings as well.
“Ko... I... I can’t cast my magic!! Something is... Interfering with the mana particles when I try to weave them! We’re... I... I can’t do anything!”
I turned around to face the ogre. During all of this, it had slowly been advancing towards us, each step a thunderous vibration in the air, and through the ground. As it marched forward, it raised the human corpse it held towards it’s mouth, ripping and tearing a large bite out of the mangled body. A severed hand fell out of the beast’s mouth as it chewed and crunched bones with it’s powerful jaws. Based on the ogre’s position it was just about to step onto one of Inari’s hidden Unstable Ground spells from earlier. Eagerly, I watched it’s movement carefully with anticipation. But, just before impact, the magic circle around the ogre’s right eye, glowed a bright red hue, while the pupil rapidly flicked down towards the ground. Then, it stopped moving, standing on top of the Unstable Ground, staring towards the ground at it’s fallen goblin comrades.
Nothing happened. It didn’t lose it’s balance from Inari’s spell, as it was presumably countered and disabled.
Once again, I tried to cast my flaming spear spell towards the ogre. Mana started to gather around my hand, then suddenly dispersed again. It’s eye glowed again and flicked towards my direction. Then, the creature spoke to us in the heavy, slow tone again.
“It’s.... Useless.... You’re just.... Making my eye.... Move...”
---
Inari and I could only stare in silence at the ogre as it spoke towards us. Slowly, it reached down towards one of the goblins, lifeless corpse, and flipped it over to examine the pained expression on it’s face. A faint tear, formed in the corner of the giant’s eye. While it was examining the fallen, demonic being, Inari replied and spoke to the ogre in shaky voice.
“Bu.... But ogres aren’t... Suppose to be able to... Speak. Are you... Really an ogre???”
The horrid being ignored the trembling fox’s question, and instead continued peering over the lifeless goblin. Then, it gently grabbed the corpse by the arm, and raised it slightly into the air, as if to show us what it had found.
“This one.... Was named... Gobo one... They had a.... Dumb, funny grin... I liked... Their grin...”
Then, it placed the corpse back onto the grimy, blood-soaked dirt, before grabbing the next goblin body.
“This one... Was Gobo two... They couldn’t laugh well... Only scream...”
This... Naming and morning continued for all 8 of the perished goblins. All of them were named Gobo one through eight, and apparently had unique quirks the ogre was fond of. Finally, after gently placing the last goblin body back onto the gross soil, it continued to ramble towards us.
“Ogres... Not smart... But... I was given...
Speech...
Smarts...
And.... Eye.
Winged creature... Told ogre... Build an army... Make friends... Eat humans... Grow strong... But now... My friends... Are dead...
You... Killed my friends...
YoU.... KILLED.... MY.... FRIENDS!!!!!!!
OGRE.... AVENGE.... MY FRIENDS!!!!!
I.... KILL YOU!!!”
My ears were violently assaulted by a thunderous roar as the being went berserk, my eardrums felt like they had burst from the intense pressure and decibel power they unexpectedly received! I could only imagine Inari was in a similar situation with her sensitive ears. Looking at the ogre, it hadn’t started moving just yet, but it was probably going to start charging towards us soon. We had nowhere to run, and no way to defend ourselves with magic. If only there was someway...
“Ko... I... I don’t have any plans or contingencies for dealing with this thing!!! Ogres... are usually level 7 and require a group of adventurers to take down! This... this thing is an evolved variant!! I... I don’t think we can beat it! I’m... My magic... I’m useless without my magic!! We’re trapped and we can’t run away...
Are we... Going to... Die?”
I had to admit. This seemed like an impossible situation that should have never happened in the first place. Just how bad was my luck going to be in this world? We were clearly outmatched in strength, with an incredible disadvantage having lost our magical casting capabilities.
Wait.
Our magic... It wasn’t truly sealed, but being countered by an artifact! Was that some type of key for getting out of this situation? My mind was racing, thinking through any possible ideas that might help us out of this impossible situation. Eventually, the ogre started walking towards us, slowly, while tightly gripping the tree stump club.
Inari was frozen in fear. I could see her eyes rapidly moving about as well, desperately trying to find some solution to this problem. Her paws were also glowing as she continued to try activating spells to no avail. Each time she tried, the ogre’s right eye flicked, and glowed the usual red colour to immediately cancel the spell and disperse her mana. Slowly, the beast rubbed it’s right eye. Was that...?
That’s when I had a crazy idea, and decided to place all my hopes into this final ploy for survival. Quickly, I told Inari my plan of action. If I was right, we might just make it out of this situation alive.
“Inari, my buffs are almost running out... I need you to recast them again, quickly, just like before!”
“But Ko! I... I can’t cast any spells... haven’t you been paying attention?!??! The ogre instantly cancels any magic!”
“I have – When you cast them earlier, I got disoriented from my internal voice explaining all the effects. I want you to cast every type of buff you know, as quickly as you can, as many as you can.”
“But... That won’t... The spells won’t...”
“Volume, Velocity, Variety.”
“What?”
“Do you trust me? This is only something you can do Inari! I never knew it was possible to cast so many spells in rapid succession with no impact to your MP. Perhaps, if you keep rapidly casting spells, the ogre’s eye will be—”
“Overwhelmed?”
I shot her a smile. Thankfully, she was able to understand what I was getting at. In my world, I had plenty of experience working with large sets of data, and the 3 V’s were a staple of data science problems everywhere. Skillfully handling large volumes of data, with many variable types and speeds of collection was something that had become second nature to me. However, even though it was possible to handle these problems with powerful computers, a single instance of carelessness could result in tremendous processing times as the machine struggled to sift through exabytes of data! While I was still ignorant for how this world worked, an artifact to me, was like a complex, ancient machine. So, if we threw enough “data” at high volumes with incredible speed...
Could we break it?
“GAH!!!!!!”
The ogre smashed its club into the ground towards our direction. Immediately, bits of jagged rock echoed outwards towards us, ready to offer a spiky embrace of death. Thankfully, both Inari and I were able to leap out of the way to dodge the sharp shrapnel. While in the air, Inari nodded towards me, showing her agreeance to my plan. Then, she twisted her body to shift her momentum and started running along the earth wall perimeter. After landing, I began running towards the ogre, and started trying to cast spells of my own to further add to the artifact’s canceling targets.
As I ran towards the ogre, I could see it’s eyes looked like an absolute mess! The right eye was rapidly shifting back and forth to stare at me, or Inari when we tried casting a spell. The red circle was also consistently staying activated. However, I started to notice a gradual change in the colour from red, to orange! The ogre was also clearly struggling to maintain its balance from the constantly shifting visual targets. It’s eyes reminded me of a chameleon’s, with the ability to look in separate directions simultaneously. Unfortunate for the ogre though, I highly doubted it’s brain had adapted to understand this visual information, having received the artifact as a “gift” from some winged creature!
Close to the towering giant, I only now realized how horrid and gross the being truly was. It’s body stank of sweat soaked clothes that hadn’t been washed for weeks on end, with bits and pieces of rotting flesh weaved in-between the repulsive stench to create a truly memorable and disgusting smell. Noticing I was next to it’s left leg; the ogre sloppily swung the tree trunk at me which I managed to dodge by jumping to the right. Thankfully, I still had the heightened combat senses from my earlier encounters, implying they weren’t related to magic. It’s movements were slow, and predictable. While I continued to dodge blows around it’s feet, my right eye also began to burn. The familiar feeling of losing control of my actions started to creep into my body, but I defiantly shouted against the serpent’s voices. That’s when I noticed they were... Laughing?
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The sickening, maniacal laughter of snake-like sounds, was ringing all throughout my head! The serpents appeared to be deranged and enjoyed indulging themselves in this deadly dance of certain death! To try and stay focused, I once again tried casting a spell, but to no avail, the mana once again simply disbursed when I tried to weave it to my will. That’s when I caught a grin growing across my face as I finally heard the voice I was anticipating.
[Notice – Detected Enhanced Wind Listening Cast On Individual Kotato – Duration 5 Minutes]
While I had no idea what the heck “Enhanced Wind Listening” was, hearing my monotone assistance’s voice was more than enough to restore my confidence at the situation.
A buff, had finally managed to get through the artifact which had instantly and tirelessly been canceling every spell we had tried casting up until this moment. Looking at the ogre, it’s face was a mixture of pain, anger, and disorientation. Sparks could be seen near the right eye, and the once brilliant red magic circle, had turned into a repulsive black colour.
“GAH!!!! MY EYE.... HOW ARE YOU... IT HURTS!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!! I CAN’T!!! RAWR!!!!!!!!!”
In a furious rage, the towering, yellow being, grasped it’s right eye in pain with it’s massive left hand. Then, in a move not even I wasn’t expecting, ripped the blackened, charred eyeball cleanly out of it’s own socket!!!! Blood burst forth, along with sparks and a fried optical vein. Seizing the opportunity, I leapt high into the air to match the ogre’s chest in height. My head was now also being bombarded by all of the buffs Inari was continuing to cast my direction. If I wanted to end this, I need to do so quickly, before I too, became disoriented from the barrage of helpful status boost. Thus, readying my serpent blade, I expertly thrust it into the cavity I expected the heart to be located. Guided by the serpent’s desires, the thick yellow flesh flayed and parted as the pure, silver metal entered the giant’s body, eviscerating the massive, pulsing muscle. Finally, still gripping my sword, I pushed into the giant’s body, causing it to start falling backwards. While falling, I looked straight into the ogre’s remaining eye, and confidently said a cheesy one-liner to finish the encounter.
“Checkmate, you lumbering oaf!”
**Slam!**
Dust and specs of dirt flew into the air as the ogre’s lifeless body crashed onto the blood-soaked soil of the forest floor. My breathing was laboured, and my mind was still trying to inform me of all the helpful status effects I had received. I could only imagine how long the queue was as buff after buff continued to “ring out” in my mind. Looking to my left, I could see Inari had also collapsed onto the ground as well, clearly exhausted from casting so many spells in rapid succession. Her hands weren’t glowing anymore, indicating to me she had finally stopped her casting as well. Both of us looked at each other, then simultaneously let out a well needed sigh of relief. Releasing my grip from the sword, I too, collapsed backwards onto the bloody ground to try and recover my energy. Both of us simply lay there, trying to control our breathing, while staring into the now orange sky. While we were resting, the makeshift rock-walled arena began to dissipate and sink back into the ground from which it erupted. Several minutes later, all of the buffs had finally stopped being announced, and I instead received another message.
[Level Up! Permitted Individual – Kotato Yamata – Has Advanced To Level 2! – Calculating Status Growth, Attributes, And Point Distribution – Processing]
“Heh.” I let out a small chuckle at the surprised notification that I had reached level 2. I mean, something like this was partially to be expected based on our recent encounter. Defeating an enemy much stronger than you was usually a tremendous source of experience in games and novels, and since I was still level 1, the increase in power was more than welcomed. That’s when I noticed a pair of pointy ears enter my vision as Inari was looking overtop of me.
“Ko... I... I can’t believe we did it! That... That was absolutely incredible!!! I never would have thought we could defeat an ogre like that! Rapidly casting spells to overload an ancient artifact!!! I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined such a thing!
How are you feeling? Are you starting to recover from the encounter? The suns are starting to set so we probably should start heading back to the tavern. Here, let me help you up!”
Well, I’m glad to see Inari was still as enthusiastic as ever. Not wanting to leave her hanging, I grabbed her outstretched paw, as she helped me to my feet. Then, I walked over to the ogre’s body and pried the blade from it’s temporary home. The metal had changed from it’s usual silver, to a deeper red. Hopefully this meant it was satiated from the delectable meal it received. That’s when my eyes turned towards the cave from earlier. No other mana signatures were nearby, indicating the immediate area was safe. Was there something important inside the cave? If the ogre had an artifact, could there be other treasures buried inside the caverns? Looking over the ogre’s corpse again, I walked over to it’s tightly clasped hand still gripping the blackened and charred eyeball. Doing my best, I loosened the death clamp grip of the being and carefully removed the “artifact” to attempt examining it in detail, grabbing it with my right hand. The object was small, yet heavy, reminding me more of a well polished marble or piece of stone than an organ for processing visual wavelengths of light. However, when I tried to cast appraisal on the mysterious object, it began disintegrating into a fine, powdery dust. Shortly after, all remaining evidence of the ancient artifact, were carried away by the surrounding winds. That’s when I spoke with Inari to share my thoughts on quickly examining the cavern system before heading back.
Fortunately, she agreed to my plans for some simple spelunking as neither of us could sense any potential dangers. While it was still potentially risky considering we encountered an ogre gifted with an ancient relic, well beyond their known habitats, we did so anyways. It’s not like I could possibly raise another flag from my thoughts about this...
Right?
...
Seemingly, my luck had turned out for the better this time. As we walked towards the cavern’s entrance, Inari conjured a large, spec of light to float forward and illuminate the entire interior. Surprisingly, it was a rather small cave, approximately half the size of a football field? Hockey arena? Something along those lines at least. While I was still mulling over different units of measurements for how else to describe the musky, rocky retrieve’s interior spacing, Inari and I entered and approached the lone object neatly nestled within the centre of the confines. In the middle of the dimly lit caverns, resting on a slightly raised bed of rocks, was the typical wooden container filled with limitless possibilities many adventurers sought after a difficult encounter.
A treasure chest.
Heck Yeah!!!
The more I thought about it, everything appeared to be just like a video game, or at the very least, a typical fantasy-isekai setting from the countless novels and anime I had watched previously. Was this chest a reward for defeating the ogre? Actually, now that I think about it, items didn’t appear to “drop” from monsters when they were defeated or killed, but you could instead take the equipment they had. Maybe, this was just what the being used to store it’s valuable findings? Regardless, curiosity began to take over my thoughts as I eagerly walked over to the unsuspecting wooden container.
When I arrived, I could see there was a large, metallic lock, but it was thankfully open. So, doing what any curious adventurer would do, I grabbed the heavy, wooden top of the chest and excitedly swung it open to reveal the mysterious contents! Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed at the lackluster findings from the “typical” moment failing to live up to my expectations... Resting within the crate, was an assortment of blood-stained clothing, damaged equipment, and coins totaling roughly 5 silver Solara. In all likelihood, this was probably the belongings of the slain adventurers currently marinating in the grotesque stew outside. That’s when my eye caught the faint traces of a yellow metal, lightly buried under some recently moved earth.
Looking at Inari, she was still examining the rest of the caverns. Not wanting to disturb her, I gently began brushing away the loosely clumped soil to reveal what appeared to be a single, tarnished earring. It was a soft, delicate hoop, whose colour had lost it’s lustre from either time, or a lack of care from being covered in dirt. While the latter seemed the most probable, I could also detect some faint traces of mana swirling around within the metal. Wanting to learn more about the object, I cast appraisal on it, expecting a similar information window from when I viewed the Adventurer’s Sage earlier. Sure enough, the usual small, holographic grey box appeared nearby the earring when I finished casting the spell.
---
Item Name: Tarnished Golden Earrings of Blessed Magic Growth
Quality: Good
Requirements: Magic Stats >= 10
Magic Damage: +1
Stats: Magic Stats +2
Magic Conductivity: High
Enhancements: Minor Magic Growth (Weak) -> User’s magic stats value upon a successful level up has a small chance to award 1 extra skill point to their magic status permanently.
Summary: A tarnished pair of once pure golden earrings which have been enhanced to improve the user’s magical aptitude. Faint traces of mana particles can be detected radiating out of the metal. To equip the earrings, simply hold them close to an individual’s ears or other identified listening organs.
---
While the description seemed to indicate this earring was part of a pair at some point, I was unable to locate the missing piece. Furthermore, it appeared you only needed to hold it near your ear to have the item automatically equip itself? I didn’t see any other obvious methods for attaching the earing, so I guess it was accomplished through magic? And other listening organs??? How curious for the item to be so inclusive towards species that don’t have ears for listening!
Thus, pleased at discovering a magic item that seemed pretty useful, I called out to Inari to share my findings. Her pointy ears twitched at the mention of her name as she turned around to head my direction. Showing her the tarnished earing, she also cast appraisal to view the status as well. Then, the intrigued fox gave her reply.
“Hmmm, that’s quite interesting Ko. Magic earrings are usually quite rare, and the status benefits these provide aren’t too bad either. The increased chance at permanently raising an individual’s magic status is quite valuable for adventurers, not to mention the already incredible +2 magic status it gives!”
It seems I had actually managed to find something of value! Something like this would be great for me to equip if I wanted to grow stronger and improve my chances of survival. While there was still an element of randomness in gaining the permanent bonus, it was certainly better than nothing! That’s when I noticed my furry friend’s ears were noticeably bare. So, I asked Inari a question about her equipment.
“That’s great! I’m thrilled we managed to find an item that will benefit us as adventurers! Speaking of which, Inari, do you currently have any magical equipment that boosts your status?”
“Ummm, that’s not usually a question you ask a fellow adventurer Ko. Typically, adventurers are protective over their equipment, trump cards, and other hidden capabilities. But, to answer your question, no. I only have a basic staff to help with mana weaving, which isn’t uncommon for spellcasters such as myself.”
While it was nice to learn the custom about interacting with other adventurers, hearing her response solidified the action I was about to take.
“Perfect. By the way Inari, hold still for just a second!”
“Hey! What are you—”
While Inari was startled, I swiftly took the earing of blessed magic growth and held it against her right ear. It twitched slightly at the unexpected assault, as a faint, blue glow began to surround the earring. Then, after several seconds, I released my grip to reveal a jewelry adorned, fluffy fox ear! That’s when Inari reprimanded me for my unconsented actions towards her.
“What the heck Ko! Don’t you know how dangerous that could have been?!?! What if the earring was cursed?!? We never checked it properly for harmful status effects! Also, you never asked me if I wanted the earring in the first place! That’s not exactly a nice thing to do you know!!! Not to mention the fact it’s dirty!!! Seriously?!?! Would you put some random, grimy piece of metal you found in your ear, just because it gave a status buff?!?”
Ya... She did have a point. I kind of acted on impulse there. But I really wanted to test the equipping functionality!!! Plus, the magic earring was perfect for her! Since Inari was the main magic user in our party, it was only logical that she receives items that boost these capabilities further...
No?
Looking at her, she did seem really annoyed, wearing a pouty face with eyes glaring my direction. Starting to feel bad about my rash actions, I did my best to apologise to her for suddenly equipping a dirty magic earring to her ear.
“I’m sorry Inari. In hindsight, and foresight, it was quite rude of me to do that. I should have asked you first before putting some strange metal near your ears. While I know it isn’t an excuse, I was curious about how equipping something like magic earrings would work, and you seemed like the best candidate for this magic item as well since you’re a skilled user in mana weaving.”
After a long pause, the disgruntled fox finally let out a long-drawn sigh while touching the new jewellery adorning her ear.
*Sigh*
“I know you didn’t mean anything bad from your actions Ko... Just, think a little next time before you do something like that!
But... Thank you... I also think... That I would... Ummm... Benefit from these earring’s effects as well! So, it’s not like it’s a bad thing I have them now...”
Finishing her soft reply, another round of blue light began to glow around Inari’s ear as she cast a spell to clean the dirty earring. After several seconds, the metal appeared to be free of impurities, and once again, shined a brilliant, golden colour. Then, Inari spoke to me about a request of her own. Flicking her paws, she made the nearby wooden treasure chest float into the air, along with all of it’s contents, then directed the storage container to move outside the cave.
“Before we head back to the Tavern Ko, – There’s something I want to do. Come with me.”
Following Inari, I walked behind her as we made our way to the outside world again. With another flick from her paws along with some more spellcasting, the treasure chest landed next to the metal cauldron. Next, the human remains from inside the pot, were raised out and laid neatly along the ground near the chest as well. Then, she spoke to me again in a resolute voice, finally explaining her intentions.
“I want to give these adventurers a proper burial. While I know death is something I should always be prepared for, I don’t believe it’s right to leave a sentient being’s body to rot in the forests, especially if I have the ability to help their spirits move on. I would like to perform the last rites ritual to honour their life, and coming journey in death. Their bodies will be burned, along with their former belongings.”
Hmmm, while I wasn’t opposed to the idea of burying fallen comrades, I was more surprised about Inari’s strong views surrounding life and death. Come to think of it, I didn’t really know much about her profession or class since I’ve never seen her status window. Her capabilities seemed like a supporter, battle-mage hybrid, but with such knowledge and attention towards the dead... Was she more like a priestess? Furthermore, she was going to cremate them, along with their belongings!!! The... The 5 silver Solara coins were still in that chest! Shouldn’t we at least take the money???? While I had assumed we could take their belongings and sell them for living expenses, apparently Inari was adamant all of it needed to go with them to the afterlife!!! When I raised my concerns about the adventurer’s financial holdings, she strongly gave her refusal at my request to keep the currency.
“No. Those tangible items were with them in life, and so, will follow them in death as well.”
After giving her response, Inari raised her right paw towards the arranged bodies and their belongings, then, to my surprise, she spoke her incantation to complete the spell.
“Terra, heed my crying voice and know my sorrow. While death is life, and life is death, grant their souls peaceful, eternal rest. Return their bodies back to the cycle, to once again, become one with you. – Last Rites.”
I felt a strange sensation of mana gather around Inari. It wasn’t anything like I had experienced before now that I had become “somewhat” familiar at detecting the different mana particle types. They didn’t seem to exist, yet were clearly present and doing.... Something. As I was thinking about this anomaly, breathtakingly, blue, ethereal flames engulfed the fallen adventurer’s bodies, slowly consuming them. As I stared at the scene before me, I asked Inari my question from earlier.
“Inari... What exactly... Is your class? Why is this important to you?”
While still staring into the crackling and flickering ghostly flames, Inari gave her reply in a hollow tone.
“My class... Is difficult to translate into Solarian... I also don’t share it much because... Well...
...
For humans... And others... I usually say I’m a supporter hybrid. Technically, the closest word would be priestess. But for you Ko, since I trust you, my class is “The Speaker For Vixen” – Terra’s Deity of Knowledge and Curiosity, the pantheon that most beastkin follow. It comes with its own set of problems, and probably isn’t something I should be talking about right now... It’s related to me staying at the Tavern and learning magic from Felice, but I don’t want to say... Or rather... I can’t say much more. Please accept this as my best explanation for now.”
...
Interesting. While Inari was clearly powerful, it was eye-opening to get a glimpse into some of her actual capabilities. As it turns out, there are gods in this world, or at the very least, religious followings towards them. Priestess had been a good guess on my part, but speaker? Doesn’t that imply she would be someone important for the following? Like... Someone who communicates the will of their god to the masses? Speaks on the god’s behalf??? Additionally, it was also somehow related to her learning magic from Felice??? Furthermore, my right-eye burned slightly at the mention of the deity’s name “Vixen”. I feel like this whole scenario gave me more questions than answers. Seeing as there was now a rather large pause between us, and, not wanting to keep her waiting, I responded to the fox’s honest answer.
“Thank you, Inari, I’m happy you shared that information with me.
...
Let’s... Start heading back to the Tavern. It’s almost dark and I don’t think I want to experience Felice’s bad side either if we return too late.”
I shot Inari a smile, to which she replied with her own. The flames had also recently finished consuming their “kindling”, which prompted us to start heading back to the Tavern. As we walked, I found myself staring into the night sky, examining the celestial bodies above. The atmosphere was clear and free from the bountiful light pollution from Earth’s cities, allowing for a crystal-clear window into the endless beyond. All above me, I could see the brilliant stars, illuminating the night’s sky with their presence. Bits and specs of dust and light, danced around the heavenly bodies, creating a wonderfully serene and mystical sensation. Staring into space was always relaxing for me, and seeing another world’s galaxy from such a clear perspective, was captivating. All the way back, I continued to be lost in thought about the mysteries of this world, and how I would eventually learn more about them. Why was I brought here? What brought me here? Hopefully, I would be able to find some type of answer in the future.