Following the completion of my various domain decks, the days seemed to pass rather peacefully. In order to help Tsubaki more quickly recover her energy, I gave her an infusion of my own divine power. Otherwise, I felt that it would take her months to recover what had been spent on her recent trip.
Without any other pressing matters, I simply spent my time in training. There would have been little meaning in my acquiring so many cards if I had no intention of using them, wouldn’t there? In order to avoid a situation like that, I acquired Aurivy’s assistance to send myself several dozen light-years away from Earth.
When I arrived, I saw that she had sent me to a large asteroid field, numerous floating rocks of various sizes littering the system. While a definite hazard for flight, it made an excellent location to train for someone that had no need for such silly concerns as breathing.
Every day, I would spend eight hours at this asteroid field, testing the combinations of my own abilities with those of the cards. At times I would amplify the effect of a card with its matching domain, simply to see what additional effects doing so produced. Before I could come up with new techniques, I had to first properly understand my own level of power.
The fact that I was using celestial bodies as a measurement for my power really put everything in a new perspective, in a way. Before this, my abilities had always been restricted to a local scale. If I went all out, I could destroy a city, maybe even a small country. But now? Now, I had to worry about battles where planets could be shattered.
Part of me felt as if I should hold back just a little while longer. The fact that I had moved on to potentially planet-busting conflicts surely meant that I was rapidly approaching the third rank. And while I wasn’t particularly against advancing, I did not want to do so before I sent Charlotte off to Kathy.
Unfortunately, there was little I could do about the matter without purposely stalling my world, which would have much more far-reaching consequences.
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For weeks, Charlotte lived in Sorii, gradually adjusting to her new life there. It had not taken her long to realize that the majority of her power had been stripped away compared to when she had been in her home grove. According to the words of Philia, this was a natural result of moving between certain worlds.
However, Charlotte did not pay it much mind. In this world, she did not need her strength for fighting. As long as she could tap into the natural power that she was born with, there would be nothing that could stop her from being happy. Nothing to stop her from creating her own personal paradise storm.
Okay, almost nothing… After the first two days, she started receiving complaints from both the other sylvans and the nearby residents. The constant rain had caused nearby dams to overflow, and there were mild flooding issues.
Although Charlotte was reluctant, she did allow the rain to finally end, at least on such a large scale. Instead, she created her own personal rain-cloud that followed her around, hovering only a mere two feet over her head. Such a thing would have been unthinkable in her previous home, the natural heat and low atmospheric pressure causing clouds to disperse faster than they could form.
She still received plenty of odd looks when she walked around, under her own personal shroud of rain. Some even looked at her with pity, as such an action typically signified that a person was depressed.
She bothered less about those looks as time went on, days turning into weeks. Every now and then, she would receive an update from Philia about their home, and the progress being made both there and at the Lorek grove. It was almost hard to believe that nearly a full year passed in either world in the span of a single week, but the evidence was undeniable.
And then, after she had been waiting for a full month, a voice finally spoke into her mind. It’s time, Charlotte. Would you mind coming to Earth to meet with me?
Charlotte recognized the voice easily as the man that had previously appeared within her home and made her the wondrous offer. Her eyes scanned over the tops of the trees, seeming to feel hesitant for the first time. She had finally found a place where her rain could be free, and now she was being asked to move again. Granted, it was a place in dire need of rain, but she would no longer have contact with her sisters.
Deep in her heart, this was a decision that she had already accepted. Not only was it the deal that she had agreed on with the Keeper, but he had already helped their grove by allowing their race to establish contact with one another. Without his help, they would still be stuck in isolated batches, never knowing if there was another surviving grove.
After letting out a deep breath of resignation, Charlotte reaffirmed her decision. Rather than moving towards the public plaza to transport to Deckan, and then from there to Earth, she made her way back to the central tree of the grove. This was where they had placed the shrine to Aurivy after Charlotte moved in.
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Upon reaching the shrine, Charlotte reached into her bosom and withdrew five glittering coins, each with the face of a young woman on them. “Aurivy? Uhm, Lady Aurivy?” She called out, placing the coins before the shrine. “Wait… do I have to visit the caravan first, and then make the payment?”
She had only used this transfer system once before, so she had forgotten the exact procedures. However, as she was thinking it over, she heard a light laughter echo in her ears. “It’s fine this time.”
Charlotte quickly looked around her to try to find the source of the voice, while golden mist condensed in front of the shrine before her. From the mist emerged a halfling with pink hair, wearing a bodysuit with numerous plastic plates covering it. On each of her palms was a small device with a red lens, and Charlotte could feel a weak energy emerging from it.
“Is that… the fashion of Earth?” She asked in confusion, having never seen anyone wearing an outfit like that.
Aurivy blinked, looking down at herself. “Ah, this? Sorry, no, I was just in the middle of a game when the Keeper asked me to stop by and bring you over if you needed help. Once I drop you off, I’ll be getting back to it. Hopefully, my teammate won’t get ‘killed’ before then.”
“Killed?!” Charlotte gasped, her eyes going wide. “Let’s hurry, you have to go save your friend!” She quickly stepped up, wrapping her arms around Aurivy, as if thinking that would help the goddess transport her more efficiently.
“No, it was just… you know what, let’s just get this over with.” Aurivy chuckled, shaking her head as gold mist enveloped the both of them. By the time the mist faded, Charlotte noticed that there was no longer the warm, fluffy head of pink hair in her arms. Instead, she was simply hugging the air.
Looking around, she found herself feeling slightly uncomfortable with her surroundings. She was within a large stone building, built from heavy bricks almost as large as her arm was long. Before her was a short staircase leading to a large throne, in which the Keeper sat. At his right was a beautiful woman with golden hair, fox ears, and nine tails, shining radiantly. At his left was a smaller girl with short, pointed ears and pitch black hair, her eyes seeming to contain endless darkness.
“Thank you for coming to see me so quickly.” The Keeper spoke first, a smile on his face. “I have heard that you accepted a vocal fruit from Sorii, so you should be able to communicate verbally now, correct?”
Charlotte nodded her head quickly, having learned the language of Desbar much more fluently during her time spent at the old grove. “That’s right, Mister Keeper! I’m ready to go whenever you want me to.”
The Keeper nodded his head again. “Have you said your farewells? If not, I may pass a message for you after you leave.”
The sylvan simply offered a radiant smile. “I already told everyone I know. I’m really happy to be able to go here! And I really love all the help you gave us last time you visited, so it’s nice to be able to help you take care of something.”
After blinking a bit in surprise at the sylvan’s words, the Keeper chuckled. “Well, you’re still just as innocent as ever. That may be a trait of your kind, or maybe your race has just not experienced enough of a social culture yet. Either way, it’s nice that you are so cooperative. Dana, if you could?”
The shorter girl with the black hair smiled, walking over towards Charlotte. When the two were directly in front of each other, Dana reached down, her hand passing through the shadow and seemingly vanishing into the ground below. When she stood up, she was holding a single card. On the card was a large crate, with the title ‘Shipment: Decanter of Drought Cleansing and Tidestones’.
“Take this card, and make sure you keep it safe. Once you get to your destination, it will probably get really stuffy and hot at first. Just remember to keep it in your mind that you don’t want to hurt anyone. After a few minutes, you’ll meet the Keeper of the other world. She might look like you, or like something else entirely.”
“After she introduces herself, you can hand her this card. She’ll know what to do with it. When you’re done, you can either start making rain, or ask her to find you a place to turn into a tree. From what we know of your race, you shouldn’t have any problems helping her world either as an ancestor tree, or as a lone sylvan.”
Charlotte took the card carefully, nodding her head before cramming it into her bosom. Dana brought her hands up to her mouth, just barely holding back a startled laugh at the sight while the nine-tailed woman let out a resigned sigh.
The Keeper, meanwhile, simply chuckled as he shook his head. “I’m going to regret not having more time to talk with you.” He told her, offering her a smile. However, his expression changed a few moments later, becoming slightly more serious. “It’s time. Once you walk out that door, you’ll be sent to her world.”
Charlotte looked around quickly, trying to spot some mysterious door. However, the only ones visible within the throne room were the same ones she had taken note of upon arriving. “Uhm… which door?” She asked hesitantly, the Keeper pointing at the door which seemed to lead outside, rather than into another room of the citadel.
“Ah, sorry!” She smiled, offering the three a farewell wave. Turning around, she sprinted towards the door, arms outstretched. “I don’t want to fight, I only want to bring the rain~!” She shouted as she swung the door open. The midday light swept into the room, briefly obscuring her figure. However, when it passed, Charlotte was nowhere to be seen. All that was left was the open door, letting in a quiet draft.
“I have the feeling Kathy will like her.” The Keeper shook his head with a smile, watching as Dana walked over to the door and quietly closed it. “Thank you for the shipment card, Dana. It helped quite a lot.”
“Happy to be of service.” The black-haired girl said with a beaming smile. The shipment card was a rather new creation in Deckan, one that the Keeper had not directly taken note of. In a way, it was similar to the storage bags that many people were carrying around. However, there were some differences.
While the card version had a much larger interior space, it was not as convenient to withdraw individual items. Everything had to be transferred at once, and the contents would be clearly listed on the card. This made it usable for easily moving trade goods in bulk, and also allowed items from other worlds to be stored in cards. If it were more convenient to use, it would have surely attracted more attention, rather than simply being a card for large businesses.