Chapter 32
Had anyone ever angered a water spirit and lived to tell the tale?
Eldarin searched through several thousand years of memories, but couldn't think of a single useful example.
...It's probably safe to say no.
In truth, Eldarin already knew the answer.
Spirits were pure and noble beings, the closest existence to mana itself.
To earn the anger of such a being was almost the same as earning the hatred of all the mana that made up the world.
You'd be making an enemy of heaven and earth themselves. At that point, throwing yourself into a volcano would probably be safer.
And among spirits of the five types of mana, water spirits were capable of holding the deepest and most persistent grudges.
Water spirits were famous even among ordinary people for their impossible-to-predict moods.
They were difficult to handle.
They could act friendly one moment and suddenly turn against someone the next.
That was why people were generally advised not to get too close to them in the first place.
Yet throughout Mana Gaia's history, water spirits had also formed more contracts with mages than any other kind of spirit.
Why?
Was it simply because they were fickle?
Of course not. Water always flows downward. It circulates freely, sees through to the essence of things, and gathers wisdom. That's why water spirits instinctively take such a strong interest in the lives of Mana Gaians. They feel sympathy for them.
If the embrace of earth was warm and accepted everyone equally, the embrace of water was personal, secretive, and filled with deep desire.
Water spirits didn't want one-sided giving.
They wanted communication that flowed both ways.
That was why they could become happy so easily, fall into sadness just as quickly, and explode in anger a moment later.
Just like Mana Gaians.
It was also part of how water spirits broadened their understanding of the world and accumulated wisdom.
That's why older water spirits become so much harder to deal with. They've empathized with far too many different lives, and the desires of those lives always end up conflicting with one another...
And yet, at the end of all that empathy, water spirits inevitably made a choice.
Rather than loving everyone equally, they chose one particular life they understood and sympathized with most deeply.
They favored that life above all others.
Twofold Lake is a spirit far older than I am. I wouldn't dare claim to understand what she's experienced or what she ultimately chose.
Just how terrifying would Twofold's anger be if Eldarin interfered with that choice?
A chill ran down her neck just imagining it.
Haah. Pointless thoughts. I already made my decision the moment I allowed that child into Eldergrove.
Eldarin finally opened her heavy lips.
Her quiet voice escaped like a sigh.
"Amber... after I heard that he had died, I stopped counting how much time passed."
Amber's amber-colored eyes trembled at the sudden confession.
She knew exactly who Eldarin meant.
Ilias, one of the First Heroes.
She's talking about him again... She hasn't spoken of him at all for hundreds of years...
Eldarin calmly continued.
Around seven hundred years ago, Ilias and the other four heroes had performed the Great Sealing Ritual.
It was a ritual meant to close all the rifts spreading throughout Mana Gaia at once.
It was so dangerous that any of them could have lost their lives.
"He said it would be his final duty as a hero. He promised me that once the Great Sealing Ritual was finished safely... he would spend the rest of his life fulfilling his duty as my partner."
The Great Sealing Ritual performed by the five heroes at the risk of their lives had not been perfect.
It would be a lie to say there had been no regrets.
But it had been enough to buy time for the next generation.
"More importantly, all five heroes survived."
Eldarin had believed that all that remained for them was a quiet and peaceful life together.
"But around a year after the ritual... he suddenly vanished."
Not even the other four heroes knew where Ilias had gone.
At the time, Eldarin had nearly lost her mind.
She searched all across Mana Gaia.
In the end, she never found him.
Even then, she didn't lament how empty and unreliable human promises were.
Instead, she began creating Eldergrove.
The paradise she and Ilias had once dreamed of together.
"And not long after that... news of his death reached me."
Eldarin's voice lowered.
"March twenty-fourth. The very day we first met was the day I learned he had died."
As if trying to comfort her, Twofold calmed the surrounding wind.
Eldarin gave the lake a small smile.
"After that, I devoted myself to creating this beautiful subspace. A landscape from the ancient age where the shadow of death could never reach. I spent my days waiting for the rest that would someday come."
Death.
Even thinking about saying the word placed a shadow over her soul.
How many people had she watched leave before her since the day she was born?
"After losing even him, I could no longer endure the natural truth that all life is born and eventually comes to an end."
So she ran away.
She hid in a safe world where she would never need to be hurt again.
And she lied to herself.
I hate humans.
Those weak creatures who destroyed nature, wounded the souls of others, and eventually rotted away their own souls before dying.
"I told myself I hated them."
Eldarin smiled faintly.
"But my way accomplished nothing."
A wall around her heart that had stood firm for hundreds of years...
No.
A wall she had merely believed was firm...
Had collapsed because of one small child.
A fragile yet stubborn soul.
A tiny life whose heart beat with fierce strength.
He had stolen Eldarin's heart so quickly that all those centuries spent hiding suddenly seemed meaningless.
And every time she found herself drawn to him, Eldarin remembered exactly why she had fled into Eldergrove.
Because she loved those foolish creatures who did nothing but break things far too much.
"All this time, I wanted rest, yet I couldn't let go of a single thing. If he saw me now, he'd probably scold me for being so pathetic..."
Eldarin slowly stood.
"That's why I've decided to change the way I live. Even if it's late."
Sunset had already begun spreading across the sky.
"Humans truly are astonishing. In the time it takes us to walk through a garden and drink a few cups of tea, they can change so much that you barely recognize them."
She spoke as if making a promise to herself.
"Now I want to try living that way too."
Her gaze softened.
"Like he did back then. Like that child does now. A life that never gets tired of changing."
"[Eldarin...]"
Amber didn't know what to say.
