TLWCL 20🔐

Chapter 20 ….

A robe-hood made from stitched animal hides. When it was pulled off, a thick wave of black hair spilled out.

‘It’s strange someone can walk around fine in this poisoned forest. Of course they don’t look mentally sound… Hmm… I’ve never seen someone like that even in the game. What on earth…?’

I assumed they were just some kind of weirdo. I almost backed away toward the other side when clear water and black water mixed together.

The muttering person, eyes glowing blood-red, asked in a sharp voice.

“Um, Spirit… are you…?”

If I said no, were they going to kill me?

Looking more closely, they were holding a long wooden stick in their right hand. Probably a staff… so maybe a mage?

Huh. I couldn’t tell if they were a high-level mage, but they seemed pretty unhinged. Judging by the trinkets, they looked closer to a ritualist or shaman than an orthodox mage…

Hmm.

Still, they didn’t come any closer into the lake, so they probably didn’t have much resistance to this place’s poison.

The fact they were a ranged type bothered me a little, but—

“I’m not a spirit.”

“Then… a fae? A fay?”

“Not a fae either. I’m just a human.”

The man scratched his shaggy black curls with a pointed fingernail, pointed at the lake, and asked.

“Oh, I see… I seeee… Then, why—why are you alive? Th-that place… if you go in, you die…”

“Are you concerned for me?”

“Uh… um, I’m, I’m curious…”

Now he sat crouched near the water’s edge and asked. He wasn’t hostile. I stepped forward a few paces. I wanted to get out of the cold, but what was going on here.

“I see. That’s because my body is under the blessing of a god.”

“Th-the blessing of a god…?”

I said “blessing of a god,” but it was the power of a sacred relic.

My body had become numb to cold. If I stayed longer I might actually freeze and die.

“Yes. I’m an ascetic with a mission to complete.”

“W-what’s an ascetic?”

“A person who walks the path of a god, bearing the mission to save tormented souls.”

“That’s… that’s complicated.”

“Put simply, you could say someone who walks the road toward becoming a god.”

“Hmm. So, you’re a shard of a god?”

…A shard of a god?

What is that supposed to mean.

I smiled and spoke in a soft voice as I approached. Behind me, my long white hair moved like a fish in the water.

Water trickled down my cheek. It must be the water coming from my hair. I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand and walked toward the shore.

But out of caution, I stopped approaching once the water reached around my hips. I didn’t think they intended to be hostile, but still.

“May I ask your name? I don’t think I heard it.”

“Ka-Kalebrin.”

Wait.

Kalebrin?

<Red Witch> Kalebrin?

I was startled by the unexpected name.

After all… Kalebrin hadn’t seemed like someone deranged like this.

She had been a major character appearing after Chapter 3 of the main story — neat, formal mage attire, a black staff set with a red gem. She was the archetypal career-woman who had taken a major position in the mage tower by handling things cleanly.

Back then her hair had been somewhere between a bob and a short cut.

Not some wild-haired, curly-haired woman wandering a witch’s forest!

I swallowed my surprise and smiled.

I thought I could use this situation to my advantage.

“I see, Kalebrin. What brings you here?”

“Herbs… were, in the vicinity… to gather, gather them…”

“So you practice pharmacology?”

“Uh… broadly speaking, yes. I’m trying to purify the forest’s contamination… then everyone will come back to the forest.”

Who was she waiting for? Depending on the situation I could probably help.

I smiled and scooped up a handful of the pitch-black water. The water that touched my hand quickly cleared and became transparent and clean, gave off a pleasant scent, and mixed back into the lake.

“Uh… who, who were you waiting for…? I can’t re-, remember… but I must be waiting for someone.”

Hmm. Did the Red Witch of the Mage Tower have a story like this? She’d only said briefly that she’d been doing some research in the woods before returning to the village.

It felt like reading a secret setting ripped out by a cheat code.

“This place’s poison isn’t healthy. Are you all right?”

“Mm… if I’m alone… I can prevent poisoning. I can’t fully purify it… So I called… called for a priest… but the priest set the—set fire so the village…”

She spoke incoherently. I let it slide and manipulated the system.

[Faith required for enhancement: 100]

[Would you like to enhance the relic ‘Cup of Asclepius’?]

‘Y.’

Flash. A cup inside the water emitted a blinding light as if it were about to burst.

I hoped Kalebrin wouldn’t cast a spell at me in surprise. From what she’d said I doubted she’d kill me just for my usefulness.

Paaaah—

As the light subsided, the lake had cleared without a single black patch.

‘Huh…’

There was an unexpected side effect—

“The spring… the spring water…”

[Relic: Cup of Asclepius | +1]

[New sub-effect: Bindable]

Looks like sub-effects are standardized. The next enhancement might give an automatic healing to the bound user’s body?

As expected of a relic — its function was more powerful than miserly skill-leveling.

[‘Cup of Asclepius’ user: Unassigned]

[Would you like to register a user?]

“The spring has returned…”

[‘Cup of Asclepius’ user: Sernuan Lumière]

User registration completed.

I’ll think later about where a tattoo might have been engraved once I change out of these damp clothes.

I walked up onto the shore.

“You’re not a mermaid… you’re a human…”

What did he think?

It was ridiculous that even after I explained I was human he still had something else in mind.

I was slightly shocked that the archetypal career-woman turned out to be some kind of extreme four-dimensional ritualist.

“How… how did you do that?”

“What do you mean?”

“The spring… you restored it. Could I do that too? Huh?”

Hmm. It was probably due to the relic’s power, so that would be out of reach for him.

But hope-torture was a classic leader trick.

“Of course.”

“How—how do you do it? Tell me.”

“Just trust me. If you truly believe, what could possibly be impossible? I bear the mission as an ascetic. If many sincere beliefs gather, the ascetic’s identity will be shed and I will be reborn as a god.”

I placed my hand on my chest and reached out kindly to the crouching woman.

“Belie—?”

Maybe I used a heavy word.

A cold hand met hers.

She hesitated a moment, then gripped my hand tightly and stood up.

She looked about mid-170s in height; since I wasn’t exactly average, I guess there was about a head’s difference between us.

“How do you do it…?”

Oh dear. I felt a pang of guilt tricking such an innocent person.

“To the extent you could die in my stead… perhaps.”

Separate from feeling bad, the con was still necessary.

“Oh… um…”

“You don’t trust me, I suppose. I understand. How could you trust a stranger you just saw?”

“N-no… I do, I believe. I’ve never seen one who has a fragment of a god, but I’ve heard of them.”

…Wait a second.

“She’s heard of them?”

“Could you tell me what you heard?”

“Uh… yeah… but—aren’t you cold? Your hands are cold. If they’re cold you’ll die. I can warm you, okay…?”

“If that is your wish, I will gladly accept.”

She stomped her staff on the ground. The once-jet gem flashed red for a moment. When her pointed fingernails grazed my chest, warmth spread from the heart and washed through my entire body.

“Thank you for your grace.”

“So, the shard of a god… it’s our—our tribe’s legend.”

Tribe.

Ah, that’s right.

She must be one of those few villagers who were massacred back then.

Her mind had been badly damaged during the massacre, and she believed that if the forest returned to health, the dead villagers would come back.

If I were to purify the forest and they didn’t return, would she try to kill me?

A sudden sense of danger prickled.

“In the legend… there was Lumen-sia, and there were ten other gods besides her…”

My game: [Forgotten Legends.]

Literally, the Forgotten Legends.

The secrets that had been tightly wrapped were spilling from her mouth in fragments.

“Th-the gods disappeared… and only Lumen-sia remained… they said the other gods would come back…”

This small tribe had been massacred as heretics.

From what she had been muttering earlier, the contamination had started even before the inquisition arrived.

She had called for a priest for that reason, but the priest burned them all for heresy, killing the villagers.

Her speech patterns and habits stemmed from that trauma.

Guilt from having lost all her family and kin. Unable to bear the shock, she erased her memories and lived on in the false belief that if the forest healed, they would return.

“You… I sense it from you.”

It was probably because of the relic. That thing.

“You have a shard of a god. You possess it.”

She’d misinterpreted because of the relic’s effect.

Well… if it’s a misconception that favors me, why correct it?

I smiled and stroked her hair.

“Yes, that’s right. The true history persists here.”

“We remembered.”

“You did well. More than that, my heart aches that the forest has become like this.”

“She’s an ascetic. Could you help? Make the forest like it was before, please.”

“For those who remember the legends, divine mercy should reach them. That is the will of the god and my duty to act, is it not?”

Her messy bangs brightened her expression, and it showed.

“But to do that, my power will need to be stronger. Purifying even that lake just now took great effort. If I cannot purify at once, a partial purification will be useless.”

Her brightened face turned gloomy again.

Sigh, it made me feel bad.

“As an ascetic walking the path of the gods, there is still much I lack. Please be generous in your understanding.”

“Yeah… it’s okay. H-How can I help? What can I do?”

Hmm. Maybe it would be fine to bring the Red Witch to Antonio’s house?

“For now… why not stay with me and learn the way of faith? Sister Kalebrin, you have clear wisdom; you will surely be properly guided.”

I offered to recruit her.

“Uh… ah, no.”

I’d been rejected.