After letting Ashley know that her team was ready, I once again descended to the Sky Citadel. If anyone else needs extra help, just let me know. I told the others mentally, not wanting any of them to feel as if they were being left out. Now that I had taken the first step with Ashley, hopefully any others that were needing it would be more likely to speak up.
By the time I returned, I found Tsubaki waiting for me at the door of my room, causing me to blink in surprise. I know she’s good, but how did she know that I was already gone? It felt like I hadn’t been in the Admin Room for more than ten minutes to get everything set up.
Tsubaki seemed to sense my confusion, and offered a small smile. “Your Virtual self froze.” She answered, causing me to blink for a moment again.
After a moment, I realized what she meant, and let out a sound of exclamation. “Ah!” I had entirely forgotten about the Virtual side of things. “Sorry, there was something that I had to take care of up top.” I apologized with a small smile, to which Tsubaki nodded her head.
“I assumed as much, my Keeper.” She told me. “I merely wanted to be available in the event that there was some form of emergency.”
She stepped to the side, allowing me to walk past, though she followed me through the halls as normal. From what I could tell, she didn’t have any serious pressing matters, so I glanced back at her. “I’m surprised that you’re so free. Usually when I descend, you and Dana are always working yourselves to the bone in the background.”
“That has not been the case for some years now.” Tsubaki answered with her usual smile. “After Dana finished creating Gerard, most of the general tasks were left to him. Unless it is something which he judges as being outside of his normal authority, there is little need for us to interfere. Additionally, he makes for an excellent research companion for Dana, allowing her to stay busy with new projects.”
I gave a small nod at that. “It sounds like the three of you have really settled things down around here. How has your training as apostles gone?”
Tsubaki’s smile actually grew a bit wider when I asked that. “It has been going well, my Keeper. I have learned a great deal from Lady Irena during these last few years, and the same can be said for the others. If not for Lady Ryone’s assistance, I do not believe Gerard could have come out as splendidly as he did.”
“And Lifre?” I noticed that Tsubaki hadn’t particularly mentioned Lifre all that much, so I gave a small grin as I looked at her. Tsubaki blinked, before chuckling and delivering her answer.
“Lifre is a very free spirit. She is quite diligent when it comes to working for the Citadel. However, when there is no work to be done, she has started to take up a hobby that I believe employs her domains quite well. In fact, she has inspired numerous other mortal deities to follow similar paths.”
“Oh?” I blinked in surprise, curious what hobby she was talking about.
“To train herself, she took up writing stories as a hobby.” Tsubaki explained with a nod. “However, a story was always just that, a story. As long as the story existed purely as words on a page, she felt as if there was something missing. She spoke with us about it for weeks before coming to her own conclusion…”
“Did she start making movies?” I asked, eyes going wide.
“In… a sense, my Keeper.” Tsubaki said, shaking her head. “When one reads a book written by Lifre, they find themselves drawn into it. For most cases, this has the viewer acting as a spectator, unseen and untouched within the story. Due to this special trait, she cannot outsource the printing, and has practiced mass-producing these stories with only her own divinity.”
“You said for most cases… Does she have more involved stories, as well?”
Tsubaki nodded her head in confirmation. “That is correct. Lifre also produces two other types of books, these sold exclusively for faith in Sanctum. The first allows you to insert yourself into the role of a select group of characters within the story. Although the book has a ‘standard’ version that can be read normally, the text will alter after someone has properly entered it to reflect the story that they create as that character.”
“The other type of story is what she calls a ‘training program’. It is a scenario that she wrote with a considerable amount of energy, setting up various different obstacles and challenges for the reader to navigate. However, for every obstacle that they succeed in overcoming, they will be rewarded with a blessing based on the difficulty that they faced.”
“Unlike the first type of story, this one is a consumable item. Once used, it cannot be activated in the same way again. Instead, the story writes itself as the reader overcomes their challenges. Afterwards, they may view it in ‘spectator’ mode, allowing them to see details that they may have missed before.”
That final type reminded me of what she had done with the Terra twins, trapping them in a story to give them increases in power. “I assume that the same person can only get the full benefit from a single training program?”
“That’s right, my Keeper. Once the challenger dies within the training program, they are considered to have completed their story. To prevent her blessings being wasted, Lifre made it so that only those who had not yet used one of her training programs would be able to activate it.”
That made sense. And given how long it’s been, Lifre had likely expanded on her selection of challenges. “Out of curiosity, how far do the obstacles go in these books?”
Tsubaki gave a somewhat proud smile at that. “When I attempted it myself, I spent three months within the program. I had asked her to adjust the difficulty to the highest level, so she spent some time trying to find what she considered the ‘limits’ of what was possible. Naturally, this meant that the blessings within the obstacles were equally great.”
“By the time I was defeated, I was in a battle against a demon god. One of my party members turned out to have been a spy working for the enemy, and stabbed me in the back at the most critical moment.” Tsubaki clicked her tongue when she said that. “I thought that I had rooted out all of the traps, but one of them slipped by. Still, I am happy to report that my overall power increased by forty percent.”
“Forty percent?” I asked, my eyes going wide. The first time she did that test, it had been more of a drain on Lifre than the amount of power she was able to grant. “How has Lifre not collapsed from lack of energy?”
“Well, for the most part, it is due to the fact that she charges faith for these books. She makes sure not to sell them for less than the production value. Additionally, she told me that she made every book she sells a miniature temple to her. Thus, all of her readers are contributing to her faith, with those undertaking the training program acting as though they were taking trials in her name.”
“…Clever girl.” I muttered, shaking my head. Though, that did explain why she sold purely to Sanctum.
Giles sat cross-legged in the coral home that had been designed for him. It was quite a spacious interior, but it felt… empty. Even hearing the song of his father’s kin did not help alleviate this feeling. Although he may not have been popular in Spica due to his appearance, his home felt more lively.
Giles let out a small sigh, standing and stretching his shoulders. If there was nothing for him to do in his own home, then he would find something to do elsewhere. As such, he kicked off the floor to swim out of the opening in the coral.
As he did, he nearly crashed straight into the figure of Sprigga, the golden Sylvan that had greeted him on his first arrival. The two cried out in surprise, only just barely avoiding a head on collision. Ah! I am sorry. Sprigga said, quickly shaking her head.
It’s fine, I should have been watching where I was going more. Giles said comfortingly. Were you looking for me for something?
That’s right. Sprigga nodded. I wanted to see how you were doing after absorbing the information from the level stones.
I believe that I’ve absorbed it all properly. Giles lifted a hand, forming a simple spell circle above it as a demonstration.
Excellent! Sprigga clapped her hands together happily. This is our first time having them used with someone of another world, so I wanted to make sure that there was no conflict. Is there anything else that I can help you do to get settled in?
Giles thought about that for a long moment, before nodding his head. If you have any sort of job that I could do, I would appreciate it. It feels wrong to just sit around like this.
A job? Sprigga blinked in confusion, before her eyes went wide. Oh! My, I forgot! I’m sorry. Usually, Merkin have their jobs assigned from youth, and they even take them as their titles. I’ve never had to worry about that before, so I hadn’t even considered it. Have you tried speaking with the leader of the village?
Giles gave a rumbling chuckle at that. Since I’m an outsider, he said I must wait until a place for me opens in their song.
Sprigga blinked again, her golden eyes shining. I see… I don’t particularly understand, but I suppose it means that there aren’t any jobs that need to be filled at the moment? Hmm… if you like, you could join me for a while? You said that you can breathe above the surface, right?
Giles looked over at her, nodding his head and wondering what she had in mind. Sprigga smiled wide, grabbing his webbed hand and kicking off. She sped towards the central tree with surprising agility, weaving through the flowing trees until she found a small opening in the side of the great tree.
As if she had done it a hundred times before, her body dove into the small opening, pulling Giles with her. Once inside the tree, he was treated to the sight of a large hollow structure. Above them was the surface of a wide pool, which the two of them rose up to.
Sprigga gasped as her head came up over the water, Giles hearing her proper voice for the first time. Befitting someone with the aspect of ‘the Song’, her voice was incredibly pleasant and melodic. Sprigga released Giles’ hand and swam over towards the edge of the pool, pulling herself up over the lip.
“This is where we like to relax.” She said with that same brilliant smile, Giles swimming along the surface of the water towards her. “There’s nothing wrong with being underwater, but this has always been the most comfortable.”
“We? You mean you and the green girls?” He asked, though he did belatedly recall the red and blue ones, as well. Also…
“No no, myself and Carol. The other children aren’t all that picky. It’s a bit mean to say, but they are rather simple, you know? As long as they are allowed to be part of the grove and care for the forest, they are happy. They’re… less individuals, and more aspects of the forest itself, in a way.”
“Ahh.” Giles nodded his head, looking around the large hollow. “That sounds rather lonely, I think.”
Sprigga’s smile seemed to lose a little bit of its light, but she kept it on her face. “It’s fine. Once your people arrived, I had plenty of others to talk to! Though… I’m sure you noticed that most Merkin aren’t all that talkative. At least the ones that I’ve seen.”
Giles let out a small sigh, nodding again. “At least, not unless they have something to say. It’s… strange. The culture among them is entirely different from how I was raised. I feel like I don’t even really know anything about my own people.”
“To be fair, most don’t.” Sprigga shook her head, dipping her toes in the water of the pool. “There are ancient records of the Merkin back from the time of the first inter-continental voyage, but only as passing references. It wasn’t until much more recently that they were discovered to such a great extent.”
“You have records?” Giles asked curiously. “Would it be alright for me to see them? Sorry, it’s not easy getting specific records like that from another world like Spica. I think it has something to do with the differences in time flow. Either way, I’ve never had the chance to really learn about them, beyond what my mother told me.”
“Hmm? Sure.” Sprigga smiled readily. “My terminal’s upstairs. Let me show you.” She said, pulling her legs back to stand up and holding an arm out for Giles.
