Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 180

180.

Isana’s face brightened at Alisa’s spirited reply, a gentle curve of her lips revealing clear relief. Despite pressuring her as if it were the last chance, she had secretly worried that Alisa might be scared and back down. I chuckled and stroked Alisa’s head.

“Then it’s settled. Though it feels a bit redundant, shall we introduce ourselves again? Let’s get along, Alisa.”

“Really? You’re really taking me? You’re not going to suddenly change your mind, are you?”

“I won’t do that. It’s actually a good thing. I was worried about leaving you alone, and it felt like my feet wouldn’t move. But don’t blame me if you regret it later.”

“Hehe, it’s okay. I’ll just resent you.”

“You’re supposed to say you won’t in situations like that.”

As I clicked my tongue with a smile, the others burst into laughter. I should have done this sooner. It felt like a heavy weight that had been lingering in my heart had disappeared. Isana and Sibelius seemed to feel the same, looking more carefree than ever. Even if Alisa had settled down in a good place, they probably wouldn’t have looked this relieved.

However, I was also worried. No matter how determined Alisa was, vague imagination and reality are completely different. Alisa had a mountain of problems to face, starting with our identities and extending to the power struggles surrounding the throne. None of it was easy for a young girl to handle.

‘Well, we can reveal it gradually,’ I thought.

As I looked at Isana with that thought, he smiled wryly, seeming as happy as he was troubled.

“But when are you going to take off this bracelet? I want to share this joy with Murdane, but I can’t summon him.”

“Ah, right. Give me your wrist.”

As soon as she received the instruction, Alisa immediately held out her wrist. Sibelius and Isana also came closer to examine the bracelet.

“It can only be unlocked with a key? It’s a rather unique bracelet. I guess I’ll just have to break it.”

“Can you break it, El?”

“Hmm, with my power, I should be able to manage somehow.”

I shrugged and firmly grasped the bracelet. Then, my gaze was drawn to the shape of the bracelet. More precisely, the ornament on the bracelet caught my eye. An opaque blue gemstone, carved into a round shape, was embedded on the dark surface. It wasn’t particularly flashy, but it felt familiar. After searching my memory, I remembered where I had seen it.

“Um… isn’t this Lapis Lazuli [a deep-blue semi-precious stone]?”

“Huh? Lapis Lazuli?”

“The gemstone on the circlet I’m wearing. Isn’t it the same gemstone?”

At my words, Sibelius showed interest and examined the bracelet again. After a moment, a different light flickered in his eyes as he scanned the gemstone.

“Ah, you’re right. It’s Lapis Lazuli. It’s quite a precious gemstone, and there’s such a large one embedded in it. This must be a more expensive bracelet than I thought. But it’s not being taken care of at all. If I hadn’t looked closely, I wouldn’t have noticed it was Lapis Lazuli.”

“I see. I heard it’s not a very expensive gemstone anymore.”

“Really? The world has changed a lot. Well, it’s been a long time.”

Perhaps reminiscing about the past, his muttering voice lacked strength. As I cautiously looked at him, Sibelius soon smiled nonchalantly.

“Anyway, it’s a relief that it’s not expensive. It would have been a waste to break it if it were still valuable.”

“Well, it still feels a bit wasteful.”

“If it’s not being taken care of like this, you probably can’t sell it anyway.”

“I guess.”

After making up my mind, I grabbed the bracelet again. As I applied strong force, the bracelet’s ring instantly began to distort with a cracking sound. Alisa stared down at the scene with wide, startled eyes.

“Mr. El, why are you so strong?”

“Haha, I wonder why?”

“Wait, this isn’t something to laugh about! You’re not a martial artist, and you’re a priest, but you’re too strong! Come to think of it, are you really a priest? You said you weren’t a Demon Follower, then suddenly you said you were, and you don’t even use healing magic! Aren’t Demon Followers unable to use healing magic? Just what is Mr. El’s identity…?”

That’s when it happened. I suddenly felt a strange energy from the bracelet. Alisa also seemed to sense something, stopping her questioning and frowning deeply.

“What is this? It’s getting hotter and hotter?”

“What?”

Poof! Almost as soon as I reacted, a strong pressure burst from the bracelet. It was such a strong gust of wind that I, Isana, and Sibelius were instantly blown away.

“Whoa!”

“El!”

“Ugh! What, what is it!”

Straightening up from the fall, I quickly raised my head, and the surroundings were filled with dust. Alisa and the rest of the group were coughing uncontrollably.

‘I feel like I’ve had a similar experience before…’

I frowned at the strange sense of déjà vu. The hazy dust cleared, and someone’s figure began to appear in my blurred vision. Everyone else was sitting on the ground, but this person was standing tall.

“Ugh, what is this? Where am I?”

Just as I was trying to figure out who it was, an unfamiliar voice came from the person standing alone. No, was it unfamiliar? It sounded like a voice I had heard somewhere before.

“Who…?”

I didn’t mean to, but I opened my mouth without realizing it. Then, the person in the dust immediately reacted to my voice.

“Huh? Is someone there?”

Thud, thud.

Footsteps echoed on the ground. The closer the black figure came, the more my face hardened. If I had a heart, wouldn’t it be pounding? I had an inexplicably terrifying premonition.

“W-wait! Don’t come any closer. Who are you?”

I shouted without realizing it, and the approaching shadow flinched and stopped. Now that the figure was somewhat visible, it had hair as long as mine. The height and build seemed similar to mine as well. At my wary appearance, he scratched his head awkwardly.

“Ah, sorry. I’m not a suspicious person. I was just happy because I thought there was someone here. I think I’ve been trapped somewhere for a while.”

“Trapped…?”

“Yeah. Well, it would take a while to explain everything… Actually, I don’t really know what happened either.”

“What…?”

“Really. Ah, right. Since we’ve met like this, why don’t we properly introduce ourselves? My name is…”

Whoosh. Just then, a gust of wind blew, completely clearing the dust, and the other person’s appearance began to come into view. He raised a hand to sweep back his bangs, as if bothered by his disheveled hair.

Following his hand, neat features slowly emerged. As his appearance gradually became visible, my eyes widened. The hair reaching his waist was a radiant gold, as if holding the sunlight. Deep green eyes, like those containing lush vegetation, blinked softly with a gentle light. Everything else was just that. Everything else was…

“…El.”

…So similar to me that I wanted to cry.

* * *

In the quiet early morning, Lapis was killing time aimlessly in a plaza far from the inn. Despite the hour when he would normally be sound asleep, he was wandering the streets because of his self-proclaimed disciple, April, who was following him around like a constant surveillance.

The fledgling mage had an extremely high intellectual curiosity, which could be described as passionate in a good way, and tenacious in a bad way. She stuck to him so much, asking him this and that, that after answering her a few times, she now tried to schedule regular lessons. This was quite annoying for Lapis. It would be worth it if there was any reward for teaching her, but no matter how much he explained, she didn’t understand properly (of course, this was only according to Lapis’s standards), so he couldn’t help but think it was a waste of time. So these days, he was spending most of his time avoiding her.

“Damn it, I really can’t take it anymore.”

Why do I have to go through this in a place like this? The question he had repeated dozens, hundreds of times over the past few days filled his head again. He, who was not very patient to begin with, was enjoying the feeling of having his patience tested to its limits more and more each day.

Just then, a group of men and women came into his view as he raised his head. They were mercenaries wearing light leather armor.

“Did you get the commission fee?”

“Yeah, we finally reached our target amount!”

“Haa, we can finally leave.”

The mercenaries were laughing cheerfully, as if something good had happened. At the sight, Lapis’s stomach twisted again. Should I pick a fight with them since I have nothing to do? The stress that had reached its limit triggered a strong impulse. He soon got up from his seat, thinking it wasn’t such a bad idea after trying it. He was really going to put it into action—if he hadn’t seen him mixed in with the mercenaries.

“Huh?”

It was a coincidence that their eyes met. The reason he thought so was because the other person was also making a surprised expression when he saw Lapis.

“What, you.”

The other person’s expression became troubled at the words he blurted out without realizing it. It was obvious that he didn’t want him to talk to him. Of course, Lapis wasn’t the type to care about that.

“Why are you here?”

“…”

Rather, when he shouted as loudly as he could, the other person—Trowel—who had been quietly giving him the side-eye, rubbed his temples. At the sight, his fellow mercenaries looked bewildered and asked.

“What’s wrong, Matthew? Do you know him?”

“Ah, yes, you could say I know him…”

“What? Matthew knows someone other than El?”

The Champagne Mercenary members, who had begun to whisper, were frantically examining Lapis’s appearance. Wow, amazing! He’s a stunningly handsome guy! Why are there only handsome men and beautiful women (?) around you? How do you know each other?
Trowel paused awkwardly for a moment at the barrage of questions, then sighed.

“…Sorry, I’ll be away for a moment.”

The place where Trowel grabbed Lapis and dragged him to was a secluded alley. He stopped only when he thought he was far enough away from his group, and as soon as he turned around, he kicked Lapis’s leg. Thwack! A heavy sound echoed in the empty space.

“That hurts! What are you doing!”

“I’m doing it so it hurts! How dare you act like you know me, you damn godson. Don’t you know that the rule is to pretend you don’t know each other if you happen to meet during the game?”

“How would I know?”

“Why does my godson only say such cute things? Huh?”

Lapis screamed, avoiding the hands that were grabbing his cheeks and stretching them out.

“I don’t know when you’ll ever grow up.”

“Mind your own business! Answer the question I asked. Why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to leave right after you parted ways with El?”

“I was going to, but I couldn’t. My group accidentally lost all their expenses. I had no choice but to stay here for a while and raise money.”

“Ha! A Spirit King is stuck because he doesn’t have any money?”

“Because I’m in the game.”

“El is spending it like water, though?”

“It’s a little different in his case. The main purpose of his game is to help his contractor. He’s not exactly hiding his identity from his group either.”

“Since when have you been concerned about that? The fact that you’re playing a proper game is already not normal, you know?”

Lapis scoffed and replied to the calm answer. It was an insincere attitude, but Trowel didn’t care at all and continued.

“But why are you here? I thought El had crossed the continent?”

“Hmph, figure it out yourself. You’re good at reading people’s minds.”

“You know me well. But you also know that I refrain from using my abilities during the game. If I decide to read your mind, wouldn’t you be the one in trouble?”

“…”

“Just tell me honestly. You didn’t stay because you were too lazy to follow him, did you?”

“What if I did?”

“Lapis.”

“Tch! No! I didn’t! El asked me to stay here! Happy now?”

“Is that so?”

Trowel’s face became peaceful again, as if he had never looked at him sternly. It was truly blatant discrimination. Lapis glared at Trowel with burning eyes for a while, then openly grumbled.

“El is really annoying! He said he wouldn’t make a contract, but now he’s busy using my mana like crazy.”

“Hmm~ Isn’t that what you wanted? Besides, dragons have plenty of mana anyway. What’s wrong with sharing some of it when you’re not using it?”

“It has to be within reason! I even threw up blood the other day!”

At those words, Trowel’s expression, which had been smiling, stiffened slightly. But the object of his concern was not Lapis.

“So? Is El okay?”

“What are you talking about? I said I threw up blood?”

“You idiot. The fact that El took that much mana means it was an urgent situation.”

“…”

He hadn’t thought that far. Lapis’s face stiffened at the realization. Trowel, who guessed his thoughts by looking at his frozen face, sighed deeply.

“Lapis, you’re smart, but you’re slow to assess the situation.”

“N-no! Usually, it’s more strange to worry about the Spirit King, right? Of course he’ll be fine! He’s the Spirit King! You’re overprotecting him too much!”

“Does it seem that way?”

It was a word thrown out to mock him, but Trowel smiled instead. He seemed genuinely happy.

You sly fox. Lapis swallowed the curse he couldn’t bring himself to spit out. He had been like this since before, but he was a person whose thoughts he couldn’t understand at all.

“Anyway, don’t just play around and take care of El. He’s the contractor you wanted so badly. If you treat him carelessly, he might just leave.”

“How much better can I do here? And I’m not playing around! If you’re so worried, why don’t you find out yourself? What are you going to use your ability to see far into the future for?”

“I’m seeing as much as I can see. Ah, come to think of it, it seems like it’s almost time to meet.”

“Meet? Who?”

“There’s something like that.”

A short laugh flowed from him as he shrugged. He looked strangely happy.

“…There’s a connection he’s looking forward to.”

The faint voice slowly scattered into the air.

Lapis couldn’t even guess what this ‘connection’ was referring to. He could only grumble that he had a really annoying personality.

Continued in 『Spirit King Elquines』 Volume 7