“Waaahhhhh!!!!!!”
Lonis screamed and jolted awake.
But then she realized she was lying on the coffee table in the living room… Drool had run from the corner of her mouth and soaked her arm.
It was still raining outside. From the bedroom came Elucia’s voice:
“You stupid maid, what are you screaming about?”
“Huh…?”
“Hmph. And you call yourself a Hero? I never thought you’d be such a coward—not even as brave as a little girl in kindergarten.”
“Ugh…”
Lonis wiped her arm. She’d apparently been so sleepy and tired that she’d lain down on the table and fallen asleep without realizing it.
She’d been thinking about frightening things, so she’d ended up having a nightmare.
But that dream had felt way too real…
The ghostly wails, and the sight of Elucia with her mouth split open, were still so vivid that Lonis didn’t even dare knock on the bedroom door and hide inside.
She was afraid that if she opened the door, she’d see Elucia transformed into that terrifying thing again.
And her pride as a man meant Lonis didn’t want to admit she’d just dreamed about ghosts, either. So the silver-haired girl could only curl up beside the coffee table and try not to look out the window.
(Wait… I was dreaming just now. Does that mean I’m dreaming right now, too?)
(Is this some kind of sleep paralysis, or a dream within a dream…?)
Feeling more than a little scared, Lonis looked at her arm.
It was so fair and soft. Maybe she should try biting it?
If it hurt, then she’d know it wasn’t a dream. After that, she could go chat with Elucia for a while.
…
That was what Lonis thought. But she’d forgotten one thing… Her body was as sensitive as it could possibly be!
So, after she bit down…
“Ahh, that hurts!”
Lonis’s cry echoed through the empty ship.
“You stupid maid, what are you yelling about?!”
Apparently unable to put up with Lonis’s wailing any longer, Elucia came out with her brows knitted together… The black-haired girl hadn’t washed her hair, but the fierce glint in her eyes was terrifying—as if she wanted to whip Lonis.
“I… um…”
“Have I gone so long without whipping you that you’ve started biting yourself to satisfy your urges? Hmph. Fine, then. I’ll whip you to death, you pathetic little bottom.”
“No, Elucia… Um, please hear me out!”
…
…
Afraid Elucia would whip her, Lonis had no choice but to tell the black-haired girl everything that had happened to her.
But to her surprise, Elucia didn’t mock her. Instead, she furrowed her delicate brows and seemed to fall deep in thought:
“You heard a ghost wailing, and saw me… with my lips split open?”
“Mm, mm…”
“Hmph. Objectively speaking, there are three possibilities. First, you’re such a coward that the slightest scare makes you imagine things. If that’s the case, I’ll lock you in a dark room and gag you.”
“Ugh…”
“Second, that monster’s mental field affected you, causing your SAN (sanity) to drop sharply. That made you see things you weren’t supposed to.”
“Huh?! That… can happen?”
“That monster was born to make humans afraid. Lonis, before you were born, you didn’t put any points into ‘Mental Immunity,’ did you?”
“Mental Immunity? What’s that…?”
“Heh, you really are an idiot. Third—and most likely of all—there are vengeful spirits in this forest, and you look so pathetic and weak that one of them has set her sights on you.”
“A vengeful spirit? Huh?”
If Lonis had only been a little nervous before, now she wanted to burrow into Elucia’s arms.
What kind of world was this, anyway? It had magic and technology… Could there really be vengeful spirits, too?
Seeing Lonis’s bewildered expression, Elucia looked even more impatient:
“An idiot really is an idiot. You don’t even know what a vengeful spirit is…”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Fine. I’ll explain from the beginning. You roughly understand how magic crystals work, right? They’re a kind of compressed matter, which lets them produce all sorts of amazing effects. As it turns out, humans can do the same thing.”
“Huh…”
“Certain energies from the three-dimensional world are compressed and stored inside the body… Specifically, evolved ‘human blue cells’ are responsible for it. They’re part of the human body, just like white and red blood cells.”
“Blue cells?”
“Mm. Because they’re pale blue, they’re also called magic cells—or human magical power. In people who can’t use magic, blue cells make up only about 0.01% of the theoretical total. They’re so scarce that those people can’t use any magic in a well-formed way.”
“!”
“But in a mage’s body—or mine—they can make up more than 1% of the theoretical total. That means I can use all kinds of amazing magic, and even change my body’s shape at will.”
Perhaps something had reminded her of the past, because Elucia’s tone softened a little.
“Then… do I have them in my body, too?”
“Of course you have plenty, but you can’t make use of them. Hmph. Having magic cells doesn’t mean you can put them to use overnight. Even if you have talent, it’ll still take years to master them.”
“Do magic cells have anything to do with ghosts?”
“Of course. When a person dies, their magic cells don’t simply disappear. They follow the structure the person had while alive and continue to exist as a unique kind of energy… So the more magical power someone has, the more likely they are to become a ghost after death.”
“!”
“Some exceptionally powerful beings can even become ghosts who retain their consciousness after death. They say there’s a ghost who used to be the headmaster of the magic academy in the Kingdom of Mingjin. He’s been living there for decades and still hasn’t died.”
“So that’s how it works…”
Lonis had always thought magic was something mysterious and fantastical. But after hearing Elucia’s explanation, it all seemed surprisingly scientific.
(But if it’s science, then it’s not so scary.)
And yet, right at that moment—
…
“I-I hate this so much…”
“Aaaah!”
Lonis shuddered in fright. That voice had suddenly appeared beside her ear again.
It was close. It was ethereal.
At the same time, she could feel a cold gaze fixed on her, as if it were terribly envious of her body… The feeling of being watched filled Lonis with instinctive fear.
…
“Lonis, did you hear that voice again?”
“Mm… Elucia, you didn’t hear it?”
“No.”
“Huh?”
“Then it looks like you’ve got a combination of all three possibilities. Your sanity’s low right now, so you’re easy prey for vengeful spirits… They don’t have bodies anymore, so they really want to take yours.”
“C-can they take my body?”
“If you really got scared out of your mind, maybe. But…”
As she said that, Elucia’s gaze darkened, as if she wanted to say something.
But in the end, she shook her head and didn’t continue. “That method of cultivation is far too ridiculous, anyway. There’s a risk of going berserk, and only necromancers would do something like that.”
“Necromancers…”
“Anyway, since you’re so scared, put on the collar and let me lead you around.”
Elucia gave a cold laugh, picked up the collar, and snapped it around Lonis’s neck.
