This is a story from when Wanri was still a little girl.
Cecil and Arisa’s daily work begins with cleaning the shrine. Or rather, it more or less ends with just cleaning.
The shrine they are in charge of is no longer just the one Kousuke named Lily Shrine. They are now also responsible for managing a shrine located on another floor (the 48th Floor). That shrine was a small building, so small that it could be managed with just cleaning by one person in a day. Since they only clean it once every three days, they are able to manage the cleaning of both shrines with just the two of them.
Because of this, in the beginning, they were fully occupied just with cleaning those two shrines. However, humans are adaptable creatures. As they continued to do their work like a routine, they gradually began to have more free time.
One day.
“Cecil! Arisa! I’m going out to play!”
As usual, Wanri said, and then ran out of the shrine.
“Be careful!”
As usual, Arisa replied. Once outside the barrier surrounding the shrine, it was a place where monsters could appear at any moment. Normally, they would stop a small child like Wanri from going to such a place, but they already knew that Wanri was not an ordinary child. Therefore, they only sent her out with a warning.
After that usual scene, something unusual happened that day. Colette, one of the members of the tower’s management, visited the Lily Shrine. Colette’s visit itself wasn’t particularly unusual. However, it was almost always when Kousuke accompanied her, and it was rare for her to come alone like this time. Cecil, who first noticed Colette’s visit, was the one to respond.
“My, Colette-sama, what brings you here?”
Colette, addressed with “sama,” slightly frowned. Both Cecil and Arisa, along with Kousuke, had told her not to use such honorifics, but she stubbornly refused to change. Knowing this, Colette didn’t bother trying to correct them anymore. Although, it might be characteristic of Colette in a way that her expression changed due to the unfamiliar way of address.
“Oh, it’s just that… I wanted to talk with Yuri-sama.”
“With Yuri-sama…?”
Cecil had already heard that Yuri was a fairy residing in the Lily Shrine. They had also met her. However, she couldn’t think of any reason why Colette would want to meet her.
“Yuri is a fairy who uses the power of ley lines. I came because I wanted to hear a little about it.”
“I see.”
Understanding the reason for Colette’s visit, Cecil immediately led her to where Yuri would likely be. However, Yuri was, after all, a fairy who resided in this shrine. Within the shrine, she could appear anywhere.
The conversation between Colette and Yuri seemed to be fruitful. Cecil and Arisa didn’t understand much of the content of their conversation, but they could tell from their happy expressions. Seeing Cecil watching them, Colette suddenly said,
“Oh, speaking of which… could you bring Arisa here too?”
“Yes? …A, alright?”
Although tilting her head at the sudden request, Cecil went to call Arisa. They had decided which areas to clean that day, so she could guess where Arisa might be. Cecil found Arisa cleaning in the room she had predicted and quickly returned to the room where Colette and Yuri were.
“Arisa has been brought here.”
“Ah, sorry. Thank you.”
Colette said, then began to look back and forth between the two of them. Cecil and Arisa could only tilt their heads internally at Colette’s behavior. After observing them for a while, Colette asked them:
“Can either of you use Spirit Arts?”
At the sudden question, both Cecil and Arisa shook their heads.
“There’s no way!!”
Their replies perfectly harmonized.
“Is that so? …Hmm.”
Colette said, looked at them again, and then tilted her head. Seeing Colette’s attitude, Cecil and Arisa were trembling. At that moment, they thought they might have done something wrong without realizing it. Perhaps for them, Yuri, who had remained present, offered a lifeline.
“Colette-sama, did these two do something? I think they’ve been doing well…”
Hearing Yuri say that, Colette finally realized that they had misunderstood.
“Ah, no. It’s not that. It’s not like you’ve failed or anything, so don’t worry.”
With Colette’s words, the two finally exhaled a sigh of relief.
“Then, is there something else?”
“Something else… Don’t you notice it, Yuri-sama? …Or perhaps I’m just being overly sensitive from our conversation just now?”
Upon Colette’s words, Yuri turned her attention back to the two of them. Although Colette’s words lacked a subject, Yuri quickly understood what Colette meant. And at the same time, she showed an expression of surprise.
“Oh my, oh my… This is quite something…”
“Ah, Yuri-sama, you notice it too? So it really wasn’t my misunderstanding then?”
“Yes. It wasn’t there when we first met, so they must have acquired it while they’ve been here.”
Arisa, left out of their conversation, voiced her confusion.
“Um, excuse me. What are you talking about?”
At Arisa’s words, Colette and Yuri exchanged a glance and nodded.
“You see… Both of you, you’ve become able to handle spirits.”
“…What!?”
“You’ve acquired the aptitude of a spirit user.”
“…EHHHHHH!?”
At Colette’s sudden declaration, Cecil and Arisa could only raise their voices. Colette in front of them instinctively covered her ears with both hands.
“…Is it that surprising?”
“…A spirit user… Me…”
“…N, no way?”
Colette tilted her head at their astonishment, but they weren’t listening. After raising their voices together, they looked dazed.
“Heeey. You two, it’s time to come back now.”
Colette said, and clapped her hands in front of them. At the sound, the two finally returned to their senses.
“Ah, um, excuse me. It was just so sudden…”
“I never thought something like that could happen to me…”
Though both were exceedingly surprised, there was a reason for it. They were slaves, but if they had the talent to wield magic or Spirit Arts, which were treated equally, they wouldn’t have been hired by the tower in the first place. It was precisely because they were judged to lack such talent that they were put up for sale with ordinary treatment, not skilled labor treatment. Therefore, both of them believed they had no magical talent. To suddenly be told they could wield spirits, it was impossible not to be surprised.
When they were hired by Crown, they had their Crown Cards made to check their skill levels. However, they hadn’t updated their cards since the initial creation. Because of this, they hadn’t noticed that they had become able to use Spirit Arts. Colette, who was told this, would first return to the Management Layer and immediately bring Kousuke back, a fact that would cause the two of them further panic, which would happen soon after.
This concludes Chapter 8. Chapter 9 will begin tomorrow.
May 17, 2014 – Typo corrections
