Chapter 286 B4 Chapter 42 - Spirit Of Ingfried

Vivi paused. What? Lucius’s previous wielder?

How did Cael know about that?

Lucius’s mood had turned gloomy, if not hateful, though he didn’t seem surprised to hear this at all.

“So… Lucius’s previous wielder is alive?” Vivi asked.

“Of course,” Cael said. “Crilla was as famous as a criminal can get. And he definitely was a criminal, unlike you.” His next words seemed to be directed at Lucius, since he knew the spirit was listening. “Crilla and Lucius had quite the adventure in the lower levels.”

Vivi sat still, baffled. “How have I never heard of this?”

Cael and Alda both blinked. Alda asked, “Hold on, you’ve never heard of Crilla Songwind?”

“No,” Vivi said. “Lucius has never told me.”

Both Darkwinds raised their eyebrows. Vivi felt like she was missing some common knowledge again. The rest of the room listened in, trying to pick up on context. Cael eventually leaned back and said, “Crilla wasn’t famous in the way that some hunters are known all across the world. The hunters made sure that rumors about his actions wouldn’t spread. Crilla never really cared about spreading his own name on purpose. Although, I’m still surprised you haven’t heard of him. He’s arguably the most infamous hunter to ever exist.”

Vivi faced Lucius in her core. His emotions didn’t change, and he wasn’t about to say anything.

“Lucius has kept it a secret,” Vivi said. “And I haven’t made an effort to pry anything out of him.”

Cael studied her, then said, “Should I tell you everything I know?”

Vivi glanced at Lucius again. The gloominess radiated around him, until he popped out of Vivi’s core. Quietly, he said, “You can share the public perception. I’ll tell you if there are inaccuracies.”

“I’ll warn you that my view is largely shaped by rumors,” Cael said.

“I will tell you what’s false,” Lucius repeated. “Most rumors will be correct.”

“Alright. So, what was it, four or five years ago when Crilla bonded with Lucius?”

“Maybe five or six,” Alda said. “He was unknown for around a year.”

“The bond happened seven years ago,” Lucius said with his eyes pointing nowhere specific. “It took two years for my old wielder to grow bored with the way the Songwinds lived.”

“I’ve heard that you were troublemakers even then,” Cael said. “You stole a skill wisp and escaped, right?”

“Yes,” Lucius said. “I warned him not to, at first… But Crilla stole a rare ascension skill, and made me teleport him to the third level.”

“That’s when I first heard of him,” Cael said. “A bounty was placed on your heads. Something around ten thousand ether.”

“That rose to a hundred thousand in under a year,” Alda said with a sigh. “Vivi got there in a month, didn’t she?”

Cael wore a funny smile. “Anyway, Crilla moved down to the fourth level, and that’s the point when the hunters associated him with demons. Apparently, he had made some sort of deal to join their ranks.”

“That was false,” Lucius said. “We moved to the fourth level because the third was unsafe, and we found a convenient way down. It was almost an accident.”

“Either way, Crilla started seeing a lot of success down there, obtaining more and more skills and descending deeper into the levels,” Cael said.

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“We were not incompetent,” Lucius said and crossed his paws. “The fourth level is much easier than humans believe.

“Regardless, Lucius and Crilla were known as betrayers and placed alongside demonspawn,” Cael said. “The hunters never chased him down the levels, but the Songwinds disowned them immediately and Crilla was banned from Paradise. That would have probably been it, if not for Crilla constantly acting against that ban. He showed up to Paradise just about every week to force hunters into duels, or barging into meetings to do the same.”

“It was quite entertaining, watching hunting companies lose their minds every time Crilla appeared,” Alda said. “He rarely did anything substantial. He was just a pest in Paradise. I had the honor of dueling him a few months before the incident.”

“And you probably lost,” Lucius said.

“Yeah,” Alda said with a grin. “Crilla was strong near his final months.”

“And…” Vivi asked. “What’s the incident?”

Cael and Alda glanced at each other. “So, there was this one night…” Cael said.

Vivi tilted her head.

“Samira Goldbridge was in charge of holding a speech in Paradise regarding reports for storm season,” Cael said. “Just storm forecasts and such. A lot of hunters were present, me included, and a lot of us expected Crilla to show up as well.”

“And then Ingfried, the king of demons, showed up,” Alda said.

“In Paradise?” Vivi blurted out.

“Yep, having bonded to Lucius.” Alda crossed her legs and took a sip of what looked like water.

Lucius stayed silent, frowning.

“Ingfried didn’t really do much,” Cael said. “He crashed the meeting and said hello to the humans. He left by asking is ‘Ythar still well and good?’ He was killed, in Paradise, and he never returned.”

“How have I never heard of this?” Vivi asked, genuinely baffled. “I knew Lucius had the nickname Spirit Of Ingfried. That’s where it came from, then?”

“Yes,” Cael said. “The whole event is a stain on the painting the hunters want to project of themselves. You won’t hear about it unless you ask about it.”

The room was in silence while Vivi thought. “So everyone assumed Crilla was dead because Lucius bonded with Ingfried?”

“That was the logical assumption, as the bond had been severed,” Cael said. “Some also assumed that Ingfried had died, because Lucius was later returned to the hunters via teleportation.”

“Then the hunters just passed him to the next person?” Vivi asked.

“The Songwinds didn’t want him, so he was transferred cheaply to the Goldbridges. They probably thought his memories were regressing anyway, so might as well put him back to work.”

Lucius snorted at that.

Wow, Vivi thought. She had a lot of questions for Lucius directly, but she struggled to turn any of them into words. She asked Cael, “That’s it? Wouldn’t Ingfried’s appearance be a bigger event. Who returned Lucius?”

“Nobody knows,” Cael said, shifting posture as he thought. “It’s one of those mysteries that was investigated for roughly a day, before investigators decided that they would rather not learn the answers. The hunters have largely ignored the event since then, since Ingfried hasn’t made an appearance since. Most hunting companies just trust Ythar’s protection will keep them safe.”

“I’m still convinced,” Alda said, “that Ythar bestowed the spirits onto us just so he could sleep for longer. We have the responsibility of defending ourselves now.”

Cael looked like he agreed, but he added, “The fact remains that the only reason the third level hasn’t been trampled by demons is because of Ythar's presence. The demons here should agree, I believe.”

“Yes,” Coshi said. “Ythar has set his stance to not allow demons in his empire. If Ingfried advances, Ythar will retaliate. And while humanity itself would be wiped out by any decent army in a matter of months, the same can’t be said for a god.”

“But if Ythar were to die…” Vivi began.

“Ingfried would trample and conquer the surface in a matter of months,” Coshi finished.

Of course, Vivi thought. She’d never thought much about the border between humans and demons. The third level separated humans from demons, and the hunters there made sure demons wouldn’t advance. But what about a hundred years ago, when humans couldn’t shape ether? Ythar had been the reason why humanity hadn’t collapsed. That was still true, with the hunters so weak.

“Well, that’s one reason why the demons want to kill Ythar…” Vivi sighed. “But if it’s still a secret how Lucius got separated from Crilla… He’s right here. Is that still a secret?”

Lucius remained sullen. His mood was hard to read.

“It’s not that complex. Crilla didn’t see a use for me anymore. The demons gave him a new way to channel ether. So he tossed me out.”

“He betrayed you… because he thought he found a more powerful way to channel ether?”

Lucius’s frown deepened. “Essentially that. And as for Ingfried… I believe he sent me back to the hunters to avoid conflict with Ythar. That part is still hazy to me.”

“Interesting… Thanks for telling us.”

“Either way, Crilla will be our enemy,” Vivi said. “If he wants to kill Ythar, he needs to be stopped.” Vivi faced Coshi. “Are we ready to depart to the surface?”

“Yes,” Coshi said. “Before that, you will want to be introduced to our new raid party. With our lacking army, I had to resort to troops with rather… unusual backgrounds. Some of them might be unstable, but they are strong, and they claim to have been your allies in the past.”

Vivi raised her eyebrows. She could only think of one group she’d been allied with in the past who wasn’t currently in this room. “Who are they?”

“The nimrods of Zand,” Coshi said. “Want to see them?”