Chapter 288 B4 Chapter 44 - Saved Memories

“That’s delicious!” a delighted voice came through the door of the Runes And Rain company’s dining room. “What is it called?”

“We call that the reni fen Shiv,” Senith’s more easily recognized voice said. “Foreigners usually call it a Shiv sugar cream bread.”

Vivi opened the door. The dining hall wasn’t nearly as grand or rich as the Nemonns’ estate, mostly due to the lack of space. Senith had instead decorated the room with colors. Blue silk curtains, a nice floor lamp, and some paintings of rainfall on the walls.

Vivi was surprised to find that the first voice belonged to Aolinn, who sat with Senith eagerly by a cup of coffee. The arrogant noblewoman Vivi remembered from Ranewal was almost unrecognizable. She wore a new, more casual silk dress, something that would probably be seen as a nightgown by the nobles on the surface. Her hair was tied to a bun.

Mainly, Aolinn had a beaming smile on her face, as if she was enjoying the company of a good friend. Senith and Aolinn both had a pastry on their plates. It seemed like a sugary bread, cut in half and filled with cream.

“Ah, Vivi!” Senith said and sprung up from her seat, as if caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to. “Welcome. You’re finally finished? Is the project completed?”

“Yes,” Vivi said. “I don’t have any more requests. I just came to say goodbye.”

Senith stared at her. “You’re planning on coming back, right?”

“Yeah,” Vivi said, but not as confidently as she would have liked. “I made a promise to bring Eem a bucket of fish. I can’t forget that now. And I’ll promise you I’m coming back as well.”

But in case I don’t… I’m sorry.

Senith tried to smile, but her eyes remained concerned.

“Have you two gotten along?” Vivi asked.

“Yes!” Senith said, turning back to the pastry table. “We’ve been teaching Fimian and Ythar Standard to each other. Translation skills help a lot with the learning process.”

“What about you?” Vivi asked Aolinn. “Would you like me to take you to the surface?”

“I’d, um, like to stay here,” Aolinn said without having to think much. “My father might disagree, but Shivenar is much more pleasant than Ranewal. I’ve… enjoyed being with Senith. A lot.” She sipped her coffee nervously.

Senith looked happy to hear that. “It’s a shame it’s storm season right now. There are so many more desserts to show you.” She spoke to Vivi. “The nobles are all on rations as well, much to their distaste. We’re eating pastries only through leftover ingredients. Still, the Shiv sugar cream bread was first created during storm season. It’s really just sugary bread.”

“It’s delicious,” Aolinn said. “It’s sweet, but it doesn’t overwhelm you. I could eat this for lunch.”

Senith chuckled. “I may have done that a few times…”

Looks like everything is going well here, Vivi thought. Seeing Aolinn smile like that gave her a warm feeling. Even if most people didn’t seem to like Aolinn back at her home, she tried her best. She never found happiness in the world she’d been born to. Maybe this would give her a new chance to find a life she’d be satisfied with.

“Thanks for everything, Senith,” Vivi said. “Please continue to take care of the business. I promise to return.”

She was met with two warm smiles. “You better,” Senith said. “I don’t want to watch your abandoned smithy grow old alongside me.”

Vivi nodded. “See you.”

***

The remaining hours passed with final preparations, arranged mostly by Coshi. The Luminary would, again, have to remain in Shivenar, but she did everything she could to help until departure. A large chunk of meat was prepared for Boblin, the lizard, and everyone packed their items into sealed waterproof bags.

Vivi and the Darkwind hunters stuffed as many items into spatial storage as their spirits could fit, prioritizing anything that was fragile or valuable, like the enhancement strings or smaller mechanisms of the slingshot launchers, the kick ball trap Civar had created, as well as any miscellaneous items that couldn’t be thrashed around in a bag, like a spanboard to contact Civar or Freyven in case they needed help with the slingshot launchers. With three spirits, almost everything could fit into spatial storage.

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“Does Shivenar have any teleportation skills?” Vivi asked Coshi while the carriage wheels rattled toward their destination.

“We do,” Coshi said. “And if you were traveling down the levels, this would be my teleporters’ job. Going upward is going to be difficult simply because none of our teleporters have visited the upper levels. Blind teleportations aren’t ever worth the risk.”

“Lucius would probably disagree,” Vivi said.

“Hey, none of my teleportations have ever been blind,” Lucius said with a pout as he appeared from her core. “I’ve traveled down and across the levels, remember?”

Vivi was about to ask something about Crilla Songwind again, but hesitated.

Coshi did not hesitate and said, “You traveled with a person you’re not fighting against.”

Lucius’s expression became difficult. He seemed to be frowning.

“I’m not one to pressure you, but in my opinion, this isn’t a position to keep secrets,” Coshi said. “We need to know everything we can about Crilla. Is he a brute or calculative? What is his fighting style? His morals?”

“He… used to be different,” Lucius said. “Not… altruistic. No. He was never a savior or a saint, but not really evil either. He just had strong goals, and we worked together. I thought we’d continue working together until his death. Just like all spirits and their wielders do.”

Coshi and Vivi both studied him. Vivi could feel the gloominess from his emotions, though the same emotions also showed on his face. He still really didn’t want to share anything about this.

“Vivian respects you,” Coshi said. “If you don’t want to speak, she won’t pressure you.” She crossed her arms. “But I am going to pressure you,” Coshi said. “Because the lives of my Lights might rely on these truths. Lucius, tell us honestly, what is your current relation to Crilla Songwind?”

“I don’t understand what you mean,” Lucius said, tone much calmer than usual. “He is my previous wielder who betrayed me.”

“It’s clearly more complicated than that,” Coshi said. “You traveled the world together. You spent years getting to know him.”

“If you’re asking whether I’m still attached to him, I am not,” Lucius said. “Vivi is now my wielder. She commands all of my decisions. That’s how spirits work. I’m unable to disobey her.”

“I see,” Coshi said. To Vivi, she asked, “Is that true?”

Vivi honestly didn’t know. Lucius could make decisions on his own; he’d done that dozens of times, but if Vivi truly protested, he let her be the one to make decisions, though she didn’t know if that was because Lucius complied, or because the bond between human and spirit forced him to obey Vivi. She hadn’t really tested that. Maybe she’d need to ask Cael.

“I trust Lucius,” Vivi said. “I’d like to hear more about your journeys with him, but right now, we need to know more about his fighting style.”

He seemed more open to speak about that. “At the start, we used my claws exclusively. Crilla is a master with talons. He’s not really calculative… More like quick with sharp instincts. He knows how to exploit the weakness of every opponent.”

“But you’re not bonded to him anymore,” Vivi said. “In theory, he shouldn’t be able to shape ether at all, and he can’t use your claws.”

“If he has an ascension skill, that skill will grant him the ability,” Lucius explained. “And it’s possible Ingfried granted him… something else as well.”

“Such as…?”

He thought about his answer. “Toward the end of our journey, my claws were growing weak. We couldn’t harm monsters anymore even if we hit their weak spots. Ascension skills helped slightly, but we were still too weak…” He looked at his own paws during the pause. “He looked for more powerful weapons. Legendary skills, more powerful runeswords and runesmiths… nothing worked. Until he came up with the idea of burning ether.”

“Hold on,” Vivi said. “Crilla is the one to come up with it?”

Lucius snorted. “I’m not a special spirit. I just practiced a technique nobody knew about. I know how to burn wisps, and the technique is saved in my core memories. If that memory is shared, every other spirit will also unlock the ability.”

That made sense, but it surprised Vivi nonetheless. “And your memory?” she asked. “That makes you special, does it not? You remember a lot more than other spirits.”

“Sure,” Lucius said. “I’m special. But that’s not because I have some lucky talent. Spirits are told and forced to let go of memories with their old wielders. I… did not let go of them.”

Coshi had gone silent and was merely eyeing the two from the side. Vivi tapped her fingers on the seat next to her, until she said, “We need to share the technique to burn ether with the hunters.”

Lucius snorted again, this time also rolling his eyes. “As if any hunter would decide to burn so much ether just for a little boost in power.”

“They’d choose that over dying!” Vivi said. “We can’t be hiding powers like this. The hunters might be corrupt, sure, but they’re also the only defence that small towns have during storm season. They need the ability to fend off against storms.”

“So you want me to share the memory into Ythar’s public library?” Lucius asked.

“If that’s possible, please do,” Vivi said.

“Nobody will look at it anyway,” Lucius said. “But that’s fine by me. Just know that any hunters who might oppose us could be much stronger now. Crilla’s allies most likely also have the ability. Demons can use it just as well. If they practice.”

“But Crilla himself can’t,” Vivi said. “He’s a human with no spirit.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Lucius said. “Even after we could burn ether, Crilla didn’t think we were strong enough. He wanted more power. That’s when we met Ingfried…”

Vivi stayed silent, hoping he continued.

“Ingfried promised us a trade for more power,” Lucius said. “He wanted me. For that, he would turn Crilla into one of the most powerful beings in all of the levels. I thought it must have been a scam.”

“But he had a legendary skill,” Vivi said. “He banished us.”

“Yes,” Lucius said. “Crilla is still alive, and he’s with the hunters of Freimar. I know nothing about his current abilities. I know nothing about his new fighting style. I don’t even know if he’s the same person.” He met Vivi’s eyes, his look sharp. “He might just be the strongest warrior of the abyss. I want you to kill him.”