Chapter 42

Chapter 42 : Ice Blue (6)

For starters, the creature had horns.

‘Mm, a Phantasmal Species.’

Its large ears resembled a rabbit’s, and the three white whiskers stretching out on either side made it look like a rabbit from a cartoon too.

On top of that, aside from its head, its body resembled a person’s, and its fluffy, jet-black tail swayed the moment it saw me.

‘Is it shy?’

I stood by the door, not approaching any closer, and picked up the ball of yarn that had rolled over.

The creature straightened its pitch-black tuxedo with a few sharp tugs, then came over briskly and bent at the waist.

Squeak!

Though it could not speak.

I handed the yarn to the creature standing before me and swept my gaze over every corner of the room.

The thing it had been knitting was flat and long, with quite a wide circumference…….

“A scarf?”

Squeak-squeak!

Who on earth was going to use it for its width to be longer than my height? The already small room looked even more cramped because of the remains of that scarf.

At that moment, the crow-tit I had tucked into my pocket popped out and flew over to the creature.

I stared at the sight of the two conversing while nodding several times, then scratched my head.

Most of the things placed around the room were small whale-shaped dolls. Some were blue, and some were red. Some had a smooth texture like porcelain, while others were fluffy like stuffed toys.

“Whales?”

All of them looked like this living land.

[“Ahem. Can you hear me now?”]

Subtitles?!

This was not a translation I had set up. No, to begin with, who would have thought subtitles could be set for a Phantasmal Species?

I opened and closed my mouth, struck by absurdity beyond surprise, then let out a hollow sigh.

Because behind the subtitles, it was still making an unbearably cute squeeee— sound.

“Um…… should I say it is nice to meet you, first of all? Who are you?”

[“For you to say it is nice to meet me—I am so moved that my ears have begun to itch.”]

The creature pricked up its ears, then grabbed them with both hands and pressed them down in long stretches as it continued introducing itself.

[“I am the Ruling Phantasmal Species who protects Gorong.”]

“Gorong?”

[“The land you are standing on right now. Goring, Gorong, and Gorung. Each has a separate Ruling Phantasmal Species. I am very. Deeply. Moved that you came to find me.”]

Its long, twitching whiskers fluttered every time it squeaked.

I was amazed that so much meaning could be packed into a few simple cries like that.

Had Woldeer’s strange cries carried long meanings like that too?

“What is a Ruling Phantasmal Species?”

[“You do not know? Why? Why do you not know? How? That should not be possible. Do you really not know?”]

The creature kept tilting its head left and right, throwing up question mark after question mark. That was what I wanted to ask.

When I closed my mouth in confusion, the crow-tit, which had been sitting quietly, fluttered over again, settled between the creature’s ears, and chattered something.

[“Aha. Ah. Aha? Mm. Oh. I understand.”]

What.

[“A Ruling Phantasmal Species is an intelligent life-form that controls a Gigantic Phantasmal Species and possesses authority personally granted by the Master of Phantasms. I have the authority to move Gorong.”]

The words it rattled off had a strangely stiff set of terms, but there was no problem understanding them.

In other words, that creature was the one that made this gigantic whale move.

And that mission had been given by Sek.

Judging by that sparkling gaze, this creature also recognized me as Sek.

In this situation, I did not bother correcting it.

Anything I could use, I should use.

“Was what you were knitting, by any chance, for Gorong—?”

I asked, pointing at the sprawled scarf and the remains of the yarn.

The creature’s ears drooped, and its expression suddenly turned gloomy.

[“Yes. That is correct. Gorong has unfortunately caught a cold.”]

“A cold?”

[“Strictly speaking, it is not an infection caused by a virus, but is judged to be an external manifestation of a psychological problem. The long-term symptoms are gradually worsening, and if this continues, Gorong is expected to die, so countermeasures were necessary.”]

Squeak-squeee-squeak.

The creature spoke without pausing for breath, eyes round, as though reciting a report, but my eyes were even busier reading the subtitles.

Those symptoms referred to the same phenomena Etel had told me about.

The blizzard storms that had continued from some point onward, the extreme cold enough to freeze all water, the sudden vibrations that came perhaps because swimming had grown difficult, and the thin energy, losing vitality until even bringing out a Frame had become strenuous.

Above all, the prediction that at this rate, it would collapse.

“What countermeasures? Is it recovering?”

[“It is not!”]

“Was that not why you were knitting the scarf?”

[“It is a hobby. ……And also, while I was at it?”]

Are all Phantasmal Species like this? Are they all this absurd? Are they all so chaotic that they do not know what they are doing?

I set aside the lament I had forced down for the moment and thought about the fundamental cause.

Why had Gorong caught a cold?

To borrow Etel’s words, there had been an original purpose. Perhaps it had worn itself out while waiting for something.

Woldeer’s final appearance from not long ago suddenly came to mind.

The words Sek had left behind applied not only to Woldeer, but to the Phantasmal Species here as well.

“Waiting for those who had vanished, guarding the traces they left behind.”

At my words, the creature’s ears perked up.

“Longing for the sovereign who would never return.”

Its bright, round red eyes turned toward me, and even the crow-tit, which had been chasing yarn in the corner, lifted its head.

“Are you Ruling Phantasmal Species the monsters with no natural predators, suffering forever, unable to die even after death?”

It was a passage I had recalled while seeing Woldeer off, and also the question I had been considering: what exactly the sovereign and the monsters with no natural predators referred to.

I had said it because I felt that solving that question might allow me to revive Gorong, but the creature’s reaction was unusual.

[“Master of Phantasms!! You really are Lord Sek! I have waited for this day! For the freedom of all Phantasmal Species! For the end of waiting!”]

Squeee! Squeak-squeee-squeee!

The creature was so beside itself with excitement that I had to grab its ears and sit it back down before we could continue a proper conversation.

The creature was extremely simple and one-dimensional, and the commission solution I had hoped to get for free ultimately came back into my own hands.

“I am curious how you control Gorong.”

[“That is very simple. It is telepathy.”]

“Seriously?”

[“Yes! Like this, if I draw out the Power of Phantasm, put it through a transformation, and connect it directly to Gorong’s consciousness system……!”]

It began with red skeins of thread being drawn out from the creature’s two ears. They swelled in size together, then burrowed straight into a particular spot in the small room.

[“Ta-da.”]

For an instant, the ground shook violently.

A red wave surged up explosively and filled the small room, then forced its way outside, not satisfied with that much, violently tearing the tightly closed door into tatters.

The force swept my bangs back before they slowly fell into place again.

I swept back my disheveled hair and lost the ability to speak at the warm energy enveloping my entire body.

This was a recovery buff.

Temporary though.

“Is this Gorong’s ability?”

[“Yes. All Gigantic Phantasmal Species hold the Energy of Recovery.”]

Woldeer had been the same. He had healed wounded areas by licking them.

I cut off the creature as it chattered excitedly and tried to understand the situation, but in the end, I could not hide my bewilderment.

No matter how I thought about it, the Phantasmal Species were living lives under some serious misunderstanding.

---

Fortunately, there was no blizzard even when I returned to the Ice Castle.

When I came back after pushing through the snow that swallowed each step, Etel was sitting on the central staircase of the inner castle, asleep with her head resting against the railing.

I scratched my temple, then shook Etel’s shoulder.

Etel, who had gone cold like a doll, began regaining life.

The pupils of her vacant, unfocused eyes narrowed, and her hair, the color of the snow-covered plain, swayed with the movement of her head.

Only belatedly did Etel’s eyes meet mine. She lifted her head from the railing she had been leaning against completely and straightened her upper body.

“The commission?”

“Half.”

“Half?”

Etel’s brow narrowed. Before she could misinterpret the meaning, I hurriedly waved my hands.

“I found the cause, and I found the solution, but it is a matter that will take time.”

“How long?”

“I cannot pin it down and say exactly how long. I do not have a sense of it either.”

“A scam?”

Watching Etel’s expression turn increasingly fierce, I slowly edged backward.

If a person could be withered to death by a look alone, Etel would have killed several people by now.

“Ahem. First, I think we need to confirm that the contents of the commission are definitely to comfort the Phantasmal Species that holds the city of the sky…….”

“Not just comfort. Comfort that lets it regain enough strength to be like before.”

“When that comfort is done, do you want this place to stop being frozen by snowstorms and cold, and turn back into somewhere people can live?”

Etel did not answer my question right away.

She herself had not thought deeply about what she wanted.

After so many long years, they had already built a city and lived within the embrace of the largest Phantasmal Species.

I needed to ask clearly whether she wanted to restore everything out of some vague nostalgia for how this place had once been the same.

“I do not think it is bad. It is splendid, and there is plenty to see. Though that would depend on the weather becoming reasonable.”

Etel was still expressionless, but I noticed that her emotions were wavering.

The reason I was trying to get a definite answer was that a perfect restoration to the way it had been before was not within the scope of what I could solve.

All I could do was hope to comfort Gorong, who was worn out from waiting, and help its heart feel at ease.

I stood silently and waited for Etel’s answer.

“How far can you go?”

“The decision always belongs to the client.”

“Baseless arrogance.”

“Just tell me.”

“I…….”

Etel looked out the window where snow had begun falling again and shook her head.

“I do not want our home to be in pain. I want it to be at peace until its long-held wish is fulfilled.”

“That much?”

“Yes. Once the weather eases, I will be able to hear laughter again. That will be enough.”

“Good.”

“……Does that mean it is possible?”

I tugged up the corner of my mouth and shrugged.

The method was unexpectedly simple.

Because after I tried mentally linking with Gorong, I learned that it had already been excited and uplifted since I first set foot in this place.

The snowstorm had been both a welcome greeting and a grumble born from exhaustion after a long wait.

Of course, for proper healing and a fundamental solution, I would need to acquire more Skills or come here more often, but even that much was encouraging.

“I have to come periodically and calm it down. You said entering this land requires permission, so it will probably be a little troublesome each time.”

“That will be enough.”

“It is not that simple.”

Because every time I came, I would have to suffer plenty at the hands of this place’s ruling species.

I did not feel the need to explain that much, so I shrugged and ended the conversation.

Etel wore a satisfied expression, then rose to her feet.

Even taking my height into account, Etel stood three or four steps higher on the stairs, making me look up at her in a strangely deliberate arrangement, but I decided it was probably just my imagination.

Now that everything was finished, all I had to do was ask where Ice Blue was and ask her to send me to the main domain—.

“—Oops?”

At some point, Etel was holding a longsword with a pure white blade.

For now, let us pretend I did not see the tip of that sword pointing at my throat.

With a firm gaze that said she would thrust her sword in without hesitation, Etel interrogated me.

“As I thought, are you Sek?”

Ah, this again.