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Chapter 329 Kaleb Zen\'s Treasure

‘Haa, so that’s what he was up to?’

\'Well, that’s annoying, but at least now we know to never appear before him.’

‘Hmm, but how do we deal with him then?’

‘J-Just th-through messages.’

Kanata-san was quite the troublesome ally I’d gotten myself. If push came to shove, I had no doubt I could deal with it, but something felt odd. For some reason, I actually hesitated when it came to him. If it were anyone else, I feel like I’d have killed them and used the next best option already, but for some reason, here I was, making up excuses to keep him alive.

I put my hand on my face and grumbled.

“The hell am I doing?”

“Lady Hinotori…?”

Sylphie asked.

I blinked, then took a look around. We were in Diane’s tree. Sylphie was already here when I came over to see Diane, but Diane insisted she stay for our conversation. I didn’t really mind since there was nothing wrong with her listening in on it.

“Oh, uh, sorry. Where were we?”

“You bested the Fortress of Solitude, no?”

Diane responded, taking a sip from the cup in her hand. I unconsciously analysed what she was drinking. It was an herbal tea made from her leaves. The health benefits were insane and would most likely fetch a hefty price in markets, but here she was, drinking it for lunch.

“How did you kno-”

“Know?" She finished for me. A gentle smile rested on her face. I felt creeped out, because for the first time since I’d met her, her smile didn’t look like it had some sort of secret plan behind it. “I simply felt that it was beaten. Now, I’m supposed to present you with Kaleb Zen’s greatest treasure.”

I sat up and looked at her attentively. Kaleb Zen was annoying, what with all the stupid dungeons he’d made, but I couldn’t deny the fact that he had really good stuff. Whatever the hell it was that he had as his ultimate treasure, it was bound to be impossibly massive.

“I apologise, but you were too late. The treasure’s gone.”

“Excuse me?”

“The treasure disappeared around 6 years ago. Sorry.”

I slunk back in my seat.

“H-How?”

She didn’t respond.

“Since you beat the fortress of Solitude, I’m assuming you understand just what sort of treasure he was working on.”

“An automaton?”

She shook her head and walked behind Sylphie chair. She gently rested her arms on Sylphie’s shoulders, and the poor sprite flinched, wearing an uncomfortable expression on her face.

“Life. Kaleb Zen sought to create life out of nothing.”

“So, he wanted to sma-”

“He wanted to create a soul. A feat impossible even for the gods.”

“Oh. Wait, is soul creation such an impossible task?”

She frowned at my question. Sylphie coughed and looked away, scared to even entertain my question. It would seem that I somehow offended Diane with my question.

<<Soul creation is impossible. Even the strongest of gods attempts at Soul Creation lead to the creation of Half-Souls that go into incomplete life forms>>

‘Oh, you mean the monsters and demi-humans?’

<<Yes>>

“But then what about the fishmen from Atlantis? They had whole souls.”

Well, at the very least, the mermen didn’t need to be named. They are technically classified as demi-humans too.

“Not even the creator of the fishmen could accomplish such a feat. She had to recycle certain human souls to give them life, I will have you know.”

I could see a vein pulsing on Diane’s head, so I backed down.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“No, I apologise for my tone.”

She cleared her throat, then we went right back to business.

“So, what was this treasure of his?”

“The previous overseer of Kaleb Zen’s most precious creations, whom the forest was named after,"

And as it dawned on me just who she was talking about, the name left both our lips at the same time.

“Larm.”

I paused for a moment, then slunk back into my seat. I looked at Diane once more, then sat back up. She had a pleased look on her face, and I instantly knew what she wanted from me. But she definitely wasn’t getting the satisfaction. I’ve been in her shoes before, and back on Earth, no one ever let me get the satisfaction, so she wasn’t getting any from me.

“Yep. That makes sense.”

“That’s it?”

“What do you mean?”

I grinned, pretending to be oblivious to her words.

“T-That’s all you have to say?”

“You expected more? Was such a thing not already the most obvious thing in the world?”

She pouted. I took a sip of my herbal tea, feeling like a boss.

"Well, if it was the most obvious thing in the world, I’m assuming you also knew this, but I will say it regardless.”, She let go of Sylphie’s shoulder and instead lifted up her head by the chin, forcing Sylphie to face me. “Sylphie is Larm’s only daughter.”

“That was obvious as w-WHAT?!”

Diane regained her pleased grin.

“I was tasked with keeping her safe, as Larm believed in due time Sylphie’s half-soul would develop into a full soul, but she never did.”

“Hm?”

Sylphie looked quite dissatisfied with how Diane spoke about her but didn’t give much of a reaction. Rather, she quietly let her body be moved around as Diane wanted it to.

“Because of her peculiar state, she wasn’t like the other nymphs and dryads. If anything, she was more like a human.”

When I think back on it, there were moments when she was being odd. Or not? I couldn’t remember. Some of my memories were completely gone thanks to [Evolver]. Come to think of it, what exactly was [Evolver] burning my memories for? In fact, where did those burned memories go? They had to be somewhere within [Evolver], right?

“It became almost impossible to hide her secret from everyone, but fortunately, you came around and named her, which somehow made her more like a nymph.”

“Huh?”

“Isn’t that right, Sylphie?”

Diane forcefully nodded Sylphie’s head.

‘Please stop.’

Sylphie was crying out in her head, but it was odd. It wasn’t like that of someone in a situation they couldn’t affect. The closest thing I could think of is when a parent is saying embarrassing stuff about their kids to another adult.

“And now she’s yours. I apologise, but in place of Larm, you can have her child as your reward for completing the [Fortress of Solitude]. I am certain Lord Kaleb Zen and Lord Larm would be pleased if you accepted this inferior substitute.”

“Excuse me?”

“She may not look like it, but I believe that in due time, she will develop just some of Larm’s abilities. You already have the guardian beast of Larm at your side, but it can’t compare to the original overseer’s authority. With her, you can skip over this farce of peaceful unity amongst the sides and forcefully overtake. With your power, she can be a mere figurehead at the start and you’ll be able to disown h-”

“Wait, wait, wait! Stop rushing through all of this like that.”

I was getting annoyed.

“You don’t want Sylphie?”

She knew why I was annoyed. I really didn’t like how she’d fake it at times like these.

“No, I don’t want Sylphie as my property.”

“Then as something else? Like a wife!” She clasped hands with Sylphie. “Oh, you hear that, Sylphie? She wants to take you in as a wife.”

This was what she was after from the start. She was just listing all of Sylphie’s importance, just so I’d definitely take her in as a wife. I wasn’t going to entertain her whims, even if it was in the best interests of a friend.

“What?! I’m not marrying her because you want me to!”

The light in Sylphie’s eyes died. I could feel her pleading for Diane to stop. If she didn’t, the cringe and depression were more than enough to kill her.

“Uh, then what do you want?”

“In the first place, what’s so special about Kaleb Zen’s treasure having an artificial soul he made, huh?”

If he wanted to make a whole soul, all he had to do was get a child with another human, and he’d be done.

“He said “What do you think makes a soul so special? It’s the ability to become whatever it wants! That’s what I want to do! To make a soul that can become anything it wants.” Or something along those lines.”

“Talk about cryptic bullshit.”

I stood up from my seat.

“Thank you, truly, but no. Marriage is the last thing on my mind right now.”

And that was true. I’d pushed my proposal to Kara to the back of my mind. We’d talk about it if she ever brought it up, but for now I was more fixed on sorting out all the issues at hand. From the looks of things, this would take months.

With that, I left. I had another meeting to attend to. Honestly, why were my days so hectic?

*****

Sylphie put her face into her arms, her face and ears, flushed red.

“W-Why did you?”

Diane rubbed her back gently, then went down on her knees so she could meet Sylphie’s face.

“You won’t get her attention if you simply sit and wait.”

She forced Sylphie’s hands apart and was met with a red nose and wet cheeks. She wiped the tears away and held the girl’s face, staring at it intensely. This was one of many children she’d raised, but she was her child nonetheless. What mother didn’t want to see her child happy?

“She says marriage is the last thing on her mind, then just get yourself at the forefront of it. You’ve been too idle. I want to see you happy, ok?”

“Ok.”

Later on, Sylphie would go on to interact with Hinotori a lot. But before that, she had some more tea with Diane.