Reclaim the Elves’ Sacred Land (4)
When I woke up, I was getting seriously chewed out.
“My apologies.”
“Don’t think saying it coolly makes it okay! Why do you always have to pull reckless stunts!?”
So this is what they mean by “hair standing on end in rage.” Alicia’s entire body bristled as she started lecturing me with a face like a wrathful demon. The knights nodded along in agreement. The only one on my side was Mr. Coote.
“Master, I too must say, charging recklessly every time is unwise. You should take better care of your body.”
Mr. Coote… you too?
In the end, the only one I could rely on was my childhood friend and my previous life’s fiancé.
“Ta…Takuto…”
“Come on, reflect on your actions, okay?”
He smiled sweetly, but his eyes weren’t smiling at all. And after all, I’d carried out the solution myself! This made no sense.
Well, the lecture only lasted about ten hours. Pretty much the usual. If it had been Madame Smith, it could’ve dragged on another two hours, so this was nothing. Once you get used to it, a scolding is child’s play.
“You’re not reflecting at all, are you?”
“I’m reflecting, somewhat. But I’ve got work to do. I want to ship off the Empire quickly and move on to the next task.”
“So the Empire’s pigs now…”
Kazuhito shuddered. But pigs was unfair—those creatures are excellent livestock: useful, tasty, and even cute. Compared to them, the Empire? Nothing but pests.
And it seemed time was short. I couldn’t fully wield the Spirit King’s power, but I had complete control of it. Because of that, I could sense the current state of the world.
Up until now, I’d been soft. But not anymore. From now on, enemies would be destroyed.
“Takuto… how much time do we have left?”
“Tch! You noticed?”
Takuto’s face twisted as he asked back.
“Cleaning that thing up is my job. Playing around with the Empire is over. Fortunately, what I’ve been doing is useful for it too. [I can’t lose].”
My actions were the worst possible scenario for the Evil God. I’d been endlessly producing the very thing that was its weakness. The Ancient Magic Dynasty hadn’t been a primitive nation at all—they were just arrogant. They thought magic was almighty, that there was nothing it couldn’t do. That’s why they perished. If their civilization had matured further, they’d have wielded forces comparable to Earth’s World War I era.
The problem was compatibility. Evil God magic wasn’t very effective against me. But in a straight magical duel? Even if I summoned a thousand clones, I’d probably still lose. The Evil God had killed and devoured otherworldly gods, demon kings, and spirit kings, inheriting degraded versions of their authorities.
It had a sturdy divine barrier, fairly piercing attacks, and limited mana control. Don’t be fooled by the “jack of all trades” label—those three powers alone, even degraded, were terrifying.
In fact, those three powers had given the Goddess, the Demon King, and the Spirit King a hard time. On this planet, neither Goddess nor Demon King could wield their full might—this world belonged to the Spirit King. The Goddess’s divine barrier could be pierced by the Evil God, the Demon King’s attacks were blocked by the barrier, and the Spirit King couldn’t abandon humans to fight at full strength. If he’d been willing to let people die, he might have won. But shielding them from the Evil God’s attacks became his downfall.
And so, after that long scolding, I now stood before the Spirit King’s body.
The Spirit King was enormous. Calling him a giant wouldn’t be wrong. Vines wound around him in places, half-merged with the World Tree, but he wasn’t dead.
“Was it you who called me?”
—So you are the bearer of this age—
See? As long as his power lived on in people, the Spirit King himself wasn’t gone. Just powerless. A kind of suspended animation.
“I don’t know what ‘bearer’ means, but I’ve got your power.”
—So the hateful curse has finally lifted. Forgive me. In my current state, I no longer have the strength to destroy it. Yet back then, without my power, humanity would have had no escape from ruin—
I see. The Spirit King’s memories after his death were fragmentary. Bits clung to the power inherited by humans. And they were ugly, vile memories.
The Evil God’s power should’ve been purified long ago. Each time it was inherited by a new person, it was supposed to weaken and return to its original state.
What ruined that was the filth that called itself the Holy Church. They infiltrated the continent, hunting down those who bore the Spirit King’s power, trying to steal it. They failed.
When the bearer died, the power would randomly shift somewhere else. Even I couldn’t trace it.
After repeated failures, the Church gave up on theft and turned to analysis. That’s where they made things worse. The Evil God’s fragments had indeed tainted the power, but not enough to transform it into something like a Demon King. But through forced tampering, the fragments ran wild.
The Church then weaponized it. The runaway fragments amplified the Evil God’s taint in the Spirit King’s power, twisting it into something closer to the Evil God itself. That was the truth of the Demon King transformation.
The trigger was hatred—the essence of the Evil God. It too hated the world, resenting a reality where its desires could not be fulfilled.
Thus, the Church deliberately birthed enemies of the world, forcing humans to unite and, along the way, destroy other races.
So that explained why, in the era of Avalon Kingdom, beastkin—second only to humans in birthrate—never built lasting nations. They’d been wiped out time and again. Even the “Beast Garden” had been more a tribal confederation than a centralized state.
“So, what do you want from me? Want me to give your power back?”
—Even if you returned it now, it would be far from restoring me. I’ll remain like this for thousands more years. Use it as you see fit—
Hmph. Not like I planned to return it anyway.
“That means if I suddenly decided to destroy the world, that’d be fine?”
—I doubt you would wish that. You have things precious to you in this world, don’t you? Such people do not destroy worlds. And if you did, it would be for a reason. Even then, the other two pillars would not allow it. As a human, you cannot defeat either the Goddess or Demon King—
Oh, I could, if I wanted. I’m a bona fide witch who can tamper with souls.
Still, it’s true—I had no intention of destroying the world. The past was the past. Painful, sad, but my parents from my previous life were gone. Now, I could accept it. Just once was enough. Never again.
“So why did you call me?”
—What I wish from you is to mend the bond between humans and spirits. The current spirit contracts are warped. Correct them—
Ah, so that was it. The one-sided contracts. That I could do.
“I’ll have to use the Spirit King’s edict.”
—I see… truly, you are unlike those before you—
A laugh echoed, sounding almost happy.
—Do it. Use my power. Be the bridge between humans and spirits…—
The voice faded.
“One thing I want to ask. Why are you so fixated on humans? Wouldn’t it be easier without them?”
—You do not know the loneliness of those who live for eternity. We cannot fill that void on our own. Spirits only gain emotions through humans. Without humans, we are nothing but gears in the world’s machine. That is why we cherish humans, who grant us feelings—
So basically, spirits needed people around too?
Thinking about it, the less connected a spirit was to people, the more listless it seemed. Just drifting. Whereas the ones contracted to me were lively—always chasing me around, always laughing. I’d have to give them more attention.
Anyway, about that Spirit King’s edict. It wasn’t hard to use. All it did was gather nearby spirits and deliver a command.
The command was simple: ban subordinate-style contracts. From now on, the old way of binding spirits wouldn’t work. Seriously, who’d gone and warped the contract magic like that?
I hadn’t thought much of it before, since I never asked spirits to do things they hated. But yeah, for them, it was a burden. I understood. Even I got annoyed when Madame kept bossing me around. I’d want to dropkick her on impulse. Which meant Madame was the real problem.
“I’ll handle rewriting the system and spreading the new method. If I forbid the old contracts by edict, people won’t dare try them, right?”
—Yes. As I am now, I cannot even speak to other spirits. I leave it to you—
And with that, the Spirit King’s presence vanished. He must’ve regained consciousness only briefly. Or rather, it wasn’t even his body—just his power inside me relaying his will. His giant body hadn’t moved a muscle. To the other spirits, it must’ve looked like I’d been talking to myself. They tilted their heads, puzzled.
"Ahhh! There you are!"
"We’ve been looking everywhere for you, Princess! Now, please return to bed."
"No, I’ve brought the bed here! Just lie down immediately!"
At Alicia’s shout, knights came running from all directions to surround me. Why, you ask? Well, because I’d slipped out.
Think about it normally. There’s no way someone who’s been bedridden for months could just start walking. The moment I started moving, it was obvious that my armor was what was walking. Not to mention, I’d been huffing and puffing the whole time.
And so, they all went full overprotective mode. They just wouldn’t shut up about how I had to stay in bed for a while. But I don’t have time for that—I’ve got a monumental task ahead of me: smashing the Empire to pieces, making the Emperor grovel, and then sending him to the execution block. No time to sleep.
"That’s why there’s no need for me to rest."
"But look at you, you’re skin and bones!"
Hey! Don’t poke me like that, it tickles.
"As long as I take this medicine, it’s fine."
"This ominous-colored pill?"
"It’s a super-concentrated nutrient capsule. Fruity flavor."
I’ll be back to my old figure in no time. And my body should start showing signs of growth again soon… except, for some reason, I haven’t gotten any taller. Well, I was asleep the whole time… Whoever first said “sleep helps you grow” should be executed for treason. I’ll never forgive them.
On top of that, with magic, I can make all my muscles perform controlled exercise, recovering my lost strength (ha!). Even if overexertion damages the muscles, I can heal them with magic. Same for heart and lung training. I’ll only restore myself to baseline—if I build too much muscle, it might slow my height growth, and that would interfere with my future plans. Can’t have that.
"So with that—[Gather, my brethren!]"
I ignored the fussy knights and summoned the spirits instead.
The command rippled outward, reaching spirits even far away.
"Huh? What’s happening?"
"An enemy attack?!"
Distortions warped the air. Alarmed, the knights gripped their swords, but I stilled them with a raised hand.
—Ahhh! It’s the Queen!—
—So this is where you’ve been!—
—Nice to meet you!—
—The new Queen!—
—We pledge our loyalty to our new Queen!—
From the distortions poured spirits. Pretty friendly bunch. Actually, kinda excitable.
"I have an order for you all. The submissive-style contracts spreading among humans are hereby banned."
—Got it.—
—As you command.—
—Never liked those anyway.—
—We’ll spread the word to the others not present.—
Spirits live fleeting, carefree lives. Unless angered, they act on whim. Many never thought too deeply about the risks of the current contracts.
That’s why I had to ban them by royal decree—but still, their response was awfully light.
—Oh yeah, Queen, where do you live?—
—We knew you existed, but could never find you! We’ve been searching forever!—
—Keeping her to yourself isn’t fair—
—Not forgivable!—
Looks like the spirits under contract with me kept quiet on purpose. And now I’m being mobbed.
"I live in a country called Arland."
Not like I’ve been hiding it. But I’d prefer they stop buzzing around me—too dangerous to move. Not that a little bump would hurt them anyway.
—Then let’s live in Arland too!—
—Yeah! Keeping her to yourself isn’t fair. Let’s tell everyone.—
Uh-oh. If this spreads, tons of spirits will abandon the Empire.
Not my problem. If the spirits take a liking to Arland, that’s all benefit.
Earth spirits bring fertile soil and rich ore. Fire spirits bring warmth. Water spirits are vital—reducing floods and droughts. Light and Dark spirits suppress wraiths and such.
In short, a nation rich in spirits is bountiful and stable. Without them, it’s not like the country collapses—it just becomes ordinary land. No blessings, but no disasters either… unless you seriously piss the spirits off, in which case, well, cataclysm.
Hmm. If the Empire suffers, that’s fine. Consider it punishment.
"All right then! Everyone, let’s move to Arland together!"
—Yaaay!—
And so, the Granzur Empire lost the blessing of spirits. On the flip side, the spirits greatly aided in transporting the landmass.
Required mana dropped to a third, and afterward, they promised to properly anchor the land to its new home.
And then, four days after I awoke—
"Are we ready?"
My clone answered with a thumbs-up.
"Ready to go."
The chant began. Thirty minutes long—the longest yet.
First, the land itself had to be protected. Since we’d be carving a whole chunk of earth away, without protection, it could crumble mid-transfer.
Next, flight magic was cast on the land itself. Extremely difficult—the target was just too massive.
And then, after thirty minutes, the land began to rise.
"Well then, we’ll head back to Arland first."
My clones parted ways, carrying the land back. That left the Treasury staff cut to less than half, but with over 80,000 golems already, that was plenty of military strength. Plus, reinforcements were on their way. Not from Arland though—if we called them, the entire population would probably march out, since public opinion had grown fiercely warlike. Even my brother was half-crying, begging me not to delay the Empire’s downfall any longer.
The unprecedented theft of an entire landmass would surely shock the world.
Thus I began my march toward the Imperial Capital.
"Princess, the Capital’s in the opposite direction."
"I know. I’m just making a little detour."
And so, we advanced on the Imperial Capital.
What do you think about this chapter?
