The Castle Part 2

The world of Vestia had existed for eons, as a land fertile with nature and magic. Life existed in a neverending cycle where one was born, died and then returned to nature in order to create new life. Souls, when born into the world, came into being with a finite amount of magic that was meant to nurture their souls during their lives and then bring them into the afterlife when they died. Of course, in order to make it to the next cycle of life and death, souls needed that energy to crossover and bloom into new life.

As human society advanced, so, too, did their greed grow. While many of their inventions gave way to a better, easier life for many, they caused untold strife. A lot of machines created by humanity were fueled by magic. However, as magic was so finite in this world, they had to find many means of fueling them so that they could continue to live in comfort.

At first it was magical ores, found deep within the earth that they dug up to fuel their machines.

And then it was magical stones imbued with power by those capable of using magic, in order to keep up with the demand. However, at some point, people were kidnapped or forced to give up what was left of their magic at the end of their lives in order to power these stones. This was seen as inhumane by the world at large and heavy punishment awaited those who committed the crime of stealing magic from living beings. Some criminal elements still did it, but the practice by society was entirely banned.

So they needed to look elsewhere for their energy needs, which resulted in a lot of resources being used up and ruined…

Yuzuki was quiet while everything was explained to her.

Vestia seemed to be in the middle of an energy crisis, though it was explained to her that this problem was seen mainly in human kingdoms and less in the other races who had long learned to live beside nature in order to survive. There were many conveniences that existed outside of human ingenuity.

“So, does that mean I have magic, too?” Yuzuki asked, actually curious about that fact. She recalled the other people summoned had been taken away to measure their magic or something.

“Oh, you definitely should. According to the legends surrounding the hero summoning ritual, beings from another world have a large supply of magic within them!” Azura explained excitedly.

“That sort of makes sense? I mean if someone is supposed to be some kind of legendary hero, it’d be weird if they didn’t have some kind of cheat skill associated with them.” At least that was what manga and anime had taught Yuzuki, from some that she had seen. Of course, real life had nothing to do with the fantasy rules somebody made up. Looking at her hands, she certainly did not feel any different from when she had been back in Japan. There had been no sudden epiphany of magic, or an explosion of power welling within her during a moment of danger.

Sensing Yuzuki’s uncertainty, she made an offer. “We have an instrument in the castle to measure your magic and what kind it is, if you would like?”

“Oh, you do?”

“Most certainly. It’s a bit out of date, but it should still be usable.”

“Great, could we check after?”

“Of course, Crim and I would be delighted to help you with that.”

Smiling, Yuzuki couldn’t wait to see what she had. Even though she was still mad about being dragged away from her home, there was something exciting about finding out what kind of magic you had in you. And a thought occurred to Yuzuki: surely magic had been used to pull her and the four students into Vestia. Maybe she could figure out how to send herself back home using her great hero powers!

Totally psyched up at this prospect, Yuzuki finished her bath and got into a fresh set of clothes. It was an old dress, but Azura assured her that it was perfectly clean. When the spirit orb wasn’t looking, the cook took a quick sniff and was surprised to know they smelled of lavender.

On the way to assess her magic, Yuzuki continued the conversation about the world, as there had been one thing that had been nagging at her…

“Say, Azura, Crim…if the humans of this world are dependent on their magical devices and need magic to fuel them to keep going and there’s a lack of it naturally from ores…what do they use instead?”

There was a long drawn out silence by the orbs and the cook could sense the two of them sharing a look, even if she herself couldn’t see it. They were silently communicating about their next words. But they did speak up, giving Yuzuki the answer she wanted.

“You know how I said souls need at least some magic in order to pass on properly and rejoin the cycle of life once more?” Azura posed softly.

Yuzuki nodded, recalling that. “Yeah.”

“And you know how taking the magical energies of a living being is outlawed, to the point of being punishable by death if caught?”

That she knew, too. It was kind of crazy how people could so thoughtlessly use others. Reminded her of her soul sucking job back at the restaurant, though this was clearly to a worse and literal degree.

“Yeah, and?”

“Well…it’s outlawed to drain a living being of magic…”

It took Yuzuki an extra moment to realize what that meant. She thought Azura was simply repeating herself, but then realized which word the spirit was emphasizing. Looking between Azura and Crim, horror grew on her face.

“No way…”

“If you’re thinking they use the power leftover in the dead, you are right,” Crim stated, somberly.

Yuzuki was furious.

“What?! But people already live such hard lives while alive. Working life draining jobs that could suck the joy and life right out of them every single day. They work themselves to the bone until all they can hope for is death. What the Hell?! Are you telling me this world is worse than the one I came from?!”

Her outburst was a bit over the top and she most likely missed the point of the horrors behind using magic from dead souls (due to her own ignorance of how Vestia worked overall), but she had lived the life that she had and could only draw from her own experiences. Thinking about her family that she loved, could be essentially used as batteries until they were spent instead of resting in peace made her want to throw up. Her parents who had been ripped from her when she was still little…and then her hardworking grandfather who never missed a day of work to support her…

They had gone through hardships and died and deserved either another chance of life after reincarnation or at least eternal rest. She could only imagine what that was doing to the people of this world, let alone the world itself.

Calm down, Yuzuki, she told herself. This was a problem, sure, but one that she could not fix, nor should she put herself into fixing. Her own world was flawed, but it did not work in such a system and she would be making her way back to Japan one way or another. Where things would be perfectly normal and she could hopefully be the one running the restaurant that was so precious to her grandfather.

Azura and Crim had been shocked by her sudden shouting, but stayed quiet during her little rant, understanding she needed to get out of her system. The Lapluna cowered nearby, most likely shocked by Yuzuki’s yelling and she felt bad about it when she realized she’d scared the little moon rabbits.

“Ah, sorry guys. I’m just a little frustrated. You know?” She knelt in front of them, reaching out to give each a small caress on the head to soothe their nerves.

I am such a trash human, how could I make the bunnies scared like that? Okay, okay. Yuzuki you need not to yell out your inside thoughts. Thankfully this time you’re not getting exiled again!

The Lapluna squeaked and seemed to perk up, understanding she wasn’t going to do anything to them. It was kind of sad; up until this point they acted fine around her, but she assumed they must have some experience with awful humans, too, to react like that. But they were brave for trusting in her anyways and being kind. Yuzuki owed a lot to the Lapluna, she didn’t want them to be afraid of her.

The room they all ended up in was a dusty old storage room in the east wing. As the castle was wholly unoccupied for the most part, things were put away until they needed use. Things like furniture were haphazardly stacked, several sack of out of fashion clothes and even plates and utensils that could shine with a bit of polishing.

“Why aren’t these in the kitchen?” Yuzuki asked, after noticing the plates.

“Oh, well…we don’t normally host and the lord himself does not really have meals,” Crim answered, sounding a bit flustered about the subject.

Yuzuki picked up on that. “Huh…? But why is that? He does eat, doesn’t he?”

“He does, Yuzuki, but…well…he usually just has what’s quick since he’s normally rather busy.”

“Huh.”

So a workaholic type? If the Lord of Death were a guy from her world, he’d probably be one of those salarymen who took the last train and grabbed something like a sad riceball from the conbini next to his sad little bachelor apartment.

“When’s the last time he had a hot meal?” Yuzuki asked, now moving stuff around to try and find the special device Azura and Crim had talked about. The little Lapluna were also trying to help, but they were so small, Yuzuki was worried something might fall in all of this mess and squish them. A minute after she started her search with the direction of the spirit orbs, she picked up all seven of the little rabbits and placed them somewhere safe where they could watch her work.

Azura made a humming noise as she tried to remember when the last time it was that Kerron had eaten something fresh. “Hmm…it was around…”

Crim came up with the answer. “I think it was around a hundred years ago, Azura.”

“A hundred years?!” Yuzuki shouted, though she quickly covered up her mouth. Looking over at the Lapluna they seemed unbothered this time, just simply flopping around at their spot and being adorable little nuisances. Yuzuki lowered her hand and her voice to a normal level. “A hundred years? Holy hell, he….he looks great for his age.” She wasn’t sure what else she could comment on.

A hundred years without a hand made meal? That was…just so sad. Even an overworked salaryman from an exploitative company could manage going to a restaurant once in a while for the comfort of hot meals.

“Our Kerron has been doing his duty as the Lord of Death for a long while now,” Azura explained. “And with that responsibility, there’s not much to do in terms of time, so he normally eats raw vegetables and meat in order to sustain himself.”

Yuzuki was horrified. She understood that people could be busy or that they had different diets, but it seemed such a waste to just eat unprepared food. And did they just casually mention raw meat?!

For a split second her knees felt like giving out. Never in all of her years had she heard of such an atrocity. To not eat something hot and freshly prepared…this was an injustice. Especially to the ingredients themselves – they were meant to be eaten, sure, but to Yuzuki she believed food needed cooks and chefs to bring out their highest potential so that the people who ate them not only nourished their bodies, but their very souls!

“I’m going to need your kitchen,” she said firmly, surprising Azura and Crim.

“Huh?!”

“What?”

“But what about the magic measuring device?”

Yuzuki shook her head. “That can wait,” she said. “I want to go to the kitchen first!”