Carrying the Fallen — Haruki

Nya, I’ve been walking for forever…

It’s really exhausting using only two legs. I mean, why would humans walk on their legs when they can use their hands as well? It’s so much easier that way.

I slaughtered some monsters who were blocking my way. In Kingdom de Fleuve, I bought myself a new staff to store the transformation orb. It’s proved to be more useful than what I initially thought, but for the price, I guess you can say it’s slightly underperforming.

“It sure looks pretty though, with this lantern on top.” I fiddled with the dangling ornaments, muttering to myself. It reminds me of Kazemura. The festivals, the villagers, and most importantly—

The food!

My stomach grumbled loudly at the thought of eating. I haven’t eaten in days. I really miss Himari’s cooking. Thinking of it, I wonder where she is right now. Maybe I can get her to prepare some udon for me after this! Hehe, my mouth is watering already!

Suddenly, a foreboding sensation crept up my skin.

The road ahead was emitting an ominous, dark atmosphere. However, it was magnetic, drawing me in to investigate. As they say, curiosity kills the cat.

I peeked ahead and saw a beautiful field of white flowers. In the middle of the garden was a circle of crimson spider lilies, with a lady lying unconscious.

“Madame Meilin?”

I rushed ahead to check on her. I pressed my fingers to her pulse point.

She has a pulse.

“Phew, she’s just asleep.” But looking at the unusual choice of flower arrangements, it seemed unlikely she just accidentally ‘fell asleep’.

Her staff was beside her, with visible cracks. That staff originally belonged to Madame Cecilia. It was specially commissioned and extraordinarily sturdy. The fact that it had been damaged tells me something had gone terribly wrong.

Madame Meilin was clutching a spider lily tightly, but her breathing was steady.

“Have you been attempting difficult spells again?” I sighed, wrapping a blanket over her cold body.

“I don’t wanna die.” She mumbled.

I stayed silent, gently taking the spider lily from her fingers. I know…I know.

Back when Madame Cecilia first informed me about Madame Meilin, she had told me this:

“The girl refused to return home when given the chance to.” Madame Cecilia was intrigued by Meilin, who had turned down the opportunity to be revived. “I mean, I’ve seen people who didn’t appreciate their previous lives, but a girl so young? Never. She had so much potential ahead of her, and wasted it just like that.”

“I’m sure she has her own reasons, nya.” Madame Cecilia had brought me to a cafe in Kazemura. The people around us are all giving us strange looks, thinking that a crazy lady is talking to a cat.

“Yes, so that’s why I dug into Meilin’s past on Earth. And my,” She sipped a cup of coffee leisurely, “That poor young girl. Apparently, her parents had divorced, she was facing immense stress from school, along with the bullying, and her best friend had just died. I believe the death was the last straw.”

“Divorce? You mean separating after marriage?”

“Yes, sometimes that word makes me thankful that Elysium's marriage rates are so low. Only because of that, most couples stay together until the end. And the thing is, her best friend was the one behind the bullying.”

“No way…” Why would a friend do such a malicious thing?

“Yeah, her best friend spreads real nasty rumours about her, and she isn’t even aware. Meilin thinks her best friend is her only ally, that poor, poor girl.” Madame Cecilia took out a letter, “That’s why I decided to send a letter to my witch friend. Hopefully, she'll be able to help Meilin. You should take good care of her, too, Haruki.”

I can’t help but feel relieved.

I’m not sure who Madame Cecilia’s witch friend was, but she sure helped a lot.

From a girl who wanted death to one who wished for life.

That’s a significant change, if you ask me. I'm proud of the person Meilin has grown into.

I heard footsteps coming from behind—a soft, almost fluttery one, accompanied by three heavier steps.

“Haruki!” A squeaky voice called out my name and rushed to greet me.

Phew, not monsters, luckily. “Himari, I’m glad you’re fine.”

“Hehe, I’m glad you’re okay too! And now we’re all reunited!” Behind her were Jianyun and Miss Yasmin. But the fourth person was not identified. I felt their presence, but couldn’t spot the person.

“What about Ms Yulan?”

A shadow of gloom was cast over the group until Jianyun decided to break the silence. “Unfortunately, she’s gone, Haruki.”

Ah. Ah?

Gone?

The sorrowful look in everybody’s eyes confirmed that he wasn’t lying. Ms Yulan was indeed no longer with us. Then this field of flowers…I understand now.

This is where she takes her eternal sleep.

That’s why there’s a field of white chrysanthemums. Meilin must’ve planted them. It wasn’t unusual to lose a party member during an adventure, but I never thought it’d be Yulan.

Meilin’s eyes twitched, and she mumbled something incoherent. “She’s resting right now, but she’s fine.” I said to the worried Himari, “You shouldn’t bother her right now. As for Miss Yasmin, you have some terrible wounds.”

“My hand got ripped off by a monster.” She chirped, as if it didn’t bother her at all. She says it like she lost a sock, nya!

“Unfortunately, Meilin wouldn’t be able to tend to your injury right now.” But Miss Yasmin’s wounds require immediate attention.

“Perhaps I can help?” With a soft flutter of wings, a figure with a veil flew into sight, the adornments on her cloak chiming. So that’s the fourth person. Oh? She’s a ghost. Explains why her steps were so light.

With swift movements, the ghost sewed Miss Yasmin’s hand back in place with ease. I then used a simple healing spell to help Miss Yasmin recover.

“Would you perhaps be a doctor in your past life?” The ghost was so skilled with her hands, and her face was oddly familiar, perhaps someone I had met on a past journey?

“No, I was a priestess, serving the goddess of purity.”

A priestess? From Arcana? This is just a hunch, but…”Would you perhaps know of Xavier the great?” Xavier was a travel companion of Madame Cecilia. He was originally a pirate, whom we only met because he had wanted to rob us. However, he fell head over heels for Madame Cecilia’s beauty and decided to accompany us instead. After the journey, he returned to Arkanashar and spent the rest of his life serving as a priest.

“You mean the priest who journeyed with the legendary witch? He’s my grandpa.”

G-grandpa…I almost choked from hearing that. That pirate actually became a grandpa. I can’t imagine it. I could practically hear him bragging to his grandkids about his ‘heroic’ adventures.

Meanwhile, Meilin's eyes fluttered open. She jolted awake and scanned around in panic.

“Meilin!” Himari attacked her with a warm hug. “Oh, I’m glad you’re alright. I'm so sorry for yelling at you.”

“Himari? Haruki? Everyone…” She clutched her chest and sighed with relief. "Oh, so it was a dream."

But it wasn’t a dream. From Meilin's state, I could already tell what had happened. But as long as she’s okay now, there’s no harm in hiding the truth.

The ghost, whose name I learned was Avicula, checked up on Meilin. “She is fine, no notable after effects, no injuries, and her mind is pure and clear.” That’s actually a rare occurrence. Most of the time, when corruption occurs, there’s no way to reverse the effects. Even if you manage to resist corruption, there will be everlasting effects on your daily life.

Jianyun’s gaze lingered on Meilin for a second longer than the others, as if weighing whether she was truly fine.

“Do you need to rest more?” Jianyun asked Meilin in concern—another sweet moment for the two of them. Ugh, sometimes I wish they’d kiss already. But Meilin can be really dense when it comes to romance. Nya…this is the type of romance story that’d take three seasons to hug finally.

After resting up, we prepared ourselves to look for the exit of this maze.

“That’s how Ms Yulan styles her hair,” I admired the hairstyle Himari had adopted. It was a high ponytail with a bun on top, just like how Yulan wore her hair. A hairpin with lotuses and hyacinths kept the hair in place. Wait…“Is that Ms Yulan’s hairpin?”

“Yes.” With the new hairstyle, Himari looked much more mature. “With this, it’ll feel like Yulan’s always with us. And hopefully, I’ll receive her strength and bravery along with it.”

“I’m sure you will.” I beamed. She looked adorable.

Meilin was flicking through the pages of a spellbook. “This one.” She pointed at a spell, which is said to have the ability to locate exits.

“A useful one, huh?” Avicula chirped, ruffling Meilin’s hair as if praising a child.

I handed over the damaged staff. Although cracked on the outside, the inner components remained intact. I could feel Meilin’s fingers trembling while receiving the staff. Poor girl, corruption must’ve been traumatizing. She took a deep breath and whispered:

“Unveil the egress.”

A ray of light shone from the staff on the path to the exit. Meilin led us forward, and the five of us followed closely behind. As we left the area, the white chrysanthemums swayed gently, as if bowing to the soul who would never rise again.

Finally!

We’re on our way to freedom!