"Monica has passed out. Together, we can just barely use Flesh Magic to keep her stable, but we can't deal with the Pollution." A blonde Banshee spoke up. "And even if she wakes, that might not be a good thing. In the Abyssal Trench, an entire monster carrying Pollution crashed straight into her. I saw it enter her body with my own eyes..."
As she spoke, sorrow crept across her face.
"Perhaps when she wakes, she won't be Monica anymore."
"Does your people have any records of this kind of Pollution?"
The Banshees shook their heads together. They had connected with one another and searched through their collective records, but found no clues at all.
Perhaps the Banshee Kingdom of many years ago had relevant texts, but those had long since been lost. All they had now were scraps of information passed down by word of mouth.
This was indeed troublesome. Theus had no solution for the moment. After thinking it over, he asked, "How long can you keep her stable?"
"At most, three days." Ash glanced at the Banshees. "I'm the only one here who can move freely. The others all have to maintain their Flesh Magic to withstand the lack of pressure."
Fortunately, Monica was the only one injured. The Banshees could just barely spare a little magic to help keep her stable while maintaining their own Flesh Magic. But that had trapped them here, leaving them unable to move.
"And you..."
"Lady Ash has exhausted her magic." The blonde Banshee stepped forward and spoke. "Alone, she maintained Monica's Flesh Magic deep in the Abyssal Trench, then fought off many monsters before leading us here, where we could cast spells in a stable environment."
"She won't be able to use even a trace of magic for the next week."
"Ash, you've done more than enough. Get some rest for now. I'll find a way to handle things from here," Theus said gravely.
The other Banshees had to maintain their Flesh Magic, while Ash had driven off all the Polluted monsters and successfully led the others out of the Abyssal Trench. It was nothing short of a miracle.
After all, when the Banshees had entered the Abyssal Trench, they'd had to charge in and self-destruct one by one just to fight their way through.
Strangely enough, the Banshees hadn't been stopped by the Fishmen on their last few trips to and from the Abyssal Trench. Perhaps something had happened to the Fishmen, too.
Suddenly, Theus's vision went dark again, and a wave of dizziness washed over him. The blonde Banshee hurriedly grabbed him with four of her free hands.
"My lord?!"
"My lord!"
"Are you all right?"
"What happened?"
Theus shook his head until he felt better. He looked at Ash and saw her shaking her head, too. It seemed she'd also been briefly dazed.
Noticing Theus's concerned gaze, Ash looked even more apologetic. "I'm sorry. I... was feeling a little weak, so I drew on your life force through the Pact..."
Theus rubbed his temples. It felt awful, as if he had a fever. His head throbbed constantly, and weakness clung to him.
"It's fine. It's nothing serious. Get some rest. I'll go get you some supplies..."
Theus returned to his study alone. After thinking for a moment, he rang a bell on his desk. Footsteps soon sounded outside.
"Lord Theus?"
"Send Connor over... just him. I have something I'd like to discuss with him."
Connor arrived quickly. The meticulous old butler always gave Theus the impression that he could be summoned at a moment's notice. The manor had plenty of tasks for him to arrange and oversee, yet he handled them all with ease and was still able to appear at Theus's side whenever needed.
Professional, elegant, and utterly loyal.
He was the perfect embodiment of everything Theus imagined a butler should be—or, rather, the stereotype he had in mind.
Connor soon entered the study. Theus gestured for him to lock the door, then began talking with his butler.
"Pollution from beneath the sea?" Connor thought it over seriously, then shook his head. "I haven't heard of anything like that. Have you run into trouble?"
"I have." Theus nodded. He decided it was time to tell Connor about the Banshees.
It had been one thing while they were still in the Abyssal Trench, but now that they had come here, there were many matters that would need Connor's help as the butler.
Besides, Connor had been his butler since he was a child and was one of the few people he could truly trust. Alexei was busy managing his territory, so it made sense to have Connor help with the Banshees.
Theus gave Connor a rough account of the Banshees' origins, leaving out some details. The usually composed old butler's eyes widened. He staggered a few steps and sank into the armchair opposite Theus. It took several deep breaths before he calmed down.
"So you have gained the loyalty of this foreign race?"
"Yes. They're so eager to serve me, even though I've already told them I'm no god." Theus spread his hands.
"Incredible. Simply incredible..." Old Connor took off his monocle and tremulously wiped it with a handkerchief. "I've only ever heard of such things in legends. Foreign races... they really do exist..."
"Are there no similar stories in the Church?" Theus asked curiously. He didn't know much about Connor, only that he'd spent some time adventuring in his youth. Theus had wanted to learn more about that, but Connor seemed even more astonished than he was.
"No. At least, I've never heard of any. I don't know much about the Church. The Candlelight Society hasn't been very active in spreading its faith these past few years. There are only scattered rumors of foreign races among sailors, but..."
He shook his head.
"Most of them are contradictory, riddled with errors."
Sailors? Theus did remember that Connor had spent some time as one when he was young, but...
"Did you never see any Fishmen out at sea?"
Connor looked at Theus intently, his expression hesitant.
"It's not that I've never heard of them..."
"Apparently, there used to be quite a few foreign races in the sea, but over time, they all gradually disappeared."
"They all disappeared?"
Theus furrowed his brow. Something must have happened in the sea, and perhaps it was connected to this Pollution.
"I'm planning to ask the Candlelight Society about it. What do you think?"
Connor seemed to want to say something, but held back.
"When I went there last time, I already tested the Church's attitude. Sister Chloe didn't seem to have much prejudice against foreign races. I'd planned to win her over gradually and see if she could become our ally, but now it seems we may not have enough time."
"I'm thinking of privately inviting Ms. Chloe to the manor... We got along fairly well the last time we met, so I hope things go smoothly again."
"What about Priest Kaeschi?"
"He'll respect Sister Chloe's opinion." Connor didn't know that Priest Kaeschi wasn't human, and Theus had no intention of telling him everything. The matter of the Symbiotic Pact was too important to reveal.
"What if Ms. Chloe isn't willing to go along with your plans?" Connor asked with a frown. "You want to seek help, but that could expose... a lot."
Asking about Pollution from the sea would at least let Chloe know that Theus had some connection to it.
That was indeed a serious problem.
"I want to know the Candlelight Society's usual attitude toward this sort of thing. Or, to put it another way... are they the sort who poke their noses into other people's business?" Theus looked at the old butler as he spoke.
Poke their noses into other people's business? The Candlelight Society?
"No. They almost never interfere in worldly affairs, so you can rest easy about that. They're astonishingly tight-lipped, though the drawback is that they rarely answer a lord's request for help."
"You mean they'll refuse to investigate the Pollution for me?"
"They'll handle the problem in their own way." Connor paused. "I once heard the duke say that the Candlelight Society has a group of people known as Investigators. They're the ones who go out on their own to seek strange occurrences and investigate the truth."
"But they don't make their findings public. That's typical of the Candlelight Society. When lords run into problems they can't solve, they ask the Candlelight Society for help, wait for its Investigators to arrive, and then the problem always gets resolved. But..."
"But no one knows what happened in between, right?"
"You're very clever, Lord Theus."
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