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Salt and Spirits
“You want us to do what?” Subaru raised his voice in confusion.
“Like I said earlier we need to obtain some salt, we've been running low on salt ever since you burned down the mansion.” Roswaal smiled at Subaru with a wide and creepy smile. “So each one of you is going to have to look for salt.”
“Why do you need salt anyway? Are you planning to use it on a spell or something?”
“Don't be silly, everyone knows that salt is the worst catalyst to use in rituals and spells.” Roswaal replied to his silly question. “I need salt so we can recover some funds.”
“I don't understand.”
“Salt is one of the most valuable ingredients in the entire world.” Otto appeared from the hallway and began to explain the importance of salt. “Despite being a terrible catalyst for magic it's mainly used for medicine among other things.”
“That's correct, thanks for your assistance otto.” Roswaal made a small nod
“So as I was saying, I need all of you to go to this lake and obtain a good amount of salt as soon as possible.”
“I need to pay some debts of mine.”
“I didn't know one of the most famous mages around here is in debt.” Otto let out a small laugh. “Have you tried selling lessons?”
“Don't be ridiculous. No mage should ever fall that low.” Roswaal took out a small map and gave it to him.
“Just go and get the salt already.”
Roswaal took something from his desk and gave it to Subaru. It was a small leather bag containing six familiar looking crystals.
“Those are…!”
“Indeed, those are magic stones the same kind used to keep away the ma beasts from villages. Since I expect all of you to encounter some ma beasts at some point while traveling.”
“Wait what?”
Without warning Roswaal launched a wind spell at everyone, kicking everyone out of the mansion.
“I expect all of you to return before the sun goes down.” Roswaal gave everyone a wide smile and walked away.
A few minutes later…
“Okay by looking at this map, I'm sure that it would take us at least 2hrs to get there.” Otto held the map, trying to find a better route. “The only fastest path would be going through the mabeast nest.”
“Are you sure there's no other way around?”
“Unfortunately no, the second fastest path is pretty harsh terrain covered in weeds and mud.”
“Gimme that.” Betty took the map from his hands and drew a line on it. “Here, we can take this route between here and here, we avoid both routes without wasting time.”
“Yeah that could work, good job Betty” Subaru gently petted Beatrice in the head.
“Hmph” Betty throwed the map back at Otto with a prideful smile. She enjoyed being praised by others.
“Okay now then how are we going to do this? One person carries the salt while the other one recollects it?”
“I would like to be one carrying it.” Otto let out a concerned laugh. “I'm used to carrying stuff .”
“Let me guess you fell into the lake as a kid?” Frederica let out a small laugh. “This lake isn't that deep, I have been there before and the only thing you should worry about is getting a sunburn.”
“No it's not that.”
“Then what happened?” Frederica and Ram listened to him with curiosity. What could have caused such fear and anxiety to him to the point of preferring to carry salt over picking it up?
“10 years ago, my father and I were traveling together near the tigracy river when out of nowhere my father jumped out of the carriage and headed to the lake.”
“I asked my father what he was doing and he said.”
“Im thirsty .”
“So I went down with him and headed to the lake to take a look. He then took out a water can, filled it with water and launched a fire spell at it!.”
“He was purifying the water with that spell, did your father forget to teach you about one of the most important lessons in survival?” Ram interrupted his story.
“I didn't know back then! I was just a child.” Otto took a deep breath and continued with his story. “Anyways I was curious so I decided to ask what he was doing.”
“Heh, I'm just getting something to drink from the lake, why don't you try to get something to eat in the meantime?”
“Go and fetch me a bucket, i'll teach you how to get some food.”
“So I went back to the carriage and did what he told me to do.”
“Good job, now follow my steps okay? Take this piece of meat and hold it until you feel something.”
“So I did as instructed and waited and waited… until I felt something in my feet, I looked down and saw the biggest fish I have ever seen in my life!”
“Then my father grabbed a knife and stabbed it in the head!”
“So you are afraid of getting devoured by a fish? Ram and Frederica tried to contain their laughter.
“It 's not funny! I could have died!”
“You know fish can't swallow living prey larger than themselves right?” Betty took out a book from the desk. “The only aquatic predator capable of swallowing a person whole is a piraha, a kind of mabeast found near the great waterfall.”
“It looks like this.”
Beatrice showed the book to Otto, it was a drawing of a large fish like a mabeast with a wide mouth covered with sharp looking teeth swallowing a group of fish as if it was nothing.
“I think I would rather carry the salt.” Otto couldn't imagine finding that thing in the lake at night, if he were to encounter something like that he would rather die by his own hand rather than being devoured by a mabeast like that
“How dull.” Ram couldn't believe that Otto was afraid of fish.
“Anyways changing the topic a little, how are we going to do this?” Subaru raised his voice. “We don't have all day.”
“Barasu, I'll go with Ms Frederica to the northeast side of the lake. You and Miss Beatrice go to the northwest side of the lake.”
“Otto and Garfiel will go southeast.”
“Sounds good to me.” Otto sounded more calm knowing that he wouldnt be nearby the lake.
“I'll wake up Garfiel and prepare something to eat before heading out.”
“Betty, are you sure this is the right way?” Subaru looked outside the cabin and saw multiple eyes staring at them in the dark. “We have been traveling in this forest for hours now.”
“Are you sure this is the right way betty?”
“I assure you this is the right path, contractor.” Beatrice replied to his question with a confident smile.”
“Once we cross a small mountain, the forest will clear itself and we will reach our destination in less than ten minutes.”
“Um excuse me miss beatrice but i can't see the small mountain that you mentioned.” Otto turned his attention to her. “And I feel like we are being watched.”
“He is right, I used my Clairvoyance earlier, there's something watching us from the woods.” Ram agreed with his statement.
“The crystals won't last forever without a constant flow of mana. We need to hurry up before they run out of energy.”
The silence from the group was deafening, the stares from the forest kept growing and growing endlessly, sooner or later they would be exposed to the danger of the forest if they didn't do anything.
“Barusu, if the crystals run out of energy, I want you to distract the mabeast far away from the carriage.”
“Huh why me?”
“Because that's what you did the last time. When the village was attacked you were the one who managed to distract the mabeasts so others could escape.”
“But this time garfiel will follow you to make sure you don't end up doing something reckless.”
“Dont worry capt, we’ll beat ‘m to dirt together!”
“Thank you garfiel but i think it would be better for everyone if we didn't spent energy and time fighting them.”
“Wait a second, I think I see a light ahead of us!” Otto announced the good news.
The foliage cleared itself revealing a wide clear sparking crystal lagoon in the middle.
“Wait a second this isn't the tigracy river!” Ram pointed out at the lagoon. “The river should have been hours away!”
“Hmph, Because this isn't the tigracy river, this is a hidden lagoon i discovered while i was looking at the map a few weeks ago.”
“What?!” Everyone remained in shock, unable to believe that they just saved themselves from hours of work.
“No need to thank me.” Beatrice looked away, expecting people to rush and thank her for effort in finding the lake.
“Barasu, we need to start to work now.”
“Understood.”
“Wait wha?” Beatrice couldn't believe what she just heard, did they forget to thank her?
“I'll go to the northeast side of the lagoon, you and Beatrice to the southeast side, Garfiel and Otto to the northwest.” Ram took a few vases from the carriage and gave them to them. “We'll meet each other in two hours from now.”
“Now go before it gets dark.”
“Hey Betty, can you please pass me the purifier?” Subaru extended his hand expecting to receive it but Betty did not respond. “Betty?”
“Hmph!” She refused to take a look at him.
“Can't you see that I'm busy right now.”
Subaru decided to let her be, after all she was probably struggling with the machine. So he should focus on his task first.
“Alright then, I'll get it myself.”
“Hmph!”
A few minutes later…
“I think that should be enough, I'm going to put this in the carriage, I'll be back later.”
“Hmph!”
“I wonder why she is acting like this, does she have a similar thing like puck? No, that's probably not the case, she would have told us about it.”
“Or maybe it's something about our contract? She told me that our contract was a mess, maybe I forgot to hold her hand again?”
“Yeah that must be the problem.”
Subaru finished unloading the salt in the carriage and went back to the lagoon.
“Im back!”
“Oh there you are.” Her voice expressed disappointment. “While you were gone I managed to obtain a bit of salt and when I was looking for some more I found a large concentration of salt in the middle of the lake.”
“Can you ask garfiel to retrieve it once we are done here? I'm kinda tired of doing it myself.”
“I thought spirits didn't get tired.”
“Oh sure, no problem, i'll ask garfiel.” Subaru gently petted Beatrice in the head. “You can take a break, I'll take care of everything.”
And without hesitation Beatrice headed back to the carriage to rest. While Subaru continued with his task.
“Huff this is going to take a while.”
“ I should ask garfiel to come here and retrieve the salt before it gets dark. I don't know how long these magic stones are going to last and I'm unable to charge them.”
Subaru looked at the center of the lagoon, It wasn't that deep and the water looked pretty good. Maybe he could invite Emilia to a date here.
“No, there's barely anything around here and I don't think she knows how to swim and I don't think she is in the mood to do anything after losing Puck.”
“Yeah, maybe I should invite her to….”
A sudden gasp of wind interrupts his thought.
“Oh right, I forgot, I need to get some salt.”
Without hesitation he took off his shirt and shoes and jumped into the lagoon.
“Huh it's pretty warm and salty. Reminds me of when I visited the dead sea a couple of years ago.”
Subaru began to collect everything he could, sand, salt lumps, rocks, etc. His pile of salt continued its growth from a small lump to a size of wheel.
After ten successful travels between the shore and the center, Subaru found himself lying right next to the shore, his legs could barely move anymore, his back hurt like hell and his entire body was covered in salt and sand.
“I think I'm going to take a nap.”
Subaru closed his eyes and let the darkness take him into a nice and well deserved sleep.
Meanwhile at the carriage…
“Yo! yer capt spirit, what ‘re doin’ here?” Garfiel emptied the salt in the carriage and looked at Beatrice with curiosity. “Aren’ you supposed to be workin’ with capt?
“Oh it's you, yes I'll be there in a second.”
“Then hurry up we don't have all day.”
“Alright, fine I'll be there in a minute.”
Beatrice headed back to the lagoon, expecting to find Subaru still working but there was just a small issue, he wasn't there. Maybe he went with Otto and Garfiel? No, she clearly saw garfiel on her way back to the lagoon and he didn't mention him.
Something was wrong.
Without hesitation she turned to face the middle of the lake, the salt lumps she saw earlier were gone and certain familiar footsteps led directly to the middle of the lake.
A familiar feeling rose deep within her mind as she made her conclusion.
It was “ Desperation ”
“Subaru!” She yelled at the top of her lungs but to no avail, there was no one there.
“Where are you?!” Yet the silence continued on.
“Help!” But her cries reached nobody, she was alone like always.
She began to search the entire area from top to bottom, she saw everyone else doing their tasks but there was no sign of him. The only thing keeping her from a total breakdown was their connection, without it.
She would wait forever in the remains of a burned library with a book that no longer exists.
Eventually she finds her beloved contractor. Unconscious right next to the shore. He jumped into the lagoon and sacrificed himself for nothing more than a piece of salt.
“Subaru…?” She approached the body of what was once that person . “Don't do this to me…”
“You promised me that we would be together forever, that you would hold my hand.
But there was no reply.
“I don't want to be alone, not anymore.”
She hesitated to approach his body, It smelled like salt and dirt mixed together, it was a horrible smell but she had no choice, she needed to do this.
“Wake up…”
No response.
“I said wake up!” without hesitation she closed her fists and punched him in the gut.
“Ah! What the hell was that betty?” Subaru woke up in pain.
“You're alive…”
“Yeah why wouldn't I? I was just taking a nap.”
“But how?! I saw your footsteps, you went right to the middle of the lake!” Her emotions ran wild. “How are you still alive?!”
“I swim to shore?”
“It wasn't that bad, the water is pretty nice and not that deep, anyone should be able to swim around here without too much trouble.”
“Are you insane, you could have died!”
“A mabeast could have easily ripped you to shreds and devoured you in an instant!”
“I brought the crystal with me just in case but the water is too salty for anything to live around here you know?”
“You still scared me to death!” Betty hit the ground, running the improvised sand/salt castle that he built.
“You should have warned me! How was I supposed to know that you were going to do such a reckless thing!”
“But i'm fine, i got most of the salt ready and…”
“Shut up! How dare you make me feel like this.”
“Beatrice…”
“You didn't reply to my questions and i…” Tears began to roll down her face.
“I thought you were dead, that you abandoned me just like my mother did all those centuries ago.”
“I don't want to be alone ever again, so don't you dare to break our promise.”
“Jeez, I know Beatrice, I promised you that I would take your hand everyday and that i wouldn't abandon you right?” Subaru raised his hand. “So let's enjoy our time together.”
“Subaru!!!” She took his hand and began to cry even more, the mere thought of losing him devastated her.
“There, there, everything is fine, there's nothing to worry about, I'm perfectly fine, see?.”
“Now lets pack this up and go back home alright?”
“Got it!” Beatrice wiped out her tears. “But you do it.”
“Huh Why me?”
“Because you made me cry and that's a broken promise in our contract.”
“ Sigh… Fine I'll do it but I need you to help me out a little i can't do everything myself!” Subaru complained and tried to negotiate.
“How about if I do half of the salt and you do the other rest!” Subaru suggested a deal to no avail.
“Hmph!”
“Fine… Let's talk about this in the carriage, I don't want to go through that forest at night.”
“Dammit all!”
Meanwhile.
“Roswaal, I need to talk to you.” Emilia burst through the door.
“Oh if it isn't the royal candidate emilia-sama.” Roswaal stopped what he was doing and focused his attention on her. “What is it?
“I plan on reducing the limitations on your spell.”
“Go on.”
“But with one condition! I want you to heal Subaru’s gate!”
“I'm afraid that is impossible.” Roswaal took his book from his desk and continued to read. “The only way to fully heal a gate would be to obtain dragon blood or to find a better healer greater even than you.”
“And I doubt that a healer with the capacity to heal something like a gate or limbs exists in this world.”
“You are lying.” Emilia pointed her finger at him. “I know your family prides itself with the knowledge that they gained from echidna.”
“And when i met echidna for the first time, she mentioned that the sanctuary trails were nothing more than an echo of your own memories and thoughts.”
“But! Echidna was an expert in magic, her teachings were passed down to your family generations ago. If echidna was capable of creating such a large scale spell that lasted centuries, how do i know that she didn't have a spell capable of fully healing someone.”
“Healing someone would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience to her.”
“So I ask you once again. Do you know of a spell capable of healing him?” Emilia stared at him directly, waiting for an answer.
“I'm afraid I do not know of a spell capable of producing such a feat but maybe that spirit of his knows and if she knows then all you need to do is find a caster capable of replicating it.”
“Very well, then I'll find someone after I become queen.”
“You know that obsesion of yours with him truly fascinates me, makes me wonder what you are going to do after he perishes.” Roswal let out a small smile before being electrocuted by the curse in his chest.
“You were thinking about doing something to us again, weren't you?” Emilia became frustrated just by thinking about what he did to them before.
“I'm afraid you are correct.”
“I apologize for my behavior miss emilia, ill try harder from now.”
Knock, Knock!
Knock!
“Hello, are we interrupting something?” Subaru and co entered the room.
“No, please come in!” Emilia mood suddenly changed
“Okay cool. Now look at what we got.” Subaru and co placed twelve huge bags of salt on the table.
“Beatrice managed to find a lagoon nearby so we didn't go to the river. I apologize for not doing what you wanted, master roswaal.” Ram bowed at him. “but we got the salt without any complications.”
“Very well with this I should be able to regain a part of my wealth.” Roswal inspected the bags, it was more than he anticipated so he wasn't going to complain.
“Ejem. Our wealth.” Emilia let out a creepy smile.
“But…!” A painful familiar feeling rose from his chest. “Very well, this salt will be used to fund our camp.”
“Thank you. Now who wants to eat something. While all of you were busy harvesting salt, I learned a few recipes from a book I found in the library.”
Emilia left the room in a quick motion.
“I'll be back in a second.”
A few seconds later…
“Here we go.” Emilia placed a large metal bowl on the table and opened it. The smell is unbearable, an indescribable odor fills the room.
“This is my gift for all of you.” Emilia gave everyone a warm comforting smile. “After a long day of work it's important to rest and sleep well.”
Everyone wanted to vomit, the dish that she made was disgusting to look at, feathers and half cooked pieces of flesh rested on the surface of this horrible dish.
“I think i'll pass for now, i gotta take a shower.” Subaru took Beatrice's hand and walked away from the room as fast as he could.
“I need to finish an important task that master roswaal gave to me.” Ram took a random book from the desk and walked away.
“Sorry but I need to help Ram with this.” Frederica followed her footsteps.
“I have to deal with some important business with some merchants.” Otto bowed at her and left the room.
“I'll stay with otto, if i let him alone he may get beaten up again.” Garfiel tapped into his demi human potential and reinforced his legs and sprinted out of the room.
“Oh well I guess it's only you and me roswaal.” Emilia took out a wooden plate and served some of her mysterious dish to him. “I know you are not busy today, so please enjoy the food.”
Roswaal tried to stand up and walk away but a sudden electric shock emerged from his chest stopping his escape.
“Very well…”
Author notes:
Sorry for the delay but goddammit this took an eternity to write. I was supposed to release this on christmas but due to my family dragging me to malls and forcing me to be a maid to clear some AirBNBs.
So yeah sorry for taking so long.
Unfunny facts:
Did you know that salt and spices in the past were super expensive to get? People would often venture into a dangerous journey or jobs to get them. But now you can obtain salt and spices at different prices at your local supermarket.