Chapter 15&16

Chapter 15: Nephren Learns Cooking

A week passed quickly.

During this week, nothing particularly special happened.

The borders of the Floating Continent Archipelago had been unusually calm, with no signs of the Sixth Beast appearing, allowing the Golden Spirits to enjoy a relatively long vacation.

Tohka Yatogami also took this opportunity to get along well with the Golden Spirits living here, becoming good friends with whom she could talk about anything.

While this is a fortunate thing, being on this desolate border island for too long is not a good thing either.

In the pavilion outside the mansion, Ithea was lying on the table, looking bored.

"Hey, Nephren, let's go out and play," Ithea said listlessly, "If I keep feeling this bored, I might go crazy."

"I don't have time," Nephren said expressionlessly, not even looking up from the cookbook in her hands. "If you're bored, why don't you go help Nygglatho with some chores?"

"Do you think I'm a maid spirit? Of course I'll try to avoid that kind of thing as much as possible!"

"Nygglatho will be disappointed if she hears that."

"No, if she hears that, she'll just give me more chores."

"You still say that, knowing it's true?"

"She's not here right now, is she?" Ithea glanced around warily to make sure Nygglatho was nowhere in sight, then slumped back on the table.

In the past, she actually quite enjoyed these leisurely days.

In the life of a Golden Spirit, most of the time is spent either on the battlefield or in the Fairy Warehouse.

If Ithea had to choose, she still prefers staying in the Fairy Warehouse.

After all, here she can play and live without worries with her friends, not having to worry about dying from the Sixth Beast.

But since Willem and Tohka joined the Fourth Fairy Warehouse, her life here has become increasingly boring.

The relationship between Willem and Chtholly is becoming more and more ambiguous, not only the adults, but even the other children can see the atmosphere between them.

Don't they ever consider the feelings of the other single Golden Spirits!

During this relaxing period without military recruitment, Chtholly's life is much richer than the others. Even though it's a free period, she's anything but free.

Aside from regular training, she's always following Nygglatho to learn bridal skills.

Sewing clothes, learning to cook, cleaning the house...

She's so busy she can barely keep up.

Although Ithea directly accuses Chtholly of being blinded by love and forgetting their friendship, she's actually quite envious.

But alas, there's only one Willem, and she doesn't want to compete with her good friend for a man.

As for Nephren?

Ithea raised her eyes and looked at Nephren, who was studying a new recipe, and sighed deeply.

"It's understandable for Chtholly to learn cooking and such for her bridal training." Ithea said, "But why are you joining the fray too? It's not like there's a man for you to cook for."

It's strange, really.

Nephren, who used to only be interested in reading books, suddenly developed an interest in cooking.

Whenever Nygglatho was teaching Chtholly cooking, she would also join in and learn, even more seriously than Chtholly, often taking notes while looking at the cookbook.

Not only does she join in the fray, but she's also researching recipes in the library during her free time, spending a whole day there.

At this point, apart from Ithea, the other two adult Golden Spirits have completely diverged from her.

Previously, they would often play and chat together, killing time together.

But now, Chtholly has a little boyfriend, and Nephren has a new hobby.

Only Ithea is left with nothing to do, so she can only go play with Tohka.

"Hey, don't bother learning cooking anymore, let's go tease the cubs in the brown bear den on the east side instead?"

"Refused."

"Then how about sneaking to the other floating islands to play?"

"No."

"Nothing works, what do you want to do then?"

"Learn cooking."

"Damn it..." Ithea rolled her dead fish eyes, "Leave the cooking to Nygglatho, you learning so much cooking has no one who wants to eat it."

"Who said no one wants to eat it?"

"Eh? Really?" Ithea straightened up, staring at Nephren with a disbelieving and slightly excited gaze.

"You... don't tell me... you..." Ithea covered her mouth, asking with a hint of unease and excitement, "You're not planning to compete with Chtholly for a man, are you? I misjudged you, Nephren!"

Nephren finally closed the cookbook in her hand and turned her head, quietly staring at Ithea.

"I was just joking, just joking." Ithea shrank her neck and said hesitantly, "I know you wouldn't do that."

Hearing this, Nephren opened the cookbook again and continued studying.

However, the inconsiderate Ithea did not give up on the conversation, and brazenly continued to ask, "If not Willem, then who else? Don't tell me it's me?"

"Last time I cooked for you, you spat it out after taking one bite, didn't you?"

"Haha, that's because it was really inedible."

"That's true."

"It's not that I want to discourage you, but you really don't have any cooking talent, you know? If there's someone who would be willing to eat your food, it would only be Tohka." Ithea laughed heartily, "Tohka not only has a big appetite, but she likes to eat everything. Nygglatho even said we'll need to order more supplies from the merchant's guild next month, otherwise everyone will starve."

"..."

"Wait a minute." As if realizing something, Ithea's expression became a bit strange, "Don't tell me you're really cooking for Tohka?"

"Do you have any objections?"

"So it's really for her! I didn't notice at all! When did you two get so close? Usually you two are just doing your own thing!" Ithea exclaimed in shock, grabbing her own hair.

"I just occasionally make her a late-night snack."

"Guh!" Ithea said resentfully, "You're secretly courting the newcomer behind my back, and I thought our three adult Golden Spirit trio had the best relationship with Tohka! That's not fair!"

These past few days, Chtholly and Nephren have been doing their own things and no longer playing with her, so she's been clinging to the newcomer Tohka.

Normally, it's always her and Tohka playing together, she hasn't seen Nephren and Tohka talk much, so she thought she had the best progress with the newcomer.

But unexpectedly, Nephren moved faster, directly catering to Tohka's preferences and learning to cook.

"Oh no, at this rate, I won't be Tohka's most beloved senior in her heart anymore."

"I'm not trying to compete with you for the position of Tohka's most beloved senior," Nephren said indifferently. "If you want to learn cooking, the recipes are right here, you can learn anytime."

"Uh, well..." Ithea twisted her mouth and backed down, "Never mind, last time I cooked, I almost set the kitchen on fire, Nygglatho has already banned me from the kitchen."

"Speaking of which, you're usually playing with Tohka at this time, what happened today?"

"Tohka seems to be in the library with Willem, looking for some information, she doesn't have time to play with me."

"What information are they looking for?"

"Who knows." Ithea lay down again, lazily saying, "The library, I'll never step foot in there in my life."

Chapter 16: When Talent Blooms

In the library.

The library of the Fourth Fairy Warehouse is not a very popular place.

After all, Nygglatho is busy taking care of the children, washing clothes, cooking, and doing chores all day long, and the other underage Golden Spirits are not particularly interested in reading.

Among the adult Golden Spirits, only Nephren occasionally comes to the library to find something to read.

But since Willem's arrival, the lights in the library have almost never been turned off.

There is a lot of information about the Golden Spirits here, and it is only natural to want to understand the race you are caring for if you want to be a competent administrator.

In the library chairs, Willem was looking at the materials in his hand, seemingly as serious as usual.

However, today his gaze would occasionally glance towards Tohka Yatogami in the distance.

As for this person appearing here, Willem was actually not that surprised.

Although she doesn't really look like the type to come to the library, after being accepted into the Fourth Fairy Warehouse, she would occasionally follow Willem to learn about various things related to the Golden Spirits.

This is a good thing.

Willem didn't have any objections to this.

However...

"Can she really read it?"

As a human from five hundred years ago, when Willem woke up from petrification, he couldn't understand what the people around him were saying at all.

Five hundred years is enough time for a language to undergo huge changes.

Especially in an era where humans have perished and beastmen have taken over.

If it weren't for the [Language Conversion] talisman, he wouldn't be able to master the language and writing of this world even now.

As for Tohka Yatogami?

In his mind, Tohka Yatogami is somewhat related to the Demon King race, and with her memory loss, how much common sense she still has is an unknown.

After a week of interaction, Willem has gained some understanding of her.

In some ways, she's even less common-sensical than Willem, from the skill of starting a fire to the division of races.

But in some ways, she's surprisingly more sensible than anyone else, like when she saw Chtholly and him holding hands, she would just cover her face and pretend she didn't see anything.

Although she can understand what others are saying, whether she can recognize the characters is another matter.

In this world, there are many beastmen who can only hear and speak, but not write and read.

However, she's been here for several days, so she should be able to read the text, right?

If language and writing are part of Tohka Yatogami's common sense, does that mean she has already lived in this world for a while before her amnesia?

While Willem was frantically speculating, Tohka Yatogami was still diligently supplementing information about the Golden Spirits.

But if she knew what Willem was thinking right now, she would probably think he was overthinking it.

The reason she can communicate with the inhabitants of this world and read the text is not because she has lived in this world before, but because the system has provided her with this convenience.

Whenever she arrives in a new world, the system will automatically allow her to master the local writing and language.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to communicate smoothly in the previous world.

"Willem, have you read this book before?" Tohka Yatogami suddenly turned her head, startling Willem and making him quickly avert his gaze.

But realizing she was asking him a question, Willem had to look in her direction again, appearing very guilty and suspicious.

"Ahem, let me take a look."

Willem coughed a couple of times and looked at the book in her hand.

It was an old book, titled "The Growth Records of the Golden Spirits". As the title suggests, it recorded the growth of a normal Golden Spirit, as well as some basic knowledge about this race.

"I haven't read this one yet," Willem said, "Do you have any questions?"

"Yes, I'm still at the part about the juvenile stage, and there's one thing I just can't figure out."

"Perhaps I can explain it, what's your question?"

"It says here that among the Golden Spirits, some juveniles will experience 'Omen Dreams' during their growth, which means dreaming of places they've never been to before, talking to people they've never met, or doing things they've never done before." Tohka Yatogami said, "This is also called personality disintegration, which is the initial stage of past life intrusion, and also an important moment for the 'blooming of talent' in Golden Spirits."

Hearing this information he had never heard of before, Willem immediately fell into deep thought.

"Blooming of talent, what does that mean?"

"The book says that not every Golden Spirit has the ability to use relict weapons, only after the blooming of talent, that is, after having the Omen Dream, can they gain the qualification to use relict weapons." Tohka Yatogami continued to explain.

"I see, I thought every Golden Spirit could use relict weapons, looks like I misunderstood." Willem nodded slightly, "But what's your question?"

"You see, there are more than ten juvenile Golden Spirits in the Fourth Fairy Warehouse, but only five adult Golden Spirits, right?"

"That's right."

"So that means, the talent of some Golden Spirits doesn't bloom, right?"

As Tohka Yatogami raised one question after another, Willem's brow gradually furrowed.

He keenly sensed something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly was wrong.

So he straightened up his sitting posture and listened attentively to what Tohka Yatogami was saying.

This person, although lacking in common sense, can sometimes look at problems from a strange angle.

And those are often the issues that normal people tend to overlook.

This time might be the same.

"Chtholly should have told you, in her current generation of Golden Spirits, there are no casualties among her peers so far, which means in her generation, only Chtholly, Ithea, Nephren, and two others have had their talents bloom."

Tohka Yatogami scratched her head in distress and asked puzzledly, "Then, where were the Golden Spirits whose talents didn't bloom sent to?"

At this, Willem's brow couldn't help but furrow.

A sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

Yes, what happens to the Golden Spirits whose talents didn't bloom?

As this question emerged in his mind, the joyful mood he had been in from being with Chtholly disappeared completely.

Replaced by the huge fear brought by the cruel reality.

Looking at Tohka Yatogami's pure gaze, he swallowed hard, not knowing how to answer.

The Golden Spirits are used as weapons.

That's why this floating island is called a Fairy Warehouse, not a Fairy Village.

Whether it's Chtholly, Ithea, or Nephren, they are weapons used by the military to fight the Sixth Beast.

Then, what about the unqualified weapons, how are they supposed to be handled?

"I'm sorry, Tohka, I don't know the answer to that question either."

He put down the materials in his hand, his gaze darkening to the point of being frightening.

"So now I need to go find out."