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."
Chapter 17: The Golden Fairies Sent Away
Induction successful.
The moment Willem pushed the door open, the corner of the girl's mouth revealed a cunning smile that showed her plan was going through.
Although no one saw it, she quickly raised the book to cover her mouth to prevent her character from collapsing.
"It's really troublesome." The girl said in her heart, "I want to say something but because of the character setting, I can only lead step by step. Fortunately, Willem has experienced many ups and downs and was able to quickly understand what I want to express, otherwise the first step of the plan would not be carried out."
As the one with the lowest intelligence among the ten Spirit girls, "idiot" is the most appropriate word to describe Yatogami Tohka .
As the best representative of naivety, she would never think of any problem in a dark and cruel direction. However, the girl is not the real Yatogami Tohka , at most she is just acting.
Due to her personality, she cannot express her thoughts directly, and can only guide others to follow her own ideas step by step through induction. She needs a voice.
A voice that would allow her plans to get off the ground.
In the entire Fourth Fairy Warehouse, there is no better candidate than Willem.
If you want to complete the main quest and become the princess of the Golden Fairy, as well as the side quests and let the Golden Fairy get equal power with other races, the first thing to do is not to cover up the contradictions, but to provoke them.
Since the golden fairies were too naive, they did not understand the world and even knew very little about the truth behind the murder of their own race. It was impossible to instigate them to resist.
Therefore, in order to achieve her goal, the girl must first expose the contradictions that everyone has turned a blind eye to, and let the golden fairies face up to the unequal treatment their race has received.
The first issue that the girl chose to intensify the conflict was the "Talent Blooming" of the young golden fairy. It was an obvious issue, but no one mentioned it in the original work.
The same is true for Willem in the original work, but Willem in the original work was busy saving adult golden fairies and had no time to focus on the growth of young golden fairies.
A person's energy is limited, and there is nothing that can be done about it. So, the girl decided to give him a push.
As expected, with just a slight mention, the righteous soul of Willem, the former quasi-hero, was ignited again.
Seeing Willem start to act, she also put down the book in her hand and quickly followed him.
"Willem, where are you going?" Yatogami Tohka asked knowingly.
"Go find Nygglatho." Willem replied in a deep voice, "She has been here for a while, she must know something." In the mansion, they asked the children about Nygglatho whereabouts, and they soon came to her bedroom.
Willem knocked on the door, and Nygglatho voice soon came out.
"Come in."
As soon as I entered the door, I saw Nygglatho and Chtholly together.
Both of them were holding needles and thread and unfinished fabrics. It seemed that Chtholly was taking some time to follow Nygglatho in her bridal training.
"Nygglatho, I have something to ask you." Willem said straight to the point.
"It looks like a serious problem." Nygglatho noticed the seriousness in his tone,
"What happened?"
"I just noticed something, Chtholly, could you please go out for a moment?"
"oh..."
Originally, Chtholly wanted to ask what happened, but seeing Willem cold face, she walked out obediently, leaving Willem, Nygglatho, and Yatogami Tohka behind.
After the dormitory door was closed, Willem immediately asked, "How many golden fairies are there in the same class as Chtholly?"
"If I remember correctly, there are ten."
"How many golden fairies can bloom?"
"Five people, except for Chtholly and the others, there are two more people carrying out missions outside."
"So where are the remaining five people?"
Willem took a deep breath and asked,
"Where are the remaining five people whose talents have not blossomed?"
"What? So that's the problem."
Nygglatho smiled and replied in a relaxed tone: "Before leaving, the previous manager of the Chamber of Commerce said that the children whose talents have not blossomed will be taken away by the military and placed on the First Floating Island to live an ordinary life."
"The first floating island?" Willem frowned,
"The floating island where the great sage is? Isn't that a non-inhabited island?"
"The golden fairies can't live openly on other inhabited islands. After all, they are a secret race. This is the only arrangement."
"I see..."
After hearing Nygglatho answer, Willem expression looked better.
Yatogami Tohka behind him had also been listening, but did not easily believe this reason.
As one of the few people who knew the truth of the world, she instinctively rejected this seemingly happy excuse.
The Golden Fairy is a special race.
They were not born through traditional reproduction, but through the combination of necromancy and a substance called [Star God Fragments].
If the talents of the young golden fairies did not blossom, it was equivalent to not activating the Star God fragments in their bodies.
They were naturally unqualified weapons because they could not use magic and holy swords.
The number of Star God fragments is limited and can be reused.
Even if she used her toes to think, she could imagine what kind of ending those underage golden fairies who were sent away would face.
However, looking at Willem who seemed to believe this, she sighed helplessly in her heart.
Although he was a quasi-hero from five hundred years ago, his actual age was only eighteen years old. He was indeed too young. After struggling for a while, she decided to risk destroying her character and said, "Has anyone seen those children who were taken to the first floating island?"
"This..." Nygglatho hesitated for a moment,
"No, because the First Floating Island is a restricted area."
"So, have any of those children ever come back?"
"No..."
"This is really strange." Yatogami Tohka put on a curious expression, "This is the hometown of those children. They must have deep feelings for this place, but why didn't any of them come back?"
"Maybe, it's because this is also a restricted area." Nygglatho replied.
"This is a restricted area because the existence of the golden fairies is unknown to other races, but why can't even the golden fairies come back after leaving?" Willem expression became serious again.
"Nygglatho, you are a smart person, you must have wondered about the whereabouts of those golden fairies whose talents have not blossomed? Why did you still accept the military's explanation?"
Facing Willem questioning, Nygglatho put down the needle and thread and fabric in her hands. Her expression also dimmed slightly.
Just as Willem said, after she became the manager here and began to gradually understand everything about the golden fairy, she would occasionally have doubts about this set of rhetoric.
However, every time she thought of this question, she tried her best to distract her Spirit from it and not delve into it.
"Because that's all I can believe, Willem." Nygglatho bit her lip and lowered her eyes.
"Otherwise, next time I send away a child whose talent has not blossomed, how am I going to face it?"
Chapter 18 The Invisible Hand
This was the first time Willem saw the woman so vulnerable.
It was hard to believe that the berserker-like warlike cannibal in the scavenging team and the motherly-like manager in the fourth fairy warehouse would actually show such an expression.
Maybe she is not as strong as she looks.
Willem closed his eyes and remained silent, unwilling to continue asking questions. He seeks the truth but has no intention of hurting others.
When he opened his eyes again, he smiled and returned to his normal sSpirit.
"Yeah, the military can't possibly lie to us."
Willem changed the subject, completely losing his questioning attitude: "I think those children who were sent away must have lived a peaceful and stable life. They
don't have to fight on the battlefield. This is a good thing."
"I see…"
"That must be the case." Willem said seriously, "I'm sorry for asking you a strange question. Just pretend that this conversation never happened."
"Yeah." Nygglatho forced a smile.
Then Willem turned around, gave Yatogami Tohka a look, opened the door and left Nygglatho bedroom.
Chtholly, who was waiting outside against the wall, saw the two of them come out and noticed that Willem face looked much better. She couldn't help but smile: "Is the problem solved?"
"Ah, solved."
"That's great."
"I'm sorry to disturb you and Nygglatho studies."
"It's okay, it's not a big deal." Willem touched Chthollyhead,
"Go in quickly, don't keep Nygglatho waiting for too long."
"Okay."
Chtholly walked into the bedroom and continued her bride training.
After indirectly getting the information they wanted from Nygglatho, Willem and Yatogami Tohka set out on the road back to the library.
"Tohka, do you believe what the military says?" Willem suddenly asked as they walked.
"Well, the big lizard is a good guy, so I believe what he says."
"But the military is not full of officers like Graycrack . It is better to say that officers like Graycrack who care about the Golden Fairy are a minority.
" After saying goodbye to Nygglatho, the smile on Willem face disappeared. He bit his lips unwillingly and muttered to him Spirit"
"Damn it, if my strength is still there..."
If he could go back to his heyday five hundred years ago, he would have held a sword and questioned the military of the Floating Continent Islands.
However, he is now a useless man.
Five hundred years ago, in the battle with Lord Ebon Candle, he squeezed out every drop of his potential and almost lost his life.
Even though the petrification curse has been lifted now, the stubborn illness left behind cannot be cured.
His bones were broken and his internal organs were damaged.
Now, let alone using his magic power, it was difficult for him to even run like a normal person.
The feeling of being powerless made him feel unwilling and powerless from the bottom of his heart.
But he had no way to change the status quo.
I want to do something for the Golden Fairy, but I don't have the strength to do it.
"Power..."
As if he suddenly remembered something, he turned his head to look at the girl beside him. Yes, he really had no power.
But Yatogami Tohka does.
And he has a power that is not weaker than his heyday, or even stronger. If I could borrow this power...
Willem opened his mouth and wanted to say something.
"Tohka, you..."
He said half of his words, but the rest got stuck in his throat.
Just as he used white lies to comfort Nygglatho and decided not to involve her, he also didn't want to involve an unrelated person like Yatogami Tohka in his plan.
Seeing Willem hesitation, Yatogami Tohka showed a puzzled expression on the surface, but she felt helpless in her heart.
"This guy is so stupid." She sighed deeply in her heart. This guy was able to think of this step completely because of her guidance in secret.
At the same time, the girl also calculated that Willem was now seriously injured and his previous strength was only one hundredth of what it used to be.
If he wanted to make changes for the Golden Fairy, he had to get her support.
However, she didn't expect that even in this situation, Willem was still hesitating whether to involve her. She could only say that her acting skills in playing Yatogami Tohka really fooled Willem, making him think that she was a naive person who knew nothing.
Then, the girl could only push him again.
"Willem, even though I'm not a golden fairy, the people at the Fourth Fairy Warehouse still accepted me. They are all good people."
Yatogami Tohka said solemnly,
"If you want me to do something, as long as it is beneficial to the golden fairy, I will lend my power without hesitation."
"I see."
Seeing Yatogami Tohka determination, Willem nodded slowly and said gratefully: "I have some ideas at the moment, but I still know too little about the Golden Fairy race. In the next period of time, I will try to learn as much as possible about the Golden Fairy. If I really want to do something later, I will tell you."
"OK."
The seeds of resistance were finally planted.
Next, all you have to do is wait for it to sprout.
"Then I'll go play with Ithea and Nephren in a while. Be sure to come to me if you need anything."
After saying goodbye to Willem, Yatogami Tohka walked down the stairs.
Looking at the girl's departing back, Willem put down his waving hand.
"Although I'm an idiot, I have to thank her this time." Willem thought, "If Tohka hadn't mentioned the issue of talent blooming by chance, I would definitely not have noticed the situation faced by the golden fairies."
Thinking of this, Willem instinct made him stop suddenly. By chance?
Really, was it a coincidence?
Willem stroked his chin in deep thought as he watched Yatogami Tohka walk out of the mansion from the second-floor window and talk to Nephren and Itheain the front yard.
Thinking about it this way, there were too many coincidences about Yatogami Tohka .
I accidentally appeared in front of the fleet of the Second Division, accidentally was mistaken for a golden fairy, and accidentally was taken to the Fourth Fairy Warehouse...
Now, the situation faced by the golden fairies was mentioned to him by chance.
At the same time, the guess about the true identity of Yatogami Tohka , which he had never mentioned to anyone, came to his mind again.
The Demon King clan.
All the clues, real or fake, intertwined into a big web in Willem mind. The truth of the extinction of mankind, the reason for the appearance of the Seventeen Beasts, the relationship between the Great Sage and the military, the birth of the Golden Fairy, the appearance of Yatogami Tohka ...
The brave man's intuition was fully activated. He felt that he was deceived by the world and was entangled in a web called conspiracy, but he had no ability to break free.
At the same time, an invisible hand kept pushing him, forcing him to move forward step by step in this foggy world.
"What on earth was I thinking about? I actually started to suspect Tohka. If Chtholly knew about this, she would probably say that I was too suspicious." Willem shook his head and put his messy thoughts behind him.
Then, he took a step forward and walked into the library.
"It's no use thinking so much. Let's just be down-to-earth and solve the problem at hand."
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