All alone, Subaru and Emilia rode the elevator down to the Shelf.
"You know, Mili," Subaru grumbled, looking up at the guards who all stood waiting, high above them. "I was actually thinking when I made this offer that we'd have some backup. Not that the guards would just kick back and watch."
"I think that we need to drastically revise our expectations for this place, Subaru."
The elevator landed on the Shelf.
Subaru quickly scanned the area. Most of the slaves were off hiding in whatever shelter they could find while the biggest and strongest of the slaves appeared to be standing on the ridge that led down to the desert with crude clubs in hand.
Subaru and Emilia raced over to them.
"What's the situation?" Subaru asked, looking out over the ridge.
Below them were four giants, slowly climbing up the soft sandy ridge. They each dragged a crude axe behind them and used one hand to help them climb. The largest Iotun was almost a third bigger than the rest. It had a scraggly gray beard and it hung back behind the others.
"Lord Subaru!" A huge man with a scar across his eye boomed.
Subaru blinked. "How did you-"
A man with one leg coughed. "We're… acquaintances of Miss Felt and Master Garf," Xiao explained. "She pointed you out to us the other day. My name is Xiao and this is Baagh."
Subaru nodded. "Alright, this is my wife, Emilia," Subaru said. "We're here to try and help. What are we dealing with?"
Baagh snorted. "Finally, some courage! Not like Captain Smite and his lapdogs who sit in safety and watch us get eaten!"
Those giants are getting closer, Subaru thought.
"What can you tell me about these monsters?" Subaru asked.
"They're giants," Baagh said laconically. "They hit hard and they can take a lot of punishment before they go down. Any questions?"
"We've laid down tripwires along the slope," Xiao broke in. "It's one of our standard defenses. But these days, they don't work very well. The Iotuns keep finding and breaking the wires in advance so they never have a chance to trip over them."
Subaru took a deep breath. "Alright, listen. I have a special ability to frighten mabeasts that I'm going to use. You all should fall back and protect the noncombatants in case any of them get past us."
"What?!" Baagh exploded. "But-"
"Sound advice," Xiao cut him off. "Thank you, Lord Subaru. And we wish you luck," He said as the slaves retreated, Xiao literally having to shove Baagh away from the edge.
Subaru and Emilia looked down at the advancing giants. Their huge jaws were agape, drooling hungrily and their single glowing eye burned red.
"Subaru, are you going to use it?" Emilia whispered.
Subaru shook his head. "I want an audience for this," He whispered back. "Remember, we're not just trying to protect the slaves right now. We're trying to demonstrate to Sonas and the mercenaries that we're not people that you want to mess with. I'm going to let them all reach the top before I trigger it."
"No," Emilia said flatly. "Use it when the first two reach the Shelf! It'll be safer since they won't all get so close. We don't need all four of them to be visible to make our point."
Subaru glowered at her and then nodded reluctantly.
Why is she always telling me what to do? I know what I 'm doing!
The ground shook as the monsters drew closer.
Emilia and Subaru saw the lead Iotuns ' ugly faces appearing over the ridge. Their faces were human to an extent but their noses looked as if they'd been sliced in half. Their lower jaws protruded out and a forest of massive broken teeth jutted up their cheeks. A pair of large elephantine tusks descended from the sides of their heads. Their hair was thin and sparse. The monsters were dressed in crude furs and even from a distance, the giants stank of rot.
The lead two Iotuns reached the pinnacle and put their feet down on the Shelf. They straightened up and gave a great roar.
The other Iotuns continued climbing and were almost at the summit.
"Subaru!" Emilia whispered.
Subaru closed his eyes and took a deep breath. " Pridebreaker! " He shouted.
Subaru felt the power surge out of him like a breaking wave and wash over the monsters.
The Iotuns all roared in pain and staggered a step back, even dropping their axes to clutch at their heads with both hands.
The monsters all stood there a moment, whimpering and panting for breath.
Then their eyes narrowed at Subaru.
"Oh, shit," Subaru whispered.
The two leading Iotuns grabbed their axes and swung them at Subaru and Emilia.
Emilia leaped away as the axe clove the ground. She pointed at the Iotun 's ugly face and blasted a stream of ice that froze across both its eyes.
The blinded Iotun dropped its axe to claw at its face.
The other Iotun swung its axe at Subaru, slashing it across the ground like a hockey stick.
The axe-head was just a massive boulder, bound to a tree trunk with tar and leather but the boulder 's edge came to a hard point that could easily pierce or crush whatever it hit.
In desperation, Subaru triggered Indomitable and charged through the boulder.
The stone shattered into thousands of pieces but Subaru didn 't stop. He threw himself at the giant's shin, its ankle bone clearly outlined beneath the loose, saggy gray skin. Subaru punched the ankle, shattering the bone to pieces.
The Iotun screamed, a shockingly human sound of agony. The monster toppled over and fell, rolling slowly down the ridge, its wails echoing off the desert.
The other Iotun was still blinded and it was staggering around the edge, desperately trying to free its eyes.
The Iotun took one step too close to the ridge and it fell, rolling down the sandy incline.
Twenty seconds till Indomitable!
The third Iotun started to climb over the ridge.
There came a thunderous sound that sounded like a mix between barking and yowling.
The third Iotun paused and looked back at the largest Iotun, the one with the scraggly beard.
The elder Iotun made a gesture for the Iotun to come back, punctuated by another bark.
The Iotun growled but it started to slink back down the cliff.
The third Iotun passed the elder who stood there, unmoving.
The elder Iotun glared at Subaru for a long time, its single eye blazing with hate and then it too turned and slunk back down the ridge.
At the ridge bottom, the blinded Iotun had managed to scrape the ice off its face but now its face was badly bleeding from its own claws as it got to its feet.
The oldest Iotun barked an order and then it slunk off toward the Jimuna Volcano. The other two Iotuns followed, ignoring the wails of the crippled Iotun at their feet.
"I guess we should have thought of this," Emilia whispered. "Your power didn't work on the Snow Blight either."
"Yeah," Subaru sighed. "But I'm worried that we have a bigger problem now."
"What do you mean? We drove off the Iotuns, we showed our power to Sonas, and we didn't even have to fight them all."
"Yeah, that's what I mean," Subaru grumbled. "According to Bran, the theory was that the Iotuns didn't realize that with the days shrinking, they had enough nighttime to raid the Shelf without getting caught out by the sun. They always thought that it was a suicide mission. But now, if those Iotuns get back under cover in time…"
Emilia 's eyes widened. "They'll realize they can make it up here any night that they want."
Subaru nodded. "That big one in the back. He was the one giving orders. He was watching us to see what we would do. I'm starting to worry that the Iotuns are a whole lot smarter than people think."
Subaru and Emilia were heroes on the Shelf. The slaves literally carried them back to the elevator and cheered as they returned to the upper city.
"Magnificent!" Baagh had declared. "You two are worthy of standing beside any of the Vollachian legions with which I've ever served!"
"Thank you," Subaru said with a faint smile.
By the time they returned to the upper city, it was nearly dawn or whatever 'dawn' now meant in this darkened town.
Subaru and Emilia were both exhausted and desperately wanted to go to bed but Bran had immediately intercepted them and told them that Governor Sonas wished to speak with them.
Understanding that this was not actually a request, Subaru and Emilia joined Bran in a carriage that took them up to the palace.
"You both performed exceptionally," Sonas murmured, eating a bread stick. "We're exceedingly grateful."
This time, Subaru and Emilia were not meeting the governor on the palace roof but inside of a stately dining room and Sonas had gone out of his way to offer them both food.
This is a sign that Sonas appreciates the shifting balance of power now.
So at least that stunt on the Shelf did us some good.
"Tell me, are you making preparations for your first ascent?" Sonas inquired.
Subaru sighed. "Our crew arrived late last night. When they wake up, we'll send them out to survey likely launching sites and then plan on making our first ascent the following morning."
The reality is that Mili and I just desperately need to get some sleep before we try flying a goddamn hot-air balloon but Sonas doesn 't need to know that.
"I very much look forward to it," Sonas murmured. "This will be quite the spectacle."
"Hopefully," Subaru nodded. "Also, there was one thing that I wanted to discuss. I'm interested in purchasing a few of your slaves before we head home."
Sonas 's eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch. "If you actually do turn off that beam, I will give you your bounty as well as the slaves you ask for with my compliments. "
"Wonderful. Like I said, we'll try our ascent first thing tomorrow morning," Subaru said.
After a few more polite pleasantries, Sonas dismissed the pair and they returned to Miss Rose 's.
Fortunately, none of the others were in their room at the time and Subaru and Emilia crashed into bed without bothering to get undressed.
They were asleep immediately.
Subaru and Emilia slept until mid-afternoon. In Girali, this was to say that they didn 't see the sun at all that day.
They woke up and had dinner with the others.
"Great news, Mister Subaru," Otto said cheerfully. "I managed to buy some extra pyroxene with the money that you paid us for the balloon!"
Subaru frowned. "That's… good?" He said vaguely.
"Master Ebenezer wasn't able to secure the full payload for our customer that the contract required. That meant that he was just going to be hammered by penalties due to being in breach of contract. But I searched the whole city and I managed to find some more pyroxene and I bought it! That's enough to satisfy the contract so that means no penalties and that means that I'm going to get a big bonus!"
"Awesome!" Subaru said with a sickly grin.
Geez. I hope his luck holds out. It sounds like everything is going great right now and it would take a serious blow of bad luck to screw things up.
Then again, it seems like Otto does have an amazing store of bad luck …
"So tomorrow we're going to try to launch?" Felt asked.
Subaru nodded. "That's the plan."
"Where are we launching from?" Emilia asked.
Subaru shrugged. "Honestly, there hasn't been much wind out in the area since we arrived. We'll pick a direction based on what direction we see the clouds moving tomorrow and just have to hope for the best."
"Subaru, I think I'm going to spend an hour in the bath," Emilia said after dinner.
Subaru nodded. "OK. I'll go second. I feel like we're likely to be short on baths for a few days."
Emilia walked off and Subaru absently wandered out the back of the inn and into a small yard that ran up against the edge of the cliff. The yard was partially cultivated with grass and flowers but as one got closer to the cliff edge, it became a small field of dirt and rocks.
A glint of light at the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned and saw a small, flying ball of dull orange light, no bigger than a marble.
That 's a lesser spirit, right?
On an impulse, Subaru activated his Authority, " Pridebreaker, " He whispered, feeling the power surge out of him.
The tiny spirit trembled and then shot toward Subaru as if attracted by a magnet.
The little ball of orange light flew around his head in small, lazy circles and Subaru heard a tiny voice, proclaiming over and over again: "I love you!" in desperate, rapturous tones.
This little guy is an earth spirit. No clue how I know that. But I 'm absolutely certain of it. It's like trying to describe a color or a texture. It's not something that you can explain, it's just something that you know…
Maybe this is an opportunity to try to make better use of Pridebreaker. I usually use it in emergency circumstances and so far I 've only used it to 'depower' my enemies but the ability to control spirits could have enormous potential. Beatrice and Puck can command powerful magic and even though this guy has to be much weaker than them, being able to grab a dozen spirits at a time and to use their magic could be an enormous advantage.
But how do I do that?
Subaru frowned at the tiny ball of light that flew in dazzling circles around his head, proclaiming its undying love.
It sounds like a kid looking for some parental attention …
Well, let 's start with something simple.
"Spirit," Subaru said, trying to make his instructions simple and clear, "Move that rock!" He said, pointing at a small stone about the size of his fist.
The spirit 's proclamations of love trailed off.
I can feel its confusion. It wants to help but it … it doesn't understand what I want it to do…
OK, let 's try to break this down a little finer.
"OK," Subaru said encouragingly. "We want to move this rock," He said slowly. Subaru picked up the small stone and then dropped it onto the dirt where it made a tiny puff of dust.
The spirit watched Subaru closely but if anything, its confusion seemed to only increase.
Subaru frowned. "OK. So… just watch me. Move. The. Rock," He said, picking up the stone and giving it a gentle toss to a location a few feet away.
The spirit drifted far enough away from Subaru to closely inspect the rock but it quickly returned to him.
The spirit 's emotions were becoming unstable, its ecstatic love for Subaru was becoming mixed with a sharp fear that Subaru would grow bored with it or become angry because the spirit couldn't grasp what he was saying and that fear was steadily edging into panic.
"Calm down!" Subaru said sharply. "It's OK. It's no big deal!"
Subaru sensed the spirit 's emotions slowly begin to quiet.
"No reason to get so stressed out, little guy. Just do what I did, OK? Move the rock. Try to put it back to where I picked it up from."
The spirit listened with fervent intensity to Subaru 's instructions but as he finished talking the spirit seemed to analyze the concepts and be unable to comprehend them.
Subaru sighed. "This might be harder than I thought."
More than an hour later, Subaru struggled to master his irritation.
I can 't lose my temper. That won't help anything. The last time I actually shouted at the poor spirit, it completely freaked out and just started to do random stuff in the hopes that one of those things was what I wanted it to do!
It started tossing dirt and stones all over the place even reshaping the ground from flat and crumbly to a miniature stone mountain.
That trick might be really useful if only I could get the spirit to use it when I 'm asking it to.
I tried getting it to repeat any one of the tricks that it did a second time but there 's kind of some weird miscommunication going on here. It just doesn't understand what I'm doing!
The only thing I 'm having any luck with is making 'waves' in the dirt. Don't ask me why but the spirit seems to understand what I want when I try sending a wave of force through the dirt.
Not that that 's useful for much. It wouldn't even make an effective weapon.
I suppose I might be able to use it to plow fields at some point …
"Look," Subaru said in a tired voice. "Let's try again. Just move that rock," He said.
"It is not that simple," A voice murmured.
Subaru snapped around and found Alpha standing at the inn 's rear entrance, her face expressionless and her staff in hand.
"Hello, Alpha," Subaru murmured, wondering how he would explain this situation. "What can I do for you?"
Alpha looked up at the tiny spirit with interest. "I did not know that you were so talented at Spirit Arts, Lord Subaru," She said. "The bond that this little spirit feels for you is most impressive."
Subaru coughed. "Yeah. I figured that I'd take advantage of that to try and practice some spirit magic but it isn't working out very well."
"How so?" She asked.
Subaru took a deep breath. "I can't even get this little guy to move a rock when I ask him to! He can do it. I 've seen him do it." Subaru's frustration was creeping into his voice. "But every time that I try to ask him to do it, he keeps acting like he doesn't understand what I'm talking about!"
Alpha stared at him impassively for a long time. "It is not that simple, Lord Subaru. The spirits do not view this world the same way as we mortals do."
Subaru gave Alpha a weary glance, "I… think that it should still be able to recognize a rock!"
Alpha reached down and picked up the stone that Subaru had been practicing with.
"Tell me, Lord Subaru, what is a rock?"
"Huh?"
"How did you explain to that spirit what you mean by 'rock?'"
"Explain it?!" Subaru asked incredulously. "What do you mean 'explain it?!' It's an earth spirit! All that it knows is dirt and rocks!"
Alpha turned the stone over and over again in her hands. "Lord Subaru, imagine that we are sitting in a small boat in a vast, deep sea."
This must be Alpha 's 'teaching' mode.
"Alright," He sighed.
"Now I point to a part of the sea and say 'Move that water,'"
Subaru frowned. "…Alright," He said slowly.
"What water would you move?" She asked. "What water would you think that I was referring to? I could have been referring to the water immediately under my finger or the water a mile below it. It's all the same, a homogeneous pool of water with random minerals and other adulterants dissolved in it.
"Was I referring to the water with an excess amount of sodium dissolved in it or perhaps the water with less sodium? How much volume was I referring to?
"And even if you did know what water I was requesting you to move, what would be your response to such an irrational request? The sea is a vast undifferentiated plane of water! The water which you moved is broadly indistinguishable from the water that will immediately flow back and replace it. Would you follow my instructions without question or would you immediately pause and try to comprehend what motivated me to make such a lunatic request?"
Subaru stared at her in confusion.
Alpha slowly walked through the yard. "To a spirit of earth, this landscape is a vast plane of undifferentiated earth," Alpha leaned her staff against an old stump.
She reached down and picked up a lump of hard clay so that she held a rock in one hand and the clay in another. "To a spirit of earth, these two objects are both nothing more than clusters of earth. Random assortments of minerals and trace elements.
"The spirit runs its fingers across these forms and it senses the age of the earth, the origins of the stone, and its strength.
"Was the stone born from fire or from the water slowly pressing it together? Mortals define one of these as 'rock' and the other as 'dirt' because a mortal can move a rock as a solid object and we can not easily break apart a rock."
Ryuzu crumbled the clod of clay in her fingers. "But a spirit of earth can move or crumble both of these objects with trivial effort and so, it does not understand the distinction between this bit of earth and that bit of earth which you are attempting to draw.
"A lesser spirit can not speak your language, Lord Subaru. You must learn to speak theirs. You clearly understand how to speak to spirits and how to earn their friendship and request their assistance. But until you understand how to convey your wishes to the spirits in terms that they can understand, you will never truly gain the spirits as an ally."
Subaru digested that.
Alpha picked up her staff. "I would suggest you not stay out here much later. As you said, we will have a full day tomorrow."
Alpha turned and walked away without a backward glance.
Subaru stood alone out in the small field. He glanced at the tiny spirit which was still protesting its boundless love for Subaru and its determination that it was certain it would be able to help if he would just give it one more chance.
Subaru sighed and canceled Pridebreaker.
The little spirit trembled as if suddenly awakened from a dream. The connection between them was fading but Subaru knew that the spirit now saw him as a dangerous monster and the tiny spirit dashed away from him as fast and as far as it could.
Subaru gave a ponderous sigh and looked up at the stars.
Subaru and Emilia woke up the next morning.
"Alright, you ready to try to fly?" Subaru said.
"No," Emilia said honestly. "But let's do it anyway."
Subaru chuckled. "Maybe we can go find some more Sashimi for lunch before we take off."
"Subaru," Emilia muttered. "I think I have to be honest. Sashimi just isn't one of my preferred meals."
Subaru chuckled. "Fair enough. Frankly, I doubt we'll be in any position to have it again for a long time after we leave here."
"Subaru," Emilia began, looking out from the balcony. "Do you think that maybe we should come back and live here?"
Subaru 's eyes opened wide. " Here ?! " He asked incredulously.
"Oh. No, not here. Not Girali," Emilia quickly amended. "I meant Kararagi. People are… much more accommodating to me than I ever expected. If I was walking through a marketplace in Lagunica without my hood up or without everyone knowing that I was a royal candidate, I'd probably have touched off a riot. Here… nobody cares."
Subaru nodded. "It is… pretty nice here. Ignoring the slaves , " Subaru said, his voice trailing off in a growl.
"Yes but I've heard that several cities in Kararagi outlaw slavery," Emilia reminded him. "We could investigate finding a place to live in one of those cities after we recover the spirits."
Subaru thought about it. "I don't have an issue with that. But I thought that you wanted to go back to the forest."
Emilia sighed. "I do," She admitted. "But I worry that we can't. Especially after we break my curse. Too many people know that's where I came from. We can't just… disappear there."
Subaru looked uncomfortable. "Yeah but once we break your curse, we won't have to disappear, right? " Subaru said uncertainly. "We can just find a place to live and ignore the rest of the world."
Emilia gave him a half smile. "Subaru, even you don 't sound like you believe what you're saying."
Subaru hesitated. "Why do you think we can't just go back to the forest and disappear?" Subaru asked, ignoring her comment.
Emilia sighed. "It has to do with something that Anri told me before we left Siros. She told me that you've changed the world in just a matter of weeks. You might be one of the most powerful and influential people in the world right now. And people will either be afraid of you or try to use you. Either way, it's not very likely that the world would be willing to just leave us alone."
Subaru made a face. "I forget if I already told you this but Korë made a similar comment."
"What do you mean?"
"I told her that I wasn't interested in her bargain because as soon as we broke the curse, we were just going to disappear and have a quiet life. Korë told me that almost every witch tried that approach at one point or another. She said it never worked. She told me that having… this kind of power," Subaru grumbled, "Made me a magnet for people who wanted to use that power."
Emilia nodded. "I think that she might have a point."
Subaru snorted. "Yeah? Well, I'm not so sure that I believe her," He said pugnaciously.
Emilia cocked her head. "Why not?"
"Like I said, she told me this to try to convince me to make a deal with her. She's not exactly an impartial observer on our situation. She might be exaggerating the problem to convince me to work with her."
Emilia sighed. "She's certainly not impartial but I don't think that she was lying about this. And I'm certain that Anri wasn 't."
Subaru looked out the window for a long moment. "So… that means the forest is out?"
Emilia nodded her head, "Probably."
Subaru sighed. "Well, then we need to keep our eyes open in Kararagi," Subaru mused. "We'll need to find a place where we want to settle down. Someplace isolated where we won't attract too much attention."
There was a knock at the door.
Subaru walked over and opened it, finding Bran on the other side.
"Master Subaru," He said. "I wanted you to know that Governor Sonas has informed all of his guards of your activities and they are to inform and even restrain the mercenaries if needed."
Subaru nodded. "Super. We're going to make our first attempt this morning. Please advise Sonas that even if we reach the island, we'll probably need to spend a few days exploring it and looking for ways to deal with the beam before heading back."
Bran nodded. "I will pass that along. I wish you both luck in your efforts, Master Subaru. I've been instructed to watch your lift-off in the event of you requiring assistance. Please come and inform me when you plan to launch."
Bran walked away and Subaru closed the door.
Subaru sighed. "I hate that we're now invested in the beam," He said.
"What do you mean?"
"We need Sonas to be in a gracious mood so that he'll take the collars off Felt and Garfiel. I have no idea what's producing that beam. No idea how I could possibly stop it. I doubt that it will be as simple as finding a gigantic on/off switch on the island."
Emilia shrugged. "We'll have to do the best we can," She said simply.
Subaru nodded. "Well, no time like the present. There's no wind out there and the clouds are barely moving. I figure we'll launch from just outside the city and see how that goes."
Emilia looked pained. "Subaru, I'm kind of worried about this plan," She admitted.
"I am too," He replied. "I'm suddenly wondering if I'm afraid of heights."
"Have you ever never been afraid of heights before?"
"No. But I've never been thousands of feet in the air with nothing between me and the ground but a wicker basket!"
The first actual light of morning found Emilia, Subaru, Otto, and the Ryuzus standing just outside of Girali on the desert floor. Otto and the Ryuzus were carefully removing the balloon from the wagon.
Garfiel and Felt wanted to come see them off but Subaru had forbidden it.
"No," He said flatly. "I don't want Bran and Sonas to know about you if they don't already. I don't trust Sonas and I don't want him coming up with any clever ways to get more leverage over me. You two keep your heads down until I get back.
"Oh, wait. Let me give you some money."
"It's OK, boss," Felt chirped. She held up a bag of gold.
Subaru stared at it. "Where did you get that?"
"You gave it to me," Felt said. "This is the money you gave me for working for you!"
Subaru got a sickly look on his face. "Seems like I owe you quite a few paychecks now that I think about it."
"It's OK. We all know that you're good for it," Felt chuckled.
"Wait a second. How did you hide that when you got arrested?" Subaru asked.
"Hidden pocket," Felt said. "You think that this is the first time that I've gotten arrested?"
With Subaru, Emilia, Otto, and the Ryuzus all working together, the assembly went surprisingly quickly, even with Subaru testing every component as they went along.
He didn 't want to risk any clumsy construction on Otto's part failing when they were a thousand feet in the air.
However, the work all appeared to be solid. The wicker basket was thick and durable and the thick heavy ropes that connected the basket to the balloon overhead looked strong and Otto had assured him that all components had been treated in a special oil devised by Alpha to make them flame resistant.
Finally, Subaru and Emilia climbed into the basket under the deflated balloon. They 'd poured a handful of fire-stones, tiny mana crystals like blue marbles that burned long and hot, onto the small brazier that hung above the basket and Emilia had flicked a flame off her finger to ignite them.
"OK, now there's nothing to do now but wait," Subaru said as Otto and the Ryuzus watched from a safe distance. He saw that up on the cliffs Bran was watching with a group of guards. It appeared that even several residents of the city had come out to see what was going on.
"Do you really think it'll take us a lot of tries to reach the island?" Emilia asked.
"Well, I'm cautiously optimistic," Subaru admitted. "Whichever direction the island is floating in is the same direction that we should be floating in. In theory, anyway. As long as we can get above the island in a timely fashion I think we'll be OK."
He looked up at the very slowly inflating balloon. As the balloon inflated, more and more people gathered on the cliffs up in the city, watching with interest. Bran wandered around the crowd, mixing and mingling and answering questions.
"Subaru," Emilia murmured. "What next? I mean, assuming that we do get the Book, what do we do with it?"
Subaru sighed. "I honestly have no idea," He admitted. "We're supposed to deliver it to the Od Laguna. I keep forgetting to ask the Ryuzus if they have any idea where to find it."
Emilia shook her head. "I have no idea how we could gain access to the World Soul. Or even if we'd permitted to. You'd have to assume that any place where you can access the soul of the world would be heavily guarded."
"I don't know," Subaru said. "But Korë promised that she'd come and tell us where we needed to go after we got the Book."
Emilia 's face darkened. "That suggests that she's watching us," She murmured.
Subaru nodded. "I had the very same thought. Unpleasant, huh?"
Emilia thought for a moment. "Do you think that she's following us?"
"No idea," Subaru replied. "Remember, she's a witch. She might not need to be anywhere near us to watch us."
"She says that she's a witch at least," Emilia pointed out. "All of the other witches were supposed to be devoured by the Witch of Envy. We have nothing but her word to the contrary."
Subaru frowned and nodded. "That's a fair point," He said ruefully. "What I meant was that, if she is a witch, she could be following us by just checking her Gospel periodically to monitor our progress. Alternatively, she could be sitting behind those hills over there," Subaru pointed to the Crimson Hills off in the distance, "Watching our every move."
Emilia opened her mouth to reply but just then, the basket shook. Emilia looked down in amazement as the basket slowly drifted off the ground.
"Ha ha!" Otto cheered as Delta jumped up and down, clapping her hands. "It works!"
"Good luck!" Delta shouted.
"Lord Subaru," Alpha said in a wooden voice. "Please take careful notes of what you find. My sisters and I are most anxious to learn more of the Lady's private island."
Emilia waved back as they floated into the air.
"What in the world is going on here?" A woman in a Lagunican officer's uniform demanded, racing over to the site followed by a full company of mercenaries.
Subaru turned his face away from her to ensure that he wouldn 't be recognized, even by accident. Emilia pulled her hood up.
Bran abruptly stepped into her path, blocking her from getting any closer to the balloon. "Good morning, Colonel Brasca," He said pleasantly.
"What is going on here?" She demanded. "The General demands answers!"
"This is nothing that the General needs to concern himself with," Bran answered in a mollifying tone.
"The General will decide for himself what he does and does not need to concern himself with!"
"Of course," Bran said without missing a beat. "You are familiar with the flying island above our heads, I trust?"
Brasca gave the balloon a worried look. "The Witch's island?! What about it?!"
"Governor Sonas has issued a bounty to anyone who manages to reach the island and attempt to deactivate the beam that causes the curse which is now afflicting our lands. These strangers arrived in town to attempt this and the Governor has wished them well."
"Without the General's permission?!" Brasca exclaimed.
"Does the Governor require the General's permission?" Bran said sounding honestly confused. "After all, wouldn't the curse being lifted be in the best interests of everyone? You could all finally go home."
Brasca didn 't reply right away. "The island is reputed to be the home of a Witch!" Brasca snapped, switching tactics.
"A witch that has been dead for four centuries?" Bran reminded her.
Brasca glared at him. "Anyone who goes up there will most certainly be placed under a curse, Bran! I can assure you that General Brendig will wish to personally inspect anyone who returns from there!"
"Will he?" Bran asked mildly. "I'll be sure to inform Governor Sonas of this fact."
Brasca snapped an answer but whatever it was, Subaru couldn 't make it out from this distance.
Subaru studied the receding ground with a sinking feeling in his stomach.