Spirit Migration Chapter 21

The armor worn by the members of the Knights’ Order of the Grandahl’s army had anti-magic properties applied to it and also boosted the wearer’s physical ability slightly. Their weapons were also enchanted with various effects to fit the user’s fighting style. They were equipped very well, even compared to other countries. They have repelled invasions throughout history from the neighboring country of Na’Hatome, a country  proud of its military strength.

As the sun set, a giant cast a long shadow over a single platoon of the Knights’ Order in the imperial capital city Tortoluse’s magical research facility district. The armored giant was pulsating like a living creature. Next to it was an old man with a questionable air about him, grinning broadly. He swung the back of his lab coat around like a cape as he held his hand up.

「Now, show them your power!」(Andagi)

「Vooooh~」(Kou)

A deep growl came from the vocal cords of the armored giant and magical power gathered in its gauntlet-like hands. The growing ma.s.s of magical power flowed in a certain way and it began to weave its magical effect. Kou then aimed in the direction of the Knights’ Order platoon and released it.

The entire area was engulfed in an instantaneous flash of light., bathing the Knights’ Order platoon as well as the nearby Gawiik, Karen and Sarta, restoring all of their stamina.

「Wow, that’s really amazing.」

「I don’t feel tired anymore!」

「The way it focused its magical power can only be described as splendid.」

As he heard the knights’ voices of approval of this restoration magic, Professor Andagi shouted, his hands shaking.

「WROOOOOONG! I was imagining something shinier with a BOOM, do you know what I mean?!」(Andagi)

「Ugoh?」

Sarta tried her best to calm the shouting professor. The armored giant Kou tilted his head and produced letters of light across his chest, asking『What’s the matter?』

The professor had suggested that producing messages on paper every time Kou wanted to communicate might be bothersome, so Sarta had taught Kou a decorative magic which allowed him to produce letters of light in the air.

Incidentally, when Kou did this in just his spirit form letters of light simply appeared suspended in mid-air.

The restoration magic was something that Lef had taught him. It was a different, more basic magic than healing magic, being insufficient to repair injuries. However, he had weaved the spell’s formula well and it was reasonably effective.

They had finished the movement tests during the day and Kou had explained the mysterious teleportation of the composite body was him storing it in his other dimension. Upon hearing this explanation, the professor decided to find out the requirements for what could and could not be stored, saying that it would be help in finding out how the exactly this other dimension worked. They found that Kou was unable to store a living fish in the other dimension.

During this, the professor learned that Kou could use magic in a special way and taught him the decorative magic to smooth communications. Since the Knights’ Order was here, Kou had decided to test his magic ability from the possessed composite body, so he included them in the experiment.

And this led to a conflict in the professor.

「You don’t know what romance is, to not know even a single magical attack!」(Andagi)

「But it’d be bad to attack the Knights’ Order.」(Gawiik)

「It’s not a problem, these knights’ armor has anti-magic enchantments and whatnot, it would be okay to blow them around a little bit.」(Andagi)

Kou had confirmed the great power hidden in the composite body, so he was a little troubled by the professor’s complaints. Gawiik asked the professor what he was planning to do if Kou turned out to be dangerous, having given him such a powerful body so easily.

「Hmm? If Karen-chan is holding him, there is no way that he could be dangerous. Kuwakakakaka!」(Andagi)

The professor said that and laughed. Knowing that the professor knew his team members well, Gawiik also relaxed.

「Well, it is fine. Kou, from today, that body is yours.」(Andagi)

「Voruru~」“Thanks!”

「Anyhow, I shall make sure to go through the procedure to register you with the Adventurers' a.s.sociation. If I use my name, it will be done immediately.」(Andagi)

「Eh, register Kou?」(Gawiik)

Gawiik’s eyes opened wide in surprise. Even Sarta, who was used to the professor’s flexible, creative way of thinking, voiced her concerns. She could not understand why he was thinking to register Kou, an existence surrounded by incomprehensible mysteries, as an adventurer.

「He has come all this way with a firm sense of self. He is even aware that he was originally a human. Aren’t you?」(Andagi)

They did not know what exactly Kou really was, but decided that it would be convenient for him to have an ident.i.ty other than just his name,『Kou.』The professor fabricated a background for Kou to register him. According to this background, Kou was originally an adventurer who had lost his own real body while exploring a dungeon and had his consciousness transferred to this composite body.

「Now you can go and be an adventurer, or achieve things as a mercenary, and let the name of the magical technician Andagi roar out across the world!」(Andagi)

「Vovoooh~」“Me, and adventurer?”

Seeing the professor and his companions in discussion, the Knights’ Order members realized that the experiments were over and began to leave.

Meanwhile, Kou and Gawiik exchanged looks as they heard the professor’s unexpected suggestion. If Kou was registered at the Adventurers' a.s.sociation with this composite body, he would have a distinct body as his own ident.i.ty and would have his own place in this world.

Karen walked in front of Kou, looked up and him and asked.

「Are you okay with that?」(Karen)

She spoke in her usual tone of voice, but her words were serious. Everyone had a questioning look on their faces as Karen asked this question, but Kou could read the intention in her words and understood the meaning of her question. Shining letters appeared across the composition body’s chest.

“Yeah, I’ve been borrowing bodies up until now, and this body is one that’s been given to me, but it’s definitely... my body.”

「Okay, then I’ll call you Kou-chan from now on, alright?」(Karen)

Despite all of the affection that Karen had displayed towards Kou, she had never actually called him “Kou” a single time. This was a kind of rule that Karen had decided herself after a lot of thought.

Both his name and new body were things that were given to him, but they were not borrowed. So as Kou received a body that represented his own ident.i.ty, she called him “Kou” for the first time.

「If something goes wrong with the body, you should come back here to get it examined. And I’ll be having you help with my experiments while you’re in the imperial capital!」(Andagi)

A few days since they had arrived in the imperial capital city.

Gawiik’s group had begun preparations for the upcoming fighting tournament, deciding on which members to use and working hard to gather information.

While Kou’s adventurer registration procedure was being processed, he was helping with the professor’s magical weapon research and development experiments and exploring the dungeon in the imperial capital city. The dungeon in the city was a huge underground ruin, used in the army’s training exercises, and required permission to enter it.

Various experimental animals had been released into the dungeon, so the monsters that appeared in it were different from those of dungeons in other cities. Because there were fewer belongings left by dead adventurers compared to other dungeons that could be used freely the amount of money or items that could be obtained by exploring this dungeon was limited.

The most common objective of exploring the earlier floors was to gather raw materials, such as the secretions that the experimental animals scattered around and the magical plants that grew in the dungeon’s environment. These were useful ingredients to make potions.

The dungeon exploration permit they had obtained through the professor only allowed them to explore the first and second floors. Kou was happy to finally be able to do his own adventuring activities. Karen, Lef and Franche took turns to pair up with him each day and he enjoyed hunting and gathering materials while exploring the dungeon.

「You got it, Kou? We’re looking for Earth Pulse Gra.s.s that glows blue. The red stuff is impure, so leave it.」

「Vovooh~」“I’ve got it.”

Today, he came to an underground lake with Franche to gather a gra.s.s that grew around it. The earth pulse gra.s.s was a magical plant that absorbed the dungeon’s magical power that could purify magical water.

From the outside, Franche the medicine specialist and Kou the composite golem seemed to make an unstable pair. In most situations, using medicine during battle required getting some distance from the enemy first.

Franche was not suited to fighting. With Kou in charge of attacking at the front while Franche took the role of healing from the back, getting some distance from the enemy would put Kou right next to Franche, exposing him to danger.

However, Kou could in fact both heal and attack, so they had an unusual arrangement of roles where Franche commanded Kou, who protected him like a bodyguard.

「It seems you have a convenient storage method, so you don’t need a bag. As we harvest the gra.s.s I’ll bundle it up and hand it to you.」(Franche)

「Vovoooooh~」“That makes sense~”

As they gathered the gra.s.s, they lightly tied it into bundles, put it in a pouch and covered it with flowers soaked in magical water.

The requests that Kou had first accepted after becoming an adventurer were mostly to do with gathering materials. This kind of exploration that he was doing with Franche could one day be done by Kou alone and he could be more useful.

The main road of the imperial capital city where the central branch of the Adventurers' a.s.sociation was located had a high cla.s.s armor store and a cheap restaurant. The higher-ranked members of Gawiik’s group were gathered in a bar on the same road to discuss the upcoming preliminary round of the fighting tournament. Kou had possessed a cat from the town and was sitting on Karen’s lap.

「Kou, do you want to partic.i.p.ate in the tournament too?」(Gawiik)

「Meow?」(Kou the cat)

Kou’s official registration as an adventurer was complete, so Gawiik suggested that he partic.i.p.ate as one of his group’s members. As he had only been registered yesterday, his empty record of achievements did not meet the requirements to enter the tournament as an individual. But it was possible for him to partic.i.p.ate in the group battles.

「Daido and I are going to be fighting in the individual matches, but the captain, vice-captain, staff officer and Karen will be fighting in the group battles.」(Reaper)

「Dis is still inexperienced, and Viido is not suited for it.」(Gawiik)

The battles were for groups with three to six members. Dis was still just a candidate to be a higher-ranked member and still lacked the ability to fight in a large tournament like this. The rules of the tournament favored attackers, so Viido’s specialized defensive style was not suited for this fight.

「Summoned beasts are allowed, and it would be rea.s.suring to have you there.」(Gawiik)

「Meow, meow!」“Sounds interesting!”

「Kou-chan, you’re partic.i.p.ating?」(Karen)

「Meow~」“I want to give it a try.”

The town cat wrapped its tail around Karen’s neck as she rubbed its soft, chubby neck while Kou expressed his desire to partic.i.p.ate in the tournament. He did not particularly enjoy fighting, but he enjoyed doing things with his companions and it would be interesting to compete for something, so Kou was excited.

「Right, so the members partic.i.p.ating in the group battle are me, Mandel, Lef, Karen and Kou.」(Gawiik)

Deciding to practise teamwork and battle formations and come up with battle tactics to make the best use of Kou’s abilities starting tomorrow, they adjourned the meeting. Everyone was free to return to their rooms or continue drinking after they left their seats. Suddenly, Gawiik turned his head back, as if remembering something.

「Oh yeah, Kou, the professor said that he wanted to do the next experiment at night.」(Gawiik)

「Meow-mya? Meow meow-mya meooow-mya~」“Is that right? Okay, I’ll head to the professor’s place at night.”

「Aaah~ Town-cat-Kou is so cuuuute!」(Karen)

「Migya~」(Kou)

The meowing cat was too cute for Karen to resist and she hugged it tightly. Kou could not breathe as he was squeezed tightly against her voluptuous chest.