6.11.

“Aren’t you in the middle of the ritual right now? Don’t mess up.”

“Hmph. I’m not a novice like you, I’ve performed this countless times now,” he turned his head away.

Reese observed his pointy ears.

“Then I'll learn from you senpai.”

“Sand pie?”

“That’s a word I learnt from the hero, Risa. It’s supposed to refer to someone who is more esteemed in knowledge, or older than yourself. Fits you perfectly doesn't it?”

Lyu was almost a century old. He was promoted as cardinal around five years ago, though he had been in service for at least 40 years. As fellow worshipers of the same faith, it was important they got along with each other.

It had been a while since Reese last met another cardinal, so coming to Estia, she thought to say hi to him.

“I’d rather you call me your teacher. I’m no food made from ingredients found in the ashen desert.”

“You and your jokes haha.. oh, it’s working!” Reese’s eyes sparkled at the pulsing light of the pentagram.

The group of mages who stood around the circle raised the candles into the air, their figures glowed faintly. The magic lamps which lit the room snuffed out, only the light of the candles and glow of blood are of what remain.

Lyu pointed his staff towards the pile of flesh in the center.

[Occult Magic: Bloodwork]

The blood rose from the ground to form a complex web. A net-like mesh encapsulated it, as if a self-building cage.

“I offer this to you.”

The flesh sank into the ground along with the blood. The red liquid which covered the floor drained into this mysterious vortex whose origin remained unknown.

And at the end of the ritual, nothing remained. Even the heads which had been placed further away from the site of the ritual had disappeared.

The mages lowered the candles. The ones nearby began turning the magic lamps back on.

“Good work everyone,” Lyu complimented.

“No, it’s thanks to your guidance cardinal.”

“It’s great that we were able to help the true one in this way.”

“I still find it creepy every time I see it.”

“Really? I thought you’ve participated in these sorts of things a couple times now?”

“Don’t be too hard on him, he’s still new here. I vomited the first time I saw flesh made into a mess. He’s much better than I was.”

“May your souls be free from The Goddess’ reign.”

“You know, there’s no proof the Goddess actually holds control over the soul. At least, that was what the founder said.”

“Right, right.”

As if they had just finished a day of heavy work, a hearty conversation was taking place.

“I thought you had other plans. I feel disappointed.”

“Sacrificing these people for the great Rika, how is that disappointing in your eyes, huh?” Lyu snorted.

“At least make an army of blood slimes!”

“Says the person who lost every last one of them.”

Reese fumed silently. There was nothing she could say to retort that. She had tried many times to build an army of slimes, but her attempts would comically be stopped by the church. While she no longer had such a desire having become a slime herself, she still had some hope this dream of hers would come true someday. She would be the mother slime and have many babies.

“All members, you’re free to return home. Don’t need to wait for me.”

““Alright!!””

“Um.. is it alright? How about these items?”

“No worries. I’ll help,” Reese’s arms shot up.

“B-But..”

“Please, leave it to us. Some of you still need to wake up early tomorrow don’t you?”

Everyone has their own life to live, time is precious, Lyu didn’t want them to forget that.

Leaving the site, they scattered into various directions. When their footsteps finally faded, Lyu turned to Reese and asked, “Are you serious about that?”

“About what?”

“You calling that boy your master. What happened?”

“A long story indeed Lyu, a long story indeed,” Reese bobbed her head up and down.

Reese helped Lyu with cleaning. Not that there were any corpses left, but the supplies and materials in the preparation of it had to be stowed away and carried back to base camp.

“So you actually made it into the hero’s party? My sincerest congratulations.”

“I appreciate the warm compliment. We’re now one step closer to dragging them into our faith.”

“Be careful to take it slowly. Test the grounds and make sure he’s alright with dealing with occult magic. Many people are unable to tolerate it.”

“I’m still poking them to find a lucky break, no luck yet.”

“Keep it up. I’m sure you’ll find an opportunity.. hold on, we went off topic. Why exactly do you call him master again?”

“Who?”

“That person you were with earlier? And what’s with those girls? I thought you had declared that you will be having a child with the hero.. what’s the deal with the guy who looks like he already has a partner?” Lyu placed the last of the items into the chest and locked it shut. He then sat on top of it.

“About that..” Reese averted her eyes.

“Speak.”

“I’m actually a blood slime now..”

“What?”

“Like I said, I’m a freaking blood slime, cool right?!” Reese broke up parts of herself and became jelly.

Lyu looked at her absolutely gobsmacked. A human had turned into a blood slime but was still conscious? This was a breakthrough in occult magic!

“This is.. unprecedented!” Lyu shouted.

“Right?!” Reese returned to her human form and stood with her chest out in pride.

“Then it means you can change the size of these right?!” he pointed at her two hills.

“You wanna die?”

“Not my intention!”

“Apparently, as an intelligent blood slime, a homunculus, I need a master. By some chance, because he was the closest person then, he made a contract with me– something like that. But instead of making me into his slave like I would with my slime army, he told me to act like myself, so here I am now. Of course, I’m a little special in that I’m actually able to maintain this form, probably because unlike the times where I combine a lot of different corpses, this one is just me– I think. I also don’t know why I ended up this way. It’s fate perhaps.”

Lyu nodded with a deep understanding.

“That sums it up.”

“So you still have an intention to get married to the hero?”

“I don’t know about that..”

Lyu shook his head, “You have to decide one way or another. Otherwise, better just take both of them.”

Reese smiled without responding.

‘In the end.. I couldn’t bring up the topic of the black knight dilemma huh..’

===

“How long is the trip to Count Stravince’s territory?”

“It’s further than Luddite Earldom, we’ll probably reach by late afternoon,” the coachman replied.

“Alright, then let’s get going.”

“Hold on, double check our items.”

“There are no stops along the way, right?”

“No, no such thing. If you need a nature call, your only option is out in the wild,” the coachman clapped his legs and laughed.

“That’s.. not what I was talking about..”

‘I meant to say that we might need to buy food for the trip..’

After getting a box lunch set from the caravan station, they set off to the county.

“Speaking of which, why are you going to the county?” Schwii asked the coachman.

“Me? I’m on the way to pick up a friend.”

“A friend?”

“A long time friend of mine. I thought maybe it would be nice if I had some company, it’s lonely out here you know?”

There was nothing too fancy about the carriage he rode, they were using the freight compartments as a resting bay.

It was a sultry day Sequencee enclosed the space with a few ice beads to offset the heat. The coachman who got to enjoy the service whistled in a good mood.

Sequencee watched as the scenery of passing plateaus, cresting small hillock, going around giant rock structures. A dilapidated outpost weathered by mother nature could be seen in the distance, a structure from an unknown era.

The mountains out in the horizon, the forests off the ledge.

“The demon empire huh..”

“The demon empire? Is that our next goal master?”

“Reese, enough with your antics,” Sequencee purposefully bent his body to the side.

Reese who had her head over Sequencee’s shoulders stuck close and leaned in together with him.

The carriage shook at a pebble.

“Geh.”

“Wah!”

Sequencee toppled over with Reese.

Schwii who watched it happen assumed ignorance with a frown. Leticia didn’t know what kind of face to show, feeling the tension brewing within the enclosed space.

“Reese, stop trying to do all this can you?”

“We fell because the carriage shook.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to get at!”

“Heh..”

‘To hell Reese. Seriously, can’t you see what’s going on?’

“Reese, want to take a walk outside the carriage?” Leticia suggested.

“In this heat? No way.”

“Sequencee can do something about that.. remember that time? We, Lilian and Ro spent some time walking in tandem with the carriage.”

“It was more of a running pace, but yeah, I suppose,” Sequencee returned to the time when they were headed to Rika Nation.

“How about it? Schwii, you too. It’s quite stuffy in here, don’t you think?”

“Schwii?”

“Fine.”

‘Thanks Leticia..’

Schwii was the first to leave. Sequencee quickly extended one of these glacier beads to follow her.

“Reese, you stick with me. Since you’re our vanguard, I need to let you know what we can expect from the knights in the territory,” Leticia eyed her with a stern look.

“Sure.”

“Then I’ll go first.”

“Don’t forget your magic on us.”

“I won’t.”

Sequencee hopped off the carriage and came beside Schwii.

“Was it fun?” she asked.

“I’ll be blunt. It wasn’t my intention.”

“As if I can’t tell,” Schwii pouted.

To the normal person, the typical response would be to go: there’s nothing I can do about it can’t I?

‘To think something as embarrassing as that would actually help..’

Sequencee couldn’t help but admit the usefulness of the book he read in the library regarding harem management.

“Alright, I get it, you’re mad.”

“Can’t I be?” She gave him a look.

First is to understand yourself enough to not lose yourself in the face of these turbulent emotions.

Unlike yesterday, Sequencee was sure he had the mental capacity to deal with one of Schwii’s tantrums this time around.

Being able to put others first is key to defusing the situation.

‘Schwii is probably feeling jealousy.’

An emotional response disguising some form of lack within. Anger may be a representation of fear or pain, sadness may be a representation of regret and rage. Sometimes the root cause may not be so obvious, things like an ingrained trauma, a character trait, limiting beliefs, or just plain habits.

‘And maybe a little scared, and anxious.’

After all, she had admitted many times before, how she hadn’t the intention to ruin their relationship. This fear that pushed her to becoming an upright person in their relationship, was also the fear bringing desecration.

Schwii turned away from him.

“Schwii.”

“Shut up.”

Exceptional case. If the other party is not willing to open up, you either have the choice to break through or wait until the wall settles. Laying the foundation of letting the other person know that you’re alright, and that you can empathize with the other party’s emotions can put them at ease once the storm subsides.

‘And another exceptional case.. even if you do everything stated, there’s still a chance she won’t open up to admit herself, putting her guard up and being a volatile time bomb. In this case, it would be an issue of personality, it’s not something that can be changed. This goes deeper into compatibility but.. I don’t know how it all adds up in that section.’

Sequencee made a mental note to read that book again the next time he visits the academy library.

He stayed by her side saying nothing, walking down this seemingly endless road.

Schwii, feeling the muddled emotions within herself, felt a sense of guilt slowly consuming her.

– Emotions make one weak. Continue this act, and soon enough, Sequencee would no longer be able to put up with you and leave. Consider this a warning..

Her own words echoed in her mind.

Schwii bit her lips.

‘If only it were that simple..’