Materials for the Core

  There wasn’t much you could do against a dark wraith. That being said, this was a state of emergency.

  And it was decided that each chief would return to deal with their own mansion.

  I also made a report to Eric, Goran and the water dragon settlement.

  It would be hard to deal with the dark wraiths if you didn’t even know they were there.

  When that was finished, Kathe, Mors, Luchila and I all returned to the workroom.

  Here, we would prepare to make barriers for the other mansions.

  Lord Gerberga and Grulf watched us with serious eyes.

  Perhaps they were interested in how barriers were made.

  And then Mors said, “I think we should make the barriers come from magic tools called cores. But the materials……”


  “I have magic stones……would you need those?”


  “I have some mithril and orichalcum too.”


  “Thank you. I think we can manage with that.”


  And then the three of us started to design it. But it was much more difficult than we expected.

  We had to not only detect dark ones, but had to stop them from entering.

  So it was similar to the divine barrier or the barrier surrounding the water dragon settlement.

  That would not be easy.

  “Like this, we can have the features we need……”


  I suggested. Kathe frowned.

  “Hmm. But this would be very weak……”


  It could detect and prevent others from entering. But the barrier itself could be broken.

  “That’s true…… If only we had a Philosopher’s Stone……”


  “A Philosopher’s Stone, huh? Perhaps we could ask Philly to give us one……”


  But Philosopher’s Stones were very expensive. And Philly could not make a lot of them.

  As we talked about this, Luchila said, “In that case, maybe you could use Lord Gerberga’s feathers?”


  “Cluck-cluck?”


  Lord Gerberga flinched in surprise.

  He looked at me with a worried expression.

  “Lord Gerberga. Please don’t worry. I won’t pluck you by force.”


  “Yes. We won’t do anything you wouldn’t like.”


  “Cluck.”


  Our words seemed to soothe Lord Gerberga a little.

  And then Mors and Kathe approached Lord Gerberga.

  “Lord Gerberga. May I?”


  “We aren’t going to start plucking you. I just want to take a look.”


  “Cluck-cluck.”


  Lord Gerberga cooed weakly and then flew towards me.

  He calmed down once I was holding him.

  “Cluck-cluck.”


  “He says it’s fine if you are only going to look.”


  “Lord Gerberga. Thank you.”


  And so Kathe and Mors started to inspect Lord Gerberga’s feathers.

  It was almost like they were grooming him.

  “Cluck.”


  Lord Gerberga seemed like he was enjoying it.

  “Indeed, considering the magic energy and other things, using Lord Gerberga’s feathers as cores might just work……”


  “I agree……”


  “Cluck-cluck-cluck!”


  Lord Gerberga sounded very scared again, and so I petted him gently.

  “Don’t worry. We won’t pull them out by force.”


  “Groof……?”


  Grulf looked worried as he moved towards Lord Gerberga and licked him.

  I patted Grulf on the head. And then I had an idea.

  “What about Grulf’s fur? No, what if his nails could be turned into a core……”


  “Indeed! Grulf is a spirit beast after all!”


  Grulf’s nails were not normal nails. His nails could catch a dark wraith.

  “Yes, that’s true!”


  “Groof?”


  Grulf barked in surprise. Then he lay down like a cat and hid his front paws under him.

  “Don’t worry. We’re not going to pull them out by the roots. We just want to clip them a little.”


  “Grrrr……”


  “It won’t hurt. There won’t even be any blood.”


  “.……Grrr……”


  Grulf hesitatingly presented his front paws.

  Kathe and Mors inspected them. His claws were not very long.

  “They are quite short.”


  “Maybe they’ve been worn down from all the running he does……”


  “If we took all the nails we’d need……”


  His paws would probably bleed. Of course, Mors did not say it out loud, as it would scare Grulf.

  “Groof!”


  However, it seemed like Grulf had sensed what Mors had left unsaid.

  He lay down and covered his front paws once again.

  “Don’t worry. We won’t do anything that will hurt.”


  I patted Grulf of the head to comfort him.

  Even if it was necessary, I didn’t want to do anything to hurt Grulf.

  “I’ll call Philly and ask if she can give us a little bit of her Philosopher’s Stones.”


  “Yes, that is the only thing to do.”


  “Cluck-cluck!”


  Lord Gerberga suddenly clucked in my arms.

  “Lord Gerberga? What is it?”


  “Cluck!”


  Lord Gerberga turned his head around and plucked a single feather from his back.

  He held it in his beak and then clucked again with a nod.

  “Lord Gerberga, are you going to give that to us?”


  “Cluck.”


  “Thank you. Did that hurt?”


  “Cluck-cluck.”


  “Lord Gerberga molts too. So it was probably a feather that was going to fall out anyway.”


  “I see.”


  “Cluck-cluck.”


  And so Lord Gerberga gave us 5 of his feathers.

  “Lord Gerberga! You saved us!”


  “Thank you, Lord Gerberga.”


  “Cluck-cluck.”


  Lord Gerberga looked quite happy by Kathe and Mors’s gratitude.