The Lost Doctor's Soul - Chapter 22 - A night of secrets

[POV - Arashi Kurohana]

A walking corpse.

Those were my first thoughts on seeing the man with Kanako this morning.

His hair was white and his eyes were separate colours, but those were unremarkable in my eyes, just some minor visual traits. He had the build of an average commoner and a generic pike as his weapon.

There was nothing remarkable about the way he acted either.

When he introduced himself as a doctor, it just seemed ‘fitting’.

If I were to describe him using just what I saw, I would call him an unremarkable man.

But… I could sense much more. Thanks to an ‘ability’ I had nothing but hate for, I am always aware of the death around me, be it injuries, sickness, the weakening of one’s ki or wandering spirits.

And this man was drenched in death. Rather than a killer carrying the death of their victims, it was his own death that clung to his body. It was like he had a foot in the grave.

After traveling together for a few hours and working together to try and extract the ‘treasure’... the necromantic tool I hoped to find, many other things stood out about him.

First, Fischer showed the discipline of a soldier trained by a great samurai clan.  He was always aware of his surroundings and didn’t appear to let his guard down.

He also showed a natural sense of leadership and had a strong knowledge of how adventurers work together. He didn’t ask for a  reward for helping, not even a split of whatever we would find and… greatest of all, he did not hesitate for even a moment when it came to laying his life on the line for the sake of those working under him.

And when he was pulled out from the river, badly injured and poisoned, I feared he would have died without treatment… but I wasn’t even able to help in that situation.

When I approached, the magic lightening my armour was suppressed. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I lacked the strength and stamina to carry my own armour, let alone another person… that his anti-magic field persisted while he was wounded and unconscious was another unfathomable thing about this man.

After we carried him to the village and sought shelter, that weird drunk idiot wandered off somewhere while the rest of us waited for Fischer to wake up. Our group was largely silent and time seemed to pass agonisingly slow for the first hour at least, as the death emanating from him made it feel like I was watching over a corpse.

This ‘ability’ to sense death has brought me nothing but anxiety, I’ve not found a single way to use it to my benefit, and it’s another thing I wish I could get rid of.

And to make everything worse, the treasure I wanted to find was nowhere to be found… it was a necromancy tool that was supposed to draw mana from a soul, an item banned in most countries, a tool for a lich. It was undoubtedly an evil item, but I… I so desperately needed it, enough that I spent almost all of my money on that information, but it was a dead end. I didn’t know what else I could do now, how I could fix my accursed condition without it…

Eventually he recovered his vitality, and after that he recovered far faster than expected and seemed fine within a few hours even though the doctor said he would need a day or two of bed rest at the least. That was yet another impressive thing about him.

As soon as he woke up, it was like an invisible weight lifted off the room and the dead silence was immediately replaced by chatter.

I could do nothing other than sincerely apologize for being so helpless, swearing to repay him somehow.

Then, came the expected question, of what the ‘treasure’ we were hunting for even was…

“I…” At first I wanted to deflect, make excuses, deny the truth… but seeing Fischer’s sincerity, I couldn’t do that anymore. “No, you all risked your life hunting for this ‘treasure’... I’ll tell you properly.” I stopped my shoulders from trembling as I sighed. “The item I was looking for is a necromancy tool.”

There was a shocked silence in response, and I expected that. After all, Necromancy is such a tainted school of magic, mired in an endless amount of suffering and evil.

At least Biomancy has many uses in healing, despite all of the evil that went into making that school as well and how cruel the magic can be.

“Miss Kurohana, you…” Kanako was obviously worried that I intended to use the tool for evil. “No, it’s not like that.” I assured her. “I… I can’t say just yet, but I need necromancy to fix… something. It’s the only thing I can think of, I don’t need the item beyond that.”

I found myself miserable that I couldn’t bring myself to say anymore.

I felt certain that I was the strongest person in this group when it came to a fight, yet I was scared about how they would react if I told them more… I hated how scared I was.

“I… understand if you do not wish to travel with me further knowing that, however my reasons are personal and I do not know if I can trust you with it.” was all I could say, doing my best to steady my speeding breath and sound calm.

If I stayed silent, I’d at least be seen as a strange but strong warrior. Revealing my secrets would make them know how useless I was and I was scared of being abandoned again, even if this was just a group of strangers.

It’s ridiculous that I care so much, but would I be able to find another group who could accept me? Was that even possible? At least this group wasn’t dangerous and had many nice people. What would the next group I find be? Where would I even find them? WHEN would I find them? Can I handle travelling on my own if I don’t have anyone who accepts me?

There was a deafening silence that weighed on me, forcing me to look away. “I have a goal I want to accomplish” Fischer broke the silence, “I might end up wandering all over for it, but right now I want to go to Lariatne. Kanako, at least, has the same destination and so I hope to travel with her. What about the rest of you?”

Hearing that, I felt a slight bit of… possibly hope in my heart. “I… also need to go to Lariatne. I don’t know if my journey ends there, but it’s the only place I can think of right now…” I shamelessly spoke, even though it was as good as begging them to let me join given the circumstances… but I didn’t have any more leads or any more money to buy more information.

Nisha added that he wanted to find his family, which I understood. He didn’t speak much about it, but I heard he was separated from them as a child… but as an elf, that might be decades ago, at least.

And that drunkard Vildost casually brought up that he works for a dragon!?

He’s many things, but not a liar… but I couldn’t understand how someone like… that… could work for a dragon.

Kanako was in complete disbelief as well and pushed back, but we all knew that he probably wasn’t lying. As much as I didn’t like him, I wouldn’t disregard his words… Maybe that was why I hated him?

“Well, first… I’m sorry for not telling you this earlier, but our group has a sixth member.” Fischer broke the awkward silence that followed, waving a hand at an empty part of the room. A sixth member? I was confused, thinking he secretly invited someone else to join us. I’m not confident I can sense someone through invisibility, but the door was firmly closed till the drunkard came in, and Kanako should have sensed something, at least?

As I looked around with those thoughts crossing my mind, I suddenly couldn’t breathe.

I felt like I was suddenly plunged into a boiling lake as the pressure of pure and unsaturated mana pressed down on me.

I could see Kanako completely shrink back and even Nisha seemed on edge. The drunky… didn’t seem to react much, but his smile looked frozen. His eyes almost looked like a warrior’s.

The most shocking one was Fischer! Forget a lack of tension, it looked like he wasn’t even aware of the overwhelming amount of magic pressing down on the room!

An otherworldly chuckle echoed out, sending a chill down my spine, and a woman appeared from rippled air… I could only describe her as a succubustic woman with bronze skin, astral purple hair, a suit of a matching colour that vaguely looked like a western business suit, but barely had enough material to count as such… and surrounded by an infernal air.

“Well, well. I didn’t expect to bless you all with my presence so soon. It honestly seems a bit of a waste, but greetings, fledgeling adventurers. I am Starlight Von Aurora, Keeper of the Auroral library, and eternal seeker of knowledge."

Emotions instantly welled within me seeing her; Attraction, fear, disgust… and I couldn’t distinguish what I was truly feeling and what I was being coerced into feeling by the wretched magic washing away at me.

Without a shadow of a doubt, this was an infernal… a pure blooded one. But she wasn’t just a commoner infernal… could she be a captain or… even a  general class!? If so… I wasn’t sure if we could win if all of us attacked her. At least, I’d have to stop suppressing the Black Furnace of the Soul to even stand a chance, but could I fight without hurting the others?

Gulping, I steeled myself to take even a single step forward, my naginata at the ready.

“You… What rank of infernal are you?” I forced these words out. At the very least, I could make some kind of plan if I knew what we were facing… but those hopes were quickly shattered as the infernal laughed at my vain attempt. “And what would you do with that information? Know how much mercy you have to beg for? I’ve no interest in violence, so put that silly stick away." She mocked me, and I couldn’t say anything back.

“Stop trying to intimidate them, or are you going to try your luck at trading questions with them? How did that end for you last time?” With a sigh, Fischer casually rebuked this all-powerful infernal, and the pure condescension cracked, the merciless smile twisting into a frustrated frown. “That was a fluke, that doesn’t count.” she retorted, not making eye contact and with a pathetic blush.

At this point, I was at a complete loss.

I no longer felt like I was facing off against an all powerful opponent, though the fear still lingered. And I wasn’t sure if I should feel relieved that the pressure was gone, amazed at how casually Fischer handled the infernal, or embarrassed that I was plunged into despair so easily?

The first to rebound was Nisha, barraging her with questions I didn’t care about. 

My mind was still spinning with the reveal of such a powerful creature. Why was she even here!? What were we to do now? And both Vildost and Fischer readily revealed such large secrets to the group, so what about me?

Kanako asked something about why the infernal was with Fischer, but they only replied with some kind of joke, it quickly passed my mind. I was deeply considering how I could reveal my own secret, and what the consequences would be if I did, or if I should just run as fast as I could and hope I survived?

As I was thinking this, Fischer began speaking again. “So, now you know that I’m travelling with… whatever she counts as. Infernal, devil, I’m not sure. But beyond just that…” he hesitated, face scrunching as he looked away and seemed to deeply contemplate what he was about to say next, it was a feeling I could very much relate to.

“Actually, I have another secret… to me at least, this second one is far bigger than the first.” he said, letting out a sigh, shaking his head. “I… I’m from another world.”

Another world… as in from an actual other world? Like from ‘Her alien encounter of love’ where Countess Hefilia meets and falls in love with the wolf monster from another world? or ‘Love from beyond the new horizon’ where the village girl Fina finds a human from a world of gods and they elope to his world together to live a happy life?

“Do you… uh… mean you’re from a place so isolated from the world that it’s like another world?” Kanako asked, still shrinking away from the infernal. Yes, it could be that! More like ‘Loving across the willow trees’ then, where Eri falls in love with a boy from a distant and remote village after they share messages for over a year?

“No. I mean that I’m from a completely different world.” he said, sighing. “I’m from a world with no magic or monsters, also called Earth. I suddenly ended up in this world three days ago.”

He’s… from a completely different world?

Is that even possible outside of stories?

But that wasn’t the end of his fantastical and horrific story.

He didn’t come to this world in his own body, but woke up in the corpse of an adventurer called Millar who had been led to his death! After that he told us about the fate of the kobold named Milvarr and his journey to the village, including meeting the infernal lady Aurora.

He was an entity inhabiting a corpse… I couldn’t stomach that.

A common warrior who wandered into a dungeon lost their life to betrayal and was shamed with their body being puppeted around to dance to someone else’s whims. This was utterly disgraceful and I felt sick just thinking about it happening to me or someone I cared about.

And how could we know that he wasn’t responsible for this? That he wasn’t just an innocent victim? How could we know that he wasn’t a lich or some evil spirit possessing someone? He even had an infernal with him! And a powerful one at that!

But if that was the case, would he just tell us?

He could have kept all of this a secret, but he didn’t. He’s not even trying to manipulate us.

I was so lost.

I didn’t know if I could trust him or why I shouldn’t. It was just too much.

And beyond that, I felt even more ashamed that I was hiding my own secret when he had so readily revealed something so unfathomable.

And so I decided, I would try to take a leap of faith as well, and tell them about my own issues.

[POV - Armin Fischer]

I said it. I told this collection of strangers about a secret I thought I’d hide for my entire stay on this other Earth.

After that, I could only wait, reading their expressions to try and tell what they were thinking.

I couldn’t see Kanako’s face properly thanks to her hood, but her body language was clearly timid… I wasn’t sure if she was scared of the devil Starlight or me now.

Arashi seemed pale, but it was tough to read her expression as always. She was glaring at me, so maybe she was angry? I couldn’t exactly blame her. Even if I’m innocent, it’s understandable to distrust my situation.

Nisha was clearly confused, and I’m not sure if he could even understand everything with the language barrier.

Vildost, unlike the others, had the clearest expression of shock and awe, still in his drunk stupor. I didn’t know why, but I just found him a bit off.

“A-are you an undead then?” Kanako asked, her voice quivering a bit as she looked at me. I was about to answer when Starlight suddenly chimed in. “No, he’s not.” she stated, crossing her arms. “I’m certain Millar’s body never really ‘died’, else he and I wouldn’t have a connection anymore.” she added, waving a hand.

“H-how can we know that you didn’t just erase his memories or put his soul in the body yourself?” Kanako pushed back, asserting herself better than I thought she could.

To that, the devil Starlight leaned back and waved her hand. “Oh, you’re free to think that if you want.” she said, shocking me with how flippantly she didn’t even bother to defend herself!

“All you have is my word that I didn’t, so look into it yourself if you care so much.” she stated, with that condescending smile.

“You’re the one who helped Armin in the river, aren’t you?” Kanako finally asked the question she’s probably been mulling over for a while now, but Starlight didn’t give a straight answer. “Am I?” she asked, and Kanako hesitated for a moment before nodding back. “Yes, you are. I can feel the same magic from you…”

After that, there was a bit of back and forth as the group came to understand that my two goals were to give closure to Millar and Milvarr, then return back home somehow, and that Starlight simply wanted more knowledge for her collection. Her goal was pretty similar to Vildost’s goal of gathering more stories for his dragon.

After a bit of hesitation, Arashi finally stepped forward again.

“The truth is…” she started speaking then stopped, staring at the four of us. “While I am Arashi Kurohana, I am of the Kuroyamamoto warrior clan. A little less than a year ago I  used the forbidden technique of the clan, the ‘Black Furnace of the Soul’... ” she said, letting out a long sigh.

A forbidden technique? It shouldn’t be just anyone who uses what sounds like a clan’s big secrets. I wondered what the technique entailed, but she didn’t elaborate on it, and skipped over any details of her clan or her hometown.

“Since then, my soul has been corrupted by necromantic powers. I have been banished till I find a cure to this condition, and that is why I am searching for necromancy knowledge and tools.” she explained, still skipping a lot of details.

“Interesting, what exactly is this technique? I’ve not heard that name before, but I have heard rumors about that Kuroyamamoto group~” Starlight chipped in with a question, resting her chin on her palms as she stared Arashi down with interest.

“I’m sorry, it's a secret of my clan. I have no right to share.” The black hair warrior tersely replied.

“Well, you’re not really a part of the clan if you’ve been exiled, are you?” the purple haired devil asked with a grin, making Arashi’s face contort with anger. “Don’t you dare utter those words again.” “Oh, scary~” the devil laughed, taking some perverse pleasure from this exchange.

“Stop antagonising her,” I called out to Starlight, and she leaned back waving her hands in the air like she wasn’t doing anything. She gets under my skin way too easily.

*sigh* “I’m sorry about her. Could you at least tell us about any side effects of your soul being… corrupted? The soul is an intangible concept where I come from, so I don’t quite know what that would mean. Are you slowly becoming another person? Or is it a matter of dying?” I asked.

If I were to put aside magic, someone’s ‘soul being corrupted’ makes me think of how people referred to mental illnesses before they were properly understood. Hell, even as early as twenty years ago they were treated like lost cases and impossible to understand on my Earth with all its technology and medical advancements.

“I…” she hesitated, glancing around the group. “That’s something heavily tied to the workings of the forbidden technique, so I can’t share the details so soon after meeting you… but there are two large ‘side effects’ of this condition… or curse.” She muttered.

“The smaller side effect is that I can sense death around me.” she stated something incredible. What did the ability to ‘sense death’ mean? It meant that ‘death’ was a tangible thing in this world rather than just a concept!

As far as medicine is concerned, something being dead is measured by the fact that it's no longer alive. But here, ‘death’ is more than just the absence of life!?

“Excuse me, but how exactly do you ‘sense death’?” I couldn’t help but ask, fascinated by this new discovery. “Is it something you can visually detect, like a special colour? A certain smell? What counts as ‘death’? Do you sense it from rocks? What about withering plants? Do you sense it from sick and injured people, or just corpses specifically?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but closed it without saying anything as she stared at me… I suppose I got a bit too excited. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to barrage you with questions.” I apologized.

“Um… you can talk about that later, Armin. Can you tell us the bigger side effect, Miss Kurohana?” Kanako pitched in, shifting the topic back, and Arashi nodded to that.

“The main side-effect… is that when I’m in the heat of battle there’s a chance that I’ll lose self-control and be unable to distinguish friend from foe… I’m also stronger in that state.” she finally admitted, looking away.

That… I understood why she was so hesitant in talking about her secrets. However, it was something that directly affected the group more than ‘working for a dragon’ or ‘being from another world’ if she could suddenly go berserk and attack us.

“Woah, so ya go all wild and shiz? I need to see that!” Vildost chimed in, eyeing her. “Makes me wanna go toe to toe with you and see how *hick* strong you really are!”

“I didn’t take you for the battle thirsty type.” I replied, wondering what style he even used. He was completely unpredictable on the river and I didn’t even know if he was a trained fighter or just a drunk clown.

“Nah, I just thought it’d be fun” he replied, before leaning back on the bed, like the most relaxed person in the room.

Arashi looked somewhat troubled and didn’t respond to the suggestion to fight. It was good that she seemed to have restraint given what she described that ‘side-effect’ as.

“You can’t just pick a fight like that, she’s clearly uncomfortable with it!” Kanako started lecturing the cowboy, but he just pulled his hat over his eyes and waved her off. “Reelaax~ It was just a suuugestionnn.”

“Um… I think we should fight.” Unexpectedly, Nisha chimed in on Vildost’s side!? Everyone turned to look at him, even Vildost looked surprised.

“I do not get it all, but Arashi will fight everyone in ‘heat battle’, right?” he asked, not getting those words right, but he was probably on the right track.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Arashi simply nodded. Her arms were crossed, but I could see her clench a fist… I didn’t fully understand her situation, but it appeared she was at least a bit desperate to stay in the group, looking at her actions.

“Then… we should know how strong she is. Then no one will get hurt if she fights everyone later.” He explained his rather reasonable logic in just two short sentences… honestly, maybe out of all of us, Nisha understood how to ‘communicate’ the best.

And no one could argue with that reasoning. The alternative would be to argue that she shouldn’t be allowed in the group, and while that would be a reasonable complaint, no one brought that up. I wasn’t sure if it was because we were all good people, or just ‘soft’ or ‘naive’.

Well, I preferred ‘soft’ to ‘heartless’.

Maybe I should learn to communicate a bit simpler from Nisha?

“Then we should fight after storm!” Nisha exclaimed when he saw no one complain, he had a bright smile on his face. Arashi just nodded in reply, but she looked a lot less stiff at least.

“Um…” when I thought this long session of us bonding over revealing our secrets was nearly over, Kanako spoke up.

Right, she was still completely wrapped up, wearing a hood, a cloak, gloves, boots, not showing an inch of skin other than her obscured face, which was apparently altered with some illusion magic.

“I… I guess I’m the last one who hasn’t revealed their secret yet…” she fidgeted a bit, looking around the room, eyes resting on Starlight before moving to me.

“Yeah, what’s yer ssstory? Aaare you a wanted criminal or sommme famous adventurer?” Vildost leaned forward and asked, eyes shining. “Oh wait! You’rrre a *hick* princess or something, right!?”

Rather than saying anything, she just reached up and pulled back her hood, revealing two sets of dark horns perched atop a head with pale green skin and long curly darker green hair. She had red eyes with golden pupils, and also had long pointed ears like an elf.

Without a doubt, she wasn’t a human. But I had no idea what exactly she was.

“I didn’t want to reveal it, but I’m an infernal…” she explained, clasping her hands together as she nervously looked around the room. “Well, a half oni to be specific, but there’s not really much difference, right? Ha ha…” she anxiously chuckled.

“Damn, that’s boring.” Vildost snorted and leaned back onto the bed. “I thought you’d say sommething coooool, like being a spy or something.” His incredibly casual disappointment was a bit refreshing, and seemed to help her calm down a bit, whether he wanted it to or not.

“I see, I’ve met a few Oni and crossed blades with several in Ame no Tochi, but I’ve never met a half-oni before.” Arashi accepted it rather easily, perhaps because they were from the same country?

“Oh, you’re an elf too! I did not know we can have horns!” Nisha exclaimed, not even seeing her as a separate race…

“No, I’m not an elf, I’m a half Oni, it’s different…” Kanako tried to explain, but it seemed difficult.

Also to note, Starlight wasn’t surprised as far as I could tell. She probably knew the moment she first saw Kanako.

It was amusing to see how expressive Kanako was and how easily everyone accepted her and shattered her expectations.

All in all, I’d say we managed to cross the threshold between acquaintances and friends…

“Ah, wait, I have to say a secret too.” Nisha suddenly spoke up, drawing everyone’s eyes.

Right, he was the only one who didn’t unveil an incredible secret yet… I wondered what he’d reveal. Perhaps something more about ‘his people’ or a power or curse he had?

“I drank dwarf alcohol when I was underage.” he admitted, looking ashamed as he looked away.

Well… huh.

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