After reporting to Daskar over lunch, Rei returned to Marina's house.
He didn't want too many eyes on him when he contacted Grimm.
He could have gone back to the Wheat Inn at Dusk, but since it was an inn, there were always a fair number of guests around, even during the day.
With that in mind, contacting Grimm from Marina's house—where he could be sure no one was around, or at worst only people he knew—was the safer option.
Not that the Wheat Inn at Dusk was slack on security; as a high-end establishment, it wasn't as though just anyone could wander into another guest's room or eavesdrop on them.
Naturally, when Rei announced he was heading back to Marina's house, the rest of the group tagged along.
"Alright, I'm a little tired, so I'm going to rest in my room for a bit. Set, go play with Ielo. I'll head back toward the Birth Tower around evening."
"Guruu!"
At Rei's words, Set purred in acknowledgment and immediately trotted off to the courtyard with Ielo.
Elena, Marina, and Vihera all knew what Rei was actually doing in his room, and their gazes made it clear they expected him to share what he learned as soon as he had the details.
Marina in particular looked dead serious—understandable, given that the matter concerned a Spirit. For someone who practiced Spirit Magic, that was only natural.
Rei gave the three of them a small nod and headed to his room—more precisely, the room he used when staying overnight at Marina's house.
Behind him, he could hear Set and Ielo noisily playing together.
Listening to their happy voices, Rei stepped into his room, immediately took out his Paired Orb, activated it, and called for Grimm.
"Grimm, can you hear me? Grimm."
He called into the orb several times, but Grimm's figure showed no sign of appearing.
Did I do something wrong? he wondered, but kept calling regardless.
Then, after about a minute, Grimm's face finally materialized in the Paired Orb.
"Rei? Contacting me at this hour is unusual."
Hearing that, Rei remembered—right, Grimm was an Undead.
Undead were, by nature, nocturnal beings. Calling on Grimm in the middle of the day made the comment perfectly reasonable.
Then again, it was precisely because Grimm saw Rei as a grandson that he let it slide with nothing more than a dry remark. If anyone else—some complete stranger, no less—had tried calling Grimm at this hour, they could have been killed on the spot and no one would have batted an eye.
Not that a stranger would ever have the opportunity to contact Grimm via a Paired Orb in the first place.
"Ah, that's right, you're an Undead, Grimm. Were you sleeping?"
Rei wasn't actually sure whether Undead slept, but he asked anyway.
Grimm shook his head.
"No, I was simply absorbed in my research. ...So, did something happen?"
Satisfied that Grimm wasn't upset, Rei got straight to the point.
"Actually, I just went to the space where the Wisp is and found an emerald with a crazed Spirit sealed inside it. Was that your doing?"
"Yes."
Grimm answered far more readily than Rei had expected—so readily that it caught Rei off guard.
"Is it really okay for you to be that upfront about it?"
"I don't mind. It's nothing to hide. I was planning to tell you about it eventually anyway."
"Were you? ...So what were you thinking, doing something like that? Marina was pretty worked up about it."
Saying she was "worked up" was putting it mildly. In truth, if Marina had been in the room, she would have been angry enough to interrogate Grimm on the spot.
Marina understood full well that there was an overwhelming gap in power between herself and Grimm. But understanding that didn't mean she could tolerate what she believed he had done—driving a Spirit mad and sealing it inside an emerald.
"By Marina, you mean that Dark Elf girl, I take it? I see. For someone with deep ties to Spirits, that reaction is understandable. However, both you and that Dark Elf girl are laboring under a slight misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?"
"Indeed. From what you've told me, Rei, I gather that Dark Elf girl believes I drove a Wind Spirit mad and sealed it in an emerald. Is that correct?"
"Ah. Well, she didn't specifically say it was a Wind Spirit, but..."
Rei wasn't sure whether Marina had known the sealed Spirit was a Wind Spirit. But since she hadn't mentioned it, she probably hadn't.
The fact that Grimm had immediately identified it as a Wind Spirit he'd sealed could only mean he was indeed the one who had done it.
"I didn't drive that Wind Spirit mad. Now, where was it... Gilm? Some distance from the city where you live, there's a mountain called Mt. Orleans. At its foot, once every several years—or perhaps a dozen-plus years—a fog laced with special magic arises. When a Spirit touches that fog, it goes mad."
"So the Spirit sealed in that emerald...?"
"Exactly. I had gone there to collect some of the fog for my own purposes. The Spirit unfortunately wandered into the area and was driven mad by the fog's influence."
Rei had questions—what it meant for such a dangerous fog to be needed, and just how rare its occurrence was given that interval of several to a dozen-plus years—but he kept them to himself.
As for the latter point in particular, Grimm was an Undead who had walked this world since ancient times, all the way back to the era of Zephyle. To someone like him, several years or even a dozen-plus years was practically the blink of an eye.
"I understand why the Spirit went mad. But why go so far as to seal it in an emerald?"
"I thought it better to seal it than to kill it. And I figured a sealed Spirit might prove useful for something. ...Which, as it happens, it has."
"Can't you restore it? Even you can't bring it back from the madness caused by that fog?"
"The fog's composition is peculiar. It's difficult. I've tried various things, but... for now, it's impossible."
Rei nodded in understanding. He'd figured Grimm could handle something like that with ease, so the admission came as a mild surprise.
"Alright, I understand the situation. So why did you leave an emerald like that in that space to begin with?"
"I wanted to see if the Wisp would react to it. As it turned out, that seems to have been a failure."
Grimm let out a small, disappointed sigh.
At least, it sounded disappointed to Rei—Grimm was simply projecting that kind of atmosphere. Since his face was a skull, there was no way to confirm his actual expression. All Rei could do was make an educated guess based on the vibe.
"Yeah. At least when we saw it, the Wisp didn't seem to be reacting to anything in particular."
As far as Rei could tell, placing the emerald there had been a complete waste of effort. Grimm surely had any number of other materials at his disposal—why choose an emerald with a crazed Spirit sealed inside?
"The emerald was a just-in-case measure. I had placed various other things in that space as well... Did you not see them?"
"No. I figured the emerald was something you'd placed there, and given that, I couldn't exactly go treasure hunting in that Underground Space."
Carelessly taking something Grimm had prepared—there was no telling what kind of bizarre incident that might trigger. It wasn't about whether Grimm would be angry; it was the fear of what the item itself might do once removed.
Besides, if Grimm had intentionally arranged various items, moving them from their positions could cause something unexpected to happen.
"I didn't think things through that intricately. I've been investigating the Wisp as well, but there's been no progress so far."
From here to the Treant Forest at Set's speed would only take a few minutes—sometimes less than a minute. The problem was that he couldn't fly directly from here. He'd have to leave through Gilm's Main Gate first, then mount Set and travel from there.
Considering that hassle, Grimm—who had connected his laboratory directly to that space—had an overwhelming advantage when it came to researching the Wisp.
And knowing just how brilliant a mage and researcher Grimm truly was, the fact that even he hadn't made progress on the Wisp was nothing short of astonishing.
"Knowing you, Grimm, I figured you'd have at least partially figured it out by now."
"Just what do you take me for, Rei?"
Grimm's voice carried a note of exasperation.
From Rei's perspective, Grimm had bailed him out more times than he could count with problems he couldn't solve himself. It was only natural to think Grimm could handle just about anything.
"Knowing you, I figured you could manage somehow."
"...Good grief."
After a few seconds of silence, Grimm muttered quietly. Even to Rei, it was obvious he was trying to hide his embarrassment.
With a skull for a face, there was no way to tell for certain if he was flustered, but if Grimm had a proper face, he would probably have been blushing.
Rei felt a sudden urge to tease him about it, but deciding that the consequences would be too frightening, he changed the subject instead.
"So ultimately, the Wind Spirit sealed in the emerald can't be freed? I mean restoring it to sanity first, not releasing it while it's still maddened."
"That's difficult. In the first place, I've never heard of a Spirit driven mad by that fog ever returning to normal. That's exactly why it would be interesting if it could be done, but..."
Grimm trailed off and shook his head. It was proof that, for now, there was nothing to be done.
"I see. ...I'll pass all of that along to Marina."
"Yes."
Grimm nodded, and after they talked for a few more minutes, he said his research was calling and ended the conversation.
Once Grimm's figure disappeared from the Paired Orb, Rei stepped out of his room right away. He was supposed to be resting, so leaving this early felt a bit premature. But given how anxious Marina was about the Spirit matter, he wanted to relay what he'd learned as soon as possible.
Sure enough, Marina was waiting right outside his door. She'd known all along that his talk of resting was a cover for contacting Grimm, and she clearly wanted to hear the details as quickly as she could.
"Can you tell me inside? Out here, Ara or Byune might overhear."
Both Rei and Marina had senses sharp enough to be inhuman—fitting, since neither of them was human. They'd notice immediately if Ara or Byune approached, but there was always the one-in-a-million chance.
With that in mind, Rei understood why Marina wanted to talk in his room. She wanted to give his account her full attention.
The two stepped inside.
The room wasn't much different from what you'd find at an inn. Whether that was a testament to the Wheat Inn at Dusk being on par with a Noble District mansion, or an indictment that this mansion was no better than an inn, however high-end, Rei couldn't say.
He took the chair; Marina sat on the bed.
Silence filled the room for several dozen seconds. Then Rei spoke.
"First things first, to address what's been bothering you: the Spirit sealed in that emerald wasn't driven mad by Grimm."
He explained what Grimm had told him. When he finished, Marina let out a visible breath of relief. Grimm hadn't driven the Spirit mad—he had sealed an already-maddened Spirit in the emerald to spare its life.
...Of course, this also confirmed that Grimm could seal Spirits into gemstones—emeralds, and potentially other stones as well.
Even so, judging by her attitude toward Rei, it was clear Marina wouldn't do anything to provoke his anger. And that was enough to set Rei's mind at ease.