157 4.19 Body and Soul - Part 1

The three of us were almost about to reach the manor. Since we had already dealt with the skeletons here, the walk was relatively peaceful.

"Not a lot. I can sense the mana flowing in the body, but that's basically it."

"Being able to sense the flow of mana is impressive… For a human, that is. But have you ever felt the soul of a being?"

"...I am not sure. I think I have sensed the soul of my spirits before, but I don't have much knowledge about them."

The dragon king Hazel narrowed his eyes. His reaction was clearly saying, 'you don't even know that much.'

"Then, I will need to explain things to you from the basics. This might take a bit long, but we have plenty of time left to discuss this."

"Actually, my subordinates aren't aware of my condition, so I would like to notify them of that if possible."

"Then what are you waiting for? Send your spirit there to tell them about your well-being. While she is doing that, I will teach you about living beings and their souls."

'That's because I only just realized that this is going to take long,' was what I wanted to reply. However, I was tired, and taking the conversation in that direction was pointless, so I decided to ignore that comment.

"Flare, can you go to the nearby village, the one that we saw from the sky, and tell others that I am alright?"

"It will be done, master, but please don't hesitate to summon me any time you need me."

"Don't worry, I will," I replied with a smile.

After the conversation, Flare changed into the small blue bird and left, while the two of us entered the area with the manor.

All the skeletons came forward and bowed in front of Hazel right after the two of us entered. Naturally, Garo, the leader of this group, was in front of everyone else.

Hazel paid no mind and walked towards the manor. I was looking around to bring his attention to them, but he completely ignored them as if they weren't even there.

"We, dragons, don't talk with the undead. They should be fortunate that they are not destroyed yet."

'If you look at it that way, it does sound merciful. But then again, they have been stuck because of the same lingering wish for thousands of years. Just answering their question and setting them free might be better.'

While I was thinking along those lines, the two of us arrived at the doorstep of the manor. He then walked up to the door and touched it with both of his hands.

The metal door slowly opened after producing a loud crack sound right after his touch. Since he was the one who sealed it, it was no wonder that he would be able to unlock the seal this easily.

"Come in," he said as he walked in ahead of me.

I followed him, and once I was inside, the door closed itself producing the same cracking sound.

The two of us then walked to the inner rooms. Without wandering anywhere else, he led me to a large room, probably the master room of this manor.

The carpet and the painting on the wall of the room were carefully designed to match each other. There was nothing that eye-catching about the room as it was surprisingly ordinary.

In the room, in front of the large bed, there was a coffin. This was the coffin that I sensed from outside— the mana storage point that operated the seal of the manor.

He walked up to the coffin and looked at the strange text written outside it. It was not in the language that I could understand, so I waited for the time he would start explaining.

As he looked at the coffin, his eyes became watery, and his expressions became more human-like. For some reason, the dragon that was walking tall a while ago looked vulnerable now.

"This coffin belongs to someone I knew a long time ago. I spent some time with her, a few years for a human perhaps. But to me, whose origin goes back to the creation of this planet, that time was less than what a day is for you. However, for some reason, I developed a strong attachment to this human."

He fell on his knees and slowly opened the lid of the coffin. Inside, there was a body of a young woman with long blonde hair. Even though she had died thousands of years ago, it looked like the body of someone who had died just now. Actually, since there were no signs of any sort of injuries in her body, it appeared as though she was just sleeping.

I was thinking about asking, 'how is this possible?' but then I saw the dragon crying, so I waited for him to finish his reunion.

He slowly touched her hair and held one of her hands. "Himiko, the time has come. I have waited this long for this moment. Now, you can finally be revived. You will get a second chance to live, and this time, I will stay with you."

After saying that, he slowly closed the lid of the coffin and stood back on his feet. He then turned around and looked at the painting of Himiko on the wall.

"There are three things that make a living being — body, soul, and consciousness or, in simple terms, memories. The human body is made up of 5 of the seven elements. This first is Earth, which is the origin of all living beings and is the main component of one's body. Then there is fire, air, water, and space. They all have their own roles, but without them, you can't create a human body."

This all sounded a little confusing, but from what he said, one thing was obvious.

"That means… it is possible to create a functional human body using magic."