Alive Or Not?

[Ace POV],

In the sack was a girl who appeared to be 5 years old, and around her body were tentacle-like attachments that attached her to the sack.

Sir Roland was about to risk it and pull the girl out with his bare hands when Emma managed to stop him in time before he did.

I deduced from this that she was most likely the missing girl.

As I was thinking of this, Emma cast a spell as she held her hand out in the direction of the black sack, preventing Sir Roland from attempting to take the small girl out with his bare hands.

"Light Magic: 'Heal'"

While I was perplexed as to why Emma would cast a healing spell on someone who was trapped but did not appear to be hurt, I had my answer the following second.

As the light representing the healing spell was released from Emma's hand and touched the girl in the bag, she suddenly opened her eyes and began screaming as black blood poured from her mouth.

Her eyes were likewise pitch black, and the more she trashed around in the bag and vomited black blood, the more her eyes reverted to normal.

Only after her eyes returned to normal did she close them again as she ceased vomiting blood.

When I saw this, I turned to Emma and asked her a question.

"What was that?" I inquired, referring to the scene that had just occurred.

Emma, upon hearing this, responded.

"I just thought things would work out this way," she remarked, pausing before continuing.

"Ace, are you familiar with the yin and yang doctrine of the old age?" Emma inquired.

"The one about light and dark, or the one about balance, or the one about reca-" I was replying to Emma when she abruptly stopped me from saying anything else.

"I'm talking about the light and the dark," she stated before asking me another question.

"Do you know what these two elements do to each other when they meet?" she questioned as I replied.

"They either balance each other out or oppose themselves," I stated as I realized what was going on.

As I have said, light and dark will either balance each other out or oppose themselves if they cannot, so who says the same cannot be said for magical elements?

If I'm not mistaken, Emma's light element opposes the oil puppet, which is likely related to the dark element, so casting a healing spell on the girl affected by the oil puppet was not to heal her, but to allow her light elemental mana to come into contact with the girl and oppose the dark element that affected her.

This is most likely why the girl began vomiting black blood shortly after Emma's healing spell reached her.

As I was thinking about these things, I saw Emma cast another healing spell on the girl, who immediately opened her eyes and began spewing the second wave of black blood from her mouth.

Emma repeated this two more times, giving her a total of four healing spells on the girl in the black sack until she eventually stopped vomiting black blood on the fourth time as the black sack connected to her began to be impacted by Emma's light element and began to transform slowly into black liquid.

Sir Roland was finally able to hold the girl when Emma said it was okay after the black sack eventually converted into black liquid identical to the one the oil puppet turned into when it died.

She probably can't feel the dark element in the girl again.

As I was thinking about this, I suddenly realized something I had forgotten.

Why didn't the primordial chronicle notify me that I had obtained the oil puppet's primordial records when it died?

Hmmm

Since it is a puppet, there must be a puppeteer. It might probably be because the oil puppet was not a creature but rather a fabrication of someone's mana and materials that did not process life, the primordial chronicle did not count it as having primordial records.

But does this mean that I won't receive any primordial records if I kill a nonliving creature in the future?

Well, that's if they exist.

Time will tell, I suppose.

As I reflected on this, I glanced at Emma, who was performing healing spells on the black liquid on the ground, which slowly dissolved into vapor whenever Emma's spells came into contact with it.

After the black liquid on the ground had all evaporated, I saw the villagers who had previously left the area return, and I saw the mother of the girl who had disappeared hurriedly run to Sir Roland's side when she saw the figure in his arms.

"May! May! May!" she exclaimed repeatedly as she hurried to Sir Roland and carried the unconscious girl in his arms.

While this confirms that the girl in the sack was certainly the one who had just vanished, it was also alarming that I hadn't seen the little girl in her mother's arms move.

'Is she alive or not?' I thought as I observed Emma come closer to the mother and daughter pair, bending down to check the child's pulse.

Seeing this, I moved closer to their side.

Oh?

'It appears that the girl is still alive and merely unconscious,' I thought as I observed Emma exhale a sigh of relief.

I was going to say something when I saw this, but Emma beat me to it by turning to Sir Roland and speaking.

"Could you please gather the villagers who bought stuff from the 'merchant' who came a few weeks ago?" Emma addressed Sir Roland, who promptly nodded and disappeared from his position.

Since Emma had stated the exact words I was about to say, I took my time observing my surroundings while some thoughts crossed my mind.

The first question is, who is the merchant? Who exactly is the oil puppeteer? Or are both parties the same individual and not two different people?

Now that I think about it, it's even dubious that the people here could purchase a painting of that caliber.

As I thought of these things, I heard a bell-like sound in my head as the primordial chronicle appeared in front of me.

....

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