Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Heralt did not react to the remark, and started explaining. "Our task is simple. To keep an eye out for anyone who makes contact with Otherworlders. Ideally, we bring them back to our side, but if a need arises, we take drastic measures to keep Alvox clear of foreign influences."

"As for the Otherworlders themselves?" Endra asked.

"Due to the influence of mana, Otherworlders cannot survive without the various apparatuses that keep them alive. So, distinguishing them isn't that hard when they decide to come out into the open. What's hard is finding their hidden bases and the people they've reached out to."

"I saw them using some Cloaking Device on their bodies, though? Even some mages had them."

"You've stumbled upon the Orgonians," Heralt shrugged. "Unlucky that. They're a pain in the ass to deal with. But aside from them and the Elan Vitalis who are capable of proper combat, the rest aren't so bad. At most, they just want to look at how things are going on Alvox. The same thing we do in other worlds."

Heralt did not even bat an eye as he revealed something mind-blowing. Of course, hearing something like that, Endra couldn't help but ask about a certain world.

"Can I go to Earth?"

Heralt shook his head.

"Earth's off-limits. Perhaps you can land on its moon and stare at it from afar, but the moment you close in on the planet itself, you'll find yourself at the mercy of the Ruler and his subjects."

"But isn't he missing?"

"He is missing, but he's still out there somewhere. His magic still exists after all."

Endra pondered the existence of Earth's god. He still found 'Him' and this whole thing unbelievable. God, parallel universes, and how special his home world is, compared to others.

'But assuming there was a god back there… Where would he go? Maybe he went to a different civilization that came to be somewhere in the universe?'

Seemed like the logical thing. The man must get bored, looking at only Earth all the time. So if another race appears on the other end of the universe, surely, he'd go check them out.

All these thoughts about aliens and parallel universes made him think of another possibility.

"Were there any attempts at a coexistence agreement between different worlds? If not that, maybe a coalition or a union of various worlds?"

"It's difficult for that to work due to the ill-effects of mana," Heralt reminded. "But there are coalitions between worlds. And there are a few alliances as well. The Orgonians that we've talked about, they're one of them. Their source of magical energy, known as orgone, is not that dangerous to foreign species. The catch is that it's much less powerful, compared to something like mana, but the Orgonians can use their various technologies to make do."

"Does that mean that species of other worlds can also use orgone?"

"A little bit."

"But why would they? Considering they have their own source of magic."

"Not many worlds are so nice to their mages like Alvox here. Some require sacrifices to work properly, some require immense calculations and mental energy, some require you to do certain deeds, some require you to be faithful to a world's deity, and some would just fuck up your body way too much to be of any practical use."

Endra remembered how he thought that this world's magic was way too lenient when he first heard about the casting methods. With at least four different methods to cast, and even an autopilot feature to the casting methods… Alvox's mages were terribly coddled.

If he was suddenly asked to cast magic using these different sources of energy, then he probably would've have such a jolly time.

"My eternal gratitude to the Empress."

"Serve her well," Heralt said matter-of-factly.

Endra wanted to say something witty in return, but nothing came to mind.

"So I just search for otherworlders and people who might be in contact with them?"

"Yes. You may kill the otherworlders if necessary, but for the turncoats, you can inform me with either hard evidence, or a very convincing argument. I may also ask some things from you from time to time."

Then, Heralt pulled out two thin pieces of paper from a Storage ring. 

"For your efforts, you will be rewarded with spells," he said and gave the two pieces of paper to Endra. 

There were unknown word scribbled onto the two papers with a drawing of a rune next to it. Two words were written in imperial underneath.

"Soul Sense… and Soul Blast?" Endra asked. 

"It's your reward for killing those three otherworlders on the Cataract," Heralt said. "The first spell's something that allows you to sense the presence of anyone nearby. Quite useful against invisible enemies and illusions. To cast it, you'll need to chant those words in a specific manner or etch that rune onto a talisman."

"Do I just use it with mana?"

Heralt cocked his head at that. "No. You would need to use up your own soul. Did you not learn about this?"

"No?"

"Hmm… It's faster to show you."

Heralt then brought out a Talisman and gave it to Endra. It had the rune for Soul Search. Endra ripped the piece of paper without much delay.

A faint pulsation began emanating from his body. When it reached Heralt, Endra could very clearly feel the man's presence. The pulsation even reached the ground floor above, unaffected by the ketricite or the wall. It reached the boy from before and Endra could tell that he was eating. Just before it could reach outside, the pulse died out.

"Not bad for a first timer," Heralt said. "Feel anything odd, or heavy?"

"No."

"Your soul's strong enough to keep that up for an hour or so. Train it well so you can keep it up forever."

The man kept casually mentioning all these… things. When was Endra even going to sleep like that?

But to be fair, the spell really didn't feel so difficult to maintain.. Normal spells were much more difficult to maintain usually. 

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