『Let me explain everything in simple terms.』
Mira sat down, still holding onto Soul Howl's hand, and explained about the Spirit King's network (named by her).
She told how a part of the Spirit King's Divine Protection's power was that connection, which allowed her to talk to the Spirit King at any moment, so sometimes she would learn interesting facts, or even receive valuable advice.
『I should probably also correct something else. Martel is the Originator Spirit of Nature, not a spirit of love.』
『Aww, that was uncalled for, Mira.』
She concluded her explanation by mentioning how she recently met the Originator Spirit of Nature Martel, who had also joined their conversations now.
「An Originator Spirit, huh. I've read about them somewhere before, something about them being the first spirits to exist, after the Spirit King. And somehow both of them are your friends now… I expected no less from you, Elder.」
The Spirit King was essentially as powerful as a god, and Originator Spirits were second in terms of power. It was almost impossible to believe that a human had not only met them, but spoke to them like friends.
But Soul Howl did not doubt Mira's words one bit. On one hand he understood there was little point to faking such a story, and more importantly he had known Mira for a long time so he trusted her.
The two probably did not really notice that trust, as it was almost subconscious. Martel and the Spirit King did notice it through the Divine Protection however, and were quite impressed by their bond.
『Anyway, I was telling them about our predicament, and the Spirit King offered me a solution.』
At that point, Mira decided to let the Spirit King explain in more detail, and he began talking in a solemn and loud voice.
『Soul Howl, I've heard your story from Mira. I have to say I'm quite impressed by your disposition, and so I've decided to alleviate the burden that has been troubling you.』
After that preamble, he repeated what he told Mira earlier for Soul Howl. How he could take over the burden of breaking taboo, allowing Soul Howl to use high level spells again, and how as long as the Spirit King remained in the Spirit Palace the burden would have little to no effect on him.
「Do you mean it? You can really do all that?」
Hearing that he could maintain the time freezing spell and use high level spells with no restriction, Soul Howl was surprised, but also a bit bewildered. It sounded too good to be true.
『Of course we can. We're all rooting for your love to bloom after all! Your passionate resolve has truly resonated with our hearts!』
Martel's high-beat voice echoed into Soul Howl's astonished mind.
「Love? Whose are you talking about?」
Soul Howl had no idea what Martel was talking about, so he looked at Mira dubiously, who replied with a mumbled 「She refuses to let go of a wrong assumption.」
Mira's response and tone of voice was enough for Soul Howl to glean most of it. Martel had been thinking Soul Howl and the frozen woman were together.
「I don't mind that you told them about our situation, but I believe I already told you I'm not doing this out of love or affection.」
「I know. I also told them that. That made the Spirit King think of you as a hero or something, but Martel seems obsessed with romance…」
Mira tried her best to sound convincing. Seeing that, Soul Howl just said 「I remember this girl in my class who was like that too…」 with a dry laugh.
「Either way, just try to overlook her behavior for a bit. Apparently she was alone for millennia before I found her.」
「Hmm, I guess I have no option if I want the situation to get better…」
That way Mira and Soul Howl settled the argument. And even though Martel heard the whole exchange, her attitude did not change at all, simply believing Soul Howl did not want to be honest. On the other hand, the Spirit King really wanted to apologize on her behalf.
「And so, will that really work? It won't make the spell stop working halfway through or something, right?」
Soul Howl asked again just to verify. He wanted to be sure that even if the burden was transferred to the Spirit King, that would not make the woman's time start flowing again, which would entirely defeat the purpose of everything he was doing. This was his first time attempting that anyway, so he wanted to be as careful as possible.
『It'll work, yes. But under very specific conditions. First you'll have to tell me the particulars of the forbidden spell you used. The classification of the spell, its theoretical construction, and all the measures you took to dampen the burden.』
The Spirit King first needed to have a thorough understanding of the spell, so that he could create a vessel with the same essence as Soul Howl, which would then be filled with Soul Howl's mana. Once that was done, it would be possible to transfer the burden alone. That was the gist of it, but in reality it was a rather complex process to go through.
「I see. Alright then, I'll tell you.」
Hearing everything the Spirit King said, Soul Howl felt like it was worth a try. With a nod, he quickly began detailing the forbidden spell Gaol of the Afterlife.
It was a conglomerate of various other spells, which Soul Howl had combined and modified on his own, making it his own original spell. It was largely based on Necromancy, but it also had various layers of Concept Magic, and even borrowed aspects of Exorcism and Onmyoji Magic.
As Soul Howl detailed everything, he brought out a bunch of papers from his Item Box. They described countless spells.
「And this is how I went around the aftereffects. I made signs of conformity, and placed them on my wives.」
According to those papers, it seemed like Soul Howl had worked something into those bodies wearing maid clothes in the last floor of the Ancient Temple Nevrapolis.
Those bodies had a specific sign placed on them, which made their bodies be treated as Soul Howl's.
Even though their souls had already left, their bodies were still in good shape. So with a bit of help from Necromancy, they could be turned into receptacles to share the burden.
He had around a hundred bodies like that, so the burden was spread thin amongst all of them, as they were treated like part of Soul Howl's body. That allowed him to get away with it while being punished less.
「If you're going to build a new vessel, maybe that will help out as well.」
Soul Howl continued, detailing what the signs he used were, and what kind of Necromancy he used on the bodies.
The Spirit King would prepare one large vessel, while Soul Howl had used multiple smaller ones. Their structure was different, but the logic behind it was similar, so Soul Howl hoped the information would be of use.
『Hmm… so you even created a spell like that, impressive. If you've already taken so many preliminary measures, then I think we can afford to change the original plan a little. Instead of building a vessel from scratch, we can just perfect those you have.』
Soul Howl's methods had their advantages and some disadvantages, but they would serve as good groundwork. It would be enough to build a rather special vessel.
The Spirit King analyzed the wavelength of Soul Howl's mana through the connection with Mira and quickly got to work.
It would take a while before it became evident how Martel would help too, though before things started she showed a pretty strong reaction to what Soul Howl said, wondering what he meant with wives.
She was probably going to have a lot to say once everything was done.
「You've researched quite a lot, I see.」
Once the details were sorted out and they waited for the Spirit King to be done on his side, Mira began looking through Soul Howl's papers with much interest.