The Shaman Desires Transcendence

Chapter 65




“Isn’t it the same thing?”

“No, it’s different!”

“Anyway, can’t it be used as a substitute for a goat?”

“The symbols themselves are entirely different! Didn’t we just learn about this in liberal arts?!”

“A while ago?”

“Don’t you remember?! We had a lecture on ‘Baphomet and Gnosticism’ in ‘Lifestyle and Symbols 2’! We learned about the regional names and symbolic differences of Baphomet, as well as the differences and evolutionary processes of goat and ram symbolism!”

Ella’s voice came out tinged with irritation.

“Ah~ I don’t remember, I don’t remember. Anyway, it doesn’t matter since I won’t use those symbols anyway. You and Iserin nag too much.”

This was something that would make a liberal arts professor’s head explode if they heard.

Ella was left speechless by words beyond her imagination.

“…Ah.”

What more could be said here? She did not remember such things nor had any intention to memorize them. No matter how simply she explained the differences and symbolisms of goats and rams, that beast-shaped person would just hear it with one ear and let it slip out the other.

Ella gave up on explaining.

Instead, she nudged Iarin and pushed her back.

“Huh?”

Without a word, she opened the door and sent her out of the house, slamming the door shut and locking it tightly. Then, like a zombie, she trudged over to the sofa, collapsing onto it and feeling deep satisfaction from having removed the cause of her headache right before her eyes.

*Bang bang bang!*

“Rabbit! Open the door!”

Ella ignored the noise coming from outside and put on her headphones.

She listened to the song flowing from the headphones. The song, a lullaby that she had consistently used since studying abroad in Russia, the Cossack Lullaby, whispered softly in her ears, with the mid-aged woman’s voice calming her body and mind.

Her body relaxed.
Her breathing became regular.
The various thoughts and musings vanished, leaving her mind blank.

With the feeling of her body becoming heavy, she began to drift away from the world.

She fell asleep.

* * *

“Sleep, my beautiful baby,
I’ll tell you a story,
I’ll sing you a song;
So close your eyes and fall asleep,
My angel, quietly, sweetly,
I’ll pray all day long,
And at night, I’ll tell your fate,
My angel, sweetly,
I’ll pray all day long,
And at night, I’ll tell your fate,
Sleep, sleep.”

* * *

When Ella opened her eyes, darkness had settled in.
Not just any darkness, but one infused with a chilling coldness.

“Ah… I fell asleep without turning on the heater…”

She felt the cool air brushing against her lungs with every breath she took, and she exhaled a little breath. With a sigh, her breath took shape and she clearly witnessed the white form of her breath fading away.

“It’s too cold…”

She thought to herself that she should get up and turn on the heater.

But as she stepped onto the floor beneath the sofa, a squishy sensation greeted her, oddly warm and firm.

“What is this…?”

Still half-dazed, she yawned and looked down at what she had stepped on…

“AAAH!”

She let out a scream.

A person.
There was a person lying in a bizarre position!

Ella, startled, called out to her familiar spirit.

“Ignis Fatuus!”

At that, a tiny spark ignited before her, transforming into a glowing sphere as if it were a light bulb. That white, soccer ball-sized light floated and circled around Ella as if asking if she had called for it.

Thanks to her familiar lighting up the area around the sofa, Ella looked down to confirm what she had stepped on, and the shock and fear she initially felt morphed into irritation as she recognized the situation.

What she was stepping on was Iarin.

Iarin was sleeping on the cold floor, laying comfortably, her expression serene. As if dreaming some fantastic dream, she had taken a proud pose, which looked incredibly annoying in Ella’s eyes.

Ella gently pushed the overly cute familiar away and shook Iarin’s shoulder.

“Wake up.”

“Huh?”

Ella half-awoke her, getting her upper body up, and—

*Whack!*

Ella smacked Iarin’s back.

“Ow, that hurts!”

“I’m not alive!”

*Whack!*

“That hurts! Wait! Ella! Wait a minute!”

“Do you have any idea how shocked I was?!”

*Whack!*

“Ugh!”

“And how did you get in here?!”

“Stop! Stop!”

“Not to mention, you’re not even a real beast! Why are you sleeping on the floor?! Tell me! Tell me!”

*Whack!*

Only after several more whacks to Iarin’s back did Ella finally calm down and look at her own red hand against Iarin’s unmarked back, feeling utterly wronged.

“Real warriors are a scam… How can there be no marks left? It’s the one who hit that gets hurt… it doesn’t make sense…”

“So stop it already.”

Climbing onto the sofa, Iarin chuckled as she rubbed Ella’s hand with one hand, while the other continued to stroke the glowing sphere floating in the air. Ella shot an annoyed glance at her familiar, who wasn’t even her master, but was being all snuggly, while Iarin continued to pet the light as if teasing her.

“Our wisp is so cute, so cute.”

Even as annoyance welled up, it faded away almost instantly.

Ella sighed, thinking that Iarin was like a cat that wouldn’t listen at all.

“So… Frau Li. How did you get in here?”

To her question, Iarin looked rather puzzled.

“Huh? You said I could come over anytime and gave me the key.”

“What? Me? When?”

“When was it? When the bear brought vodka, remember?”

“…Ah.”

When the bear brought vodka.
That single phrase allowed Ella to connect the dots.

Recently, Iarin had come over to Ella’s house holding hands with a bear carrying vodka. She had proposed a drinking spree, inviting Ella to join because she should try it too, and out of curiosity, Ella had accepted a shot of vodka.

And… she had experienced something called a “blackout.”

That’s right.

Ella had taken a shot of vodka and then completely lost her memory.

“…I had one sip and I don’t remember anything. Did I do something then?”

She thought she must have just quietly passed out back then…

Ella subtly asked Iarin.

“I’ve never seen drunk behavior before. I realized I shouldn’t drink carelessly. Right?”

But all she got in reply was the sight of Iarin grinning at her cutely.

Ella shouted.

“Tell me!”

“No way.”

“What did I do?!”

“Ah, I don’t want to talk about it~”

“Tell me!”

“Then if you do me a favor, I’ll tell you.”

Iarin said as if she had hit the jackpot.

“Help me find a goat!”

“Oh, I don’t raise goats! I raise rams!”

“So it’s a goat. Not a ram, a goat.”

“…Huh?”

“Anyways, you know more about animals than I do~ So let’s go find that goat together.”

Ella hesitated with the thought of wandering around with this beast-shaped person.
Or maybe she could just suppress her curiosity and brush it off.

But her indecision didn’t last long.

“…Fine. I know a place we can go, we should head there. But you have to tell me everything without skipping a beat.”

It was much better to deal with a little hassle rather than be left wondering for life.

Ella quickly threw on some clothes and headed outside with Iarin.
No time to waste, they were off to find a goat and wrap things up.

* * *

“Thanks for helping me find the goat! And for taking care of it too! Rabbit, thank you so much!”

“Thanks are fine… But can you tell me what I did…?”

Ella sighed as she looked at Iarin cradling a seven-month-old goat she had found at the farm.
That sigh was due to the mental fatigue from being dragged along by Iarin, and the physical fatigue from having to visit two farms.

“Ugh, I’m going to get dark circles. I should use a pack when we get back…”

Ella just wanted to solve her curiosity and return home.
But alas, it seemed Iarin was overflowing with energy, pulling her into a cafe.
To treat Ella for helping her with the goat, Iarin said it was only natural to buy her some food.

She fed Ella cake saying it was good to eat something sweet when tired, then gave her juice because fruit was good for the skin, and bought her a mascot plush from the cafe because she said the inside of the house was too empty.

Ella was handed a plush toy, big enough that she had to hug it with both arms, and she had to join in on Iarin’s chatter for quite a while.
Moreover, there were so many episodes that there was no room for boredom.

As they finished the cake, the story of the night of drinking suddenly came up, so there was no chance to feel bored at all.

“…So that’s why you asked me that. I have a big house but it’s too cold, I was alone so I felt a bit lonely while I was with my teacher in Germany. So I said, ‘Hey, I’ll come to visit often, so can you give me the key?’ That’s how it happened.”

“…Ugh…”

Ella felt the deep embarrassment that came from hearing the story of that night of drinking.
Her face turned bright red, and she tried to hide it from view with her hands, but unfortunately, her hands had also turned red from earlier hits, so there was no change in color itself.

Ella tried desperately to change the topic to hide her embarrassment, while Iarin went along, and their conversation continued for a while longer.

The two of them chatted animatedly until just before the cafe closed, then decided to return to their lodgings.

“It’s dangerous to go home alone. I’ll walk you back.”

Iarin insisted that since she had brought Ella, she must take responsibility and offer her escort home, and Ella accepted while hugging the plush toy, walking through the night with her.

As they walked for a while.

“Huh? A fortune teller’s house?”

They spotted a roadside fortune teller’s house set up nearby.



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