"So, what is the meaning of this, Haruka? Didn't you tell us that all the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians were alive and well?"
"U-uhh… Well, um… I mean, the barrier was still up, so I totally figured she was still alive. Actually, why is the barrier still here if Kushina isn't alive?"
Haruka responded to my interrogation with some uncomfortable excuses before bringing up the question of why the barrier was still up. I had the feeling that she was just trying to get out from under my scrutiny, but her question was a good one.
Erza's barrier was the type to activate upon her death, but this barrier was the type with a time limit. It should have disappeared after a while. Even so, it was still going strong a year after Kushina's death. It was clearly strange. I had thought that something like this might've been possible at high levels, but that wasn't the case judging from Haruka's reaction.
So, we arrived at Haruka's question.
"That is… After Grandma Kushina died, she still had lingering attachments to this world… Right now, she's wandering the forest as a ghost."
"…What the hell?"
Somehow, after one thousand years, Kushina had become something really absurd… Rather than Kushina the Holy Maiden, she was Kushina the Holy Ghost.
"Ahh… Hm. We understand, for now."
Basically, this was all just due to Haruka's misunderstanding. And the biggest contributing factor to that understanding was the fact that the barrier still existed. Knowing that, Haruka had thought Kushina was still alive. But in actuality, Kushina was dead and maintaining the barrier as a ghost.
I can't blame her for a lack of research on this one, can I? It was much more ridiculous to expect her to have predicted this.
"For now, We must meet her and send her to the afterlife." Knowing that the one who held the title of 'Maiden' had fallen and become a ghost was just too sad. I couldn't just let this go on. I was honestly happy, since she'd done this out of loyalty to me (Naru), but I also felt sorry. I should hurry and release her.
"You said you were Wendy? Do you know where Kushina's ghost is?"
Wendy shook her head no. "No, I don't… There's no doubt she's somewhere nearby, though."
Given that the barrier was still there, she was definitely somewhere near. But since she was a ghost, it was hard to grasp her location. Even Wendy, her granddaughter, didn't know.
"Um, then how do you know that she's become a ghost?"
"Ah, well. That's because Grandma occasionally shows herself and recasts the barrier. I saw her then." Wendy easily answered Fiona's astute question.
"Which means we need to wait until the barrier weakens…"
"She just fixed it earlier, so it probably won't happen for a while."
"…"
I thought we could just take it easy and wait a little bit, but Wendy poked holes all over that plan. If it was recently fixed, then Kushina probably wouldn't have to attend to it for a long while. If we waited for several months, she would come back out, but that really would be too much trouble.
…Well, we weren't in any real hurry. Maybe we could just wait?
I was just about to suggest that when I felt Tayuya's magic swell. I hurried to turn around.
"Then we simply need to break the barrier. You may count on me for that!"
"Huh? Wai—Tayuya?!"
"Please be at ease, my king! I will quickly destroy this barrier and drag Kushina out from wherever she is hiding!"
"No. Wai—"
"Invisible Break!"
That fool Tayuya ignored my calls and activated her spell. She used a high-tier Moon-element spell, 'Invisible Break.' Its effect was to cancel any long-lasting, wide-area magic.
Given that there was defensive and support magic, of course there would also be magic to counter that. Getting rid of annoying spells like that was Tayuya's role in the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians, and I valued her quite a lot for it. But I haven't said a single word about using it now.
The anticlimactic sound of glass breaking reverberated through the forest. At the same time, I clearly felt something that had been protecting this forest disappear.
That dumbass demon. She really did it.
Why are all the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians people who refuse to listen?
I understood that Tayuya was excited, since this would be the first time she had something to do in a while, but that was way too forceful.
What'll you do if Kushina thinks you're an enemy?
"How was that, my king?"
"We now understand well that you are a rash fool. Make sure you think before you act next time."
"?!"
I lightly scolded the demoness that was looking at me smugly before surveying the forest.
I didn't care that Tayuya looked like a kicked puppy. I didn't think Kushina would consider us enemies, at least, since I was here. But who knew if that were true?
"…"
I crossed my arms, and we waited in silence for a few minutes for Kushina to show herself. Now that it'd come to this, she should have had no choice but to come out and reapply the barrier.
Then there was the problem of whether or not she'd think we were enemies, since we'd broken the barrier. She might come attacking. I figured she'd recognize me, at least, but she was a ghost. In the worst case, she might have forgotten me.
… Still, a ghost, huh?
I normally didn't believe in the occult, but I'd sure accepted this whole situation really easily.
Well, given the ridiculous situation I'm in, I guess ghosts are pretty tame by now.
All I thought was, "Ah, so ghosts exist." So I was confident I wouldn't be surprised whether a ghost or a zombie or anything else of that nature popped up in front of me. I was so used to weird things that I was numb to shock.
But no matter how long we waited, nothing ghost-like appeared. Time simply continued to pass.
"…She isn't coming," I muttered.
Haruka, who was next to me, agreed, sounding mystified. "No, she isn't."
I'd been convinced that Kushina would show herself immediately, so this was a bit of a letdown.
Could she have already passed on? Or did she just appear at regular intervals to repair the barrier and was otherwise resting? We continued to wait a while for Kushina the Ghost to show up, but the day ended without her appearance.
…What the hell is going on?"