Chapter 1019 Conversation with the Administrator
However, before they progressed any further into their current conversation, Marcus had a couple of topics that he had to ask.
"That is certainly interesting, and I do want to know more about it, but there are some things I want to address first. If that is fine with you?" "Sure, go ahead. Just know that there are some things I can\'t tell you." The Administrator said, not appearing to be bothered by having the topic of their discussion changed.
"Okay, then before anything else, where is Mrazivý? What condition is she in, and is there anything that I need t do for her?" Marcus asked, a worried look on his face.
Now that things had calmed down he could not help but have his wife on his mind and want to know about her current status.
"Ah, I suppose that you haven\'t seen her since you both lost your battle against the intruder. As I told you before I have her in a separate subspace right now. She is still perfectly safe though I do have her in a suspended state, so for her no time has passed since I picked her up. I figured it would be better to wait and awaken her once you were able to explain things to her. It would be a pain to deal with an additional person, so I\'ll give her back to you once we are done here. You can go ahead and tell her everything then." Marcus breathed a sigh of relief hearing this, but he still could not feel at ease just yet.
"Would it be possible for me to see her? You don\'t have to wake her up yet, I just want to confirm with my own eyes that she is fine." Marcus pleaded. He could still remember the body double that the Administrator had created being decapitated and until he saw her, he would not be able to calm down.
"If you insist." With the wave of her hand the Administrator opened up a tear in space. On the other side of the rift Marcus saw Mrazivý floating in suspended animation. Just being able to lay his eyes on her and see that she was alive and healthy was enough to take a heavy weight off of Marcus\' chest. The vast majority of the anxiety he had been feeling evaporated and the tension in his form eased up.
\'It\'s really her. I can feel the connection to her soul through the ring I gave her.\' Marcus had been a bit on edge thinking that the Administrator might have switched her with another body double, but he doubted that even she had the power to perfectly clone someone\'s soul. He was certain he would have noticed if Mrazivý had been replaced.
"Oh, I just had a great idea!" The Administrator said, wearing an impish expression.
Marcus got a bad feeling about this when he heard the tone in her voice and saw the look on her face. Unfortunately, he was powerless to stop whatever she wanted to do.
Waving her hand once more, the Administrator conjured a glass coffin around Mrazivý and changed her battle gear into a beautiful dress. Her hair, that had been disheveled quickly arranged itself into an elegant braid and a light coating of makeup enhanced her already gorgeous features.
"Hm, perhaps I should conjure a giant thorn covered castle protected by a dragon and put her inside?" The Administrator mused.
"Wait! Could you not use our lives to reenact a movie from Earth!" Marcus practically yelled.
"You\'re right. The castle and dragon would be excessive and a huge waste of resources. I\'ll just leave her nearby in the woods awaiting the kiss of prince charming to wake her up."
Marcus wanted to complain that she should not be doing even that, but he was afraid that she might go back to the idea of putting Mrazivý in a castle guarded by a dragon if he offered any more resistance.
Simply flicking her finger, the Administrator dragged Mrazivý, still inside the glass coffin out of the sperate dimension and warped her deeper into the forest.
For a moment Marcus panicked when he saw this, but after reaching out his life sense skill, he was able to find her not too far away.
"Have you had enough fun at our expense?" Marcus said, the look on his face conveying his displeasure.
"Yes, I think I have. So, if there is anything else you wanted to ask me before I explain things, go ahead."
"Yeah, there is one more thing I want to know. The three that died during the battle, can you bring them back?" Wearing a complicated expression, the Administrator did not answer Marcus\' question right away.
For nearly two minutes she remained silent as she mulled things over before speaking again.
"It is possible for me to restore their lives, but I am afraid that I won\'t be doing so. Just like what happened to you when you first died, their souls have already been sent back to Soul Placement. I have Mirrion set up to store the souls of the dead within the system for only a minute after death. Delaying what would normally be an immediate departure to Soul Placement. But after that time has elapsed, the souls of the dead are no longer under the governance of Mirrion. It would cost me an inordinate amount of favors and resources to bring them back now. Especially if their souls have already moved onto their next lives already. I\'m sorry. I truly feel bad for the two that died because of the intruder that should never have been here, but I can\'t afford to bring them back."
Clenching his teeth, Marcus felt his anger building as the Administrator told him that she would not help to resurrect those that had died. Yet before he exploded, he realized an inconsistency in what she had just said.
"What do you mean by the two that died? I was not fully conscious for a time, but I still remember that Adlamin, Cassius, and Evette were killed."
"No, that is not exactly true. All three of them were defeated, but only the two men perished. The woman that is also an adjutant of the Great Spirit of Life still resides on Mirrion. At the moment that she was struck, Bheith felt her life was about to be snuffed out and used his connection with her to save her soul. It came at a great cost to his own powers, but he prevented her from dying." The Administrator explained.
Hearing that Evette was still alive brought a great deal of relief to Marcus. Certainly, he still felt bad for Adlamin and Cassius, but he was not about to lose his temper for their sakes. Adlamin had pretty much always hated him because of his fast friendship with Evette. While Cassius had been antagonistic to him at first, though the two of them had smoothed things out.
\'If Evette is fine, then there is no reason to beg the Administrator to bring them back.\'
With his emotions settled down now, Marcus asked the Administrator if she knew what condition Evette was currently in.
"Well, she is not dead, but I doubt she wakes up anytime soon." The Administrator then explained that her soul was like the last embers of a fire right now. Bheith the Great Spirit of Life was using his powers to keep her from being snuffed out, but it would take anywhere from a couple of years to possibly a century before Evette regained her former strength.
"The time it takes will depend largely on Bheith\'s efforts and Evette\'s willpower. Even I can\'t give you a better estimate." "I understand. Thank you for telling me. I\'ll go see Bheith later and see if there is anything can do to help. Evette is a friend with a similar origin to me after all."
Now knowing of Evette\'s condition, Marcus added visiting the Great Spirit of Life to his list of things that he needed to do. "Now, is that all that you wanted to ask me?" The Administrator said, a slightly impatient look in her eyes.
"Yes, that is all I wanted to know before learning about what really happened. I believe that you just told me about a group that was in possession of another one of those grimoires that can summon Eldritch Horrors."
"That\'s right. Like when you dealt with them, I received an alarm from the system that being that should not exist on Mirrion had appeared. However, unlike last time, the group that had the grimoire summoned hundreds of otherworldly monsters that were far stronger than the ones you dealt with. I had to deploy most of the great spirits and go myself to deal with it. Honestly the whole ordeal was a massive pain." The Administrator said, a bitter expression on her face.