At Rida's words, Turan set down the wooden basket containing sulfur.
He had a gut feeling that this story would be far more important than gathering sulfur.
"I don't an to question you, Elder, but doesn't the scripture say that after death, souls ascend to the celestial palace to enjoy eternal bliss?"
While the scripture of the Prea gods tends to vary in doctrine and composition of deities depending on the region, the teachings about the afterlife remained consistent.
Isn't that why wizards perform funeral rites by dispersing the souls of the dead?
They hope that magical creatures don't remain on earth as vengeful undead, but rather ascend purely to the heavens to reach the gods and enjoy an eternal life free of pain and suffering.
But if what she said was true, even souls that ascended to the celestial palace would grow old and die, which completely contradicted the existing concept of the afterlife.
Rida frowned at Turan's observation.
"This is why young people! Don't be hasty and listen to what I have to say till the end. The soul ages and the body dies, but I didn't say the soul dies too. Doesn't it say in the scripture? That physical bodies are aningless in the celestial palace. Do you want to live in the afterlife still defecating and suffering?"
Rida clicked her tongue lightly and climbed onto the wooden basket Turan had made, sitting cross-legged.
"In other words, a person's soul is the driving force that moves the body, so when the soul ages, the body's vitality also declines. Eventually, one loses even the strength to breathe and dies... As for the soul, well, it either lives on in its aged state in the celestial palace or becos young again. Beyond that is the realm of imagination since no one has co back to tell us."
"Then to truly achieve immortality, there must be a way to reverse the aging of the soul."
"That's exactly what our family is putting all our efforts into researching! Though we still have a long way to go."
Saying this, Rida patted the thigh of the Monkey King standing beside her.
"Look at this fellow. Despite living for nearly a thousand years, isn't he still healthy? My ancestors who decided to keep Aikul probably didn't expect him to live this long."
Indeed, it seed one of the reasons they left the Monkey King here was to experint on the lifespan limits of Masu.
Stroking Aikul's leg, Rida spoke with a dreamy expression.
"Why can Aikul live so much longer than us? Is it because a monkey's soul is much more resilient than a human's? Or because they're a simpler, more primitive life form? But this friend is far wiser than most people, even though he can't speak. There must be so other criteria. Sothing we don't know."
Certainly, Aikul gave off the impression of what Bize might be like if she lived to be a thousand years old.
Turan briefly t the creature's blank gaze before averting his eyes.
"I have a Masu bonded to my soul, and that one is just as intelligent as Aikul. It can even write."
"Write? How remarkable! I tried teaching Aikul letters, but gave up because he was so troubleso about it. Did you leave it sowhere?"
"I told it to wait up the mountain, worried there might be issues. If you're okay with it, should I call it here?"
"Please do. Aikul must want to see a fellow Masu friend after so long."
At Rida's words, Aikul shook his head with an incredulous expression.
He probably ant he didn't need any Masu friends.
Sending a signal through the soul bond and shooting up a small fla, it wasn't long before Bize descended into the valley with her pitch-black wings spread.
Upon seeing the giant monkey's form, she was startled and hid behind Turan.
Perhaps her Masu instincts allowed her to sense the other's strength?
Amusingly, Aikul, who had acted disinterested until just now, wore a sowhat hurt expression at Bize's reaction.
"It's okay, Bize. Nothing to be afraid of. This is Elder Rida and Aikul, they're both friends."
"So your na is Bize? I'm Rida. I won't hurt you, so why don't you show your face?"
Perhaps moved by Rida's gentle and affectionate tone, Bize hesitated before peeking out her head to look at Rida.
Aikul, seemingly aware that his large build was intimidating, had crouched down to make himself smaller.
Sowhat reassured by this, Bize slowly erged and scratched at the sulfur-covered ground with her talons.
[Hello.]
"My, what pretty handwriting. My, a Masu that can write - if this child lives long and writes a history book, it would be nothing short of a treasure. How old are you?"
[Don't know!]
"She's probably around ten years old."
From what he'd heard at the ti of bonding, she had been sub-adult when captured about ten years ago, so it shouldn't be too far off.
Birds typically grow to adulthood in a year or two.
"So young, so young! If only this wasn't such a place, I would have prepared so treats."
Rida chatted with Bize about various things, then turned to Aikul saying "Look at this," and nagged that he too could communicate like this if he learned to write.
Aikul covered his ears with his large hands as if he didn't want to hear it.
==
After Rida spent quite so ti diating between Bize and Aikul, the giant monkey and black eagle seed to form their own peculiar bond.
More precisely, it was like the relationship between a playful kitten and a laid-back large dog.
anwhile, after loading all the sulfur chunks into baskets, Rida suggested they enjoy the hot springs since they were already here.
Saying it would be good for their skin and health.
Soon after, Turan soaked in the hot spring with just a cloth covering his lower body.
He had removed everything else along with his clothes, except for the Mimicker holy relic which he wore like a necklace, strung through a tal ring.
The water temperature was hot enough to severely burn a normal person, but it was perfect for a noble's body.
"Ugh..."
Beside him, Bize repeatedly dunked her wings and resurfaced several tis before getting her head pushed under by Aikul's thick finger, making her squawk and swallow water.
The giant monkey guffawed, but when the angry black eagle pecked his side with her beak, it sadly seed to have little effect on his thick hide.
After watching the two playfully squabble for a while, Turan turned to Rida, who was also enjoying the hot spring with just a cloth wrapped around her body.
"Is there sothing you want from ?"
"Hmm? Why do you suddenly ask that?"
"The things you talked about earlier seed too important to just be casual conversation."
It was no less than a discussion about the secret of immortality, the treasure that everyone desires.
It was too weighty a topic to dismiss as just the ramblings of a chatty elder.
Especially to soone she just t today.
At Turan's words, Rida clapped her hands with a grin.
"That's all because of you. Though I chose only handso n as my husbands, none were quite like you. It's just like how n babble anything in front of a pretty woman."
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