The Town of Shining Stone (6)

When about half a year had passed since I began learning sculpture from Maios-sensei, he suddenly stopped carving and asked me.

"Whenever you touch stone, you always mutter something under your breath. Is that because there's a spirit in it? If so, there are a few things I'd like you to ask the spirits in my stead."

Ah, uh... I was a little at a loss how to answer that.

First of all, if he was asking whether an earth spirit dwelled in the stone I was carving, that was a difficult question.

Of course, there were spirits in stone as well, but only because this stone, lying on the ground, was connected to the earth. What would happen if it were completely separated from it?

If a spirit particularly took a liking to the statue, perhaps an eccentric earth spirit might even come to dwell in it independently.

The statue of the giant wolf I had seen in that park had certainly seemed to be quite favored by the spirits.

A truly enormous mountain might be similar: although it stood upon the earth, a powerful spirit might have taken up independent residence in it.

I also had some doubts about whether spirits could clearly understand a human's question and come up with an answer.

Only a spirit like the water spirit dwelling in the clear spring of the Kingdom of Ludria, with whom I'd become acquainted long ago—one that had gained experience, interacted with people, received worship, and developed a strong sense of self—would be an exception; at least, the earth spirits here didn't seem capable of that much understanding...