That evening, Luke’s house was finally celebrating the Spirit Festival properly.
On the table were a plethora of delicious foods, a cake for after the meal, and even gifts to open later.
Everything was full of anticipation.
“Happy Spirit Festival!”
“Yeah!”
As Diana hummed and raised her hand, Pyris also chimed in with a beaming smile.
Watching them, Luke let out a weary sigh and glanced toward the wooden decoration where Diana’s gift was placed.
He had run around tirelessly just to get that doll.
But at least with this, Diana would be happy and quiet for today.
Well, even if she later found out that there was no spirit giving gifts, she would probably not throw a tantrum, since she received the gift she wanted at least for now.
Thinking this, Luke looked at Dayton.
Dayton seemed to offer comfort with an expression that said, “Today was tough, wasn’t it?”
Feeling a bond through those words, Luke smiled slightly in return, moved the last dish to the table, and took off his apron.
The feast, filled with perfectly cooked meat and various vegetables, was a satisfying sight to behold.
“Everything is ready now, so let’s all sit down and eat.”
As Luke shouted toward Yerna in the kitchen, she turned back with a smile, wiping her hands on a towel.
“Okay, Luke. Thanks for your hard work! I’ll be there soon, so could you please sit and wait?”
“Sure.”
As Luke sat down waiting for Yerna to come, Dayton approached and patted him on the shoulder.
“You did well. Thank you.”
Those words were not just a reward for helping with the meal preparation and moving the dishes to the table.
They expressed gratitude for everything from today when he ran around to find Diana’s gift to all the assistance he had provided until now.
Therefore, the emotions contained in those words were quite moving.
Moreover, seeing the children so happily smiling made him feel that, despite the hardships, it was indeed worth it.
Luke responded, letting those feelings resonate in his voice as he nodded.
“Yeah.”
Then Yerna also casually approached and wrapped her arm around Luke’s opposite shoulder, smiling.
“So, do you think this will be a fun Spirit Festival?”
Certainly, today was a joyful day.
How wonderful it was that the whole family could sit together and share smiles like this.
“For me, it’s already a fun Spirit Festival.”
“Really?”
-Nod.
At Luke’s answer, Yerna’s smile deepened.
Seeing Luke made her feel a sense of pride as if she were looking at a grown child.
Luke had transformed from that scruffy, timid kid she had first met into someone admirable.
Thus, today was genuinely a fulfilling day for everyone.
“Then, shall we eat now?”
“Yes!!”
With Pyris’s enthusiastic response, Luke picked up his utensils.
Now it was time to enjoy the long-awaited feast.
——
Was it because it was a special day?
The meal, prepared with much more effort than usual, was far more splendid than any other time.
All the delicacies that filled the table had vanished into everyone’s stomachs.
“I’m really full, aren’t you?”
As Diana rubbed her rounded belly, Pyris nodded lazily with a satisfied expression, still with traces of the meal around her mouth.
“It was super delicious…”
It was remarkable.
The amount of food that had completely disappeared after being consumed by two adults and three children was astonishing.
In fact, most of that was thanks to Pyris.
She had a personality that absolutely would not allow leftovers.
Well, at least it was good that no food waste was produced.
In reality, since Pyris became able to use her divine manifestation, the usage of food waste bags in Luke’s house had drastically decreased.
Though, as a result, meal costs had more than doubled…
-Crisp, crisp.
However, after finishing the meal, watching Yerna effortlessly peel fruit for dessert looked just like a mother trying to fatten her child.
Now Yerna’s knife skills had noticeably changed to a very normal shape.
During that time, Dayton had tried to make Yerna’s cutting skills safer.
No one wanted to see their loved ones get hurt.
Although he had no realization that his method was dangerous, Yerna understood Dayton’s efforts and worked hard alongside him, so she could change quickly.
Luke watched this scene with a smile, sipping his tea, thinking.
“Love seems to change a person.”
In fact, elves were a race vulnerable to love.
Being born with a high sensitivity to spirit response meant they were inherently sensitive as well.
There were many famous romance novel authors in modern times who were easily identifiable as elves.
Considering that a significant number of them could not be identified by race or gender, the actual number of elf authors might be even greater.
Moreover, just looking at the romance novels filled in Yerna’s bookshelf, it was clear that the proportion of elves consuming such works was not insignificant.
Honestly, love can be terrifying.
Even Luke himself had been changed by his love for Renie.
Though, at that time, it seemed he didn’t want to acknowledge it as love.
Wasn’t it so?
“Freedom,” ha ha.
Originally, mages didn’t consider “freedom” all that important.
Or rather, it should be said they did not think about freedom at all.
Because magic, from the start, was a discipline based on control.
Controlling mana, controlling situations, controlling laws.
It was about grasping everything in your hands, shaking it around, and managing it.
Isn’t that magic?
At least, that was how Luke understood magic.
Thus, he believed that the way of “control” was the right way.
Still, Luke willingly sought “freedom” for Renie.
Unfortunately, however, unlike Renie, who lived her life holding onto that thought, Luke was a complete novice regarding freedom.
What is freedom, anyway?
Renie said that for a living being to be truly free, simply commanding “be free” like magic wouldn’t suffice.
And Luke could not possibly understand that perspective.
So, he thought the best course of action was to remove obstacles that hindered Renie’s pursuit of freedom.
He could not empathize with that concept of freedom at all.
He just wanted to see Renie’s ideals fulfilled.
And if he could see Renie’s happy face, that would be enough.
“Ultimately, I have seen it, Luke.”
With such thoughts, he glanced around the table again. Pyris was happily picking fruits off the plate in front of her, while Diana, still full, was poking at the fruit with a fork, rubbing her belly.
And Dayton was lightly hugging Yerna’s shoulder, eating fruit.
Feeling a bit disgusted by her brother’s overly happy appearance, Diana turned her gaze away and muttered as she looked toward the direction of the gift box.
“I want to hurry up and open my gift.”
Luke smiled at Diana and said, “Didn’t we agree to open them together later? Besides, you already know what your gift is, don’t you?”
Then, Diana nervously murmured, “But I’m worried. I searched and found that everyone said it was really hard to get this limited edition. What if the spirit couldn’t find something so difficult because I wanted it too much?”
“……”
That was true.
It had been very difficult.
Still, it was reassuring that Diana was considerate enough to think of the possibility that the spirit might struggle to find the doll.
It would have been nice if that consideration had manifested toward choosing a gift that was easier to obtain.
Nevertheless, Luke was grateful that the child acknowledged his hard work.
Although Diana had no idea that it was him, not a spirit, who bought that gift.
Luke turned his gaze from Diana to Pyris, who was deeply lost in savoring the fruit.
“By the way, Pyris. It seems you didn’t end up wanting any gift after all?”
“Yeah.”
Then Pyris tilted her head, making a puzzled expression.
This was because Pyris didn’t even know what gift she wanted.
Being a spirit with generally low material desires, she could not specifically recall what she wanted.
The limited edition Meruru doll Diana mentioned didn’t matter because she would be playing with it anyway, and Pyris didn’t have any interest in other dolls.
She was somewhat interested in food, but it was much more reliable and enjoyable when it was made by her sister or Dayton rather than something from an unknown spirit, so it was out of the question.
So what was it that she really wanted? Pyris continued to ponder but ended up saying nothing.
That’s why Pyris later said to tell her whenever she had something she wanted.
“So, have you thought about what you want now?”
Yerna asked while lifting her tea, and Pyris nodded and replied.
“Yeah. I think I do.”
“Really? What is it?”
“Is it really? What do you want?”
Then Luke and Dayton also brought their cups up to their mouths and asked in unison.
What a fascinating topic for a spirit to want something as a Spirit Festival gift.
What Pyris wanted was, in fact, very simple.
It was simply that the cute family that could play together would grow bigger.
Now there was a mom and a dad in the family, wasn’t there?
That meant an environment where babies could be born.
“I want a cute baby!”
“““Pfft!!”””
As the three of them simultaneously burst out laughing, a surprised Diana thought for a moment.
‘Why are they all acting so weird suddenly? Should I be doing that too?’
Eventually, Diana lifted the cup in front of her, following them with a delay.
“Pfft!”
And thus, everyone’s face, except for Pyris, became wet.
Additionally, the floor too.
