Chapter 46

046.

-Grumble…

“So, you’re saying this kid talked to Kal?”

“Yeah.”

Dangle, Dangle.

A small, dark mass stretches out.

Dangling helplessly in Sinat’s hand, the dark lump turns out to be an elemental spirit, its cheeks stretched mercilessly.

“Is it okay to treat it like this?”

“Yeah. I’ve been doing this every day, so it’s fine. At first, it resisted a lot, but now it’s given up and behaves properly.”

Kalen was curious if it was alright to handle the spirit this way, but since he hadn’t met many contract attribute mages to compare, he accepted it.

“Kal, I told you not to hide things from your sister!”

She sounds just like an older sister.

The way she makes the spirit stand at attention and interrogates it is something only a sibling’s mind could understand.

“…Was it a woman?”

“Can I see?”

“No.”

When the spirit flinches in surprise, Kalen understands how roughly Sinat treated it.

Clearly, Sinat is a pure-hearted girl who suits the description.

She must have adored the cute, palm-sized spirit immensely.

The problem is that her version of “adoring” isn’t quite normal.

“This is weird… Normally, they’d sigh and tell the truth by now…”

No matter how much she interrogated, the spirit only looked at Sinat cautiously and didn’t say a word.

However, Kalen vividly remembers the time it flew in through the window and forced some incomprehensible language into his mind.

When the throbbing headache subsided, Kalen sighed and got up from his seat.

It was unreasonable to keep holding onto this.

After confirming nothing happened to Sinat,

there’s no reason to continue with this pointless questioning in the middle of the night.

“No, Sinat. Let’s stop.”

“Why!”

“Because nothing happened to you. Sorry for waking you up. Sleep well.”

“Hmm…”

Sinat, feeling drained though not showing it, sent Kal back to the spirit realm.

“Kal.”

A voice calls out to Kalen just as he was about to turn away after seeing the spirit return.

Wearing a billowy nightgown, Sinat extended both her hands.

“What is it?”

“Are you sleepy, too?~ Lift me onto the bed.”

It’s close enough for her to push off with her hands and climb up by herself.

Kalen was about to reject her request when he noticed the playful glint in her cyan-colored eyes.

Sinat often arbitrarily asks for unnecessary favors.

Even when she can easily do simple tasks on her own, she insists on asking Kalen for help.

Since he already regretfully woke her up,

Kalen took her hand.

“Sinat.”

“It doesn’t feel right~.”

However, her small, delicate body wouldn’t budge.

If Kalen used his strength properly, this would be a meaningless resistance.

If he really did that, though, he’d possibly hear Sinat’s scolding all day.

The hand that had caught her arm now encircled her small, frail body and placed her on the bed.

“Sleep well, Kal.”

Only then did the girl seem satisfied, smiling as she gently waved.

Kal.

Next time you appear, I’ll give you a good whack.

Kalen muttered the name of the small spirit that caused this midnight commotion.

*

“Don’t focus on success, try approaching sincerely.”

Behind the small cottage, at a makeshift training ground.

A girl groaning as she attempts to communicate with a small spirit.

An old man watching his granddaughter with concern and pride.

Such was the scenery reflected in the goggles.

Whoosh, whoosh.

The staff in his hand, now familiar through use, twirls through the air.

Though it initially seemed a bit worn,

he now absentmindedly spins it whenever he wants to concentrate.

What lingers in his mind is, as always, yesterday’s events.

“Save Sinat.”

Save?

Isn’t that too abstract?

Given it’s a spirit always by Sinat’s side, maybe he’s being overly sensitive.

All there is to know is that Sinat is the one to be saved.

About what kind of danger, or when the event will occur,

and even the intention behind Blamia asking him for help remains unclear.

Spirits like mana, they say,

so naturally, it would be better for Blamia to ask for help rather than him, who lacks mana.

Even then, perhaps this is due to the unprecedented phenomenon of the ruler spirit.

There are things he doesn’t understand,

and the understanding necessary to comprehend them.

Kalen wishes to ask the spirit for specifics,

but the throbbing in his head whenever he does reminds him why the spirit shakes its head.

There’s no way Kalen could just ignore what the spirit, capable of mimicking human language to such an exceptional degree, has said.

Since he’s already told Blamia,

and since this involves Sinat, it’s unthinkable to exclude Blamia’s help.

Thus, what Kalen needs to do is discover what danger the spirit spoke of.

Tchk.

Kalen adjusted his goggles while gripping his staff.

He thought he could leisurely wait for Drannus’ resurrection,

but seeing how he’s dragged into serious matters upon returning, relaxing seems unlikely.

Following Lakatus and Hiart,

now Drannus.

Kalen swallowed his bitter smile and headed towards Sinat.

Whenever there’s free time,

there’s a girl who unfailingly seeks him out.

“Kal…”

“Speak, so I can understand and address the issue.”

Sinat has never seen this side of Kalen before.

While it’s true he is somewhat cold and quiet,

she knows there’s always warmth within him.

A calm person who doesn’t lose composure,

and a warmth that doesn’t flare even when she plays pranks on him.

Yet, there’s Kalen, talking to Sinat’s spirit.

It’s not even sudden which makes it all the more jarring.

Kalen mentioned that from the day it started, the spirit has been asking him to save Sinat every day without fail before disappearing.

He even said there were days when he didn’t sleep, trying to discern if it were a dream or reality.

The reason Sinat can’t actively stop Kalen.

“My words, understand them. Therefore, I’m not coming to you every day.”

Even in such a situation, he doesn’t lose his calm.

Despite being nagged to a degree,

except for handling the spirit a bit roughly, he remains impeccably calm.

It occurred to Sinat that seeing this side of Kalen is rare,

but Kalen especially stays eerily calm when danger approaches.

“Since I dislike it even more when Sinat’s in danger, tell me. I can endure the headache.”

Whenever the spirit’s language, or its imitation of human speech, intrudes his mind,

it feels like being stabbed with a hot needle piercing his brain.

It’s probably some sort of overload.

Since humans can’t understand the language of spirits, the brain simply can’t handle it.

This is why the spirit only delivers one message to Kalen before shaking its head.

Still, instead of continuously receiving such unstable and incomplete warnings,

Kalen wants to hear the proper truth, even if it means pushing himself.

And so, Kalen coldly stared at the dark-colored spirit he held.

-Grumble, Grumble.

Ultimately, the small mass gave up first.

The spirit vigorously nodded up and down as if agreeing, flailing about.

And when he let go, the spirit sat on the ground and began整理its wings.

Kalen gritted his teeth in preparation for the incoming pain.

-Grumble.

However, contrary to expectations,

the spirit neither initiated conversation nor approached him.

“Kal…?”

While Sinat’s doubts lingered,

it crawled towards Kalen’s back.

Simultaneously, as if suggesting to take off his clothes,

the spirit rubbed its head against him.

“Does it want me to take off my clothes?”

“…”

He doesn’t particularly want others to see his body,

even if it’s Sinat.

Rather, because it’s Sinat, he hesitates all the more.

Though Kalen thought this,

it is for Sinat’s sake.

It doesn’t make sense to use Sinat as a reason while doing something for Sinat.

After hesitating for a moment,

Kalen complied.

Swish—

“…”

Sure enough, Sinat, finding it difficult to look at Kalen’s body, turned her head.

After that incident, for quite a while, she kept asking if he was okay.

Though the time passed where she could pretend not to notice,

when they directly face each other like this, she turns her head.

Kalen also prefers not to show his body to Sinat for the same reason,

not wanting to needlessly touch on her painful memories.

The spirit climbed onto Kalen’s back without any hesitation.

Since there’s no way to turn his head and look,

he could only feel something crawling on his back.

In this situation where no one could see what the dark spirit was doing,

-Grumble.

The moment a short cry echoed,

Kalen’s field of vision began filling with a dark world.

When he quickly turned his head, this dark world was already painfully familiar to him.

The shattering world.

The sight of something burning,

and overall distortion began, which was

Kalen’s imagination.

When imagination appears, Sinat’s spirit manifestation disconnects.

This was the same logic behind stopping the monster that day,

so for a moment, Kalen thought the spirit was lying to escape.

Hastily trying to grab the spirit with his hand reaching back,

he found nothing but emptiness on his back.

The deceptive spirit had escaped his grasp.

As the briefly unfolded dark world began to fade gradually,

Kalen, who still had his head turned, patted the trembling Sinat and said,

“Sinat, please recall that guy…”

However, only for a fleeting moment.

Kalen winced at the piercing pain he felt on his back.

“What is this?”

The exact same pain as when Sinat’s spirit communicated,

but now he felt it not in his mind, but on his back.