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“Excuse me….”

It wasn’t a huge problem since the time was ambiguously indicated, but still, I cautiously entered since I was in front of the Spirit Kings. Ideally, it would be great if they didn’t notice us coming in and kept chatting among themselves, but the immense aura of the three Spirit Kings suddenly turned toward me and Lindy.

“Ah! E-Elysia….”

Clarice, who had been insisting on releasing Lindy’s restrictions, also stopped talking and turned to look at us.

I nervously shuffled behind Clarice, taking a cautious approach. Normally, we should be sitting in the center of the Conference Room like yesterday, but there was a stark difference this time—the attitude of Clarice.

Yesterday, while she seemed favorable toward us, she made every effort to maintain neutrality. But now, after last night’s drinking, she was clearly on our side. I believed she would shield us from the burdensome gazes of the other two Spirit Kings aimed at Lindy and me.

As Clarice subtly turned her head back to look at us, I clenched my fist and raised my arms slightly, adopting a fighting stance. I couldn’t let her efforts go unrewarded; I could at least cheer her on a little.

After all, praise makes whales dance, and cheering would encourage Clarice. She glanced at my support, beamed brightly, and nodded as if saying to just trust her. I felt incredibly reassured.

“Now that everyone is here, let’s continue our discussion. No matter how I think about it, releasing her doesn’t seem right. If we forgive her here, another fool might dare to take spirits lightly later. Allowing even a low-ranking spirit here is already a significant favor, don’t you think?”

“How dare? Look down on spirits? You’ve been bound by the title of Spirit King for so long that you’ve lost your mind; have you forgotten we are not inferior beings compared to material realm entities?”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“If that’s not what you meant, then what is it!”

“Stop nitpicking and grasp the essence of the matter already!”

“Who’s nitpicking! And the essence of the matter is nonsense! It’s fine, I’ll take responsibility!”

Is this the dignity of a Spirit King…? It honestly looked like a child throwing a tantrum. But who cares? The one throwing the tantrum is our ally, Clarice, and despite being a Spirit King, she still looks like a beautiful girl on the outside. If that old man across from us used such language, I’d have thrown a punch right away, but Clarice is cute and beautiful, so it’s no problem.

“Heh… it seems we can’t find a solution like this among ourselves. How about you stop spectating and join us?”

While the two were arguing fiercely, the old man who had merely been watching finally spoke up. However, instead of giving his opinion, he shouted toward the outside, precisely at the high window, not the door we entered.

Naturally, everyone’s gaze followed his. When I looked up, there was a huge bird perched on the window. It looked like an eagle, yet the vibrant feather patterns resembled a peacock. Considering the height and size of the window, the bird must have been about the size of a person.

As all eyes focused on him, the bird perched at the window spread its wings wide and gracefully flew down. Then, plop.

It landed right on my head.

Given its size, having it perched on my head is quite a bizarre scene, but fortunately, it didn’t feel heavy despite its visible bulk.

As I debated whether I should wave my hands to make it come down, the eagle-like creature lowered its head and pecked twice at Clarice’s head, then jumped off my head, turned around, and pecked twice at Lindy’s head.

…?

“Ouch! Why? What’s the problem? What’s this about! No, didn’t you say you were going to tour the Spirit Realm?”

But perhaps because they were familiar with each other, Clarice was grabbing her head where the bird had pecked and shouting, while Lindy just sat quietly without getting angry.

“I let you handle things, trusting you, but it seems you can’t even do that properly. And Lindy, you called me because you unnecessarily told Silphy.”

I stopped my hand midway and stealthily lowered it again. Observing the ongoing situation, it seemed that this huge bird was none other than Flora, the Spirit King of Winds. Phew, I’m glad I was slow to act; I almost committed a breach of etiquette against the Spirit King of Winds.

By the way, to have Silphy summon the Spirit King of Winds…It seems Flora was brought by Silphy’s help. Assuming Flora didn’t return because she found Lindy’s request annoying, it was likely she had intentionally come back to support us.

Truly, Lindy. While I was persuading Clarice, Lindy managed to convince Flora through Silphy. We had a well-coordinated division of labor.

“That said, are you planning to stay that way?”

“I’ll go back to my original form after the meeting. And I have a feeling I shouldn’t return to my original form for some reason…”

“Alright, alright. Now that we’re all four gathered, it seems Flora also wants to hasten the discussion, so let us officially begin the meeting.”

Seems they were indeed ready to commence the meeting, as the Spirit King of Earth, Truewell, walked to the round table in the center and took a seat. Following him, the Spirit King of Fire, Ignis, also sat beside Truewell, and Clarice sat across from them.

There was one remaining seat, the one for Flora, who was still perched on my head.

“Umm… Flora?”

Yet for some reason, Flora, instead of going to the chair, stayed put on my head. When I called her name, Flora remained perched above, one wing open wide, indicating the empty chair.

…No way, right?

Attempting to pretend I didn’t notice while standing still, Flora lifted one leg off my head and pecked at it with her claws.

I shook my head slightly, trying to argue that this isn’t happening, yet unlike the other smaller birds that easily flee at the slightest movement, Flora just quietly pointed at the empty chair.

With no choice left, I reluctantly moved my heavy feet to sit in the vacant seat. We four sat around the round table at positions 12, 3, 6, and 9. Ah, including Flora perched on my head, that’s five of us.

Truewell and I were facing each other, while Clarice and Ignis faced each other.

“Okay, then let’s continue our discussion.”

“So, what exactly is the reason Lindy came here? She came because she needed power to defeat the Demon King, right? If we leave her restrictions as they are and she fails to defeat the Demon King, then what? Or worse, what if the Demon King turns against us? Do you think she could still maintain that lofty attitude then? Do you really think a Demon King that conquered the material realm would leave the Spirit Realm untouched?”

“Your premise is too extreme. And no matter how strong a Demon King might be, they cannot match our strength in the Spirit Realm.”

“That might be true. But what if it really happens? One year later? Ten years later? One hundred years later? Can you guarantee? The Spirit Realm is not a separate world, and the more polluted the material realm becomes, the weaker our powers will become. It’s hardly feasible.”

The debate reignited. There was no room for me to interject, so I merely sat quietly, holding my breath and watching.

“Neither of their statements is incorrect, so this time I would like to hear from our new participant. Flora, what do you think?”

“Is it fine?”

“What do you mean by fine? Please be more specific. I can’t understand if you omit details.”

“I’m talking about whether it’s right to impose restrictions on Lindy in the first place.”

“She has disgraced spirits! And we don’t know when she might do it again!”

Ignis slammed the table and shot up from his seat. Seeing that Flora was finally sharing her opinion for the first time, he couldn’t hold back and raised his voice, showing his fiery temperament befitting the Spirit King of Fire.

“We need to clarify that point. The spirits Lindy manipulated, as you know, are my child and Clarice’s child only. From the beginning, her affinities are only wind and water, and while she can summon earth spirits up to an intermediate level, she won’t be able to take on a corporeal human form in the material realm.”

Phew. At least Lindy isn’t the kind of trash that messes with children. If Lindy had crossed the line and harmed children, Flora’s attitude toward her would have been quite different.

“But I don’t care. Just like how Silphy, who is my child and the contracting party with Lindy, doesn’t care either. So, from my perspective, she has no guilt now and can be released without issue.”

“Hmm, indeed. Even after your return, you still seem unchanged.”

“Ah, I’ve been saying I’ll take responsibility! I’m claiming I’m taking responsibility!”

Clarice, just like Ignis, slammed the table and stood up. Even though they’ve only been friends for a day, her stepping up for a friend as if it were her own matter was incredibly moving.

“Right, since we’re on the topic, you keep insisting on taking responsibility, but what exactly do you mean by that?”

“I’ll go to the material realm to ensure Lindy doesn’t make mistakes. Wouldn’t that solve everything?”

“But Clarice, as you know, Lindy’s power is insufficient for you to descend! How can you go in place of another spirit?”

“I’ll limit my power. To the level of a top-tier spirit.”

“Maintain some decorum!”

“Decorums are nonsense.”

Is it because one is water and the other fire? They were too busy sniping at each other across the table.

“Clarice, while I don’t know why you’re defending these two so passionately, you’ve gone too far. How about this instead?”

Truewell, who had been listening to others’ opinions until now, finally expressed his own.

“Since it seems like no one is willing to change their minds, and Clarice’s opinion, Ignis’s opinion, and Flora’s opinion are all valid, we’ll have to propose conditions that will satisfy everyone. We will lift the restrictions imposed on Lindy, but we will impose a new one.”

“Then what’s the point…!”

“Heh… Just listen until the end. I’m not saying to ban summoning top-tier spirits. Rather, to prevent similar mistakes from happening again, we will restrict the forms of spirits that Lindy summons to be exclusively female. How about that? This way, you won’t need to limit your power and descend to the material realm. If you agree to this, I will also support you.”

“Ah, no… I’ll just take responsibility….”

“Old man!”

“Ignis, you know this is the best option, don’t you? Just accept it.”

Of course, Lindy wouldn’t repeat the same mistake as before, so this condition was practically meaningless. The old man looked like he had no flexibility, yet surprisingly found a proper compromise.

“Ugh… I guess I can’t help it.”

Ignis had no rebuttal to Truewell’s point, so he had no choice but to accept. Otherwise, they’d continue bickering endlessly without narrowing down their differences.

“Flora, do you agree as well?”

“Yeah. That’s acceptable.”

“We don’t even need to ask Clarice… Well then, let’s wrap it up unanimously by lifting Lindy’s restrictions and imposing new ones.”

With a reasonably satisfying agreement to all parties, the meeting that had continued from yesterday to today was concluded.

“Oh no!”