My gaze followed it when suddenly I made eye contact with another set of eyes.
“Huh?!”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and couldn’t control the cry that slipped from my lips unbidden.
The owner of the other set of eyes also seemed surprised because their round eyes became even rounder. Then, snapping back to its senses, the tiny being dashed off to hide in the dense foliage.
“Was that an elemental spirit?!”
“Are you saying you’ve never seen an elemental spirit before, Lady Nefertima?! But there are so many of them following you around like little soldiers all the time!”
I wasn’t sure how to feel about how he worded it, but more than that, I was surprised to hear there were that many of them. I looked around reflectively, not believing that I would see anything, but there they were—elemental spirits were practically swarming all around me! It was enough to make me seriously question how I could’ve possibly not noticed them up until now.
When I explained that Sol and I hadn’t formally bonded using our true names, just exchanged nicknames and a promise, the emperor seemed surprised.
“I understand that the fire dragon cares about you very much and is trying to be considerate, but it must be difficult to use the holy beast’s power if you can’t even see elemental spirits…”
“I can use the dragon orb to borrow Sol’s power,” I pointed out, confused because I was sure he already knew this.
But the emperor shook his head, saying that wasn’t what he meant. “A holy beast’s power is just like magic. The power that flows into the bonded partner from their holy beast becomes the partner’s power, and they have complete control over it. However, unlike magic, that power can also affect the balance of nature. So, the elemental spirits will suppress it if necessary.”
The emperor adjusted his pace to match that of my much shorter legs, leisurely strolling beside me as we spoke.
“For example, let’s pretend I used Euche’s power to flood this forest. That water would seep into the soil, causing the ground to loosen, and the trees’ roots might even begin to rot. To prevent that, the elemental spirits would step in and scatter their power around.”
With magic, in addition to casting the spell, you need to continuously pour power into it to keep it going. If you didn’t, the spell would fizzle out as soon as it used up all the power used to cast it.
One of the biggest differences between the types of elementally attributed magic was whether casting or maintaining the spell used more power and how much more.
In particular, earth magic was said to be very easy to maintain.
Everyone always makes casting spells look as simple as breathing, so you’d be tempted to think it is, but there are actually all kinds of restrictions. Although, those with special abilities seem to be able to bust right through all of those restrictions…
“You have to communicate closely with the elemental spirits and use the holy beast’s power only in ways that won’t disturb the balance of nature. If you fail to do this, the bonded partner of a holy beast could easily destroy the world. Do you understand?”
I nodded emphatically several times.
For the bonded partner of a holy beast, elemental spirits were kind of like an automatic emergency break—something they absolutely needed when using the holy beast’s power.
In my case, up until this point, all of the holy beasts who’ve used their power to help me controlled it themselves, so there was never any issue with the fact that I couldn’t see or hear elemental spirits.
“I don’t have any magic, so I don’t really know what it feels like to use power…”
“I see, so that’s why you lost control…”
Of course the emperor had heard about that incident. But the fact that he hadn’t known I didn’t possess any magic might’ve meant he thought I’d merely mishandled Sol’s magic due to my age and inexperience.
“If not for the Goddess’s intervention, you might not be here now, Lady Nefertima. If a person without any magic absorbs a holy beast’s power, their body can’t handle it.”
Will had explained to me that bonded partners without magic were supposed to “wear” the holy beast’s power instead of absorbing it. This explanation was a bit too abstract for me to understand, but I thought it might refer to draping the power over your body like a barrier of some kind.
When I tried asking the emperor what I was supposed to do, I received yet another difficult-to-understand reply.
“Think of it like clothing. You put on an outfit that fits the situation.”
I still didn’t understand, but the emperor declared that he wasn’t the right person to explain it to me. He was an elite-level water magic user, and his holy beast was also water-affiliated, meaning his compatibility with Sol’s power was very low. He even went so far as to say that he couldn’t predict what might occur if he attempted to teach me: either the two opposing powers would cancel each other out or would both reverberate back on the source. So, the emperor suggested that the retired empress and Kaideetay might be more suitable teachers.
Just as the conversation entered a natural lull, the trees thinned out enough that we could see our surroundings more clearly. Everywhere I looked, there were plants that I’d never seen before.
Do those colorful plants contain magic?
An elemental spirit suddenly popped out in front of me. This time, it didn’t try to hide when our eyes met. Its tiny little mouth moved as if it were speaking, but I couldn’t hear anything.
I tilted my head to the side in confusion, and the emperor announced, “Lady Nefertima can see you.”
Immediately, a wide smile broke out across the elemental spirit’s face, and it fluttered its beautiful, transparent wings. Apparently, the elemental spirit in front of me had called out to the others because more and more of them began gathering around.
I couldn’t hear their voices, but they were all wearing happy smiles.
The elemental spirits clung to my face and hair. There were so many of them that I couldn’t even open my eyes!
It hadn’t been a problem when I couldn’t see them, but now that I could, I desperately felt the need for some personal boundaries!
Are there really this many elemental spirits hovering around me daily?!
I could feel the sensation of their tiny hands grabbing onto me, and their wings tickled where they flicked against my skin.