I was so surprised to hear him sound so composed and collected that I only managed to reply with a rather rude “Oh, uh, sure.”
“I am the water spirit, ruler of the spirit sea and this domain.”
“Yeah, we know.”
“You’re all visitors, yet you still performed the arduous ritual. On behalf of this domain, I offer you my deepest gratitude.”
“Uh, you do know that you’re the cause, right? Is something going on? Earlier, you were all, ‘Wooooo! Insert name here!’ and you were so pumped.”
“Ahem! Ahem! I-I haven’t the faintest clue what you’re on about. I am the ruler of this domain. N-N-Never would I act so stupid in front of others. I-I know that best.” The spirit had immediately lost his composure when I’d raised my arms in the air and flailed them around, mimicking what he’d done earlier.
“Miss Frederika?” I asked.
“Well, you know how it is,” the mermaid replied. “He got all excited and reached a breaking point before he snapped back to reality and became embarrassed with himself. He’s at the age where he wants to act cool, so just let him do as he likes, please.”
“‘At the age’? Isn’t he, like, centuries older than us?”
“Lady Mary, if you bully the poor spirit much more, he may throw a tantrum again and turn the sea stormy,” Magiluka advised.
“Right. You’re totally right,” I replied.
We’d gone through so much hard work that I’d felt compelled to tease the spirit a little, hoping to give him a small taste of his own medicine when it came to embarrassment, but as Magiluka said, if the spirit became angry again and threw a tantrum, we’d be back to square one.
“Then do you know why we’re here?” I asked.
“I do,” the water spirit replied. “I heard from my dear— I mean, from Miss Frederika that you want to head to Xeoral.”
“Precisely. I was told that the device to head there was destroyed by the suits of Argent Armor. Can we still head there?”
“I cannot deny that the device for the safest and most certain route for Xeoral was destroyed. Damn it, that Nike! He stole all the technology he could and used it all for himself! How dare he call our device outdated and inefficient! We’ve been operating like this with no problems for the past several centuries!” The spirit began to emit an ominous air.
“Um, spirit, sir? We’re going on a tangent.” If I didn’t steer us back on track, the conversation might have gone off the rails.
“Ah, yes! Ahem!” the spirit said. “The device may have been destroyed, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot head to Xeoral! Heh heh! I’m quite impressive, am I not? After all, I am the spirit who lords over the sea!”
“You’re so cool, spirit!” Frederika praised. “Simply amazing! ♪”
The spirit looked so smug and proud of himself, and Frederika only further encouraged him. It’s precisely because you spoil him like that that he’s a short-tempered brat who throws tantrums whenever he pleases.
“Well then, how about I send you to Xeoral now?” the spirit said.
He was taking us straight over the goal line, the flow of the conversation be damned. We’d wanted to prepare ourselves a fair bit, and we were, frankly, exhausted from the ritual. We wanted to at least rest for today.
“Um, we’re actually a bit tired today,” I said. “Would tomorr—”
“Ah! La la la! Little Maaary!” Frederika interrupted. She skillfully did a bit of a hip bump and silenced me.
“What gives, Miss Frederika?”
“The spirit is a moody being. If you prolong it for another day, he might demand a trial or something else. I don’t know what. It’s best if you have him fulfill your goal while he’s in the mood to do so. Plus, the spirit really wants to make up for embarrassing himself earlier. If you decline his offer here, he might throw another tantrum again!” Tears welled up in her eyes like she was about to start begging.
I forgot. This spirit’s a huge pain in the butt...
“We’ll handle the stage and the ride back home,” Queen Belletochka said, agreeing with her friend. “It pains me that we must part ways here, but please leave the rest to us. You go with your friends to fulfill your goal.”
At this point, I didn’t have it in me to still plead that we should go tomorrow, and I wasn’t sure if this was what we should do, but I turned to my friends.
“Are you guys ready?” I asked.
I had a sturdy body and could handle some exhaustion, but I was worried about everyone else. But my friends all nodded back, telling me that they would be all right.
“All right then!” I said, pumping my fist high in the air. “Let’s head for Xeoral!”
Everyone followed suit and cheered. With renewed determination, we braced ourselves for our next destination.
“Good! Then I shall call Xeoral!” the spirit said.
“What? Call?” I asked, completely confused as I turned back to the spirit. But he completely ignored me, instead turning to the skies and slowly opening his mouth wide.
“Cover your ears, everyone!” Frederika swiftly warned.
Just then, a metallic shriek echoed through the vicinity, sort of like an echolocation sonar that whales emitted. The sound was grating and deafening, and we all instinctively brought our hands to our ears. I didn’t make it in time, but I was still able to endure the sound, though the noise did make me take a step back. Everyone else, apparently successful in covering their ears, staggered around.
“Ugh! So loud!” I snapped angrily. “At least give us a heads-up or something!”
“Ah, here it comes,” the spirit said, completely ignoring my protest as he gazed into the distance.
“Hey! Listen to me! Wait... What’s coming?” I swiftly suppressed my righteous indignation out of curiosity and followed the spirit’s gaze into the sky above. Out in the distance, far away, was the tiniest, most minute of changes.
“Something appeared from thin air,” Snow observed beside me. She narrowed her eyes and looked up.
“Swimming through the sea of space... A massive magical creature of the abundant land equipped with a practically infinite amount of mana... It’s Xeoral,” Noa murmured as she trembled. Was she able to see it too?
“It’s time,” the spirit said.
“How?” I asked. Xeoral looked like a dot in the sky beyond, but the spirit seemed quite sure of himself.
“Head to the center of the stage!” the spirit ordered.
Just then, the stage began to whir, and a sphere of water formed in the middle. The guests chattered confusedly, while some unfortunate members of the crowd near the stage were dragged into the water orb, causing a huge ruckus.
“Hey!” I called. “You should give us a warning or something before you act! Look at all the trouble you’re causing for others!”
“I told you to head to the center, didn’t I?” the spirit replied.
Arghhhh! Spirits are all so selfish! I felt compelled to punch the living daylights out of him, but I managed to hold myself back as we rushed toward the sphere. All the while, I spotted Queen Belletochka telling others the situation in hopes of calming the crowd.
“I knew it. Xeoral is so close because that loathsome Nike came here,” the spirit said, unexpectedly showing some forethought. “Had he not, it would’ve been farther away, and even I couldn’t have sent you there. You guys don’t have much time! Make haste and head to that sphere of water!”
He rushed us toward the water as we ran ahead, but we hesitated to dive in.
“W-Wait, we can’t breathe underwater!” I cried.
“Not to worry!” the spirit said unnecessarily loudly, his voice echoing across the venue. “My powers will allow you to breathe in the water for a few minutes!”
If he has such a convenient power, surely he could’ve used it for our ritual...but I guess he was too furious to cooperate with us back then. When he mentioned that we could only breathe for a few minutes, I was once again struck with anxiety. Just then, I felt someone squeeze my hand—Noa was clutching it tight. Right. I can’t turn back now after all this effort. Come on, Mary, hang in there! You’re the older sister! I took a deep breath before I turned to my friends.
“Let’s go! To Xeoral!” I shouted.
I was the first to dive into the water. Everyone aside from the queen and Frederika joined me. I floated around in the water, mystified by the scenery before me as I was struck with the odd sensation of being able to draw breath under water. I turned toward the spirit and nodded.
“All right, you’re all ready, I take it?” the spirit asked. “Here I go!”
When he received the signal from me, he reached his large hand out, grabbed the sphere of water, and drew it close to him. My friends and I in the orb panicked just a bit, not expecting to be jostled around like this as we all lost our balance and tried to swim back in place. I brought Noa and Tutte close to protect them, and the rest of my friends followed suit. They surrounded me and we all held hands, hoping that we could all stay together as we watched on.
“Get ready! Clench your teeth!” the spirit commanded with his booming voice. I had no idea what he was up to...then with a loud splash, he created a pair of watery legs and did a huge windup above the water’s surface.
“Uh? H-Hey! Um, wait! Wait! Hold it!” I cried. I had a bad feeling about this. “You aren’t going to throw us, are you?!”
His pitching form was impeccable—my face grew pale and I tried to scream in protest, but no one could hear me underwater. His windup jostled us around some more, and we all held each other tighter, ensuring that no one would be dragged away by the water current.
“Raaaaaah! Xeoral!” the spirit cried. “Here you gooooo!”
“You’re kiddiiiing!” I shrieked.
My fears had come true. The spirit used all his might to throw the water ball with us inside, sending us off to the great beyond.