The next day, Chris managed to nab me two more people as well as Alyssa—that brother of mine really was talented. Now it’s time for my training from hell to begin... Or so I’d planned to say. Alyssa and the two soldiers already knew how to use magic as part of their jobs, so all that was left was for them to communicate with their spirits.
I had them spend a whole day doing nothing but talking to their spirits to make sure that they evolved into beasts. Having to keep up a one-sided conversation with floating balls of light under the watchful eye of a little girl for so long seemed to really wear them down, but everything turned out all right in the end.
If we all split up, the four of us can easily cover the whole of Belisario!
Or so I’d thought...
“The imperial family will be visiting in one week,” my father announced upon his return from the capital.
A second family meeting had been called because the imperial family would be visiting in a week. Weren’t they meant to be busy people? Oh, also, it turned out my spirit beasts could revert back to being little balls of light. Very convenient.
Apparently, my spirit beasts had been taking a smaller form this whole time—they could adjust their size mostly at will, it seemed. If they’d had to remain in those forms forever, planning how to expand buildings to accommodate everyone’s spirit beasts would have become a huge pain.
“I thought they weren’t coming until summer,” I said.
“They will return home immediately after meeting with the Spirit King,” father explained. “Deir, I need you to go to the lake with your spirits and confirm whether His Sacred Majesty would be willing to meet with them.”
“Yes, father.”
“They will be accompanied by several court mages on the day, so I would like you to be present for that meeting as well.”
“What is this about?” Chris asked, voice low. Our father looked a little caught out as he scratched his cheek and sighed.
“Even though there are written records of the Royal Spirits and the spirit beasts, there is currently no one in the court who has physically met either. The court mages especially are not terribly happy that all of these events are suddenly happening in our domain alone.”
“They likely see themselves as the highest authority on spirits,” Chris speculated.
“They can’t quite believe everything that has happened to you either, Deir,” father added.
Well, a four-year-old had just completed the full spirit set, had two of said spirits become spirit beasts, and was so favored by the Spirit King that she’d received his blessing. Considering how hard they’d probably had to work to get to this point, they likely couldn’t accept that someone like me existed.
“Can they use ice or tornado magic?” I asked.
“The chief mage and his deputy each hold three elements, while the others each have two. I believe they would be capable...”
“Then I need to give them some special training so they have a nice spirit beast to take home as a souvenir.”
“Um, they’re quite high in status—” father equivocated.
“Special training!”
If they have time to complain, they have time to train! Throw up your guts! Pass out from mana loss!
No, seriously, it was going to be a real problem if I were permanently labeled irregular. I’m counting on you guys to step up your game!
“Not one of them objected when the Spirit Queen’s forest was destroyed,” father said. “That’s why they refused to listen to me the moment I insisted that area of land used to be hers.”
“Even though that’s what will inevitably come up when they talk to the Spirit King?” I asked.
“They’re likely thinking we’ll make up some reason that they can’t meet the Spirit King at the last minute. There were those who thought we were making things up just to attract more tourists. We are merely a popular resort with nothing much to our name beyond an abundance of seafood—to their way of thinking at least.”
“Father, please make a list of anyone who holds that opinion,” Chris said, his expression looking quite wicked.
To be honest, though, I didn’t particularly like being treated as a punching bag either. If we just endured all of their abuse and never did a thing about it, they would never come to understand us. It was best for us to convince them that they would be on the losing end if they raised a hand against us.
When I’d consulted Little Wiki after meeting the Spirit King, all the locations of the Royal Spirits had been clearly marked on its maps. Should there not have been books in the imperial palace that had those locations recorded as well? Had they been deliberately disposed of because of a previous power struggle, perhaps?
The only reason I had become more knowledgeable about spirits than the native residents was because of Little Wiki, but I hadn’t been using it recently, primarily for three reasons.
First, I was so busy nowadays I didn’t even have time to look at it. Unlike when I was a baby, my days were filled with lessons from home tutors and my regular training, so by the time night came, I was so tired I would fall right to sleep. Plus, I barely had any alone time. There was always someone with me, as if they thought I might do something crazy at any moment, so I almost never had the opportunity to bring it out.
Second, I’d decided to stop looking up specific people. When I was a baby, I’d looked up my own family, right? So obviously, I’d read the entry about my parents. It spoke about how the two had met each other at school, fallen madly in love, and gotten married. In short, all the records were focused on how greatly they treasured their family.
The moment I’d read that, I’d been relieved. I’d been so glad that I’d only had to read happy stories. If I’d learned that there was a secret lover somewhere or some sort of tragic accident had happened in their past, I might not have been able to interact with them the same way again. Besides, if the roles had been switched, I wouldn’t have wanted to become friends with someone who had learned about something deeply personal without my permission.
Third—and this was the biggest problem—Little Wiki actually updated in real time. There was new information being added constantly. The moment I’d realized that, I’d felt a chill run up my back. Isn’t that spooky? Who could be updating it?
If it had been a skill that made my magic stronger or let me run faster, then sure, I could understand it getting stronger through training. But what kind of crazy skill gave me constantly updating information without me lifting a finger—information I could learn without doing even a bit of espionage? Wouldn’t that be overpowered in a war? Not that I was actually sure how useful it would be, and I didn’t even have the authority to make use of anything I learned in the first place.
Also, there was no information that could lead to an industrial revolution or destroy the environment, and that felt deliberate. I’d decided that if the one who’d given me this skill was a god, they’d reincarnated me here because they wanted the relationship between humans and spirits to change. Had everyone remained unaware of how to grow and evolve their spirits, then the empire might’ve turned into a desert before long.
But my number one goal was to spend this life peacefully with my family and fall in love. I wasn’t going to get involved in anything dangerous. It was the god’s mistake, picking me for something like this—I needed them to go ahead and give up.
Wait, what if this is exactly why they picked me?