But that made sense—she was the empress, after all. Just one wrong decision from her could destroy the whole country.
The general’s eyes were similar to his wife’s. Rather than me, though, it was my father he was intently watching. As the commander of the army, he was naturally worried about what kind of demands my father would make and how much stronger his sway would become within the imperial court now that he’d formed a relationship with the Spirit King through me.
Prince Andrew smiled kindly at me and then turned to Chris. “I see why you were so proud of your siblings, Chris.” It was likely that the prince wasn’t able to remain truly calm inside either. If nothing changed, neither he nor his younger brother would be able to obtain their own spirits. Hopefully it helped reassure him to know that it was the fault of the adults who’d destroyed the woods and not the young princes themselves.
“These five behind me are court mages,” the general said then. “I apologize for having brought so many. When they heard about the spirit beasts and the Spirit King, they all clamored to see them for themselves.”
The imperial family moved to the side, and five black-robed men exited the teleportation array next. The man at the front looked to be in his mid-thirties. He had a gloomy face framed by shaggy chestnut-colored hair. He was probably the chief mage—he had spirits of three elements floating above his right shoulder.
Directly behind him was the deputy chief, a man in his mid-twenties with quite a pretty face, but he looked unhealthily thin, and his posture was terrible. He was also watching me with intense curiosity.
The other three seemed just as disinterested in the upkeep of their appearance as the chief and his deputy, despite their fervor for magic and spirits. For them to be this enthusiastic and still have never realized they could talk to their spirits, they must have been so focused on research that they’d developed tunnel vision.
Honestly, I felt like I was looking at a gathering of otaku. To me, an otaku wasn’t just someone who liked anime or games, but rather someone who was fully obsessed with their interests. They didn’t simply like anime—they looked up everything about the directors and the voice actors and the animation studios. In that respect, academics were also just otaku in a sense. The difference was more about whether you made your interest your job or kept it as your hobby.
“Is this the child we’ve heard about? Where are the spirit beasts? Please show them to us,” the chief mage urged, taking a couple of steps forward. I didn’t sense any hostility from him; he was just overly excited to see the spirit beasts.
I feel like I could get along with these mage guys. I’d literally died because I’d delved so deeply into my interests that I’d even messed up my daily life just to release my own work. Nevertheless, this current scene was giving a really bad impression. There was no way you could look at a man rushing toward a young girl and not think it looked dangerous. What didn’t help was that if I messed up and said the wrong thing here, things would only get more complicated, so I decided to grip tightly onto my father’s jacket and hide behind him.
“To think the chief mage would threaten my child directly without even offering a greeting or a name. I was unaware your position ranked so high.” I could hear the anger in my father’s voice as he gently patted my head.
Wait, did I just make things worse by not answering?
“You will get all the time in the world to see the spirit beasts later.” Chris’s tone of voice was just as cold as he stepped in front to shield me. “There are already three people apart from Deir within our march who have their own beasts.”
Alan moved around behind my father to take my hand and reassure me that everything would be all right.
This is bad.
The chief mage was becoming enemy number one among my family for having scared their four-year-old little girl.
See, this is why appearances matter. At least comb your hair.
“You are all in the presence of Empress Ephenia. Do not show your anger over something so trivial,” my mother urged.
“No, this is the fault of our chief mage. If you’re going to take such a rude attitude, return to the palace,” the empress scolded him.
“I apologize. When I heard I could meet the spirit beasts, I was unable to hold back my excitement.”
Thanks to mother and Her Majesty, the tension began to dissipate, and my father brought the conversation back to the point. “I’ve heard that you and your deputy can use ice magic.”
“Yes. All five of us can use ice magic.”
“Then you should all make sure to acquire spirit beasts of your own before you return home.”
“What?” The man’s eyes widened.
“Deirdre has said that she’ll help you evolve your spirits. Isn’t that right, Deir?”
When my father lovingly patted me on the head, I peeked my face back out, looked up at the chief mage, and nodded. “Yes. I’ll do my best.”
The second I said that, the robed mages all smiled at me with expectant gleams in their eyes.
Yeah, uh, your smiles are pretty scary too. My brothers look about ready to jump you all. But there was no way for researchers with nothing but their research on the brain to have any idea how to interact with children. They didn’t even seem to have much experience interacting with women.
I hate this. I feel like I’m looking at my past self. I’m on the verge of tears here.
“Can sword spirits become beasts as well?” the general suddenly asked in his deep voice.
“They can,” I confirmed. “In that way, they are the same as normal spirits.”
“Ah, is that so?”
He must have been curious because he had a fire sword spirit of his own.