But everyone would go to the lake to look for spirits together, so if there were nobles or acquaintances from other domains, we would sometimes join them to help in their search. My aunt and her husband had brought their children today, so Chris, Deir, and I all went along too. They were hoping that our cousins could raise their own spirit beasts—at least, that was the surface reason.
The real reason was that the viscount had become a serious pain in the backside, and we wanted to do something about him and his associates already.
We’d intentionally planned for my aunt’s family to visit the lake on the same day as Viscount Collier and the barons suspected of colluding with other countries. The tension among the knights was palpable. In the meantime, Deir’s cute smile as she walked to the lake with our cousins relaxed everyone, especially Chris.
“Deir’s so cute today,” he remarked.
“Yes, yes, I know,” I muttered.
“Do you disagree?”
“For once, my attention is taken up by them more than Deir.” I was looking right at the viscount and his group.
Chris’s nose scrunched up. “Who cares about those crusty old men?”
“Cr-Crusty...”
Right now, they were all just aimlessly loitering around the lake. They weren’t trying to approach Deir and our cousins, but they didn’t seem to be looking for spirits either. Considering how suspiciously they were acting, were they meant to just be decoys?
They each had their own valet or aide, so there were six of them in total. Six large men were loitering around a clearing and doing nothing else—pretty terrible attempt at being decoys if you asked me.
When it came time for us to return to the castle, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Our cousins were delighted at having managed to get a new spirit each. Deir was walking alongside Rex, a skip in her step. Chris and Lai had slipped in beside her. The viscount and his barons were at the tail end... Wait, didn’t they have three valets with them?
Suddenly realizing what was going on, I whipped my head up and looked around, only to see a man in black clothes lunging toward Deir.
“Deir! Behind you!”
Just as the man’s hand was about to snatch her, Ifri materialized in its beast form—a large flaming fenrir.
The big wolf took one of its big front paws and lazily batted the man away like a fly.
“Oof, that must’ve hurt.”
He’d quite literally gotten tossed up into the air, eventually falling back into the grass, his body rolling violently along the ground.
“The spirit beast attacked without an order?!” a man yelled.
They seemed to care much more about the spirit beast’s behavior than their friend who’d been sent flying. They had apparently been under the impression that spirit beasts only acted on their master’s orders, and that was why they’d thought they could easily kidnap a little child.
How naive. Deir had begun talking to her spirits before she was a year old, and they’d even begun healing her wounds without orders by the time she learned how to start walking.
“Run! These things will act of their own accord!” one of the other men called out.
“Damn it all. This isn’t what we were told.”
As they turned to make their escape, Jin blasted the man who’d ordered a retreat with wind magic.
“They’re speaking in Starken,” someone muttered.
The last man tried desperately to escape, but the materialized Levvy stretched out their long body and gazed down at the man from above. Whether from surprise or fear, he fell back onto his behind. Anyone would be scared suddenly finding himself face-to-face with a big dragon like that.
“Wh-Why? Didn’t I say that we just wanted to see the lake?” I heard someone spluttering. The security guards had immediately arrested the viscount and his men for having brought the assailants in.
“We don’t know anything,” they complained.
They appeared to have just been pawns in the plan, but bringing unauthorized Starkish men into the castle grounds was a grave crime—even more so since those men had tried to kidnap Deir.
“They might have allies over there,” I said, pointing. They’d all been fleeing toward the same section of land sloping away from the path. If I recalled correctly, that way led straight to a road. “I’ll be back in a second.”
Sword spirits were suited to strengthening the body. With my wind spirit’s help, I dashed off. Since I was floating in the air, I focused on keeping my balance, planting my right foot forward and lowering my hips. As we sped up, my earth spirit helped support me so I didn’t go flying backward.
Because our castle stood at the top of a hill, the way down to the road was a continuous slope. I continued my diagonal descent.
“I’m coming too!”
“Deir, don’t!” I heard Chris cry.
I suddenly heard Deir’s voice from somewhere behind me. She was probably riding Ifri, while Chris was floating with his own spirit magic just as I was.
“Waaaaah, this is so fast. Ifri, you’re so fast!”
“Stop! It’s dangerous!”
“But it’s so fuuuuun!”
The girl who’d nearly been kidnapped was now chasing down the culprits herself.
It was too dangerous for me to look back, but I could see the soldiers dashing after us out of the corner of my eye.
“Is that them?”
Beyond the western wall of the castle, a narrow back alley ran along the edge of a plaza. In its shadows were parked two run-down carriages. Despite the shadows, they were fully visible when looking down from above. Several dangerous-looking men were standing beside them.
I snapped off a nearby tree branch as I ran. When I held the branch out, red light enveloped it, turning it into a blazing sword while my arms and legs shone yellow. A little blue ball of light was joyfully dancing by my shoulder as it tried not to fall behind.
It was because my spirits were willing to lend me their power that I was able to fight with a strength that could match any adult’s.
“Who the hell are they?” I heard someone yell.
Okay, they’re definitely speaking in Starken.
“We won’t let you get away!”
I was positive that the soldiers would take the men down for us once they arrived, so I focused on preventing the conspirators’ escape. Kicking off the castle wall into the air, I brandished my fire sword. When I landed on the roof of one of the carriages, I swung the blade down.
“Not the carriage!”
“Oh god! A big monster’s coming this way!”