From that day forth, Sirius and the ten knights lived at the villa. Fortunately, the rustic villa had plenty of rooms, so there was no problem finding space for everyone.
The knights insisted that they provided ingredients for their meals, so they went into the forest every day to hunt. They always came back with so much meat that the chefs had to work hard to cook it all. “You’ll never be able to finish all this!” the chefs would say smugly as they put the dishes on the table, only to keel over in shock when the knights packed it all away. This was a common sight over the next few days.
Sirius never went hunting with the others, though—he spent most of his time with me. To be specific, he went into the woods and watched from afar as I played with the spirits—although like the others, he couldn’t see them. I have no idea how I looked, muttering and murmuring to what must have seemed like my imaginary friends.
He also told me all kinds of stories about the capital. “I have my own room in the castle. If you come to the capital, we can still chat like we do now,” he said, which gave me an image of what life was like over there. Sirius was giving me all the information I needed to make my decision, it seemed.
One bright and sunny day, I was sitting under a big tree in the forest with Sirius, enjoying the light breeze.
“Your intuition is very sharp, Serafina,” he muttered.
“Hm?”
“I heard that on the day we arrived, you told a lady-in-waiting to prepare breakfast for eleven people. That sounds like more than just a good intuition, but I have no other way to describe it. And from what I’ve seen, you haven’t taken a single tumble. It’s strange—even though you’re blind, you have no problem avoiding obstacles in your path.”
I wanted to explain that the spirits were helping me, but I hated the thought of him brushing it off as a kid’s imagination, so I kept my mouth shut.
Over the past few days, Sirius had told me a lot of things I’d never heard before. He said it was common knowledge that spirits always took on an adult form and anyone could see them. Also, it seemed no one could understand the spirit language.
When he told me that, I finally understood why my knights and ladies-in-waiting called the spirits around me “unseen blessings,” no matter how many times I explained that I was being helped by a bunch of spirit children. The beings I spoke of sounded completely different from the spirits everyone else saw and knew. They all thought that I couldn’t possibly be seeing spirits.
I told Sirius what he already knew. “I’m being helped by unseen blessings.”
Sirius knew that I’d been insisting that the blessings were actually spirits, but he didn’t bring that up at all. “I see. You’re loved by the land.” He smiled gently. “I’m impressed at how something in this land can know and trust you so well. I’d say it’s proof that you’re a lovable person.”
He looked around the forest. “I’ve never seen such a mysterious forest—it’s huge, yet there isn’t a single monster. I’ve been strolling around day and night trying to find a reason for this, but it looks no different from other forests.”
“I wonder if it’s because…the spirits have been protecting the forest?” I voiced my theory timidly.
According to Sirius, every spirit who had a pact with a saint had an adult form. But spirits had childhoods too, and they needed a place where they could grow. This forest was probably that place. It would explain why nobody else was able to see the spirit children—they were keeping themselves hidden so that they could survive into adulthood. Maybe I would never have been able to sense them if I had proper eyesight. And maybe the reason why there were no monsters was because the adult spirits were protecting the children from danger.
“An interesting theory. I’m sure you already know this, but they say the royal family’s great ancestor is the Spirit Lord. The villa was built all the way back in those days. The Spirit Lord chose this forest, vowing that it would never be overrun… I wouldn’t be surprised if the spirits were protecting this place.”
“Oh, wow.”
I’d never heard this story before, but it did explain why the spirit children would be here.
Sirius went on. “That might be why the forest has taken a liking to you. You may not be able to see it for yourself, but you have beautiful red hair, the likes of which is rarely seen. The spirits are fond of red hair, so I think that seeing you made them want to protect you.”
“Maybe…”
“Not every saint fights on the battlefield. There are many who heal the wounded or specialize in making healing potions. Those are some possibilities for you.”
My chest tightened in pain at Sirius’s gentle words. He was telling me that I could be a talented saint out of pure kindness and consideration. But if a saint was what they called a woman who could heal the sick and injured—or one who formed a pact with a spirit—then I already was a saint.
I remembered what Sirius said before, about his work as a knight. “You said that, because you’re the vice-commander, you fight for everyone. If there are saints who fight in battle, does that mean you fight with them?”
“Yeah. Usually, I escort them to the field. The basic unit has five knights and one saint. People tell me that I’m not good at dealing with saints, though, so they don’t want to team up with me.”
“Oh, really?”
Sirius was so, so nice. I couldn’t imagine why the saints wouldn’t want to fight alongside him.