---

“Sister, fire, fire, fire, fire! No, sister, this! Hiyah…!”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to Elvis’s loud entrance.

Whether he cared or not, the flames surrounding him seemed to feel quite hot due to Tania’s mischief, and he started tearing up a bit. Then he noticed me staring at him and brightened his expression.

“Daddy!”

In an instant, Elvis flew into my arms.

“Chee.”

In response, Tania also stopped playing with her flames and looked at us with eager eyes for our reunion.

“You know, you know. I’m really…!”

“I, I was in the spirit realm the whole time—”

“You’ve been hitting my head and pulling my cheeks every day….”

Unlike Tania, who had previously been worried since it had been a while, Elvis was talking at a rapid pace.

As Elvis’s barrage of chatter showed no signs of stopping, Tania and Orna chimed in.

“Changsik’s just too excited. Don’t you see he’s overwhelming Shinwoo?”

“Chee… But you talked to Daddy a lot, didn’t you? I mean, I haven’t seen him in a while—”

—Myaang!

“Ugh….”

Then, when Elvis’s eyes met Orna, who was toppled over on my head, he looked momentarily dazed, then suddenly became wary and hugged me tighter.

“…Sister, is that guy the one?”

“Right?”

“Wuh….”

—Mya?

“…”

What on earth is he talking about now?

Orna tilted her head in confusion while Tania seemed to sympathize, alternating her gaze between me and Orna, and looking troubled.

“Daddy… You won’t abandon me, will you?”

“What…?”

“No, sister said—”

In the end, I had no choice but to let out a deep sigh after hearing what Tania had been telling Elvis in the spirit realm.

Regardless, hearing that Elvis would become unnecessary since Orna would form a contract with him, or that Elvis had to prove his worth as a rival was just absurd.

The ridiculous things Tania had said so nonchalantly, and the fact that Elvis took it at face value made me think, ‘Well, he really is my spirit.’

Once concluding the clarification, Elvis puffed up his cheeks and began to whine about his sister, Tania.

“Sister, really…!”

“Hey. Our Changsik knows that I cherish him a lot, right?”

“Just because we’re not blood-related doesn’t mean I’m not your sister!”

“Changsik, are you going to keep being spiteful to your sister? I flew all this way to see if you were bored….”

“Eh.”

“Are you going to keep getting mad at your sister…?”

“No, sister, it’s just that…”

Tania’s sly acting as she subtly shifted the topic to escape was amusing, and Changsik, getting swept up in Tania’s performance, looked bewildered.

Orna let out a sigh, almost like me, as she observed the scene.

—Hee…

As the brief chaos and situation recap concluded, it couldn’t be too long here.

I told Elvis the most important point, the reason I had summoned him.

“I roughly know the situation from what you told me, but… is that right?”

“Yeah, things are quite tangled up. If it’s not Elvis, I can’t trust anyone else.”

“Though I hate elves and demons, if Daddy asks….”

Hesitating, Elvis, who initially looked somewhat indecisive, slowly nodded with a lowered expression.

The small spirit, having made a light resolution, bore a weight quite different from the gentle breeze he governed.

“I’ll do it. I just need to find out what the elves are talking about and what all the demons in this forest are plotting, right?”

“That’s right. Can you do it?”

“Right now, I’m in an intermediate form, so I might be a bit lacking—”

—Hee.

For a moment, I could see an inexplicable competitive spirit ignite in Elvis’s eyes as he exchanged glances with Orna.

“…I can do it. It’s not like I’ll traverse an entire mountain range. It’s just a forest I have to investigate. I can ask the winds blowing through the trees.”

Elvis spoke with a resolute voice.

Beside him, Tania nodded with her arms crossed and gently floated up, resting a small hand on his shoulder.

“That’s right. Sister trusts Changsik.”

“No, sister, I mean, that nickname….”

Somehow, having set a supportive atmosphere for Changsik, I also smiled lightly and added.

“I believe in Changsik too.”

Not wanting to be outdone, Shione and Diolia, quietly observing my reunion with the spirit, followed suit.

“Changsik, we believe in you.”

“Changsik mi, mi believe…?”

Having had more than a few conversations with Tania and understanding somewhat the nuances of the language I used, Shione pronounced it fairly accurately.

As for Diolia, who believed that once one became a spirit mage, they naturally grasped the language of spirits—we used it now—hesitantly and somewhat awkwardly mimicking our words.

“T-This isn’t it….”

All Changsik could do was tear up again at being called an undesired name by everyone.

*

The first day of retreat was quiet. We could leave the center of the forest relatively undisturbed without any encounters with enemies.

Moreover, I could gather new information from Changsik, who was starting to actively use his abilities.

Concerning Ianette, they were tight-lipped with secrets, so I could hardly gain any new intel, but when it came to demons, we could certainly dig up some good information.

The small spirit said, “I found several massive altars at the eastern edge of the forest.”

The spirit informed us that aside from the destroyed altars, there were several more.

“…They were hidden by the demons’ deception, but I could sense their presence with the faint disturbances of the wind. No one else would have noticed it but me, heh heh.”

Once Elvis said this, it was evident that other elves on scouting missions would have had a far more difficult time finding them.

I asked my spirit how the altars had appeared.

“Three altars were positioned at equal distances… if you connect them, they form a triangle… and all lead to the center altar, which is the largest and connects to the magic.”

Moreover, these were not ordinary independent altars.

Three altars supporting the central altar for a grand ritual. They were confident that their size was considerable as well.

These altars were likely constructed to summon at least a high-ranking demon.

“All three altars were almost ready… it seems the final altar was gathering its sacrifices.”

Furthermore, the preparations for summoning the demon were already nearing their final stages.

“…We can’t stop this. We need to leave the forest as quickly as possible.”

We needed to exit the forest even faster.

*

On the second day, we escaped the forest quite a bit. Maybe by tomorrow, we could return to the city.

However, the issue was that during our return, we finally encountered enemy forces today.

While I couldn’t assist actively because my condition wasn’t normal, I shot arrows from a distance to support them.

Moreover, while doing this, I noticed Ianette. They seemed not to harmonize with Chelness and Arielte for some reason.

“Daddy, Daddy. That red-haired lady fought with Cenya again. And—”

As Friel Arielte had mentioned.

Airine and Ianette were having a conflict. A rather deep one, too.

“That Cenya lady has a strange vibe. You absolutely shouldn’t befriend that elf, Daddy! Here…!”

“…?”

“Thumbprint stamp, bang!”

Along with that, clever little Elvis expressed his fundamental unease about Cenya.

I had a brief chat with Friel Arielte about this.

Are they allies or enemies? Perhaps Airine is the one closer to our side.

*

On the last day, just before exiting the forest.

The forest was especially quiet. Perhaps because their grand ritual was imminent, they had no leisure to focus on us at all.

At that moment, Friel Arielte brought up a conversation.

“I had a talk with Airine.”

“Did you speak directly, Friel?”

“Yes, I plan to have a brief chat with my mother once I return to our family… It’s been a long time since I thought of speaking with Airine, so it might not be bad to share this matter with the young lady later.”

“…Have you perhaps already shared any talks of Airine with Princess Shione?”

“No?”

Friel Arielte had a soft smile.

“Even if that’s not the case, the young lady probably suspects it by now.”

“Really?”

“Ray, you wouldn’t have seen the young lady then. Do you have any idea how scared she was at that time?”

“…”

“The young lady’s gaze wasn’t solely following the enemies. Honestly, I thought she was far more inadequate in combat than you….”

Friel was utterly sincere.

“In some ways, she might have been much more intimidating than you.”

“Could you tell me a bit more about that?”

“Hmm—this might take a bit longer, so let’s talk about it later.”

After saying this, Friel Arielte stepped back a few paces and said.

“By the way, Ray, when you woke up, I promised to bring tea for you. So at that point, it would be good to talk with the young lady.”

“Well then—”

Friel returned with a relatively light expression.

“Let’s head back now.”

Her gaze was directed westward.

The giant ancient tree was drawing closer.

“The World Tree’s embrace is just ahead.”

The return was at hand.

 

---