Chapter 65

Those who had stayed overnight at the Grand Duke’s mansion gathered in the reception room early in the morning to plan countermeasures against the Black Mage’s evil deeds.

Enria, who had overslept because Caldeon deliberately didn’t wake her, her eyes widened slightly when she saw Windel, who had been in his White Tiger form until now, in human form, holding Hayden. Hayden was pulling on Windel’s white hair with his little fingers, just as he used to when Windel was in his White Tiger form.

“Why did you change to your human form, Windel?” Enria asked as she sat next to Caldeon. Caldeon naturally wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her toward him. Windel, who had turned his gaze to answer Enria’s question, frowned instantly at the sight.

“Get a room. There are so many people watching.”

Blizzan, Eva, and Undy looked calm, as if they were used to it now, and Silri smiled with his arms crossed, finding it amusing. Graum and Lonn were bored, showing no interest at all.

“I always say, if you don’t like it, you, the guest, should close your eyes.”

“I’m not a guest; I’m here to protect your son…”

“In any case, it’s not your house.” Caldeon shrugged, cutting Windel off. Windel shook his head, deciding not to argue further.

He then explained the reason for adopting his human form, which Enria had been curious about. “Today, Hayden didn’t want to ride on my back for some reason. He kept whining for me to hold him, so when I changed my form, he hugged me as if he’d been waiting.”

“Ah.”

“He probably felt uncomfortable riding on my back.”

“He does like to be held when he first wakes up.” At Enria’s words, Windel nodded and added that Chavel had tried to hold him, but he had refused.

“Since you, his mother, were still sleeping, he seemed to have settled for me. His father, on the other hand, had been holed up in his office since dawn and showed no intention of coming out.”

“That’s because you don’t know how busy I am.” Caldeon immediately retorted. Windel let out a small, empty laugh and continued, “Then you should have at least allowed someone to wake the child’s mother.”

“Enria went to sleep late last night.”

“Hayden went to sleep early and woke up early.”

“You are watching him. Does Enria, who went to sleep late, necessarily have to wake up early to hold the child?” Caldeon raised an eyebrow in displeasure.

Windel, with a look that said, Isn’t that obvious?, replied, “She is the child’s mother.”

“There are many people to look after him, so we are being flexible. An infant who is merely whining in the morning can be looked after by others.”

Caldeon insisted on his parenting style, continuing from the previous day, stating that Hayden should grow up like him, befitting the next head of the Grand Duke’s house.

Of course, to Caldeon, Hayden was as precious and important as Enria, and he was more vigilant than anyone regarding the child’s safety. However, if asked who was the priority between the two, it was clearly Enria. That was why he had instructed everyone not to wake her so she wouldn’t be exhausted in the morning, having stayed up late the previous night.

“This is something I can do because I trust you and the others who look after Hayden. If I didn’t trust you, I would have been by Hayden’s side myself.” At that, Windel, having no more words left to say, sighed briefly and looked out the window.

Feeling guilty that Windel had been left to deal with Hayden because she overslept, Enria extended her arms toward Hayden.

“Come here, Hayden.”

“Nu-uh Baby’s shpot is hewe.” Hayden shook his head and said in his poorly formed pronunciation, causing Enria’s eyes to widen slightly.

“His speech has improved a bit?”

“I’ve been continuously correcting his pronunciation today, following yesterday.” Windel replied to Enria’s question and continued with a short sigh. “Honestly, isn’t it strange for me, a spirit, to be teaching human language?”

“What does it matter who does it? As long as he is taught well.” Caldeon replied indifferently, and Windel looked at him with a bewildered expression.

“Hayden seems to like you too. Look, he’s not even trying to be held by Enria right now.” Hayden was shaking his head at Enria, who had stretched out her arms to him, repeatedly saying, ‘Baby’s spot is here.’

Windel made a strange expression, feeling both pleased and awkward.

“Anyway, now that everyone is gathered, shall we get to the main point?” Roseanne calmed the somewhat chaotic atmosphere by lightly clapping her hands. The gazes of the spirits and the people turned simultaneously to Roseanne.

“The most important thing now is how quickly the Black Mage regains his power to spread the plague around the palace.”

“That’s right. How about we establish a preventative measure by surrounding the Imperial Capital with divine power?” Tearen nodded at Roseanne’s words and asked Enria.

“I’ll try contacting the Grand Temple, but I’m not sure the High Priest will send the Saintesses.”

“Since it’s about putting up a barrier around the Imperial Palace, the Grand Temple will naturally help.”

Tearen reassured Enria, adding that because the Grand Temple has a close relationship with the Imperial Family, they would certainly put up a barrier around the capital without difficulty.

He then looked at Roseanne and said, “It might be better for Roseanne to contact the High Priest. The Saintess is currently disguised as a viscount’s daughter in a small province due to my illusion magic.” He added that even if she weren’t under illusion magic, it wasn’t a good idea for Enria to contact the Grand Temple.

“If the Saintess asks the Grand Temple to put up a barrier around the capital, she will inevitably have to join in. Given Caldeon’s personality, he won’t stand for that, so it’s better for the Saintess not to contact the Grand Temple if possible.” He said it was fortunate that Enria’s current situation was that of a viscount’s daughter rather than the Saintess, and Rahar and Roseanne nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. He’s the kind of guy who won’t let even his own son interfere, so what can we expect?”

At Rahar’s words, Enria felt vaguely uneasy, feeling like Caldeon had become an unnecessarily difficult person because of her.

“Then, regarding the plague in the capital, we’ll rely on the Saintesses’ barrier for now, and next…”

“Oh no!”

Suddenly, all the spirits in the room simultaneously sprang to their feet. Caldeon and the party, surprised by their sudden action, looked at them.

Silri said to Enria with a face completely pale, “Panz has attacked the Spirit Village.”

***

Panz, who attacked the Spirit Village, destroyed the village without an ounce of guilt. Countless lower spirits and spirit users who could not quickly respond to his sudden attack lost their lives. Panz, who indiscriminately devoured their souls with the help of black magic, began to grow even more enormous.

Caldeon’s and Rahar’s spirits, who came to the Spirit Village as soon as they heard the news, confronted Panz. Panz, having already devoured the souls of many spirits and humans, held a considerable advantage even against the seven spirits. This was partly due to the fact that Blizzan could not properly use his power because of Panz’s dominance over the fire attribute.

Panz, who absorbed the souls of spirits and humans indiscriminately, grew frighteningly strong. The spirits, who struggled against him, were repeatedly injured and collapsed. During the continued battle, Undy, one of Rahar’s spirits, was severely wounded and was on the verge of death. Silri and Lonn quickly rescued him, but Panz began to create a massive Meteor spell with the intention of absorbing the souls of all the spirits nearby, placing the spirits and spirit users on the brink of annihilation.

Graum poured all his strength into opening a gate that could transport all the remaining spirits and spirit users in the Spirit Village to the Grand Duke’s mansion.

“Impossible!”

Just as Panz’s angry Meteor was about to fall, Graum summoned every living thing in the Spirit Village to the Grand Duke’s mansion and locked all the Spirit Village gates. Panz, trapped in the Spirit Village, roared in fury, calling out Graum’s name, but not a single soul remained in the destroyed Spirit Village.

Thud.

Graum, who locked the Spirit Village gates the moment he summoned himself to the Grand Duke’s mansion, collapsed immediately upon arrival, having completely exhausted his strength.

“Graum!”

Enria, whose eyes had widened in surprise at the summoning of countless spirits and spirit users, saw Graum, the last to arrive, collapse on the spot. She called out his name, ran over, and began to treat him with divine power.

Hayden, who was in Caldeon’s arms, struggled out of his embrace and toddled over to Enria’s side. He then placed his tiny hand on Graum’s collapsed body, just as his mother was doing, and began to emit divine power to heal Graum.

“Hayden, you…”

Enria’s eyes grew wide as she looked at Hayden. She was not the only one surprised. The aura of Hayden’s divine power, which was still clumsy from first use, spread faintly around him. It was a holy aura much denser and stronger than that of Enria, who possessed vast divine power. Everyone present felt the aura of divine power Hayden was generating and naturally realized that Hayden was the Master of the Oracle.

With Hayden’s help, Graum, who had collapsed from exhaustion, opened his eyes. Enria and Hayden then began to treat Undy, who was severely injured.

Caldeon gave the Grand Duke’s secondary palace to the spirit users and spirits who filled the reception room and the outside, ensuring they could rest comfortably. Rahar and Roseanne prepared places for the spirits who needed Enria and Hayden’s treatment to wait and rest.

Tearen, at Graum’s request, used illusion magic to shroud the Grand Duke’s mansion, making it impossible for the Tower of Magic or Panz to find the mansion for the time being.

Graum had bought a little time by trapping Panz in the Spirit Village as he arrived last. However, they couldn’t relax, as they didn’t know how strong Panz had become after consuming the souls of countless spirits and spirit users. After all, only earth spirits could open and close the gates, but there was no guarantee that Panz, who had swallowed the souls of countless earth spirits, couldn’t use earth spirit power.

Graum said they must prepare for any eventuality, and Caldeon and the party nodded, preparing to make every possible defense.

The day Panz attacked the Spirit Village was one that the spirits, spirit users, and Caldeon’s party who fled to the Grand Duke’s mansion could never forget.

It was a day when the despair of losing countless comrades while fighting a former companion who had broken a taboo and fallen into darkness, and the hope of confirming the Master of the Oracle, intertwined and deeply settled in their hearts.