Chapter 5

At the words “the Grand Duke’s dog” that came out of Groen’s mouth, one of Lahar’s eyebrows twitched upward.

“Madam, please step behind me for a moment.”

“Huh? Wait, if I let go, I’ll fall…!”

Since they were floating in midair, if she let go of Lahar, she’d likely fall straight down. Startled by his attempt to pull her away, Enria held on to him even tighter.

Groen let out a dry chuckle at the sight.

“What’s this? So you’re not just the Grand Duke’s dog — you’re having an affair with his mistress, too?”

“Watch your mouth, Groen.”

With a quiet but firm tone, Lahar rebuked him before glancing back at Enria.

“It’s all right, Madam. I’ve cast a ward around you, so you won’t fall or get hurt.”

Hearing that, Enria loosened her grip a little. Indeed, though they were in the air, it felt as if she were standing on solid ground, and she gradually began to relax.

“Well, I don’t really care either way,” Groen sneered. “You’re both going to die here anyway.”

As soon as he finished speaking, enormous flames surged up in both of Groen’s hands.

Enria’s eyes widened in disbelief.

‘His hands— they’re on fire!’

It was unbelievable. She had already been living in this world for over two years since she had possessed this body, but she had never seen anything like this before.

Of course, in a world blessed by gods where magic, holy power, monsters, and spirits existed, this shouldn’t have been surprising. But seeing it with her own eyes was another matter.

Yet what shocked her even more came next — Lahar.

He bit his thumb until blood came out and began tracing a magic circle in midair. From the blood-drawn sigil burst a brilliant blue light, and out of it emerged a transparent, azure seahorse.

The creature had delicate, glass-like wings sprouting from its back — but it was…

“Tiny…”

It was small.

Enria had muttered the word without realizing it, and both Lahar and the seahorse turned their heads toward her.

Feeling awkward under their gazes, she gave a sheepish smile. The translucent blue seahorse flapped its dainty wings and floated to stand before Lahar.

Groen snorted derisively at the sight.

“Ah, that’s right. You’re a spirit summoner.”

“…”

“I’d forgotten, since you only ever work with such pathetic little spirits.”

Enria bristled at the insult, though looking at the palm-sized seahorse spirit, she couldn’t completely deny it.

Then—

“Please, Undy,” Lahar murmured quietly.

At his words, a torrent of water, massive enough to dwarf Lahar himself, gushed from Undy’s tiny mouth. The stream swelled into a colossal wave, crashing toward Groen like a tidal surge.

Groen dodged swiftly and hurled fireballs drawn from his flaming hands, but jets of water snaked from Lahar’s body, extinguishing each one instantly.

Refusing to yield, Groen soared above the rising waves and began to rain down meteors upon Lahar and Enria.

FRoseen in terror at the sight of countless blazing projectiles falling from the sky, Enria could only gape.

Undy quickly created a vast pool of water over her head; the falling fireballs sank into it and fizzled out harmlessly.

‘We’re winning…!’

Hope flared in Enria’s eyes — but at that moment, Groen found an opening. He hurled a massive ball of flame directly at Undy. For some reason, Undy couldn’t block it — the tiny spirit burst like a water balloon and vanished before Enria’s eyes.

The instant Undy disappeared, the tidal wave and the water shield also vanished without a trace, as though they’d never existed.

‘We lost?’

Enria turned toward Groen in panic — just in time to see several blazing fireballs hurtling toward her. Overwhelmed, she couldn’t even think to dodge and simply squeezed her eyes shut.

Had Lahar not pulled her swiftly into his arms, she would have been burned alive.

“Ugh!”

One of the fireballs struck Lahar squarely in the back. A second, even larger one smashed into his left side.

Twisting his body to shield Enria, Lahar took the full brunt of both blows on his back.

“Kh—!”

A low groan escaped him.

“Lahar!”

Enria called out in alarm, but Lahar only lifted his gaze, biting his thumb once more as he began chanting in an unfamiliar, rapid incantation.

Enria looked up too — Groen’s meteors were once again pouring down in torrents.

Just as one blazing sphere came within inches of her face, her surroundings suddenly shifted.

“Urgh—!”

As the space changed, Lahar collapsed to the ground, coughing up blood.

“Lahar!” Enria hurried to support him.

“Lonn.”

He called a name through clenched teeth. At once, something popped up from the ground beside them — a small earth spirit, shaped like a clump of soil with a tiny sapling growing from its back.

[Lahar.]

A voice echoed in Enria’s mind — it had to be Lonn’s.

[You’ve taken quite a hit.]

“Seal off the village entrance, just in case.” Lahar’s voice was ragged.

[I already did, when Undy got hurt. But if you’ve come this far, things must have been dire.]

“I came only because there was someone I needed to protect.”

Lahar shot the spirit a faint glare as more blood spilled from his lips.

Listening to their exchange, Enria realized — Lahar had brought her, a pregnant woman, into the forbidden domain of spirits to protect her.

‘Still…’

Her gaze fixed on him. He kept coughing blood, and she could tell his back had been hit twice by the fireballs. The wounds must have been severe. Her face stiffened in worry as she instinctively reached out and placed a hand on his back.

‘All right… healing. How do I do this again?’

The body she had possessed belonged to a saint, so it should have the ability to heal others. But since she’d spent her time only calming Caldeon’s rampages, she’d never actually used healing magic herself — or learned how.

She remembered, vaguely, that in the original novel, saints would touch the wounded, chant something, and light would flow into the person’s body as the wounds healed.

‘Okay, touch first… then what?’

Nothing happened when she simply kept her hand there, and impatience started to creep in.

[Recite the spell, human,] Lonn said.

“The spell?”

[The formula for healing.]

‘And that’s supposed to be what, exactly?’

At that instant, as if something unlocked in her mind, the healing incantation surfaced, and her lips began to move on their own.

As Enria mouthed the words, white light spread across Lahar’s entire body. His wounds began closing, one by one, before her eyes.

‘Oh, wow!’

Even though she was the one doing it, Enria blinked in amazement as Lahar’s injuries visibly mended.

Lahar, too, seemed momentarily stunned by her actions.

“You… had healing abilities,” he said slowly.

“Yes, I’m a saintess, after all.”

“…”

At her casual response, Lahar’s expression softened into something unreadable before he bowed his head slightly.

“Thank you.”

Startled by the sudden gratitude, Enria widened her eyes before smiling brightly.

“I should be the one thanking you — you got hurt protecting me.”

For some reason, being thanked by the very man who was supposed to kill her in the original story felt strangely satisfying.

Lahar went on to explain that they were now in the spirit village, and that the Tower Master and Groen wouldn’t be able to reach this place.

“Of course, it’s not completely safe. The Tower also has spirit summoners, and some of them share contracts with the same spirits I do — meaning they might still be able to enter this realm.”

Spirits could contract with more than one human, and there were certain zones only accessible to contracted summoners.

Enria nodded, understanding the situation, and Lahar’s eyes curved faintly as he smiled.

“But you needn’t worry too much. The wind spirit, Silri, is unique — he only ever contracts with one human at a time. If we stay in his dwelling, we’ll be safe.”

[His house is so high up even we can’t reach it,] Lonn added matter-of-factly.

Apparently, as a wind spirit, Silri lived high above ground. Knowing that no one else could reach the place did help ease her mind a little.

“The healing seems complete. Once again, thank you, Madam.”

“It’s fine — just doing what I should. But… are you really going to keep calling me that?”

The repeated “Madam” was starting to grate on her, so she pointed it out. Lahar tilted his head slightly.

“Then what should I call you?”

“Use my name.”

“But… you’re the Grand Duke’s mistress. It wouldn’t be appropriate to address you so informally.”

“I’m not his mistress.”

Enria arched an eyebrow, and Lahar blinked slowly before nodding.

“Then I’ll call you by your name, Enria.”

“Good. So, Lahar, where do I go now?”

She smiled lightly, pointing at herself. For a brief moment, he looked at her with a strange expression before murmuring quietly, “Silri.”

Instantly, a small whirlwind formed beside him, and out of it appeared a tiny, white spirit — resembling a fluffy cat with soft wings.

[If this is something trivial, I’m going to be mad, Lahar,] came a youthful, feminine voice.

It belonged to Silri.