Chapter 51

Following Pahomel’s instructions, Groen began attacking the spirit users who could summon lower spirits with the wizards from the Magic Tower. They targeted the summoned spirits, not the spirit users themselves, and the spirit users, most of whom belonged to the Magic Tower, had to helplessly watch as their own spirits were killed by wizards from the same affiliation, without understanding why.

Groen personally delivered the final blow to every spirit, as this was necessary to capture the spirit’s soul within a special cube given to him by Pahomel. The cube, created with dark magic, was a magic tool designed to prevent the spirit’s soul from dissipating and make it easy for Panz to absorb later.

This was clearly an act of deceiving the god who created the beings of this earth. Collecting the life force given by the god and feeding it to a creature of the same kind was the worst possible sin.

Groen, completely unaware of this, was committing a terrifying forbidden act, thinking only that increasing Panz’s power would increase the power of the Magic Tower.

As the spirit users remained unharmed while only their summoned beasts were continuously killed, the spirit users began to find it strange and eventually commissioned Fyoren for an investigation. The details of the commission reached the ears of Caldeon, who kept Fyoren as his right-hand man.

“According to the information gathered so far, those attacking the spirit users’ spirits are the wizards from the Magic Tower.”

“The Magic Tower’s wizards?”

“Yes. They are said to be acting as if their sole targets are the spirits summoned by the spirit users.”

Caldeon, who had spoken with Fyoren through the communication link, noticed something strange and summoned all his spirits.

“It’s unusual for you to summon all four of us.”

Graum, in the form of a young boy, said with surprise as he sat on the sofa. Blizzan and Eva, similarly anthropomorphized, naturally took their seats, and Windel changed from his human form back to the form of a white tiger, perhaps for Hayden’s sake.

“Why are you in that form?”

Eva asked, frowning slightly at the large Windel, who sat on the floor, and Windel replied to her as if it were the most natural thing.

“Hayden likes this form.”

At that, Eva, Blizzan, and Graum all chuckled softly. When Windel looked at them with an expression suggesting he saw nothing wrong with what he had just said, Blizzan, resting his chin on his hand, gave an arrogant smile and commented, “You, who are known for your nasty temper even among wind spirits, become particularly meek like a lamb in front of Hayden.”

“He’s the Master of the Oracle, so he must want to make the best impression possible.”

Eva said with a shrug, and Graum sighed briefly and said to her, “What benefit is there in making a good impression on the Master of the Oracle?”

“There is, why wouldn’t there be? As the Master of the Oracle, he might possess an attractive power like Caldeon’s…”

“It would be best not to think of draining my son’s power, Eva.”

“Oh, draining? Why would you say such a thing?”

Eva smiled, frowning slightly as if he were being unfair, but Caldeon spoke firmly to the four spirits. “I won’t tolerate my son being in danger, not even a minor risk. So, if you’re thinking of obtaining my son’s power, abandon that idea immediately.”

A subtle silence fell upon the reception room at Caldeon’s words, and then Eva broke it with a playful smile.

“Aren’t you being overly protective of your son? To be a good father, you must also know how to step back and just watch.”

At that, Caldeon frowned and clicked his tongue, as if asking what a spirit knew about the relationship between a human father and son. “Nonsense.”

Just then, Enria entered the reception room holding Hayden.

“Oh, everyone is gathered here.”

Enria greeted Caldeon’s spirits, saw Windel in his white tiger form, put down Hayden who was trying to wriggle out of her arms, and went to sit beside Caldeon. Caldeon looked at Enria with a loving expression and smiled.

Eva gave a strange look at Caldeon, who had instantly changed the moment Enria arrived, and leaned back on the sofa with her arms crossed. Enria offered an awkward smile at Eva’s strange gaze toward her, then looked at Hayden, who was with Windel. Hayden kept tugging on Windel’s whiskers and giggling, and Windel didn’t try to escape Hayden’s touch, licking the child’s hand with his large tongue.

“Since Enria is here, let’s get to the main point.”

At Caldeon’s words, the eyes of everyone in the reception room focused on him.

“Fyoren contacted me this morning. He said that the spirits of spirit users, especially the lower spirits, are being killed by the Magic Tower’s wizards.”

“Ah, I know. Undy told me yesterday.” Eva nodded, and Graum also nodded, saying he had heard from Lonn.

“Silri said that they seem to be killing the spirits in a rather unusual way.” Windel also said this, as if he had heard from Silri, wearing a not-so-pleasant expression.

“It seems you all communicate more smoothly with Rahar’s spirits than expected.” Caldeon said with a slightly puzzled expression, and Graum snorted softly.

“Isn’t that obvious, since they, like us, shared their power with the Master of the Oracle?”

Graum explained that since they were the ones who shared power with Enria and Hayden, it was natural that communication would occur between them and the others. He added that Rahar’s contracted spirits also needed to find a solution for the absence of Panz, who was their colleague, so they would continue to communicate with them in the future.

In the end, it meant that Rahar’s spirits and Caldeon’s spirits, who had formed a bond by sharing power with the Master of the Oracle, would share everything like companions in the same boat and handle future events together.

“If that’s the case, it’s actually a relief.” Caldeon nodded and looked at Blizzan, continuing, “They say the Magic Tower Master’s son, Groen, is the one who delivers the final blow to the spirits. Do you have any guesses about this situation?”

“Isn’t he a user who mainly uses fire magic?”

“He is. They say he is unconditionally the one who finishes off the spirits.”

“Why the need?” Windel, whose whiskers were being pulled back and forth by Hayden, asked suspiciously.

“He must have a reason for needing to do that.” Blizzan said calmly, and Graum looked at Caldeon and said, “There must be some important scheme.”

Caldeon nodded once. “Yes. Figuring out that scheme is the most important issue right now.”

“Are you asking us to find out?” Blizzan asked in disbelief, and Caldeon answered as if it were obvious.

“It’s a problem where your own kind is being killed. It’s natural for you to find out.”

“Since humans are killing spirits in the first place, it’s not fair to call it only our problem…”

“It’s also strange that they only kill the lower spirits.”

“Isn’t it simply because they can’t kill intermediate spirits, so they only kill the lower spirits?”

As the conversation between Eva, Blizzan, and Graum grew chaotic, Caldeon pressed his temples, wearing a displeased expression. “So, find out why the Magic Tower is specifically killing lower spirits, and why, despite the hassle, the heir of the Magic Tower is the only one who delivers the final blow to the spirits.”

Enria, who had been silently listening to their conversation beside him, blinked her eyes rapidly as the existence of Panz kept coming to mind. Already knowing that the dark wizard was feeding human souls to Panz, she wondered if this situation was also connected to Panz. However, thinking that just because Panz could absorb human souls didn’t mean he could also absorb spirit souls, Enria cautiously placed her hand on Caldeon’s arm and asked, “Can Rahar’s fire spirit also absorb the souls of spirits?”

At that question, the reception room became as silent as if cold water had been poured over them.

Enria smiled awkwardly, worried that she might have said the wrong thing, as Caldeon and the spirits looked at her with shocked eyes. “No, since that fire spirit absorbs human souls, I was just wondering if it could also…”

“That would be absolute evil, standing against the gods.”

“Surely Panz wouldn’t go that far.”

“That’s preposterous.”

“Even a fool obsessed with strong power wouldn’t think of going that far.”

Everyone collectively agreed that it couldn’t be true, but their hardened expressions did not easily soften. Enria nodded toward them but spoke about the part she couldn’t help but suspect.

“That’s true, but even if the fire spirit doesn’t think of it, I think the dark wizard who is feeding him human souls could think of it.”

“…”

“Since the dark wizard has been involved in all the incidents so far, I suspect this incident is also his doing. And the suspicion that the Magic Tower has joined hands with the dark wizard keeps lingering…”

Enria continued, saying that if the dark wizard had already broken the taboo and fed human souls to Panz, he would be capable of feeding him the souls of fellow spirits. She then suggested that if her thought was correct and Panz could absorb the souls of spirits, it would be good to investigate that possibility.

At that, Caldeon quickly grabbed the communication device and contacted Fyoren.

While Caldeon was discussing with Fyoren, Graum, still unable to shake off his shock, asked Enria, “How did you come up with such a thought?”

The question was clearly asking how she could so easily come up with an idea that was akin to absolute evil standing against the gods.

Feeling that a hint of vigilance was mixed in with his question, Enria explained the reason for her thought to prevent him from misunderstanding her.

“Groen tried to kill me, thinking I was the Master of the Oracle. The one who wants to kill the Master of the Oracle is the dark wizard, so they must have joined hands for some reason.”

Enria, unaware that the dark wizard had killed the Magic Tower Master Pahomel and assumed his identity, merely thought that the Magic Tower, like Panz, had fallen to the dark wizard and was acting in concert with him. So she told Graum everything she was thinking.

Graum nodded once after hearing her story. “A dark wizard might actually go that far.”

At that, the faces of Eva, Windel, and Blizzan began to harden once more.