Chapter 59

Rahar and the spirits, who arrived late at the Grand Ducal Castle, gathered in the parlor.

Hayden, who had been looking for Windel immediately upon waking up, hugged Windel tightly around the neck, babbling incoherently as soon as the Wind Spirit appeared with the group of spirits. Windel, who was the only one not in human form, comforted Hayden with gentle eyes.

At that, the eyes of everyone present were instantly drawn to Windel. It was surprising, as Windel was famous for being the fiercest among the notoriously fierce Wind Spirits, yet he displayed such a gentle demeanor.

“It seems Hayden likes tigers.” Tearen muttered, looking curiously at Windel and Hayden. Roseanne, next to him, nodded and replied, “He seems to especially like them.”

“Then does he like that Wind Spirit’s true form too?” Tearen asked, looking at Silri.

Rahar, with a puzzled expression, asked Silri, “Come to think of it. Why are you in that form?”

Since Silri was also a Wind Spirit, she could transform into a similar, though different, cat form from Windel, and Hayden greatly liked her in that form, so Rahar wondered why she was in human form.

Silri replied to Rahar’s question with a look that suggested the answer was obvious. “Hayden is still young, isn’t he? All young creatures prefer big things over small ones.”

Silri continued that since she was in the form of a small cat and Windel was several times larger than Hayden’s body, it was natural that Hayden preferred to be held by Windel and sleep in his arms. She then looked at Windel and asked, “I want to see Hayden learning to walk, how about we go up to the toddler room?”

[Hayden, shall we go up?]

“Dabuba, ubabya.” As soon as Windel asked, Hayden immediately babbled as if giving an answer.

“When will he be able to speak human words clearly?” Undy asked Enria, who smiled faintly and replied to him.

“Hayden is a little slow. Perhaps it’s because he was born and raised in the Spirit Village, and is faster than other babies in terms of growth, that his speech is slower.”

“He already knows the most important words.” At that moment, Caldeon abruptly cut in and said.

“Important words?” Undy asked Caldeon with a puzzled expression. Caldeon raised his chin and replied with a very confident expression.

“Daddy and Mommy.”

“Mommy, daddy.” As soon as Caldeon spoke, Hayden immediately looked at him and repeated it. Caldeon looked at Undy with an I-told-you-so expression.

Undy’s brows slightly furrowed at Caldeon’s confident and boastful gaze, but Caldeon didn’t mind at all and continued, “He speaks the most important words perfectly fine, so that’s enough. Although he can’t understand, we communicate quite well.”

Graum, Lonn, and Silri nodded as if agreeing that it was no problem at all that his son was a little slower than other children in speaking.

Blizzan, who had been leaning against the window, arms crossed, and staring outside since entering, turned his body and said to Caldeon, “I need to catch some fresh air for a bit. The barrier is up, but I’ll call you if I sense anything strange.”

Caldeon nodded once at that.

Eva looked at Blizzan’s retreating figure and asked with a worried face, “He’s been like that ever since he lost the ability to use the fire attribute.”

Silri leaned back against the sofa backrest, arms crossed, and said, “Most of the fire spirits are like that. Blizzan, in particular, must be even more so.”

It was already confusing enough for his attribute to suddenly stop working mid-battle, but to have a spirit of the same attribute gain control over fire with the help of black magic… For Blizzan, the highest-ranking Fire Spirit, this situation was clearly much harder to endure than for the other fire spirits.

Enria, who was listening to the spirits’ conversation, looked towards the door with a worried expression.

***

While the spirits took Hayden up to the toddler room and cared for the child, preparing for any possible attack, Rahar, Roseanne, and Tearen discussed the next day’s battle in the Monster Forest with Caldeon and Enria in the parlor.

Since they would be going into the center of the Monster Forest, they readily agreed to Enria’s suggestion that they should thoroughly prepare from the planning stage, and they continued their discussion quite seriously.

“The path to enter won’t be easy.” Tearen muttered, looking at the map placed on the table.

Roseanne, sitting next to him, nodded and said, “So, it would be best to infiltrate as quickly as possible. It’s unlikely that we’ll find the path the Black Mage created immediately upon entering the center.”

“Once we enter the center, I can find the location of the path.” Enria said, raising her hand slightly in response to Roseanne’s comment. Everyone’s gaze turned towards her.

Enria smiled awkwardly at Roseanne, whose eyes met hers, and elaborated. “I clearly remember the location I saw in my dream. So I think I can find it quickly.”

“Ah.” Roseanne nodded. Rahar pointed to the entrance of the Monster Forest on the map and said, “Then we’ll leave it to Enria to find the path the Black Mage made in the center, and we should conserve our strength as much as possible to reach the center from here.”

“That’s right. Should we try to keep the spirits from using too much power? Since we’re not sure what will happen in the center.”

Roseanne nodded in response to Rahar’s words. She also advised that they should be cautious about the mutant monster whose movements could only be bound by her binding magic.

“Since it’s a mutant monster not even listed in the Monster Encyclopedia, we should definitely do that. But, if such a mutant monster really exists, as the Saintess’s prophetic dream suggests, isn’t there a possibility that there is more than one?” Tearen asked.

Enria shook her head immediately. “There is only one. The other monsters are only those listed in the Monster Encyclopedia.”

“…Is that so.” Tearen nodded at Enria’s firm answer. Rahar placed a Monster Encyclopedia, which he had retrieved from somewhere, onto the table.

“The monsters in the center of the forest are several times stronger than those near the entrance, so even if there’s only one mutant, you must be vigilant.” He continued, suggesting that it would be best to summon the spirits only once they arrived at the center.

Tearen and Caldeon nodded in agreement with Rahar’s words.

Enria reached out and picked up the Monster Encyclopedia. The book, which was different in size and thickness from the one she usually saw, felt surprisingly heavy as soon as she placed it on her lap. Enria quickly flipped through the pages as if searching for something, then suddenly stopped.

Caldeon looked at the page she was staring at. The page contained an illustration and description of a Magron, named the strongest monster in the center of the Monster Forest. The Magron was a blue monster with a similar appearance to a massive dragon, about the size of a small mountain. The Magron, which hunted by creating huge water surges, possessed power that required several superior spirits to defeat.

“Did the Magron appear in your dream too?” Caldeon asked Enria, who was looking at the Magron with a somewhat serious expression.

Enria nodded in reply, continuing to stare intently at the Magron’s illustration.

‘It’s definitely this monster.’

This was the monster that almost put Caldeon in danger before he met the mutant monster in the original story.

At that time, Caldeon didn’t lose his life thanks to Roseanne, but the water surge caused by the Magron fractured his left shoulder. Because he continued fighting the Magron with a fractured shoulder and then encountered the mutant monster, his fractured collarbone became so badly displaced that he couldn’t use his left arm for a long time. Although he eventually recovered completely with the help of the Great Temple, he was inconvenienced by not being able to use his left arm for quite some time, so Enria wanted to prevent that from happening.

Caldeon, completely unaware of Enria’s thoughts, saw her only nodding and continuously looking at the Magron with a serious expression, and decided that as soon as they entered the center of the Monster Forest, he would find and kill that monster first.

“But are you really going too?” Rahar asked, glancing at Tearen with a displeased look.

Tearen shrugged at Rahar and said, “My old friend said that the Empire’s only genius illusionist absolutely must participate.”

Rahar frowned and looked at Caldeon. Caldeon, who was focused on Enria, did not register his gaze at all and was only thinking about how to deal with the Magron.

“Since it’s the first time Caldeon has asked me for a favor, I have no choice this time…”

“I didn’t ask for a favor. I just said you have to go because it’s obvious you should.” Caldeon said, still looking at Enria.

Tearen frowned slightly, realizing that Caldeon, who had seemed not to be listening at all, had actually heard every bit of their conversation.

“Well, he is the Empire’s only genius illusionist, after all.” Roseanne said, looking at Tearen. Tearen looked at Roseanne and gave her a handsome smile.

At that, Roseanne’s face visibly blushed. She began asking Tearen various questions, seemingly not wanting her flushed face to be noticed, and Tearen kindly answered her questions.

Enria, whose gaze had left the Monster Encyclopedia, looked at Tearen and Roseanne during their conversation.

Roseanne, who was continuously speaking with a somewhat shy expression and seemed flustered whenever their eyes met, looked incredibly pretty.

Seeing her, Enria, wanting to help connect the two, inadvertently asked Tearen, “Tearen, do you have someone you like?”

At Enria’s question, Caldeon, Rahar, and Roseanne’s gazes all simultaneously turned toward her.