Chapter 61

During dinner, where the spirits and the party gathered, Roseanne continuously spoke to Tearen, while Rahar ate, looking displeased with his sister. Tearen diligently answered Roseanne’s questions while also addressing his own curiosities by asking Blizzan various things.

“Are you, the highest-ranking spirit, also being dominated in the fire attribute by Rahar’s fire spirit?”

“Since he dominates the fire attribute itself, that has to be the case.”

“Hmm, I guess the highest rank among spirits isn’t all that great then.”

“What?” Blizzan frowned instantly at Tearen’s comment. Tearen raised a hand and said he didn’t mean to be sarcastic. He continued that he simply thought that, as the highest rank among spirits, Blizzan might possess some unique abilities.

Blizzan raised an eyebrow at Tearen’s words and said, “Humans should learn better how to speak in a way that doesn’t offend others.”

“Haha, I apologize if I offended you.”

“Well, since you’re Caldeon’s friend, it’s understandable, though.”

“Why did my name come up here?” Caldeon, who had been placing food from his plate onto Enria’s throughout the meal, looked at Blizzan with a slightly displeased expression.

“Don’t you remember? The first time we met.” Blizzan said to Caldeon, who was squinting, that he had thought, ‘What kind of unpleasant and arrogant human is this?’

“Ah, even without further explanation of the situation, I know exactly what you mean.” Tearen nodded, and Rahar also nodded in agreement. “When I first saw that guy at the Academy, I thought, ‘What kind of person is this?’”

“I wondered if all the guys from the Grand Duke’s family were like this.”

As Tearen and Rahar each chimed in, discussing Caldeon’s poor personality, Blizzan subtly scoffed and looked at Tearen. “That’s probably why you became friends.” It seemed Blizzan was still offended by Tearen’s comment that the highest rank was nothing special.

Enria alternately looked at Blizzan and Tearen, who were bickering back and forth with their arms crossed. Since their overall look and features were subtly similar, differing only in hair and eye color, she unconsciously looked at Roseanne and asked, “Don’t those two look like brothers?”

Roseanne, already having the same thought, quickly nodded. “They seem to have something similar about them.”

“Right?” Enria nodded. Tearen and Blizzan, hearing their conversation, pointed to themselves simultaneously with their index fingers and asked, “Me?” “Us?” The very gesture was so identical that Enria and Roseanne nodded in wonder.

Just then, Enria felt a slight tug on the side of her hair and quickly turned her head. Caldeon was resting his chin on his hand and caressing a few strands of her hair. The sight was overly suggestive and seductive, making Enria glance around quickly, feeling embarrassed.

“Where are you looking, Enria.”

Caldeon grumbled at her. The gazes of everyone in the dining room turned instantly toward Caldeon. But Caldeon didn’t mind at all, focusing on fiddling with Enria’s golden hair, and continued to speak to her, “Don’t look at any man other than me.”

Enria’s face immediately turned red at that.

“Especially don’t even look at Tearen; he’ll rot your eyes out.”

“Hey!” Tearen called out to Caldeon in disbelief, and Enria blinked rapidly in confusion, looking at him.

“I-I didn’t look at Lord Tearen…”

“You did. You’re looking now, too.” Caldeon grumbled, seeing Enria glance at Tearen in embarrassment. He gently hooked her chin and continued, “Only I can be contained in your beautiful eyes. You mustn’t forget that, Enria.”

“Oh my goodness.”

“Wow, what did I just hear?”

“Why don’t you say things like that when you’re alone?”

“Is my contractor’s head okay?”

Roseanne stared at Caldeon with horror at his overly brazen and unfiltered words. Tearen looked utterly bewildered, eyes wide, as if wondering if his ears had deceived him. Graum, who had been quietly eating, frowned in displeasure, and Eva also widened her mysterious ocean-blue eyes in disbelief.

“Cover your ears, this is my castle.” Caldeon retorted with a childish remark, making them even more aghast.

Everyone in the dining room shook their heads with expressions of exasperation and returned their attention to their food. Caldeon swiftly bent down, gave Enria a feather-light kiss on the lips, and pulled away.

Hayden, who saw this, pointed at Caldeon with his tiny fingers and shouted, “Mommy, daddy, kiss.”

At that, Caldeon’s stolen kiss was exposed to everyone present. Enria covered her face with both hands, embarrassed by the many cheers. But Caldeon, the cause of it all, raised his chin with a very confident expression and said to those in the dining room, “Is there a problem with me kissing my woman?”

His shameless behavior shocked those who had already been serious, and they each called him a human without shame. But the more they did so, the more Caldeon defiantly expressed his affection, such as touching Enria’s hair or stroking her cheek.

Seeing Caldeon continuously kissing Enria, Hayden stretched out his arms to Enria and wiggled his bottom, indicating he wanted to do it too. Caldeon playfully pulled Enria’s shoulder toward him. Hayden, as if competing, pulled Enria’s arm toward himself and shouted, “Mommy’s baby’s turn!”

Laughter bloomed on the faces of everyone in the dining room.

***

The next day.

The party that went to the Monster Forest together decided to split into teams: one for protecting Hayden, one for engaging the monster attacks, and one for guarding the rear. Originally, they had planned to leave Hayden at the Grand Ducal Castle to be protected by Windel, Graum, and Blizzan. However, Silri pointed to Blizzan, who couldn’t use his fire attribute, and said that Hayden would be safer if he was with all the spirits. Tearen also suggested it would be better to take him along, as he could use his illusion magic to hide Hayden from the monsters’ eyes if necessary.

Caldeon and Enria hesitated for a moment but decided that, considering the Black Mage had easily infiltrated the Grand Ducal Castle, it would be better to move with Hayden and protect him by their side, despite the risk.

Ultimately, Hayden accompanied them, and the cautious entry into the Monster Forest began. Dealing with groups of monsters from the entrance, the party gradually moved deeper inside and decided to briefly regroup at the Fog Swamp, the entry point to the center of the Monster Forest.

“No, I can make us temporarily invisible with illusion magic.” Tearen said, stopping Enria, who was about to cast a divine barrier around the party.

Though the duration of his illusion magic varied by type, it was very useful for temporarily concealing themselves as it could fool the eyes of all living creatures, including humans. This was especially true in a place like the Monster Forest, where monsters constantly poured out.

As Tearen cast his illusion magic around the group sitting by the Fog Swamp lake, the monsters who had been hiding around them, on high alert and looking for an opportunity to attack, instantly looked bewildered and began to reveal themselves one by one. The party instinctively sharpened their senses and reached for their weapons, but Tearen waved his hands calmly toward them. “Everyone, relax and rest. We can only hide ourselves for about 30 minutes at most.”

At that, the tension on the faces of Caldeon, Rahar, and the spirits who were about to unleash their attribute abilities instantly subsided. They sat in their spots and rested, watching the monsters, who had just been on high alert and ready to attack them, suddenly return to their usual business.

“That’s truly amazing.” Enria muttered, surprised by Tearen’s illusion magic, which she hadn’t even encountered in the original story.

“It’s just a small trick, nothing to be amazed about.” Caldeon said to Enria in a displeased voice.

Roseanne frowned slightly and said to him, “A small trick? You’re resting thanks to Lord Tearen’s illusion magic. How cynical are you that you can’t even be grateful?”

“Who said I wasn’t grateful?”

“Then you shouldn’t disparage Lord Tearen’s power like that, at least.”

“I called it a trick because it is a small trick. There is no denigration in that.” Roseanne shook her head, feeling it wasn’t worth arguing with Caldeon, who retorted as if he was truly righteous in his statement. Enria felt apologetic because of Caldeon’s abrasive tone and watched Roseanne nervously.

“I’m already used to his annoying venomous tongue, so I’m not hurt at all.” Tearen said with a friendly smile to Roseanne, who was getting angry on his behalf.

Rahar nodded and added, “That’s right. This is weak, not even counting as venomous compared to before. Do you know what kind of things I’ve heard? When I was paired with this guy in the Academy…”

“Close your mouth, Rahar.” Caldeon cut him off with a cold voice before Rahar could say anything, and Rahar shrugged and closed his mouth.

Enria looked at Hayden, who was playing by tugging on Windel’s ear, and said to Caldeon, “From now on, I think it would be better if you considered once more whether your words might upset the other person before you speak.”

Caldeon’s brow furrowed slightly at that. Enria brought up Hayden and continued, “If Hayden copies you and talks rudely to people, everyone will think his parents raised him poorly.”

At that, Caldeon’s furrowed brow instantly smoothed out, and he nodded dutifully. “We shouldn’t become criticized parents.”

At Caldeon’s response, the expressions of Tearen, Rahar, and Caldeon’s spirits all simultaneously changed to utter disbelief.