Chapter 8

Enria sat on the sofa and looked at each of the spirits sitting across from her.

 

She had called them here, but she had no idea how to persuade them.

 

No—she wasn’t even sure they would lend her their strength in the first place.

 

She wasn’t a spirit summoner who could form contracts with them, nor did she have the ability to give them what they might want.

 

As those thoughts ran through her head, Silri spoke up, displeasure clear on her face.

 

“If you called us, then speak. Do you have any idea how precious and noble my time is, human? Why are you hesitating like this?”

 

The moment she finished speaking, Lonn—whose human form looked dignified and kingly—murmured with a puzzled expression as he looked at Enria.

 

“How could this human summon me in the first place?”

 

The cute figure with a little tree planted atop a clump of earth was gone, replaced by a man who looked as though he belonged to a royal throne in some ancient age. Enria unconsciously swallowed hard.

 

“You healed all of my wounds. I’ve never once heard of a human healing a spirit’s wounds before.”

 

Undy looked at her with disbelief, but Silri twirled a strand of her long white hair around her finger, smirking.

 

“Same for me. But you saw it with your own eyes and felt it with your own body—so you’d better believe it.”

 

Then Lonn turned his gaze back to Enria.

 

“So then, human. What is the reason you’ve called us here?”

 

“Ah—” Enria straightened her posture.

 

There was no point in delaying; she had called them to ask for their help, after all.

 

She swallowed again and shouted toward the three spirits.

 

“Please lend me your strength, great spirits!”

 

All three—Undy, Silri, and Lonn—widened their eyes.

 

Eyes shut tight, Enria shouted again.

 

“Please help me! Someone’s trying to kill me!”

 

***

 

In the end, Enria’s desperate plea reached the three spirits.

 

They already knew Groen, and they were furious with Panz, who had allied himself with Groen’s father.

 

Without a spirit contract, they granted Enria part of their power simply through the act of her calling their names.

 

Having received the power of water, wind, and earth, Enria spent her time learning from Lahar how to create barriers and summoning circles.

 

“I’ve gotten pretty good now, haven’t I?”

 

Heavily pregnant, Enria pointed proudly at the barrier and summoning circle she’d drawn.

 

Lahar nodded with a smile.

 

She had refused to bite her thumb to draw blood, so cleverly used Silri’s wind attribute to cut her finger instead.

 

Then she infused her barrier with earth energy, forming a sturdier defense.

 

Not only that—she had learned numerous summoning circles and begun creating her own variations.

 

Though still unrefined, her circles could summon low-grade monsters.

 

Yet she had discovered how to coat those monsters with divine power, turning them to her side—a truly genius ability.

 

If the Tower Master ever obtained Enria’s summoning techniques, all the monsters in the world could end up turning against humanity.

 

Lahar felt an odd sense of relief knowing that the Tower Master, ignorant of Enria’s powers, merely sought to kill her for aiding Caldeon.

 

As long as she remained Caldeon’s ally, there was no way she and the Tower Master would ever join hands.

 

“Lahar, look! Isn’t this one adorable?”

 

Enria exclaimed excitedly, pointing to a monster she had just summoned—a creature with a head three times larger than its body and two red horns.

 

The monster fluttered its small wings and looked up at her with wide eyes.

 

Covered in divine power, it actually looked rather cute—perhaps the cutest among all the creatures she had ever summoned.

 

When Lahar nodded with a faint smile, Enria beamed back at him.

 

Thump.

 

At that radiant smile, Lahar’s heart skipped a beat.

 

‘Hm…?’

 

He unconsciously placed a hand over his chest, tilting his head slightly.

 

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

 

Enria asked with concern.

 

Lahar shook his head gently and smiled at her with warmth.

 

“…I’m fine, Enria.”

 

***

 

Time passed quickly, and soon, it was Enria’s due date.

 

Normally, no human could enter the Spirit Village—it was invisible and inaccessible to mortals—but Lonn opened the entrance using his power, since a midwife was needed.

 

The Spirit Village, brimming with nature’s energy, flowed on a different timeline than the human world.

 

Because of that, a non-spirit summoner could not normally exist there.

 

But for Enria’s safe delivery, Lonn, Undy, and Silri combined their powers.

 

Lahar also brought a friend skilled in illusion magic, who cast a spell making Silri’s mansion appear to the midwives as nothing more than a quaint country home.

 

Silri further used her wind attribute to wrap the midwives’ bodies, shielding them from the village’s overwhelming energy.

 

After all that effort, the sound of a baby’s first cry echoed through Silri’s house.

 

Enria gave birth to a healthy baby boy with black eyes and hair identical to Caldeon’s.

 

As they had agreed beforehand, Silri named the baby Hayden, and the other two spirits also spoke his name.

 

Since a spirit’s naming carried the weight of a contract, Hayden became the first human ever to be born under the direct protection of three spirits.

 

Empowered by the spirits’ blessing and the village’s magic, Hayden’s growth was remarkably fast.

 

Within a year, he had developed as much as a normal human child would in two.

 

He was healthy and intelligent—but due to Enria’s overprotective nature and lack of human interaction, his physical and language skills lagged behind.

 

At one year old, he still hadn’t begun walking, nor did he babble or make many sounds, which began to worry Enria.

 

But one day, as if sensing her anxiety, Hayden began to babble for the first time.

 

And then—

 

“Enria.”

 

Caldeon had finally found her.

 

In the Spirit Village, where her spirit had hidden her away.

 

When he saw her, his breath trembled with relief and longing.

 

“…Enria.”

 

Startled by his voice, Enria turned her head—and fRosee.

 

Even though he stood right before her, he didn’t feel real.

 

She couldn’t think about why he was here; she simply stared at his familiar, beautiful face in shock.

 

“Mommy.”

 

Just then, Hayden pushed the door open with his tiny hands and called for her.

 

Crawling toward Enria, tears welled up in his big eyes.

 

He must have woken and found no one nearby.

 

He wasn’t the type to wail loudly, so only his tear-streaked cheeks revealed that he’d been crying.

 

Enria rushed to him and scooped him up.

 

“Did you wake up, Hayden?”

 

He rubbed his face against her neck, whining softly.

 

“Yes, yes. Mommy just stepped out for a bit.”

 

As she patted his back—and her pounding heart—she felt a cold gaze on her.

 

Turning, she found Caldeon staring at Hayden with an expression sharp enough to freeze the air.

 

Instinctively, Enria hugged Hayden’s head closer to her chest.

 

Caldeon’s gaze then shifted from the child back to her.

 

“Mommy?”

 

His low, pleasant voice filled the hallway.

 

Gulp.

 

A chill ran down Enria’s spine.

 

“Don’t tell me…” Caldeon’s voice was icy, his expression murderous.

 

“You ran away from me because of that child?”

 

He had hidden her away to protect her from those who sought her life.

 

But the ones who burned down her mansion hadn’t been them, nor were they mages of the Tower.

 

No one knew who had taken her, and he had searched relentlessly—even hiring Fyoren’s guild to look for her.

 

All this time, without rest.

 

When there was nowhere left to search, he turned his eyes to the Spirit Village—and there she was.

 

In Lahar’s domain.

 

With a child who looked about two years old—born just after she’d disappeared.

 

‘Did she run away with another man?’

 

Caldeon stared at the child, lost in thought.

 

“H–How did you get here? Only a human with a contract with Lahar’s spirits can enter this place…”

 

“And you? How are you here?”

 

“T–That’s…”

 

“Surely you didn’t make a deal with a wind spirit to give birth to a child here.”

 

His cold gaze flicked back to the boy.

 

The absurd accusation made Enria frown.

 

Then his eyes returned to her.

 

“It doesn’t matter whose it is.”

 

Caldeon drew his sword from its sheath, his voice like ice.

 

“Where is the child’s father? I’ll kill him right now.”

 

Enria, startled, clutched Hayden tighter and shouted, “Are you insane?! What are you doing, pulling out a sword in front of a baby?!”

 

Caldeon tilted his head slightly—beautiful even in menace.

 

Despite the danger, Enria found herself briefly dazed by his striking face.

 

But—

 

“Don’t worry. Since the child is yours as well, I won’t harm him. I could never kill a child who carries your blood, even if a blade were at my throat.”

 

“…!”

 

“But whoever the father is—I’ll kill him, even if it costs me my life. So tell me, Enria. Where is he?”

 

His face was that of a man who would kill without hesitation.

 

Enria frowned deeply.

 

‘…Um, you’re the father?’