Chapter 111

────── •❆• ──────

“Did you sign a contract with a spirit and that changed your body? Does that happen to everyone? So the Duke of Luverne isn’t originally black-haired, is he?”

Randell raised his body halfway and threw question after question. Nina waved her hand.

“No, I think I am a special case. Well, you may not believe it, but listen.”

Nina briefly explained the incident, and Randell listened carefully. After asking a few questions in between, he let out a sigh at the part where Nina summoned the Sun Spirit to come down.

“You really-.”

“It’s been a long time, and I’ve been scolded enough, so can’t you let it slide?”

“You weren’t scolded by me.”

“Randell doesn’t have the right to scold me for what happened back then.”

Nina made an X-shape with her fingers and pushed that talk for later, Randell looked as if his eyes were sticking out.

“You met a spirit? Do spirits really exist?”

“How can I use the power of a spirit if they don’t exist?”

“It may be that your own power has been manifested, not a spirit, or that they are not what we think they are. Natural forces exist evenly in this world so······.”

Randell, who was endlessly muttering, sighed.

“But to meet a spirit······. You were about to die, maybe you were just fantasizing?”

“Let’s just say that it’s different from the common knowledge that you used to know. It could be just a theory for you, but it was a reality for me.”

Nina frowned and talked about what had happened with the spirits. She also talked about the reorganization of her body structure.

“That’s why I have silver hair and golden eyes.”

She grinned.

Randell said with a strange face.

“I thought Nina was strangely light but······. Excuse me.”

Randell came over to her, grabbed Nina, and lifted her up.

“You are really light······.”

“Yes, I am the Spirit Queen.”

“Tell me that you didn’t give yourself a nickname like you don’t know any shame.”

“Of course not. If it were me, I would have called myself Spirit Sword Master.”

Randell opened his mouth and soon closed it. Whatever he was about to spit out, he thought it could be a bit too harsh.

Nina looked down at him and said.

“You can let me down now.”

“······.”

“Aren’t your arms sore?”

“It would be bad if this kind of lightness hurt me. Even a wizard with poor physical strength like me can carry you, isn’t this disadvantageous in a fight?”

If someone’s light, it’s bound to fall behind.

“I’m strong to make up for it. You have to be a bear to beat me by force.”

Not Jean, but a real bear.

“Right, you even lifted me once······.”

Randell, who murmured something that might have been a lament, dropped her off and hugged her tightly.

“Whoa, Randell?”

“Thank you for being alive.”

“Huh?” A weird sound came out of Nina’s mouth and he laughed a little.

“Yes, yes.”

Nina patted him.

“Don’t do such a dangerous thing in the future.”

“I’ll never do it.”

She made a promise and Randell sighed for a long time.

In his arms, she was soft and warm because her body temperature was only as high as a child’s.

If Nina pushed him, he would fly like a leaf, but the difference between men and women was stark, so Nina fit perfectly in his arms.

Somehow his body felt relaxed.

“Suddenly, I’m very sleepy······.”

“Oh, now the meal seems to be paying off.”

Nina’s words gave him a small laugh again.

“Nina.”

“Huh?”

Will you stay with me until I fall asleep? I won’t ask where you’re going after that.

But the words didn’t come out of his mouth.

“Silver hair looks better on you.”

And what came out was nonsense.

Nina laughed a little.

“That’s a relief.”

My Spirit Queen, with her silver hair raging like a snowstorm, and golden eyes like the blazing sun.

“Nina.”

She laughed quietly when he called her name one more time, her laugh was clear and cheerful as the sound of a small stream flowing.

“Come on, I’m going to stay by your side.” (Nina)

How do you know what I want to say?

“Do you want me to hug you in your sleeping bag? Great Wizard?” (Nina)

“I will decline that.”

After letting Nina go, Randell looked serious. As he lay down in his sleeping bag, Nina pulled hers closer and laid down next to him.

“Good night, Randell.”

“Sweet dreams.”

Don’t have nightmares this time.

At his words, Nina nodded her head.

‘Nightmare.’

Nina closed her eyes and thought.

Is that just a nightmare?

She doesn’t know what that dream was, but it doesn’t seem like a simple dream. It seemed to have something to do with her past life memories.

‘To meet again.’

Nina thought as she muttered the title of the book on her lips.

‘Who is meeting who?’

Was there anything like that in the book? She had a strong feeling that her memories were not just something from a book.

In this case, she has to contact the spirits who knew something and listen to what they know······.

‘Hmm?’

Come to think of it, the first day she had this kind of dream······.

‘Wasn’t I bewitched by Adrian’s sword?’

To be more precise, his spirit, the Darkness. It’s a bit strange to say that she was bewitched, or should she just say that she was attracted?

‘Then why do spirits make people dream like this?’

Nina looked at her wrist. She wrapped it around with bandages to cover the spirit crest.

‘It doesn’t shine or anything.’

Ah, forget it. It wasn’t a type of dream that tried to hurt her or tried to ruin her memory anyway.

‘Let’s wait longer and see.’

There is no way a Spirit would harm her.

Nina closed her eyes and fell asleep. Thinking it was a shame that she couldn’t hear the important part earlier.

────── •❆• ──────

Nina put her backpack down and looked around the house. In just four days, the house had welcomed an overhaul. The roof was fixed, the floor was cleaned, and plausible furniture came in.

“You’re here.” (Jack)

Nina sighed as Jack smiled.

“I’ve already heard them say, ‘How about my son?’ three times.”

“Three times in the morning. You will break the record.”

Jack smiled and Nina folded her arms.

They have already well integrated into this small society. Jack even entered the Blue Stone Castle, sandwiched between the delivery men.

Nina did light work and also delivered food like this. It turns out that all the villagers were artisans. They were capable of making delicate items that are experimented on or commissioned by Sages.

All of them were hard-to-find talents. But they couldn’t leave their hometown, this Blue Stone Island. Nina asked again after tasting what was in her mouth.

“So when do we get in?”

“Let’s go tonight.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I drew a map of the island, I identified the villagers, to know roughly who went and came inside the castle, measured the depth of the castle moat, and found two or three secret passages.”

Jack threw a bunch of paper into the oven.

“Can you just burn it like that?”

“The important thing is in my head, so it’s okay.”

“Jack, you’re smart.”

“If you have bad eye and memorization skills while doing this job, you will not be able to survive.”

“Right.”

She agreed with him. At that time, Randell came in shaking off his clothes and said.

“I think we’d better sneak in tonight.”

“Yes, there’s a Grand Conference today, right?”

“How did you know that?”

“People were talking about it.”

“What is a Grand Conference?”

When Nina asked, they both opened their mouths at the same time.

“The Sages—”

“The idiots—”

Nina tilted her head, the two men looked at each other’s faces and said.

“Explain first—”

“You tell the story—”

“Okay, let Randell talk first.” (Nina)

As Nina cleared up the situation, he shrugged his shoulders and said.

“It’s a meeting where they share all their concerns about the world under the name of a Sage.”

────── •❆• ──────