Kays Translations

Chapter 147: Call! Shout!

The figure wore a red mask over the eyes, perhaps to conceal them. The upper body was bare, and a loincloth was tied around the waist. No matter how I looked at it, this was an extremely suspicious character. The figure stopped in front of us.

I didn’t want to ask who it was. Unfortunately, I had to.

“Um… are you the Lake Spirit?”

“Indeed.”

The spirit answered with arms folded. I knew it. My face scrunched up on its own. When I glanced beside me, Brother Cain’s face was twitching too. The potion had worked a little too well. Seriously.

What was I supposed to do now? Hopefully the spirit had only come to say thank you.

“It looks like you’ve returned to your normal form. Congratulations.”

“Mm. Thanks to you—and especially to Julius—I now possess even more power than before. Even at this very moment, power continues to gush forth from within me…!”

The Lake Spirit struck a muscular pose.

The spirit’s mana was still increasing! Why hadn’t I just used an ordinary mana-restoration potion? If I had, this wouldn’t have happened. Because I’d made a sustained mana-restoration potion, the spirit’s mana would keep rising until it reached the upper limit.

“Well… that’s certainly wonderful news,” Brother Cain said with a strained smile.

The shell-backed, nearly naked figure nodded solemnly. What was I supposed to do? This was my fault, wasn’t it?

While I was standing there in a daze, the Lake Spirit’s gaze met mine.

“Julius.”

“Yes?”

“I shall accompany you.”

“Huh?”

No. Absolutely not. I felt bad for the Lake Spirit, but if that figure followed us around, people would definitely stare. I had no choice but to refuse. Somehow, I had to stop this.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Aren’t you the guardian of this region, Lake Spirit? If your protection suddenly disappeared, the people here—not to mention the plants and animals—would be in trouble.”

“That’s right,” Brother Cain immediately added. “Everyone is celebrating now that the hot springs are flowing again. If the Lake Spirit disappeared and the springs dried up, wouldn’t they all be devastated?”

“Mm. That’s certainly true.”

The Lake Spirit fell into thought. Brother Cain was desperate too. There was a powerful determination in his expression: under no circumstances could we allow such a suspicious-looking figure to follow us.

“In that case, I shall bestow my blessing upon Julius. If you ever need me, call for me! Shout for me! I shall come to your aid even from beyond the ninth dimension!”

With a sharp hiss, a mysterious ray of light shot from the Lake Spirit and wrapped around my body. Oh. Apparently I didn’t get a veto. The light quickly faded, and a tortoiseshell pattern had appeared on the back of my hand.

What was this…? I rubbed at it, but it wouldn’t come off.

“The contract is now complete. Members of House Heine may visit whenever they wish. You shall always be welcome!”

With that, the Lake Spirit returned to the water. We stood there staring blankly. Around us, the tourists who’d watched the entire exchange had begun whispering among themselves.

Apparently House Heine had just formed some sort of contract with the Lake Spirit.

If only the spirit could do something about that appearance. No matter how I looked at it, the humanoid form looked like a pervert. If Mother ever saw it, she’d probably keel over. What was I supposed to do with this?

“Haa… I finally understand what Father meant when he told me to take good care of you. He meant I was supposed to keep an eye on you.”

Brother Cain sighed miserably.

Why?! He had it completely wrong!

“It just happened, Brother! Don’t talk about me as though I’m some kind of troublemaker. In the end, I saved the Lake Spirit and this town, didn’t I?”

“If you look only at the result, yes. But you also attracted an enormous amount of strange attention. What am I supposed to tell Father…?”

“You could just keep quiet about it!”

“I can’t.”

He rejected the idea with a perfectly straight face. I thought it had been a good suggestion. When I looked at the knights, every one of them wore a troubled expression.

Apparently I really was being treated like a full-fledged troublemaker. Fine. I’d keep quiet.

At Brother Cain’s insistence, we decided to leave the town that very day. He said he wanted to reach the royal capital as soon as possible. I was certain the real meaning was, “I want to reach the royal capital as soon as possible and hand Julius over to Brother Alex.”

I found that completely unreasonable, but I had no say in the matter and had to follow his lead.

Father had probably anticipated something like this when he deliberately kept the knights closest to me off the trip. What a carefully laid plan. Even Father, though, couldn’t possibly have predicted that I’d return with the Lake Spirit’s blessing.

After that, we travelled straight to the royal capital without another leisurely stop. Brother Cain was really desperate.

When we reached House Heine’s townhouse in the royal capital, the butler who managed the residence hurried out to greet us.

“Welcome home. I must admit, I’m surprised you’ve arrived so early.”

“Sorry for startling you. Where’s Brother Alex?”

“He’s out at the moment, but I expect he’ll return shortly.”

We’d apparently arrived far earlier than planned. The original schedule had allowed another two or three days of comfortable travel. That was how urgently Brother Cain wanted to get me into Brother Alex’s hands.

I did feel a little guilty. Still, what else could I’ve done? We couldn’t exactly have abandoned the Lake Spirit. Brother Cain understood that too. He’d probably just decided the situation was beyond his ability to manage.

We were shown to the salon to recover from the journey while servants hurried around preparing for our unexpected arrival. Watching them rush made me feel even more apologetic.

Before long, Brother Alex returned.

“That was fast. According to the schedule, you shouldn’t have arrived for another two or three days… Cain, what happened?”

Brother Cain silently turned his head towards me.

I didn’t like that Brother Alex had asked him instead of me. He’d already decided the explanation involved me.

Well, this time it did. But there should’ve been at least a tiny possibility that it didn’t. I wanted him to preserve that much faith in me.

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