Chapter 130: My Sister and the Spirits

When we arrived at the house, the carpenter was already waiting.
I left my mother in his care so she could discuss what furniture and storage she wanted for the rooms.

I headed to Gailstein Magic Tool Shop on Delphine Street with my sister to change the user registration on the magic pouch.

The two of them looked surprised when they saw me in town clothes, so I explained that going to a magic-tool shop dressed like an adventurer only caused trouble.

The carriage stopped right in front of the store.
I got out first, escorted my sister, and the shopkeeper was already holding the door open for us.

Seems he remembered my face.

“Welcome. How may I help you today?”

“Could you tell the manager I’m here to change a user registration?”

“Understood,” he said with a bow—though he looked a little disappointed.
He must think I’m some big spender, but I’m not going to buy another magic bag every visit.

After returning home, I found my mother staring blankly into space.

She complained that the house was too big and made her uneasy.

We went up to the third floor, took the furniture and household items out of the magic bag, arranged them roughly, and took a break.

The carpenters would be coming tomorrow, so I’d be staying home for a while to watch the place.

When Father came home and we had dinner, the large rooms and high ceilings made everything feel unfamiliar and oddly unsettling.

The curtains we brought from the old home were too short, and it looked like we would be shopping for furniture for quite a while.

On the fifth day of the interior work, the carpenter asked me how I planned to handle security for the house.

“Security?”

“In this district, every household generally has several guards. I heard you’re a Gold-class adventurer, Leon-sama, but you should think about your family’s safety.”

“So that means…”

“In ordinary residential blocks, the townsfolk live packed together, so if trouble comes, everyone drives it off. But in a manor district like this…”

So that’s why even moderately wealthy shops always have guards.

But this was a problem.
I had no such connections. Even if I asked Mintz and the others…
Maybe I should talk to the Submaster.

When my sister returned, I told her I was heading to the Guild.
Since it was far from here, I teleported outside the city and entered through the west gate, then headed to the Adventurers’ Guild.

When I asked the receptionist to call the Submaster, a laid-back voice answered:

“Oh, need something?”

I wondered if this old guy was really reliable, but I said I wanted advice and we borrowed a meeting room on the second floor.

“So? What’s the issue?”

“I recently bought a house, and the carpenter told me I need to hire guards.”

“Huh? For the kind of house you’d live in, you wouldn’t need guards— wait, you built a house?”

“Yes. On Fantis Street, near the Carinfos Market.”

“Oh. Fantis Street, huh? Mid-tier homes. Yeah, you’ll need guards for that.”

“Do you know any adventurers thinking of retiring? Someone serious.”

“Retiring, huh…”

“Someone honest, and able to pick up a sword when needed. They don’t have to be strong.”

“That’s the thing. Anyone honest who can fight in a pinch gets snatched up immediately.”

Well, yeah. You can’t hire weirdos.
Anyone reliable with a decent career will easily find work after retiring.

“What about Ted? How’s he doing?”

“I haven’t seen him since he was kicked out of the city.”

“Ask Ted. He hurt his leg, but the guy used to be a knight—he’s skilled and serious.”

Ted, huh.
He was serious, and his skills were… at least equal to Mintz and Scott, maybe higher.

He said he’d become an apprentice cooper, but maybe I should talk to him.

“I’ll ask him once. But if you find someone good, please let me know.”

“Sure. I’ll tell them a man even a Dragon Slayer respects wants to hire them.”

“Please—don’t joke like that. I don’t know anything about dragons.”

I waited for Mintz and Scott to arrive, and while drinking in the guild cafeteria, I brought up Ted.

“We run into him sometimes. He always looks bored.”

“Guess being an adventurer suited him.”

“Well, same for us. But… you earned enough to buy a house!?”

“And if you need guards, that means it’s a pretty nice house, right?”

“It’s on Fantis Street, near Carinfos Market. The interior work isn’t finished yet, but once it is, you’re all invited. Ted might not be thrilled to work for me, but please ask him.”

“Alright. We’ll drop by and talk to him soon.”

“Hey, Leon… is it really okay for me to keep this?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I have a much bigger one now. I forgot to tell you—it’s a 3-180 model, so it preserves herbs for a long time.”

“3-180!? You…”

“In that beast incident the other day, I learned that a rank-3 pouch just doesn’t have enough capacity to be useful. So you take it, sis. Oh, and—don’t you want a spirit too?”

“Mom told me spirits hardly ever attach to people. And she said she’s never heard of someone like you, with so many.”

“Well… this happened when I went to the Faranka village.”

“…‘Happened’ meaning you already had spirits before that?”

“Apparently. But only people with strong presence-sense can notice them. I only found out recently myself.”

I couldn’t tell her I fell into a hole full of “spirit mosquito cloud” and they all attached themselves to me.

“Mom said she was shocked not just because you’re connected to so many spirits, but because the spirits acted for you. She said it’s extremely rare for spirits to help someone who’s been granted magic or skills. And helping even without being asked means your bond with them is very deep. So what did they do for you back then?”

“Ah—Father was about to give me a lump on my head with his fist, but the pain disappeared and the bump never formed.”

“That means you have a healing-magic spirit… But you only have wind magic, right?”

“True, but you wouldn’t understand even if I explained. I’ll show you—don’t be surprised.”

I dimmed the room and whispered, Show yourselves.

Unlike the bright daylight last time, the faintly glowing wind spirits became visible, and others that couldn’t be seen in bright light appeared as well. The room became lively.

I called out the softly shining pale-gold spirit and explained:

“This one seems to be a healing-magic spirit. It’s the same color as the one attached to the healer in Faranka Village. And these here are the wind-magic spirits.”

When I summoned them, a cluster of lightly shimmering spirits drifted toward me.

“Since you have water magic and an alchemy skill, these two would match you.”

I brought forward a pale water-blue spirit and a faint translucent yellow-green one.

My sister stared intently at them.

“Sis, try speaking to this yellow-green one—just in your mind.”

She tilted her head.

“Just introduce yourself and say ‘nice to meet you’ or something.”

“You’re not saying… if I greet it, it’ll attach to me?”

“Not guaranteed. But if it likes you, it will.”

She stared seriously.
But the spirit slowly drifted back to me, making her shoulders slump.

I told her to try calling the blue one.

The blue spirit wavered uncertainly for a while, so I told her to call it again.

She closed her eyes, concentrating.
The spirit hesitantly floated toward her.

Seeing that, sis broke into a huge, proud smile.

“Okay, now ask it to hide its form. If it does that, it means you truly connected.”

She closed her eyes with a huge grin…
Then when she opened them, the spirit had vanished.
She looked around in a panic.

“Try asking it, ‘come out’ or ‘show yourself’.”

She shut her eyes again.

“You don’t have to close your eyes, you know. Just speak in your mind.”

“You could’ve said that earlier!”

“Hey, I never close my eyes when I call them. Anyway, try summoning it.”

She looked at the place where it had been, and—fwip—the spirit reappeared.
Her face lit up with joy.

“Now I’m going to call alchemy spirits. Try again with one of them.”

I picked three faint yellow-green spirits floating around me and lined them up between us.

Sis nodded with a serious expression.

The first spirit disappeared immediately, making her wilt.
I told her to try the next.

The second one hovered uncertainly, but when she whispered “come here,” it slid toward her.

“So I ask this one to hide too?”

“Yes. Even though you said it out loud earlier.”

“I also said it in my mind! It’s just… hard to talk only mentally.”

Fair enough. As long as it works.
But she’ll need practice—not great for others to overhear.

When the alchemy spirit reappeared, she was glowing with happiness again, so I moved on to warnings.

“Sis, listen carefully and don’t forget. First: ask them regularly—not to show themselves unless you call them. Once they get used to you, they won’t appear on their own. More importantly, spirits are normally invisible, and only people with strong detection skills can sense them.
They call it ‘that presence’ and don’t even know it’s spirits.”

“So… people know about your spirits?”

“That’s the problem. If I tell them to hide, nobody can detect them—not even by presence.”

She blinked in confusion, so I continued.

“Later I learned this: They’re visible now because I once asked them to show themselves.
And once a spirit becomes visible, it apparently can’t hide its form without completely erasing its presence. So normally, they need to stay invisible— otherwise people who don’t know about spirits will panic. Only a few people, like the elders of Faranka, know about them.”

“But Mom said spirits help people. That they healed your bump.”

“Mom’s coming back—it’s better if I explain the rest when it’s just the two of us.”

I sensed Mother approaching.
Moments like this, the newly spacious house felt very convenient.