episode_0078

“Here alone? Pretty Noona?”

“…..”

“Wow… to see a human in the Kriton region! I’m surprised to see a human for the first time! But if it’s a pretty Noona like this… Ugh~ you’re killing me! Won’t you come with me? I’ll tell you all about the Croa Spring…”

“I’m not interested. Get lost.”

Aria, annoyed by the red-haired boy constantly loitering around, glared at him with sharp eyes and spoke. The red-haired boy seemed slightly flustered, then smiled and spoke to Aria.

“Wow~ you’ve got spunk! I really like women like that. Don’t you think we’d be a good match?”

“Someone like you, who says such things to a woman you’ve just met, is none of my business. And this food is not for you. Get lost immediately.”

“Why~ Don’t play hard to get, let’s have some fun together~ I can’t just pass by such a pretty Noona, can I?”

“I told you to get…”

“Ugh?!”

The moment Aria put the ladle she was holding into the pot and slowly reached for the staff next to her, a blue-haired girl in a blue robe forcefully struck the red-haired boy’s head with a book. The red-haired boy made a strange sound and collapsed on the spot. Then, the blue-haired girl gasped for breath and bowed to Aria.

“I am truly sorry!!! My younger brother has an odd personality, so he caused trouble!!”

“…..?”

“Ah! My apologies for the late introduction. I am Nerha, the water spirit, and this foolish one is Iruvan, the fire spirit! I am truly sorry!!”

As Nerha, the spirit who suddenly appeared, sincerely apologized to her on behalf of her younger brother Iruvan, Aria’s face stiffened in extreme embarrassment. Then, as Iruvan groaned and tried to get up, Nerha stepped on Iruvan’s foot and shouted.

“Haven’t I told you to fix that personality of yours?! Seriously, you’re driving me, your Noona, crazy!!”

“Aargh!! Aaaaargh!! I haven’t done anything yet, Noona!!”

“Haven’t done anything?! How many times do I have to tell you that I can see everything through the Croa Spring water since I’m the water spirit?! You really need to fix that personality of yours, always chasing after women! Your Noona is dying of embarrassment!!”

“Hey!! What do you even know, Noona?! Men’s…”

“I don’t care about any of that… If you embarrass me again, I’ll drench you with this water…?”

As Nerha began forcefully spraying water from her hand, Iruvan’s face turned pale with fear, and he gulped. Aria, meanwhile, felt extremely uncomfortable with the situation.

‘Why did the time I was supposed to enjoy with Zeke-nim turn into such a mess… These damned spirits are too much of a nuisance… Zeke-nim isn’t here either… Should I clean this up before he arrives?’

As the spot where she was supposed to enjoy a meal with Zeke instantly turned into chaos, Aria felt displeased and began to consider dealing with Nerha and Iruvan, the main culprits of this situation. Then, as if she had made up her mind, she slowly began to reach for her staff again, and at that moment.

“Aria!!! There were tons of useful ingredients! This much should help us endure the cold night!!”

“….. Huh? There was another human besides the pretty Noona…?”

“….! Zeke-niiiiiiiiim~”

When I returned with many kinds of mushrooms and berries, Aria rushed to me at an incredibly fast speed and wrapped her arms around me. We had only been separated for a short while, but she wanted to see me so much that she ran like that? This… I can’t predict what will happen if we’re separated for more than 30 minutes… Huh?

“Aria, who are those people in front of our tent?”

“Zeke-nim! That man suddenly approached and tried to seduce me!! What was it… he tried to ‘hit on’ me, that’s what he did!!”

“…. What?”

Hearing Aria’s words, I literally froze. And why wouldn’t I? Someone dared to try and pick up Aria… Unless they truly wanted to die, they wouldn’t do such a thing, and I never imagined there’d be a human so oblivious to the atmosphere as to do it. As I stared at him, dumbfounded and speechless, the red-haired boy suddenly sprang up and shouted at me.

“Hey, mister!!! That human is the woman I like! Don’t just snatch her away! Looking so scrawny and all…”

‘That guy… he really wants to die, doesn’t he…?’

Seeing the red-haired boy, who knew nothing, even shout loudly at me, I started to feel like I wanted to stop thinking entirely. Then, I heard Aria, who was embracing me, muttering, and I snapped back to reality.

“How dare he underestimate Zeke-nim… I’ll cut that idiotic tongue of his and hang it on a clothesline, tear off his limbs and throw them as food for wild beasts, burn his torso, and smash his head…”

“Aaaaaah!!! St-stop it!!! Don’t provoke Aria any further!!!”

“What?! How dare you shout at me? How dare a scrawny human like you shout?!”

I had clearly shouted with all my might to save him, but the red-haired boy mistook it as a provocation and shouted back at me. As a result, Aria’s words began to grow even harsher. Ugh… As Aria muttered such terrible, unbearable words, I sighed deeply, placed a hand on her head, and spoke.

“I’ll handle this. So don’t worry, and trust me. Okay?”

“…?”

“You trust me, Aria, don’t you? Don’t worry. If anything happens, you’ll step in anyway.”

As I began to stroke her head to calm her, Aria started burrowing her head into my embrace. Then, she spoke to me in a calmer voice than before.

“Yes. I’ll trust you, Zeke-nim. Hehehe…”

“Thank you, Aria.”

“Hey!! Can’t you hear me!! Get away from that woman right now!?”

“Hey! You really need a taste of water…”

“The little kid has a rather nasty hobby. And a nasty personality to match.”

“Wh-what did you say?!”

When I retorted that his hobby was nasty, the red-haired boy looked flustered, and the blue-haired girl next to him also seemed taken aback. Then, as if I had touched a raw nerve, the red-haired boy shouted at me.

“What do you care if my personality is nasty or not!! Enough of that, get away from that woman right now?! She’s someone I’ve marked as mine…”

“Oh, really. For a young one, you’re quite bold with words like ‘marked.’ Haven’t you been properly educated? I’m not interested in romance, but has that kind of personality ever worked on a woman? No, right?”

“Ugh… Uuuugh… Aaaargh…”

As if I had hit a nerve, the red-haired boy began clutching his chest in agony, and the blue-haired girl next to him grew even more flustered. I then delivered another stinging remark to the boy.

“Little one, why are you learning bad habits first? If you have time to be interested in the opposite sex, use that time to learn manners instead. You don’t even know manners, yet you were doing that to others? Ugh… you’re just throwing around such actions without any shame.”

“Aaaargh…”

At my sharp retort, the red-haired boy collapsed on the spot. Aria turned around, saw the boy fall, and straightened her expression. The blue-haired girl next to her, looking at the fallen red-haired boy, muttered with a flustered expression.

“He… he defeated Iruvan… with words…”

“…So there was a method like that… If anyone ever defies Zeke-nim later, I’ll subdue them with words too.”

Aria, seeing me lightly subdue the red-haired boy with words, began to take notes. I don’t know if Aria can truly think rationally and win with words… but I have a feeling things are going to get more tiring… Just as I was worrying about the future, the red-haired boy suddenly sprang up from his spot and shouted at me.

“Aaaaaah!! How cowardly, to win with words!! Then it’s a match!! Can a scrawny guy like you, who’d lose in a physical fight, really defeat me?!”

“…Can’t you speak without your legs trembling…?”

When the red-haired boy shouted at me, his legs trembling, I spoke to him with a straight face. The boy then punched his leg and shouted at me again.

“Enough of that, come at me!!”

“Sigh… Aria, could you step back for a moment? I’ll handle this.”

“What?! For a physical fight, I should…”

“It’s fine. I’ll finish it without any injuries. You trust me, don’t you?”

“…Understood. But the moment that damned brat injures Zeke-nim… I will dye this spring with that brat’s blood…!!”

‘Terrifying.’

At Aria’s chilling warning that she would dye the Croa Spring with the red-haired boy’s blood if I got hurt, I started sweating coldly. As Aria and the blue-haired girl moved aside, the blue-haired girl bowed to Aria and began apologizing.

“I am truly sorry!!! I am so sorry because of my damned brother!!”

“Your sister has a good personality. But on the other hand, your younger brother is…”

“I’m sorry!! My younger brother is going through puberty…”

“Huh? Puberty? Wait…”

Hearing that Iruvan was going through puberty, I looked at Iruvan and Nerha again and noticed something strange. Looking at Iruvan and Nerha, Iruvan looked like a mature human, to the point of seeming like an older brother to Nerha, who looked like a young girl… Wait.

“Wait a moment… I don’t know much about spirits, so I’m asking. Are spirits a race that takes human form?”

“Ah, well, we weren’t originally like this. Spirits can change their physique to resemble the form of a race they know. For example, I can transform into a wolf, and I can also transform into a human like this.”

“Hmm… Then what about appearance…? Iruvan’s appearance doesn’t look like a human in puberty at all.”

“I’m young because my growth stopped… For us spirits, puberty begins around 19 years old. Iruvan is currently 21, so he’s still in puberty, and I’m 28, so my growth has already stopped.”

“….? Tw-28?! You’re older than me and Serica!?”

“Huh?”

That person with a 16-year-old-like appearance is 28?! In the cases of Cecilia or Estur, their growth stopped because they have exceptionally long lifespans… Is it because she’s a spirit…? I didn’t recognize it at all…

“Ah! But you can still speak informally to me! I just have a habit of using polite language, so I use it with everyone.”

“Noona, can’t you just speak informally? This human… no, these people couldn’t possibly be stronger than you, could they?”

“You really need a hit with water…”

“Kid. Aria has enough power to blow away a mountain like that one over there. If you’re so confident, do you want to fight Aria?”

For Iruvan, who still couldn’t grasp the situation, I pointed to a mountain to show him what Aria’s power was like. Iruvan and Nerha’s faces froze as they realized Aria possessed the power to blow away the massive mountain I pointed to, and Aria smiled brightly at me and spoke.

“Oh my~ Is Zeke-nim giving me permission? I don’t even know how strong my power is… but I certainly have enough power to pulverize that arrogant little kid~”

“Ah… N-no! I won’t say anything at all!!”

“I… I am truly sorry because of my brother!!”

As Aria made chilling remarks, Iruvan and Nerha hastily began to apologize. Well… someone else might think it was a joke if they overheard it by chance… but having been with her for four months, I knew. It was definitely her true intention. The reason I knew was because I had coincidentally seen Aria suppressing her anger earlier when Iruvan kept mocking me during our fight.

“Hahaha… I feel bad for scaring them for no reason… Anyway, I’m Zeke. An explorer. And this is Aria. Outside, she’s called the Black Saintess.”

“A Saintess? Hmm… that’s unusual. I’ve seen a human who claimed to be a Saintess before, and she wore white clothes. But you are wearing black clothes, befitting your epithet ‘Black Saintess.’”

“Fufufu… These clothes were dyed by Zeke-nim himself! They are like a treasure to me!!”

“Wait. Humans came here? To the Kriton region?”

“Ah, yes. The reason we were able to transform into human form was because we had seen humans before.”

Hearing Nerha’s words, I was dumbfounded. Humans had visited here? Humans had visited the Kriton region… And a Saintess? Who on earth came to a place like this? For what purpose…?