Chapter 9
Water, Fire, Earth, Air.
“These four are collectively known as the Elemental Spirits.”
Fate, Chaos, Emotion, Luck.
“These four are the Origin Spirits.”
Huh. I know this!
The moment I thought that, sparkling letters appeared.
[The Spirit King of Emotion ‘■■■’ clears their throat with an “ahem.”]
[That’s right, it’s me. Me!]
[The Spirit King of ◇◇ shyly waves their hand.]
[Those currently visiting <My Precious Baby Whom I Wouldn’t Even Mind Putting in My Eyes> are Water, Fire, Earth, Emotion, and ◇◇ and ○○.]
[Just who could the Spirit Kings hiding without revealing their attributes be? Let’s find out! ⁽⁽*( ᐖ )*⁾⁾ ₍₍*( ᐛ )*₎₎]
Oh! I guess one of them must be a Spirit King who was hiding back then!
I was really curious about which Spirit King was the one who was so shy that they only peeked their head out, but I had to look at the blackboard, and I also had to look at the sparkling letters…
My eyes were spinning.
“The Primordial Spirit Kings are Chaos and Fate. They say that Emotion was born when those two first joined hands. Eventually, when life was created in the world, the Spirit King of Luck was born.”
“……”
Even so, Teacher’s story was interesting.
Before long, I became completely absorbed in the lesson.
“To form a contract with a Spirit King, you must discover the King’s true name. According to the records that have been passed down, it seems that each Spirit King has a place where their true name is hidden.”
True name?
I tilted my head in confusion, then turned my attention to the square in the sparkling letters.
‘Oh! I guess that’s the name!’
But I’m not very good at solving riddles.
Can’t you just tell me?
[The Water Spirit King ‘■■■■’ sighs sincerely, saying that they cannot do that.]
[The Fire Spirit King ‘■■■■■’ encourages you to search for it, saying that there are plenty of hints.]
[The Spirit King of ◇◇ ‘■■■■■■’ carefully recommends a book.]
That’s right, books have lots of stories in them.
I know all the difficult words too, so I should read a book.
‘But where do I find books?’
There weren’t any in my room.
As I thought about this and focused on the lesson, class soon came to an end.
The complaining children left the classroom, while I stayed until the very end because there was something I wanted to ask.
“Saem-mi, I have a question.”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
“Where are the books?”
“Books? Why, they’re obviously in the library.”
The library?
At the daycare center, there were just a few books on a bookshelf. I had read all of them.
‘I’ll have to ask Rina later where the library is.’
Gasp! Come to think of it, I never asked what a Bijou was.
Looking at Teacher’s expression, it seemed like the matter was going to be overlooked, so I let out a deep sigh of relief.
Just then, Teacher grabbed me by the shoulders.
“Young Lady, could you possibly make those cookies one more time?”
“Cookies……?”
“I beg you. Please consider it as saving a man’s life. Please.”
No, the thing is…
‘I want to make them too…….’
As I left the classroom, I grabbed my head with my tiny hands.
‘I used up all the sugar!’
How am I supposed to get more killer-whale sugar?
Near the end of the lesson, in Diegon’s office.
Carmin took a small box out from inside his clothes.
“Ahem-ahem.”
Carmin made a strange nasal sound and subtly held the box out in front of Diegon.
“Ahem-ahem-ahem.”
Then he made another bizarre noise.
Eventually, Diegon put down the scissors he had been holding and frowned.
“Take it away. The smell of sugar is overwhelming.”
Inside the box were some ugly-looking cookies.
They looked so sweet that even smelling them was unpleasant.
When Diegon waved his hand, Carmin promptly closed the lid and slipped the box into the pocket of his uniform.
Then the corners of his mouth twitched.
“Oh myyy. Don’t tell me… you didn’t receive a cookie?”
“Cookie?”
“The Young Lady gave them to us before she went to class, but I guess you didn’t get one. Heeheehee.”
Stop.
Diegon’s hand froze.
After replaying what he had just seen in his mind for three seconds, Diegon realized that he had absolutely never seen the shape or smell of those pastries before.
At the same time, wrinkles formed between Diegon’s brows.
“Why isn’t there one for me?”
“Who knows? Maybe the Young Lady likes me more.”
“……”
Crack.
At that moment, the quill he was holding snapped.
Yet Diegon couldn’t understand.
Why?
He wasn’t particularly upset.
It wasn’t as though he cared.
“Aw, you can’t even get called ‘Daddy’… See, this is what happens when you scare her during your first meeting. That’s why the Young Lady won’t open her heart to you, ‘Admiral.’”
Carmin grinned mischievously.
He had an expression that made Diegon want to slash his salary in half.
But how could an Admiral behave that way?
Diegon quietly stood up.
“…Your Excellency?”
Carmin called out to him in a trembling voice, but Diegon merely drew his sword with an indifferent expression.
“It has been a long time since we last sparred.”
“…Pardon?”
“Training grounds. I’ll give you five minutes.”
“T-That’s unfair! You’re so petty!”
“Three minutes.”
“Aaaaargh!”
As Diegon walked outside, he glanced briefly at the desk.
The crab-shaped piece of paper he had been personally cutting until just moments ago fluttered annoyingly on the desk.
After returning to my room, I was playing with blocks when I suddenly realized that everything around me had become dark.
‘Is it already night?’
Then I have to eat dinner!
No wonder I was feeling hungry.
Thinking that, I raised my head and was startled.
“Admiral?!”
“Yes, it’s me. What were you making?”
“A house!”
The colorful wooden blocks had been brought by Rina.
I had plopped myself down on the carpet and worked hard building a house, so my arms and legs were sore.
The Admiral, who had been standing crookedly, quickly stretched out his arm and caught me when I stumbled.
“You asked me to take you to the classroom.”
“Ehehe. Today, Saem-mi held my hand really tight and took me there.”
“…Did you listen to your lesson well?”
“Yeees!”
But why did the Admiral come here?
Could it be…….
‘Is he going to give me a snack?!’
I became excited and looked at the Admiral’s hands, only to quickly droop in disappointment.
Hing, there’s nothing.
My legs were tingling, so I plopped back down onto the floor.
The Admiral stared down at me silently before saying one thing.
“Is there no cookie for me?”
“Ah! Uum.”
I stared blankly at the Admiral.
Then I rummaged around and took out the cookie I had carefully wrapped in a handkerchief.
“I have one for Chuu. There’s exactly one left.”
I forgot I had this.
I’m hungry. Should I eat just one bite?
Just as I was thinking that, the Admiral stared intently at my bear-shaped cookie.
No, seriously.
It looked like he was going to crush the cookie with his eyes alone.
“Do you wanna eat it?”
Gee, the Admiral said he hated cookies.
I only asked just in case, but surprisingly, the Admiral gave a small nod.
“Why isn’t there one for me?”
“Because you said you hated cookies.”
“When did I… Ah.”
“And you said you’d bite me if I didn’t listen.”
I answered weakly while sneaking a glance at the bear cookie.
‘I really, really want to eat it!’
But the Admiral always gave me lots of food and also gave me pretty clothes and shoes.
So I could give this one up.
I took a deep breath and resolved to give it to him.
Then—
“If you give me that cookie……”
“If I give it to you?”
“I’ll give you a new name in return.”
A new name?
At the tempting offer, the hand holding the cookie loosened slightly.
At the same time, sparkling letters came pouring out.
[The Water Spirit King ‘■■■■’ slaps their forehead, saying, “For heaven’s sake… He’s the father…”]
[The Fire Spirit King ‘■■■■■’ shouts that this is unfair.]
[The Spirit King of Emotion ‘■■■’ whispers something to you.]
[Give him the cookie and get a name, kiddo. If you shake your head here, Diegon might start bawling.]
Gasp.
I briefly imagined the enormous Admiral sobbing his heart out and turned pale.
‘This whole house might get swept away.’
He’s big, so he’ll probably cry even longer than my friends at the daycare center.
After hesitating, I finally held the cookie out.
The bear-shaped cookie, neatly wrapped in a handkerchief, had crumbled a little, sending crispy crumbs drifting through the air, and one of its ears had fallen off.
“This one’s ugly.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Chuu left the ugliest one because I was going to eat it……”
“If you’re going to eat it, you should choose the prettiest one. Why did you choose the ugly one?”
