Chapter 246 – Stronger Spirits
From what the nymph said, it seems that there were even stronger spirits being held captive.
So I asked the little nymph,
「Spirit lord. The stronger spirits…are they a different type than you?」
『Incorrect.』
「Wait…a stronger spirit other than a spirit lord? What’s that?」
Cruz looked really confused as she asked Luka.
All strong spirits we thought to be very intelligent and strong.
The strongest of all those were the spirit lords.
「I don’t know what they’re called in the natural spirit realm, but there are demi-lords, dukes, and so on.」
「Really? I had no idea.」
「Well, it’s quite normal you wouldn’t, simply because their type very rarely come to this world.」
The spirit lords were the strong spirits that everyone knew about.
Since they were the strongest, every good magician has heard about them.
Even so, they didn’t have special designations like Jack Frosts or other natural spirits did.
They were just called spirit lords.
Cruz looked puzzled again.
「So where are these stronger spirits?」
「If we sense the density of natural spirit around us, we might be able to find whatever she’s talking about.」
「We have to search again? It’s just going to take more time!」
Timisoara said with a troubled countenance.
She was holding Shiggy in her arms, and Shiggy looked confused.
I asked the spirit, who was still clutching onto my arm,
「Spirit lord. Do you know where this stronger spirit that’s been captured is?」
『Know. Three east. One west.』
「Okay, so there are four of them in total?」
『Correct.』
So I told Cruz,
「Cruz, do you have a map of this area?」
「Sure do.」
She took a map from her magic bag.
It was the detailed map that Timi had made of Cruz’ region.
We showed the spirit.
「Spirit lord. Could you tell us where they are?」
「We’re right here as of now.」
Cruz pointed to our present location.
「Eeep…」
She said with a tilt of her head.
『Here. Here. Here. Here.』
She pointed to each location, one by one.
「All in your region, Cruz.」
Cruz looked quite troubled.
「I see, thank you. Can you go there, Timi?」
「Of course.」
「First let’s head to the east where there are more. It’s great if we can fly there.」
「Alra, leave it to me.」
Timi gave Shiggy over to me, and grew back to her dragon size.
Seeing this, the nymph simply stood and watched as if nothing happened.
I guess it wasn’t something surprising for a nature spirit.
We got on Timi’s back, and she flew in the sky.
I set up the magical barriers to stop the wind and cold around Timi once again.
The spirit lord, who was with us, probably didn’t need any, so I didn’t worry about her.
「ryaa ryaaa」
Shiggy peeked out of my pouch to watch.
「ryaa」
She probably knew she was protected by magic.
Shiggy jumped from my pouch, and onto the spirit lord’s head.
「Eeep?!」
「ryaa」
「Epeepeepp!」
The spirit lord shrieked over and over, but at the same time petted Shiggy.
Then the spirit lord reach over and clutched onto my right arm again.
Seeing this, Cruz came over and petted the nymph and Shiggy too.
「Eeepp」
「ryaa ryaa!」
Shiggy and the nymph both looked very happy.
While petting them Cruz said,
「If all of those strong spirits are in my area…could it be that someone is plotting to attack me?」
「There’s some kind of plot going on, that’s for sure, but it might not just be in your region.」
「Really?」
「Instead of thinking that it’s directly against you, I think that it might just be that the magical remnants of the former ancient dragon duchess was used to attack a larger area.」
「I see.」
Luka explained, and Cruz seemed to understand.
Then Timi said,
「That’s possible, but, we can’t ignore the fact that it’s Cruz’ realm that’s being attacked.」
「Do you think there’s something strange about this?」
「No, I just think we shouldn’t be deciding what’s happening before hand.」
「It’s just as you say.」
Luka agreed quickly with Timi’s opinion.
As we were talking about this, we arrived at the place of the first strong spirit.
Timi spun in the air above the area.
「There are a lot of Jack Frosts here too.」
「Spirit lord. Can we destroy them?」
Cruz looked a little unsettled.
It might be that stronger spirits didn’t like to see lesser ones be destroyed.
She might have been worried.
『Permission.』
「You’ll let me?」
『Correct.』
The spirit said with a nod.
Even so, Luka had to explain to a still unhappy Cruz,
「Listen, Cruz, the bodies of spirits are just decorations.」
「Yeah…」
「Not just their bodies, but for these spirits, our whole world is temporary and passing.」
「Hmm?」
「Even if we blow them away, they just go back to the spirit world. You’re not destroying them so much as sending them back.」
『Correct.』
The spirit and Luka’s words were both of the same opinion.
「I guess I can relax, then.」
Cruz heard the explanation and smiled again.
「Well, Shiggy, time for you to get in my pouch.」
「ryaaa」
I had to be safe, so I put Shiggy back in my pouch.
Then I looked around and sensed the spirits.
And after a while, I could sense the strongest spot of spirit power.