We live in the foothills of Dragon Peak.
Where is Nimia?
Mistral apparently knew Jiludo-san.
That makes sense, of course. Mistral is a Dragon Princess, and Jiludo-san is a former Dragon King.
It seems Mistral secretly visited Jiludo-san regularly to ask about me.
She even watched our matches from hiding sometimes.
I wasn’t aware of Mistral’s presence at all, and Jiludo-san never mentioned her, so I had no idea.
However, her visits only continued until I managed to take one point from Jiludo-san. After that, she stopped coming, feeling relieved.
So, it seems Mistral was growing anxious because I wasn’t returning even after inheriting the Dragon Jewel.
“I’m sorry for worrying you.”
When I apologized, Mistral turned away and said she hadn’t been worried.
I smiled wryly, wondering why she had to be so stubborn.
“Now then, show me your power as the one who succeeded the Dragon King.”
I don’t quite feel like I’ve inherited the Dragon King’s mantle yet, but I was confident in my current abilities.
I called over the girl spirit of the Spirit Tree who was joyfully dancing with Priscilla-chan, and we fused.
Old Man Sleigsta, Mistral, and Priscilla-chan all widened their eyes in surprise.
Inside me, the wild, explosive power of the Dragon Jewel and the gentle yet strong pulse of the spirit merged.
When I contained both these powers simultaneously, I was enveloped in a dense dragon aura.
And my pupils turned golden.
“Um, amazing!”
Priscilla-chan praised me with her arms spread wide.
“You’ve changed so much.”
Mistral gazed at me, shielding her eyes from my brilliance.
Then, she picked up the one-handed club at her hip.
I held the Spirit Tree Wooden Sword in my left hand.
My right hand felt conspicuously empty, as usual.
Inevitably, I entered the Ancient Tree Forest and picked up a suitable branch.
But even this branch was a formidable weapon for me now.
Borrowing the power of the Spirit Tree, I sent dragon energy into the branch in my right hand, and it was strengthened to be harder than iron.
“Today, I’ll win against Mistral too.”
I took a confident stance.
There was no signal to start.
The moment Mistral shuffled her feet, I attacked with all my might.
“Guee…”
The match ended, anticlimactically.
Sadly, it was a complete defeat for me.
Without even a few exchanges, I found myself prostrate on the moss carpet.
“Ugh, why can’t I win?”
Even so, it was only natural that I, who couldn’t even achieve a second victory against the elderly former Dragon King Jiludo-san, would stand no chance against Mistral, who held an even higher title.
I once again felt dejected by my lack of skill.
Mistral also offered a wry smile.
“Your abilities are excellent. All that’s left is experience and technique,”
Old Man Sleigsta comforted me.
“Um, fusing with the spirit is amazing!”
Priscilla-chan came to me as I lay on the ground and patted my head.
“I couldn’t help but go all out because of Elnea’s fighting spirit. It just goes to show how much stronger you’ve become.”
Mistral’s words finally lifted my spirits.
“Yes, I can feel that my power has increased. But my technique is still lacking. Please continue to guide me.”
Sitting back down on the moss, I bowed my head to Mistral and Old Man Sleigsta.
“The ultimate Dragon Sword Dance is still far off. Strive for improvement.”
“I’ll cooperate anytime if that’s alright with you.”
I bowed again to Mistral and Old Man Sleigsta’s words.
“Um, let the spirits out!”
Priscilla-chan, unconcerned with the atmosphere around us, kept hitting me.
Yes, yes, you want to play with the spirits.
Sensing my intent, the spirit girl emerged from me.
The specks of light coalesced, revealing a golden-haired girl.
“Let’s play.”
“Let’s play, let’s play!”
Priscilla-chan and the spirit girl ran off into the moss garden, hand in hand.
It was nice that they looked almost identical to Priscilla-chan.
We felt warm watching the two who were such good friends.
Oh dear, speaking of which, what happened to Nimia?
I haven’t seen her at all.
I looked around.
For the first time, I noticed that Nimia, who usually would have been making noise with Priscilla-chan, was nowhere to be seen.
“Hmm, a young dragon girl?”
“Ah, Nimia, you mean.”
Mistral gave me a wry smile as my gaze wandered and pointed to the fur on Old Man Sleigsta’s front leg.
Within the jet-black, long fur, there was a single spot that looked white or perhaps pink.
When I got closer, I saw that Nimia was curled up and sleeping.
“Nimia, what’s wrong?”
Nimia didn’t look well.
As I approached, she opened her eyes slightly and let out a faint “Mew,” before closing them again.
“Fufufu, she overexerted herself and fell ill.”
“Overexerted herself?”
“Just like you. The little one has been making an effort too.”
Apparently, Nimia had been practicing to become stronger while I was away.
But she pushed herself too hard, ran out of dragon aura, and was now weakened by dragon power depletion.
“She’ll be fine if you leave her be. Don’t worry about it.”
After I petted Nimia, I went to catch Priscilla-chan.
I wasn’t thinking anything like, “Why are you playing so happily with the spirits when your best friend Nimia is ailing?”
When I tried to catch Priscilla-chan, she ran away.
Mumumu.
“Um, it’s tag.”
No, no, that’s not it.
I denied it with a wry smile, but Priscilla-chan was already all fired up and ran off.
The spirit girl also began running around joyfully.
What a mess.
So soon after returning, I was already being dragged around by Priscilla-chan.
Inevitably, I began to chase her.
Fufu, if that’s the case, I’ll bring you along with me.
I feigned chasing Priscilla-chan.
However, the next moment, I executed a spatial jump into Mistral’s blind spot.
It’s better to pass the role of ‘it’ onto Mistral.
If I’m no longer ‘it’, maybe Priscilla-chan will come closer to me.
Or so I thought, but my movements were perfectly anticipated.
“You won’t catch me that easily.”
Mistral instantly fled far away.
“Guah.”
Even though I thought a surprise attack would work.
It’s difficult even for me now to catch Priscilla-chan, who had completely shifted into escape mode, and Mistral, who was genuinely fleeing!
Although I managed to transfer the role of ‘it’ to the fleeing spirit girl, my evasion abilities, now lowered by fatigue, quickly resulted in me becoming ‘it’ again.
In the end, Priscilla-chan was only satisfied with playing tag after midday.
Gnnnu. I was supposed to go home promptly today, the year drawing to a close, but time has once again slipped away as usual.
Panting heavily, I finally caught Priscilla-chan.
“Um, that was fun.”
Priscilla-chan directed a satisfied smile at me.
“She was very lonely while you were gone.”
“Is that so? I’m sorry for making you wait.”
I should have also considered the people waiting for me in the moss garden.
Perhaps I should have returned once to report, or split my day in half, spending it with Jiludo-san and the other half with Old Man Sleigsta.
I reflected on this belatedly.
“Will you play with me again starting tomorrow?”
Both I and Mistral gave a wry smile at Priscilla-chan’s request.
“You won’t be able to come here starting tomorrow due to New Year’s events. Both I and Elnea are busy with the New Year’s as well.”
“Muuu.”
I patted Priscilla-chan’s head as she protested, puffing out her cheeks.
“It’s alright. Once things settle down after the New Year, we’ll play a lot more.”
“Um, a promise, okay?”
“Yes, a promise.”
I sealed our promise with a pinky swear with Priscilla-chan.
“So, I have something I want to ask you, Priscilla-chan.”
“?”
“Have you given names to the Wind Spirit and the Earth Spirit?”
That’s right.
I had promised to give a name to the spirit girl of the Spirit Tree.
If Priscilla-chan had named her spirits, I wanted to use it as a reference.
“Um, names?”
Apparently, Priscilla-chan hadn’t named her spirits either.
Priscilla-chan tilted her head.
“Do spirits normally not get names?”
I asked Mistral.
“What do you think? I’ve never heard of it.”
Mistral also seemed to be unaware.
“Hmm, names for spirits.”
The one who responded was Old Man Sleigsta.
“It’s not common to name spirits that you control.”
“Why is that?”
Old Man Sleigsta answered my question.
“Spirit users, as their own spirit power increases, contract with and control stronger spirits.”
Initially, they might control insect-like spirits, but as they gain power, they control beast-like spirits. In other words, they replace them.
“Some spirits change their appearance to match the spirit user’s abilities, but it’s quicker to contract with a new, stronger spirit. However, what happens if you’ve named the spirit you were previously controlling?”
Upon hearing this, I realized.
Right, if you give them a name, you grow attached to them. Then, it becomes difficult to part with a spirit that doesn’t match your own strength.
“It’s not necessarily bad to stay with one spirit until the end. However, your own growth will likely stagnate along with the spirit’s limitations.”
It might be cruel, but for one’s own sake, one has to contract with stronger spirits.
In other words.
Perhaps it means you can’t name a spirit that you might eventually have to part with.
I grumbled, “Mumuu.”
Perhaps Priscilla-chan will eventually have to bid farewell to the Wind Spirit and the Earth Spirit, with whom she is currently so close.
“This girl’s spirits are already high-ranking. Anything above that would be akin to a Spirit King. Unless she significantly increases her power, there won’t be any changes.”
I see. But perhaps she hasn’t given them names because there’s always a possibility.
“Um, Onii-chan, will you give this one a name? Then, I’ll name my spirits too.”
“Um, is that okay?”
I was confused and checked with Mistral and Old Man Sleigsta.
Would it be alright for Priscilla-chan to name her spirits, with no future repercussions?
“It should be fine. Originally, this girl simply didn’t have the concept of naming spirits under her control, which is why she hadn’t. As I said before, her spirits are already high-ranking. From now on, switching spirits is almost unthinkable.”
With Old Man Sleigsta’s approval, I decided to think of names for the spirits along with Priscilla-chan.
“Oh my, you will bestow names upon us?”
The Wind Spirit and the Earth Spirit seemed very interested.
“Names names.”
The spirit girl of the Spirit Tree also happily came to me.
Now, what names shall I give them?
I wish Priscilla-chan had named them so I could have taken reference, I thought, racking my brain.
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