‘Oh no. He’s angry.’

Rumble…
The roar of a dragon echoed along the ridge of the mountain. I couldn’t see it, nor could I tell what kind of conversation was going on.

“Why are you mad? I complimented you by calling you cute!”

“…”

“Try to think from my perspective! If Aslan told me I was cute… Ugh, just the thought makes me uncomfortable.”

“…”

“Still, cute is cute! What? Are you embarrassed by that? What’s so embarrassing…?”

One thing was certain: Yulia was definitely provoking the anger of the great spirit of earth. If you looked at the drawing Yulia made, it was certainly…

“Pfft.”

So cute that it would make you burst out laughing if you tried to hold it in. Yulia's drawing skills, awkward yet earnest, were adorable in their own right. But this brown mass looked ridiculously insignificant.

It had the kind of appearance that would appeal to children if turned into a doll.

“Cute? Where?”

“Show me the drawing!”

“Me too! I want to see!”

A crowd began to gather around to see Yulia’s drawing. Naturally, they were curious. This was the creature that had caused countless earthquakes, bringing people to the brink of madness.

However, just before the crowd could flip the drawing over to look…

“Eek!?”

Kwarurung!
The mountain began to shake violently.

The drawing fell into the mud, becoming unrecognizable.

But the earthquake didn’t stop there. It only intensified, making it hard to even stand upright. Damn it. This was beyond mere mischief. It was trying to kill us all…!

“Damn it. Everyone evacuate!”

“Uncle! Shouldn’t Sir Silvia go and take care of the great spirit with a big bang?”

“The spirit’s apparition is not affected by physical force or regular magic. You can only interfere with it using a special power.”

For example, my Death's Touch. However, that only works on lower-tier entities, making it useless here.

The only other way to interfere with an apparition is with...

“Aura.”

“The little flames?”

“Using aura is indeed possible.”

“Then I can…!”

“Hold on. Even if you can attack, how do you plan to fight against an invisible enemy?”

I stopped Charlotte, who was eager to jump in.

Certainly, if it was aura, she could defeat the spirit.

But that was only theoretically possible; there was no guarantee of victory.

Right now, Charlotte couldn’t even see the great spirit of earth.

Even if Yulia could point out its location in real-time, it would be incredibly tricky to engage in battle if that spirit kept moving around.

This wasn’t a mere spirit; diving into such uncertain combat against a great spirit would be tantamount to suicide.

“So what do we do? At this rate, people are going to get hurt terribly…!”

“We’ll have to fall back; what else can we do?”

If we acted recklessly any further, a disaster would unfold.

I quickly handed Charlotte over to Silvia and gathered Yulia. Lifting Yulia with a firm grip around her waist, I raised her easily. However, Yulia began to squirm and throw a tantrum.

“Wait! I’m in the middle of persuading it!”

“If you don’t, everyone will die!”

“Ugh…”

Yulia’s mouth dropped open as she noticed the chaos erupting around them. People were entangled in a mad rush to escape, creating an absolute mess.

If the earthquakes continued, it wouldn’t be strange if casualties occurred.

“That spirit doesn’t seem to want to harm anyone either!”

“That’s probably true. If it intended to hurt us, it would have buried people from day one. However, it’s clearly in a state of extreme agitation.”

“There’s no way it would be this mad just because its true form was exposed! What a nasty spirit!”

“Yulia. Use it.”

“The command, huh? I didn’t want to use it, but if it’s acting this way, then I have no choice…”

“…”

Yulia frowned, visibly angry.

Taking a deep breath, she exhaled sharply. To me, it just looked like she was opening her mouth, but in reality, she was saying something only the spirits could hear.

This wasn’t just any ordinary language.

The command. It was a spirit master’s unique ability, the language of power used to bind spirits.

‘Will Yulia’s command actually work?’

At this point, persuasion seemed impossible.

The key question was whether Yulia’s command, at a level akin to a puppy for a spirit master, would resonate with the great spirit.

She had only used the command on lower spirits until now…

…Would it work?

“The earthquake has stopped!”

Rumble.
The fierce dragon’s roar ceased, and the shaking that felt like it would collapse the mountain came to a halt.

Yulia must have done something!

“Did it… work?”

“Yulia, what did you say with the command just now?”

“Just now? I-I just said, ‘Become cuter!’ It felt kind of annoying…”

“…”

Become cuter?

What kind of nonsense was that?

I was momentarily frozen in disbelief, unable to process the absurdity.

At that moment, a light began to gather in the sky, swirling downwards.

The light condensed into one spot and began to form a strangely familiar shape.

It was round and had short, stubby arms…

Wait? That looked like the drawing Yulia made earlier!

[Noooo! What have you done to my body!?]

“…”

The light faded, revealing a brown entity.

It looked exactly like Yulia’s drawing, but didn’t they say it was enormous?

What was before us now was only about the size of a human head.

This was definitely…

“Cute. Is this the true form of the great spirit of earth?”

[No! Don’t look at me! Don’t look! This is not my real form!]

The great spirit of earth tried to cover its huge face with its tiny hands.

But it was no use.

As it attempted to dig into the ground and hide, it was promptly caught and lifted into the air by a rushing Charlotte, flailing helplessly.

‘Has it been completely neutralized?’

I had worried it might use some magic.

The now shrunk great spirit was merely flailing in Charlotte’s arms, unable to use any of its abilities.

Looking closely, it didn’t seem to have much strength either.

‘Wait a second. If Charlotte is struggling with it, how powerful is that thing really?’

…Or so I thought.

If it was the kind of strength that made even Charlotte, who could easily lift the Strongest Sword, have trouble, then the only one who could handle it besides Charlotte would be Silvia.

[Let me go! I said let go! Don’t treat me like a doll!]

“Yulia, you draw really well. It looks just like it…!”

[Noooo!]

“Uncle, what are we going to do with this one…?”

[Don’t hold me! Don’t treat me like a doll!]

Clutching the great spirit of earth in her arms, Charlotte looked at me with soulful eyes, as if asking for something.

That gaze surely meant she wanted me to spare the great spirit’s life…

‘If it were up to me, I’d like to eliminate any future trouble.’

Honestly, I didn’t care at all about the great spirit of earth, whether it had absorbed energy for a thousand years or not.

In the end, what mattered to me were Charlotte, Yulia, and Yuria—those three only.

I didn’t care if the rest lived or died.

Even though it looked small and cute right now.

If it were to return to its original form, it might seek revenge on us.

So the best course of action would indeed be to kill it.

Spirits aren’t human anyway…

‘Damn it. Am I tainted because of the possession of Aslan?’

Suddenly, it struck me.

Dressing up like a villain, had I truly taken on a villain’s way of thinking?

Whether it was a spirit or not, killing it couldn’t possibly be the best option.

I, who had shown boundless mercy even to Count Ariant, who had been rude to me from the very beginning.

“Can I keep it? I’ll take care of it so Uncle won’t be bothered. I’ll feed it, wash it, and clean up after it.”

[I won’t eat! I don’t need to wash! I don’t poop! Do you think I’m the same as you humans!?]

“It says no. Please, Uncle. I want to keep it! It’s been my dream to have a doll to care for since forever!”

“Yulia. What do you want to do?”

“Me? I want to get along. I’ve really hated spirits since they kept me up at night. But now that I can talk to them, I know they’re just innocent children. It’s just that this one has become rough for some reason, but I believe it’s good and pure at heart.”

If Yulia says so, then I can’t argue with that.

Nodding slightly in agreement, Charlotte jumped with joy, her face bright.

The great spirit of earth looked nauseous, but it didn’t seem to enjoy the situation at all.

“Alright. For now, the situation has been resolved. Once we finish the road construction, we can start operating it right away.”

“Resolved… just like that…?”

Count Ariant stood there with his mouth agape, staring blankly into space.

Having tumbled around several times due to the earthquake, he was a mess.

He had said the road construction was almost done except for the paving, but even paving wasn’t an easy task.

While he could have Silvia finish paving the road in front of the mansion, this was a massive road cutting through a mountain.

If he asked Silvia to do it, she’d have to work day and night for more than a week.

Of course, that would be possible, but if she focused on the construction, who would take care of my escort?

“Count! The road construction is now only at the paving stage. I’d like to subcontract the work to Ariant Construction. In return, I’d like to waive next month’s interest. Is that acceptable?”

“Work! You’re offering me work!? Thank you! Ugh! With this, I’ll have a little leeway for next month! I can’t thank you enough for the heavens above Vermont!”

“Hohoho. Please stand up.”

Count Ariant, holding my hand and nearly crying with joy.

It was as if I had taken away what was originally their work, then paid them to give it back.

But regardless, it was a heartwarming sight.