Dorothea arrived at the spacious study and began to look for something between the bookshelves with her small body.
The water spirit hovering around her lightly bumped its form against Dorothea's back as if it was bored.
"Not a big deal. I want to know what kind of being you are.”
It may have been the illness that originally occupied her body that was tormenting her, but it bothered her that the illness did not go away easily and tormented her quite annoyingly.
Dorothea's body trembled as if reacting to the excited heat.
In the unbearable pain that felt like it was being squeezed and broken, she looked into a piece of ‘liquid’.
“I was indeed hit by a liquid, but it is not the magician’s ‘flesh’.”
If it was a curse thrown by someone, what she saw would not have been a piece of evil, but a part of the magician.
The voice of a child crying was still sweet to her ears.
Why did that crying sound find her? Where on earth is the owner of that crying?
Maybe it has something to do with accepting the spirit.
It could have been Hertia's past or a bad relationship with her.
Everything about spirits, legends of spirits, records of the beginning, spirits: friends of nature...
The records in the study were all vague.
In detail, all that remains is useless information about individual spirit masters or legend-like stories about unreliable spirits.
“This is not enough.”
How are spirit masters born? What kind of creatures are spirits?
Such concrete data was needed now.
“Do you know how to become a spiritist?”
Wood looked at Dorothea as if he was dumbfounded by the unexpected question.
“You are already a spiritist. If you know how to do something, you can do it.”
“Because I need it.”
He narrowed his eyes at the simple and clear words.
Although she was still small and as thin as a dry branch, the girl's attitude was still the same as the color in her face begun to turn quite a bit.
She starts spouting nonsense and suddenly does nonsensical things.
“So why do you want to know how to become a spiritist? You have already become a spirit master!”
Wood added as if he was delighted.
“Just think back to when you became a spiritist. Just do it like you did back then!”
“That’s troublesome.”
Although she became a spiritist, she did not formally learn the method because she robbed others.
It has already been said that spirit messengers are one of the most precious things in the empire, so where do they go and steal the spirits that are next to someone?
“I also have something called a conscience.”
"You?! Do you have a conscience?!”
Wood, who had been carrying out all kinds of errands day after day and was often criticized for having ugly legs or not having enough legs, jumped up.
Because of this, he is experiencing the trauma of being overcome by anxiety that his lower body is inadequate every time he looks down at his legs, but the person who gave him that trauma was shamelessly saying that she had a conscience.
“The information here doesn’t seem to be enough, so I’ll have to look for it outside.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I would like to ask Colin. Wood, go to Colin and tell him to gather information related to the Elementalist. Please send me everything that is even remotely related to the spirit temple.”
When Dorothea called her uncle's name as if it were a meal, Wood gave her a warning rather than an admonishment in a vaguely stern voice.
“No matter what, you should be more polite when you ask someone for a favor. And it would cost money to collect all those items, so what about that?”
"It's okay."
Dorothea smiled brightly.
“When I went to that mansion, I saw that he had quite a bit of wealth.”
“So, isn’t that your uncle’s property?”
“That’s it.”
“...”
Colin is mine, so of course Colin's wealth is mine too.
Wood was speechless as he watched Dorothea casting mine as mine and yours as mine.
“A niece robbing his uncle’s property...”
It was clear that the Marquis was educating the child incorrectly.
***
After receiving Wood's message, Colin visited Highclere Mansion in person.
The former reaper, who had dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn't slept well for several days, put down several thick books in front of her.
“It’s a theory book related to spirits. However, most of them are just hypotheses and there is no accurate information.”
“How to become a spiritist?”
“There are three ways to become a spiritist. The first is how to obtain the ‘qualification’ to become a spiritist from a teacher. The second is how to become a spirit master through a spirit stone. And the third is the way to become a spiritist by contacting the spirits of the natural world.”
His calm eyes turned to Dorothea.
“Of course, you yourself told me that there is a fourth way.”
It was known externally that she became a spirit master through the third method, but in reality, she stole the spirits of other spirit masters.
“Don’t the reaper know much about spirits?”
“Spirit is a completely different type of ‘spirit body’ that is born in nature. It is different from life, which is finite. It’s rare for spirits to run into us.”
“What happens if the reaper's scythe cuts down the spirit?”
“Well, I’ve never heard of someone trying something crazy like that.”
Colin responded as if it were absurd, but soon became lost in thought.
Considering that the spiritual power that makes up the spirit is a separate entity born from nature, the reaper's scythe that cuts down life...
“The spirit is a ‘spirit’ and not a ‘soul’, so it won’t get cut.”
“Even that is an assumption. Are you not sure?”
“I was a faithful envoy.”
There are many living creatures dying in the world, and the number of reapers is limited.
If you work non-stop, you'll always be short-handed, so there's no way you'll have time to be interested in anything else.
“If I had a human body, I would have died from overwork a long time ago. I didn’t have time to pay attention to such useless things.”
Hades was famous for mistreating his subjects.
Even in the divine world, there are few people who work so hard on their servants.
Colin recalled the past with faint eyes.
The work is endless, and if you happen to bring a soul by mistake, you will be beaten by Hades' fist because cause and effect have been distorted. These are painful days.
Seeing his distorted face, Dorothea tentatively took his side.
Sometimes you have to accept complaints to move faster.
“I guess the previous owner gave it a bit of a hard time?”
“When the other Gods said they would help with matchmaking, I would just take the guesswork out of it and get married, but I fell in love with my niece and forced a kidnapping and marriage, and now she has become a official wife...”
When you're an old bachelor, it's old bachelor hysteria.
After getting married and becoming a official wife, married men become hysterical.
“How dare you act so solemn?”
Did you originally say that cursing your former boss was the most exciting thing?
Colin, who had never opened his mouth unless it was absolutely necessary, opened his mouth and opened up about his past, which was full of violence and stress.
The moment death began to creep in around him, the sound of something cracking or breaking was heard in the hallway.
“Oh my God. How can I do this! The flower pot is broken!”
Dorothea looked up at the maid's voice in confusion and saw a shadow quickly disappearing across the hallway.
She stared in the direction where the shadow disappeared and then continued what she was saying and asked.
“Would it be difficult to obtain a spirit stone?”
“It’s an item so precious that it could almost be found in the imperial palace’s treasure trove. No matter how great the Marquess of Highclere is, it is difficult to find something comparable to a country’s national treasure.”
“First, do your best to save me. If I can’t do it, I’ll have to resort to the last resort.”
“...A last resort?”
Dorothea spoke softly as she stroked the spirit riding on her shoulder.
“I have no choice but to go find this previous owner and find out.”
Even though she lost her mind, if her ‘soul’ wasn’t broken, there were plenty of ways to ask.
Colin sighed as he looked at Dorothea, who was smiling like a well-fed cat.
***
Dorothea was very busy for several days.
"Hey."
Dane, embarrassed by Dorothea passing by, scratched his head.
'My father told me to be friendly, but no matter what I do, I'm not good with girls.'
First of all, girls are boring.
They often made a fuss and got scared over even the smallest things, and would uselessly put down people to save face and pretend to be noble.
So even if that kid ignored him, Dane didn't care at all.
“On the contrary, I feel at ease.”
"Yes? For that matter, I think you’re pretty annoyed.”
"Who! I’m going to spar with Uncle Aiden for the first time in a while.”
Dane, who had been grumbling next to Edwin, who was reading a book, got up and disappeared across the hallway.
Edwin, who was leisurely teasing his younger brother, noticed Dorothea passing in the hallway and gave her a blank look.
Although she was still smaller and thinner than other children her age, she was moving around the mansion with ease, unlike before, when she looked exhausted after just walking one or two steps.
It wasn't until long after she had passed that someone appeared, walking slowly.
“...”
A handsome boy whose face was half-hidden with long purple hair was casting a cool gaze toward the spot where Dorothea had stayed.
'Philip.'
What on earth are you thinking?
The boy, whose appearance was so beautiful that he was praised as a statue of God upon his first meeting with the High Priest, rarely hung out with others.
A boy who calls himself isolated, only making brief appearances even on the Marquis's birthday.
Although he was still not around people, one thing was clear.
Philip was very concerned about Dorothea.
***
It was midnight.
Someone's shadow appeared beyond the bedroom window of Dorothea, who was fast asleep.
Creak.
When the window opened with a strange sound, someone's face came through the curtains fluttering in the cool wind.
The owner of the shadow quickly closed the window and seemed to briefly check Dorothea's condition, then he reached out for the books piled on the table.
It was the moment when the shadow, holding in its arms all the spirit-related items placed on the table and drawers, headed towards the dressing table.
“Not there.”
“....”
“I don’t know about other places, but Jane organizes the dressing table every day. Even if the position of an object changes slightly, she will notice it right away. Because she’s a smart kid.”
The shadow that had stopped took a step back as if on guard.
Dorothea stared blankly at the owner of the shadow, standing with his back to the wall in a dark corner of the room.
A beautiful face was revealed in the moonlight that seeped through the window.
“They are all useless.”
She checked each one, but they were only superstitions related to spirits or contained a very weak level of spiritual power.
In the end, it was just useless trash, so she planned to dispose of it in a few days.
“Then I’ll take it.”
The tightly closed lips opened.
The low voice that came out between those lips was empty as if it contained no emotion.
The corner of Dorothea's mouth rose as she stared into empty, dry silver eyes.
"Why? Because Colin brought it a toe?”
The hand holding the book gained strength.
Philip, whose face showed no signs of agitation, suddenly opened his mouth without warning in the silence.
“Don’t trust my father.”
“...”
“Reject everything that is directed at you, whether it’s what he gives or what he does.”
Philip, who spoke enigmatic words in a blunt tone, came face to face with pink eyes shining like morning stars and paused without realizing it.
Dorothea, looking at him, had a deep smile on her face as if she had heard an interesting story.
“Why should I do that?”
“Because it’s all lies.”
It was the moment when Philip, chewing on the question and spitting out an answer, stood near the window.
“Well, I guess that’s not what’s important right now.”
The spirit that had been hovering around Dorothea all this time quickly lunged at Philip and immediately pushed him out of the window.
Without any time to resist, Philip fell backward, and within a few seconds, a loud splashing sound of water rang out.
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