Chapter 81 - Brownie the Spirit

“…It’s really noisy.”

“Yes, if you don’t cut it off at a certain point, it will chat endlessly.”

“But it’s cute,” Azriel smiled. Rhema stared at her and, noticing his attention, she looked back. “What’s going on, Rhema?”

“Because you smiled.”

“What?”

“I feel happy when I see you smiling.”

He spoke in a plain tone that was no different from when he explained about the spirit. As he said so, he smiled slightly. It was a smile that was still not complete, a smile in which only the tip of his mouth was raised a little. Azriel suddenly became curious to know how it would be like for him to smile largely.

“Your friend must have finished preparing to move by now. I will bring them and return with my familiar spirits. Take a rest in the meantime.”

“Okay. By the way, where is Maylie’s house located? I heard that Blanchet was arranging a place for her. Is it close to here?”

“There is an outhouse in the backyard of this castle. I’m giving that place to them.”

It was quite surprising. Although it was an outhouse, Azriel did not expect that Rhema would want to live with other people.

“Is that okay for you? Wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable?”

“She’s a precious person to you, isn’t she? I’ll be back, Azriel.”

Rhema, who spoke in a gentle tone, disappeared beyond the space. Azriel stood there for a while absent-mindedly. It probably did not mean that he was comfortable. He merely was keeping the promise that he would treat the people who were precious to her as preciously as well.

“…You are indeed a good person,” at least for her, Rhema Reshith was the best person compared to anyone in the world. 

*

Before going to pick up his familiar spirits after dropping off Maylie’s family to the outhouse, Rhema Reshith stopped by at some mansion in the outskirts of Modjankle. It was the mansion of Baron Reynolds.

Baron and Baroness Reynolds who appeared in the capital several years ago had enormous wealth. The boy King who ascended the throne at the time did not have enough money as he was processing several reforms. The Reynoldses aided a tremendous amount of money to the royal family. That investment turned out to be very successful, so they were recognized for their service and received the position of Baron and Baroness. Now that the King who was a boy became an adult and his reign was stabilized, Reynolds had become a quite prominent family.

Rhema walked in through the main entrance. The guards who were on duty at the entrance did not see him at all and yawned. He roamed around the mansion freely without being interrupted by anyone. And not long after that, he found the people whom he was looking for—the Reynolds couple, the guardians who took Azriel’s fortune and sold her as asl*ve.

“My son, who do you look like that you turned out to be so handsome? Do you look like your dad?”

“Well, he looks so good because he looks like you, my love.”

“Oh, you’re too sweet.”

The couple who were watching a boy who looked about five or six years old tenderly kissed. Rhema stood blankly near the door and watched the scene. His eyes stayed on the little child who was covered in a silk blanket.

He had found the guardian couple to entrust Azriel with a very delicate standard. Among married couples who had a good reputation, were sophisticated, and were not overly high in class, he picked several ones who had lost their daughter recently. The Reynolds couple were on that list. Coming from noble collateral lines, they were quasi-aristocrats. They were not too wealthy but always practiced charity. The misfortune that occurred to them was an epidemic. They lost their young daughter during it, and the wife became barren as an aftereffect. In spite of all that, they still loved each other. They only grieved for a while but they had been living diligently after that. Rhema watched them closely for several days and appeared before them as the Wizard of the Horizon.

“I will grant one of your wishes. Instead, I’d like you to take care of a girl.”

They accepted Rhema’s suggestion. What they wished for was to cure the wife’s infertility. Rhema granted their wish with one spell. He also gave them the wealth that would feed them sufficiently for their lifetime. He did not simply give to them all at once. Using a merchant organization and bank, he tied a large amount to Azriel and let them receive quite an amount constantly while taking care of her. He also warned them about the wish he granted them.

“If you don’t keep your promise, the wish I granted you will turn into a curse.”

“Don’t worry. We will serve that lady better than anyone.”

That was what they said, but how dare they! Rhema gazed at the little child with cold eyes. While he was searching for the Reynolds couple and going through people’s memories, he could learn roughly what happened.

The couple was greedy by nature. However, they were smart enough not to show that greed recklessly. They could control themselves to a moderate degree. They had not planned to break their promise right away from the beginning, but as the infertility was cured and when they conceived a precious child that they thought they would never have, their hearts changed. They wanted to raise their child as a proper noble. In order to do that, they could not have a ‘Lady’ whom they served, especially if that Lady was not a wizard but a girl of an ethnic minority without any evidence of her pedigree nor identity. Moreover, they coveted the enormous wealth that could not be touched as it was tied under Azriel’s name.

They tested it several times secretly to find out whether the Wizard of the Horizon had really entrusted the girl completely to them, he would find out if they harmed the girl, and he would come to get the girl.

Even after giving her poison, pretending it to be an accident, and the girl fell severely ill from it, the wizard did not come. When they were assured that the girl was abandoned, they could not suppress their greed.