“Ugh!”
A sound like a bug hitting a cage echoed.
If what was inside that cage had been a bug or a bird, how wonderful it would have been.
“Magic… the magic is disappearing…”
“Sparkle! Why are you thumping so loudly? Are you hungry? Do you want to eat?”
“Uh, ugh?!”
As Tia shouted while holding onto the cage, the yellow-lighted fairy inside instinctively fell backward, as if it had seen a monster, trembling in shock.
Tia pressed her face against the cage, her eyes sparkling with fascination.
However, it seemed the fairy felt the predatory aura from her gaze and froze, shaking uncontrollably.
The Director of St. Sophia Academy, Lara.
If the great spirit were to ask why she was behaving like this, I would have no answer other than that I didn’t know either.
“Please, let me go! I am the Director of St. Sophia!”
“I know! Your name is Sparkle!”
“It’s Lara! Let me go right now! If you don’t, I will expel you!”
“Ugh, I don’t want that…”
“Are you scared of expulsion? Hehe! Then open this cage willingly…”
“But Sparkle is Tia’s, right? Then it’s an order! Sparkle! If you expel Tia, you won’t be able to use it! Understand?”
“That can’t be…”
Lara’s face turned pale with despair in an instant.
Tia’s command truly holds power.
It was a reaction that couldn’t be interpreted any other way.
What extraordinary event had occurred while at school…?
“Tia. Sparkle looks very tired. Should we let her rest a bit?”
“My name is Sparkle…”
“Shh.”
I quietly gave Lara a hint as she stood up indignantly.
Since I’m helping her right now, she should stay quiet.
Noticing my intention, Lara bit her lip, trembling as she looked up at me.
“But I want to play with Sparkle more.”
“Sigh. Don’t you have something to do first? What did Mom say to do when she comes back from school?”
“Washing hands…”
“That’s right. Hurry and wash your hands. Change your clothes as well. I’ll take care of Sparkle, dear.”
“Ugh…”
Tia turned around, her arms drooping weakly.
As she trudged toward the accommodation, her gaze lingered on Sparkle, tinged with nostalgic yearning.
Of course, each time, Sparkle had to sniffle and hiccup.
Soon, Tia’s figure disappeared.
Only then did Sparkle… no, Lara seem to feel a bit relieved, letting out a sigh.
“Tia, dear! What on earth happened!”
“That’s what I want to ask.”
As soon as she calmed down, Lara shouted at me while holding onto the cage.
She looked as pitiful as a dragonfly trapped in a bug-catching container.
Her two pairs of wings fluttered nonstop, truly pitiful.
“It makes no sense! What kind of school would accept a student wishing to be the Director! Why do I have to become a student’s possession!”
“Ah, wait a minute. A wish? Then Tia really did collect all 15 stars?”
“Yes! That’s what I’ve heard! Thanks to some idiot new homeroom teacher, this mess started from the second day!”
Lara burst into laughter uncontrollably.
Her mouth was smiling, but her eyes were not.
It looked as if she had lost her sanity.
“Um… I heard that spirits are not living beings. Could that be the reason?”
“What does that have to do with anything! But that doesn’t change the fact that I am a noble great spirit… Ah.”
Suddenly, Lara widened her eyes.
Even if they were practically the size of a grain of rice, they were still wide.
In any case, looking shocked, Lara stood frozen for a moment before turning back to me and shouted.
“I, I am classified as an inanimate object, so when I was recorded under St. Sophia, I was marked as property of the St. Sophia Foundation!”
“Ah.”
“And so, perhaps I was treated as equipment that could be given to a student…”
Lara’s face turned ashen.
I think I understood the gist of the event.
When a student collects 15 stars at St. Sophia, their requests are absolute.
Of course, that doesn’t mean any ridiculous wish will be fulfilled, but within what the school can grant, they must comply.
So, at the point where Director Lara was recorded as school property, she must have inevitably fallen into the category of transferable “equipment” to Tia.
Even if that “equipment” happened to possess high intelligence, its will would likely not matter.
“This is not right! This can’t be! How can a great spirit become property of a mere student! Even if Duke Dragania is scary, this is too much!”
“…”
If they could have granted the wish but refused, asking for another wish instead, that would be fraud.
Perhaps the school would have done that if Tia had been an ordinary child.
But the problem is, Tia is a child under the protection of Duke Dragania.
Many dislike the Duke, including the emperor, but no one looks down on the Duke.
Among the executives of St. Sophia, no one would have had the audacity to deceive the Duke, so the poor Sparkle, no, Lara, clearly became Tia’s possession.
Since slavery is unabashedly alive in this country, owning a spirit shouldn’t legally pose any problem.
“And I can’t use magic! My wings won’t listen either!”
“Uh… I suspect Tia might have done some kind of trick.”
“Ahhh! Am I going to die? Am I going to die? Is that how this goes?! My wings feel dead, and I’m dying slowly too!”
“Hey, don’t worry too much. How could Tia possibly kill the great spirit?”
“Don’t say that! This is really serious! My life is at stake!”
Lara cried, tears streaming down her face.
Such a dramatic exaggeration.
While Tia has the ability to disrupt magic, that wouldn’t apply to a great spirit that has lived for a long time.
I was convinced that Lara was making a joke.
“Stop joking and come out.”
“I can’t open it… If I can’t use magic, my strength is less than that of an insect…”
“Sigh. Is that your concept? I’ll open it for you. Come here.”
“Ah, no. I can’t run far in this state. And if they find out I’m out, the magic hunter Tiamat will chase me to the ends of the continent and make me pay.”
“…”
What does that even mean…?
Her reaction was too realistic for a joke.
Even when I opened the cage and reached out, Lara was cowering, terrified as if my hand were that of a hand grasping a sick chick, trying in vain to escape against the wall.
“Ah. Ahhh. I hear it. I can hear the footsteps of the magic hunter Tiamat. The footfalls of death…”
Is she talking about the cute footsteps that sound like a little girl running excitedly?
Lara dazedly looked around, running here and there, then suddenly turned to me and kneeled.
“Save me! Tia, dear!”
“I’m sorry. Once Tia has you, it will be hard for you to be safe. Good luck, okay?”
“Save me! Please save me! Tia, dear! I’m begging you!”
The penguin doll I’d given Tia long ago had already become an unrecognizable rag.
It wasn’t as if the little one usually treated toys or dolls roughly…
I meant to tell her to give up, but Lara clung on desperately, continuing to plead.
She was somewhat pitiful.
“I’ll do my best, Director. I’ll make sure you can return to your position as soon as possible…”
“No! No! Just do whatever it takes to keep me from dying! Please! Just that!”
“Uh… I’ll try my best.”
I wondered why someone who could tear apart the cage and escape looked like that.
In any case, since she didn’t seem to be thinking about escaping herself, it seemed inevitable that Sparkle would become Tia’s toy.
A cute toy with wings that glimmers and moves like a person.
It’s no wonder Tia would be enamored.
“Sparkle! Tia washed her hands!!!”
“Ahhhhh!!!”
“Tia was waiting! How happy I am to finally see you!”
With a bang, Tia burst through the door, causing chaos inside the cage once more.
Just as I barely managed to prevent the phoenix from entering, the great spirit was now stepping into the villa.
Is this really okay?
All I can do is fervently pray that the villa doesn’t explode.
It seemed the Duke cherished this villa, having spent effort to expand it.
“Ah. Why am I worried about that guy…?”
I’m going crazy.
Lately, I feel like I’ve been thinking about that brat more often.
Whether good or bad, he was such a significant presence that his absence feels monumental.
*
“So, is this going to work?”
In an underground shelter in the Demon Realm, Leopard said gruffly.
The shelter, built in the past to avoid the Demon King’s army’s watch, was now being used to evade the eyes of dragons.
“Will this kill the dragon or not?”
“We’ll only know once we try. I’ve never made a weapon to face a dragon before.”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
“Haha. What certainty is there when dealing with a dragon?”
“…”
Even as the weaponsmith laughed playfully, Leopard’s expression remained serious.
The result of having commissioned the best weaponsmith in the Demon Realm to make a weapon capable of slaying dragons was right before his eyes.
Of course, the weaponsmith had no idea that the request was from the hero Leopard or that this weapon would be used on a dragon.
No one had even thought of killing a dragon since the great slaughter of dragon slayers in the past.
That was the common belief.
But Leopard planned to challenge a dragon with a human body for the first time.
His past experience had allowed him to injure a dragon before, successfully bringing it to the negotiation table, but if he had fought to the end for his life, Leopard could not guarantee victory.
This time, it was a genuine fight for life and death.
No one knew which part of the dragon was its weak point or how much firepower was needed to pierce through its thick scales.
The only option was to aim for the common vital points of large animals with the most powerful weapon possible.
“I will definitely kill it. I will kill the filthy lizard that betrayed me and violated the Holy Maiden.”
The probability of success did not matter.
For Leopard, this was something that simply had to be done.
Clenching his fist tightly, he vowed internally as he bit down hard enough to almost break his teeth.
To take back the life he had once spared.
