The Great Spirit’s Secret

Author: Ryusui
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2121hw/26/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

We cut across the sky over the Spirit Forest, straight for the center, the World Tree.
The air over the Spirit Forest is the territory of flying magic beasts like wyverns, but today I ignore that. I just beat back the ones that come at us.
In less than thirty minutes, we reached the World Tree.
We land by the World Tree, and then I notice I brought Mireille along on the momentum.

“Ah…”

Mireille was limp. By any look she’s fainted. I didn’t have room to hold back… I might have done a bad thing.
For now I lay her down there. Magic beasts don’t come near the World Tree, so she can wait here for now.

‘Rita-chan, so even that outbound trip she was holding back…’
‘Too fast, I was shocked’

“Mm. Sorry.”

But right now the viewers come later.

“Spirit-sama!”

When I call toward the World Tree, the Great Spirit comes out right away. She looks at my face and, for an instant, seems at a loss for words.

“Welcome back, Rita. That was fast.”
“Mm… There was something I wanted to ask.”
“Please.”
“Is Master alive?”

I ask it clearly, so she can’t dodge. The Great Spirit I asked lowered the corners of her brows sadly. With just that, I already knew the answer.

“Rita. That is, you see…”
“Mm… He’s already gone, then…”
“………… That would be the case…”

I see. So that’s… how it is…
I’ve heard that the Great Spirit can tell, somehow, by tracing the connection of summoning, whether Master is doing well. If that Great Spirit says he isn’t, then that’s how it is.
I didn’t want to believe it. I wanted to think the sage Mireille spoke of was someone other than Master. But I can’t believe the Great Spirit would lie. So, well… I have to accept it.
I have to accept it, but…

“Aaaaaaaaah!”

I couldn’t not scream.

 

I screamed for a while, and on top of that I bawled ugly. It might be the first time I’ve cried this much. I cried and cried, a lot.
In that time Mireille woke up. She seemed startled by me crying and the Great Spirit, but without saying anything she rubbed my back. I think she has a lot she wants to ask, but she’s a kind person.
The viewers were very quiet. I only heard comments here and there like don’t cry. Maybe they were being considerate. There are a lot of kind people among the viewers too.

I cried and cried. When the sun had fully set, I finally settled. Coming back to myself, I was a little embarrassed. Act your looks, Mireille said, though.
It’s already late at night, so I decided to put Mireille up at my house. I’m the one who brought her to the deepest part of the forest. I can’t just dump her. Obviously.

“This is my house. There’s a barrier so magic beasts don’t come in, so take it easy.”
“Thank you. I never imagined there would be a house in the depths of the Spirit Forest…”
“Guardians are human too. We have a house to live in, at least.”
“Human…?”

‘Human…?’
‘Do you know, Rita-chan. Ordinary humans can’t fly through the sky at high speed’
‘From Mireille’s reaction I think the humans over there are the same’

No no, if you work at it I’m sure anyone can. If they have the talent, though.
My house is built pretty spacious. Right when you enter there’s a living room, with a table and sofa and such, set up so you can relax. Doors left, right, and at the back; left is my room, right is Master’s room, the back is the secret room.
Secret room, or rather, it’s just the room Master streamed from when I didn’t know about streaming, and now it’s just storage.
That said, Master and I both have Item Boxes, so there isn’t much stuff. Just a bed and a bookshelf and a desk.

“Sit wherever. Here’s water.”
“Thank yo— this is amazing…”

When I set a glass of water in front of Mireille sitting in a chair, she was surprised. I just put magic water in a cup I took from the Item Box, but maybe it looked like something else.
When I sit across from Mireille, she opens her mouth timidly.

“Um, you see… May I ask various things…?”
“Mm. Fine. But you’ve figured various things, right? Tell me that first.”
“Yes… First, are you the Guardian of the Spirit Forest, Rita?”
“Mm. I am.”
“I am surprised it actually existed…”
“That much…?”

When I asked in more detail, apparently you often hear that there’s a Guardian in the forest, but no one who actually met them has been around for a long time. These days they were thought to be a fictional existence, or to have disappeared over a long time.
It’s true I don’t leave the forest. Other Guardians are the same. But apparently there are a fair number of people who went outside after handing over the role, like Master, so maybe they’ve met former Guardians without noticing.