STM 47

As I slowly stopped pretending to be sick and could finally walk around the mansion, there was one place I went to first.

“Uh, Baron, is there any progress in your research?”

I just asked a question, but Sillian suddenly dropped to her knees. I freaked out and quickly grabbed her arm to make her stand up. But she started apologizing.

“I, I’m sorry… I, I’m so lacking…”

“I’m not blaming you, I just asked. I was wondering if it’s possible to grow spicy edible crops.”

“It, it’s possible… we already have pepper…”

“No, not pepper. That’s not spicy. I mean, it is spicy, but it’s far from the kind of spiciness I mean. It’s just those black dots you sprinkle on food.”

I shook my head and refused the pepper. Sillian bowed her head as if the taste of pepper were somehow her fault.

I comforted her again and told her at least a hundred times that it wasn’t her fault before I could finally ask what I wanted.

“So, ha, Lantuya said you found a crop with potential?”

“Yes… but it has, has poison…”

“Poison’s fine, as long as it doesn’t kill you when you eat it.”

“If, if you eat too much, it could kill you…”

“Even if you boil it? Aren’t the young shoots less poisonous? Or maybe try salting it?”

“T-that… that method doesn’t work…”

“It’s not bad to eat a little poison, don’t worry… huh? Are you crying?”

Why all of a sudden? When I got flustered, the sniffling Sillian shook her head slightly.

“E-everyone’s afraid of me, but the, the Adeye people, they, they like poison…”

We don’t like it either. We’re just desperate for chili peppers. It had been more than a month since I fell into this world, and I was starting to hit my limit.

I wanted kimchi. No, I’d even welcome tacos if they had chili peppers in them.

Considering I was already like this, it was amazing that Doctor Kim had survived ten years. I hurriedly spoke to the sniffling Sillian.

“Anyway, as long as it doesn’t kill, small amounts of poison are fine, so please proceed quickly.”

“I, I’m sorry…”

Sillian stepped back like she was scared.

“No, I’m not scolding you.”

“Lady Lantuya also wants it done quickly, but I’m not capable enough… I’m sorry…”

She’s definitely Korean.

After scolding Doctor Kim in my head, I spent another ten minutes cheering Sillian up. After that one-sided pep talk that only left me exhausted, Sillian finally showed a tiny bit of friendliness.

“Ah, the Adeye people are all so, so kind.”

It was a survival-based friendliness caused by chili pepper deficiency. Feeling a bit guilty, I cleared my throat.

“No, it’s fine. You came to our house just to work.”

“I, I like this work… and, and the spirit seems very happy too.”

Come to think of it, the Spirit of Poison wasn’t around today.

“Where’s the spirit?”

Flinch. She looked startled and stepped back again. Why this time? She raised her hand, her face showing a tiny trace of shock.

“How, how did you know the spirit isn’t here right now?”

“…I didn’t.”

Having nothing to say, I bluffed. Fortunately, she looked relieved and took a deep breath.

“I, I thought you could see him.”

“Shouldn’t I be able to see him?”

Flinch! Thud!

She stepped back, reacting more strongly than ever since we met.

“C-can you see him?!”

“No, I can’t, so please stop stepping back.”

But she still kept her distance and spoke warily.

“Revered Uturainu doesn’t like humans. Especially, it hates talking to them…”

“Uturainu, don’t tell me that’s the spirit… ahem, the Baron’s spirit?”

Yes, she nodded. This time, I was the one who wanted to step back in shock. Never mind the weird name, but hates talking to humans? That chatterbox?

“Are you sure? Maybe you just can’t hear the spirit’s voice, so you misunderstood?”

At my words, she tilted her head, then shook it again.

“A, according to the records, all spirit-summoners who faced Revered Uturainu covered their ears and suffered. That, that made it even angrier, so some were killed…”

“It killed people just for covering their ears?”

When I asked in shock, Sillian whispered as if she was revealing a secret.

“S, so the s, spirit summoners are all a, afraid. They say we m, must never talk to it…”

I had a lot I wanted to say, but I held it in so she wouldn’t be startled.

Of course they shouldn’t talk! If they’re human, they wouldn’t be able to endure that horrible song for even five seconds!

Thanks to a certain someone, I only see the text in written form, but even those wave-like lines are terrifying.

“But how did the Baron become able to use Uturainu as a spirit?”

“O, our family c, can’t hear that spirit’s voice, but we guess its feelings from the intensity and movement of the dim light. S, so we match its mood and soothe him…”

Her voice got smaller as she spoke, maybe because she felt embarrassed that her ability was weaker than those of spirit summoners who could clearly see and hear spirits.

But because of the effort of guessing its mood only from light, her family had coexisted with a spirit until now without losing him. And that spirit was even a poison spirit.

They said spirit summoners mostly disappeared from Tubain, but the one who lasted to the end was the Owik family, who valued even small abilities and worked hard.

“So your ancestors even drank poison to match the spirit’s mood?”

“That, that’s just a matter of taste…”

The respect I felt for the Owik family shattered in less than a second. They were just people who liked poison.

“Anyway, it must be hard for you to read the spirit’s mood only from light.”

Sillian looked embarrassed but kept talking a bit more.

“It,,It was ex, excited before it dis, disappeared. It was like, the feeling before going home.”

Home? That word immediately brought something to mind. Dia, who had cried so much saying it wanted to go home.

I hoped Dia got there safely. Come to think of it, something Dia shouted underwater bothered me.

‘I’ll explain it to Lord Hyuu… properly!’

Just like the other spirits, Dia kept saying it’d tell someone about me.

“Is there a king of spirits? Someone who rules over them?”

“No.”

Sillian shook her head. Really? Don’t spirits have ranks?

“The, the spirits have differences in power, but they don’t rule each other. So they’re all fr, free.”

“But there must be a strongest one, right? Who’s stronger than Uturainu?”

“Uh, there isn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Be, because Revered Uturainu the strongest.”

“…Who is?”

“Re, Revered U, Uturainu.”

“…”

“Only, um, a, a divine beast could be stronger.”

Sillian’s explanation didn’t reach my ears anymore. Instead, I started reflecting on whether I’d ever said something wrong to the Spirit of Poison in the past.

What? That finger-sized thing is that strong?

While I was speechless from shock, Sillian talked a bit more about the spirit and then sighed in relief.

“Whe, when he lived in our house, Revered Uturainu couldn’t go home often because it was protecting me. Bu, but here, since I’m safe, it went to visit home. It seems like there’s a ce, celebration there. They said a friend who had been gone for a long time came back. So it see, seemed happy. Before going home, it probably went to find a p, present.”

You figured all that out just from how it felt?!

It was impressive, but if I asked, she’d probably apologize again for no reason, so I changed the subject.

“Baron, don’t you want to go back home?”

“No.” She shook her head and suddenly looked gloomy. Ah, because I mentioned home. I hurried to comfort her.

“You’ll be able to go back home soon.”

“Ah! A, are you ki, kicking me out?!”

She trembled in fear. I quickly waved both hands.

“No! I’m not kicking you out! Not at all! I just meant you might want to go back home.”

“I, I don’t want to go home… It’s scary there…”

At first I thought it was because of her spouse, but after listening patiently, I found out she was scared of the Owik mansion itself.

It was so old that it wouldn’t be strange if it collapsed at any moment, but she said they couldn’t repair it. A long time ago, another spirit’s blessing had created a barrier around the Owik family mansion, and because of that, they absolutely couldn’t touch it.

Could it really be that they can’t fix it even if there’s a hole in the wall? But the Owik family had always been timid and cautious, so it seemed they hadn’t even done small repairs.

“But if it leaks when it rains, you have to fix it…”

“N, no! If we do, the mansion’s barrier will activate, and something sc, scary will happen… To avoid its wrath, we have to go to the secret room… but my, my mother couldn’t find it… m, my grandfather couldn’t find it… even my great-grandmother couldn’t find it…”

At that point, isn’t that room just mocking them?

I couldn’t bring myself to insult her ancestors, so I just listened. She must’ve had a lot bottled up, because she kept talking for once. And in the end, she even started crying.

“T, the worst part is, win, winter is so cold…”

Sillian buried her face in her hands. I quietly patted her arm and nodded. It’s hard to live in a house that lets in the wind.

“This winter, stay warm in Adeye, forget about other things, and focus only on your research.”

While I comforted her and pressured her at the same time, a maid came to the greenhouse looking for me.

“Lord Lu, a letter has arrived for you.”

A letter? My eyes quickly turned serious and I walked in front.

“Did it come through the transport portal?”

“No, it arrived by courier.”

Ah, so it’s not Tairok then?

I was relieved, but I still didn’t let my guard down until I got to my room. A few days ago, Tairok had sent me a reply less than thirty minutes after I’d sent mine.

I’d been so startled by that speed, was it a letter or an SNS message?, and when I opened it, it said:

“Thank you with your mouth? You should at least use your mouth on me.”

…… What kind of old pervert response is this?