The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Chapter 88

“Blow away all the wraiths.”

A bright smile spread across Elise’s lips.

“Yes! Got it!”

Fwoosh!

A golden flame of holy power flared up from Elise’s small fist.

Elise smiled, enveloping her hand in the blazing holy power.

“I will burn them all clean.”

That smile oddly resembled Aden’s radiant smile when he was angry.

A sinister smile reminiscent of a little demon.

-Ki, kiiiik!

-Hi, hieeek!

The group of wraiths instinctively felt something was wrong and trembled in fear.

* * *

“Thank you. Truly, thank you! Miss Elise! Everyone!”

Marcus, on the verge of tears, expressed his gratitude to Elise, Aden, and the rest of the group.

Beside him, his daughter Sharle was sleeping peacefully, looking more serene than ever.

It was thanks to Aden revealing the presence of the wraiths and Elise personally purifying them.

“No, Guild Master Maedala. It’s too soon to thank us.”

Aden’s words were true.

For now, they could stick close and catch the wraiths, but they couldn’t stay by her side twenty-four hours a day.

A more fundamental solution was needed.

Fortunately, Aden had Curse, who was full of miscellaneous knowledge.

-The most reliable method is to make a contract with a spirit. Such parasites wouldn’t dare touch a child who has a guardian spirit. But this is strange.

‘What do you mean?’

-For someone with this level of affinity, it’s common for a high-ranking spirit to have already taken notice and be protecting them.

Individuals with exceptionally high spirit affinity were rare even among the fairy tribe, let alone among humans.

Usually, when such a child is born, a spirit comes to form a preliminary contract and protects the child until they grow up.

-This child surviving for eight years is proof of that. If there were no guardian spirit, she would have been devoured by the wraiths before she could even walk.

‘But the fact that wraiths are gathering around her means…’

-That’s right. The spirit protecting this human child has disappeared. Why did the spirit guarding the child vanish?

Aden thought maybe it had already perished, but Curse denied it.

-If the spirit with a preliminary contract had perished, a new spirit would have appeared to fill the void. The fact that this hasn’t happened means the spirit is still alive somewhere. In this situation, finding another spirit for her is impossible.

‘Hmm…’

Aden suddenly wondered about Curse’s extensive knowledge.

Curse had always known a lot of random facts, but his knowledge about the fairy tribe and spirits was something that even scholars would be envious of.

Though it bothered him a bit, he didn’t pry.

Curse was a consciousness born from the Demon Lord’s curse.

Trusting such a being completely was dubious, so Aden decided to contact friends who were more knowledgeable about spirits than anyone else.

-Hey! Chief Aden, hello! It’s been a while!

“Ets.”

The voice of the young ent, Ets, came from the unimpressive wooden bracelet Aden wore.

The bracelet, imbued with the Blessing of the Wind, allowed communication with the ent tribe.

Aden contacted the ent tribe through the bracelet, as fairies were synonymous with spirits.

-Tsk, there’s no need to check. You have zero trust, Dragon Slayer King.

‘You wouldn’t say that if you’ve been stabbed in the back by comrades. Besides, trust between you and me isn’t possible, is it?’

Ignoring Curse’s complaints, Aden briefly explained the situation to Ets to verify Curse’s information.

“…So, this is the situation. Is it really true?”

-Yes! Silpia says so!

“Silpia?”

-Oh, it’s my spirit friend I recently made a contract with! It’s a great wind spirit. All thanks to Chief Aden and Miss Elise, hehe.

Thanks to the Fairy Tree Aden planted and Elise nurtured, the ent tribe was able to interact with spirits.

Silpia was the name of the spirit Ets had recently befriended.

-Anyway, Silpia says it’s true.

Ets said that if Sharle had such high affinity and survived for eight years, it must have been because a strong spirit protected her.

-But since they can’t sense it, it means that the spirit is still alive somewhere. What? Silpia says she’d love to run over, dump the trees, and make a contract instead? Wah! That’s too much!

“…Ets.”

-Oh, sorry. Anyway, you want to find out where that spirit went, right? Should we ask the spirits?

Aden couldn’t believe his ears.

“Ask? What do you mean?”

-Yes, spirits communicate quickly and have extensive networks.

Ets explained that, unless they were newly born spirits, they generally knew where and what other spirits were doing and what they liked.

“Huh, I didn’t know that.”

-Silpia doesn’t like sharing stories from the spirit world with the physical realm, but she can try to find out if a spirit guarding a young contractee went missing recently.

“That’s fortunate. Please do.”

-Yes, please wait a moment.

About five minutes later, a response came from the wooden bracelet.

-We found a clue! Chief!

“Are you sure?”

-Yes! A spirit named Freg, who had a preliminary contract with a young human girl in Kartan City! It all matches! It’s the spirit of plague.

“Spirit of plague?”

A peculiar term had surfaced.

According to Ets, the spirit of plague was a special attribute spirit that governed various diseases.

Special attribute spirits were different from natural spirits and could sometimes wield power comparable to high-ranking spirits.

-But among humans, it’s considered an ominous spirit, so it’s a very withdrawn and hurt spirit.

‘That makes sense.’

Who would welcome a spirit that controls diseases?

Even if someone did, it would only be those malicious enough to use it to harm others.

Aden knew of one such case where a contractor misused a plague spirit.

The Plague Sorcerer of Sin, Rodocera…

Using the power of a plague spirit, he had destroyed an ancient kingdom and caused countless people to suffer from diseases.

Even now, in some regions, Rodocera was considered a demon, and people shuddered at the mere mention of his name.

Aden’s eyes darkened.

‘Even if we find the spirit, it will be a problem…’

If it became known that Sharle had a contract with a plague spirit, her life would be far from easy.

‘But it’s an issue to consider only if she survives.’

Whatever hardships she might face, she first needed to live through this.

Therefore, finding her spirit was the priority.

-A spirit who used to be friends with the plague spirit said it boasted about a new friend who gave it delicious spirit stone fragments. But it went missing soon after.

Spirit stones were rare minerals that spirits loved, acting as an elixir that enhanced their power and kept them healthy.

Aden’s expression became subtle.

The image of a kidnapper luring a child with candy came to mind.

-Unfortunately, they don’t know who that friend is, and that’s all they know. Sorry.

“No, it’s been a great help. Let’s end it here.”

Anyway, it was confirmed that Curse’s information was true.

Aden relayed the information to Marcus just as he had learned it from the ent tribe.

He fabricated that he had gathered this information from the ent tribe in the territory.

He left out specific details like the plague spirit and the unknown friend.

Marcus’s eyes widened.

Even as the head of the mercenary guild, this was information he didn’t know.

“So, my Sharle has high spirit affinity, and the disappearance of her guardian spirit has attracted the wraiths?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“I see… That makes sense.”

It was an extraordinary story, hard to believe at first, but Marcus accepted it surprisingly quickly.

“I recall hearing that my wife’s grandfather was a spiritist. I never considered that possibility, but your explanation makes sense.”

-Hoo, so the spirit affinity skipped generations? Interesting.

Marcus looked at Aden with a desperate expression.

“Then, what must I do to help Sharle?”

“First, we need to find the missing spirit.”

The problem was that there were no clues besides the fact that a ‘friend’ who gave spirit stones had appeared.

It was highly likely that this ‘friend’ had kidnapped the plague spirit.

But there were no clues to find that person, leaving them in the dark.

“Aden, I’m sorry, but may I ask something?”

At that moment, Roe raised his hand and spoke up.

“From what I’ve heard, the reason Mr. Marcus’s daughter is ill is because the wraiths have gathered and are tormenting her. Is that correct?”

“Yes, but why?”

Roe asked, seemingly not understanding.

“Then how could a small potion immediately improve her condition? Something even the saint’s healing couldn’t achieve, but a mere fever reducer did?”

“…What?”

It was then that everyone, including Aden, sensed something odd.

* * *

Rabbits, the spirit merchant.

He was currently at the Spirit Marketplace, a somewhat special place even in the spirit realm.

A certain spirit merchant visited Rabbits.

With disgustingly long whiskers and a tail, a sewer rat the size of a human in a tuxedo was stroking his whiskers.

The rat-shaped spirit merchant looked down at Rabbits arrogantly with a sneer.

-It’s been a while, novice merchant.

-Oh my! The esteemed Mr. Pest! What brings you to my humble territory…?

Rabbits rubbed his rabbit hands together, grinning obsequiously.

Rabbits was busy flattering Pest, the spirit merchant.

Pest was a mid

-level merchant, one rank higher than Rabbits.

To Rabbits, Pest was like the sky, a superior.

Moreover, rumors said Pest had recently achieved great performance and was on the verge of being promoted to a senior merchant.

-Hmm, your performance has been poor lately. The margins are too small.

-I’m terribly sorry! It’s all due to my incompetence…!

As Rabbits rubbed his rabbit feet and bowed obsequiously, Pest sneered at him.

-Well, of course. It’s unreasonable to expect perfect work from a stupid and incompetent novice merchant like you.

-…Thank you for your understanding!

Rabbits smiled brightly while subtly grinding his teeth.

He thought to himself.

‘Damn it. This filthy rat…’

Pest was a greedy creature, always scheming how to squeeze more profits.

Well, all spirit merchants were like that, but Pest often bullied fellow merchants to steal their achievements.

Rabbits had experienced his performance being snatched away powerlessly several times due to Pest’s tyranny.

‘He’s probably berating me now because there’s not much left to steal.’

Pest was a greedy and arrogant character, or rather, a rat of broken character.

Meanwhile, thinking of that damn human, Aden, with whom he had an exclusive contract, made Rabbits even more furious.

‘Ugh! It’s all because of that human!’

Thanks to that damn human, the number of dungeons he had to visit had multiplied, but the profit had halved.

He was even worried about maintaining his novice merchant status.

Thus, while he listened to Pest’s dirty mockery and lectures with one rabbit ear and let them out the other, a beeping sound came from Pest’s pocket, and a communication stone lit up.

-Ah, it’s already this time. Tsk.

Clicking his tongue lightly, Pest took out a shiny stone from his pocket and tossed it into his mouth.

It was a spirit stone fragment, a snack he enjoyed.

As Pest crunched on the spirit stone fragment, he gave Rabbits one last warning.

-Hey, novice merchant. Make more effort from now on.

-Yep. I’ll deeply take your advice to heart!

Pest then created a door in the air and departed for the human world.

About ten seconds later, Rabbits, who had been smiling innocently…

-Put in more effort, my ass, you rotten sewer rat!

…his face twisted as if he had bitten into a bug.

-Ugh, it’s a sin to be low-ranked! This is disgusting! Ugh, spit!

Then he spat thickly in the direction Pest had vanished.

It was a weary day in the life of a novice merchant.