Chapter 55
With trembling eyes gazing at the cracked earth gap, unknown smoke seeped out like stretching its arms.
And a hazy, formless existence overwhelmed the surrounding atmosphere as if encroaching upon it.
The air grew heavy too.
*'What on earth is this being?'*
An intense aura he'd never seen before seemed to bind his entire body.
At a glance, it was a spirit beast possessing tremendous power.
The thick fog-shaped spirit beast sent telepathy to him.
[Who are you?]
"I am the master who hatched you, spirit beast."
At that moment, the smoke writhed and approached Milligan, coiling around him as if to form a contract.
[I see. You are my complete master.]
Milligan closed his eyes, awaiting the contract mark.
But right then.
The smoke trying to seep into his bosom halted abruptly.
[But I must first meet my 'benefactor.']
"Benefactor......?"
[Yes. I must repay the grace to the one who made the land clean so I could be born, then return.]
"N-no. When will you repay the grace and come back?"
[Wait obediently, human who will become my master.]
As Milligan wore a baffled expression, the spirit beast's smoke slowly dispersed.
"Wow, what is this?"
Kalben froze in bewilderment. Milligan quietly murmured.
"Suspicious."
"......"
"A strange one earned the spirit beast's grace and became its benefactor."
He grinned fiercely.
Then he would find out.
Who exactly had touched the land.
*'Probably a tremendously powerful and great person.'*
"Perhaps an elderly one tired of worldly affairs. Could be hiding among the servants, so I'll search."
"Yes, let's go together. Deploy people. Right now."
And so, Sea King Milligan Ortejo, his advisor Kalben, and numerous elites from the North's sole Magic Tower.
All these people began pursuing the 'spirit beast's benefactor'.
In other words, the five-year-old child, Iri alone.
* * *
At the same time, Iri tiptoed into her room.
*'Wanna tell right away that I purified the land!'*
But she'd been told not to let others know her 'strong power'.
Iri decided to go see Milligan first.
She planned to rush over and brag that she'd prepared tremendous land to hatch the spirit beast.
But Milligan wasn't there.
So Iri pondered and knocked on Declan's office door.
"What's up?"
Iri folded her body like a folder and bowed.
"Elder, have you been well in body and mind?"
"Learned something weird again. What's this one."
Iri hurriedly straightened her bent waist.
Dark circles were thick under the elder's eyes.
*'Elder must be super busy!'*
Then straight to the point.
"I, I have something tremendous to tell you. Elder."
"Yeah? I just got something to say too."
"Neng? What is it-nimikka?"
"Seems like a ghost attached to your back."
"......?!"
Forgetting what she was about to say, sweat trickled down Iri's spine.
"G-ghost you say-nimikka?"
"Yeah. A really strangely shaped ghost."
"Heo, heok......!"
Declan's lips twisted mischievously.
Truthfully, this was petty revenge against the child who called only his father 'Grandpa' and him 'Elder'.
At that moment, Iri's face paled.
"Wh-where is the ghost-nimikka?"
"Behind you."
That instant.
Iri stomped her round feet wildly and bolted out.
"Wha, waaaaah!"
Even a physically strong child fears ghosts.
A small chuckle from the elder came from behind.
"No, I got rid of it. Come back!"
"Noooonimidaaa-!"
And so, the thoroughly terrified Iri returned to her room dejectedly.
Right after trudging into the room.
Iri stomped her round feet and drooped her eyebrows downward.
"E-elder talked about ghost so I forgot and couldn't say! That I purified super super strong land, and now spirit beast can hatch-nimida!"
Iri was a child too.
She tended to forget other things easily if there was one strong topic.
Then, Cookie said nonchalantly.
"Well, just say it right away. And, your elder exorcised the ghost for you...... no? Huh? What's this?"
"Ung?"
Wasn't there a fluffy stuffed doll on Iri's bed?
A green lizard-shaped fluffy doll.
"Weird. I don't have this doll."
Moreover, the doll was inching closer every time Iri looked away.
*'That, it's a super super suspicious doll, right?'*
Iri glared at the suspicious doll.
"D-don't come!"
Then the doll halted abruptly.
Iri widened her eyes hugely and pointed.
"It, it definitely moved."
"Yeah, it moved!"
Iri and Cookie shouted at the cloth doll simultaneously.
"Wh-what are you? G-get away!"
Perhaps intimidated by the hero and summon's bold shout.
The green lizard-shaped cloth doll drooped its tail downward.
[@%!#$#@$......]
After leaving one word.
This tiny lizard doll hid itself eerily and chillingly.
Iri and Cookie, witnessing the whole scene, fell into great shock.
*'R-real ghost?'*
* * *
Her grandmother in the South, Marquess Melissa, had sent a letter not long ago.
After the words 'We'll meet soon,' Hammuni had written a proverb.
'Misfortunes never come singly.'
It meant her chubby cheeks deflating, and even her soft belly fat deflating too.
At the time she received the letter, Iri hadn't understood what grandma meant.
But now, Iri realized that proverb bone-deep.
After chasing out the terrifying moving lizard doll.
"Heok, spirit beast hatched but disappeared?"
"Yes, that's what they say. So be careful. No one knows where the spirit beast might be."
Iri and Cookie looked at each other.
"Spirit beast vanishes right after appearing, seems out of its mind."
"Spirit beast ran away, ba."
What on earth was the reason?
Upset, Iri resolved to capture the spirit beast.
But an hour into enthusiastically searching for the spirit beast.
Iri couldn't find it.
No, far from finding the spirit beast, she encountered the lizard doll again.
Iri glared fiercely.
Her shoulders had felt heavy for some reason!
A lizard-shaped cotton doll was dangling limply on her shoulder!
"Why are you here-nimikka?"
Iri, playing an inexplicable hide-and-seek with the cloth doll, finally exploded.
"This is pissing me off!"
