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Volume 6 Chapter 2 Part 9

Translation: Kurehashi Aiko
Editing: Team Foxsunes

「I think that the title of ‘Spirit Companion’ or ‘Spirit Child’ would be a more appropriate term here, since it is something that everyone can easily understand. Have you heard it before, Filmina-dono? I do believe it is a term that occurs in fairy tales quite often. Just like this picture book. It usually describes a being beloved by all spirits, no matter their talents, background or race.」

「Yes, I do know about some of those stories. However, I have always thought about them as nothing more but children’s stories, not something that is grounded in reality……」

Looking quite confused, I take a look at the picture book, then I gaze at the figure of that man right next to me, who was keeping silent all this time, not showing a slightest bit of emotion upon hearing all this. I had my suspicions before, but all this time he seemed to act as if nothing that was said right about now was of particular interest to him. And while I do realize that there are only a couple of topics in this world that would genuinely pick that man’s attention, but since this time around it was a story that was directly connected to the Princess, he may have as well show at least some sort of interest.

Sometimes I think to myself that this man’s biggest flaw is perhaps his inability to show interest in other human beings for more than a couple of minutes at best. There was also something truly terrifying about just how many people’s expectations this silent treatment of that man must have thwarted, especially when he was younger and people were trying to genuinely approach him.

Perhaps noticing that I was staring at him quite a lot, that man slowly opened his eyes, but it looked like he did that rather reluctantly. Blinking his long eyelashes for a short while, was he perhaps half-asleep? I could most certainly imagine that it was the case here. It was also pretty amazing in its own right that this man would expose such a defenseless side of himself to anyone other than me. Speaking of which, the reason for why that man was tired and half-asleep surely must have been because he was trying to regain the strength that he used up in order to get the two weeks-worth of work done so that he could come here together with me. And just when I realized that, it also occurred to me that that man just wanted to rest here, so that was why he was so quiet and didn’t take part in the discussion. All because he was so tired. If that was the case, that certainly must have disqualified me as a wife or made me a failure, since I failed to notice that my dear husband was so tired and just wanted to rest.

Maybe it was because he noticed that the light in my eyes must have changed, but upon seeing that that man blinked a few more times and right about now he looked to be completely awake. There was no longer that lazy and half-asleep atmosphere about him. That man then took a glance at the papers spread on top of the table and picked up the image from the picture book in his hands, looking at it closely. He then traced his long and white fingertips alongside the picture, and before long the image of the boy surrounded by the spirits emerged from inside of the paper in three dimensions.

 ‘Hoo?’ I could hear Heinrich letting out a gasp of admiration. It must have been the first time for him to see something quite like this. Just then the three dimensional image of the boy and the spirits started to move around, with the boy standing still and the spirits dancing happily all around him. Looking down at his own creation with blank expression, that man poked the boy’s head with his finger a couple of times.

「People with an affinity for the spirits like that are not non-existent in this world. Surely they are rare in numbers, but each and single one of them has left their mark on history in one way or another. As much as some people would hate to admit it. As you can imagine, that child is not the first one to be called ‘the Medium’ and he is certainly not going to be the last.」

 From the hands of the spirits dancing around the young boy, there was fire, water, wind and earth erupting all over the place. After watching the scene for about a moment or two, the man finally snaps his fingers as if he had grown tired of looking at it. When he did that, the boy and the four great spirits all returned to their rightful place around the picture. Then the man closes his eyes again and apparently goes back to his sleep, after which Heinrich continues speaking in a calm manner.

 「Of course, the existence of the Medium is not something completely new or mysterious to us. The royal family knows about it, some of the highest ranking officials know about it, as well as a select few mages and priests from the Great Temple. But aside from that, the existence of such people is kept strictly outside of the knowledge of the common people. That is because mediums are special and unique existences. Which also makes them quite valuable and the object of both scorn and lust for some people. That is why their existence was kept so strictly hidden, to make them safe. Of course, the capital city would also provide some form of financial aid to them. This boy and this town is no exception from that rule. However, since the Demon Lord is no more, I would say that the situation has changed quite a bit.」

「And what could you possibly mean by that?」

「In the name of countermeasures against the threat that was the Demon Lord, many countries and areas declared their independence from bigger states. Same thing could be said about this area we are in right now. But if that process was allowed to go unchecked, then even after the defeat of the Demon Lord, the future of our country would be nothing but unsure, and would undermine our position on the international arena. Even Her Highness, as brilliant and blessed by the Goddess as she is, would not be able to help the situation if the worse would come to worst.」

I could tell that even though Heinrich seemed to be calm while he was saying that, deep down inside he was not calm and composed at all. Also, what he spoke of was quite grim, if I was to be honest. Does that mean that the kingdom was on the verge of collapsing at one point in time? No, no, no, no, no. That’s absurd. I can understand that some lands going independent is a serious matter, but surely it could not be enough to cause the whole country to collapse just like that?

 I look at the Princess in shock and confusion. The Princess, who has been quiet for quite some time now, only smirked from behind the milk tea she was sipping, and casually put away her cup back on the table.

 「As you can see, the situation is not looking so good. That is why the Medium here was thought to be my marriage partner. Well, we might call it matchmaking, but truth to be told, this thing here is pretty much a done deal at this point.」

Somehow, the overwhelming tone of the Princess when she was speaking about her marriage left me nothing but speechless. It was honestly so shocking and so beyond me that I did not know what I should say.

Isn’t that boy younger than the Princess to begin with? Then again, I guess that in a world like this one the marriages between the partners whose age gap is pretty wide is not all that uncommon. Rather, I would believe that practices like that are a thing that is encouraged in young people, to actually seek older, more experienced partners. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise to me that the Princess would also be the subject of that, and that someone like ‘the Medium’ would be chosen to become her partner. Aside from that, I should be glad that they seem to at the very least be a good match for one another.

 At least that’s what it looks like to me. That boy may be still young, but I am sure that with his current good looks he will grow up to be quite a handsome young man if you give him a few years. Maybe he will become someone whose beauty will be on par, or even surpass that of the Princess. I mean, it would be a given for the Princess’s partner to be as good-looking as her, given the Princess’s position.

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