TN: The forest name is Lukewood. We have Lienne Forest ealier.
***
“Oh my, is Luke walking with her sister?”
“Hi, Luke. Do you want some candy?”
“Don’t go that way because monsters come out there, it’s dangerous. Got it? Well then, goodbye!”
As Luke and Yerina were taking a walk, they greeted every forest guardian they met.
An elf forest guardian found in the Lukewood, with the same name as the forest.
Isn’t that quite an interesting story?
In fact, unbeknownst to Luke, she had already become a mascot for the forest guardians of Lukewood.
They all deliberately followed Yerina’s GPS to catch a glimpse of Luke.
As she put the candy she received into her pocket, Luke replied.
“Yeah, thanks for all your hard work.”
“What hard work! This is just a part of the job!”
“Don’t go too deep into the forest, okay?”
“Don’t let go of Yerina’s hand, okay!”
After exchanging greetings with the child, the forest guardians laughed and walked back to their positions.
Luke found such treatment embarrassing.
“Being treated like a child at this age.”
Although she felt deep self-reproach, she couldn’t show it.
Since everyone greeted her with a happy expression, she didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere.
“If sacrificing my feelings for a moment can bring a smile to their lives… it’s a worthwhile deal.”
With that thought in mind, Luke regained her composure.
It wasn’t difficult.
As a wizard, she should be able to control her emotions.
And the air and mana of the forest were enough to improve Luke’s mood.
Continuing their walk, almost feeling like they had greeted every forest guardian in Lukewood, Yerina stroked Luke’s head and spoke.
“Shall we start heading back now?”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
From the beginning until now, Yerina had been observing Luke’s intense concentration on the GPS screen.
“She seems really eager to go to the zoo or something.”
The thought of taking Luke there crossed her mind.
“Since many animals and monsters hibernate in winter, maybe in spring when the weather is better…”
As Yerina was thinking this, she suddenly felt that Luke had been staring at the small screen for too long.
“Um, are you going to give back the GPS now? You seem to have been staring at it for too long.”
“…Alright.”
Nodding, Luke handed the GPS back to Yerina.
Even though she had been staring at it for so long, she still couldn’t figure out how it worked.
It seems like She could only figure out that something huge was exchanging information, but Luke, who thought that even if she continued to watch for longer, she wouldn’t be able to understand its true nature, decided to let go of her lingering attachment to that magical artifact for now.
“I should look into it in a book sometime.”
As Luke pondered whether she should even go to the library, she stopped in her tracks upon seeing a blue figure in front of her.
“Oh.”
Yerina looked down at Luke, who suddenly stopped walking.
“Luke, what’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“This is…”
That blue figure was a familiar sight.
It seemed like she had seen it once before… in the past…
“Is it a spirit?”
As she thought of that, the blue figure, as if confirming her thoughts, shook its mana-made body and spoke.
-………
…Indeed, upon listening again, it was more like noise than speech.
The voice sounded like playing an untuned string instrument.
There was a sound like scratching a blackboard, and also a sound like blowing a giant horn.
And…
-Erre, Erre.
As she repeated the word “Erre” and watched the spirit’s mana-made body tremble up and down as if laughing, Luke thought.
It feels like calling someone’s name.
“Is this, by any chance, calling me Erre?”
Pushing the spirit slightly away, Luke said.
“My name is Luke Irushi, not Erre.”
-Luke? …Erre!
“I said I’m not Erre.”
“Luke, what are you talking to?”
Yerina, surprised by Luke’s sudden muttering, asked.
What’s going on?
Could something strange have suddenly occurred in her mind?
As Yerina, who couldn’t see the spirit, she couldn’t help but worry.
“A spirit, Yerina.”
“A spirit?”
Yerina felt tense at the mention of “spirits”.
She couldn’t tell if the child was seeing something imaginary or something strange and calling it a spirit.
At that moment, Luke asked Yerina as if her reaction was strange.
“Could it be that you can’t see this spirit?”
“Um, well….”
Sure enough, there was nothing in the direction Luke was pointing, even upon looking again.
There were no spirits to call upon, whether it be grass, leaves, strangely shaped bugs, or fireflies like last time… There was nothing to call a spirit.
Really, nothing.
If anything, it would just be the air.
Yerina started to become slightly cautious.
‘Could it be… a ghost?’
Well, considering the number of people who lost their lives in the Lukewood, it’s not uncommon for entity-type monsters like banshees or wraiths to appear.
But this wasn’t the case here.
If it were a wraith or banshee, it would show up as a red dot on the GPS since monsters would show up on GPS.
“If it’s a monster, it should show up on the GPS…”
Modern mana detection satellites detect all ‘unnatural’ mana flows.
Ghost-type monsters like banshees and wraiths are naturally detectable.
But here, there were only two blue dots representing Yerina and Luke.
That means…
“Oh, could this possibly be an imaginary friend?”
A presence common among children under 10, almost like a symbol of innocence.
Children often can’t distinguish between imagination and reality.
So they would perceive the spirits in their imagination as if they were real.
In Luke’s imagination, which is greatly influenced by fairy tales, there would certainly be no shortage of spirits.
Yerina, who had reached this conclusion, was torn between whether she should break this innocent child’s imagination or protect it once again.
“Um…”
Yerina still remembered the gloomy expression on Luke’s face after she thoughtlessly said,
“Renye is actually dead at the hospital last time.”
Yerina didn’t want to make Luke look like that again this time.
In the end, Yerina firmly nodded her head with determination.
“Luke, spirits actually… only those recognized as friends by the spirits can see their appearance. Um… Luke, can’t see my spirit, right?”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. It’s true.”
She lied.
‘Luke, what you’re calling a spirit is just a friend from your imagination, and I can’t see it.’ I couldn’t bring myself to say those words.
Yerina rationalized that it was a white lie told with good intentions.
But upon hearing that lie, Luke nodded her head.
“Ah, so that’s why I couldn’t see your spirit.”
It makes sense when you think about it.
Why couldn’t I see any spirits around Yerina when she claimed to be friends with spirits? Why were spirits, beings that surely existed, so rare in this world?
Of course, Yerina’s vague explanations didn’t quite hit the mark, but…
Five thousand years ago, Luke had almost zero affinity with spirits, being a wizard who detested magic to the extreme. Due to the aversion of spirits towards magicians and wizards, not a single spirit could be found around her, even though she was a grand mage.
Of course, Luke wasn’t particularly interested in knowledge that she deemed “useless”, so she never bothered to look up information about spirits.
And, of course, it was the same for all other wizards.
So, for Luke, who had almost no knowledge about spirits, Yerina’s explanation seemed quite plausible.
Well, there weren’t any spirit wizards in this era who could correct her anyway.
In fact, no one could see spirits in this era.
Now, spirits are just preserved in scenes from fairy tales.
So, there are no longer any people curious about the ecology of spirits.
Except perhaps historians and archaeologists dedicated to uncovering the past.
“Yeah, I see.”
Yerina nodded in apparent understanding towards Luke.
“Well, imaginary friends disappear when you grow up anyway.”
As Luke’s mind matured and he could distinguish between imagination and reality, things would get better.
There was no need to deliberately shatter her innocence by telling her there were no spirits.
Meanwhile, spirits were clearly visible to Luke.
With their incomprehensible language mixed in with repetitive echoes of “Luke,” “Erre, Luke,” resonating.
The spirit moved in a round, soap-bubble-like shape, with a bluish mana tail flickering like the edge of a bonfire, bobbing its head from side to side as if it were nodding along.
It was quite adorable.
“It seems that no one could see spirits except those who judged them as ‘friends’….”
In that case, this spirit must consider itself as a ‘friend’.
“Well, now I know something I didn’t before.”
Luke smiled at the sight of the blue spirit happily wriggling on her palm.
“Alright. So, spirit. Can you tell me your name?”
With Luke’s kind tone, the spirit made popping sounds like bubbles bursting a few times, then made a sound like a baby’s coo.
-Pie! …Pie!
“So, you want to be called ‘Pie’.”
Luke said, feeling the gentle flow of mana on her palm.
“Pie, was the firefly yours, by any chance?”
-Luke, Pie! …
Although it was a language that couldn’t be understood except for the name, it seemed like it was the case when seeing the nodding motion of the spirit.
“I see, so that’s how it was.”
The mana arrangement that came to mind at that moment might have been a sign of affection among spirits.
It seems that the firefly was indeed a messenger of the spirits.
TN: The forest name is Lukewood. We have Lienne Forest ealier.
***
“Oh my, is Luke walking with her sister?”
“Hi, Luke. Do you want some candy?”
“Don’t go that way because monsters come out there, it’s dangerous. Got it? Well then, goodbye!”
As Luke and Yerina were taking a walk, they greeted every forest guardian they met.
An elf forest guardian found in the Lukewood, with the same name as the forest.
Isn’t that quite an interesting story?
In fact, unbeknownst to Luke, she had already become a mascot for the forest guardians of Lukewood.
They all deliberately followed Yerina’s GPS to catch a glimpse of Luke.
As she put the candy she received into her pocket, Luke replied.
“Yeah, thanks for all your hard work.”
“What hard work! This is just a part of the job!”
“Don’t go too deep into the forest, okay?”
“Don’t let go of Yerina’s hand, okay!”
After exchanging greetings with the child, the forest guardians laughed and walked back to their positions.
Luke found such treatment embarrassing.
“Being treated like a child at this age.”
Although she felt deep self-reproach, she couldn’t show it.
Since everyone greeted her with a happy expression, she didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere.
“If sacrificing my feelings for a moment can bring a smile to their lives… it’s a worthwhile deal.”
With that thought in mind, Luke regained her composure.
It wasn’t difficult.
As a wizard, she should be able to control her emotions.
And the air and mana of the forest were enough to improve Luke’s mood.
Continuing their walk, almost feeling like they had greeted every forest guardian in Lukewood, Yerina stroked Luke’s head and spoke.
“Shall we start heading back now?”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
From the beginning until now, Yerina had been observing Luke’s intense concentration on the GPS screen.
“She seems really eager to go to the zoo or something.”
The thought of taking Luke there crossed her mind.
“Since many animals and monsters hibernate in winter, maybe in spring when the weather is better…”
As Yerina was thinking this, she suddenly felt that Luke had been staring at the small screen for too long.
“Um, are you going to give back the GPS now? You seem to have been staring at it for too long.”
“…Alright.”
Nodding, Luke handed the GPS back to Yerina.
Even though she had been staring at it for so long, she still couldn’t figure out how it worked.
It seems like She could only figure out that something huge was exchanging information, but Luke, who thought that even if she continued to watch for longer, she wouldn’t be able to understand its true nature, decided to let go of her lingering attachment to that magical artifact for now.
“I should look into it in a book sometime.”
As Luke pondered whether she should even go to the library, she stopped in her tracks upon seeing a blue figure in front of her.
“Oh.”
Yerina looked down at Luke, who suddenly stopped walking.
“Luke, what’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“This is…”
That blue figure was a familiar sight.
It seemed like she had seen it once before… in the past…
“Is it a spirit?”
As she thought of that, the blue figure, as if confirming her thoughts, shook its mana-made body and spoke.
-………
…Indeed, upon listening again, it was more like noise than speech.
The voice sounded like playing an untuned string instrument.
There was a sound like scratching a blackboard, and also a sound like blowing a giant horn.
And…
-Erre, Erre.
As she repeated the word “Erre” and watched the spirit’s mana-made body tremble up and down as if laughing, Luke thought.
It feels like calling someone’s name.
“Is this, by any chance, calling me Erre?”
Pushing the spirit slightly away, Luke said.
“My name is Luke Irushi, not Erre.”
-Luke? …Erre!
“I said I’m not Erre.”
“Luke, what are you talking to?”
Yerina, surprised by Luke’s sudden muttering, asked.
What’s going on?
Could something strange have suddenly occurred in her mind?
As Yerina, who couldn’t see the spirit, she couldn’t help but worry.
“A spirit, Yerina.”
“A spirit?”
Yerina felt tense at the mention of “spirits”.
She couldn’t tell if the child was seeing something imaginary or something strange and calling it a spirit.
At that moment, Luke asked Yerina as if her reaction was strange.
“Could it be that you can’t see this spirit?”
“Um, well….”
Sure enough, there was nothing in the direction Luke was pointing, even upon looking again.
There were no spirits to call upon, whether it be grass, leaves, strangely shaped bugs, or fireflies like last time… There was nothing to call a spirit.
Really, nothing.
If anything, it would just be the air.
Yerina started to become slightly cautious.
‘Could it be… a ghost?’
Well, considering the number of people who lost their lives in the Lukewood, it’s not uncommon for entity-type monsters like banshees or wraiths to appear.
But this wasn’t the case here.
If it were a wraith or banshee, it would show up as a red dot on the GPS since monsters would show up on GPS.
“If it’s a monster, it should show up on the GPS…”
Modern mana detection satellites detect all ‘unnatural’ mana flows.
Ghost-type monsters like banshees and wraiths are naturally detectable.
But here, there were only two blue dots representing Yerina and Luke.
That means…
“Oh, could this possibly be an imaginary friend?”
A presence common among children under 10, almost like a symbol of innocence.
Children often can’t distinguish between imagination and reality.
So they would perceive the spirits in their imagination as if they were real.
In Luke’s imagination, which is greatly influenced by fairy tales, there would certainly be no shortage of spirits.
Yerina, who had reached this conclusion, was torn between whether she should break this innocent child’s imagination or protect it once again.
“Um…”
Yerina still remembered the gloomy expression on Luke’s face after she thoughtlessly said,
“Renye is actually dead at the hospital last time.”
Yerina didn’t want to make Luke look like that again this time.
In the end, Yerina firmly nodded her head with determination.
“Luke, spirits actually… only those recognized as friends by the spirits can see their appearance. Um… Luke, can’t see my spirit, right?”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. It’s true.”
She lied.
‘Luke, what you’re calling a spirit is just a friend from your imagination, and I can’t see it.’ I couldn’t bring myself to say those words.
Yerina rationalized that it was a white lie told with good intentions.
But upon hearing that lie, Luke nodded her head.
“Ah, so that’s why I couldn’t see your spirit.”
It makes sense when you think about it.
Why couldn’t I see any spirits around Yerina when she claimed to be friends with spirits? Why were spirits, beings that surely existed, so rare in this world?
Of course, Yerina’s vague explanations didn’t quite hit the mark, but…
Five thousand years ago, Luke had almost zero affinity with spirits, being a wizard who detested magic to the extreme. Due to the aversion of spirits towards magicians and wizards, not a single spirit could be found around her, even though she was a grand mage.
Of course, Luke wasn’t particularly interested in knowledge that she deemed “useless”, so she never bothered to look up information about spirits.
And, of course, it was the same for all other wizards.
So, for Luke, who had almost no knowledge about spirits, Yerina’s explanation seemed quite plausible.
Well, there weren’t any spirit wizards in this era who could correct her anyway.
In fact, no one could see spirits in this era.
Now, spirits are just preserved in scenes from fairy tales.
So, there are no longer any people curious about the ecology of spirits.
Except perhaps historians and archaeologists dedicated to uncovering the past.
“Yeah, I see.”
Yerina nodded in apparent understanding towards Luke.
“Well, imaginary friends disappear when you grow up anyway.”
As Luke’s mind matured and he could distinguish between imagination and reality, things would get better.
There was no need to deliberately shatter her innocence by telling her there were no spirits.
Meanwhile, spirits were clearly visible to Luke.
With their incomprehensible language mixed in with repetitive echoes of “Luke,” “Erre, Luke,” resonating.
The spirit moved in a round, soap-bubble-like shape, with a bluish mana tail flickering like the edge of a bonfire, bobbing its head from side to side as if it were nodding along.
It was quite adorable.
“It seems that no one could see spirits except those who judged them as ‘friends’….”
In that case, this spirit must consider itself as a ‘friend’.
“Well, now I know something I didn’t before.”
Luke smiled at the sight of the blue spirit happily wriggling on her palm.
“Alright. So, spirit. Can you tell me your name?”
With Luke’s kind tone, the spirit made popping sounds like bubbles bursting a few times, then made a sound like a baby’s coo.
-Pie! …Pie!
“So, you want to be called ‘Pie’.”
Luke said, feeling the gentle flow of mana on her palm.
“Pie, was the firefly yours, by any chance?”
-Luke, Pie! …
Although it was a language that couldn’t be understood except for the name, it seemed like it was the case when seeing the nodding motion of the spirit.
“I see, so that’s how it was.”
The mana arrangement that came to mind at that moment might have been a sign of affection among spirits.
It seems that the firefly was indeed a messenger of the spirits.
