The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 265: Water Spirit (4)

The spirit had reformed its shape, but now it was only slightly larger than a human. It was probably looking at me—though with no eyes, I couldn’t read its expression.

—When the third tremor occurred, a very powerful force from outside tried to peer into this place. I happened to be nearby, and since we shared a similar nature, I reached out.

“From outside?”

—It had the power to manipulate memories through mist and seemed to be searching for a nurturer. That is likely you.

The King of Harmless. The jellyfish. If the Filial Duty Addict of this world is the King of Harmless, that might actually be the lesser evil.

“Are you sure it was from the outside? Not a being of this world?”

—Yes. It knew this was a constructed dungeon and even tried to enter through me. Just like how Lady Yerim entered Delta’s body. But it was soon repelled, and I retained a part of its power and information.

Spirits can’t normally use skills, so doing things like earlier was supposedly impossible. Meaning, the attempt to alter my memories with the mist—that was the jellyfish’s skill.

Not just stealing memories, but changing them, too. A truly dangerous ability.

‘So if we install the remaining discs, not only Rookie but the Unfilial Children might be able to interfere.’

Could Rookie stop them? I was getting anxious—there was still no word from him.

—I will give you the remaining power. You won’t be able to use it like I can, but it should block the memory-manipulating power of that entity at least once.

A faint mist wrapped around me and then disappeared.

“You’re not giving it to Yerim?”

—Lady Yerim has the pearl. But others should be cautious. Especially the fire spirit’s contractor…

“What now.”

The constant jabs at Yuhyun were starting to get on my nerves.

—It’s not due to his attribute this time. He’s more vulnerable because a portion of his memory was already stolen by the owner of the mist.

“But he got them back, didn’t he?”

—As far as I know, not completely. The owner of the mist still possesses some of his memories.

…Rookie did warn us. He said some might have been lost. Yuhyun had been the most deeply entangled with the mist of anyone… Damn it, that damned jellyfish.

—Be careful.

Leaving those words, the spirit’s form grew faint. Yerim looked at me, worry in her eyes.

“The memory thing… wasn’t it supposed to be resolved?”

“…I thought I got everything back, but I guess some are still missing. It’s not enough to cause a problem, though. Don’t worry about it too much.”

It must be something minor. Still—even if it was the tiniest, most trivial memory, I had no intention of letting it go. I told Yerim not to worry, but…

I would never lose my brother again. Not even a small part of him.

“By the way, Mister, the spirit I made a contract with—it’s not going to just blurt out all my secrets like that one, right?”

“Well… I mean, Iryn does tend to talk a bit. I don’t know if that’s Yuhyun’s actual thoughts or not, though.”

At my words, Yerim’s face turned pale.

“I won’t even know what it’s really thinking, and it’ll always be around… If I train it well before it learns to speak properly, do you think I can teach it what to say and what not to say? All the spirits here are so honest! What if it goes around spilling all my secrets like just now?!”

Yerim wailed as if it was the most horrifying thought imaginable. Honestly, I didn’t like it either.

“Iryn doesn’t say everything. Ismuar, Myungwoo’s spirit, is much more reserved than Iryn. And most importantly, if it truly treasures you, it won’t do anything you hate. If you teach it, it’ll understand.”

“Really? It has to! If not, I can’t go outside anymore! I’m still dying from embarrassment right now! And you’d better not tell Han Yuhyun! Don’t you dare say I cried thinking about my mom and dad!”

“Yeah, yeah. I won’t tell him.”

“Though he probably cried too. He did, right? Last time, he cried a lot.”

“Uh… yeah. He did.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not gonna say anything about that. Han Yuhyun didn’t say anything about my grades either.”

The water around us stirred. Yerim started drawing in mana broadly around me, as if preparing to ascend to the surface.

“Still, Yerim, let’s try to focus a bit more in the second semester. I know you were busy right after awakening for the finals, so it couldn’t be helped, but I think it’s good to keep up with your studies. You might feel like it’s pointless now that you’re a Hunter, but no one knows how the world might change.”

“Mister, I’m actually good at studying, okay? Last time was just crazy busy. I had Hunter training, went into dungeons, and also—there’s Chief Legal Officer Kim Hayun. I studied law with her, you know!”

“Law?”

“To figure out how much trouble I can get into without consequences~ That kind of thing. Like the acceptable threshold for illegal actions based on the social position of an S-rank Hunter and the situation. It’s hard for high-rank Hunters to follow every law perfectly when monsters are popping out of dungeons. Han Yuhyun said she sat him down for lessons too.”

…Looks like I owe her a visit with a fruit basket. Yerim and I began slowly rising toward the surface.

“Team Leader Hayun is apparently really famous in the Hunter legal field. Since our Guild Leader is young, she was involved in almost all the legislation related to underage Hunters.”

She was said to have worked on removing unnecessary restrictions for underage Hunters while also reinforcing protections. Yerim explained that the age limit for registering as a Hunter was being raised now, so if she had awakened just a bit later, she might not have been able to become a Hunter at all.

“She was originally supposed to join Breaker, but the old fogeys there didn’t want a woman in the Legal Team Leader position, so she ended up at Haeyeon. Haeyeon doesn’t really have that kind of problem, right? Hyunah unnie said she likes how the Young Master is fair.”

“Yuhyun is like that.”

“He hates everyone equally, except for you.”

“…It’s not that extreme.”

Yerim burst out laughing.

“It’s more like he only cares about Mister. Dislike is still a form of attention, after all.”

“Still, he does pay attention to you and Peace too. I’m not just defending him—that’s what I think.”

“Well, yeah. When he said I deserved to know the truth, I didn’t show it, but I was kind of surprised. It felt like I’d really been accepted, and that made me proud. That’s a secret too, by the way.”

“As a Hunter, I think Yuhyun probably trusts you more than he does me.”

Yerim’s face bloomed with another bright smile. As we slowly rose toward the surface of the sea, we kept talking. Childhood stories, and for the first time, more detailed stories about Yerim’s parents came out.

Things I couldn’t ask carelessly, and that Yerim had held back from saying so as not to worry me, her current guardian.

“When I was living with my uncle, I tried really hard not to think about my parents. Remember when I said I imagined someone else coming to take me? Like I dreamed it? That memory was pleasant, but thinking about Mom and Dad hurt.”

Maybe that’s why the keyword effect had shown Mister instead of her parents. She said she still felt sadness, but now she thought about them much more than before. If we used the keyword again, I wondered if she might even perceive me as one of her parents now. I was glad that wasn’t the case.

SHHAAA—water burst upward as we broke the surface. The sunlight, stronger now, felt almost blinding.

“Hyung, everything okay?”

Yuhyun approached, saying it was too long for just a conversation.

“Yeah, all good. Though the jellyfish seems to be waiting for us to come out.”

His expression instantly turned icy. It was the one opponent he despised more than anyone, even more than I did. I calmed him down—there was nothing it could do right now anyway.

“Guys, gather up!”

Yerim shouted, waving the pearl in the air.

“It’s too hard for you all to come over to where I live. But instead, we can make something called a spirit egg!”

—An egg?

—I’ve heard of that!

Several spirits started chatting excitedly before Yerim could even explain. So talkative.

—They’re hard to make.

—And they don’t hatch easily.

—How long do you live?

“Don’t worry, it’ll hatch quickly. This pearl is the base for the egg.”

She said everything was ready and they just had to add their strength, and the spirits rushed over in a wave.

—Me, me!

—Me too!

—I’m here!

“Line up! Line up, I said! No spirit gets in without following the rules!”

At Yerim’s command, the spirits formed an orderly line. Countless forms stretched across the icy sea, an absolutely stunning sight. And the line only kept getting longer.

Would it even finish by today?

“I don’t really know how the spirit egg thing works, but if that many spirits pour their strength into it, does it create a stronger spirit?”

“Who knows, but it probably has some effect.”

In response to Moon Hyunah and me, Iryn climbed up onto Yuhyun’s shoulder and flicked his tail.

—But since I’m the first, I’ll still be the strongest. I won’t lose!

“You’re going to be like a big sister, so be nice.”

—But that one’s water! Hyung, fire and water don’t get along!

“Yuhyun and Yerim get along fine.”

They might’ve been awkward at first, but now they were okay.

—Hyung! Humans and spirits are different! Iryn hates water!

As Iryn squealed, the nearby water spirits stared at him. The tiny lizard flinched and ducked into Yuhyun’s collar, mumbling softly, “I still hate it”.

If fire’s favorable element is wood, maybe a wood spirit would be best? Do those even exist?

‘I should try to get more spirit eggs when we return.’

Since I can hatch them, having more would be better—not just of other attributes, but even multiples of the same. It seems multiple spirits can form contracts with one person. What colors were there again? Green—was that poison? Or plants? If it’s poison…

I turned to look at Noah, who stood quietly to the side.

There was no guarantee a poison or healing-type spirit would form a contract with him—but if anyone needed someone who genuinely loved them the most, it was Noah. That’s why I wanted to find a spirit for him.

And it’d be great if others could contract spirits too.

As the spirits continued pouring their energy into it, the pearl in Yerim’s hand began to glow faint blue. Its shape also shrank a bit, becoming more oval in form.

The line that had once seemed endless had dwindled down significantly. At last, the spirit egg—now completely turned a vivid blue—received the final spirit’s power. All the spirits gazed at the egg. After a short silence, the white whale lifted its long fin.

– Farewell, Lady Yerim.

– Goodbye! See you!

– We won’t forget you! We love you!

– Me too! Bye-bye!

– Take care on your way.

A chorus of farewells erupted. So many voices, like rippling waves in shades of blue, seemed almost visible as they fell gently around us. Yerim shouted back as loud as she could, waving both arms.

“Take care! All of you!”

For a brief moment, her expression looked like she might cry, but it soon brightened again. Holding the blue egg carefully, she flew over to our side.

“Let’s go now.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

“I shouldn’t give you the egg yet, right, Mister?”

“If it hatches here, it’d be a problem. Even if it’s supposed to take time, you never know. Keep it safe in your inventory. Does it fit?”

“Yeah, it goes in. It shows up as an item.”

We didn’t bring up what would happen to the spirits left behind. Yerim already knew. It would become a painful memory when recalled—but even so, one she could talk about again someday.

As for me, I wondered.

We departed from Drosia before sunset. The forest of Revenua, which I’d dug through old records to find, was quite a distance from Drosia. Technically, it lay near a vanished city considered the predecessor of Drosia. Though far, the Medsang vessel, Flor, was said to reach it within half a day.

Once we installed the fourth disc there, only one would remain. What would happen to Sigma, whether we could safely carry out the spirit egg, when we’d finally see Seong Hyunjae’s face again—and then, there was the King of Harmless, lurking outside the dungeon.

“Yuhyun.”

I turned my head from the snowy landscape beyond the window, now tinged red by the setting sun. My brother, who had been quietly scrolling through the point shop’s items and skills, looked over at me.

“Do you… remember a watch?”

“A watch?”

Yuhyun tilted his head slightly, clearly unsure. I walked up to where he was sitting.

“Remember when Seong Hyunjae once tried to give me a watch?”

“…Was it that you didn’t want to say no, hyung? But I really wanted to give you a gift first, so…”

Yuhyun trailed off. His red eyes blinked slowly. The skin on the back of his hand shifted as Iryn poked her head out and opened her mouth.

– What’s wrong, Yuhyun? The watch is in your inventory. It’s not there now, but it was.

“…What watch?”

– Yuhyun?

I waved a hand at Iryn, signaling her not to say more. It wasn’t just a deleted memory—he couldn’t even perceive the topic. It seemed he couldn’t recognize anything related to what was lost.

“It’s nothing, Yuhyun.”

“…Hyung?”

“Want me to buy you one? A wristwatch, I mean. I’m sure you’ve already got a few.”

“No, I don’t. Just the guild-issued stopwatch. They break easily, and I’m not really into accessories… but if it’s from you, then… wearing it all the time…”

A thoughtful look clouded Yuhyun’s face. It probably would break easily. And constantly having to take it off and store it in his inventory would be a hassle.

“I’ll get you as many as you want. Why are you even hesitating? Your hyung’s rich now.”

It’s fine if they break. Whether he loses them or they get damaged, I’ll just keep buying more. And I’ll get your memories back, too—no matter what it takes.