The true identity of the great spirit beneath the earth.

Sauvel and Lauren stared in shock at the sudden appearance of my father and me in Sauvel’s study. They must’ve been surprised—usually, we’d show up at the front gate of the manor.

“Even my lord brother… I told you not to do something so startling…”

Sauvel immediately noticed the oddity, peering down at me, trembling in my father’s arms, tears streaming.

“Brother? What happened to Elen?”

“Elen-sama…?”

I gave a brief apology, then gestured to Lauren. “Get a blanket ready.”

“She overused her magic and caught a fever. She was asleep just a moment ago, but she’s been restless—seemed to be having a nightmare.”

“A fever? Is she alright now?”

“No, she’s still burning up. Sauvel, go get Mother.”

"Are you serious?! You’re actually going to talk to Elen in this state!?"

"I don’t like it either. But the situation’s gotten serious."

Sauvel swallowed his words, staring at his father’s anxious face. Truth be told, the order from the King had already arrived. He’d wanted to hear Elen’s account more than anything.

"Understood. I won’t push her."

"Alright."

As Sauvel stepped out of the study, Lovell, who’d laid Elen down on the sofa, shouted, "Ori!"

"…………?"

Mother, who should’ve appeared instantly as usual, didn’t show up no matter how long he waited. Frowning, Lovell called out her name again.

After a brief pause, Mother finally appeared, flustered.

"You! Elen’s…!"

Mother’s eyes landed on me lying on the sofa, and she let out a long, relieved sigh.

"Thank goodness you’re back safe… I was so worried."

"……Back? What the hell does that mean?"

"Talk later. Hand over Elen."

Mother switched places with Father and bumped her forehead against mine.

"……Kaa-sama……"

Mother smiled at me, her voice hoarse from crying too much.

You're fine now. You shouldn’t overdo it, you know?

I’m starting to feel drowsy, prompted by my mother’s calming voice.

The power flowed from where my forehead met my mother’s.

Let myself go with the current. A soft, floating sensation, as if drifting in the sky, swayed around me, rocking me like a cradle.

I drift, dazed and half-conscious, as the earlier panic and unease wash away, settling into a quiet calm.

And then, before I knew it, I was pulled straight into sleep.

After a while, Origin pulled away from Elen. Seizing the moment, Lovell spoke up.

“What the hell is going on? What do you mean, ‘looking for her’? I’ve been with Elen the whole time.”

“No, you’re mistaken. It was Elen’s soul that was lost.”

“…Soul?”

“Think of it as the core, the essence. The body’s just a vessel, really.”

“…So her soul, was lost?”

“She overused her power. Even the strength holding her soul in the body weakened—she drifted away.”

“If that… if it were gone…”

“…It was close. That’s why the Spirit World’s in chaos right now.”

Origin said that, then vanished, leaving word that the search party had found her.

Lovell stood frozen, staring at Elen. He hadn’t realized—she’d been on the verge of dying.

Kneeling on the floor, Lovell gently brushed his fingers over Elen’s face, now calm, unlike just moments ago.

There was so much she wanted to say, so much she wanted to ask—but Lovell just swallowed it all down. Then he let out a deep, weary sigh from the bottom of his stomach.

＊＊＊

The group gathered in Sauvel’s study consisted of Sauvel, Isabella, Lauren, Lovell, Origin, and Elen.

Wrapped in the blanket Lauren had handed her, Elen was still lying down. While soothing Isabella, who was frantic with worry over what had happened to Elen, Lovell turned to Origin.

“Elen got lost, you said? Is that true?”

“I realized her power was weakening around noon. I panicked—she’d vanished while I’d looked away just for a moment…”

“Lost…?”

Sauvel and Isabella tilted their heads, utterly confused. Lovell, meanwhile, began explaining from the beginning, until Elen woke up.

“Do you remember what Orie said before we headed to the academy?”

"Ah, something’s brewing… like it or not…"

"Elen said she sensed the presence of the Great Spirit from the academy. But the power was too faint to pinpoint its location. So Elen was trying to narrow it down by checking places where she could barely feel it…"

"The Great Spirit at the academy?"

Sauvel’s shock seemed to pull memories from long ago. He probably couldn’t even imagine a spirit dwelling in such a place.

But Origin’s brow furrowed. She seemed to be lost in thought, quiet and deep.

"...Orie?"

"Just one. A child who’s been missing for about three hundred years. We’ve searched everywhere—never found her…"

"Elen suddenly woke up screaming about the Great Spirit being underground at the academy. She said she’d been saved… by it…"

"We brought Elen back. She couldn’t have made it on her own by now, not after that."

That’s why Origin had been frantic, searching for Elen. It all made sense now.

But Isabella and the others just tilted their heads.

"Elen collapsed from overusing her power. Fell into a sleep... apparently had some kind of prophetic dream."

They downplayed the near-death part. No point worrying them more than necessary.

"Apparently, she’d been stuck in that sleep, unable to wake on her own, until a spirit from the academy came to help."

"Ah..."

Isabella nodded seriously, but from the looks on Lovell and Origin’s faces, she could tell Elen had been in real danger. Still, Origin reassured her—Elen was fine now, thanks to his help. All that was left was waiting for her to wake up.

"Let’s hear it from Elen herself later. First, though—can I ask you about this? The order came from the Emperor, right?"

"Yes. The date for the execution is still..."

"Let’s match it to the same day. Can’t have the children turning into spectators."

"So, the final day of our stay?"

"Yeah. The chaos part’s already been handed off to Van."

"Spirts, you mean? Ah, that day… was it really…?"

By then, Elen let out a low groan. The conversation halted, and everyone turned to look at Elen, who lay sprawled across the sofa.

＊＊＊

Opening my eyes slightly, floating up from the fog of sleep. No trace of that familiar heat or sluggishness I’d felt just before falling asleep. For a second, I blinked around, dazed—wondering, briefly, why I was even here.

Papa’s hand brushed my forehead. “You’re not burning up anymore,” he said, smiling. His face looked a little worn, like he’d been worrying too hard.

“Papa…”

“Ah, thank goodness…”

I’m crushed into a hug. Instantly, I feel guilty—my worry had clearly been real, and I’d put them through it.

“I’m sorry,” I mumble. A light tap on my forehead. “Don’t push yourself like that again,” he says.

I press my hand to my forehead, still tingling from the tap, and glance around. Mom, Isabella, Sauvel, Lauren—everyone’s face relaxes into relief.

"Sorry to bother you so soon, but can we talk?"

"Yes... I'm fine."

Trying to sit up from the bed, I suddenly remembered the great spirit still bound to me.

My face twisted in panic, and everyone around me blinked in surprise. But I was too focused on telling Mother—had to tell her.

"Take it easy, Elen. You found her, didn’t you?"

"The castle… the church beneath the castle… she was there! Just like before—chained, bleeding! We have to save her, now!"

"Calmed down, Elen. That child’s blood is fine."

"...What do you mean?"

How could bleeding still be okay? My head spun, and Mother gently brushed her fingers through my hair.

"I created one child when I first took control of this world. Her name is Ark. She’s the spirit who governs this world’s power, the one who manages the flow of essence itself."

"...Ark. You looked like... my mother..."

"That child was my firstborn. Oh, only Elen-chan suffered from the pain of childbirth!?!"

Mother hurriedly added an explanation, flustered by Father's silent pressure.

"Then... my nii-sama?"

"Yes. In terms of lineage, she’d be Rihit’s elder brother, I suppose."

Now that I think about it, she looked like Rihit too. Saying "Ark nii-sama" brings back that moment. I wanted to save her so badly—my thoughts spilled over into tears.

"Don’t cry, Elen-chan. Ark said she was bleeding, didn’t she?"

"The tube was implanted, carefully rigged to keep the blood flowing endlessly..."

"That’s it... finally makes sense."

I tilted my head, puzzled. Mother just gave a wry smile.

"Ark is, simply put, a spirit that governs magical essence. The reason monster tempests broke out here two hundred years ago and fourteen years ago... it was because Ark was imprisoned."

Sauvel and the others gasped. I turned to Mother, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Ark constantly circulates magical essence throughout this world. Magical essence—let's say it's like water. But it won’t move unless pushed from outside. To keep life flowing across the world, the circulation of essence is essential."

Everyone fell silent, listening. Then Origin took over.

"Ark must constantly exert energy for the world’s sake. If someone steals even more power from it... Ark has to compensate for the stolen amount. Even replenishing it on its own takes effort. Once that happens, there’s no energy left to maintain the world’s balance."

"...If a clot forms due to some shock... the mana that can't circulate gets stuck in one place, and eventually affects the animal there..."

"Exactly. That's how a Monster Tempest comes to be."

Mother chuckled at my mumbled words, as if confirming the answer.

Sauvel and the others were overwhelmed by the scale of it all—confused, really. But they did grasp one thing: that the spirit entrusted with such a crucial role was imprisoned within the academy.

"Such a great spirit... could it really be captured by humans?"

Sauvel's question was perfectly valid. A great spirit wasn't someone you'd expect to be caught so easily.

"Ark’s kind of... well, let's say he's a bit of a laid-back type. Probably just napping in some field in the human world, you know?"

"Eh?"

"Once he falls asleep, he’s hard to wake. Could sleep for decades… if humans found him like that, even a spirit would be exposed, wouldn’t they?"

"Y-yeah… I guess…"

"I always wondered how the royal family managed to trap spirits back then, but now I get it."

"Kai, wait. If you can manipulate mana, couldn’t you just control your own mana flow?"

If you can stop the release, you should be able to redirect it.

"Elen. Even if we’re in charge of it, we know there are limits to what we can and can’t do, right?"

"Yes…"

I’m an elemental spirit. This power—capable of drastically increasing or decreasing matter in this world—should be limitless. But it’s not. There are rules. You can’t just do anything you want.

Even if you use it, the range of that power depends on how much you have. Use too much, and you’ll collapse—just like me a moment ago.

“Arc, the one who governs the flow of magical essence, can’t stop the circulation. That’s by design. If Arc could halt it at will, the flow could be severed entirely. If that happened, this world would die. That’s why this limitation exists—to protect the world.”

Mother said this with a worried frown. We had nothing to say.