Became The Son Of The Final Boss [EN]: Chapter 69

69.

Today’s morning felt different from yesterday.

I smiled, absorbing the crisp air and mana with the Breath of the Wind.

The spirits appeared without even being summoned.

The giant wind wolf, Silwolfen, sat beside me and yawned loudly.

Sylphs [air spirits] flitted around, while salamanders [fire spirits] and undines [water spirits] perched on Silwolfen’s head, playing.

Silwolfen frowned, seemingly annoyed by the lower spirits touching his wind fur.

Sylphere, Undairon, and Phoenix watched intently as the gnomes [earth spirits] shook the ground.

Seeing the spirits made me feel at peace.

-Master, spend more time with the children.

Silwolfen’s deep voice made me turn my head involuntarily.

“What?”

The knights’ eyes focused on me.

I waved my hand and said.

“No. Let’s finish cleaning up. If the fairies pick a fight over these things, it might cause a headache for future events.”

The fairies cherished the western forest, so there was no reason to give them an excuse to find fault.

Besides, they had already encountered us once.

-Master, naturally recall what you want to say.

I immediately accepted Silwolfen’s advice.

‘Um… is it like this?’

It wasn’t difficult. It was very easy because I was already sharing consciousness with the spirits.

-As expected… Master is indeed.

Silwolfen didn’t continue speaking.

I immediately asked.

‘What do you mean by spending time with the children?’

At my question, Silwolfen stood up and temporarily chased away the lower spirits.

The salamanders looked at Silwolfen with dissatisfied faces, but Silwolfen continued his advice to me.

-Spirits cannot fully exert their power when summoned to the Middle Realm [the mortal plane]. Great spirit masters have enhanced their reputation by enabling spirits to fully exert their power even in the Middle Realm.

Was it because he was a high-level spirit?

Silwolfen was definitely different from other spirits.

-Since ancient times, not many have regarded spirits as friends. But you are different, Master.

I knew that the most important virtue of a spirit master was affinity.

And affinity with spirits was partly innate, but it also depended on how you treated the spirit when you made a contract with it.

A spirit is not something to command, but something to be with.

Silwolfen was mentioning that part.

-Those who follow the Primordial Covenant [an ancient agreement between humans and spirits], you are not the first to be called that. There is no one who has followed the Primordial Covenant and gone all the way to become a great spirit master. The fairies, who are called the guardians of the spirits in the Middle Realm, were the same.

My eyes widened.

‘Even among the fairies?’

-Yes. It is true that fairies respect spirits, but they also regard spirits as just one of their abilities.

‘You mean you can only walk the path of a great spirit master if you truly respect and be with the spirits?’

-That’s right, Master. You are doing well now, but as your power grows, you may focus more on using spirits more easily and efficiently.

I engraved Silwolfen’s advice in my heart.

‘I will try not to change.’

Silwolfen smiled.

-The longer the contracted spirits stay in the Middle Realm, the more they can exert their original power. Even among the same spirits, there is a clear difference in power between a spirit that has just made a contract and a spirit that has roamed the Middle Realm with a spirit master for a long time.

I nodded.

‘I should summon them often whenever I miss them. I can keep them with me all the time. It doesn’t take much mana just to summon them.’

I smiled and asked Silwolfen.

‘That goes for Silwolfen too, right?’

-Of course, Master.

Up to intermediate spirits, you can make contracts with multiple spirits as long as mana allows, but it was different for high-level spirits.

You could only make a contract with one spirit.

In other words, I couldn’t make a contract with another Silwolfen other than the Silwolfen in front of me.

That was the case not only with the wind spirit but also with spirits of other attributes.

‘Um… is it impossible for me to ride on Silwolfen’s back?’

Silwolfen turned his head slightly instead of answering.

It seemed possible, but Silwolfen didn’t seem to like it.

‘Affinity and actually getting close are different stories. I’ll wait patiently.’

Jilpung is also a famous horse, but Silwolfen is literally the wind. I couldn’t give up the feeling of riding the wind for some reason.

I finished my conversation with Silwolfen and called David and Riorden.

The spirits were still running around.

“The spirits seem lively.”

I smiled faintly at Riorden’s words.

“Think of it as a kind of training.”

“I see.”

David opened his mouth.

“Let’s depart now, Your Highness.”

I nodded.

“Yes. The road will be busy from today.”

I set the route to Death Falls to avoid encountering orcs as much as possible.

Of course, that was my and the knights’ wish, and I didn’t know what would actually happen.

David pointed out that part.

“It will be impossible to avoid all the orcs.”

“We need to move as quickly as possible. I don’t think the Orc King will care about us… but the west could be breached before that.”

Riorden shook his head at my concern.

“Your Highness, aren’t there elites from the Atran and Riverhill families? If they want to catch Your Highness, they must first stop the west.”

I smiled deeply at Riorden’s words.

“They must be quite annoyed by now.”

* * *

Ram was savoring the rich aroma of wine.

Thompson, sitting across from him, said with a dissatisfied face.

“You’re so relaxed. Did the Atran family come here just to clean up after the moron prince?”

Ram put down his glass.

“Thompson, I don’t care what you’re babbling about, but watch your mouth. You need to keep your neck to keep your light mouth running.”

Thompson’s eyebrows twitched.

“What did you say?”

“You’re not the only one who was ridiculed by the moron prince, but you too.”

Thompson threw his wine glass.

“Yes. I came all the way to the west chasing that damn bastard… and he went somewhere in the middle of the night! He temporarily handed over the position of commander-in-chief to Marquis Mike.”

Murderous intent filled Thompson’s eyes.

He was quick-tempered and violent, but Thompson was also a member of the Riverhill family and a high-ranking mage.

Thompson wasn’t stupid enough to not distinguish between right and wrong.

“We’ve been properly screwed. If we go back from here, we’ll be disobeying the Emperor’s orders. But we can’t follow Marquis Mike’s orders lukewarmly either. Marquis Mike is also a commander appointed by the Emperor.”

Ram nodded, drinking his wine.

‘I thought he was a moron… but he had a plan.’

Ram said to Thompson.

“The prince has no choice but to return. He can’t return to the Imperial Palace unless he achieves something here.”

“The prince can’t return to the Imperial Palace anyway.”

Ram nodded slightly at Thompson’s firm words.

Thompson continued.

“I didn’t know I would be with Atran, but since the heads of the families agreed for the first time in a long time, I have no choice but to have many conversations with you for the time being, even if I don’t like it.”

Ram warned once again.

“Don’t forget to watch your mouth.”

“I was just a little excited because of the prince.”

Ram nodded.

Ram was also not happy to be in alliance with the Riverhill family.

From birth, all members of the Riverhill family were rivals and had to be eliminated.

But sometimes it was necessary to be with such enemies.

‘The head of the family wanted me to take the opportunity to eliminate Thompson as well… but even if I only eliminate the prince, it will be a worthwhile deal.’

Unlike Thompson, Ram highly valued Arun.

Before leaving, Thompson and Ram’s thoughts on Arun were not much different.

But after coming to the west, Ram changed his evaluation of Arun.

‘He clearly knows the purpose we followed him for. As Thompson said, the prince will eventually return here. I don’t know what the purpose of going out is.’

Ram had already met Marquis Mike.

What Marquis Mike said was simple.

-I will do my best as commander.

That meant he would properly use the elites of the Atran and Riverhill families.

‘The prince has already gained Marquis Mike as his vassal. It may not be complete loyalty… but at least he clearly conveyed that he would not be swayed by us, members of the two giant families, and would properly use our power in defending the west.’

Ram felt that Marquis Mike was also not an easy person, but he guessed that he was in communication with Arun.

‘Maybe he used the Emperor’s authority. Well… that’s not important.’

Ram, having organized his thoughts, opened his mouth.

“The orcs will probably come soon. At least our two families must not sacrifice a single person until the prince returns.”

“Of course.”

Thompson also agreed with Ram’s words.

“Let’s faithfully follow the words of the heads of the families until we preserve our strength and eliminate the prince. After that, well.”

As Ram trailed off, Thompson filled a new wine glass with wine and said.

“Even after that, the head of the family has something to say. Duke Beregon is the same, isn’t he?”

Ram did not answer.

* * *

“There seem to be at least tens of thousands of them.”

I nodded at Riorden’s words.

As soon as we left the western forest and headed to the southern part of the Dark Forest, we encountered a huge orc army.

Fortunately, the orcs did not notice our presence.

From the mountain range connecting the northern part of the western forest and the southern part of the Dark Forest, we were watching the orc procession heading to the west of the Empire.

“Marquis Mike… it won’t be easy.”

David echoed my words.

“Even if there has been reinforcement, if there are that many orcs…”

Riorden still spoke of hope.

“Aren’t there mages? They play a big role in defense, but they are also good at massacres.”

I pointed to the armor the orcs were wearing.

“Those iron armors they are wearing… it seems like they can block wide-area magic enough, right?”

After becoming a spirit master, my eyesight became much better than before.

I could see not only the armor the orcs were wearing, but also the orc shamans at the front.

“The orc shamans won’t be easy either.”

I didn’t just say despair.

“Marquis Mike is a great general, so he will defend well. Let’s finish the operation as quickly as possible and return.”

We left the orc legions heading west behind and hurried on our way.

“Since they seem to have started attacking in earnest, there is a high probability that there will be fewer guards near the legions.”

I agreed with David’s guess.

“Probably. How long will it take to get to Death Falls?”

Riorden, who was guiding the way, answered my question.

“It will take at least two days.”

I thought it wasn’t far when I looked at the map, but it was farther than I thought that I had to run for two days.

I hurried on our way.

“Let’s go.”

Of course, all the spirits were following me nearby.

After hearing Silwolfen’s advice, I was always summoning the spirits.

Mana was being consumed continuously, but I occasionally focused on the Breath of the Wind to replenish mana.

‘It would be nice to become a high-level spirit master before saving Gale. And it would be good to get the ancient sword, Nephrize, if I get the chance.’

Karen might have already obtained it.

A number of cases flashed through my mind.

‘Maybe… I might meet the hero Karen near Death Falls.’

Meeting the protagonist, my mind became complicated without me realizing it.