Healing After Sweeping Spirits with an Almighty Skill - Chapter 32

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 32
Chapter 32. The Runaway Boy
Warm sunlight streamed through the windows of my office.
I sat with my back to the glass and set two cups of Job’s Tears Tea on the desk between us.
“Ha ha. Our Sylph seems to have had quite a difficult time.”
Across from me sat Sylph in a wind-breaker jacket—though it would be more accurate to say she was sitting on top of my desk itself.
“I confess, I don’t quite understand what prompted such a decision.”
[Why do you suddenly sound like that?]
“So then, teacher—or rather, just tell me. Is there something troubling you? Did something make you angry?”
Sylph’s sudden declaration of running away.
If the Spirits had been fighting among themselves or something like that, I needed to know about it and handle it.
“Did someone splash water on your bed while you were sleeping?”
[We share the same bed, remember? You would’ve noticed.]
“Did you find an insect inside your shoe when you put it on?”
[I don’t wear shoes.]
“Ah, I see. Someone must have dropped your toy into the toilet?”
[No—why have all your examples been so extreme from the start?]
“Hmm….”
This was harder than I thought.
I’d tried doing what I’d seen and learned, but it was clear humans and Spirits sensed things differently.
“So why do you want to leave?”
In the end, I gave up and asked her plainly. Sylph gazed out the window as she spoke.
[There are other Spirits out there waiting for help beyond these walls.]
Sylph’s eyes were fixed on the Wasteland beyond the Castle Walls.
“You’re saying you’ll go out and search for other Spirits?”
[Yes.]
“But we have the Lighthouse here.”
[There are probably Spirits hiding in caves the lighthouse beam can’t reach. They’re likely the majority, actually.]
I understood what she meant. She intended to use the Spirit Castle as a hub and guide the Spirits still wandering in the Wasteland to safety.
It was a noble purpose. If Jung Jin had heard this, he would’ve applauded and hugged her without hesitation.
“I’d prefer you didn’t take unnecessary risks.”
But I couldn’t help but try to stop her. For me, the Spirits already here by my side were more precious than those who hadn’t yet arrived.
[I’m sorry. But someone has to do it.]
“Then I should be the one to go.”
[You can’t. If you leave, what happens here? You’re irreplaceable.]
“You’re a unique existence too.”
[Well, that’s true. But you know what I mean, don’t you?]
I had no counter to that.
How should I put it—the Sylph before me seemed somehow more mature. She’d always been mentally older than the other Spirits, but right now she was especially so.
[Don’t worry. We Spirits spent a long time out there already. Unlike humans, brief exposure won’t be fatal to us.]
Sylph seemed to have already made up her mind. Watching her, I felt a strange mix of pride and sorrow wash over me simultaneously.
“All right. But wait a few days.”
If that was how it was, I couldn’t stop her any longer. Instead, I had to do everything in my power to ensure she returned safely.
“I’ll make you proper protective gear.”
It was time to pour all of the Spirit Castle’s latest technology into something meaningful.
* * *
Creating protective gear for Sylph would take time. Above all, it would take time to come up with a decent idea.
So for now, I needed to do my best with what I could accomplish immediately.
Construction List
┼ Main Castle LV. 2
└ Material: Stone (10kg/10kg)
└ Material: Cement (10kg/10kg)
└ Material: Lord’s Portrait (0/1)
┼ Nest LV. 3
└ Material: Lumber (20kg/20kg)
└ Material: Beanbag (1/1)
└ A Heart That Cherishes Spirits (1/1)
Since I still hadn’t obtained the portrait, the only building I could construct was the Nest.
Beginning construction of the Nest LV. 3.
Construction in progress: 1,000 seconds.
Once I’d started construction on the Nest and stepped out into the Plaza, I found Naume and Undine hard at work. They were following the instructions I’d given that morning, laying out flower beds along the plaza’s edges and planting roadside trees.
‘That delivery cost me a pretty coin.’
Those roadside trees had been transported all the way from beyond the gate itself. To keep them from withering in the harsh winds, I’d had to wrap them in a staggering quantity of monster hides.
┼ LV. 4 Expansion Condition (1/3)
└ Main Castle LV. 2 (0/1)
└ Plaza LV. 1 (1/1)
└ Aesthetics Score (76/100)
Still, I’d gotten my money’s worth.
The Aesthetics Score had climbed nearly to eighty.
[Ohhh.]
[Trees, trees!]
The spirits’ reaction was excellent.
Come to think of it, this was their first time seeing trees—or at the very least, it had been an eternity since they’d last seen any.
Toho-gi and the Naume positioned each roadside tree with ruler-like precision at perfectly even intervals, while Suho-gi and the other Undine drew water from the Water Source and sprayed it over the flowers and saplings.
If they could cultivate the herb garden as splendidly as they did, this flower bed would flourish in time. I approached Jung Jin, who was capturing it all on camera. “You’re uploading this to the tube as well?”
“You’re uploading this to the tube as well?”
“Of course. Everything at Spirit Castle is video material.”
Jung Jin had taken a genuine shine to uploading.
Ever since I’d given him a room in the Main Castle to use as a studio, he spent nearly the entire day there editing footage—outside of filming times.
A few days back, I’d noticed he wasn’t even going home anymore and was sleeping in there, so I gave him the sleeping bag I’d used before buying a proper bed.
“Wasn’t he planning to start uploading soon?”
“Yeah. I’m getting pretty handy with shooting and editing now. The quality’s not bad either.”
That made me happy too. If nothing else, it might help later if improving spirits’ public image ever becomes a growth condition again.
“Oh, by the way. I have to go back to the Guild for a bit next week.”
“Why? Can’t you just keep milking easy floors here?”
“The whole Guild’s assembling for an Overfarm attempt.”
Overfarm.
It was the term used when a farming guild that specialized in clearing the same few floors repeatedly decided to challenge a higher floor.
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“The Guild calculated the risk. They say it’s doable.”
“Alright. Just don’t get yourself hurt.”
“I won’t. I’ve got several videos waiting to be uploaded.”
He had the air of someone who’d soon be confidently claiming that video editing on the tube was his side business.
LV. 3 Nest construction has been completed.
The Nest was finished.
I decided to give the spirits a break and led them all to the Nest.
[Ooh!]
Small-sized beanbags suited for spirits were scattered throughout the Nest’s living room. The Undine, seeing beanbags for the first time, looked delighted and climbed up onto them, sprawling out.
[It’s a new kind of bed!]
[The texture is amazing!]
The Undine giggled at the peculiar sensation. I smiled softly and placed Suho-gi on one of the beanbags.
[Oh! It’s a chair!]
[A chair!]
Like primitive humans discovering fire, the Undine grew excited and eagerly claimed a beanbag each, settling onto them.
I left the delighted spirits to their joy and looked around the Nest.
The Nest had grown more than twice as large as when it was level two. Now there was a distinct leisure space with a television and a sleeping area with bedding.
‘The sleeping area won’t get used by anyone, so I’ll turn it into storage later.’
The television that appeared when I’d upgraded to level two had grown even larger—it was now nearly the size of one full wall. It had to be at least seventy inches.
‘Hmm. I was just thinking it’d be nice to have a TV in the Dining Hall too.’
I checked the back of the television, wondering if it could be removed, but it wasn’t mounted—it was embedded directly into the wall itself.
[Uh.]
Toho-gi watched me with narrow eyes, as if asking what I was doing.
“Oh, there was dust up here.”
I ran my finger across the top of the television and turned away casually.
* * *
Now there was only one building blocking the path to the next level of Spirit Castle.
‘The Main Castle.’
Once I expanded the Main Castle, Spirit Castle could reach level four. The only problem was I still hadn’t obtained the material called the Lord’s Portrait.
While I was familiar with photographs, the word “portrait” was utterly foreign to someone modern like me.
‘There are a few portrait painters at the Fortress, now that I think about it.’
But handing over the commission to those painters felt somehow unsatisfying. Why should I entrust my own portrait—meant for my own castle—to some artist I barely knew?
I was lost in these thoughts, running my fingers absently across the bench’s surface, when something caught my attention.
“Hm?”
My fingertip brushed against something unfamiliar—a mark stamped into the wood.
Naume Workshop.
It was a stamp certifying that the piece had been crafted under Naume’s direction.
“Interesting.”
An idea stirred in me. I lifted my head and looked toward the flower beds and trees that Naume and Undine were tending so carefully.
I had laid out the broad design, but it was the spirits who filled in all the fine details—and they’d done it beautifully.
So beautifully, in fact, that I’d found myself sitting on this very bench lost in contemplation.
‘Perhaps spirits have a gift for these things—landscaping, composition—simply because they’re creatures of nature.’
Maybe the spirits possessed genuine artistic talent.
After all, if spirits could watch films and appreciate them, they couldn’t possibly lack all sense of culture and art.
I stroked my chin thoughtfully.
This might be something I could use.
* * *
A few days later.
“I’m holding a Lord’s Portrait painting competition!”
[Yaaaay!]
[Ooooh!]
Spirit Castle’s first-ever art contest had begun.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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