Chapter 4: Treatment for Spirits

Translator: Roblag

The spirit in his hand had emerged from his small sphere of magical power and its clothes were in tatters. The spirit seemed quite nervous and on the verge of tears so I decided to stroke its head which had small cat ears. Seeing this, Skul-sama bowed his head.

“These are the spirits I have protected. Individuals capable of seeing the spirits are rare, but in addition to us, there are some aristocrats, royal court magicians, and some members of the royal family who can also see them. However, it was you who gave the treatment to the spirits with those silver embroideries, right? Could you treat these spirits too? Could you help these little ones, please?”

“Treatment?”

“Oh… I don’t mean a medical treatment, I mean something that works as a treatment for these little ones.”

I knew what he was talking about, so I solidified my magical power in the shape of a silver needle and then, I imagined a green sphere that was then transformed into a kind of thread and I placed it on the needle. This was the only way I could work on the magic garments of the spirits.

The cat-eared spirit didn’t seem to be afraid of my magic needle, however, he seemed to want to return to the side of the spirit that had the cartoon character’s costume. So I decided to hurry and asked Skul-sama’s permission to use my magic.

While I was concentrating on fixing the spirit’s clothes, Skul-sama explained to me one of the peculiarities of these beings.

“The clothes that spirits wear are not simply clothes, they are an extension of their body, a manifestation of their power. But it is also their most delicate and vulnerable part.”

I didn’t quite understand this “manifestation of their power” but I could see that the younger and smaller spirits hardly wore any clothes, while the garments of the older and larger spirits were more complex. This perhaps meant that the stronger the spirit, the more elegant the attire. So, what happened to the little boy I was helping…

“When a Jyuerishi (cursemancer) takes the magical power of the spirits by force, his ‘clothes’ are torn and they gradually lose more magical power through this wound. As it is happening to this little one.”

“Umm… What happens if they lose all their magic power?”

“Well, they disappear completely.”

Good heavens… That’s why whenever I saw a spirit with its clothes in tatters, the little one was sad. That meant that my patches worked as a treatment.

Once I finished mending the spirit’s clothes, it started to shine as much as the spirit that looked like a cartoon character and slowly seemed more energetic.

Somehow I mended those clothes even faster than using a sewing machine. But the spirits with cat ears and cartoon-like costume now floated around merrily as if they had done all the work. But well, that’s how the spirits were.

All their hems are green, though. I tried to hide them a little by making the embroidery look like delicate ivy growing through the clothes.

“Incredible… even my magic power disappeared after a few moments, but yours doesn’t…”

“Huh?”

Seeing my expression, Skul-sama smiled bitterly.

“Look at this, please.”

Skul-sama took the scraps of cloth still on his shoulder and placed them on the table. A couple of seconds later, the scraps began to melt as if they were cotton candy until they finally disappeared.

“Oh, dear.”

It seems that magic is something that ends up disappearing after a while, but it was not the same with the magic he used on the spirits, did that mean it was something different?

And now that I thought about it, I had never used my magic on normal fabric.

I sewed the hem of my own clothes to test them, and when I cut my magic threads, they started to melt almost immediately until they disappeared completely.

At that moment, my spider, which was on my shoulder, descended to my knees, let out a tender shriek like a “Kyu!” and then spat out a large amount of its web. Perhaps he was trying to tell me that if I infused its web with my magical power, it would not vanish.

Was this one of the reasons why the Nylle Family was so famous? I always felt that my spider was incredible, but now I felt that it was even more so.

As I thought about it, I lightly caressed the spider’s belly, and I realized that the spider had grown quite a bit. Without me noticing it, it had grown as big as the palm of my hand.

“Ewey-dono, could you continue to treat the spirits I am protecting?”

Even though I am fifteen years old, I have the appearance of a child, yet Skul-sama knelt in front of me with one hand on his chest and bowed his head.

I was quite surprised by that. A steward shouldn’t bow like that in front of a simple vassal like me, after all, I’m just a simple seamstress, right?

“Hey, hey, you’re making Ewey uncomfortable. But to think that she has magic eyes. This is… a bad thing, isn’t it?”

Auntie Leine’s worried look alarmed me. Bad? What did she mean by that?

“O-Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t want to scare you. A girl with magic eyes can become a candidate to be the king’s concubine, regardless of her status. Besides, if the Nylle Family finds out that you not only have magic eyes but that you can heal the spirits, they will do anything to get you back with them… And I guess you don’t want to go back to that house, do you, Ewey?”

I nodded as hard as I could. After feeling all the warmth and love this place offered me, I didn’t even want to think about going back to that horrible mansion. Although I was also alarmed by the fact that I might be forced to be a concubine of the king.

“Very well. If we leave it to Roden-sama, I am sure that nothing bad will happen to you, Ewey-dono. I swear in the name of the spirits.”

I decided that it would be best for them to take care of such matters so I simply nodded my head after hearing Skul-sama’s words.