The little child looked at Princess Ericaâs dress as if possessed, saying that she had never seen a magic item. So, it seemed that I was unknowingly flattered.
Wanting to show her something more mysterious and more important, I showed her off the magical items. Then, I remembered the Spirit Stone, which was said to be the most valuable of magic items.
Now that the Elemental Spirit has disappeared, the Energy Stone, which helps people with magical powers to use the power of the Spirit, was a very valuable item.
Usually, a spirit stone is made by a wizard by storing the energy of nature in a gem. However, very rarely, jewels that naturally contain the energy of spirits appear, and they have greater spirit power than artificially created ones.
And the one in my house was a rare natural spirit stone, so it was even named âspirit tearsâ. From the outside, itâs no different from an ordinary jewel, but I wanted to show it as something precious.
In that careless mind, I made a big mistake with the little child.
I knew that the little child was weak. She had fainted before and thought she was small and cute and needed to be protected. But I swear I didnât expect it to harm the little child.
While we were watching the Spiritâs Tears, sparks suddenly started to sway inside the jewel. It wasnât exactly a real flame, but something in the shape of a flame. But it looked scary anyway. However, it was impossible for the spiritâs tears to harm people on their own, so I wasnât too surprised.
The moment I was about to tell the little child that it was fine, I noticed something strange about the little child. The whitening face, the eyes wandering in the air, and the trembling body.
Eventually, the moment the flames grew, the little child passed out.
As soon as the little child fainted, the flames died down. But I didnât have time to worry about that. Only the little child who collapsed in front of me was important.
âLittle child! Little child! Little child! Hey! Open your eyes!â
Even when shaken, the little child did not wake up. Fear grew in my heart as her body turned cold like a dead person. I had no one to turn to for help. The little childâs breathing was so small that she didnât even seem to be breathing. Her face was so pale that it seemed that she would never wake up like this.
I was in tears because I was afraid. I couldnât think of anything or even pride. As I stomp my feet, I pick up the little child and carry her on my back. It felt like the little childâs legs were still dragging because I was still weak and didnât know how to lift her properly.
But all I could think about was that I had to take the little child to a place where there were adults to help her anyway.
* * *
I was so surprised and in a hurry that I canât remember well after that.
As I was dragging the little child crying, someone found us and hurriedly came over and took the little child. Then, Father and the little childâs father, Commander Hertman, were called and went back and forth to the priest.
The little child lying on the bed had a seizure because she was scared and hot. Even then, it was not enough, she earnestly begged to be saved.
The little child, always more mature and smarter than his peers, looked thin like she was about to crumble. I knew her as an indifferent kid, but I couldnât figure out why she was so desperate.
It wasnât until Commander Hertmanâs hand covered the little childâs head that the seizure subsided. Only then did the adultsâ eyes turn to me.
ââ¦â¦What happened?â
I had to explain the situation to Fatherâs questioning. I went to the treasure trove with the little child, and while showing the spiritâs tears, the flames suddenly broke out. But it wasnât hot at all, and it wasnât a real fire. I explained it in that way. Then Commander Hertman sighed.
âAren is afraid of fire.â
It is natural for people to be afraid of fire. However, the fire from earlier was not hot. Clearly the fire didnât attack her either. But to faint like that, the level of fear was too severe.
âShe hates fire so much that she even passes out?â
âItâs not that she hates it. She is terribly afraid of it. So it is.â
My lips trembled incessantly. Guilt surged over me for putting something the little child was terribly afraid of. Because of me. If I had known in advance, if I hadnât been excited to show the treasure, the little child wouldnât have been like this. Tears kept welling up in my eyes.