The Ultimate Sage Who Faked Incompetence and Was Disinherited Just Wants to Enjoy His New Life! - Episode 108: The Water Spirit

Episode 108: The Water Spirit

There was a *shuu shuu* sound, like something evaporating. As always, black haze-like stuff was coming out of the Fishman’s body. But apparently, that haze was what was making the sound.

“If this keeps up, I might be able to drain the magic power from the magic stone stuck in it. If that happens, the Water Spirit might return to its original form.”

“Then until that happens, we have to block its attacks no matter what.”

Even now, the Fishman was thrashing around and swinging its spear. But maybe because it was getting impatient, its attacks seemed to be getting more wild. It wasn’t using the thrust attacks it had been doing so often earlier.

The danger had lessened compared to before. But even so, we couldn’t say we were unharmed. The two of them were forcing themselves into close range. So they couldn’t completely block the Fishman’s attacks and were getting injured. Even so, the two of them kept holding their ground.

Elise and Lilia, who had been behind us, came closer. Elise immediately started remote healing for the two. The farther the distance, the weaker the effect of healing magic. At this distance, she was probably using pretty powerful recovery magic.

As soon as Jill hit it, the Fishman would start healing its wounds. It seemed like it was forcefully making itself recover. If you use magic forcefully, the magic power consumption should increase by that much.

Right now, the amount of magic power I was absorbing and the amount I was using were about the same. There was no way I had enough spare magic to give to Pii-chan.

I thought about asking Pii-chan to help too. But if Pii-chan touches that black haze, maybe it’ll get controlled again. That would be really bad. I should probably rethink that idea.

“Look! Its body is starting to fall apart!”

Jill shouted. Looking closely, part of the Fishman’s body had become gooey, like a liquid. It was trying to use healing magic, but it didn’t seem to be returning to normal.

“Maybe this is the Water Spirit’s true form. The Fire Spirit was a lump of fire, after all.”

“Then the Water Spirit is a lump of water, huh. That makes sense.”

While we were talking, the Fishman’s body kept turning more and more Slime-like. Energy Drain seemed to be working quite a bit. Just a little more to go—but then, a problem popped up.

“Hey! The immobilization isn’t working anymore!”

“Well, it’s tough to grab a liquid, after all!”

The Slime-like body began slipping right out of Gaia Hand’s grasp. Gaia Hand grabbed only air.

“This is bad. If this keeps up, it’s gonna escape!”

The Fishman was quickly transforming into a liquid like the dark sea itself. Jill stabbed it with his sword. But it didn’t seem to take any damage. We’re so close! It’s going to get away!

“Ice Sculpture!”

A cute voice came from a bit farther away. I felt something cold pass between us. It hit the water-like form that the Fishman had become and froze it into a block of ice.

“Lilia!”

“The dark sea disappeared, and the waves have calmed down.”

Startled, I looked around—and just like Lilia said, the dark sea had completely vanished. When did that happen? There were still waves, but not like the stormy ones from before.

The frozen Water Spirit was still trying to escape into the sea. It was causing small vibrations. I could see that a magic stone with a clearly faded color was stuck in part of its body.

“If we can just do something about that magic stone, the Water Spirit might return to its senses.”

“That’s right. This time, instead of pouring magic into it and destroying it, it might be better to absorb all its magic with Energy Drain.”

Back when we fought the Fire Spirit, we didn’t have the Energy Drain spell. So we forcibly poured magic into the stone and destroyed it. But now, we have the Energy Drain magic that Pii-chan taught us.

I used Energy Drain on the magic stone. It must’ve already reached its limit. The stone quickly lost its color.

—

A clear ball of water floated in front of me. This was apparently the true form of the Water Spirit.

“This time, I thank you deeply for your aid.”

A deep voice could be heard, and the water ball rolled forward. It probably meant to bow its head. Not really sure. I think everyone except Pii-chan looked at it with puzzled expressions.

“Don’t worry about it. Just to check, you *are* the Water Spirit, right?”

“Yes, that much is correct.”

Yeah. It speaks in a very unique way. I can kinda understand what it’s saying, but I’m starting to feel a little uneasy. I wonder if Lilia or Pii-chan understand it? When I looked over, Lilia shook her head side to side. Looks like she didn’t get it either.

“You’re someone Pii-chan knows, right?”

“Yes, there’s no mistake. Right now, I can feel the Water Spirit’s presence super strongly.”

Spreading both wings happily, Pii-chan said that. It seems there’s no mistake.

…I honestly thought the Water Spirit was a girl. And also, someone like Pii-chan’s lover. A complete mislead. Pii-chan, you were talking like someone thinking about a lover.

No, wait. Maybe Spirits and humans have different senses. Possibly, in the Spirit world, that kind of thing is normal, and there might not even be a distinction between male and female.

I stared intently at Pii-chan. Pii-chan tilted its head at me, seeing me like that.

“Um, can we say that one crisis has been avoided for now?”

“I think so? The Water Spirit seems calm again, and maybe it’ll take hundreds of years for it to go back to that state again.”

It seems Lilia feels the same. Not only Lilia — everyone else nodded along in agreement as well.

“Hey, did you also feel like you were tempted by ‘this planet’?”

Elise asked that. She must still be curious. I’m curious too, and I’m sure everyone else is as well.

“Most likely, that is the case. Before I realized, my consciousness had been taken over. I tried to calm myself somehow. But it didn’t go well… truly, it’s shameful.”

The floating ball of water somehow looked gloomy. But that wasn’t the Water Spirit’s fault.

“I wonder what you were trying to do?”

While asking that, Elise was still healing the wounds that Ardan and Jill received. They seem to have taken considerable damage from forcing themselves to keep close range and fight. It’s a good thing Elise is here.

“I was trying to sink everything into the water.”

“………”

We were speechless. That’s a terrifying thought. If that had happened, most land-living creatures would have been wiped out. It wouldn’t just end with the troublesome humans.

“I’m glad we stopped it before it was too late.”

“We were lucky this time. Conveniently, we happened to be on this continent…”

Was it really just luck? Maybe someone is manipulating our fate. Thinking that sent a chill down my spine. I felt like the heat was leaving my body. Was it just my imagination?

“What’s wrong, Fel? Are you feeling sick somewhere?!”

Lilia clung to my face in a panic. That spot felt warm, like spring sunshine. From there, warmth started spreading through my chilled body.

Even if someone is manipulating me, isn’t it okay? For now, things are going the way I want. There’s no problem at all.

“I’m okay. Just a little tired, that’s all.”

When I gently patted Lilia, she clung even tighter.

“I have a request. Just like Pii-chan-dono, I too wish to become one of your retainers.”

“Ah, ahh, I see.”

Retainer? Does that mean like a master-servant relationship? I looked at Pii-chan, and it nodded firmly. It seems like there’s no problem.

“Does that mean you want to fuse, like Pii-chan?”

“Fusion…! I see. That is exactly it.”

“Well, since I’m already fused with Pii-chan, I don’t think it should be a problem?”

Just to be sure, I asked Ardan and the others too. I doubt they’d say no.

“Seems fine to me? If we leave things as they are, it might get controlled again.”

“Yeah. If it wants to be a comrade, I think it’s fine.”

“Then we need to give it a name. Umm…”

Saying that, Elise began flipping through her notebook. It looks like she already had a fitting name in mind. I’m bad at naming things, so that’s a relief.

“I’ve been wondering for a while now, but your way of speaking is unusual, isn’t it?”

“Unusual way of speaking? Around here, this is normal. Your foreign way of speaking seems more unusual to me?”

We all shook our heads silently. With faces that said “No way!” This might be shocking when we get back to town.

“So, I think it’s good to give you a name that relates to the past. How about the name ‘Kagetora’?”

“That’s a cool name. Let’s go with that.”

“A-Are you sure? Is it really alright to receive such a grand name?”

Kagetora raised a confused voice. But since Elise thought of it, we shouldn’t waste it.

“Alright then, Kagetora, let’s fuse together.”

“Understood. I offer my power to my lord!”

For some reason, the water orb looked deeply moved. I pinched it up, turned around, and swallowed it. It probably looked shocking to everyone else.

With that, the fusion was complete. Just like with Pii-chan, I called Kagetora out from the other side in its bird form. Its color was the same blue as the sea. No way to mix them up now.

Now that they match, Pii-chan seems happy too. If they didn’t speak, they’d look like lovers. But Kagetora’s voice……… it’s so deep.