“Ugh, seriously!?”
Miyako, who had rushed back along the mountain path, let out a cry of despair.
They had raced through the night by carriage, passed through the dark mountain roads.
They had successfully obtained the rare panacea, the Moonlight Grass.
All they had to do was hurry back the way they came to save the girl suffering from the incurable disease of self-miasma poisoning.
“The carriage… it’s gone.”
Yes.
The carriage they had arrived in was nowhere to be seen.
“Bandits, perhaps?”
“Whatever the reason, how are we supposed to get back to Shanly’s house?”
It was a distance of several hours by carriage.
It was already past midnight.
If they walked back, they might reach Shanly’s house by tomorrow afternoon.
But that would be too late.
That way, the child suffering from miasma poisoning wouldn’t be saved.
“Just what should we do…?”
Miyako bit her lip.
She had been a bit overconfident. Last night, her skill ‘Prophetic Dream,’ which could randomly foresee major events, hadn’t activated. So, she thought nothing bad would happen. That’s what she had believed.
And besides.
Thinking she understood the world better than Fuuka.
Thinking she could protect Fuuka. But in reality, she hadn’t even considered the possibility of the carriage being stolen.
But.
But she absolutely didn’t want to give up.
Fuuka, her large eyes welling with tears from shock and confusion.
She wanted to support Fuuka, who had resolved to save that girl no matter what and set out running.
Meow
Just then.
The fluffy cat in Miyako’s arms meowed.
“Umi?”
‘Why is my master so flustered over something like a missing carriage, meow?’
Softly, Umi’s body warmth vanished from Miyako’s arms.
The next moment, the fluffy Persian cat—Umi—was sitting primly on the ground before them.
Her body was enveloped in the same cool aqua light as when she activated the water-element protective membrane at Shanly’s house.
“Umi?”
‘I am grateful that you released my seal, you know? I am the water spirit that breathes life into this land. Miyako is my contractor. Therefore, it would be fitting to command me by that name… meow?’
“Did you just change your speech mannerism?”
Hmph, character consistency is important, meow.”
Umi laughed with a nyafufu.
Miyako gasped.
Could it be… will you help us?
“Miyako, even the highest-level summoners hesitate to directly command a spirit!?”
“But I believe in Umi!”
She took Fuuka’s hand.
Miyako closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
As her heart calmed, words naturally welled up.
“O cool water spirit (Undine)! By our contract, release your power—My name is Miyako! Since the name I gave you is Umi!”
‘…I have heard your wish. My name is Umi. I am the one who sings of the abyssal blue waters.’
Instantly.
Umi’s fluffy fur shone with an aqua light, swelling into a torrent of radiance.
“Whoa!?”
“Eek!”
Miyako and Fuuka, clinging to each other without thinking, opened their eyes to find standing before them a beautiful phantom beast, as if cool water had taken the form of a creature.
Its stature was several times their size. Large, and beautiful.
“Amazing.”
Nyafufu~, are you impressed, meow?”
“How divine. Is this… the true form of an Undine?”
‘Nay. I have no true “form.” This is the form I have taken because Miyako wished for me to be like this, meow.”
“M-me!?”
Miyako was startled.
To think she had within her the heart to imagine something so beautiful… that middle-schooler power.
She thought she had completely lost such things during her corporate slave life.
Somehow, the divine form of Umi before her made her inexplicably happy.
“…It’s amazing.”
Fuuka’s voice trembled too at the sight before them.
Her hand gripping Miyako’s was damp with sweat.
Strangely, it didn’t feel unpleasant.
‘Well now, my masters.’
Umi announced, her beautiful whiskers twitching.
‘My back is surely comfortable to ride. It will be like descending a clear stream. Meow.’
Shanly was staring out the window as if glaring at something.
Her beloved daughter’s breathing had been labored all along, and seemed to be gradually weakening since earlier. The occasional particularly pained moan was heartbreaking.
At this rate, she likely wouldn’t last much longer.
Though Shanly appeared to be only about fifteen years old, a traveling merchant of the continent, the anguish of a mother was clearly etched on her face as she watched over her child.
Thinking back, she had put this child through hardships.
This girl had never known her father.
Before she could even speak, Shanly had spotted a business opportunity and crossed over to this Nohin Kingdom alone.
There were times she was like a drifting weed.
Working constantly, she must have made this child feel lonely at times.
Yet, she had grown into a healthy, kind-hearted girl.
If she had stayed home with her all along, perhaps she would have noticed the abnormality sooner.
Such regrets swirled in Shanly’s chest.
Still, all she could do now was trust and wait.
Those peculiar girls who had suddenly started living together in a remote cabin one day.
Meeting them might have been a stroke of luck granted by the gods.
“Please, make it in time.”
Softly, Shanly murmured while gazing out the window.
As if praying.
The sky growing pale.
In the distance of her gaze, Shanly saw a shooting star.
No.
It was something clad in blue light like the ocean, tearing through the heavens.
The light grew larger and larger, until she could make out its form.
Shanly gasped.
A beautiful beast was racing across the sky, carrying two maidens on its back.
—It resembled a scene from the fairy tales she’d heard in her childhood.
“Ah, with this she’ll be saved.”
In her native tongue, Shanly blessed the maidens who had returned riding the blue shooting star.