Spirits are dancing on the water’s surface.
Elegant, so elegant. Good thing it’s not lambada or samba—the moment I thought that, please stop the samba. Don’t read my mind! I’ve never even seen samba here!
By the way, the only dance I’ve seen here is something like a belly dance. As far as I’ve read in books, it seems they have waltz-types in Nakahara’s Castle, and Tyrolean dance-types in the countryside.
The only time I actually saw it was something like belly dancing at a Festival in Karn’s Country. Ash was there, and I was trying my best not to look, so it was just a glimpse, though.
Rather than the scantily clad women’s bodies, I only have the impression that the movement of the light, airy fabric was beautiful~, so my image is heavily mixed with elements of belly dancing from my time in Japan, based on the costumes and the desert imagery.
So you don’t have to change it to belly dancing. The dance of the small Spirits, shaped like eggplants, or birds, or butterflies, had no allure, no flowing fabric, and for a while, I didn’t even realize it was supposed to be belly dancing!
You don’t have to match me, so feel free to dance however you like, okay? Haulon is the main audience, and it’s not like this is a formal occasion. I think having fun is the most important thing at times like these.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The faint light of the Spirits dancing in the sky and those reflected in the mirror of the Lake’s surface, the orange of the bonfire flickering—the ambiance is undeniably the best. There are some things I can’t quite grasp, but thank you.”
Haulon says with a sigh.
I see, so Haulon sees the Spirits’ forms as light. I heard that you can see the forms of Spirits you have good affinity with, but his affinity with these dancing Spirits isn’t good—or rather, it’s just normal, huh?
Well, sometimes it’s better not to see them. Like Chris’s chin-stroking Spirit, that one really tests your abs.
“Hey, what’s with that look?”
Haulon looks displeased by my reaction.
“No, I was just thinking it’d be nice if we could see the same scenery someday.”
Isn’t it cruel that only my abs get tested?
“Yes, someday…”
Haulon leans back in the hammock and closes his eyes.
Hm? Is he getting sentimental or something?
“…”
A moment of silence.
“…Wait. We’ve seen the same scenery before, haven’t we?”
His brow furrows deeply, eyes still closed.
Come to think of it, we did use that Magic Circle item in Kanum that let him see the Spirits’ forms as clearly as I do.
“…Chin…”
Haulon mutters without moving a muscle.
“Smell fetish.”
I retort with Dean’s Spirit, as Haulon seems to have remembered Chris’s Spirit.
“Sometimes, not seeing is happiness, isn’t it…”
Haulon slightly opens his eyes and turns his face away from the water’s surface.
“But sometimes, what you can see is incredibly beautiful too. It varies, you know.”
I shrug.
It’s like, the Spirits closer to humans are more mischievous, or rather, fond of pranks…
In the first place, Spirits who prefer quiet are more likely to be in the Deep Forest or on snow-covered plains rather than near people. Even Spirits have their own preferred environments.
Just as humans stay away from Spirits of raging oceans or magma torrents, Spirits also move to environments where it’s easier for them to live.
It’s natural that there are many Spirits who like humans and human living environments. Yeah, I guess it can’t be helped if they’re obsessed with the smell of chins or feet.
For now, I’ll leave Haulon alone so he can relax. Haulon likes to withdraw and think about various things, but because of his chancellor-like position, he probably rarely gets to be alone.
I suppose Linlin’s personality was created so he could be alone at least mentally, but I feel like not just his mind, but his body too, needs to spend time in the same environment.
I set up my own hammock in a spot where Haulon was just barely in sight and started reading. I conjured a faint magical light and read an encyclopedia I’d brought from the Spirit Library.
Even back when I was in Japan, I liked looking through encyclopedias. I enjoy looking up the same topic in different encyclopedias. Depending on the encyclopedia, a topic might be covered in great detail, or it might be over in just a few lines.
I like thinking about and researching why it was treated that way—the country and era the encyclopedia was made in, and the background of the person who compiled it.
If it’s written in detail, it probably means many people in the place where the encyclopedia circulated were interested in it, and if it’s just a few lines, their interest was probably low.
Or perhaps the country or person who compiled it, or had it compiled, wanted to boast about that matter, or wanted it to be forgotten.
And you simply pick up trivia from what’s written in them too! Looking at encyclopedias is fun.