Chapter 137: Aqua Speaks

“Here it is.”

PD Shimjun quickly took out his phone and opened the memo app. Aqua trotted over and placed her tiny hand on the keypad.

Her hand was so small, she could press the entire keypad with her palm.

-Aqua

After typing her name, Aqua looked up at Shimjun with wide eyes. Her expression was calm, but her swaying tail made her look like a puppy eager for praise.

“Aqua, there really is nothing you can’t do.”

Shimjun gave a thumbs-up, meeting Aqua’s expectation. Her swaying tail started wagging even faster.

“Porurung!” (Now, ask what you want, human.)

He was convinced that Aqua could handle the interview on her own.

“Then, I’ll begin the interview now.”

The staff brought over a chair suitable for Aqua to sit on. In reality, it looked like a small, half-sized seat perched atop a human’s chair.

Arra sat atop a box with elegant movements. Soon, a stand was placed in front of Aqua and a phone was set on top.

“First question. What’s your favorite snack? The fans are really curious.”

Shimjun had joined the spirits’ fan café and searched for information that fans would genuinely want to know.

It was both to satisfy his own curiosity and to give fans useful information through the broadcast.

“Por……..”

(“It’s hard to choose just one…….”)

Arra pressed her palm to her cheek, looking pensive. A panorama of the various snacks she’d tasted since arriving here flashed through her mind.

-Jelly

But if she had to choose one favorite, it was definitely jelly.

“There are a lot of different types of jelly. Which flavor do you like best?”

It wasn’t an important topic, but both interviewer Shimjun and Aqua kept serious expressions.

-Sour

As Arra tapped the keypad, she smacked her lips. At that moment, a sour-flavored jelly was placed next to Aqua.

Aqua picked up the jelly with both hands and started nibbling away at the edges.

“Second question. Do spirits have ages? I’m curious who’s the oldest. Can you tell us?”

This was something many fans wondered about. You couldn’t guess a spirit’s age just by their appearance.

From the perspective of a long-lived spirit, age wasn’t important, but from a human perspective—especially in the Republic of Korea—it was only natural to be curious about who was older or younger.

“Porung……” (Age? I haven’t counted in so long…….)

This answer was trickier than the first. Aqua racked her brain to recall when she was born.

Ber was the first, Aqua was the second, then came Lys and Solum.

-Ber, me, Lys, Solum

Seeing what Aqua wrote, Shimjun’s lips formed a circle.

“Ooh. So Ber is the oldest, and Solum is the youngest.”

It was unexpected. Though he couldn’t actually understand the spirits’ language, their expressions and cries were so vivid.

Aqua only looked small; otherwise, she resembled a human, and each of the other spirits, if you watched them, seemed as individual and distinctive as people.

“I always thought Ber was the youngest.”

“Porur.” (That’s what everyone thinks.)

Aqua nodded in understanding. Sometimes—or rather, often—Aqua also wondered where on earth Ber’s age had gone, seeing how he acted.

“All right, then. Here’s the last question.”

Sensing the interview was wrapping up, Aqua started eating her jelly even faster.

The jelly, as big as her face, disappeared into her mouth in an instant. Her cheeks, puffed up like a hamster storing sunflower seeds, deflated. Meanwhile, Shimjun continued the interview, now moving from minor topics to something deeper.

“Is there a reason you made a contract with Roy?”

Even after awakening as a Spirit Summoner, forming a contract with a spirit was another matter entirely.

Just as not all swordsmen are equally skilled or armed, the spirits each Spirit Summoner commands differ greatly from person to person.

Roy became famous because, while most Spirit Summoners could only summon spirits of one element, he could summon all four Sa Wonso Spirits.

That’s why people were curious how Roy managed to summon such a variety of powerful spirits.

“Puruu”

(“Why did I make a contract with my Contractor…….”)

Arra recalled the past. She had responded to Roy’s summons out of curiosity. When Ber was first summoned and left, the entire Earth Realm was thrown into chaos.

‘What? Did Mulkiber just get summoned? Who’s the summoner?’

Sensing the massive tremor in Ber’s domain, the Spirit Kings all rushed to the Fire Zone. Aqua looked around, searching for traces.

‘Looks like it was a human.’

Solum sniffed, picking up the faint traces.

‘No way. How can a human summon the Spirit King of Fire? Even dragons couldn’t do it until they’d been adults for thousands of years.’

After the dragon race went extinct, it was considered impossible for Spirit Kings to be summoned and travel to the human world.

Occasionally, some high elves tried to summon the Spirit Kings, but none succeeded.

‘What kind of human could possibly summon Ber?’

The chance to find out came sooner than expected. Not long after Ber left the Earth Realm, a summoning circle appeared in Aqua’s domain.

The intricate symbols filling the icy floor glowed with their own light.

‘……Please make a contract with me.’

A faint human voice rang out, thick with the fragrance of a clear soul.

‘Is this a human soul?’

She couldn’t believe it. Having lived so long, Aqua occasionally watched the human world to stave off boredom.

Children’s souls were generally pure, but as humans aged, their souls became clouded by all sorts of desires.

This was true regardless of age or status. But the soul calling to her now was on a completely different level.

‘Are you the King of Water Spirits?’

In the end, Aqua couldn’t resist her curiosity and responded to the human’s summons. She wanted to judge for herself.

The human was sitting beneath a waterfall, icy water pouring down on him.

Any normal human would have frozen to death, but warmth radiated from around his body.

‘Hey, Aqua, long time no see. See, didn’t I tell you I’d be summoned?’

Ber came swaggering up behind the man, but Aqua ignored him.

‘It’s really……

So clean.’

Aqua was captivated by the human’s soul she saw before her. “Clean” was the only word, but it was like a jewel formed from melted eternal snow.

A soul shining brilliantly, without a speck of dust—any spirit who saw it would be stunned into silence.

Remembering the past, Aqua moved her tiny hand and wrote down the reason.

-Soul clean

“Hoo……..”

In truth, very little was known about the spirits. Moreover, Roy’s spirits were so intelligent, they could communicate with others without Roy’s help.

Aqua, with her hair undulating like waves, was a living doll.

“Thank you for doing the interview. Here’s a gift.”

“Por!” (The human is polite!)

Shimjun handed over a huge bag he’d prepared in advance to Aqua. It was full of the jelly flavors Aqua loved.

Delighted, Aqua grabbed the bag with both hands.

“Ppiik?” (What’s that? Why are you the only one getting that?)

Right then, Ber spotted Aqua and charged over like an angry bull.

For him, who was under Roy’s snack-ban, seeing Aqua with a bag full of treats was too much to ignore.

“Porur.” (Don’t come near. This is mine.)

Aqua dodged Ber and flew quickly over to Roy. Roy was now finishing up the framework for the jungle gym, working on the finer details.

Lee Doha and Yoo Jaeri, who had built the stage and swings in an instant, were helping out nearby.

“Poruu!” (Contractor! Ber’s not listening to you again!)

Aqua dove into Roy’s chest as he worked. Though Aqua was light, the bag of jelly was heavy enough to make a thud.

“What’s going on?”

Roy had seen from afar that Aqua was being interviewed by Shimjun.

Shimjun had already asked Roy several times if it was all right to interview or film the spirits whenever he got a chance, so Roy just assumed things would go smoothly.

It was Aqua, after all, not Ber.

“Ppihik~!” (Are you really going to do this? I want jelly too!)

Before Aqua could even explain, Ber barged between them. Ber tried to snatch the jelly bag with his claws, and Aqua’s eyes turned fierce.

“Por….” (A guy who knows how to complain…)

It wasn’t quite cursing, but there was a definite chill in the air around Aqua.

“Ugh, it feels like I’m in Antarctica.”

Yoo Jaeri, who hardly ever felt cold, rubbed her arms.

Ssssh—

Even the jungle gym Roy had painstakingly built was soon covered in a layer of white frost.

“Ppiik! Ppiik!” (That’s what happens when you hog all the jelly! Aqua, you’re so greedy!)

But Ber wasn’t backing down either. This time, crimson flames danced atop the earth that Solum had hardened.

The frost instantly melted, replaced by flickering fire.

“……Now it feels like we’re in a desert.”

Yoo Jaeri couldn’t understand a word the spirits were saying, but it was obvious both of them were very angry—and every time they expressed their emotions, the temperature around them swung wildly.

“Haa……. I’m going to talk to the spirits for a moment.”

“Oh, uh, okay.”

Roy let out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. After getting permission from Yoo Jaeri, the team leader, Roy quietly moved to a secluded spot so as not to disturb the others.

A camera followed, but he didn’t have the time to care.

“Ber, did you already forget what happened early this morning?”

His voice unconsciously lowered. Roy usually didn’t scold the spirits.

The Spirit Kings were friends, companions, and family to Roy. Thanks to them, he’d accomplished so much.

He’d been saved more times than he could count on ten fingers.

“Ppii…….” (No matter how I think about it, I don’t think I did anything wrong…….)

Ber pouted, grumbling at Roy instead of admitting fault in response to Roy’s stern tone.

“Ppiiik. Ppiik.” (This is unfair. You brought me to this place, let me try all these delicious things, then won’t let me eat as much as I want. So I went to find some for myself, and you got so mad at me.)