51 — Chapter 51

“Just what on earth are you riding—!?”

Perhaps Lucas’s soul-shattering shout reached her, because Elma suddenly looked up.

For some reason, she gave a firm nod and whispered something to the whale beneath her feet.

In an instant, the pennant-shaped fin rotated and sank into the waves, turning so that the whale’s slick, broad back was facing upward.

Apparently, Elma had been clinging to the pectoral fin, and the whale had been swimming at an angle just to make it easier for her to hold on. It was a shocking display of devotion.

For a while after that, the whale and Elma frolicked together, racing across the vast ocean in every direction.

The whale would powerfully slap the seawater with its tail.

Elma would plunge her arm in to adjust the angle, creating a rainbow in the spray.

The whale would execute a jump so high it looked like it could reach the seagulls.

Elma would produce a sardine-like fish from nowhere and toss it into the whale’s mouth. The whale would writhe its body in delight.

They flew.

They bounced.

They chased after flying fish as if they were playing with a ball.

Moving with perfect synchronization, Elma and the whale were like a promised pair, two halves of a single destiny.

The sight had surpassed the unity of horse and rider; it was a state that could only be described as the “oneness of man and whale.”

“Is… is that whale Elma’s better half…!?”

“Ah! The spray they just kicked up was shaped like a heart…!!”

Irene and the others rubbed their eyes repeatedly at the sight of the girl and the whale playing together so joyfully.

Lucas silently looked up at the heavens, while Kevin—he simply stared, eyes glued to Elma’s figure.

After enjoying their water play for a good while, the whale seemed satisfied.

It turned around, accelerated with Elma still on its back, and arrived at the base of the cliff in the blink of an eye.

However, the cliff wall stood with daunting majesty; it was not something a human could possibly climb.

Everyone held their breath, wondering if Elma would dismount and show off some rock climbing next, but—

—Phweet!

Elma formed a circle with the fingers of her right hand and blew a whistle, while waving her left hand behind her back.

Immediately, the whale plunged its head deep into the sea and came to a dead halt.

“Wh-what is she planning to do this time…?”

“Could that be…!”

Ignoring Irene’s shrill question, Lucas gasped.

Fortunately or unfortunately, he had managed to understand exactly what that preparatory movement by the whale signified.

The whale with its head submerged.

Around it, the turbulent currents grew even more violent, swirling into a vortex. A massive amount of seawater was being swallowed up.

Then, the seawater stored within the whale’s giant body—

—Pshaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

“It spouted—!!”

It turned into the whale’s blow, surging powerfully toward the sky.

At the very top of the water column, which looked high enough to reach the clouds, a shadow could be seen.

Perhaps to reduce the surface area hitting the water, Elma stood there on her tiptoes in a Y-shape, one leg raised and held in her hand.

“She took flight—!”

Elma soared.

Confronted with that unbelievable reality, the group screamed, their jaws nearly hitting the floor.

Before their eyes, Elma rose far higher than the cliff itself, then gave the bridge of her glasses a sharp flick.

Against the backlight, only the lenses flashed brilliantly.

Then, tucking her knees in mid-air, she spun rapidly—and landed on the cliff.

“A triple-and-a-half twisting front tuck!?”

“A perfect finish, not even a grain of wheat out of place!”

At this point, it felt less like a homecoming and more like watching an H-difficulty athletic competition.

Irene and the others flushed red, clapping their hands while shouting, “Bravo!”

Elma herself, however, seemed entirely unmoved by the applause. With a graceful gait, she stepped in front of Kevin, pinched the hem of her soaking wet maid uniform, and bowed.

“Maid Elma. I have returned with the ring you were looking for.”

With those words, she solemnly held out the ring attached to the chain.

The ring, cradled carefully in both her palms, was shining like new, every bit of rust wiped away—though when she could have possibly done that was a mystery.

Meanwhile, water continued to drip steadily from Elma’s maid uniform.

“…”

Completely overwhelmed, Kevin could only stare blankly at the girl in front of him.

Since he was unable to move, Elma gently hung the chain around his neck, but Kevin remained frozen in place.

“I am truly glad it was found safely.”

“…ah.”

The gentle words made his throat tremble.

As if triggered by that voice, a flood of emotions burst through the dam in Kevin’s mind.

She had really retrieved the ring.

For his sake.

This petite girl had leapt from a cliff and thrown herself into the raging currents.

The facts that she had returned riding a whale, displayed a bizarre “oneness” with the beast, and executed a perfect finish on a waterspout had brought Kevin a shock that far surpassed the sum of everything he had experienced in his life. However, it had circled all the way back around to a state of mental numbness; his brain processed it with the fuzzy logic of: “I don’t really get it, but she came back in an incredible way.”

If anything, he sensed something in Elma that transcended humanity—to put it bluntly, he felt the presence of a god.

Fine after jumping off a cliff?

It makes sense; she’s a god, after all.

Finding a tiny ring in the vast ocean?

Of course; she’s a god, after all.

Kevin unleashed the purity and simplicity unique to a young boy, hidden beneath the roots of his cynical behavior. With his imagination leaping to extremes, he found himself accepting Elma’s abnormalities without further question.

“To protect your sister, you turned even the ring that guarantees your status into a weapon. Even at the age of ten, Lord Kevin, you possess courage and the spirit of chivalry. You are truly a gentleman worthy of being the next lord. As expected of the ‘Son of the Continent.’”

“Huh…?”

At the sudden praise, Kevin blinked in bewilderment.

Facing the confused boy, Elma pointed to the ring she had just hung around his neck as if to say, “Look.”

“If I may be so bold, the ring appeared quite rusted, so I took the liberty of performing a Nano-Ion Cleaning.”

“N-Nano…?”

“Yes. It is a recommended technique that restores only the lost brilliance and engravings without altering the inner dimensions of the ring in the slightest. And if you look—right here.”

Noticing that the letters engraved on the inside of the ring she held between her slender fingertips were now perfectly legible, Kevin let out a soft gasp.

A moment later, as the meaning of the words sank in, his eyes silently welled with tears.

—From Husband, to my most beloved Wife.

—From Mother, to my most beloved Son of the Continent.

“The first sentence was likely engraved by Lord Jonas when your mother was married. And the second, I suspect, was engraved by your mother the moment she learned the gender of the child in her womb.”

“…!”

The words caught in Kevin’s throat.

Unconsciously, he rubbed the ring over and over again before clutching it tight.

“I have heard that in Frenzel, a ring gifted by one’s mother serves as proof of the next Lord. I look forward to the day when you rule this land wearing that ring, Lord Kevin.”

He could accept those warm words now without being defensive.

In fact, he felt a sense of intoxication at receiving such excessive praise from a “great being.”

“No… no, I… I am still far from… I mean, I have much to learn…”

His first words of humility came out naturally.

She had put her life on the line to protect him.

She had recovered the proof of his lordship.

And she had taught him so clearly that he was loved by at least one person—no, perhaps his sister as well.

A sensation like small bubbles rising within him made Kevin feel almost lightheaded.

And then—for the first time, someone had high expectations for him.

“M-More importantly, um… I… I’m sor… I am sorry. For acting so incredibly rude to you.”

“Whatever do you mean? It was my own lack of study that led to me mishandling our interaction and unintentionally frightening you. Furthermore, the time it took to capture the Demon Moth was entirely my own failure.”

“Not at all! Not at all… I mean, you caught the moth, and you cleaned the ring…”

His “thank you” was so quiet it was barely audible, even to himself.

His heart was pounding far too loudly.

She didn’t treat him like he was wrapped in cotton, nor did she bare her teeth with malice.

Instead, she was the first person Kevin had ever met who recognized him as a full-grown man and placed her expectations on him with a refreshing lack of restraint and genuine sincerity.

Having met her, he realized for the first time that this was what he had been craving.

“U-Um, well…”

Thinking this way about a maid—a commoner at that—was ridiculous.

The old Kevin would have thought so.

But now, just as she had recognized him as an adult despite his stunted physical appearance, Kevin wanted to interact with people without being trapped by the framework of social status.

When he looked at her that way, he couldn’t help but worry about the person in front of him, who was still dripping wet from head to toe.

“You’ll catch a cold staying like that—I mean, you will catch a cold. Especially since magical beasts live in this sea, and the waves sometimes carry miasma. I’ll have the manor prepare things, so why don’t you go change immediately?”

Had he ever worried about a maid’s health before?

No, never.

In the corner of his vision, he saw Deborah wearing a warm smile, as if watching a fellow comrade-in-arms.

“—Ah, how terribly rude of me.”

However, Elma seemed to interpret his comment as a critique of her unseemly appearance.

With a small “Excuse me,” she stood up, untied her hair from its bun, and gathered it in both hands to wring out the water.

Kevin felt a momentary flutter of agitation at the sight of her slender white nape and the luster of the wet hair clinging to her neck.

Even if she was a god, her outward appearance was that of a plain girl in glasses.

Just as he was questioning why he was so flustered, she smoothly reached up and removed her thick spectacles.

“!”

Her true face was revealed.

Kevin felt a shock like a bolt of lightning, and his breath simply stopped.