The Spirit King's Spirit User (1)
[Stop it! You'll really die if you keep going!]
Aqua's cry drew a faint smile from Niagara.
[Do you lack the resolve to witness my death?]
Aqua fell silent, her eyes wide with shock at the sudden question. Niagara chuckled softly, as if pleased by her hesitation.
[I feel the same. I couldn't bear to see you hurt or in pain—or worse, dying.]
[You're staking your life on something that hasn't even happened yet!]
Aqua shouted indignantly. Niagara laughed heartily, as if finding her adorable.
[Aqua. Do you know what is the most proud and joyful duty bestowed upon a Spirit King?]
Niagara's limping form, smiling despite his frailty, looked as if he might collapse at any moment.
[It is raising one's successor. The heir who will follow in my footsteps, whom I must personally teach and nurture.]
Niagara shook his head faintly.
[Yes, spirits have no clear parents or children. Yet even so, you have always been like a daughter to me.]
Niagara's smile was pure and bright, impossible to believe from someone so gravely wounded.
[Just the smiles you gave me are enough. For you, I would stake my life a thousand times over.]
[……!]
Aqua clamped her mouth shut.
[So, it matters not if you cannot understand. I will protect you in my own way.]
Energy gathered once more in Niagara's hand. Aqua looked up at me, her eyes a storm of anger, sorrow, and pleading—begging me to stop him.
"Niagara."
I scooped Aqua into my arms and stepped forward.
"That kind of love doesn't help Aqua."
Love was beautiful and noble, but it blinded one to harsh truths. Niagara had been consumed by his overwhelming affection.
Humans are poison named family... Or so he had said. In truth, Niagara was the one poisoned by family and love.
As if only now remembering my presence, Niagara slowly turned his deep gaze toward me.
[Human. What do you know to speak so boldly?]
Niagara's eyes held centuries of wisdom, experiences I could scarcely fathom.
[You've never borne a child or raised a young one. What right have you to prattle on?]
He was right. My own experiences were limited. Even the time I'd spent cherishing and loving Aqua paled in comparison to his.
But one thing I knew for certain.
"Your way is wrong. She'll never grow if you keep shielding her like that."
[Protecting one's child is the duty of a parent.]
"True. But..."
I hesitated, hugging Aqua tightly. I felt her gaze on me, but I lacked the courage to meet her eyes.
"Neither you nor I can stay by Aqua's side forever."
[……!]
Niagara's eyes widened.
We would die before her. I, a human, and even Niagara, the former Spirit King—someday, inevitably, we would leave this world first.
The first born fades first. That was the law of the world.
"We love Aqua. So we want her to live on after we're gone."
[...So you say she needs suffering to live?]
"She needs the memories we've made together, the experiences we've shared. Yes, pain will be part of it."
Everything had two sides. Growth came with memories and pain intertwined.
"You spirits love kudara berries. In the human world, they're used as rare medicine. Know what makes them medicinal?"
[…….]
"They must be eaten by insects. Only when the bugs hollow them out, making them bumpy and ugly, can they be used as medicine."
Herbalists called it "bug-eaten." I called it "growth."
"Aqua will grow wiser with us, stronger without us. Until one day, she can smile about our memories."
Someday, Aqua would become Spirit King. Someday, she'd care for her own successor. Someday, she'd live in a world without us.
"A guardian's role isn't just protection. It's preparing the child to survive without it—to be a true guardian, a parent."
[…….]
Niagara fell silent. Aqua tugged at the collar of my armor. Looking down, I saw her lips pursed in a pout, half sulky, half on the verge of tears—as if asking why I'd say such things.
I stroked her bangs without a word.
[How...]
Niagara shook his head.
[How can you speak of such things so easily?]
Aqua's large eyes glistened too, as if echoing the sentiment. A future we didn't want to imagine, yet one that would surely come—an inevitable farewell.
Aqua hated hearing it; I hated thinking it. But I had to, at least sometimes.
"Because that's family. That's a parent's role."
I held Aqua close, stroking the back of her head.
"We must prepare our child, our ward, to live alone someday."
Niagara slowly shook his head, as if unable to comprehend—or unwilling to.
[Even so, death is no price worth paying for growth.]
Like the Wind Spirit King, like countless other spirits, he feared Aqua might die too.
"The world has changed. Children must adapt to survive."
[No. Better not to grow than to suffer and die.]
"Even if it means living alone and lonely in the Spirit Realm?"
[Of course.]
"Even in a desolate Amazon, in solitude?"
[……!]
"That's why Sia Clearwater left, right? Because with you by her side, she might die."
Niagara's lips twisted.
As if to say, What do you know?
I pondered. Why had Niagara left Sia Clearwater? Why had he begun calling Aqua his daughter?
For spirits, contracts are akin to creating family.
Sia Clearwater had contracted with him at age nine. Niagara had raised her like his own.
And then he grew afraid.
Afraid that his presence forced the young Sia into gates.
Hunters have a duty to clear gates.
Many spirits and contractors feared it—not their own death, but their family's.
Thus, many chose peaceful professions over hunting. But S-rank awakeners like Sia were conscripted for high-grade gates regardless.
As long as the Spirit King stayed, Sia would always stand in death's shadow.
Niagara saw Sia's death in fallen contractors, Aqua's in fallen spirits. His anxiety must have exploded with the Wind Spirit King's demise.
"That's why you left Sia Clearwater?"
[…….]
Niagara glared at me.
"That's why you wouldn't let Aqua go to the human world?"
Calling her daughter filled the family void spirits felt from human bonds—for both him and her.
[Yes. That's why I left Sia.]
Niagara admitted it.
[And held onto Aqua. Both are like daughters to me! I couldn't let either die! What's wrong with that?!]
"Sia Clearwater resents you, misses you—and locked herself away in the Amazon because of it."
[At least she's alive!]
Niagara's mustache quivered with rage. I faced it with pity.
His argument wasn't entirely wrong. Gates had given and taken so much.
Ultimately, the choice was theirs. And here, it wasn't mine to make.
I smiled faintly past Niagara's shoulder.
"That's how it is, then."
Niagara turned belatedly. Someone hugged him fiercely first.
"Coward!"
The blonde Westerner. Sia Clearwater.
[Sia……!]
Niagara's voice faltered in surprise.
"Coward! Coward! Coward!"
Deep resentment laced Sia Clearwater's voice. Yet her arms around Niagara brimmed with desperate love that could move anyone to tears.
Niagara, facing his contractor after five years, could only stare blankly, neither hugging nor soothing her.
I'd seen her sprinting from the distant yacht earlier, using her skills in a frenzy. Jang Gilsan must have brought her via a teleporter awakener.
Drained from battle, Niagara hadn't sensed her approach.
[……Sia.]
His hand rose awkwardly. But instead of comforting, it clenched into a fist, never touching her back. He gritted his teeth and pushed her away.
[Let go…….]
Sia Clearwater only wailed louder, hugging tighter, shaking her head as if she'd never let go again.
Niagara's face wavered under the fierce embrace.
"Niagara."
He didn't turn to me.
"If you love your children, love their choices too. No matter how sad the outcome."
Only then did Niagara look at me, his eyes swirling with confusion, regret, and faint fear.
"They'll get hurt. They'll suffer. Meetings bring partings; love, farewells. But fearing failure means standing still forever."
Niagara opened his mouth.
[I...]
His gaze churned like waves in a storm.
[……I'm afraid of parting.]
At last, he confessed his truth.
[Afraid of the pain of farewell. Terrified that those I love will one day endure that agony.]
"So you're choosing the pain of parting now to avoid a future one? That's just cowardly escape."
I hugged Aqua close.
"Love each other fiercely, like humans do. As if tomorrow might be farewell. So future partings leave no regrets."
Niagara gazed at Sia Clearwater clinging to him—his adopted daughter, vowing never to let go after years apart.
[……No, Sia. We will hurt each other.]
His trembling voice spoke more to himself.
[Humans and spirits are poison, drugs to one another. Nothing good comes of it.]
He clenched his teeth, suppressing surging emotions.
[And yet... you still want to be with me?]
Sia Clearwater nodded through sobs too fierce for words, clinging as if the world could crumble around them—as long as they stayed together. Never leave again, she pleaded.
Niagara's face twisted.
Like a daughter, he said.
Seeing his "daughter" weep because of him shattered his heart.
[……I'm sorry.]
In the end, Niagara hugged Sia Clearwater back. His resolve, unyielding even before death, crumbled before his two daughters.
[I'm sorry.]
Tears streamed from Niagara's eyes. Watching, I sighed in relief.
Sia Clearwater arrived at the perfect moment.
Whether human or spirit, exhaustion weakens the heart. Appearing when Niagara was battle-worn was a stroke of genius.
My relief was short-lived.
[Pbuuu……!]
A strange sound came from somewhere. Looking down, Aqua was glaring at me, cheeks puffed out enormously.