A Letter from Uncle Liam

"You've arrived."

The carriage had stopped in front of an upscale estate on the outskirts of town. A three-story stone building with a rather modern air to it, complete with a neatly tended garden and fountain in the front yard and a spacious pool out back.

"Young Master!"

The moment Bayul stepped down from the carriage, the front doors of the manor swung open and a familiar voice rang out.

"Rita?"

He could hardly believe his eyes. Why ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on earth was Rita here? The sight of her rushing toward him, tears welling behind her glasses, struck Bayul as utterly surreal for a moment.

"Hic— Young Master! I missed you so much!"

"What's going on? Rita, how did you get here?"

"Sniff— how did I get here? I took the train, of course. Do you have any idea how much I begged the Head Butler!"

"You begged him?"

"Yes! I didn't sleep for two whole days, just followed Cunning around the castle clinging to him and throwing a fit. I told him he had to send me to you. Hee hee, did I do well?"

Rita beamed up at him, eyes still puffy and red, her face brimming with pride.

Rita...!

Something about it moved him. Rita was the daughter of Ariel, the wet nurse who had raised Bayul and Bail. From childhood she had helped her mother tend to the twins, and after Ariel died of pneumonia a few years ago, she had taken over all their care entirely on her own.

And she was only sixteen—Bayul's own age. There was a difference in station between them, but to Bayul she had been a friend, a sister, and at times a stand-in for the mother they'd lost. How could he not be overjoyed to see her?

"Rita, welcome! I never dreamed I'd run into you here. I'm so glad."

"At first His Grace kept saying no, absolutely not. So I made every excuse I could think of for you. I said you'd never eat properly without me there, and that's the only way you wouldn't fall ill. I may have stretched the truth a little, but it wasn't a lie, was it?"

"No, nothing you cook suits my palate better."

"See! Anyway, I pestered him so relentlessly that finally he just threw up his hands and said, 'Fine, fine, go already!'"

"I can picture it. You must have made his life miserable."

Rita had grown up looking after none but the Bayul twins. Bayul could never forget how she had wept and wailed the day Bail died. No one—not even Bayul himself—had grieved more bitterly than she did.

"I'll have to thank Head Butler Cunning properly later."

"Hee hee, please do! Otherwise I'll never hear the end of it later."

Rita winked adorably and gestured toward the manor.

"You haven't had lunch yet, have you? I've laid out a proper spread! I really got to show off my skills for once!"

"Ah, Rita, before that—"

"Honestly, how many days has it been that your face has gotten this gaunt? It breaks my heart. I told you not to skip meals and to take care of yourself. You were already too thin as it was."

"All right, Rita. I'll eat everything once we're inside, so let me at least introduce everyone first."

"...I'm sorry, what?"

Only then did Rita's gaze shift to the figures behind Bayul. Everyone in the group tended to fade into the background wherever they went, and Bayul's attention had been entirely consumed by Rita, so the introductions had come late.

"Oh my goodness! We have guests! I'm so sorry! I was simply overjoyed to see the Young Master again."

Rita hurriedly bowed in apology.

"Not at all. It's only natural."

"I don't mind either."

Being overlooked had been a fact of life for Eli, raised as he was among gypsies. Aidan, likewise, wasn't petty enough to take offense at something like this.

"It seems our Young Master has made some fine friends."

Rita wore a briefly enchanted expression at Eli's beauty, then looked up at Quinn, the only one who hadn't responded. If she'd caused offense, she meant to apologize again.

But the moment she came face to face with Quinn, Rita's mind went blank. She staggered backward, stammering.

"Y-your— your ears!"

"Oh, this is Quinn. He came from the Mermaid Kingdom. He's my roommate, too."

"Gah! Your r-roommate?"

He shares a room—with someone of the merfolk race, not a human?

That was exactly what her reaction said. Ian, who had come out with them, said nothing, but the astonishment on his face was plain to see as well.

"And this is Eli, and Aidan. They're all friends of mine."

"Ah— hello... I'm called Rita."

Even as she bowed, Rita's eyes kept drifting back to Quinn's ears. She was clearly flabbergasted.

"Where's Jasper, though? Rita, you brought him with you, right?"

Caring for Jasper had always been a shared duty between Bayul and Rita. Since they'd both come here, it stood to reason that Jasper would have come along too.

But Rita's reaction was strange. She suddenly ducked her head as though guilty of some crime, avoiding Bayul's eyes. Even her previously chattering mouth clamped shut.

"Don't tell me... you left him behind?"

Bayul's voice trembled with foreboding.

"...I'm sorry."

"Rita!"

"I'm truly sorry! But there was nothing I could do!"

"He doesn't know anyone but you and me. How could you leave a boy like that all alone!"

The only reason Bayul had been able to leave Jasper behind at all was because Rita was there. He had come here trusting in her.

"I wanted to bring him too. But His Grace the Duke—"

"Father? Why? What did Father say?"

"He said I absolutely must not bring Jasper... that if I insisted on going, I was to go alone..."

Bayul couldn't make sense of it. When even Rita was being allowed to come, there was no possible reason to bar Jasper.

The dog was Bayul's guard dog, after all. He only did his duty at Bayul's side. He wouldn't obey anyone's orders—not even the Duke's—unless it came from Bayul himself. So why on earth would his father forbid him from coming?

Don't tell me he simply wants to spite me?

"Lord Viscount Randert has sent you a letter, my lord. Perhaps you should go inside and read it first."

Seeing how quickly Bayul had sunk into gloom, Ian brought up his uncle as a way of comforting him. A single letter couldn't fill the hole Jasper's absence left, but Bayul no longer had any say in the matter.

Uncle Liam...

His uncle's letter, steeped in longing, brought heat to Bayul's eyes. He was a man to be grateful for. It was thanks to his uncle's steadfast, unwavering affection that Bayul had managed to hold himself together at all.

After the accident that year, it had been Uncle Liam who told Bayul that what happened was not his fault. That was the first time Bayul had flung himself into a family member's arms and sobbed until he had no tears left.

How wonderful would it be if this letter had come from Father instead.

Once again, the pointless thought circled in his head. It was always like this whenever his uncle was kind to him. Alongside his gratitude, his yearning for his father only swelled larger. Bayul hated himself for it.

"Y-young Master, your friends are looking for you..."

How long had he been standing there, lost in a daze? He hadn't even noticed Rita approaching. Bayul hurriedly folded the letter, tucked it into a drawer, and forced a smile.

"They are? Where should I go?"

"...I'll show you the way."

You don't have to smile like that just because I'm watching.

Swallowing down the words she longed to say, Rita led the way.

"Bayul!"

The dining hall was already in full swing. Aidan waved, his mouth stuffed full.

"Finally here?"

"Sorry. I was a bit late, wasn't I?"

"We started without you. I was starving. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠This is seriously good!"

When Eli smiled at Rita in gratitude, her cheeks flushed crimson as she set a plate down before Bayul. This was a girl who had never once flinched at the teasing of the castle's servants—yet Eli, it seemed, was an exception. So even she was, at heart, just a girl.

"Rita's cooking is famous even back home. Eat up, everyone."

"We're way ahead of you."

Academy meals were decent enough, but they couldn't hold a candle to what Rita was producing now that she'd set her mind to it. Eli and Aidan heaped on compliments as they ate with genuine gusto. The only one who said nothing was Quinn.

Is he still in a bad mood?

"...!"

Bayul flinched as he snuck a glance at Quinn. Their eyes had met dead on. Quinn's brow twisted in open displeasure.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Huh? Oh—no, I was just wondering if the food suited your taste..."

"Is that really what you should be worrying about right now?"

Quinn gave him a look of utter exasperation.

"Don't you wonder at all why the spirits haven't appeared again?"

"Of course I do. I spent every class on edge, half expecting them to pop up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mid-lecture."

"Then why are you just sitting there?"

"Sitting there? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You aren't doing anything. Unless you formally contract with a spirit, you're not a Spirit User or anything else. You can't summon them at will, you can't command them—nothing."

"Contract? I thought it was just about having the aptitude?"

Aidan, who had been absorbed in his meal, piped up with the question. It was Eli who answered.

"Aptitude is only the prerequisite. To borrow a spirit's power, you have to form a formal contract with it. Only then can it move according to the Spirit User's will."

"That thing we saw at the Temple—that was Bayul doing it, right? So what was that, then?"

"Good question. I've never seen a spirit myself, so I can't say for certain, but he summoned them, didn't he? He didn't command them. My guess is it's because no contract was formed."

"Really? So how do you make a contract?"

At Aidan's rapid-fire questions, Eli and Quinn exchanged a look as if they'd rehearsed it. Both of them, apparently, had no idea.

"Contract or no contract isn't the issue right now. The first step is calling the spirits."

"...Do I really have to call them?"

"What?"

He hated to throw cold water on his friends' animated discussion, but Bayul, for one, felt differently.

"I have no intention of becoming a Spirit User. I don't know what any of it involves, and honestly, I'd rather not deal with it. If I could have it my way, they'd never show up again."

"Whoa! Bayul, are you serious?"

"To be honest, it scared me. A guy like me, a Spirit User? It doesn't make any sense."

"What's wrong with you! Quinn told you, didn't he? You're not sick—you were hearing the voices of spirits. And the reason you were always so frail was that you kept pouring divine power into a perfectly healthy body. Isn't that right, Eli?"

"That's right. Divine power heals wounds and shields the body, but overuse inevitably brings side effects. It did suppress the spirits' energy, true—but on the other hand, it was wrecking your body."

Wrecking my body?

That he hadn't been tormented by auditory hallucinations was tremendously good news to Bayul. It was true that the unfamiliar presence of spirits filled him with unease and fear, but knowing that nothing was wrong with him came as a relief.

And yet his frail constitution had been the spirits' doing, too. Bayul was dumbfounded to learn that the countless divine treatments he'd received since childhood—the very thing meant to protect him—had been the culprit behind his weakness.

"But hold on. Why would his body only start rejecting divine power now? He's been receiving it steadily since he was little. Quinn, you said it, right? That Bayul's body was rejecting divine power."

Remembering what had happened at the Temple, Aidan gave an involuntary shudder.

"It's because of me."

Quinn gazed at the Mark of the Oath inscribed on Bayul's forehead, his eyes grown somber.

"Because of me, the water energy this one carries grew stronger."

"Stronger...?"

"I made a promise with him. As proof of it, I planted a Mark of the Oath on his forehead. You can't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see it, but with the mark added to his body, his water energy intensified. That's why he can now see spirits that were invisible before—and why his body has gained the strength to reject divine power."

"So it wasn't a coincidence? Quinn, you were acting as a kind of amplifier, weren't you?"

"Not intentionally."

For someone who had thrown Bayul into an extraordinary situation, his tone was far too matter-of-fact.

"And yet you'd rather not become a Spirit User? Heh. You truly know nothing, do you?"

Quinn let out a scornful laugh.

"Is that what happens when you're born into a good family and live without a care in the world? Or are you simply a selfish creature?"

His voice was flat and toneless, but Quinn was unmistakably furious.

"A Spirit User isn't something you become because you want to be one. You're simply born that way. It's a fate decreed from the moment you draw breath."

"...Fate?"

"Yes. And with extraordinary power comes an equally weighty responsibility."

Quinn fixed Bayul with a long, unblinking stare.