The Spirit of the Lake Awaits Us
The story I was rewriting began with Aran's provocation, but after feeling his body grow healthier day by day, Aran focused entirely on physical training every single morning. Even though it was early summer and not yet that hot, exercising under the blazing sun and sweating buckets probably wasn't the best idea. The moment he finished the quota he'd set for the day, Aran collapsed onto the ground with a thud.
“Little brother is incredibly weak compared to big brother.”
“Ha, even big brother would’ve passed out in this weather.”
“Hmm, perhaps in this kind of weather he would have trained in that shaded area where the sunlight doesn’t reach.”
“…René. You’re being noisy.”
“I said it quietly.”
While we sisters had been watching from the shade like a pair of spirits, we scampered over, poked him with a tree branch, and teased him until he suddenly sprang up. We ran away from him, then brought back some cool water. Aran drained the cup in one go, let out a satisfied sigh, and spent a long time groaning about how exhausted he was before finally returning to his usual self.
When I suggested he train in the shade starting tomorrow, he quietly nodded and played with us until dinner. At the dinner table—delayed by the longer summer days—we rarely talked about vacation, so I carefully brought it up first and asked our parents when we might head to the villa this year.
Our parents saw Aran’s eyes sparkling with anticipation for fishing, and our own faces bright with excitement at the thought of reuniting with Undine. After a long, troubled pause, they dropped a bombshell that hit us like lightning from a clear sky.
“W-wait, why? Why not?”
I’d had so many things I wanted to discuss with Undine about the spirit clinging to my shoulder, so I asked in shock. Mother turned to look at Father. When everyone’s eyes gathered on him, Father gave an awkward, bitter smile and finally spoke.
“There’s simply too much work this year. We won’t have time for a vacation.”
“Didn’t you hire new managers this time?”
“It will still be a while before they can handle things on their own, Aran.”
We fidgeted, unable to argue against such a final answer. We even tried saying that everyone needs rest sometimes, but it didn’t work at all. Our shoulders drooped in defeat.
Just as I was thinking that we wouldn’t get to see Undine this year and that we’d have to wait until next year, Aran’s face hardened with determination.
“Then we’ll go by ourselves.”
Father was busy with work, and Mother wouldn’t leave him behind. So when Aran suggested the three of us siblings go alone, I was both hopeful and certain it was impossible. I’d thought the same thing in my previous life. But then I saw Mother’s face—surprisingly serious as she considered it.
“…You promise you won’t cause any trouble and will behave properly?”
While I was internally reeling at her serious tone, Aran nodded confidently and told her not to worry. Then Lene, who had been looking forward to meeting Undine, nodded as well and took Aran’s side. I quickly nodded too, joining the cause.
“We won’t do anything dangerous, cause any trouble, or get into accidents.”
“That’s right!”
“Even so, sending you three by yourselves is…”
Father hesitated, still reluctant, but the next day when Lene and Aran staged a fake tantrum and caused a scene in protest, he finally gave in and granted permission.
We were overjoyed to be allowed to go to the villa, but that didn’t stop us from getting a thorough scolding for the stunt we’d pulled.
“René! How did you manage to slip out of trouble again!”
“Slip out of trouble? Anyone listening would get the wrong idea.”
Of course, since I hadn’t taken part in the mischief, I hadn’t been scolded or punished. I’d been peacefully sharing snacks with the spirit in my room. When a fuming Lene stormed back, I tried to calmly explain, but her face said she wasn’t in the mood to listen. So instead of explaining, I just gave her some snacks to soothe her mood.
“Be careful while you’re gone, all of you.”
“Yes! We’ll have lots of fun!”
“You should say, ‘We’ll have a safe trip.’”
After that, we finished our preparations without forgetting anything and set off for the villa under the farewell of our parents and the staff, this time with even more knights escorting us than before.
Instead of traveling leisurely like last time, we aimed to arrive as quickly as possible. We left early in the morning and only rested when the sun went down. The schedule was incredibly grueling, but the harder we pushed, the sooner we reached Lorelan Lake compared to our previous trip.
[I've been waiting for you.]
When we crossed the lake by boat, Undine flew over with a bright smile to greet us. There were too many eyes watching nearby for us to speak to her directly, so we simply waved like we were greeting birds flying across the sky.
Undine chuckled softly at our behavior, then tilted her head when she noticed the spirit clinging to my shoulder. Soon her face lit up with a smile, as if she’d found another cute friend.
“Krr, looks like this little one’s been doing well.”
Once we arrived at the villa and unpacked, Aran immediately went looking for his fishing rod. He fiddled with it, noting how much better it looked thanks to the staff’s maintenance, and started preparing to go fishing right away.
“Young master, the sun is already setting. Why don’t you fish tomorrow?”
“Just a little while… with the magic lantern…”
“Young Master Aran.”
“Ahem, fine.”
The oldest knight among those escorting us this time—the one who taught physical training and swordsmanship at the mansion—spoke up, and Aran obediently backed down. Seeing him act like a child despite his growing body made me smile. I filled my empty stomach with the dishes the villa staff had prepared, then soaked in hot water with Lene to wash away the fatigue from the long journey.
“If you need anything or if something happens, please call for us.”
“Okay! Have a good night!”
“Please rest comfortably without worrying.”
While drying our hair, we kept saying how tired we were and wanted to sleep early, so we quickly changed into our pajamas. After the staff left the room, we lay still on the bed until Undine gave us the all-clear signal. Only then did we sit up.
“Ugh, I almost fell asleep for real.”
"Huhu, if you're tired, you can sleep early today and we can talk tomorrow."
“No way! There’s so much I’m curious about and so many things I want to talk about!”
Undine covered her mouth and laughed at how cute Lene looked with her sparkling eyes, then turned her clear, water-like gaze toward me. I pointed at the spirit yawning on my shoulder and asked about its true identity.
"How am I supposed to answer when you two brought it here and then ask me what it is?"
“I guess that is kind of unfair…”
"Very unfair, yes."
Undine gave a wry smile at my mutter, then silently drew closer. She stared intently at the spirit waving its little hand at her before sharing what she’d already figured out.
"It seems to be a spirit related to plants… and it's still very young."
“We already knew that much.”
Since we’d already guessed that part, we asked her to tell us something new. Undine snapped her fingers and splashed water right in my face.
“Ugh…”
While I grumbled that I should’ve sprinkled salt on her last year and wiped my face with my pajama sleeve, Lene asked why the spirit couldn’t speak like Undine.
"It's still too young."
She explained that was why, but added the happy news that while staying with us, it would grow and eventually learn to speak.
“Undine. If I summarize what you’ve said so far, it sounds like spirits go through a growth period too… Do they have parents?”
"Hmm, isn't it rather rude to suddenly ask if parents exist?"
“N-no, that’s not what I meant! I swear!”
She’d responded to my fairly serious question with a troubled face, so I panicked and tried to explain further. Undine burst into laughter and waved her hand, saying it was just a prank. Then, to my pouting face, she gave a vague answer that even she didn’t fully understand—spirits simply came into existence at certain moments.
"So we don't have any beings we could call parents."
If she had to name something close to a parent, it would be the place deeply connected to the power they could wield, she joked. Then, for our curious faces, she told us what she knew about spirits.
"There are countless spirits in this world. But not all of them possess consciousness like I do."
Only some of those countless spirits gained awareness, and among them, only a few approached people like us with interest and formed relationships. We both tilted our heads in the exact same way.
“What does that mean?”
“Explain it in a way we can understand.”
"Anyway, just understand that such things exist and move on."
Undine admitted she didn’t know enough to explain any further. So we sisters took turns asking about everything we were curious about. Through that back-and-forth, we learned that through contracts, spirits could gain physical form in this world and interfere with it. They could also show themselves and speak to other people.
We also asked if we might have met other spirits before. Undine said yes—there were traces of other spirits on us. She guessed they had probably approached us in the form of slightly special animals or insects, which was why we hadn’t noticed. We nodded, agreeing that made sense.
“Wait, insects?”
“That means bugs, right?”
When we questioned the part we couldn’t just let slide, Undine said some spirits did take the form of insects. She snapped her fingers and created an exact replica using clear water. Even though it was made of transparent water, its creepy appearance made us sisters shiver. We muttered that we really hoped we’d never meet a spirit like that.
"If you say that, the spirit listening might feel hurt."
“…If we saw that spirit, we’d run away.”
“We might even faint.”
We figured that just as it might feel hurt, we would be equally terrified. Since continuing the topic would only sadden someone who might be listening, we stopped there. Sleepiness we could no longer fight made us yawn.
Seeing us like that, Undine said that if we wanted to play hard tomorrow, we should sleep now, and gently laid us down in bed.
“Ugh, my pajamas are all wet and clammy.”
When I complained that my clothes had gotten damp in the process, Undine said it couldn’t be helped and that it was something we had to put up with until the contract was made.
“Oh right, Undine. René said she’s going to contract with this one, so you have to contract with me. Okay?”
"Got it. Let's do that, Lene."
Undine smiled as she watched us naturally hug each other while falling asleep. Then, as if she’d forgotten something, she quickly nodded at Lene’s added words, wished us good night, and disappeared.
After confirming she was gone, we giggled at the spirit trying to wriggle between us, then closed our eyes.