The Spirit Who Calls Me Daddy
The girl who suddenly appeared before me had the exact same hair and wore the exact same clothes as Dipe. But her size was so completely different that I couldn’t help but ask.
“D-Dipe? Is that you, Dipe?”
I asked carefully, but the girl spread both arms wide to block Tiphereth’s path and refused to move. She only turned her head slightly to glance at me, let out a bright “Hehe, that’s right,” and then looked back at Tiphereth.
Tiphereth still seemed unable to snap out of her shock; her mouth remained hanging open.
“Dipe, how on earth did this…”
“I evolved, Lady Tiphereth. I’m not a young spirit anymore! And there’s a rule about that, right?” Dipe pointed a finger at Tiphereth and declared boldly. “The Spirit King must grant one wish from a grown spirit!”
“It is an ancient rule, passed down for a very long time. But until now, no spirit has ever dared invoke that rule in front of me.”
“Then I’m the first, aren’t I?”
Tiphereth shot her a warning look, but Dipe didn’t back down. I wasn’t sure whether it was the innocent playfulness from her younger days that remained, or if she simply hadn’t learned to read the room yet.
“Please forgive that human.”
“……What?”
“You already know how sorry he feels toward you, Lady Tiphereth, don’t you? Besides, even without your wing, you can still fly. But this human was ready to offer his right hand. And,” Dipe nodded toward Ilena, “he’s also a friend of the Demon King.”
Tiphereth hesitated for a long time. Then, slowly, she lowered her sword.
“Ugh… Since it’s a request from a grown spirit, I’ll let it slide just this once.”
“Thank you, Lady Tiphereth!”
“But if you ever offend me again, I really will take that right hand. Remember that!”
I had no idea what had just happened, but I felt like I’d aged ten years. Only then did Dipe, who had saved me, turn around to face me. Even though her body had grown, her face was still adorably innocent. And then Dipe shouted, “I did good, right!” and leaped straight into my arms.
“Ah…”
Ilena, who had been watching from the side, let out a strange little sound, but I didn’t have time to worry about it. Dipe, nestled against my chest, grabbed my right hand and placed it on top of her head, then looked up at me with eyes full of expectation.
“This hand—I protected it, didn’t I? So pet me with it!”
“Y-yeah. You did great. Really…”
As I stroked Dipe’s head, I realized something. She was no longer the young spirit from before—she had truly become a fully grown spirit. I could feel a much stronger magical power flowing inside her body.
While Dipe relaxed under my touch and grew pleasantly drowsy, Tiphereth asked me,
“What exactly did you do to that child?”
“Nothing special. I just petted her and gave her a massage.”
“But how could that alone…”
Countless young spirits are born across the world, yet only a tiny fraction ever grow stronger as they mature. And yet that rare phenomenon had just occurred right in front of me. Even the Spirit King, who had lived for hundreds of years, seemed unaware of the reason; Tiphereth’s expression was dead serious.
“I suppose I have a reason to leave that right hand of yours alone for a while.”
“……Weren’t you forgiving me?”
“I told you. Only for now. So don’t offend me again.”
Tiphereth spun around indifferently and walked off somewhere else. I called out to her retreating back.
“Tiphereth, when are you going to show me your lab?”
“I’m not in the mood right now! Come back another time!”
Come back another time. So she was going to show me after all? Plus, the chill in her voice felt noticeably softer than before.
“Mmm…”
Dipe rubbed her body against the hand that was touching her. I still didn’t understand what had happened, but Dipe had played a huge role in clearing up the bad blood between me and Tiphereth. Thinking she more than deserved a reward, I stroked her even more enthusiastically.
“Kyahaha, more! It feels so good!”
“That’s enough, that’s enough.”
At that moment, the sound of fingers snapping rang out. Dipe’s body suddenly floated up into the air and stopped right in front of Ilena. Ilena’s face looked rather pouty.
“You, stop touching her already. What if something else goes wrong?”
“Wouldn’t she just grow even more? This case is special, but nothing bad has ever happened when I’ve touched her before.”
“E-even so, stop it! You never know!”
Ilena shouted, then turned her head and muttered something under her breath.
“Me too…”
“Hm? What did you say?”
“N-nothing.”
Ilena lightly snapped her fingers, lowering Dipe back to the ground. The moment Dipe’s feet touched the earth, she tried to run toward me again. Ilena panicked and grabbed her once more.
“S-stop it already!”
“No! I wanna go to the nice human!”
Dipe threw a tantrum, insisting she wanted to come to me, while Ilena tried to stop her from bothering me any further. For some reason, the scene felt strangely heartwarming. If I ever had a beautiful wife and daughter of my own, would this be how it felt…?
“Ah…”
Suddenly the world blurred and my head spun.
“Human!”
“You!!”
The moment I staggered and collapsed to the ground, both Ilena and Dipe rushed over in a panic to check on me. Ilena took my hand and poured her magic into me to examine my condition.
“There’s nothing wrong with your body.”
“It’s probably because the tension finally broke. I almost lost my right hand to the Spirit King’s wrath, after all.”
“Exactly. What on earth were you thinking, doing something like that?”
“She’s not an enemy anymore, is she? We fought because we each had our reasons, and now we’ll be living as neighbors for a while. It’s better to clear up any lingering resentment while we can.”
“You really are…”
Ilena used the hand she was already holding to pull me firmly back to my feet.
“Let’s head back for today. You need to rest.”
“I haven’t done anything yet.”
“Hey, just listen to me! If you don’t, I’ll tell Mother you overdid it.”
“How petty…”
With no choice but to let Ilena drag me home, I started to leave—only for Dipe to grab my other hand, the one Ilena wasn’t holding.
“Nice human, are you going home?”
“I’ll come again next time.”
“No! Don’t go! Stay here and keep playing with me!”
At first I thought it was just childish whining. But Dipe soon began to sniffle, and before long tears were streaming down her face.
“Don’t go. I don’t want you to…”
“Ugh.”
The sight of tears dripping from that small, adorable face was utterly devastating. It felt like abandoning Dipe right now would turn me into the worst person in the world.
“Can’t we take her with us?”
“What? No. She’s not a human child—she’s a spirit!”
“But she clearly doesn’t want to be separated from me…”
“Hmm…”
After a moment of hesitation, Ilena called over the young spirits.
“Children, come here for a moment.”
“Yes, Demon King!”
“When Tiphereth returns, tell her that Dipe’s sudden growth must have a reason behind it. Just in case, I’ll keep her by Roen’s side and observe her.”
“Understood!”
It looked like we’d be able to take her after all, so I smiled at Dipe and asked,
“Dipe, do you want to come with me?”
“Yeah! I wanna go together!”
The girl who had been crying just moments ago now beamed with joy. I wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with my finger, then lifted her into my arms with one hand. Dipe seemed to love it; she laughed brightly and wrapped her arms around my neck.
“See you later, everyone.”
“See you, nice human!”
On the way back, the young spirits sang songs and waved us off until we were out of sight.
“They all seem to really like you.”
“That’s a relief. Most spirits hate humans, after all. They’re raised with warnings to be careful around us.”
Since ancient times, human history has been a history of pioneering. But pioneering inevitably means damaging nature. In that sense, to spirits born and raised within nature, humans were practically natural enemies.
“By the way, you’re really planning to bring her all the way home?”
“Of course. She wants to follow me.”
“Then what are you going to tell Mother and the villagers?”
“That’s the problem. Maybe I’ll say she’s a daughter I brought back from outside. Dipe, can you try calling me Daddy once?”
Dipe blinked, then said in a perfectly casual voice,
“Daddy?”
“Ugh…”
The way such a cute child said “Daddy” made my chest tighten.
“Maybe it’ll actually work…?”
“Don’t say ridiculous things! Do you want to get smacked on the back by Mother again?”
“Still… seeing us like this, we really do look like a family.”
“A family?”
“A dad and his adorable daughter. And,” I playfully took Ilena’s hand, “you could be the mom, right?”
“Oh my…”
For some reason Ilena’s cheeks flushed a faint pink, and she stayed silent for a long while. Instead, she refused to let go of the hand I had teasingly taken.
“Ilena? You can let go of my hand now.”
“I know.”
Even as she said that, she squeezed it even tighter.