The sylphid twisted my nose, looking very irritated. Strangely, when twisting my nose, it took on Darius’s appearance again. Didn’t it say it disliked that form?

‘Does everyone develop a habit of twisting noses when they take on Darius’s appearance?’

Remembering when Darius twisted my nose while I pretended to sleep in the carriage on our honeymoon journey, I blushed more than necessary.

“A fraud! I’ve never deceived anyone, and it’s the one who’s deceived that’s at fault!”

The sylphid, in Darius’s form, lamented.

“To think that the restriction Inkhart and I carefully devised would be broken by such a tiny girl.”

‘It’s been belittling me, but that tiny girl happens to be the current wife of House Inkhart.’

I glared at the sylphid while grumbling inwardly.

“You made me misunderstand. I can’t sense a single grain of spirit power in you now. But your vessel is absurdly large compared to your ability. Like the vessel of a great spirit mage.”

“What on earth does that mean?”

“It’s simple logic. There’s no need to prepare a large vessel if you only have a drop of water. It would be a waste. From what I sense, it’s as if you originally had an enormous amount of spirit power, but for some reason, you used it all up, leaving only an empty vessel.”

Could this mean that the original Anette, before the possession, had the qualities of a great spirit mage?

“Spirit power isn’t an ability that disappears when used. Normally, as the body recovers, the depleted spirit power should replenish, but what kind of case is this? I only sense traces of once abundant spirit energy that has now completely dried up in you.”

Well, I have some idea about that. Possession, or rather, possession, or a soul swap. There have been many things weighing on my conscience regarding Anette.

Haha.

Talking about this wouldn’t lead to anything good, right?

This spirit king who dislikes demons might even try to exorcise me, claiming I’m an evil entity in the worst case.

I decided to quietly keep my mouth shut about the spirit king’s misunderstanding.

“I pondered when I heard your call. I sensed potential in you, but at the same time, you didn’t feel like the perfect spirit mage we desired. So I decided to summon you first. The result was a bust, as I just said.”

He playfully tapped my forehead.

“Now, have all misunderstandings been cleared?”

‘I don’t think there was an event like this when the female lead obtained the northern treasure.’

There was no mention of meeting the spirit king. There was the unfortunate incident of Rose’s death, but only a story of obtaining a legendary treasure overnight.

Maybe this is a special event that occurred because I’m unqualified, as he said.

“Let’s go back to the beginning. Here is an enormous treasure that all humans would desire. How will you use this treasure?”

Gold coins glitter at my feet. The entire space sparkles with golden light, making gold seem like sand.

‘Ah, that sword over there. It would be good for Darius to use. I think in the original story, he obtained a magic sword from here.’

Moreover, with these gold coins, we wouldn’t have to worry about money when developing the North or renovating the training grounds.

“In this age where your legends have become fairy tales, what reason would there be to frantically search for that legend? You may not know, being here, but the world already considers the promise between ancestor Inkhart and you as a children’s tale.”

Money, the North needs money now.

But it’s too late to wait for the female lead to come and solve everything.

“I know the Demon King is coming. Your treasure was created to prepare for that final day, right? We need it now. To prepare for the coming demon army.”

This isn’t flattery to win his heart. I truly know. Because I’ve read the original story. I also know that all of this is indeed the funds prepared for the demon army that will invade at the very end.

“My dear friend Inkhart amassed this fortune with the belief that his descendants would defeat the Demon King. But to you humans, doesn’t the Demon King sound too much like a villain from a fairy tale? In such a peaceful world.”

“What are you saying? If there’s a Spirit King, why wouldn’t there be a Demon King?”

“Isn’t it that very Spirit King who says the Demon King is nonsense?”

“Just as your friend had his beliefs, I have mine. This storehouse didn’t open for no reason. It opened to help the current Duke Inkhart. How long are you going to keep this buried?”

In fact, even without the Demon King, the North is already precarious. There’s a hole in the finances, I tell you!

Hearing my answer, the sylphid smiled quietly and then generously gave me a heap of gold coins.

“If you want, try taking them.”

‘Come to think of it, moving all of this would be a big task.’

There are so many gold coins that we could be crushed to death. It might take all the people in the castle months to move these gold coins.

“Will you truly use it for the North and the world?”

The sylphid’s voice was subtle. I was too busy nodding, not noticing that he was speaking in a probing tone.

‘Ah, Lady Egritte. I must make sure she absolutely can’t get her hands on this.’

If suddenly so many gold coins appear in the castle, there’s no way the lady wouldn’t notice. Hiding it would be a task too.

“Aren’t those gold coins heavy?”

“This much is nothing. Moving everything here would be the big task.”

Anette didn’t know, but in fact, the sylphid was surprised.

The suspicious pair had set conditions so that only those with abundant holy power or spirit power could find the treasure, and they had set a second condition.

Inkhart’s gold coins were cursed so that if someone with evil intentions touched them, they would be crushed to death by their weight.

“I’m glad. To be able to keep the promise with an old friend.”

The promise with his dead friend remained as the sylphid’s last lingering attachment.

‘This should be enough to not worry about finances for 10 years. …But with so many gold coins, surely some of what I discovered is my contribution? I should be able to take a little when I divorce, right?’

Pababang. Suddenly, the gold coins in Anette’s hands exploded and grew crazily. It was the activation of the anti-fraud magic.

“…Contractor, until just now you had a pure soul without a single stain, but suddenly what’s this all about?”

“…With so many gold coins, I thought maybe 1/10, no, 1/100 might be left over after using it all, so I could take that…”

Pababababang! Anette’s hands sank down with the gold coins that had grown as much as her greed.

“I’ll use it all and settle accounts. I won’t touch it until the time comes! I’ll do the important things first! Really!”

No, how can you make people work for free! Where’s the compensation, where’s the compensation!

Finally, the magic gold coins stopped growing when she swore not to embezzle from public funds.

“Can I really trust you?”

The sylphid’s eyes were full of suspicion as he looked at Anette.

“You’re a suspicious contractor. But I have no choice but to trust you.”

The sylphid made a hand sign. Then, as if a red circle appeared in the air, a small and cute furry creature appeared in that spot.

“King!”

The creature, about the size of a puppy, ran to the spirit king who had summoned it and showed affection at his feet.

The sylphid picked it up and handed it to Anette.

“It’s a sylph.”

“What?”

“First, make a contract with the sylph. A low-level spirit seems right for your level.”

“Why so suddenly?”

“Originally, if the one who entered here was a spirit mage, I was going to give them the special authority to contract with me. A spirit mage would know what an honor it is to contract with the supreme spirit king.”

So that’s why he’s been calling me a contractor since I came in, he had this plan. The treasure that Inkhart prepared for his descendants included a contract with the spirit king, the source of his power as a great spirit mage.

The sylphid spoke as if doing a favor.

“Of course, a mere human meeting me, the great wind spirit king Sylphid, would be dying to contract immediately. But hold on. Just as it’s dangerous for a newborn baby to suddenly start running, attempting to contract with me at your level would drain your power and kill you.”

So first contract with the sylph, a low-level wind spirit? Is this how a wise spirit mage life begins?

‘Well, it’s not bad to gain some power, whatever it is.’

“As you are now, you’ll struggle even to handle the sylph I’ve generously given you. You may not meet my standards, but I can’t say you’re without talent, so don’t neglect your training.”

As soon as the spirit king handed the sylph to me, it immediately showed curiosity and busied itself examining me. It really was like a puppy in many ways. Is it going to start panting soon too?

“Don’t make me regret trusting you and opening this door. Wife of Inkhart.”

‘You knew?’

The sylphid smiled faintly. Come to think of it, when the sylphid first took on Lucian’s appearance, he said he had looked into my mind and chosen the form. I wonder how much he saw.

“Let me give you one last piece of advice: time doesn’t flow here. The outside will be exactly the same as when you entered… so try your best once.”

With those final words, the place where he stood began to collapse without warning. Wobble wobble, the clear figure of the sylphid begins to disappear.

Crash. Only the sound of gold coins pouring down was loud.

‘What does that mean?’

I floundered, unable to gather my wits at the sight of the moving room.

Just like when I entered, the spirit king left only riddles and disappeared.

* * *

Gasp.

The cold wind touched my body again.

Was it a dream? If it was a dream, where did the dream begin?

Clink clink clink. The sound of gold coins colliding brought me back to reality.

When I came to my senses and looked around, the base of the tree where I first arrived was full of gold coins. As if all the gold coins from that treasure room had been moved here.