The Reincarnated Count's Daughter Is the Strongest as She Is Loved by the Spirits, Though She Is Only Wishing for Regular Romance!

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Author Notes:

  It's been a year since I started writing this novel as of April 30th. I owe it all to you, my readers, for making it this far. Thank you!

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"With all that magical power, why haven't you gathered all the elemental spirits yet? Have you been slacking? Or just lost?"

I had no response to his piercing, dark eyes.  

I hadn't been slacking.  

And I wasn't lost anymore.  

After all, I was already...

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Even though it's called a neighboring territory, without a teleportation array, reaching Berisario would take several days. Unlike my own territory, Berisario has the sea. I don't remember it well, but when I saw the sea for the first time, I supposedly threw a fit and demanded my father give us a sea of our own.  

A port town stretches below the castle, overlooking the vast ocean. Large ships docked at the port, people with silver and golden hair bustling around. Though it's the neighboring territory, it felt like another country. It was so different from my own home that visiting it was always exciting.  

Being close in age, I spent most of my time with Alan. I would check his schedule, and if we both had free time, I'd use the teleportation array to go visit.  

Dia was Chris and Alan's cherished little princess, always brimming with energy, bright, with a smile that could light up a room.  

Since many of my friends from my territory also wanted to visit Berisario, sometimes I'd bring them along, and they'd all talk about how cute Dia was.  

But back then, we were all just kids around five years old. It was more fun to catch bugs with the other boys or pretend to be the Royal Guard. None of us were eager to get particularly close to Dia. Many of the boys were scared of Chris.  

The four-year-older boy, with a handsome face, was always surrounded by older people. He would gaze at us with cold eyes, offer a simple greeting, and then walk away, seeming uninterested.  

He would answer if spoken to, and he did try to look out for us as visitors from another territory, but none of the other boys would dare to approach him except for me.  

When Dia turned four, everything started to change.  

I heard that the Spirit King became her patron, though I didn't even know what a patron was back then. I was told she was a special girl chosen by the Spirit King.  

But to me, Dia was just my friend Alan's adorable little sister. No matter how much they said she had the favor of the Spirit King or that spirits had become her spirit beasts, I thought she would always be the same old Dia.  

In truth, Dia probably hasn't changed. It was just that I never understood her.  

I first realized Dia was different from other girls when she was about five.  

We were supposed to visit Glasspool to see the military ships. I brought Jildo along with a few guards to Berisario, and I invited Dia to come with us.  

"Douglas-sama, girls don't usually want to see military ships," Jildo told me.  

"Really? Not even Diadora?"  

I wasn't convinced. I thought that Dia, who liked to run around the training grounds with the soldiers, might find it interesting. And the more, the merrier.  

"I appreciate the invitation, but I have work with the Company. I have a meeting soon."  

"Work?! You're already working?"  

"Yes... I'm working on making sweets. And I get to eat delicious sweets too."  

Girls love sweet treats. So I thought she was just making excuses, and really, she was just baking sweets to eat them later.  

"What are you doing, Douglas? The spirit vehicle is over there," Chris called out.  

Chris, with his butler and aides, approached Dia and put a hand on her shoulder.  

"Chris, aren't you coming to Glasspool too?"  

"No, I'm not. Even if we take the spirit vehicle, it's not a day trip. Besides, I've seen plenty of ships. We're busy. I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask Dia to join."  

"Chris-oniisama, you don't have to be so cold about it. I'm sorry, Douglas, but my brother and I are both fully booked."  

"Booked?" I thought. Perhaps with private tutors, or hosting tea parties with other girls, or maybe going on outings? I couldn't think of many other activities for a child to have planned.  

"Dia just went to Glasspool recently to teach about spirits."  

"Teach? Dia is teaching?"  

"Yes. To adults."  

At that time, I was merely impressed. But on the spirit vehicle heading to Glasspool, when I told Alan about the conversation, he said,  

"Dia is like Chris-oniisama. She can talk to adults on equal footing. The Fairy Company was created to bring Dia's ideas to life."  

"Wait, so this spirit vehicle too?"  

"That was Dia's idea."  

I was shocked to realize that a girl younger than me had come up with the idea of the spirit vehicle and that a whole company was formed just to make it. For the first time, I felt like she was far away.  

Even so, Dia remained the same.  

Because she never left Berisario, she didn't fully understand the politics of the central lands or the relationships between nobles. She also had little awareness of how others perceived her.  

Even at six, she was still running around the training grounds, often falling spectacularly. She was easygoing, approachable, cheerful, and her smile was adorable. Among all the girls I knew, I thought of her as my best friend.  

But that night.  

The night Amber-sama returned the spirits to the capital.  

For the first time, I realized Dia was not an ordinary girl.  

Dressed in a maid's outfit, standing at the center of all the adults, she spoke in a way I'd never heard before, with a different expression on her face.  

I knew Chris was called a prodigy. I always thought he was special.  

I finally realized Dia was the same as him.  

And maybe Alan, too, was hiding something similar.  

"Dia doesn't usually speak like that, does she?" I asked Suzanna, Irene, Patricia, and Carla, who were huddled together. I was the only boy among them, which made me uncomfortable, but I had no choice.  

"This is my first time speaking with Dia, so I'm not sure," Irene said, shaking her head.  

"In what way? Do you mean how she spoke like an adult?" Suzanna asked, looking somewhat surprised.  

"I haven't spoken much with Dia either, but she's Chris's sister and was chosen by the Spirit King. I heard she does work for the Company. Isn't she just like that?" Suzanna replied.  

"She is incredibly knowledgeable about some things and completely clueless about others," Carla added.  

Carla’s territory was nearby, and Dia had stayed over a few times. Of everyone there, Carla had known Dia the longest.  

"When she taught me how to raise spirits, she spoke just like she did tonight. Alan did the same. That's why the nobles in our territory always said the three siblings of Berisario are all incredibly talented."  

"But Diadora-sama is so kind and fun to be with. That's why I think of her as a dear friend," Patty said, and the other girls nodded.  

It seemed I was the only one who was shocked by Dia's expressions and speech, or by how different she seemed from my friends and me.  

Looking back now, I understand that girls tend to mature faster at that age.  

While the boys were getting covered in mud outside, the girls were already learning proper manners, embroidery, and attending tea parties with adults. They could sit for hours, sipping tea, eating sweets, and chatting. That's something a boy not even ten years old could never tolerate.  

"That girl is no good. Berisario is too peculiar," my father began saying, starting from that day, after he had always told me to befriend Dia. "It would be disastrous if we accidentally angered the Spirit King."  

"We can't welcome her here. Berisario is still too frightening."  

"Welcome her?"  

"Don't worry about it. Keep being friends with Alan and Chris as you always have. Fortunately, we have a good relationship with Berisario. Just keep things the way they are."  

"Father, what about tomorrow's tea party...?"  

"You don't need to attend. I have to go to the audience chamber, so I can't stay by your side."  

But aren't the girls going to attend? They've even had dresses made.  

I was there for that meeting, but do I not need to go?  

"You are my precious heir. You are different from the girls. Stay in the mansion and wait. Do you understand, Douglas?"  

"...Yes."

I'm not special like them. That day, I even started to feel sleepy halfway through.  

I am the same age as Prince Eldred, and when the academy starts, we'll be in the same grade, so the Bantock faction guys will be giving me trouble.  

And since Father told me not to go, there's no reason to force myself.

I had plenty of excuses, but I couldn't think of a single reason why I should go.