I’m Ready for Divorce!

“Ifrit, what’s wrong?”

Ifrit stared at Elody without saying a word.

It was definitely the scent of a spirit.

‘But, how is that possible?’ Ifrit pondered.

In the distant past…

There lived four spirits kings, who were described as the most powerful spirits of all—water, fire, wind, and earth.

One day, those spirits were sealed by five high priests from the Temple of Thysser.

Fortunately, Ifrit didn’t get sealed along with the others. However, after knowing what had happened to his fellow friends, his days were filled with sorrow and pain. The five priests tried to hunt the remaining spirit king, but Ifrit was nowhere to be found.

Of course, there was a reason as to why the priests could not find him.

Ifrit, the Spirit King of Fire, was born in the fire of an active volcano. And that volcano had now turned into the Forest of Death.

The Forest of Death was a very dangerous place, hence the name. The only ones who would dare to go there were maniacs who were seeking death.

Thus, for many years, Ifrit had been sleeping underneath the deep grounds of the forest. He first came to the world after the first Duke of Cernoir found him.

Unlike Caville, the first duke did not reveal his powers.

Nonetheless, Ifrit fell into a deep slumber again after the first Duke of Cernoir died.

The artifact, a relic created by the legendary archmage, was his tomb and home. It carried ancient magic that could contain spirits. Though as time passed, Ifrit’s existence was slowly disappearing from the artifact…

Fortunately, Elody came and brought him back to life once again. And ever since he came out to the world, Ifrit has never felt the presence of another spirit.

After the spirit kings were sealed, all of the other spirits, including the low-rank ones, became extinct.

‘But… Why am I smelling the presence of other spirits now? And it’s coming from…”

His benefactor.

‘Impossible! Did she give birth to a spirit?’

Spirits were born out of powerful magic that laid in nature, and each of their powers was different depending on where they were born.

Ifrit looked around the greenhouse.

Elody had been taking care of this greenhouse for years.

A place where Elody, a mage born with wind and earth attributes, planted life.

The greenhouse was definitely filled with strong and pure mana. That’s why ifrit also liked this space.

‘But why now…? Is it because of the Elemental Crystals?’

After thinking about it for a while, things began to make sense. With the combination of her strong magic and elemental crystals, the greenhouse would have sufficient conditions to become a spirit’s habitat.

“Ifrit, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

Elody crouched down, looking at Ifrit anxiously.

Suddenly…

A small shadow could be seen emerging from Elody’s back.

“You rascals!!!”

“……?!”

* * *

Caville smiled all day long.

For last night was a miracle.

“Caville, you have to cover yourself with a blanket. Otherwise, you’ll catch a cold.”

“Yes, wife.”

It felt great to see his wife nagging at him for the tiniest things again.

This reminded him of the old days…

‘Yes, this is life…’

At Elody’s words, Caville covered himself with a blanket.

And when he woke up for a while in the middle of the night.

He saw his wife, sleeping with her blankets kicked to the floor.

‘How cute…’

It was ironic since she was the one who got mad at him for not using the blankets.

Caville held back his laughter.

Then, all of a sudden…

Elody rolled over and came into his arms!

Well… not really. There was a gap between their beds. However, the gap was very narrow so he could get a hold of her arms.

Thus, Caville, being the sly beast that he is, pulled his wife closer and captured her within his hold.

‘My wife hugged me first, so she can’t blame me,’ Caville thought as he covered her with his blanket.

Hence, the two ended up hugging each other in their sleep.

And then, dawn came…

Caville got out of bed cautiously and moved himself to lay on Elody’s bed.

If his wife ever found out that they were sleeping together, she would go crazy.

That was why he wanted to make it seem as if he had been sleeping on her bed the whole night.

And a few hours later, Elody woke up.

She was surprised to find herself on the wrong bed.

Elody’s blush seared through her cheeks, and as Caville began to explain what had happened. She became even more embarrassed.

“I woke up at dawn and found that my wife was sleeping on my bed. So I decided to take yours,” he said with the most innocent expression.

Elody, flabbergasted by her own actions, quickly apologized to him.

Caville only laughed, saying that it was okay. But unbeknown to her knowledge, he was overjoyed. He could only wish that she would do it every so often so that he could snuggle with her every night.

Nonetheless, he still had to wait for the day when his wife would reciprocate his feelings…

After Caville finished his work for the morning, he headed to the lab to have tea with his wife.

But the lab was empty.

‘Is she in the greenhouse?’

As he walked to the greenhouse and opened the door…

He saw the most outrageous scene.

Caville’s nose wrinkled in disgust.

Weird creatures were clinging to his wife!

And his wife…

‘What in the world…?!’

Was stroking them with a face full of love!

* * *

A while ago…

Ifrit yelled, “You rascals!!!”

“Ifrit! Did you just shout at me?” Elody asked in anger.

Before Ifrit could explain, the creatures jumped from behind Elody’s back.

Elody stared at them in surprise.

What appeared before her eyes were tiny baby animals.

“Oh my…!”

“Chirp chirp–!”

One was a blue baby bird. An adorable baby bird.

The hatchling flew to Elody and rested on her shoulder.

Suddenly…

“Meow…”

A kitten with black fur and yellow eyes jumped into Elody’s arms.

“Rowr–!”

And last but not least, a cub with fur as white as snow crawled into her lap.

Everyone was stuck to Elody like glue, meanwhile, they were staring at Ifrit with frightened expressions.

Elody asked, “Ifrit… are these your friends?”

“They’re not my friends!” Ifrit screamed.

Then, he sighed and began to explain.

After listening to Ifrit’s story. Elody learned that the priests in the past had sealed the spirits to increase the value of divine power. She also learned that these low-rank spirits were born out of her own magic.

“They are low-rank spirits, so they can’t understand me if I speak to them as I do to you?”

“Yes, they’re very stupid.”

“Chirp chirp!” (no!)

The baby bird protested. For some reason, Elody could understand what they were talking about.

“Huh, they’re complaining?”

“…You can understand them?”

He glanced back at Elody as she nodded her head.

“Well, it’s probably because you speak the ancient language. The meaning can be conveyed to the mage who speaks the ancient languages.”

“I see.”

Elody stroked the baby polar bear. Its white fur was so soft.

“The strength of a spirit is different depending on where it was born. Even if it was a low-rank spirit, it might have strong powers.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but no one can keep up with me! I am the most powerful spirit king there is! The almighty Ifrit! Although, I am tied up to your pesky husband right now…”

Ifrit, who was pretending to be proud, quickly became grim.

After he signed a contract with the first Duke of Cernoir, Ifrit was allowed to use his power only with the contractor’s mana.

He said that unlike Caville, the first Duke of Cernoir did not have such powerful magic.

“Then what type of spirits are they?”

“You guys, quickly gather in front of me.”

When Ifrit spoke sternly, the baby animals swiftly moved.

In Elody’s eyes, ifrit was also nothing more than a mere puppy, it was funny to see him act like a big brother.

“This guy here has wind attributes.”

“Chirp!” The baby bird nodded its head.

“You’re an earth spirit.”

“Rowr…” (Yes.)

Suddenly, the cub reached his hand out.

‘Does he want to give me something?’ She thought as she stretched out her palm.

“Ung!” (Take it!)

It was dirt that fell into Elody’s hand.

Elody, who wanted an elemental crystal, was disappointed but not surprised.

She chuckled at the cub’s bizarre actions. The other spirits, including Ifrit, also giggled at the scene.

“You’re a playful one, aren’t you?” Elody said as she pouted her lip, trying to seem bitter.

“Okay, back to work,” Ifrit interrupted, “This little guy here is a lightning spirit.”

“Meow–!” (Lightning!)

The kitten raised his paws and stirred it. Then, a small spark of lightning burst out of it.

“Now that the culprit is revealed. Give me back my strawberries, you rascals!”

“Meow! Meow-meow!” (I already ate it.)

“Chirp-chirp, chirp!” (I’m still hungry!)

“Rowr.” (I need more.)

Because they were newborn baby spirits, they get hungry easily.

Elody quickly headed to the lab to bring more of the elemental strawberry seeds.

Then, she sowed her extra seeds into the soil where she planted the rest of the elemental strawberries.

Before, she didn’t plant a lot of the elemental strawberries because they taste the same as the regular strawberries.

Ifrit was the only one eating them.

But now that circumstances have changed…

Like last time, Elody planted her seeds and infused her mana into the ground.

As soon as the strawberry was produced, the baby animals rushed in like crazy. Ifrit was tired, so he ate the strawberries in a relaxed manner.

Though, that resulted in him getting the smallest portion out of all the others…

Furthermore, after discovering the elemental strawberries, ifrit no longer yearned for the peaches.

“Make more strawberries!”

“Did everyone eat all of it already?”

Ifrit’s expression was sad. It seemed that all of them were stolen by the baby spirits.

Elody hesitated, then inflicted mana into the elemental strawberries again.

But the strawberries did not grow, only the stalks were left…

“They aren’t appearing…?”

“……”

Ifrit’s expression was so pitiful, so Elody tried a few more times but to no avail.

On the other hand, the baby spirits were full as their faces were filled with satisfaction.

“Chirp-chirp!” (I like you.)

“Roar!” (A person who gives something delicious.)

“Meow-meow!” (Let’s stick to this person!)

The baby spirits clung to Elody.

“Ifrit, I’ll find another way, I promise. Don’t be too sad, alright?” Elody said as she stroked the baby bird’s belly with her fingers.

But before Ifrit could answer…

“Wife!”

Caville ran through the lab door.

“What is this…”

Caville creased his eyebrows when he saw the baby spirits.

He was hoping to have afternoon tea with his wife alone. But now, the company had been increased by three!

“Caville, I have finally found the strawberry thief! It’s these baby spirits!”

“…Yes, that’s great,” Caville said in a monotonous tone as he sat next to Elody.

“Rowr…? Roar… Roarrr!”

The baby bear seemed to have felt something different about Caville as it immediately ran to him.

It could sense powerful mana from him.

The spirits instinctively approached Caville and rubbed their bodies on him.

“……”

But Caville paid no attention to them. His gaze was fixed on Elody with a sullen look. Ifrit was also sulking.

Elody felt bad for Ifrit. She got a bunch of elemental crystals from him… but could give nothing to him in return.

Even if the other spirits were babies… seeing Ifrit so sad broke her heart.

“Now, then. Since you guys have eaten so much. Shouldn’t you pay for the meal?” Elody said to the baby spirits.