Chapter 55

"Alright, Will? This is a very difficult time."

Serena admonished Will, who had joined the circle of children.

Will had also been informed by Tomason about the rampaging beasts in the town and was aware of it.

It seemed that his father and Ren had also started to take action to resolve the situation.

"Serena-sama, I'll go and defeat the monsters too!"

"No, Will."

"Eh?"

To the dissatisfied Will, Serena continued in her usual tone.

"The adults are trying their best to improve the situation, but we don't know how long the mansion will remain safe."

"Our home might be destroyed..."

"Ah... No way..."

Nina added, looking up at the mansion, and Will looked dejected.

"It might happen..."

Serena's voice seemed to drop a little.

"But, Will, people are what matter now."

Serena changed her mood and faced Will.

"As long as we're alive, we can rebuild. If we die, it's over."

"Okay..."

"Also, I want you to refrain from using magic for now."

"Hmm?"

Will tilted his head, not quite understanding.

Will was still thinking about using some magic.

"I want you to use magic to help if everyone is in danger."

"For everyone?"

Will's words made Serena nod.

"Among the children, you are the best at using magic. So, you are the last line of defense."

This was also part of Serena's strategy.

If Will agreed here, she could prevent him from eagerly joining the battle.

It was a way to curb his willfulness.

"The last line of defense?"

"Your trump card, Will! The hero who leads the battle to victory!"

Nina, understanding Serena's intention, tried to boost the mood.

"The Spirit King also stayed until the end to protect the people! Just like that!"

Hearing about the Spirit King, the spirit girls standing behind shuddered, but Nina ignored them.

"Like that?"

Will's eyes sparkled, immediately understanding the comparison to his beloved Spirit King.

"I understand! I'll do my best like Serena-sama!"

Seeing Will's enthusiasm, Serena and Nina felt relieved inside.

This way, Will wouldn't rush to the front lines.

"Levi!"

When Will called, a small wolf with a pale green phosphorescence was summoned.

The children watching the summoning of the phantom beast were excited.

Will looked a bit proud too.

However, Will immediately turned to the spirits.

"Serena-sama and the others, come with me!"

"Wait...! Where are you going, Will!?"

Serena called out in a hurry as Will started to act aggressively.

Will turned around and answered with a full smile.

"To everyone! To cheer up the sad people!"

"Oh, right... I remember that part."

Serena, oddly convinced, watched as Will said, "I'm off!" and ran into the garden.

The garden, which had become a shelter, was filled with various people.

Men were preparing for emergencies or helping with heavy work.

Women were distributing water or nursing the injured.

Some were with the elderly and children.

"What will happen from now on..."

In front of an old man sitting and sighing, Will and the others arrived.

"Grandpa, are you okay?"

The old man smiled at the tilting Will.

"Ah, it's you, Master Will and the spirits."

Looking at the faces of Will and the spirits, the old man got up from his heavy seat.

"Grandpa, do you know me?"

"Of course..."

The old man smiled more deeply at the curious Will.

<Grandpa, are you alone?>

The wind spirit asked worriedly, and the old man shook his head.

"No, my wife is here. She's injured and is being treated..."

The old man's expression darkened as he said this.

The wind spirit, worried that something had happened to his family, but it seemed different.

"I was with my wife, but seeing the young people with severe injuries was heartbreaking..."

The old man shook his head weakly as he said this.

"How pitiful... My wife and the young people who will carry the country are injured, and I, an old man with a short life ahead, am unharmed... If I could, I would trade places with them..."

The old man bowed his head and let his shoulders droop, lamenting his own powerlessness.

The spirits were also at a loss for words at the old man's lament.

But Will looked at the old man with a smile and gripped his hand tightly.

"Grandpa, you're kind."

"Huh...?"

The old man looked up at Will's words.

Will continued confidently.

"But, it's okay! I'll be your sword and shield! I'll cut through all obstacles and make you smile! So, please, lift your face and look ahead!"

Will's childlike but confident words made the old man and the spirits look puzzled.

Will's lines were from the Spirit King's picture book, which he loved.

Will had memorized the Spirit King's picture book almost by heart and could recite it.

But the old man and the spirits, who didn't know this, could only blink.

Will, confident, puffed out his chest, and Levi, who didn't quite understand, sniffed at Will's feet.

The old man's expression softened as he watched this.

He was surprised, but he understood the meaning of Will's words.

"Thank you, Master Will. I'm fine now."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"That's good."

Will's smile made the old man smile too.

He returned the grip on Will's hand.

"I'm fine, so please go and encourage others. I'm sure they'll be cheered up too."

"Okay."

Will nodded and ran off with the bowing spirits and the small wolf.

Watching Will's back, the old man sighed softly.

"What am I doing..."

Perhaps the truly pitiful thing was that he was still doing nothing.

The old man realized this from Will.

He watched as Will talked to people and made them smile.

"Even if I can't replace someone, there are things I can do."

Even an old man like him.

For example, just talking to a child to distract them would be enough.

Even without physical strength, he had magic.

Even if he couldn't do much, he could be ready to act at any time.

He could even talk to someone who looked anxious, like Will.

Should he sit and lament the current situation, showing his injured wife such a pitiful sight? No,—

"Ugh!"

The old man stood up, raised his arm, and flexed his elbow as if making a muscle.

His old body, of course, didn't make much of a bulge.

But his back straightened.

The sunlight on his body lifted his spirits.

A smile naturally appeared on his face.

"Not yet! I won't lose to the young ones!"

He would look ahead no matter what.

The old man encouraged himself and started looking for what he could do.

Will went around talking to various people.

He was happy every time he talked to someone and they smiled, so he kept talking to more people.

Along the way, he also talked to Misha and the others, who were on standby for defense.

"Misha, are you okay?"

Misha, who had been watching Will's actions with a smile, nodded in response.

"We're fine, so please go and talk to the people who have taken refuge."

"Okay."

After replying, Will ran off again.

Running around like this, Will finally reached the place where the injured were resting.

It was a makeshift infirmary.

Sheets were spread out from the mansion, and the injured were lying on them.

He thought they could use beds, but if the mansion was attacked by monsters, they might be too late to escape, so they were being treated outside.

Cecilia, Elise, and Stella were treating the injured.

These three could use recovery-type attribute magic.

Cecilia used tree attributes, Elise used water attributes, and Stella used light attributes for their treatments.

"Mom is the best♪"

Will nodded in satisfaction after judging the flow of magic.

While they could do slightly different things, tree attributes had the highest difficulty and recovery effect.

<Everyone looks busy...>

<We might get in the way...>

"Hmm..."

Will grunted at what the spirits said.

Honestly, Will also wanted to help, but he had a promise with Serena.

Most importantly, the situation here wasn't urgent yet.

"Trump card?"

<Not yet...?>

Advised by the earth spirit, Will grunted again.

Then, Levi, who had been wandering around Will's feet, noticed something and looked up.

He pattered his short legs and went into the infirmary.

"Wait, Levi!"

Will and the spirits hurried after Levi.

Levi stopped under an injured person who was lying in the back.

A maid kneeling beside the injured person looked up at Levi.

Her worried expression brightened when she saw Will, but it lacked the vigor of her age.

"Master Will..."

It was Mary, whom Will had rescued from a spider's web.

Will moved to Mary's side without getting in the way of others.

Lying next to her was Jetta, whom Will had saved with recovery magic.

Although he still lacked his left arm and right leg, his complexion was much better than when he was rescued, and his condition seemed stable.

<How are you feeling...?>

When the earth spirit asked Mary, she looked back at Jetta and struggled to answer.

"Whatever..."

The answer came from a sturdy man sitting next to her.

He had short-cropped hair and a beard, a lean but well-built body.

His clothes didn't have the distinctive luxury of the outer district, but they weren't worn out either.

However, his sleeve was torn halfway and stained with blood, and he had also lost his left arm.

The earth spirit, who had shrunk, shook her head.

"No, I'm sorry, spirit. I'm not trying to intimidate you."

The man scratched his head with his remaining hand, looking apologetic.

He had a naturally loud voice.

The man looked at Jetta.

"Anyway, even if that guy wakes up, he can't function as a butler. It's pitiful to think about Mary and the others' future..."

Without his limbs, he couldn't live a normal life.

It was easy to imagine that Jetta's life would be difficult, regardless of how much the country would guarantee him after this incident.

"That's... the same for you, Argus. You've lost an arm as a blacksmith..."

"I don't serve anyone, so it's different..."

Mary and Argus fell silent.

A heavy, dark atmosphere settled in the corner of the infirmary.

Will was sensitive to this atmosphere.

"Everyone isn't smiling..."

Mary and Argus hurriedly looked up at Will's dejected voice.

"No! Master Will, that's not true at all!"

"That's right... Not at all! If it weren't for Master Will, many lives wouldn't have been saved!"

They tried to defend themselves, but Will's expression remained dejected.

"Will, I want everyone to smile..."

Healing someone's injuries or saving their life wasn't enough to make them happy.

Being good at magic alone wasn't enough.

Will was still too young to fully understand this.

"What's wrong?"

Cecilia and Lily, who had been helping her, noticed the commotion and approached.

Mary and Argus looked guilty.

Will ran to Cecilia and clung to her legs.

"What's wrong, Will?"

Cecilia picked up Will and gently stroked his back as he buried his face in her shoulder.

The people around them watched Will and Cecilia.

"Will, I couldn't make everyone smile with magic..."

Cecilia continued to stroke Will's back as he spoke in a halting voice.

"I see..."

Cecilia understood the situation from Will's clumsy words.

Will had healed Jetta's wounds to make Mary happy.

He had saved the life of someone she loved, and Mary had smiled.

But the lost limbs couldn't be restored.

With the evacuation completed and Jetta safely brought to the infirmary, Mary had the time to think about the future and lost her smile again.

There was nothing more Will's magic could do.

A little encouragement wouldn't be enough to distract them from such a serious problem.

When Cecilia looked at Mary and Argus, they shrank back.

They probably felt they had done something wrong to Will.

Of course, Cecilia had no intention of blaming them.

In fact, she even felt she should apologize to the residents and the injured as a member of the royal family.

"Will, I want everyone to smile..."

"Yes..."

Will didn't fully understand the situation.

There was no way to make people truly smile, no matter how hard he tried.

The adults were fighting to bring smiles back to people's faces.

"Will..."

"..."

Encouraged by Cecilia's hand, Will looked back at Cecilia's face.

Cecilia's gentle smile seeped into Will's heart.

Cecilia had already decided how to speak to him.

"Then, what will you do?"

"..."

Will looked puzzled as Cecilia continued.

"It's a difficult time. It might be hard to make sad people smile. Maybe just showing them magic isn't enough to make them happy."

Attribute magic, which humans can use, isn't omnipotent.

No matter how good you are at magic, there are limits to what you can do.

Cecilia chose her words carefully, knowing Will was listening seriously.

"But, you can't stop thinking. Will wants everyone to smile. But magic alone couldn't make them smile. So, what can you do to make everyone smile...? You have to think about it, right?"

"What can I do..."

Will repeated the words as if to himself.

He wouldn't come up with an answer right away.

But the important thing was not to give up.

To keep thinking about how to make people smile.

If Will could understand this even a little, it would be a success.

"Think about it. If you don't understand or can't do it alone, it's okay to ask someone for help. Asking for help is also very important."

Cecilia deepened her smile and shifted her gaze from Will to the people around them.

Will also looked around, as if drawn in.

Various people were watching them.

The injured, the people Will had helped, neighbors, and the spirits.

Just as Will wanted to make everyone smile, they also wanted to see Will's smile.

When Will, in his innocence, understood this, his heart suddenly expanded.

Like a clear sky.

Cecilia's words naturally seeped into Will's heart.

Then, what will you do—

Will, who had been silent and looking around, turned back to Cecilia.

"Mom, I'll do it."

"Okay, okay."

Cecilia smiled and put Will down.

"Un!"

Will put his hands on his cheeks and rubbed them cutely, putting on some spirit.

A soft smile appeared on Will's face, which had been dejected.

Will looked at the still sleeping Jetta, then straight at Mary and Argus.

"Will, I'll think! I'll think hard to make you, the lady, and the man smile! So, please wait for me!"

"“Master Will...”"

It was just a child's words.

There was no expectation that anything would change.

But their concern was enough.

Will's kindness reached Mary and Argus, and it would surely reach Jetta too.

"Thank you, Master Will."

"We'll wait for you... We'll give you a chance, Master Will."

At this moment, smiles appeared on Mary's face, Argus's face, and the faces of the people around them.

It was enough for now.

Will also smiled shyly.

At that moment—

BOOM!

A loud noise shattered the bright atmosphere of the infirmary.

"What's happening!"

Responding to Cecilia's shout, the residents near the infirmary reacted.

"It's bad, Cecilia-sama! The monsters have breached the defenses!"

"What!?"

Shocked for a moment, Cecilia immediately looked around the infirmary.

"Elise! Stella! Let's go!"

"“Yes!”"

Cecilia led Elise and Stella, who were already prepared, and ran out.

Those who could move followed.

Mary and Argus also ran without hesitation.

If the monsters broke through any further, there would be significant damage.

There were many elderly, children, and injured people in the back of the garden who couldn't fight.

"Will and the others, let's go too!"

The spirits nodded at Will's words.

Will, the spirits, and Levi ran after the others, forming the rear guard.