After speaking with Count Merlin, Russell, troubled by the Snow Demon invasion, prepared to return to his room and rest.
Passing by the castle's sprite house.
The two maids standing guard hurriedly bowed to greet him. "Young Master Russell."
The sprite house was exceedingly noisy at the moment. Who knew how many little sprites were causing a ruckus inside? Without a doubt, whenever nobles held a grand gathering, they would often bring their little sprites and Spirit Worms along and hold a sprite gathering as well.
Russell's three little sprites and eight Spirit Worms were also socializing in the sprite house.
He could even hear Tobacco Elf Nicole calling out. Of his three little sprites, Nico was the boldest and loudest. Fluorite Mushroom Bird Rosie and Wheat Sprite Whitt both seemed timid and shy.
As if sensing Russell's presence, Nico, Rosie, and Whitt flew out together through the opening in the sprite house's door.
"Goo-ee!" Nico unceremoniously landed on Russell's head. She was a Tobacco Sprite who brought Russell a fortune every day.
Rosie landed on Russell's left shoulder, while Whitt settled on his right.
The three little sprites chirped away for quite a while, but nobody knew what they were actually saying. Even with their mind contracts, Russell could not quite understand their thoughts and could only communicate through guesswork.
After teasing them for a while.
Russell waved his hand. "All right, go back to the sprite house. Keep the music going, keep dancing."
"Goo-ee, goo-goo!" Nico had quite the air of a leader. With a single call, she led Rosie and Whitt back into the sprite house, where they resumed joining the endlessly chattering, noisy sprite gathering and began calling loudly.
"What a pity." Russell glanced inside through the window. "There's no Great Elf to see."
There were