Chapter 53
After finishing my discussion with Airena, I waited for the half-elf child to wake before heading to the room where the child was waiting.
Unfortunately, even after our discussion, an awkward atmosphere remained between Airena and me, but... time would probably resolve it eventually.
It was terribly self-centered of me, but I thought she would try to understand and accept me, no matter what I thought or how I acted.
I wasn't particularly worried.
When I opened the inn room's door with a creak, a child who would have been about three years old by human standards was sitting on the bed, looking at me with sleepy, unfocused eyes.
I must have looked like quite a suspicious person at that moment.
But what could I do?
If a fluffy, adorable toddler looked at me with such a dreamy gaze, naturally, it would feel as though something had pierced my chest.
The sheer force of it made me grunt and clutch my chest, but I summoned my resolve, forced my buckling legs to move, and approached the bed.
Airena had already told me the half-elf child's profile.
He... yes, this beautiful and adorable child was apparently a boy.
Toddlers really are amazing, I thought.
Ah, wait, that wasn't it. Besides, he still didn't have a name.
Even elves, who followed the high elves' example by not being particularly attached to names, normally had a name chosen for a child to be called within the settlement by around this age.
But the fact that he didn't have one meant he hadn't been recognized as a member of the settlement.
Was it because of his birth, or because I'd said I would eventually take him in?
I had been traveling all over, so I thought it would be better for him to spend his earliest years, while he was too young to endure traveling, in the settlement. But perhaps I had been wrong.
I should have gone to that settlement myself and spent several years there, watching over him.
But yes, what I needed to do now wasn't regret or self-reproach.
Well, I could reflect on things later, but at the very least, I shouldn't do it in front of the child.
I crouched beside the bed and brought my eyes level with the child's.
Still, he really was such a beautiful, adorable child.
Oh man... Was I going to be all right?
I was definitely going to become a worrier and an overprotective guardian.
When I leaned closer, he stared intently at my face in turn,
Wow, you're glowing... Pretty.
That was what he said.
I wasn't glowing. I looked perfectly normal!
The retort nearly slipped out, but I swallowed the words so I wouldn't frighten him.
But apparently, he had been born with remarkably good eyes.
What he saw as glowing was the immortality of a high elf's soul.
That was why so many elves could recognize me as a high elf simply by looking at my face, and why they knelt before me without fail.
In other words, he possessed eyes that could see what ordinary humans could not—in short, eyes capable of sensing the presence of spirits.
That was a very fortunate thing.
Even if he couldn't sense spirits, I could swear that the amount of affection I showered him with wouldn't change one bit. ...Though, to be honest, I was already hopelessly smitten.
That aside, being able to call upon the power of spirits would be a major advantage for him as he lived among humans.
But the biggest benefit of all, I thought, was gaining a spirit—a friend who would always stay by his side.
His timid hand reached out and began freely exploring my face, so I ran my fingers over his face in turn.
To anyone watching from the outside, we probably looked like a pair of idiots, but I was having fun, and he seemed to be enjoying himself too.
This was what they called a Win-Win relationship.
...Ah, right.
You were born in winter, weren't you?
My sudden question startled him, and his hand stopped moving.
Ah, yes.
Of course he wouldn't know what to make of a question like that.
Still, according to the profile I'd heard, he had been born during winter.
Then, starting today, your name is Win. I'm Eisa. I was also called the Child of the Maple. Starting today, I'm your guardian and your friend. Is that all right?
With my heart pounding, I named him, introduced myself, and asked him that question.
Regardless of his answer, I had already decided to take him in. Still, I wanted him to accept me too; I had that desire, after all.
He probably didn't understand what my words meant, but he must have sensed what I was hoping for.
He gave a small nod, and that tiny hand stroked my cheek once again.
Ah, I'm so happy.
I'm glad I came to meet him.
I'm glad I decided to take him in.
More than anything, I'm glad he was born.
Even if no one else said it, I would declare it so.
A breeze blew in through the slightly open window and danced around the room.
The wind spirit wasn't so much celebrating or blessing us as sensing my feelings and frolicking along with us.
Win opened his eyes wide and gaped at the sight.
Apparently, either for Win's sake, since his ability to see spirits was still weak, or simply because it could no longer hold itself back, the wind spirit had come out to show itself.
That happy time passed, gentle and peaceful.