All my life, people have told me that I'm the spitting image of my father. Just shave off a few years and soften the facial features a little and nobody'd be able to tell us apart.

I'm fully aware of this fact. Hell, I'm actually proud of it. After all, my father is the most amazing person in the entire world.

But that still doesn't mean that I don't feel a certain amount of frustration when I get mistaken for a guy.

Yes, my voice is kind of husky.

No, my loose clothing doesn't exactly do much to emphasize my admittedly small chest.

But still. I'm a girl.

"...a girl?" Yahanaseara repeats the words I just thought. And also yelled out in exasperation a couple of seconds ago.

"Yes," I sigh. "I'm a girl. One hundred percent female."

"Really?"

She quizzically tilts her head to the side and looks at me with those sparkling emerald eyes and then something inside me just snaps.

"YES!"

Tucking my staff under my armpit to hold it in place, I slap the edge of both hands against my lower ribcage and slide them upwards.

"SEE!?" I shout, lifting the girls up for emphasis. "They're bigger than yours!"

"......"

oh god what the hell am I doing

"I, er-" Yahanaseara stammers. "I apologize for offending you, Savior."

And then she gives a bow so deep that her long, fluffy hair actually touches the ground.

"I meant no disrespect," she says.

"N- no," I say, throwing my hands in the air. "You just kind of hit a nerve, that's all."

I am such an idiot.

"But yeah," I sigh. "I guess I can appreciate the sentiment, but your offer is kind of mechanically impossible."

"...I see."

She doesn't even try to hide the disappointment in her eyes.

"Why would you jump to THAT as your first option to show thanks, anyways?" I ask.

"Because bearing a child is the greatest honor and sacrifice that a woman can bestow unto a man," she replies as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "And even then, it is still nowhere nearly enough to properly repay you for what you have done for me."

"Really, it was all just a coincidence," I mutter, unable to bear the intensity of her gaze. "But, uh... sorry that it can't work ou-"

Wait a minute.

"...aren't you guys able to freely choose the sex and age of your human forms?" I ask, having just remembered one of the basic things that everyone knows about Elemental Spirits. "I'm a girl because I'm a girl," I point to myself, "but the only reason you're one is because you feel like being one, right?"

"Yes, that is correct," Yahanaseara replies with a nod. "Why do you ask?"

"Well if our respective sexes are the problem here then why don't you, like... be a guy instead?"

"But I like being female," she replies.

"Yeah, so do I," I sigh. "But if you're so fixated on the idea of giving me a baby as thanks for freeing you, couldn't you just, you know..."

"S- Savior, you wish to bear my child!?" she gasps.

"WHAT!? NO!"

What the hell, that was just a hypothetical! Even the mere idea of some sweaty guy doing THAT to me makes me want to vomit!

"I thought not," she shakes her head. "For you to make such a sacrifice... after the debt... I alreadyy ooowe yooouuuuuu..."

"Whoa!"

Noticing her words slurring and her balance starting to crumble, I dash towards the collapsing Yahanaseara. Luckily, I'm able to catch her before she hits the ground.

"H- hey, are you okay!?"

Oh man, she's gone completely limp... is this some kind of aftereffect of being sealed away in that ball for so long?

"C'mon..."

With a bit of effort, I manage to shift her into a princess carry. Fortunately, she's so light that even my decidedly not-strong arms are able to support her without any difficulty.

Not that I have any idea what to do now, though. While I do know plenty of healing spells, she doesn't seem to have any external injuries... and Elemental Spirits aren't supposed to even be able to get sick so it can't be that...

Stolen novel; please report.

"Mwuh?"

Alerted by her murmuring voice, I glance down just in time to see her eyes fluttering open.

"Wha- SAVIOR!?"

She quickly covers her face with her hands once the realization of where she is hits her.

"Wwwwwhat are you doing!?" she asks in a voice so soft it's nearly a whisper.

"Carrying you," I reply.

"But why-"

"You suddenly fainted," I cut her off. "I caught you before you ended up hitting your head on this hard floor."

"Er... then I suppose the number of debts I owe you has increased," she mumbles. "But you can let me down now, I no longer feel dizzy."

"Not until I'm sure you won't pass out again," I shake my head. "Do you know what could've caused it?"

Because I don't exactly know all that much about Elemental Spirit biology.

"I am fairly certain that it is my own fault," she sighs. "I mentioned before that I was steadily growing weaker over the course of my imprisonment, yes?"

"Yeah," I nod.

"Well, er..." she gestures towards the charred ruins of the altar. "...I believe that my prior outburst expended most of the remaining magical energy I had to spare for my own upkeep."

"Wait, so you mean now you don't have anything left?"

Oh crap if she doesn't have enough to maintain her soul then she'll die-

"I- I will be fine now," she reassures me. "What little I have left is enough to survive on until I can properly recover."

She's convincing enough for me to let her back down, but that doesn't mean that I'm not still worried.

"You absorb magical energy from your surroundings, right?" I ask. "I'm pretty sure that's how it works..."

"Yes, the ambient magical energy produced by the land is what I subsist on while in my true form," she replies. "This place is strange, though..."

"How so?"

"There is barely any of it here at all," she replies, fluttering a hand in the air. "Naught but a light waft, like a lingering trail of perfume left by one who has long since passed by."

"Huh, that does sound really strange," I nod.

Under normal circumstances, the magical energy produced by an area permeates everything within it. Its density might change here and there, but it's never outright not around.

"...wait a minute."

I turn towards one of the black stone walls that line the tomb and press my hand against it.

"When I first entered this room, I thought that all of this was just for decoration," I say, tapping my knuckle against the polished black stone. "But you said you were getting weaker while trapped inside that ball, right?"

"Yes," she nods. "At the time of my initial imprisonment, I was at the height of my strength. But at present, I possess only the barest minimum to maintain my own existence."

"Well magical energy isn't just in the air," I explain, "it permeates through everything. Wood, metal, flesh, you name it."

"I do not follow?"

"What I'm trying to say..." I walk over to her and take her hand, "...is that your getting weaker over time doesn't make any sense. Even while sealed away, you still should've been able to subsist on whatever magical energy was passing through the ball you were trapped inside."

Her expression says that she still doesn't get it, so I just keep on talking.

"But you said that the magical energy in this tomb is extremely thin," I continue. "Like, say... so much so that what little is actually in here might've just tracked in with me when I opened that door over there."

"Wha..."

There it is, the face of someone who's starting to understand!

"So my hypothesis is that these walls were made of some kind of substance that blocks its flow outright," I say while pressing her hand against its cold surface. "Wouldn't surprise me if the entire maze that led here was lined with it, too."

"In order to starve me out over time," Yahanaseara growls.

"Exactly!"

Her grim expression is quick to extinguish my short-lived excitement at having successfully deduced the cause of her current predicament.

"That miserable bastard..." The air starts to crackle with electricity. "...all of this was to-"

But before I can warn her against endangering herself with another outburst, she stops on her own. Thank God.

"Savior, your insight is truly impressive."

"I'm nothing compared to my father," I shrug.

"Well I am sure that he is proud to have a daughter as wise as you."

"I'm the apple of his eye," I say, my meager chest puffed out with pride. "But, uh... are you really going to be okay?"

"Worry not," she shakes her head, "I have no intention of killing myself by mindlessly lashing out in anger."

"Maybe I could try and give you a little boost so you'll be in less danger?" I ask. "Lightning-types absorb attack spells of that element, so I could always try hitting you with a couple..."

"!!!"

Oh man, I bet any guy who saw her smiling like this would fall head-over-heels in a flash. It's even making my heart race a little.

"You truly are kind," Yahanaseara says. "But if what you say is correct then I should be able to recover naturally once I am finally outside this accursed place."

"Well in that case..."

I head to the still-open door and extend a hand to my new acquaintance.

"...let's get going."

The way out is just as uneventful as the way in was, much to my relief. I was half-expecting some kind of horrible boobytrap that was only triggered by the presence of an Elemental Spirit, but we thankfully got none of that.

The only thing of note as we went was that Yahanaseara started to get kind of clingy the further we progressed... but taking into account the fact that she's had literally no contact with anyone for the past millennium, I can't exactly blame her for seeking out some comfort in human contact.

Even though she isn't actually a human.

"...and here we are," I say, pointing to the underside of the waterfall that serves as the final barrier between the two of us and the outside world.

"Yes, I can already feel the difference in the flow of magical energy," Yahanaseara nods. "But those bastards... they actually built this entire complex behind a waterfall?"

"Yeah, it was a real pain to locate," I reply with a sigh.

"I find myself even more appreciative of your efforts. Is there some kind of mechanism to open a path outside?"

"Nope," I shake my head. "Had to take the direct approach."

"Eh?" She stares at me. "But the water's intensity-"

"Not a problem."

...hm. Having a second person with me on the way out might make things somewhat tricky, though...

"On second thought, I hadn't considered the logistics of this until just now," I say, extending my free arm towards the petite Elemental Spirit. "I'm going to need to hold on to you."

"I can simply fly through on my own, there is no need for you to-"

"You're still under the weather," I interject. "There's no point in risking it."

"...if you insist..."

While mumbling something to herself that I'm polite enough not to try and listen in on, Yahanaseara obediently does as I asked. Once she's safely inside my figurative personal bubble, I secure an arm around her waist and cast a quick spell which surrounds both of us in a literal personal bubble.

"W- what is-" Yahanaseara gasps in amazement as the thin membrane slowly rises into the air and takes both of us along with it.

"Bubble Float," I reply. "Kind of worthless as a flight spell since it's so slow, but it does have its uses."

Taking us along at the pace of a casual saunter, the bubble wafts over to the torrential stream of water that's falling from above and slides right on through it with ease.

Once we're on the other side, I'm kind of surprised to find that the sun is already starting to set. I mean, I made it a point to get here pretty early in the morning... but I guess going through that maze twice ended up eating way more time than I'd thought.

"The sun..." Yahanaseara gasps while clinging tightly to my side.

My first thought is that she's wary of the bubble we're currently floating inside and how high up we are.

But then I notice the tears streaming down her face.

"...I thought that I would never see it again..."