That's why I'm being honored.

　In the midst of the Prumbum dungeon, I reported the matter to Prumbum, who had come to visit me for the day as usual.
　Prumbum, who was listening to the conversation in their respective positions, facing each other as usual and chatting, nodded his head slightly.

'It's an award to show off how well you get along with the spirits, so Prumbum's name comes up. There might be some changes in the dungeon because of that. If it's bad, though, I'll make sure Prumbum's name is kept under wraps.

　What do you think?　I ask her with a look on my face.
　Prumbum thinks for a moment and then.

'Does that ...... change anything?'
'It's a tough place to ask if anything will change. I don't even know what's going to happen.
Hmm. You won't be able to come here, will you?
Not likely.

　In response to Plumbum's question, he denied it outright.

Then there is nothing wrong with it. Then do as you please, since you are not interested.
Thank you.

　I'm a little relieved.

　That short exchange now is all the trick to dealing with spirits.

　All the spirits I've met so far have been those who have no interest in anything but one thing.
　To say that they are only interested in one thing is to put it in the extreme: they are stubborn.

　Dealing with such spirits is easy to say and difficult to say the least.

　So far I'm doing well.

''Come to think of it, your people were here the other day.
Friends.
Here.

　Plumbum held out his hand, and a woman appeared a short distance away from us.
　It's like a mannequin, standing motionless, like a mannequin--

Celeste, ......, something's not quite right.

　That which Plumbum has put out is slightly different from the actual Celeste.
　I could tell at first glance that it was Celeste, but it was something different.

　It felt the same as when she made my fake one, so I lightly poked at it, but didn't think deeply about it.

'What's wrong with Celeste?'
He was in some kind of trouble.

　Plumbum held out his hand further, and three adventurer-like men appeared across from Celeste.
　The men said something to Celeste with a scowl on their faces.

　At first, Celeste listened with a "yes, yes, yes" and finally, as if she couldn't keep up with them, she turned around and tried to leave.

　But--

"I can't believe I followed that guy's lead. That guy's a total fraud.

　One of the men suddenly spoke aloud and said a few words.
　It was like a silent movie, or a puppet show with no voice, only there was a voice there.

　Immediately after, Celeste was blown away.

　Without turning around, her hand moved.
　Then the countless bicorn horns manipulated by the strings flew wildly, and they beat the men to a pulp.

　The men couldn't fully react to the body hits of the magic items that were flying in all directions, and they were beaten to a pulp in the blink of an eye even though they were one against three.

　That's when the regeneration by Plumbum ended and Celeste and the men's dolls disappeared.

'So that's it,'
'Huh. By the way, why was that the only part of the story you were talking about?
I insulted you, that's all I remember.
Yeah, .......

　So that's it.

So it's all right. Why don't you thank the girl for me?
Okay.
But your people are really strong.
I was pretty tame on that one, though.
Really?
Yeah.

　I nodded deeply.

　Celeste's string manipulation, and with that I manipulated the bicorn horn, but I didn't let out a ball of fire, just physically bumped it.

　If I'd let out a ball of fire, they'd be scorched black by now.

''I see. Other things coming out of your mouth: ...... Emily, Alice, Eve, and Sakura, was it?
Yes.
Are they all this strong?
They're strong. I'm very proud of them.
How strong is it?
Yes. ......

　I picked my jaw and thought about it for a moment.

　How strong are they all?

　I hadn't really thought about that, but I thought again about my friends, who were getting stronger and stronger by the day.

'Are they all strong enough to be the head of the family?'

　Yeah, it should be strong enough.

I see. And you're the one who holds it together, I suppose.

　Plumbum seemed satisfied with my answer.