Ch. 112

As soon as she was summoned, Undine flew toward the water’s edge, and I followed behind at a leisurely pace.

“You go too, Rai.”

[Huh? Me too?]

“Yes!”

[Can’t you just summon someone else? Like Ador or Pein!]

“Come on now, you need to get used to that body. Run.”

Rai, who had spent a long time living as a snake, needed to practice fighting in his wolf form.

[With my experience, running on all fours isn’t exactly dignified behavior!]

“When I say go, go.”

Maybe it was just me, but I felt like I gave his sluggish butt a loving kick full of affection, even though he clearly thought the battle didn’t need his involvement.

“Go, Rai Rai!”

—

Rai reluctantly charged out.

And it was around then that the hostility of the Lizardmen turned toward me—as if they noticed my mocking grin.

Out of all the people present, they just *had* to bare their fangs at me. Proof that their instincts were far sharper than a human’s.

They were clearly most wary of me.

To be able to identify a threat like that—how impressive.

“Hello, friends.”

I looked the weakest and most harmless of anyone here.

And I even greeted them so kindly!

The Lizardmen noticed me approaching and tensed up, but they were helpless when water surged from behind and dragged them back underwater.

I gave a chin nod as I watched them flailing in confusion.

Undine dragged them deeper into the water, spinning them around in place. A small but powerful whirlpool formed in the river.

Except for the one fighting Rai, every single one was sucked in.

“…Oh my!”

“Sis, we might need to change bathing spots. The Lizardmen are after you.”

“Is that you doing all that?”

“Strictly speaking, it’s Undine.”

The Lizardmen were adept in underwater combat, but Undine *was* water itself.

For a Spirit Mage like me, there was no better battleground than this.

That’s why, even in the middle of all this, I felt more relaxed than tense.

“Incredible! I had no idea Undine was such a powerful spirit!”

“Spirits are only as good as their master.”

“Amazing… I never knew being a Spirit Mage was this incredible.”

Rather than feeling smug at her praise, I stood at the water’s edge and stroked my chin.

Something about this didn’t sit right with me.

Undine was keeping dozens of Lizardmen trapped underwater, but this wouldn’t end things.

Lizardmen could breathe underwater, so drowning them wasn’t an option.

Fighting water-dwelling creatures *with* water naturally wouldn’t settle anything.

I’d never encountered something like this before.

Now that I think about it, even my specialty [Unwater Breathing] probably wouldn’t work on them.

“akq jqt kduTdj?”

“clfytk dlswnf dkfdkTsmsep!”

While I mulled it over, the tribesmen who had entered battle mode started to gather near me one by one.

They pointed at the whirlpool in the middle of the river and the dozens of Lizardmen struggling within it, saying something to me.

I didn’t understand a word of it though.

[Huff, huff! Master!]

“Hm?”

Rai, who was engaged in a hand-to-hand battle with the lone Lizardman left on land, called out to me in a panic.

He had his jaws clamped around the Lizardman’s tail, while the Lizardman coiled his own tail around Rai’s body and raised his claws, ready to strike.

Lizardman claws were said to be venomous, but there was no way Rai would be hurt by something like that, so I stayed calm.

[I can’t do this! I’m a spirit! A spirit! Not a wolf!]

“Practice.”

[I’ll just turn it into a statue!]

“Nope. Diamonds are expensive.”

[Ugh!]

Rai’s defense was exceptional, but his offense was sorely lacking.

He was a bit better back when he was a snake, but ever since taking on the wolf form, he’d seemed utterly lost.

Take his latest attempt, for example—coating his opponent in diamond to immobilize them. A horribly inefficient tactic.

It was too costly to call a proper fight, and it certainly wasn’t wolf-like.

[Then let me transform back into a snake! I’ll finish this in one shot!]

[Denied. If people see a wolf turning into a snake, they’ll really think I’m a witch.]

Don’t want to be burned at the stake while still alive.

[Argh! This is so uncomfortable! Do you even know how hard it is to fight in this body?]

[Not really.]

[It’s ten times more chaotic! I’ve got four legs, two ears, a tail, and teeth—I have to pay attention to all of them!]

[That’s why I’m telling you to practice.]

Rai acted like he was super useful, but from my perspective, all he had going for him was brute defense.

It was passing tribesmen who ended up saving the ignored Rai.

They bashed the Lizardman’s head with a rock and poked its eyes with a stick, allowing Rai to finally bite its neck and escape.

He whined with the Lizardman’s green monster blood smeared all over his mouth, looking utterly wronged.

[This is unfair! Who makes a spirit fight hand-to-hand?!]

[A master who has a spirit with a physical body.]

[Master, you’re doing this on purpose! You keep making me do the things I’m worst at!]

Took you long enough to notice.

[Master! Master!]

Just then, Undine fluttered in front of me.

I quickly wiped the frown from my face.

“Oh my, Undine! Wonderful work. You caught twenty of them? You’re the best, Undine.”

[Discrimination! This is discrimination! Master has a split personality! You’re a pervert who only likes cute things!]

“Ugh, you’re so noisy.”

To be fair, my face *did* look completely different when I was dealing with Rai versus Undine.

[The monsters are really good swimmers. They’re trying to escape!]

“Is that so? Maybe I should just blow them up.”

What would be the best way to end this water-on-water standoff?

Drain all the blood from the Lizardmen? Or increase the pressure and make them explode? Or maybe…

“Ah, Pein.”

That guy.

I clapped and called for the ice spirit, Pein.

I could have summoned Ador, but he might accidentally electrocute the others too, so Pein was the better fit.

It had only been a year since we made our contract, so I needed to summon him often to sync up better.

“…Pein?”

But he was extremely rebellious.

It wasn’t unusual for him to refuse my summons like now.

“Pein!”

Grinding my teeth, I shouted again. Only then did he reluctantly appear on my shoulder, radiating cold air.

Three times. I had to call him *three times*!

[So annoying.]

“Hey! It’s been months since I last called you!”

[Still annoying.]

“Then hurry up and go freeze them!”

The ice spirit Pein slowly floated over the river.

He had absolutely no motivation. The complete opposite of Ador.

[These guys?]

I nodded, and Pein lazily dropped enormous chunks of ice over the whirlpool.

About forty pieces, each the size of a thirty-year-old tree trunk.

“Pfft.”

He used so much mana that half of mine was gone in an instant. And every time one of those ice chunks hit the riverbank, the ground shook violently.

The river quickly turned green with monster blood, and frozen Lizardman pieces floated in the icy water.

That… that damned brat.

Wasting mana like it’s not even his!

“Pein! I said freeze them, not smash them to pieces! This is practically puree—”

[Annoying.]

With a tone full of irritation, Pein vanished with a *whoosh*.

He returned to the spirit realm on his own.

“That insolent brat! I swear!”

If he weren’t my spirit—

Ugh. Blood pressure rising. Who the heck does he take after?

As I clutched the back of my neck, Rai giggled and said,

[Told you to give up on him. There were gentler ones, but you just *had* to contract with the stubborn one.]

“Damn it!”

Pein had once rejected a contract with me.

But I was unusually persistent—I kept summoning him until he showed up.

As long as I had the ice spirit stone, I believed it was possible.

And eventually, I succeeded.

I summoned him over thirty times.

It took two whole years.

I thought it was a victory. I never imagined I’d come to regret it like this.

[Master sure loves digging her own grave—]

You’re not going back to the spirit realm. As I stared him down, Rai quickly backtracked.

[Digging early graves is a wise move! Always be prepared!]

One constantly mocking me, another utterly useless in battle…

How could I *not* be fond of Undine?

[Ahh! No! Master! That’s where the Dragon Heart is!]

Another plus of Rai’s wolf form: there was plenty to grab and bite.

—

Lying under a breezy gazebo, I lazily munched on fresh-picked fruit from the field.

“Hey, Rai. About Annie—how can she hear your voice?”

I lay with Rai’s waist as my pillow and rolled around.

“Wasn’t that supposed to be impossible?”

[It *is* possible. If her affinity is freakishly high for a human.]

“Hm… but Magi couldn’t hear your voice, right? And he’s a dragon.”

It wasn’t until Rai absorbed the nameless Gold Dragon’s Dragon Heart—which Magi’s mother had given him—that their resonance synced up.

Rai’s voice had been exclusive to me for a long time.

[Dragons aren’t known for high affinity. They’re a dominant species. That’s a completely different trait.]

“So, are you saying Annie has higher affinity than a dragon?”

[Not *that* dramatic. It’s around the level of an elf.]

“That’s dramatic enough, I’d say.”