Ch. 138

I was in a pretty good mood.

How often did I get to wipe out this much trash in one go?

“Undine.”

[Yes!]

We were in the mountains—there wasn’t a sea anywhere nearby. But when I smiled, a wave began at my feet, surging upward and crashing over the oncoming enemies, smashing them down and sweeping them far away.

After a few waves like that, none of them were foolish enough to charge anymore.

From a distance, they only clutched their weapons and whispered among themselves with fear on their faces.

Even if they were slave traders, they were still human. In the face of a power that rendered their steel weapons useless, all they could feel was helplessness.

When I glanced back, Ash was struggling to open the gate.

“I think you need a key! Maybe in those guys’ pockets—”

“Yah!”

Why bother with keys?

I grabbed the thick iron bars—so wide I could barely get my hands around them—and effortlessly pulled them apart.

Ash’s eyes went wide as they could go.

I suppose it was confusing—seeing someone act like a mage and then suddenly display brute strength. But I didn’t actually have superhuman strength. Rai had simply softened the metal for me.

“Everyone, go out through here. Follow this man. Rai, the shackle?”

[Almost done. Five seconds—no, three, two, one.]

Right on time, the shackle on Daria’s wrist crumbled to dust and fell to the floor.

“Ah, thank you!”

Daria reached toward me, then gave me a brief cheek-to-cheek kiss.

“Thank you! I don’t know who you are, but I won’t forget this favor.”

Starting with Daria, the others began offering thanks as they slipped through the gap in the bars.

Just as nearly everyone was out, I spotted Chad and Lox riding toward us on horseback.

Faster than I’d expected.

If it were me, I wouldn’t rush into a slave trader’s base to save some stranger’s kid—it’s a losing proposition.

“How did you do this?”

Ash stared at the bent bars in disbelief.

Cute.

“Trade secret.”

“Not the time for—”

“Questions later! First, take these people to town. Turn them over to the guard.”

“You’re not coming out?”

I shook my head and restored the bars to their original shape—an easy task.

[Rai, this door slides open sideways, right?]

[Seems like it.]

[Make it so it won’t open unless a dragon comes.]

No one would be escaping this way. Just imagining it made me grin.

[Weren’t I going to absorb it?]

[Better to seal it than remove it. Let the slave traders be the ones trapped for once.]

After making sure the door would never open again, I looked at Ash with satisfaction.

His expression on the other side of the bars was a mix of confusion and surprise.

“…You rescued all these people by yourself?”

“Oh? I guess I did. Didn’t plan on it, but that’s how it turned out.”

“You’re a righteous person.”

“No! Not at all. I just moved them out of the way so I could kill the slave traders without distractions.”

I wasn’t righteous—just too irritable to tolerate things that offended me.

“What is all this?!”

“Good grief… What happened here, Geenie! Ash!”

Chad and Lox jumped off their horses in alarm at the sight of dozens of ragged slaves.

“You freed them all? That’s private property!”

Lox was especially aghast, since slavery was still technically legal. By the letter of the law, what I’d done could be called theft.

“Mm… But I’m sure some of them were kidnapped illegally.”

“And others weren’t! Some were born into slavery! Some became slaves for debts or serious crimes!”

“How should I know? Who has time to sort that out?”

My ear itched.

“Geenie!”

Such good people, really—Chad and Lox were shouting themselves hoarse at the bars out of worry for me.

I was the only calm one. Everyone else was flustered and didn’t know what to do.

“Why did you go in there alone?!”

“You’re impossible! You really are a massive troublemaker! What are you doing in there—get out now! If you mess with slave traders, they’ll hunt you for life!”

“I appreciate the concern, but I haven’t found Annie yet. I’ve still got work to do.”

I planned to wipe out the slave traders completely so the freed people wouldn’t be captured again.

That way, I wouldn’t be hunted—and without masters, there would be no slaves.

Which meant it wouldn’t be illegal. I was pretty clever like that.

Of course, murder was still illegal.

Ash seemed to catch on to my plan, his voice uneasy.

“…What are you going to do?”

“What I can do.”

Everyone has at least one thing they can do, right?

“Let me help.”

“Not necessary.”

“It’s dangerous alone!”

“I can handle it. You just run. You’re in the way.”

With the people sent outside, I had no time to waste.

I had to find Annie quickly. If I released all my spirits and found Grak, I could torture him for answers…

“Ah! Ash!”

First came Lox’s scream, then a fast-moving presence above. Looking up, I saw Ash climbing the iron gate in the blink of an eye.

How was he that fast? And climbing metal bars with just grip strength? That speed made my unopenable door meaningless.

Ash easily vaulted over the gate, startling me.

“You…!”

“I’m coming with you.”

He dropped from a height of at least five meters without so much as rubbing his knees—his expression downright refreshed. Warriors really were something else.

It reminded me of Rovenin’s incredible physical ability.

No magic, just raw agility. Maybe I should start exercising tomorrow…?

“I told you I don’t need you—you’re really bad at listening.”

“Lox and Chad will help the others.”

“I’m not protecting you.”

“Of course not.”

“Just watch yourself, got it? I’m not looking out for you!”

And yet, I already was.

—

This world had mana, and countless combat styles shaped by it—but my style was “heavily armored offense.”

In other words, even I had to admit I was a pretty overpowered character.

Compared to a mage, my attack speed was absurdly fast; compared to a swordsman, my attack range was dozens of times larger.

“Tch, damn bastards.”

After slamming yet another slave trader into the wall with a water hand and watching him cough blood, I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

The ones who’d been aggressive at first started turning tail when they realized they couldn’t even get close to me.

Cowards.

I realized too late I should have pretended to be weaker. It’s easier to finish them quickly when they’re careless, but now that they were wary, it was a hassle.

It had been much easier when they rushed me.

“Merc—uwaaah!”

When I grabbed another one and hurled him away with a water hand, Ash muttered like he was appalled.

“You show no mercy…”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

That was one of my strengths—my lack of compassion. I was too busy pitying myself to have any left over for others.

When it came to myself, I could find reasons, justifications, and care—but for others? Nothing.

Maybe I could be a sucker.

“I’ve never seen spirit magic used so aggressively.”

“Right? And you recognized it was spirit magic?”

“I’ve… seen it while traveling. But never used like you do. I heard spirit magic was meant for support, not offense.”

“Like me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I heard handling spirits is complicated—requiring detailed commands or memorized incantations. And spirits have different ways of thinking from humans, so they’re hard to control.”

So? I nodded, intrigued.

“…But you just point your finger, and it works. You solve everything that way. I don’t know the details, but it seems impressive.”

Smart kid.

Fitting for a prince—he had a decent grasp of things. I’d only met people who ignored or belittled spirits, so it was refreshing to hear.

“Of course it’s impressive. I’m a bit of a genius.”

“I can see that.”

Huh. Agreeing so easily without getting flustered or dismissive actually made me feel awkward.

I suddenly felt shy—Ash’s eyes were full of pure admiration.

“Hmph. You can’t use this method with every spirit. With Undine, it works because we’re very in sync… The others need clearer orders.”

For example, Rai could follow just my thoughts; Undine needed thoughts and a small gesture; Ador, unfortunately, needed clear, explicit instructions—but even he’d improved a lot compared to before.

“It’s not easy, but anyone can do it with practice.”

“I doubt it’s something just anyone can do—I’ve never seen it before.”

“That’s because I invented it. It’s nothing special—just had Undine mimic my hand gestures.”

Like this.

I pointed my finger at a hiding slave trader, pulled him out, and crushed him in a water hand.

The downside of water hands was that they made it hard to control force, so bones broke too easily.

“Impressive. To do that without an incantation is remarkable.”

Ugh, all this praise was making me a bit self-conscious.

In truth, it had taken countless trials to stop relying on incantations—because…

Saying things like “Aqua Ball” or “Water Pierce” out loud made my skin crawl.

Chanting spells in front of people was mortifying, so I worked to transmit intent through thought alone—until it became second nature.

Complex techniques still needed incantations, though.

“Looks like they’ve all run. Let’s check over there—”

As I turned, Ash suddenly swung his sword past my face.

Startled into silence, I looked down to see an arrow in two pieces at my feet.

A wooden arrow with feathered fletching—obviously beyond Rai’s domain.

[Ah! I tried to block it!]

Even so, Rai would have deflected it before it hit me—but the fact that Ash cut it mid-flight was something else.

“Your reflexes are insane.”

Whew.

“Be careful.”

“Where did it come from?”

“That way.”

With his superior physical ability, Ash could sense things far more precisely than I could.