Ch. 20

Sigh, being a genius is such a burden.

—

“Sink—A spell that adjusts the buoyancy of water to submerge a designated target. Water Screen—A spell that creates a water barrier around the caster to block fire attacks. Water Walking—A spell that allows the caster to walk on water. Works even while wearing heavy armor.”

Clunk.

“Water Breathing—A spell that allows the caster to breathe underwater. Purification—A spell that cleanses polluted water, making it safe to drink.Aqua Ball—A spell that forms a weak water-pressured sphere to attack…”

Clunk.

Clunk.

“This is insane.”

I couldn’t help but curse.

Inside the constantly rattling carriage, I flipped through the Spirit Magic Book that Master Yael had given me, reading through the spells available to the lesser water spirit, Undine.

There were only six spells listed.

And out of those, only one was even remotely offensive.

Undine was never meant for combat.

“What… the hell is this supposed to be?!”

Were these so-called teachers trying to get their student killed? Seriously? Throwing water balls?! Are they kidding me?!

I hurled the book onto the empty seat across from me and thrashed around in frustration inside the carriage.

Why was I heading to the combat tournament?!

This was truly divine punishment. Never in my life had I imagined something like this would happen to me. I had no interest in the Winkan Festival—not even a snake’s tail worth of interest! And yet, thanks to the king’s special recommendation, I had no choice but to participate!

“Sniff…”

Three students from the Combat Division, four from the Swordsmanship Division, four from the Magic Division, and one from the Spirit Mage Division.

Twelve students in total were set to compete in the tournament.

And of course, my terrible luck landed me among them.

I was doomed.

I would have much preferred Mia’s quiz competition.

Why was I stuck in a brutal, violent contest instead?

If only this were a dream.

I hated using my brain, but I hated using my body even more!

Can’t they tell just by looking at me?!

“CAN’T THEY?!”

AAAAAAGH!

I flailed around in irritation until the carriage suddenly came to a halt. Someone knocked on the door.

Had I been so loud that someone was coming to tell me to shut up?

Knock knock.

“Miss, it’s time for lunch.”

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

I should have had no appetite, but I had been making such a ruckus that I’d worked up a hunger.

With a weary body, I sluggishly sat up and dragged myself outside.

The journey to the Empire was long—we had to travel twenty days by carriage.

Because of that, we made periodic stops for meal distribution.

The food was simple—bread and soup—but since we were an official delegation, the quality wasn’t bad.

As I lined up to receive my portion, I overheard whispers directed at me.

“Did you hear about Crowell? Apparently, she sucked up to the king to force her way onto the team. Leo from the Combat Division was originally chosen, but she stole his spot.”

“Ugh, ridiculous. What can a Spirit Mage even do? Poor Leo.”

“Disgusting. She’s got no talent, so she’s resorting to flattery? Probably the only thing she’s good at. So annoying.”

Yeah.

Some of my peers absolutely hated me.

And their resentment was intense.

They were furious that the Combat Division—traditionally allotted four representatives—only had three this time.

And they blamed me.

Which, to be fair, was true.

I must have been a massive eyesore to those Combat Division students.

And judging by how loud their complaints were, it seemed like this Leo guy had more friends than me.

‘Not that I have many friends to begin with.’

Adding to my misfortunes, my best friend Mia wasn’t even here.

She had been selected for the delegation, but in her excitement, she had started experimenting with some bizarre concoctions for “studying”…

…and ended up poisoning herself.

Mia was now undergoing detox treatment, and when I visited her, her face had turned purple.

“She’s useless anyway.”

“If we lose, it’s all Geenie Crowell’s fault.”

I stayed quiet, enduring their hostility.

The reason was simple.

I had zero confidence in my ability to contribute to our team’s victory.

Even I had to admit—Leo would have been the more useful choice.

How was I supposed to win a fight with spells that made people float on water or purified drinking water?!

At first, I had no idea who had shoved me into this mess, and I was absolutely furious.

But when I recalled Master Yael’s proud speech as he sent me off in the carriage, even my anger lost its direction.

—

“His Majesty personally recommended you. This is an incredible honor for your family, isn’t it?”

“…His Majesty?”

“Our country is the only one with a genius Spirit Mage. He probably wants to show you off to the Empire. The expectations for you are sky-high.”

—

If I was guilty of anything, it was being too brilliant.

And if I had any flaw, it was that I was too exceptional.

Sigh, being this talented was exhausting.

—

[Master, can I absorb that?]

[What? There’s something here worth eating?]

[Over there! That red-haired knight’s sword. It looks old, but… this smell… it’s mithril. Just a tiny bit, but still.]

Rai, who had been curled up inside my clothes, poked his tail through my sleeve and pointed in a specific direction.

Following his gaze, I saw a red-haired knight standing guard, carefully scanning the surroundings.

The forest was dangerous—pausing for too long was risky. But since it was mealtime, we had no choice but to stop and post guards.

[That one?]

Narrowing my eyes, I focused on the sword at the knight’s waist.

It was… well, to put it kindly, antique.

To be blunt, ugly.

The scabbard’s design was outdated, suggesting it was an heirloom.

[That one’s off-limits.]

[But… mithril…]

[It’s unfortunate, but no. Its owner is still alive.]

…That sounded like I was saying it’d be fine if he were dead.

[Should I kill him?]

[WE ARE NOT BANDITS! I’VE NEVER KILLED ANYONE!]

Murder was common in this world, but it had nothing to do with me.

[But Master! You won’t find ownerless mithril just lying around! If we don’t take it now—]

[No, I said no.]

[Hiiing…]

Rai, being a spirit, often lacked basic common sense. But at the very least, he always listened to me.

And since he always called me Master, it was impossible to truly hate him.

Though sometimes, he did act a bit arrogant.

[More importantly, do you see those kids over there?]

[The little ones?]

[Yeah, the blonde and the brown-haired ones staring daggers at me.]

[I see them.]

[Take everything you can from them.]

[Huh? But you just said we can’t take things from people.]

[It’s fine if I permit it.]

Those brats had been badmouthing me.

Which made them my enemies.

So naturally, I had to repay them in kind—just a little.

It was sad, but what could I do? They were the ones who turned against me first.

[Are you really sure I can eat everything?]

[Yeah. Take everything except their carriage.]

Even if I said everything, metal wasn’t exactly common in this world. At most, they’d lose some coins.

Still, it was enough to give them a nice little lesson.

I considered the damage caused by Rai’s metal-eating habit as something akin to a natural disaster.

After all, it wasn’t human-made.

“Hehe…”

[You just laughed very evilly, you know?]

“Shut up.”

—

The delegation’s travel schedule was brutal for a group of kids.

First, we had to travel twenty days by carriage to reach Hailan, the Nation of Sages.

From there, we would use a Dyne Warp Facility to enter Elan, where we’d undergo a long and complicated immigration process.

If we tried to reach Elan solely by carriage, it would take at least three months—so this was the fastest and safest route.

One issue was that Dmitri lacked the manpower to maintain a Dyne Warp Facility.

Another issue was that since our group consisted mostly of children, we couldn’t travel through the night like normal convoys.

Carriages carrying children needed frequent breaks.

Speeding up or traveling overnight was completely out of the question.

We had too many travel restrictions.

The kids often complained of exhaustion, and some just couldn’t stand being cooped up inside the carriages.

Even outside of mealtimes, we had to stop frequently—some kids suffered from motion sickness, and others literally cried about being unable to sit still any longer.

Me?

I handled it maturely.

By sleeping.

Lying down and doing nothing had always been one of my greatest talents.

Honestly, I was probably a bigger genius at that than Spirit Magic.

“Mmm?”

It was dusk.

As usual, I had been sleeping deeply when I noticed a disturbance outside.

Some kind of strange noise was nagging at my ears, keeping me from fully dozing off.

It almost sounded like a fight…

Either way, it was way too noisy.

“Rai? What’s that sound?”

[I’ll go check.]

The first thing I did was find my personal intercom, watchdog, and talking pet—Rai.

Even though he was a spirit, he wasn’t particularly useful for this kind of thing.

At my question, Rai’s body turned into a watery mass and seeped out through the gap under the carriage door.

At first, I used to find this transformation fascinating, but by now, I had seen it enough times to just yawn and watch.

As I became fully awake, I finally realized how chaotic things were outside.

[Master.]

Rai returned almost instantly, slithering back into the carriage in a bubbling mass of water, before reforming into his usual snake shape.

[It’s a monster attack.]

At the word monster, I immediately sat up.