Ch. 207
For a while, I was completely absorbed in experimenting with the ring.
I tried touching Enk, I tried touching Gale, and of course, I tried touching Rai.
But the strange thing was, I couldn’t read Rai’s inner thoughts at all.
Rai’s immense relief at this fact gave me a good idea of what he usually thought about me.
I wondered if it was because he was already connected to me, but after repeated experiments, I figured out the reason.
The ring reacted strictly to living creatures.
Since Rai’s body was made of inanimate metal, the ring’s power had no effect.
‘The first condition for using the ring is that it must touch flesh… so… does that mean Rai is disqualified? Then what would happen if I wore a glove, put the ring on over it, and then touched someone’s bare skin? If I touch their hair, would I not be able to read their thoughts then, either?’
I tried all sorts of things.
And before long, I found out that I could also read the inner thoughts of animals like rabbits and horses.
Of course, since they weren’t highly intelligent creatures, I couldn’t read detailed thoughts like with people; it was more like I could read fragmented emotions or feelings.
On the first day after leaving Hirilike, while wearing the ring, I picked up a wild rabbit Enk had hunted by its ears and felt an extreme sense of dread. It was the emotion the rabbit was feeling.
The fear of death felt by the lowest of prey, the profound terror of being eaten.
It hit me quite hard, dealing a bit of mental damage to me as well.
Through that rabbit, which became our dinner, I learned that using the ring’s power could also be dangerous for me.
I could easily get swept up in the other party’s emotions and become worn out myself, or be swept away by uncharacteristic impulses.
Reading someone’s mind, emotions, thoughts—it was something that required taking on a certain amount of risk.
‘A typical double-edged sword, you could say.’
Another thing I learned through my experiments was that the ring was based purely on mental strength, regardless of mana or magic.
The more I read others’ thoughts, the more mentally fatigued I became.
It was just my theory, but there was a high probability that I couldn’t read the inner thoughts of someone with stronger mental fortitude than my own.
Even with Ash, I could read his thoughts just fine when he was relaxed, but when he seemed to be in deep thought and I tried to touch him, I couldn’t read them well at that moment.
I could only barely sense that he was engulfed in worry about something.
I wanted to find out more about how to use the ring, but I didn’t have many test subjects. Animals were all more or less the same, and Enk’s and Gale’s inner thoughts were boring.
-We’re starting to run out of meat. I’d better go catch something before the hidden ruler of this party flips the dinner table. We had rabbit the day before yesterday, so let’s catch a mole for a delicacy today!
-This is a tough one. Who should I bet my money on? Rovenin? Or Trenpe? The schedule is getting delayed, I wonder if I’ll even be able to buy a ticket.
Gale was busy worrying about food, and Enk’s mind already seemed to be in the capital where the Sword Masters’ duel was being held.
On the third day after leaving Hirilike, our party had smoothly arrived at the rest stop where we expected Lox and Chad to pass through.
If we holed up here for a day or two, we would all naturally regroup.
I fiddled with the ring and looked around the empty rest stop. I had to hide the ring again before Lox returned.
I didn’t care about the others, but Lox would definitely be suspicious if he saw a glowing ring on my hand.
Enk and Gale had no thoughts about me wearing a ring they’d never seen before, and Ash, being very interested in me, did notice that I had started wearing it, but he seemed to think I had just picked up one of the many treasures that had been rolling around in the dungeon back then.
Since I could read their inner thoughts, I could easily tell they had no suspicions about me.
That was one of the good things about this ring. The fact that I could easily tell whether the other person was having pointless thoughts or not.
Isn’t this the perfect ring for a ruler tired of being betrayed?
“But it’s mine.”
[Master, you seem to be very fond of that ring.]
Over the past few days, I had developed a habit of fiddling with the ring.
It was most comfortable on my right index finger, so that’s where it had settled.
“Of course I’m fond of it. I don’t have to be frustrated not knowing what the other person is thinking. It would be perfect if I could read your inner thoughts too, Rai.”
[Yikes! What a terrifying thing to say!]
“Ah, instead of just killing time here, let’s go find some monsters!”
[Why monsters all of a sudden? What are you going to do?]
“Catch them and read their minds! I’ve always been curious about what they think!”
[I wondered if there was anyone who’d be curious about something like that… and here you are….]
Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner? When it came to test subjects, monsters were the way to go!
Just two hours after we started waiting for Chad and Lox at the rest stop, I was already scheming to do something else.
Watching Enk and Gale unpacking their luggage in the distance, I was about to slip away to the side when…
“Geenie? What was that about monsters?”
“…Nothing?”
I must have said it too energetically. Ash, sensing danger, closed the distance in an instant.
“It looks like you’re trying to go somewhere…”
“No. I’m not going anywhere.”
I didn’t even need the ring’s power to know that Ash didn’t believe a word I was saying right now; I could tell just by the look of distrust in his eyes.
“Right, you might just disappear in a few seconds.”
“Your internal injuries haven’t fully healed yet, have they? It’s dangerous to go around alone. Please, just rest here quietly.”
“I’m bored. Chad won’t be here until tomorrow anyway.”
“He could pass through today if he’s early. Chad is definitely rushing to get here.”
It was Ash who took my hand first.
He must have done it without knowing that his inner thoughts would flow into me, but over the past few days, Ash had become very natural at holding my hand.
Of course, it was me who had started it, grabbing his hand at every opportunity because I was having fun using the ring.
“If we don’t watch the passersby carefully, we might miss Chad, and then our paths might cross. Come on, let’s go wait together.”
-With such small hands, the things she does are always so grand. She will surely become great.
“…Tch.”
If I hadn’t heard his inner thoughts, I would have ignored him and run away.
But the thoughts Ash had while quietly looking at me secretly made me feel good, so I pretended to be defeated and followed him.
We sat under the shade of a tree in a corner of the rest stop, and to soothe a grumbling me, Ash began to comb my perpetually disheveled hair.
By now, Enk and Gale no longer teased us when we did that.
Had they gotten used to it? Or was it because they had once been chased to death by Rai for doing so?
“Geenie, if you’re bored, I’ll tell you an interesting story.”
“What is it? If it’s not interesting, can I go?”
“Hmm… then you can tell me your story. Anything is fine… but if you’re still bored, let’s go for a walk together. What else do you want to do?”
-I’m happy just being with her, but she probably isn’t. What can I do to make her happy? I have a feeling that if I let her go off alone now, she’ll come back injured again.
The things I found interesting would all be things that would make Ash faint.
I tried talking about the most peaceful thing I wanted to do.
“Then since we have time, can you teach me how to fight a swordsman?”
“…I believe I just asked you to rest. Was I being that indirect?”
“I understood you, but you promised before. That you’d teach me how to effectively crush a swordsman! By attribute! How to wipe the floor with a swordsman as an Elementalist!”
“Geenie, who does that while they’re injured? Your internal injuries are far from healed, and I told you not to use your finger, but you keep using it, so the swelling still hasn’t gone down!”
“…Ash won’t let me do anything!”
Even though I was the one at fault, I was the one who got angry, and Ash immediately felt sorry. The first strike is always the winning one.
“I’m sorry. I’m just worried…”
“Then at least tell me the theory! What are my weaknesses from your perspective! From a swordsman’s point of view!”
-As if something like that could exist… Endairon….
“…Think of yourself as Rovenin! What would you do if you were a little crazy.”
-As if I would know that….
Right, a sane person couldn’t possibly understand a crazy person. Because then they wouldn’t be sane.
Ash was very much on the sane side, and Rovenin was definitely not, so the two were severely opposite types.
It was interesting, though, that their sword-wielding styles were quite similar.
It felt like they had the same framework, except that Rovenin was much more aggressive and focused on killing.
Both of their swordsmanships had an elegance that stemmed from the fundamentals.
Static yet strong, and at the same time, delicate.
Though whether there was forgiveness at the tip of the sword or not was a big difference.
“Was the opponent you wanted to fight Rovenin?”
“Huh? Not necessarily… more like…”
I sometimes overlook how quick-witted this man is.
Fooled by that benevolent face of his. If I told him the truth, Ash would pack a lunch and follow me around just to stop me.
Since they were related and spent their childhood together, he would know well how dangerous a person Rovenin was, and since I was no small bomb myself, he would never let us clash.
This was a man who freaked out if even my finger was swollen.
Besides, if he found out I wanted to kill Rovenin, he would act very much like Ash.
“Mages are relatively weak against swordsmen, right? And Rovenin is a prime example of one… and since we’re going to see Rovenin’s duel, he just came to mind. That’s all.”
Ugh, a perfect excuse.
-A lie.
“Tell me the truth. Surely you’re not planning to fight Rovenin.”
“…Well…”
“Geenie?”
Thank goodness. That this ring is mine. I fiddled with the ring again and looked for a distant mountain. Dammit, why are there no mountains in Heidrike?
“Geenie!”
-If those two meet, one of them might die. What’s frightening is that I don’t know who it will be!
A rarely serious Ash is scarier than the dirt under one’s toenails.
“Ah, it’s Chad!”
“Who would fall for that! Answer me. Rovenin and…!”
“It’s true! Look over there!”
There was no mistaking that huge frame.
Ash, thinking I was just trying to change the subject, stubbornly kept his eyes only on me, but it was real.
Visible behind Ash’s back was Chad, sitting in the driver’s seat of a carriage pulled by two horses.
Look at that massive frame occupying a two-person seat all by himself!
“Chad!”
As if I couldn’t be happier to see anyone in the world, I pushed Ash aside and ran to Chad.
I admit it. I was running away from Ash’s barrage of questions.
“Huh!”
“We’ve been waiting!”
For a whole two hours!
Chad, who had been driving the horses with a bored expression, spotted me and hastily stopped them. And before the carriage came to a complete stop, he jumped down from the driver’s seat.
“Whoa, you! You’re up!”
Then, in just two steps, he closed what would have been five steps for me and unceremoniously lifted me up, hugging me tightly.
He even nuzzled me like I was a teddy bear he’d just received for the first time, which gave me the creeps.
What the! Why are you being so cringey?
We’re not like that!
“I was so worried!”
-Ash was!
“…Ah, I’m sure he was.”
-You look fine! The recovery of a beast. Right. She saved me.
“Did I say thank you? Ash told me I had to.”
-He said a person has to know how to be grateful. That I should throw away the illusion that he’d know without me saying it.
“No, you were gone when I woke up? And can you put me down now?”
It makes me feel unpleasantly short. Chad had his hands under my armpits, holding me in the air, but he looked so effortless as if he’d forgotten all about it.
I hated the feeling of my feet not touching the ground.
“Words won’t be enough to express how grateful I am. I’ll be grateful to you for the rest of my life! When I have children, I’ll teach them your name!”
-I’ll teach my grandchildren too!
“That’s enough… of that cringey stuff.”
“Anyway, I was worried you’d still be lying in bed. When did you wake up? Where’s Ash? Gale?”
-Where’s Ash? Ash, is he okay now? He was so worried about this woman.
“I think I woke up a day after you guys left… They’re over there.”
As expected, Chad’s outside and inside were surprisingly similar. And his head was just as loud.
Also, Ash had a large stake in his stream of consciousness, so he was looking for Ash before he even put me down.
He’s going to be a very loyal guardian.