Ch. 95
Compared to Rai and Undaine, who could read my thoughts and react quickly without a word, Ador really lagged behind in that department.
I thought maybe it was a lack of compatibility with me, so I tried summoning him more often, but that wasn’t it.
The real problem was that Ador was just too scatterbrained.
“Focus all your attention on me.”
No matter how good his attack power was, if I had to issue every single order in a split-second fight, he’d be worse than useless.
“So, what do you think I want right now?”
[Master wants to kill the ogre.]
“See?! Even Undaine, just passing by, gets it!”
[Oh! You want me to kill it?]
The ogre, who’d been thrashing around inside the water bubble, went limp the moment Ador’s electric shock surged through the water—dead before it could even make a sound.
Water and electricity together doubled the effect, and if used right, even an ogre could be taken down in an instant.
Ador could play a critical role—if only he actually understood what I wanted.
[Like this?]
“Sigh. When am I ever going to teach you properly.”
[Why do you make things so hard for yourself? Just say it out loud.]
“Like I don’t know that!”
By default, spirits can’t use their power unless they receive a command.
They only act when there’s ‘certainty’ in the order. That’s the law, the system.
It looks easy when Rai or Undaine move the way I want without direct instructions, but honestly, that’s a high-level technique.
To do that, several conditions have to be met.
First, my willpower had to be strong enough to transmit intention, and the spirit had to share a deep, genuine connection with me to sense it.
For a scatterbrain like Ador, who can’t pick up on my intent, just speaking might actually be faster.
But the real issue is—
“If I’m giving orders to too many at once, I’ll die from exhaustion.”
For the past nine years, my training had always focused on rapid spellcasting above everything else.
Attacking or defending even a second faster.
That came from constantly fighting against the shadow of Rovenin Fedri in my training hall.
The imaginary opponent who always tormented me was, without exception, him.
Not that I wanted it that way.
But I couldn’t forget.
My standard for battle was set entirely by my fights with him.
That blindingly fast blade, the chilling way he closed distance, his ruthless tactics.
If I wanted to survive next time he showed up, I’d need to get even faster.
Not me, but my spirits.
[You know, Master, most spirit mages just provide support from the rear.]
“So what?”
[If you’re not facing melee fighters head-on, you don’t really need all that speed… but you did grind your teeth at a certain swordsman, didn’t you.]
“Hey! If you’re my spirit, you can’t forget that guy! My enemy is your enemy!”
[Not really…]
The fatal flaw of spirit arts is that, since a human is controlling the spirits, there’s always a delay between command and execution.
Plus, as a water spirit mage, my attack speed was slower than most.
Wind or earth spirit mages could use what was around them, but I had to go through the extra step of summoning water.
Calling a spirit, giving the command, summoning water, then attacking—it all took too long.
The only fix was more training.
Faster, more, stronger, more accurate.
[Even among humans, barely anyone handles water spirits as fast as you do… but there probably aren’t many who force speed on water spirits, either.]
Sometimes, I wondered about that.
Maybe I was just greedy. Maybe I was overworking my spirits.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought about it.
“Well, you signed the contract, so there’s no helping it.”
[Hey.]
“What I want is what you want, right?”
[No, it isn’t.]
“Thanks for trusting and following me.”
[Really starting to think I picked the wrong master.]
Ador was blatantly lazy and hated being overworked, but as my spirit, he couldn’t refuse my orders.
Unless one of us died or disappeared, our contract would never end, and that made it easy to understand why Rai was so desperate to refuse Magicoss’s advances.
Nobody wants to sign a ten-thousand-year slave contract with a dragon.
“Undaine, let me down.”
[Yes, Master.]
Unlike the hyper, scatterbrained, hard-to-control Ador, Undaine was always calm and composed.
If spirits were people, she’d be the capable, intelligent secretary type.
Water spirits, thanks to their healing powers, were generally mild and gentle by nature.
I got off Undaine’s back and stepped onto the ground, pointing at the ogre.
“It’s really dead, right?”
[It’s confirmed. It’s not breathing.]
“Then lay it out on the ground. Magi complains that waterlogged meat tastes bad.”
Having zapped the ogre while it was trapped in the water, the meat was warm and half-steamed.
When I pulled it out of the bubble, steam was still rising from it…
“Magi will say it’s perfectly cooked.”
Looking at the thoroughly cooked ogre lying on the grass brought back memories.
Back when I couldn’t catch an ogre on my own as a kid.
When I got lost and traveled briefly with the Shavel Mercenary Corps. Even with all of them, it was a struggle to bring down just one ogre.
“…Rai, does this mean I’m strong now?”
[He’s not here.]
“Oh, right.”
He’s still stuck with Magicoss. It felt empty not having him always by my side.
“Ador, what do you think?”
[You’re asking me?]
“Yeah, just be honest.”
[I don’t serve the weak!]
“…Didn’t you leap at the chance to make a contract when I was ten, you scammer?”
[That’s because I saw promise in you, Master!]
“Heh, is that so.”
I snorted and walked over to the dead ogre.
Why did it look so small?
Its body was ten times bigger than mine, but it looked insignificant.
Maybe it’s because I’ve seen the real form of that massive dragon a few times now.
Step by step, I climbed up the ogre’s hand and back, standing on its massive body, but all I could think was that I was still weak.
Maybe it was because losing to Rovenin and getting kidnapped by a dragon weighed so heavily on me. I just felt endlessly weak and helpless.
No matter how many monsters I took down, it never felt satisfying.
*Grrrr!*
Lost in thought, I heard rustling—suddenly, several wolves appeared from the brush.
There were plenty of small and medium monsters near Magicos’s lair, but there were also animals like rabbits and deer. It was a perfectly balanced food chain.
And among non-monster animals, wolves that traveled in packs were the most dangerous.
Unless you were Geenie Crowell.
“What, these guys?”
At first I thought there were three, but before I knew it, more than seven had appeared, surrounding me, eyes glinting as they prowled.
*Grrrrr.*
*Arrooo!*
These animals, living alongside savage monsters, were wilder, more aggressive, and smarter than ordinary wolves.
They were bigger, too.
Standing up, some were several times my size—not unusual at all.
The one that looked like the boss, especially huge, bared its teeth at me.
The other wolves did the same.
They slunk into my blind spots, growling fiercely.
The problem was, they just weren’t threatening.
“They don’t really see me as prey, do they?”
[Looks like it, though?]
“Haha! Now even a bunch of wolf pups see me as a snack.”
Honestly, it was funny.
This actually worked out. I’d been planning to catch a rabbit for a meal, but I might as well try wolf meat now.
That’s how it is in the mountains—survival of the fittest.
“Ador. Give them a nice roast.”
[Judging by how pissed you are, should I just turn them to charcoal?]
“Misunderstanding. Just grill them so they’re edible.”
Right before Ador attacked, the very air began to tingle.
Static electricity lifted my hair slightly, and the crackling grew louder and louder.
I spoke to Ador, who was now in full attack mode.
“Leave the biggest one.”
[Why not kill it?]
“He looks like a good specimen—I want to give him to Rai as a present.”
* * * * * * * *
(T/N: i apologize for the super delayed chapters, baby time was so rough. baby is currently on a sleep regression phase. good news though, i should be back to our regular release rate (or even faster) by the end of this month. we’ve got everything arranged, so we’re all set. )
