The Grass Is Always Greener (1)
The grass is always greener on the other side. [Did we take it and make you mad? Is that it?] [What’s interest? Teach me, huh? Huh?]
Patrick’s language skills might have regressed, but his cognitive functions were working just fine. So these little punks really did steal and eat my mana stones. That meant Cliché Number One had struck right on target.
“I-I hit the jackpot!”
Patrick plopped down onto the dirt and threw both arms toward the sky in a triple cheer.
“Of course! This is how the world’s supposed to work! I’m a Spiritist now! A Spiritist!”
“S-Sir?”
“Ben! I think the teacher’s finally lost it!”
The children’s worried voices reached him, but Patrick ignored them for the moment and kept celebrating. Joy was twice as fun when expressed in the most undignified way possible.
[Look at that! He says he’s a Spiritist!] [A Spiritist? Really?]
The mysterious voices brushed past his ears again. At the same time, a cool wind swept through the bamboo grove, rolling pebbles along the ground.
“Look, Teacher! It’s just like we told you!”
“The pebble ghost must be back!”
The children shouted as the stones tumbled about. Patrick, now a little calmer, nodded and looked around. The rocks were moving exactly as the children had described. Yet the children’s hair and the bamboo leaves remained perfectly still. In other words, the wind was blowing only around Patrick.
“It’s the power of spirits.”
“Spirits?”
“Yes. It means your teacher has become a Spiritist.”
“Whoa!”
“Really? That’s amazing, Teacher!”
“……Is that actually true?”
A few of the smaller children stared at him with obvious doubt, but Patrick puffed out his chest and held his palm up to the sky.
“Spirits, I am a Spiritist who can materialize you. Come to me.”
Not every wizard only read spellbooks. Patrick knew at least the basics of how to form a contract with spirits. The books never said there were fixed rules like with magic. According to what he had read, spirits embodied the raw forces of nature. And nature could not be bound by human definitions. Therefore, a contract with a spirit could not be dictated by human language or laws either. All that was required was talent and the spirit’s consent.
Though the word “contract” was used, it was closer to a promise than any formal agreement.
“Make a contract with me! I’ll treat you well! I’ll work hard, earn money, buy you mana stones, and play with you!”
So Patrick began earnestly wooing the spirits.
“If you’re anything like fairies, you must like sweet things, right? I’ll study desserts and make you some. How about it? Come here and contract with me!”
“……Kids, is that how it’s done?”
“I don’t know. I’m scared. Teacher, what are you doing right now?”
“What’s a spirit?”
The children who couldn’t hear the spirits thought Patrick looked completely mad, shouting promises into empty air. Everyone except one.
“It seems he’s attempting to form a contract with the spirits.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“You can hear them too? Wow! As expected of Ben! You’re going to become a great wizard!”
“Maybe. I couldn’t hear them before. Maybe it’s because Teacher is here.”
“You think so? That could be it!”
The children seemed to trust Ben’s words more than their teacher’s.
“But the spirits don’t look like they want to contract with Teacher.”
“Really?”
“Still, Ben, I wouldn’t want to either. He kind of seems like a con artist.”
“Our teacher’s always like that. But he’s not a bad person. I hope a spirit comes to him.”
At Ben’s words, the children chimed in one by one, watching Patrick yell at the sky with pitying eyes.
[What a weird human, what a weird human!] [You want to make a contract with us? You really want to?] [I don’t want to! I don’t!]
It wasn’t only the children teasing Patrick. The spirits, still invisible and existing only as voices, circled nearby without showing any sign of taking his hand.
“If only they would just make the contract……”
Ben, who had been listening to the spirits mock Patrick, spoke up. Even if the man often acted childish, he was still the benefactor who had rescued Ben without hesitation when the bandits tried to take him. He was also the teacher who had recognized Ben’s talent.
Though lessons haven’t made much progress yet.
Every day they sat under the sun and wind, trying to sense the faint presence of “mana” that supposedly existed in nature, but Ben still had no idea how to do it. He hadn’t taken a single step forward. Even so, he didn’t dislike it. Although he couldn’t feel “mana,” sitting still and letting the wind wash over him felt like being held by his mother. The sunlight, the breeze, the humidity, the temperature—all of it gently caressing his skin. It was one of the sensations Ben had loved most since he was little.
[A contract? You want us to make a contract?]
And then, a spirit’s voice filled with joy and delight reached Ben’s ears.
“Huh? Yes! I want you to make a contract. Our teacher isn’t a bad person, even if……”
[Good!]
Before Ben could list his teacher’s few redeeming qualities, the spirit gave its approval as if none of that mattered.
[Let’s make a contract, a contract!]
Flash!
A sudden burst of light erupted. It wasn’t large enough to illuminate the entire bamboo grove, but both Patrick and the children could feel that the energy was different from magic.
“Whoa! A contract? Did I just make a contract?”
Patrick was the first to regain his senses. He jumped in place, spinning around.
“What? Spirit? Spirit-nim? Show yourself. Your contractor is calling!”
Yet even though the contract had been formed, the spirit did not answer Patrick’s call.
“What? I heard spirits are mischievous, but this from the very start?”
“Um, Teacher.”
While Patrick was inwardly vowing to establish proper discipline, Ben approached hesitantly.
“Save the congratulations. This much is nothing for me. Mwahahaha!”
“That’s not it.”
“Why? Do you want to learn spirit arts instead of magic too? Forget it. This is a matter of talent. I can do both magic and spirit arts because I’m at my level. Someone like you who can’t even sense mana properly has no chance…… By the way, when did you tame that sparrow?”
While Patrick was busy bragging, his eyes landed on the bird perched on Ben’s shoulder that showed no intention of flying away. Actually, it didn’t quite look like a sparrow.
It’s a bit fluffier. The color’s different too.
Patrick could barely name more than ten bird species. He was about to lose interest when Ben spoke.
“Teacher, I think this bird is a spirit……”
“Yeah, yeah, I can tell it’s not a sparrow either…… What?”
“I think I made a contract with a spirit, Teacher!”
***
A festival erupted in the village. Ben’s father went to the mainland, bought a whole pig, and began roasting it in the village square. They also hauled out an entire oak barrel of liquor from the brewery and treated everyone.
“Good heavens, what’s going on here!”
“Our Dunbrook Island has a reason to celebrate, a real reason!”
The square was already in full festive swing. People grabbed Ben’s parents’ hands, offering congratulations as if it were their own good fortune. In a small village where everyone knew each other’s business, they were closer than relatives.
“So Ben wasn’t a wizard, but a Spiritist?”
“That’s what it seems, Brother! The teacher said that when Spiritists accumulate enough power and awaken, strange things start happening around them, just like with our Ben.”
“Oh my, is that so? So that’s what it was! But the teacher never even considered that possibility?”
“Spiritists are rarer than wizards, so he probably didn’t think of it.”
“That makes sense!”
Ben’s true talent had been revealed to be spirit power, not magic. A Spiritist—rarer than even a wizard! Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean Spiritists were stronger than wizards. Because they manifested power through spirits, they could wield the forces of nature in far more varied ways than magic allowed. However, success wasn’t guaranteed due to the spirits’ whims, and their power could suddenly weaken or disappear, making it difficult to find sponsors. Spiritists came with various limitations. Still, one thing was certain: a commoner forming a contract with a spirit meant their future path in life had become incomparably easier. That was why the villagers rushed to congratulate Ben’s parents.
“So that’s why the liquor from your brewery started tasting better after Ben was born!”
“It seems so. I always thought he was a blessing, but I never imagined it was truly thanks to Ben. Haha! Here, this is the liquor we brewed when Ben was born. Please try it, Village Chief.”
“Oh my. Such a precious thing! I’ll drink it gratefully!”
“Me too, me too! Pour me a glass!”
Amid the joyful celebration, one person was thoroughly drunk.
“Hic!”
“Teacher, stop drinking! You’ve already had this much?”
“How am I supposed to resist when the snacks are this good?”
“Still, if you drink this much, how will you get home later?”
“I’m not going! I’m sleeping here tonight!”
“You’re impossible.”
“Hey! Just because you became a Spiritist, you’re openly ignoring your teacher now! Everyone, look at this!”
“Wow, he’s really something else!”
The children had gathered around Patrick and burst into laughter.
“Must be nice! I’m jealous! I wanted a spirit too!”
“The teacher just told us spirits aren’t something you own, but something you live with!”
“Same difference…… Hic!”
Patrick was doubled over, clutching his stomach in pain. A Spiritist! Even if it was considered lower than a 2-Circle Wizard, the things a Spiritist could do were on an entirely different level. It was common sense.
“So jealous……”
“Kyahaha! Teacher must really envy Ben!”
“What kind of adult says that so openly? Hahaha!”
The sight of Patrick sincerely envying a ten-year-old sent the children into another fit of giggles.
“Enough. I’m going home…… Hic!”
Finally escaping the teasing, Patrick stood up.
“Can you make it on your own? Should we walk you?”
“Forget it, hero. You stay here. More importantly, come here.”
“You’re going to flick my forehead, aren’t you?”
“I’m your teacher, not a thug.”
“You flick it every day, though.”
Grumbling, Ben still accepted a plate of roast pork, wrapped it neatly in cloth, and slung it over Patrick’s shoulder.
“Tomorrow, put this in and make some soup!”
“Yeah. More importantly, here. Take this.”
“What is it?”
Patrick handed him a pouch containing several mana stones. When he heard Ben’s father was going to the mainland to buy a pig, Patrick had used all the money he had set aside and asked him to buy these instead.
“Kid, that’s my entire fortune, so use them sparingly.”
“……Teacher!”
“I’m off. Life……!”
Having finished his business, Patrick staggered back down the dirt path. Behind him, the sunset painted the sky in beautiful colors.