Chapter 91
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Wanderers in the Forest - 3
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The pattern engraved on my wrist faded.
It would appear again when I focused on it, and vanish on its own when I relaxed.
"Strictly speaking, it's handing over partial control. My commands still take priority, but you'll gain the authority to issue orders to it as well."
"It's a summon made from your mana, but you'll be able to summon and unsummon it from your end?"
"Of course. That authority comes with it."
Park Sua's index finger tapped the center of the pattern on my wrist.
Then she gently traced along its lines.
"This is the mark of the contract, and also a storage space."
"Storage space?"
"It lets you store my mana in your body."
Mana shouldn't be handled like blood transfusions.
Even if I could manipulate it, Park Sua's mana had to remain hers.
The reason I couldn't handle summons in the first place wasn't a lack of mana on my part.
"When you unsummon it, my mana will be stored in the pattern on your wrist. Pull it out again, and it'll resummon itself, remembering its form."
"What if the summon's lifespan runs out separately from any commands?"
"As long as it doesn't take damage, it's nothing to worry about. Even if it does, I can just replenish the mana."
I wasn't directly contracted with the summon.
The summon was contracted to Park Sua, and connected to me through my contract with her.
Summon magic ultimately ran on the mage's mana as a resource, so even if left alone, the mana allocated to the summon would gradually dissipate.
If it took damage from an attack, it would lose mana just like a living creature bleeding out.
I couldn't restore damage with my own mana, since I wasn't the spell's caster.
All I could do was issue commands through Park Sua as an intermediary.
"You don't need to worry about it—just summon and store it whenever you want. That cover everything?"
"It's not a method I'm used to, but it's good enough."
"You're too good to me. You didn't have to go this far..."
She could have ignored it as none of her business.
Things could stay in a cold war between the two, or their past friendship might lead to reconciliation on their own.
Predicting the outcome of every little action they took was beyond my scope.
That's why I hadn't called out Koon for skipping work or scolded Delion for his hostility toward Park Sua's magic.
"Still, this is something I need to handle."
Park Sua's magic wasn't a result of their conversation.
Without the festival's special circumstances, it was purely an external factor now.
It was bound to grate on Delion even more.
Imagine the summon just standing there blankly next to him while he guarded the forest entrance.
Replacing Koon's duties was unavoidable, but there was no need to shove it right in Delion's face.
They faced each other at every shift change, so today, hiding it entirely wasn't an option.
"Anyway, everything you needed from me is settled, right?"
"For now."
"If it's done, it's done. What's with 'for now'?"
Park Sua made a show of dusting off her hands.
A sign she had no intention of entertaining more requests.
"Ah, I'm hungry. Did you eat breakfast?"
"Do you even know what time it is?"
"Why?"
"It's been over three hours since I ate."
"Perfect. Then let's do lunch."
Park Sua headed out of the inn.
As she pulled ahead, she turned back.
"What're you doing? Coming or not?"
"I'm not really hungry."
"Hey, you can't skip meals just 'cause you've got some meat on you!"
"I ate three hours ago, like I said. You're the one who slept in..."
"Ahem—."
Once it turned against her, Park Sua switched topics to what menu to pick.
"That place? I've been wanting to try something there, but eating alone felt weird."
"Where's that?"
"Uh... I don't remember the name. It looked kinda like pizza."
A few shops flashed through my mind.
"But I know where it is!"
"You know the location but not the name?"
"It's between the steakhouse and the bakery. And it has a blue roof."
Even that left too many candidates.
Since she claimed to know the way, following her confident stride was enough.
"Here... left. Straight, then right."
"It's more on the outskirts than I thought. You memorized the route pretty well."
"I've already memorized the whole village layout. You have no idea how good my memory is."
It wasn't a huge space compared to other floors, but getting this familiar with such distant paths didn't seem like enough time had passed.
Park Sua hadn't been settled here that long, and she'd even been away for a stretch in the middle.
'But she can't remember the name of the place with the food she wanted.'
Contrary to my worries, Park Sua navigated without a hitch and reached the destination perfectly.
No hesitation or wrong turns—the shortest path.
The issue was the menu.
"This the place? You said it looked like pizza..."
"Doesn't it kinda?"
"No cheese, no dough, no sauce—nothing to mistake it for pizza."
"It looks similar from above."
"It's got broth in it to begin with."
Anyway, it was tasty.
That was enough.
Early mornings and late evenings now came with regular tasks.
First up today: head to the entrance before Delion's shift and store the summon in my wrist.
The remaining time left only one place to go.
"Whew, it's not as light work as I thought."
"I didn't expect discord between those two specifically. I only noticed after the festival started."
I'd only caught on after emotions seeped into their swordplay during the open sparring—way too late.
"Here. Have some tea."
"Ah, thanks."
A cup of tea on the table.
I drank refreshing potions often enough, but warm tea that soothed the insides? Not so much.
Ellie's at the request office were pretty much it.
"Not easy to smooth over, huh."
"Have those two fought before?"
"Not that I remember. I'd naturally miss minor squabbles between them, but conversely, that means this one's serious enough for those around them to notice."
Koon had cited a hangover for handing today's duties to the summon, but what he'd actually asked Park Sua for was to cover his shifts for the foreseeable future—not just one day.
The hangover seemed real, but it didn't explain using the summon the next day, or the day after.
'For the foreseeable future' never specifies a timeframe.
"He'd never taken a day off before the festival..."
"Not sure if they've even talked since then."
Rushing to fix this could backfire.
Unless it escalated badly, I'd watch how things unfolded slowly.
Ideally, create a chance for them to clear the air, but that didn't seem easy.
"......"
"Is it not to your taste?"
"Why? It's good."
"You've just been staring at the cup without drinking."
"Guess I didn't have a moment to sip while talking. This one's delicious too, nice and warm."
Even before the doll appeared at the counter, the request office's vibe had been shifting bit by bit.
The variety of tea leaves piling up in one corner was impressive.
"Not that this is bad, but the one from the day before yesterday suited me better."
"Oh, that's all gone already. Was that the one you liked?"
"Ah, it ran out? No, this is plenty good."
"Really?"
I nodded and took a sip.
A bit disappointing.
That one was the best.
Telling the truth would paint a clear picture of Ellie's crestfallen face in my mind.
I drank quietly.
Now that I looked, the variety came at the cost of quantity per type.
No tea bags with the same leaves duplicated.
"You've been fine drinking them all along, so asking now is odd, but where'd you get all these tea leaves?"
"The shop right in front's been selling them lately. New ones pop up every time, so not sure if I can get the previous ones again."
The village had folks growing fruits or plants to supply shops.
Those goods ended up on shelves.
"Ellie, even what you've bought is a lot. How much tea leaf stock do they have?"
"No, it's not that much. That's everything."
"Everything?"
"I buy it all every time."
It wasn't popular stock—she'd swept the shelves clean.
That explained why I rarely saw her drinking tea elsewhere.
"Some days there's more, some days less. The shopkeeper said it's not a fixed quantity coming in, so I'm gathering as much as I can."
"D-Do you need to go that far?"
"It's really important to me. More helpful than you'd think."
By now, with all the traces I'd seen and heard, I knew those tea leaves weren't supplied by folks in the farming trade.
No ordinary tower resident could cultivate a different plant every time.
"To each other, both seem like foolish endeavors."
'Doesn't strike me as foolish.'
A guard gathering plants wasn't common, but hardly foolish.
It supplied new goods to the village, after all.
I could understand calling Delion's actions foolish.
From Koon's view, Delion's hostility toward Park Sua was over the top.
He was the type to look at magic with curious eyes.
I couldn't call Koon's reaction the absolute truth, but I could see his perspective.
Then why had Koon called himself foolish?
No matter how I thought about it, the word didn't fit someone splitting sleep to handle extra duties beyond his responsibilities.