The Start of the Second Semester
Cleaning up after the demons that had infiltrated Grainstone Village turned out to be a rather tedious process.
We had to tidy up the wrecked demon camp, leaving behind just enough evidence to prove that demons had set foot inside the Empire; release the mana siphons to restore the drained mana concentration in the village to its original state; and free every bound spirit, including the salamander trapped in the dwarf's forge.
Roughly a month had passed since the day we restored Grainstone Village to what it once was.
Having spent nearly the entire summer break at the Blackwood Estate, Ethan and I were now riding in a carriage back to Luminor Academy to greet the start of the second semester.
There was still about a week left before classes began, but it wasn't as if we had anything particular left to do at the Blackwood Estate.
Besides, thanks to Harold's provisional professorship, we had to return to the Academy a little earlier than ordinary students, which meant we naturally had to align our schedule with that of the head of House Blackwood.
And since we would need a four-seat carriage anyway to fit Isabel, there was no real reason for Harold to ride separately.
"There's no need for you all to mind me in a space like this. Talk as comfortably as you usually do."
"Yes... Th-thank you for your consideration..."
"I-it's not as though having our master here makes us uncomfortable or anything..."
...Still, with Harold wedging himself into a space that had previously held three people—Isabel included—an atmosphere so awkward it was suffocating began to seep through the carriage.
It couldn't be helped. The only reason I could speak freely with Ethan was because I had served as his exclusive personal maid for years—not because I'd picked up some noble title and gotten too big for my breeches.
Moreover, I doubted Harold would take kindly to me chatting with Ethan as breezily as I usually did.
But then again, the years we'd known each other ran far too deep for me to suddenly start playing the rigid master-and-servant act.
Believing it was better for my own well-being to quietly keep my mouth shut rather than open it and risk a slip of the tongue, it was only natural that my mouth stayed shut.
And even Isabel, our resident mood-maker, seemed to find it difficult to broach any topic in a carriage containing two high-ranking nobles at once.
And so the carriage simply rolled on through the silence, quietly making its way toward the Isle of Knowledge, where Luminor Academy stood.
'What the—?! Why is everyone so quiet?! This is boring!'
...Quite apart from all that, this mouse-sized salamander never once stopped chattering inside the carriage.
Just to be clear, in case anyone was wondering: yes, that fire spirit was the very one that had been trapped in the dwarf's forge back in Grainstone Village.
She had followed me entirely of her own free will, and since a different fire spirit remained to fill the forge, the half-dwarf blacksmith and I had already reached an agreement on the matter.
In other words, I hadn't dragged her off against her will, nor had I extorted her from the half-dwarf. Not in the slightest.
'I don't much care for you, but your mana is tasty!'
"How reassuring. I was thinking much the same about you."
As it happened, I had given her a name since we began traveling together. Calling her "Miss Salamander" every single time had felt oddly awkward.
That said, "Sally"—just a casual shortening of salamander—was about the limit of my naming talent.
Anyway, after only a month of this creature latching onto my side, my sanity was already beginning to fray.
She reminded me of Ethan back in his etiquette-illiterate days with just how talented she was at getting on my nerves in every possible way—like the Ethan of old, minus the sexual harassment, but with the penalty of clinging to my side twenty-four hours a day added on top.
'Why do guys like this keep multiplying around me?'
To be fair, a fire spirit was an exceedingly rare being, and having one nearby was unquestionably a boon.
With Sally as a companion, the effect of the Blessing of the Fire Spirit even nudged a variety of my support stats upward.
Chief among them, the buff raised my Luck stat by 2, which made her an item I genuinely needed. Combined with the buff engraved on my daggers, it boosted my Luck by a whole 4 points.
In that sense, her companionship was, from "Lilith's" perspective, a truly fortunate connection.
And yet, this little spirit's sheer exasperating annoyance was simply beyond my control.
'Aaah, I'm bored! Do something! Sing a song or something!'
...
"No need to worry about me, everyone. Just pretend I don't exist and chat away as you like."
"Ah, y-yes, of course..."
With the pressure of conversation demanded from both sides, maintaining pure silence had grown a little too difficult.
And so, at last, I let slip a forbidden utterance that should never have left my mouth.
At the time, I had no idea what tragedies the words falling from my lips would one day bring.
"Since the journey to Luminor Academy is so long and booooring, shall I offer a little quiz? We are all headed to the Isle of Knowledge together, after all."
'A quiz?'
"Lilith?"
"A quiz, you say?"
"I call it a quiz, but it won't be the kind of question that requires actual knowledge. I'll be giving one that you, Young Master, and Isabel can all solve on equal footing."
"Hmmm?"
'M-me too?! I wanna solve the quiz too!'
"Yes. Rest assured, it's a problem Sally can manage as well."
"A question even the spirit can solve, to say nothing of Miss Isabel? Wouldn't that make it far too easy, Miss Lilith?"
"Who can say? Why don't you try solving it yourself, Master, and tell me what you think?"
...You're rather confident, aren't you."
Harold, apparently intrigued by my claim that everyone present could solve it, fixed his gaze squarely on me.
Not only that—Ethan, Isabel, and even Sally had all turned their attention toward me.
Receiving this much attention for merely cracking a joke was an unforeseen development.
'He's not going to cut my wages over a bad joke or something... right?'
Amid the strangely tense air, I finally spat out the "joke" that had floated into my head.
Still oblivious to what this joke would unleash upon me in the days to come.
"What happens when a Spear Master gets bitten by a mosquito?"
"Hm?"
"...Hmmm?"
"A Spear Master gets bitten by a mosquito?"
'What is she even talking about?'
"Think it over carefully. What happens when a Spear Master gets bitten by a mosquito."
At the nonsense riddle I'd produced, the three humans and one spirit each wore peculiar expressions as they pondered.
Each of them sank deep into their own thoughts, which bought me a brief, leisurely moment to gaze out the window at the passing scenery.
The first to attempt an answer was Isabel, seated beside me.
"...It itches?"
"Wrong!"
"N-no...?"
"I mean, strictly speaking that's technically true, but I'm asking about a Spear Master getting bitten. Anyone would itch if a mosquito bit them, wouldn't they?"
"Hmmm...? I don't know.... I've never even seen a Spear Master before...."
Strictly speaking, neither had I—outside of playing the game—but this wasn't the sort of question that hinged on whether you'd ever actually met a Spear Master.
Going by that reaction, Isabel seemed to have given up on solving it, which meant all that remained was to sit back and enjoy the others' responses.
Watching Ethan and Harold groan and wrack their brains was quietly entertaining in its own right.
"...Can't you secretly tell me the answer, Lilith? Just me?"
"Nope. Someone might overhear. Besides, Sally hasn't solved it yet either."
'I-I won't listen! I promise I won't, so you can tell her!'
"Hovering sneakily around my face like that won't change anything—I'm not telling you anyway."
'So~ mea~n!'
Demanding the answer to a question I'd posed for people to solve was just plain cheating.
Faced with my firm attitude, Isabel and Sally both seemed to concede defeat for the moment and quietly waited for the others' answers.
The next mouth to open was Ethan's.
"The mosquito dies?"
"Yes?"
"A Spear Master would never let a mosquito that bit him live. In other words, the moment it bit a Spear Master, that mosquito was already as good as dead."
...
"If everyone could swat the mosquito that sipped their blood, mosquitoes wouldn't exist in this world at all. Which means this is an answer that applies only to a Spear Master—"
"So if a Sword Master swats a mosquito, he becomes a Spear Master from that day on? Also, I can catch a mosquito that sucks your blood and runs off just fine myself, you know."
"...Th-that's true. That's a blind spot."
Blind spot or not, a bland answer like that was never going to be the correct one.
By the looks of it, Ethan wasn't going to crack it either—which meant, for all intents and purposes, only Harold remained.
Still, compared to those two, he had years more experience under his belt, and more importantly, he was at exactly the age where a man would be in the prime of his appreciation for this brand of mischief.
Holding out hope that Harold might just land close to the answer, I waited quietly as his lips finally began to part.
"...Hmmm, I see. Now that I think about it, a simple question."
"Oh? Did you figure it out?"
"I did. Quite a clever little riddle, Miss Lilith."
Judging by that confident expression, he seemed to have solved it properly.
The thought that Harold might actually be someone who understood my humor sparked a strange flicker of anticipation in me as well.
Ethan and Isabel likewise trained their attention on Harold, waiting for the answer to fall from his lips.
"An easy question for me, Miss Lilith, seeing as I happen to know a Spear Master personally."
"...Pardon?"
"The Spear Master friend of mine swung a blade beside me on battlefields for many long years. Though at the time, neither he nor I possessed skill enough to bear the title of 'Master.'"
...
"We first met back when I was still a foolish young boy—the days when I served the army as a mercenary to atone for cleaving the imperial ramparts in half, all in an attempt to test the limits of my sword. Though he was no noble, as I was. Querty Jameson. In the spear of that commoner, I glimpsed a special energy that no other mercenary could command."
...No. What.
Why was he suddenly plunging into a nostalgic reverie about his own past?
I tried, several times, to cut him off at a reasonable point and steer him back toward the answer of the riddle, but once Harold's jaw had started moving, it would not stop—his endless tale of days gone by poured forth without pause.
And so, for the entire remaining half-day of our journey, we were subjected to stories of Harold's "Spear Master comrade from his days as a war hero."
"...That takes me back to when we were suffering something fierce from the insects at our jungle camp. My comrades and I were all losing sleep night after night to the swarms of flying pests, yet for some reason, not so much as a single bite mark showed on our friend Querty. He had already stepped into the threshold of Mastery by then, so one might well call him every bit as formidable as a true Spear Mast—"
"We've arrived, Master."
"...Hmmm. Talking of it has put me in fine spirits—the story ran rather long. I'll tell you the rest another time."
"Y-yes, sir...!"
"S-such a fascinating tale, Master!"
"...Truly a story that nourished flesh and blood alike, Father."
"Right, then. You've all had a tiring journey, so get some proper rest."
With those words, Harold strode off toward the faculty building with an expression inexplicably lighter than air.
Watching his figure vanish between the buildings, I made a quiet vow deep within my heart.
The next time I spat out a joke in front of that too-much-talker, I was no longer human.