Made a Promise with the Fairy
Made a Promise with the Fairy
Three years had passed since the day the Direwolf almost turned the village into a disaster zone.
Anna had grown quite a bit.
The top of her head, which used to reach my waist, had risen to my chest, and flesh had filled out her once-skeletal limbs.
Her face had changed, too.
Expressions began to show in eyes that had once been dead and stone-cold, and she learned how to curl the corners of her lips.
Her gaze, which used to only scan the periphery of my face, had eventually learned to meet my eyes.
"Focus."
"Yes."
Somewhere in the forest.
I had brought Anna to the hunting ground and was teaching her how to handle the Water Spirit.
Anna reached out her hand.
She spoke to the spirit in her mind, and water gathered in the air, firing off like a cannonball.
Paat!!!
The water mass burst against a rock, splitting it apart.
"Good. Next, gather it thinly and fire it as a water jet."
Anna put both hands together.
The water compressed inside her palms was compressed even further so it wouldn't hurt her hands.
As holes opened at the tips of Anna's hands, a thin stream of water shot out.
Chijiiiiik!
The straight-fired water jet sharply pierced through the remaining rock, slicing right through it.
The Water Pressure Cutter didn't lose its power halfway; fueled by the spirit's power, it sliced the rock with enough force to cut through steel, like an industrial tool.
'It's terrifying no matter how many times I see it.'
Armor would be useless before a Water Pressure Cutter that could slice through rock so easily.
A prodigy who received the favor of spirits and pushed their power to the limit.
One who had received a destiny born from the world.
When I look at Anna, I can feel the will of the world.
"Next."
As Anna whispered to the spirit, the surrounding air grew heavy.
Everything visible blurred and scattered, and a grayish-white fog spread out.
The fog, as if seeping out of the space itself, grew thick enough to obscure vision, covering the entire forest area until I couldn't see an inch ahead.
My vision only reached about a meter where my feet touched, and as the excessive moisture went down my throat, it tasted like a humidifier.
I walked a few steps and was startled when a tree suddenly appeared in front of me.
The excessive moisture even ruined my senses, so even though I was on high alert, I didn't know the tree was in front of me until I saw it.
"Release it."
The fog lifted.
As the fog vanished, Anna was standing right in front of my nose, looking up at me blankly.
"Dane, did I do well?"
"It was seamless."
I patted her head and pointed to the sky as a finishing touch.
As if she were used to it now, Anna silently gathered rain clouds in the sky.
A thin rain began to fall.
"What's there?"
"Rabbits and a deer. No Demon Beasts."
The spirit had summoned the rain, and the spirit's senses reached wherever the rain touched.
It can be used effectively even outside the spirit's territory.
It was an ability we had already verified several times.
I went back and forth to the hunting grounds with Anna.
I escorted Anna to far-off places that my hunter senses couldn't reach, checking the safety of the hunting grounds over and over again.
There are no more Demon Beasts.
They hadn't shown their faces for three years.
'I thought at least one or two might have drifted in.'
Three years ago.
After Jake returned, I heard ominous news from the Lord's castle.
News that the clustering of Demon Beasts had spread throughout the entire territory flowed in through the mouths of peddlers.
The knights dispatched to various parts of the territory could not return to the Lord's castle.
Villages were devastated.
Demon Beasts are swarming.
The territory is ruined.
Peddlers joined the mass exodus, and the atmosphere in the village wasn't very good either.
It had been over half a year since I lost contact with Jake-gyeong.
Teaching Anna combat techniques was also in preparation for the eventuality that might come someday.
I engraved not only spirit arts but also the tricks I had accumulated while living into her.
All that was left was real combat.
It would have been better if real combat never came.
I returned to the village.
It was around evening.
I was walking along the path between the fields when people were gathered at the front of the village.
The murmuring was abnormally loud.
I quickened my pace.
Beyond the people, I saw a horse.
A man wearing silver-white armor was slumped over the horse, unconscious.
"Sir Jake-gyeong."
I almost didn't recognize him.
He was a mess.
His shoulder armor was completely torn off, and there were three deep claw marks on his breastplate.
He wasn't wearing a helmet. A new scar crossed his left eye, and his face was half-withered. He was a different person from when we parted three years ago.
"Dane."
His voice was cracked.
He got off the horse with difficulty.
The villagers supported him as he got down, and he held out a crumpled piece of parchment from his bosom.
"It seems the situation isn't good."
"...It's not just 'not good'."
It was an order stamped with the Lord-nim's seal.
"Read it."
I took it and unfolded it.
The content was short.
[The Lord's castle is under attack by the army led by the Demon Beast King, so Hunter Dane must provide immediate support.]
The words struck my eyes.
"It is Lord-nim's order. Dane, you and the Spirit Summoner Anna must immediately join the castle and participate in the defense."
"Do I have to take Anna too?"
Jake-gyeong nodded heavily.
"It seems the situation is more serious than I thought."
Anna's participation as a Spirit Summoner meant that the Lord-nim had given up on the village.
'The Demon Beast King's army, huh.'
The thing I had feared had erupted elsewhere.
It was something that hadn't happened many times in history.
But every time the Demon Beast King's army appeared, it left deep scars on human history.
'If I take Anna, I could definitely push back the Demon Beast King's army.'
Because the spirit would fight with all its might.
But the spirit wasn't invincible either.
I had tested the spirit's limits with Anna, and the spirit gets exhausted if it gives its all.
It means we can't use the power that sliced the Direwolf in two in a single blow indefinitely.
After using it, the spirit temporarily retires, and that limit becomes even more pronounced outside its own territory.
If I take Anna, it would be a big help in stopping the Demon Beast King's army, but that doesn't guarantee victory.
'There must be a few guys like the Direwolf in the Demon Beast King's army.'
If it's just that level, it would be fortunate, but if it's the leader who commands even those guys, the territory would be destroyed even with the spirit's help.
Anna was still growing.
'Is there no choice?'
I rolled up the order.
"If it's an order, I will follow it. I am a hunter contracted with Lord-nim. I can't just break the contract and get wanted in another territory."
I never believed I would die of natural causes in the first place.
Rather than dying while running away miserably, I'd rather just fight and die.
It was the moment a very slight sense of relief was about to spread across Jake-gyeong's stiff face.
"But Anna is not allowed."
Jake-gyeong's brow furrowed sharply at my firm refusal.
"It is Lord-nim's order! I'm saying that child's spirit arts are needed on the castle walls right now!"
"It will be useless even if you take Anna. Spirits lose their power when they leave their territory. You know that too, don't you, Sir Jake-gyeong?"
"Kugh..."
Usually, spirits do not leave their territory.
Anna's spirit often leaves, but that's because Anna is special.
The Spirit Summoner Lord-nim has cannot take their spirit outside the Lord's castle.
Knowing that fact, Jake-gyeong gritted his teeth and didn't demand it anymore.
I could hear the sound of Jake-gyeong's teeth grinding.
"......Fine."
Jake-gyeong took a step back.
"I'll just take you."
"Thank you for your consideration."
"We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning, so be prepared."
Jake-gyeong angrily and roughly ordered Hams to bring him something to eat.
That's not his personality.
He must be that desperate.
"Dane."
Anna stuck close to my back.
Her small hand was still holding mine.
"I want to go with you."
"You stay here."
"Can't I go?"
Anna's lips trembled, but I shook my head indifferently.
"Look over there."
The villagers were trembling with anxiety.
The people who had ostracized and ignored Anna just a few years ago were now trembling and watching her every move at a single word from her.
"Everyone is looking only at you. If you're not here, those people will all die before long."
"....I don't care."
Anna whispered softly.
I know Anna's situation, so I couldn't find the words to argue.
"Since things have turned out this way, there's one last thing I need to teach you. We still have time, so let's go back to the forest."
As the sun began to set, the light filtering through the leaves took on an orange hue.
"Have you ever slammed your emotions into the spirit?"
"...Slammed?"
"You convey your joy to the spirit. If you're sad, you convey sadness. If you're angry, you convey anger. Have you ever pushed those emotions to the limit?"
"I have."
Anna nodded.
"This time, we're going to do it intentionally."
In the past, Anna and the spirit naturally shared emotions.
If Anna was sad, it rained. If she was angry, a downpour poured down. Even if she was happy, it rained, and if she was joyful, the river flooded.
But that was nothing more than the spirit unilaterally reacting to Anna's emotions.
What I was about to teach her now was the act of enraging the spirit.
"Anna, I hated it when a brat like you kept clinging to me every time."
"Huh?"
Anna flinched and her body stiffened.
"Do you know how annoyed I was whenever I saw you following me every time I went hunting, not understanding what I was saying? Stalking me since you were a kid."
"Dane?"
I pushed her harder.
"Even if a brat like you follows me to war, you'll only be a burden. No matter how strong you are, you're just a kid who hasn't even fought in a real battle."
"I, I."
I glared at her and applied pressure.
"If you follow me this time too, I'll regret helping you for the rest of my life."
"Hic..."
Tears welled up in Anna's eyes.
The spirit hovering around her trembled.
I pointed in a direction for the sniffling Anna.
"Tell the spirit to pour all its power toward that spot. Pour out all your emotions right now."
Anna swallowed her tears and pointed in the direction, and the spirit looked at me before turning away.
It vomited all that anger and sadness into the place Anna pointed.
That day, a new lake was created in the hunting ground.
"Hic..."
Sniff.
"Huuuh..."
"Stop crying."
Anna grabbed the hem of my clothes and followed behind me.
I would have held her hand usually, but maybe I went too far.
Water droplets dripped from the leaves reflecting the sunset light. The blow that created the lake spread throughout the forest, causing a light rain.
"But never forget that feeling from earlier. Someday, that will be the power that saves you."
"...Yes."
Anna sniffled and swept her wet hair behind her ears.
Just as we were walking on the muddy ground, a squirming sensation came up through the soles of our feet. Anna stopped.
"Dane, this."
Something translucent, shaped like a pebble, popped out of the mud pile, shook off the dirt, and rolled around.
This sensation.
This guy, by any chance.
"It looks like a spirit."
"My god."
It was an Earth Spirit.
It rode up Anna's fingertips and rolled around in her palm.
'It's truly a crazy talent.'
I'm scared of when she becomes an adult.
It would have been great if I could keep her by my side until then.
"You know how to handle that guy, right?"
"Yes."
"Then that's fine."
Anna is a smart kid.
She has a blank side because she hasn't learned much, but she never forgets what she's been taught once.
I turned my body toward home, and my sleeve was pulled.
Anna grabbed it.
"Dane, can't you not go?"
Anna's voice trembled thinly.
The Lord's castle will probably fall.
The Lord's castle has no forces to stop the Demon Beast King's army.
Before long, the Demon Beast King's army will rush into the village. When that time comes, the Demon Beast King himself will appear before Anna, the master of the spirit.
Can Anna defeat the Demon Beast King?
The monarch of a massive army that destroys even territories.
'I don't want to be optimistic that she can win.'
I was already living my life thinking I was half-dead anyway.
If I could perform a meaningful role, I wanted to make that place my grave.
Going to the Lord's castle now would be a dog's death, but a new meaning had emerged a while ago.
I knelt on one knee in front of Anna.
I met her gaze.
"I will definitely come back alive. So, you protect the villagers."
If she follows the villagers, she'll be able to escape the Demon Beast King's army.
"Then someday, the day we meet again will come."
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
My face reflected in Anna's eyes rippled blurrily.
"I promise."
"Promise."
I raised my pinky finger.
I hooked my pinky with Anna's and pressed our thumbs together to make the promise.
I had been wandering this world looking for a grave, but that didn't mean I intended to commit suicide.
I made a promise with Anna, solidifying my determination to meet her again without fail.