I Met Her First
Sein turned his head, doing his absolute best to endure the overwhelming stench of rotting corpses. If he had it his way, he would have leaped to his feet, dragged the bodies away, or fled this place—anything to escape this fucking smell.
'If only my legs were whole...'
Why did it have to be his legs? Why did he have to be so cursed? It would have been better if it were his arms. Even if he became a cripple with one arm or both, as long as there was a way to treat it, it surely would have been better than losing his legs.
'Why did I end up like this...?'
He hadn't insisted on joining this subjugation campaign just to end up in this state. When Undine first told him about the goblin colony, he thought a ray of light was finally shining upon his gutter-like life. He had even offered prayers to the gods in his heart. To throw him into such a trial immediately after... If there were gods out there, they were undoubtedly a bunch of bastards.
'Undine...'
Sein closed his eyes, forcing his head away from the stench of the corpses as he recalled his first meeting with Undine.
Sein's hometown was a rural village far from any city. It was a neglected corner of the world that even the tax collectors barely bothered with. He had been born there as the son of a poor tenant farmer couple, and he firmly believed that birth was the beginning of his misfortune.
The other villagers lived stable lives, owning their own plots of land or raising livestock. Only Sein's parents could not. Naturally simple-minded and gullible, they were constantly exploited by the other villagers and the village chief, enduring grueling labor day after day just to survive.
As the eldest and only son of these tenant farmers, Sein was dragged along to help with his parents' work the moment he grew big enough to hold a tool.
He had pulled weeds under the scorching sun while listening to the laughter of the other village children. On cloudless days, he tilled the soil with a plow and picked out stones under the blistering heat. His back screamed in agony, and the village children laughed loudly, throwing pebbles at him.
Rage consumed his entire body, but he couldn't dare show his anger. No matter whose child they were, they were the offspring of the landowners who rented fields to his parents. A childish outburst of anger could easily bring a devastating backlash upon his family. So, Sein simply closed his eyes and prayed for the day to end.
Poverty is not a crime, but passing poverty down is. That was Sein's firm belief. One evening, after eating a watery potato soup for dinner, he lay on his straw bed while his parents slept. Lost in thought, he realized that if he continued to live like this, he might as well be dead.
He sat up abruptly. His entire body screamed in protest, but he ignored the pain and slipped out of the house. He entered the dilapidated shed outside. Though it was cluttered with all sorts of farming tools and junk, none of those were what Sein was looking for.
He rummaged through the clutter, kicking up dust as he searched everywhere, but he couldn't find it. Why was nothing going his way? Just as his spirit was about to break, he looked down at the floor and felt his foot catch on something. Sein's eyes widened, and a satisfied smile spread across his face. This was it.
It was a crude wooden sword with an iron core running through it. Even holding it with both hands, it felt quite heavy. 'Still, it's lighter than a hoe,' Sein thought.
Creeeak. Leaving the dilapidated shed with the wooden sword in hand, Sein walked briskly, then broke into a run toward the hill behind the village. There lay a small pond that, for some mysterious reason, glowed as brightly at night as it did during the day.
Unable to afford torches or candles, Sein had resolved to swing his sword by the light of the glowing pond in the dark of night. To escape this fucking village, his only option was to become a mercenary. He felt sorry for his parents, but if he spent the rest of his life doing nothing but farming, his soul would shatter.
As he ran with the wooden sword, countless fantasies swelled in Sein's mind. 'What if I have a talent for swordsmanship? I heard that if you succeed as a mercenary, you can earn piles of silver. When I get married, I will never pass down this kind of poverty.' All sorts of idle thoughts rushed through his head.
It wasn't as though Sein's parents mistreated him. They were deeply grateful and incredibly apologetic to their son, who had matured early to help them with their labor. Because of this, the couple had been quietly saving whatever money they earned, along with the proceeds from selling their leftover crops, trying to build up a small nest egg for him. But Sein had no way of knowing this.
How long had he run? By the time his breath caught in his throat and sweat soaked his bangs, trickling down his cheeks, Sein finally reached the top of the hill and felt the cool breeze.
Standing straight on the open hill, he looked down at the village. Since it was night, the lights in most of the houses were extinguished, and only portions of the wooden palisade surrounding the village were visible.
He raised his head again and looked beyond the village. An open plain and towering mountains met his gaze. Even this brief glimpse of the landscape was vastly wider than his fucking village. Sein grit his teeth and burned the scenery beyond the village into his memory. He never wanted to forget this sight.
'One day, I will step past that wooden fence with my own two feet and see the wide world.' The burning desire within him was for freedom. Having owned nothing since childhood, freedom was what Sein craved more than anyone else.
Calming his inexplicable excitement, Sein gripped the wooden sword tightly and began to swing it wildly by the edge of the pond. He wasn't just flailing aimlessly; with every single strike, he tried his best to bring the sword down in a perfectly straight line. He had once overheard someone explaining that this was how one should practice, so executing a vertical strike was relatively straightforward.
"One hundred...! One hundred and one...!"
His arrogant assumption that it would be easy because it was lighter than a farming tool had long since shattered. The wooden sword, weighted with an iron core for balance, was far heavier than he had anticipated. With trembling arms and sweat soaking his entire body, he was paying a harsh price for his hubris.
[...]
The glow of the pond at Sein's feet grew even brighter. However, focused entirely on staring ahead and swinging his wooden sword, Sein failed to notice the change. He simply forced his screaming arms to move, desperate to reach his target number.
'Ah, what am I going to do about work tomorrow? I shouldn't have taken this so lightly...'
Trying his best to ignore the rising tide of regret, he continued to swing the wooden sword. At that exact moment, something burst out from the glowing pond at his feet and lunged directly into his field of vision.
"Waaah!"
"Whoaaa!"
Sein instantly dropped his wooden sword and flailed about in a pathetic display, while someone looked down at him and giggled. Panicking, Sein tried to drag his weak legs away to escape, but because he had been swinging his sword right at the very edge of the pond, his body tilted, and he fell helplessly into the water.
Splash!
"Wahahaha! I'm not going to eat you~ Don't worry~!"
"Pffft, cough, gah! H-Help me!"
"Uh, oh??? What do I do?!"
"Fuck, save me!! Who is that?!"
'I-I think I hear a voice... This way...!'
Sein thrashed about as hard as he could, paddling his arms toward the direction of the voice. Fortunately, he had fallen in right at the edge, so with just a bit of reaching, he was quickly able to scramble back up onto the grassy bank. Sein gasped for breath, letting out a long sigh as he tried to clear his chaotic thoughts.
"Who... who are you...?"
His vision blurred by the water dripping down his face, Sein quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve. As his sight gradually cleared, he saw a translucent blue girl with her back to the moon, looking down at him. She was flying around with her arms raised in the air, practically bursting with excitement.
"Waaah! Look at you! Teehee! Ah~ This is so much fun~"
Fun? Someone had just fallen into the water, and she thought it was fun? Was she insane? For a moment, a surge of anger flared up within him, but it quickly subsided. Curiosity and a secret, unspoken anticipation bloomed in its place as he stared at the girl, who was clearly not human.
Watching the blue girl float in the air, chattering away like a baby bird, Sein felt an unfamiliar emotion tickle his chest. A new change had finally come to his hellish village, his repetitive daily labor, and his monotonous life. Could today be the day his life finally changed?
Sensing that the flying girl was anything but ordinary, Sein decided to introduce himself first.
"I-I'm Sein. Who are you?"
"Sein... Sein! You're Sein? Sein~!"
Giggling as if nothing could be better, the girl rolled around in the air before suddenly darting right in front of Sein's face.
"I'm Undine, the spirit of this pond!"
A spirit! The word "spirit" burned itself into Sein's mind, sending a massive shockwave through him. Although he was just a low-class laborer in the village, he wasn't completely deaf to the world. He had secretly listened to the stories whispered by the village children who mocked him, as well as the legends drunkenly blabbered by the adults after dusk. To Sein, a spirit was a legendary existence.
They said that a spirit could contract with a human they liked, allowing the contractor to command them using mana and accomplish deeds far grander than mere magic. Spirits were not easily found, and even if one was discovered, humans who could win a spirit's favor were exceptionally rare.
Sein realized with absolute certainty that this was his golden opportunity. In a life filled with nothing but labor, he had constantly suffered from abuse and walking on eggshells. The landowners would throw fits and find fault with his every action over the slightest annoyance.
Because of this, Sein prided himself on being far more sensitive to the emotions of others than his peers. And according to his intuition, the spirit in front of him seemed incredibly delighted by their encounter. 'Could she want to make a contract with me?' With rising hope and anticipation, Sein felt a swelling sensation of happiness deep in his chest.
"Undine... it's nice to meet you!!!"
"Yeah! Nice to meet you too, Sein~ No one else could see me, but you can!"
Just as Undine said, people who could see spirits were rare. Spirits could manifest their true or spiritual forms at will, but being able to perceive them required a high level of Spirit Affinity.
A human who could see a spirit's true form without innate affinity was practically unheard of, but Sein had no way of knowing such technicalities. Thus, he couldn't fully comprehend the depth of Undine's joy.
"But why did you show yourself to me? Could it be...?"
Sein asked hesitantly, his heart brimming with hope, but Undine's thoughts were on a completely different track.
"I've played pranks on all the humans who came to this pond, but none of them could see me!"
"So I was always so bored~ Seriously, even when I splashed them with water, they never noticed."
"But then, even though it's night, someone was making whooshing sounds and shouting~"
Hearing the "whooshing sounds," Sein realized she was talking about him, and his face flushed with embarrassment. He had been swinging his sword with all his might, thinking he was completely alone. Who would have thought he had such a neighbor?
"S-Sorry for being so noisy."
"I'm sorry for scaring you too! I didn't think you'd be so startled by such a shallow pond!"
"Shallow?"
"Yeah! Come on in!"
The memory of thrashing about in the water just moments ago flashed through Sein's mind, and he quickly waved his hands to decline Undine's invitation. Undine, who had secretly wanted to play in the water with her new acquaintance, puffed out her cheeks slightly at his refusal and took a step back.
"I-I'm fine!"
"Hmph... fine..."
Having rejected Undine's offer, Sein noticed her mood instantly plummet. What can I do to cheer her up? He stole a glance at Undine and saw her kicking her feet in the water, creating small splashes while watching him expectantly.
"U-Um, do you always stay here?"
"I'm the spirit of this pond. Unless something happens, I'm always here."
He had to play his cards right. Nervousness made Sein's palms sweat, and though he tried to wipe them on his trousers, they only became wetter from the pond water. Licking his dry lips, Sein spoke to Undine.
"I'll come visit you often! Let's be friends!"
At Sein's shout, Undine stopped splashing her feet. She stared at him with wide, round eyes, making him instantly regret his words, wondering if he had made a mistake.
'What an idiot. Asking a spirit to be friends... I just kicked away my only chance.'
But a moment later, Undine's large eyes grew even wider, her watery pupils sparkling with light. Nodding her head vigorously in pure joy, she shot up into the sky, flying circles around him as she cheered.
"Yes, yes!! Friends!!! Let's be friends!!! I have a friend for the first time!"
"Y-You're my first friend too."
It was a trivial remark, but in a way, Undine really was Sein's first friend. Treated like a slave in the village, he had never had a single friend. Once, he had secretly yearned for one, but not anymore. He had only thrown out the word "friend" to hook Undine; in truth, he had no genuine desire to simply be her friend.
He wanted a contract. He wanted to bind her to him. Meeting Undine was the first time he felt like he had found an escape route from his bleak existence. The only way to escape this fucking village was through Undine!
If he contracted with Undine and became a Spiritist, he would be welcomed with open arms by anyone in the city. He could settle down, work as a mercenary, or find another Spiritist to become their apprentice. If he stayed in this village, he was doomed to a life of endless farming, menial chores, and eating garbage. Sein refused to let go of this beautiful fantasy.
"Sein! You'll come tomorrow too, right?"
Looking up at Undine, who was gazing down at him with innocent eyes while clasping her hands together, he thought she seemed just like a child. He had imagined spirits to be rigid, inhuman entities based on the stories he had heard, but reality was quite different.
"Yeah, I'll come tomorrow."
Night had fully fallen. His parents might start looking for him, and it was around the time the village guards would begin their patrols, so he had to hurry back. Although all he had done today was swing a wooden sword and have a brief conversation with Undine, Sein's heart pounded at the realization that, for the first time in his life, something was about to change.
'I'm going to get out of this village... and I'm going to succeed, showing everyone what I'm made of!'
The overwhelming emotion was impossible to suppress. Even after returning home, stuffing his damp clothes into a tub, and collapsing onto his straw bed, sleep eluded him entirely.
As the vivid memories of his naive childhood faded, Sein opened his closed eyes at the sound of approaching footsteps. He tensed, but judging by the heavy, deliberate stride, it was highly likely to be his senior companion.
'Brother...'
He never told anyone his real name, which led other mercenaries to whisper that he was a shady, untrustworthy bastard. But to Sein, who had been traveling with him recently, he didn't seem all that sinister. In fact, he was the kindest mercenary Sein had ever met.
He taught what needed to be taught and scolded when scolding was due. All the while, he constantly looked out for Sein and helped him. Sein was highly self-aware; honestly, if he had been the one in charge and his companion's legs had been shattered like this, he wouldn't have bothered looking after them. He wouldn't have had the confidence to survive in a goblin colony with such dead weight dragging him down.
'But... I'm anxious.'
Yet, tendrils of suspicion were beginning to take root. To think he could see Undine all along... He had never shown even a hint of it during their travels or when they encountered the goblins, leading Sein to believe he was completely oblivious. But he had claimed that he could see Undine from the very moment they met.
Although he had consistently acted indifferent toward Undine, Sein couldn't shake his paranoia. If Casanova decided to gather magic stones, steal Undine, and force a contract with her, Sein had absolutely no way to stop him.
Even with all his limbs intact, Sein wouldn't have stood a chance against him. Now that he was a cripple with broken legs, it was utterly hopeless.
Suppressing the rising tide of self-loathing and fury at his wretched circumstances, Sein forced a smile and raised his head. The only way he could survive right now was to stay in his senior's good graces. He couldn't afford to offend him.
"Seeeeiiin~~~"
Just as the footsteps stopped, the blue girl flew in from a distance and slammed right into Sein's face. He felt a soft, squishy sensation as she wrapped herself tightly around him.
"Undine! Brother!"
"Yeah. How's the pain? Any better?"
The pain in his legs had gone somewhat numb, but since he had no idea when it might flare up again, he answered with a slightly subdued expression.
"The pain is a bit better, but I'm worried it might get infected or worsen."
"Well, at least the bone didn't break through the skin. Just hang in there a bit longer."
"...Yes."
'Hang in there? How the hell am I supposed to hang in there any longer?' It was easy for him to say since they weren't his legs. Would he still tell him to "hang in there" even if he ended up a cripple for life? Sein tried his best to keep his emotions in check, but with both of his legs shattered, he no longer possessed his former patience. In fact, he was far more unstable and prone to rage now than he had ever been back in his village.
"Sein...! Just wait a little longer! Tomorrow, I'll go even deeper into the caves!"
"And since we found water, let's move the camp over there. After that, I'll go on another scouting run with Undine."
"Yes, that sounds like a good plan. Thank you, Brother."
"It's nothing. We have to look out for each other."
"The water was super, super cool, Sein~ Let's go quickly!"
Gently pushing away Undine as she rubbed her cheek against his, Sein secretly relished the look on Casanova's face. 'I might be a useless cripple who can't do anything, but Undine still loves me more.' Sein desperately hoped that Undine would bring back the magic stones as quickly as possible.
'Once the contract is complete, my legs will heal, and I'll become someone far greater than a low-ranking mercenary who only does chores.' Feeling a surge of hope swell in his chest just like when he was a child, Sein closed his eyes, suddenly feeling an inexplicable chill from Undine's lukewarm cheek.
The hand Undine had placed on the back of his was as cold as ice.