The Second Skeleton and the Path of Reinforcement

I nodded vigorously in agreement. Yeah, if we keep at it, the proficiency will rise and eventually we'll get a level up too… It's definitely worth trying.

Once the meal was over, she pulled out another gray scroll of parchment.

"Wow, this is already the third one. Ever since I summoned Ilwol, my experience points have been piling up so fast, and so many events keep happening! Hehe~"

It would have been nice if they were all pleasant events, but most of them have been dangerous.

I hoped a decent summon would appear soon to lighten her burden. Last time I hadn't expected her to gain a companion, so I'd felt a brief surge of impatience. But thinking about it now, having a summon stronger than me would be good for me too.

She took a deep breath and began chanting the summoning spell. Once again, no door appeared. Instead, a small portal shimmered into existence, just like when Wangwang had come through.

And the one who stepped out was—

"Ah! It's Ilwol!"

A skeleton soldier.

This feels… strange.

Watching myself being born was an incredibly peculiar sensation. I wondered what it must ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be like for her, seeing both me and the newly summoned skeleton soldier.

Yeonhee tilted her head as she stared at the skeleton standing motionless after emerging from the portal, then glanced back at me. She seemed both intrigued and deeply confused.

She flapped her arms up and down excitedly.

"Something's… off! I used the same summoning scroll, so why is there such a big difference? Does the First Summoned bonus apply to appearance too?"

Well, I'd appreciate it if you explained what the First Summoned bonus even is first.

I could tell it consumed less mana to maintain, but I was curious if there were other effects.

"Hmm… This is quite the dilemma."

After carefully examining the newly summoned skeleton soldier, she began repeating the various tests she'd performed on me that first day.

Creak… Clatter…

Haha… That's just pitiful. Were my movements really at that level?

Of course they weren't quite that bad, but the difference couldn't be huge, so I swallowed my groan.

After testing the new skeleton soldier for about twenty minutes, her expression grew serious.

"It has no soul!"

……?

Did I hear that wrong? Talking about souls with a summoned creature?

"Ilwol has this soft, fluffy feeling, but this one is just… like a wall!"

She tapped the wall as if to demonstrate what she meant.

I get the general vibe, but… isn't it enough for a summon to just follow orders well? Isn't she expecting too much?

I didn't want her entire approach to handling summons to change because of me. Hmm…

"Wait? Hmm? Reinforcement…?"

……Reinforcement?

I tilted my head, trying to figure out what she meant, when she brought the newly summoned skeleton soldier over to stand in front of me.

It's definitely small. At this size, it probably wouldn't be much different from a goblin captain.

It stood around 160 centimeters tall with an extremely slender frame.

No wonder that bastard Jo Giman was so shocked when he saw me.

And what she'd said earlier about it having no soul made sense now. The skeleton standing before me truly felt like… death itself.

An aura so low and dark that nothing could drag it any lower.

If something like this charged at you, the person on the receiving end would probably be even more terrified…

That thought made me want to examine it more closely and gather some input.

While I was lost in those thoughts, expanding the branches of my reasoning, Yeonhee lifted her index finger from her forehead and declared,

"I've decided! I'm going to do the reinforcement!"

"Clack clack clack-!"

Sure, do whatever you want.

Since it was a decision she'd pondered and reached on her own, I figured I should just watch over her. Besides, I was confident that whatever she chose would be for the best. After all, I'd seen her true abilities when she faced that orc legion in her previous life.

Yeonhee placed one hand on me and the other on the newly summoned skeleton soldier, then began chanting.

Hmm…? I'm involved too?

Then did that mean the reinforcement was…

No matter how much the world had changed, was something like that even possible?

The moment the reinforcement message appeared, I staggered from the sudden wave of exhaustion. The newly summoned skeleton soldier walked toward me and muttered something.

— ……

Ah…

And then the world was swallowed by pitch-black darkness.

. . .

— …Wol-ah, Ilwol-ah?

I bolted upright.

W-what the—?

I'd been lying down, but now I shot up into a sitting position. When I saw Yeonhee staring down at me with a worried expression and the chubby face of Wangwang right beside her, I let out a sigh of relief.

I remember her starting the chant, but after that…

Even trying to recall it made my head throb, so I decided to give up.

Did something change?

The answer to my question came in the form of a message.

My stats have gone up a bit. Resistance, Sense, and Recovery each increased by 1. The rest…

There was an asterisk next to the trait Protection, so I checked it.

The Protection level went up. The damage sharing increased by 1%… Not bad.

Even so, I felt a bit disappointed. If she'd just kept the new summon and raised it normally, it would have grown quickly and become a much greater help to our combat strength. This felt like a waste.

Using a summoning scroll obtained ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as a level-up reward like this…

If it had been the Lee Yeonhee I knew, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she would have made a colder, more rational decision. I was worried that my appearance had altered her personality too much.

"Are you sad that your friend disappeared? But I'm perfectly satisfied with just one skeleton soldier—Ilwol. I've already decided, so even if you're unhappy, there's nothing you can do about it."

Seeing her nod with such satisfaction left me feeling a little empty, but what was done was done. At least she wasn't planning to do this with every summon. Just the skeleton soldiers.

Once her level rises, she'll probably get summoning scrolls for higher-grade creatures anyway. There won't be any more skeleton soldiers after this.

Now that I thought about it, it wasn't something to worry too much about. Even when I recalled her final battle, she had never summoned any skeleton soldiers.

Even considering the First Summoned bonus, they just weren't useful.

My Sense stat had increased, expanding my scanning range by one or two meters. The Resistance stat was still meaningless since we hadn't encountered any monsters that applied debuffs yet, but the Recovery increase was something I'd been debating whether to raise, so I was reasonably satisfied.

"Our Ilwol's Protection trait leveled up, so this big sister feels very reassured~"

"Clack clack clack-!"

Well, if she's happy with it…

"Woof!"

"Aww, is our Wangwang full and happy?"

"Huff huff—"

The way it rolled onto its back with its belly exposed, panting happily, made it look exactly like a puppy. I was clicking my tongue at the sight when Yeonhee's phone started ringing.

Brrrr—

"Ah, yes… Hello… Yes, Director-nim—"

When I heard the word "director" come from her mouth, I quietly shifted closer to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Yes… I've finished talking with the Shield Guild…"

Her tone dropped to the floor in an instant. Even Wangwang seemed to notice and was watching her carefully.

"No… I'll join in March. For now, I want to try going solo for a while… Yes…"

Is he trying to get her to join the guild early? For surveillance purposes?

"Yes, goodbye then…"

After hanging up, Yeonhee let out a long sigh.

"Haa… The director really makes me uncomfortable. Isn't that strange? He's being so considerate—almost excessively—but I just can't warm up to him."

Oh? Yeonhee's intuition is sharp. That guy is complete garbage. How about looking into other guilds while you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠still can?

"Still… I've accumulated so much debt until now… I should pay it back, right?"

What? You owed a debt to that bastard from the beginning?

She must have sensed me staring intently, because she gazed into the air for a moment as if recalling the past, then continued.

"There was a time when my mother's hospital bills left me at my wit's end. Mana sickness isn't covered by insurance… The medical costs were insanely high. But the White Knight Guild provided sponsorship and even gave us a loan, so we were barely able to keep her in the hospital."

…I didn't know about this. The guild really kept this information hidden well.

"Thanks to that, Mom passed away with less suffering…"

But the debt remained. That bastard Jo Giman really knew how to tie someone down by the ankle.

"From now on, I'll work hard to pay off the debt first! If I help the guild for a few years, maybe I can leave with a clear conscience? Then I can travel around with Wangwang and Ilwol, exploring all the pretty dungeons that are famous and just wander around like we're on a trip!"

My head spins at the part about treating dungeons like tourist spots, but… well…