Thirty Minutes Is Truly Short
Thirty minutes really does feel incredibly short. I told Yeonhee this was no easy quest at all, and she nodded in agreement as she replied.
"Still, if we pull it off! They say we'll get the 'Mysterious and Auspicious Summoning Scroll'!"
'......?' Did I hear that wrong? What did she just say they'd give us?
'Just hearing the name makes it sound so prestigious... Why am I feeling this strange sense of relative deprivation?'
For my class change I had to kill thirty thousand monsters under three completely different conditions. Meanwhile, Yeonhee only needed to hunt five hundred to earn a summoning scroll with fancy modifiers she'd never seen before. So that's how it is...
For a moment I wanted to vent my frustration at the system, but Yeonhee was talking with such a bright, sunny face that I could only listen in silence. Well, if something incredibly strong came out, it would be good for the team.
"I wonder what will come out? I feel like I'm going to lose my mind waiting to check. But you know, I'd really like it if a super pretty one appears. Something white and cute like Ran—"
'Heh heh... I think I've heard something similar before.'
I'd told her several times, but aside from the mole cricket, there weren't any pretty or cute monsters below B-rank. Still, who knows? The new summoning scroll might bring out another spirit. And after meeting Ran, I'd realized that appearance wasn't what truly mattered. What a geezer.
(...... What are you staring at me like that for?)
I was perched on Yeonhee's shoulder, watching Ran slowly fade away, when something I'd forgotten suddenly came to mind.
'How does Yeonhee plan to handle the summoning scrolls?'
I hadn't gotten involved in that side of things at all, but she must have accumulated quite a few by now. Since the topic had come up, I asked her about it. She said she'd been worrying over it a lot too and opened up.
"The most annoying thing in C-class dungeons is the were-type monsters, right? Most of them are pure physical fighters."
I nodded.
"So I was debating whether to fix it on Chehwa, but the decision kept getting delayed."
'That does tend to be the case with C-class dungeons. So what are you thinking now?'
"But when I looked it up, there are no records of a Spectre ever rising to the highest tier. So while it looks amazing right now, it feels like it has clear limits."
Yeonhee adjusted the legs she'd wrapped tightly around my waist and continued.
"But orcs keep appearing all the way up to S-class dungeons, so long-term I think raising orcs is the right move."
'Orcs in the end, huh. Hmm, this ability that fixes the probability. I wonder if it won't evolve into a more advanced form?'
The fact that once you decided you couldn't change it lacked too much flexibility. That was why Yeonhee was wasting unnecessary time. It would be nice if you could freely reselect a summon you'd already drawn once.
With that thought, I adjusted my hold on Yeonhee.
Squeeze—
"Ouch..."
"Does it hurt?"
"Ah, no. Just let me shift my posture a little... Yeah. That's better."
Yeonhee clung to me with her arms and legs like a cicada on a dead tree. At first she'd kept some distance, but once she got used to it she pressed herself against me without reservation.
'It's warm and nice...'
I deliberately slowed our flying speed. I wanted to stay like this a little longer.
One truly fortunate thing was that the equipment between my legs didn't react on its own. If I'd still been in my original human body, it would have swelled up long ago.
"It feels like it would be nice if we did this sometimes—just flying around and getting some air."
"Yeah. I like it."
"But you really are picking up speech fast. In about a month, I don't think anyone will be able to tell you're not human...?"
"Yeah."
Yeonhee seemed eager for me to master speaking quickly. After all, a man with slurred pronunciation was a bit much, wasn't it? The moment I opened my mouth the whole mood turned PG.
We soon reached the villa where we lived. Still floating in the sky, I gazed at the moon that had finally peeked out between the clouds, then turned to Yeonhee. The moon reflected in her purple eyes created a truly mysterious atmosphere, perfectly matching her dreamy profile. I couldn't help but stare like an idiot.
"Shall we head in?"
Yeonhee looked at the moon—which seemed a little closer now—with an entranced expression before asking me that. I nodded, then lightly kissed her cheek.
"......!"
Yeonhee flinched and pulled back slightly, but when I gently supported the back of her head and drew her in, she came without resistance.
'A kiss... is probably still way too soon...'
"Haa—"
Yeonhee's eyes darted everywhere as if she still couldn't decide where to look, and her body temperature shot up. I lingered near her chin for a moment before pressing my lips once more to her flushed neck.
Smooch—
"Eep..."
Her eyes widened far more than when I'd kissed her cheek, revealing her emotional turmoil without any filter. There was no doubt I was openly showing affection, yet even as Yeonhee entrusted her body to me she would occasionally glance up with anxious eyes. To reassure her I smiled gently, pulled her close again, and whispered.
"Yeoni. I like you..."
"Ah......"
Thump— Thump— Thump— Thump—
Her heart raced wildly, the sound transmitting straight to me. I tried moving my own heart in time with hers. Though our faces rested on each other's shoulders, I could sense her lips moving slightly. She was still a child unskilled at expressing her feelings. Even without words, I could roughly tell what she wanted to say.
I gently stroked her head. It's okay. I know it's still too early. There were many mountains we had to overcome—not just mentally and physically, but everything surrounding us as well.
I patted her back and suggested we go inside. She simply nodded. Having now regained enough distance to look each other in the face, we glided down toward the house like falling leaves.
Once home, Yeonhee dashed into the room and for a while stomped her feet excitedly.
— Hehe... Kihi...
After giggling like that for about a minute, she reappeared in the living room as if something had occurred to her. Then she began opening the brown summoning scrolls one by one.
Yeonhee quickly used up all eight scrolls she'd collected so far. The results came immediately, and without exception every single one became a low-grade orc warrior. At least from their appearance, that's what they seemed to be.
However, one of them had a completely different mana structure from the rest.
'Oh? Does that one have the qualities of a mage?'
"Wow! It's an Orc Apprentice Mage! Jackpot!"
'Apprentice even though it's low-grade? That's a bit ambiguous. Do orcs have a different hierarchy? Hmm... I'll have to see its abilities in action to get a feel for it.'
If my memory was correct, orc mages took far longer to cast than hunters, but their range was vastly wider. And I recalled that rather than offensive magic, they mainly used support spells. Back then I hadn't given the difference much thought, but now it felt refreshing that a combat race like orcs would develop magic in that supportive direction.
Among the summoned orcs, Yeonhee approached the smallest one—whose eyes, at least, were clear and full of life—and gently placed her hand on its arm.
"Oh, as expected. It's nature-type. Do you know how to use any magic?"
"Gruk?"
The orc apprentice mage looked momentarily confused before placing its hand on the floor and emitting a faint light. Then—
Whoosh—
"Eaaah! No, stop!"
It demonstrated the wonder of turning part of the living room floor into fine, soft soil. So it could manipulate earth... Among nature types, earth was said to be the most versatile in application. Since it allowed for different uses than Bae Jua's rock attribute, the two of them forming a combo could be helpful in many ways.
The important point was that a variant had emerged from the fixed low-grade orc warrior selection.
'Though the probability is low, if variants appear... Maybe a four-armed monster or a twin-head could come out?'
Humans with extra limbs or heads were called deformed due to physical imbalance, but for monsters it felt more like a blessing. They were far stronger and usually possessed larger mana vessels. Since an orc mage had appeared, perhaps those kinds of creatures could emerge too. In that case, there would be no need to worry about which monster to fix the summoning probability on, right?
'I'll just tell her to decide a little faster from now on.'
She'd been trying her best to think it through, so I wouldn't scold her for being a few days late. The number of orcs had now increased to ten. Enough troops to operate as a single squad and handle small missions.
Yeonhee repeated summoning and unsummoning as she gave them names one by one. Deonni No. 1, leader of the orc unit, and Deonni No. 2, the second-in-command, watched the new recruits with satisfied expressions.
While observing the scene, I organized the items we'd ordered online with Yeonhee. They'd arrived at dawn two days ago, but I'd simply stored them in my inventory before heading to the dungeon.
I hadn't realized it while putting them away, but taking them out one by one... just how many were there? Five thick, premium sleeping bags, a mana heater, a mana brazier, sleeping pads, hand warmers, a cutting board and kitchen knife, spoons and chopsticks, ramen, paper cups, various spices, pork belly, and...
Wait. Why did we have so many things that screamed camping trip? Simple preserved meals should have been enough. We weren't going to be there for days.
The only things I'd chosen were the mana heater and brazier, so it was rather bewildering.
Yeonhee, who had frozen mid-motion while organizing, glanced at me nervously.
'So you went ahead and stuffed a ton of extra stuff in there, huh?'
Yeonhee blushed and scratched the back of her head. Well, we had plenty of money. I had no intention of complaining about her buying what she wanted. It just didn't seem like we'd have an immediate use for all of it.
'Later there will definitely come times when we'll need to prepare far more than this...'
Of course we had ample space, and the food in the inventory maintained its exact state from when it was stored, so there was no worry. The average hunter's inventory was said to be limited to roughly the volume of three adult men combined. There were differences between hunters, and since the space wasn't a perfect cube, long weapons could fit, but you still couldn't carry as much as you'd expect.
Since my space was nearly infinite, this much volume wasn't an issue at all. Inside my inventory I already had hundreds of 'unprocessed grown big boar carcasses' and a massive amount of butchered big boar meat. Adding the other monsters' corpses, it was enough to supply over a thousand hunters.
'Whoa, there's even wine?'
When I shook the bottle, Yeonhee burst into giggles and said, "They say it's not bitter but sweet!" spouting something completely off-topic.
No... was she actually thinking of going drinking inside the dungeon...? I recalled the Dungeon of Nargul for a moment and shook my head. In that gloomy place, the cheerful MT vibe Yeonhee wanted would be hard to achieve.
'No... Shouldn't I at least try to make an effort for Yeonhee's sake?'
After finishing the summons, Yeonhee stared at my face with eyes full of expectation. But before long she was nodding off, dozing with her head bobbing.
Well, it was getting late. It had already passed one o'clock by quite a bit.
When I carried Yeonhee to the room, she briefly woke from her drowsiness and looked up at me. I'd already released my mimicry and returned to skeletal form.
'This hideous face...'
I instinctively lowered my head. For some reason, showing my face after mimicry was released felt both embarrassing and terrifying. If she frowned upon seeing it... that would definitely leave a scar for life. Not even the elixir that could supposedly revive the dead could heal that kind of wound.
But Yeonhee smiled brightly and gently caressed my face with both hands for a moment. Then, as if she could no longer fight the sleepiness, she rubbed her eyes a few times and said.
"You worked hard today too... I'll sleep first..."
I nodded, carefully laid her down, then immediately moved to the rooftop.
'...... Time is short.'