Something's Off from the Prologue (4)
The lower-tier fire spirit Kasa is overjoyed to meet you.
What the hell is this lizard? Getting all excited in front of someone who's on the verge of death. I wiped the blood from around my mouth and stared at the lizard.
Lower-tier fire spirit, Kasa. Fire… a fire spirit, huh.
-You! You! You're human but you can see me! Let's make a contract!
“Cough… cough…!”
-Sorry, but. Cain. Has no mana. He contracted. Using his life force as the price.
Silph stepped in front of Kasa and crossed her arms. Kasa blinked her round eyes in confusion and licked her lips with her tongue. She’s actually kind of cute. The way she suddenly shouts about making a contract while sticking her tongue out is pretty adorable.
The problem was dealing with that vicious tin can bastard behind her. I took a ragged breath and spoke to Kasa.
“Haa… haa… You. Want to contract with me?”
-Yeah! I want to contract with you!
“Then… that tin can… bastard… take care of it for me…”
-Hmm~ But…
It seemed spirits needed to draw power from their contractor to use their strength. Then what the hell was that massacre scene I saw earlier?
I looked at Silph with a demanding gaze, asking for an explanation.
-We. In an unconscious state. Don’t distinguish. Between friend and foe.
Ah. So I could’ve gotten caught up in it too. According to her additional explanation, Silph had regained her senses right as the rampage began, but if they had let Kasa run wild, there was no telling what might have happened.
Hmm.
“That’s… cough, cough… pretty logical.”
-Human! I want to contract!
Is that all this thing can say? How do you even handle a spirit with low intelligence? If I don’t make the contract, she’s basically useless. But if I do contract her, she’ll suck away my life force… which ultimately means I’ll die.
Ha… what the hell am I supposed to do about this?
Whether she knew I was agonizing over it or not, Kasa created a wall of flames to keep the tin can from approaching and waddled over to me. She climbed all the way up to my head and coiled herself there. At the same time, a new summoning circle—Kasa’s—began to appear alongside Silph’s.
“Hey… what the hell is this…?”
-Huh? It’s my summoning circle! You’re gonna contract with me, right?!
“No, I’m saying…”
I’m fucking dying here…
“Ugh, whatever. Fine. Let’s contract. I’m Cain.”
-I’m Kasa! Cain! Nice to meet you! Take care of me!
-Idiot. Kasa.
With Silph’s short remark, we finished the contract in the blink of an eye. But Kasa couldn’t use her power either. She just seemed happy to be out and started spinning around on my shoulder in circles.
“Muttering to yourself… looks like the contract succeeded.”
“Cough, cough… Who… the hell are you…”
That was when it happened. A man suddenly appeared beside me as if it were the most natural thing in the world and asked if the contract had succeeded. I forced my blurring vision to focus on the man speaking to me.
A pure white robe accented with golden patterns, roughly cut jet-black hair, and golden eyes clearer than any gold. Anyone could tell at a glance that he looked incredibly noble. He appeared to be roughly the age of a Korean high school senior who had just entered college.
He looked at the tin can with an expressionless face before turning his gaze to me. Those golden eyes that seemed to pierce through everything felt incredibly irritating.
“Hey, instead of just staring, how about helping me out? If you want a token or something…”
“It’s fine. I don’t need a token.”
What the hell is this guy? Why is he acting so arrogant? Did his chuunibyou phase just kick in?
“Haa… I have no idea why this kind of system error occurred.”
“What? You know why this tin can bastard is acting like this?”
“Of course I do.”
He walked slowly toward the tin can as if it were obvious. The flames flared up violently, and the tin can, sensing movement, raised its sword again into a combat stance. The armor heated by fire and glowing bright red paired with the tin can’s crimson eyes made for quite a sight.
“Because I made it. This tin can.”
“Wh… what??”
Uh… uh…? So… if this magic weapon… was made by this person… then…
“A-are you the headmaster?”
“……Using polite speech now, after all this time. Students these days are surprisingly well-mannered.”
“Ha… haha… cough, cough… It’s just… you look so young…”
The man—no, the headmaster—gave my now completely servile self a sidelong glance and raised his hand toward the magic weapon. A small magic circle glowed in his palm, and the weapon began to convulse violently as sparks flew across its entire body. Once the weapon’s functions had completely stopped, the headmaster let out a deep sigh and waved his hand, easily extinguishing the surrounding flames.
Whoa, that’s the headmaster? He looks insanely young. Is he some kind of genius?
“I thought it was under control, but I offer my deepest apologies for the weapon going on a rampage.”
“N-no, not at all! Hahaha! You ended up saving me, Headmaster!”
-Cain. You’re being way too servile.
-Gross! Cain! So gross!
Shut up. I’m in the middle of a tearful ass-kissing performance right now.
The headmaster looked me up and down with a slightly displeased expression, then approached and reached out his hand.
“Ahaha… I can stand up on my own.”
“You can say that after seeing the state of your body?”
When I took his hand, a warm energy flowed into me, and the stabbing pain that had been piercing my entire body slowly began to fade. I looked at the headmaster in surprise, but he simply pulled me up with the same expressionless face.
“It’s not completely healed. Get proper treatment as soon as you leave the forest.”
Still seeming concerned, he brushed off my clothes here and there before staring directly at my face.
“D-do I look really ugly? Haha…”
“I was wondering why you were so frail. There’s not a single drop of mana in your body. And you haven’t trained physically either.”
“Ugh… Y-yes, that’s right.”
“Our academy only accepts students after thorough preliminary verification. As for how you got in…”
The headmaster paused mid-sentence as if something had suddenly occurred to him, then looked at me again. He took his time examining me from head to toe before speaking once more.
“You’re Alice’s son, aren’t you?”
“Eh…? You know my mother?”
“Well… there’s no point hiding it. I was somewhat acquainted with your parents.”
In my memory—well, I was possessed by this guy in the first place, so how would I know? This important-looking character was just a simple NPC? My questions about the game keep piling up.
Perhaps reading the constantly shifting expressions on my face, the headmaster brought a hand to his chin with a thoughtful look.
“You have a lot of questions.”
“Ah, yes… We weren’t exactly well-off, so…”
“Well… that makes sense… Anyway, if you want to survive in this place, you’ll need to become a little stronger.”
He tossed the words out after listening to my half-assed excuse. Become stronger, huh… Yeah. I do need to get stronger. I quietly nodded.
“You must be curious how I know about the existence of spirits. After all, that knowledge saved your life.”
“Ah, yes. How did you…”
“Once you become strong enough, you’ll be able to find the answer yourself.”
“If I become strong enough…”
“I didn’t become headmaster through the back door, you know. That’s all I can tell you for now. And…”
The headmaster reached into the chest of the now-deactivated magic weapon, rummaged around, and pulled something out before handing it to me.
“This is…?”
“It’s a token. Even though I know you didn’t do anything, the fact that this thing went on a rampage was an accident. Consider it compensation.”
“If you’re giving it to me, I’ll gladly take it. Hehe…”
I’m not being servile. This is how you win. Ignoring the burning stares from Silph and Kasa, I accepted the token with a sleazy laugh and bowed to the headmaster at a perfect ninety degrees.
The headmaster looked at me with a slightly awkward expression, opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. He turned his back on me and walked away. Leaving behind the words ‘The exit is that way,’ the headmaster coolly went on his way.
I decided to check the headmaster’s status window using Spirit’s Eye.
What the fuck. Why is it like this?
I couldn’t hide my bewilderment as I stared at the status window. That was when the headmaster, far in the distance, briefly turned his head…
Do not look at me so casually.
Hiiiiiiik! I’m sorryyyyy!!!
I was so startled that I collapsed onto the ground. The headmaster confirmed my reaction from afar, then turned around and disappeared.
Just who the hell is that guy? Does “become stronger” have something to do with spirits? He definitely looked like he knew something.
“Ha… Nothing’s going my way and I can’t figure anything out.”
For now, it seems I just need to build up my strength. I looked at Silph and Kasa. Silph had a worried expression, while Kasa was still making a dumb face with her tongue sticking out.
Yeah. Let’s just keep moving forward. Once I get out of this forest, the biggest test should be over.
“Let’s go… I want to finish this quickly and rest.”
After walking a little further, the exit of the forest came into view. Seeing a crowd of unfamiliar people, it seemed the news that the magic weapon had gone berserk had already spread. As I watched the people running toward me, the tension finally drained from my body and I lost consciousness.