The Spirit Mage's Estate (1)
KWA-BOOM! CRASH!
-Grrrkkk!
"…!"
While Rudy was wringing out the last of his strength in a ferocious battle against the tree spirit, Rose found herself lost in a moment of stunned awe.
It was an astonishing sight. The boy didn't even look old enough to be an adult, yet he was moving with unbelievable agility—dodging the great tree spirit's attacks from every angle, and striking back with counters perfectly suited to each moment. It was a display of movement no one could manage without battle sense gifted from birth.
And if that had been all, she wouldn't have been this shocked.
Aura—the summit most swordsmen could only reach after decades of devotion. And that boy, who looked to be in his late teens, was wielding it like it was nothing.
"Oh, come on! You've done this much—just die already!"
-Grrrkkkkk!
Of course, the boy's mana looked like it was about to hit rock bottom at any second.
Slipping a hand into her pocket, Rose mulled it over.
'I'm a little impressed, but the odds of that boy beating that tree spirit—regenerating itself with dark magic as it is—are slim.'
The situation hadn't changed. In the end, she'd have no choice but to use her summoning stones.
Rose kept the spirits contracted to her summoned and roaming freely around her estate. It was a necessity—as a Grand Spirit Mage, she had to periodically vent her vast spiritual power in controlled bursts.
If she shattered and used the summoning stone she carried now, she could call every high-tier spirit currently resting in her estate to this spot.
'It stings my pride a little that Phoenix couldn't finish the job, but… hm?'
Just as she was about to use the summoning stone, Rose found her gaze snagged yet again—by something strange happening to the boy.
His body was glowing.
[System: The Moon recognizes this world's protagonist.]
[The Moon resonates with the protagonist's body!]
[Lunar Qi acquired.]
"Hah… hah…"
Having burned through every last drop of aura, Rudy realized something strange was happening to his own body.
The sword style he'd been using against the tree spirit was the Heavenly Moon Sword, learned from the tomes in that underground vault—a kind of ritual dance of a sword art, forged to receive the moon and to cut with it. Using it again and again beneath the full moon with his aura nearly spent—
—and now, suddenly, his body was glowing.
-Grrrkkk!
While his attention had drifted, the tree spirit came at him again, whipping its long roots around in a counterattack. Did the damn thing never tire?
Squeezing out the final dregs of his aura, Rudy swung the masterwork blade Drakan.
TU-KWAHAK!
The roots Drakan had shattered sprouted anew and began to regenerate.
Now his aura was well and truly spent.
Spent, and yet—
'…This doesn't make sense. Why is strength keeps coming back to me?'
Normally, when mana bottomed out like this, the body gave out completely, as if stricken by a fever, and a man would simply collapse where he stood. But Rudy was still going strong.
'The glowing—it's because of this, isn't it?'
He was right.
Unleashing the Heavenly Moon Sword beneath a full moon with mana completely emptied—that was the first condition for attaining Lunar Qi. Lunar Qi, the pure power of the moon, cannot be received while mana still fills the body. Just as water and oil cannot mix, the oil that is Lunar Qi can only pour in once the water has been poured out entirely.
-Grrrkkkk!
The recovered tree spirit came barreling toward him, thudding along the ground to crush him flat. Rudy gripped Drakan tight once more.
And then—
"Hah!"
With a body inexplicably light and radiant, Rudy loosed a slash.
It was different from every strike before it. A sword stroke steeped in moonlight. Along with Rudy's glowing body, Drakan itself resonated.
KWAAANG!
-Grrrkkk?!
"…What the—?!"
The tree spirit struck by Rudy's slash hastily recoiled. The part of its body that had taken the blow refused to regenerate. Its recovery had slowed to a crawl—and the ominous dark mana it had radiated until moments ago was visibly thinning.
The eyes of the woman watching from the sidelines went wide for an instant. She couldn't make sense of it either, but Rudy, riding a surge of restored momentum, had no choice but to charge again.
SHWAAAK!
SSEOG!
KWA-KWAGWANG!
The tree spirit began losing its form, sinking steadily lower. It couldn't even manage its creepy, characteristic moaning anymore. All it could do was die under the onslaught of Rudy's attack.
"And that's that—no, wait. I must never, ever say that line."
Rudy crouched beside the sinking tree spirit, which had soon lost its vital force, and poked at it a few times. It truly wasn't moving anymore. The tree spirit that had spewed that ominous dark mana was completely dead.
"Hahaha! You did it! I don't know how, but you pulled off the Heavenly Moon Sword…. Hold on. If I haul this thing to the Adventurers' Guild, this'd be worth some coin. Right this inst—"
"Nope. You wouldn't even buy yourself dinner with it. That's not an ordinary tree spirit."
"…?"
Where had she been all this time, watching the show from across the river? The woman he'd forgotten about drew near and crouched down beside him.
"Hmm. The mana's about the same as a ghoul's. No doubt about it—that's the Eclipse Cult's work. Those bastards."
"Ma'am, why haven't you run off yet?"
"…What?"
Flinch.
Rudy felt a chill of killing intent. It was radiating off the woman in front of him. Noticing that Rudy had gone a little pale and couldn't manage a word, she let out a sigh and continued.
"The original plan was for you to collapse while I dealt with the tree spirit alone, collected it, and headed home. But things turned out this way."
"Yes, well… I suppose that was the idea."
"Right. Amazingly enough."
"In any case, I'm the one who killed the tree spirit, so I'll be taking it."
"No? You won't."
"?"
For a moment, Rudy doubted his own ears.
"How exactly did you arrive at that conclusion, ma'am?"
"Mm. I need what's left of this thing."
"I'm the one who killed it, though?"
"So?"
"…"
So I've gone and gotten tangled up with another psycho. Great.
Having reached that conclusion, Rudy swiftly opened his backpack and began hurriedly sweeping the tree spirit's remains into it.
"Yes, yes, gather it all up. I didn't want to touch the filthy thing anyway."
"…"
Rudy packed away every last scrap of the remains—even sweeping up the core the fallen spirit had left behind, nice and clean. Then he started walking toward the edge of the forest, out.
And that was when it happened.
PABAK!
"Huh?"
Something—some kind of tentacle—wrapped around him, binding him tight, limb to limb. He couldn't take another step forward. Tracing the tendrils back to their source, he found the woman from before, holding a binding spell she'd cast with magic.
"You'd better not be thinking about running."
"You son of a—"
Bound in tentacles, Rudy obediently set down his backpack. He had no intention of fighting. He'd already seen the staggeringly powerful Phoenix she'd summoned earlier—and now that he'd killed her tree spirit, there was no telling when she might call that thing down again. Rudy had no options.
"…Hm?"
And yet, even after he'd surrendered his backpack so nicely, the woman showed no sign of releasing the spell.
"Excuse me? This thing's still not undone?"
"…"
"…Excuse me?"
No matter how he asked, she gave no answer. She simply watched him, one corner of her mouth curling up in a grin. Once more, Rudy felt his life was in danger.
"Ah, there's one more thing I didn't mention. Just so you know…"
And in the very moment she spoke her final words—
"—I've taken an interest in you, so I'm taking you home too."
"—WHY IS IT ALWAYS THESE PSYCHOS I GET TANGLED UP WITH!"
Severing the binding spell with aura charged with Lunar Qi, Rudy bolted—and so never heard what she said. He sprinted at full speed. Whoever she was, she was clearly dangerous.
"Hah, hah, hah!"
He ran flat-out for the mouth of the forest he'd entered through. And then—
"…Huh?"
"KYAOO!"
A giant hamster spirit came flying at him from somewhere behind. In his distracted moment, the spirit's forepaw caught Rudy square on the back of the head—and his vision flickered out in an instant.
The end result: Rudy lost consciousness right there on the spot.
"Lady Rose, who on earth is this man…?"
"Found him. Please use healing magic to wake him up."
"Are you heading out somewhere again?"
"Yeah. There's something I need to check on."
"…"
Just before his eyes opened, those were the voices of someone drifting through his barely returning consciousness. Something soft pressed against his back—was it a bed? The stuffing was made of some premium goose down, and he felt as if he were sinking into a cloud. Strength was slowly seeping back into his once stick-thin body.
"Ugh… uugh."
Soon Rudy came fully to his senses and slowly opened his eyes.
"…Remarkable recovery, truly. Did Lady Rose bring you in, then?"
"Wh-who are you?"
The first thing he saw wasn't an unfamiliar ceiling, but a healer reaching out toward him—a man who looked to be in his mid-fifties, dressed in the vestments of a cathedral priest. Around him stretched a room so lavish it bordered on opulent, beautifully furnished. It seemed to be inside someone's estate.
"I am called Lines, formerly the Vice-Bishop of the Grand Cathedral. These days I serve as Lady Rose's emergency healer at her estate."
"Vice-Bishop of the Grand Cathedral…?"
Rudy was dumbfounded. Why on earth was a former Vice-Bishop of the Grand Cathedral tending to his body?
"Who is this Rose person?"
"Oh, my. Did you not catch her name? The one who brought you here is Rose—"
PAK!
Before the priest could finish, Rudy kicked off the bed and sprang upright without warning.
'So this is that lunatic's house!'
He flung open the door and raced down the stairs to the first floor. The maids inside the manor, catching sight of Rudy dashing headlong, wore startled expressions.
'Why does my otherworld life ALWAYS get tangled up with lunatics like this?!'
Somehow, some way, Rudy reached the entrance of the manor. The very instant he pushed open the final door to leave—
"Knew it."
"You—you kidnapper from hell—!"
"…Tsk. Looks like I'll need to start you on language lessons first."
"KYAOO!"
Déjà vu. Once again, the hamster behind Rose's shoulder slammed into the crown of his head dead-on, and once more, Rudy had no choice but to black out.