A New Companion
“Well then, allow me to introduce myself again.”
Once the situation had more or less settled, the three-tailed fox—who had reshaped her own body into clothing at my request that she put something on—began her self-introduction once more.
With a little flourish of her shoulders, she presented herself at what couldn’t have been more than a hundred and twenty centimeters tall, playing up every last ounce of her adorable charm.
“I am the single largest Ego Ironstone known to still exist, and having inherited Master’s talent in full, I am also the Ego Ironstone with the finest intellect and greatest power among them all!”
The pride she took in being an Ego Ironstone was plain to see as she declared herself the largest and most brilliant of her kind. She went on to insist that every other Ego Ironstone couldn’t even begin to compare, and I couldn’t help letting out a small sound of wonder at the introduction.
“Oh. So it’s true that an Ego Ironstone changes according to its mana owner’s capacity.”
“Yes! It’s true, Master! That’s how I was able to take the form of a spirit beast like this!”
Ego Ironstone creatures were said to follow their mana owner’s personality and capabilities. Looking at the three-tailed fox, I rather doubted the part about personality, but the claim that they changed with their master’s capacity seemed entirely genuine. She had been able to assume the shape of a spirit beast precisely because she had inherited my talent intact.
“Of course, Master’s mana hasn’t fully matured yet, so I couldn’t perfectly recreate the original form… but if Master grows further, I’m certain I’ll grow to match!”
She hopped in place, spun around, and gave a vigorous shake of the three tails sprouting from her lower back as she spoke—telling me that if I continued to grow, she would grow right alongside me. For some reason the image of her fully grown self sprang into my mind so clearly that I found myself asking before I could stop it.
“What will you look like once you’re fully grown, then?”
“Hmm. My appearance won’t change much, but these tails of mine will increase to nine! And the power I can wield will grow stronger, too!”
Just as I’d suspected, she would no longer be a three-tailed fox but a nine-tailed one. I had never seen such a creature in the game, and—as the guildmaster had said earlier—I had never even heard of one in stories. Yet it seemed this continent harbored a spirit beast called a nine-tailed fox that people simply didn’t know about.
It could be a monster, of course…
But if it were a monster, someone would have spotted it at least once or twice and word would have spread. Safer to assume it was a spirit beast that kept to its own territory. The thought that the Ego Ironstone which had received my mana would become such a nine-tailed fox filled me with genuine delight. Earlier, when she had transformed into a human without a stitch of clothing, I had nearly fallen over from shock—but she seemed cleverer than she looked, was obedient toward me, and, most importantly, possessed the uniqueness I had been hoping for without being something I would be embarrassed to travel with.
A dragon would not have been a bad outcome either, but the fact remained that a fox form was far more convenient to keep around than a dragon, whose image among people was one of ferocity and malice. And the abilities the three-tailed fox demonstrated next only cemented that feeling.
“I can’t use anything truly powerful just yet, but when I receive Master’s mana I can do all sorts of things like this! They’re called mystical powers… watch!”
With a soft little hup of effort she stretched a hand toward the desk in the guildmaster’s office. The desk, wreathed in a faint blue light, rose cleanly into the air.
“That really does deserve the name ‘mystical powers.’”
“Oh-ho.”
“A remarkable ability indeed.”
Neither a mage’s spell nor a swordsman’s aura—this was an entirely different way of using mana. The power truly lived up to the name, and Sigrun, the guildmaster, and I could only stare in astonishment. In terms of my previous life’s knowledge, it was something closer to psychokinesis.
True to the label of mystical powers, she went on to display still more abilities.
Will-o’-the-wisps that spun lazily around her body.
A freezing power that turned a single sheet of paper into a solid block of ice in an instant.
Even a laser that casually punched clean through a book the guildmaster handed her.
“That’s all I can show with the mana I have right now, hehe… But if you give me more, I can produce several times the force of what you just saw. And as long as there’s mana, I can even communicate through my mystical powers while in fox form!”
She added the last part with a sheepish little grin, and I nodded in complete satisfaction. I still didn’t fully understand how the mystical powers worked, but I could tell they operated on principles entirely different from magic while delivering comparable force. If I had to put a name to it, “sorcery” felt closest. And since she used that sorcery with my mana without looking inefficient at all, there was no issue with how she managed her power either.
In short, the three-tailed fox met every single expectation I had held. There was no reason not to like her.
“I like her a great deal. She’s even better than I hoped.”
“Ehehe, if Master likes me, then I like it too!”
She beamed with pure, sunny happiness at my praise. I stroked her head for a moment and fell into thought.
“Still… I’m not sure what to name her.”
“Hah! You’re going to give me a name?!”
Her tails shot straight up, then began thrashing so hard they looked like propellers.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—!
I had only meant that I couldn’t keep calling her “three-tailed fox,” but seeing how overjoyed she was only made me more careful. I could hardly saddle a creature looking at me with such an open, delighted face with some ridiculous name.
“A name… Do you have any good ideas, Sigrun?”
“Hmm. Forgive me. I have never had any talent for naming things.”
She scratched her head sheepishly and then told me a story: once, upon receiving a suit of armor from a knight, she had christened it “White Crimson Imperial,” only to receive a solid knock on the head for her trouble. That was enough to kill any thought of asking her for advice. Who would have guessed her naming sense was that bad?
Wondering what to do, I turned my gaze away from her—and then my eyes found the window.
“……!”
A single name drifted through my mind as I looked outside.
“Seolho…”
It had come to me while watching the snow fall beyond the glass. No matter how many times I turned it over, the sound felt right, and a satisfied smile touched my lips. Fur as white as the snow falling outside, and a three-tailed fox I had met on this very snowy day.
Snow—seol—and fox—ho.
It was not a common naming style on this continent, but it suited the nine-tailed fox of my memories perfectly.
“Seolho. I think Seolho would be a fine name for you. How does that sound? Do you like it?”
“Seolho, Seolho… Yes! I love it, Master!!”
She rolled the name around on her tongue a few times, then answered with that same bright, carefree smile—no longer simply a three-tailed fox, but Seolho. I welcomed my newly expanded party with open arms.
“I look forward to working with you, Seolho.”
“Yes! Master!”
I stroked her head in welcome, and she purred contentedly under my hand. After watching her for a moment, I turned to Sigrun.
“Sigrun, how long would it take to reach the Akevia Ocean?”
“Well, it depends on circumstances, of course, but if we find a merchant caravan heading straight from here to Mineva—the city that sits before the Akevia Ocean—we should arrive in about nine days.”
Seolho had joined us, and our business in the guildmaster’s office was finished. The only thing left to worry about was how to reach the Akevia Ocean. Had I still been alone, I could simply have flown partway and walked the rest. But now I had companions—Sigrun and Seolho. Finding a means of travel we could all share was only natural. When I asked Sigrun, who had far more travel experience than I did, she told me that joining a caravan bound for the coastal city of Mineva, which lay before the Akevia Ocean, would get us there in nine days.
“Perfect. Then let’s go look for a caravan headed to Mineva right away—”
I was just about to set off in search of one when the guildmaster suddenly stepped forward with a smile.
“Hahaha. No need to tire your feet out like that. Leave it to us.”
“Pardon? Leave it to you…?”
“I am the guildmaster of Himrave, after all. I’ll arrange a first-rate carriage and driver capable of taking you all the way to Mineva. It will be several times more comfortable than joining a caravan.”
He offered to secure a top-quality carriage and driver himself so we wouldn’t need to hitch a ride with any merchants. Looking thoroughly pleased with himself as he made the promise, I had to fight down the smile tugging at the corner of my mouth and gave a small nod.
“In that case… would it be all right to take you up on that?”
Stopping the volcanic eruption had earned me the Fire Elemental Stone, mastery of the fire element, and Seolho—formed from an enormous chunk of Ego Ironstone. On top of all that, we were now being provided a carriage and driver for the journey to our next destination.
I’m glad I stopped it.
I swallowed a smile of pure happiness, freshly convinced that preventing the eruption had been the right call. Had Sigrun overheard that thought, she would no doubt have looked at me in disbelief that someone who had just averted a volcanic catastrophe could sound so thoroughly small-minded.