Chapter 8
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: How to Get Stronger
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Brrrrrrrr.
No exaggeration—this was exactly it.
Teeth chattering, fingertips going numb, then a warm energy wrapped around my skin and snapped me back to my senses.
“You two okay?”
It was Lady Elysia’s voice.
Steam rose gently from the cup in her hand.
“Here. Have some cocoa.”
“Th-thank you… Lady…!”
I took the cup with both hands, gripping it tightly.
The hot warmth seeped into my palms, and only then could I finally breathe right.
“Slurrrrp! Ahhh!”
Beside me, Miya gulped it down almost tearfully.
“Seriously… we almost turned into frozen cats back there! Lady Elysia’s the only one for us!”
Inside the special carriage pulled by a salamander.
Thanks to the thick cold-proof magic and heating devices, the interior was nice and warm, but the luggage compartment we’d crammed into until moments ago was a literal ‘death fridge.’
I’d underestimated the northern cold.
The choice to sneak into the luggage compartment and follow Lady Elysia—if we’d been even a little slower, we would’ve frozen solid for good.
“…Haa.”
As my body thawed, the tension melted away, and my eyelids grew heavy.
“Good… now I feel alive… I could sleep…”
Miya mumbled in a drowsy drawl.
“It’s still three more days to the dragon’s nest. Sleep if you want, but—”
But her words cut off with a dry cough.
“…Before that.”
Lady Elysia’s gaze slid past Miya and locked squarely on me.
“Don’t you think you owe us an explanation of what this is all about?”
Her voice was low, but far from light.
Not scolding. Not angry. A calm that somehow felt even more uncomfortable.
Thinking about it, it’d be weirder if she wasn’t mad.
This wasn’t a picnic.
Not a banquet or an inspection tour.
The opponent was a dragon.
The princess of the duchy heading alone into the heart of enemy territory just to ‘issue a warning.’
And on that path, her exclusive maid and butler had tagged along without a word, hiding in the luggage compartment and nearly freezing to death.
This went beyond worry.
It was recklessness, irresponsibility—and above all, a betrayal of the person whose lives we were entrusted with.
“…First of all, I’m sorry.”
Before the words even left my mouth, my head was already bowed.
No need to think about it. My body reacted first.
“And?”
“I-I won’t do it again, nya…”
Miya jumped in quick from the side.
Perfectly natural.
As if this wasn’t the first or second time.
But honestly, nothing else we said would make it better.
“Are you insane?!”
Lady Elysia’s voice rose.
“If we’d been even a little later, you both would’ve frozen to death! Not just a cold—full-on hypothermia!”
“You’re absolutely right…”
“We thought hugging tight would let us tough it out. I’m sorry.”
I got my cheek pinched hard, and Miya took a solid flick to the forehead.
Well, by castle accident stats, I was a 1, Lady Elysia a 10, and the remaining 89 were all Miya.
Her looking more hurt was just karma.
A moment later.
“So.”
Lady Elysia let out a long sigh.
“Why on earth did you follow me? I’m really risking my life here!”
This time, it wasn’t scolding.
Cautious. And laced with even deeper anxiety.
The carriage went quiet for a beat.
Miya and I looked at each other.
Not locking eyes. Not avoiding. Just a natural glance meeting.
And almost in unison, we opened our mouths.
“Of course…”
“Because you’re heading to a place like that, Lady.”
“…Huh?”
Lady Elysia blinked.
“What’s weird about an exclusive maid and butler following their lady when she’s risking her life?”
“We’ve served you since we were kids. It’s more upsetting that you’d try to leave us behind, Lady.”
Only after saying it did I realize.
We really, truly felt that way.
From that day she ridiculously declared she’d buy all the slaves and reached out her hand—from that very moment, Miya and I had chosen to stay by her side.
Freezing north or dragon’s nest—if that’s where she was going, we’d just follow.
A brief silence fell.
“…Ahem.”
Lady Elysia cleared her throat awkwardly.
It didn’t quite match her resolute attitude from before.
Then, she averted her gaze. Just a little. Very little.
Pretending to stare out at the snow-covered road.
“Still…”
Her words lagged a beat.
“At least say something next time. Then you could’ve ridden with me… without all that freezing.”
A grumbling tone.
Not scolding. Not laughing. The nitpicky fussing of someone making a big deal out of something small.
But her ears were noticeably red.
That evening.
“So…”
Lady Elysia, having heard my full story, spoke cautiously.
“You’re saying on the dawn I heard I might get dragged to the dragon’s nest, you suddenly gained that power?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“I don’t know the exact trigger. But when I woke up that day, I just… knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That I could forge weapons.”
I paused mid-sentence.
I had to draw my own line on how much to reveal.
“If an image of a weapon pops into my head, I can make it exactly like that. No idea why they appear, or why I can do it.”
Not a lie.
Just not the full explanation.
Meanwhile, Miya was obliviously chomping away at the steak served for dinner.
The most at-peace soul in this carriage right now.
I took a careful breath, picking my words.
‘Say more here, and it’ll derail into something else.’
Explain one thing, and you need ten more. Explain those ten, and the stories behind them spill out.
That’d blur what mattered most right now.
So I held back.
Where I came from.
Why those weapons appear.
How far this power really goes.
What Lady Elysia needed to know wasn’t the backstory—it was what I could do, right now.
So I said only what I could. Swallowed the rest in silence.
For now, it was enough.
But what was this?
“Hehe… I see~.”
Suddenly, Lady Elysia broke into an oddly relaxed smile.
Like a puzzle finally snapping together. Or finding the answer to a worry she’d agonized over alone.
“That secret you’ve kept all this time… it wasn’t because you didn’t trust me…”
“…?”
While I sat speechless at the reaction, her eyes sparkled as she pressed on.
“Anyway, it’s such a relief.”
“What is?”
“That ability. The condition that only someone with a certain ‘bond’ to Jinwoo can wield those weapons.”
At that moment, her face wasn’t mere curiosity. It was pure, unmistakable relief.
“Meaning, even if word gets out, no one can grab Jinwoo and force him to churn out weapons like some slave.”
“…But I am already a slave, you know?”
“W-well! At least in the worst case, you’d still get some kind of ‘treatment’!”
Then it clicked.
Why she was relieved.
“Yeah… I guess so.”
“Right. But we should still keep it secret.”
Firm tone.
“If it leaks that the power’s tied to ‘relationships,’ those in power might pull any stunt to seduce Jinwoo.”
A small laugh slipped out unbidden.
“Yeah… I could hand you the holy sword this time because of that bond.”
“Yeah.”
She nodded.
“We’ve been together over ten years now, after all.”
Miya finally piped up.
“Right! Ten years makes us family. Family!”
“You, eat your steak quietly.”
“Ehh~?”
A light laugh rippled through the carriage for a moment.
At least right then, we weren’t abilities or dragons or the duchy—just people who’d stuck it out together.
Then suddenly.
“All done!”
Right as Miya polished off her steak clean.
Plate down, mouth idle—whether boredom or her troublemaker wiring firing up again, she put on a fake-serious face.
“By the way.”
“…?”
“Thinking about it again—Jinwoo’s ability.”
Dragging it out for no reason.
Building pointless suspense.
Then drops this.
“Isn’t it… kinda too sexy?”
“…Huh?”
“L-like, way too?”
My eyes met Lady Elysia’s without thinking.
She wore the exact same face as me.
What the hell is this girl on about?
But Miya was dead serious.
Raised one finger. Continued calm as an academic lecture.
“No, think about it. ‘He can only make dedicated weapons for people with a certain bond,’ right?”
“Yeah, but…”
“Then flip it: the deeper the bond… the stronger the weapon he makes, yeah?”
“M-maybe?”
Hearing it laid out, theoretically—no flaw.
Status window flat-out said weapon quality hinged on replication and ‘user relationship.’
Which made it worse.
What was she building to?
Right then.
“And.”
Miya raised both hands—one making a circle with her fingers, the other’s index hovering right in front.
Then—
Whoosh whoosh!
No words needed for the gesture. She mimed it fast. Blatantly. And wrapped up.
“What instantly deepens a man-woman bond?”
“……”
“Mating! Mating! Bedding down!”
“……”
“Theoretically, any woman who hooks up with Jinwoo gets their ‘bond’ exploding—making them stronger…!”
Thwack!!
“Yowww?!”