Ryona (2)

"Aquaril!"

"...It's been a while, Ryona."

I'd dyed her hair gold as a disguise, but Ryona recognized Aquaril on the spot. Of course she did. The two of them had managed every last affair in Indigo together — swapping a hair color was never going to be enough.

"You... what the hell are you?"

Ryona's face had gone rigid. She glared at Aquaril like she wanted to burn a hole through her.

"Master said the connection with you was severed. So why are you still alive?"

Her brow twitched as she spoke. She clearly couldn't make sense of what she was looking at.

Fair enough. Stealing another Master's fairy was forbidden territory — something that had never existed in Fairy Masters in my previous life, and didn't exist in this world either. Staring that forbidden domain in the face, bewilderment was the only reasonable reaction.

Aquaril regarded the stunned archer with a voice like ice.

"Hwaryongwang is no longer my Master."

"What... did you just say?"

"My true Master is the one standing beside me. Kneel, and greet your true Master."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

Aquaril's denial of Hwaryongwang's very claim on her left Ryona reeling. Then her eyes cut to me. Ahem. The name's Gibung-i — true Master, at your service.

Ah, wait. Not the time. Status window.

I pulled up Ryona's status. Compared to the last time I'd seen her under circumstances like these, she hadn't grown an inch. Not a single stat had gone up. Her level hadn't budged either.

In that case...

Confidence swelled in my chest. Even exhausted, I could put her down. Specs aren't always the thing that decides a fight — but in a situation like this, they absolutely are. On our side, two 2-stars north of level 30. On theirs, a handful of ordinary soldiers and Ryona. That was the whole equation.

"You... yeah. I remember. The brat who was hanging around the princess back then. Alan Han, wasn't it?"

"Thanks for remembering. But... brat? You looking to get the shit beaten out of you?"

"You... you're the one behind all this!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Care to explain in a way that actually makes sense?"

"You son of a bitch...!"

I needled her with a crooked little smile, and Ryona ground her teeth.

Of course I knew what she meant by "all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this." I was the one who'd done it. What Ryona was talking about was a fairy remaining perfectly alive after the bond with her Master had been cut — and that same fairy turning around and denying her Master to his face.

Hmm. Something about this feels off.

Watching Ryona seethe, a strange feeling crept over me. If the fairy who'd come after me the day I became Uroboros's Avatar had been Ryona instead of Aquaril, she would have been the one standing at my side. Aquaril would have been the one over there.

...Should I take her too?

The thought surfaced the moment I looked at her. I'd already decided to put off summoning a new fairy, so why not do with Ryona what I'd done with Aquaril — make her mine? If I stretched my Gold thin enough, I could afford to own one more.

Tch.

As if the system had read my mind, a window popped up informing me I couldn't take Ryona's ownership. I clicked my tongue.

One fairy per Master?

Then I needed to take only the best fairy each Master had. I'd have to start reading those status windows a lot more carefully.

Either way, if I couldn't have her, I'd just kill her.

"Aquaril."

"Yes, Master."

"Go catch Ryona."

"Yes, Master."

"Kh?!"

The order had barely left my mouth before Aquaril launched herself at Ryona. Faced with a speed that left her in the dust and a killing intent that hit like a wall, Ryona abandoned the soldiers on the spot and ran.

Which left me alone with the soldiers at the campsite in front of the dungeon — the one Aquaril and I had been using.

"The sword..."

Don't need it.

I stowed the blade in my inventory and walked toward them with nothing but a shield in my hand.

"What do you think you're doing, wrecking someone else's campsite? Huh? You fucking bastards."

"U-uhhh... Attack!"

"AAAAAH!"

The terrified soldiers charged me on reflex, answering their superior's order the way they'd been trained to.

Twang—! Crack—!

Twang—! Crack—!

Twang—! Crack—!

"Damn it!"

Ryona — Hwaryongwang's fairy, and a seasoned archer — bounded through the canopy like an elf, loosing fire arrows at Aquaril as she ran. Every shaft she sent was split by a sweep of Aquaril's sword, stripped of its force, and sent clattering to the forest floor.

What the hell is going on?

Aquaril was so much stronger than before that Ryona couldn't keep the shock off her face. Why she had betrayed her Master. Why she had grown this powerful. Why she was hunting her down. None of it made any sense.

But none of that mattered right now. What mattered was that Aquaril had betrayed her Master.

"You traitorous bitch! I'll kill you right here!"

Ryona snatched two arrows from the quiver at her hip and nocked them both in the same motion, fast as lightning.

Fwoosh—!

Fwoosh—!

Her Flame Archer trait set both arrowheads alight.

Twang—!

She loosed the pair of fire arrows at Aquaril. The two shafts, flying in opposite directions, curved as if magnetized and came screaming in from both sides at once.

"I'm not a traitor. I simply found the true Master of my soul."

Aquaril's face was ice as she answered, and her sword came around. A skill-backed attack like that could wound her if she met it with an ordinary swing, so she answered in kind.

Her blade moved twice as fast as usual. It caught the incoming arrows from both sides and carved them into six pieces. The fire shafts came apart like nothing under a cascade of cuts that fell as fast and heavy as a waterfall.

Ryona fled. Aquaril hunted. The chase between the two fairies did not last long.

Crack—!

"Kyaah!"

Aquaril's sword sheared through the branch beneath Ryona's feet. The archer's footing vanished, and she plunged.

Twang—!

Even as she fell, Ryona loosed an arrow writhing with mana. Her second skill.

Ryona's mana stat sat at 16. Twin Arrows had burned some of it, but she still had more than enough left to fire a Mana Arrow. And Mana Arrow was a skill that grew deadlier the more mana you poured into it — she packed nearly ten points into that single shaft.

The slender arrow that left her bowstring had swollen to the length and thickness of a spear by the time it closed on Aquaril.

She won't be able to stop this one!

A smile of triumph cut across Ryona's face. The fall itself had been a feint — a way to make Aquaril drop her guard.

BOOM—!

"...Huh?"

Aquaril, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heartbeat from being impaled, vanished in the space of a blink. The arrow, robbed of its target, punched into a tree and gouged a crater in the trunk deep enough to bury a fist.

Tap—!

Aquaril landed on the forest floor and set her blade against Ryona's throat, her expression as cold as the steel. The edge kissed skin, and Ryona's body began to shake.

"...You dodged by jumping?"

Ryona stared up at her, dazed.

It felt as though a wall of ice had risen in front of her, vast enough to blot out the sky.

Ryona's plan had been perfect. There was only one thing she hadn't accounted for: in the twenty-six days since they'd last met, Aquaril had grown strong in a way that simply didn't make sense.

When Aquaril had still been Hwaryongwang's fairy, her total stats had come to 150 points. Now they sat at a staggering 180 — and that 180 didn't even include 18 unused points of potential. The only reason for a growth curve that steep was her new Master. Alan Han had funneled nearly every Lower Growth Stone they found straight into her.

Outmatched in raw stats. Outmatched in level. Outmatched in class level. Outmatched even in attribute. In a one-on-one, Ryona beating Aquaril was a fantasy.

"Just wait a little, Ryona."

"...What?"

"....!"

Slash—!

Ryona's eyes flew wide. In the same instant, her head lifted into the air.

Lose your head and you die — human or fairy, it makes no difference. A moment later, Ryona's corpse dissolved into light and was gone.

Aquaril looked down at the empty patch of ground where the body had been. Then she turned away.

If she had gone all out, Ryona never would have gotten the chance to run. Ryona's agility was 22 points. Aquaril's was 36. The reason she'd been allowed to flee, to empty her quiver as she pleased, was a courtesy — the last respect owed to a fellow fairy who had once served the same Master.

Aquaril knew what came next. She would return to Indigo with her Master, and when they did, Indigo would have a new ruler. If Ryona died here, she would never set foot in this world again.

The Master had changed. The memories of the days she had spent at Ryona's side had not.

"I've returned, Master."

"Ah. Good work. Hm?"

Soldiers whose stats didn't even crack ten points were no match for me. That said, a spear through the gut would still ruin my day, so I fought as carefully as I could. Getting hurt hurts, and I'm the only one who loses.

"Ugghhh..."

"P-please... spare us..."

Even taking my time, it didn't take long to put all ten of them on the ground. I hadn't killed them, so they just lay there clutching their wounds and moaning.

"What about Ryona?"

"About that... I killed her."

"Hmm~ Did you, now?"

I stared at Aquaril until she looked away, her face thick with guilt, like she'd been caught with her hand in something she shouldn't have touched.

I had ordered her to bring Ryona back alive. I'd even checked Ryona's status window, just to be sure. After everything I'd poured into growing Aquaril, capturing Ryona should have been well within her reach.

And she had killed her anyway.

This was a fairy who would put a blade through her own heart — not pretend, actually do it — if her Master told her to. She had more than enough ability to carry out the order. She had chosen not to.

Old feelings, huh?

"Well. Whatever."

I shrugged. Killing Ryona didn't really matter in the end. I'd wanted her alive to squeeze her for information, but thinking it through, there was no universe in which a fairy like Ryona would sit down and spill Hwaryongwang's secrets to me.

She'd been a looker, too, so the thought had crossed my mind... but I didn't particularly feel like doing that kind of thing with Aquaril watching.

"You've done well so far, so I'll let it slide this time. Don't do it again. Got it?"

"...Yes, Master. I'm sorry."

She understood exactly what I meant. She nodded, the guilt still sitting heavy on her face.

"What will you do with these soldiers, Master?"

"Eh, no point killing them, is there? Let's just let them live. Hey."

"Y-yes, yes yes..."

I tapped the ribs of one of the men sprawled on the ground with the toe of my boot. He'd been the one barking orders at the others earlier — an officer, or at least a senior.

"Stay here for about two days. Patch yourselves up, then go back to Indigo. If you disobey me... I'll kill every last one of you here, and your families too. Clear?"

"Yes yes yes! We'll return in two days! Thank you so much for sparing us!"

A grown man, sniffling, bowing his head over and over, thanking me for letting him live. I snorted, tossed them some meat and water from my inventory, and turned my back. Aquaril fell in behind me.

"You're letting them live?"

"Yeah. They're people, not fairies. They just followed Hwaryongwang's orders so they could eat. No reason to kill them for that. And... ah, never mind. Anyway. Let's head back to Indigo. We've got work to do."

"Yes, Master."

I started walking, Aquaril at my side.

Not like I'd even get any EXP for killing them.

I kept that last part to myself.