The Spirit Master's Lesson
“That’s…… everything.”
“Not in the pockets either.”
Even after thoroughly searching them, the woman still wasn’t satisfied. She rummaged through the unconscious Jack’s belt and pockets as well. But of course, thieves’ pockets were never exactly overflowing.
What did they even expect, carrying around thirty gold coins each?
“Hmm. It feels like a loss if we just leave like this. Don’t you think, Rai?”
“Wong!”
“What should I do to feel better……”
“Wauuung!”
“What? If I do that, blood will splatter everywhere. I hate getting my shoes dirty.”
“We’re sorry! Mage! We dared not to recognize you as a mage! Just this once, please show mercy and we’ll—— ugh?”
The thief had thought that flattering a mage who loved praising himself would improve his mood and earn them forgiveness. That was a huge miscalculation.
The thief had to shut his mouth from the pain slamming into his forehead.
“Mage? Huh? Mage?”
“Forgive me. I misspoke. I should have called you the omnipotent and great Archmage, right?”
He got hit again.
The pain returned immediately. This time it was from the pommel of the dagger. The handle was covered in sharp decorations, so it hurt like hell.
“Who are you calling a mage! Are your eyes just for decoration? Look properly!”
Under the continuous barrage of violence, the thief desperately racked his brain to survive.
If she used magic but wasn’t a mage, then what was she? Seeing how skillfully she kept hitting the same spot, maybe a martial artist? But she had used magic, so that couldn’t be it!
Then……? A sudden answer flashed through his mind. The thief shouted it out confidently.
“Wait! I got it! You’re not a mage, you’re a monk! A monk, right? Yes? Mon—— no, that’s not—— ack!”
“You’re just like Rai!”
“Woung?”
Apparently trapping him in water and beating him wasn’t enough. Now she was grabbing his hair and shaking him violently.
The thief begged and pleaded for his life, but the woman’s anger showed no signs of subsiding.
“This is a good chance to teach you properly!”
“Hey! Put the knife away……”
“Repeat after me. Begin.”
“Huh?”
“Spirit.”
“Huh?”
“Master!”
This woman clearly believed in the philosophy that sparing the rod spoiled the child.
She was hitting him with every single syllable.
“Spirit Master! I’m a Spirit Master, a water Spirit Master!”
The thief, who had picked the completely wrong target to rob, learned one thing deep in his bones through this painful process.
Spirit Masters were evil creatures!
And among them, water Spirit Masters were the ones you should never mess with!
The thief had to keep getting beaten until he could no longer tell who the real victim was.
“Yaho! Did everyone miss me?”
This great one has returned!
Having recovered the stolen goods, I strode back to the inn with confident steps, only to run straight into the three men who had finished preparing to leave and an unusually excited Einy.
“……S-Sister? You’re back?”
The way she looked at me with open panic and clear disappointment made it obvious that Einy had wanted to leave without me.
This is exactly why you shouldn’t take in a black-haired beast! Though Einy has silver hair.
“Oh? We thought you’d take a while, so we were just about to head out on our own.”
“No one was waiting for you, huh?”
It seemed none of them had spared me a single thought.
Lox and Chad simply looked surprised, while only Ash offered something resembling comfort.
“You came back quickly. Einy was so eager to go out that we were about to go look for you, Miss Jeanie.”
“What? When did I—— ugh.”
Chad had spoken without thinking and received a sharp elbow to the side from Ash, but I wasn’t delicate enough to be hurt by something like that.
I just felt like I’d hurried back for nothing. I’d rushed straight back thinking Einy would be crying and throwing a tantrum while everyone else panicked waiting for me, but it looked like that hadn’t been necessary at all.
If I’d taken my time, I could have avoided everyone and rested alone in my room! What a waste.
“That’s impressive. You really found the sword?”
Ash must have been worried by my subtle silence, because he deliberately showed interest and stepped closer.
At least he was the only one who acknowledged my hard work.
“Of course. Who do you think I am?”
“I’m relieved.”
Watching the way Ash smiled made me want to rip that Polymorph Necklace off him. I couldn’t help being curious about what his real face looked like when he smiled.
“I was worried you wouldn’t be able to find it.”
Normally, once something was stolen, you had to assume it was gone for good.
But who did they think I was?
I was Jeanie Crowell, the one who had walked out of a dragon’s lair alive, and the master of a metal spirit.
I had an excellent metal-detecting dog on my side.
“Huh? You really found it?”
“How did you find it? You got lucky.”
Lox and Chad finally realized what had happened and let out small exclamations of admiration as they approached me.
I proudly showed off the longsword slung across my back.
“Ahem. It’s all skill.”
“You must have done a lot of good deeds in your past life.”
“Your ancestors must be watching over you.”
These bastards.
“I said it’s skill!”
“Normally, not getting your things stolen in the first place is the real skill, isn’t it?”
“……Ugh.”
I’d struck a proud pose, but among travelers, the one who got robbed was generally treated like an idiot.
A skilled traveler would never make the rookie mistake of falling for a pickpocket, and it was even considered humiliating.
If I had to make excuses, I wasn’t someone with sharp senses, and no matter how you looked at it, I was clearly a beginner traveler.
Even if I had tamed a dragon and earned the title of Saint the moment I stepped into the world.
“But is that okay? Carrying it on your back like that, won’t it get stolen again?”
“It’s fine. I changed the strap to something sturdier.”
The sword had a long strap so it could be worn on the body. It had originally been a thin leather cord, but the thieves had cut it when they stole the sword, so I’d had no choice but to replace it.
To avoid repeating the same mistake, I had Rai weave a special alloy into a long chain.
It was so sturdy that nothing short of dwarven-crafted scissors made from the perfect ratio of mithril and orichalcum could cut it.
Now, if anyone tried to forcibly take the sword from my body, they’d have to cut me in half first.
No, before that, I’d cut the thief into four pieces. Just try touching it again.
“Why don’t you just hang it at your side?”
“……”
“That would be the safest option.”
“Who doesn’t know that! It would drag on the ground, that’s why!”
“Ah, short legs! Kekeke, that’s too bad.”
Damn Chad. He clearly asked on purpose even though he knew.
Does being tall make you better than everyone else?!
The way he looked down at me with that mocking expression made me want to punch him the second my hand could reach.
Longswords were usually made with sturdy, full-grown men in mind, so for a delicate, fragile, petite, elegant, and graceful woman like me, wearing one at the waist was quite difficult.
Ah, of course I had the strength to cut a thief in half, though.
“By the way, you look surprisingly refreshed?”
“Hm? Do I?”
“Your expression has brightened up.”
“Must be because I got my sword back.”
Lox was right. He had pretty good observation skills.
The reason I wasn’t getting as irritated even though Chad was teasing me right now was because I had properly vented several months’ worth of accumulated anger on those thieves.
I was feeling quite refreshed.
After releasing all the stress I’d built up from catering to that dragon hat and doing childcare that didn’t suit me at all, I felt like humming at how beautiful the world was.
Indeed, it wasn’t good to let stress pile up.
Those guys had been excellent sandbags…… no, excellent thieves.
They even gave me something as an apology. The dagger I’d obtained was quite nice, so I kept taking it out to look at it.
It was exactly what I needed. How did they know to have it ready? They were surprisingly thoughtful fellows.
Chad tilted his head curiously as he watched me fiddling with it.
“What’s that dagger? You didn’t have anything like that earlier.”
“Hm? They gave it to me?”
“Who did?”
“The thieves.”
“……”
“Why do you look like you don’t believe me at all? Not that I’m asking you to believe me.”
I didn’t have anywhere else to put the dagger, so I’d just stuck it in my belt. My belt only had a loop for hanging a coin pouch.
Thinking about it again, I suddenly regretted it.
I should have taken the belt with the dagger sheath that the thief was wearing too!
Even if his pants fell down, I should have taken it!
Sigh, I really am too kind. How am I supposed to survive in this harsh world?
“……Don’t tell me you robbed the thieves?”
“I can’t exactly say no.”
“You’re really shameless about it.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
Chad looked utterly dumbfounded, but where else would Rai’s brazenness have come from? It came from me, of course.
“If you’re going to do that, then don’t get robbed in the first place!”
“Don’t you have anything else to say besides nagging?”
“Is there something else?”
“Yes! You should congratulate me! That’s normal!”
“Ah. Congratulations. I’ll buy you a meal.”
What the hell, this shameless guy!
Was this species self-loathing? I couldn’t stand Chad’s lack of shame.
“Are you crazy? Where do you carry your shame around with you?! Don’t embarrass the people of Dmitry!”
“Shame doesn’t feed me, but congratulations do!”
“……Ash! Are you really okay with a guy like this?!”
Before I knew it, I had turned to Ash and shouted. This guy definitely didn’t seem like guardian material.
“What?”
Oops.
“Yes? What do you mean? What does that mean?”
When even Lox asked back in succession, I smoothly spun my stiff finger that had been pointing at Chad to indicate the main road instead.
“Uh, well…… Let’s go out. Weren’t we on our way out? Let’s go together! I just remembered I wanted to buy a sheath for this dagger!”
I quickly moved first before I broke into a cold sweat.
I really needed to improve my acting skills. Even I could tell that was an incredibly awkward subject change.
Lox started looking at me with suspicious eyes, but I deliberately ignored him.
Ash’s gaze was calm, but facing it was just as terrifying.
I wanted to scream.
‘Why can’t I call the prince a prince?!’
In truth, I knew the answer. It was because I didn’t know what kind of disadvantage Ash might suffer in the test if I did.
