A Golden Opportunity for Magic Practice
“Really? Get out of the way!”
I’d only ever heard about monsters in passing, never actually seen one in the flesh.
I cracked open the carriage door and poked my head out to survey the situation.
Roughly twenty knights were escorting our delegation, and they were handling the orcs with ease.
It didn’t seem particularly dangerous. After all, these were the famous imperial knights of Dmitry, renowned for their strength.
“Whoa… so that’s an orc?”
[Yes, they aren’t particularly strong creatures.]
Orcs were known as aggressive monsters that frequently attacked people.
They lived in groups, could speak, but their intelligence wasn’t especially high, so they were classified as monsters rather than demi-humans.
They were one of the most commonly encountered monsters in the forest due to their numbers, but I never expected to actually see one.
I’d heard they were gluttonous enough to kill people just to steal all their food. Sure enough, they had pig-like heads. With their thick fur and large builds, they could almost pass for primitive humans at first glance.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the first monster I’d ever seen.
[Master, should I absorb that?]
When I followed where Rai was pointing with his tail, I saw the mithril-infused sword I’d noticed earlier lying abandoned on the ground.
Huh? What about its owner? Did he die?
I stuck my head out further, purely out of innocent curiosity, searching for the red-haired knight.
I soon spotted a knight sitting nearby, clutching his shoulder. A brown-haired knight was guarding him from the orcs.
“Looks like he’s hurt.”
[Should I kill him?]
“There’s no way he’d die from an injury like that… Why does it sound like you’re hoping he will?”
[Honestly? A little.]
“Hey, no matter how much you want that mithril, isn’t it a bit messed up to value a human life less than metal?”
[Why? I’m a metal spirit. Of course metal is more important.]
Well, when he put it like that… Rai sounded so confident that I couldn’t argue.
[Besides, you said it yourself, Master. Anything lying on the road is fair game. Look! No matter how you see it, that’s a lost item.]
Its owner was right next to it, though. I thought it over for a moment before nodding.
“Fine. You go fetch the sword.”
As I spoke, I pulled my shoes out from under the seat, put them on, threw on my coat, and prepared to leave the carriage.
[You’re going outside?]
“Yeah.”
[Why? You hate anything that sounds like work.]
“Because this is the perfect chance to test out some attack magic.”
I’d been looking for a good place to experiment, and this was ideal.
I’d just mess around a little while the knights were busy with the orcs. Orcs were supposed to be pretty tough, after all.
[Then… can I eat the mithril?]
[Of course! Well… maybe just a little?]
[……If I understood correctly, that means I can eat it, right?]
[Ahem. If it’s only about one percent of the content, I doubt anyone would notice…… What do you think?]
[Obviously. It won’t show at all. It’ll be completely undetectable.]
Rai and I put our heads together and shared a meaningful grin.
Anyway, my conscience had never once given me what I needed. Conscience was nothing but a nuisance. What always helped me get what I wanted was greed.
Even if it was wicked, at least it never left me at a loss. Its name was greed and selfishness.
[Alright, go fetch it. Rai!]
[Yes!]
Rai was quickest when I told him to fetch something, and I was most diligent when causing trouble.
“Undine.”
The moment I stepped out of the carriage after calling Undine, the metallic scent of blood rushed into my nose.
It was deep into the night and everything around us was dark, but it was easy to tell that chunks of flesh and blood were scattered everywhere.
Though the darkness hid most of it, this was definitely an R-rated scene.
If what was being slaughtered were humans instead of orcs, the feeling would have been completely different.
Boogle.
Undine floated in front of me as if to speak.
I’d been frowning at the orc arms, organs, and corpses rolling around, but the moment I met eyes with the adorable little creature making those cute bubbling sounds, my mood instantly improved.
I smiled softly and whispered.
“Undine, we’re going to try a spell called ‘Aqua Ball.’ Think you can do it?”
I had to admit I was unusually affectionate and gentle with Undine. I never used such a sweet tone with Rai.
Undine gave a small nod, then created a large mass of water above her head.
It was about half the size of the carriage at first, but it quickly shrank until it was no bigger than a human head.
I see. So ‘Aqua Ball’ was compressed water.
“Hmm. I wonder if getting hit by that would hurt?”
It was a fair question.
I gauged how much mana I’d expended and pointed at the back of a nearby orc’s head.
When Undine moved her hand above her head like she was throwing a ball, the Aqua Ball flew sloooowly and struck the orc squarely in the back.
“Kuek?”
The orc stumbled forward from the sudden impact but quickly got back up and looked around. Its soaked body did look a bit heavier.
But there was absolutely zero damage.
“……Is this even an attack spell?”
[S……orry. Master.]
“It’s way too weak. At this rate I won’t be able to use it in real combat…… Hm?”
I thought Undine had just spoken. My hand froze mid-scratch on my chin.
“Undine?”
[Yes.]
“Undine.”
[Yes, Master.]
No way!
“You couldn’t talk before, could you?”
[Now I can.]
[Just…… a little bit.]
Undine smiled shyly, and I wanted to show her off to the entire world. She was just too adorable!
Our little cutie could talk now!
To others it might not seem like much, but the fact that Undine, who could only make bubbling sounds before, was now speaking filled me with the same overwhelming emotion as hearing my own child say “Mom” for the first time.
Teacher Iel had said it would take at least a year or two of training to converse with a lower spirit!
“Our Undine is a genius!”
Well done, my baby!
[Master…… I’m so happy.]
[I wanted to speak.]
To be able to converse with a contracted spirit, there first had to be trust between them, and above all, the spirit had to have a strong desire to communicate with its master.
In the end, it came down to intimacy……
“Ah.”
In my excitement, I remembered that I’d been able to talk with Rai from the very beginning. But that guy wasn’t cute. And talking to him didn’t feel nearly as special.
[Undine, I’ll get stronger!]
[I’ll work hard for Master!]
“Oh my, oh my.”
Yeah. This was exactly why I became a Spirit Master.
I was so absorbed in communicating with Undine that I’d completely forgotten we were in the middle of a battle.
Who cared if she wasn’t strong? As long as our Undine was healthy, that was enough for me.
“Miss! It’s dangerous! Please return to the carriage!”
Huh?
While I’d been distracted by Undine, nearly all the orcs had been killed. These knights were fast!
I hurriedly ran toward the red-haired knight nearby. The knight who had warned me to go back chased after me in surprise, but I wasn’t the type to care about that.
“You mustn’t come out!”
The red-haired knight also panicked when he saw me approaching and said the same thing.
Even while bleeding profusely from his shoulder, he stood up as if he’d seen something he shouldn’t have.
“I’ll help.”
“Pardon? The best way for you to help, miss, is to stay somewhere safe.”
“You’ve already killed all the orcs anyway.”
“Still, more might appear. Please return to the carriage……”
“But don’t you need water?”
Where there was an injured person, water was always necessary. You had to clean the wound and let them drink, after all.
The knight froze for a moment when he saw Undine sitting on my outstretched palm. He had clearly never seen anything like it before.
A translucent, beautiful, and unfamiliar being made entirely of water.
“What…… is that?”
“This is Undine. She’s a spirit.”
“Is it magic?”
“How rude. Spirits and magic are completely different!”
Why did everyone always fail to distinguish between magic and spirits? They were clearly different things! It was quite annoying, so I grew a little displeased. The knight looked flustered, unsure what he had done wrong.
“I’m sorry.”
“Anyway, I can provide clean water. You should be grateful.”
It was quite rare for me to offer kindness first. I filled a nearby wooden bucket to the brim with clean water and smiled more than necessary.
The knight seemed completely bewildered by everything I was doing.
If it were Teacher Iel, he would have felt a sense of foreboding the moment I acted like this. Hehe.
“Th-thank you, miss.”
“And here’s your sword, sir knight.”
Just then, I spotted Rai crawling over with the sword in his mouth.
“Wait, a snake?”
“He’s my pet snake. He understands everything I say perfectly.”
“That’s my sword!”
“I told him to bring it.”
In truth, there had been no need to retrieve the sword as well, but since I was getting a share of the mithril, it felt wrong to just take it without giving anything back.
‘Did I actually promise to share it?’
I couldn’t remember. My memory was fuzzy. While I smiled, Rai dropped the sword he’d been carrying with a clunk in front of the knight. For a snake, it was surprisingly diligent.
“Are snakes usually this smart?”
“Rai is a bit special.”
“But… why are you showing me such kindness……”
“Does a person need a reason to do a good deed?”
If I had to pick, I was the shameless type.
[Master! I absorbed the mithril and replaced it with alloy.]
[Good job.]
[You said to absorb one percent, but there was only one percent in it! So I just ate it all.]
[……No, what I meant was to absorb only one percent of the total mithril content.]
[What should I do? It’s already become part of my bones and flesh.]
This greedy pig had interpreted my words however he pleased.
“How can I ever thank you? May I ask your name?”
“No need.”
I quickly stepped backward. I was absolutely not running away. I had simply remembered an urgent matter.