The Unfair Advantage
The city was strangely empty despite the bright daylight. Two men sprinted across the vacant square at a speed that would leave even a galloping horse in the dust.
“Did something just—?”
“Huh?”
Merchants at their stalls only noticed us after we’d already flashed past, blinking in confusion as they scanned the area. That alone said everything about how absurdly fast we were moving.
Robenin was one thing, but I hadn’t expected Ash to be capable of this either.
Most surprising of all was that he could maintain this pace while carrying me.
Had I been underestimating him all this time? Even after raising my assessment of him several times, it still hadn’t been enough.
“Hold on tight, Jeanie.”
At some point Ash had shifted me into a princess carry without breaking stride. His lips brushed close enough to my ear that his whisper sent a faint shiver through me. We were far too close, yet the proximity felt strangely natural.
[Master, where exactly are we going?]
[How should I know?]
Normally I would have demanded to be put down and walked on my own two feet, but right now I stayed obediently in his arms. When people with monstrous physiques were moving at speeds no ordinary human could match, the wisest course was simply to stay put and let them carry you.
I made a decision.
From today onward, I would show no mercy to swordsmen, spearmen, archers—anyone who trained their body. I would torment them to my heart’s content.
Not that I’d ever gone easy on them before. Still, knowing they were sturdy enough to survive most things gave me a certain peace of mind.
[Tch. If they can run this fast, why bother with horses at all? Just run everywhere.]
Rai’s grumbling was directed at the small snake currently rifling through my hair inside my hood.
When Rai took serpent form, he tended to be especially restless, shaking his tiny head with obvious glee as he answered.
[It’s a matter of efficiency, isn’t it? You never know when you’ll need stamina in an emergency. Wasting energy on something like this is just foolish.]
[Like I don’t know that. I’m just annoyed because these guys’ physical abilities are completely broken.]
[Goodness, your temper really is something else. Ash didn’t even complain when Master summoned an upper spirit… though he might have been annoyed. Annoying. It’s always annoying when you see people who are that good at everything.]
Even though the difference came from their respective fields, the sheer physical gap between swordsmen and spirit masters still irritated me.
Today should have been a perfect day—watching Robenin lose and feeling smug about it all day. Instead, he’d ruined everything.
My nemesis had a remarkable talent for souring my mood just by existing: rude, oblivious, and merciless all at once.
Watching him dominate the count with that overwhelming physical prowess had been unbearable. It left me growling like a beast.
And now, forced to experience this ridiculous running speed in real time, my mood was rapidly deteriorating from sour to shredded.
The odds I’d once thought were at least fifty-fifty were plummeting before my eyes. It felt like torture.
If I’d known it would turn out like this, I never would have gone to see Tumdra.
Who could have guessed that bastard would actually win?
[Rai, answer me honestly.]
[No, no, no!]
[What…? Was he weak?]
[There’s no drug that works on me, you know.]
[Then why are you acting like this? You kept saying he was crazy—did he actually lose his mind?]
[That’s not it! No matter what I say, I’m going to lose either way! There’s no right answer to the question Master’s about to ask! If you don’t like my answer, you’ll just imagine tying me up with a ribbon!]
[You know me well.]
[And you won’t stop at just imagining it!]
When Rai was in snake form, tying him into a tight ribbon and kicking him around always improved my mood.
He was usually the one who earned the punishment, and since I was only human, I never kicked him very far. Kicking too hard would only hurt my own foot.
[Shut up and answer.]
[I don’t want to…]
[How likely do you think I am to win against Robenin?]
[I knew you were going to ask that! This is torture—mental torture!]
[Answer.]
[……You told me to shut up. How am I supposed to shut up and answer at the same time?]
[Backtalk like that is exactly what I mean by ‘shut up.’ Besides, you’re not even using your mouth to talk.]
[Haa…… Do I really have to answer right now? Can’t we wait until Master’s too tired to kick me? Sixty years from now……? Or, you know, fifty-nine?]
Rai tried every possible way to dodge the question, but in the end he had no choice. He could feel exactly how foul and volatile my mood was—more vividly than anyone else could. That was what it meant to be soul-bound. This kind of honesty only existed between us.
[Rai, do I need to invent another new technique just for you?]
[You’re cruel…… Normally when people say they’re developing a technique, it’s not for torturing their own spirit, is it?]
[Normally, spirits don’t talk back to their masters either.]
Rai’s greatest talent was being infuriating enough to make me want to strangle him, but that same trait meant he would say things to me that no one else dared.
In other words, I could get brutally honest answers that would make me murderous.
[If you kill me, it’ll hurt.]
[I won’t kill you. I won’t hit you either. As long as you answer immediately without any more backtalk, I won’t do anything.]
[Master will definitely lose.]
[Take that back right now.]
[I knew you’d say that! You fraud!]
[You’re the traitor! How can you be so certain?!]
I was the master of Endairon! One of only two upper-rank spirit masters on the entire continent!
Still cradled in Ash’s arms, I let out another low growl.
Thinking I was growling because of Robenin, Ash gently covered my eyes with one hand—the same gesture a dog owner might make when two dogs started barking at each other on the street.
[It’s all Master’s fault! For some reason you’re trying to fight without taking his sword away! How is a spirit master supposed to beat a swordsman? You might as well try putting out a fire with oil! If you want to die, there are cleaner ways! Just bite the bullet and get it over with!]
[Kgh…… Damn it! Fine! What if I take his sword? If you absorb his sword, I’ll definitely win, right?!]
[No?]
The implication that I was saying something ridiculous only made me angrier.
[Hey! Are you even my spirit?!]
[I’m your spirit, which is exactly why I have to be objective! My stay in the middle realm is on the line here!]
Was this brat treating me like a visa sponsor instead of his master?
Of course, given Robenin’s habit of never holding back regardless of age, status, or gender, losing to him would very likely mean my death—which would also mean Rai being sent back to the spirit realm.
[Swordsmen and spirit masters are complete opposites! And you want a one-on-one? That’s not a combination you attempt unless you’ve lost your mind!]
[I know that!]
[Then why do you keep insisting on it?!]
Swordsmen and spirit masters had opposing temperaments, which made them excellent partners who could cover each other’s weaknesses when they fought together.
The ideal party composition, really. It was one of the unchanging laws that had held since ancient times.
But when they fought each other, one side was guaranteed to lose. And unfortunately, that side was almost always the spirit master.
[If I can just take his sword away, it’ll be better!]
Was I being that petty?
[You’re being the pettiest person on the continent! And even then, Redhead is someone who uses sword aura! Even if you take his sword, he can just pick up a tree branch and coat it in aura—it’ll hurt just as much! Did you forget what happened with Undine?!]
[I remember, that’s why I’m saying this!]
[But…… looking at him now, he might not even need a branch.]
[I was thinking the same thing…… It’s giving me chills.]
[Bad feelings are never wrong.]
Sword aura had many levels.
Ten years ago, Robenin had already been a Sword Master capable of coating his blade in the most basic form of aura. Now he had grown far beyond that.
I couldn’t confirm it right now, but there was a high chance he had already reached the level of refined sword aura—Sword Gang, where pure aura alone could form a blade without any physical weapon.
In other words, in an emergency, he wouldn’t need a sword at all.
If he could use that light-saber-like Sword Gang—
[Fine. Let’s assume the worst and say he can use Sword Gang. Even then, he can’t keep it active forever, right? Just like how I can’t keep Endairon summoned indefinitely, there has to be a limit. So if I can just take his sword away, I’ll definitely have a chance!]
[……Master? It sounds like you’re assuming it’ll be easy to take his sword when it’s not even you doing the taking.]
[What’s the problem now?!]
[To absorb it, I have to actually touch it. I’m a metal spirit, not a wind spirit. Compared to Redhead, my movement speed is so slow it might as well be crawling.]
[……At least your wolf form is faster.]
[Even then, I’d have to get close enough to absorb the sword, and that part’s the real problem! No—impossible!]
Being bound by a physical body was Rai’s greatest weakness, which was why I usually used him for defense and support rather than direct attacks.
If he could teleport or something, he’d be far more useful offensively.
Spirits that could do that were Spirit Kings, though.
[Hmm. What if I summon Adore, who has the fastest attack speed, and tie his feet down……? Then you absorb the sword while he’s stuck!]
[He’s the fastest, but also the hardest to control. He can’t even tell friend from foe! You’d have to give him instructions one by one, and by the time you finish, you’ll already be stabbed! Also, if the sword gets electrified, I can’t absorb it, you know?]
[……What if I summon Pain first to freeze him, then hit him with lightning? That would tie his feet. I could even have Endairon flood the area with water beforehand so we can freeze it anytime. Pain’s freezing is slow, but with water it’ll be much faster!]
While running right beside Robenin, I whispered with Rai about ways to kill him, but no convincing plan came to mind.
All the strategies I’d prepared before were based on underestimating Robenin and needed complete revision.
There was a time when I’d thought that as long as I had the lightning spirit Adore, I could just drop lightning on his sword or electrify water to kill him. It had seemed so simple.
That was before I realized during training that Adore’s electricity was indiscriminate and would hurt allies if mishandled, and that hitting a moving target was far harder than it looked.
Striking something you couldn’t even see with lightning wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
The only moments I could land a hit on Robenin would be if he stood perfectly still like a mage chanting, or if he charged straight at me like those wolves that had tried to hunt me.
[Also, Master? You seem to be deliberately ignoring this, but…… do you really think he’ll just stand there politely while you chant a summoning spell? Your head will be flying off before you even finish calling Endairon.]
[Whose side are you on?]
This brat had been saying some pretty harsh things—‘stabbing,’ ‘heads flying.’ I could feel him desperately trying to provoke me.