Dragon's Oath and Unyielding Pursuit
I might not be confident in many things, but when it comes to this kind of pressure, I'm pretty sure of myself. After all, Magi and Adelaide had trained me thoroughly.
“I'm not worried about your life. I'm worried about mine. I made a promise to a dragon, you see. I swore I wouldn't tell anyone.”
“……So the rumor that you’re close with a dragon is true. You’re hiding it, after all.”
“Yeah. Magi is a good dragon. Even if he eats people sometimes.”
Just like how some people still trust me or Robenin even though we occasionally kill people.
“You made the right choice, Jeanie! How could you break a promise to a dragon? Young master, no one can break her stubbornness, so please give up.”
Ash openly let out a huge sigh of relief and looked at me as if I’d done something praiseworthy.
Could you stop looking at me with those pure eyes? My mouth is itching to spill everything.
“Then I have even more reason to follow you around.”
“……What?”
This feels ominous. Extremely ominous.
“Wait, young master! What are you trying to—”
“I won’t interfere with His Highness’s test. But this woman owes me something, and I have things I need to get from her. So don’t stop me.”
Oh dear. Why do I feel like all the arrows are suddenly pointed at me?
I don’t remember committing any sins in my previous life. In this life, sure, I’ve caused a few accidents. While I blinked in shock and left the horrified reaction to Ash, Robenin, who had withdrawn his killing intent, took a step toward me.
“Woman.”
“Hey, my parents gave me a perfectly normal name, you know?”
“It’ll be easier for you if you spit out the location of the Sword Aura mine quickly.”
“You don’t know how to ask nicely?”
“Keeping you alive is already the height of my generosity.”
This is bad.
A strong premonition washed over me.
It wouldn’t be easy to shake him off until I gave him what he wanted… Just what kind of madness was swirling around in that guy’s head?
Faced with a type of human I simply couldn’t understand, I suddenly remembered that I could read what was inside his head.
I had the Tears of Truth.
With its power, I could peek into Robenin’s mind.
If I can just touch his bare skin…
I looked Robenin up and down. He was wrapped head to toe in black clothes that clearly hid bloodstains.
His battle-ready outfit left no openings. His shoulders were about twice as wide as mine, and his forearms looked thicker than my thighs.
He wasn’t as bulky as Chad, but compared to Ash’s lean, agile muscles, Robenin’s were dense and pronounced.
He covered every inch of his body as if he had some kind of obsession. The only exposed skin was on his hands and face, and even that was covered in countless large and small scars.
It didn’t seem like I’d be able to touch him as easily as I could Ash, who practically let me manhandle him.
Just looking at him told me everything.
Unless he allowed it, I wouldn’t be able to touch even a single strand of his hair.
……Yeah. Come to think of it, maybe I don’t need to read his mind.
I gave up quickly.
I was curious about what was going on in Robenin’s head, but if I reached out carelessly, I might lose a wrist.
It was better to distinguish between things that might work and things that definitely wouldn’t.
“Ash, what do you think? Can his stubbornness be broken?”
“No……”
“What? Is there actually someone who can break it?”
“You and the young master are the special ones. Neither of you listens to anyone, no matter what.”
“Is that so?”
Even while I was playing dumb, Robenin continued to glare at me with sharp, wary eyes.
There was no way I could kill him when I couldn’t even lay a finger on him. Even if I tried to poison him, I’d need enough trust for him to actually accept food from me first.
To launch a surprise attack on that guy, it seemed I had no choice but to make him lower his guard.
Maybe getting a little closer to him would make killing him easier…
For a moment, that insane thought crossed my mind. And honestly, there were parts of it that were tempting enough that I couldn’t completely dismiss it.
It was true that hitting him in the back of the head after reassuring him would cause more evenly distributed mental and physical pain, which made it even more appealing.
He looked difficult to tame, but surely easier than a dragon. Besides, there was that saying.
Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
"Master, don't you have any friends?"
You son of a bitch.
"I'm a wolf, though?"
Only now did I understand why Rai was getting on my nerves more than usual today.
It was because he had a solid backup. Namely, Jeanie Crowell’s emergency brake—Eron de Pon Ephiros, the angelic prince known as Ash.
Even now, instead of standing by me, he was shoving his head into Ash’s hand, practically demanding to be petted.
He took after his master, expertly siding with whoever benefited him most. I wonder who he learned that annoying behavior from.
"Kehehe!"
“Um…… does Rai like me?”
"I can't keep getting hit forever! I needed to secure a shield too!"
Whenever I messed with Rai, Ash would always intervene. He had even once spouted nonsense about me apologizing to Rai.
The reason Rai was so aggressively pushing Ash was because he believed that with Ash around, I would be “purified.”
Who are you calling a demon?
Just dealing with Robenin was annoying enough, but now even one of my spirits was acting like this. It felt like the whole world was my enemy.
In the end, the only person I could trust was Ash.
As I narrowed my eyes, I noticed marks on top of Rai’s head.
They were from Ash’s hand.
“Your hand.”
“Ah…… it’s fine. It’ll heal quickly once I stop the bleeding.”
“Let me see.”
As expected, touching Ash was easy.
All I had to do was walk over and grab his hand.
When I turned it over, the wound he’d gotten from grabbing Tenebra was deeper than I thought.
It must have torn open more when he took my whip. Blood was soaking the dirt floor in dark red spots.
While I poked and examined the wound, Ash held his breath, tense yet slightly excited.
This is strange. She’s not the type to stay this calm in front of the young master… Does she have some other scheme?
The ring’s ability was working perfectly today as well.
And Ash’s personal Jeanie-radar was still operating at full capacity.
Scheme? As if!
I’m just not stupid enough to fight a battle I can’t win. Postponing victory for a while is a thousand times better than charging in and losing.
I gave him a meaningful smile. I was planning to heal Ash’s hand and run a little experiment at the same time, so I moved my lips to call a spirit.
“Undai—”
I had barely parted my lips. It was so fast that if he hadn’t been expecting it, he wouldn’t have noticed.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“……You’re the crazy one here, you know that?”
Just as I thought.
Once again, a sharp blade of sword aura was pressed against the underside of my chin.
It was lightly piercing my throat, so I couldn’t speak anymore. The fact that sword gang could be drawn without any preparation—unlike magic—made it incredibly threatening.
And I had no choice but to admit that Robenin was incredible.
Even though he was my natural enemy and the most infuriating person in the world, his ability to sense the exact instant a spirit master called a spirit was worthy of recognition.
It was such a faint moment, with almost no mana fluctuation. Normally, even other spirit masters would barely notice it.
Of course, if it were an upper spirit like Endairon, the story would be different.
“Lower your sword, young master.”
“Even if she’s moving her mana?”
After failing several kicks, I had learned that throwing a tantrum in moments like this was useless, so I stayed calm.
And quietly made a mental note.
Experiment result on Robenin’s abilities 1-1: Attempting to call a spirit recklessly may result in decapitation. Detection confirmed.
“Yes! Right now!”
“What if she’s trying to cast a spell? What if she’s trying to curse you? Besides, this woman absolutely hates me.”
“I swear on Ash’s deceased mother. I won’t do anything like that. I’m just trying to heal him.”
“……Jeanie? Why are you bringing up my mother?”
“My parents are still alive. And I like your mother.”
When I had looked into the people around Ash, the one who fascinated me the most was, without a doubt, his mother.
Since she was the one who had raised Ash to be so upright and honest, it was hard not to fall for her.
After all, she was the woman who had made even the Emperor fall in love.
Stories of her bravery and beauty were so abundant that they were talked about endlessly for a long time.
A knight-born concubine—how interesting a story was that? Books about her were published one after another. Until the Emperor banned them, the flood never stopped.
“Healing, you say?”
“Yeah. I’m a saint, remember?”
“What kind of saint……”
Damn bastard. He was looking at me with such deep suspicion. A brief battle of wills broke out.
Me, glaring at him with my eyes, insisting he move. Robenin, furrowing his brow as if reluctant. And……
"Why can't I bite him!"
When I was attacked, Rai opened his mouth wide to bite Robenin, only to be stopped. Now he was whimpering like a dog that desperately needed to pee.
Even if we said we wouldn’t fight with words, spirits had a protective instinct toward their masters. And though it’s embarrassing to say it myself, my kids are quite loyal. They don’t hesitate to put their bodies on the line. If the other side attacks, they’ll try to protect me even without orders.
But right now, that was slightly interfering with my big picture.
To kill this guy, I need to loosen that rigid wariness first.
His wariness?
If you bite him, it gets complicated.
Only after reading my thoughts did Rai finally retract his bared teeth.
Robenin, who had been silently glaring at me, only withdrew his sword aura after Rai backed off and Ash intervened. Instead, he drew the sword hanging at Ash’s waist.
Relying on a regular sword. It seemed he had reached his limit maintaining sword gang.
He didn’t look like he had any problems with stamina or mental strength, so perhaps his mana reserves were tight. The fact that he couldn’t use sword gang for as long as I thought was a hopeful sign.
Stealing his sword had indeed been helpful. As long as it wasn’t a national treasure like Tenebra.
“Undain.”
I called Undain while staring straight into Robenin’s wary eyes and the tip of his sword.
I had summoned a mid-grade spirit to treat external wounds, but I thought I should try calling Undine next time to test whether he could sense that too. Since it was a smaller power, he might not notice it.
“I’ve seen that before. I remember now.”
“What do you remember?”
“You’re the winner of the Quipon Cove tournament where you fought me.”
“This is ridiculous…… I kept telling you, and now you’re acting like you just realized it!”
“I remember you using something blue and annoying. I cut it in half.”
……Never mind. I should never call Undine while this guy is around.
I couldn’t let our Undine experience that pain again.
There was no way I could watch my baby get sliced in two again.
While I was making that firm resolution, Undain slowly flew above Robenin’s head.
The translucent dolphin made of water stood out no matter where it was. Even as Robenin stared at it intently, Undain didn’t care and simply wagged his tail……
Undain was clearly planning to smack Robenin on the back of the head with that flat tail.
“Stop! Undain, not that!”
Realizing what he was about to do, I urgently reached out. For a moment, I wondered if this was how Ash felt when he tried to stop me.
True to his sharp instincts, Robenin watched the pure spirit’s form while half-drawing his sword, ready to slash at any moment.