A Giant Shadow
A massive shadow thudded down right in front of my face. Creepy eyes glowing with red light, layers of razor-sharp teeth glinting like a shark’s.
My body locked up completely. The same symptoms I’d experienced before were hitting me again. My legs simply refused to obey.
Why does this crap always happen to me?
In my frozen gaze, the ogre’s hand rising into the air looked agonizingly slow. I needed to run, but my mind went blank.
There was no way I could dodge an ogre—one of the highest-ranking monsters, fast, strong, and disturbingly agile. I just closed my eyes.
Hearing the sharp whoosh of air being sliced, I knew I was dead.
Damn it!
A few seconds passed. When no impact came, I cracked my eyes open just a sliver.
Shaaak! How dare you!
Rai was coiled tightly around the ogre’s wrist.
He defended me before I even gave the order. You’ve grown, Rai! All that harsh training paid off. Well, if you could call letting him roam free “training.”
The ogre, clearly annoyed, flailed the hand Rai was wrapped around through the air.
While I stared blankly at the spectacle, the ogre must have decided Rai wasn’t doing much damage, because it reached for me again.
Maybe it thought young humans were tender and tasty?
“Jeanie!”
Someone shoved me, sending me tumbling across the ground in a messy heap.
Arnel was the one who pushed me. Kenta was now standing off against the ogre.
The sword Kenta wielded was almost the size of a grown man. Unbelievable.
When I lifted my head, hair tangled, I saw craters punched into the earth all around us.
Dirt clods pattered from my clothes after rolling across the ground.
The ogre, furious at missing its strike, lifted a massive foot this time.
“Attack!”
Other mercenaries rushed in, thrusting spears and blades at the beast.
A few threw ropes to bind its limbs, but they were only flung through the air along with them.
The ogre, now thoroughly irritated by the humans, ripped a tree out of the ground and began swinging it like a club. So this was what they meant by ogre strength.
But when it came to raw power, I doubted Rai would lose.
Rai! Help the others!
We had to end this before the ogre leaped again. The mercenaries’ stamina had limits.
I was certain Rai could turn the tide of this battle.
Even if he was being difficult about it.
No thanks?
What!
These guys tried to eat me! I only need to protect Master!
Rai was still dangling from the ogre’s wrist. It was thicker than most human torsos, so calling it a “wrist” felt ridiculous.
Twist that wrist anyway!
I don’t want to!
That little… I suddenly thought of the perfect way to coax him.
“Rai!”
Kwaaaak! You idiots, watch where you’re swinging! My scales are peeling off!
I could understand why Rai hated the mercenary band. Even now their attacks made no distinction between him and the ogre.
The situation was desperate, so it couldn’t be helped… but Rai could be pretty petty.
Rai, pretend that ogre is Kenta!
……Kenta!
Attack it with everything you’ve got! Use all your mana if you want!
Understood!
The command must have pleased him, because a spirited reply came right before a much deeper, heavier bone-crunching sound than I’d ever heard before echoed across the battlefield.
Crunch. Craaaack.
The sound of bones shattering was hideous no matter how many times you heard it. That was exactly why my face twisted in revulsion.
“Uooh, uooohhh! Ukooooh!”
Its hide was so thick that aside from the wrist growing noticeably thinner, the ogre didn’t seem all that damaged. But it was clearly in agony.
Rai, still wrapped around the ogre’s wrist, shouted triumphantly.
Uahaha! Master, I did well, didn’t I? Right? It was a little difficult this time!
“Of course! You did great! Rai’s the best!”
“Stab it! Go for the eyes!”
“Damn it, my sword snapped!”
My praise was swallowed by the screams, but oh well.
The mercenaries had no time to admire Rai’s strength. The ogre was thrashing even more violently in pain.
I backed off to a safer distance and took in the whole scene.
Swords and spears that failed to pierce the ogre’s hide shattered. Several men who caught stray blows from its flailing arms flew through the air, coughing up blood.
Roughly ten mercenaries were still clinging to the ogre. Another five or so lay sprawled across the ground—mostly lower-ranked ones.
“Damn it! Spirit Master! Where did that little brat disappear to?”
A voice called for me from somewhere. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear it.
The mercenary leader, Shabel, was scanning the area for me. Blood dripped steadily from the wound in his side; he clutched it tightly.
“So you were hiding there! Get out and fight.”
Shabel jerked his chin toward the ogre. At first I thought I’d misheard.
“…Are you insane?”
I’m a ten-year-old girl, you know?
A delicate, lovable, ridiculously cute blonde noble lady, at that.
Before I could protest, Shabel grabbed me and hurled me right in front of the ogre. He actually threw me.
“Aaaack!”
Back to the blood-soaked chaos I’d barely escaped.
The ogre’s stench! That distinct carnivorous reek made my fear spike.
“I’m not crazy! Physical attacks barely work on an ogre unless you use aura. So use that spirit of yours or whatever! It might not match proper magic, but it’s better than nothing!”
“…You really know how to rub someone the wrong way!”
“Earn your keep!”
Were those few scraps of bread really that expensive? It was so dirty and cheap I felt like throwing up!
“Eek!”
I was furious. Why were there so many humans in this world who looked down on spirits?
Of course, I had an inefficient one like Rai and a rebellious one like Adore, but… now that I thought about it, I didn’t have a single useful spirit. Without my command system they were basically useless anyway.
Whenever I blamed my spirits’ incompetence, the conclusion always circled back to my own shortcomings—my mana reserves, mental strength, courage, decisiveness, all of it.
“Damn it! I just want to live a refined, elegant life!”
I was reborn as a noble, so why was I fighting ogres? It made no sense!
“What’s wrong, kid? Scared after all? Why are you frozen? You’ll die like that!”
Shabel kicked me lightly with his boot, trying to provoke me. The man was half-dead and still had plenty to say.
“I’ll help! But in return—”
“In return? This is your life on the line!”
“If I help, you can’t look down on me anymore! And you have to pay me!”
“Ha! I saved you from becoming monster food in the forest and this is how you act… what a cocky little brat!”
The situation was growing desperate. Even though Rai had crushed the ogre’s wrist, the monster was still going strong, and five of our people were already out of the fight.
While I trembled in the corner, another mercenary was stomped on and vomited blood.
A quick glance at our remaining forces showed that aside from Arnel, Kenta, and four or five others who looked competent, everyone else was injured.
The ogre’s monstrous strength was terrifying. Even Kenta was reduced to dodging frantically.
“Pay me! Pay up! I’m high-class talent!”
As the number of mercenaries continued to dwindle, I felt the danger too.
But charging in and drawing the ogre’s full fury was equally terrifying.
If I was risking my life, the least they could do was pay me!
I’d shouted informally in my frustration, but Shabel didn’t seem to care.
“Fine. If you contribute, I’ll pay you. Now that you understand, hurry up and help! For a mercenary, comrades are life itself! You naked little brat!”
We couldn’t defeat the ogre with just Rai. Even if I summoned Undine and Adore too, our chances looked slim. Still, I had no choice but to try.