The Summoner of ■■ (17)

Crack.

The spent firewood crumbled, scattering red ash into the air. The fading embers lost their glow mid-flight and vanished into the night, yet the campfire itself still burned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bright.

I stared blankly at the sight, then turned toward the gaze I had been feeling from the side for a while now.

"What."

"Nothing. Just thinking... we've been together forever, but this is the first time the two of us have spent a quiet moment like this."

Even at my cold reply, Ban Taewung just grinned and leaned back, looking up at the star-filled night sky.

"Everyone's always been around, yeah. Feels a little different."

"Those guys are ridiculously loud. Not a single quiet day. That's probably why it hits harder."

"...Ahaha, maybe."

From my perspective, Ban Taewung himself was one of those loud guys. The fact that the very center of that noisy orbit was saying something like this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was absurd.

"Still, I like it. Having everyone together is noisy, but it's fun."

"Keep it moderate. Moderate."

If it was going to be noisy anyway, I would have preferred they finished everything somewhere my eyes couldn't reach. In that sense, most of the academy's affairs were almost ideal.

Thanks to the gods starting their schemes in earnest, I could feel events unfolding in real time before I even got dragged into them.

"That! 'Keep everything moderate. Solve what you can within your limits.' That's the line you've always had on your lips, Sinwoo."

Had I really said it enough to get that big a reaction? Honestly, I wasn't sure. I just lived that way every day, so it must have stuck.

"Why bring it up?"

"...It never really hit me before, but lately I've been feeling it hard."

Uncharacteristically reflective, Ban Taewung lowered his head with a somewhat gloomy expression.

"No matter how hard I run, I feel like I can't catch up at all. After what happened recently, I keep wondering if I'm pushing myself too far."

Maybe it was the atmosphere that made him like this. Call it self-objectification. Protagonists always grow stronger whenever they gain some insight or realization.

This rest might have been the gods' idea of consideration—or something like it.

The worry that a guy who had been charging forward with every muscle clenched might take a hard fall and get hurt for real.

It was the same principle as building a body: you had to rest properly, not just abuse your muscles every day.

If you only ever moved forward, you couldn't look back. If you didn't understand the path you'd already walked, it wouldn't be long before you no longer knew whether the road ahead was right—or even what lay under your feet.

I had seen plenty of people like that in my previous life: still alive, yet no longer able to say they were living.

"Too many things keep happening for me to handle. I'm already giving everything just to face what's right in front of me, but the world keeps acting like that's not enough."

His half-complaint, half-reflection sent a chill down my spine. Sharp as he was in strange ways, he had clearly sensed something about how the world around him had started accelerating.

To half-pierce the essence without a single hint or scrap of information... yeah, that was a protagonist for you.

"...Sinwoo. Am I doing okay right now?"

"..."

Sudden. And a little creepy. But not something I could just ignore. The question was that serious.

I almost opened my mouth with a prepared answer, then closed it again and thought.

This guy was the protagonist of this world.

The world turned around him. Even the gods wanted his path filled with bright light and showered him with favor without restraint.

But was any of that his will?

I myself was already getting headaches from incidents that happened regardless of my wishes. So what about a guy born into a "fate" of endless trials and hardships against his will? If he learned the secrets of this world, how would he think? How would he move?

Would he keep accepting his lot the same as always? Or would he curse this damn world the way I did?

Pure curiosity raised its head, but I forced it back down. The result wouldn't change anyway.

If this world was a story with a prepared frame, then it would have an ending that fit.

"...Hey. What do you think of Luicia?"

"H-huh? Out of nowhere?"

"Shut up and answer."

This was going to be a very important answer for me.

I wanted to know how Ban Taewung—outside the frames of "hero" and "heroine"—thought of Luicia Valentia as a person.

"...Luicia is... someone I end up respecting without meaning to? Gender doesn't matter. As a person, I sincerely think she's amazing. Sometimes I feel like she's way too good for me."

"And?"

That wasn't the important part. I wasn't asking for some stuffy emotional theory. I was asking, bluntly, how the person Ban Taewung thought of the person Luicia.

"Uh... someday I want to stand proudly by her side... b-because I... like her. A lot."

Seeing the fresh, youthful words and the flushed face, I suddenly hated past-me for asking the question. Why the hell did I have to sit here in this mood with a guy turning red and getting embarrassed?

Honestly, I wanted to kick him in the ass and make him confess to the actual person instead of me.

I let out a deep sigh and propped my chin on my hand. What a frustrating bastard.

"There it is. Your answer."

"...Huh?"

"You just said with your own mouth that you're worried whether you're doing okay."

A simple worry, but one everyone has. Am I really doing well? Is it okay to keep going like this?

But this protagonist's worry leaned a little more toward the altruistic side than most.

He was asking whether he was doing well, but what he really wanted was confirmation that the path he had walked so far wasn't wrong.

Because he lacked confidence in himself, he was taking the easiest route: asking the one person he could truly rely on from the bottom of his heart.

Is there any cloud over what I've done? Is the road ahead free of mistakes?

Pathetic.

It really was pathetic. And exhausting at the same time.

Even if he wasn't yet carrying some heroic destiny about saving the world, this idiot would eventually end up doing something similar or equal.

He was the kind of soft-hearted sucker who couldn't rest until he saved whatever entered his sight, even if things beyond his reach were out of his hands.

That was why he was having this worry. Why agonize over failing to save some complete stranger he'd never even met?

I already knew the answer that would solve this simple worry perfectly.

I stood up and lightly tapped Ban Taewung's solar plexus with my fist. No real force behind it, but it still made him flinch from the vital hit. I spoke coldly.

"The answer's already decided, so why are you asking me?"

Don't get full of yourself. Who do you think you are? Take care of yourself before you start worrying about everyone else.

I liked classic hero stories. But at the same time, I hated the indecisiveness of the protagonists who appeared in them.

That kind of worry wasn't something you solved by asking other people. If you didn't produce the answer yourself, you wouldn't accept anything you heard anyway.

I'll say it again: the answer was already set.

It was inside him. But the way he ignored that and put others first was what I hated most.

How dare someone who couldn't even resolve the worries closest to himself try to solve anyone else's?

"You don't need to overthink it. If you can stand tall and proud in front of the girl you like, isn't that enough?"

Better to move for your own selfish desires than become some half-assed hypocrite. A hundred times more likable, and a hundred times more trustworthy.

No perfect living being existed in this world.

Look. Even the so-called omniscient, omnipotent gods were just screw-loose bastards busy playing favorites with someone.

So don't worry. Don't stop for useless fretting—keep walking. At your own pace, neither too fast nor too slow, and someday you'll find your own answer.

I told him all of it without holding back. Ban Taewung's eyes went wide, and he sank into thought.

See? No matter what you say, if he doesn't accept it himself, it's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠useless. Talking until my mouth hurts gets me nowhere.

"Next time, wake yourself up. I'm going to sleep."

Standing watch inside private grounds was stupid to begin with. There was still time until the next shift, but I was mentally drained and just wanted to rest properly.

"...Y-yeah."

I glanced at Ban Taewung, who was already answering half-heartedly while lost in thought.

I'd done this much; he could handle the rest himself. He wasn't my kid. Did I really have to babysit every little thing? If I disappeared like this, some other event would probably trigger anyway.

For example, someone who had been pretending to sleep from the start and eavesdropping on our conversation might start moving.

Both this guy and that girl live such exhausting lives.

Ignoring the starlight-filled eyes watching us carefully from the darkness, I took Growl and headed not for the house I'd prepared, but for the forest I had scouted earlier.

The Hive had mapped the place while roaming the woods: a lake nestled deep inside.

"Caw."

A shadow crow waiting at the destination cried once and looked at me.

The moment I reached out, the crow understood my intent, flew up, settled on my arm, and melted into the shadows covering my body.

Confirming that, I lifted my head and took in the view before me.

Shaaa...

Even among the dense forest, this area was especially thick.

Back at base camp you could still see the stars, but here the trees blocked even that, as if refusing to allow the sky.

Drip. Drip.

Perhaps because the night was deep, water droplets fell from the leaves and sent ripples across the lake below.

Yes—the trees weren't growing around the lakeshore. They rose straight up from the water itself, as if covering the lake.

Not mangrove trees from a tropical rainforest. Enormous trees tall enough to reach the sky were growing up from the lakebed.

In the center of that mysterious, eerie scene stood a tree of truly massive size, adding to the otherworldly feel.

Sheltered by the other trees and rooted at the very heart of the lake, a faint light leaked from inside the giant trunk—so subtle you wouldn't notice unless you looked carefully.

Even in this pitch darkness, it looked like weak moonlight reflecting between the branches.

A place I never would have found without the shadow crow I'd released. I extended shadows to form bridges between the trees and walked toward the light.

Woooong.

As if rejecting me, the trees began to writhe and drop roots like barriers across the shadow path.

They grew at a speed that ignored time, but I didn't panic. I simply shifted the shadow path sideways.

Possible only because this power could change form and strength freely as long as I had mana.

Saaaaa...

A rustling sound of startled trees filled the forest. Even without wind, the swaying would have given me chills in my previous life.

But that was the previous life. In this one, where nothing was strange anymore, it wasn't particularly frightening.

Or was it? Everything had a cause and effect, which meant something had caused this.

Crack, creak!

Realizing that vines and roots alone weren't enough, the trees themselves began to shift and spread sideways.

I could have summoned Kallion if needed, but unfortunately the guy was far too conspicuous.

Originally I had planned to ignore this, but with the night watch and some free time on my hands, I had come to check it out.

I wanted to handle things quietly without the others finding out, which was why I had snuck here at this hour. Making a spectacle of it would defeat the purpose of creeping around like a petty thief.

So give up? Not a chance. I had spent time and energy getting here. Leave empty-handed?

I'd rather drop the stealth, call Kallion, and wipe the place clean than waste the trip.

Snap!

I flicked my fingers charged with mana.

"Haze."

Whoooosh!!!

At my call, wind rose in the still air, whipping my clothes and hair. At the same time, a transparent, downy mass of energy appeared before me.

"Footing."

Hoooosh.

It immediately drank my mana and generated wind. Sudden repulsive force under my feet made my body float with a sensation of weightlessness.

It felt less like solid ground and more like stepping on something soft; my brain needed a moment to accept the difference.

Not enough to make me nauseous, but definitely strange.

Still, real-time feedback through the skill Link meant there was no actual error. Wind was where I stepped, and I didn't doubt it.

After three or four steps I started getting used to the odd sensation.

From then on I moved forward without hesitation. The shifting trees and the roots and vines preparing their next move all flinched and froze mid-air.

They looked so shocked it was almost funny. Who would have thought I'd live to see trees take a hit like that?

Woom, woooong...

At last I reached the base of the giant tree in the center of the lake and saw what was glowing.

"This is..."

Beneath the tree lay a stone. Not an ordinary stone—one that held a faint energy similar to Haze's. It glowed softly, connected to the giant tree, and was spreading its influence through the surroundings.

In short, a spirit stone. And one on the verge of metamorphosing into a spirit.

At a glance it could be mistaken for a jewel, but the power inside was incomparably purer natural force than the broken fragments I had obtained last time.

Being private land meant few human footsteps, but more than that, the location of this lake itself seemed ideal for a spirit to be born.

The strange part was that spirits normally resided in the Spirit Realm—another world that couldn't be directly interfered with—yet this spirit stone existed in reality.

Perhaps being in direct contact with nature had been an advantage; it had already surpassed the stage of a lesser spirit like Haze and was at a level where it could be born as a full spirit without issue.

"Hmm..."

I had two choices.

Leave it alone so a spirit could be born, or let Haze absorb it.

The former offered no immediate benefit to me, but it was an event that could earn goodwill from spirits as living beings.

To block me this thoroughly, even unconsciously, it had to have developed some degree of self. If left alone, metamorphosis into a spirit was only a matter of time.

I had used mana freely on the way here, so once born it would recognize my existence.

With luck, it could become a bridge for building good relations with spirits in the future.

The latter offered the clear benefit of strengthening Haze.

It had built some self, but not enough to truly call it an "ego." The proof was that it had moved the trees purely on instinct to protect itself, with no hostility or anything else.

Haze, on the other hand, shared my soul and already possessed a firm sense of self even as a lesser spirit.

Its form wasn't fully visible, but through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the skill Link it could communicate clearly and express likes, dislikes, and emotions.

If I took the time, absorbing even a soon-to-be-born spirit should be possible.

Fusion and absorption between lesser spirits still close to nature was a fairly common phenomenon, so there was no great need to worry.

That was only from the perspective of people who handled spirits, though. Among spirits themselves, the circumstances might be different.

Just as humans had factions, so did spirits.

Among them were forces that utterly detested spirits harming other spirits. That was the annoying part.

Tracing the origin of origins, it was the case of those who had come to hate and distrust everything that tried to command spirits—other than spirits themselves—because spirits could no longer harm one another.

That was exactly why so few people could handle high-ranking spirits.

To climb higher required more experience and power, which meant they had lived longer.

Long-lived spirits had seen more of the world's filth and started from a foundation of distrust.

Even when dealing with other races, they insisted on ironclad contracts and forced one-sided terms that let them break the contract and vanish whenever they felt like it.

To put the long story short: feeding this spirit stone to Haze might get me marked by spirits from that faction later.

"...Honestly, not my problem."

After thinking it over, I wasn't particularly scared. Whether I made enemies of spirits or not, if we fought someday we fought; if not, we didn't.

Worst case, if some bastard tried to pick a fight over me feeding this to Haze, I'd just cook that bastard and feed him to Haze too.

Besides, even if this spirit stone wasn't natural, the idiot who carelessly dumped it here was the one at fault. If you planned to raise something like this, you should have put proper defenses in place.

Conclusion: I wasn't in the wrong.

"Eat."

I jerked my chin in command. Haze swam a happy circle through the air and headed for the spirit stone.

Woom, woooong...!

As Haze approached and began absorbing it, the spirit stone frantically flashed its light.

At first it sparkled and gathered nearby roots to protect itself, but as time passed the resistance weakened, and in the end it couldn't even react properly before vanishing completely.

All that remained were tree roots hardened into the shape where the spirit stone had been.

At the same time, system alerts similar to when Kallion had eaten the hatchling's shed skin appeared.

Since the title Heaven's Secrets Leaked hadn't reacted, it wasn't quite a secret—but it was clearly something close.

"That's that."

Pat, pat.

I brushed the dust and leaves off my clothes. I had stumbled onto a hidden piece and claimed it nicely. So why couldn't I feel pure joy?

Probably because the world was like this. More than anything, I had come here half-dragged by that woman.

Or maybe it was because I started by suspecting even this might have been staged.

Of course I had zero intention of giving up. That woman was so perfectly matched with the word "suspicion" they might as well be a set.

If something happened and she was nearby, there was a 95% chance she had caused it. Telling me not to suspect a woman like that?

I'd rather leave fish with a cat.

Time for me to sleep too. I turned and looked for a suitable place nearby to rest. The geography of the area was already stored in my head, so finding one was easy.

Why not return to camp when it was right there? Because that woman was there. I had no idea when she might jump me, so I decided to avoid her.

My instincts were telling me to, and I was simply following them.

I walked deeper into the forest.

Today had been another exhausting day. Truly.