The Summoner Without a Summon
The Earth that had changed now had Gates.
From what he had overheard, they seemed to be dungeons that appeared irregularly from time to time.
Most Gates formed in places where people already were. As long as they were cleared before too much time passed, they were not particularly dangerous.
Some Gates, however, were different.
When a Gate happened to open right where people stood, those inside were swept into it whether they liked it or not.
"Gaeun… wh-where are we?"
"……."
"W-we were just on campus a second ago, weren't we…?"
Mina looked around at the surroundings that had transformed in an instant. The moment she took in the changed environment, her face went dark.
The green, leafy street trees and the blue sky visible between them were gone. The blazing summer sun that had been hot enough to make one sweat was nowhere to be found.
All that remained was a cave with a path leading in only one direction.
"I think we got caught in a Gate."
Gaeun spoke in a small voice.
"Whaaaaat? A Gate?"
"Yeah. A Gate."
"Th-then we got swept into a Gate?"
"That's what it looks like."
Hearing Gaeun's words, Mina's face turned pale. Tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Waaaaaah. I still have things I need to say to my family."
"Then go outside and say them."
"You said we got caught in a Gate! That means we're going to die!"
"What are you talking about. If we just stay still, the rescue rate is higher than you'd think."
Mina stopped crying and looked at Gaeun.
"Sniff. How many percent?"
"Ten percent. Being generous, twenty."
"Waaaaaaah. That's ridiculously low!"
"I said 'higher than you'd think.'"
Ah, she's crying again.
Mina started shedding tears once more. Perhaps because she felt even hope had vanished, the teardrops seemed thicker than before.
"Ah, but I forgot to tell you something important."
"Sniff. You're going to say something like the survival rate is ten percent again, aren't you."
"It's not that, so listen."
"What."
Mina's sharpened tone and expression turned toward Gaeun.
"What I said earlier only applies when the entire party is civilians."
"Th-then?"
"If there's even one hunter in the group, the odds change."
"By how much?"
"Minimum seventy percent, maximum ninety."
At those words, color flooded back into Mina's face in an instant.
That Mina girl is really easy to read. Even a complete stranger could tell exactly what she's thinking right now.
"Gaeun, you awakened not long ago and even registered as a hunter!"
"That's right."
"And your rank is C-class!"
"Did I really tell you that much?"
"You did!"
Mina's eyes sparkled as she approached Gaeun.
"Then… we can survive?"
"You could say the probability is high."
"Wooooow."
Hmm. So that's how it is.
The girl named Gaeun was apparently a hunter. She seemed to be a proper hunter with both a rank and a license.
So that's why she could stay so calm.
Listening to their conversation, I nodded to myself in understanding.
"But hey."
"Hm? What?"
"Did I ever tell you what my ability was?"
"Yeah, you told me that too."
Gaeun's ability was, put simply, a taming-type skill. She could tame animals or monsters, and once tamed, she could summon or store them at will.
A somewhat special point was that she could share a portion of the stats from any summon she had tamed.
Looking at it that way, it seemed like a truly excellent ability.
However, this ability had one enormous flaw.
"Aaaaaaah!! Don't tell me!!"
"Yeah. That 'don't tell me.'"
Having only recently become a hunter, Gaeun had no summons.
A summoner without a summon was nothing more than an ordinary person who could use a tiny bit of mana.
"Waaaaaaah."
Realizing that fact, Mina collapsed on the spot as if in utter despair.
Perhaps because she had thought hope had appeared, only to discover it was false hope.
The expression on the seated Mina looked far darker than before.
"Alright. Don't move around for no reason and just stay still."
"Sniff. Why."
"So we can hold out until we're rescued."
Gaeun quietly approached and sat down beside Mina.
"Wasting energy for no reason only lowers the survival rate."
"The survival rate is already ten percent anyway."
"Ah, if you want it to drop even lower than that, feel free to do whatever you want."
"……."
"Good. Smart choice."
"Ugh, something about that pisses me off. When we get out of here I'm seriously going to hit you once."
Mina leaned her back against the cave wall, pulled her legs in with her arms, and crouched down.
Gaeun, sitting beside her, watched Mina with an unchanging expression.
By the way, does this Gaeun girl have no emotions? Or did she forget how to make facial expressions?
From the first time I saw her up in the tree, she had worn the same blank face the entire time.
Unlike Mina, whose thoughts were completely visible on her face, Gaeun's expression never changed, making it hard to read what she was thinking.
"How long do we have to stay here?"
"Who knows. It could be sooner than you think, or it could take several days."
"Eek, s-several days?"
"It's fine. A person can survive three days without water."
"That is not fine at all?!"
Mina grumbled under her breath after hearing Gaeun's words. Her voice was too quiet to make out, but her lips moved in an oddly cute way.
"By the way… huh? Gaeun, over there."
"What, is there something in the Gate?"
"No, it's not that…."
Mina pointed at me, perched on a protruding spot on the cave ceiling.
"There's that crow tit we saw earlier."
"Huh? That can't be. Animals don't get pulled into Gates… or so I thought."
Gaeun and Mina stared fixedly up at me on the cave ceiling. Gaeun, who had been expressionless the whole time, even widened her eyes a little from the shock.
Uh…
"Chirp chirp. (Um, hello?)"
It was the crow-tit style of greeting—raising the right wing. Of course, whether the meaning would get across was unknown.
What? Then doesn't that make the greeting pointless?
What a clueless thing to say. With these things, the attempt to convey meaning is what matters in the first place.
Even if it failed, it was still a meaningful action for me.
Anyway.
"G-Gaeun. Why did a crow tit come in with us?"
"Yeah. I was taught that only humans can enter Gates."
The two of them looked at me—who had suddenly appeared—with confused expressions.
It was the look of people who had just witnessed something impossible.
Well, from their perspective it really is impossible, isn't it? Normally animals can't enter Gates.
And yet here I was, appearing as if to say, "Surprise—there's no such thing as impossible in this world."
I could understand why they were making those faces.
"Gaeun, only people can enter Gates?"
"According to the Association's current theory, yes."
"Then, you know…."
Mina pointed a finger at me.
"Is that crow tit… a person…?"
"Chirp? (Oh?)"
Sharper than I expected.
It was a bit like a cow stumbling backward and catching a mouse, but she had gotten surprisingly close to the right answer. That Mina girl had pretty good instincts.
Of course, they themselves didn't seem to think of the answer as an actual answer.
"Sigh."
"Ah, why? It could be possible."
"If you're going to say useless things, just stay quiet like before."
"Hiiing."
Gaeun looked at Mina with a gaze that said she was pathetic.
—Flap flap
Since I had already been spotted anyway, I fluttered my small wings and flew over to Gaeun and Mina's side.
Then I settled in a suitable spot.
"Hup."
Gaeun made a ticklish sound when I landed on her shoulder. But she soon steadied her breathing and left me alone there.
"Crow tit!"
"This crow tit must like people."
Mina pouted her lips in disappointment.
As for why I sat on Gaeun's shoulder instead of Mina's…
"Crow tiiiit!!"
Too loud. My ears are going to hurt.
A very simple and clear reason.
Being adored was nice and all, but please consider the ear health of the crow tit listening to you.
"Heh. The crow tit likes me better than you."
"N-no way! Do you know how well I've treated this crow tit?"
"Must not have been enough."
"It was not?!"
"It was. Then why did it come to me?"
"Th-that's…."
Sitting on Gaeun's shoulder, I listened to their conversation and thought.
Hmm. This conversation has a weird NTR vibe to it.
I didn't think they were aiming for that. It just kind of sounded that way.
Anyway, I was quietly listening to the two of them from her shoulder when—
"The crow tit is—!"
"Kang Mina, shh."
Gaeun suddenly clamped a hand over Mina's mouth.
"Mmph, mmph. Why are you doing that."
"I think there's a monster nearby."
"Wh-what?"
"Just be quiet for now."
The moment Mina covered her own mouth with both hands—
"Grrrr…."
"Hup."
From the right side of the cave came the sound of a monster that seemed to be starving.