The Sabbath of Rest
On the Sabbath, the days were filled with peaceful training.
Morning lectures, afternoon practicals, and then physical conditioning and mana manipulation practice.
A new routine had been added to my daily schedule.
After completing the afternoon training, I would head to the training camp library during my personal time to read a book.
When I first learned of the library’s existence, I had figured I would need to fill my knowledge of this world with various searches. Now, though, I had settled on reading only one kind of book.
A book about magic.
Thud.
I set down the books I had brought to my fixed seat, and Leaf, seated across from me, lifted her head with curiosity.
“What kind of books are there today?”
“Basics of magic. Contract-based magic-form systems. The relationship between demons and magic.”
“Ugh… it all sounds so boring together.”
“Agreed.”
The books I had seen recently were all like that.
What mana was, how magic worked, what kind of contract with demons… those kinds of things.
Compared to that…
“Still today?”
“Ah, ehehe.”
Leaf lifted the book to cover her face.
It was already not visible even before, so why again?
The book Leaf was looking at was, unlike mine, a regular novel.
Roughly, it was a story about a girl who sneaks out of the imperial palace after coming to the capital, teams up with a prince who enjoys secret night patrols, and gets caught up in a romance.
Of course, the gap in status blocks their love with the wall of reality.
In the twist, it turns out the girl’s blood is noble high-elf blood, breaking the social divide and achieving love with the prince.
Why do I know the ending already? Because I have read that book before; Leaf is seeing it for the first time.
“Are you not tired of it?”
“Yeah. I find it fun every time I read it.”
But I know better.
This library has very few common novels, so Leaf must be rereading the same one over and over.
On the first day, I had hoped we could study together.
Turns out Leaf really dislikes studying.
Even during morning lectures, she would attend and immediately fall asleep.
Right.
If Leaf had liked studying, I would not have had to struggle with dead knowledge here; I could have absorbed the living knowledge and quickly pulled out magic.
But when I asked Leaf for advice on magic, the answer crushed my expectations mercilessly.
“Magic?”
“Yeah. I was curious how to use it.”
“Uh… you just say your friend’s name and she comes to help?”
At that time, I had temporarily forgotten.
Leaf was a bright, straightforward spirit summoner like me.
‘A child like Seir…’
[Yes? Do I not provide quite a lot of help?]
What?
Why did you say to summon her name?
When I call her name, the demon appears.
As I said, by calling her name as a contractor, a signal automatically went to Seir.
‘That’s right.’
[Then please show a bit more respect to me, my contractor.]
‘Of course. I always worship you, GOAT…’
Goat…? Is it a goat? It is a symbol of demons, but I am not one, okay? Hey, contractor? I am a pegasus tamer.
You seem to know a bit of modern civilization, but apparently not goats.
I will have to study a bit of modern civilization, Guardian Demon-nim.
I accepted Seir’s words appropriately and kept praising her as I focused on reading.
“So like this?”
I moved the mana as the book instructed.
Not Seir’s mana, but my own innate mana.
The attempt to cast the universal spell with Seir’s mana had failed, and I realized the necessity of my own mana.
It was clear that demon mana was somehow different from ordinary mana.
Anyway, I practiced the first spell I had been told to master—Fireball.
A lump of light formed on my palm, and I moved it around.
After a while, my mana ran out.
It had not been long since I started accumulating my own mana, so the amount was not great.
Well, it did not matter anyway, since the main mana I would get was through the demon contract.
I closed the book I had been reading and asked Leaf as a break.
“Speaking of which, you still do?”
“Huh? What?”
“Ray.”
“Ah… yeah.”
Since that day, Ray had avoided us.
On team exploration training or group battle training, we talked, but that was it.
Since we were cooperating at the minimum level, it was hard to say anything strongly.
“How about going out together on the Sabbath and talking a bit?”
“Sounds good?”
The training camp runs on a six-day week.
The last day is the Sabbath, when we rest.
But the training camp does not rest even on the Sabbath; in fact, it becomes busier.
During work hours, the training grounds and dorms are closed for inspection and repair.
And when the training camp locks its doors, the training camp cafeteria is closed.
In other words, I have to go out to eat.
Breathe the fresh air outside the training camp and eat delicious food—Ray would feel like talking, too.
It was a decent idea, but…
‘I have no money.’
So I had planned to go to an inn that charged a little and solve my meal tomorrow.
But it is not always me who pays, is it?
There is the option to borrow, too.
“Leaf will come with us, right?”
“Ah, I-I… have plans…”
“Are you going alone?”
“…ehehe.”
Is she trying to evade with a laugh?
But unfortunately, it worked.
“Fine. I will come along tomorrow.”
“Yep!”
“But what about your plans tomorrow?”
“Ah… that’s…”
She looked like she found it hard to say something.
I did not insist on forcing Leaf to tell me and reached for the second book instead.
‘Even if it is late, I need to make it before the exam.’
Sizzle.
Sizzle.
Only the sound of pages turning silently echoed quietly in the library.
§
The Sabbath came.
Outside the window, the songs of birds chirping could be heard.
Bright sunlight illuminated my feet and warmed them.
How comfortably and deeply I had slept.
Usually, even after sleeping and waking, I felt stiff, but today my body felt unusually refreshed.
I had been accumulating fatigue through various things lately.
After training, additional reading or various mana experiments.
Late nights and early mornings.
‘Then slowly… ah.’
In the comfort, a cold sensation that had been hidden in my spine ran up it.
And my body, as if flinging the blanket away, began to run.
“Ah……”
And the time I checked with the clock on the first floor of the dormitory.
1:20 PM.
I had overslept.
§
I quickly returned to my room, tidied up, and came out again.
Glancing around, since Arthur was not there, the other trainees had probably already left the training camp.
Thinking that, I dashed out of the training camp.
Without even enjoying the outside air filled with freedom, I ran toward the center of Res Limen.
The training camp was located outside the city walls of Res Limen.
And the Suburb, formed outside the outer city wall, was the place where my inn was.
Res Limen city was too expensive, so the Suburb was for those pushed out.
And naturally, because the Suburb had not been built under thorough planning, the streets were complex and the buildings were messy.
The bigger problem was that the Suburb was a third district outside the administrative power of the Res Limen city hall, so its security was poor and people wearing hoods were very common.
In other words, finding Ray here was extremely difficult.
In fact, it might as well be impossible.
“Damn it, this…”
I had no technique that spread mana to sense with my sixth sense or anything like that.
If your head is not smart, your body suffers.
I had no choice but to cast the best I could—wandering around aimlessly.
How long had it passed?
During that time, since I had eaten so well at the training camp, my stomach growled after skipping just one meal, and I came out onto a main road.
‘First, let’s go to the inn and eat something.’
The Suburb was complex, but the area around the road connecting to Res Limen’s city gate was neatly organized.
That side was where random buildings were built during unplanned development and the city hall’s servants swept them away.
Creak.
Entering the inn with the familiar old hinge sound.
With that sound, the owner’s head at the counter turned toward the door.
“Hm?”
“Only one person. I came to eat. It is a bit late, but it should be okay?”
§
Clink, clink.
The sound of the spoon scraping the bottom of the plate also scraped away the quiet of the empty inn.
“What happened? Were you kicked out?”
The familiar voice.
The owner’s very warm way of speaking, which I had relied on since coming to Res Limen, greeted me.
“What kind of talk is that. Today is the Sabbath.”
“Ah… really?”
“Really, huh. Just looking at it, there are no customers, so it feels like the Sabbath.”
“You don’t know?”
“What?”
The owner created a somewhat serious atmosphere.
I put down the spoon I had been dipping into the soup and listened to the owner’s words.
“Slave traders came.”
“…Slave traders.”
My voice, which surprised even me a little, was utterly emotionless.
Slaves.
Just hearing that word made my teeth chatter.
But I was not so cold or agitated as to act out of fear and fall into panic.
Calming the rising emotion, I asked again.
“It is not new.”
“Yeah. They come quite often anyway.”
Res Limen was a mysterious city, but it also harbored deep social shadows as much as the mysteries it held.
Citizens living inside the city received protection from the city law and city hall, but the Suburb did not.
Naturally, all kinds of crimes flourished, and human trafficking was included among them.
“But this time, the scale is quite large.”
“How much is it?”
“I do not know exactly, but it seems to be spread all over this area.”
“…The city hall is leaving it alone, that?”
“They probably bribed some.”
The owner shrugged his shoulders, saying he could not know how he knew that.
Res Limen also knew that slave traders were buying people who became slaves after owing money in the Suburb or coming to catch runaway slaves.
Of course, because the runaway slaves who came to Res Limen were as numerous as illegal immigrants in America.
The city air creates freedom (Stadtluft macht frei).
If you live in the free city-state of Res Limen for one year and one more day, you become a free citizen, whether slave or serf.
Absolutely.
Ignoring that custom is denying Res Limen’s orthodoxy and soon turning Res Limen into an enemy.
Slave traders and their backers who do so cannot continue their original lives.
It is only one year that freedom comes.
So those who seek freedom and run to Res Limen must be here every day.
And from Res Limen’s perspective, it is beneficial.
As the population grows, tax revenue grows, and there are more talented people.
In fact, the Suburb is also Res Limen’s talent farm.
The city hall had been suppressing the excessive activities of slave traders.
“Even if it is the Suburb… if slave traders are openly rampaging, the guard would move.”
“Why not?”
“I understand. I ate the soup well too. Please deduct it from the money I put down.”
“Done. I can give you a meal for now. More than that, how is it? Next week is the exam, right?”
The mid-term exam before the second week’s Sabbath.
The exact name was the Completion Certification Test and Temporary License Test.
Naturally, both academic and functional tests were taken, and if both were passed, a temporary license was given.
“The academic part is clear, but the functional part is a bit ambiguous.”
“Everyone fails there.”
“No, I am confident of passing… but my teammates are a bit.”
“Well, is there a problem? Did you fight?”
“I fought… but not to that extent.”
I was thinking of getting advice from the owner, so I explained the situation with Ray by twisting it appropriately.
However, when I was about to speak more seriously.
A commotion outside cut off the owner’s conversation.
“Catch them!”
“Remember, no pay this month!”
“Request support! Request support!”
“Contact Mr. Malibris! We found them!”
The people running down the street in front of the inn were shouting loudly.
As the numbers were quite a few, the sound of footsteps was noisy.
Amid the noise gradually fading with mixed voices, the owner clicked his tongue.
“Tsk tsk. For some reason, the adults are chasing after such a small child…”
“Did you see it?”
“Yeah. It was quite a small child.”
Feeling a sharp sensation, I stood up from my chair and placed my hand near my waist and chest and asked.
“Was it about this size?”
“Hm, that much, I think.”
“…Wearing a hood?”
“Of course, since it is a runaway.”
“…Was the hood color not gray?”
“Eh? You saw it too? You must have become a magician.”
“….”
When I closed my mouth for a moment, the owner’s expression subtly changed.
“You… by any chance, are you with that child…?”
“Damn it!!”
Clang, clatter!!
“Hey, hey, Roman!”
“I am sorry! I was in a hurry!”
I dashed out of the inn despite the owner calling my name.
While I was running in the direction they had disappeared, hesitation and doubt bubbled up in my heart.
‘Is this correct?’
‘Ray might not be the one.’
‘I do not know the details?’
But the opposite thought also rose.
‘It would be great if I could make those damn slave traders suffer.’
‘If Ray is not there, what about the exam?’
‘What about the bet?’
Conflicting thoughts of two kinds crashed, creating intense inner conflict.
And the last thought that rose.
The words I had said.
‘It is a team.’
When I recalled that word, for some reason my steps quickened even more.
“How much did you see….”
While saying that, I was moving both legs as hard as I could.
A comrade.
Even if I had not seen the face yet.
I could not let someone like that be taken away by the slave traders without knowing anything.
Once resolve was set, the conflict subsided, and only analysis of the situation remained.
‘Neither of us knows the roads around here well.’
If I roughly drew the pursuit path in my head, it felt like they were running aimlessly.
But I believed that if Ray were here, she would choose the most efficient path more than anyone.
Even without knowing the way, Ray had intuition.
The intuition that had never been wrong even during exploration training.
‘A route to outmaneuver them…’
It was impossible to catch up with Ray at my speed.
So I predicted and preempted the route in advance.
I spread out the map I had drawn in my head and drew Ray’s expected path.
And I headed toward a place where I could wait first along the route.
The moment I rounded the corner, a gray hood brushed in front of me.
I shouted reflexively.
“Ray!”
A small doll standing still.
I had hoped not.
“…What? Why here….”
“You followed me. But suddenly, what is this. Hoo… let’s get out first and talk.”
Letting out a sigh of relief, I approached Ray.
Ray looked like she was hesitating whether to ignore me and go on or move here and talk to me.
“You… no, it is fine. I do not know why you came, but just go.”
“Your words are harsh. I followed you earnestly.”
As I did not retreat and held on, Ray clicked her tongue with full irritation.
“Tsk, I told you to go.”
At that moment, Ray kicked the ground and rushed toward me.
What?
Were you going to attack me?
Just as I hastily prepared defense, Ray grabbed my collar and pulled me strongly.
Right after that.
The dark hand that had passed by my standing spot was.
“…What is that?”
A foreign yet somehow familiar mana.
Completely different from Ray’s or Leaf’s mana, and somewhat similar to the mana I was using from Seir.
Yeah, demon mana.
“For now, get out. I do not intend to receive your help. While I stall for time, get out quickly.”
“What?”
Before I could hear a proper explanation.
Without needing to hear it at all, the reason was visualized in front of my eyes.
The mage who appeared, exuding the same mana as felt from the dark hand.
A black robe with unfamiliar writing.
Anyone could see it was the clothes of a demonologist.
‘Seir-nim.’
[I am watching, my contractor.]
The first demonologist I had met besides Seir.
I immediately looked for Seir.
‘This is an opportunity.’
If I experienced that mage’s magic, my path to my own mana would become clearer.
It would be the same for Seir, who was my first contractor.
“What is that guy?”
“What else. You are one of those kind.”
“That is not it.”
“…The guy who came to catch me.”
Understood.
When Ray released my collar, I quickly regained balance and prepared for the attack.
However, the guy leisurely spoke first.
“As expected, beastmen are troublesome. Intuition is unnecessarily good.”
My spine tingled.
That guy was real.
A real mage who had killed, different from the mages I had sparred with at the training camp.
The sound of steel was filled with malice and killing intent.
And the guy’s eyes turned toward me.
“I was going to clean up the interrupters and start.”
“Interrupters? It does not matter. This one is unrelated.”
“Yeah? Then…”
It seemed he had never intended to talk.
Ray and the guy had already finished preparing to move at any time.
His hands were being thrown.
Faster than firing an arrow from a stone bow.
Ray extended her leg and kicked the flying hand toward me.
Crack!
With a sound like metal meeting metal, the hand burst.
It was not simply condensed mana, and the hand shattered into pieces and scattered on the floor.
In contrast, Ray’s leg, wrapped in silver mana, did not get a single speck of dirt.
The guy said with admiration.
“Indeed. It is an unreasonable magic. Magic that crushes magic.”
While saying that, there was no feeling of difficulty.
The guy lifted his robe and pulled out his hand.
What was in the hand was fingers.
Power wrapped the fingers, and they transformed into the same floating dark hands as before.
And the fingers the man pulled out were not one.
“Tch!”
In an instant, the swollen dark hands targeted Ray.
Unlike before, seeing that Ray’s movement range was limited, I realized.
‘He was targeting me for confirmation.’
It was like a confirmation ball thrown to check a certain strike zone.
Whether Ray’s defense range included me or not.
Whether I was a threatening existence to him.
And when he thought I was not particularly threatening, he focused power only on Ray.
‘Are you ignoring me?’
Well, good.
It was not a problem up to there.
It was not unforgivable.
Not just one or two times.
If he let his guard down on his own, it was a good thing for me.
But.
Would my guardian demon forgive him?
[Low-rank demon contractor, how dare you…! Contractor! Let me show an example!]
You will not forgive him?
I have to do something.
You will suffer a bit.
[Demonologist detected. Low-rank contract detected. Challenge accepted. Training begins.]