False Rumor, True Fang
“Well, that’s a bit disappointing. We came away empty-handed after all.”
That evening, they moved to the inn Ren had reserved in advance before arriving in Rosaria.
“I thought we might finally meet a new spirit for once.”
“If there really had been a spirit in the lake, would you have made a contract with it?”
“If possible, yes. Though even if I couldn’t have contracted with it, it still would’ve been a worthwhile experience, wouldn’t it?”
Ren sank into a chair and grinned around a mouthful of sandwich.
“They say the more spirits you meet, the stronger your affinity for them becomes.”
“That’s true.”
It was, in fact, true.
Spirit affinity was, quite literally, the degree of closeness one had with spirits, so it naturally rose the more often—and the more many times—one encountered them.
Just as dogs or cats would catch the scent of their owner after the owner had been touching other animals, spirits were the same. Only, unlike dogs that grew wary when they smelled the scent of their own kind, spirits felt friendlier the more a person carried a scent similar to theirs, so Ren’s argument did have merit.
“...But, honestly, priest, you’re not as surprised as I expected.”
“By what?”
“This one.”
With those words, Ren spread his palm.
Since there was no one else in the inn, there was no need to conceal his true appearance this time. He summoned the spirit properly.
Pop!
“Myaang!”
A lightning spirit in the shape of a bright yellow cat appeared and bounced through the air. The clear, pure energy peculiar to spirits filled the room.
“In our kingdom, people with this kind of ability are pretty rare. Usually, everyone gets incredibly excited when they see a spirit.”
“Well...”
Seherbian considered pretending to be amazed even now, then quickly gave it up.
“I’ve seen them often in Blanconia.”
Ren stared at him with curious eyes when he answered honestly.
“Oh! So spirits live in the Dragon Temple too?”
“Yes. Dragons and spirits are generally quite close, after all. Asubell even made a water spirit his guardian.”
“Now that you mention it, I’ve heard that before. The Summer Guardian Dragon travels with a spirit in the form of a unicorn.”
Asubell “Adrian,” the Regulator of the western continent across the sea.
It was widely known that a water spirit followed like a shadow at the side of Asubell, who governed summer.
Wait, was that his guardian?
Ren was briefly puzzled by this detail, which was not known to the public, but soon nodded as if that made sense.
After all, there were endless rumors surrounding the Guardian Dragons. Only the Guardian Dragons themselves knew which were true.
A dragon was too distant an existence to separate fact from fiction over mere gossip.
“Priest.”
“Yes?”
“Isn’t there really no way to meet Winter Bell?”
As a matter of fact, Ren was more interested in Winter Bell than in the other Guardian Dragons. Seherbian, who had been yawning against the window frame, answered lazily.
“I thought you’d given up on kicking him in the backside.”
“Well, yes. But I still wanted to see him at least once.”
“Like the Spirit of Rosaria?”
A cold voice cut through Ren’s stammering. The atmosphere had changed so abruptly that he flinched in surprise.
At some point, those sunset-colored eyes had begun watching him without the slightest trace of feeling.
“Don’t get your hopes up.”
“What...?”
“Winter Bell is the same. It’s an illusory name.”
“...No, wait, Priest? Can a priest serving Winter Bell really say that?”
Ren looked incredulous, but Seherbian lifted his chin with brazen confidence.
“Why do you think I left Blanconia?”
“Huh? What? That’s...”
Only then did Ren realize something was off. At first, he had assumed it was simply a matter of a young priest needing to see the world. But thinking about it again, no priest would ever leave the temple alone without a guardian.
Priests were as precious and respected a position as nobles. Even if they handled holy power, it was usually limited to healing or blessings; in most cases, they had no combat ability, so protection was naturally required.
As Ren’s expression stiffened, Seherbian spoke slowly.
“Because there was no longer any need for me to stay there.”
“...!”
“Don’t go looking for Winter Bell. You won’t be able to meet him anyway.”
He cut the matter off coldly and straightened from where he had been leaning. As Seherbian absentmindedly fumbled for the staff he usually held, a flash of dismay crossed his face.
“Ah.”
“W-what is it?”
“Mimir... I forgot to bring my donkey.”
At Seherbian’s words, Ren looked worried.
It would have been quick to summon it, but that was a little difficult with another person present. He couldn’t explain Mimir’s true identity to a civilian one detail at a time, after all.
Living with someone else is exhausting in all kinds of ways.
Seherbian let out a long sigh.
“I’ll go get it.”
* * *
At the same time.
The donkey tied to its rope was, unlike Ren feared, spending its time without incident.
Passersby occasionally glanced at the handsome snow-white donkey tied up without its owner, but that was all.
“......”
Since its owner wasn’t beside it, there was no reason to ring its bell. And since it didn’t need to graze or search for water like an ordinary donkey, Mimir did nothing more than wait obediently in place, like a perfectly carved statue.
No danger signal. No abnormal response.
Even while separated from its master, Mimir kept constant watch on its surroundings and checked the owner’s condition.
The branch of the World Tree existed solely for Bell. If the slightest irregularity were to occur to Seherbian, it was designed to switch to emergency mode, disregard commands, and teleport immediately.
So the fact that Mimir was standing there blankly now meant there was no obstacle to its protective duty.
The snow-white donkey maintained its quiet all the way until sunset.
“...?”
Click.
Then, at some point, Mimir twitched its sharp ears.
It was evening, and the sun had not yet fully set.
On the opposite side of the red-stained sky, the moon was rising faintly. In that strange hour when sun and moon coexisted, Mimir felt the calm it had maintained until now begin to waver.
Detected unnatural flow of mana.
The mana in the area had changed.
The smaller animals had already fled in alarm, and a beat later, birds skimming the surface of the lake took off with a flurry of wings. Something powerful enough to affect the entire lake had appeared.
But it still was not enough to be classified as a threat.
Mimir hesitated.
Should it remain here and follow its master’s orders, or should it switch to emergency mode and return to its side?
“Look at that. It’s a white donkey!”
“I’ve never seen a horse or donkey that was white before.”
“Hey, isn’t it handsome?”
Just then, humans who did not know that Mimir was on high alert approached.
“Now that I’m looking closely, its coat is so glossy our nephew would love it! The kid’s only six, but he’s been obsessed with horseback riding lately.”
“Are you planning to buy it?”
“If I offer twice the usual price, they’ll probably sell. But where did the owner go?”
They were young men from wealthy families. Since they had money in hand, they seemed to want to buy rather than steal, but no matter how they looked around, the donkey’s owner never appeared, and they soon grew troubled.
“Maybe it was abandoned?”
“Impossible.”
“There are plenty of cases where useless livestock are dumped in tourist spots like this.”
“A donkey would still fetch a fair price if you sold it. No fool would abandon it.”
Even to the eye, it was a healthy, sturdy donkey. Its coat was so white it looked as though it had been carefully tended.
“Fair point. But it’s about to get dark, and leaving it here unattended... What a cold-hearted owner.”
“Prrr.”
The people, feeling sorry for the donkey, eventually gathered around it and even offered water and snacks.
“Here, at least drink some water.”
“I brought tomatoes for my lunch. Want to try one?”
But the aloof white donkey did not even glance at the friendly offers from strangers. The people laughed and called it a loyal donkey, yet it remained where it was, as still as a statue.
Then, in a sudden instant, its red, round eyes fixed on something far away.
“Prrrrooo!”
The white donkey suddenly snorted sharply and lunged at one of the young men who had just extended a tomato.
“Eek!”
“Rainan! Are you all right?!”
Seeing red liquid stream down to the ground, the others cried out in horror, but fortunately the young man named Rainan was unharmed. It had only been the tomato, crushed until its juice spilled out.
“I-I’m fine. But...”
The young man’s voice trembled. A sharp gouge had been ripped into the ground where he had been standing only moments before.
Hik. If this donkey hadn’t shoved me aside...!
That attack, which had scored into the hard stone pavement as though it were mud, would surely have torn him limb from limb. The young men who saw the claw marks all broke out in chills.
While they were focused on the gouges, the donkey’s red eyes were already fixed farther back.
Tap!
Having failed its attack, the shadow that landed in the dim grass returned a fierce glare at the donkey that had ruined its hunt, its red eyes blazing.
“Krrr...”
The chilling growl continued, but only Mimir heard it. Ordinary people had not even detected the creature yet.
The snow-white donkey and the shadow hidden in the grass recognized each other clearly.
Jingle!
Animal-type monster detected exhibiting indiscriminate aggression. Size: medium. Number of entities: 1... 3... 5... Twelve units confirmed ahead.
Mimir immediately gathered data on the enemy. Various samples with similar traits and forms flickered through its mind, but it was still uncertain. Because the creature hid itself in the dark, its shape was distorted and blurred, like a shadow itself.
After briefly sorting the situation in its head, Mimir finally kicked off the ground with force.
“W-wha—!”
“The donkey’s running away!”
Tap, tap, tap!
The moment the donkey began to sprint, the rope tied to the tree snapped away as weakly as a thread. Until now it had sat there docile and bound, but now, as though it had all been an act, the donkey tore free and bolted off somewhere. The onlookers screamed.
“Eek!”
When the white donkey spotted a child falling over, it veered its head toward the direction with the fewest people. An alley with hardly anyone in it appeared, and from behind it, the sound of wolfish footsteps pursued like a ghost.
The donkey, driven toward the corner, soon reached an abandoned alley behind a derelict house.
Dark attribute. Displays a tendency to avoid sunlight. Confirmed not to be repelled by light itself.
Jingle!
Data corrected: not a dark attribute, but a shadow attribute. Feature discovered: multiplies and moves through shadows. Feature discovered: absorbs moonlight. Confirming entity name of the monster.
Grrrrr!
Kwaaah!
Mimir continued to gather and correct information without pause while slipping past the attacks one after another. More than ten wolves lunged after the plump-bodied donkey as it nimbly leapt over piles of trash and wove through the alley.
Of course, no matter how fast a donkey was, it could not outrun wolves forever. One drew close enough to bare its sharp teeth, and Mimir kicked it hard with its hind legs, sending it flying.
“Yip—yelp!”
The wolf struck by the kick let out a pitiful cry and collapsed onto the ground. Trembling, it looked as though it would take quite some time before it could stand again.
Mimir merely blinked its round eyes and continued calmly.
The shadow-attribute wolf is named Hati. Master.
“Good work, Mimir.”
It had recognized the enemy and switched into emergency mode, but there was no need to activate the teleport function. Its master had come to find Mimir in person.
Fwoosh!
At that moment, light burst from the white donkey’s body. In the blink of an eye, Mimir returned to its staff form, and someone lightly caught it from the air.
“Well then.”
Seherbian, who had been receiving reports from Mimir the whole time, smiled faintly.
“Looks like it’s time for a substitute.”