The voice that drifted to me was so ethereal, so illusory, that I couldn’t tell if it was a hallucination or real. I could still hear the explosions of magic and the clashing of blades nearby, so this calling might well have come from there too, rather than being a message meant for me.
The rain drummed like a beat, yet there was no watery wine to accompany it. Melancholy coiled around me, and no one could untangle it.
“Don’t ignore me! Young lady who just passed our trial yesterday!”
I had heard this voice the day before. It was also the day before that I had been harshly taught one lesson — “Don’t fantasize that strangers will easily tell you everything.”
Sensing something hidden in the long sleeve of my sweater, I flicked my wrist and tossed a certain something out from the cuff. It turned out to be a tiny emerald-green point of light. It hovered in the air, strikingly out of place against the atmosphere… If you’d ever seen a firefly, you might have thought it was some unusual species.
After all, it was raining right now —
“Hey! Why were you so rough?! If you knew I was hiding in there, couldn’t you have been a little gentler?!”
“Just the same as the day before, Wind Spirit. Your tone is still so arrogant, yet so childish.”
The light darted wildly around at my eye level. Combined with the Wind Spirit’s indignant complaints, it looked exactly like a child throwing a tantrum at an adult. And in a certain sense, I was also an “adult,” even though my actual age might not even match this Wind Spirit’s.
After who knows how long — maybe ten minutes, maybe just a few seconds — the Wind Spirit finally calmed down and began to explain “the purpose of following me” and “their one-sided request.”
“…We need your help…”
“At this point, why are you still dwelling on stale old matters?”
“But that was just the day before yesterday. It hasn’t been that long…”
“Of all the things you said to me that day, which sentence didn’t leave me thoroughly disappointed? Which sentence didn’t wound me in silence?”
I buried my head even deeper. I didn’t want to look at the Wind Spirit even once. A single glance would make me recall the words “Eric” and “Tia” had spoken to me the day before.
The ability to shatter a heart into utter ruin with mere words — I had never witnessed it before, yet I had already experienced it firsthand.
And so, in this scene where neither of us spoke, I stood at an impasse with him for a long while. Just when I’d think to lift my head and check if I was left alone, I’d hear his endless laments again.
I wasn’t paying attention to his words, because something strange was quietly creeping closer nearby — a presence you could call an undercurrent, yet it was far too obvious; something you might call goodwill, yet utterly unreachable.
I stood up quietly, eyes scanning everywhere like radar. Then, at the entrance of the alley and deeper within, I spotted them — several masses of repulsive, writhing objects squirming along the ground.
“Uwaahh!!”
That shriek — its tone, its pitch — couldn’t have been a more perfect match.
Yet I didn’t want to go save her. It was all too late… By the time I came to my senses, I found myself already surrounded by those things.
It was raining, there was a dead weight beside me, and the numbers were overwhelming.
“Huh?! What happened? Why was there a scream?”
“Don’t look.”
“Ugh! A corpse, and so many chunks of flesh…”
Even though I said not to look… well, if he insisted on looking himself, I had nothing more to say.
Watching the flesh masses steadily advancing, I cracked my neck and prepared to muster every ounce of strength in my body. In this kind of situation, I absolutely could not let myself slack off for even a moment —
Why, you ask? Because if my body gets eaten, I’ll be nothing at all.
“Can you fight?”
“Huh?! Even if you say that, in this current situation —”
“Then don’t get in the way.”
With that, I put strength into both hands and focused my thoughts on Seven Spirit Divine Might. The aura of magic was firmly seized by me in that instant — every time I used Seven Spirit Divine Might, it didn’t feel like activating a skill, but more like casually waving my hand, as natural as a daily routine.
A sense of familiarity welling up from the very soul.
In siege warfare against an army, a long, narrow passage is a key defensive point. No matter how large the enemy’s numbers, they are inevitably funneled and held back, making each wave’s offensive momentum less ferocious than anticipated.
However, if they came wave after wave… the result would be —
At this thought, I shook my head sharply, forcing myself not to dwell on unsettling ideas.
“Are you alright, Miss?”
Ignoring the Wind Spirit’s abrupt concern, I poured vast amounts of Blue: Honesty mana into the ground, then erected emerald-green barriers all around.
This narrow alley was so cramped you could kick the opposite wall with one stride. If I set up a chain of sword and blade traps here, it might actually be effective —
As luck would have it, that was exactly what I wanted to do.
Normally, for a mage to manipulate the flow of mana at will, they need to infuse it with mental power as an aid. The mental power poured into the mana disperses evenly across each section, assisting the mage in controlling it.
In other words, the more a mage concentrates, the more freely they can control the flow of mana and thus cast spells.
But I seemed to be an exception — or perhaps still within that rule. Because when using Seven Spirit Divine Might, even without deliberately focusing my mind, these seven different types of mana all moved exactly as I wished…
Was I some kind of special case?
Thinking this, I snapped my fingers. Instantly, the azure mana lurking everywhere unfurled, forging an uncountable, unseeable cage of countless swords and blades.
The “them” skewered within lost their animation one by one. The rest of “them” who hadn’t yet advanced also seemed to begin hesitating.
What surprised me was that the jade-green barrier, originally meant to protect against these azure blades and prevent accidental injury, didn’t bear a single scratch. The blades veered sharply to the side, as if deliberately avoiding it.
The mana reaction was still there. That meant I could still reclaim it, right? This is way too convenient for mage combat…
After dismissing the emerald shield, I continued maintaining the azure cage, then switched to Orange: Courage and immediately created explosive particles all around —
“Uwaahh! Something’s exploding! Wuwuwu!”
Amidst the scorching blasts and howling gaps of air, I heard the Wind Spirit’s startled cry. By the time I came to my senses, the explosions had already ceased, leaving only this wasteland of devastation.
The blackened, ashen floor and walls, the faintly drifting smoke — to me, it was all far too familiar.
When silence reigned all around, I slumped to the ground and, just like before, began making a series of movements that would seem utterly baffling to onlookers.
I didn’t want to do this either, but it made me feel a lot better.
“Wah! We’re not dead?! Miss! No — My Lady! Please, I beg you, you must help us! If — “
“…I don’t want to call you out on it. Maybe Claydi, Tia, Eric — maybe those people really do need me… But I don’t care. If it were me the day before yesterday, I might have nodded with ecstatic joy. But I don’t care.”
“But — !”
“No buts!”
I knew my heart was already consumed with impatience, so I had been deliberately suppressing it. But if I didn’t do this, everything around here would be finished — the kind of finished where not even a sea of flames could ignite.
A good while passed. I glanced at the Wind Spirit and noticed he still hadn’t left… Another while passed. I glanced again and found he was still hovering in the air… Eventually, I just lifted my head and stared at him for several minutes.
I didn’t know if there was such a concept as “stamina” among tiny spirits, but I figured this Wind Spirit’s “constitution” was rather impressive. After all, a little creature staying suspended in the air must require quite a bit of “stamina.”
“Please, help us… As long as we have you —”
“To be precise, it’s as long as you have my power, right. Tch…”
After saying this, I deliberately twisted the corner of my mouth, making a disgustingly scornful expression.
“No! That’s not it! We need you! Only you can help us!”
“…..”
I had intended to keep pressing, asking for the answer out of sheer self-deprecating spite — about what exactly made me so special. But it seemed going on like this forever wasn’t a solution either. I could clearly just turn around and leave. Why on earth was I stuck wasting time here?
Hehehe, this heart of mine is truly far too complicated…
But really, what exactly did I want to do?
I scooped up a handful of filthy ash from the ground, cupped it, stared at it, then squeezed it hard, until my arm strained from overexertion and nearly cramped.
What am I doing…
I…
Before the sullied ash could scatter completely, I slapped myself across the face in one swift motion.
Only by doing this could I let them, let myself, live a peaceful life.
Wading through misery and trouble day after day won’t make things better.
I have to keep pushing forward toward that one goal, never stopping along this path.
This time, I want to be a truly good person…
Well then, let me give it a try.
This never-fails “routine.”
I struggled to my feet, rubbing and kneading my cheek, now red and burning from the slap, and couldn’t help yelping in pain repeatedly.
If I’d known it would hurt this much, I wouldn’t have hit so hard.
“My Lady! Are you alright? Why would you treat yourself like this?”
“Only this way can I slap myself awake.”
I stood and brushed off the back of my skirt, tidying myself up as much as possible. At that moment, it seemed the heavens were taking pity on me too, slowly bringing the carnival of rain to a halt.
“Then My Lady! About the matter between us —”
“I’ll do it.”
“No, in that case — ! …Huh? You… agreed?”
I nodded, so the Wind Spirit would be certain of it.
Just then, I heard the sound of running footsteps behind me. As I turned around, I found that the person had already crashed right into me.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, she didn’t knock me over. Instead, we came face-to-face in a direct “collision.”
My head wasn’t made of steel; naturally, it was just as fragile as any normal person’s. As for managing to withstand that stool five days ago, it was purely because that person lacked the strength attributes to actually hurt me.
“Ugh.”
“Ugh!”
Realizing it was a female voice, I reached out to catch her, only to see a familiar face —
And a raging fire rushing straight toward me…
