Episode 88
“Wow… Oh my, such a beautiful being like you really exists.”
The woman resembling winter. The man, who could now take in the sight for the first time, shuddered in ecstasy and spoke in awe.
The woman with water-colored hair, Frikkanrisk, let out a scoff upon hearing such ridiculous words.
Why are people so easily swayed by visual elements?
“Do you think you could still say the same thing after seeing my true form?”
Her question was a statement with a predetermined answer.
The man, Aintern, was so captivated in that moment that he nodded vacantly, as if he could accept her response.
Frikkanrisk, this time, let out a hollow laugh and immediately dispelled her polymorph, displaying her unadorned true form as an Adult Dragon.
Many had proposed after seeing her in human form.
While she wasn’t quite sure about human beauty standards, she knew all too well that her unaltered polymorph appearance had a certain allure.
However, no one ever kept their word after seeing her true form.
Everyone was too busy running away, frightened and calling her a monster.
Interactions with humans were exhausting and, frankly, brief. Frikkanrisk intended to toss this insincere man out of her territory quickly.
But.
“Wow… How can I express this? Your current form is so beautifully captivating that it feels like a shame to look at it casually! Your dragon form must be so alluring that even your polymorphed appearance is like a divine beauty…”
Aintern nodded to himself, gazing at the much larger Adult Dragon, Frikkanrisk, with sparkling eyes.
Such sincere-looking eyes.
“…So, a human who is good at lying, huh?”
Frikkanrisk had been burned by humans not once or twice.
Throughout the hundreds of years, so many had tried to seize her power through various means.
This human man certainly wanted a contract with her. It was clear he sought strength through it.
The Woman of Winter used her special power of sight to probe the man’s psyche.
It was a simple task that required just a bit of focus.
Then, she could see into the dazzling eyes of the man, and his emotions were expressed as a picture.
The scenery depicted in the picture was above the sky.
On the sky.
The background was a delicate pink. Fluffy clouds like cotton floated, and naked baby angels blew trumpets, flitting around with tiny wings on their backs.
…What? This can’t be real, right?
Frikkanrisk, caught off-guard while peeking into her own mind, found herself meeting the eyes of Aintern in reality.
He smiled sweetly.
Feeling an inexplicable discomfort, Frikkanrisk morphed back into her human form, wearing a sulky expression.
Her eyes, barely opened and glimmering like crescent moons, glared at Aintern as if asking.
“I won’t enter into any contract.”
She preemptively slapped him down with a condescending tone.
Just in case this connection doesn’t turn into a mere wound later. If you’re going to leave, you should do it right now.
The man looked taken aback, his mouth agape as he furrowed his brow in deep thought.
I knew it. That’s why the human race only looks out for its own interests….
“That’s a problem. I want to marry you.”
“…Huh?”
“I want to share a vow to spend a lifetime together, but if you say no… should we just live together without a time limit? That wouldn’t be too bad, but if it can be….”
“Whoa, hold on. What do you think you’re doing, moving things along by yourself?”
Frikkanrisk was more than stunned by the bombshell of a statement from the man; she was flabbergasted.
Her face hadn’t changed so dramatically in over a hundred years.
Aintern wouldn’t take a step back.
“Frikkanrisk, I’ve fallen for you.”
It was a straight shot, no detours.
“Will you marry me?”
“…….”
Frikkanrisk pressed her forehead as if to soothe a headache, staring at Aintern’s unabashed demeanor with narrowed eyes. To her surprise, the man was sincere.
How can this be? Even though it’s our first meeting. Our species is different, our lifetimes are different. How can he be so genuine…
“…What a strange human.”
The encounter between Frikkanrisk and Aintern was peculiar from the start.
The memory of this day would become a significant….
…She opened her eyes.
It was morning.
It had been a long time since she dreamt. In fact, it had been weeks since she truly slept. The world felt dry. Cold and miserable.
Having cried herself to sleep, Frikkanrisk faced the day with a weary expression as she prepared to step outside.
She needed to search.
Though she lacked time to rest, collapsing would accomplish nothing; she sought a long-awaited night at an inn.
As she stepped outside, she crushed the snow beneath her feet. She stumbled slightly. It seemed the effects of the potent medication she had taken to force herself to sleep lingered.
Her footprints were scattered like someone who had lost their way. Although she was headed somewhere, her direction lacked certainty.
“Sweetheart… my one and only child.”
Longing for someone.
Searching for another.
*
Even before the sun stretched out its rays, as always, her biological clock chimed, waking her from slumber.
Checking the time, she realized she had only slept precisely for two hours.
Looking around, she found no sign of Finn. Not even the iron sword he usually carried.
Since he had fallen asleep at the same time as her, it was likely he had barely even slept for two hours.
I had only slept enough to not be considered sleep-deprived.
Maybe it was due to yesterday’s shock, but I’ll admit his level of enthusiasm is impressive.
Even though he fills that empty sleep with mana and a trained body, he still seems to be battling drowsiness, and it’s clear he’s pushing himself too hard, but he doesn’t seem to care at all.
There’s really no need to stop him.
If he doesn’t push himself like this, he’ll end up being useless anyway.
So, if he’s going to burn out, it might as well be in an extravagant blaze of glory. Who knows, the high temperature might just yield some unexpected results.
As I welcomed the morning with a simple face wash, I adeptly trained my mana and summoned my familiar.
“It’s not easy.”
This summoning is different from regular magic.
The act of summoning a familiar usually means teleporting the contracted monster near the contractor.
It’s similar to Erica’s Warp Magic, but Warp Magic targets people and objects, while summoning targets monsters, with completely different levels of difficulty and characteristics.
Monsters possess a unique nature of mana, allowing them to be summoned within their nests through a summoning circle, but that doesn’t connect with Warp Magic.
…Anyway, the act of summoning a familiar as we recognize it means shifting the position of that specific entity.
However, the summoning I just performed broke away from that standard.
“To control it completely as planned, I’ll need more training….”
Partial summoning.
I remembered the magic used by Craine, who was originally Vargan’s mentor, and tried to imitate it. Since I couldn’t learn about partial summoning from him due to the different developments, I had to figure it out on my own.
Fortunately, since it isn’t his unique spell, it wasn’t too difficult to acquire a spellbook with the summoning method using Schugenharz’s power.
So here I am, sitting in the palm of a giant’s hand.
The familiar I raised is named ‘Taesan’, a muscular ogre that exceeds 23m in height.
Naturally, Taesan couldn’t fit in this room, so I only summoned his hand partially.
Gooood—
As I sat cross-legged, continuing my inspection, I then infused mana into him, and Taesan’s hand began to respond, slowly fading from view.
It became transparent, as if erased from a canvas.
…That’s probably how it works. It’s visible to me, the owner, but not to others under those conditions.
So right now, to anyone else, I would appear to be floating cross-legged in mid-air.
Everything was going smoothly up until now, but I personally felt the transformation speed was disappointing.
Expanding the total amount of mana should be my top priority, but I also need to improve my skills in handling familiars.
There’s still a lot I want to try with my familiars. Partial summoning is just one aspect, and I can showcase various more advanced forms.
⎯Knock knock.
The one who entered was Gaon, the youngest member of Helion’s team.
He looked a bit flustered at my unexpected appearance but quickly clarified the reason for his visit. Even though he’s inexperienced, being a Hero means this kind of scene isn’t entirely new to him.
“It’s time to gather.”
Following him to Helion’s room, everyone was already gathered.
On one side, Finn had apparently finished training and looked like he had just washed up, as his hair was still slightly damp.
“…….”
I noticed Finn, not due to him, but because my attention shifted to another “team member.”
It was a process of crossing gazes. Instead of focusing on Finn, I paid attention to another ‘team member.’
Helion introduced them, who were aligned on the same line of sight as Finn.
“These are the comrades who will assist us in this mission. They have been guarding this place the longest among the heroes belonging to Dortmund.”
Five heroes from Dortmund.
The team leader was a man named Yannick. I knew a bit about him.
To be precise, saying I knew about him felt a bit off.
We were not acquaintances, but he was an old ally of Craine, who was Barghan’s previous mentor, and the novel mentioned that he had helped Helion’s group in the existing storyline.
Yannick was the man who had been assigned to Dortmund for the longest time alongside Craine.
He knew the geography of this place, the layout of the buildings, and even the number of trees planted within Dortmund to a surprising extent.
“I look forward to working with you all, even if it’s just for a short period.”
He spoke robustly and clearly, resembling a sturdy bear. As he greeted, everyone followed suit.
Yannick seemed to take a liking to me, as he extended his hand for a handshake to the muscular middle-aged man, Canthurman.
While he had unabashedly throttled Finn, his attitude was different towards me, perhaps acknowledging me as a rival in his own way.
…Now that I think about it, assuming nothing has changed, the gloomy hero Craine should also be here at this time.
In the existing story, he had been given a mission and had progressed with mentoring two weeks later.
Since Liam is also the protagonist in this story, it’s unclear exactly what Barghan and Craine’s group did, but it seems they certainly didn’t assist Helion.
When the incident concluded and the details of this episode spread like wildfire, Yannick and his teammates were mentioned as assistants, but Craine’s name was nowhere to be found.
“Nice to meet you, Barghan.”
Starting from Canthurman, the handshakes continued until it was my turn.
I grasped Yannick’s thick hand, reminiscent of the roots of an old tree.
“Likewise.”
As I shook his hand, I felt a pit in my stomach.
The path I had been traversing so far had clear answers, but this time it seemed like I needed to learn through research.
I still lacked information.
Before making hasty judgments, it seemed wise to hold my breath, observe my surroundings, and look for opportunities.
Perhaps, similar to what Finn had mentioned last time, the church might be hiding something as well.
‘But.’
Simply waiting quietly is a tedious thing and not the ‘best course of action.’
If I had been waiting for a decent plot to unfold, I wouldn’t have come this far. I would rather enter a dungeon with the knowledge I have.
So, I needed to prepare on my own.
Following along with Helion’s group to gather information and locate Frikkanrisk, I would act based on the intel I obtained.
Frikkanrisk is currently in this city.
Archbishop Ami must already be within the city or at least nearby.
I didn’t know who would be caught, but if I could grab one tail, from that moment on, things would get interesting.
The story would unfold entertainingly, and as a result, rewards would be handed down.
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