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“I’m sorry!”

“Hmph, no matter how much I help you with your hard work, all you think about is that silly Changsik instead of cute Tania, huh?”

While riding on the horse, Tania’s little hands, which had been clutching my head, wriggled.

“Haana, it’s just like talking to a wall—”

Suddenly, she yanked my hair or threw punches with her tiny fists to vent her frustration.

After all, not only had I summoned her once already, but she had also gathered her strength to help me. My little spirit had really given the cultists a run for their money with such a grand exit.

There was no doubt that I had wronged her first, so I accepted her grumbling in silence.

“Sigh… no reaction; and I can’t exactly kill you for real.”

Still, I couldn’t help but feel a bit scared by Tania’s quiet laments as she occasionally shook my neck. Her voice would lower ominously as she glowed with an eerie light from behind her.

No matter how small she might be, even as a fairy, isn’t Tania still a high-grade spirit? Honestly, it was a little terrifying.

In the end, Tania shook her head and spoke in a tone that suggested she was giving up.

“Sigh… so why are you looking for Changsik again?”

“Well…”

I hesitated for a moment, pondering my response.

Changsik, a nickname I was now more familiar with than my real name—my wind spirit, Elvis, before Orna.

The reason I was looking for that high-grade spirit was simple. What I needed now wasn’t an explosive blow that Tania could show me, but rather another spirit that could provide support with relatively low mana consumption since I was still inadequate in every aspect.

“Because my body isn’t complete yet.”

My physical abilities were still pitifully weak compared to my past form. Not just my mana but even my senses were clearly dulled.

In a state where even utilizing Tania properly was a challenge, if that half-demon appeared again, it would definitely lead to trouble. Tania could annihilate enemies with strong flames or manipulate the surroundings in our favor, but she couldn’t drastically enhance the contractor’s physical abilities or senses.

The strategy of destroying pillars of fire and reshaping the environment to create a favorable battlefield was also… taxing enough on my mana to leave me panting.

Tania was a powerful weapon and a trump card, but her mana consumption wasn’t exactly efficient.

…Honestly, every time I watched my mana dwindle down, a heavy sigh escaped me.

Yet if I were to directly suggest that Elvis would be much more helpful than Tania right now—

“…….”

Considering that the flickering fire behind her seemed ready to pounce on me, I tried my best to coat my words in sweetness.

“Your flames will shine much prettier once I’m more equipped, right?”

“Hmm.”

Perhaps satisfied with my line. Tania crossed her arms and nodded obediently.

“But Elvis’ wind is comparatively freer than your flames. Orna lacks experience… having Elvis means future battles will be smoother.”

“Smoother? That’s an understatement.”

No matter how much Changsik was teased for being a crybaby, Elvis was a top-grade wind spirit.

Aside from supporting the contractor, its pure offensive capabilities were also quite impressive. While it might not compare to Tania, it would more than sufficient to strike effectively against that half-demon.

Honestly speaking, if I had the support of Elvis, reducing my mana burden and moving to attack more quickly and nimbly, I don’t think that half-demon’s sword would have sliced my leg.

“So what about that Cotton Puff?”

“Orna is the youngest and most inexperienced spirit, so she can’t use spirit magic skillfully yet.”

I patted Tania’s head for no reason as I continued.

“Besides… that’s not the only thing Elvis excels at.”

As soon as I mentioned what Elvis did best, Tania, as if she understood, nodded and sighed.

“…You know how to pick your spirits well. If it were any other fire spirits, they would have tossed the contractor into lava, you know.”

“Then—”

With a resigned expression, Tania smiled, though with a hint of something that seemed expectant.

“I’ll call you Changsik. But—”

Finally, Tania dropped her sulky demeanor, taking on her usual playful, impish expression.

The excited girl floated in mid-air, hands behind her back, chuckling.

“The aftermath is all on you, got it?”

But for some reason, the brighter Tania’s expression became, the more I felt that the aftermath would be more annoying than I anticipated.

*

“From now on, we’re hastily withdrawing from the Eastern Forest! Stay sharp, we don’t know when or where the next attack will come from!”

At the shout from what seemed to be a forest guardian affiliated with Ianette, all the scattered individuals hurriedly gathered to form a retreat.

As Tania returned to the spirit world to converse with Elvis, Diolia and Shione seemed to be occupied with something else. The elves, with tight lips, were scanning their surroundings, tense and alert.

Until Shione and Diolia came to find me, all I could do was quietly observe the surroundings, focusing on witnessing the current state of our unit through my own eyes, having only heard of it through Shione.

‘They’ve definitely lost a lot of manpower.’

When I encountered demons before, and even just a moment ago, it seemed like there had been a fierce battle, resulting in heavy losses.

The size of our unit had clearly shrunk compared to when we first entered the Eastern Forest. It had reduced by about 30 to 40 percent, and among those remaining, there were still quite a few wounded.

Goods for proper combat capability were probably reduced to about 40 percent of the original.

‘We really took a hefty beating.’

I never expected the forest guardians, who boasted about their skills, would suffer such crippling losses.

Though, the fact that those half-demons were much stronger than thought played a part in that.

What was more critical—

‘Ianette, does something seem off about this situation, or is it just my sensitivity?’

Among the injuries scattered everywhere, comparing the condition of the guards under Arielte and Chelness to those wearing Ianette’s sigil on their armor highlighted the discrepancy.

Most of them had only minor wounds, facing the same battles in the same situations, yet their injuries and the severity were significantly less.

While contemplating this, I kept an eye on our unit.

“It’s been a while, Ray.”

A woman, who had been trailing me quietly, placed her hand on my shoulder.

I turned my head at the sound of her voice to see a blonde elf with a not-so-great complexion wearing a faint smile as she looked at me.

“Seeing you walk around like this, I guess your condition is better than I thought. On the first day I woke up, I could do nothing but lay down.”

“…Long time no see, Friel.”

“I never imagined someone who had their chest slashed would recover faster than me… do you realize how much distress you caused the young lady?”

“Friel?”

“Every time you came to me, asking if I had any leftover potions to spare, I must say it was quite a bother. I had nothing to give.”

After greeting me, she continued her rambling without much coherence, only muttering words that I couldn’t quite grasp.

As I remained silent and stared at her, Friel, turning her eyes around to confirm something, then whispered to me.

“Piel, it’s now.”

─……!

At that moment, Friel’s spirit, Piel, appeared and wielded spirit magic.

“Finally, Ianette’s eyes are diverted… and everyone around is mostly Arielte’s forest guardians… and I made sure that important information doesn’t reach them on the wind—”

With a pale complexion, perhaps still not fully healed, her body lacked vitality, but the vivid brilliance of her bright green eyes shone steadily.

“Now, we can finally talk without worries.”

Those green eyes were targeted directly at me.

“Ray, you must have a lot of questions. You probably don’t know how long you’ve been out. I’ve heard that you didn’t have enough time to talk with the young lady after you woke up.”

“……”

“I’ll tell you everything. Honestly, besides walking and running, I can’t do much as I’ve been exempt from battles for a while now. But before diving into the details, there’s something you need to be cautious about first.”

“What should I be cautious about…”

What could it possibly be that she was setting up such a mood?

As I asked, Friel twisted the corners of her mouth and replied.

“Don’t stray far from the young lady, the knights, and our Arielte forest guardians who will soon arrive.”

Friel suddenly started spreading an air of low and profound authority, akin to the head of Arielte.

“In my quiet contemplation while bedridden, it seems that Ianette’s crazy minions are up to some mischief.”

I could sense, from her ensuing words and demeanor, that Friel was genuinely irate.

“Thus, I’m sorry to come to you with such news right after awakening… but I’d like to talk about Ianette. Is that alright, Ray?”

It seemed the situation was heading towards a far worse catastrophe than expected.

If possible, I would wish to turn a blind eye and just overturn everything altogether.

 

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