“I didn’t care if I failed and died. If that happened, at least Yuno wouldn’t have to go alone.”
Was the result good fortune or bad? The transformation into a spirit via the Soul Contract succeeded, and his sister remained in this world as a spirit.
“But Father went mad with rage when he found out. That I, whom he had raised with such care as his heir, could no longer contract with a High-Rank Spirit. That man said, ‘Just for something like that?’ The death of his daughter, of Yuno… he called it ‘something like that’…!”
Strength gathered in Linfa’s fist.
“Eventually, I was disowned. …Even if I hadn’t been kicked out, I would have refused to stay in a house like that anyway. After that, I wandered from place to place, finally starting as an adventurer here in Tandem. I was enthusiastic about succeeding as a Spirit Arts User and shoving it in that man’s face.”
After saying this, Linfa smiled self-deprecatingly.
“But it didn’t go well. At first, I was fawned over because Spirit Arts Users are rare, but once they realized I could only use Low-Rank Spirit Arts, they flipped their palms. I pushed back against that, too… and in the end, I’d get kicked out of the party.”
…I see. So that’s the reason he was kicked out of parties five times in half a year.
“Everyone is risking their lives being an adventurer. If someone like me is there, they’ll eventually shoulder unnecessary danger… When you nearly died this time, I understood. Someone like me shouldn’t team up with people. That’s why—”
“That’s not true.”
“Uh.”
I, who had been listening silently until then, interjected, cutting off Linfa’s words.
“You think you might expose your comrades to danger because of your own lack of strength? Then you just have to become strong enough to protect your comrades.”
Well, you do need to choose who you team up with. But at the very least, I don’t think Linfa is hopeless at all.
At least, everyone I’ve felt that way about so far has managed to grow. A little… no, actually, maybe they’ve grown a bit too much.
“B-But we are…!”
“You can become strong.”
Therefore, I declare it clearly.
“Leave it to me. I will absolutely make you strong. …Let’s prove that Old Man wrong.”
Days later, Linfa and I were at the training plaza attached to the Guild.
“Alright, I’m going to explain the method to make a spirit grow.”
“Does such a thing really exist…?”
“It does. And it’s simple. Basically, you just have to consume a ton of mana.”
“A-And then…?”
“Hmm? No, that’s it.”
“…Hah?”
Linfa narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
Well, I guess that’s a normal reaction.
“Spirits are basically clumps of Magic Essence, right? By using mana and having them absorb it, they actually grow little by little through that cycle.”
“I-Is that so? I thought I had studied spirits fairly well, but I’ve never heard of that…”
“Well, if you do it normally, the growth is truly microscopic. If it were a Mid-Rank Spirit or higher, you probably wouldn’t even notice. With a Low-Rank, you might feel it occasionally, but people generally don’t contract with them in the first place.”
“I see…”
“However, if you just fire off Spirit Arts normally, it’ll take way too much time. I’ll teach you some efficient formulas.”
Saying that, I began to lecture Linfa on two spell formulas.
One was a formula to continuously play catch with mana between himself and the spirit. This mechanism allows for a high-speed, artificial consumption-absorption cycle on the spirit’s side while suppressing mana consumption.
The other was a formula to efficiently convert surrounding Magic Essence into mana. The one I always use.
“—And so, I want you to be able to use the above constantly, even unconsciously.”
“Eh, constantly!?”
“Yeah, constantly. If you don’t do that much, you won’t see results no matter how much time passes. If the mana consumption cuts off, the growth doesn’t just stop; it actually regresses slightly. By executing it ceaselessly, we eliminate that loss.”
It’s the old ‘three steps forward, two steps back’ issue. I suspect this is one of the major factors why people rarely notice spirit growth.
Incidentally, it seems humans can get a similar, albeit slight, effect, so it’s truly a ‘kill two birds with one stone’ training method. Although, when I practiced it, my original mana capacity was such trash that the effect was basically nonexistent. The world is shit.
“Anyway, enough with the tedious talk… I’ll teach you, so give it a try.”
“Ah, understood…”
And so, for a while, as usual, I tried to assist the flow of mana while he ran the formula, but it wasn’t going very well.
“…Kuh, why…!”
Sweating like a waterfall, Linfa groaned.
“Hmm… It might be easier to understand if I touch a spot closer to the heart than the hand. Excuse me a sec.”
“…Heart? …Eh? W-Wait, sto—!”
Muni. (Squeeze)
“Eh.”
What my hand, extended without any real thought, felt through the robe was that kind of sensation. It wasn’t large by any means, but it asserted a modest yet undeniable presence…!?
“K-Kyaaaaaaaaahh…!”
Linfa crouched down, letting out a shriek. Furthermore, this reaction—there was no mistake.
Linfa is…
“A-A girl!? N-No, wait, I didn’t know!”
As I panicked and stammered, a ball of light—Yuno—burst out from Linfa. As if expressing Yuno’s emotions, she blinked rapidly, and ice projectiles deployed around us.
Ah, this is the part where I get shot.
I used the force of my will to pin down my legs, which were reflexively trying to take evasive action.
A sinner must accept his punishment…
“Guboaahh!!”
Immediately after, I was blown away by the mercilessly fired ice projectiles and was once again sent to the infirmary.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
—Lately, I’ve noticed that I find myself following him with my eyes more and more.
It was about a year ago that Linfa started working as an adventurer in Tandem. Having been kicked out of her birth home for turning her younger sister Yuno into a spirit, Linfa traveled to various places.
The Magic Empire Xenopha, the Mountain Nation Leetonia, the Trade City Cluster Ciet-Lusica—.
For the two of them—one due to training, the other due to illness—who had rarely stepped outside their territory, the world was far too vast and overflowing with fresh stimulation.
Shopping at stalls, staying in post towns. Sometimes they had to survive the night sleeping outdoors, but even that was enjoyable as long as they were together.
The only thing was that Linfa felt apologetic and sad that she couldn’t share the joy of food with Yuno…
While continuing such a life, she learned things. One of those things was that she must not be underestimated.
Even though she had been granted a job by the Celestial Bestower Ritual and was of an age where drinking was permitted, she still looked like a twelve years old child. Being a solo traveler, and a woman on top of that, made her prime prey for those with ill intentions.
In fact, there were times she was looked down upon and nearly scammed by malicious stall owners, and it wasn’t just once or twice that she was attacked by thugs or former bandits.
However, Linfa was a Spirit Arts User, after all. Even if Yuno was a Low-Rank Spirit, turning the tables on common thugs was a simple task.
That said, having it happen so often was annoying, and being looked down upon was unpleasant. To avoid such situations as much as possible, Linfa changed her clothing and start talking masculinely to disguise her gender.
Since Linfa had originally been educated to behave in a masculine manner as the next family head, it wasn’t much of a hardship, and because she felt it was somewhat effective, she had continued it until today.
For a while, she wandered freely, whittling down the severance money she had been given, but she couldn’t keep that up forever. To live, money was essential.
In short, Linfa had to earn a living.
If it was just about feeding herself, she could have managed somehow with her power as a Spirit Arts User. But as time passed since leaving home and she mentally calmed down, a goal for the future began to come into view for Linfa.
Great success as a Spirit Arts User.
She would make a name for herself together with Yuno and prove that good-for-nothing dad wrong. The path Linfa chose to achieve this was to become an adventurer.
Once that was decided, there was only one destination. The goal was the Labyrinth City.
Thus, Linfa and Yuno came to this land, Tandem, to establish themselves as adventurers.
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