Blessing of the Spirits

by Yuri Kitayama

  ...Well, whatever.

  It had nothing to do with him, so Rio decided not to stick his nose into their business any further. It was then that Rebecca returned with a neatly wrapped lunchbox.

  “Sorry for the wait. I packed it full of breakfast foods and bread. Chloe woke up early to bake it, so I hope you enjoy it.”

  “Thank you for going through the trouble. Please let Chloe know too —”

  “Hey! I’m back!”

  Just as Rio was thanking her with a smile, a drunken man entered the inn. He spotted Rebecca and wobbled his way over to her.

  “Honey! Don’t tell me you’re coming back drunk again!”

  “Shut up! I can drink whenever I want to!” With a yell, the man suddenly struck Rebecca.

  Rio was surprised, guessing that this was her husband. And judging by how he was coming home drunk in the early hours of the morning, he probably wasn’t a good one.

  An unbearable feeling came over Rio, but he didn’t want to act on it and complicate their family matters any more than they already were.

  “Ugh...”

  But he couldn’t help but feel helpless as he watched Rebecca touch where she was hit in pain. Rio sighed and approached her. He feigned chanting a spell, and manipulated his essence to heal her pain.

  “Huh? It... doesn’t hurt anymore? T-Thank you!” Rebecca made a surprised face at the pain disappearing, but instantly understood what Rio had done and bowed her head in gratitude.

  “What? What did he do?” Meanwhile, her husband glared at Rio doubtfully. He didn’t understand what Rio had done, and was in a worse mood after seeing Rebecca being defended.

  “Stop it! That’s one of our patrons!” Rebecca tried to stand in front of her husband in a panic.

  You’ll only get hit again doing that...

  Rio was fed up. He knew she was a woman with a high sense of responsibility, but this was rather tactless.

  Sure enough, her husband’s temper flared, and he tried to smack her once again. With a sigh, Rio closed the gap between them, neutralized her husband’s movements, and gently touched the man’s head.

  “Purgo.”

  Rio’s hand started to faintly glow as he chanted a fake spell once more. Several seconds passed until the husband regained his senses.

  “It’s a sobering magic. Do you feel refreshed now?” Rio asked in a cold tone.

  “Huh...? Y-Yeah. Sorry about that,” the husband said, perplexed by his suddenly clear state of mind.

  “Don’t apologize to me, apologize to Rebecca,” Rio said in a tired voice, glancing over at the woman. Her husband turned to the proprietress with a guilty look on his face.

  “Sorry.”

  While he was a furious drunk, he didn’t seem to be unreasonably violent when sober.

  “I-I’m really sorry for the trouble!” Rebecca bowed her head at Rio in extreme gratitude.

  “No, I should be the one apologizing. Thank you for the lunch. Bye now.” Rio chose to say his farewells before things got more complicated, then left the inn.

  Well, that didn’t really solve anything...

  The scene that had happened in the inn just now would most likely occur again in the future. His actions had been meaningless... A temporary solution at best. The thought made his morning a bit more gloomy.

  Time to get a move on. He decided to leave the city and put his bad mood behind him as quickly as possible.

  After walking east along the road into the forest for a while, Rio checked to see if anyone was nearby, before deliberately straying off the road. It was still early in the morning, so the forest fog made everything difficult to see. Rio leisurely started to run.

  Not long after he’d changed his pace, he discovered a figure lying on the ground in his path. He stepped toward it it to see that a person was there, lying face-down.

  Even one step outside of the city walls exposed you to the risk of being attacked by monsters and carnivorous animals; that risk rose exponentially once you entered the forest proper. This person could have potentially been the result of that hazard — but it was possible that they may have just collapsed in the middle of their journey.

  With that thought in mind, Rio approached the body.

  It wore a robe that covered their entire figure. Judging by the size, Rio thought it was a child.

  Why is a child all the way out here...?

  It was a little unsettling, but just abandoning them would leave a bad aftertaste in Rio’s mouth, so he reluctantly decided to call out to them.

  “Hey, are you all right?” he asked as he shook them, but there was no reaction, though he could feel some body heat through the robe.

  So they were still alive — Rio relaxed for a moment and tried to peek at their face through the gap in their hood.

  Suddenly, the person — a girl, he realized — opened her eyes; they emitted a faint, murderous intent. Rio directed his gaze at the girl’s hand, only to see a knife with a long blade clutched in her hand.

  The girl thrust the knife towards Rio’s body, but he twisted himself around with a flinch, avoiding the attack. The girl’s knife had swung through empty space, narrowly missing him. However, it seemed as though she had read his first evade as she seamlessly moved to use a follow-up attack.

  With a heavy puff of breath, the girl blew at Rio’s neck. In her mouth was a small flute-like pipe — a blowgun.

  Rio felt a sting of pain at his neck, making him frown. But he knew he had to create distance between them, first and foremost, and reflexively shoved the girl away, while taking a step back.

  The girl’s hood fell back, revealing a very cute face and pale orange hair that reached down to her shoulders. She appeared to be two or three years younger than Rio, but there was a terrifying amount of cold-blooded murderous intent lurking in her scarlet eyes. Two fluffy fox ears grew out of her head, strongly demanding attention to their presence.

  A werebeast?! Rio’s eyes widened at the girl’s features. Suddenly, all the strength in his body drained away as he fell to one knee.

  The dart from her blowgun had been covered in a fast-acting poison, Rio determined. He pulled the dart out of his neck with a trembling hand. Then, before the poison could travel throughout his body, he covered the wound with his hand and secretly began to neutralize the poison without the girl’s noticing.

  The girl assumed he had no form of antidote and watched on, waiting for the poison to circulate through him.

  Meanwhile, as Rio administered his detoxification ability, he carefully observed the girl’s face. He had read about them in books before, but this was his first time seeing a real werebeast.

  Werebeasts and other demi-humans were very rarely spotted if one lived a normal life in the Strahl region, making Rio’s surprise justified.

  The two stared at each other as Rio continued to remove the poison from his body. Once he deemed himself ready — and checked the strength of his grip — he gave the girl a small smile. The girl finally noticed that the color was, for some reason, returning to Rio’s face. Surprise flickered across her emotionless face.

  Rio kept an eye on the girl for any movements as he removed his backpack and dropped it on the ground, making him instantly lighter. Now, he was ready for a fight.

  In the next moment, the girl burst into a run towards Rio with tremendous speed. She had probably used Augendae Corporis beforehand, but even if she did —

  She’s really fast!

  Rio was shocked at how fast her burst of speed was; of all the people he had met, until now, she was definitely the fastest. Despite her young age, her natural abilities as a werebeast had probably awakened... But that didn’t mean Rio had to fall behind her. He could manipulate his essence to allow his body to surpass its physical limits, and draw out his abilities too.

  Rio let his essence flow out of his body, which instantly strengthened it. Then, at a speed that was equal to the girl’s, he dove to the side. The girl’s eyes widened slightly at Rio’s speed, but she chang
ed her trajectory to match his.

  So she’s able to keep up...

  Rio tracked her movements calmly as he took out a knife from his robe. He threw it at her leg, but the girl jumped to evade it. She grabbed a moderately sized branch and pulled herself up, jumping lightly from branch to branch to climb up a tree. Rio burst into a run — faster than the wind, he charged straight towards the girl, making her reach into her robe in a panic. She took out several throwing knives and flung them at Rio.

  Rio drew his longsword from its scabbard midair; although it wasn’t anything flashy, a fairly famous blacksmith had forged its razor-sharp blade. As proof of that, the blade of the sword gleamed sharply. Rio swung his sword at the approaching knives —

  The shrill sound of metal colliding with metal echoed throughout the forest. Rio had foreseen the trajectory of the girl’s knives and knocked them straight out of the air. He returned his sword back to its sheath as the girl swiftly descended from the tree. At the same time, Rio jumped up into the tree where the girl had just been.

  The force of his jump snapped the branch beneath him, making him move to another nearby branch instead. Then he dropped down to the ground once more... But the girl closed in on him, as she had anticipated the timing of his landing. She thrust the knife in her right hand towards Rio’s torso, but Rio calmly moved his left hand, parrying her knife attack. He then moved his right hand too; using the palm of his hand, he countered the girl’s attack with a blow to her chin. But the girl moved her head to the side, evading his palm. She spun the knife around in her hand, attempting another strike on Rio’s body.

  There was probably poison on the knife too.

  Rio used his flawless defensive movements and refined footwork to skillfully continue to dodge her attacks, but the girl refused to give up. She persistently tried to land one more attack.

  Her fierce attacks continued on for a while, but Rio observed her movements meticulously, and avoided each of her attacks with simple precision. Only the pitiful sound of the blade cutting through empty space echoed through the air.

  Eventually, the girl became aware of the difference in their ability. Her emotionless face began to show signs of impatience as her movements gradually became rougher. Rio had seen through the girl’s habits, and at this point, was deliberately creating chances for her to attack. The girl completely fell for his trap, swinging the knife horizontally at his face.

  You’re focusing on the knife too much.

  Rio flung himself backwards to avoid the knife. Simultaneously, he timed a kick to the girl’s feet just as she swung her knife, and knocked her off balance. He then grabbed the girl’s arms and disarmed her of the knife, throwing it away with vigor. He flung the girl back-first at a tree, but she flipped midair to regain her balance and landed by the tree on both feet, negating her momentum. She kicked against the trunk like a springboard, and launched herself back into the air, drawing a backup knife from her pocket. She thrust it forward, aiming for Rio’s heart.

  It’s like watching an animal move... Rio found himself in awe of the girl’s combat senses, but he dealt with it calmly.

  Grabbing her arm as she leapt towards him, he threw her over his shoulder and onto the ground with force.

  “Guh...!” She received the brunt of the impact against her back this time, making her groan in pain. The strength in her limbs gave out, making her let go of the knife. Rio kicked the knife away and straddled the girl’s body, holding her down.

  “It’s over. You can understand my speech, right?” he said, pressing his weight down on her. He didn’t miss the brief flicker of fear in the girl’s emotionless eyes.

  “Uuh... Uwah! N-No! No! Nooo! I dun... I dun wanna die...!” She struggled, shaking her head about in violent discomposure.

  “H-Hey, calm down!” Rio said, trying to soothe the desperate girl.

  “E-Eek! S-Save me! Mom! Mama...!”

  It was hard to believe this was the same girl who had just fought so calmly before. She was in no state to hold a conversation — once he determined that, Rio placed his hand on the girl’s head and imitated sleep magic to put her to sleep by force. The girl’s body fell completely limp.

  Rio removed a rope from his sack of belongings; In order to make sure she didn’t thrash about when she awakened, he’d remove her robe and inspect her body before securely tying her up. But halfway through the process, he noticed a metal collar around her neck, and frowned.

  “...The Collar of Submission, huh?” Rio muttered with furrowed brows.

  The Collar of Submission was a type of magical artifact used on slaves and criminals — an artifact that controlled the free will of the wearer. When the wearer received an order from a registered owner, they would feel greatly inclined to follow that order. On top of that, if they resisted the order too strongly, the registered owner could chant a certain spell to cast extreme pain on the wearer.

  Slaves were seen as property that could be owned. They had no human rights, and could be treated like objects without resistance, no matter what they really thought inside their hearts. That was what slaves were, and the Collar of Submission existed to supplement that.

  This werefox girl, who had just tried to kill Rio, was wearing such a collar, unmistakably making her the slave of someone else. She had probably been raised as an assassin and ordered to kill Rio by her registered owner. As long as she had the Collar of Submission on, she would continue her attempts to kill Rio. If she didn’t, she would have to suffer erratic shocks of pain throughout her body.

  It was almost like a curse... To both the girl, and to Rio.

  There weren’t many options to escape that curse, either: the fastest option would be to kill her, but Rio had never killed anyone before. Amakawa Haruto inside him still strongly rejected the idea of crossing that line. But at the same time, he knew that choosing to solve this another way would only bring him more hardship.

  Unable to hide his annoyance, Rio let out a heavy sigh.

  After several moments of hesitation, he placed his hand against the girl’s neck. Then, a faint light emitted from his hands — Clack! The collar that had restrained the girl fell off. Rio had dispelled the sorcery cast on the artifact by imitating the high-class magic, Dispello.

  “Hey. Wake up.”

  Rio retrieved the Collar of Submission and shook the girl awake.

  “Ngh... uhh...”

  After a few shakes, the girl’s body gave a twitch. Not long after, she blinked her eyes open. Then, seeing Rio’s figure in her field of vision, she tried to get up in a panic, but soon realized she was restrained.

  After a bit of struggling, she came to accept the fact that her movements had been completely constrained, and she cowered in resignation. She looked up at Rio with wary eyes.

  “It seems like you understand the situation now. If you don’t want to die, don’t thrash around like you did before. Okay?” Rio decided to intimidate her a little with a threat, but fear filled the girl’s eyes.

  “...If I don’t... thrash... you won’t... kill?”

  “That depends on whether you answer my questions or not. You were ordered to come kill me, right? Is your master one of the royals of Beltrum, or one of the nobles?”

  The girl fell silent at Rio’s question. She had probably been under strict orders to never act in a harmful way toward her master. Breaking that order would have resulted in extreme pain gnawing away at her body, making her instinctively want to avoid speaking, even though Rio had already removed her collar.

  “Hey. Do you know what this is?” Rio held the Collar of Submission up for her to see the same collar she had been wearing moments ago.

  “A c-collar...?!”

  The girl gave a confused reply, immediately followed by a gasp. Her eyes widened. She desperately wriggled her body under her restraints to check for the sensation of the collar. Eventually, she realized that the sensation of something that should’ve been there was missing.

  “It’s... gone... The collar...
is gone? But... why?” The girl blinked her eyes in utter astonishment.

  After a moment, she snapped back to herself with a gasp, then struggled to check the presence of the collar once more...

  “Eh... w-weh... hic... hic... Waaaaah!”

  ...Then burst into violent tears.

  “Hey...” Rio found himself at a loss before the girl’s flood of tears. All he knew was that the Collar of Submission must have weighed heavily on her.

  With a sigh, Rio decided to let the girl cry all she wanted for now. He took that time to go and collect all the weapons they had used in their battle.

  “...Are you done yet?” Rio asked as her cries finally started to settle down. The girl flinched, and worriedly looked up at him.

  “The collar is gone now, so you can answer my questions, right? Who ordered you to come kill me?”

  “Ah, uh...”

  The girl didn’t respond right away to Rio’s question. She glanced around at her surroundings, and sniffed the air.

  “I don’t know what you’re so wary for, but it’s only you and me out here. You can rest easy,” Rio said, making the girl’s body shake once again. Eventually, she opened her mouth.

  “I-I... d-don’t know the name... of my master... He never... told it... to me...”

  It was more or less the response Rio had been expecting. Having a slave for the risky role of an assassin meant the master probably didn’t allow any more information to be passed on than necessary.

  “...Do you know the house name?” He didn’t have very high expectations, but he asked anyway.

  “H-House name? I don’t... know.” The girl tilted her head in confusion as Rio gave a disappointed sigh.

  “B-But! I know... I know Brother’s name! Stewart... I-It’s Stewart!” The girl strung together her sentences in a rush. Rio narrowed his eyes at her response.

  It was a very familiar name to him. The same name as the boy who tried to push the blame for shoving Flora off the cliff onto Rio. If his family had found out about Rio, it would make sense for them to send their pet assassin after him.

  “Stewart... Is he a werefox like you?”