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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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Riding through the early morning mist, the air was quite chilly.
Since it would take nearly 4 hours to reach the abandoned dungeon, everyone had ridden at a pace that conserves their stamina as much as possible, so they hadn’t traveled very fast.
For some reason, it seemed like everyone except me had donned a rather thick-looking cloak before mounting their horses.
In the end, I had tried enduring it until the sun fully rose, but it wasn’t easy.
So I had to summon a spirit due to my lack of experience and poor preparation.
Honestly, just keeping my mouth shut tightly for an hour was an effort worthy of self-praise, given how cold it was.
As soon as I started raising my body temperature with the help of the spirit, a shocking scream rang out.
“Eh?! A spirit?!”
“What? A spirit?”
The origins of the startled cries were Yekaterina and Rellie.
Yekaterina, who seemed exceptionally attuned to spirits, reacted immediately, despite riding ahead of me.
And soon enough, she and Rellie approached me with faces full of curiosity, matching my pace.
Even Gaendal and Gin couldn’t hide their astonished expressions, but they seemed to leave it at that.
“What is it? What is it? Spirit magic, for real?”
“No way, really? Egga, you can use spirit magic too?”
“Well, I learned a little from the elf who raised me…”
“What?! An elf raised you?!”
“Wow! You’re more interesting than I had heard!”
I didn’t know what kind of stories they had heard about me.
But unlike Rellie, who lit up her eyes with curiosity, Yekaterina began to show an almost burdensome level of keen interest.
“Eldmia. Could it be that you’ve been able to communicate with spirits since you were young? So the elf helped awaken that talent?”
“No. I just lived with them, and at some point, I could communicate.”
At that answer, Rellie spoke up again, surprised once more.
“Really? So you couldn’t sense spirits originally?”
“Yes, well. I couldn’t even understand the concept of sensing them. Or rather, Yekaterina, you just felt me summon a spirit too, right? Doesn’t that mean you can use spirit magic?”
“Not at all! I can only sense them.”
Rellie then elaborated, as if this was an equally wondrous case.
“Being able to sense mana and being able to use magic are separate, just like being able to sense spirits and use spirit magic are separate. If an elf was your teacher, they probably couldn’t even imagine such a case, so you may not have heard of it, but it’s very common among humans.”
“Ah! So you can’t communicate with spirits?”
Since I had struggled with that initially, I immediately understood what she meant.
As expected, Yekaterina nodded and clicked her tongue, seeming genuinely disappointed.
“In our country, the ability to commune with spirits is highly regarded. Perhaps because the land is barren, and unusually difficult, so the concept of spirit magic itself is almost at the level of other countries hundreds of years ago.”
According to Yekaterina, spirit magic in Rubil was closer to shamanism, relying purely on the intuition of those with high affinity, while their theoretical understanding of spirit magic lagged behind other nations despite their exceptional practical abilities.
A country so close to the wild, both physically and mentally, that those who could simply ‘do it’ without studying were continuously born and considered geniuses.
In any case, having grown up in such a place, Yekaterina took great pride in her spirit affinity but regretted her inability to utilize it.
“But there were no rumors about you being able to use spirit magic, Egga.”
“I suppose not. I don’t use it in combat.”
“Why?”
“So as not to upset the spirits.”
I had experienced firsthand the whimsical, befuddled, and capricious mindset of spirits when interacting with Asirye.
Unlike her, just listing the struggles I went through every time I asked spirits for combat-related assistance would put tales of military hardship to shame.
“I’m not sure if it’s because my spirit affinity isn’t that high, but spirits tend to be rather prickly when I ask for help in combat, so I simply don’t use them then.”
“…? Can’t you just order them?”
“What a preposterous suggestion, how can I order beings stronger than me?”
They are existences that manifest and communicate based on their own volition, except for routine matters.
As a mere human struggling to survive, with what audacity could I give orders?
I thought I had stated the obvious, but Rellie simply muttered,
“Huh? That’s strange.” seeming puzzled.
“Didn’t your teacher say anything about that?”
“They said it was a good mindset.”
Of course, Asirye had roared with laughter when I first told her, but she didn’t say much beyond it being desirable to maintain a humble attitude when dealing with natural beings.
Come to think of it, it was quite amusing.
Wouldn’t it be normal to be humble towards someone pointing a gun at your head?
“Hmm. Well, I haven’t met many spirit mages either, so I can’t say anything. If your teacher said so, then it must be right.”
Rellie seemed to have accepted it, nodding as if she understood, exhibiting a commendable mindset that could differentiate between ‘wrong’ and ‘different.’
One should always keep such people close.
I hoped we could maintain a good relationship even after this request.
“That’s something I’ve never heard from the spirit mages I’ve met and observed. Eldmia, do you have any advice on communicating with spirits?”
Yekaterina was the same.
Heh heh.
In fact, I possessed a golden tip that would even surprise Asirye on this matter.
For the sake of maintaining a good relationship, I could at least share this golden tip.
“This is advice I can confidently give you. Since we’ve come to work together, and given Yekaterina’s high spirit affinity, it must be fate, so I’ll share this nugget of wisdom.”
“Really?! What is it?”
“Spirits don’t understand human language.”
“Eh?”
“Huh?”
I continued explaining to the two, who seemed to have forgotten how to retort.
“It’s simple. We can communicate because we’re speaking the Imperial common tongue. But Yekaterina, if you spoke in Rubil, I wouldn’t understand, right?”
“That’s… true?”
“It’s the same for spirits. All their communication with humans is like that. Spirits don’t understand language; they understand intent.”
For someone who had lived in a place without spirits, this realization was almost on the level of Columbus’s egg, so much so that even Asirye, the elf, had given me a standing ovation when she first heard it.
Initially lacking any spirit affinity, I had suddenly gained it, so the spirits themselves took an immense interest in me.
Unlike spirit mages who had to seek the spirits’ attention, having them show interest in me first was an enormous advantage.
Even so, we couldn’t communicate.
After much contemplation, I reached one conclusion:
Spirits don’t treat humans as one among many, but as distinct individuals.
As a result, they lack the ‘universality’ of applying the same communication methods from one person to another.
From the spirits’ perspective, since Asirye, Yekaterina, and I are all different people, they all need different methods of communication.
It would be pointless to speak to ants the way one speaks to people, so they approach each new sentient being by learning novel ways of exchanging intentions.
They respect the concept of individual personhood more than any other race, a maddeningly radical notion and practice.
“In the process of spirits manifesting and communicating, they seem to borrow the subject’s thoughts to speak, giving the impression that they fully understand the concept of language. But that’s not the case at all. If a mute summoned them, they wouldn’t speak a word, would they?”
Since verbal communication isn’t their primary mode, it might seem to others that they’re conveying intent without uttering a word, like a mute.
“Then those called geniuses in spirit magic…”
“They understand the spirits’ language. They have their own language, of sorts. They’re just accommodating us.”
It was as if I had been born bilingual, with one of those languages being that of spirits.
Of course, they would seem to communicate and help well.
“Wow… I’ve never considered that perspective.”
It would be unthinkable to approach spirits from the perspective of viewing them as a race, rather than divine beings.
As such, I took considerable pride in my deduction.
“So instead of relying on words to convey something, it might be faster to simply express it through actions. That’s how it is for me.”
Spirits exist everywhere and have always existed.
No matter how much a mute person suddenly started babbling about communicating with spirits, it would only confuse them.
The being they remember is the silent one.
It’s usually easier to communicate with spirits by approaching them in one’s usual manner,
unless one has a case like mine.
“So that’s how you summoned the spirit earlier without saying a word!”
Yekaterina’s conclusion was accurate, so I nodded and smiled.
I had indeed communicated with spirits purely through body language.
While I could now exchange intent through various methods, it was still more reliable to convey it through gestures since that was my initial approach.
“Wow, this seems like something we should discuss more when we rest later. Is that okay, Eldmia?”
“I don’t mind, but why later…”
“Because we have unwanted guests blocking the road.”
Having been engrossed in the conversation, I hadn’t noticed our pace was gradually slowing until Yekaterina, with her sharp eyes fixed ahead, made me realize it.
Following her gaze, there were about a dozen rough-looking men obstructing the forest path.
With a campfire in the middle of the road and their slovenly sprawl, they were undoubtedly…
“They’re clearly bandits, what should we do?”
Gaendal, who had matched our horses’ pace, asked as we all slowed to a brisk walk, clearing our throats to ponder.
I had assumed we were considering how to swiftly deal with them and proceed, but the first person to speak uttered something I hadn’t expected at all.
“Wouldn’t it be better to turn back? At this distance, they likely can’t tell who we are yet. If we’re moving secretly, it’s better to take a detour than leave witnesses by engaging them.”
“Hmm. You’re probably right. I’d rather not waste energy unnecessarily either.”
Not only did Rellie agree, but Gaendal and Yekaterina shared the same sentiment.
“Ah. So that’s why I was hired.”
“Hm? Did you say something?”
I had assumed they knew, but apparently not.
Through Gaendal’s inquiry, I realized belatedly:
While these adventurers were certainly higher-ranked than me, they likely had less experience battling multiple human opponents.
Just their concern about leaving witnesses alive when facing mere bandits showed their lack of familiarity.
I understood well enough.
The feeling of fighting monsters versus humans had to be different.
In fact, the stronger the surrounding adventurers are, the more cautious they would be in combat against people, potentially overestimating their opponents’ abilities unwittingly.
But how would they survive? They would all die.
“We’re in a hurry, so why bother going around? Since this seems like an opportunity to show the Guildmaster why he hired me, you can all just watch this time.”
In any case, I would end up fighting people in the dungeon too, so this was a good chance to correct their judgment early.
Thinking it would be beneficial, I dismissed the spirits and proceeded forward.
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