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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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Lee Ha-eun, who had summoned the familiar Sarang, instantly became the popular star of her class.
“Can I pet Sarang?”
“So cute!”
“Sarang, paw!”
Because the children in her class couldn’t leave the cute-looking Sarang alone.
Ah, in this case, would it be more correct to say that Sarang became the popular star rather than Lee Ha-eun?
“I want a familiar too!”
“Only mages can have familiars.”
“I want to be a mage too!”
Anyway, the children, who were completely charmed by the puppy, chatted that they also wanted to contract with a familiar.
Of course….
“No. It’s too early for you, who still have too little mana, to contract with a familiar.”
As the teacher said, the children, who were still elementary school students, couldn’t contract with a familiar because they had too little mana.
Even if the children did contract with a familiar, considering the amount of their mana, it would be reverse-summoned quickly.
“Then what about Ha-eun?!”
“Why does only Ha-eun get to have a familiar?”
“Well….”
The teacher couldn’t answer that question.
And for good reason. The teacher also couldn’t understand how Lee Ha-eun felt like she had enough mana even after contracting with a familiar.
“W-well! Ha-eun trains with Geon-woo at the training ground every day or learns magic at an academy, doesn’t she? It’s because she has a lot of mana from training so hard.”
The teacher made that excuse.
‘Well… It is true that Ha-eun has more mana than the other children.’
And the innocent children believed those words and became more active in training while saying that they also wanted to contract with a familiar.
Of course, they quickly lost interest and went back to their old ways.
Apart from that, I also heard some teachers discussing the fact that Lee Ha-eun had made a familiar contract.
“If she contracts with a familiar at such a young age, it’ll be hard for her to use magic because of the lack of mana….”
“They said it was the student Yeon Mi-rae from the high school next door who suggested the familiar contract to Ha-eun, right?”
“She’s famous as an Aura Blade user, but no matter how much of a genius she is, it seems like she doesn’t know much about mages.”
Some teachers who didn’t know that Lee Ha-eun was a multiple-ability Awakener saw Yeon Mi-rae as a person who had forced a familiar contract on Lee Ha-eun without knowing much about familiars, and….
“Yeon Mi-rae had high magic theory scores even though she wasn’t a mage. They said that her knowledge alone was at the level of an academy cadet… no, perhaps even higher.”
“With the senses of an Aura Blade user, don’t you think she felt something special from Ha-eun?”
“For some reason, Ha-eun also doesn’t seem to be in bad condition or anything after contracting with her familiar… Maybe Ha-eun has a constitution specialized for familiar contracts?”
Some teachers who saw that Lee Ha-eun didn’t feel a lack of mana even after contracting with a familiar thought that there must have been a good reason for Yeon Mi-rae to suggest a familiar contract to her.
In that way, the teachers’ opinions were divided into two, and they could be seen having such conversations in the faculty office, hallways, and cafeteria during break times.
‘…Perhaps it’s because they’re teachers who have to be a mirror for the children, they generally have good personalities.’
The teachers were having a healthy discussion, acknowledging the other’s remarks, not forcing their own thoughts on others, and not ruling out the possibility that their own opinion could be wrong and that the other person’s argument could be right.
Of course, since the number of teachers in this school with specialized knowledge related to familiars was small to begin with, the level of the discussion itself was low.
‘No, in the first place, it’s a meaningless discussion.’
I thought that as I absorbed the mana gathered in the training room and converted it into internal energy as usual before returning home.
Since I came home earlier than usual today, I was the only one here.
There was still quite a lot of time until my mother returned from work, and Yeon Mi-rae would also still be in class at school right now.
As for Lee Ha-eun, she would be at the academy by now.
“Ugh….”
I stretched my body that was stiff from sitting in a school chair or in a cross-legged position while absorbing mana in the training room, turned on the TV, and checked the news channel.
Partly to just kill some time, and partly wondering if anything had happened while I was at school.
[Next up. It is reported that the guild Cheol-hyeol that is composed of those who were previously framed due to a criminal organization has annihilated another branch of a criminal organization. Netizens are expressing concern, saying that while they find their actions refreshing, their methods may be too excessive. Some netizens have stated that it’s natural for them to hold a grudge after being used by a criminal organization….]
“……”
Cheol-hyeol (Ironblood)*.
A guild composed of those who had been freed from a criminal organization after I had rescued the hostages.
They hated criminal organizations, saying that their lives had been ruined by them, and were said to be actively participating in criminal organization cleanup operations.
Since they were all individuals who had been used as limbs by a criminal organization after their hostages were taken, they were veteran Awakeners in interpersonal combat, and thanks to their skills and know-how, it was said that criminal organizations were being wiped out without any particular damage.
The only problem was the high mortality rate of the criminals in the operations they participated in.
Because of that, there was a lot of talk about them.
‘Considering the future, it’s better for the criminals to just die rather than for them to go to prison.’
When the world fell into chaos as the Black Fog began its offensive again, there was also an incident where the criminals in prison escaped in a large-scale jailbreak, so if possible, it was better to kill these criminals in advance and reduce their numbers.
Well….
‘The people of Cheol-hyeol will take care of that.’
Having confirmed that there was nothing important enough for me to worry about in today’s news, I was about to turn off the TV…
“Pant, pant…!”
“…?”
If it weren’t for the sound of a dog panting next to me.
No, rather than a dog….
“Sarang? Why are you here?”
“Pant, pant…!”
Sarang bit my arm and pulled me.
Of course, it didn’t hurt or anything.
“…What’s wrong? You should be with your owner right now.”
So… why had this one, who should be with Lee Ha-eun who had gone to the academy, come to find me?
It wasn’t difficult to guess the reason.
Either Lee Ha-eun had sent it to me… or Lee Ha-eun was in danger, so it came here to find someone who could help her.
And seeing as it was pulling my arm….
“…Wait a minute.”
At my words, Sarang let go of my arm and sat down on the spot.
…It had understood my command to ‘wait.’
Seeing that, I turned off the TV and then took out the doll from my artifact.
Then, Sarang, as if it were a matter of course, climbed onto my doll’s head.
“……”
“…Woof!”
“…Right, hold on tight.”
I said that and then sent the doll out the veranda.
The doll that had left the apartment complex then asked Sarang.
“Which way?”
“Woof!”
“That way?”
“Grrrrr….”
“Then that way?”
“Woof!”
I moved according to Sarang’s guidance.
But there was nothing particularly special at the place Sarang had guided me to.
“Is this the right place?”
“Woof!”
At my question, Sarang barked lightly and jumped down to the ground.
And it walked with its small paws and stuck its nose to the ground.
…From the circumstances, it seemed like Lee Ha-eun had been taken here….
‘…Is it trying to pick up her scent?’
I thought that, placed my hand on the ground, and moved my internal energy.
It seemed like Sarang was trying to track Lee Ha-eun by her scent, but it was much faster for me to step in myself.
‘Psychometry.’
My internal energy read the residual traces of mana left on the ground and in the air.
It read the memories of the mana.
‘…There are a lot of miscellaneous traces.’
The person who had kidnapped Lee Ha-eun must have released their mana here.
Certainly, if mana was scattered like this, it would be difficult to figure out exactly what had happened here even with psychometry.
However….
‘Found it.’
It wasn’t a big problem for me, whose senses were more sensitive than other Awakeners and whose ability to manipulate energy was outstanding.
In any case, having seen the scene of Lee Ha-eun’s kidnapping, I clicked my tongue inwardly.
‘…It wasn’t that they specifically targeted and kidnapped only Lee Ha-eun.’
It seemed that Lee Ha-eun, after her academy class ended, had been on her way home with her friends, but they had all been kidnapped along the way.
So… it meant that multiple children had been kidnapped at once. And the reason the kidnapping could succeed in broad daylight was…
‘Hypnosis….’
Because the culprit had used a hypnosis ability to disguise themselves as a teacher going on a picnic with their students.
‘Did something like this happen before my regression?’
…It hadn’t.
It probably hadn’t.
If something like this had happened, the parents would have been in an uproar, so the elementary school would have temporarily closed, and if that had been the case, it would have remained in my memory.
In other words, this was also a butterfly effect of my actions.
‘…Still, it’s a relief that there are many clues.’
Although they had scattered their mana to cover their tracks from psychometry users while taking the children, this was at a level that would be quickly discovered if the police took the time to investigate it.
This, conversely, meant that they were moving so hastily that they could only take that much of a measure, or if not that….
‘It would mean that they were moving with the intention of finishing everything before the police could even investigate this.’
There was also the possibility that they were idiots who thought that they could throw off all pursuit just by scattering their mana, but the probability of that was low.
“Let’s go.”
“?”
At my words, Sarang looked up at me, and I placed Sarang on my doll’s head like before.
There was no time.
Thinking that, I flew at full speed.
Kuw-aaaah…!
“Kyiing?!”
Sarang seemed surprised at my speed, but since I was protecting it with internal energy, no harm came to it.
Instead….
“Sarang.”
“Woof?”
I stood on the rooftop of the building where I felt the presence of the culprit and the children, and then, while speaking to Sarang, I stomped my foot with the Thousand-Pound Drop technique.
KWAANG!
“Bite them with all your might.”
At the same time as my words, the ceiling of the building collapsed, and Sarang and I broke straight through and dropped to the floor where the culprit and the children were.
“What?!”
“What’s going on?! Who suddenly…?”
Right after that….
“…Grrrr….”
Sarang, who had received internal energy from me, revealed its true form.
Not the form of a puppy that was loved like its name**, but the form of Fenrir, the wolf that had devoured a god.
“…A w-wolf?”
“What is that size…?!”
The criminals who saw that form as the dust cleared were flustered.
“Awoooooooo…!”
And the wolf, with its huge body that reached the ceiling, howled while looking at the humans who had kidnapped its master.
“…Sarang…?”
The child who felt her connection with that wolf also stared blankly at the sight.
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T/N – Well, that escalated quickly. The MC just sicked a giant wolf at some ants. 😅
Also, the Ironblood Guild. That sounds pretty cool, not gonna lie. I do hope he teaches these guys techniques later on. What better candidates to make into humanity’s stalwart vanguards than those who got burned by criminal organizations and hate such scum and villainy?
*Do you guys want me to keep using Cheol-hyeol (鐵血) or do you want me to use Ironblood instead?
**사랑 (Sarang) means “Love” in Korean.
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
Ironblood, Please.