Chapter 39

Chapter 39. The First Hero (33)

"Before you call Silnyang again... Ella."

A stream of water washed Na-ye's tear-covered face.

Once it was clean, her cheeks were visibly red.

"Now I can call Silnyang, right?!"

"Calm down first."

"Yes!"

Even while Seongchan had been dealing with Ella, Na-ye had been crying.

She had repeatedly said she finally understood and would do better from now on.

She believed she'd already calmed herself enough to summon Silnyang again.

Seongchan stopped her.

She was still far too excited.

"Why are you suddenly so desperate to summon Silnyang?"

"Ah! I gained Mental Barrier."

Na-ye's eyes lit up.

"Thanks to it, I realized that Silnyang's angry behavior was partly hiding emotions it was embarrassed about."

She smiled.

"I want to tell Silnyang it doesn't need to do that. And... I want us to get along better from now on."

Until now, every time she summoned Silnyang, she'd only seen anger.

She had believed the spirit simply disliked her.

After realizing Silnyang actually cared about her, Na-ye had become much more proactive.

"You discovered that because Mental Barrier pushed away Silnyang's anger, right?"

Seongchan raised an eyebrow.

"Doesn't that mean Silnyang is extremely angry?"

"Ah..."

Na-ye's excitement faded.

"You're right."

Mental Barrier had allowed her to notice a tiny portion of Silnyang's true feelings beneath the overwhelming anger.

Her expression darkened.

"Now you can call Silnyang."

"Didn't you just tell me not to?"

Na-ye had apparently assumed Seongchan was warning her not to summon the angry spirit.

I meant she should summon Silnyang while understanding that it's angry.

Silnyang really was furious.

Na-ye had only noticed the guilt beneath the anger because Mental Barrier blocked the stronger emotion.

The problem was that Na-ye would probably ignore the anger and focus entirely on Silnyang's guilt.

Then she would summon it and rush forward yelling that everything was fine.

The already angry Silnyang would panic, become even more upset, retreat into the Spirit Realm, and refuse to come out again for a while.

Seongchan could practically see their future.

That's why I intervened, but Na-ye herself is the bigger problem.

He tried making eye contact with her.

Her confidence had already collapsed again, so she avoided his gaze.

Na-ye's emotions fluctuated almost as badly as Silnyang's.

Either she blocked everything...

Or charged straight in.

"I didn't say not to call it."

"But Silnyang was angry when it returned to the Spirit Realm. Even if I call, it probably won't come."

"So you're not even going to try?"

"Hiii~"

"Kyarrr~"

Ella and If raised their voices.

They sounded as if they were telling Na-ye to listen to Seongchan.

He's a spirit user with two spirits.

I should listen to him instead of assuming my own judgment is always right.

And good things usually happen when I follow Seongchan's advice.

Na-ye buried her desire to avoid calling Silnyang.

She chose to trust Seongchan.

I have to do it.

She caught hold of the part of herself that wanted to run away.

Then she called.

Whoooooosh!

Wind violently swirled.

Silnyang appeared.

"Kyaooo!"

It glared at Na-ye.

Then its head tilted forty-five degrees.

Its master wasn't charging at it.

She wasn't trying to smother it with affection.

"Kyao?"

Silnyang became confused by the emotions flowing toward it.

Na-ye looked at the spirit.

"Silnyang, what's making you so angry?"

She took a breath.

"If there's something I can listen to, I'll listen."

Na-ye had always been good at blocking.

Approaching first was what she struggled with.

So whenever Silnyang became angry, she had only tried to stop it.

Whenever the spirit reacted badly to her holding a blade, Na-ye had focused only on that action.

"Kyao."

Silnyang merely turned its head.

The anger was still strong.

But now there was confusion mixed into it too.

I'm dizzy.

Na-ye had always thought only about blocking Silnyang's emotions.

She had never truly tried to accept them.

She had been afraid.

"Kyao..."

When Na-ye frowned, Silnyang slowly began approaching her.

It stepped through the air on small currents of wind.

Their eyes met.

Both could feel that the other was trying.

Silnyang landed on Na-ye's shoulder and settled down in a loaf-like position.

Just as they finally began understanding each other's emotions, Seongchan held out the preparation knife.

"Hold the knife."

"Hold the knife?"

Na-ye stared at him.

"But Silnyang already came out."

"Kyaoooo!"

Silnyang immediately stood from its loaf position.

It shouted furiously and prepared to fly at Seongchan.

"Silnyang, it's okay."

Na-ye caught the spirit before it could launch itself.

Silnyang didn't summon wind this time.

Instead, it fired furious looks at Seongchan.

It looked ready to attack at any moment.

Then it seemed to remember something.

Its gaze shifted slightly aside.

At least it knows I helped improve its master's feelings.

"Kyao... kyao..."

Silnyang stepped down Na-ye's arm and returned to her shoulder.

It settled into a loaf again.

This time, its gaze was gentler than before.

Almost as if saying it would watch what happened for its master's sake.

"Have you ever thought about why Silnyang hates you holding a blade?"

"Doesn't Silnyang simply hate it when I hold one?"

"No."

Seongchan shook his head.

"There should've been times when Silnyang accepted someone holding a blade."

"There weren't."

Na-ye thought carefully.

She still reached the same conclusion.

Every time I held a sword, Silnyang summoned wind and desperately tried to stop me.

She couldn't agree.

But Seongchan knew Na-ye's history better than Na-ye herself did.

He wasn't speaking without reason.

Cha Hyeonwoo used twin swords.

Cha Hyeonwoo, the former Guild Master and Silnyang's previous master, had fought using two swords.

Silnyang used wind to make those blades even sharper and stronger.

"I don't think that's true."

Seongchan looked toward Silnyang.

"Right?"

Whoosh!

Silnyang turned its head away.

A wave of anger, frustration, and sadness came from it.

Na-ye's heart weakened immediately.

"I can't do it."

She gave up on holding the knife.

For a moment, Silnyang's expression froze.

Only briefly.

"Kyaoo! Kyaoooo!"

Then Silnyang began shouting angrily at Seongchan.

Even if the spirit became angry, Seongchan had no intention of stopping.

I can't let Silnyang continue struggling inside that pain forever.

He put the preparation knife back into his high-grade subspace pouch.

Only then did both Na-ye and Silnyang visibly relax.

"If you won't hold a blade, we'll have to use another method."

"Kyao!"

Silnyang frowned again.

Na-ye drew a breath.

Then she spoke more actively.

She pushed aside Silnyang's displeasure.

As long as she didn't need to hold an actual blade, she was willing to try anything.

"There's another way without holding a knife?"

Na-ye looked at him.

"What do I do?"

"Like this."

Seongchan raised his right hand.

He straightened it and pressed his fingers together, shaping his hand like a blade.

Ella released water toward his palm.

The water wrapped around his hand.

But it didn't remain still.

Shhhhhhh!

Seongchan could feel the current racing across his palm.

At a glance, it looked almost like wind surrounding his hand.

Good. Make it resemble wind as much as possible.

[This is much harder than I expected.]

Rather than merely covering his hand in water, Ella was shaping the current so Na-ye could recognize it as something similar to wind.

She frowned while controlling the flow.

If the speed became too high, the water could scatter in the wrong direction.

Using the water blade around his palm, Seongchan stripped the hide from a Wild Pig.

If someone hadn't known he used his hand, they would've assumed he'd done it with a sharp butchering knife.

[This is hard! I want to go back to the Spirit Realm!]

Ella was splitting the water into several streams and forcing them to move quickly.

And not merely quickly.

To make it look like wind required enormous concentration.

As her control improved, details she hadn't noticed before became visible.

The difficulty increased.

Her desire to give up rose sharply.

That's enough.

[I can already cut with water. Making it look like wind was way too hard.]

The moment Seongchan gave permission, Ella stopped the water.

She landed on his shoulder and rested.

She rubbed her cheek against his.

At first, waves of exhaustion flowed into him.

Then concern slowly replaced them, as though Ella worried she was burdening him.

"I'll try."

Na-ye had gained courage from watching Seongchan and Ella.

She looked determinedly at Silnyang.

"Silnyang, let's do it together."

Silnyang nodded at her enthusiasm.

"Kyaooo!"

Wind blades formed around both of Na-ye's arms.

Standing on Na-ye's shoulder with all four legs straight, Silnyang raised its chin proudly.

Its expression was extremely dignified.

The emotional message flowing toward Na-ye was obvious.

Praise me.

Praise me a lot.

Then Silnyang flinched.

"Kyao... kyao... kyaoong."

It had expected Na-ye to immediately throw herself at it.

The spirit almost flew away.

But Na-ye didn't.

She remained calm.

When Seongchan asked earlier, I said there were never times when Silnyang accepted someone using a blade.

But there were.

Na-ye remembered Cha Hyeonwoo.

The former Guild Master of the Rice Ball Guild.

And she finally realized something about herself.

She had never tried to understand Silnyang's grief after losing Cha Hyeonwoo.

I kept thinking Silnyang was angry.

Annoyed.

That it hated me.

I never looked at the pain.

The part of Silnyang that didn't want to do this.

Silnyang had always been expressing itself.

Mental Barrier had pushed aside its rage and allowed Na-ye to see the honest emotions hidden underneath.

One of those emotions was longing for Cha Hyeonwoo.

But even after realizing that, Na-ye had focused on something else.

I got too excited.

Embarrassingly excited.

The moment Na-ye realized Silnyang didn't hate her, she had become ecstatic.

She wanted to hug the spirit.

She wanted to tell Silnyang they could work hard together.

She had been so overwhelmed by the relief of not being hated that she'd rushed forward.

Seongchan had stopped those emotions from controlling her.

That allowed Na-ye to remain calm even while Silnyang looked proud and desperately wanted praise but couldn't fully allow itself to enjoy that pride.

"Let's work hard together, Silnyang."

"Kyao... kyao!"

Silnyang's eyes lit up.

As if saying,

Yes.

That's it.

You finally understand.

Na-ye's calm expression immediately vanished.

So cute!

A sudden wave of affection slammed into Silnyang.

Its fur stood straight up.

Then it flew out of reach of Na-ye's hands.

Watching it retreat, Seongchan spoke casually.

"I'll leave the Wild Pigs to Ella and Na-ye."

"Kyao?!"

Silnyang violently shook its head.

The wind blades around Na-ye's arms disappeared.

"Silnyang."

Na-ye looked up.

"You don't want to do this with me?"

"Oh?"

Seongchan added lightly,

"So you can't do it?"

"KYAOOO!"

Silnyang's emotions bounced wildly.

First, it didn't want to do anything because it felt manipulated.

Then it wanted to work together with Na-ye.

Then Seongchan implied it couldn't do it, and the desire to prove itself suddenly surged.

Even amid those bouncing feelings, Silnyang tilted its head.

By now, it expected Na-ye to become emotionally overwhelmed too.

"Silnyang, you'll do it for me?"

Armed with Mental Barrier, Na-ye had become stronger.

Even with Silnyang's emotions fluctuating wildly, she could speak warmly without being dragged around by them.

That steady feeling made Silnyang approach without realizing it.

"Kyaoooo~"

Smiling happily, it rubbed its cheek against Na-ye's arm.

Then it formed the wind blade again.