Chapter 178
Luna watched the woman with Ppiyak on her hand with wary eyes.
The blue-white haired woman stood on the Guardian Tree's roots, looking down at Luna emotionlessly. Then she spoke in a soft voice, "...So its name is Jjakjjaki. How cute."
The woman called the spirit by a name Luna had never heard. It wasn't clear if she was talking to herself or to Luna.
"...Do you know... Ppiyak?"
"Met it while taking a walk."
"..."
Had she seen her somewhere before? A familiar yet chilling energy. The mana emanating from the woman was strong enough to make Luna uncomfortable.
Even after seeing Luna, Ppiyak remained perched on the woman's hand. Ppiyak hadn't been kidnapped. The spirit was as obedient as if sitting on its master's hand, following orders.
The blue-white haired woman extended her hand toward Luna as if sending the spirit away.
Ppiyak responded and fluttered over to sit on Luna's palm.
Whatever had happened, Ppiyak was huddled up and trembling violently.
"Ppiyak...?"
Just then, Damian's voice came from behind Luna.
"Luna!"
He burst out of the forest and stood beside her. Then he checked Ppiyak on Luna's palm.
"Where did you find Jjakjjaki? Is it really okay?"
"...Jjak… jjaki?"
Seeing Damian use the same name as the blue-haired woman, Luna looked at his mask with confused eyes.
Damian quickly corrected himself as if realizing his mistake.
"No, I mean Ppiyak. Why is it trembling so much? What happened?"
Since Ppiyak was a name Luna had given it herself, it was entirely possible for Damian to not remember it. But how did that woman know what Damian called it—Jjakjjaki? Even Luna, with her sensitive senses, hadn't heard that name before.
"...I don't know."
Damian stroked Ppiyak's head with his finger. But Ppiyak continued trembling as if suffering from cold.
"Is there a way to make it better?"
"...Its body is cold. I'll hold it for now."
"Would feeding it something help?"
"Yes. That should work. I know something good."
"Since it's an ethereal spirit... should we feed it something like baby food?"
"..."
Luna's face brightened with a smile at his clueless suggestion.
They were like a married couple devoted to childcare, looking after Damian and Ppiyak.
"But where was it?"
Luna turned her gaze toward the Guardian Tree and said, "There was a senior at the Guardian Tree..."
But the blue-white-haired woman had vanished without a trace.
Damian asked curiously, "Who was there?"
Luna spoke while staring blankly, "...Yes."
***
Though Ppiyak wasn't in good condition, there was nothing I could do. I had no knowledge or ability regarding spirits.
Thankfully Luna volunteered to nurse it; if I'd tried to handle it alone, I would have just wandered around all night.
Luna didn't give a clear explanation about whether Ppiyak had been kidnapped or had run away on its own.
When I asked, she just pressed her lips together and remained lost in thought.
The commotion ended ambiguously like that.
Trisha rolled herself up in my blanket as if it were her own bed. Then she shouted as if it were perfectly natural, "What are you doing?!"
"I'm going to sleep, turn off the lights!"
"..."
I left Trisha alone and sat at my desk, taking out some parchment. I wanted to seek Teacher's advice about Ppiyak.
After writing the letter, I left the dormitory, leaving the sleeping Trisha behind. Then I sent the stitch flying with the letter.
Actually, until Trisha mentioned how sensitive the wooden sword was, I hadn't noticed anything.
I never could have predicted the accident that was about to happen.
The next morning, on evaluation day, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my swords stored in the entrance.
The wooden sword had transformed into its sapling form and was wrapped around the enchanted sword, which was broken in two.
I rubbed my eyes, wondering if I was dreaming.
The enchanted sword was still split in two when I looked again.
My sapling sword had crushed the enchanted sword as if constricting it with tendrils.
"What is this..."
How is this possible?
When I touched the sapling with bewilderment, it immediately changed back to its sword form.
The broken enchanted sword clattered to the floor.
What went wrong? Did it covet and try to absorb the enchanted sword's mana? No, if that were the case, it would have happened earlier when they were stored together. It seems calculated, as if it were waiting for when I wasn't watching.
"..."
Hearing the noise, Trisha came out of my room rubbing her eyes with a drowsy face.
"What's going on..."
Then seeing me holding the wooden sword, she asked curiously, "Why... did you split the sword? Weren't you going to use it today?"
"...I didn't do this."
"...Then who did? Was it a thief?"
"No. I don't know why this happened either."
While I prepared breakfast, Trisha sat at the table with her chin propped up, waiting.
After hearing about what happened during the night, she chuckled and said, "Maybe it was jealous?"
"Don't say weird things."
"It could be! Maybe the wooden sword got angry about losing its friend and destroyed the newcomer!" Trisha spoke as if the wooden sword had its own consciousness.
"Does it make sense for friends to kill each other? Would you cut someone in half if they took your friend?"
Trisha flinched and turned her head away.
"Is... that too much?"
"..."
Then she suddenly turned back to me and continued, "But from the wooden sword's perspective, it must have been angry! Damian never understands his friends' feelings!"
"Fine, it's my fault. I should have asked the wooden sword's permission before bringing in a new friend."
"That's right! Think about how hurt the original friend must have felt!"
"..."
While I had a headache over the situation, Trisha was actively defending the wooden sword.
Honestly, I was confused about how to take this. As Trisha suggested, I wondered if the wooden sword really was jealous. Maybe I should put it together with my magic sword later. I'd like to see what happened.
I never dreamt the sword I'd just bought for today's match would break in one day. Since this wasn't a product defect, I couldn't even get a refund from the shop owner.
Who could have predicted that this wooden sword, of all things, would cause trouble?
And what should I do about today's match? My plans were seriously disrupted.
I threw firewood into the empty brazier and put a pot on top. Then I called Ppiyak, who had been nursed by Luna last night.
Soon after, Ppiyak appeared in the air.
"Ppiyak!"
It looked healthy. Its wing beats were strong and its cry was loud—it seemed Luna's care last night had been effective.
The spirit landed on the pot lid and puffed up its chest proudly.
Why is it so confident? What happened last night?
Trisha grinned at the spirit and said, "It's cute no matter when I see it!"
"Ppiyak!"
It flapped its wings several times. Not only did the firewood ignite, but the flames exploded outward.
I was startled and quickly dodged sideways from in front of the brazier.
"...?"
Trisha's eyes sparkled as she said, "Wow! Did Ppiyak do that?"
The spirit that could usually only transfer embers to firewood had returned much stronger. How did it become like this when it was so weak just yesterday?
"Ppiyak!"
Every time it flapped its wings, the flames in the brazier surged upward. It seemed to be the spirit's power, but this change…
While heading out for morning class, passing by the Guardian Tree, a Stitch flew toward me. It was the reply to yesterday's letter to Teacher.
I quickly checked the response.
[Don't worry too much about your ethereal spirit. Even if spirits lose power, they can recover if their contractor takes care of them. And though that spirit is still young, it's not weak. You can trust it since your teacher carefully selected it.]
I folded the letter, put it in my chest pocket, and held out my hand. Ppiyak descended from the sky and perched on my finger.
It still maintained its confident, proud demeanor, chest puffed up.
Though Ppiyak's appearance remained the same, its inherent spirit abilities had grown significantly while I wasn't watching.
Perhaps it was thanks to Luna's care.
Maybe Ppiyak could even replace the broken enchanted sword.
***
A woman with black hair tied tightly back was flipping through documents listing students' special abilities.
Clyde, the third-year top student of the Magic Engineering Department, asked her, "Who's on today's schedule, Senior Neria?"
The woman reviewing the files was Neria, second-ranked senior and year representative of the Combat Department.
"Luna, the Magic Department's top student, and first-years Victor and Sion from the Combat Department."
"Aren't you going to watch Damian?"
"Damian? What about him?"
"He has his sparring evaluation today. Won't you observe?"
"Well..."
"I heard he made quite an achievement in the Principality. Wouldn't it be good to watch him?"
"There's no proper explanation of what he achieved, and most importantly, his grades are ambiguous. We need someone definite."
Clyde removed his glasses, wiping the smudges with his experiment-scarred hands, and said, "Haley strongly recommended watching Damian."
Haley had performed impressively after being selected for last year's Academy Exchange Tournament. And this year, she could easily be selected again if she wanted. While most fourth-years might be swayed by her influence, Neria wasn't.
She shook her head disapprovingly.
"The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb—she's just looking out for her Art Club junior. We can't select someone based on her word alone. You know that."
Clyde scratched his temple awkwardly and added, "And... Flynn from the Combat Department recommended him too. He strongly pushed for selecting Damian. Though I don't know what connection they have..."
"Haa, we need to be careful with this exchange tournament. If we could win easily like before, we could select people just for show. But I hear the Imperial Academy students are different this year. This year is definitely not the time. Our Combat Department might struggle."
"Our Eternia isn't weak this year either. There's that Sion person... and Gale is no joke."
Neria's expression was creased with worry. While this year's first-year Combat Department was indeed impressive, she'd heard the Imperial Academy had someone who far surpassed them.
She put down the documents on the table, stretched, and said, "For the first-year sparring evaluation, let's focus on Sion, Victor, and Gale. For second-years... who's in this evaluation match?"
"Ruscus."
"Right, let's decide whether to select him for the exchange tournament after seeing his skills this time."
Clyde looked over the match schedule and said, "Ah, Ruscus is matched with Damian."
Neria yawned, showing little interest in Damian, "Yawn. Well, I hope that friend can draw out Ruscus' abilities well, even if he loses."