Chapter 10
“So, you said there was something you wanted to ask me?”
Osmun smiled pleasantly as he looked at the guest who had come to visit him after so long.
“Yes. I heard at the Adventurer’s Guild that you’re from another world, Mr. Osmun.”
“I see.”
Osmun had been listening with an interested smile, but he grew visibly gloomy at the word otherworld.
“If it’s about my homeland, I’m afraid I don’t have much to say….”
“I’m from another world, too.”
“…What?”
Osmun was startled to hear that Huey was also from another world.
Seeing Osmun like that, Huey began telling him about himself.
The story of Earth, the world he had lived in.
“Earth?”
“Yes.”
After hearing Huey’s story, Osmun murmured the word Earth and fell into thought for a moment.
“It’s already been forty years since I fell into this world.”
Leaning back against the sofa, he gazed upward.
“Creatures I had never seen before, languages I had never heard. Forty years was more than enough time for unfamiliar things to become more familiar than those from my homeland.”
Osmun smiled bitterly.
“The one thing I could never forget, however, was the blue sky of my homeland. By now, I don’t remember much else that clearly.”
“Mr. Osmun.”
“Even so, there is one thing I can tell you for certain.”
Osmun recalled the past in a wistful voice before speaking to Huey.
“It seems my homeland and yours are different worlds.”
The country called Korea, and even the name of the planet Earth.
Both were words he had never heard before.
“I see….”
Huey sounded disappointed by those words.
“You’re looking for a way to return to your homeland?”
“Yes.”
“I once traveled in search of a way to return to my homeland, too.”
“….”
Huey could say nothing as he watched Osmun speak in a wistful voice, as though recalling a time from his own adventures.
The sight of the man before him told Huey how that journey had ended.
“It won’t be an easy road.”
“…I know.”
“I hope your ending will be different from mine.”
“I’ll have to try.”
Osmun smiled gently, seemingly satisfied with Huey’s answer.
“Since I don’t often receive guests, why don’t you stay the night?”
“I’d be grateful if you’d allow us.”
“There’s an empty room on the second floor, so the ladies can use that one.”
At the word ladies, Huey hurriedly glanced at Ren.
“Yaaawn….”
Ren merely yawned, apparently uninterested.
“Then please rest. I’ll prepare dinner.”
“Oh, if you’re preparing dinner, I can help….”
“It’s all right. Though I can no longer see, I have many friends to help me.”
Wind gathered around Osmun as he rose from his seat and began taking shape.
The wind took the form of a large wolf, while a beautiful woman stood beside him as though supporting him.
“An advanced wind spirit mage.”
“Ren?”
As the spirits appeared, Ren, who had been yawning sleepily, spoke up.
Ignoring Huey’s puzzled reaction to her sudden remark, Ren looked at Osmun with half-lidded eyes.
“Intermediate spirits take animal forms, while advanced spirits take human forms, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. Not many people know that much about spirits, but you seem quite knowledgeable.”
“I have an acquaintance who is a spirit mage.”
“Ha ha, I see. Could you tell us about that during the meal?”
“Sure, if you want to hear it.”
After their conversation, Ren leaned back against the sofa again, while Osmun disappeared into the kitchen.
“Ren. Could that be the aura you felt earlier?”
Luciela asked Ren with a puzzled expression, but—
“No.”
Ren’s answer was a simple denial.
Luciela tilted her head as she watched Ren shut her eyes completely.
“She seems tired, so let’s just let her sleep.”
“I suppose so.”
Soon, Luciela withdrew her attention from Ren and approached Huey with a question.
“By the way, is being an advanced spirit mage really that impressive?”
“Wait a moment. I don’t know much about spirits myself. I’ll look for some notes I made before.”
After moving to a table in the corner so they wouldn’t wake the sleeping Ren,
Huey took a notebook from inside his clothes, opened it, and began explaining.
“Let’s see… Spirits are beings with one of four attributes—water, fire, wind, or earth—and are classified as lesser, intermediate, advanced, or supreme. People who make contracts with them and use their power are called spirit mages.”
“Ren already explained what intermediate and advanced spirits look like. What about the other two?”
“Lesser spirits look like palm-sized fairies. Almost no one has seen a supreme spirit, so there’s no information about them.”
“I see.”
While Luciela nodded, Huey looked through the next page of his notebook and spoke again.
“Ah, here it is. Someone who has contracted with an advanced spirit is at least Gold Rank by adventurer standards, and is treated like a court mage in a small country.”
“He’s far more impressive than I expected.”
“No kidding.”
Marveling at this unexpected fact, Huey and Luciela looked toward the kitchen where Osmun was.
After that, the two of them spent their time discussing all sorts of things about spirits.
“Ha ha, you seem to have a lot of questions about spirits.”
“Oh, Mr. Osmun.”
Osmun had approached without them noticing and addressed the two in a pleased voice.
“The meal is ready. Would you like to continue this afterward?”
After telling them to come to the kitchen with Ren now that dinner was ready, Osmun headed back into the kitchen.
Watching him, Huey spoke toward Ren, who was sleeping on the sofa.
“Ren! Wake up. Mr. Osmun says the meal’s ready.”
“…Ungh!?”
The instant she heard the word meal, Ren sprang upright with a bizarre sound.
“Pfft!”
“A classic glutton.”
Huey burst out laughing at the sight, while Luciela shook her head.
“Nngh… I slept well….”
“Were you that tired?”
“I wasn’t particularly tired, but perhaps because the breeze was nice, I fell asleep easily.”
-Crack.
Ren said that, apparently feeling stiff, and gave a long stretch.
“…Pervert.”
Luciela cast a scornful look at Huey, who was staring absentmindedly at Ren’s profile as she stretched.
“I-it’s a misunderstanding!”
“Huh? What’s the matter? Is this really that great?”
Ren looked at Huey and Luciela with an indifferent expression and flapped the front of her clothes.
Then Huey began coughing, apparently choking at the sight of her ample breasts revealed between the fluttering fabric.
“Pffft! Cough! Hack!”
“…Ren.”
“What? It’s not like they’ll wear out.”
“I won’t ask you to act feminine, but at least show some respect for a woman’s body.”
“Tch. I’ll try.”
The three of them then arrived in the kitchen where Osmun was.
“Ah, you’ve come.”
Osmun smiled at the three who had arrived and spoke.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t prepare more.”
“No, no. This is more than enough—it’s quite a feast.”
Steaming potato soup, rye bread, and a roasted rabbit browned to perfection were laid out before them.
Huey waved his hands dismissively at the sight of the simple yet warmly inviting spread.
“I hope it suits your tastes.”
“Thank you. I’ll eat gratefully.”
“Ren, can you eat this?”
“This much is manageable.”
Saying that she could drink the soup straight from the bowl and tear off pieces of rye bread or rabbit with her wings, Ren began eating in earnest.
“In my case, it felt as though a hole had suddenly opened beneath me, and I just dropped through.”
“Ahaha. I closed my eyes and opened them again….”
Meanwhile, Huey and Osmun became engrossed in one another’s stories.
“…Everyone’s off doing their own thing.”
Luciela merely shook her head in disbelief as she watched the three of them.
* *
After the meal, which had been lively mostly because of the conversation between Huey and Osmun,
Huey sat on the sofa in lighter clothes after washing up, drying his hair with a towel.
“Whew, it’s nice to wash with warm water again after so long.”
“You’re back, Master.”
“Mr. Osmun said he’d be in his study sorting some things out until tomorrow.”
“Hm… Is that so? He can’t even see, yet he’s such a diligent man.”
“Why don’t you wash up, too? There’s still plenty of water left.”
At Huey’s suggestion, Lucy thought for a moment, then raised an arm and sniffed it several times.
“…I suppose I should.”
The smell of dirt on her clothes made her wrinkle her nose slightly, and she rose from her seat.
“Come to think of it, where’s Ren? Did Ren already go to bed?”
“I’m not sure. Ren said she was going to get some air.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Ren said she’d be back late.”
More precisely, Ren had said she was going to wash herself in the lake.
But Huey figured that was basically the same thing.
“Thanks.”
Luciela disappeared, visibly excited at the thought of soaking in warm water for the first time in a while,
and Huey pondered for a moment with a towel draped over his head.
“…The breeze blowing through the forest really was quite nice.”
Perhaps because the area was saturated with spirit energy, the refreshing breeze was more appealing than those found elsewhere.
Since he had the chance, Huey decided to take a leisurely look at the lake and rose from his seat.
“I think I’ll get some air, too.”