Chapter 94: The Weight of the Spear

Mikaila gazed at the boards with the numbers and letters written on them, thought it over a while, then gave a small nod to herself.

“…Perhaps I ought to have the guild master look at these as well.”

“Eh?”

“Wait here a moment!”

“Ehh?”

Mikaila hurried out of the reference room, and Victor and the others came over to Ren.

“The guild master, she said! That’s something!”

“I’ve never seen him.”

“I have, but he looked sort of frightening.”

“What’s he coming here for?”

Victor and the rest said their piece, all a little excited. Ren, for his part, was at a loss at this turn he hadn’t seen coming. He had been glad to hear that the cards he had made looked likely to be useful to the adventurers. Mikaila seemed to want to show them to the guild master, but what the guild master would think of them, what he would say — that frightened him a little.

And he was also rather bothered by the slant of the sunlight coming in at the window.

(What shall I do…. Will I be able to go hunting today…?)

Once the work of organising the reference room was over, he meant to take in the grasslands or the river on the way home and get the ingredients for dinner. With horn rabbits, they came at him of their own accord if he went to the grasslands, so there was no trouble in finding them, but he had to put in a request to the guild for the dismantling, which took a little time.

Fishing magic fish out of the river was quick if he put his “small box” into the water. With magic fish, unless it was some extraordinary size, he could carry it straight to the kitchen.

(…Magic fish today, perhaps….)

He was getting hungry, and so he had started planning dinner.

The reference room door opened, and Mikaila came in alone.

“A pity. The guild master was still out. He should be back before long, though…”

Mikaila noticed the relief that came over Ren’s face when he heard the guild master was away. She let out a breath and put on a smile.

“…I’m sorry. Having the guild master sprung on you like that would startle anyone.”

“…Errr…”

“The request for organising the reference room runs until tomorrow, doesn’t it. Until then you had better keep to the request. I got a little startled and rushed things. For now, think about organising the reference room.”

“All right…”

At Mikaila’s words Ren nodded, though a part of him still wondered whether that was really all right. It came to him suddenly, the char quill pen — but Mikaila had only just told him to keep to organising the reference room, and he hesitated to bring it up.

(Another time will do…. And I haven’t managed the rainbow-tail one yet….)

The char quill pen made from the vivid green feather he had already finished and brought with him. The Rainbow-Tail Feather Bird he was after, however, he hadn’t so much as laid eyes on once, let alone got a feather from it. The wish to get Mikaila the char quill pen she had asked for quickly, and the feeling of not being satisfied because it wasn’t yet the feather he had in mind; the wish to be off hunting soon was mixed in as well, and in the end he decided not to take the char quill pen to Mikaila that day after all.

After getting the signature confirming he had finished the second day’s work of organising the reference room, Ren set off for the grasslands. Standing in the grasslands just short of the forest, quietly feeling out for any sign, he heard a rustle as something brushed the leaves.

(Here it comes!)

Almost at the same moment Ren turned, a horn rabbit sprang out from the shadow of the long grass.

Ren caught hold of the spear with one hand.

(Heavy—)

It wasn’t the same as merely holding it; when he tried to set himself against the horn rabbit he couldn’t keep his balance, the spear wobbled, and he had to bring his other hand up to support it.

“Whoa! Small Box!”

It was only once the horn rabbit was bearing down on him that he realised how hard it was to meet it with a spear he wasn’t used to. He put the “small box” shield out in front of the horn rabbit.

Thud.

“Kii!”

The horn rabbit slammed into the “small box” shield, was flung back, and went rolling into the grass.

“Now!”

He thrust at the horn rabbit with the spear held in both hands. The horn rabbit twisted its body and the aim went wide, so he thrust again and again.

“…Haah. This is hard unless I practise properly first…”

Having at last finished the horn rabbit off, Ren let out a breath of relief.

Before he was granted his skill he had trained with the sword and the bow, but he had never trained with the spear. About all he had seen of fighting with a spear was his father training with Yuan, using practice spears with the blades guarded.

“…Next time Father is training, perhaps I ought to watch closely…”

If he asked his father to teach him how to handle a spear, he had the feeling he would be told, “And you without the spear arts skill?” So he decided that if ever his father was handling a spear, he would watch him thoroughly.

After stowing the horn rabbit in his “small box,” he stayed a while longer, setting the spear and practising his thrusts.

He hunted a little in the forest too, and, as usual, delivered the meat of the horn rabbit — dismantled for him at the Adventurers’ Guild — to the mansion kitchen.

The mansion at dusk was dim.

The red light coming in at the corridor windows was weak, and the candlesticks on the walls hadn’t been lit.

As he was about to go back to his room, a voice came at Ren’s back.

“Young Master Ren.”

It was a low voice.

When he turned, Simon the steward was standing at the far end of the corridor.

Tall and thin.

His greying hair combed back without a strand out of place, his black jacket worn without a chink in it.

An old man who looked as though he held the ageing baronial house together with account books and stomach pains.

“The master is asking for you.”

Ren blinked.

Being called for by his father was almost unheard of.

“…Has something happened?”

Simon’s eyes went aside a little.

“…A report came in from the travelling merchant.”

In that instant, Ren understood.

The spear. The old spear he had bought from the travelling merchant. With Ren’s arm as it was he hadn’t even been able to bring down a horn rabbit with it. But it was the spear he had meant to master.

“The master is in his study.”

Simon said it evenly, but there was a faintly troubled shade in his eyes.

Ren let out a small breath.

“…All right.”

He started walking. The corridor felt as though it had grown darker than before.

On the way he heard what sounded like Yuan and Royce arguing about something.

He was a little curious, but just now what his father would say to him mattered more.

He stood before the study.

Simon knocked at the door.

“Master. I’ve brought Young Master Ren.”

A few seconds of silence.

“Come in.”

His father’s voice.