Chapter 83: Lending a Hand

When I returned to the village of Faranka after about a week, the place felt unusually tense. A man standing guard at the gate told me, “The elder is calling for you, so please go to the assembly hall.”

I was supposed to deliver potion ingredients to Claudine in Korche, so I’d planned to go see old Granny Kristinka—but if they were calling for me, I wondered if it would be all right to send a spirit to Hardivinka instead.

The assembly hall had an ominous air about it. When they saw me, several people asked whether I’d seen anything, but Ramveil was there and led me to the elder.

“It feels like the atmosphere has changed…” 

I said.

“Yes. We’re in a state of emergency. About what we discussed the other day—sending a spirit to Hardivinka. Did you mean assigning a second spirit to her?”

“Ah, that won’t be necessary. I don’t intend to force the issue.”

“Leon-dono, that’s not it. The emergency is this: beasts and dragons from deep within the forest have moved up into the northern woods. Normally we’d gather skilled mages and go subjugate them, but at this time of year many are away working, and we’re short-handed.”

“So we’d like to see if your spirits could be assigned to other mages.”

“I apologize for opposing your offer last time. The village is in danger, and we want to use every option available.”

“Leon-dono, as village chief, I ask you—would you let the mages meet your spirits?”

“In that case, wouldn’t it be faster to send them to the Circle?”

“We already did, but…”

Apparently, since no spirits attached themselves to anyone, they thought that because I was connected to so many spirits, I might be able to pass some along.

I remembered the armored buffalo that had been chased by a dragon.
If a dragon had appeared in the northern woods, and herds of beasts were being driven before it, then subjugating them would come at a heavy cost.

The information was vague, but considering what lay beyond the rocky mountains as well, I decided to agree.

“I have conditions. Very few people have seen manifested spirits, so when meeting the mages, I want the elder and the village chief present, and the mages should face the wall. Also, it’s late to say this, but please don’t speak my real name.”

“My thanks. Then what should we call you?”

“Let’s see… please call me Kreis.”

Attack mages, barrier mages, and healers were brought in, but with earth and fire magic, even healers could tell a spirit’s color.

Many spirits were manifested around me, but probably only about a third would obediently heed my wishes.

I tried sending them behind the mages who had their backs turned, but they came right back.

So I brought all the spirits with me and stood behind the mages myself. After waiting a while and stepping away, spirits remained with about one out of every three or four people.

From that point on, it was between the spirits and those they attached to, so I acted as if it had nothing to do with me.

These were people who hadn’t attracted spirits even inside the Circle—there was no way they’d easily form bonds now.

Since this was the result of quietly asking the spirits for a favor, without telling the elders, I couldn’t take responsibility beyond this.

The only exception was Hardivinka, who received a second spirit and was delighted to successfully connect with it.

To avoid being questioned about seeing a dragon in the valley or about the spirits, I said I’d be returning to town. They asked me to carry a letter addressed to the guildmaster of the Roxane Adventurers’ Guild.

The recipient was listed as the guildmaster, the sender as Selphanka, the village chief. I was urged to deliver it as quickly as possible, but wasn’t told why.

Since I was already delivering potion ingredients at Granny Kristinka’s request, I accepted the letter without prying and left the village of Faranka.

“Just as Leon said, we were able to pass on a few spirits—but only Hardivinka truly bonded with one.”

“It didn’t increase our offensive magic strength, but we’ll have to make them learn how to connect with spirits from Hardivinka.”

“If only it were that easy. These are people who couldn’t get spirits even in the Circle.”

“…Just what is Leon, to be connected with so many spirits?”

I left Faranka Village and headed south on foot that day, waiting until nightfall to return to the rocky mountains.

The letter surely had a date on it, so unless I killed at least two weeks, I couldn’t return to town anyway.

There should be goats around, so I figured I’d carefully survey the rocky area before heading south.

From early morning, I flew around the mountains, observing the terrain and various goats grazing on patches of grass. There were also quite a few feline beasts.

What surprised me was seeing black bears as well—I felt sorry for the goats, realizing they couldn’t relax here.
Then again, bears are good climbers, so it made sense they could scale rocky mountains if their claws found purchase.

Still, in this savage world, even herbivores are strong.

On steep rocky slopes, who’s stronger? On precarious footholds where only the toes can grip, the goats actually had the advantage.

Seeing several black bears and tiger-types repelled and defeated made me mutter in amazement.

With goats, armored buffalo, and dragons around, there should also be sham beasts here—I figured I’d look for them eventually.

Thinking there might be many beasts I hadn’t yet seen, I realized I’d truly adapted to the adventurer’s life and to the forest.

I thought you’d only understand the forest by walking it, but by leisurely flying on hover and using detection to locate beasts, I made my way south while watching them.

“Guildmaster, it seems large beasts—especially bears and tiger-types—have increased recently. Even the buyers say it’s up by twenty to thirty percent.”

“Is that related to that?”

“The battle hawk only appeared once, but apparently large individuals of high orcs, big-horn boars, and buffalo have also increased. Even high-rank adventurers say they’re encountering big prey closer to town than before.”

“We’ve informed headquarters in the capital, but there’s been no response. It feels like trouble’s brewing. Contact the surrounding guilds and see if they’re seeing more big game. I’ll tell the capital to share regional information too. By the way—has that guy who brought in the battle hawk shown up again?”

“He was seen briefly, but hasn’t appeared since. The butchers are complaining they can’t get chikki chikki birds or runner birds.”

Since it was still a bit early for autumn, the fruits were small and few were ready to harvest. When I did find any, most had already been eaten.

Judging by the height of the branches, it seemed like monkeys were responsible—ones you don’t see near the roads, but that live deeper in the forest.

As I examined the gnawed fruit, I heard a shrill scream.

It sounded like a herbivore, but nothing showed up on detection, so I figured the sound had carried on the wind and headed upwind.

I raised my hover altitude slightly and advanced carefully. I soon saw a large gathering of beasts on the ground—unfamiliar ones—so I approached cautiously.

They seemed to be feeding, noisily fighting over food… when suddenly—thud!—I was struck from behind and knocked off my hover.

Falling seven or eight meters along with my punctured balloon, I avoided injury thanks to my shock-resistant clothes. But thud, thud continued, and the balloon grew darker.

Looking up, I saw countless monkeys swarming over the balloon, baring their fangs and shrieking.

I’d focused too much on the commotion below and neglected what was above. Still, I hadn’t sensed any killing intent or presence.

They were about 150–160 cm tall, with long arms and sharp exposed fangs—the sight sent a chill down my spine.

They had a different kind of menace than bears or high orcs. If they could leap onto the balloon and knock me down, their physical abilities were formidable.

Those long fangs and claws made it clear—they were extremely dangerous beasts.

Eight days after leaving Faranka Village, with still about a week to reach town, I couldn’t believe such dangerous beasts were this close.

A powerful stench wafted in through the balloon’s holes, nearly making me vomit. I generated an updraft and lifted the balloon above the forest.

Some monkeys stubbornly clung to it, so I gained altitude, expanded the balloon, then shrank it.

Most lost their grip and slid off, but two stubborn ones clung to the holes.

Annoying, but I pulled out my short spear, severed their fingers, and sent them off.

Not close enough to wave goodbye—but I watched them fall.
Even landing in the forest, they wouldn’t survive that drop, and the thought made me shudder.

On impulse, I dove back down, wrapped three of the larger monkeys in Whirlwind! and spun them around, then used Tornado! to scatter the rest.

Area secure—check. Airspace secure—check.

I released the magic from the whirlwinds, finished off the dizzy monkeys, and tossed them into my magic bag.

As I considered finishing off the downed monkeys, one suddenly sprang up and started spinning around.

Stunned, I watched as another did the same—upside down—before I realized it was the spirits’ doing.

If they were going to help anyway, I wished they’d done it before I was attacked. I slumped in exasperation.

With four or five days left until I’d reach the Branche Road, I decided to hunt birds along the way—but the number of beasts felt high.

High orcs and red bears seemed larger than usual, and wolf packs were unusually aggressive.

Though the timing was off, thanks to the spirits helping out, I got a bit more game than usual.

Three wind spirits were assisting me—and when I tried to make flame for chikki chikki bird steaks, the fire exploded into being, nearly giving me severe burns.

I couldn’t decide whether to be grateful or to warn them not to interfere because it was dangerous.

If I stopped them clumsily, I wouldn’t be able to assess their abilities—and in an emergency, they might not help me.

So for now, I let them do as they pleased.