Well, Master.


　At night, when I called her to my room, Lunamaria came to my room, and after a moment of silence, she opened her mouth with a mysterious look on her face.


'What?'

'If it's not my imagination, isn't that the water spirit (Undine) I summoned on the Master's shoulders?

That's right. By the way, there's also a fire spirit (salamander) at your feet.


　With that, I pointed at my feet with my eyes and the salamander that had been hiding in the shadows peeked out a tiny face. Seeing that, Lunamaria rolls her eyes.

　Incidentally, Undine is in the shape of a human being the size of a fist, and Salamander is also in the form of a fist-sized thorn.

　These two usually provide us with clean water in our hinoki bath. Undine cleans river and rain water and Salamander heats it up.

　In the early days, he was never seen while I was taking a bath, but after a while he started glancing at me from the shadows.

　I once sent a magical stone to her via Lunamaria as a token of my appreciation for her daily firing of the bath, and that may have been the effect. I was amused and beckoned to him, and he came close to me, so I put him in my hand and patted his head. Then he came closer and closer to me.


Now he's even following me out of the bath.

It's a great thing you just said...


　Lunamaria responds with a dumbfounded and impressed voice sound. Normally, spirits don't show themselves to humans, much less follow anyone other than the summoner. It's even more so (even more so) if it's a place that doesn't involve the summoner's orders, Lunamaria explains.


'You must be very comfortable around your master.

It would be an honor, I suppose.


　I gave Undine a little poke on her shoulder, and she hugged me tightly at my fingertips. A spirit is a conglomeration of the mana that fills the world. That's why they love magic stones filled with magical power (mana). In that sense, with the magical power of an illusory species inside my body, I may be like a moving magical stone for the spirits.

　After that, the two spirits, admonished by Lunamaria, reluctantly leave the room. Lunamaria, who saw them off with a bitter smile, said in an unusually joking tone.


Master, would you like to learn spirit magic?　I think the current master would make a much better surgeon than I am.

That's a worthwhile proposition for you to consider.


　He responds to his opponent's jokes rather seriously.

　Spirits, which are agglomerates of magic power (mana), are incompatible with sorcerers who use magic power (mana) to exercise magic. To the spirits, it's like the magicians are eating them and turning them into power, so it's not surprising.

　Since I also deal with several sorceries, in that sense, my compatibility with spirits should be bad, but I still want to learn spirit magic if I can master it. The more cards you have in your hand in a fight, the better.

　But, well, that's only if you can afford it. I don't have the time to spend on learning new techniques right now.



　I looked again at the Lunamaria in front of me.

　An elven wise man showing a similar irritation to a sparrow. The cause is probably the same as that of the sparrow. The current Lunamaria was reminded of her own lack of power in the attack by Goz and the others, and she is in a hurry to do something about it.

　The reason Lunamaria is enrolled in the Sword of Blood and Smoke is to atone for her sin of using me as a bait in her fight against the Lord of the Flies. I'm not strong enough to atone for my lack of strength - that's what Lunamaria must be thinking and feeling impatient.

　If I'm branded useless, I think there's also the fear of not knowing how they'll treat me in the future. In a soul-supplying sense.

　It's easy to counteract this Lunamaria's frustration. Just state that I don't consider Lunamaria to be useless and of course I don't intend to give her any kind of punishment. In fact, I said so.

　However, Lunamaria's reaction to this was not what I expected.

　She didn't show the slightest bit of relief, but rather a sorrowful slump. When I looked, I saw that Lunamaria's hands were clenched tightly. The appearance of her hand only seemed to be growing more and more frustrated.


　--Eh, why?　For me, I thought I was showing the utmost kindness.


　When I was confused by the unexpected reaction, Lunamaria opened her mouth with a determined look on her face.


'Master, I have a request.'

I'm listening.


　I inwardly braced myself in front of Lunamaria, who looked pensive.

　At this point, Lunamaria once again says something unexpected.


'I would like you to practice,'

........Keiko?


　I nodded my head in disbelief.

　It's about practice, isn't it?　I think about that and ask him back.


'I'll check, but what's the drill?'

''It's swordplay training. More specifically, I want you to practice fighting the illusion of Itto-ryu.


　Lunamaria appeals to me with a serious look.

　The practice of fighting the Illusionary One Sword Style. That is to say, the proud elf's declaration of war that he'll defeat me one day - that can't be it, yes.

　As expected, looking at the current Lunamaria, such a perversion is not even a joke. Considering the relationship between me and the Gokenshi, Lunamaria is claiming that she expects the Aolin Bannershi to attack again eventually, and she doesn't want to expose herself to the same fecklessness as the other day at that time.

　No matter how much practice the current Lunamaria has with me, she won't be able to fight against a serious Seirin batsman. Having fought Klimt, Lunamaria must understand that. Even so, you can see the desperation of Lunamaria in her request to train with me.

　At this time, I understood exactly what Lunamaria's reaction earlier meant.



　In the battle with Klimt, Lunamaria was completely defeated. So, to put it simply, she was useless. Lunamaria was ashamed of it and tried her best to be stronger.

　I told her that I didn't think she was useless. To someone who was actually useless, I told him I didn't think he was useless - I told him, "I didn't expect anything from you in the first place, so don't worry about it. To someone who is gritting his teeth trying to be helpful to me.

　This is the worst thing I've ever done. It will make your fists clench as hard as they can.

　Of course, I had no intention of hurting Lunamaria. Considering the strength of the battlefield, it was a natural decision.

　But that doesn't give us a reason to belittle the feelings of a weak man, Lunamaria. That would make me in the same league as those who underestimated me before I woke up in my mind's clothing.

　When I thought that, a chill ran down my spine. This is because I realized that I had been invaded by the arrogance of the powerful, the arrogance of the strong, which I once hated more than anything else.


''.........................I was in danger.

Oh, uh, Master?

Thank you, Luna. "Thanks, Luna, you've been a big help. If you get used to fighting with me, it will help you when you fight other bannermen.

'Yes, yes, thank you for doing me a favor!


　For the first time this night, relief and joy appeared on Lunamaria's face.

　After bowing deeply, the elven wise man asked with a somewhat curious look on his face.


'By the way, what do you mean by 'thanks to you'?

Don't worry about it. Well, if I had to guess, I'd say I'm glad Luna's here.

'Ha, ha ... that's, well, thank you ...?'


　Lunamaria looks dubious, but says thank you honestly.

　Looking at such Lunamaria, I let out a big breath.