8 – 2 – It Seems Only I Can See It – 3

Upon realizing she had been tricked, the Spirit of Light grumbled for a few minutes.

—I really thought you were in danger!

When she was sealed, her voice had been dying and completely devoid of energy, but after officially completing the contract with Gi-jun, she had changed as if she had become a completely different person.

Just with that, Gi-jun, who felt that contracting with her was worthwhile, wore a smile on his lips.

“It was dangerous. I just took the risk. Because I wanted to grow.”

—Humans really do things I cannot understand. To risk death just to avoid dying, their heads must be strange.

Spouting words that Gi-jun also secretly agreed with, the Spirit of Light, who was patting Gi-jun’s head, flew into his embrace as if her anger had finally subsided a bit.

—But it does not matter, since as long as you are contracted with me, I will never let you die!

“How reassuring. Thank you.”

Although she was about the size of a human when she first appeared, she was now at a size where she could sit on Gi-jun’s palm, which was entirely because Gi-jun lacked the spiritual power to maintain her full form.

—Does it bother you? It is fine. As you spend time with me in the future, the power inherent in the contractor will grow rapidly! I can tell!

“Yeah, I look forward to working with you. So… what is your name?”

—Would you like to give me one?

Her tone made it seem as if she originally had a separate name but could not use it.

When Gi-jun glanced at the Demon King while pretending to be nonchalant, she merely shrugged her shoulders to indicate that she did not know either.

In the end, Gi-jun, who turned his gaze back to the Spirit of Light, made eye contact with her and thought for a moment before speaking a name that suddenly popped into his head.

“Then let’s call you Lucy.”

—Lucy.

The spirit showed a momentarily surprised expression at his words, then soon nodded as if satisfied.

—As expected…

“As expected?”

—No, I like it very much. I am Lucy from now on!

Gi-jun could not help but mind her reaction.

Could it be that her original name was Lucy?

If so, was it not a coincidence that he had just thought of this name?

Besides that, he was also curious about why she had run wild, how she had been sealed, and whether she was fine now, but…

Now that he had completed the contract in a flash after getting caught up in the Demon King’s scheme and skipping the entire intermediate process, he felt that trying to pry too deeply into her privacy would be rude.

If he really wanted to know, it was something he could find out slowly in the future by growing his spiritual power and interacting with her.

“Demon King, can you see Lucy right now?”

“No, I can only hear her voice faintly. Right now, a lump of light like a golden cotton ball is sitting on your palm.”

The Demon King, who said that, narrowed her eyes and continued.

“As the spirit just said, it’s a problem that will be solved when your spiritual power grows. Spirits use their own power, the power of nature, the contractor’s spiritual power, and the contractor’s mana together to materialize. But right now, both your spiritual power and mana are minuscule, aren’t they? In fact, it’s already amazing that you’ve made the spirit’s voice audible to me.”

“Could you choose between praising or insulting me?”

“So train quickly, you scrub.”

He should have asked her to only praise him.

Gi-jun, licking his lips, asked what he had been curious about for a while to change the subject.

“At first, I accepted it without thinking because they said it would increase my dexterity, but thinking about it, isn’t a device where a spirit was sealed a huge ‘reward’? Furthermore, Lucy is a living, breathing creature in this world besides you and me. If so, what if we search the Demon King’s Castle for more cases like this—”

“There aren’t any, especially the latter.”

The Demon King replied immediately, raising a finger to point at the bundle of light on Gi-jun’s palm.

“In the first place, the cube she was sealed in was a trap, not a reward. A rampaging spirit is treated as a simple bomb, not a life. I’ve never heard of anyone who not only understood the will of a rampaging spirit but also succeeded in contracting with them. Do you understand? Well, in the first place, summoners—no, spiritists are rare, so it’s only natural.”

“Calling her a bomb, isn’t that rude to Lucy?”

—That is right! This woman has been rude by her very existence since a while ago!

“Why you…”

—Kyaaa!

Lucy, terrified of the Demon King, slipped inside Gi-jun’s collar.

The Demon King glared, snorted, and continued.

“Anyway, I think a case like her is an extremely rare exception. The trap itself was rare, and the probability of you restoring the spirit’s sanity and contracting with her was absurd. I’m really a genius for inducing such a miracle.”

“Yes, yes, Senior is a true genius.”

“But there won’t be a second time.”

“Tch.”

The Demon King said to Gi-jun, who clicked his tongue.

“Then let’s have lunch and train. Since the urgent stuff is all done, we have to train in double shield technique now.”

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, training had originally started for Gi-jun’s weapon techniques.

What an obsession of the Demon King, constantly pursuing the forbidden weapon technique that even he himself had forgotten… or rather, wanted to forget, without ever letting it slip her mind!

“Dual shield technique.”

“Understood, Senior…”

The Demon King emphasized with a voice full of strong resolve.

The Hero, who had let go of everything, decided to quietly accept reality.

But before that, what he had to prepare was today’s tuition fee… the lunch menu, dan dan noodles.

Although the Japanese-style dan dan noodles with broth made from meat stock was also delicious, when it was too bothersome to spend time, the Chinese style, which was like mixed noodles, was indeed the best.

First, he stir-fried various nuts, including peanuts, along with chili powder, garlic, green onions, and other spices in peanut oil, before adding finely minced meat, seasoning it, and stir-frying it again.

As the savory aroma of meat stir-fried in oil spread, the Demon King flared her nostrils and spoke.

“Hero, I think the food is ready!”

“Not yet, wait.”

“No, I really think it’s ready.”

“I told you to wait.”

Since making noodles from scratch every time he needed them was not a reasonable task, he usually made a large batch at once and stocked them in his inventory, and when Gi-jun checked the remaining amount, about twenty servings were left.

He took out two servings, boiled them, and looked back at the Demon King.

“Demon King, if this tastes good after eating it, I have something to talk to you about.”

“Ung?”

The Demon King, who had been stealing bites of the stir-fried meat while he boiled the noodles, covered her mouth with a startled expression.

It was fine since he had prepared plenty of meat expecting her to steal some from the beginning anyway, but it seemed that the consultation after the meal would proceed smoothly.

While the Demon King stood frozen, Gi-jun calmly poured the boiled noodles into the pan, tossed them slightly with the meat and sauce, and served them in a bowl.

Normally, the standard way was to stir-fry the sauce and meat separately, only boiling the noodles to present them beautifully in a bowl, but for Heroes whose daily routine was field cooking, the idea of preparing things separately did not exist.

Throwing everything in and mixing it all at once like bibimbap was the essence of field cooking.

Therefore, dan dan noodles was now a Korean dish.

“Ah… delicious…!”

—It is spicy, but so savory and chewy!

It seemed his cooking was well-received by not only the Demon King but also the spirit.

As he was feeling pleased watching Lucy pick up a strand of noodle with both hands, slurp it up, and repeatedly exclaim how delicious it was, a message popped up in front of Gi-jun’s eyes as if on cue.

—You are walking the path of gourmet food that breaks down the boundaries of various races. The level of the [Cooking] skill has increased by 3, reaching Level 93!

—You are walking the path of gourmet food that breaks down the boundaries of various races. The level of the [Cooking] skill has increased by 3, reaching Level 93!

The Cooking skill, whose growth had slowed down slightly recently, perhaps because he had grown accustomed to the Demon King’s presence, soared to Level 93 all at once due to Lucy’s intrusion.

At this rate, it could be seen as a foregone conclusion that the Cooking skill would reach the Uncommon rank.

Among the Heroes, was there ever a case of someone raising the Cooking skill to the Uncommon rank?

No, did an Uncommon rank for cooking even exist in the first place?

‘Since everyone was busy fighting, I did not think there were many who had raised it to a level like mine.’

This was a world where one would die if they did not fight fiercely even for a day, and people who would delve deeply into cooking were not summoned as Heroes in the first place.

The million Heroes were the combatants thoroughly chosen from among the eight billion population of Earth.

Yet, it was truly ironic that the greatest driving force allowing him to endure his current life was this Cooking skill.

“So, what is the thing you wanted to talk about?”

The Demon King spoke with sauce smeared around her mouth.

After pointing to his own mouth, Gi-jun handed her a tissue and spoke.

“The cooking ingredients are slowly running out. Even looking around this area, there’s nothing to obtain except a few types of spices, herbs, and a limited variety of meat. I can hold out for a few months with the stockpile in my inventory, but after that, I’m at a loss. Isn’t there any way?”

“There is.”

Despite the fact that he was thinking of it as a fairly serious issue, the answer popped out immediately.

The Demon King gracefully patted her mouth to wipe off the sauce and spoke.

“You can just call the moth.”

“I hate that, really…”

As Gi-jun’s expression rotted in real-time, for some reason, Lucy’s expression also scowled fiercely.

—Moth? There are pieces of trash among humans who call small spirits moths, so I do not really like that expression!

“If I had to say, you are a pretty butterfly, Lucy.”

—Oh my…

While Lucy rejoiced at Gi-jun’s lip service, the Demon King frowned as if she had seen something she shouldn’t have.

“Don’t date a spirit, Hero.”

“Could you say we are bonding, if possible?”

The Demon King, who was displeased by the Hero’s talkback, pushed him relentlessly in the afternoon sparring session that followed.

The Spirit of Light, Lucy, added to his defense by granting him a barrier of light or wrapping his shield in light to protect him somehow, but unfortunately, the more active she became, the more the Demon King exerted greater force to beat Gi-jun.

As a result, after only two hours, Gi-jun was sprawled on the ground, exhausted of his spiritual power, mana, and stamina, and Lucy, wrapping herself around him as if to block him from the Demon King, cried out tearfully.

—You evil demon! One day I will defeat you and rescue my contractor!

“Fufufu, try it if you can.”

The Demon King was highly satisfied with playing the role of the final boss after a long time.

“Knock knock! Were you looking for the world’s fastest fairy delivery—huh?”

It was at that moment that the moth—no, the tutorial fairy—visited.

Of all times, at this most chaotic moment.

“What… what is this situation? Did you finally decide to kill this bug? No, a spirit? Why is there a spirit in the tutorial?! The fact that I can see it means there’s a contractor… wait, huh?!”

“U-Uh? No, Tinkerbell, listen. Right now, this is training, and, ah, as for this spirit…”

—As expected, you were trying to kill my contractor! No way!

Because he knew for sure that things would get annoying the moment he stood up.

Gi-jun resolved to remain lying face down even after finishing his recovery.

Of course, the Demon King forced him to stand up anyway, telling him to state the list of ingredients he needed immediately.

* * *

On the evening of the third day after the second round had started, a forest clearing was located about twenty kilometers north of the area where the tutorial mission had begun.

Ye-min, who was eating porridge made by tearing beef jerky and bread and boiling it moderately, muttered with a deeply tearful face.

“It tastes bad… Gi-jun oppa used to make it taste much better even with the same ingredients…”

The woman sitting next to her, who was also slowly sipping from a bowl of porridge, sighed and spoke.

“That’s why I said if we had stayed at the training center, we could have eaten decent food for at least four weeks, but look at this. Running out without even training our basic stats, we are just suffering all kinds of hardships.”

“Hye-ji, are you stupid? Even at this very moment, our oppa must be feeling lonely, so shouldn’t we join him even a day sooner!”

“I’m warning you, don’t call me Hye-ji. Besides, that oppa has such an easygoing personality, why would he be lonely by himself?”

The name of the woman with Ye-min was Ji-hye, a party member who had been with Ye-min since the first round’s tutorial mission—and they had remained together all the way through the battle with the Demon King.

…Though in this second round, because Ye-min had tried to leave immediately while forgetting even her existence, she had to chase after her in a hurry.

Unlike Ye-min, she had an attachment to her own name and was an intellectual type who always acted smartly, and as if proving that nature, she was the only magician among the million Heroes who understood the concept of magic and cast it properly.

“That’s exactly why! There might be women who don’t know their place approaching our oppa!”

“Your words keep changing back and forth, they really do.”

“I’m telling you this now,” Ji-hye said, her eyes flashing sharply.

“I admit that oppa has a good personality, but his face isn’t one that would be popular with women. What you’re worried about will absolutely never happen.”

“Are you insulting Gi-jun oppa right now…?”

“Don’t glare at me like that, it’s really scary…”

Wondering if it was needless interference when she had only spoken to reassure a friend who was worrying unnecessarily, Ji-hye let out a sigh.

After all, this kind of consideration was something Gi-jun oppa or… Uncle Su was good at.

As Ji-hye recalled the faces of her past companions, she felt a faint ache in a corner of her chest and harbored a slightly amusing thought that she did possess some sense of comradeship after all.

“I’m just telling you to rest assured. That oppa’s true charm… what is it, it’s the kind of thing you only realize after staying by his side for a long time. Isn’t it?”

“That’s true, but… Hye-ji, you don’t happen to like our oppa, do you?”

“Ha.”

Ji-hye, who snorted instinctively, hastily shook her head at Ye-min’s chilling gaze directed at her once again.

“Don’t worry, I have a different type. More importantly, you haven’t forgotten our promise, right?”

“Yeah, of course.”

Returning her sharp, pressing gaze back to normal, Ye-min nodded her head.

“The ruins where we can get the Unique-rank Mana Circuit. Anyway, others can’t even challenge it right now. Since it’s on our way, I’ll make sure to get it for you.”

“Please do. If only I have enough mana, I am confident I can do much… much better.”

In the first round, Ji-hye had only a single weakness.

Her low mana.

Although she was born with the blessing of understanding magic, she was not blessed with abundant mana, and having failed to obtain the means to properly grow her mana in the early stages of growth, she performed somewhat poorly in comparison to her brilliant talent.

If only she had the Rare-rank mana management method—the Mana Circuit—she could have cornered the Demon King with at least twice as much mana.

Having been filled with deep regret until the moment of her death, she was one of the people who rejoiced in the second round more than anyone else.

“Alright, then let’s eat quickly and go. If you want to join Gi-jun oppa quickly, cooperate.”

“Ugh, just thinking about the two of us raiding the ruins is exhausting already. It would have been nice if we at least had a god.”

The two quickly packed up their spot and began their night march.

Among the Heroes who had welcomed the second round, it was a movement faster and more daring than anyone else’s.