Chapter 42

Wendigo carefully examined the mystery Isaac possessed.

Even if he was a wandering shaman, he was still a shaman.

To wander alone in this harsh world, he should have at least one trump card…

‘This guy. He really has nothing at all.’

It was a rude assessment that would have made Isaac shudder if he knew, but Wendigo had no malice at all.

What could he do if there really was nothing?

‘The tingling sensation felt from the dagger seems to be poison, and the familiar feeling from the cloak, is it a spell related to beasts?’

Though not a spirit with a noble lineage, Wendigo had been acting as a spirit for quite some time.

By now, even if he couldn’t discern what kind of spell was cast on an object, he could at least tell how much mystery it contained and what kind of mystery it was.

And the level of the items Isaac possessed was not impressive even as flattery.

‘… Certainly, Skadi wasn’t lying.’

It would have been better if it was a lie telling him not to expect too much.

Wendigo stared at Isaac with disappointment. Even though he knew there was nothing more to gain.

“Wandering shaman. I’d like you to put away that dagger if you’re not going to use it.”

“Yes, yes!”

Isaac, who had suddenly become a shameless and incompetent shaman, hastily put away his dagger. He realized that the being before him was a spirit, or at least equivalent to one.

‘Damn it, why is a spirit manifesting and sitting on a throne! Isn’t it a waste of mystery?’

In fact, from the perspective of Isaac, a wandering shaman, this was an unfair situation. Spirits weren’t beings one could see just because they wanted to.

It was common sense among shamans that most spirits didn’t reveal themselves unless they had a reason to intervene in reality.

From the perspective of spirits, who constantly consume mystery, there was no reason to maintain a physical body that was uncomfortable and accompanied by mystery consumption.

But why was the spirit in front of him maintaining a physical body, and even sitting leisurely on a throne…

‘Surely it can’t be because he has an excess of mystery… Moreover, his appearance is different from the spirits I know?’

Isaac painfully pushed down the rising questions and bowed respectfully to Wendigo. Curiosity aside, he had to secure his life first, right?

“The lowly shaman, Isaac son of Mollik, greets the great spirit-nim. May the honor of beholding spirit-nim’s countenance be passed down for generations…”

“Your skill at gilding with your tongue is quite impressive, but unfortunately, I don’t like such words. So shall we get straight to the point? Is there any problem with that?”

“?!”

Isaac was flustered when Wendigo cut him off.

To think that the flattery he had learned by paying silver to a shaman who claimed to have met a spirit and survived wouldn’t work.

He wondered if perhaps the spirit wanted to be praised for his humility, but Wendigo seemed truly uninterested.

What kind of spirit was this…?

“Yes. If that’s what spirit-nim wishes, please do so. But… what do you mean by ‘the point’?”

Isaac asked Wendigo, raising only his head while maintaining his bow. Even while asking, he didn’t let his guard down.

Isaac was planning to use the spell cast on his cloak, the ‘Cloak of Deer Sprint’, to escape if he saw any possibility of the spirit harming him.

The deer that became the material for the cloak wasn’t anything special, but its skill at escaping was superb.

The cloak imbued with that skill had always saved Isaac’s life when he was in danger, so it would do so this time too!

… Of course, Isaac’s thoughts were being perfectly read by Wendigo. In fact, there wasn’t even a need to read emotions.

How could he not know when Isaac was showing signs of jumping out at any moment with a stiff face?

‘It seems his courage isn’t very good either. Skadi was bold enough to seek my help from our first meeting.’

Wendigo briefly reminisced about his first meeting with Skadi. How she boldly sought help when the opportunity came, even while being chased…

Her face was a bit pale and she was trembling, but at that time, he was unskilled at controlling the cold energy, so he was emanating cold, wasn’t it because of that?

‘At this rate, if I talk about Oneton, he’ll get scared and run away.’

While it didn’t matter if he left, Wendigo wanted to gain something if possible. After pondering for a moment, Wendigo sent a signal to Skadi’s ice necklace.

Just in case, he had her wait at the temple, so Skadi should come soon…

Bang!

“Wendigo-nim. Did you call for me!”

“Grrrr!”

‘Did she wait right outside the door?’

Skadi and Oneton burst in with a loud noise, opening the door opposite to the one Isaac had entered.

The source of the loud noise was clearly Oneton ramming into the door. There was no other reason for the sound of something breaking from the door.

‘I’ll have to tell Geron later to replace the door. And give some discipline to that mutt, no, Oneton.’

While Wendigo was looking at Oneton incredulously, Isaac stared rudely at Oneton, too shocked to look away.

‘That, that one’s appearance… It looks similar to the wolf I was chasing?’

Even though its size had grown and its aura had changed, the original form was still the same, so it wasn’t strange for Isaac to recognize it.

The problem was that the wolf he had been chasing appeared before him, and it was holding an even stronger, no, several times stronger mystery than before.

Isaac prayed that this large wolf wasn’t the one he had been chasing, but when their eyes met, his breath caught.

Oneton’s golden eyes were piercing through him. Isaac instinctively realized that the wolf before him was the one he had been chasing.

‘I’m doomed! I thought it was just a wolf, but it was a beast favored by the spirit!’

Spirits are arrogant and capricious, so they rarely bestow their blessings easily, but there were occasional exceptions.

Perhaps because many spirits are born in the form of beasts, there were spirits who particularly liked beasts.

Such spirits sometimes chose a favored beast and bestowed mystery upon it…

Isaac hadn’t suspected at all that the wolf he was chasing was such a being. If he had known, he wouldn’t have set his sights on it in the first place.

If he had inflicted even a slight injury, the spirit would have appeared and inflicted a terrible punishment!

‘I need to escape now!’

Judging that this was no situation to think about becoming a shaman’s disciple or anything else, Isaac awakened the spell imbued in his cloak.

His swift judgment to leap backwards as soon as he made the decision was indeed befitting of a wandering shaman, but…

“How dare you try to use a spell without permission in front of Wendigo-nim.”

Skadi’s shamanic abilities surpassed Isaac’s. Skadi looked at Isaac with displeasure while fiddling with her ring.

The spell contained in the ring, a tree branch with sprouting buds, exerted its power by consuming the mystery Skadi transmitted.

A cyan wave burst forth from the ring along with a fresh scent. It was so fast that Isaac didn’t even have time to escape using his cloak.

As the wave swept past, Isaac noticed his body becoming heavier. Moreover, the spell contained in his cloak seemed to have been sealed, as it didn’t respond to his will.

Isaac, collapsed on the floor, looked at Skadi with terrified eyes, moving them with difficulty.

He had thought her appearance riding the wolf was extraordinary, but to think she was a shaman!

‘Such a spell cannot be handled without a spirit’s help. Then does this mean this young woman is a shaman contracted with this spirit!’

Isaac trembled at Skadi’s spell, which was of a different caliber from his own crude spells.

“I thought it was mystery related to plants, but there’s also mystery related to cold energy. Did you weave the two mysteries together to cast the spell?”

“Yes! I tried making it focusing on the concept of binding contained in cold energy and roots. It’s the first time I’ve used it in practice… As expected, since it contains Wendigo-nim’s mystery, it seems quite good for a prototype.”

“To, to think such a spell is just a prototype… Gak!?”

As Skadi patted Oneton’s neck, Oneton instantly transformed from the appearance of a cute pet wolf to that of a predator.

Oneton, who had instantly taken Isaac’s back, bared his teeth while exuding killing intent.

“Urrrgh!”

Isaac couldn’t resist the paw pressing down on his back. Even with sharp claws pointed at his neck.

Skadi glared coldly at Isaac.

“What should we do with this rude one? If Wendigo-nim wishes, I can make him spill his spells and information, and this lowly neck…”

“Wait. There was some misunderstanding, but this shaman didn’t have any bad intentions. It was just a mistake due to his excessive fear, so don’t be too harsh.”

“!!!”

Isaac was so shocked that he even forgot the pain on his back when Wendigo spoke in his defense.

While there were stories of shamans persuading spirits to save people, there were no stories of spirits persuading shamans to save people.

If a storyteller had told such a story, Isaac would have definitely mocked that storyteller as a fool.

A spirit helping humans, what could be a more unconvincing story than that!

“Skadi, release the spell, and Oneton, remove your paw. Tsk, you should hide your teeth. No matter how hungry you are, you can’t eat someone unless they’re an enemy.”

‘… Listening to him speak, he does seem to be a spirit.’

Saying something tantamount to “it’s okay to eat if they’re an enemy” right in front of the person, he was indeed a spirit.

Still, Isaac wasn’t foolish enough not to realize that his life now depended on the spirit right before him.

As soon as he could move his body, he prostrated himself without a moment’s hesitation.

“It seems I lost my mind in fear! To dare try to use a spell without permission from the spirit-nim, the master of this land!”

Isaac banged his head on the floor with his arms and legs scraped. While Wendigo seemed to have forgiven him already, Isaac noticed that Skadi hadn’t.

Isaac didn’t take his eyes off Skadi even though blood was getting in his eyes due to his torn skin.

‘For some reason, it’s clear that this shaman can’t tolerate any insult to the spirit. So it’s not the spirit I need to get forgiveness from, but this shaman!’

Meeting Skadi’s cold eyes, Isaac startled and banged his head again.

He hit so hard that Isaac almost lost consciousness for a moment. He barely held onto his senses and was about to bang his head again…

“Stop. There’s a limit to seeking forgiveness. This is clearly excessive no matter how you look at it.”

“If Wendigo-nim says so, I guess it can’t be helped…”

As Wendigo’s claw stopped Isaac’s head, Skadi stepped back with a sulky expression.

No matter how annoying Isaac was, Skadi’s loyalty wasn’t weak enough to go against Wendigo’s mood.

As Skadi withdrew her hostility, Isaac bowed to Wendigo with tears in his eyes and sincerity in his heart.

To think he would bow to a spirit with such sincere feelings!

“Spirit-nim’s heart is wider than the vast sky and more loving than a mother towards her child!”

“No. Your flattery is too excessive.”

“Huh? I think this is the smartest and most correct thing this rude fellow has said today.”

Flinch.

Isaac felt defeated by Skadi’s shamelessness.

Even he had thought ‘Ah, this might be a bit too much’ after saying it, yet she passed on the flattery without the slightest hesitation!

“The words of the shaman-nim serving the spirit-nim are correct. This foolish one failed to realize that fact and caused trouble for spirit-nim… I will pay the price for it.”

“You’ve finally realized your place. If it were another spirit, you would have been tortured to the brink of death, let alone forgiveness. From now on, live your life always grateful for Wendigo-nim’s grace.”

“……”

Wendigo was impressed by Skadi’s harsh demeanor and again by Isaac, who listened to those words without the slightest agitation.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he could keep his teeth intact if he heard such words.

‘His skills might be unknown, but that tenacity is impressive.’

“Spirit, please tell me what price I must pay. Whatever it is, I will accomplish it if it’s within my capabilities.”

Wendigo couldn’t help but be surprised by Isaac’s determination. Although there was anxiety and worry, at least there was no scent of lies.

Then he really meant he would do anything he could…

‘Nothing particularly useful comes to mind though.’

‘Surely he won’t give me an impossible task.’

Of course, Isaac was well aware that he wasn’t of much use. Considering the skills Skadi had just demonstrated, he could estimate his own worth.

Moreover, the spirit before him was unbelievably kind for a spirit. Even his earlier flattery, though exaggerated in expression, was half sincere.

‘Hmm… He wants to do something so badly, it feels wrong to stop him.’

After a brief thought that would have made Isaac weep tears of blood if he knew, Wendigo came up with a price that was somewhat decent and not too burdensome for Isaac.

“As a wandering shaman, you must know a bit about shamanism outside this forest?”

“Yes! Although my level is lowly and the difference between me and shaman-nim is like that of heaven and earth, I do know a little!”

Isaac lowered himself as much as possible, but it was a shallow trick that didn’t work on Wendigo at all.

What was important to Wendigo was that he knew some shamanism, even if it was little.

“That’s fortunate then. There’s something you need to do.”

Isaac wasn’t too worried. He felt that the spirit before him wouldn’t demand an unreasonable price!

“Yes. Please tell me!”

“Teach Skadi the shamanism you know.”

“… Pardon?”

Isaac blurted out a stupid sound at the request that was far beyond his expectations. But Isaac hadn’t misheard.

“Are your ears ringing because you’ve lost blood? Teach Skadi the shamanism you know. It’s not a difficult task, is it?”

“Uh…”

Isaac’s throat made a creaking sound as it turned. Meeting Skadi’s blank expression looking at him, Isaac thought inwardly.

‘… Should I offer to give up one arm instead and ask for forgiveness?’

To teach that shaman… It feels like my limbs might be torn off for not knowing my place…

Isaac seriously considered becoming one-armed.