Ch.48Chapter 48

“From now on, I should postpone work talk during meals.”

Wendigo grumbled as he spat out a rib bone.

Though meals were merely a form of entertainment, having an unpleasant topic thrown at him while enjoying food ruined his mood.

Geron, understanding Wendigo’s feelings completely, nodded.

“That’s what I’ve been telling you. Don’t listen to these reports while eating.”

“Everyone was busy then. It was something a ruler had to endure.”

“…Usually you don’t care about such things.”

Geron looked at Wendigo with complicated feelings.

Normally, subordinates would be pleased to have a hardworking, decisive leader, but in Geron’s opinion, Wendigo took things too far.

People would understand if things were handled slowly anyway…

“From now on, I’ll postpone non-urgent reports when you’re eating or handling personal matters.”

“See that you do. Anyway, Summoners coming in droves…”

Having lost his appetite, Wendigo pondered what to do about the situation. To be honest, he was a bit flustered.

He had expected outsiders to visit, but who could have anticipated that Summoners of all people would show up in succession?

‘Do Summoners really have nothing better to do?’

Wendigo thought of Skadi as an example. She was the first to come to mind since the number of Summoners he knew could be counted on one hand.

Skadi’s days were incredibly busy. Besides her personal magical research and maintaining her rings and necklaces, she had mountains of work.

She rode Oneton around checking for anomalies in the forest, prepared useful herbs when news of sick people reached her, examined whether crops were growing healthily…

‘No matter how I look at it, Summoners aren’t idle people…’

These were just the things that came to mind immediately. Of course, including things he didn’t know about, there would be even more.

In Wendigo’s opinion, Summoners could never have much free time. Who would want to waste such useful talent?

“People who should be busy working are visiting the forest. They might be con artists.”

“Pardon?”

“Think about it. Skadi is busy every day, so how much free time must these guys have to come here?”

“Well… honestly, I think Skadi is the unusual one. Truthfully, I’ve never heard of a Summoner like her in my life.”

As Wendigo seemed to seriously suspect they might be frauds, Geron awkwardly explained the common sense of the matter.

While there were some kind-hearted Summoners like Skadi or Issac, most Summoners had terrible personalities.

Especially those who contracted with Djin were famous for their eccentricity—dealing with ill-tempered spirits naturally corrupted their character.

Would such Summoners easily help people?

“Why not just consider them ordinary Summoners?”

“And what are ordinary Summoners like?”

“Quite greedy, arrogant… and generally unpleasant, it seems.”

As Geron recalled the Summoners he remembered, Wendigo nodded.

So they were basically like con artists or merchants. And not just any merchants, but the worst kind who ran near-monopolies.

‘So they’re scum, basically.’

“If you really dislike them, I can send an order to drive them away. If our warriors take a strong stance, they’ll retreat rather than suffer losses.”

“I don’t want us to be the cause of friction… Better to bring them all to the temple instead.”

“What? Are you serious?”

Geron asked in great surprise. By all accounts, Wendigo didn’t seem to want to see the Summoners.

But Wendigo nodded. After hearing the story, he didn’t think these Summoners would retreat if asked.

“People tend to want to do exactly what they’re told not to do. And you said they’re greedy, petty, and persistent, right?”

“I didn’t go that far. I just said they were unpleasant.”

“Same thing.”

When Geron gave him a dissatisfied look, Wendigo used his hard skull to crush the complaint.

“Don’t make that face. Anyway, telling them to leave would only stimulate their curiosity, so I’ll meet with the decent ones among them instead.”

“You plan to evaluate them personally? There are over twenty messages already—are you sure about this?”

“It’s fine. Whether it’s twenty or thirty doesn’t matter if I evaluate them as a group.”

“?”

Geron looked at Wendigo questioningly, but Wendigo was quite confident.

It was obvious they would reek of ‘I am trash’ after just a few questions.

Moreover…

‘I can just use a doppelganger for the evaluation anyway.’

Today was a day when his “mentor” Oneton kept coming to mind.

Surely he would have praised Wendigo if he knew how his magic was being used.

* * *

Wendigo’s orders were delivered by unusually strong and healthy crows.

These crows, blessed with Wendigo’s mystical power, had eyes as sharp as owls and were as fast as falcons…

“CAAAWWW!!!”

“Those damn crows…”

“Be quiet. They’re clearly beasts favored by the spirit, imbued with mystical power.”

And they were clever, as crows should be. When not delivering messages, the crows flew over the Summoners’ heads, screeching ear-splittingly.

At first, the Summoners wondered if it was some kind of omen, but eventually they had to admit:

These crows simply hated them!

“Were they raised eating human flesh? Their voices are impressive.”

“How many are there? Must be at least ten…”

The Summoners, escorted by warriors under the guise of protection but actually surveillance, whispered while watching the crows.

While spirits’ favor wasn’t limited to specific species, to bestow mystical power on so many crows…

‘I heard the spirit wasn’t in the form of a crow?’

‘Did I bring something related to crows…?’

The Summoners might have calmed down if it were just the crows. As Summoners, they had encountered many surprising sights in their lives.

But considering what they had seen in the village, they couldn’t possibly remain calm.

“In my village, there was some livestock that had mystical power…”

“Your village too? Same with the village I visited.”

The Summoners would have caused an uproar if they hadn’t been told beforehand what kind of land this was.

Beasts imbued with mystical power roaming the village, and mere warrior nobodies carrying helmets with mysterious magic!

Lower-level Summoners might have dismissed it, but experienced Summoners couldn’t.

‘What is this spirit plotting to waste power like this?’

If Issac had heard their questions, he would have laughed and asked, “Remember what I told you?” But unfortunately, Issac wasn’t here.

Of course, they remembered Issac saying the spirit of this forest valued rewarding good and punishing evil, but…

Was such a thing really possible?

“Could Issac have been right?”

“Come on… no matter what, how could such a spirit exist in this world?”

“Don’t you remember what happened to—who was it—right, Lyurik! When he messed up his contract with a spirit?”

“Ah, that guy.”

The Summoners nodded as the name of the Summoner who had contracted with the Boar Wearing Roots and Sticks was mentioned.

Lyurik was a prime example of a Summoner who had contracted poorly with a spirit. More precisely, he had been too greedy…

“He tried to borrow a spirit’s power without any preparation and received an unreasonable demand, right?”

“Yes. I always thought he was too greedy, and he got himself hooked when trying to form a close contract with a spirit.”

“Tsk, tsk, he should have taken things step by step. That’s what happens when you try to cheat…”

Most Summoners avoided forming close relationships with spirits.

Contracting to obtain mystical power from spirits wasn’t difficult even for low-level Summoners. You just had to please the spirit and pay the price properly.

But when you started forming close contracts with spirits, things changed.

Spirits knew they had the upper hand and demanded prices that Summoners could barely afford.

And such beings were spirits, so how could they possibly value rewarding good and punishing evil…

“I haven’t seen that Lyurik fellow recently.”

“Probably died somewhere… Wait, who are those guys?”

One Summoner pointed at the forest with a surprised expression. There were creatures that shouldn’t be in the forest.

They were beastmen. Of course, it wouldn’t be strange to see a few.

This forest was a place where fugitives of all races gathered.

But the number of beastmen that appeared wasn’t just one or two. There were over twenty beastmen riding wolves.

“There are so many!”

“Th-those guys are riding wolves, not horses!”

Beastmen riding horses would be frightening enough, but beastmen riding wolves?

The Summoners prepared their magic and glared at the beastmen. Beastmen were basically violent and tenacious, so if you lost momentum against them…

“Greetings! Are these the Summoners we need to take to the spirit?”

“Hokan. It’s been a while.”

“?”

When a beastman dismounted from a wolf and offered a handshake to a warrior, the warrior greeted him familiarly.

The Summoners couldn’t believe this absurd scene.

Why were beastmen on such friendly terms with forest people?

“…It seems our common sense doesn’t apply in this forest.”

“I don’t think anything will surprise me anymore.”

* * *

“What in the…”

The Summoners stared in shock at the bizarre structure before them.

What stood before their eyes was a massive wooden cave.

Naturally, such a strange cave couldn’t have formed naturally.

That meant someone had deliberately created it…

“Why on earth would anyone…?”

“To test you all, they say.”

“!”

When a young voice came from inside the cave, the Summoners tensely searched for its owner.

Skadi emerged from the deep darkness of the cave. The Summoners couldn’t help but tense at her appearance.

Considerable… no, frighteningly deep mystical power was flowing from her body.

“Wh-who are you?”

“Good question. My name is Skadi… a Summoner who follows Wendigo.”

“Skadi… the Summoner Issac mentioned?”

“She’s so young.”

The Summoners looked at Skadi with puzzled expressions. They had heard about her from Issac but didn’t expect such a young Summoner…

Though confused, the Summoners regained their composure and greeted Skadi.

“Hello. I am from the Falkenhain tribe…”

“I’m sorry. Unfortunately, Wendigo has ordered me not to accept greetings until after you pass the test.”

“Test? What kind of test are you talking about?”

Not even accepting greetings and going straight to a test?

The Summoners asked Skadi with troubled expressions. They hadn’t expected to be tested by the spirit so immediately.

Skadi, who had anticipated their reaction, smiled and nodded.

“Don’t worry. Wendigo will ask you a few questions, and you just need to answer honestly. It’s an easy test.”

“That’s… a test?”

“We don’t have to go fetch something or offer sacrifices?”

“That’s right. If you’re still doubtful, I can swear on my magic.”

The Summoners acknowledged from Skadi’s confident attitude that she wasn’t trying to deceive them.

As Skadi stepped aside from the entrance, the Summoners cautiously entered the cave.

Inside the cave filled with thick darkness.

The Summoners countered the darkness in their own ways. Each had at least one potion or spell prepared for such situations.

What awaited them after they overcame the darkness was a single figure.

‘That… looks just like the spirit Issac described!’

With an ice sword thrust into the ground as support, it was watching them from the darkness.

The Summoners approached what they presumed to be the spirit.

As its form became clearer, some felt something was off. It was somehow different from what Issac had described.

“Doesn’t it seem a bit smaller?”

“Issac must have exaggerated. Or perhaps that was also a restricted answer.”

“Check with spirit vision. If that’s not a spirit, that would be strange.”

The Summoners, moving only their lips to speak so the spirit couldn’t hear, opened their spirit vision.

A body made of vast mystical power.

‘So it really is a spirit.’

“Everyone seems to be here. Then, let’s begin the test.”

“!”

Creak!

As the spirit suddenly spoke and pulled the ice sword from the ground, approaching them, the Summoners tensed.

The spirit’s appearance—emanating cold in the dark cave—was… too fierce.

‘Surely it’s not going to swing that… is it?’

The Summoners unconsciously placed their hands on their tools.