Chapter 6: Life in the Village
The day after Rio and Latifa settled into the village...
Rio was receiving a lesson on spirit arts from Ursula and Orphia in a courtyard near their house.
“Lord Rio, you mentioned you used spirit arts by imitating sorcery, but that isn’t the real way to use spirit arts. Let’s start by explaining what spirit arts actually are.”
“Please do.”
“Hm... The concept of spirit arts can be very abstract and difficult to understand, but you’ve already acquired all the technical skill required to use them. Not to mention the fact that you’ve formed a contract with an upper ranked spirit. You’ll be a top-notch spirit arts user in no time,” Ursula said with a merry smile, before continuing.
“Let me start from the beginning. Spirit arts are techniques that manipulate ode to impart your will into mana, causing phenomena that alter the world around us. Ode is life energy... or what the humans refer to as magic essence, while mana is the energy of nature itself. Since you can use spirit arts, you must be able to detect and visibly see ode, as well as detect the presence of mana. Would that be correct, Lord Rio?”
“That’s right. I can see and detect ode. With regards to mana, I can’t see it with my eyes, but I have been able to feel a strange power in the air at times. I wasn’t entirely certain about it until now, though.”
Ever since the first time he used spirit arts in this world — no, since he was taught how to use spirit arts by that mysterious girl — a sixth sense had awakened within Rio. His senses had become sharper, allowing him to feel things far beyond his former abilities.
Looking back now, that girl must have been my contract spirit.
She had appeared in his vision like an illusion, leaving him with the bare minimum of advice before disappearing once more. Rio recalled how, back then, the girl had appeared extremely exhausted, and Dryas’ comment about how she had fallen into a deep sleep certainly seemed correct.
“I see. Normally, it would take a great amount of training to reach that level of mastery, but it seems like Lord Rio is an exception due to the contract with a spirit of at least a high rank.”
“Does the ability to use spirit arts enhance when a contract with a spirit is formed?”
“You may think of it in that way. A spirit arts user and a contract spirit are deeply linked together. Spirits are manifestations of mana that have their own, clear consciousness. They have an extraordinary affinity towards spirit arts, which is the act of manipulating mana itself.”
“...Spirits are manifestations of mana with their own clear consciousness, you say?”
Rio wondered what it meant for mana — the energy of nature itself — to obtain its own consciousness and become a spirit.
“Hm. It’s like I said earlier — Spirit arts are techniques that manipulate ode to impart your will unto mana, causing phenomena that alter the world around us. The reason why this happens is because mana itself has a vague sense of consciousness. Spirits are beings of mana that, under some miraculous alignment of circumstances, come to form their own clear sense of self.”
“I see... That’s why they can create their own form and communicate. What kind of forms can spirits take outside of humanoid ones?”
“It would be faster if you saw it for yourself. Orphia...”
“Yes, Head Elder. Ariel.”
Prompted by Ursula, Orphia nodded and called out the name of her own contract spirit. Particles flowed together and gathered beside her to form a four-meter-long eagle-like creature. Rio swallowed back a gasp at the phenomenon that had just occurred before his eyes.
“Spirits normally reside within the user’s body in their spirit form, but they can take on a physical form like this when summoned. To a spirit, the arts user’s body is a source of ode supply. It’s comfortable for them to stay there.”
“Can it speak like Dryas can?” Rio asked as he watched Ariel fool around with Orphia.
“It cannot. It can understand our words, and has a simple telepathic connection to its arts user, but only humanoid spirits can hold conversations. Once your spirit awakens, Lord Rio, you should be able to converse with it all you like.”
“Yes... There’s a lot I’d like to ask once it wakes up.”
“Hm. If there’s anything you don’t know at this point, we can try to answer you to the best of our ability.”
“Thank you very much. Then, to start... I’ve always wondered why I couldn’t obtain any magic through spell contracts before. Up until now, I assumed it was because I had a peculiar physical make-up... but could this also be caused by my contract with a spirit?”
Spell contracts were one type of sorcery: a ritual that absorbed formulas into the body through sorcery, allowing magic to be obtained. However, all of Rio’s attempts to make a contract until now had always failed at the stage where he had to take the formula into his body, forcing the ritual to come to an abrupt halt. He had never once succeeded at the ritual.
“Exactly. Taking a spell formula into the body is essentially like turning the human body into an artifact. In other words, it turns a natural being into an unnatural one. And spirits are natural existences — they wouldn’t want their contracted body to become unnatural.”
“Thank you. My longstanding question has finally been answered. This means that if I hadn’t formed a contract with a spirit, I would have been able to acquire magic through formula contracts, right?”
“That would be the case, yes. But in return, you would no longer be able to use spirit arts. Magic is similar to spirit arts in that it manipulates ode to make mana alter reality. However, in the case of magic, the mana is being put to work by the formula instead of the user. When the formula is within the body, mana becomes unable to accurately perceive the will of the user.”
“So it’s either one or the other when it comes to spirit arts and magic. Once you learn one, you can no longer learn the other... I can understand that much, but is there a particular reason why spirit arts haven’t spread at all in the Strahl region?”
“You may not have noticed it yourself, Lord Rio, but spirit arts are much more difficult to learn than magic. I touched upon this in the beginning, but to use spirit arts, you must be able to detect ode, visibly perceive ode, and detect mana. However, the only requirement magic needs is the ability to detect ode. Out of all the intelligent beings out there, humans have especially low affinity towards spirit arts. Since magic is easier to acquire, it is emphasized as the foundation for humans to learn. And in the case of the Strahl region, the Seven Wise Gods were also deeply involved in bestowing magic upon the humans living there.”
“The... Seven Wise Gods? Not the Six Wise Gods?”
Rio’s eyes widened. As far as he knew, the gods that the Strahl people worshiped were referred to as the Six Wise Gods. He had never heard of them as a group of seven.
“Oh, do the humans only speak of the Six Wise Gods? According to our legends, there were seven gods that appeared in the Strahl region during the Divine War that occurred over a thousand years ago. The seventh god was exiled by the other six, so the humans must have completely erased that part from their history.”
“I had no idea...” Rio’s interest was piqued by the difference in their history, but now was not the time to ask about it. He decided to refrain from questioning any further and derailing the topic at hand: learning more about spirit arts.
“Hmm. Incidentally, there are spirit arts users amongst the humans of the Yagumo region to the east. The use of magic didn’t spread over there during the Divine War. Speaking of which, I completely forgot to ask... Lord Rio, were you born in Yagumo? You seem to have come here from Strahl, yet your hair color is that of the humans born in Yagumo.”
“No, I’m originally from Strahl. But my parents were migrants that moved from Yagumo to Strahl, so...”
“Ah, is that so. That must be why you’re heading to Yagumo.”
“Yes,” Rio said simply, without adding any additional details. He gave an evasive smile and a short nod instead.
“I see, I see. Hm. My apologies — I seem to have gone off track. What were we talking about?”
“The difference between magic and spirit arts, Head Elder. And how the story of the Seven Wise Gods came to be,” Orphia informed Ursula, making her grin.
“Oh, that’s right. Thank you, Orphia. Which reminds me... there was one more thing I need to ask you, Lord Rio.”
“What is it?”
“Well... We spirit folk use not only spirit arts, but sorcery as well. There are some things spirit arts aren’t suitable for, after all. However, the one thing we make sure to avoid is writing magic into our bodies. That is where my question segues in: has Latifa acquired any magic?”
“Just the one. Don’t tell me... Can Latifa no longer use spirit arts?” Rio asked, expression clouding over slightly.
“No, it won’t be a problem. It is possible to remove formulas from the body. We will take it out of her before she begins her spirit arts lessons. When that happens, Orphia, you shall be her teacher.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to teach her yourself, Head Elder? Latifa is your...” Orphia examined Ursula’s expression carefully.
“It’s fine. If I took on the role, I’d be too soft on her,” Ursula beamed widely.
“My words were out of line. Please forgive me,” Orphia said, bowing her head.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Let us return to the topic at hand. Anyway... Depending on the capability of the user, spirit arts can cause phenomena far more freely than magic, and even do some things that magic can’t do. For example, this,” Ursula explained, using her spirit arts to create a small ball of fire at her side. Then, the fire changed its form into a person, an animal, a sword, and then a spear — each transformation taking less than a second.
“That’s... amazing. Magic formula can be altered before the spells are cast, but they cannot freely change shape after they’ve been activated. So that’s what you meant.” Rio watched the fireball with round eyes.
“Hm. As long as you continue to use spirit arts to imitate magic, the mana will only alter phenomena in response to your image of magic. In order to use spirit arts more freely, you must first discard that preconception of yours. It may be best to start with your specialty elements. What spirit arts are you good at, Lord Rio?”
“Spirit arts I’m good at? I don’t have any particular strengths or weaknesses. I’ve heard that people have magic they can and cannot learn, but I have yet to encounter a magic I couldn’t imitate...” Rio answered, making Ursula’s eyes widen this time.
“Oh? Normally people have their own individual affinities for particular elements. You must be an all-rounder type like Orphia, your resident high elf. It might be better to simply start learning from what you want to learn instead. What kind of spirit arts would you like to learn? You could even learn how to fly, if you wanted.”
“Flying...?”
“Correct. Orphia, show him.”
“Yes, Head Elder.” Orphia nodded. Suddenly, a draft of wind started to blow around her, lifting her body up into the air. Rio’s eyes widened in shock.
“That’s amazing. Will I be able to do that too?”
“Of course. Being able to fly should make your travels much easier as well, Lord Rio. Let us start with how to float in the air, then practice various flight controls little by little.”
“It sounds like a worthwhile art to learn. Please give me your guidance.” Rio gave a fully motivated smile and bowed.
Meanwhile, at the same time as Rio’s spirit arts lesson with Ursula and Orphia, Sara and Alma had invited two of the village children over to introduce them to Latifa.
“Arslan, Vera. This is Latifa. She can only speak the tongue of the humans right now, but I hope you can all get along,” Sara said, gesturing towards Latifa, who was sitting beside her.
“Okay! Hi, Latifa. My name’s Vera. Let’s be friends!”
“H-Hey. I’m Arslan. Nice to meet ya.”
Sitting on the sofa across from Latifa was the silver werewolf Vera, whose greeting was energetic, and the werelion Arslan, whose introduction was shy. Vera and Arslan were both of village council bloodlines — Vera was Sara’s little sister — and were taking lessons on how to lead the village in the future. The two were the leaders of their age group, so by becoming Latifa’s first friends, they could encourage the other children to warm up to her one at a time.
“N-Nice to... meet you. I’m... Latifa,” Latifa introduced herself hesitantly.
“Ehehe! I’m so happy to make a new friend! Let’s talk about lots of things together!” Vera said, standing up from the sofa and moving to sit down next to Latifa instead. “Here’s a question for you!” she said, throwing out questions one after another.
Arslan was a little bashful, but did his best to speak to Latifa, too. It didn’t take too long for Latifa to open up to them.
“Arslan, you’re acting a little weird. Why won’t you look at Latifa in the eyes? And your face is a little red, too.” Vera tilted her head at Arslan, who seemed rather nervous and uncomfortable.
“He’s just being shy. Latifa’s cute, after all.”
“Yes, that’s right,” Sara and Alma said, smiling happily.
“Wha — that’s not it! You’re wrong! What are you two saying?!” Arslan denied with a furious blush on his face.
“Ehehe... Arslan’s right. Because Vera’s so much cuter. You’re just shy, right? I am too.” Latifa took Arslan for his word.
“Wahoo, that makes me so happy! But I think Latifa’s cuter,” Vera said, hugging Latifa tightly.
“Ah, no, that’s not it...” Arslan mumbled as he tried to take back his earlier words, but Vera’s loud voice drowned him out. His shoulders slumped at his mistake.
“Fufu. That tickles, Vera.”
Vera rubbed her cheeks against Latifa’s, making her giggle at the ticklish sensation. Their ears flicked happily on top of their heads.
“Since we’re such close friends now, what do you think about playing outside together? Would it be okay if I introduced Latifa to the others, sister?” Vera asked after she was satisfied with how much they had played together.
“Sure, go ahead. But remember that there will be children who can’t understand her tongue, so you two have to mediate between them. Got it?” Sara said, giving her permission after stating her one condition.
“Of course!” Vera chimed in. “Yeah! Let’s go already. I wanna play tag!” Arslan added.
Vera and Arslan took Latifa’s hands and pulled her into a dash towards the entrance. As they headed outside, they ran into Rio, Orphia, and Ursula, who had just returned from their spirit arts lesson. Seeing Rio made Latifa’s expression liven up in a flash.
“Ah, Onii-chan! Welcome back!”
“Wahoo, is this Latifa’s brother? He’s so cool!” Vera looked at Rio’s face and grinned.
“Hoho, how lively,” Ursula said.
“Ah, Head Elder! Good day.”
“Hello, Head Elder.”
Arslan bowed politely at Ursula, with Vera following in kind.
“Are you going out, Latifa?” Rio asked.
“Yup. We’re going to play outside. Is that okay?” Latifa said timidly.
“Of course that’s okay. I’m glad. I’ll make dinner and wait for you, so go play all you want. Thank you for treating Latifa nicely, you two.” After giving permission for Latifa to go out, Rio turned to Vera and Arslan.
“I see... So Latifa’s brother is the human who came from outside the village. I’ve heard the story from my sister, Sara. It’s very nice to meet you,” Vera greeted Rio politely, as Arslan bowed nervously.
“P-Pleased to meet you.”
“Thank you. It’s very nice to meet you too. I hope you’ll be good friends with Latifa.”
“We sure will!”
“Yes!”
Rio returned the greeting, to which Vera and Arslan both nodded enthusiastically.
“If you’ll excuse us, Sara and I will accompany the children.”
“We’ll leave the rest to you, Rio. Orphia.”
Sara and Alma left to supervise Latifa and the others.
“Okay! We’ll have some tea and start making dinner. Have fun.” Orphia saw the outside group off with Rio and Ursula.
“We will. We’ll be back soon — hey, you! Wait up! Don’t run ahead!” Sara chased after Latifa and the others in a hurry.
“Hoho... How energetic they are,” Ursula mumbled with a smile. Rio’s mouth was also turned up in a peaceful smile.
◇◇◇
And so, several months passed since starting their life in the village. With so much to learn, the busy and bustling days went by in a flash. On one such day, after Rio and Latifa had become accustomed to life in the village...
Rio was in the middle of his spirit arts lesson with Ursula and Orphia, when Latifa came running toward them at an incredible speed.
“Onii-chan!” She skidded to a stop just before colliding with Rio, then latched onto him. Then, she wrapped her arms around his neck and climbed up his back, until she could peer over his shoulder at his face.
“W-What’s wrong?” Rio asked, slightly thrown off-balance. At the same time, Vera and Arslan appeared, followed by Sara taking up the rear.
“Hey, you!” As soon as Sara appeared, she scolded Latifa, Vera, and Arslan.
“What did you do, Latifa?” Rio asked again as Latifa rubbed her cheek against Rio’s face innocently.
“Sara won’t give us any break time. She said I couldn’t come see Onii-chan!”
“Don’t lie, Latifa. Your statement is intentionally misleading; I said you could see him once you finished studying. I’m only mad because you snuck out before you were done,” Sara responded to Latifa’s unhappy words in a logical manner. Latifa puffed up her cheeks in a pout.
“But studying every day is boring! I want to learn spirit arts too.”
“You have many other things to learn right now. And you’ve started learning spirit arts already, no?”
“But I want to be with Onii-chan.”
“You shouldn’t be selfish like that,” Sara said with a stern shake of her head.
“I don’t wanna! Hmph, Sara’s such a grump.” Latifa muttered under her breath. Sara’s mouth dropped open in dumbfounded shock.
“Wha... Latifa! Sit down right there!”
“Don’t wanna!”
“Kuh, this child...” Sara’s body trembled as Latifa mockingly stuck out her tongue. Her cute and fluffy ears and tail were twitching in a menacing way.
“S-Sara, don’t you think Latifa must be feeling lonely?” After watching silently until now, Orphia quickly stepped in to calm Sara.
“That’s right, sister. Latifa just wanted to see her brother. She’s studied so much more than us, so she deserves the break! Don’t you think?”
Vera tried to chime in with her support, but suddenly...
With a noisy, flapping sound, a human-shaped figure descended from the sky.
“What’s wrong? There seems to be a commotion over here...” It was the winged werebeast, Uzuma. She looked around at the gathering of people and widened her eyes upon spotting Ursula and Rio. She immediately dropped to one knee before them.
“I-If it isn’t the Head Elder and Lord Rio. Good day...”
“Hum. It’s been a while,” Ursula nodded.
“H-Hello, Lady Uzuma.” Rio returned the spirit folk’s greeting somewhat awkwardly. This made Uzuma turn to look at Rio with wide eyes.
“You’ve already learned to speak the language of the spirit folk?”
“Y-Yes, if it’s at an easy enough level, at least. I’m... I’m still not used to it, though. I learned together... I learned with Latifa,” Rio replied to Uzuma’s question in a stiff manner.
“I’m surprised. And, well... I am sorry for what happened in the past.”
“...Oh, no. I am still not used to your language yet, so please excuse my use of the Strahl tongue from here... In regards to what happened, I have heard that you were punished by being put under house arrest. Please do not let yourself be troubled by the incident any further. All is forgiven.” At first, Rio wasn’t quite sure why he was being apologized to, so he took a moment to respond.
“Uzuma — long time no see. When did your house arrest end?” Sara asked Uzuma, joining in on the conversation.
“Long time no see, Lady Sara. It just ended this morning.”
“I see. Will you be returning to work today?”
“No, I am still resting from my warrior duties. The first thing I wanted to do after I was allowed outside was to apologize to Lord Rio...” Uzuma said, expression clouding over with guilt.
Rio gave a strained smile and shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”
“So you don’t have anything else to do for today, Uzuma?” Sensing the awkward air between Rio and Uzuma, Sara changed the topic out of consideration.
“Yes, nothing in particular.”
“I see... then, would you like to spar? It’s been a while, right?”
“O-Oh, sure. I don’t mind...” Uzuma nodded mildly.
“Ooh! Uzuma and Sara are sparring?! I wanna see that!”
“Do your best, sister!” Hearing the word “spar” made Arslan and Vera jump with excitement.
“Who’s stronger?” Latifa asked her two friends curiously.
“That’d be Uzuma, of course.”
“My sister, for sure!”
Arslan and Vera replied at the same time, but with different answers.
“No, no... Uzuma is the warrior chief. Sara’s strong, but she can’t defeat her yet.”
“That’s not true!”
“You’re just biased towards your family, Vera!”
“Grrr!”
Arslan and Vera bickered like noisy spectators.
“But I think my Onii-chan is the strongest!” Latifa chimed in, unable to endure listening silently any longer.
“Sorry to say this about Rio, but my sister is the strongest.”
“Uzuma is definitely stronger than everyone else!”
Vera and Arslan immediately shot down Latifa’s statement, but Latifa refused to back down, too.
“That’s not true. Onii-chan drove away a whole flight of demi-dragons by himself!”
“A whole flight of demi-dragons, you say...”
“Impressive as always.”
Uzuma and Ursula both murmured in awe. Sara and Orphia also threw a look of respect Rio’s way.
“It wasn’t anything spectacular. I’m still in training too,” Rio responded with uncomfortable modesty.
“Umm, Rio. What do you think about sparring with me once? I always see you swinging your sword alone early in the morning and late at night, so I wanted to try fighting you,” Sara requested in a humble manner.
“Onii-chan, do your best!”
“You too, sister! This is the perfect chance to show everyone who the strongest is!”
Latifa and Vera cheered before Rio could even get a word in. Evidently, they had already decided that Rio and Sara’s match was set in stone.
Or rather, they were just happy to have an excuse to get out of more studying.
“Then, shall we?” Rio wasn’t brazen enough to betray the pure expectations of two young girls.
“Yes please!” Sara nodded happily.
After that, Uzuma took to the air and brought their training weapons back.
News of their match spread before they knew it. Before long, a small crowd had gathered, making their sparring session more like a mini event of sorts. They drew straws to decide who would be sparring together first — the result was Rio and Uzuma. Once they had settled on the rule of limiting spirit arts to the use of body enhancement only, Rio picked up his longsword and stood across the square from Uzuma, who gripped her short spear tightly. Sara would be their referee.
“Begin!”
The match finally began, and Uzuma charged at Rio the instant the signal was given. The propulsionary force of her wings sent her shooting forward like an arrow. Her incredible speed closed the gap in the blink of an eye, and she released a sharp jab towards Rio as though to test him.
Rio saw through the jab easily, using the minimum amount of movement to shift his body and evade it.
“Oooh!” the spectators cheered.
Meanwhile, Uzuma continued to launch an avalanche of stabbing attacks towards Rio, who parried them efficiently with his refined movements. A surprised expression flashed across Uzuma’s face, and she widened the distance between them. Then, she took on a lower stance and readied her spear, charging forward with her body held close to the ground to aim at Rio’s chest from below. Rio received the attack head-on, but Uzuma tried to brute-force her spear through his defenses. Once Rio’s body had been lifted up, she focused more strength into her arms and stepped forward firmly, flapping her wings to blow him fully into the air.
I see her crazy strength hasn’t changed, Rio thought as he flew through the air, impressed by Uzuma’s physical strength.
Of course, Rio had strengthened his own body with spirit arts too, but there was a vast difference in the basic fundamental build of a human and a werebeast. That difference was all the more emphasized when their bodies were enhanced with spirit arts.
“Hah!” With a powerful yell, Uzuma flew into the air and launched a follow-up attack on Rio. She aimed at Rio’s limbs in mid air, stabbing her spear four times in one breath with precision.
Rio twisted his arms and legs around his body to evade them by a hair’s breadth. Then, before Uzuma could withdraw her extended spear, he grabbed the pole with his left hand and pulled her towards him instead.
Rio swung his longsword horizontally, aiming for Uzuma’s torso. Uzuma immediately let go of the spear and flapped her wings upwards, positioning herself just out of reach of Rio’s sword.
With his left hand, Rio readjusted his grip on the spear and swung it at Uzuma above him, but the tip of spear uselessly cut through empty space. It would be difficult to catch her in the air.
The two landed back on the ground, maintaining their distance — until Uzuma charged at Rio once more. Rio casually tossed the spear towards Uzuma.
“Kuh!”
Uzuma’s specialized weapon was voluntarily returned to her before she could steal it back, slowing her reaction by a fraction. In the time she took to hurriedly catch the spear, Rio spied an opening and charged forward.
Oh, how the tables had turned.
Uzuma tried to back away to regain her balance, but Rio closed in so she couldn’t escape, now so close to her that she couldn’t freely swing her spear. He weaved through the gaps of her defenses sharply, slashing his sword.
“Guh...”
Uzuma was at a disadvantage. Overwhelmed by the factors working against her, she only barely managed to block Rio’s attack, forgoing her own to do so. If Rio had been swinging a real sword, she would have been covered in countless wounds already.
Rio thrust at Uzuma’s momentary opening with massive force, swinging his sword in his strongest hit yet. The spear was blown away, causing Uzuma to stumble back from the recoil. She leapt after the spear, catching it midair.
“...I acknowledge that your abilities are worthy of a warrior. It seems I must take this seriously.” Uzuma’s aura suddenly changed as she landed on the ground.
A chill ran down Rio’s spine. It was like looking into the eyes of a starving beast.
In the next instant, Uzuma had closed the distance between them and aimed a harsh thrust at Rio’s body. The suffocating pressure made Rio step to the side immediately. At the same time, though, he could feel a bad presence flanking him, so he stepped backwards next.
Moments later, Uzuma’s spear passed through where Rio had just been with the sound of air being ripped through.
“Huh, well done evading that. Let’s see if you can dodge this!” Uzuma said in delight as she firmly stepped forward and swung her spear with all her might.
So heavy!
Rio had tried to receive the attack with his sword, but he felt the difference in their physical strength, and had to jump back to negate the power of the spear.
“Isn’t this a bit too much for a sparring match?” Rio said with a wry smile, but he seemed to be having fun.
“You’ll have to forgive me! I haven’t encountered an opponent this worthy in the last few months!” Uzuma yelled with a ferocious smile. It seemed as though Uzuma was a bit of a battle junkie... That thought made the corner of Rio’s mouth curl up faintly. He certainly wasn’t one to talk. It was nice to have a simple and straightforward fight like this sometimes, where neither opponent was overthinking things. At the very least, Rio could feel himself getting heated by being able to spar with someone who he could face with all his might.
That being said, while he wasn’t losing in technical ability, as a werebeast, Uzuma was far in the lead in terms of physical ability. At this rate, the fight would slowly become one-sided.
He had to even the playing field.
With that decision, Rio released a huge amount of ode from within his body. Then, he condensed it, and poured all of it into his physical enhancement. In using physical enhancement through spirit arts, physical ability was raised in proportion to the layer of ode cloaked around the body, so if his base strength was lower than a werebeast, all he had to do was strengthen his spirit arts enhancement... that was Rio’s thinking, at least.
“Mm... What dense ode.”
Ursula’s eyes widened as she looked on. Sara and Orphia, who were watching beside her, gulped. The villagers who had gathered out of curiosity were in a similar state.
The answer Rio had come up with was simple, but not something anyone could do. Even if a considerable amount of ode could be released, controlling it was another matter completely. Condensing such a massive amount of ode to cloak the body required a considerable display of control; it was no wonder their audience was surprised.
“I see you weren’t taking this seriously before, either,” Uzuma said with a grin.
“No, I was serious. Although I may not have been using my full power.”
“I see. However, you still seem fairly far from your limit...” Uzuma closed in on Rio as she spoke, swinging her spear.
“No, I’m having a fairly difficult time here.” Rio received the attack head-on. This time, he didn’t lose to the battle of power.
“You can say that with a straight face? Ha!” Uzuma thrust her spear forward wildly, but Rio moved his hand swiftly to intercept each move.
Their weapons clashed several times in quick succession; if they had been using metal weapons, sparks would have been flying. Their exchange of blows appeared to be a close contest, but Uzuma was slowly being pushed back. While Rio hadn’t moved a single step, Uzuma had been moving around to attack from all angles. Eventually, Uzuma’s breath grew short.
“Amazing. No matter how I attack you, it doesn’t feel like I can land a blow at all!” Uzuma stated happily, and in a stubborn attempt to make Rio move, drove her spear up from a lower angle, putting all her might into one thrust. Rio took half a step to the side and evaded it elegantly.
Then, he retaliated with a swinging slice at Uzuma. His sword was aimed precisely at her body, stopping just barely before making direct contact.
Judging that the hit was one she certainly could not have dodged... “...I admit defeat. Forgive me — I became too frenzied in the heat of the moment.” Briefly, her expression twisted with frustration, but she accepted her loss calmly and gave a polite bow.
“No, I had fun. I’d love to spar again some time.”
“Yes, it would be a pleasure!” Rio offered her a hand, which Uzuma shook immediately.
They seemed to have come to an understanding. The air of awkwardness present from before the fight had dissipated, leaving relaxed expressions on both of their faces. The spectators of their fierce battle watched in dumbfounded amazement.
Meanwhile, Latifa puffed up her modest chest proudly.
“See? Arslan? Vera? I told you! Onii-chan is the strongest!”
“Y-Yeah. Rio really is amazing,” Arslan replied to Latifa’s words with a dazed expression.
“S-Sara hasn’t fought yet! My sister is strong!” Despite being shaken, Vera boasted for her sister’s sake with all her might and looked at Sara with hopeful eyes.
V-Vera, don’t raise their expectations! I’ve never even won against Uzuma before! As she was on the receiving end of her little sister’s pure expectations, Sara broke out into an excessive sweat.
◇◇◇
Several days after the sparring match between Rio, Uzuma, and Sara...
Early in the morning, while the others were still asleep, Rio and Sara sparred again. After she had tasted defeat at Rio’s hands, Sara had asked Rio to train her.
“Your movements are getting duller. Do you want to take a break?”
“I-I’m still... fine...! I want to at least land a scratch!”
Unlike Rio’s calm breaths, Sara was panting harshly. Her tone was a little rougher than usual too. Even then, she held her wooden knife and attacked Rio.
“All the warriors of the village have wonderful physical abilities, but their movements are inefficient. The same goes for you, Sara. You make too many unnecessary movements.” Rio dodged Sara’s attack as he gave her advice.
Perhaps it was because of their isolation deep within the forest, living peacefully amongst their own kind, but the battle style of the village’s warriors were entirely specialized towards facing creatures of the natural world. Since they would never fight amongst themselves, the most practice they got from fighting others like them was through practice matches.
Furthermore, since their individual physical abilities were so advanced, it didn’t require them to hone their combat techniques against other people. That’s why when it came to fighting others, their style was dauntless and daring, to put it nicely... or reckless and foolhardy, to put it bluntly. Rather than luring the opponent into lowering their guard, changing their attacking pace to shake up the opponent, or relying on technical movements, they preferred to fight with plain strength and speed.
That preference applied to Sara too.
“I-I know that!” Sara said, lunging to stab at Rio with a large swing.
Rio grabbed her hand easily, toppling her off-balance and throwing her to the side. Sara flipped in the air and landed on the ground.
“For someone so calm, you’re unexpectedly competitive,” Rio said with a small smile.
“Grrr! But... but... the battle isn’t over yet... It’s not over yet!” Sara was bright red with frustration and a little bit of embarrassment. In order to brush that off, she charged towards Rio again.
Suddenly —
“Good morning, you two. Do you mind if we join you, Rio?”
“Morning! I wanna do it too!”
A sleepy Alma and Latifa appeared. The two of them wanted to learn from Rio’s training as well, but neither were morning people, and often showed up late like this. However, it was still early in the morning, so they had plenty of time to practice before breakfast.
“I’ll check the forms I taught you yesterday, so let’s slowly go through the movements.”
They all poured their sweat into training until Orphia finished preparing breakfast and came to call on them.
◇◇◇
After their morning practice, Rio and the others sat on deck chairs and ate the sandwiches Orphia had prepared for breakfast.
“Ugh... I couldn’t land a single hit on Rio again... Ah, this is delicious,” Sara muttered with her head hung low, munching on her sandwich dejectedly. Her wolf ears were drooping a little more than usual.
“Sara was defeated rather splendidly,” Alma pointed out, making Sara’s wolf ears flick in response.
“A-Alma, you’re not one to talk! You were in a similar position to me.”
“I’m not as reckless as Sara.”
“Ugh...”
Sara was in no place to object, having had Rio make similar observations numerous times.
“I like Sara’s direct way of approach. We’ll work on fixing her habit of getting too engrossed and making the same repetitive motions again and again.” Rio smiled faintly from where he sat before Sara, offering her words of encouragement. Sara blinked blankly for a beat.
“Y-Yes... Please.” She looked down, her cheeks reddening with embarrassment. Taking the sandwich with two hands, she munched furiously with her small mouth.
“Sara, your face is red,” Alma said, looking at Sara’s face apathetically from where she sat beside her. Sara startled.
“W-Wha — That’s not true!”
“You know that’s not what he meant by ‘like’!” Alma whispered in her ear, low enough that Rio wouldn’t hear it from where he sat across the table.
“I-Isn’t that obvious?! W-What are you trying to imply?!” Sara’s cheeks reddened even more.
“Fufu, what are you talking about, Sara?” Orphia asked with an amused smile; she was sitting on the other side of the table just beside Rio.
“O-Orphia, you’re an elf! You could hear that clearly, couldn’t you?!”
“Fufu, who knows? Right, Rio? Latifa?” Orphia said, looking at them for their response.
Rio had been unable to hear their conversation midway, so he tilted his head in confusion. But Latifa, who had been sitting between Rio and Sara on the other side of the table, opened her mouth.
“You know, Sara actually—”
“L-Latifa!” Sara stood up in a panic, covering Latifa’s mouth with a hand.
“Mmph!”
“I-It’s nothing, Rio! It’s absolutely nothing!”
Rio nodded, overwhelmed by Sara’s menacing look. “A-All right. But Latifa looks like she’s in pain, so please let go of her,” Rio said, smiling wryly.
At Rio’s order, Sara hurriedly removed her hand from Latifa’s mouth and apologized. “S-Sorry.”
“Geez!” Latifa puffed up her cheeks cutely in anger.
Orphia and Alma giggled at the scene. Rio also chuckled quietly, and Latifa began to giggle with high-pitched laughter, too.
Sara was the only one who was blushing.
“Oh, that’s right. Rio, are you aware of the Grand Spirit Festival in two months time?” Orphia suddenly said after laughing for a while.
“Yes, I’ve heard of it.”
“About that... Just recently, your cooking was highly praised amongst the council members of the village.”
“Really?” Rio’s eyes widened. It was the first time he was hearing of this.
“Yes. I previously made lunch for the council of elders with a recipe I learned from you. It was a huge hit.”
“I see. But what does that have to do with the Grand Spirit Festival?”
“There’s a banquet held after the Grand Spirit Festival, so I was thinking of having some of your recipes on the menu. So, Rio... I know this is a lot to ask of you, but would you consider teaching them to the ladies of the village?”
“Sure, I don’t mind. It would be my pleasure to help,” Rio agreed pleasantly.
“Thank you very much! Then I’ll set up a cooking class sometime in the near future. I’ll inform you of the details at a later date.”
Orphia’s expression brightened in delight, her smile like a blooming flower.
◇◇◇
Food from all corners of the continent of Euphelia was cultivated in the village of the spirit folk. The spirit folk themselves were once scattered around the continent, before being persecuted by humans and forced into migrating to the village over time. As part of the migration, they brought foods from different regions with them, resulting in their current state of agriculture.
The spirit folk had advanced farming technologies, and Dryas, the spirit of the giant tree, oversaw the great forest; its fertile soil was heaven for plant life. This allowed the crops to grow under the best conditions.
The village truly was a food paradise.
Rio took advantage of that blessing ever since he started living in the village, using his knowledge from his previous life to painstakingly recreate different foods of every origin — be it Japanese, Western, or Chinese. Furthermore, Orphia — who was particularly enthusiastic about cooking in comparison to the other girls — was learning how to make gourmet spirit folk food. She was very interested in the varieties of food Rio could make, and they spent their time together teaching each other their recipes.
And so, here in the house where Rio and the others lived, dishes from both Earth and the spirit folk would line the table every day. Occasionally, they’d invite Ursula and the other head elders over, and they’d all smack their lips at Rio’s cooking. Eventually, rumors began to spread, and Orphia ended up treating the elder council to the recipe that she had learned from Rio. The feedback was extremely favorable, and as a result, everyone wanted Rio to hold a cooking class. Rio accepted their request, and it was decided that he would teach his recipes to the ladies of the village.
Most of the participants were younger ladies; though their species had longer lifespans (they developed at the same rate as humans until their mid-teens, from which their aging dramatically slowed), their appearances didn’t quite match their real ages. There were over fifty of them present.
At the moment, an appetizing smell was wafting from the food preparation room in the town hall, which was filled with the cheerful voices of apron-clad women. Despite readily agreeing to the whole thing, there were far more participants than he expected, which made Rio feel uncomfortably awkward as the only male in the room.
That being said, he wasn’t about to back down after already accepting, so he put on his mask of responsibility and devoted himself to playing the role of the teacher.
After distributing the recipe sheet to each group, he went through each preparation step while giving tips about handling the ingredients and how strong the fire should be. Next, each group went about preparing their own food, following the recipe and Rio’s steps, which they had just observed. Rio and Orphia — his assistant — split up and walked around each group’s table, watching over their students as they worked. Once the cooking started, groups started to come up with questions and obstacles, so he would assist with those, too.
He spotted one such group just now.
“Sara, Alma, isn’t this tomato sauce a little too sour?” Latifa asked, licking at the teaspoon of sauce she had scooped up.
“Mm, that’s true...”
“The sour taste is a little strong.”
Sara and Alma’s expressions clouded over as they tasted the sauce.
“Bleh, the one Rio made was so much smoother, too.” Vera also licked at the sauce, before shaking her ears and tail. That was when Rio appeared.
“Let it simmer at a lower flame for a while, and hold off on the water. Once it’s boiled through, add water to adjust the thickness. Make sure to taste it frequently. If it doesn’t get any better, add broth and simmer for longer,” he advised after tasting the sauce with a teaspoon.
“I see... so it hasn’t boiled enough yet.”
“Tomatoes lose their sourness when they’re heated, after all. It settles the flavor and brings out the sweetness. Also, if you add too much broth, you’ll lose the taste of the tomato sauce, so make sure to only add a little,” Rio added in explanation, making Alma nod in understanding. Latifa and Vera were chatting away noisily beside them.
“Ehehe, we can eat yummy rice croquette and cabbage rolls with this.”
“Anya’s group is making cheese omelettes and chicken braised in tomato sauce. Let’s swap some with them later.”
“Ooh, I can’t wait!”
The cooking class continued smoothly after that. After some time, completed dishes started to appear amongst the groups.
“All right, I’m sure all the men are hungry by now, so let’s move the completed dishes to the dining room and serve it before they cool. The only thing left after eating is the cleanup, so please take your time.”
At Rio’s order, the groups with finished dishes began moving out to the dining room. The groups with more experienced women had finished first, leaving behind the groups formed of mostly younger girls. However, they didn’t appear to be too far behind. Rio walked around the tables while cleaning up what he could, retrieving any leftover ingredients. With no need for an assistant anymore, he sent Orphia to join Latifa’s group, then took the opportunity to make some food for himself.
He threw some butter and onion into a frying pan, added some finely chopped chicken thighs, and sauteed them. Once the onions had become translucent, he added tomato sauce and mixed it. Then, he added some leftover butter rice and fried it until it was loose and non-sticky. The chicken rice was completed in no time at all.
Next, with some swift and bold — yet precise — movements, he moved a frypan in his hand and made an omelette. He placed the completed omelette onto the chicken rice and made a cut down the middle, adding a little tomato sauce on top for the finishing touch. With that, the thick and fluffy omurice was complete.
With some ingredients left over, he decided to make one omurice, and completed it just as the last two groups wrapped up their cooking. One of the groups was Latifa’s, who came running over.
“Onii-chan, let’s eat together!”
“Sara and the others are eating with that other group, right? I’ll be fine, so you should go eat with them,” Rio replied with a troubled expression toward Latifa’s carefree smile. The other group was made up of girls that Rio had never interacted with before, so he thought it was best to avoid getting involved as an outsider.
“Eeeh... What are you gonna do, Onii-chan?”
“I’ll just eat by myself.”
“No, I wanna be with Onii-chan!” Latifa threw a tantrum.
A werecat girl whose name he didn’t know called out to him from the side. “That’s right. Let’s eat together, Rio... Please?”
“Umm, are you sure?”
“Of course! You’ve been living in this village for almost half a year now, but you only ever mingle with Lady Sara’s group. I’ve always wanted to talk to you. Right, everyone?” the werecat said, looking behind her. A group of girls had suddenly formed behind her, nodding along enthusiastically. Everyone looked to be in their mid-teens; probably older than Rio.
“I understand. I’d be happy to, then.” Unable to reject their offer, Rio accepted the offer to eat with Sara’s group and the older girls. They all moved to the dining room, lining their completed dishes along a free table.
All the dishes passed in terms of appearance. An appetizing smell wafted through the air, but the girls’ gazes weren’t looking at their own dishes, but rather focused on the omurice Rio had made.
“Hey, Rio. What kind of dish is this? We didn’t practice making this one,” the werecat girl asked curiously. “It’s omurice!” Latifa answered on Rio’s behalf. Omurice was her favorite.
“Huh, is this one of the recipes from Strahl too, then?”
“Yes, though its name varies by area,” Rio lied, glancing at Latifa. “In Latifa’s case, she calls it omurice. I made extra, so feel free to help yourself.”
Latifa made a sound of vague acknowledgment before giving an awkward smile. Rio heaved a small sigh and pulled his eyes away from her.
“Yay. Thank you, Rio!” The werecat girl suddenly clung to Rio’s arm. Everyone present looked on with widened eyes.
“A-Anya, why don’t we start eating now? It’ll get cold,” Sara said in a bit of a panic. The werecat girl was apparently named Anya.
“Yup, wouldn’t want all this cooking to go to waste. Let’s eat.” Anya happily let go of Rio’s arm with a nod. She took the lead and started to hand out the plates of food. Rio had a strained smile on his face. He had the impression that she was a whimsical and uninhibited kind of person.
“I’ll serve your share, Onii-chan!” Latifa reached out for Rio’s share before he could move.
“Having such a devoted and cute little sister must be great, Rio.” Anya said with a grin.
“Yes, it really is. She’s much too cute for me,” Rio agreed unabashedly.
“Ehehe, the only boy who calls me cute is you, Onii-chan.” Latifa responded bashfully.
Eventually, the food was split between everyone, and they finally started eating.
“Fuwawah! This omurice is so delicious!” Vera took a bite of Rio’s omurice and expressed a somewhat over-exaggerated opinion.
“I know, right? I told you Onii-chan’s cooking was delicious!” Latifa said.
“Yup! Not a surprise, considering it’s from Rio!”
“Thanks, you two.” Rio expressed his gratitude to Latifa and Vera for complimenting his cooking skills.
“Yup, yup. Rio really is exactly as Lady Sara and the others described,” Anya said, nodding earnestly.
“In what way is that, may I ask? I’m a little curious,” Rio asked.
“Oh, well... You’re polite, you’re kind, you’re cool, you’re strong, you’re so smart you learned our language right away, and you’re really good at spirit arts. It was all praise, really!” Anya answered clearly.
“A-Anya!”
Sara, Orphia, and Alma all blushed in embarrassment; Sara, in particular, had been rendered speechless. Having their image of Rio exposed like this must have made them feel shy.
“Ahaha. I’m happy to hear that, even if it’s just flattery.” Rio interpreted Anya’s words as flattery and brushed it off.
“No Rio, it’s not just flattery.” Anya seemed just a little exasperated.
The lively atmosphere continued after that, allowing Rio to deepen his relationship with the girls through idle chatter.
