SAE 05

chapter 05

‘…He’s so prickly.’

Leaving the visibly displeased Isel alone, I quickly sank into my own thoughts again.

How could I make Isel, instead of Leonard, become the owner of the Holy Sword?

I pondered that for quite a while before leaning against the wall and closing my eyes.

But the moment I did, Isel asked,

“…Don’t tell me you’re going to sleep?”

How did he know I was about to sleep? What is he, a ghost?

“I can’t believe this. In a situation where monsters could jump out at any moment, you can actually fall asleep?”

“…”

“Hey.”

“I’m not sleeping.”

I answered him properly, yet Isel clearly didn’t believe a word I said.

“You can’t sleep.”

“I said I’m not. And I already told you—there aren’t any monsters on this floor.”

“…”

“There’s nothing here. We just have to endure the darkness.”

At least, there wasn’t anything on the fourth floor.

More accurately, only the fourth floor had nothing.

Which also meant this was the last floor where we could rest like this.

We had to rest while we still could.

“Don’t sleep.”

“I said I won’t.”

Then why do you keep talking to me, you brat…?

Even after that, Isel kept talking to me, telling me not to sleep.

Whenever I didn’t answer, he’d ask if I had fallen asleep, and I ended up responding every single time.

In the end, I didn’t get a wink of sleep.

Once the darkness receded, the first thing I did was check whether the flower I planted was still intact.

It was.

“Good.”

As I muttered in satisfaction, Isel stared at me like I was insane.

That ungrateful jerk had no idea I was helping him immensely right now, yet he looked at me like that…

Ugh, whatever. No point explaining.

After parking Isel beside me, I finally began practicing how to control my power in earnest.

The fruit I had eaten contained the power of the vengeful spirits who had died unfairly inside this tower.

And in my opinion, this power worked similarly to controlling summoned beasts tamed with magic.

Because whoever ate the fruit gained the ability to summon those spirits and command them.

‘If I can summon every spirit that died in this tower and move them according to my will…’

If I could properly control this ability, getting down to the ninth underground floor would be no problem at all.

I stared intently at the floor beneath my feet and concentrated, drawing out the mana throughout my body.

I kept thinking that I had gained the power to summon the wandering spirits in this tower.

That I was someone capable of wielding that power.

How much time passed like that?

Before my eyes, on the floor I was staring at, black smoke began to gather.

Then the smoke slowly started to clump together, as though trying to form some kind of shape.

That was when—

“I hear groaning from somewhere.”

Isel interrupted me.

The instant he spoke, my concentration shattered.

I immediately turned toward him.

This bastard—if he couldn’t help me, the least he could do was stop interfering.

“Hey, I told you to stay quiet.”

“Wait.”

“…”

“Listen.”

With a serious expression, Isel scanned the surroundings.

Apparently, he really had heard something.

Just in case, I also sharpened my hearing and listened carefully.

“…I don’t hear anything.”

“Even with your ability, you can’t see anything?”

“There’s nothing special.”

Truthfully, I didn’t have any clairvoyance powers, so anything he couldn’t see, I couldn’t see either.

Still, I pretended to examine the surroundings carefully.

All I could see was the same vast, smoke-filled space as before.

“And even if there is something, we can’t leave this area.”

“What do you mean?”

Isel frowned at my words.

Even in the surrounding darkness, beneath his black hair, I could clearly see the questioning look in his crimson eyes.

I answered in a serious tone.

“Why do you think I planted this flower here?”

“Just…”

“Just?”

“I just thought you were doing some weird nonsense again.”

“…”

What did this idiot just say?

“This flower prevents us from falling into hallucinations!”

“Ah. I see.”

Even after I snapped at him, Isel merely shrugged as if it were no big deal.

But I couldn’t let it go so easily.

“It looks like you’ve started hearing auditory hallucinations already, so wait a second.”

“What?”

Seems like the flower alone couldn’t completely block the demon’s power.

That shouldn’t be possible… or at least, I didn’t think so.

Still, I couldn’t ignore even the slightest possibility.

And in preparation for exactly this kind of tiny chance, I had carefully brought something else along.

I hurriedly rummaged through my bag.

Then I pulled out a handful of roots I had gathered on the third floor.

They looked a bit wilted, but the effect should still work fine.

I quickly stuffed one root into my mouth and chewed it down.

Taking care of Isel was important, but saving myself came first.

As I swallowed with a bitter taste lingering in my mouth and looked up, Isel was staring at me in horror.

“What did you just pick up and eat—”

“Open your mouth.”

Time for stimulants.

“What? What are you suddenly talking about?”

“I said open your mouth.”

Naturally, Isel resisted.

“What are you trying to feed me?”

“It’s a stimulant. Eat it.”

“…I’m good.”

Well, I’m not.

What am I supposed to do if you start hallucinating?

“What do you mean you’re good? You have to eat it.”

“I said I’m fine.”

“You are not!”

He looked like he suspected I was trying to poison him with some toxic herb.

Talking wasn’t going to work.

“Eat it already!”

As I shoved the root toward his mouth and tried to force-feed him, Isel started struggling wildly.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

“You need to eat it.”

“You eat it yourself!”

“I already did!”

“Then eat more!”

“I only ate it as a precaution! You’re the one hearing things! You’re the one who needs it!”

There was no way I could overpower Isel physically.

Even though we were around the same age, I was a girl and he was a boy.

There was already a basic difference in strength, and on top of that, I was injured.

…Hm?

Ah. Right.

I’m an injured girl.

“Ugh…!”

I deliberately grabbed my wounded side and collapsed to the floor.

Isel froze.

“What? Did your wound reopen? That’s why you shouldn’t have—mmph!”

Never let your guard down, idiot.

The moment Isel bent over to check on me—

I grabbed his chin and shoved the root straight into his mouth.

Then I clamped both hands tightly around his jaw.

“Mmph!”

“Swallow it. I’m not letting go until you do.”

“Mmph!”

“Hurry up and swallow.”

Unlike before, he didn’t try to violently shake me off.

Apparently, my little act from earlier had gotten to him.

Isel only shook his head a little before realizing I absolutely wasn’t going to back down.

Eventually, he gave up.

Victory was mine.

Gulp.

Isel finally swallowed the root.

Only after seeing his throat bob up and down did I let him go.

“See? If you’d just listened when I asked nicely, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“…”

Wiping his lips several times with the back of his hand, Isel glared at me as though he wanted to kill me.

His blood-red eyes were filled with murderous intent.

What an ungrateful brat…

“Anyway, you won’t hear hallucinations anymore.”

You may not realize it, but I just saved your life.

After I force-fed Isel the root—

he very obviously started trying to keep his distance from me.

Physically, that is.

“No, I told you not to go too far away.”

“This distance is fine.”

“…”

“You can still see me.”

Every time I tried to get even slightly closer, he’d recoil in shock and back away.

Seriously, what is wrong with him?

“Sigh…”

Letting out a deep sigh, I decided to focus on my own work for now.

‘First, I need to learn how to properly use this ability.’

Concentrating mana and summoning spirits.

At this point, I could at least create vague human-like shapes.

Now I needed to succeed in making multiple of them…