Chapter 32

“Grandfather, are you feeling better now?”

“Haha. Of course. Right, I should introduce you. This is the person who treated me. Say hello.”

“Hello. My name is Juinhwa.”

She greeted him first, and Jaeha returned the greeting with a smile.

“Yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Na Jaeha.”

After that brief exchange, Jaeha continued the conversation at a leisurely pace. Having naturally joined the conversation after entering the house, Juinhwa was already receiving the group’s affection.

She was someone who knew her place and knew how to use it.

“Jaeha.”

Just as he was thinking that, Ju Jaeyong called out to him.

“Yes.”

“What do you think?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m not saying this just because she’s my granddaughter, but don’t you think she’s pretty?”

“Haha, yes. She is pretty. But I don’t think she’s my type.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Of course, what man dislikes a pretty woman, but this kind of arranged meeting aside, I don’t think she’s someone who suits me.”

“Hmm. That’s fair enough. Well, I can’t force you young folks to date just because an old man like me says so.”

With that, Jaeha checked the time and rose from his seat.

“I’ll be taking my leave now. I enjoyed today. Please invite me again sometime.”

“Of course. Contact me anytime.”

“Yes. Well then.”

And so Jaeha stepped outside.

“What’s so great about a guy like that that you’d introduce him to me? I mean, he’s a bit handsome, sure.”

“Hey. Haven’t I told you to watch your mouth?”

At that, her father, Ju Jinryong, scolded her.

“Heh heh, that’s enough. It doesn’t matter anyway—Jaeha doesn’t seem interested.”

“Tch. I’m hurt, Grandfather. Is that man’s opinion more important than mine?”

“Heh heh. Inhwa.”

“Huh?”

“Haven’t I told you time and again.”

As he said that, Ju Jaeyong’s kindly gaze shifted in an instant.

“Knowing how to read people is also a skill. You said you wanted to have your own guild, didn’t you. I have no intention of giving you money just because you’re my blood. If you want to build your own guild…” “…”

At his suddenly changed demeanor, Juinhwa fell silent.

“You too, prove your worth. Your father, my son Ju Jinryong, also proved his worth to me. That’s why, among my bloodline, he’s the only one I keep by my side.”

“Is that man really that important?”

She, who had been speaking casually until now, asked that in response to Ju Jaeyong’s words.

“Do you still not know what kind of man I am? Do you think I would invite a man of no value into my home? And do you think I would treat a man of no value with half-formal speech?”

At that, Juinhwa bit her lip.

‘It’s true—I’ve never seen Grandfather speak politely to anyone before.’

“If he were my age, I would have spoken to him with full honorifics.”

At his words, Inhwa nodded.

“You are my granddaughter. If you want my money and my reputation, then prove your worth accordingly. Only then, with my help, can you have your own guild.”

After saying that, he was silent for a moment, then returned to being the kindly grandfather.

“Let’s end the talk here. After all, today is the day I reclaimed my company.”

Smiling, he rose from his seat and spoke.
Chapter 5

“Did you enjoy your meal? I’ll drive you home.”

“Hmm. No, it’s fine. I’d like to walk a bit.”

“Ah…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll let the elder know myself.”

“Yes. If you say so…”

And so Jaeha looked up at the darkening sky and began walking home.

Drop.

“Rain?”

Jaeha let out a sigh of regret.

“Damn, if I’d known this, I should’ve just asked for a ride.”

Sighing, Jaeha started running toward home. The rain began to pour in an instant, and as it grew heavier, he ducked under the eaves of a shop beside him.

He waited there until the rain pouring down fiercely let up a little. As he waited quietly, he heard voices coming from inside the shop and listened in.

“Kyahaha! Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I may not look it, but I’m an A-Rank Hunter.”

“You really went to the Elf Forest?”

“I’m telling you, it’s true.”

“Yeah? Then tell me about it. You must’ve actually seen the elves. Are they really that insanely pretty?”

“The really pretty ones are crazy pretty, sure. No wait—that’s not what I’m trying to say.”

“Huh. Then what?”

“I almost actually died out there.”

“For real?”

“Yeah. And the only reason I made it out was…… those Enchanted arrows.”

“Those’ve been getting a lot of talk lately.”

“They just need to make it so regular civilians can’t buy them. From a Hunter’s standpoint, we genuinely can’t do without them now. Just looking at the Elf Forest—if you have Storm Arrows, you can fight for nearly 15 minutes without worrying about arrows flying at you from every direction. Just that alone makes a huge difference in stability.”

Jaeha was smiling as he listened to their conversation when the man who’d claimed to be a Hunter spoke again.

“But here’s the thing—I saw the spirits back then.”

“Spirits?”

“Yeah. You know how elves are famous for using spirits.”

“That’s true.”

“Well, I saw them. Me.”

“Yeah.”

“Man, but they were a real headache. Those spirits.”

“Why? What are they like?”

“You can’t see their actual form—you just ‘perceive’ that ‘something’s floating in the air,’ you know? But the thing is, you can’t attack the spirits, and the moment you get anywhere near an elf, the spirits start marking you like crazy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. They marked me so hard I couldn’t even get close.”

“How do they mark you?”

“Suddenly a strong wind blows, or the ground gets all bumpy, or fire just bursts out of nowhere. There was nothing I could do.”

“If the spirits help them like that, how did you even catch the elves?”

“Eung. Catching them wasn’t that hard, actually—the elves’ attacks are just arrows, nothing else. The spirits don’t attack directly. They only interfere.”

“Huh.”

“Plus, if you use something like a Piercing Arrow from far away, they can’t even perceive it. I guess the spirits only block what the elf can perceive.”

“Oh. That’s interesting.”

“And catching them wasn’t that hard either—you just had to hold out, and eventually the elf’s mana would go all-in and they couldn’t do anything.”

“So that’s the trick.”

“Spirit magic must eat up a ton of mana.”

“I see.”

Listening to all that, Jaeha nodded to himself.

‘Well, I only snipe from extremely far away anyway…… Wait a second.’

Lost in thought, Jaeha suddenly looked like something had clicked, and he started running off at full speed.

‘Right. Spirit magic—there’s spirit magic!’

* * *

Back home, Jaeha immediately opened the MuTube app and started searching. Before long, he found a suitable video. It was an animation, featuring a scene of making a contract with a spirit.

‘They must’ve uploaded it this short because of copyright.’

The video was only 3 minutes long—extremely short. When the 3 minutes passed and the video ended, a window appeared before Jaeha.

[Spirit Magic]

[Rank: Common]

[A technique that allows you to contract with a spirit and use its power.]

[Contracted Spirit: × ]

[Proficiency: 100%]

“Hmm. This one doesn’t show the mechanics—it shows the contracted spirit instead. And the rank is Common too.”

Jaeha found the low rank a bit hard to understand, but it was there now, so he decided to try it out. Since he didn’t know what might happen if he used it at home, Jaeha went to the backyard of the building where the Blacksmith Shop was.

Arriving at the backyard, Jaeha immediately used Spirit Magic. A large magic circle formed before him. Then, as he waited quietly, he began to feel something from his surroundings.

[A Spirit Contract Circle has been created.]

[Step onto the spirit circle and a spirit of a compatible attribute will reveal itself.]

At that, Jaeha quietly stepped onto the magic circle. Not long after, spirits appeared before him.

<Hello.>

At the clear voice that reached his ears, Jaeha looked toward where the sound came from.

“Was that you talking?”

As Jaeha said that, the bluish will-o’-the-wisp-like thing floating in front of him darted around as it spoke.

<Yeah!>

“Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

<Me?>

“Yeah.”

<My name is…… I don’t know.>

“Oh, really?”

<Yeah.>

“Then should I give you one?”

<Yeah!>

“Alright. Then…… how about Undine?”

<Undine?>

“Yeah. It means wave and water.”

At that, the bluish sphere darted up and down rapidly.

<Okay. I’ll go with that.>

“Alright. Looking forward to working with you, Undine.”

As he said that, a window appeared before Jaeha.

[You have contracted with the water spirit, Undine.]

[The Spirit Arts skill rank increases.]

‘Ah. So Spirit Arts works similarly to Magic. The rank rises in proportion to the spirits I contract with, huh.’

Nodding, Jaeha looked at the other spheres and spoke.

“Do you guys not have names either?”

<Yeah.>

<Yeah.>

The several spheres nodded at Jaeha’s words. Jaeha looked at them and said,

“What kind of spirits are you?”

<I’m fire.>

The red sphere flew around Jaeha as it spoke.

<I’m wind.>

<I’m earth.>

“Hmm. Then the fire spirit is Salamander, the wind spirit is Sylph, and the earth spirit is Gnome. How about that?”

<Good.>

<Yeah!>

<Sounds good.>

And then the windows came up in a cascade.

[You have contracted with the fire spirit, Salamander.]

[The Spirit Arts skill rank increases.]

[You have contracted with the wind spirit, Sylph.]

[The Spirit Arts skill rank increases.]

[You have contracted with the earth spirit, Gnome.]

[The Spirit Arts skill rank increases.]

With that done, Jaeha immediately checked the Spirit Arts information.

[Spirit Arts]

[Rank: Legendary]

[Contract with spirits to use their power.]

[Contracted spirits: Salamander, Undine, Sylph, Gnome]

[Proficiency: 100%]

“Hmm. It’s become Legendary. So if I contract with one more spirit, would it become Ancient?”

As Jaeha was pondering that, the spirits approached him. And then, perhaps because the contracts were complete, the spirits that had been spheres had changed form. Each spirit had its own appearance.

Salamander had the form of a red lizard. Not very large, the salamander perched on Jaeha’s shoulder, flicking its tongue in and out. And each time it did, fire spurted from its mouth.

‘It’s not hot at all.’

Jaeha, finding it curious that the fire Salamander breathed out wasn’t hot in the slightest, gently patted the salamander’s head.