Chapter 18 : Osteon

I was dragged to the office and disciplined amicably.

Taking into account that the injuries were not severe, I was mobilized to pull weeds on the academy grounds for a week.

Fortunately, I won the duel and got my hands on Chapter 2 of the Armonia Chronicles.
With this, I could predict the future development for a while.

Spirit Master Commander Violet was indeed a terrifying person.
As the person who holds the highest position among the Spirit Masters, every word he spoke felt heavy.

Under the blazing sun, I squatted with Yuri Freesia and plucked grass.

“How long will it take to pull all this out?”
The weather is hot, so my discomfort index rises dramatically.
The grounds of the academy are so large that you could believe it was a small village, and seeing the endlessly spread-out weeds makes me sigh.

“Don’t worry. You and I will pull out about two hundred and sixty thousand more, and it will be over.”

Yuri is calm, even though she should be annoyed.

“Did you know you’d be disciplined if you were caught?”
I asked.

“I knew.”

“Then why did you do it, even though you knew?”

“Because I wanted to fight you.”

It’s beyond surprise; it’s a fighting instinct that deserves respect.

She carefully looks at my hands pulling the weeds.

Was I slacking too much?

“You have a lot of scars.”

There are scars from fingers being broken and reattached several times, and many knife marks remain on the back of my hand.

“..Does it look ugly?”

“No, it looks great. It’s proof of training.”

I was praised by her in an unexpected place.
I thought it was just ugly until now.

“That body technique you showed, it’s not an ordinary body technique, is it?”

She was interested in the beastmen’s body techniques.

“The way you freely used your hands as support. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“..That’s right. I didn’t learn it from humans.”

“It’s not human?”

“It’s the fighting style of the beastmen.”

Due to discrimination, the beastmen were already very closed off, and there would be few opportunities to fight humans head-on. She, who only lived in Semal, would not have had the chance to fight beastmen.

“You’re a person full of mysteries, the more I get to know you.”

I can’t easily reveal my background to others because I didn’t have an honorable childhood.

Does she know that the daggers I’m wearing were the longsword of the Spirit Master Windgart, whom she respected? Perhaps the day Yuri finds out will be the day I die.

Ding-

The bell rang, announcing the hour.
Yuri and I brushed off our knees and stood up.

“Saya, we’ll be late for the naming ceremony. Let’s finish up here and go.”

“Okay.”

I feel like her attitude towards me has softened a little.
Perhaps, we can become friends?

“Saya.”

“Huh?”

“Could you walk a little further away?”

I guess I was mistaken.

We walked a short distance and arrived at the auditorium.
Today, we gathered to officially name our Osteons and summon them.

It’s not like you can summon a spirit just by becoming a Spirit Master; you need a process to name it and establish it as your subordinate.

The students write the name of the spirit on the distributed enchanted scroll and burn it.

Other students are quickly writing down names.

I forgot a pen.

As I stared blankly at the empty scroll, Carne approached me.

“Have you decided on a name, Saya?”

Carne Eckermann. She’s been speaking to me casually since the appointment ceremony.
I can’t let my guard down with that friendly smile.

She is, without a doubt, the academy’s greatest villain among the characters I created.
Every word and action must have an ulterior motive.

“I haven’t decided yet. I don’t have a pen either.”

“Really? I’ll lend you mine.”

Carne held out a pen to me with her gloved hand.
For now, I have to take it, right?

“..Thank you.”

Our hands touched slightly during the process of receiving the pen, and I felt her flinch a little.

“…It’s nothing, between friends.”

Anyway, I had to give it a name, so I brought the pen to the scroll.

‘Damn it. I’m getting indecisive at a time like this.’

I serialized a low-ranking work with only 2 favorites, but I was still a writer.
It’s not for nothing that I stayed up all night because of my useless perfectionism when creating settings.

I recalled the appearance of my Osteon when I fought.
A creature with a black armored appearance, whose shape was unknown, like a dog or wolf.
I don’t want to give it a name that overlaps with others, and I can’t think of a novel name.

“Everyone, please burn the scrolls in the flame in front of you!”

Everyone except me had written down their names, and they all started burning the scrolls at once.

‘Oh, well.’

In the end, I wrote down a name that came to mind on the spot and threw it into the fire.

..I think I gave it a too unique name, but it’ll be fine, right?
When all the students finished naming, someone walked to the front of the platform.

“Nice to meet you..! I’m Iris. I’ll be the instructor who will teach you summoning magic from now on.”

She was a young woman with long, brown, straight hair and round glasses, giving off a friendly impression. Seeing her nervous in front of so many students brings back memories of when I was writing the novel.

“The ability to handle Osteons is directly related to the strength of a Spirit Master. There is no special spell to summon an Osteon, and the name you wrote on the scroll that you burned becomes the summoning spell.”

That’s right.
If you name it “Hello, thank you,” it will be summoned every time you talk. No one would name it like that in the first place, though.

“For example, like this. Ignosi!”

At Iris’s words, a spherical Osteon with black smoke was summoned.
It has a unique appearance with lots of gears.
Come to think of it, she was a dark-type spirit master like me.

“And to dismiss the summon in this state, just say the name. Rest, Ignosi.”

As if understanding her words, the Osteon disappeared in the form of smoke.

“Sometimes there are individuals with strong independence, but mostly they understand most of what the spirit master says.”

Osteons, who share half of their lifespan with humans, are, in a way, like an alter ego to the spirit master.
They share the thoughts and feelings that the spirit master feels.

“Well, shall we go outside before we start summoning directly? If everyone takes out their Osteons in a place like this, the facility will be destroyed.”

Following her, all the students came outside.
The students shout the names of their Osteons, which they each gave, into the air.
Spirits of various colors, resembling their respective souls, are summoned and face their masters.

Among them, everyone’s attention was focused on one Osteon.
A frost golem, 3 meters tall, emitting cold air.

“Gigantas.”

The owner who called its name is Yuri Freesia.
Just because Gigantas moved a little, the Osteons of other students arbitrarily canceled the summoning and ran away.
The sense of intimidation that comes from its huge physique was not something to be ignored.

Carne approaches Yuri, who is silently looking at her own Osteon.

“Yuri, you won against something like that..?”

“It was surprisingly slow, so it was easy to avoid.”

Looking at Yuri’s Osteon makes the other students’ Osteons look small.
Next to Carne, a female human-shaped Osteon is floating. The various sized rings surrounding it are reminiscent of a dress.

Yuri shows interest and asks.

“Is that Carne’s spirit?”

“Do you want to fight?”

“Ah… I’m a nature-type spirit master, so my Osteon won’t be very strong. More than anything, I don’t want to fight..”

I’m getting scared of Yuri, who wants to fight even with Osteons.
Carne, who was hanging out with Yuri, came running towards me.

“I’m curious about Saya’s Osteon too, show me!”

“Ah… that’s…”

The name is a little… very unique, so.

Before I knew it, Yuri was also silently looking at me, so she seemed to be looking forward to it.

With no other choice, I shouted the name into the air.

“Dae… Daengdaengi!” (It translates as Doggy/puppy)

When I shouted the name, my Osteon, in the form of a wolf, was summoned with black smoke.

“…Daengdaengi? What does that mean?”

Carne asked me with a puzzled face.
Yuri also heard the name and asked me.

“It’s a unique name. It’s a foreign name, but can I ask the meaning?”

What meaning is there? Daengdaengi is just Daengdaengi.

“…Daengdaengi means…”

I squeezed my head and blurted out any words.

“It means wolf in ancient language.”

“Ancient language…”

She doesn’t seem to have any intention of doubting it, and Yuri just nods.

“I see. I learned something.”

Sorry for teaching you strange knowledge.

‘..By the way, it’s very quiet.’

I reached out my hand towards the blue eyes that were quietly looking at me.

And, I was bitten.

“Ack!”

Fortunately, there’s no blood, but the teeth marks are clearly imprinted.
No, does it attack its owner?
I was mistaken because it was the first time I saw it in person.

This time, I reached out my hand with soft words.

“Good boy, Daengdaengi..? Come here… Ack!”

It tried to bite my hand fiercely, so I pulled it back quickly.
What’s wrong with it..?

“Is there any problem?”

Instructor Iris seems to have heard my voice.

“Daengdaengi, no. My Osteon is trying to bite me.”

“Ah…”

She looked into Daengdaengi’s eyes and carefully reached out her hand.
Daengdaengi, who showed an immediate rejection reaction to my touch, is calm at Iris’s touch.

“Sometimes there are individuals who show a lot of independence. Shall we say it follows the owner’s personality? Even if the Osteon has a similar shape, the tendencies are all different.”

“What if it keeps biting me?”

“It’s probably because it’s the first time. No matter what the tendency is, it contains the student’s soul, so if you treat it with patience, you’ll be able to get along.”

I have anxious thoughts, but hearing her words made me feel a little relieved.

“Well, shall we dismiss the summons and go inside?”

At Iris’s words, everyone summons their Osteons back.

“Go in, Daengdaengi!”

“…..”

“Rest comfortably! Daengdaengi!”

“…..”

Huh..?

No matter how many times I repeat it, it just stood firmly in place.

“Daengdaengi! Go in now! Please..!”

It doesn’t even listen, and scratches its face with its hind legs.

Ha..

My life…

In the end, I couldn’t summon Daengdaengi back until all the other students returned.