A Fight, A Challenge, A Dimensional Door
Standing in front of Cla.s.s A’s cla.s.sroom, Nagisa, while blushing, said to me in a sheepish tone, “I am sorry, Lin Xiang. I must have caused you some trouble, right?”
“Not at all. Hahaha!” I gave her a dry laugh. As a matter of fact, this has actually caused me quite a bit of trouble… and from the looks of it, if I don’t leave Cla.s.s A soon, what awaits me would for sure be some severe beatings by a mad mob of boys who are in love with Nagisa. “Well then, I’ll first…”
“You, you must be Lin Xiang, right?” Right when I was about to leave, a rather good looking male student stepped out from Cla.s.s A’s cla.s.sroom.
“Erm…yup, that’s me; what do you need from me?”
“Don’t you and my cla.s.smate, Yorikawa-san, get along quite well?”
“Kitashima-san, Lin Xiang and I are not in any sort of relationship – so, please, don’t give him a hard time.” Nagisa looked at the student named Kitashima anxiously and gave him a reply before I could say anything.
“Hah!” Kitashima grinned – he gave us a brilliant grin, but his smile didn’t show in his eyes; his stare was ice cold. “Right, you guys aren’t in any sort of relationship. I am ‘Kitashima-san’, and he is ‘Lin Xiang’. I understand perfectly.”
“That’s because….” Nagisa fell silent, for some unknown reason.
Isn’t this darn simple? That’s because you and I are friends. Just hurry up and explain it to him.
“I just wanna know, Yorikawa-san, why you keep rejecting me even though I have asked you out so many times?”
“We… we are not right for one another.”
“Oh? Having a family net worth of several tens of billions, and being the only son of the Kitashima enterprise, I am still unfit for you? Are you saying that someone like me who ranks top in our grade is not even as worthy as someone whom everyone called ‘Trash’ Lin Xiang, who ranks top in our grade only if you count the ranking in reverse? “
“Hey, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, watch what you are saying!” I was furious – how dare he call me trash? Even though… okay, alright, I had to admit, I was rather useless.
“Was I wrong? Incompetent-kun who couldn’t summon a single spirit?”
“DON’T SAY IT LIKE THAT ABOUT HIM! I apologize… I didn’t mean to yell. Actually, it is I who isn’t right for you; Kitashima-san, you are an excellent person, and there are plenty of other girls who are much better than I, so I was saying…”
“So, you were saying that I should give up on you?”
“…” Nagisa didn’t reply and just nodded her head ever so slightly.
“Hahah! No way! You are the first girl that I have liked. All those girls I had before, they all came onto me because of my family’s wealth, because of my ability. But you, you are different. You weren’t even moved by the 500 roses I sent you at the start of the school year. You were equally unaffected by the latest and greatest high quality magical stones…. You are a very special girl; if I can’t have you, I don’t think I could live it down.”
“Oy, even though I am not too sure what you meant by not being able to ‘live it down’, I’ll recommend that you run along now and not bother Nagisa anymore. Can’t you see from her expression that she is quite upset and troubled by this, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d?!”
Wasn’t this Kitashima guy too unreasonable? It was as clear as day from Nagisa’s facial expression that she was unsettled by this, but he just kept going on and on all by himself there.
“Oho? Incompetent-kun spoke? That is quite out of my expectation. You think you understand Yorikawa-san very well?” As he spoke, Kitashima quickly sw.a.n.g his fist around, aiming straight for my face.
“Bam….” (The sound of two bodies colliding with each other.)
“What? You were able to block my punch?”
“My sincerest apology, heir-apparent-kun. With your speed, it was difficult for me not be able to block it.” I grabbed onto Kitashima’s wrist tightly and began to slowly apply force….
“Please stop…. Lin Xiang, let go of him quickly.” Nagisa tugged at me anxiously.
“Oh? Rather strong, aren’t we? But.” Just when Kitashima finished talking, he suddenly yanked Nagisa towards him, then jerked his arm away from me. Just when I caught myself off guard with his movement, he rammed into me with his shoulder with an incredible force, and knocked me right off my feet, through the air; and ‘bang”, slammed me into the wall.
“Lin Xiang! Lin Xiang!” In a daze, I could see Nagisa, whom Kitashima had knocked down onto the ground, crawl towards me, and kept holding onto my head, and begged that I be alright!
I felt that my chest was about to explode, and my head felt like it was in a haze – I wanted to throw up.
“Humph!” Kitashima snorted, probably because he was jealous of what Nagisa did, right? In my daze, I could more or less hear him say, in a cold voice, “Incompetent-kun, you must really want to know what cla.s.s my spirit is, right? To give you some closure so that you can spend the rest of your days in a hospital in peace, I will tell you – my spirit is the superior cla.s.s earth bull!”
Upon hearing his words, other than students from Cla.s.s A, everyone else who was standing around us gave out sighs of astonishment.
“It was a superior cla.s.s spirit?! This…isn’t this guy totally bada.s.s? Before, with Takahashi being top in our grade, I have never really paid him, who was second in our grade, much attention; I can’t believe he is this amazing, he even summoned a superior cla.s.s spirit.”
“Yeah, even though earth type isn’t much to write home about, it is still a superior cla.s.s spirit, and this should take quite a bit of spiritual strength…. What scary guy! Looks like it is over for that Trash.”
“Totally. I thank my lucky star that I have never really offended him. On the other hand, why would the ‘Benevolent Little Angel’ hang out with that Trash?”
“Now, the Trash is done for, right?”
“Cough…” I gave a few painful dry coughs.
I was just wondering how he could be so incredibly strong, to be able to break free from my grip – as it turned out, he had a superior cla.s.s earth spirit…. Just when did he attach the spirit onto his person? Did he do that when he came out to talk to me? It looked to me like this guy had every intention to start a fight with me from the very get go.
Phew! My body… hurts all over. Just how much force was behind that?
I moved Nagisa’s hand away, and with some difficulties, I slowly stood myself up. I looked at the wall behind me, and took a deep breath – if it was the “me” from before, I would have been DOA (dead on arrival) before I even got to the hospital.
Before me… on the wall that I just slammed into, there was a dent with a diameter of about half a meter. To top it off, around the indentation, the wall showed signs of crumbling… Bear in mind that the walls in Pillar Nofu Academy were magically reinforced. Unless it was an extraordinary amount of force a.s.saulting it, the wall wouldn’t have suffered any damage at all…
This b.a.s.t.a.r.d was a very strong opponent. He was even stronger than Takahashi. On top of that, the only reason I was able to beat Takahashi was because he was possessed by a demon; that allowed my sacred fire to be effective against him.
However, this b.a.s.t.a.r.d is different; he wasn’t relying on the power of a demon, he was relying on his own capability. Since Takahashi left, he was the de facto number one in our grade. Now that he had a spirit with him, I could say for certain that he was even stronger than some of the soph.o.m.ores in our school….
“Oh? You can still stand? This can’t be possible, can it?” Kitashima said it in a strange tone, as though he couldn’t believe what he just saw.
I could understand how he felt. After all, with that much force, most people would either drop dead or at least be completely paralyzed.
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Don’t you get too c.o.c.ky! I’m, no pushover either!” I ignored my pain and charged at him at full speed. I made a fist, pulled my arm back, and right when I was about to punch Kitashima’s smug face, an imposing voice belted out, “Stop!” It stopped me in my track.
“Satokatsu-sensei?” A student among the crowded cried out.
“What is going on here?” Satokatsu-sensei demanded as he pushed his way through the crowd of students surrounding us. His voice sounded imposing and made people feel intimidated.
The whole place fell silent all of a sudden.
“Don’t make me ask this again! What is going on here?”
“Nothing much, Lin Xiang and I were just having a friendly spar,” Kitashima replied calmly with a smile.
“Friendly spar?” Satokatsu took a look at me with suspicion, then he took a look at the indentation in the wall, “I don’t care if you are having a friendly spar, so long as you are fighting within the perimeter of the school, you need to be punished. Besides, you even damaged the wall. This is a serious matter. You all have to come with me to the Princ.i.p.al’s Office.”
Nagisa stepped in front me, shielded me with her body and said, “No… Sensei, I caused this incident… So… if you need to reprimand someone, please just punish me.” Looking at how she was trembling all over, she must be really scared, right?
“Anyone who violated the school rule must be seriously dealt with and be reprimanded. Since you said you were part of it, then you will come with us too.” Satokatsu’s facial expression didn’t show the slightest change, and here I was, thinking that he would be moved by those puppy dog eyes of Nagisa’s…
But, back to the matter at hand – I couldn’t believe that I had to go to the Princ.i.p.al’s Office again. I was just there yesterday… On top of that, this time around, it was because of a fight; I couldn’t even imagine what Grandpa Mitsu would think of me… And, I dragged Nagisa into this…
“Sensei, could you be lenient this one time? And let this go just this once?” I tried to act as humbly as I could.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes, I am certain.”
I saw him gave me a nod and announced in a calm voice, “In that case, seeing that you all are first time offenders, I will let this incident go this one time. I don’t want to see something like this happening again. If something similar were to happen again, I won’t be so lenient.” I guess Satokatsu believed that I was the victim here, so he accepted my suggestions.
“Thank you, Sensei.” I gave him a bow, expressing my grat.i.tude.
He grunted and walked away as the surrounding students made way for him.
“Oh? Incompetent-kun, you even know Satokatsu-sensei? I really have to see you in a whole new light. On top of that, you are even unscathed after taking my blow?! Looks like, what you said earlier was no exaggeration – you are no pushover. In that case, let’s have a duel then! Right here, right now, I challenge you to a duel, with Yorikawa-san as our wager – the loser will never get to see Yorikawa-san again. What do you think?”
“Nagisa is not a ‘wager’, she is not a thing; don’t you dare randomly force her to be a wager w.i.l.l.y-nilly! I, Lin Xiang, accept your challenge! But, we are not using Nagisa as a wager. If either of us loses, the loser simply has to give up seeing Nagisa!” d.a.m.n it, how could there be people like him, making decisions on everything all by himself?
“Even though you gave a good speech, the end result is still the same; there is no change to the arrangement – I don’t have a problem with that.” Kitashima gave me a smirk. Was he so confident that he thought he could, for sure, win against me?
“When and where?”
“No need to fuss over that. In four days’ time, during Monday’s compet.i.tion, if we happen to match up against each other in the event, that would be perfect. Even if we are unable to match up against each other during the compet.i.tion, it’s still no big deal. Since I know for sure that I will be the champion for this compet.i.tion, I should be able to put in a request with the school to have a match with you afterwards.”
“I can’t ask for anything better.” s.h.i.t! That arrogance! I know that you might rank top among all the students in our grade, but to say it yourself, don’t you know that makes you look conceited?
“Lin Xiang, don’t, don’t… don’t accept this kind of challenge because of me.” Nagisa had been quiet this whole time, as though she was in a daze; then all of a sudden, like she had just woken up from a long daydream, asked me not to accept the challenge.
But, not accepting the challenge was not an option. I might not have known Nagisa for long, but even just based on this incident alone, I could more or less tell how Kitashima’s dogged pursuit had troubled Nagisa. In order to wipe away that distressed expression from her otherwise carefree and happy face, even if I had to be covered in bruises, I would still need to defeat Kitashima.
“No big deal. Besides, a man never backs down from his words. On top of that, haven’t we been friends since that night we walked home together? Friends – shouldn’t they help each other out?”
Nagisa didn’t say a word, but, isn’t that twinkle a drop of a tear coming out from her big and beautiful eye?
“Why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?”
“You…you truly are a… good person.”
“d.a.m.n it! The more I look at you, the more I can’t stand you, Incompetent-kun. I will definitely make you regret getting close to Yorikawa-san.” This time, Kitashima glared at me with killing intent.
What’s with the killing intent? Even though I am not sure what made Nagisa cry, do you have to be so mad at me that you actually want to kill me?
“I, too, will let you regret challenging me. ….Nagisa, please stop crying. It was all my fault; it was all my fault, okay?” Even though I didn’t know what I had done wrong, figured that I would apologize anyway.
“No, you haven’t done anything wrong. I should be the one apologizing, I am so useless, all I could do is cry….”
—————————— Cla.s.sroom
“Lin Xiang, it isn’t true, is it? Are you really having a fight with Kitashima? You do know that he is number one in our grade, right?”
“Yeah, I am gonna fight him.”
“But…, he has dual abilities…. Besides, what’s the matter between you and Yorikawa?”
“Actually, Nagisa and I met when…”
After hearing my explanation, Satsuki, who was a bit agitated before, finally calmed down. Of course, I kept quiet about the little incident of me accidentally stealing away Nagisa’s first kiss. If I had told her about that, she would probably think of me as a pervert, right?
“What? How could she be so pitiful, and that way of solving her problem was way too dumb, no? She was lucky to have met you. And that d.a.m.nable doctor… On the other hand, my premonition that day wasn’t wrong, someone really had taken notice…”
“What are you mumbling about?” Satsuki started her speech pa.s.sionately, but towards the end, she kind of trailed off, and I didn’t manage to catch a word she said at the end there…
“Nothing – right, where do you plan to get a Éguilles Gra.s.s?”
“Argh… actually, I planned to ask my uncle to ask around; you know, since my father was so awesome, I figure that my uncle couldn’t be that far off, right?” Speaking of, I actually had no idea what my uncle did…
——————————— Friday
After my run-in with Kitashima, people in cla.s.s began to look at me differently. This was because they knew just how solid that school wall was, and after I took that powerful blow from Kitashima, I could still act like nothing had happened: I fell asleep during cla.s.s like before, I chatted with friends after cla.s.s like before. This made them realize that there was more to me than met the eye.
This kind of thinking was no doubt beneficial to me. Reason being, a rumor about me making Nagisa cry had spread while we were up on the rooftop. Quite a few boys had already decided to beat me up. But because of the incident with Kitashima, they became hesitant – it was probably because they believed that they themselves wouldn’t have survived that powerful punch from Kitashima.
——————————— Sat.u.r.day
‘Finally, the day has arrived! I finally have a chance to return to the Netherworld!’
‘It is now the Demon Word.’ Freed reminded Yalide.
‘Who cares?! Kid, you all set?’
After sneaking out without letting Silent Water know, we arrived at the woodland near my house. Yalide had said that the spatial membrane around this area was relatively weak, so he could utilize less of my energy to open up the dimensional door.
‘Mmm, ready.’
‘Then, close your eyes. Focus on your senses to feel the dragon power within your body; use your mind’s eyes to get a sense of the spatial structure and a sense of the spatial shape. Now, let your dragon power slice through that spatial dimension…’
I followed Yalide’s instructions, closed my eyes, and focused on sensing the dragon power within me…
‘This… what’s with this black hole?’
When I opened my eyes again, my left hand was emitting a pale black light. The light pulsed and twinkled, as though resonating with the black hole in front of me.
‘This is the dimensional door. You can go right in. It will only take a moment, and you will be in the Demon World. Once you get there, you can go find them Nora Gra.s.s and Éguilles Gra.s.s, then come right back here, resolve everything. After that, you can take me to the bookstore, and get me….’
I didn’t wait till Yalide finished and jumped headlong into that black hole – dimensional door.
Dusty’s Short Story
“Hurry up and keep going! You dumba.s.s!” That scary looking human yelled at me; then he hit me again for heaven knew how many times today? I had lost count. Anyway, being beaten up, my body now hurts all over; and on top of that, my magical energy is almost completely gone. The way I am now, if I don’t form a contract with someone, I will disappear soon, won’t I?
At the time, I very much regretted coming to the Human World. Actually, I can’t even recall how I ended up here in the Human World in the first place. I just remember that at the time, I was out looking for food with my clan; then I accidentally fell into the river and got carried away by the current.
I swallowed a lot of water. What happened afterwards, I don’t remember…. But when I came to, I was already in the Human World.
After that, I was taken away by that scary looking human. He forced me to use my magical power to help him loosen the soil and move the dirt…
At the worksite, there were a lot of other spirits like me, but they all had formed contracts, that was why they could continue to work so hard, right?
I also want a master, but there isn’t a single person who wants me. They all seemed to have said that I was the lowest cla.s.s spirit – among all the spirits, my kind ranks the lowest. That is the reason why no one wants to form a contract with me, right? If I don’t form a contract soon, as a spirit that has used up all its magical power, if I continue like this, I will disappear for sure.
So, that night, while they were all asleep, I snuck out…
————————
After I confirmed that I had run far enough away, I spent a night in a broken down shed.
The next morning, I made the decision to go outside and look for a master of my own.
As I walked on the road, every human would take one look at me and turn away; they wouldn’t even take a second glance at me. Why was that? Could it really be because I was the lowest cla.s.s spirit?
————————
I couldn’t tell how long I had walked, I just felt really tired, and I was really hungry too. Right at that time, I saw a bunch of human children gathered together, eating something. I sat down at a place not too far from them, hoping that they would give me a little bit of food.
Unfortunately, they didn’t. Then, one of them dropped some of the food that he was eating onto the ground.
Since it had already fallen onto the ground, they probably wouldn’t want it anymore, right? As I thought about this, I walked over towards them…
“Oh! My meatloaf fell onto the ground, d.a.m.n it!!!”
“Then, don’t eat it. Look, doesn’t it look like that dog wants it?”
“It is so ugly, and it has cuts all over.”
“Right, right. I am not gonna give it any of my food.”
After he said it, those human children began to pick up things that were laying around and threw them at me. The stuff that they threw at me really hurt. I cried out in pain, but that seemed to have only made them happier. Then, they picked up some sticks and began chasing me, hitting me….
When I was running away, a lot of people saw us, but not a single one of them came over and stopped those children.
At that moment, I regretted my decision to come here; why did I have to run away? Even though I got beaten up every now and then, at least there was food and shelter at the work site, it wasn’t nearly as painful as this…
————————
Ouch! It hurts! My foot hurts a lot.
One of the human children threw something sharp at me and it landed on my foot.
“You can’t run away anymore now, can you?”
My foot was injured; in addition, I was backed into a corner. It looked like I was dead meat for sure this time. But why? It wasn’t like I wanted to come to the Human World in the first place…
“Kill it, kill it! Haha!”
These humans were so small, yet so evil. Humans are really scary.
“Rooff… rooff….” I could only whimper as they threw rocks at my body.
“Hey, you kids, what the heck are you doing?” All of a sudden, I heard someone yell.
Those human children got scared and scampered away.
This is great; at least, I won’t die such a painful death…. This human, what is he doing? Why is he walking over to me? It looks like he is taking out a box? Isn’t there a lot of food inside it?
There isn’t any problems with the food, is there? I glanced at that human, then sniffed the food; I didn’t care anymore – I was really hungry. I was just gonna eat what was given…
When I was done with the food, the human picked up the box. I didn’t quite understand why he did what he did, so I just kept staring at him. Then, he put the box down, reached out his arm, and even patted me on my head….
What is going on? What is this warm, tingling feeling? It also has a bit of magical power?
“Are you all by yourself?” When he opened his mouth and asked me, the way he spoke was really gentle.
“Ar rooff… rooff.”
I am all by myself…, very lonely, very painful… I miss my family…, I need a master…
He probably couldn’t understand me, right?
“You, do you wanna come to my place?”
Could it be that this human understood what I just said?
“Rooff, rooff.”
I wanna, but… I got cuts all over. Besides, I am the lowest cla.s.s spirit… On top of that, I am gonna disappear soon enough anyway, so let’s just forget about it.
Maybe he heard what I said, that boy continued to clean up the box. After he put the box back into his bag, all of a sudden, he picked me up and hugged me.
In that instant, an indescribably powerful magical force flooded into my body – what was going on?
My wound was rapidly healing up. This was incredible! Was this power from that human?
Originally, I thought I would wither away as my magical power depleted. I couldn’t believe that right at this moment, not only did I have my magic power replenished, it even felt like my power had increased.
I was really happy. I jumped around in front of him, so as to convey to him my happiness. This human was incredible.
——————————
On our way to his place, he told me a lot of things. He also picked out a name, Dusty, for me?
Is Dusty my name? I got my own name?! That made me really excited. This must mean that this human had accepted me, right? I should be able to call him my master, right?
“Dusty, I am not sure if I could let you stay at my home, but I will try my best.”
“Woof, woof!”
——————————
“Welcome back.” Master opened the door and went inside. Inside that house, there was a human female with jet black hair. Wait… the aura she has….she…is like a spirit? No, it can’t be, can it? How could there be a spirit that looks like a person?
“Erm, I am back. Right, let me introduce you two.”
Then, master pointed at me, and I followed him inside and sat by his side. It looked like if I wanted to stay here, I had to get this… human? Spirit? Argh, unknown being’s approval.
“Little Silent, I met it on my way back. It doesn’t have a home or a master, so I figured that I could let it stay here until it could find itself a home. Is that alright?”
This would be my home – I like it here; I like Master, I like humans who are like Master.
“Master, this is your home, why do you need to have my permission? Besides, I understand the feeling of being homeless, and without any family. So, I will be more than happy to let it stay here.”
It was totally unexpected. The unknown ent.i.ty standing in front of me didn’t give me a hard time? I originally thought that she would definitely make fun of me, saying that I was the lowest cla.s.s spirit. She said she understood that feeling of being without a home, being without a master. Could it be true that she really was a spirit? But… I had never seen any spirits who looked like a human before.
“Ah, that’s fantastic! Dusty, this will be your new home now.”
“Woof, woof!”
I have a home, I have a home now! This master of mine is a really nice human being.
———————————
Bath? Master told me to take a bath. Even though I don’t understand what that means, it should be a good thing, right? I followed master into a room filled with steam… then, Master started to take off his clothes?! Whoa… This was my first time seeing the naked body of a human… Why, why do I have this strange feeling, like I was feeling a bit dizzy?
“Come, sit, and don’t move.”
Master pointed at the tub that was filled with water and told me to sit in there. I was a bit scared of water, but… since he told me to do so, I just followed his orders.
When I sat in the tub, he hosed me down with something that shot out water – that startled me. But, but… if Master wanted to do this to me, then I had to obey…
Oh? It was really exhilarating. How come it was so fragrant and refreshing? What was this bubble? I took a lick of the bubbles…. Very bitter… These bubbles, not edible….
———————————
‘Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz.’ A strange sound rang out. I looked up and saw that Master had put an object that was emitting light near his ear…. This I knew – it was called a cellular phone. That scary looking human talked to it happily all the time. But why? Why did Master look so alarmed?
“Hey, Takahashi, what is going on?” The way Master spoke, he was close to yelling, and that scared me – it looked like something had happened.
“Master, did something happen?” That humanoid spirit asked. So nice; to be able to speak in human form – I too want to have a human form… that way, I will be able to speak with Master, and I have a lot of things I want to tell him.
“Nothing, Silent Water, I am gonna go out for a bit.”
So, that humanoid spirit is called Silent Water.
“Master… please, let me come with you?”
“Woof…”
Don’t forget about me!
“No need, I am just gonna go out for a bit.” As he was saying this, he hurried outside.
“Woof, woof!” I looked at Big Sis Silent Water and she appeared to be worried about something. If you have time to worry about it, then just hurry up and follow him!
She took a look at me, then with her narrow brows hanging really low, she went back to pondering about something….
————————————
“Dusty, quick, follow Master.”
“Woof!”
You said that after waiting for so long? What were you thinking?
I ran outside and tried my hardest to catch that unforgettable scent of my Master… Over there?
—————————————
Following Master’s scent, we arrived at a strange forest… When the smell of Master’s scent got stronger and stronger, I could smell the scent of blood mixed in as well. Then, I saw my master lying on the ground. He had his hand pressed hard against his stomach, but I could still see blood gushing out.
“Woof!” I ran as fast as I could towards my master.
That is the Master that I just got. He is someone who treated someone like me, who is one of the lowest cla.s.s spirits, kindly. How could I bear to see him get hurt?
But, this human in front of us was emitting a really scary aura. Was it the aura of a demon? Could he be possessed by a demon?
There was a human female hanging off of a tree. Was that Master’s friend?
“I cannot forgive anyone who would hurt master.” Big Sis Silent Water appeared to be really angry. She initiated her magic. The magic formed a water pillar? How much damage could water possibly do?
“Ktunk…kachi-kachi-kachi-kachi-kachi…bong…” Seven big trees fell over after being hit by the water from the water pillar?! This… What power!
After Big Sis Silent Water continuously fired off her water pillar attacks, I suddenly felt a powerful magical power coming from her. Then, I saw two water tornados appear out of thin air. All the trees around us began to shake.
Isn’t this too powerful? Just what cla.s.s of spirit is she?
Wait, that tornado is moving towards the demon – wouldn’t that human female be in trouble now? I hurried over there, jumped onto the tree branch, and chewed off the ropes that were tying her to the tree….
“Woof…” I carried the human female and put her down by Master’s side.
Master appeared to have let out a sigh of relief. He shook that human female a bit – luckily, that human female had only fainted…
“Bwoom…” Three streaks of black lightning struck down from the cloudless sky and hit Big Sis Silent Water.
That demon, how could he do this? He first injured Master, now, he hit Big Sis Silent Water?
Even though I don’t have much battle power, and the opponent was someone so strong that even Big Sis Silent Water couldn’t handle, I wasn’t afraid. I ran over there with only one thought on my mind: even if it kills me, I will take a bite out of you…
“Ar roof…”
Hurt, hurt, it hurts a lot… Can’t move, that black flash of lightning paralyzed my whole body.
Master? Master stood up? Is he alright already? What is he doing talking with that demon? Oh, watch out!
When I saw a black flash thundering down from the sky, my first thought was: it’s over, my master is done for…
But, to my surprise, Master was alright. Not only that, he was laughing. There was this scary, yet familiar white light coming out of his right hand. What is happening? Is the demon trying to run away? Is it because the demon saw my master’s magic and it terrifies him? A single strike?! How could that be? One hit and the demon was purged from the body of that human and ended up dead?
What a powerful being my Master was?!
—————————————
Did Master form a contract with Big Sis Silent Water?
Hiding behind the kitchen door, I saw the whole thing. For some reason, it stung a bit.
We have been together for so long; why did he wait until now to form a contract? Was it really like Master had said, that he was worried that he would drag Silent Water down? What about me? What can I do? It would be enough if I am not a burden to Master, but why do I feel jealous of Big Sis Silent Water? Big Sis Silent Water is so powerful, and she is a king cla.s.s spirit while I am one of the lowest cla.s.s spirits. Even though I have absorbed some of Master’s powerful magic a few times, and I have a feeling that my power may have grown as a result, I… I feel like I am still a burden to Master. I don’t have any skills, I don’t have any real strength, I can’t talk, and I don’t know how to make Master happy – quite the opposite, Master always having to play with me to cheer me up… Someone like me, is it really okay for me to be here?
“I’m home.” Master was back home from school, but I couldn’t get myself excited about it. Even though after Master came home, he would usually pat me on my head, I still felt like seeing Big Sis Silent Water was what made him the happiest. Was it really alright for me to stay here?
“Dusty?”
…
“Dusty is inside. It might be feeling a bit down today.”
“Oh? Why? Have you not given it any food today?”
“I have given it food, but….”
“I’ll go check on it.”
I thank you for your concern, Master… But, I feel like that there is no meaning to me staying here. I am very grateful that you let me stay by your side for so many days….
When Master came to the living room, I hid underneath the sofa. I waited until Master went upstairs to look for me, then I quickly ran to the foyer, stood up on my hind legs, turned the doork.n.o.b, and opened the door…..
——————————————
This gra.s.sy field… Master always took me here to play…
Don’t think about it! Why am I still thinking over about this so much; since I have already decided to leave?
“Dusty?”
Master is here already? That fast?
I quickly hid myself behind a tree and peeked out just enough to see Master staring at the gra.s.s in a daze… All of a sudden, it felt like something tugged at my heart… I don’t want to leave Master behind….
When I saw Master leave for another place, I quietly followed him.
If… if Master gives up on me, then I’ll leave.
——————————— An hour and a half later
Why? Why is it that Master is still looking for me? It has been a while already, shouldn’t he have given up by now?
When I saw my master in a corner, digging through garbage heaps and junk piles looking for me, I felt a pain in my chest…
I won’t run away anymore.
Master really looked for me, and he continued to look for me, even when he had become drenched in sweat, he still kept on looking. From his expression, he showed no sign of giving up – I couldn’t let him suffer just because I felt bad about myself…
Should I just show myself right now? But if Master sees me now, won’t he yell at me? Maybe I should go back home first and wait for him by the door. He has to go back in the evening; at that time, I can apologize to Master…
——————————— Half An Hour Later
At the far end of the road, I could see Master; he was running towards me. Did he know that I was back? How did he find out? Did Big Sis Silent Water tell him?
Master ran over and gave me a big hug, and patted me on my head gently, “Really, what were you doing? Next time you plan to go somewhere far away, leave me a note, dummy….”
“Ar… rooff…”
But Master, I don’t know how to write…
“Come, let’s go inside. As your punishment, you have to eat all of the dinner that I am going to make you tonight.”
“Woof! Woof!”
Lying on Master’s bed, while I looked at Master’s sleeping face, I felt a bit perplexed.
What was the matter with me today? It was clear as day that the best thing on earth for me to do was to stay by Master’s side. Why did I even consider leaving him? Master didn’t consider me a spirit, rather a part of his family, why did it take me so long to realize it? I have caused Master a lot of troubles, but going forward, I definitely wouldn’t do something like this again. Because…
He is the perfect master, a perfect human being, I like him, I like him very, very much, regardless of how he sees me, I don’t want to ever leave his side.
He… is my master… His name is Lin Xiang…
—