by Yuu Tanaka
“No.”
I had guessed from Identifying her earlier, but to think she would completely lack a name…
Why not?
She had had parents after all. They had to have given her a name.
“A Slave Contract deletes your name.”
Uh, what do you mean by that?
“There may be slave owners who would want to rename their slaves. That’s why they deleted our names.”
So the slave contract prohibited slaves from even having a name. How terrible.
“The slavers got rid of my name when I was eight.”
The girl had been living as a slave for four years, and she was still set on reaching her objective. I was impressed.
I see… Then what was your name before?
“Fran.”
Funny, I used to have a dog named Fran. Well, at least she had a name I could call on now.
All right, then Fran it is.
“Are you sure?”
You don’t like it?
“No, I do. I’m Fran.”
She seemed quite happy about her new old name, judging by the way her tail stood up and curled. Problem solved.
Now it was Fran’s turn to fluster me.
“What’s your name?”
Uh, me?
“Yeah.”
No one had ever asked me that question seeing as she was the first person I’d talked to since reincarnation. The subject of my name, specifically the lack thereof, had honestly slipped my mind. I couldn’t remember what my name was, and even my Name field was still Unknown. Damn it! I should’ve given myself a cooler name sooner!
Uhh…
“You don’t have one?”
No.
“Then I’ll give you one.”
I guess that would work. Users had naming privileges, after all. I was sure I could get used to whatever Fran named me, so long as she liked it. To be honest, I didn’t really have any preferences.
“Hmmm…”
What’ll it be?
“Mm…”
Well? Well?
“Hmm… I got it.”
Really! What is it?
“Teacher.”
What.
“Teacher.”
Why?
“You said you’d teach me how to fight. That’s why you’re Teacher.”
Uhh, are you sure you don’t have any alternatives? That’s it?
“Yes. Nice to meet you, Teacher.”
Your name is now Teacher.
Whoa! I jumped at the sudden text prompt. Seriously? My name’s Teacher now?
“You don’t like it?”
The girl maintained her blank expression, but there was a hint of worry on it now. How was I supposed to say no to that face?
Of course not, I absolutely love it! It’s a great name!
“Mm.”
From then on, I was named Teacher. It was somewhat weird as far as sword names went, but I told myself that Fran liked it and that was all that mattered.
So, what now? Does the slave contract expire now that the slaver’s dead?
“I don’t think so. My collar hasn’t come off.” Fran pointed to her collar. We had to do something about that.
Can’t we just force it open? Destroy it?
“No. Breaking the slave collar kills the slave wearing it.”
Whoa, seriously?
“Seriously.”
That was close. I was about to start swinging at her neck.
Then how do we annul the contract?
“By destroying the contract papers.”
I see. Would that guy have it?
“He should. I’ll go look.”
I was worried the slaver wouldn’t have it on him and had it hidden elsewhere, but my worries were for naught.
“Found it.”
Fran took out a folder filled with parchment paper from the slaver’s shirt. One of them was Fran’s slave contract, the cause of her slavery. With it gone, Fran would be freed.
Just rip that thing to shreds!
“Hng!”
Fran gripped the edges of the parchment and began pulling. The document proved to be tougher than we thought, however. She grunted and heaved at the contract, but she wasn’t strong enough to tear it.
“Nope…”
All right, we’ll chop it up then. Put the contract on the ground.
“Okay.”
Fran heaved me up then swung me down at the document.
That did it!
The slave contract was now in two pieces. Seconds later, Fran’s slave collar unlocked itself and fell to the ground.
“The collar came off.”
Whoa! Are you okay?
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
I didn’t feel any magic emanating from the collar anymore. The contract really was the key to freeing her from the collar’s bondage.
“Thank you.”
She was blushing all the way to her cat ears. How adorable. She really was a sweet-looking girl. Give her a few years and she’d be a heartbreaker. Not that I was going to let anyone go out with my Fran. They’d have to go through me first.
“Here.”
Fran brought something to my attention as I was getting all fired up by myself. It was the slaver’s bag.
What’s in it?
A bunch of stuff apparently. There was money, for starters, though I didn’t know how much the stuff was worth since I wasn’t familiar with the coinage of this world. It couldn’t have been worth much though, because most of it was silver and copper coins.
Next were some basic tools. Some of them seemed to be magical in nature too. There was a magical torch which gave out light, a small jug which produced potable water, and an armband which increased your strength by a little bit. They didn’t amount to much, but they did seem interesting. We would have to try them elsewhere though, because of the mana-draining nature of the forest. I was anxious to get out of the area as fast as I could, too.
I don’t know how big this mana-sapping area is, but we’d better get out of the forest as soon as we can.
“Okay.”
We took some knives, utensils, clothes, and anything that looked like it might be useful from the caravan before we headed out. I had, of course, stored the bear’s remains in my Pocket Dimension for later use. As usual, the storage process only took a few moments.
I wrapped my blade in the canvas covering the carriage and fashioned a loop out of the smaller man’s belt so Fran could sling me over her shoulder. She was a bit on the shorter side, so I asked her to be careful since she may end up dragging me across the ground.
We had also dressed up Fran in some basic clothing we found in the cart. It was still meager, and she still looked like a slave, but at least she didn’t look homeless now.
Shall we?
“Yeah.”
Equipping me had made her stronger, and I could see she was surprised by it. She declared her astonishment thirty minutes into our trek.
“You’re amazing, Teacher.”
Hahaha. Right?
“Yeah.”
So, what should we do now? Any ideas?
“Hmm. There’s a town nearby.”
Around here?
“That way.”
Uh… Do you know how far it is from here?
“No.”
She had overheard the slavers mention stopping in a town as they headed east. Thanks to her Sense of Direction, she was able to tell the location of a town, so long as she had a general idea of where it was.
Let’s get going then.
Now it began feeling like a real adventure.
Something had occurred to me on the way to the nearest town. There were some updates to my status screen as a result of leveling up Identify, first being the mysterious header of Mana Conductivity. I asked Fran if she knew anything about it and she shook her head “no.” Did it affect my ability to conduct mana? What did that even mean? It was listed at A, in any case, and I had no idea whether that was good or bad at the momen
t.
Next came the changes to my skill menu. I was now able to sort my skills according to their categories, which made it much less confusing when I had to rifle through them. It also seemed I’d triggered the Superior Skills option when I maxed out Fire Magic to Level 10. Superior Skills were unlocked as a reward for leveling certain skills to Level 10. In exchange, I would no longer be able to share the skill and had to unequip it from Fran. It took up 10 EP, so I had to be careful about my choices there.
Along the road, I began telling Fran about myself. We had to get our stories straight to avoid people finding us out. I told her about how I used to be human, and about how I grew stronger by consuming magic crystals, Skill Sharing, and the effects I had on the stats of my User.
“Crystals…”
Yeah. But I just ranked up, so the next one’s gonna be a while.
“Mm.”
Wha—hey, what are you doing?
“Hm.”
She took the crystal of the Fanged Rat we had just killed and was knocking it against the flat of my blade. She was trying to feed me, I guessed, though her method was quite violent.
Wait, hold on! I have to cut through it! Hit it against the edge of my blade.
“Like this?”
That’s it.
“You really absorbed it.”
And that’s how I grow stronger. We should hunt every monster we see and sell the parts for money.
“Got it.”
Then we tried experimenting with Telepathy. I had only begun using it the day I met Fran, so there was still so much I didn’t know about the skill. It apparently made a field which allowed the user to have a two-way conversation. If I connected it with Fran, we would be able to have a private conversation, kinda like the old tin can telephones back home. If I widened the area of effect, I would be able to broadcast my voice to everyone who was within range. We tried it out with a rabbit we caught, and both the rabbit and Fran were able to hear my voice when I set it on broadcast. However, it didn’t look like the rabbit was able to hear Fran’s side of the conversation. Telepathy didn’t turn me into a conduit that allowed multiple people in the same area to talk to each other through me; instead, I did all of the talking and listening.
We hadn’t run into any tough encounters so far. The grasslands must’ve been a special environment given how the monsters became stronger the further I went. But the monsters outside the woods weren’t that strong; at best, they were at Area 2 levels.
I took care of the cooking. The Cooking skill I maxed out during my lapse into madness came in handy in the end. I could manipulate cooking utensils and ingredients with Telekinesis no problem. My blade made quick work of slicing and dicing, and fire and water were just a matter of casting a few spells.
Fran should have the same Cooking skill I had, but I decided against it. Nourishment was a guardian’s responsibility. I had her equip Poison Resistance, Enhanced Absorption, Enhanced Digestion, and Predator just in case. Predator allowed you to gain certain abilities based on what you ate. I didn’t know how much of an effect it had, but leaving it on her couldn’t hurt. This was Fran’s current status, aside from the skills we shared:
Name: Fran
Age: 12
Race: Beastman; Black Cat Tribe
Class: None
LV: 3
HP: 39; Magic: 25; Strength: 24; Agility: 46
Skills: Sword Mastery 1; Night Vision; Expert Carver; Sense of Direction
Titles: Disassembly Expert; Skill Collector; Fire Mage; Master Chef
She was much stronger than a goblin now. Her numbers were boosted by the Status+ (Medium) I acquired a short while ago, which stacked with my own Attack+ (Small). It made her very strong for someone who was still at Level 3, and she could stomp every low-rank monster that came her way.
I would swap out her skills depending on the circumstances, but Sword Mastery, Fire Magic, and Status+ were mainstays. I was getting so used to swapping out skills that I could do them on the fly now, too.
The problem was money. The main currency of this world was Gold, and it was accepted everywhere. We had gotten two silver coins and twenty-four copper coins from the slaver earlier, which amounted to 224G in total. It was dubious whether we could even stay a night at an inn with this little money.
I did have a solution though, and it involved the pile of monster corpses I had been storing up in my Pocket Dimension. Fran had told me that adventurers hunted down monsters, carved up their parts, and sold them for money. Selling monster materials was their main source of income. My solution was to carve up the monster remains and pick the parts which looked viable to sell. It would look suspicious if a little girl like Fran began selling high-rank monster parts though, so we’d have to start with the cheaper stuff. We’d start actually worrying about it when we got to town.
And we’re done.
We were in the middle of camping out. Fran was currently harvesting monsters for materials. Apparently, Skill Sharing was still in effect, even if there was some distance between us. Fran still got her stat bonuses and she was able to use the Disassembly skill.
Fran laid out a monster’s remains and carved it up with a knife. The smell of blood would’ve attracted nearby monsters, so she had to set up a barrier using concealment magic. She cast this one by herself too. She was getting used to her newfound abilities.
Meanwhile, I cooked her up something to eat. I used the pot we got from the slaver cart to make a stew out of the monster meat we had. I made sure to use any medicinal herbs I found along the way to make it extra nutritious. It should taste amazing too, thanks to my Level 10 Cooking skill; not that I had any way of making sure. It was a shame I couldn’t taste my own cooking.
This was the basic division of labor we had between us. I would set up camp and be on lookout while Fran carved up the monsters we had killed. I would absorb the crystals she found, and we could sell or eat the rest of the beast.
Food’s ready, Fran.
“Okay.”
Go wash your hands first.
“Create Water.”
She conjured a spout of water with magic to wash her hands. She didn’t have any problems casting magic. As my User, she could draw from my Mana Pool to cast any magic she needed, so she could conjure up all the water she wanted.
Are you done with the monster carving?
“For the most part. One of them was impossible to get through, though.”
The turtle, huh?
Fran looked at the remains of the Blast Tortoise. Even with Disassembly 10, it was impossible to get through its thick shell with a knife. It was a high-rank monster after all. She had had trouble with the Tyrant Saber-Tooth the other day too. She needed better tools.
I guess I’m up today.
“Please.”
You got it. Just sit back and enjoy your meal, Fran.
“I will. Thanks.”
I should finish carving this thing before Fran finished her meal.
Three days had gone by since I first met Fran. We were walking in the general direction of the nearest town, and I was wrapped up in canvas and had to ask Fran to shoulder me. There was no good excuse for a floating sword, no matter how I spun it.
Is the town easy to get into?
“Hm?”
Do you need to show some identification, maybe pay a toll?
“I don’t know.” She shook her fluffy head and looked cute while doing so.
No, focus.
Fran used to be a slave, so she probably never had to enter a city by herself. No wonder she didn’t know.
It’d be nice if we could ask someone.
But we hadn’t seen a single soul in the last three days. I could understand not running into merchants or adventurers, but no bandits? Come on.
“This isn’t the highway.”
What do you mean?
“This is a detour.”
The slavers had chosen to rush through a monster-infested region in the interest of time. The shortcut had cost them
their lives, so I was glad they were dead, but the slaves themselves could have been spared.
So you’re saying there’s a highway?
The frequent appearance of monsters would explain why people wouldn’t usually take this road.
Where is it?
“I think we’ll find it eventually if we keep walking.”
I hope you’re right.
“It’ll be fine. Maybe.”
We continued walking for four hours, killing small animals like rabbits along the way and talking about what we should invest our EP in next. We talked about leveling up some of the skills we had or getting a status boost, but we decided to get Identity Protection and Skill Capacity Up (Medium) in the end.
As the name implied, Identity Protection prevented others from using Identify on us. Fran told me that talking swords weren’t something you saw every day in this world, so this would come in handy in the prevention of shenanigans.
Skill Capacity Up (Medium) allowed us to increase the number of skills we could equip. The more skills we could equip, the stronger we got. It was simple and straightforward.
As we continued our discussion of skill optimization, we stepped onto the city highway that we’d been looking for.
Finally, proper roads!
The highway was a stretch of road that was simply cleared of grass, but it was still better than the wild trail we were on. The road showed its long years of service in the ruts that had formed along the ground. We let Fran’s Sense of Direction point us in the right way.
“Hm, I can feel some creatures around us.”
They don’t feel human, either.
We could tell the size and movements of the creatures around us with Sense. Their presence was something I’d felt many before. We were probably up against goblins.
“Should we kill them?”
May as well. We could carve them up for materials and absorb their crystals while we’re at it.
“Got it.”
Fran nodded and leapt away from the main road. She’d gotten used to the Strong Legs skill and was now jumping from tree to tree as fast as the wind blew.
“There.”
The three goblins were hidden away in some bushes next to the highway. They were going to ambush whoever was unfortunate enough to pass them by. Fran concealed her presence, silently positioned herself behind one of them, and struck.