"Just so you know, in this rotten city, every government facility that's supposed to be free is now paid. To get my miracle examined, I'd have to pay the equivalent of my food budget for the next five years!"
Arvani stood up and walked out of the cave. The sunlight immediately hit her face, prompting the young woman to head toward the nearest river.
'If I kill this city's rotten mayor, will you release me?'
"Release you from what? You've been dead for over a hundred years."
'I wasn't dead, just sealed. If I consume around a hundred souls or more, I can regain my human body.'
"No thanks. What would change in my life if the mayor died? The government would just send another scumbag to replace him."
'I can offer you a comfortable place to live, delicious food, and more. You do realize I come from the Igarashi family, right?'
"So what if you're from the Igarashi family?"
'You've never heard of the Twelve Noble Great Families?'
"Oh, so you're one of them nobles."
Arvani's indifferent response made Kensei realize that the only way to make this woman agree to a contract was to show his power. The problem was, he didn't know how to escape her subconscious.
Upon reaching the river with its clear flowing water, Arvani knelt and splashed her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw several fish swimming peacefully.
She had once seen an advertisement claiming that someone with a miracle could do extraordinary things.
Arvani raised her hand toward the group of fish. She imagined Kensei Igarashi, as she saw him last night, appearing and skewering the fish with his sword—so she wouldn't have to hunt for food today.
Splash!
To her shock, Kensei really did appear and speared three fish with his sword. The man stood in the water, his sharp gaze locked on Arvani.
"How dare you use my sacred sword... as a fishing tool."
"Eep!!" Arvani flinched in fear, shaken by the deadly aura radiating from Kensei.
"S-sorry! I didn't know you'd actually show up!"
In the next moment, Arvani realized her left eye was gone. Using her brain, she quickly deduced that her left eye served as payment for summoning Kensei.
If Kensei were to die again, maybe her eyes would be lost forever.
Kensei tossed the fish to the riverbank and slowly approached the frozen woman.
Shing!
The white-haired man pointed his sword right at Arvani's neck.
"I'm curious. If you die here, would that free my soul?"
Arvani felt the cold steel against her skin. It tickled, in a twisted way.
"Probably not. Maybe," she replied uncertainly.
"...Last night, you asked me something. What was it?"
Kensei figured that maybe giving Arvani an answer would release him. Arvani fell into thought, trying to recall what she had asked the night before.
"Umm... What kind of food did you eat every day? What special treatment did you get as a noble? And… how soft was your bed?"
Pathetic. That was the meaning in Kensei's gaze as he looked at the girl before him.
The blue-eyed man sighed. "The food I ate most often was meat. Beef, deer, chicken, but my favorite was lamb. As for special treatment... Maybe being allowed to stay at a restaurant even when I didn't reserve a table, or never having to bow to elders—as long as they weren't nobles. As for the last question, my bed was probably softer than the pile of rags you sleep on."
He answered each question while staring directly at Arvani's face—one that showed no change in expression. She wasn't impressed, envious, or even sad.
It was the expression of someone tired of life but afraid to die. The same expression Kensei often saw in beggars.
"Do you want a better life?"
Kensei wasn't asking out of kindness. He simply wanted to return to his glory days.
"Of course I do, but I'm a little scared. What if I fail and end up disappointed?"
Kensei rolled his eyes. People with no drive like this always bored him.
"At least you tried. Better to die out there seeing the world than rot here like trash."
A spark flickered in Arvani's dark eyes. She looked at Kensei and asked.
"Is lamb really that good?"
Seeing the glimmer in her eyes, Kensei smiled faintly.
"It's absolutely delicious."
. . .
The first step was to earn money. Not for a miracle checkup, but to get out of this city. Kensei had initially suggested they hunt monsters while traveling on foot to the nearest city, but Arvani firmly rejected the idea.
The nearest city was 5 kilometers away, and Arvani couldn't fight monsters.
That afternoon, Arvani walked toward the old wooden city gate, with Kensei in his invisible form trailing beside her. Seeing the gate's poor condition made Kensei chuckle dryly.
'This whole place would collapse with a single tornado.'
Arvani ignored the comment and approached a group of professional miracle users who often hunted monsters for their crystals, meat, hides, bones, and even organs—all of which could be sold.
Some were used for food or potions, others as ornaments, and the worst use was for poison.
"Yo, Arvani. What happened to your eye?"
"I sold it," Arvani answered bluntly.
Laughter broke out among the group.
"You sure you can still make a good decoy with only one eye? If you die, I'm not paying for your insurance!"
Arvani shrugged. "If I die, just toss my corpse in the woods. At least the animals get a meal."
"Hahaha."
The team leader began explaining today's mission. They were heading to a dead village far from the wall. The villagers had been homeless people who tried to build a community but lacked the funds to construct a proper wall. When monsters attacked, none of them survived.
The target monsters were a pack of rabid hounds—fast and aggressive in groups.
The plan was simple: Arvani and another boy would act as bait at the village entrance. When the hounds appeared, they would run toward the town hall as fast as possible. There, in a joglo-style building, traps had been set to hoist the hounds into the air.
But in case any hounds slipped through, Arvani and the boy were to keep running to a two-story house, shut the door, and wait for the sniper-type miracle user on the roof to finish them off.
'This plan has too many holes,' Kensei warned.
'If one of the hounds escapes, don't run into that two-story house. Go into the red house next to it. Pretend to trip so the boy keeps running.'
Arvani frowned, eyeing Kensei suspiciously.
'Why should I do that?'
'Just follow my instructions.'