Ezra jumped forward as far as he could and rolled into the ground. Dirt dug into his skin and clothing before his momentum slowed. He leaped up and took a fighting stance.

Hornblower - Lv. 13

Hornblower - Lv. 16

Hornblower - Lv. 20

Hornblower - Lv. 22

They were all lower level than him, but that didn’t mean he should underestimate them. You never knew what tricks a monster had underneath its sleeve.

“Recall.”

Filamenta reappeared in his hand with a flash of light.

“Took you long enough,” she said. “I was wondering when I would see some action.”

One of the Hornblowers pawed the ground, then charged at him with its horns lowered toward his chest.

Ezra ran and jumped into the air, soaring overhead the Hornblower. While there, Ezra threw out his needle toward the back of the creature’s head.

Right before the needle landed, the Hornblower ducked its head inside its shell.

Ezra recalled his needle back to his hand and landed on the ground. How had the Hornblower seen his attack coming? Before he could think on this any further, two Hornblowers moved toward him. They were creeping, not charging. They’d learned from the first one’s attack.

One snapped its head out for Ezra’s arm. Ezra dodged, only to run into the attack of the other Hornblower. Its jaws were wide and open and about to bite into Ezra’s shoulder.

“[Air Attack]!”

The sudden burst of momentum threw him out of the way. He flew across the ground before he halted to a stop.

His needle glowed. “This is absurd. Stop letting them corner you,” Filamenta said.

Filamenta was right. He’d taken down a boss monster. Was he seriously incapable of defeating a bunch of mutant turtles?

Three more were coming for him, their footsteps slow and deliberate.

“Screw this,” he said.

He ran and threw his needle out toward the shell of the closest Hornblower.

“[Bind]!”

Filamenta passed through the shell without issue. Ezra focused on the connection and the shell evaporated, exposing the skin.

The monster reared back and shook from side to side. Ezra ran forward and recalled Filamenta back into his hand. He jumped up and toward the hole in the shell that had been exposed by [Bind]. Filamenta sank into the soft skin, penetrating the heart.

253/500

The tail swung toward Ezra. He tensed his legs to jump away. Even so, the attack was too fast, it slammed into Ezra and threw him into the ground. Pain flooded Ezra’s spine from top to bottom—he suspected that he’d sprained… not something, more everything.

153/300

Ezra pushed himself up and stared down the creature.

“I hope you aren’t planning to just take that,” Filamenta said. “Also, when will you invest in Constitution?”

Ezra rolled his eyes, then recentered his focus back on the Hornblower. He jumped up one more time and aimed for the creature. The tail of the Hornblower swung toward him.

“[Air Attack]!”

Ezra crashed into the weak spot like a meteor. The Hornblower’s health dropped to zero in an instant and it fell over limp.

Ezra pulled his weapon out of the monster. He lazily tilted his head toward the other Hornblowers.

“Well?” he said. “Who’s next?”

----------------------------------------

The battle was a massacre. Ezra got better and better at picking up on their attack patterns to the point that none of them could land a shot on him, even when they were working together. They were dispatched one by one with brutal efficiency.

[You have leveled up!]

And in the end, Ezra was left with four massive shells sitting in the field.

“Why didn’t they disappear into ash?” he said.

Filamenta transformed back into her spider form and crawled up to his shoulder.

“Simple,” she said. “They’re not part of the monster. At least, not in the same way as the organs and skin.”

“I’d bet these are worth a fair amount of money. I should take it back to the guild hall.”

Filamenta raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And how are you going to do that, exactly?”

Ezra looked out over the four shells. He stepped toward one of them and tried to pull on it. He grunted with effort and pulled as hard as he could. Nothing happened.

“Should’ve invested in Strength,” Filamenta said.

Ezra sniffed. “I’m not some brute like Charles. Besides, you’re better suited for a high Dexterity build.”

“Excuses, excuses.”

Ezra looked at the shell for a bit longer when an idea popped into his mind.

“Filamenta, turn back into a needle,” he said.

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“Oh?” She appeared in his hand with a flash, already transformed into a needle. “I’m intrigued. Let’s see what you think of.”

Ezra passed the needle through the air and the shell, then activated bind. This time, instead of focusing on the property of nothingness that he usually did, he focuses on the lightness of air.

He reached out and pulled on the shell. It was so easy that he almost fell backward. He was now holding the giant shell with one hand.

Filamenta glowed, and there was a slight shake from her form.

“Well done, Ezra!” she said. “Perhaps there might be hope for you after all.”

“Quit it. Anyway, now I just need to do this to the rest of them.”

Ezra passed the needle through all four shells and the air. He held his breath, hoping that [Bind] was a high enough level for this to work. The ability activated, and he felt a jolt through his connection with Filamenta. [Bind] had failed, he could already tell.

“I could’ve told you that wouldn’t work,” Filamenta said. “[Bind] isn’t powerful enough to transfer such a radical property across such a large amount of mass.”

A radical property? Then what if it was less radical? What if he limited the strength of the property—made the shells light, but not as light as air?

“That’s a possibility, but there’s no way you have enough skill with [Bind] to do such a thing,” Filamenta said.

Ezra passed his needle through the shells again. This time, he attempted to limit the lightness of air property, focusing on keeping some of the weight. There was no jolt from his magic.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Filamenta muttered. “Did you seriously just…?”

He picked up one, then the second, then the third. All four were light enough to carry with ease. He stacked the shells together and tied them together using some rope the farmer had left in the field, two on his left hand and two on his right.

“This is so unfair. And impossible. You shouldn’t have been skilled enough to do that!” Filamenta said.

Ezra smirked and started walking past the farmhouse. The farmer stepped outside and looked up at the shells with a vacant expression.

“Don’t forget to pay me at the guild!” Ezra said.

The farmer nodded slowly, his eyes still focused on the massive stack of shells.

“You shouldn’t rely so much on Dexterity and Wisdom,” Filamenta said. “And you should use your abilities more holistically.”

Ezra put down the shells, waited for his mana to recover, then picked it back up again. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Besides, weren’t you the one telling me about how amazing [Bind] is?”

“[Bind] is incredible,” Filamenta said. “But that doesn’t mean you should use it at the expense of all your other abilities. I have so much power, Ezra. You ought to make use of it.”

A handful of men in armor were talking to each other. They all stopped and paused in the road when they saw Ezra.

Ezra walked by them without paying any attention.

“Awful arrogant of you to say such a thing,” Ezra said.

One of the armored men shoved another with his shoulder.

“Isn’t that the guy who…?”

“Yeah, it is!”

“…Why is he talking to a spider?”

“How is he carrying all that!?”

Ezra filtered the voices out and focused on his conversation with Filamenta.

“Ezra, you’re almost at the city,” Filamenta said.

Ezra looked forward. He’d arrived at the city gates and a curious crowd was watching him. More people arrived by the moment.

Ezra had turned into a public spectacle.

He put down the shells. “Could one of you gawkers go get a member of the guild for me? I’d rather not carry this back.”

One person at the back of the crowd broke off sprinting toward the guild. Ezra sat down and leaned back, using his hands as support.

Ezra felt like a genius, that was for sure. Using [Bind] like that? Best idea he’d ever had.

“You know that this will only grow your reputation,” Filamenta said. “People will see what you did and invent wild stories about you.”

“It’s fine. I doubt it’ll last. Besides, I’m sure they have people similar to me in the mercenary’s guild, anyway.”

“If you say so, Ezra. I hope you’re right.”

Ezra waited for a few more minutes before two large, buff men appeared. Behind the man was one of the guild girls. She stepped forward and stopped in front of the shells with her jaw dropped.

“You carried all this back!?” she said. “You could’ve just asked the guild to take care of it!”

Ezra stood to his feet and brushed off his clothing. “Well, I just felt like taking it back myself. You know how it is.”

The woman blinked and rubbed her eyes. She shook her head.

“I see what Prise meant, you are unique, that’s for sure,” she said.

People were gossiping behind his back? What else was new?

“So, do I sell this to you or what?” Ezra said. “How exactly does it work?”

The woman looked up.

“Um, yeah, I’ll approve the sale,” she said. “Just come back with me to the guild hall to sign some documents.”

She looked back at the two men she’d brought. “I think you two will have to get some help.”

One of them looked at the massive shell and visibly gulped. “Yeah, I think so.”

Ezra was taken back to the guild hall and led to the guild girl’s stall. He looked around for Prise.

“She’s not here,” the guild girl said. “If that’s what you’re looking for. She left.”

“Why?”

“Busy, from what I know.”

Well, that’s not helpful.

Ezra signed off on the paper. The guild girl passed him a single silver coin along with two copper coins.

She leaned in toward him, a smirk on her face. “Say, I get off work in an hour. I don’t suppose that—“

“Thanks, for the money.”

Ezra turned around and walked off. Filamenta cackled and dug her legs into his jacket’s shoulder area.

“Her face!” she said. “She was so shocked!”

Ezra walked through the streets and headed back for the inn. “I have better things to do. How am I supposed to make my skills higher if I’m wasting time with such frivolous things?”

“Ezra, for a total idiot,” she said. “You can say some shockingly insightful things. I think this partnership may not be doomed after all.”

“How unfortunate.”

Ezra wandered into the alley where Prise’s inn was hidden away. Even outside, he could hear the sounds of two people shouting. He stepped forward and opened the door. The front desk was empty and unmanned, save for a single cup of tea sitting on the wood table.

“Mother, you need the medicine! Please!” the voice of Prise said.

“I don’t need anything! I told you not to buy that stuff, damn it!”

The two of them were behind a closed door, but that was doing absolutely nothing to hide their raised voices. Ezra could hear everything perfectly. He started to walk off.

“What’s going on in there?” Filamenta said. “Ezra, you need to go help them.”

Ezra hurried to the stairs. “Absolutely not—“

“Mother, you can’t do this to yourself! Think about how hard I worked to get this for you!”

“I told you not to do that! I never asked for your help—“

The door slammed open and Prise marched out toward the front desk. She picked up the cup of herbal tea, reared her head back, and drank it down like a shot of alcohol before slamming it back onto the table.

Ezra looked away and fidgeted. His left hand reached up and scratched the wrist of the right hand.

“What are you doing?” Filamenta said. “Comfort the poor girl. Help her.”

It’s none of his business.

Filamenta poked her spider legs into Ezra’s shoulder. “Yes, it is. She’s helped you, Ezra. Help her in return.”

“Damn it, Filamenta—“

Prise gasped and looked up.

“E-Ezra! You’re back!”

Ezra grimaced. “…yes.”

“I… wasn’t expecting you to come back so soon.”

“I work quickly.”

Prise stiffened and glanced back at the room she’d come from. Ezra’s eyes followed. She looked back at him and saw where he was looking, then started to shake.

She dashed out of the inn and threw the door shut behind her.

Ezra stood there before he walked up the stairs to his room. He entered his room, shut the door, and then sat on the bed.

“That’s exactly what I’d hoped to see when I came back to my place of residence,” Ezra said. “How wonderful.”

Filamenta grunted.

“You could’ve helped them,” she said.

“It’s never a good idea to get involved in other people’s business. They’ll just get pissed at you. No thanks.”

Filamenta paused. “I never got the impression that you care much about what other people think of you.”

“Fair. But again, it’s none of my business. I have no obligation toward them.“

“But you do, Ezra. She’s cut corners for your sake, and she gave you a place to sleep. She’s tried to treat you well.”

“So? I didn’t ask for her to do any of those things. She just did it of her own accord. Either that or it was her job to do those things. Besides, I’m paying her, isn’t that enough?”

“You don’t have much experience handling interpersonal conflicts, do you?”

“Do you? I thought you were a spirit. Do spirits fight much where you’re from?”

She froze.

“That’s none of your business,” she said.

“That’s not what you said when it comes to Prise.”

“That’s different.”

Different? Nice excuse. “How so?

Filamenta began to crawl away.

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” she said.

“But you expect me to trust you?” Ezra said. “You expect me to listen to your advice, even when I don’t know a thing about you?”

Filamenta crawled toward a corner of the room, disappearing from sight.