Ihwa and I stood before a massive cave entrance in the middle of the forest. Yes, this was a nest of the Octalicums. And yes, it took about as much time to find as I’d expected—two days, more or less.

Even now, Ihwa was still trying to escape. But like a rabbit in a fox’s jaws, she couldn’t back out of this no matter what.

I placed her before me and positioned myself behind her. I could see Ihwa gripping her sword hard, and her face paling.

“I-I j-just block the a-attacks, r-right?”

“That’s right. It’s easy.”

Though…

“The cave’s dark, so you won’t be able to see anything.”

…This was indeed troubling. But with Ihwa’s unnaturally big Aura reserve, it shouldn’t be a problem.

“Just protect your entire body with Aura. I’ll deal with the oversized spiders.”

“B-But how will you see?”

“I just can.”

It was the truth. As long as there was even a flicker of light in the room, I could see with relatively no problem. One of the benefits of being a Fox-girl, I guess.

After discussing some more, we were finally ready to tackle on the Octalicums. As soon as we stepped inside the cave, we heard a deafening roar.

‘S-Shit! Why do everything have to scream?!’

While I was whimpering and covering my ears in pain, I could hear the sound of metal clashing against metal. Looking up, I saw Ihwa using her sword and Aura to block the attack of a creature.

White fur, eight seen metal legs with sharpened ends, and too many red eyes. It was an Octalicum. Just one of its legs was as big as my entire body. It shrieked loudly again and used its two frontmost legs to stab at Ihwa.

Since this was just the entrance of the cave, Ihwa could still see and thus, was able to block the attacks pretty easily.

{What the fuck are you standing there for?}

‘R-Right!’

With ringing still in my ears, I brandished Nira and dashed toward the white spider.

[Aura sharpening]

With a simple slash, one of its metal legs was cut in half. As it shrieked loudly and looked at me with its crazed eyes, I retreated to behind Ihwa.

“Brace yourself, it’s going in a frenzy.”

“Wha—”

But a sudden attack interrupted Ihwa’s answer. She focused back on the spider, who was madly striking her front with all of its legs.

Definitely feeling that she couldn’t take it on like this, Ihwa muttered,

[Scutum]

And a shield appeared.

Since this Octalicum didn’t have Aura, it barely put a scratch in Ihwa’s shield by the time its frenzy was over.

Ihwa and I were both unscathed, and the spider was exhausted after that devastating attack.

The result was obvious.

With one clean cut, I chopped its head off. As its giant body fell to the ground, I looked back at Ihwa.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Ihwa approached the spider, still afraid to touch it even with her sword.

“M-Maybe.”

Knowing that she wasn’t going to let go of her fear any time soon, I sighed and got to the…dismantling.

{Yes! This is my favorite part!}

‘The part with shit?’

{No, the part where you get covered in shit!}

But I wasn’t going to let this bitchy sword get what she wanted. So, I called Ihwa over and had her call up [Scutum].

“Can you make it into a uhhh…spherical shape that covers us?”

Ihwa nodded.

Despite that, I wasn’t too hopeful. She literally learned this technique just two days ago, so it would be absurd to assume that sh—

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Done!”

As I saw the purple sphere of Aura covering us both, I dropped my jaw in shock.

‘Okay...I get that she’s a genius, but isn’t this too much?’

{Says the one who awakened Aura when she was 5 months.}

‘Shut up.’

Now that I had a way to protect me from the inevitable gush of brown, I carved the bowel of the giant spider empty. Thanks to the shield, I wasn’t drenched in literal shit. The same could be said for Ihwa, though, I was sure that she’d rather not have shit touch her Aura at all.

Then, I carved my way to its abdomen. The reason why I had to access it from the bowel was because I’d damage the silk if I did it any other way.

After a few minutes, I’d finished. I stared at the shimmering silk in my hand and clutched it.

‘Fucking finally!’

Two days of rolling in the snow while dragging Ihwa, an hour of convincing Mom, and a few minutes wading through shit; after all of that, I could finally get my armor done.

“Umm…can we go now?”

‘Oh, right.’

Even I didn’t want to stay here.

After we steered clear of the shit-stained floor, I put the silk in my backpack, which had a preserving enhancement put on it by the best Alchemist in the continent.

Speaking of her, I hadn’t seen her recently. Apparently, she was doing a project that Mom herself invested a lot of money in. I hoped that it’d turn out well…whatever it was the she was trying to make.

Then, I placed a hand on the spider and began using its blood to heal Kirion. This was probably not enough, but if I found some boars outside, Kir—

{Master~!}

I took a step back in surprise. Scanning around cautiously, I shouted,

“Who’s there?!”

Hearing my shout, Ihwa also brandished her sword and put her back against mine to make sure that there was no blindspot.

After a few more seconds, I heard the voice again.

{Master~ I’m hurt. You didn’t even recognize me.}

“Who are you?” I shouted back. “Show yourself right now!”

{I’m in your hands, master.}

“Wha—”

I had to keep my mouth shut as soon as I saw what was in my hand—a wooden training sword.

{It is I, Kirion, your faithful servant.}

I heaved a heavy sigh and tapped on Ihwa’s shoulder.

“False alarm.”

She nodded and returned to doing whatever she was doing before.

Now left alone with my sword, I stabbed him into the ground and began conversing with him.

‘You’re Kirion, right?’

{Yes, master. In the fles— wood.}

‘You don’t sound like him…’

{W-What do you mean, master?}

Hmmm…how do I put it?

‘Your voice is that of a girl.’

{W-What?!}

{Kahaha, why did you have to ruin the surprise so soon, Nova? I was waiting for her to realize it herself,} Nira suddenly laughed.

‘Nira…did you know this?’

{Of course I did! Who do you think I am?}

‘Did you do this?’

{I’m not the one you should point fingers to. Blame the precious genius next to you.}

‘So…Kirion turned into a girl as soon as I did?’

{Correct. Hey, pushover!}

{W-What do you want?}

{Look in this mirror.}

{W— AHHHHHH! NOO! I’M REALLY A GIRL NOW!}

My two swords continued this for a few minutes. During which time, I had to hear Nira’s laughter and Kirion’s shameful cries while standing there awkwardly. It sucked that I couldn’t see them unless they turned humanoid.

{Hehe~ This looks good on you.}

{Nooo! Give me back my suit!}

{A maid outfit looks better on you. You’re a girl now, no butler suit.}

{P-Please!}

‘Okay, that’s enough. Nira, stop messing with Kirion.’

Surprisingly, Kirion was the one to talk back to me.

{M-Master, why are you calling big sis Nira by her real name?}

‘...Is that a problem?’

{It’s not, b-but can you call me by my real name too?}

Was that jealously I hear?

But I saw no reason to refuse his— uhhh…her(?) simple request.

‘Very well. But…would you like a new name?’

{Of course! I’d accept whatever name master gives me!}

‘Yeah, thank you. I don’t want to pronounce your 32-syllable name every time.’

Well, I actually didn’t need to make her a completely new name since I’d already decided on using the thirteenth syllable of her old name.

‘From now on, you’re Aerin.’

{Thank you, master. I, Aerin, graciously accept my new name.}

Now, for the important question.

‘Aerin, can you turn humanoid like Nira?’

{W-What? You can turn humanoid already, big sis?}

{Yes, and you can’t?}

{Regretfully. I can’t turn humanoid until I reach 2-star.}

{Fufu, look at this. Nova, aren’t I much better than this pushover?}

‘Don’t bully her. It’s just not her time yet.’

{Master…}

{Tch.}

Two vastly different reactions. This was why I liked Aerin more than Nira.

‘So, how much more blood do you need for 2-star?’

I wasn’t lying if I said that I wasn’t excited to see Aerin’s new form. In her old form, she had raven hair, blood-red eyes, pale skin, and a face that was as unfairly handsome as Eric. Oh, and she liked to wear butler clothes for some reason.

While I was fantasizing about what she might look like, Aerin answered,

{I think I just need the blood of another being that is as strong as this big spider.}

‘Oh, what a coincidence!’

It just so happened that Octalicums came in pairs. And with the death of its partner, the other Octalicum definitely knew that we were here. So, it was settled.

“Ihwa, we’re going in deeper.”

“Nooo!”

Of course, I didn’t listen to her protests. As we went deeper into the cave, Ihwa screams echoed.

Similarly, Aerin’s voice echoed in my mind.

{Yay! Blood~}