BSS 17

chapter 17

“If Your Highness would be so gracious, I would be thankful. However…”

“However?”

“My abilities are still lacking, so I dare not accept such a great reward, Your Highness.”

I, of all people, was acting humble — enough to make Eiel gape at me in disbelief.

Normally, I was the very embodiment of baseless confidence.

“Oh ho. How admirable. Then what would you have Me give you? Speak.”

“…I’m lonely.”

“Lonely?”

The king, the headmaster, even Eiel the professor, all looked puzzled by my words.

I fiddled with my brooch, already painting a grand plan in my mind.

Something that sounded like an innocent wish — that could still prove how special I was — but without seeming too greedy.

“I’m the only student in the Department of Spirit Arts, so I’m always alone. If Your Highness allows, I’d like to raise a pet of my own.”

Would he allow it, I wondered?

I clasped my hands together, bright-eyed, pretending to make a sweet little girl’s wish — but I wasn’t particularly confident he’d grant it.

“Lyle. Are students forbidden from keeping animals at the Academy?”

“Of course, they are.”

“Then this will be a special exception. Permission is granted to Ginny Crowell alone.”

Yes! Even if I ended up with a mouse, it was worth asking. Dormitory rules strictly prohibited bringing in animals, after all.

Ah, I hoped Lye would appreciate the effort I was putting into this.

With the king’s special permission secured, all that was left was to find a suitable body. Something small enough to carry around… not a rat though — that would disgust people.

I was still mulling over possibilities when a sudden scream erupted from the group of maids nearby.

“Kyaaah!”

“Ahh!”

Knights immediately rushed toward the commotion. The maids had scattered in fright, one of them even collapsing and foaming at the mouth.

“What’s all this noise?”

Looking closer, I saw a small snake slithering out from the rose vines. Its sleek body stood out vividly against the green grass.

“A snake, it seems, Your Highness. I’ll take care of it.”

“Royal Guard!”

One of the knights strode forward. Feeling threatened, the snake bit at his armored boot, but it couldn’t pierce through.

A moment later, the snake was struck dead with the knight’s sheathed sword — executed for the crime of interrupting the royal tea party.

The act was clean and efficient.

Of course, decapitating it with a blade would have been faster, but who would dare draw a sword in front of the king?

Watching the snake’s limp body, identical to how it looked when alive, I felt… something strange.

Pity? No, this was—!

“Ah! Wait! Sir Knight, just a moment, please!”

I called out desperately to the knight who was about to dispose of the snake’s corpse.

Jumping down from my tall chair, I ran toward him on short legs.

All eyes turned to me at once.

“What is it, my lady?”

“Could you… give me that snake?”

“…Excuse me?”

He frowned, clearly not understanding.

Eiel hurried over and tried to turn me around as if telling me to go back to my seat, but I needed that snake.

There might’ve been a rule in ‘124 Royal Etiquette Warnings’ about not leaving one’s seat before the king — whatever. So annoyingly strict.

“Your Highness! The poor snake doesn’t deserve this.”

Regardless of what I really thought, I turned teary-eyed to the king.

“Though it sinned by disturbing Your Highness’s peace, what could a snake possibly know? Please allow me to take it and bury it somewhere sunny.”

Crying was easy enough — I just had to remember the moment I died missing my parents.

The king seemed genuinely moved by my trembling voice.

“What a kind heart! To pity even a serpent.”

“Spiritists are beings who love all of nature, after all.”

Even as the words left my mouth, I thought, Wow, I really am full of nonsense.

Eiel looked at me like I’d grown two heads, but I ignored him. It wasn’t my fault he couldn’t keep up with my improvisation.

At a wave from the king, the knight hesitantly brought me the snake.

“Here.”

It was bigger up close — about as thick as three fingers, dull grayish-brown.

They say if the head’s triangular, it’s usually venomous — and sure enough, that menacing triangle was there.

The knight looked like he expected me to take it, but I gave him a disapproving look. You really have no sense, do you?

“Wrap it up, please.”

I couldn’t possibly hold it bare-handed.

Apparently, I still had some ladylike dignity. The knight fumbled, then took out a handkerchief and wrapped the snake neatly.

[Master? Master, that thing… don’t tell me.]
[You guessed it. That’s your new vessel.]
[Please, anything but that!]
[Hehehe.]
[I’d rather be a mouse! Master! A mouse!]

Lye cried out as if he already knew his fate, but I liked the snake. No fur, plenty of personality.

And when I looked closer — it was actually kind of cute.

Maybe my tastes were… unusual.

***

Even I had to admit I tended to do strange things no one else would.

Normal girls didn’t barge into the alchemy lab, shove out whoever was supposed to be there, and take over their workspace.

I crouched before the furnace, watching a pot boil furiously. Inside, a dark liquid bubbled and frothed.

It was a mixture I had “borrowed” from the alchemy class: copper, bronze, silver, gold, and iron — melted together with a few of my gemstones.

I’d hoped for a prettier color, but it turned out dull and muddy. What a waste of gems.

“Ginny… is it done yet? The teacher might come back any second.”

“Obviously. That’s why I told you to keep watch!”

“S-sorry!”

I snapped at the class owner who’d been nervously peeking in, and they scurried away.

The reason for this whole bizarre operation was none other than Lye’s persistent request.

“How about now? Should I put it in? It looks ready.”

[Not yet. Just a bit longer. The temperature’s almost perfect, and that timing is crucial, Master.]

“Damn it, it’s hot as hell.”

According to Lye, if I melted ten or more metals together and then placed the snake inside, it would dissolve and fuse with the metal to form its body.

Apparently, the metal would “remember” the snake’s shape — something about shape memory being essential for forming a body.

It sounded completely unscientific, but this wasn’t exactly a world ruled by science.

I thought it was nonsense, but I was following along anyway.

[By the way, Master?]
[What?]
[Did it really have to be this snake?]

That was the thirteenth time he’d asked. And my answer was always the same.

[Who’s your master?]
[…Lady Ginny Crowell.]
[And you are?]
[A mere spirit…]
[And this body is?]
[An armor…]
[Exactly.]
[…sob.]

Lye tended to get cheeky, so I had to make sure he remembered his place.

Especially after that tea party fiasco — it was time to reassert my authority.

[Ah! Master, now! It’s ready!]

Finally. I was about to melt myself before the metal did.

I took the small white pouch in my hand and dumped its contents into the pot — the snake I’d brought back earlier.

Watching its body sink and dissolve into the molten metal made me feel like a proper witch.

[I almost feel bad for the snake…]
[Gasp! Does Master actually have sympathy?]
[What happens if I toss in a mouse too?]
[I’ll shut up now.]

Tsk. This dull spirit had no appreciation for my delicate heart. Then again, what could I expect from a chunk of metal shaped like a brooch?

[Is it done now?]
[Here we go!]

Go where? I barely had time to think before the contents of the pot suddenly solidified — and then began shrinking rapidly, as if evaporating.

Even my mana was being drawn out.

“Oh?”

Where had all that black liquid gone?

When I peered inside, a very familiar snake was coiled neatly at the bottom.

[Master! It worked!]

The snake lifted its head and wriggled proudly, as if to say, See? I’m alive!

[So it really works…]
[Did you doubt me?]
[Well, it’s not like this world runs on logic.]

The jet-black snake sluggishly slithered out of the pot and raised its head toward me.

When I thought it wanted a hug and reached out, I nearly screamed and shoved it away.

[For the love of— crawl on the ground like a normal snake!]

My wrist almost snapped. For something so thin, it was heavy.

Apparently, the metal hadn’t disappeared — it had been compressed.

Well, that explained the weight.

[Shall I reduce it, Master?]
[You can do that?]
[Of course. I can alter not only my weight and hardness, but even my material properties.]
[Really? So you could make diamonds?]
[Yes!]
[You’re more useful than I thought! Do it now!]
[If you feed me a diamond first.]

…Damn it. Figures.