238 -『Aro』

My partner licks around her mouth, clearing away fragments of crab shell. Then, with a “guaaah”, she lets out a sound that’s a mix between a cry of satisfaction and a yawn.

I look away from my partner to face the wight sitting on a tree root. Well then, I should check her status. The giant forest crab was a D-rank monster. As an E-rank monster herself, she should have gained tons of experience points.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Species: Skull Lowmage
Condition: Cursed
Lv: 4/13
HP: 9/26
MP: 2/22
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Hmm? She didn’t level up as much as I thought she would. Just three levels? Even though she tried so hard. Well, the one who dealt the finishing blow was my partner. The treant probably contributed the most to the fight, and then in the end I was the one to crush it, so I suppose that might be an appropriate amount of experience.

Besides, I have my experience doubling skill as well as my experience threshold reducing skill. Probably, that’s why my intuition is so far off.

It’s fine not to rush things. She was able to level up three times from a battle where we had a decent safety margin. Let’s proceed with safety as the priority. It’d all come to nothing if she were to die. She’s already dead though.

She became a skeletal mage, so I wonder what she’ll evolve into next. She’ll be able to get her flesh back, right? She won’t just evolve into some sort of grand skeletal mage or something, right? If she were to keep levelling up and ultimately evolve into some sort of bone amalgamation monster in which she gets stuck with that final evolution title skill, I wouldn’t know how to console her.

While I’m looking at her, she hangs her head. What is it? Was I staring too much? Whether she’s being bashful or is just tired, with that poker face there’s no way I can tell.

It would be nice if she were to get facial muscles and became able to talk normally. If that were to happen I could talk about various things with her to break up the tedium. Ah, but if that happened she might want to return to the village. Letting her do so is my objective, but it feels lonely all the same.

While I’m staring at the round back of her head, a thought pops up.

『The name of Aino’s daughter was Aro. She was a charming young lady, not even ten years old.』

I suddenly recall what the dragon-god miko Hibi told me through [Telepathy]. A girl not yet ten years old. It really does seem like the wight could be Aro.

Noticing that I’m thinking about something else, the wight raises her head. Our eyes meet again, and I steel myself. I need to confirm one way or the other.

For simple things my intent is transmitted to her, but I get the feeling that precise things like names are impossible. As a result, I’ll have to use [Humanisation Technique] to ask her in person.

“Guoh”

I’ll ask my partner for approval first just in case.

“Guah?”

She lets out a stupid-sounding cry, twisting her head to the side. I don’t really need to get her to understand. The look in her face makes me not care any more. I stretch out my claws and peel off the spider eggs that are still stuck to her forehead, placing them in a nearby tree.

“Guah!? G-gua…”

She stretches out her head as if to reclaim the egg sacs. Holding her in place, I activate [Humanisation Technique].

With a hot sensation, my body shrinks down. It doesn’t hurt that much. It feels like my body’s gotten used to using [Humanisation Technique].

“Gu, gu, gua…”

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As my body’s getting smaller, I force my partner inside. She quickly shrinks away. From a gap in my flesh, I see her staring at me reproachfully, but that also disappears in a moment. When the humansation process finishes, I’ve only got the one head.

I spread my hand out, checking its appearance. There’s a few pale scales here and there, but it’s practically a human hand now. At the start, it was a shitty skill where I had to suffer intense pain each time I used it, so it’s really developed nicely.

As a test, I try running my hand through my hair. Yep, a human body really is great. Though since I’ve gotten used to a dragon body, my movements are a bit stiff, sadly.

Compared to before, my eyes are on a much closer level to the wight’s. She’s staring at my face with obvious interest. It’s her first time seeing me humanise after all.

Feeling another gaze, I turn to see the treant twisting its body strangely, observing me from various angles. From a human perspective, the treant is super scary. It’s much bigger than I am. It makes me want to look up at more. It’s a nice new experience.

The wight stands up and circles around me, lightly prodding my body in a few places as she does so. Satisfied after touching my body, she staggers and falls to her knees.

… Could she be envious? M-my bad. I didn’t mean to show off. A-after you evolve two more times or so, you’ll get at human form too! Definitely… probably… Wait, that’s not what I wanted to talk about.

“A, a, a… a, aa, a”

Oh! I can speak just fine!

Hearing my voice test, the wight tilts her head.

“Aro, the name Aro, do you know it?”

She tilts her head to the other side. Her movement reminds me of a metronome.

… Does she not know it then? She does have [Grisha Language: Lv 1], so she should have understood what I said. Though whether or not she has memories from her past life is unclear, so I can’t say one way or the other just from this. After she evolves a bit more, I’ll try asking her again.

Oh yeah, I heard the mother’s name too. Umm… it was…

“Aino? Does that name sound familiar?”

Hearing my question, she stops moving. When I stop talking she trembles with a rattling sound. Her jawbone makes a set of three motions. I can tell she’s trying to repeat the word I just said.

She averts her eyes and crouches down. I sit down next to her and pat her head. Her pale, hard, cold skull.

“…I see, you really are Aro then”

No reply comes. But it seems like her jawbone moved.

Don’t worry, wight… no, Aro. I’ll definitely get you your human body back.

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