Chapter 37 _ Stirrings Toward the Imperial Capital, or Signs of Evolution
At dawn,
the sound of wooden swords cutting through the air echoed through the God Wolf’s den.
It had been a full week since we began our training,
waiting for Frey’s complete recovery.
By now, I could feel it—
the unfamiliar weight of the short sword,
the distance it demanded—
my body was finally beginning to adapt.
Footwork.
Grip strength to steady the trembling tip.
Hans’s instruction was precise,
turning vague physical sensations into words even a novice like me could understand.
But the one who had changed the most
wasn’t me.
“Iris—again!
Your step-in is still shallow!”
Hans’s sharp voice rang out.
Iris held the short staff, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.
On the first day, her movements had been awkward—
like a typical mage,
unused to her own physicality.
But by the third day, hesitation vanished.
By the fifth, the weapon moved as if it were
another limb responding directly to her will.
“…Hans,” I whispered during a break.
“Isn’t Iris improving a little too fast?”
“…Yes,” Hans admitted, eyes fixed on Iris’s back.
“To be honest, it’s almost unsettling.”
“At first I thought it was just a mage adapting physically.
But that’s not it.”
“She’s learning how to use her body—
and it’s becoming more… animalistic.
Efficient. Instinctual.”
“…Do you think she has more talent with a blade than with magic?”
“I don’t know.
But this isn’t just technique.”
Hans narrowed her eyes.
“Something deeper is changing.”
At that moment,
the God Wolf was suddenly standing behind us.
Her golden eyes quietly followed Iris’s movements,
as if observing a natural phenomenon.
“…Fascinating,” she murmured.
“That girl’s soul has begun to shed its skin.”
“…Shed?” I echoed.
“Yes.
The flow of her mind as a mage is beginning to mix
with something different—something alien.”
“…But it has not yet taken form.
One final push will be required to break the shell.”
With that, the God Wolf turned away,
vanishing silently into the misty mountain path.
That night,
listening to the crackle of the campfire,
Iris stared at her own palm.
“It’s strange, Mario,” she said softly.
“When I swing a weapon,
it feels similar to chanting magic.”
“Like mana flows from my fingers,
through the blade…”
“…But it’s different,” she added.
“Hotter.
More direct.”
“The God Wolf said your mental flow is changing,” I replied.
“Maybe something new is waking up inside you.”
“…Something new,” Iris repeated, tilting her head.
But there was no longer fear in her eyes—
only quiet anticipation toward an unknown self.
The next morning,
Frey let out a massive yawn and hopped onto my shoulder.
“Hey,” I asked the God Wolf,
“…how is Frey doing?”
“…She has recovered sufficiently.
You may proceed.”
“I told you I was fine,” Frey laughed.
“Honestly, having an overprotective parent is exhausting.”
“She worries about you,” I said.
“By the way… how long to the neighboring country?”
“About two and a half days on foot,” Hans replied.
“Since we’ve come this far,” I said,
“I want to gather information there too—
about Seidu Muamba.”
“But if we go that far,” I asked,
“won’t you lose the barrier over the city?”
“No,” the God Wolf replied calmly.
“My true body remains with the Demon King.
The barrier extends from there to Inanna City.”
“…So your consciousness still exists there?”
“Of course.
Time is merely stopped within the spacetime barrier.
Outside of it, time flows at extreme speed.”
“To me, two hundred years feels like yesterday.”
“…Though I admit,” she added,
“it does get boring.
So I created a proxy body outside the barrier to pass the time.”
“And naturally, the Demon King is doing the same—
plotting something, no doubt.”
“The Demon King too!?”
“Then we really might need to hurry,” I muttered.
“I want to meet Seidu Muamba.”
“That’s fine,” Roger cut in.
“But first—
we return to the Adventurers’ Guild and collect our reward.”
“…Ah. Right.”
“But how do we prove we moved the God Wolf off the road?”
“The caravan that was stranded saw us.
News like that spreads fast.”
Sure enough, back at the guild,
the story had already traveled ahead of us.
We were bombarded with questions—
How did you persuade the God Wolf?
Are you insane?
And then—
“W–wait… one hundred thousand Fanan!?”
“How are we supposed to carry that!?”
“We go to a jeweler,” Roger said simply.
“…Ah. Convert it to valuables.”
After some tough negotiations,
Roger handed me the reduced sum.
“Eighty thousand Fanan worth.
You carry it.”
“…That’s a lot of pressure.”
“If you can’t handle that,
you can’t save Frey.
Move.”
We teleported near the den once more
and continued talking along the way.
The conversation turned to history—
the Imperial Capital Urks.
The city of emperors.
The political heart of the world.
And as I listened,
I glanced at Frey—
who stood shoulder to shoulder with the names of legends.
“…Hey,” I said.
“Does that mean Frey-chan is actually kind of a big deal?”
“You fool!
Without me, the world would’ve ended long ago!”
“…I mean, yeah, but—
you’re kind of a professional heckler.”
“What did you say!?”
Laughter echoed down the road.
And neither Iris nor I noticed it yet—
That something within her
had already begun to awaken.
As we passed through the massive gates of the Imperial Capital
and stepped onto its stone-paved streets,
I felt it.
Expectation.
And a faint, lingering unease.
Our journey had entered a new phase.
