TRPM 35

chapter 35

Ha-eun Lee, having summoned her familiar Sarang, instantly became the star of her class.

“Can I pet Sarang?”
“So cute!”
“Sarang, paw!”

Of course, her classmates couldn’t possibly leave such an adorable creature alone.
Well… maybe it would be more accurate to say Sarang became the class star, not Ha-eun.

“I want a familiar too!”
“But only magicians can have familiars, right?”
“Then I want to be a magician too!”

The kids, completely smitten with the little puppy, chattered about wanting to contract familiars of their own.
Of course…

“No. You still don’t have enough mana. It’s far too early for you to make a contract.”

As the teacher explained, elementary school children had very little mana, so they couldn’t form contracts with familiars.
Even if they did, their familiars would just be unsummoned right away due to lack of mana.

“Then what about Ha-eun?”
“Yeah, why does she get a familiar?”
“Well…”

Even the teacher couldn’t really answer that.
After all, she herself didn’t understand why Ha-eun could make a familiar contract yet still have plenty of mana left.

“Um… right! It’s because Ha-eun trains every day with Geon-woo at the training grounds, or she studies magic at the academy. She works so hard that her mana has grown.”

The teacher covered it up that way.

‘Well… it is true Ha-eun has more mana than the other kids.’

The innocent children believed it, and became eager to train harder themselves in hopes of contracting familiars someday.
Of course, their enthusiasm fizzled out quickly, and they went back to normal.

Still, Ha-eun’s contract with a familiar became a topic of debate among several teachers.

“At that young age, she should barely be able to use magic, let alone maintain a familiar contract…”
“Wasn’t it that Yeon Mirae from the high school next door who recommended the contract?”
“She’s famous as an Aura Blade user, but it seems even a skilled Aura Blade user doesn’t know much about mage affairs.”

The teachers who didn’t know that Ha-eun was an awakened with multiple abilities assumed Mirae had recklessly pushed her into the contract without knowing any better.

“But Mirae scored extremely high in magic theory, even though she isn’t a mage. Her knowledge is academy-cadet level—or even beyond.”
“If she has Aura Blade user instincts, maybe she sensed something special in Ha-eun?”
“Besides, Ha-eun hasn’t shown any signs of weakness since contracting the familiar. Maybe she just has a natural disposition for it?”

Some teachers, seeing that Ha-eun wasn’t suffering from lack of mana at all, concluded Mirae must’ve had her reasons.
So opinions split into two camps, and during breaks, you could overhear debates in the teachers’ office, the halls, or the cafeteria.

‘… As expected of teachers, they’re mostly kind people. They debate respectfully, never forcing their views, always acknowledging others might be right.’

Though of course, very few had actual expertise in familiars, so the debates themselves weren’t exactly deep.

‘Not that it matters anyway.’

With that thought, I went about my usual routine—absorbing mana gathered in the training hall and converting it into inner strength—before heading home.

Since I arrived earlier than usual, I had the house to myself.
It would be a while before Mom came back from work, and Mirae would still be in class.
Ha-eun, of course, would be at her academy.

“Ughh…”

Stretching my stiff body after sitting too long in chairs and cross-legged during training, I turned on the TV and flipped to the news, just to kill time and see if anything had happened while I was gone.

[In today’s news: The guild Ironblood, formed from those once framed by crime syndicates, has eradicated another branch of a criminal organization. Netizens are divided, some cheering their actions, others concerned that their methods are excessively brutal. Some argue it’s only natural for people used by criminals to bear grudges, while—]

“…”

Ironblood.
A guild formed by those I had freed when I rescued the hostages from the syndicate.
They despised criminals for ruining their lives, and now they actively participated in anti-crime raids.

Since they had all once been captives strong enough to be used as pawns, they were seasoned awakened fighters. Their skill and experience made operations efficient and low-risk.
The only issue? The death toll among criminals in their missions was very high.

‘Well… considering the future, killing criminals now is better than letting them rot in prison.’

When the Black Fog returns and plunges the world into chaos, prisons will erupt in mass jailbreaks. Reducing their numbers early was preferable.

‘Not that it’s my problem. Ironblood will handle it.’

Satisfied that nothing in today’s news demanded my attention, I reached to turn off the TV.

Pant, pant…!
“…?”

A panting sound beside me—not from a human, but…

“Sarang? Why are you here?”
Pant, pant…!

Sarang tugged at my arm with his teeth, trying to pull me along.
It didn’t hurt.

“… What’s going on? You’re supposed to be with your master right now.”

Which meant—with Ha-eun at the academy. So why had Sarang come looking for me?
The reason wasn’t hard to guess.

Either Ha-eun had sent him… or Ha-eun was in danger, and he was looking for help.
And judging by him pulling on my arm…

“… Hold on.”

At my words, Sarang released my sleeve and sat down.
He understood my command to “wait.”

I shut off the TV and pulled a doll from my artifact. Sarang, as if it were natural, leapt onto the doll’s head.

“…”
“Woof!”
“… Yeah, hold on tight.”

With that, I sent the doll flying out the balcony.

“Which way?”
“Woof!”
“That way?”
Growl…
“Then this way?”
“Woof!”

Following Sarang’s guidance, we moved swiftly.
But when we reached the location, nothing seemed out of place.

“This is it?”
“Woof!”

Sarang barked lightly, jumped down, and sniffed the ground intently.
So… something had clearly happened to Ha-eun here.

‘Trying to follow her scent, huh?’

Instead of leaving it to him, I placed my hand on the ground and activated my inner energy.

‘Psychometry.’

My energy traced the lingering mana in the air and earth.
Reading the memory of mana.

‘… A lot of interference here.’

Whoever kidnapped Ha-eun scattered mana everywhere to disrupt tracking.
This kind of trick would confuse ordinary psychometry, making it hard to see what happened.

But…

‘Got it.’

With sharper senses and greater mastery of energy than most, I pierced through the noise.
And so I witnessed the scene of Ha-eun’s abduction.

‘… She wasn’t the sole target.’

She and her friends had been snatched together on their way home from the academy.
Multiple children kidnapped at once.

The reason it worked, even in broad daylight?

‘Hypnosis…’

The culprit had disguised themselves as a teacher leading students on a trip, using hypnotic powers.

‘Did this ever happen before my regression?’

…No.
If it had, the uproar from parents would’ve forced schools to shut down temporarily, and I would have remembered.
So this, too, was a butterfly effect caused by my actions.

‘At least there are plenty of clues.’

The kidnapper tried to cover their tracks, but police could uncover this easily given time.
Which meant either they acted in a rush… or—

‘They intend to finish everything before the police can even start investigating.’

Maybe they were just stupid enough to think scattering mana would erase all traces. But that seemed unlikely.

“Let’s go.”
“Woof?”

At my words, Sarang looked up, and I lifted him back onto the doll’s head.
There was no time to waste.

With full speed, I shot forward.

Fwoooosh!
“Whimper?!”

Though startled by the sudden acceleration, Sarang wasn’t harmed—my inner energy shielded him.

Instead, I spoke:

“Sarang.”
“Woof?”

Standing on the rooftop of the building where I sensed the kidnappers and children, I slammed my foot down with the Thousand-Pound Hammer technique.

BOOOM!
“Bite with all your strength.”

The roof caved in, and we plunged straight down to the kidnappers’ floor.

“What the—?!”
“What’s happening?! The ceiling—”

Then—

Grrrr…

Infused with my energy, Sarang revealed his true form.
Not the little puppy adored like his name, but the wolf that devoured gods—Fenrir.

“… A wolf?!”
“What the hell, that size—”

The dust cleared, and the kidnappers gaped in horror.

“Awoooooo!”

The colossal wolf, towering high enough to brush the ceiling, roared at the humans who had stolen away his master.

“…Sarang…?”

And the child, feeling her bond to the beast, could only stare in stunned silence.