It was apparently Narcissus's first time eating chicken liver.
She choked spectacularly and collapsed to her knees.
"Cough cough cough— blegh, blegh, blegh!"
"Are you okay?"
Her coughing sounded like she was about to throw up at any second, which was terrifying.
I handed her a water canteen and a crescent-moon flask, and Narcissus snatched them away and gulped greedily.
"Pwahahh... ah... that was horrible."
"Um, um, you don't like liver?"
"Liver...?"
She looked at me like she'd never heard the word before. She really didn't know?
Even Juicyi looked surprised.
"Um, yes. That's right. Liver."
"Could it be you didn't know?"
"It was my first time eating it. That black stuff."
"That black stuff—"
Well, it is black.
And then she gulped down more in great hearty swallows. She's going to run out at this rate.
Well, some people really don't like liver.
"Pwahh... huff huff..."
Narcissus let out a long breath.
It sounded like a middle-aged man drinking booze.
"Um, um, there's still some liver left."
"Ah, go ahead and eat it. I don't want any more."
"How many skewers did you buy, anyway?"
"Um, look at this."
Juicyi held up the paper bag.
No way. Half the skewers were liver.
"..."
"All kinds, you know."
"..."
"Um, um, um, Wof-sama. Want some?"
"Well, I'll take one or two. After that, Juicyi, go ahead."
"Um— yes! I'll take some!"
"You. Do you like liver?"
"Arf arf! Um, I absolutely love offal!"
"Is that so."
She didn't even have the energy to retort.
Narcissus sat cross-legged on the embankment, eating skewers that looked like lollipop steaks.
She chewed away in complete silence the whole time. There was something almost tragic about it.
Meanwhile, Juicyi's eyes were shining as she ate and ate and ate and ate liver after liver.
My family's dog used to wag her tail like that too.
Oh wait, dogs and liver — was that okay for them?
But she was wolf-kin, so it probably didn't matter.
"... Hmm. Not bad."
I watched the two of them and bit into a pork liver skewer.
Muttering as I did — the taste was pretty passable.
But it wasn't inedible, so I chewed through it.
Hmm. Pretty decent, actually.
"Um, um um, Narcissus, do you, um, like grilled skewers?"
"I started liking them after eating at Hydrangea. Wof. You remember."
"The Great of Rounds festival stalls?"
I remembered that time.
We got jumped by some thugs, then Narcissus jumped me, and after that we ate skewers together.
Narcissus gazed out at the horizon and spoke.
"Hey. Wof. Once you're done eating, I'll help. With your [Banish] enhancement thing. I'll cooperate. Nng, munch."
"Really?"
"Yeah. There's something I've been curious about too, so it works out."
She said it with her highlight-free eyes, but I was still happy.
"Um, um um, I'll help too!"
"Juicyi, you don't have to—"
"Um, yes! I want to be of use to Wof-sama!"
She said it with incredibly sparkling eyes full of hope, and that made me happy too.
Narcissus muttered.
"What a devoted doggy."
"Wof?"
"Ahaha..."
I thought the same thing, but even I knew better than to say it out loud.
The sheep liver I ate after the pork liver was also pretty passable.
Pretty passable. Yeah. Hmm.
Hydrangea.
Delvers' Guild. Training grounds. Training ground number sixteen.
A half-moon-shaped training ground surrounded by pure white walls with a sand-covered floor.
Each training ground was roughly the size of the small base ground you'd find along a riverbank.
After finishing the skewers from the paper bag and taking a short rest, we moved out.
Narcissus had requested a slightly more spacious area, and this training ground was the perfect fit.
Narcissus was standing with her arms crossed in a wide power stance for some reason.
Juicyi was watching eagerly from the wall's edge.
I was the one who asked her, but I was still nervous. After all, the person in question was Narcissus.
She was like the personification of "arrogance toward others" and "self-centered ego."
I'd followed the witch's advice, but I was starting to regret choosing the wrong person.
The witch might seem all-powerful at first glance, but even she made mistakes.
"Alright! Let's begin Narcissus's [Banish] enhancement course!"
"Please take care of me."
"Um, please take care of me."
Before I knew it, it had become a course.
"Then, Wof. Bring out your [Banish]."
"Y-yes."
Well, she told me to, so I spawned [Banish] in my dominant hand.
It was a semi-transparent sphere. Narcissus produced a square-shaped [Banish].
"Here I come!"
"W-whoa—!?"
My round [Banish] and Narcissus's square [Banish] made contact.
They instantly annihilated each other, and the shockwave warped the space around us.
"Wof! Um um, wof! Wof wof! That's dangerous!"
Juicyi barked.
"Why did you just bark?"
"Wof?"
Probably because it was dangerous? Dogs bark when things get dicey like that.
So they annihilated each other on contact.
Exactly the same as when Narcissus ambushed me. But—
"Hmm."
Narcissus stretched her square [Banish] into a thin rod.
"What are you doing?"
"Bring out your [Banish]."
I did as she said, and she touched her [Banish] rod to my [Banish].
Only my [Banish] popped and vanished. The rod remained intact.
"Wh-why...?"
This was also exactly the same as the ambush.
Only my [Banish] disappeared.
In other words, mine was the weaker one.
"Hey. Try firing that flying [Banish] of yours — the one like Alverd's — at this rod."
"Oh, that one? Understood."
Narcissus extended the rod.
I aimed as high as I could toward the tip of the rod to avoid hitting it directly, then fired.
The rod wobbled slightly, but... it didn't vanish.
"Fire about three in a row."
"Y-yes."
I fired three in a row at the rod's tip. Sure enough... the rod didn't disappear.
I already knew, but it still hit hard.
"Mm, I see. Now I understand."
"...What do you mean? That my [Banish] really is weak?"
"That's part of it. But also, Wof — the true nature of your [Banish]."
The true nature? What was she talking about?
I felt a little irritated.
"There's no 'true nature' or whatever. My [Banish] is just a weak sphere."
"That's not it."
"Not it?"
Not it? It wasn't weak?
Narcissus explained.
"That's right. It's weak, but your [Banish] is not a sphere. I mean, what did you think a [Banish] that you fire with your eyes even was? What do you think it is?"
"It's... my original... [Banish]."
Weak was... just weak, I guess.
Narcissus pressed on without hesitation.
"No matter how you look at it, that's not a sphere."
"W-well, when you put it that way... yeah, I guess."
I fumbled over my words. I'd been wondering about this for a while, actually.
The [Banish] I fire by locking eyes with someone was my original [Banish].
I'd learned to control it and compress it into the semi-transparent sphere I used now.
With the witch's awakening water, I could use my [Banish] in its original form.
Now I was used to it and could switch between the two instantly.
I controlled it into a sphere.
So when someone asked what its true form was... well, that was a problem.
"Um, it's an arc."
"Huh?"
"Um, the [Banish] Wof-sama fired was an arc."
Juicyi, who'd been watching, suddenly chimed in.
An arc? Narcissus smirked.
"Now that's an interesting way to put it."
"More importantly, Juicyi — can you see it?"
"Um um, um, yes. I can see it faintly. I've been able to see Wof-sama's [Banish]."
I knew she'd always had some weird sixth sense for it, even though she couldn't see it clearly.
I'd vaguely wondered if it was connected to her pseudo-deification Relic, [Fenrir].
Or maybe it was her [Weakness Discernment] skill. But now she could see it clearly.
"Little doggy, 'arc' is close but not quite. The correct answer is 'ring.'"
"Huh?"
Ring?
"Wof!"
"Why did you just bark?"
"Wof?"
Dogs sometimes just bark on instinct like that.
That was probably it. Juicyi just liked barking.
Still, a ring... huh.