Everything has a purpose. My purpose is to teach and protect my owner to the best of my abilities. That is all. I have to trust my owner’s judgment for everything else. So when Lucia told me she knew where to go, I believed her. I realize now that I made a mistake. For a beastman, she has absolutely no sense of direction. What happened to her innate animal instincts? I’ll admit she does have a sharp nose for food, but that probably contributes to her overall problems.

Somehow, without me knowing, we entered a forest. I didn’t even see it on the horizon. One moment, we were walking on a road, and I looked at a rock on the ground. Then, bam, we were surrounded by trees. After a bit of intimidation, Lucia admitted we were lost. Sometimes, I forget she’s not the Godking. I’ve only ever had one owner—it’s a reasonable mistake.

When I traveled with that asshole, he always knew where he was going. He knew the best places to plunder, to hide his spoils, to escape from the law and criminals alike. I’ve seen him use a map a few times, but he never let me touch it. ‘You’re a weapon spirit; you won’t understand. What do you need a map for anyway? Are you going to roll it up into a paper sword?’ What an asshole, right? He wasn’t always that way, but puberty happened, and he became unbearable.

I wonder if puberty works differently for different races. Lucia still seems like a child. Now that I think about it, I have no idea how old she is. But the Godking never cried in front of me, not even when he was only up to my waist. I let out a sigh and stroked Lucia’s head. It wasn’t fair of me to compare her to him. At least Lucia is much easier to deal with than Roland. Ninety percent of the time, she’d forget her problems and feel better if I rub and scratch her ears like this. But why does her face always become so perverted? I should probably stop. “Do you have a map?”

Lucia’s eyes brightened, and she dug through her bag before handing me one. Alright, Roland, let me see what’s so hard about reading a map. I unfurled the piece of paper and stared at it. …And stared at it some more. I have no idea what any of these symbols mean. I’m sure if someone explained it to me, I would understand, but there’s no way I’ll be able to interpret this by myself. Just like those times I practiced alchemy and enchanting.

Although I used up all the medicinal ingredients in the miniature dimension, my success rate in creating pills is a whopping zero percent. The enchantment-weaving was slightly better with one successful low-grade strengthening rune inscribed on a sword. It took about thirty million tries. As for weapon-forging … let’s not talk about that. For now, I’ll put this map away. I’ll figure it out eventually. Why was Lucia staring at me like that?

“Do you know which way to go?”

Hell, no. But I’m not going to admit that to her. My image would be ruined. “Of course.” Maybe she’ll figure it out by herself if I stay silent.

Her head slowly tilted towards the side. When her ear reached her shoulder, she asked, “Which way do we go?”

“South.” It’s called the southern pass for a reason, right?

“And … which way is that?” She blinked twice.

Alright, distraction time. What would … oh! “I said I’d teach you swordsmanship, right?”

“Yes!”

Ah, this almost feels like bullying. “This is how it begins. A swordsman must rely on their intuition.” I made sure to make eye contact so she knew I was serious. “Sometimes, you won’t be given a chance to think about your actions, and you’ll be forced to make a move. This is an exercise to train your intuition!” Did I stare too hard? I think I froze her again. “You will trust your instincts to find the way heading south.”

She seemed to be deep in thought. Of course, any random words of mine would be enlightening. Thousands of people would line up to hear me speak about the sword. Well, I bet they would. Roland never let me make any public appearances.

“You’re lost too, aren’t you?”

She saw through it? Was I looking down on her too much? “This. Is. Training.”

Lucia froze like a stunned deer. This killing intent is really handy. “I, I understand.” After saying that, she did something inexplicable. Did my aura damage her brain? Was she struck stupid? She started spinning around and around until she fell on her head. When I was about to say something, she sat up and said, “That way’s south.”

Maybe I really did damage her…. Isn’t she a bit too emotionally frail for a slave?

“If I’m wrong, tell me. I’m sure you know the way.”

Never mind. It seems like she’s back to normal. “This is a test of your intuition. If I tell you you’re wrong, you won’t trust your future judgments. And it isn’t pretty when an honest and simple person second-guesses themselves.” I’ve seen it happen before. His brain literally exploded. Well, that’s because a unicorn kicked his face, but still, if he hadn’t stopped to think, he might still be alive.

“Stop calling me stupid!”

Yup. She’s completely back to normal now. “I said simple. There really is a difference.”

She didn’t say anything, so I followed after her. “Can’t you teach me anything else other than intuition?”

“I really did want to save it for when we found a suitable training ground.” A waterfall would be nice. There also had to be plenty of dangerous beasts. A few swinging logs. Maybe some bamboo poles. But I guess we won’t be finding a place like that for now. I should start her training soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if people discovered I was found. She did kill a prince after all. How much training with a sword did she have anyway? It’d be best if she didn’t have any. I asked her, but she didn’t reply.

“Lucia? Hello?”

“Yes?” This girl. How does she get distracted so easily?

“How much experience have you had with the sword?”

“Well, if you count that one time I used you in the miniature dimension, then … I’ve used a sword one time.”

Excellent. “Everyone has to start from somewhere. It’s great that I get to train you from the very beginning.” Maybe if I rub her ears while talking about training, she’ll associate training with pleasure. “I look forward to teaching you.” I’ll definitely make you into the next Godking, Lucia. Even if you want to run away, I won’t let you. My owner can’t be mediocre. What should I start with? Oh, if I make her do that, we can begin right now. It’s been a long time since I last felt this excited.