I've Inherited the Summoning Skill, So I'm Going to Try to Master It! - Episode 15: In Other Words, All My Magical Creatures Are Cute

Episode 15: In Other Words, All My Magical Creatures Are Cute  

Just by giving them a name, I felt like I had gotten much closer to them. This is exactly the joy of owning pets. Sure, coming up with names is tough. But the sense of fulfillment more than makes up for it. Selvus and Lala should name their summoned creatures too.  

“Hmm, where should we start? Right, let’s have Lala summon Bardon first.”  

Lagios and Cayenne rubbing noses together on the table. After watching them with a heh-heh-heh, I turned to Lala and said that. She froze for a moment. But she then quickly responded with an enthusiastic reply. Was my face that weird just now?  

“Yes! Please teach me!”  

As I was thinking about that, there was a knock on the door. Who could it be? There weren’t that many people who had business with the Summoning Guild.  

Selvus, Lala, and I exchanged glances. But before we could respond, the door opened on its own.  

Only royalty could get away with something like that. Maybe one of my brothers had come to check on me? Geez, they’re so overprotective.  

Thinking that, I turned around with a small smile—only to see that it was Mother.  

Selvus and Lala instantly froze as if they had been turned to stone by Medusa’s gaze. For the record, my mother isn’t Medusa or anything like that. If I ever dared say such a thing, she’d knock me into next week. Scary.  

“Good day, Mother. Is there something you need?”  

“I’m just glad to see you’re doing well, Rufus. You see, after what happened this morning, I was worried you might be feeling down. So I came to check on you.”  

“I’m sorry to have worried you. But everything has already been resolved!”  

I was so fired up that Mother actually took half a step back. Oops, I might have been a bit too intense. I needed to calm down. Taking a deep breath, I forced a smile.  

Mother, however, had a face that practically screamed: I don’t get it. Well, of course—this was a method I had only just figured out a little while ago.  

Wanting to report my brilliant discovery, I picked up Cayenne from the table and showed it to Mother.  

“Mother, this is Cayenne the Salamander. It’s my replacement for Fire Magic. Isn’t it adorable?”  

“A Salamander? A… a LIZARD?!”  

“Mother!”  

Mother’s eyes rolled back as she fainted backward. Her personal attendants immediately caught her from both sides. Nice teamwork. It was as if they had foreseen this exact scenario. As expected of her longtime servants.  

Now, what to do?  

Judging by past experiences, Mother would probably wake up in a few minutes. Either way, I’d have to apologize. But rather than moving her all the way back to her room, I decided to have her rest on the sofa in this room.  

“Could you lay Mother on the sofa? She should wake up soon. Also, bring a blanket just in case.”  

“Understood.”  

The attendants quietly laid Mother on the sofa and then left the room. Of course, her bodyguards remained nearby. However, even they didn’t seem to think I had done anything malicious to her. They just stared at me in confusion, as if they had no idea what to make of the situation.  

Did I just get on the royal guards’ watchlist? Well, it couldn’t be helped. Lesson learned: Never show reptiles to Mother. Consider this a valuable experience.  

“Looks like I shouldn’t let Cayenne anywhere near Mother. And I was so excited to introduce it…”  

“Everyone has at least one or two things they’re bad with. But actually, this is a good opportunity, Your Highness. Let me teach you how to dismiss a summoned magical creature. I was supposed to teach you yesterday, but…”  

“Oh yeah, we never got around to that, huh?”  

Selvus’ smile was a bit stiff. He probably felt bad for not teaching me sooner. But honestly, he didn’t need to worry about it. Yesterday had been chaotic for all of us, so it was natural that some things got forgotten.  

“Summoned magical creatures can be absorbed back into your own mana. Not entirely, of course, but you can regain some of what you spent.”  

Oh, that’s awesome! I had assumed that once my mana was spent, I’d just have to wait for it to recover naturally. This was probably a unique feature of the Summoning Skill.  

After all, I’d never heard of fire mages absorbing their own fire spells to restore mana. Or maybe I just didn’t know about it…

“How do you do it?”  

“Let me show you. In the name of Selvus Tian, I command you—manifest, Marmot!”  

A Marmot, the same one I saw yesterday, appeared at Selvus’ feet. It didn’t move at all, as if waiting for its master’s orders.  

Now that I think about it, the magical creatures Selvus summons feel different from mine. It’s like… they lack their own will or something.  

“Prince Rufus, when you want to dismiss them, simply give this command—Return, Marmot.”  

The Marmot turned into tiny particles of light. As soon as they touched Selvus’ body, they disappeared. So that’s how absorption works. I get the gist of it now.  

“Alright, I’ll give it a try too. Cayenne.”  

I met Cayenne’s gaze as it sat on my palm. Its eyes were big and teary. It was looking at me as if to say, “You’re already sending me back?”  

Could I really dismiss my adorable magical creature while it’s making that face? No. No, I could not.  

As I hesitated, I heard noise coming from the sofa—looks like Mother had woken up. Not wanting to startle her again, I gently placed Cayenne on the table for now.  

“Cayenne, wait here for a bit. Mother, are you alright? I’m terribly sorry—I was so overwhelmed by how cute my new magical creature was that I lost myself for a moment.”  

“Rufus, you mean that one from earlier, right? It’s fine, don’t worry. I was just a little surprised. But listen—next time, tell me what kind of magical creature it is before you show it to me. Understood?”  

“Understood.”  

As expected of Mother—understanding, kind, and incredibly tolerant.  

Also… her chest is pretty big.