Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: Kara's Spirit Contract
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Clack. The hall entrance shut tight.
The homeowner Karus stood there in a daze for a moment before snapping back to reality at the sound of the door closing. Even though he'd been kicked out, he was still the host—he had to look after his guests.
"Come on, everyone, it looks like my friend has some business to attend to, so we'll just... step away for a bit."
But the kids were already plastered to the hall entrance, trying to peek inside.
"What? What's going on in there?"
"Ah, bro, you're heavy. Move over."
"Be quiet, Liban."
"Let me in too, Kara!"
Karus watched them for a moment before giving in to his own curiosity and sticking to the door as well. He caught a glimpse of his secret friend Sir Evan's eyes narrowing, but he pretended not to notice.
"Your Highness, don't you hear anything?"
"Nope. Nothing at all."
They clung to the door for ages without learning a thing when suddenly, it swung wide open.
"Aco."
"Eek!"
"Hngh!"
"Wah!"
"Guh!"
The kids lost their balance and tumbled to the floor in a heap. Karus, who had nearly crushed them all under his weight as he toppled too, barely managed to splay out his limbs and avert disaster—but soon his arms began to tremble from the strain.
"Teacher, what are you doing hanging around with the kids?"
"Haha... I was just too curious... whoops."
Stuck in an awkward position where he couldn't even stand, he laughed it off awkwardly when his body was suddenly yanked upright. It was none other than his very large and sturdy secret friend, Sir Evan. The very siblings who should have helped him first were now staring from behind, looking utterly pathetic.
"Thanks, Sir Evan. Friends really are the best. Raising kids is pointless."
"...You should work out a bit."
"Ahahaha, I was just thinking the same thing."
Karus figured he'd made one good friend at least as he quickly helped the kids to their feet.
"Nil, you done?"
Lianus, who had sprung up without anyone's help, hurried over to Nihil and inspected him from every angle.
Sniff sniff.
Then, like a kitten hunting for snacks, he started sniffing around.
"...Rian, why are you sniffing?"
"Something suspicious smells off."
"......"
Nihil narrowed his eyes, tensing a little as Lianus scrutinized him. This oblivious kid had a real nose for trouble.
Then his chin was grabbed, and whoosh—his hand was flipped over. Nihil's forearm bore a wound, so he grew nervous wondering if Lianus might roll up his sleeve.
Thankfully, Lianus's instincts didn't go that far; his investigation ended with a thorough poke at Nihil's palm.
"Friend, friend~"
Kayen, who had been admiring the summoning circle, came over with sparkling eyes.
"What's that overlaid on top of the summoning circle?"
"Mana amplification array."
"Oh my, oh my, oh my."
Kayen fussed dramatically over the curt reply.
"Friend, can I record this with my imaging orb?"
"Don't. It's dangerous."
"Hng."
Nihil added to the sulking girl,
"I'll draw you one that's safe."
"Really?"
"But."
"...?"
"You'll have to ditch the Mage Tower and join the Magic Engineering Guild."
"...Pardon?"
Abandon the Mage Tower—a mage's sacred ground?!
"I'll supply twice as many magic stones as the Tower. And teach you some spells now and then."
"I don't know what that is, but sign me up!"
"Good."
"...Sis, do you even know what you're signing up for...?"
Karus muttered from the sidelines, but Nihil, having recruited a new guild member, just grinned proudly and called out to Kara, who was squatting in front of the summoning circle.
"Kara, try summoning again."
"What if it just leaves again...?"
"It won't this time."
It's desperate to make a contract.
"I'll give it a shot!"
Kara stood before the circle with a determined look. Nihil closed his eyes in preparation, just in case.
A thrill of wind filled the banquet hall. As Kara squeezed her eyes shut and activated her mana, the inscribed magic circle began to glow, wrapping the hall in a strong yet gentle breeze unlike before.
"Ch-friend!"
Just as things were going smoothly, Kara urgently called out. Cracking one eye open, Nihil saw her face had gone pale.
"What's wrong, Kara?"
"I... I forgot the incantation!"
"Oh dear."
The Spirit King and Kara were both in dire straits, but Nihil just let out a chuckle.
"Wh-what do we do! Kara can't summon the fairy anymore!"
Perhaps due to the caster Kara's anxiety, the circle's light flickered along with the wind. But the most panicked was none other than the King of Wind himself.
The wind quivered anxiously, calling to Kara over and over.
"Friend! Help Kara!"
"Friend!"
But Kara couldn't hear the wind's voice. Nihil watched the two beings—right beside each other yet unable to communicate—and gave a wry smile before murmuring softly.
"Ariel."
Call his name.
"Friend is a liar!"
"...Kara, that's not..."
Lianus glanced once at his friend sweating over Kara, then at the summoning circle.
The circle still sparkled, but since the contract wasn't complete, Lianus saw nothing there.
"Kara, that's definitely a wind spirit."
"But, but...!"
That big sis is too huge! Kara wailed, and the wind surged sharply. Apparently, the spirit's true form differed greatly from Kara's imagination.
"Fairies are supposed to be this small...!"
Kara even cupped her hands into a circle to demonstrate why this wasn't a spirit, trying to convince Nihil.
"...So, that big sis is too tall, no wings, no fluttery clothes—so she's not a fairy."
"I see, I see."
The spirit would probably be devastated hearing this, but Nihil smirked and nodded along.
"Kara, since it's not a fairy, maybe we skip the contract?"
The air sharpened at those words. Just to be safe, Lianus quickly stepped in front of Nihil.
"Rian?"
Nihil looked puzzled at Lianus suddenly blocking his path.
"What's up, Rian?"
"Nil, don't tease her too much. What if she turns on you?"
Lianus added softly,
"You can tease me. I won't get mad at you."
"...Yeah."
Nihil patted the dutiful seaweed head and glanced at Ariel. The spirit glared fiercely, but Nihil sensed no real malice.
Charging at me like he wanted to kill me just earlier...
He looked ridiculous not recognizing him at all—funny, yet a bit disappointing...
"...Kara."
Nihil swallowed the bitterness rising in his throat and continued.
"Kara, if you contract with that one, you can summon small fairies too. That's the king, so it's big."
"The king, so it's king-sized big?"
Kara's eyes rounded at the simple explanation.
"Yeah. Even if you contract now, you won't be able to summon it for a while. Kings are big, so they eat a king's worth of mana."
No matter how high her spirit affinity, mana still cost something. At Kara's current vessel size, even a lesser spirit would be a stretch.
"Then Kara can't fly?"
"Keep training your mana, and you will."
"Then let's contract!"
The wind beamed. Being of the previous contractor's bloodline, she'd treat it well. Choosing seclusion after its contractor's death suggested it was a young, naive wind.
The contract proceeded smoothly after that. Though Kara fainted from the Spirit King's immense power, her life wasn't in danger.
"Friend, our Kara will really be okay, right?"
"She'll be fine."
Nihil calmed Karus and his siblings' fussing, then continued his explanation for the Wind King lingering nearby.
"Teacher, info on spirits will trickle out gradually,
but it won't be easy. You'll have to change the public's perception first."
"We're not as dumb as before. We can tell spirits from demons just fine."
"No."
Nihil shook his head firmly.
"That's not the issue. Kara will be the 'foundation' of spirit arts."
"......"
Karus finally grasped Nihil's warning, his face hardening. With their spirit-using mother gone, Kara had no peers. Every action of hers would define spirit arts, and a child's mistake would taint the whole field.
"She can't be shown to the public until she's used to spirit arts. And we need to instill proper ethics too."
"Uh... so then..."
Karus hesitated before pulling his other siblings forward.
"What about these ones? Impossible?"
Maybe more comparisons would help. They could shield young Kara. He continued cautiously,
"No magic stones right now, but maybe later...?"
"Tough."
But Nihil cut him off. The second was already a 4th-circle mage, the third a swordsman hardening his mana heart toward aura.
"Contracting means abandoning all prior progress and starting over."
The turquoise heads drooped. More disappointment at not learning spirit arts, but regret at failing their mother's legacy and protecting their little sister weighed heavier.
Nihil gazed at those heads, then closed one eye and opened it. Beneath the lid, his black pupil held a clear turquoise hue.
"Not your siblings—how about you, teacher?"
"Pardon? Me?"
Karus, who had been consoling his siblings' heads, blinked in surprise.
"Honestly... you're the one with the least talent. But..."
Nihil rolled his turquoise eye toward the faint wind that always followed only Karus.
"...You must've cherished the spirit stone I gave you."
"Oh, that thing!"
Karus beamed and showed the small spirit stone in a glass vial around his neck.
"I polish it every day with a crunch crunch. Sometimes I even sing it lullabies."
Some ancient tome said baby spirits slept inside. Karus said as he pulled it out and polished it with a crunch.
But inside spirit stones weren't baby spirits—they were frail remnants awaiting dissipation after losing power.
Nihil watched the hazy wind nuzzling Karus's face, then spoke.
The spirit flinched, looked at Nihil, then nodded hesitantly.
Nihil tried to teach Kara mana training, but remembering her siblings were mages, he handed her off to them.
"No, bro! That's not it! Kara's doing so well—why are you such a mess?!"
...Sadly, Karus lacked talent in mana training too.
"But Nil, doesn't his head kinda sparkle weirdly?"
Right—now wasn't the time to worry about others.
He wasn't fully human anymore. More precisely, 'dog-scented human'.
When he first took the puppy's blood, he was definitely human. But today, chased by the Wind King, when he urgently bit its arm...
The fusion brought pain like being burned alive.
Brief, but Nihil knew what it was instantly.
Divine Punishment.
But why?
"What're you staring at?"
The puppy flushed under the stare and huffed primly.
It showed no signs of punishment now. Probably retracted due to some mistake realized.
"No way. Must be light reflecting. My hair's white, after all."
"Is it?"
"Yeah."
The moonlight-glinting hair was really bothering him.