Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: The Contract Has Been Established
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[Pristine] [My Companion Human is Obsessed with Me (Episode 1)]
#Regret #Angst #Obsession
The moment I saw that ominous title and those tags...
Shiver shiver shiver...
My body started trembling uncontrollably.
'No way...'
That companion human...
It's not talking about me, right?
Please say it's not...
With shaking fingertips, I tapped on Pristine's novel and began reading through it carefully.
'......'
The characters that appeared were a human presumed to be me... Pristine.
And a capable spirit.
The worldview in the story was like this.
Spirits born from nature, who loved nature, declared war on 'humans who pollute the environment,' and in the end, rose above humanity.
In a world where companion humans being abused by spirits had become normalized...
Pristine alone cherished and loved me, her companion human...
But one day, I, as a mere companion human, failed to recognize Pristine's value, fell head over heels for a more capable spirit, and betrayed her.
Pristine, who had shown me selfless agape love, flew into a rage.
And in the end, she left me...
The abandoned companion human finally realized Pristine's worth from that point on and wallowed in abject regret.
Tormented by Pristine's absence, the companion human finally mustered the courage to seek her out, but...
- Sorry. I got a new companion human.
- So, you're not needed anymore.
Pristine already had a new companion human...
And with that, Episode 1 came to an end.
"No way..."
Pristine, you little...
What the hell kind of story is this, using me as the subject?
What novel did you read, what did you learn to write something like this...
"Have you been holding a lot of grudges against me all this time?"
...Anyway, Pristine's new novel.
It hasn't been up long, but the recommendation count is already insane.
Gulp.
I swallowed hard and quickly opened the comments section.
*
💬 Comments
— LumiCat♡Thunder
Next episode next episode next episode next episode next episode...
— LumiCat
Nya... scary!! (I'm scared;;)
— LilyPrincess♡
Oh......
— Strongest凸Reaper
This is really fun...
— LumiCat♡Thunder
How did you come up with something like this??
— Spirit123
So now all that's left is for the companion human to obsess, right??
— Flame Ruler
I want a companion human who's obsessed with me too.
*
As if encountering dopamine for the first time.
The spirits were exploding with reactions.
Thinking about it, it made sense.
These guys were probably seeing tags like 'regret,' 'angst,' and 'obsession' for the first time.
So it must feel like discovering a new world.
When I first encountered regret-obsession-angst stories, it felt like peeking into a new world too...
Anyway.
It wasn't exactly pleasant to see spirits—against whom human attacks were utterly ineffective—reacting this hotly to stories centered on 'companion humans.'
"What's this? Why are there so many new posts?"
On top of that, copycat novels imitating My Companion Human is Obsessed with Me were starting to pop up one by one in the spirit community.
— Spirit123
[The Exiled Spirit is Obsessed Over]
— Strongest凸Reaper
[Taming My Companion Human]
— Spir.it.Lit.tle
[Currently Being Bred by My Companion Human]
.
.
As Pristine's regret-angst-obsession story exploded in popularity, copycats started appearing one after another...
— AggroA
[The board seems to be buzzing with quality content, love it^^]
— AggroA
[Opened a new novel serialization board^^ Please use it a lot^^]
'Quality content, my ass...'
Now they even had a dedicated board for authors.
The novels on the new board were mostly about spirits being obsessed over by their 'companion humans.'
'We're screwed.'
I bolted to the cafe to snatch the phone away from Pristine.
[...]
[...]
Unlike the spirits who were spacing out with three dots floating over their heads.
Pristine had a massive flood of messages popping up above her.
- Beep beep!
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
['Pristine' peers into the comments, overcome with emotion.]
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
['Pristine' counts the recommendations with her finger.]
Then she started hopping around on the table with the happiest face imaginable.
- Pipiru beep!!
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
['Pristine' beams, saying she's never been this happy since she was born.]
Watching her, I fell deep into thought.
'...Is it really that good?'
I've never serialized a novel myself, so I don't know what it's like to get tons of comments and recommendations.
But from the serial author's perspective, it must feel like flying.
'Come to think of it, maybe it's not that screwed...'
Spirits who used to antagonize humans are starting to take a new interest in them one by one...
In a way, it might even be a win for humans.
Even if that interest is twisted, like 'I want to be obsessed over.'
'...Or not?'
Honestly, I have no idea.
If Pristine is happy, that's all that matters, right...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The moment I got home.
I dumped my stuff at the entrance like luggage and immediately pulled out the new flowerpot.
I was confident I'd fall asleep the second my head hit the pillow.
But before sleeping, there was one last thing I absolutely had to do.
"This amount of soil should be enough, right?"
I filled the pot with soil scooped from the Lumina flowerbed and took out the ancient spirit seed I'd gotten as a massive gate reward.
A seed intricately engraved with faintly glowing patterns.
"...It's still so bizarre-looking no matter how many times I see it."
I muttered to myself as I buried the seed in the soil.
I didn't forget to gently press the edges so water would soak in well.
Thinking that a grand ancient spirit would sprout from this tiny seed made anticipation bubble up already.
"Alright, perfect."
After finishing everything, I carefully placed my fingertip on the soil where the seed was planted.
- Germinates when specific conditions are met.
I'd hoped planting it in the pot would reveal the germination conditions.
But unlike with the Lumina spirit, no message appeared this time.
For some reason... it felt like this wouldn't be an easy journey.
"...It said emotional resonance is needed for the contract, so maybe I should try talking to it."
I pulled the blanket up to my chin and murmured softly.
"I hope you sprout soon. Because..."
As I spoke, my weary eyelids slowly drooped.
In the end, I couldn't overcome the fatigue and passed out—
Drifting off into a deep sleep.
*
A space dyed in earthy tones all around.
In darkness where you couldn't tell ground from sky, soft soil dust floated like it was swimming.
"...What is this?"
I slowly rose with a bewildered face.
Every step I took wrapped my soles in warm, cozy soil.
"Wasn't I just falling asleep in bed?"
As I mumbled dazedly—
- Mmm...
A sluggish voice drifted from somewhere.
- I wanted to sleep more... Yawwwn...
The drawling tone was thick with sleepiness.
I turned toward the source of the sound.
Not far away.
On a hill tangled with fallen tree roots and moss.
A spirit with deep brown hair was rubbing her eyes and stretching.
When the spirit's golden eyes finally turned to me.
"......"
I could only gape blankly, forgetting to breathe.
Her refined features and graceful poise.
Even just sitting there silently, she exuded an elegance that stole your breath.
The half-lidded, sleepy spirit looked just like she'd leaped out of a meticulously painted Eastern ink masterpiece.
That was when.
The spirit, slowly blinking at me, opened her mouth in a calm tone.
- You said you hoped I'd sprout soon...?
She let out a long yawn, then drowsily lowered her eyelids as she asked back.
- Why?
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
I pondered briefly what to say...
But it's just a dream anyway—no need to overthink it.
"I plan to contract with you, turn on auto-battle, and live life on easy mode."
- Y-You didn't have to be that honest...
Was it the unexpected answer?
The spirit's half-closed eyes widened slightly, a flicker of fluster crossing her face.
"Oh, and also, there are three spirits at the cafe right now, but we're still short-staffed."
>
"It'd be great if you could take orders from customers too. And do dishes when I'm busy..."
The spirit hurriedly raised both hands to cut me off.
- W-Wait a sec. I think you're misunderstanding something, but for the record, I'm an earth spirit...
- The being who moves earth... splits mountains... circulates life...
"...So, you're saying you're specialized in dirt cleanup over dishwashing?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Ancient spirit, Gaia.
The earth spirit and architect of ancient life's cycle.
The creator who shaped endless continents' terrain, sprouted life in fields, split seas to raise mountains.
In the primordial era before even the concept of mana existed.
The first spirit to forge the world's balance.
To such a being.
"...So, you're saying you're specialized in dirt cleanup over dishwashing?"
A human demanding she do dishes and dirt cleanup appeared.
The ancient spirit Gaia looked up at the little girl before her with baffled eyes.
'...What the heck is this human?'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Contract Condition Fulfillment: 30%
The contract condition fulfillment was already at 30%.
*
The most important thing in sharing great power was 'transparency of the soul.'
Those wrapped in lies cannot commune with earth, those hiding greed cannot understand the earth's breath.
Thus, there was only one condition for contracting with an ancient spirit.
'Answer the question posed at first encounter with a pure soul, without fail.'
With those who met this condition, the contract would be forcibly established,
Even if the spirit's heart wasn't in it.
Of course—
No human had ever satisfied this condition.
Most knelt before the great being, presenting fake souls dressed in pretense.
"......"
But the little girl before her was baring her soul without hiding a thing.
Gaia rolled her eyes to gaze at the message floating in front of her again.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Contract Condition Fulfillment: 30%
The moment the fulfillment hit 100%, the contract would activate automatically.
'If that happens...'
The earth spirit Gaia, once the idol of all spirits...
Would devolve into a worker scrubbing dishes and sweeping dirt in a human-run gate cafe.
'No...! Absolutely not...!'
No matter what, she couldn't sully her eternal dignity with dishwashing.
Gaia pressed her lips tight.
From now on, she had to choose questions that deliberately 'induced lies,'
So the human couldn't answer truthfully.
But.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Condition Fulfillment: 71%
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Condition Fulfillment: 89%
For some reason, the little girl before her was shamelessly exposing her desires and embarrassments.
As a result, the fulfillment rate kept skyrocketing.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Condition Fulfillment: 99%
Finally, just one last chance remained.
'I can't end up as a worker like this...'
After deep deliberation with eyes closed, the ancient spirit Gaia posed her question.
"If a windfall of unexpected riches dropped right in front of you, how would you spend it all?"
Silence fell with the question.
A moment later.
The little girl before her slowly curled up the corners of her mouth and grinned slyly.
"...Heh heh heh."
Gaia didn't miss that moment.
'Yes. This is it.'
This question was the surest way to draw out human greed.
Answering falsely would naturally fail the condition.
Even if she spoke truth, the moment she acknowledged her own desire, she'd be disqualified from contracting with an ancient spirit.
Either way, it didn't matter.
Whether truth or lie here.
The result would be the same.
She could at least avoid becoming a dishwashing drone.
'Good. Now, back to sleep...'
As Gaia satisfyingly began closing her eyes—
The girl spoke.
"If a windfall of unexpected riches dropped right in front of you..."
With her answer.
"Of course, I'd donate it all."
⚔ STATUS ⚔
Condition Fulfillment: 100%
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
The contract has been established.
Before the eyes of the ancient spirit Gaia.
The message that the contract had been established appeared.
'...Huh?'