Second Semester Classes (4)
About ten minutes had passed since Sally asked me to form a contract with the nameless sylph.
The wind spirit, which until moments ago had been wandering freely around Professor Erin's garden without a contractor, had now—somehow or other—become my contracted spirit, bound to me by a formal agreement.
Well, I'll be damned. It actually worked.
Honestly, when the first attempt failed, I'd been planning to cook up some excuse and call it quits.
It was true that opportunities to contract with an intermediate spirit didn't come around often, but that didn't mean I could just casually sign on with one without thinking it through. It wasn't the kind of decision to make on impulse.
With a spirit's help, I could gain spontaneous advantages in combat or rely on their judgment in complicated situations—but naturally, spirit contracts didn't come with upsides alone.
In a sense, it meant permanently adding one ally I couldn't fully control, and spirits did sometimes act against my intentions.
Scenes where I'd planned to capture an enemy alive with binding magic, only for a spirit's extra attack to accidentally kill them, or where the spirit doused a burning enemy with water to put out the flames—these were occasional occurrences in Luminor Academy.
To guard against such mishaps, I generally had to approach spirit contracts with extreme caution, and so this time too, I'd planned to cut things off immediately if the spirit's reaction seemed off in any way.
Uuu~! Uuu~!
The moment I pinched off a chunk of mana from my fingertip and fed it to her, the sylph latched onto me and started begging for a contract—so apparently her compatibility with me wasn't bad at all.
I was starting to get a rough sense of what Sally had meant by "mana so delicious you could lure anyone with it."
Back when I played Luminor Academy, I'd almost always contracted with high-ranking spirits, so I'd never experienced it firsthand, but it seemed that with Lilith's current Charm stat, she could sweet-talk an intermediate spirit into a contract without much trouble.
Or maybe this particular sylph just happened to have exceptionally good chemistry with me.
"Hmm… will you contract with me?"
Uuu~! Uuu~!
She was an intermediate spirit, so we couldn't speak yet, but watching her nod eagerly and cling to me, her determination to make the contract seemed abundantly clear.
She wanted it this badly—it'd feel a little wrong to send her away. At this point, I figured I should just accept it as fate.
With that thought, I'd poured nearly all my remaining mana into sealing the contract just moments ago.
The instant I finished, Sally—who had briefly slipped away—zipped over to my side like a shot.
Lilith! You just contracted with her, didn't you?! You did, right?!
"Yes, yes, I contracted with her, so stop making a scene, Sally."
Kyaaah! She's adorable! Does she have a name? If not, should big sis pick one for her?!
U-uuu?! N-nooo!!
Sally lunged at the sylph with an expression that looked, to anyone watching, vaguely dangerous, while the wind spirit panicked at the sight of her and bolted.
Granted, I'd contracted with the sylph on Sally's recommendation, but I obviously didn't want this child becoming Sally's plaything.
If only to keep them from leaving bad first impressions on each other, I grabbed both spirits in my hands and physically separated them.
"Hold on, Sally. Didn't you promise you wouldn't do anything weird?"
…I didn't do anything weird, though?
"Excuse me?"
I-I just… I only said hello, that's all…. It's our first meeting, what's wrong with a little greeting….
"A 'little greeting,' and now the poor girl is trembling like a leaf? Shouldn't a high-ranking fire spirit be approaching an intermediate wind spirit far more carefully than that in the first place?"
F-fine…. S-sorry….
…Somehow, judging by her usual behavior, I had a feeling she was only pretending to reflect and would go right back to being shameless later.
For the sake of the sylph who had kindly contracted with me, I needed to mediate between the two spirits.
After all, the one I'd formally contracted with was the sylph, not Sally—and as a spirit contractor, I had a duty to protect her from Sally's depraved desires.
"I apologize. That lolicon salamander was bothering you, wasn't she."
Uuu, f-fire… scary….
S-she's not scary, so don't worry! I-I just really want to be friends! You don't have to be so wary of me just because I'm a fire spirit….
"She said don't come closer, Sally."
O-okay, I got it….
Seeing me protect the sylph so decisively, Sally's expression turned a little gloomy and she took a small step back.
Her usual excessive cheerfulness had vanished, and that deflated look nearly weakened my resolve—but if anything, this was exactly when I had to be firmer and more resolute.
If my heart softened here for no good reason, I'd be pushed around by Sally forever, even after we formally contracted later—and that would be unfair to the sylph who had contracted with me, too.
"Don't worry. As long as you're where I can see you, I won't let that thing get anywhere near you."
'That thing'?! That's way too harsh! How many months have we been living together?!
H-hiiek! F-fire really is scary….
N-no wait! I-I wasn't trying to yell at you, I just….
Apparently it was no lie that Sally had fallen for this sylph at first sight—the moment the wind spirit showed even a hint of fear, Sally started fidgeting restlessly, beside herself.
The instant I saw that behavior, I knew for certain that the leverage in this relationship was mine.
And I had the convenient justification of being the sylph's contractor, so my first move was to create an environment where Sally couldn't run wild.
"Sally, are you planning to keep frightening the sylph? If you keep pulling stunts like that without reading the room, I have my options too, you know."
Wh-what?!
"From what I heard earlier, you wanted to use me to get close to this sylph. If you keep being a nuisance, I simply won't contract with you at all."
Wh-what are you saying?! Why! We've been getting along so well!
"Getting along well is purely by your standards."
Definitely not by mine. There was more than one night Sally had forcibly woken me from sleep when I was dead tired and left me tossing and turning till dawn.
Worse, since spirits' voices can't be heard by Ethan, every ruckus she caused meant I was the only one jolted awake.
Until now I'd put up with it partly because of her blessing buff, but honestly, having the sylph around meant I didn't strictly need Sally's blessing.
Even if she was only an intermediate spirit, I could gain a spirit's blessing through her as well, and the slightly weaker effect was something I could live with.
Besides, the sylph was the first spirit I'd ever formally contracted with, so prioritizing her was exactly the attitude a spirit contractor ought to show.
"You do realize you haven't even managed a provisional contract with me yet, let alone a formal one? But the sylph here has already sealed a formal contract with me. If you lay a single suspicious finger on my spirit, I won't stand for it—Sally or not."
O-okay! I won't scare her, so give me one more chance, Lilith!
"Until the sylph opens up to you, you will maintain a distance of at least one meter at all times. Sudden ambushes and hugs like earlier are, obviously, absolutely forbidden."
U-uuugh….
Wearing a sullen, unconvinced expression, Sally warily put distance between us.
Well, that much at least seemed to have succeeded in prying the lolicon salamander off the sylph.
Now that the sylph could manage a bit of conversation after our formal contract, I started with a light round of introductions.
"Sorry about the commotion. That fire spirit won't be able to come near you for a while now…."
You, so cool.
"I'm sorry, what?"
You, strong. Mana, tasty too. Mm.
"Uh… thank you?"
Me, looking forward to it? Uh… Master?
"I'm Lilith Blackwood Rosewood. You can just call me Lilith."
Mm, Lilith. I am…. Uh, I, I am….
"Yes?"
I, I don't, have a name…. What do I do…?
Watching her like this, it was clear she wasn't a spirit who'd been contracted before.
Unlike Sally, who seemed to have seen plenty of human society, this sylph radiated an untouched innocence.
Something about her oddly stirred my protective instincts, and I couldn't help feeling a strange warmth toward her.
"If you don't have a name yet, may I give you one?"
Mm, mm.
"Since you're a wind spirit, how about Sei? It somehow sounds like the sound of the wind, so I think it suits you."
Mm, like it. I am Sei.
"I look forward to working with you, Sei."
Mm, Lilith.
With those words, Sei carefully fluttered down onto my shoulder and quietly leaned her body against mine.
Apparently the spirit contract had caused the fatigue to catch up with her after all.
Well, since spirit contracts involve vast quantities of mana, it wasn't just me—the spirit on the other end would need an adjustment period too, I supposed.
I couldn't say whether contracting with her would turn out to be a gain or a loss for me in the long run, but she was more or less the first spirit I'd ever contracted with, so I couldn't help feeling a little extra affection for her.
I was mulling over such things, feeling thoroughly drained from running low on mana, when I sensed a hand carefully tugging at the hem of my clothes from behind.
"Um. Excuse me."
"…Yes?"
"About earlier. I'm sorry I just walked off."
Since the tug came from below, my mind briefly conjured up the short girl, but the person standing behind me, just as I'd predicted, was the fire mage who had stormed off moments ago.
"Blaze?"
"How… how do you get close to a spirit? And if I want to contract quickly, even a low-ranking spirit is fine, so—"
…Judging by her expression, she's made up her mind at least to some extent.
Apparently she'd needed some time alone to take stock of her own limits. Would have been nice if she'd mentioned that beforehand.
Well, if she was truly determined to do this right, then all I could do was wholeheartedly cheer her on and help her along.
"So you've made up your mind? Starting with a low-ranking spirit, then?"
"Yeah. You were right—going straight for an intermediate spirit was too hasty of me. So for now, like you said, I'll work my way up from the bottom… Huh?"
Agnes slowly lifted her head, looking like she'd recommitted herself, and met my eyes.
For some reason, though, her gaze drifted cautiously from my face to one of my shoulders.
And then, in a slightly flustered voice, she immediately started asking about the intermediate spirit sleeping on my shoulder.
"Wh-what's that?"
"Sorry, what?"
"The spirit… the one sleeping on your shoulder…."
"Oh, you mean Sei? A wind spirit I contracted with just now, while you were away."
"Y-you contracted just now? With an intermediate spirit?"
"Well, I already have Sally, you see. Wind and fire make a good pairing in all sorts of ways, don't they? Granted, Sei's still scared of Sally, so it'll take time before they get close…."
"U-uuuh…."
"…Blaze?"
"WAAAAAH!! That's SO unfair!! That's cheating!!!"
"W-wait a second, Blaze! You're the one who asked me to teach you how to contract with spirits!"
Granted, I'd never paid all that much attention to her in the game, but this Agnes was truly, utterly unpredictable.
Am I really going to survive this semester in one piece…?