Agnes's Spirit Contract (2)
It had been about an hour since Lilith and Agnes had parted ways at the edge of the Dark Forest.
Still unable to pull off a spirit contract, Agnes had only just managed to step into the forest at the stroke of midnight — the moment she could finally attempt one.
Though, admittedly, the manner of her entry was a little different from what she had originally imagined.
Why, why do I have to walk into this pitch-black forest alone at this hour….
In one hand she carried an oil lantern — one that read mana reactions and, crucially, used no magic of its own, so the spirits wouldn't flee from it. In the other was a map of the Dark Forest's interior, meant to keep her from losing her way inside.
Both had been handed to her by Lilith. The map, in particular, was so charmingly clumsy that it was presumably drawn by Lilith's own hand.
Rationally, Agnes knew she had no right to resent the girl who had gone to such lengths to look after her right up to the very end.
Rustle.
"H-hiiek?!"
…Still, she had never imagined Lilith would simply throw her into the Dark Forest alone in the dead of night.
I never planned on going in by myself….
She had braced herself to some degree ever since they'd agreed to meet at the forest's edge, but Agnes had never truly expected to end up walking in solo.
Naturally, she had assumed Lilith would come with her. The girl always wore that fearless expression, like there was nothing in the world that could scare her.
Granted, Agnes herself felt no fear of the usual things — giant monsters, long falls, the like.
But midnight darkness was an environment she had never cared for.
It was, after all, the very reason she'd become obsessed with fire magic in the first place — because it could produce light in the dark.
Had she shown an aptitude for light magic, Agnes would have chosen it as her specialty without a second thought.
"This is an oil lantern unaffected by mana. It should burn for about two hours, so I'd judge it best to return before then."
"Yeah."
"This is a map of the Dark Forest north of Luminor Academy. Carry the lantern and follow this narrow path straight in, then circle around behind the giant tree, and you'll find a place called the 'Spirit Pond,' where spirits gather in especially large numbers."
"Can't I just follow behind you? Why go to the trouble of giving me a map of all things…."
"Whatever do you mean, Lady Blaze? If I entered the forest with you, every spirit's attention would be drawn to me. How would you manage a contract after that?"
"…I suppose that's true. …Wait. Then don't tell me…."
"I trust the top student of the Magic Department isn't trembling at the mere thought of entering the Dark Forest alone."
"…H-hah. Of course not. Don't be ridiculous. Hand over the map and lantern. I'll go in myself."
No — actually, it had been a perfectly reasonable fear.
The moment the presence she'd taken for granted vanished, Agnes had started trembling with an inexplicable anxiety.
Worse, the mana she had worked so hard to suppress and conceal was now leaking out of her in an unsteady stream.
Only belatedly noticing that her mana was spilling into the open air, Agnes hurriedly clamped down on it using the method Lilith had taught her.
Any spirit will do. As fast as possible, any spirit at all….
As long as she could form a contract with a spirit, it didn't matter whether it was a lesser one, or something other than a flame spirit.
All she wanted was to be out of this creeping, chilling forest as soon as humanly possible.
That said, she was unlikely to be attacked by any dangerous monsters. At least, not tonight.
The Dark Forest was, above all else, a training facility inside the academy grounds, built to match the students' level.
And with Agnes already stronger than most second- and third-years despite being a freshman, no monster within the forest could beat her yet.
Whiiing!
"Ghh…!!"
…Not that the fact did anything to dull the fear gnawing at Agnes, alone in that dark forest.
I've barely made it halfway in….
Why on earth did the Spirit Pond Lilith mentioned have to lie so deep inside the Dark Forest?
Why had she been shoved into such a dangerous place, on the grounds that spirit contracts were only possible here?
There was even a moment when the thought crossed her mind — what if Lilith had sent her here alone as some kind of trick?
"……Huh?"
The instant a single young spirit appeared before her eyes, Agnes was finally able to let go of that suspicion.
Hmmm.
"Don't tell me… it's… really…?"
So it was true — that young spirits were born anew on the night of the planetary alignment.
It was still nothing more than a tiny sphere, not yet shaped into a spirit's form, but from the mysterious power thrumming around it, Agnes could be certain.
Certain that the blue orb now blossoming into light before her was the very young spirit she had been searching so desperately for.
The pond is still a little further ahead, but….
Lilith hadn't said the contract had to happen at the pond.
She'd only said that spirits would be born there in great numbers, making it easier to find one that suited Agnes's tastes.
Which meant, in other words, that if she could contract with a spirit right here, right now, she wouldn't have to spend another second in this dark forest.
Agnes's steps toward the newly forming spirit quickened.
Pop! Pop-pop!
"H-hey…!"
Whiiing!
"……Huh?"
But the moment she drew near, the young wind spirit vanished from before her eyes like a darting flash.
Having lost the spirit right before her very nose, Agnes felt one piece of advice from Lilith's supplementary lessons drift quietly through her mind.
"The younger the spirit, the stronger its wariness. An older, more seasoned spirit might overlook your clumsy people skills, Lady Blaze, but you need to be a little calmer in front of spirits."
"……Ah."
…She'd known that.
Her nerves had gotten the better of her, and for one instant she'd forgotten it entirely.
She'd been swept up in the giddy feeling that if she could just contract with a spirit, she'd be out of this darkness in no time.
"…It was a wind spirit, too."
Had the contract gone through, it would have made a fine partner for a fire mage like her.
But no amount of regret would bring a vanished young spirit back, so Agnes simply pressed deeper into the Dark Forest, relying once more on nothing but her lantern and her hand-drawn map.
Fortunately, before long she came upon another spirit.
Shff.
…Found one.
An earth spirit, quietly wriggling its way up out of the soil.
Its body wasn't even fully formed yet — proof enough that it had been born only moments ago.
Determined not to repeat her earlier failure, Agnes approached with careful, deliberate steps.
Soft, soft.
"H-hey, um…."
……?!
"W-would you… like to make a contract… with me…?"
…….
……Ah!
Startled by her sudden appearance, perhaps — but it didn't run. She had begun the conversation calmly, and the spirit stayed put.
Never once in her life had a spirit failed to flee when Agnes approached it.
Her mana, the kind that normally made spirits recoil in discomfort, was hidden away completely, of course.
And being a newly born young spirit, it was at the age where curiosity outweighed caution.
Which was why, for once, it didn't run from Agnes's painfully awkward attempts at conversation.
A… contract?
"…Yeah."
What's… that…?
"……"
How, exactly, was she supposed to explain a contract to a young spirit that couldn't even begin to understand the world?
Lilith was the person Agnes had spoken with most in recent memory — she had never once had a truly deep conversation with anyone else. Persuading a young spirit was not going to be easy.
"A contract is, um…."
…….
"W-well, it's…."
…….
"I-if you do it… then we'll be, together… from now on, forev—"
Pop-pop-pop!
"W-wait—!"
Uninterested in the rambling of a girl with no gift for words, the earth spirit sank straight back into the ground.
Agnes lunged desperately toward the spot where it had just been, but there was no chance her hand would reach a spirit already gone.
Having squandered her second chance just as miserably as her first, Agnes quietly dusted off her uniform skirt and rose to her feet.
…Fine. To the Spirit Pond, then.
Lilith had said that was where more spirits would be born tonight than anywhere else in the Dark Forest.
Among all those spirits, surely one of them would be willing to form a contract with her.
Clutching that vague hope, Agnes made her way deeper into the forest.
Another twenty minutes of walking passed. She had burned through about half the lantern's fuel, following the map step by step, when—
"……Huh?"
Deep in the dark woods, a faint glow seeped out from behind an enormous tree, and a short gasp escaped Agnes's lips.
"D-don't tell me…."
Could this be — the Spirit Pond Lilith had spoken of?
Straining to hold down her pounding heart, Agnes gripped the giant tree and rounded her way behind it.
With each step she took circling the trunk, the pond that had been hidden from view revealed itself little by little.
"W-wow…."
The moment she laid eyes on the full spectacle, all she could manage was a handful of breathless exclamations.
A beautiful surface of water blazing with light of every color, right in the heart of the pitch-black Dark Forest.
Hundreds of newly born spirits radiated brilliant multicolored light, their glow reflected across the pond's surface — flickering so lavishly it was like a masquerade ball held by the spirits themselves.
To Agnes, who had never once managed even a proper meeting with a single spirit before, it was truly a place out of a dream.