Familiar (1)
Front of Luid's mansion. Amelia stood before the main gate, visibly tense, taking several deep, audible breaths before straightening her posture and stepping inside.
"You're late, Lia."
The moment she entered, Irene Windsor was standing there with her hands clasped behind her back. As always, her eyes were frigid; only her mouth curved in a gentle smile.
Amelia flinched and gave a stiff nod of her head.
"I-It's been a while, Sister."
"You don't look particularly pleased to see me."
"N-No, of course I am."
Amelia answered rigidly.
"...I apologize. I should have arrived early and been waiting for you."
"You have classes to attend. Come."
As they walked, Amelia was careful never to step ahead of Irene.
When they entered the reception room, Sherry, who had been standing by in readiness, greeted them. Two cups of tea sat on the table. Amelia took the seat a little farther away.
...The tea had already gone cold.
"I'm glad to see you seem to be doing well."
"Yes. And have you... been well, Sister?"
"The North is ever the same."
Irene smiled pleasantly and took a sip of tea. Then, setting her teacup down without a sound, she glanced sidelong at Sherry, who stood at attention in a rigid posture.
"And you, Sherry? Have you been well?"
"I have been well, my lady."
"The Northern estate is a mess without you. The cleaning, the discipline—everything."
"F-Forgive me."
Irene turned her gaze to Amelia.
"But I could hardly send some half-trained maid to serve where my dear younger siblings live."
"Thank you."
Behind them, Sherry pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at the cold sweat on her brow.
Nothing was different about the mansion except that Irene had arrived—yet the entire atmosphere felt unlike any other day. There was the strange tension, of course, but also a sensation as though the average temperature had plunged below freezing.
Amelia kept her nerves taut as she drank her tea. Irene simply waited, all smiles, until Amelia had finished her cup—and only then did she ask.
"I'm relieved everyone is doing well. And Luid? Are you taking proper care of him?"
"...I am doing my best."
Irene sank deep into the backrest of her chair.
"That's why I asked. It doesn't look like it to me."
Amelia's pupils trembled violently.
"His Majesty mentioned it. That there have been suspicious movements in the Imperial Capital of late. So He summoned me separately and asked—was this Windsor's doing? Tell me, what answer should I have given Him?"
The succession trial of House Windsor came with a 'Trial.' Its form varied depending on the temperament of each heir. The common thread was that something—a 'Problem'—was made to occur, to test whether the candidate could lead Windsor through it.
It was a trial to determine nothing less than the right to succeed the Duchy of Windsor. Whatever Problem arose was very unlikely to be a simple one.
In Amelia's case, however, the heir's aptitude trial existed in name only. She had already declared her intent to walk the path of the knight, and so no 'Problem' intended by House Windsor could arise in her trial this generation.
But that fact was no absolution. At best, it meant no Problem would arise artificially. If a genuine one appeared, Windsor would still be expected to answer it.
Irene rested her chin on her hand and met Amelia's eyes, clear and unblinking.
"A succession trial with no chance of succession—are you simply going through the motions? Or has playing house with your adorable little brother made you negligent?"
Amelia, who had been cowering the entire time, lifted her head stiff and straight for once. Her expression was one of sheer indignation.
"Not for a single instant have I forgotten that I am being tested."
Irene listened, then nodded slowly. And she gave an answer entirely different from anything Amelia had said.
"So you failed to notice that they've begun to move."
"...!"
Amelia's body went stiff as stone.
Irene pressed on, as if interrogating her.
"Did you truly not notice?"
Amelia's lips quivered.
"...I know that the disappearances of young children in the Imperial Capital have increased."
"And beyond that?"
Amelia stared at the floor and answered in a voice no bigger than an ant's.
"...Nothing. Not yet, nothing."
"Do you intend to solve it?"
"...Yes."
Irene reached out and stroked Amelia's head. A single bead of sweat trickled down the brow of the bowed girl.
"I'll believe that story of yours. And so—"
Irene took Amelia by the chin and lifted her face, pressing her index finger to her lips as she whispered.
"You would do well not to make mistakes."
Then she smiled brightly.
"I don't care about the rest, but Luid is still far too young to be seeing such things. Isn't that right? Keep it out of his sight and mind."
With those parting words, Irene rose to her feet. Amelia remained frozen in place, unable to move for a long while.
Delrin's Lake.
Hershey, having finally calmed the pounding of her heart, asked, "So, um... the fox ate Rach's Orb, and an evil spirit possessed it?"
"Not an evil spirit. Rach itself."
"The very same... Lich Rach that I know of?"
Luid looked at the fox.
"She claims to be a Great Spirit."
"[I really am a Great Spirit! What else could have stayed sealed inside an orb for five hundred years!]"
'I suppose that does make sense.'
He'd been too dumbfounded to process it earlier, but thinking it over calmly, the logic held. The reason ninety years of research by countless magicians had turned up nothing. The reason even he—self-proclaimed the finest magician in the world—had found no trace of mana, not even a faint wisp, when he examined it.
If everything had been hidden not through mana but through spiritual power, then it was theoretically possible.
"Th-That's impossible. Spirits only exist in fairy tales."
That was the common knowledge of this world. But Luid, who had read the original novel, knew better. Spirits did exist here. It was simply that spirits possessing a self-aware ego were vanishingly few—every one of them had perished in the calamity five hundred years ago. All that remained were spirits in the form of tiny micro-spirits. The world where spirits dwelled was called the Micro World in the original novel.
'...And the timing lines up perfectly, too.'
Ego-bearing spirits had vanished five hundred years ago, so being sealed in the orb for that long stretch of time was entirely plausible.
"...Can you prove it?"
"[Of—of course I can.]"
The fox's mouth snapped open, and between its sharp fangs a crimson ball of flame took shape.
"Goodness!"
Hershey yelped and hid behind Luid's shoulder.
"[This fire was summoned through spirit power! You won't sense a single trace of mana in it.]"
Luid stroked his chin.
"True... there's no mana at all."
"He's—he's right. There really isn't."
An arctic fox obviously possessed no ability to summon fire. Which meant some transcendent power was at work—and if it wasn't mana...
There was a genuine possibility it was spirit power. It was a force even Luid had never seen before; discerning anything beyond that was impossible. But one thing was certain: it was not mana.
"...So it's real?"
The fox closed its mouth. The flame went out.
"[You saw it, right? You saw it, right?]"
The fox scampered about, wagging its tail in every direction. Luid glanced at Hershey.
"What do you think, Hershey?"
"I-I'd say the possibility is real. But honestly, it's hard to believe."
Luid nodded slowly.
"Fine. I'll believe you. But so what?"
Luid leveled his staff at the fox, which began to tremble all over.
"That doesn't change the fact that you tried to attack people."
By the novel's own account, people had actually died, and the injured numbered in the hundreds. Even if she truly was a spirit, that didn't erase the fact that she was a being who caused harm.
"[It was a misunderstanding! I—I simply didn't want to be sealed in an orb again!]"
"You didn't want to be sealed?"
"[After my master Rach died, I was trapped inside the world of the orb for five hundred years. The only way out requires a contractor.]"
"What do those 'worthless humans,' as you put it, have to do with a contract?"
"[That's... I am truly sorry. I was inside the orb for so long that my mind was in a rather fragile state. B-But thanks to the magician's purification magic, I'm perfectly fine now!]"
Luid recalled the sight of the purple-glowing orb turning a pure, spotless white. He glared at the fox with a sour expression.
"Fine. Fine, I get it—so get out of my fox already."
"Um... w-would you consider making a contract with me instead...?"
Luid glared menacingly.
"Didn't I tell you not to speak through my fox's mouth?"
"I-I'm sorry."
The fox whined and pressed itself flat against the ground. Luid could only sigh.
He didn't know exactly how it had happened, but somehow his soul had merged with the fox's. Luid knew how to destroy a soul—but not how to separate one. If he rashly tried to erase the spirit, the fox's soul would be erased along with it.
So he had no choice but to somehow coax the spirit out... and that was not looking easy.
"Um... Luid?"
"Yeah?"
"This may be overstepping, but... wouldn't it be all right? She doesn't seem like a bad child to me."
"That's the spirit of Rach you're talking about, Hershey. I can't rush to judgment."
"Legend says that spirits are so pure that they take on the will of whoever summons them. Couldn't it be that she was simply used? I mean... she doesn't feel the least bit harmful to me."
Honestly, Luid was thinking much the same thing. Looked at any way, this spirit was hopelessly pathetic.
'Not that I should be taken in by appearances.'
There was a reason the original 'Indolent Luid' had been classified as Out-of-Spec. Even in the great catastrophe of the original novel, one of the professors had been caught up in it—and failed to suppress it.
Which meant the spirit was at the very least stronger than Leffen Chaser, a practical combat professor at the Academy. Nothing short of a Great Magician, or perhaps a Knight Commander, could hope to defeat this spirit.
She was a genuinely dangerous existence.
"Still feels off to me, though."
Luid muttered this, then looked the fox square in the eye.
"If you truly are a good spirit, then prove your purity."
"[And how am I supposed to prove purity...?]"
The androgynous voice echoing in his head sounded utterly forlorn. And with a fox that adorable in appearance, his heart ached a little despite himself.
Even so, Luid's words were resolute. In the original story, this being had killed several students who'd done nothing wrong. He had no intention of traveling alongside something like that.
"Anything will do. Come up with some way to convince me yourself. Otherwise..."
Luid's voice turned faintly chilling.
"I'll destroy your soul. It won't be easy—but I'm the kind of magician who can do it."
Half of it was bluff. But it was more than enough to make the spirit tremble in fear.
"[Th-Then... shall I show you my true form?]"
"Your true form?"
"[Yes. All of my past masters adored my manifested appearance. I c-can't be certain, but I think you'll like it too, magician.]"
Luid answered with a face full of displeasure.
"Go ahead."
"[Yes, sir.]"
Poof!
A cloud of hazy smoke burst out and filled their vision. Hershey coughed and waved her hands; the wind scattered the smoke.
And what emerged from within it was...
"D-Do I look pure to you?"
A blue-haired girl, awkwardly running her fingers through her hair.