The First Contract

A system window flared to life, and a colossal light flooded the room.

Gold. Streaked through with blue.

Amid that dazzling radiance, another window rose before my eyes.

The light that had filled every corner of the room gathered itself into a single shape.

Black hair, unbound and unadorned, falling cleanly down her back. White underrobes beneath a black outer garment that subtly revealed the lines of her figure. And in her hand, a long gombangdae.

Gucheon Hyeonnyeo fixed me with those blue eyes.

"Are you the contractor who summoned me?"

Her expression was cold. Exactly as the novel had described her.

She had truly come — drawn by the holy relic.

I never expected her to show herself even as an illusion.

The body standing before me was a phantom woven of mana. Not her true form. If her true body had descended here… the surroundings would have ruptured, and a great many people would have died.

Honestly, I had only expected messages. Direct descent had never crossed my mind.

"Yes. That's right."

But better this way than not. I immediately bowed my head in greeting.

In this relationship, I was the complete subordinate. If I had already contracted with another Constellation, things might have been different — but this holy relic had been hard-won. I had to seal the contract no matter what.

"Do not bow so."

She drew on the gombangdae in her hand, exhaling a slow stream of smoke. It was not the acrid reek of tobacco. If anything, it was fragrant. Whatever she was burning inside that pipe was almost certainly medicinal herbs and rare ingredients.

"You called me in order to form a contract, did you not?"

"Yes, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lady Gucheon Hyeonnyeo."

"Call me simply Hyeonnyeo. That name is far too long."

"Then… Lady Hyeonnyeo."

She lifted the Ilcheongeom — the medium through which I had summoned her. It suited her so perfectly it looked as though it had always belonged in her hand. After studying the First Heaven Sword for a moment, she held it out to me.

"You found this. It is yours now."

Her manner and her actions matched the novel exactly. Cold, seemingly devoid of warmth — and yet, in truth, she cared for those around her more than most Constellations ever would. Above all, she was willing to acknowledge a human whose standing was vastly beneath her own.

As a Sponsor rather than a mere Constellation, she might well surpass any number of Mythical-grade beings.

"I have never encountered one with a trait like yours. Multiple contracts…"

"It's the first I've heard of it myself."

"Then do you also know that prideful Constellations will find such a trait… unappealing?"

I knew. It had been my greatest worry while hunting for the holy relic.

In a world where a Constellation and a contractor were meant to share a single Incarnation and a single Sponsor, this trait meant that my one and only Incarnation would have to be shared with other Constellations. Prideful ones would almost certainly balk. That was the part that fretted me most.

It was also why I had deliberately chosen Gucheon Hyeonnyeo first.

Is this going to fall through?

"I care not."

As if she had read my thoughts, Gucheon Hyeonnyeo answered at once. Smoking her pipe, she perched on the edge of the bed and looked up at me. Just as I had expected — she was not a Constellation who fretted over such things.

"I am too old to be bound by concerns of that sort."

"I've heard you're young, for a Constellation."

"Still older than you."

The Mythical-grade Constellations who would obsess over such things were all far older than her. I nearly said as much, then swallowed it. If I spoke out of turn and she walked away from the contract, what then? The Academy entrance exam was tomorrow. Finding another holy relic in time was impossible.

"Will you form a contract with me?"

Her pale hand brushed the empty air, and the message appeared before me. One last confirmation. Would I accept the contract?

My answer was the same as before. There was no reason to refuse.

"I will."

A white light sank into my right shoulder. I pulled my collar aside and found a cloud-shaped tattoo etched into the skin — proof the contract had taken hold.

No surge of power. No sudden rush of energy. That was only natural. A contract with a Constellation meant little on its own.

"You are my third Incarnation — the first in roughly a thousand years."

As she spoke, Gucheon Hyeonnyeo spread her hand through the air, and an object took shape upon her palm. A long pipe, identical to the one she held. A gombangdae. She held it out to me.

"Take it. This is the first gift I bestow upon my Incarnation."

"Thank you, Lady Hyeonnyeo."

"Do not stand on such ceremony."

A gombangdae as a first gift from a Heavenly Maiden. Was that… appropriate? The thought crossed my mind — then faded the moment I accepted it. The power it held was faint, but the pipe was an item all the same.

Fairy Tale grade. The lowest of the four ranks — Mythical, Legendary, Epic, Fairy Tale. But that hardly mattered. The effects were solid enough, and more importantly, it was the first gift she had given me. That alone made it meaningful.

"Then I shall grant you your first trial."

A trial. When a Constellation wished to bestow something upon their contractor, a trial was required. Nothing came free. The quality of the reward determined the nature of the ordeal.

If Constellations could shower their Incarnations with divine grace at will… the world would plunge into chaos far beyond anything it knew now.

There were rare cases where a Constellation absorbed the full cost themselves and waived the trial entirely. Rare being the operative word. Even in the original novel, such scenes almost never appeared. Few Constellations poured that much devotion into their Incarnations.

At any rate, I had expected her to leave and issue the trial later. Instead, she was about to deliver it here and now.

"This should do."

With those words, another window bloomed before my eyes.

"First, prove yourself."

The trial's contents were brief. Gain admission to the Academy. It had been my original goal — something I had to do regardless — but as a first trial, it was a heavy ask.

I had no skills. My stats were low. My odds of getting into the Academy were vanishingly small. I had planned to pick up basic skills first — something like the Three Calamities Sword Style or a footwork technique — and then sit the exam. Now the very first button of my plan had come undone.

"Worry not. I am not so miserly a woman as that."

"…?"

So saying, Gucheon Hyeonnyeo stepped close and pressed a finger to the mark on my shoulder. Her body brushed against mine. Tiny sparks rose from her hand — the mark of a price paid, something I had only ever seen described in the novel.

"This is the first verse of the Nine Skies Sage Sword. Make good use of it."

"The first verse?"

"Yes. The foundational first verse."

The Nine Skies Sage Sword was a diluted form of her own sword art, the Nine Skies Divine Sword — and even so, it carried an Epic grade. A refined, high-caliber technique. The very skill hanging as the reward for this trial. She had peeled off a single verse and given it to me, bearing the cost herself.

"The price — are you all right?"

"It is fine. A trifle like this."

White lightning crawled along one of her arms, yet she moved as though she barely noticed, her expression unchanged. According to the novel, that pain was supposed to feel like flesh being torn open. Watching her move so effortlessly, I almost wondered if I had misunderstood the description entirely.

"Thank you. Truly."

I bowed at a full ninety degrees. Honestly, I would have pressed my forehead to the floor if the room weren't so small.

"Then strive hard, my Incarnation of a thousand years."

Those were her final words. Gucheon Hyeonnyeo vanished in a burst of the same light that had announced her arrival — gone in an instant, just as she had come.

And the first thought that rose in the silence she left behind was simple.

Constellations are the best.

And so, the next day.

I had not slept. The entire night had been spent drilling the Nine ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Skies Sage Sword into my body.

A skill handed over knowledge and a measure of physical familiarity — it did not grant perfect mastery from the start. The existence of a proficiency rating was proof enough of that.

It's an incomplete skill as it is. I have to do this properly.

All I had been given was a single verse. It was my only weapon, and I needed to master it as thoroughly as possible. The result: an all-nighter, swinging a wooden practice sword around my room from dusk until dawn.

"…I'm actually going to die."

Being a contractor meant my body was better than an ordinary person's — but swinging a sword through the night erased that advantage completely. I felt like death. My muscles were screaming. This body did not feel like mine anymore.

Still — a single percent of proficiency after roughly ten hours of work was a decent result. The problem was that my body was wrecked. But I had to move. The Academy entrance exam started in a few hours.

"The second that exam is over, I'm sleeping…"

I changed into comfortable clothes, shoved some bread that had been sitting around the house into my mouth, and stepped outside.

"Oh — did you sleep well?"

The first person I ran into was a blonde woman, both hands full of trash bags.