How to Tame a Spirit (3)
Roy left his assistants waiting outside and stepped alone into the cubic chamber Chloe had built.
From this moment he meant to recreate the ancient magic circle he had once seen deep beneath the royal palace. Of course he had already rewritten the portion that responded only to royal blood so that it would answer solely to his own mana. Whether the experiment would succeed, however, remained an open question; he had not yet deciphered every remaining formula. Fully interpreting them could take far more than a month—perhaps more than a year. Even converting a mere fragment of the ancient spirit-summoning magic into a usable circle had once cost him five full years. The magical civilization of antiquity had towered so far above the present age, and even above the old Empire, that its superiority still defied easy understanding.
Roy’s geometry from his previous life could simplify or improve certain sections, yet the sheer excellence of ancient magic itself remained an unsolved riddle.
The fact that there is room for improvement only means I devised shortcuts because I lack mana. Ancient mages possessed vast reserves; they shaped their spells for their own convenience.
Had Roy’s mana been abundant, he would simply have recreated the ancient circle as it was. The only reason he had labored to reinterpret and streamline it was his chronic shortage of power.
Still, efficiency itself is no vice.
He spent the last of his remaining mana inscribing the modified circles across all six faces of Chloe’s cubic chamber, then activated them. The circles consumed a little mana at the moment of installation and ignition, but thereafter they were designed to draw ambient mana and run indefinitely. More than that, they would seize every scrap of power from the surrounding mana veins and force it into the enclosed space.
If that succeeds, step one is complete. Next I cast the condensation spell, collect the resulting liquid, and drink it…
Should everything work, Roy would be able to brew Dragon’s Breath by the dozens or hundreds of cups simply by traveling the world’s mana veins. For now, of course, that remained pure hope.
Please—just give me the smallest tangible result!
To conserve what little mana he still possessed, he reopened the Gold Eyes he had kept sealed until now. Looking back, he realized that without Noah none of this experimentation would even have been possible. Without the Gold Eyes to perceive the flow of mana, he would have had no way to verify whether a recreated circle was actually doing anything.
Through eyes washed in gold he felt the dense mana saturating the air around him. Could the circle truly drag every last particle of that power into this single chamber?
Shuuuuu—
The moment the circles flared to life, a sound that was not quite sound seemed to brush his ears.
Success?!
The concentration of mana inside the room began to climb. All six circles glowed with a soft light, channeling exterior mana inward. The experiment had worked.
Except—
The speed is far too slow…
At this rate even a day or two would not empty the surrounding veins.
Damn it.
Keeping the Gold Eyes open, Roy watched the rising density within the chamber. Compared with the mana he had once felt beneath the palace, the level was still pitifully low. Only when it reached that intensity would Dragon’s Breath produce its true effect. Noah herself had said the draft he drank in the palace was weaker than proper Elven Liquor. How much more time, then, would a genuine Dragon’s Breath require?
“Child. Did you prepare this place for me? I thank you—truly, I thank you.”
While Roy was still deep in thought, Noah suddenly manifested.
Don’t tell me this little…
Once again she drifted of her own accord straight toward the center of the circle. Unable to restrain himself, Roy called the name of the spirit bound to him.
“Noah!”
No answer came.
“Stop right there, Noah! This is your final warning! I told you to wait quietly until I called you, didn’t I?”
“Child, why do you rage so? Is this circle not made for me in the first place?”
“No. This is a circle for producing Dragon’s Breath. You’ll get your mana only after it’s finished.”
“That will not do. Yield to me just this once. When my tails increase I will be of still greater use to you. Have you not already tasted that benefit?”
Noah dug in her heels again. Roy’s face twisted with anger as he shouted,
“That is not a request—it is an order!”
“Hmm? An order? Are you under some misapprehension? I am no slave of yours. Our contract was this: I lend you power, and you give me mana. I am merely claiming the mana that is my due—what is the difficulty? Besides, the mana in this place was never yours to begin with.”
“I was the one who slew the giant worm that owned this lair. Therefore every scrap of mana inside this space is mine now.”
“Do not attempt to persuade me. My mind is already set.”
“……”
Roy exhaled a long, heavy sigh. In short, she was completely uncontrollable.
“So my own mana alone is not enough for you?”
“Of course not. It falls far short.”
“Even what you take every night fails to satisfy you?”
“Did you truly believe a pittance like that would content me? You still know me far too little. That day you already beheld my true form, did you not?”
On Noah’s small face flickered emotions Roy had never seen before—dissatisfaction mixed with something almost pitying, a sorrowful compassion that coexisted with a greed she could no longer restrain.
“On the day we formed our contract I asked you, did I not? Whether you could bear me. And you answered that if you had not intended to, you would never have summoned me in the first place. Heh heh… you were truly adorable then.”
Her once-plump, cute cheeks split open with a wet tearing sound; her mouth stretched until it nearly reached her ears. It was the same vast maw he had seen that day. The razor teeth she had kept hidden until now gleamed in a smile that was anything but pleasant.
“This is mine. It is the price for the power you have used. So do not interfere, my beloved master.”
“So that’s how you’re going to play it? I warned you!”
“Such threats have no effect on me. What do you take me for? You are a cute child. You pout and stamp, yet in the end you understand. Is that not so? Heh heh heh.”
Noah planted herself at the exact center of the chamber and flung both arms wide. The six circles flared with ferocious light. From her perspective it made no difference whether the mana was already concentrated inside the room or still scattered through the veins outside. So long as the circles functioned, she could amplify them with her own power and drink every last drop of the exterior mana as well. Once she stood upon the array and forced it to activate, the game would be over.
“……?!”
This time, however, something was different.
The instant the circles blazed, Roy lifted his right hand and flicked his fingers once. Every circle went dark at once; absolute blackness returned. In that darkness, through the Gold Eyes, their gazes locked.
“What do you think you are doing? Restore it this instant!”
“I believe those are my lines.”
“Master, this is a breach of contract.”
“No—those are my lines… All right, I’ll admit it was my mistake. I underestimated you badly, Noah Chrono Nyres.”
The moment Roy spoke her true name, the clauses of the contract they had once exchanged began to shimmer faintly into existence in the air. Noah’s expression twisted into something murderous.
“Do not cross the line, child.”
“You are the one who crossed it, Noah Chrono Nyres.”
A second utterance of the true name. The circles on every wall shattered; the barrier collapsed. Cracks spider-webbed across the cubic chamber Chloe had shaped with earth magic.
“What are you doing?! Return the circles to their proper state at once! The original summoning circle from our first contract will do! Hurry!”
“I wonder who is giving orders to whom right now.”
“Hurryyyyy!”
Noah’s final cry thundered inside Roy’s skull. Even a momentary lapse of concentration felt as though it would sweep him away. He remembered that voice—the same voice that had spoken when she revealed her true form.
Roy answered in a calm, even tone.
“Noah Chrono Nyres. You are a being who must obey my commands. Do not issue orders to me again.”
“…?!”
At the true-name command an invisible force pressed down upon Noah’s entire body. It was not especially strong—for the simple reason that she had not yet broken the contract. But the Time Spirit was already drowning in rage. Vast mana had been about to pour into her belly; one more tail had been within reach. And now this child was actually trying to dominate her.
“Child. Making me angry will bring you no good.”
“I’ll return those exact words to you.”
“How dare you!”
The mighty voice crashed through his mind again. Almost simultaneously the clothes Noah wore tore apart, and the colossal body she had kept hidden began to unfold. Chloe’s earthen walls exploded into rubble. Noah swelled and swelled until she filled the enormous cavern once occupied by the giant worm. The same monstrous form Roy had seen beneath the fairy forest now stood before him once more.
“Kyaaaah! Wh-what is that monster?!”
“Roy! Roy, look out!”
The three assistants screamed until their throats nearly split, shouting toward the man facing the creature alone. Looking down at the tiny humans, Noah heaved a sigh of pure contempt, as though the sight itself were unbearably pathetic. The gale created by that single breath struck with more force than anyone could have imagined, hurling everything on the ground backward in a single violent rush.