The Ice Spirit's Rejection
A few minutes later, I boldly set the now-heavy money pouch down on the counter. Inside were chunks of gold I'd taken straight from the Dunhel jewelry store's safe and reshaped. The clerk's eyes sparkled like gemstones the moment he peeked inside the pouch.
"How about it? Is this enough?"
The clerk, completely unaware the gold was originally his store's, eagerly began weighing it with obvious excitement.
"More than enough! Though there will be a small fee if you pay in gold. Is that all right?"
"Do whatever you want."
"Please wait just a moment!"
Since it was their money anyway, I felt nothing, but Hansen and Philo were trembling with looks of pure agony.
"Miss, how would you like your purchased spirit stone? Shall I wrap it as a gift, or…"
"Just hand it over."
"Understood. Thank you for your purchase!"
The spirit stone soon landed in my palm inside a velvet pouch. That was easy.
"Heh heh heh."
"Uh… Miss?"
Hansen and Philo stared at me in fear, probably because my laugh had come out way too sinister.
[Master, you should laugh more elegantly…]
[Bathroom.]
[I said nothing.]
Thanks to Rai guiding me via the shortest route, I made it back to the inn faster than before. Losing Hansen and Philo on the way was purely accidental. They should've kept up better.
The knight captain gave me a baffled look as I returned alone. No matter how many times he glanced behind me, Hansen and Philo were nowhere to be seen.
"Miss, what happened to the knights…? You came back by yourself?"
"I think I heard them crying from behind when I went through a dog hole."
"Pardon?"
"Well, they must've gotten lost. They'll find their way back on their own! Anyway, I'm busy, so I'll be going!"
I didn't have time to babysit adults. I had an ice spirit to contract with!
Since I couldn't risk anyone walking in during the contract, I locked the door first. Officially, I was still just a lower-rank water spirit master, and even my teacher Iel didn't know I'd contracted with other spirits besides Undine. Like the metal spirit Rai, or the lightning spirit Ador.
At first, it was just something that slipped through the cracks, but lately I'd been deliberately hiding my other contracts. Not because I wanted to conceal the limits of my power or anything dramatic like that. It was mostly because explaining was a hassle, and I selfishly wanted to keep the good stuff to myself. Above all, the biggest reason was that I didn't want any more attention.
Even now, just contracting with Undine had caught the King's eye and forced me into that festival. No matter how groundbreaking it was for a ten-year-old to form a contract…
"Whew. Even I get scared of my own genius sometimes."
[Ah, yes… I'm sure you do.]
"But this is weird. I'm just supposed to pour mana into it, right? There's no reaction at all."
No matter how much mana I fed it, the ice spirit stone didn't budge. I gave it a few kicks with my foot.
[Normally that would work. How strange.]
"Maybe I need to say some kind of incantation?"
[No. Master, remember when you summoned Ador? You didn't need anything like that.]
"True."
I recalled the moment I'd summoned Ador. Back then, Ador had been so eager to be summoned that all I'd needed to do was share a bit of mana to open the path to the middle realm.
But this ice spirit stone was different. No matter how much mana I poured in, there was zero response.
[Try injecting more mana.]
"What if the whole place freezes over? Remember how my bag caught fire when I summoned Ador?"
[That is possible. Non-attribute spirits tend to go berserk far more easily than the four major elements. They're not as orderly, so they act on their own whims.]
"Like you?"
[What? I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm an elegant and intellectual spirit.]
"Oh, right."
Whoever he took after, this guy had zero shame.
[Non-attribute spirits are basically ones that have gone a long time without an owner. It's possible no spirit even wanted to contract with them in the first place. That's why it's not reacting to your mana.]
"Ador really was a special case. Just like you."
[What is that supposed to mean?!]
"I mean, the more I think about it, the only normal spirit around me seems to be Undine."
[Comparing me to a lower-rank spirit is insulting! Lower-ranks are just naturally docile because their rank is low to begin with! The four major element spirits are the boring ones!]
Still, I preferred docile. I wondered what kind of personality this ice spirit would have.
I crouched in front of the spirit stone, waiting for it to be summoned. Rai kept grumbling the whole time.
[Are you even listening? Do you know how insufferable the four major element spirits are? They think they're superior just because there are more of them! They always look down on us! Even though non-attribute spirits may be fewer in number, we have far stronger individuality and independence…]
"Shh! It's reacting."
The spirit stone trembled and emitted a faint glow. That happened right after I'd deliberately poured a massive amount of mana into it.
But it only lasted an instant. The light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and the stone turned back into an ordinary rock.
"Ugh, maybe this much mana isn't enough. Rai! Is it possible the spirit won't be summoned at all?"
[You've just never experienced failure before. Most attempts at summoning end in failure.]
"Really?"
[Of course.]
"Well, I'm no ordinary genius, after all."
Since I'd never failed a summoning before, my confidence was well-founded.
"Ahem! Just watch. I'll summon this one too."
[I do like your confidence, Master, but…]
"But?"
[Not every spirit will feel the same way I do.]
"I can do it. Just wait and see!"
I needed to put more effort into this. I rolled my shoulders once, took a deep breath, and sat closer to the spirit stone. Focusing all my concentration, I stopped talking to Rai and began pouring every drop of my mana into the stone.
There's no way it won't come out if I do this!
"Aaaagh!"
While I was dumping mana into it with the determination to win, the spirit stone suddenly exploded with light. It was a blinding, pure white—and incredibly aggressive.
[Master!]
What made me instinctively back away was the murderous intent. I hurriedly threw myself backward, and at the same time, sharp ice pillars shot up from around the spirit stone with loud cracking sounds, stabbing in every direction.
What I saw after falling on my back were the vicious ice pillars and the table they'd impaled.
Ice can be this dangerous?!
Damn it, I would've been skewered if I'd been even a second slower!
[What a violent creature. Be careful, Master!]
Rai stuck close and warned me. The hostile energy radiating from the spirit stone reminded me of that day in the past—the day I couldn't move my legs in front of raging flames and had to crawl on the floor to escape. Death had been so close.
This ice spirit felt closer to death than any spirit I'd ever encountered. It was cruel, merciless, and filled with the sorrow that came with it. Whether I wanted to or not, I could sense it instinctively—the danger this spirit carried.
Without realizing it, I bit down on my lip. Between the ice pillars, something rose into the air, exhaling white mist. It was the first time I'd seen air itself freeze.
[You… who… woke me…]
A chilling voice pierced into my mind like frost. Yes, this was the ice spirit. It kept freezing everything around it, radiating cold in all directions and freezing every bit of moisture in the air.
It looked like a sphere covered in countless ice needles, and just by appearing, it rapidly dropped the temperature. I could feel my body growing cold from the chill. It was as if winter had settled only around me—my fingertips tingled, and goosebumps rose on the back of my neck, forcing me to rub it without thinking.
"I am… Jeanie Crowell!"
[A human.]
"I summoned you! So that makes me your master. Let's make a contract, ice spirit!"
I shouted, my voice trembling slightly with excitement. Even in this freezing cold, my heart felt hot. The ice spirit seemed to have an extremely cold personality. Just from that, it was clear how different it was from my other spirits. Armed with a terrifying presence that instinctively frightened anyone who looked at it, it made me tremble with an indescribable thrill.
With this one, I won't have anything to fear.
If I had Ador, Undine, and this one, I could become stronger too. Strong enough that no one would dare bother me! I'd already realized that power was the fastest way to live comfortably in this world.
[I refuse.]
"…What did you say?"