Chapter 61
After a little while had passed.
“Hey, spirit.”
— What now?!
“Care to explain why this contract only includes my obligations?”
I was supposed to do everything I could to help the spirit regain its power.
That much I could understand.
But what about ridiculously vague clauses like ‘ensure a comfortable lifestyle’ or absurd ones like ‘visit a volcano once a month’?
How the hell was I supposed to follow that?
Worst of all, there was nothing in it for me.
“What about stuff like letting me use your power, protecting my family in an emergency, or restoring my health?! Why is there none of that here?”
— W-well, those things are just part of the deal, of course! I’m a pretty ethical spirit, you know!
“Ethical, huh? I’m supposed to believe in that speck-sized conscience of yours after you tried to gobble me up twice?”
— Aah, that was then! Let’s just… keep this civil, okay?
My tongue ran over my increasingly dry mouth.
This spirit was definitely adapting to my attitude.
‘In that case… guess I’ll push even harder.’
This wasn’t over until I actually signed the contract.
“Ha. ‘Civil,’ huh? You mean civil, like stacking the deck?”
— You’re calling me a scammer now?! I get it! I get it! No more scams!
Oh? Look who’s staring me dead in the eye and getting bold.
“Then you’ll have no problem adding my terms, right?”
— There has to be trust between humans and spirits…
“Ugh, skip it. If you’re scared, go crawl into a volcano and die.”
— W-what did you just say?!
“Not interested? Then forget it. No contract. Let the Cult of Fire or whoever have you. Not my problem.”
— B-but then everyone dies! You know that!
“Everyone dies anyway. And I’ve only got three years left, remember? Why should I care about what comes after?”
Bleh!
I blew a dramatic raspberry and turned on my heel. The spirit just stood there with its mouth hanging open.
But I’d been well trained by Esadien.
‘This is the part where I actually walk away to really drive it home.’
Sure enough, just two steps later—
— Okay, fine!
“……”
— I said fine…
Without turning around, I asked, “You’re adding everything I want?”
— …Yeah.
“And removing everything I don’t?”
— …Fine.
“Huh? I must be going deaf. I can’t seem to hear you.”
— I SAID FINE! I’LL FIX THE CONTRACT, OKAY?!
“Should’ve done that from the start.”
Only then did I turn back around with a triumphant smile.
— You heartless human! Taking everything I’ve got! Boohooo!
The spirit wailed every time I deleted, rewrote, or added a clause—but I ignored it all.
If he was already picking up on my tone this fast, it was only a matter of time before he became a slick-talking snake once he stepped into human society.
Once he regained his full power, he’d be the true Sovereign of Flame, with immense might and craftiness both.
All I was doing was setting the bare minimum safeguards.
“Well, I guess this’ll do.”
I scrawled my name onto the tattered-looking contract, the last clause reading:
“Even after regaining full power, no harm shall be done to Minuelle Karnian or her kin and associates.”
Shhhhhhhh—
The moment I drew the final line, a heated breeze swirled around me, and the contract’s letters scattered like embers in the wind.
Slicing through them came the spirit’s voice again, ringing clearly in my head.
— I, the spirit ― , hereby recognize Minuelle Karnian as the partner of my existence.
A long, elaborate name passed in a flash, and the letters I thought would disappear instead formed glowing cords that coiled tightly between the spirit and me.
“Oooh…”
I was admiring the sight when the spirit snapped, its voice sharp with urgency.
— Don’t open your mouth! You’ll lose precious energy!
“’Kay.”
Every ounce of energy probably mattered to him right now.
Just as I closed my mouth, the heat began to flow into me—then pulled away—again and again, like the tide, leaving me dazed.
“Ugh…”
It felt like fire was creeping up through my capillaries from my fingertips and toes.
Even the lingering fury that had haunted me for years quickly joined that flame.
The two auras, blazing like torches, collided and gave birth to a massive pillar of flame.
It surged through my body, unstoppable, tearing through every obstruction with explosive force.
When the fire finally completed its circuit through every inch of me—
“Khff, haagh—!”
—I vomited what felt like a whole bucket of pitch-black blood.
“What the hell, why’s the color like that?”
As someone with plenty of experience in coughing up blood, even I had never seen anything this dark before.
Sure, it was probably “dead blood,” but still…
I was just about to throw another suspicious glare at the spirit when he clicked his tongue and snapped his fingers.
A faint burnt smell followed, and the blood I’d expelled scattered into the air—reduced to ash.
— How in the world does a human accumulate this much waste in their body? Try exercising once in your life, will you?
“You keep talking like that, and—wait. Huh?”
I was about to protest being called “you human” again, but my attention shifted to something strange—my arm felt… light.
“Uh…?”
My whole body felt light.
The heavy weight that had always pressed down on my shoulders and skull like iron weights had vanished.
That constant pressure, that clogged-up, suffocating sensation in my gut—it was gone.
It felt… like I’d been reborn.
And then—
“…Warm.”
When I laid my trembling hand over my chest, I could feel it clearly: a warm energy swirling in sync with the rhythm of my heartbeat.
I understood what it was instinctively.
‘The essence of fire.’
This was no longer the oppressive heat of inner rage.
Overwhelmed by a quiet sense of awe, I turned to look at the spirit. He struck a smug pose, clearly full of himself.
— See? I’m that good. I would’ve done it even if it wasn’t in the contract! Just trust your friendly neighborhood spirit, will ya?
And just like that, the flicker of trust I’d started to feel vanished like ash on the wind.
I scowled.
“…But the energy I feel now is a bit weaker than earlier. What gives?”
I expected him to flinch—but this time, the spirit didn’t back down.
— What do you mean, ‘what gives’? You’re the one who changed the terms! The original deal was that I get most of the power, but you rewrote it to be a 50:50 split!
Hearing him use a phrase like “changed the terms” nearly made me laugh out loud.
‘Does he even know what that means?’ I barely held back a snort.
“Oh, right. That’s true. Then… does that mean I can use all the power that’s in my body now?”
— Not yet.
“Tch.”
‘Figures.’
I drooped like a scolded puppy.
‘So I guess not just anyone gets to be an OP protagonist, huh…’
I mean, I’d formed a contract with a fire spirit, for crying out loud.
I thought it’d be like jumping from level 2 straight to level 60.
— Don’t get so down about it. Sure, power level matters, but what’s more important is mastering the abilities you already have. That comes first.
“Yeah, yeah.”
— Don’t you ‘yeah yeah’ me, human!
…Yeah. First thing I was gonna do when I got back to the palace: fix this disrespectful little brat’s attitude.
With that thought in mind, I coaxed the pouting spirit back into the spirit stone.
Sooner or later, Cult of Fire would find out I had joined hands with the spirit.
But the fewer cards you reveal, the better.
* * *
When I put the spirit away and stepped out of the cave, I was met with utter darkness.
‘Did the sun already set?’
Inside, I’d been so caught up arguing with the spirit that I hadn’t noticed the passage of time at all.
The open expanse of navy sky stretched above me, unobstructed. The sky was studded with countless stars, so densely packed it took my breath away.
I stood there staring, spellbound by the sight, until I finally came to my senses and started walking.
“Where is everyone…? Ah, there!”
I found them quickly enough. Far in the distance, a small red light glowed faintly like a banked ember.
In a place with no settlements for miles, who else would be lighting a fire if not my companions?
I walked straight in that direction. Before long, the quiet atmosphere around the makeshift tents and campfire changed—the knights on watch must have noticed my approach.
“Minuelle!”
Of course, Elga and Ramande were the first to run toward me.
The rush of emotion I’d felt earlier, when I burst through the illusion in the spirit realm, came surging back the moment I saw them.
I wiped under my nose, trying to hide the sting in my eyes, and offered a playful salute.
“Minuelle Karnian, reporting for du—waaagh!”
“Our youngest!”
But I couldn’t even finish the line before Elga scooped me up and spun me in the air. I laughed at first—until the spinning picked up speed. Then, I had no choice but to scream.
“Eeeek! Elga! Elga, I’m scared! Stop!”
She finally put me down, but the moment my feet hit the ground, Ramande arrived and pulled me into a crushing hug.
“You said you’d be right back.”
“Myaaa!”
El, who popped his head out from Ramande’s arms, protested right along with him.
But his complaints didn’t last long. After I kissed his forehead a few times, he responded by licking my chin like nothing had happened.
“Are you hurt?”
“Are you hungry?”
The tight embraces soon turned into rapid-fire concern. They loaded me into the wagon, taking turns checking in.
“I said I’m fine.”
I absentmindedly stroked El’s fur as I answered. I was a little tired, but that wasn’t what was bothering me.
“You’re really telling me it’s been a whole day since I went in?”
“Yes. We were worried sick!”
I had assumed only a few hours had passed—sunset comes quickly up north, after all. But no, it had truly been a full day.
“Camping in this cold? Are you all trying to get yourselves sick?”
“Ramande kept everyone’s body temperatures regulated with his magic. No one has frostbite, thankfully.”
Even so…
Then Elga told me that when I didn’t return by the next morning, she had tried to go into the cave after me.
But unlike when I entered, a barrier had appeared at the entrance—an invisible wall that repelled anyone else who approached.
When she tried to force her way through, even her sword had broken.
At that, I instinctively clutched the back of my neck.
“Elga! That—that sword is our family’s—!”
Elga’s sword, engraved with the Karnian crest, wasn’t just any blade.
Unlike my pendant, which was symbolic, that sword was the real deal—a true heirloom passed down to the future head of house.
But Elga was unfazed.
“We can forge another sword.”
“That’s not the point! You can’t just replace something like that!”
“The head of house decides what the heirloom is. Our mother would’ve said the same, Minuelle. People come before swords. A sword is born after its wielder, not before.”
“W-Well, yes, but…”
Was my sister always this eloquent?
“But?”
“But you’re the one who’s supposed to succeed the family, aren’t you? You can’t just throw yourself in there without a second thought!”
“I’m strong, Minuelle.”
That much was true. Elga was incredibly, undeniably powerful as a knight.
But even so, I wasn’t sure her sword could have cut through something as unnatural as a spirit’s domain.