Ch. 12
[To be honest, Master, I find this quite disappointing.]
“What is?”
Ah, right. I can talk to him through my thoughts.
[The fact that you’re already looking at other spirits right after forming a contract with me. My noble pride is quite wounded, you know.]
[Oh, I see.]
[…Did you even listen to me? I just said that I’m upset!]
[That’s ‘your’ feeling, not mine.]
[How could you do this to me?! You don’t need any other spirits when you have me!]
[That’s just ‘your’ opinion.]
Does Rai not understand that when it comes to spirits, ‘the more, the better’?
I casually scratched my ear, but the fatal flaw of mental communication was that I couldn’t pretend not to hear him.
[To be honest, your only ability so far is functioning as a glorified intercom… Oh, and possessing metal.]
[I don’t know what an ‘intercom’ is, but I find that quite insulting.]
[It’s a thing. Anyway, I just don’t really see much use in you.]
[That’s unfair, Master! The only reason you can’t fully utilize my abilities yet is because you’re still too weak! Once you grow stronger and unlock my full potential, I—’this great being’—could easily help you conquer the entire human world…]
[Why would I go through all that trouble?]
What was even the point of ruling the world? Just managing my own life was exhausting enough.
I had never once looked at a president or a king with envy. If anything, I always wondered how they managed to handle such a stressful job.
I had always believed that as long as I could live comfortably on my own, that was enough.
“Did I keep you waiting, Miss Geenie? It took some time to get the permission.”
While Rai was busy lamenting his unrecognized worth and I was desperately trying to tune him out, Master Yael returned.
He jingled a large ring of keys, and I immediately jumped up, putting on my best ‘obedient student’ smile.
“This is your first time here, right?”
“Yes! The Contracting Room!”
“It was only recently completed, so for now, it only houses lower-level summoning circles. But I had planned to bring you here at some point. Getting familiar with the atmosphere in advance can be helpful.”
According to Master Yael, the headmaster had high hopes for the Spirit Studies Department.
He had personally gone to the king to secure additional funding and had insisted on constructing the Contracting Room, saying it was crucial for nurturing talented individuals.
And yet, for the past three years, I had been the department’s ‘only’ student.
It wasn’t my problem, but still—it was kind of tragic.
Apparently, the qualifications to become a spirit mage were much stricter than those for a mage, making it difficult to find talented candidates.
If a child had exceptional physical abilities, they were tested as a knight. If they were brilliant, they were trained as a mage.
But a spirit mage?
There was no way to determine talent just by looking, making it extremely difficult to scout potential students.
That wasn’t the only reason, but spirit mages were becoming increasingly rare.
For example, commoners could go their entire lives without ever meeting a mage. But for nobles, it was more common to ‘never’ meet a spirit mage.
Even considering that most mages came from noble families, this was still a dismal statistic.
Spirit mages were precious, exceedingly rare, and so uncommon that they usually faded into obscurity.
Unlike mages, who had flashy powers, or knights, who held firm positions in society, spirit mages mostly lived quietly in the shadows.
Most of the ones I had met were elderly, and young spirit mages were practically unheard of.
Master Yael was one of the youngest spirit mages I had ever seen.
Despite having the exceptional ability to sense mana—one of the key qualities of a spirit mage—most talented individuals chose to become mages instead.
And honestly, who could blame them? That career path had a much brighter future.
“Ahh! Standing in front of this door reminds me of my first contract attempt. I was so nervous back then. It still feels like it was just yesterday…”
“Okay, okay, can we just get on with it already?”
“…Miss Geenie, for someone who was so eager, you don’t seem excited at all.”
For me, forming a contract wasn’t something thrilling or full of anticipation—it was simply another hurdle I needed to clear.
I just wanted to make a contract, be officially recognized as a spirit mage, and finally gain my ‘freedom’ under the excuse of ‘self-study mode’.
I scratched my chin and looked around at the Contracting Room, which was a circular space with a sturdy yet compact design.
Above each door, large inscriptions marked the symbols for fire, water, wind, and earth spirits.
I carefully studied the inscriptions one by one before nodding slowly.
“I’ll celebrate once I actually succeed in forming a contract.”
“Miss Geenie, have you already forgotten what I told you?”
“Hmm… You said failure is the mother of success, so I shouldn’t expect too much today.”
“Glad to see you remember.”
“Then do ‘you’ remember what I always say about myself?”
Master Yael paused as if recalling something, but it didn’t take him long to answer.
“If you say you’ll do it… you ‘do’ it?”
“Correct.”
“And if you don’t want to do something, you’d rather die than do it.”
“Wow, you really do know me well.”
The latter was definitely the phrase I used more often.
In short, I was an incredibly stubborn person.
“By the way, aren’t we using scrolls? I was curious about that.”
I asked as I looked around the room, suddenly remembering something.
There were many different ways to summon spirits, but these days, summoning scrolls were the most popular.
Scrolls were sheets of paper inscribed with magical circles. When torn while chanting a spell, the magic would activate.
They could contain all sorts of summoning formations and allowed non-mages to use magic, making them extremely convenient tools.
Rather than digging into the ground, pouring mana-infused liquid, and sprinkling fairy dust, you could just tear a piece of paper and be done with it.
It was a brilliant invention.
I was quite intrigued by how convenient they were, though I had never actually used one myself.
“Miss Geenie? The cost of three summoning scrolls is enough to build an entire Contracting Room. Scrolls are single-use, whereas this room is permanent…”
“Ugh, after all that buildup, I expected something fancier. You should at least invest a little! This place feels so old-fashioned.”
“For a department with only one student, the fact that they even built this place is already more than enough. What more do you want?”
Master Yael was usually good at gently dismissing complaints, but occasionally, he would get serious like this. And when that happened, I would quickly put on my ‘good student’ act.
“But I’m just curious! What are summoning scrolls like?”
Being ten years old was incredibly convenient in moments like this.
“…You can try them when you’re older. Not here, but when you’re fully prepared and summoning a spirit for real. Understood? Scrolls are meant for ‘external’ use.”
“Do fire spirit mages really go to lava fields for summoning rituals?”
“Of course.”
“And wind spirit mages go to cliffs?”
“And earth spirit mages venture into deep forests. Performing summoning rituals in environments filled with the spirit’s energy increases the likelihood of a successful contract.”
The main fieldwork for spirit mages involved traveling to highly concentrated energy zones that were ideal for summoning.
After all, you couldn’t just dig summoning circles in the middle of a sweltering lava field, nor could you carve one into the sand at the beach just because the area was rich in water energy.
In such cases, summoning scrolls became an essential tool.
Though the guy inside my candlestick didn’t seem to care about any of that.
“Now then, Miss Geenie. Have you decided which spirit you’d like to form a contract with?”
“Hmm…”
“I’ve always told you—finding your own attribute is important.”
“You often say that… I need to figure out what I ‘truly’ want.”
“In my case, I failed a few times. At first, I tried to summon an earth spirit, but it didn’t work. Then one day, while simply standing in the wind, I realized—that was my companion.”
Fire, water, wind, earth.
These were the four major attributes that formed the foundation of the world, the forces that moved nature, and the veins of energy that allowed all things to exist.
Spirits were broadly categorized into these four attributes, and from there, they were divided into five ranks, from the lowest to the highest.
Lower, Intermediate, Advanced, High, and Spirit King.
Because these were the most fundamental attributes, spirits of these elements were numerous and systematically classified.
Most spirit mages formed contracts with a single attribute. Some managed to handle two, but such cases were usually dismissed as lacking depth.
“It’s time to decide. Find the one that draws you in.”
“The one that draws me in…”
Master Yael had always told me to think in advance about which elemental spirit I wanted to contract with.
But I had never been able to make that decision easily.
Maybe that was why.
Why I had been so drawn to the ancient contract formation that supposedly summoned a spirit ‘most compatible’ with me.
Why I had insisted on trying it and ultimately succeeded in summoning ‘something’.
Even though it was supposedly a relic that no longer functioned, I ‘knew’ something would emerge. I felt drawn to it, and it had worked.
Spirit mages were known for their sharp intuition.
Dealing with spirits meant becoming attuned to the natural world.
“Close your eyes… and listen to the voice of your heart.”
[‘Just look at me!’]
…Yeah, I definitely hadn’t expected to hear ‘that’.
I scowled in annoyance.
[‘Be quiet.’]
[‘This is too cruel! I’m right here!’]
[‘Nowhere in our contract does it say I have to focus only on you!’]
[‘To think my only Master is such a flirt…’]
Where the hell was this insane spirit getting this sense of ownership from?!
If he weren’t a candlestick, I would have smacked him right then and there.