Ch. 291
「The beings who first helped humans complete the Spirit Formations of the four major elements did not help create the non-elemental Spirit Formations. It is said that they based the reason for creating new Contract Seals strictly on stabilizing the system, and judging that the non-elemental Spirit Formations went against this purpose, they did not help us.
Once they refused to help, humans immediately hit a wall.」
‘They must be the ancient elves and Spirit Kings Zekarda mentioned.’
「Our predecessors faced repeated frustrations, but based on the non-elemental Spirits they had contracted, they finally created the ‘Non-elemental Spirit Contract Formation.’
The goal was to leave behind 100 types, but it was not an easy task to open a sustainable path to the irregular existences of other worlds, and only nine were successful.」
“Huuuuu.”
「Among them, seven are the Spirits of electricity, ice, plants, animals, space, illusion, and luck. The other two could not be specified.」
‘How long had I been holding my breath?’
A wave of dizziness hit me, and I had to take several deep breaths in a row.
[Rai!]
[Yes?]
[This is huge! It says there’s a Spirit of illusion among the ones made with the non-elemental Spirit Formations! This book… it’s real. It even mentions the Spirit Stone Anellia gave me. They couldn’t have written that if it wasn’t.]
My hand trembled around the book. Everything I’d been searching for was in here.
It was far more useful than I’d expected—closer to the core than any specialized original text I’d dug through so far.
Best of all, the author’s research goals were strikingly similar to mine.
This was exactly what I’d wanted. When I’d been looking for it, it was nowhere to be found.
It meant more to me than the diary of that senile old man I found in the underwater Dungeon.
Just realizing I’d finally gotten my hands on what I wanted made my breathing turn ragged.
[That’s great, isn’t it?]
[Why are you so nonchalant?]
[It’s not necessarily… because my rivals have increased, is it?]
[So that’s what this is.]
Rai expressed his dissatisfaction by snapping his bushy tail, but that was just part of our daily life.
I ignored him and turned back to the book.
「Though it was said to be complete, the non-elemental Spirit Formation was very unstable. The side effect of it endlessly sucking the summoner’s Mana occurred frequently, and in rare cases, a Spirit different from the intended one was summoned. Like the Ancient Spirit Formation that served as the starting point for the research, it was in a state where one could not know which Spirit would emerge.」
Come to think of it, the ancient Spirit Mages were incredible. They weren’t even Magic users, yet they developed a Summoning Formation that connected to another world.
It was something today’s Spirit Mages—whose overall abilities had been nerfed—couldn’t even dream of.
「When it became known that the non-elemental Spirit Formation was unstable, pressure to halt the research followed, and soon the final order to destroy the non-elemental Spirit Formation was given. It was a tragedy. The most unfortunate thing is that this was just one of the many tragedies that befell the Spirit Mages.」
It was ironic that the tragedy began the moment they pursued stability.
「For the predecessors who had created the Contract Seals by sacrificing their own Spirits, this was an unacceptable story, and they each scattered across the continent with the Spirit Formations they had created. Not a single one agreed with the order to destroy them. Everyone went their separate ways with different thoughts, but they were one in their hearts, regarding their Spirits as their own children.」
The first time unease crept in was when I noticed there were only a few pages left—and the method for summoning the Spirit of illusion still hadn’t appeared.
‘It’d be nice if there were some Magic on it, so the last page never ended.’
「Ador, the Spirit Mage of electricity and ice, took the two Spirit Formations he had made and left for his homeland, after which his whereabouts became unknown.
It is presumed that the two Spirit Formations, made of Spirit Stones, are buried somewhere in his homeland, but since no one knows where his homeland is, his whereabouts are also unknown.」
‘So it really was Ador.’
The important thing was that I’d named the Spirit of electricity after him. The predecessor would be moved by my sincerity, too.
「Paruata, who handled the Spirits of plants and animals, similarly made her Spirit Formations into Spirit Stones and set off on her way, and it is said that she was from a clan of Spirit Mages. One can only guess that her bloodline might be carrying on the lineage somewhere, passing down the Spirit Stones from generation to generation.
The last place this person’s tracks were found is where Koiren is now located.」
‘Carrying on the lineage, my ass. She gave it to the jungle tribe, and it got half-destroyed.’
And to fix that, I—no, Rai—suffered for months.
「Crodel, the Spirit Mage of space, is the only one with a clear genealogy, and the easiest person to track.
He is the reason I started this research, and also the ancestor of my master. My master not only supported my research for a long time but, with the same heart as me, wished for many Spirit Mages to also take an interest in non-elemental Spirits.」
The book was written in the common tongue, but dialect slipped in here and there, so I could tell where the writer was from.
Based on a specific dialect that kept popping up, it was highly likely the author was from Heidrike.
「And ahead of publishing this book, he made a very big decision, declaring that he would widely distribute the ‘Illusion Spirit Contract Formation,’ which we discovered together, to the whole world through this book, despite the fiery opposition of his family.
He is a truly virtuous person who hopes that through this, the skills of us Spirit Mages will broaden, that we will regain our former authority, and that we will abandon the gloomy disposition of not sharing knowledge as we do now. Everyone should rightly follow his example.
The Spirit Formation is included in the next volume, so I hope that future generations will now challenge themselves to contract with the only mental-type Spirit in this world.」
‘My goodness. What a benevolent person. If it were me, I’d keep it all to myself.’
For once, my love for humanity boiled over.
I was so moved that, for a moment, I didn’t question why I’d never heard of this book if it had been distributed worldwide.
「-in the next volume.」
“Fuck?”
I only came to my senses after that last sentence, and it felt like I’d been hit hard on the back of the head.
This is probably what it would feel like if Rovenin hit me on the back of the head.
I carefully reread the passage and saw it wasn’t included in the next chapter, but the next volume.
Damn it, I’d thought the book was thin. So it was a two-volume set.
“…Are you crazy, you bastard author!”
[Huh? Why, Master?]
“He seriously ended it here. He made it so you have no choice but to read the second volume!”
[Maybe he was afraid people would only read the first one?]
I was furious that he’d cut it off at the perfect moment, but I was an elegant person with intellect.
‘The important part is in the next volume. Calm down.’
“Huu… Old lady! Where’s the next volume?”
“There isn’t one.”
“…Why not?”
‘Give it back. My hope.’
“That’s a manuscript copy. The real one is in the Royal Palace.”
“The Royal… Palace?”
“That’s right.”
“The Heidrike Royal Palace you can see if you go to that plaza over there?”
“You guessed it. A precious book like this wouldn’t just be lying around anywhere. The original is in a secret vault in the Royal Palace library. I had the librarian make manuscript copies of books that seemed like they would be worth money… but I couldn’t get the second volume copied. The Royal Palace librarian got fired. As in, his head got cut off.”
“…From what I hear! Are you kidding me, you old hag! Then this is no different from stealing!”
The fact that the original was in the Royal Palace meant this was as good as a fake.
Since it was an illegal manuscript copy, the content was probably identical, but there was no way they had the author’s permission to copy it. It was a crime.
“Ahem. Even thievery takes effort!”
“Look here, old lady. You won’t get anything out of testing my temper, you know?”
“So it seems.”
“Should I create a sea of blood for you?”
“Using polite language doesn’t mean you’re being respectful. There’s another way to see the second volume, so how about you cool your temper a bit?”
“Oh my. You should’ve said so sooner.”
I’d revealed my bloodlust for nothing.
I changed my attitude and smiled brightly.
‘Right. I’ve bought things from the Black Market before. Let’s be generous and let this slide.’
“There are two ways, so choose whichever you prefer. There’s the method of stealing the second volume for you, which is quite expensive, and there’s the method of making a manuscript copy of the second volume, which is relatively cheaper but still expensive and takes much more time.”
“No. I said no to the manuscript copy…”
“Then shall I steal it for you? The first method is faster.”
‘What is this, a general store?’
Smuggling things out of the Royal Palace, and now brazenly offering to steal it. Was that really part of the business?
It had a very familiar smell.
Doing anything for money… it was exactly like the Information Guild.
My suspicions hardened for various reasons, but I didn’t try to confirm them. If it really was the Information Guild, it was better to pretend not to know and just use them.
“Old lady, you keep trying to make me a criminal. That book isn’t only in the Royal Palace, is it? If I look for where another copy is…”
“There’s only one set in the world.”
“This is so annoying!”
“The author died before the book was officially published. It would be more accurate to say he was murdered. All that’s left is the original copy in the Royal Palace’s collection.”
So that was why the book wasn’t known to the world.
If it had been officially published, there was no way I wouldn’t have known that a Contract Seal for summoning the Spirit of illusion existed.
The problem was that I could guess all too well why the author had been murdered.
There had to be more than a few people who wanted to monopolize the Illusion Spirit Formation.
“You were so confident you had everything…! If you’re stealing and selling other people’s things, of course you’d have everything!”
“If you don’t like stealing, there’s also the method of making a manuscript copy, you know?”
“…This old hag, really. I may kill people, but I don’t steal!”
“That’s strange.”
“Making a copy is stealing too! If copying someone else’s writing to sell and make money isn’t stealing, then what is!”
“Quite picky, aren’t you? If you don’t like either, how about this method? You go and see it yourself.”
I couldn’t deny I was intrigued, even through my anger.
“Myself…? How? Disguise myself as a lady-in-waiting and infiltrate? Something like that?”
“Only amateurs use such troublesome methods.”
The old woman walked past me and opened a small cabinet hidden under the wall where the orc head was mounted.
Inside were a bunch of rolled-up papers that looked like maps. She took out two and spread them on the table.
‘Unless I’m misreading this…’
“…This is insane. For real.”
“The latest edition of the Heidrike Royal Palace map.”
For security reasons, a commoner would be executed just for possessing this.
As expected, this general store was definitely connected to the Information Guild—or a similar illegal guild. And very deeply, at that.