“Actually it might be troubling if we were contracted and then relied on too much. We wouldn’t want our contractors becoming too familiar with us, either.” The Earth spirit folded her arms.
Spirits were basically personifications of natural elements. Since the olden days, people have revered mountains, worshiped the seas, feared foul winds, and thanked the earth for its bounty. That was why spirits were indispensable to the gods and went on to form the worlds they were assigned to.
“Well, putting you guys aside for a minute, Spirit magic should be usable by contracting with your dependents, right?”
“That’s right. Take one of mine, for example, a Salamander. If you formed a contract with one, then you’d be able to use Fire Spirit magic.”
The Fire Spirit shrugged as she ate a cookie. It seemed like the magic’s power depended entirely on the skill of the contractor.
Normal magic required you to have an aptitude in that particular element. The elements of fire, water, light, earth, wind, dark, and null. If you didn’t have an aptitude for one, you wouldn’t be able to use magic.
However, Spirit magic could actually be used by anyone that managed to contract for it. But there were also some prerequisites to being able to forge a contract, so I couldn’t exactly say if it was easier or not.
This probably sounded obvious, but someone with an aptitude for Water magic was more likely to get along with a water-related spirit. It wasn’t too hard to realize why the use of Spirit magic fell into decline over time, given that kind of preferential treatment.
If someone was capable of using Water magic and had to choose between using their own or asking a spirit to lend them their power to do something similar... It’s obvious that most people would just use their own Water spells.
But Spirit magic had its own perks. For example, no matter how big the scale of the spell, it had minimal impact on the caster’s own mana reserves.
That was pretty obvious, though. The one who actually used the magic was the spirit being summoned. All the summoner had to do was use enough magic to call the spirit.
So even a little child with a small amount of magic could potentially cast devastating spells by becoming friends with a more powerful spirit.
That was why it was important to manage the world’s understanding of spirits and their nature.
The pillar spirits all agreed that my proposal of spreading Spirit magic throughout the world again was fine. Obviously, the details of contracting would be up to the individual spirits. It’s not like they had to do anything they didn’t want to do. That’s what separated this from a mere summoning ritual. The spirits and the contractors were on equal footing.
Some of the rebellious spirits got angry at the idea, and declared that “We’ll never contract with anyone married, or anyone with a girlfriend! I’m not lending my power to any Chads, they have it good as it is!” Frankly, they were weirding me out, so I just let them stew in it. They had freedom of choice at the end of the day.
I didn’t really understand them, or why they were making paper masks with the word “Envy” written on them, but I just decided to leave it be.
“The main issue is most people can’t see spirits, I guess.”
“Once a spirit gets recognized, then we’ll always be visible. Fairies should be able to see us pretty easily, too. There are also humans out there with a rare birth condition that gives them spirit sight!”
The Wind Spirit had a point, the fairies would definitely be able to master Spirit magic pretty easily. They were practically pros at regular magic anyway.
I decided to go find Charlotte and talk to her about it. She knew the most about Spirit magic out of anyone that I knew.
◇ ◇ ◇
“...Wh-What was that?” I was in Belfast’s magical research division, talking to Charlotte. What I’d just asked her caused her to stare in disbelief and drop some of her papers on the floor.
“Like I said, would you like me to show you how to use Spirit magic?”
“H-Huh? What? P-Please slow down... Spirit magic? Touya... Er, Grand Duke... Are you telling me you can use it?”
“Yeah, look at this.” I called out a spirit from the wind family, Sylph. She was a tiny girl about the size of a pixie. I brought her out specifically so that Charlotte could easily get a grasp of what a spirit was like.
“Why is this happening?! Why can you use it all of a sudden?! I dedicated my life to studying it and... And you just show up and use it?!”
“...A-Ah... Sorry...” The genius woman in front of me immediately broke down like a child. It seemed my casual way of doing it was a little insensitive.
Charlotte’s assistants came over to calm her down. Her assistants seemed to be wearing copies of the translation glasses I’d given to Charlotte forever ago.
After a while, Charlotte stopped bawling and regained her composure. She started asking me questions while staring at the Sylph.
“It’s a spirit... A real one... You know, when I was a little girl I actually saw a spirit once. That’s why I wanted to research Spirit magic to begin with! I’m a little sad it’s through your power and not mine, but I’m really happy to see another after so long...”
That was interesting. I never knew why Charlotte had started her studying to begin with.
“I’ve made an agreement with the elemental pillar spirits, the ones that are far higher in rank than this little one. We’d like to spread Spirit magic across the world again. Would you help us, Charlotte?!”
“I’ll help! I’ll help! I’llhelpI’llhelpI’llhelp!!!”
Charlotte leaned in close and started flailing madly. Easy there, Charlotte! Your words are breaking apart.
The other researchers calmed her down again and I started to write the fundamentals of Spirit magic down on a nearby blackboard. I almost felt like a school teacher.
“So, there are pillar spirits, then specialized spirits under each of those, and then a tier below that are the dependents, creatures within an elemental family. Pillar spirits pretty much never make contracts with humans, so Spirit magic is usually achieved by contracting with a specialized spirit or an elemental dependent... I’ll call those ones lesser spirits. Anyway, you need to form a contract with a lesser spirit or a specialized spirit to use Spirit magic.” Charlotte and the others jotted down my words into their notebooks.
“The most important thing to remember when contracting with a spirit is that they are not summoned beasts. You are to stand on equal footing with them, and treat them that way. Ultimately, what’ll count when it comes to being a good contractor or not, is your capacity to see spirits as potential friends.” I was the celestial spirit king now, so I didn’t need to worry about forging any contracts individually, all spirits naturally obeyed me.
It would also be impossible to use Spirit magic against me, as no spirit would dare try to harm me.
...Well, I did have my doubts about that point. Those crying guys came to mind, for one. But it was better not to worry about it.
“Spirits typically cannot be noticed or seen, but they’re in the world around us. If you want to speak with spirits, then you need to be versed in spirit tongue. If you try speaking in that language, then they should reveal their form to you.”
“Oh! Is that the same as Ancient Spirit Script?”
“It’s similar, but not quite the same. Ancient Spirit Script was like a derivative language made in ancient times. The proper meaning of the words probably wouldn’t get through to the spirits if you tried speaking that language.” The pillar spirits and most of the specialized spirits did speak the common tongue, however.
I took out a book from [Storage]. The title was “True Spirit Tongue.” It was an instructional linguistic manual I’d made in Babylon’s workshop, with the help of a few spirits.
“If you read this, you should be able to have a conversation with a spirit. I’ll let you have it.”
“A-Are you sure that’s okay?”
“It’
s just fine. In exchange, I’d like you guys to make a public effort toward getting people friendly with spirits. It’s important that humanity and spiritkind get along, things are going to happen in the future that makes it a necessity.” When the worlds combined, the spirits would find their jobs stretched, and there’d be trouble. Natural disasters and ecological changes were highly likely to happen.
As the celestial spirit king, I’d granted some of my divine power to the spirits in order to strengthen them for the time being. But that wouldn’t last too long into the future, so the people of both worlds needed to form lasting bonds with the spirits in order to increase their power.
That’s what Karen told me, at least. It wouldn’t be super relevant for a while, but it was important to plant the seeds.
But if I was going to manage the new world that this place would eventually become, I had to get it handled.
Spirit magic definitely wasn’t used in the Reverse World, either. So it was likely that the art was completely lost over there, too.
There were surely spirits doing stuff over there as well, but their contact with humans seemed to be minimal. That’s why I decided to focus on cultivating the relationship in just this world for now.
“So, shall we test out whether you can form a contract? Charlotte, what magic schools did you have an aptitude for, again?”
“Um... I have five. Everything except dark and null.” Five was pretty impressive... Leen had six, and she was a fairy. Charlotte was clearly an exemplary human, it seemed she wasn’t the court magician for no reason.
“It’s your first time, so you’ll probably call on a Lesser Water or Wind Spirit. The spirits of the wind family are all naturally curious, and the water family is made up of gentle and calm spirits, so they’re the easiest to contract with.”
“Okay... I’ll try to call out a Lesser Water Spirit, then.” We went outside and walked toward the fountain in the courtyard.
Calling a spirit for the first time required the proper medium. In the case of a Lesser Water Spirit, all you really needed was a body of water.
Charlotte took out the book I’d given her and started reading out the passage about water summoning.
After she spoke, the water from the fountain stopped flowing, coming together in mid-air to take the form of a Lesser Water Spirit. She was an Undine. As small as the Sylph, except she had a mermaid tail instead of legs.
Charlotte was completely flustered at the sight, leading the Undine to just stare at her.
“Hey, don’t forget the contract.”
“A-A-Ah, yes! U-Uhm...!” Charlotte shakily flipped through the pages and began to awkwardly speak the spirit tongue.
If one were to translate it into common, it would be something along the lines of “Oh spirit, I’d love it if we could become closer. I would love to become your friend. Please take a chance on my humble self.” Or something like that.
Contracting with a spirit was more about what was felt than what was said, really. Even if Charlotte had said it fluently, if she didn’t mean it then her feelings wouldn’t impact the spirit at all. In a way that was similar to humans, you could typically tell when someone really meant something.
The Undine floated in the air for a little bit before swimming forward, smiling, and touching Charlotte’s hand.
She then swam through the air, completing a few laps around Charlotte before landing on top of her hand again and vanishing in a flash of light.
The flash gave way to a tiny blue crystal in Charlotte’s hand.
“Um... Grand Duke? What’s this?”
“Good work. You formed the contract, she likes you. This is a spiritual stone. It’s basically the proof of your contract. If you ever need her, hold the stone in your hand and call out for her.”
“O-Okay!” Charlotte closed her eyes and held the spiritual stone close to her bosom. As if reacting to the silent call, the Undine jumped out of the fountain and began to swim circles around Charlotte again.
“It’ll be tougher to call her out somewhere without much water because she needs a certain amount to manifest her form. But you should be able to manage so long as you have a cup’s worth or so. What she can do for you depends on how much your friendship progresses.”
“O-Okay! I’ll do my best!” Charlotte giggled as she played around with the Undine. Her research assistants then attempted their own contracts, calling forth another Undine and a Sylph.
“Those spiritual stones should be kept on hand, though. Don’t lose them. You can probably attach them to a ring or a pendant, just try not to damage the stones when you do that.” They weren’t really listening, they were just playing around happily with their spirits. I guess it was understandable, though. They’d basically fulfilled a lifelong dream.
“What’s all this, then?” The king of Belfast came out into the courtyard. Queen Yuel trailed behind him, carrying little Prince Yamato in her arms.
I told them that I’d taught Charlotte and the others how to use Spirit magic, prompting stares of disbelief. Then they just shook their heads, sighed, and said nothing about me could really surprise them at this point.
I had planned on giving out copies of the book to other countries as well.
Charlotte and the others left with their spirits, seemingly excited to go and play back in the lab. I was pleased for them.
“Wow... Yamato sure got bigger!” I looked over at the infant in Yuel’s arms, prompting his father to give a broad grin.
“That’s right, my boy! He’s a happy, healthy lad! Check out these photos I took earlier, here! Take a look!”
The king took out his smartphone and started cycling through an entire album of baby pictures. He... certainly seemed enthusiastic. I was almost getting Xenoahs Overlord vibes.
I could understand his excitement since he seemed like he’d always wanted a son, but I wondered if he planned on keeping photographic evidence of every day of Yamato’s life.
...I wonder if I’ll be that kind of dad. Hopefully, I learn from these old coots and don’t make the same mista— Hhgh...!
...What the... What was that feeling just now...? Did it come from the queen? No... It’s coming from Yamato?
I felt something strange emanating from the little prince, like a pulsing heartbeat. I asked if I could carry him for a moment. His magic power was fairly standard... He seemed healthy... But something about him felt wrong all of a sudden.
The cooing baby rolled around in my arms, happily playing. I decided to channel some of my divinity into my eyes and use my divine sight to see if that would help identify what was throwing me off. When I did... I saw something that made my blood run cold.
My entire body shook, and I handed the prince back to his mother.
“Something wrong, Touya? You look a little frazzled.”
“Huh? Oh... N-Nothing... I was just... Just a bit scared since I didn’t want to drop him.”
“Pfft, don’t be ridiculous my lad! How are you gonna cope when you and Yumina have a baby, eh? You better get used to it now before it bites you in the butt later!” The king laughed out loud, but I couldn’t force myself to join in. I was torn on whether or not to tell him what I had just discovered.
My divine sight had revealed something. A physical abnormality inside the prince’s heart. I... I couldn’t deny what I had seen. A Phrase Core.
Within that boy’s body was the entity that an entire species had been hunting. An entity that caused untold bloodshed across countless worlds. Prince Yamato was an unwitting host, being fed on by the Sovereign Phrase.
◇ ◇ ◇
“No way...”
I told Yumina and my other fiancees about the situation with Prince Yamato. I didn’t have enough courage to tell the king and queen of Belfast.
After she heard me out, Yumina simply slumped down on my bed. Her face was pale.
“...Is... Is there nothing we can do?”
“Well... We could do something. Since I used divinity to see it, I could
probably use [Apport] in my Apotheosis form to pull it out of him. It’s possible that might cause some internal bleeding, but if we had recovery magic ready immediately, he’d be okay... There’s just one problem.” The girls looked at me expectantly. This was a serious issue, so I decided to just say it.
“The moment I take that core out of Yamato’s body, an army of Phrase will likely emerge in the vicinity. At the very least, that’s what I expect. That’s why we’d have to do it somewhere where we could mitigate the damage... Like the ruins of Yulong.” The Sovereign was hiding itself using Prince Yamato’s heartbeat. If that cover was removed, then every Phrase across all reality would immediately be able to zero in on the Sovereign’s signature. They’d end up crashing against the world barrier, and would probably draw some mutants in for good measure.
“Can we not destroy the core the moment it is removed, can we not?”
“I doubt it could be destroyed so easily. And frankly, I want to avoid destroying it. That would cause us major trouble.” Ende would become our enemy if I did that. He wouldn’t ever forgive me for murdering the person he loved.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up killing Yumina and the others, one by one, to give me a taste of his grief. That’s what I’d do in his situation at least.
There was also that one female Dominant Construct, Ney. She was loyal to the Sovereign, so she’d definitely try to avenge her. Well, we were enemies to begin with so nothing much would actually change there.
“Then what do we do?! We can’t just keep the core inside Yamato!”
“Please calm down, Yumina. I have an idea... Look at this spell, first.” I reached out my hand and pointed it toward the table in my room. Then, I triggered a spell I’d learned from one of the books that Palerius had left behind.
“[Prison].”
A blue-hued white cube suddenly surrounded the table and began shrinking. It kept on reducing in size until it was around three centimeters in diameter.
“This is my Null spell, [Prison]. It can seal anything inside it regardless of whether it’s living or dead. It’s like a Space-time spell coupled with a sealing spell, basically. The power of this prison is also charged with my divinity, meaning that nothing could get in from the outside. Not unless it was a god at least. It also makes it the perfect safety bunker.” It was different from storage in that it still occupied physical space, and could trap living beings inside.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 14 Page 12
