The Republic of Ur-Gracia. It was far different from the nations that ringed the forest of Jura.
The Western nations had no influence on it, and neither did the Silverion empire.
It didn't even border Jura and had only a scant few connections to the Western nations. Trade, for the most part, was with the Sorcerous Dynasty of Thalion.
It was situated on the southern coast of the continent, all but forgotten, but it was a peaceful, democratic nation, one that received the blessings and
protection of the elemental spirits.
There were no restrictions on entering or leaving, but crime was not exactly an issue.
The reason? Simple: Every native of Ur-Gracia was a shaman or shamaness, capable of using spirit magic.
This involved providing some of your magicules in exchange for borrowing the power of the spirits to do things.
Such elemental magic required no casting time; forge a pact with a spirit, and anyone could pull it off.
If one was also capable of manipulating the "natural energy," then they would also be able to use spirit magic.
That pact, however, required earning the trust of a spirit, and the one you chose could affect the power of the resulting magic.
Humans didn't have a lot of magicules by default, so without training, your average person couldn't wield a whole lot of
force.
Still, even if it was only a bit more powerful than household magic, it was still magic, and it'd be enough to protect you from criminal activity, I suppose.
Ur-Gracia was a nation the spirits seemed to love a lot. As a result, legal custom called for a pact-themed ceremony held for everyone at the end of their
tenth year of age.
This ceremony, once completed, qualified you as a citizen of
the country and was also the reason why literally everyone was a shaman.
Anyone who failed to forge a pact with a spirit was exiled from the nation at the age of twenty, losing all rights as a citizen—but with all the many spirits out there, it was rare to be completely unable to find one to partner with.
Just like how the Jura Forest was rich with magicules, the Ur-Gracia nation was also filled with spirit energy.
The place was super rich with natural energy that spirit magic would be a real threat when used there.
It almost seemed like a town of ghosts.
Elemental spirits tended to dislike people with evil intent, so if you committed a crime in Ur-Gracia, it'd get spotted almost immediately.
That was why the people around here were all pretty chill.
Having an entire nation of shamans naturally made it a threat to its neighbors.
It was not widely known to the Western Nations, but its next-door neighbors in Thalion were well aware of them.
That was why they had formal, equal diplomatic relations, despite Thalion being much larger and masters of its own brand of spirit magic.
Thanks to the disposition of most Ur-Gracians, relations were friendly and trustworthy between the two, allowing them both
to advance their civilizations and grow.
It was said there were two places to forge pacts with spirits. One was the altar in the main square, where local citizens performed
their pact rituals.
No high-level elementals had ever been found there. If you wanted to forge a pact with one of those, you needed to go to the other place.
These spirits often had, shall we say, characters; they would never accept you unless you passed a certain trial of their liking.
Such pacts could only be forged in a place called the Dwelling of the Spirits.
That was Ramires' domain. Well, I can see quite the influence she has on them.
As we made our way to Ramires' main location, it occurred to me:
Good thing my brain's got a map function.
It looked like a single path, but it was packed with traps designed to throw off your sense of direction.
Try to go back, and the light would adjust itself to hide
your previous path in the shadows.
Even going forward, a path that looked completely plain would be hiding branching paths at the outer edge of the light.
Yep. It sure was a labyrinth, one a regular human's directional skills would never work inside.
You might not even be able to go back, for that matter. Pretty scary setup she's got here.
Just then, the question flowed naturally:
Sariel: 「Uhh, Ramires. Is that you?」
Ramires: 「What do you mean "is that me?" Of course it is I, the great…!! *yada* *yada*」
Right, it is her. For a moment, I thought it was a different person.
But you can't blame me. The formerly elegant and graceful woman was now reduced to… this.
How the hell does that even happen!?!
Her chest was "this" big the last time I saw her, but now, she's as flat as my computer disc.
What the hell happened?
Surely Veldanava planned it all.
Sariel: 「I'm not going to question your appearance, but I have something to do. Let's get to it.」
Ramires: 「Hey! You were clearly thinking of something rude!!」
It's not like you'll ever know the exact thought, though.
Sariel: 「Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get on with it.」
I said as I went forward to introduce ourselves.
Sariel: 「I know it's hard to believe, but meet Ramires, the spirit queen.」
Ramires: 「Oi! What do you mean by that!?」
Aika: 「Wow. It sure is cute. Can I touch it?」
Ouch. That must hurt.
Ramires: 「H-How.... how dare you! Moron!! Idiot!! Fool!! *Mhrph* *Mhrph*」
She began to muffle incoherently as I covered her mouth.
Sariel: 「GET. ON. WITH. IT.」
I said in a threatening tone. She seemed to shudder upon hearing me.
Well, I was kinda annoyed with all her whining. Anyone would be.
She used to be so elegant. Why does my image of several elegant women keep getting destroyed?
The introductions were completed, and all we needed to do was to get on with my mission for today.
We changed locations to the Dwelling of the Spirits, located in the deepest part of the labyrinth.
No matter how this turned out, my mind was set on getting the high-level spirits.
We had Ramiris on our side, and for all her weirdness, she
was still the ex–Spirit Queen.
She was quite a far cry from the stately noblewoman Treyni described her as, but I was sure it'd all work out. Probably.
It turned out Ramiris knew about Treyni because the fairy's mind was passed down with every incarnation of her body.
Ramires: 「Oh, she's still doing good?」she asked.
She theorized that when she was demoted to fairy, Treyni was impacted by the fallout and became a dryad.
It sounded like a true enough story to me.
As a fairy, Ramiris gave birth to a replicated version of herself whenever her rising magical force reached its limit.
This was a new Ramiris of sorts, one who retained all the thoughts of the previous one.
Apparently, through this process,
the grown children could retain more magic force than their parents—but until fully matured, the child was actually weaker.
This made her the only demon lord with a family tree, one filled with a constant cycle of evolution and retrogression.
There was no need for this generational nonsense in the past, but post-demotion, she wound up reborn as a fairy, which (as she whined about in great lengths) was not as useful a body to work with.
Ramiris was still a child at the moment, which was part of why I was not so enthusiastic about entrusting her with this much… but it's better than nothing.
We reached our destination as we talked this over. On the other side of the door was a large, seemingly empty chamber.
This was the Oracle Chamber,
connected directly to the dwelling itself.
A corridor of light extended from it, about three feet wide and sixty or so feet long.
At the far end of this was a
round platform, around fifteen feet in diameter.
I don't know what it was made
of, but it appeared to be floating in thin air.
Sariel: 「All right, so listen up, kiddos!!—I want you to climb up that platform and call for me them spirits!」
Akane: 「What's with you?」
I'm in the manga spirit!!
Nagisa: 「What should we say exactly?」
I just wanted to get each of them spirits with respect to their affinities.
Sariel: 「Well, it depends on you. What do you desire with this boost? Power? Wealth? Fame? Bitches? Name it!!」
By now, it should be well known that Akihiko is highly compatible with the fire element.
As for Aika, she was always a mystery to behold. I had no solid idea on her affinity towards the elements.
I did have a guess, though, but a guess would not be counted as solid proof.
Back to it, Nagisa should be well acquainted with the light element.
It's no big surprise, really.
And for Akane, well, she does have the dark and space element to deal with.
No big shocker there. She has displayed excellent mastery over space before. What I'm curious about is the dark element.
It was rare to see someone deal with this element.
Most would be the lesser elements like water, wind, earth, and space
Today, I will be seeing what would unfold from this random summoning, so I was ready to be patient.
We had already discussed the process, so all that needed to be done was to go ahead with it.
Sariel: 「Alright, who's going first.」
Nagisa: 「I don't mind going first.」
She said with a confident expression. The hell is with the smug face!?!
Weren't they supposed to be—like nervous?
———As she proceeded to the platform, I watched from behind.
Aika: 「Are you sure she would be alright? She always messes up things like these.
I'll not be shocked if she were to slip and fall down that steep bottom.」
Nagisa: 「*Gasp* The audacity! An elegant fruit like I would never...… Well shit...」
Just as Aika said, she slipped. How impressive. "A grown-up woman should never fall so easily."
She even did it like a bet was placed on the odds of it. Wow.
Ignoring my humorous thoughts–
Kalisha: 「....」
——I swooped in to catch her just in the nick of time, unfurling my demonic wings to fly at speed easily dwarfing that of sound.
Reaching her in time, I was able to secure her in a princess carry.
「It was completely unnecessary.」
What do you mean?
「It would have been simpler and more efficient to just grab her hand.」
Eh? Nothing's wrong with this, too. Why the sudden reprehension?
「Nothing in particular…」
Suspicious. It's not like I can do jackshit about it.
She seemed to be blushing slightly from the suddenness of it all.
I would personally like to think of it as my rizz aura doing its wonders, but that has never worked with me, so I'll annihilate that amazing thought.
Akane: 「Tch. Sly bastard.」
Nagisa: 「Hehehe~ I'm in wonderland.」
Sariel: 「Umm, right…」
I didn't want to ruin the weird fantasy she built up, so I just remained silent and placed her back on the path to the platform.
Sariel: 「Let me hold onto you just in case.」
Nagisa: 「Why bother asking? Let's go!」
Aika: 「*Gasp* She did it. How bold, how sly, how–」
Akihiko: 「Shut your mouths already! You guys are all weird! I hate this!」
Aika: 「Ah, sorry...」
What's with the gang today? They all seem caffeinated. Caffeine?
Meh. It's all beyond me.
As I held her hand, we made our way to the end of the path.
Nagisa: : 「It will work, though, right?」
Sariel: 「Ha! Who are you? Were you not the cocky brat of a moment ago?」
Nagisa: 「Hehe. So right!」
She regained her usual composure and got in position.
The path was narrow, and although I wouldn't mind them going together to wrap it all up in a nutshell, it was still a dangerous idea looking at Nagisa's clumsiness.
It was best to bring them one at a time.
We were at the disc-shaped platform now. It felt very much like we were floating in space.
I set a foot out to walk forward but hurriedly stopped.
I couldn't see any floor in front of me, but 『Universal Perception』told me one was there.
Was this transparent glass? Some kind of acrylic?
I walked forward first to test this principle out, and unsurprisingly, there was a platform.
Nagisa seemed surprised but still followed my lead.
Honestly, their loyalty was scary. She didn't even hesitate.
She went into a kneeling posture and began praying.
It was a gesture that seemed to look like her offering what tribute she could to the gods.
As for me, I just crossed my arms like the chill guy I was and watched it all unfold.
A little time passed. Eventually, little particles of light began to float down from the heavens, like a light snow.
I couldn't feel any sense of strength or will from it. Nagisa noticed this but continued praying.
That just showed how resilient she was.
Her prayer had been answered not by a high-level spirit but by low-level ones with no sense of self.
Fragments of natural energy. Sort of like magicules, but not really.
If you piled enough of these together, would they gain free will and become a high-level spirit?
Or even if they didn't will it, they might still spread out, form
into a whole again, and turn into some kind of spirit.
Despite the small spirits in the air, we saw no further changes.
It seemed no high-level creature was there to answer Nagisa's call.
I knew this wasn't going to be easy. There was no guarantee that a great spirit was even present, no matter how much you begged for one.
So we'd just create a new one! If these small spirits were pieces from a bigger one that Nagisa had snipped off for herself, then gathering them together should
make it evolve into a full spirit, right?
「Question. Would you like to use 『Soul Lord』 to consume these and combine a spirit? [YES]/[NO]?」
Well, this was definitely a yes.
Sariel: 「Keep praying, Nagisa.」
I wasted no time consuming the spirits.
Ramires: 「Wh-whoa! What're you doing up there?! Oi Sariel!」
Sariel: 「Just shut up and watch me. I've got an idea.」
Keeping my mind tranquil, I used the Ultimate Skill 『Raziel』.
She accepted my demand and began calculating the numbers at high speed, instantly providing the best response and beginning the synthesis.
「Report. I have completed synthesizing a high-level spirit.
Its element is light as calculated.
Analyzing Kalisha's self-will data and creating an auxiliary
pseudo-personality... Successful…
Continuing… Would you like to synthesize the pseudo-high-level spirit (light) with Nagisa Tomoki? [YES]/[NO]?」
How classic. Yes!
With the response given, the operation was on the brink of completion.
I placed a hand on Nagisa's head, and the pseudo-high-level spirit (light) Raziel-san had created safely merged with her, beginning to serve its purpose.
I ran Analyze and Assess
on her, hopes high. The process was complete, and there was no otherwise.
Sariel: 「It worked!」
I was overjoyed to witness this success. During my rapture, I imagined giving Raziel-san a fist bump.
It's not like it was possible. I just randomly thought of it. I'm sure she was satisfied with that.
Nagisa: 「I can feel it. The spirit. Thank you, Sariel-sama.」
Hmm, your thanks is well received.
Sariel: 「Alright. Next.」
The next to come up were Akihiko and Aika.
Ahihiko: 「Hmph! I am confident in my ability to summon a greater fire elemental! Watch me!」
Nagisa: 「Yeah, right. You know, I wouldn't laugh if you were to summon a squirrel. So don't hesitate, okay?」
Akihiko: 「W-Wah!?! Nonsense! You think so little of me!? I'll show you! "With this treasure of mine, I summon–"」
Before he completed his words, a huge gathering of natural energy occurred.
Sariel: 「W-Wow. It actually worked. That reference… it transcends time and space!!」
Aika: 「....」
Just as I was deep in my own fantasy world, another big amount of natural energy was formed.
It was a greater spirit of wind.
Sariel: 「You… You used it too, right?!」
Aika: 「U-Uhh, no. I only–」
Sariel: 「Shut it! I understand… Ultimate techniques must always be kept a secret. You are a true otaku. I give you my acknowledgment. Be proud!」
Aika: 「...…」
I was thoroughly convinced at this point, and nothing could change my mind now.
On their own volition, they proceeded to accept the respective summoners as their contractors.
Sariel: 「It just keeps getting better. Well, after this, we'll head to my second goal.」
Ramires: 「Eh? What's this about now?」
Sariel: 「Nothing you should worry your pretty mind about.」
She looked at me with an annoyed expression. Well, I can proudly say that I'm quite good at pissing the hell out of almost anybody.
It has been my quirk since the beginning, you know?
As I turned to look at Akane, she looked at me with a complicated gaze. What was that about?
Sariel: 「Come in, now. Don't tell me you're scared.」
Akane: 「Such taunts hardly work on me.」
Sariel: 「I know. Which is why I'm confident that you'll do just fine.」
Akane: 「!!!」
She seemed surprised at my comeback. Well, I haven't learned how to be a smooth talker recently, and I'll abuse that authority however I want! Kukuku~
Akane: 「*Sigh* Fine...」
She walked over to the platform with an exhausted expression.
I held onto her shoulder as she preferred to stand.
Sariel: 「Hm?」
Akane: 「I bow to no one but you, Sariel-sama.」
Sariel: 「Yeah. Figured. *Sigh*」
Now I was the exhausted one.
A moment later, a large mass of natural energy was conjured, and a dark glow seeped through space erratically like how spiritrons did.
When the energy released by this spirit converged to form a whole, the figure was clear.
Sariel: 「Eh?」
It was an expected yet surprising outcome indeed.
As deduced from her affinity, she summoned a greater dark spirit.
It even seemed to possess a good enough level of sentience.
Ramires: 「Wow. This is definitely a first in my diary! Awesome.」
Aika: 「Well, she's always that awesome.」
Akihiko: 「Umu. Let's see what she has in store for us.」
Such were the discussions I heard.
It seems I wasn't the only surprised one. This was just as rare as me summoning Kalisha.
Kalisha: 「Hmph!」
I know you're upset, but that can always happen later.
Sariel: 「You seem quite intelligent. Do you have any specific intentions?」
「No, Sariel-sama. I wish to simply we remain by that one's side to witness the happenings of this world.」
Sariel: 「So you won't tell me your exact scheme. Well, fine. "Keep your secrets." But just so you know–」
As I spoke, I unleashed a portion of 『Demon Lord's Haki』.
That alone was enough to overwhelm all the natural energy that initially freely roamed this dimension.
The spiritual pressure was extremely overwhelming, even I felt the pressure.
Sariel: 「——If you try anything funny, I'll make sure you regret being alive.」
And there were the totally normal business threats and blackmails thrown around.
I simply wanted this spirit to know that anything against me is anything against their existence.
I've had enough with unhealthy problems. I now needed to make up for it all with the little I could do.
The spirit, who felt the full force of my Haki, was instantly traumatized.
It's not like it had a will strong enough to oppose; it easily warped under my influence.
With a frantic nod, it quickly fled for Akane's body.
As the assimilation was completed, my job was half-done.
Ramires: 「That was so cool! Those high-ranking spirit elements always act so cocky, but see how you turned 'em into one of those will-deprived puppets!」
She went on like that until I had interrupted her. She seemed so happy to finally see the ever-so-prideful spirits fall from grace.
Could it be a trait of fallen? I hope not.
Sariel: 「Well, all I need now is your blessings upon them.」
She looked confusedly at me until the meaning of my words stuck.
Ramires: 「Eh!?! What are you cooking!?」
Sariel: 「Tofu.」
Ramires: 「No you dum dum. What are you planning!?!」
This little…
Sariel: 「It doesn't need your attention cockroach!」
Ramires: 「Cockroach!?! Ha! Kiss your blessings goodbye!!」
Sariel: 「Kiss your monthly food delivery goodbye, too!」
Ramires: 「Awawawawa!!! Sorry!! I'll give it to you! The blessing! Yes! It's all you want, right!?! I'll give it to you, so please don't stop bringing me delicious foods, okay!?!」
Heh. Sariel, for the win. I'm so evil, hehehe~
Nagisa: 「Damn, so efficient...」
Akane: 「A lost argument. That fairy embarked on a foolish adventure.」
They were murmuring things like this behind my back, but I wasn't interested in that.
Sariel: 「Alright you guys, get over here.」
They walked over to us, seizing their banter.
When they approached me, they all knelt down in unison, waiting for what was gonna happen next.
Ramires: 「Ot has been long since I did this, so don't blame my rustiness. Alright, let's get it over with.」
Saying that, she outstretched her tiny arms, circulating a foreign energy.
She murmured silently, the exact meaning obscure to me.
It was like a chant of the sort. I didn't know whether that was necessary and all, but she did it either way.
As she ended the chanting, the foreign glow split into four, shining as bright as the formerly whole form.
The bright lights settled on top of each of their heads, illuminating their beautiful features.
She placed her two hands on top of the foreign energy, letting it seep into their beings.
The same was done with the other two. This act alone concluded the blessing ceremony.
She flew back beside me and wiped an imaginary sweat off her face.
Ramires: 「That was tiring. You better make me some good food the ext time you visit!」
I nodded resignedly. She earned it.
Sariel: 「Well, my job is done. I guess we'll meet next time.」
I turned to look back at the flur behind me, performing analysis on them to specify any significant change. But there was none.
The only thing different about this was their blessing.
They now had blessings from two of us, a very generous gift, in my opinion.
Sariel: 「Alright. Thanks for everything, Ramires! Goodbye!」
She waved at me whilst shouting about the specific type of food she wanted me to bring.
I sighed at her childishness and couldn't help but compare it to the once elegant milf.
How disappointing...