Second Semester Classes (2)

Two weeks passed since the day I became partners with Agnes in the Spirit Affinity Lecture.

Before I knew it, this Communication with Spirits lecture I was taking with her was already its third session.

“Alright, everyone~! Today, we’re going to have a chance to meet spirits in a real-world setting~!”

“””Yes~!”””

Professor Erin Esilda, the female professor of Spiritology, guided the Academy students with an innocent expression, as if leading kindergarteners.

Perhaps because of her way of speaking, even some of the students taking the class seemed to match her atmosphere.

She probably looked like that, but her age was likely greater than most professors at this Academy. In the first place, she was also a half-breed of Pulling (Fairy Race) and human.

According to what I heard in Professor Erin’s class curriculum on the first day, the way to get grades in this class was simple.

For students who hadn’t yet contracted with a spirit, the goal was to somehow contract with a Low Spirit within the semester.

And for contractors who had already formed a spirit contract, the goal of this class was to increase their intimacy with their existing spirit.

Professor Erin’s subjectivity would be involved in judging whether their intimacy had increased or not.

Since she was half-fairy, she was a professor who could freely converse even with Low Spirits, so there would be no way to object to the grades.

‘In my case, it doesn’t matter anyway, since I can communicate with Sally.’

But, I haven’t even contracted with Sally, so how are my grades being measured?

Well, Professor Erin would figure it out. It wasn’t my place to set the grading criteria.

For reference, students who haven’t been able to contract with any spirit by the end of this semester will receive the lowest grade in this ‘Communication with Spirits’ lecture.

Well, the name of this subject itself is ‘Communication with Spirits,’ so it’s naturally an ‘out’ if they can’t find a spirit to communicate with.

“For now, since there are still students unfamiliar with the existence of spirits themselves, today we’ll start by getting used to the existence of spirits~!”

“””Yes~!”””

“Originally, spirits merely don’t show themselves often, but they are always by our side~! Inside the Academy, there are many people, so spirits aren’t easily seen, but in my secret garden, there are many spirits, so you can meet them directly, and we’ll take some time to learn how to talk to spirits~!”

“Professor-nim! If someone hasn’t yet made a spirit contract, can they contract with the spirit they meet?”

“It’s possible if the spirit wishes it~! But most of the spirits in my garden are mid-level spirits or higher, so it won’t be that easy~!”

Among the 30 students currently taking this class, those with the maximum mana capacity to contract with a mid-level spirit were at most four or five people.

Among them, most had already contracted with Low Spirits, so practically, only Agnes and I could contract with a mid-level spirit.

As I said before, since Sally and I weren’t in a contract relationship, it didn’t cause any hindrance at all in contracting with a new spirit.

Well, in the first place, my purpose wasn’t to contract with a new spirit, but to build even a little more intimacy with Sally, so I wasn’t even thinking about contracts.

“A mid-level spirit, theoretically, is enough. Rather than a Low Spirit with whom I can’t even communicate, it’s better to try this one, with whom I can communicate even a little…”

…The problem isn’t me, but that Agnes, who has a strong obsession with spirits.

Despite being ignored even by Low Spirits, seeing her babble nonsense about being able to contract with a mid-level spirit theoretically, it seemed Agnes this semester was going to face considerable difficulty just in making a spirit contract.

If it were just her struggling and ending it alone, I would also ignore whatever Agnes did and move on, but if that were the case, this damn professor wouldn’t have designated Agnes and me as partners.

A partner’s class achievement naturally enters the evaluation criteria.

And as it accounts for a significant 30% of the total grade, I couldn’t just let Agnes’s grades plummet.

Fortunately, giving Agnes a spirit before the first year ended wasn’t entirely impossible. It was just that I had never done it in the game before.

‘In the first place, when I captured Agnes, I didn’t even use the standard route.’

If you were determined to capture Agnes for the pure love ending, first, you’d enroll in the Magic Department, and in addition to that, after defeating Agnes in the first semester’s Final Evaluation Match, then truly bickering and entering a competitive dynamic was the most standard capture method I knew.

So probably, if it were Agnes’s faction, they would easily clear it, but unfortunately for me, throughout my past life and this life, this was practically the first time I had taken this lecture.

As I said before, I didn’t romantically like Agnes in my past life. The capture was also something I did on a whim, like, “Oh, a major affection event cleared by chance, might as well try capturing all heroines.”

‘Well, now it has become my fate to capture her even if I don’t want to.’

Since it had become something I had to do, I naturally had no intention of doing it carelessly. Anyway, since it had turned out this way, I had no choice but to definitely give her a spirit before the first year ended.

Even if I didn’t know how to capture Agnes, I knew how to capture spirits well. No matter how low Agnes’s charm was, if she just followed my instructions well, there was no way she couldn’t do it.

…Of course, I don’t know if this fellow, who started with a rather bad impression from the very first day, will listen to me well.

“Contracting with a spirit isn’t that difficult, Blaze-ssi.”

“…….”

“Without being impatient, just by calmly waiting for spirits, they will naturally follow.”

“…….”

“And it’s better not to have useless fantasies, like aiming for a mid-level spirit from the start. For Agnes, who has low spirit affinity, it’s just a waste of time anyway…”

“…Just blabbering and interfering, how annoying.”

“…Huh?”

“I’ll handle the spirit contract myself, so don’t you worry about it. It’s my business anyway, so you have no reason to interfere, do you?”

…Why wouldn’t there be a reason? Your grades affect my grades, you know.

Anyway, as if to prove she was a selfish bitch, she was filled to the bone with self-centered thoughts. And not knowing her own place was a given.

Just because she’s good at magic, she thinks she’s an all-around entertainer who can handle spirits well too.

It was fortunate that my patience was good. No matter how she treated me with such an unpleasant attitude, I had no intention of backing down easily either.

“So, even if you approach spirits with such impatience, they all know, you know. When contracting with a spirit, it’s important to empty your mind and approach calmly. If you openly display a desire to contract because you explicitly need them, like Blaze-ssi, spirits will naturally keep their distance.”

“Maybe for High Spirits, but up to mid-level spirits, it’s fine.”

“Even Low Spirits notice how humans approach them, what their intentions are. In the first place, I don’t know what Blaze-ssi’s basis is for saying it’s fine up to mid-level spirits. Spirits also have eyes, don’t they? Do you think they’ll just casually contract with Blaze-ssi without thinking?”

“…What do you mean?”

“It means spirits also have their own standards of beauty from their perspective. It’s not that you can easily contract with a spirit just because you have a lot of total mana. Of course, if the maximum mana capacity is high, communication becomes relatively smoother, making contracts easier, that’s true, but you have to solve the problems before that in the first place.”

“…….”

“From the spirits’ perspective right now, Blaze-ssi’s mana will feel like food that smells very foul. There might be spirits who, if they endure and take a bite, will find it delicious, but getting them to take that one bite isn’t easy. To at least make spirits feel curious, you need to fix that unsold stock-like attitude first…”

-Tadadak!

“Hey, wait a minute, Blaze-ssi! Where are you suddenly going?!”

She seemed to be listening to me quietly and concentrating for a moment, but this time, Agnes suddenly turned her head and walked away from me.

At her actions, whose principles I couldn’t grasp at all, just as I felt dumbfounded and was about to chase after her, this time, Sally suddenly started calling me urgently.

‘Lillith, Lillith! Look, look over there!!’

“What is it, Sally? I need to go make Agnes realize reality right now…”

‘I’m telling you, that’s not important right now! Just look over there~!!’

“What’s over there that’s so important?”

As if to prove she was a Flame Spirit, Sally called out to me, making all sorts of fuss like a blazing flame.

Unable to resist her insistence, I quietly shifted my gaze, and there, a type of spirit I had often seen in the game in my past life was moving.

A small girl wearing thin, translucent clothes was slowly floating in the air, as if entrusting her body to the flowing wind.

As soon as I saw that familiar appearance, I immediately recognized it as a Wind Spirit.

‘A Sylph? No, it must be a mid-level spirit, so is that a Sylphid?’

Usually, High Spirits of wind are called Sylphs, so I’m probably not wrong. To a spirit that didn’t seem to have an owner, there wouldn’t be a special proper noun name attached either.

Well, in the first place, besides that child, it was Professor Erin’s private garden where many spirits were already roaming, so it didn’t feel particularly special just because it was a Sylphid.

“Isn’t it just a Sylphid? Why are you suddenly making such a fuss….”

‘Contract with that, that child, Lillith!’

“…Huh?”

‘I just had a hunch! I felt destiny from that child!’

“Ah.”

‘Contract with her! Lillith! Quickly! Quicklyyyy!!’

…This crazy lolicon spirit bastard.