A New Helper

Last night felt like a dream.

Her responding to my one-sided request with a smile, and the time I spent taking a walk with her against the backdrop of the night garden, which was brighter than ever, was nothing short of a miracle to me.

But there’s no time to be lost in sentimentality.

As much as Sylvia-ssi trusts me and responds to me, I need to quickly find out what’s happening to her as a reward for that.

To do that, I made a contract with a familiar as soon as it was light to increase the means of getting information.

Familiars are a type of spirit that moves as the hands and feet of wizards, receiving magic power as a reward from them.

However, the difference from the spirits used by general spiritists is that only one familiar can be contracted per wizard.

“Come out.”

Jing.

Soon, a small magic circle appeared on the floor with my incantation, and a faint light spread out, but even after the light faded, nothing existed on it.

The summoning didn’t fail; it’s just the characteristic of the familiar I contracted.

The name of the familiar I contracted is Primo, and as the name taken from the ancient word meaning ‘to imitate’ suggests, it has the characteristic of transforming into various forms.

Whether it’s an object or a living thing.

“First of all… a sparrow would be good.”

Padeudeuk.

As soon as the words fell from my mouth, who had been contemplating for a while, the guy quickly turned into a small sparrow and vigorously flapped its wings.

Then, it raised one wing and made a gesture as if greeting me.

– Hello, Master! Please take care of me!

“…It can even talk?”

It greeted me in a very bubbly tone.

Even the voice sounds like that of a 13-year-old girl, so it feels like I have a non-existent immature younger sister.

By the way, the books shouldn’t have mentioned that Primo is an intelligent being capable of conversation. What’s going on?

Surprised by the unexpected situation, I made a dumbfounded expression, and the guy shook its body from side to side as if excited and added an explanation.

– Our intelligence is determined by the magic power of the contractor who summoned us. By the way, I was surprised too. I’ve never seen a contractor with such great magic power!

“Well, the more the merrier. By the way, is conversation or instruction possible even when we’re far apart?”

– Yeah, that’s right. In the first place, it’s a method of directly transmitting through the magic circuit connected to each other in the head. Isn’t it convenient? Aren’t I capable? I’m on a different level from those mid-level spirits!

…Isn’t this guy also a type of spirit?

It’s not like some kind of self-hatred, but I feel strange seeing it suddenly putting down mid-level spirits.

Of course, I agree that the level is different.

Up to mid-level spirits generally have no intelligence and only act according to the spiritist’s instructions.

In that sense, it might have been a good choice.

– So, Master, what do you want to ask me to do?

“Information gathering. I’d appreciate it if you could go to a place called Kaintreche Castle in the Eleanor family.”

– Kaintreche Castle?

“I’ll tell you the location. Anyway, there will be a skinny man with this face there. Investigate him mainly.”

– Wow, he’s a really annoying-looking uncle. Anyway, I got it!

I don’t know if spirits have an aesthetic sense, but the guy, who showed a disgusted reaction while looking at Creed Eleanor’s portrait, shook its wings and stood on the window frame.

“And if there’s any mention of the Eye of Dawn, Magic Eye, Sylvia Eleanor, let me know immediately without delay.”

– I’ve heard of the Eye of Dawn and the Magic Eye. More than that, the last one is… a woman’s name? Is she Master’s girlfriend?

Seeing the guy raising the string part of its wing, as if wanting to express a pinky finger, and opening its mouth in a lewd tone, my head throbbed involuntarily.

In many ways, it seems to be a good familiar in terms of ability, but its personality doesn’t suit me at all.

I want to terminate the contract right away, but unfortunately, a contract with a familiar is not something that can be easily broken and reattached.

“Stop talking nonsense and just go. I’m busy.”

– Tsk, would it hurt to accept a joke? You’re a stiff master.

Padeudeuk! Padeudeuk!

As I waved my hand as if getting rid of something annoying and issued an expulsion order, the guy clicked its tongue and quickly flapped its wings and flew high into the sky.

I sighed while looking at its back and was about to close the window.

Knock knock.

– Layard-gongja, are you inside? May I come in for a moment?

“Gongnyeo? Yes, you may come in.”

Sylvia-ssi’s voice was heard from outside along with the knocking sound.

As soon as my permission was given, the door opened, and Sylvia-ssi, who appeared from beyond, was looking at me with somewhat mysterious eyes.

“I think you were talking to someone a little while ago… Who was it?”

“Yes? Talking…? There was no one here.”

I was taken aback by her actions, asking with eyes like a wife looking at her cheating husband, and belatedly regretted not having deployed a soundproofing barrier.

But even if my voice was heard, when Primo conveyed words to me, it would have been directly transmitted to my head like 염화 (yeomhwa) magic, so she wouldn’t have been able to hear Primo’s voice.

Therefore, there was enough room to escape, so I strongly denied it.

Nevertheless, Sylvia-ssi still looked at me with eyes that didn’t trust me at all and took a step into the room.

I could even feel a strange murderous intent in her eyes, which were scanning the room with the eyes of a hawk, so I had to swallow hard without realizing it.

Somehow, it’s more nerve-wracking than when I was facing Duke Esfelt.

“Is that so? But I definitely heard you saying something. It was quite loud to be muttering to yourself.”

“I have a habit of speaking particularly loudly when I mutter to myself.”

“Hmm… Huh?”

She made a humming sound at my lame excuse and was exploring the surroundings when she suddenly bent down, as if she had found something.

There was a light brown feather lying right below the window.

Ah, did Primo drop it when it left the room?

“Did a sparrow come into the room?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right. I opened the door to ventilate for a while, and suddenly…”

“…Aha.”

Even I thought it was a terribly poor answer, but Sylvia-ssi, who heard those words, widened her eyes and finally made an expression as if she had figured something out.

Then, she came to me and gave me a playful smile.

Every time I saw that smile, nothing good ever happened, so just as a sense of unease was about to overwhelm me as a spinal reflex.

“Hehe, Layard-gongja also has a cute side. I never thought you would be talking so affectionately with a sparrow…”

“…Yes?”

“If it was to that extent, you could have told me honestly. I was so surprised, thinking you had secretly brought in a strange woman.”

I was stunned by Sylvia-ssi’s words and couldn’t say anything.

It seems that she is under the serious delusion that I am the owner of a pure soul who can talk affectionately with a sparrow that suddenly came in through the window.

No, more than that, doesn’t Sylvia-ssi herself also fall under the category of a strange woman?

Of course, it might not be a wrong expression since we are ostensibly dating, but somehow, the sense of incongruity is considerable.

Anyway, it seems fortunate that there will be no more suspicion.

By the way, why did Sylvia-ssi come all the way to my room?

The guest room where she’s staying should be quite far from here.

“By the way, Eleanor-gongnyeo, what brings you to my room?”

“Yes? Ah, that, that is…”

“……?”

I simply asked what she needed, but Sylvia-ssi seemed quite embarrassed, so my head tilted to the side involuntarily.

Looking closely, her face also seems to be strangely red.

Is she feeling unwell and thinking of asking me to call a doctor?

If that’s the case, she could have told a servant.

“T-to be honest, I wanted to take a look around the county for a while. I was wondering if Layard-gongja could go with me…”

“…Ah.”

As I was repeatedly questioning, I felt like I had been hit in the head by Sylvia-ssi’s words, which she spat out while fidgeting with her hands.

Seriously, you stupid bastard.

No matter how much it was for Sylvia-ssi’s sake, if you let her stay at someone else’s house without permission, shouldn’t you at least have the consideration to match that?

That’s the minimum duty to do as a human being, regardless of whether you’re acting as indifferent as possible or not.

She must have been cooped up alone in someone else’s family’s castle all day, so I can’t even imagine how bored and lonely she must have been.

“Of course, I can. I’ll get dressed and come out right away, so I’m sorry, but please wait a moment, gongnyeo.”

“Really…!? Thank you, Layard-gongja.”

“No, it’s just something I should naturally do for a guest.”

As I said that while bowing my head, Sylvia-ssi pouted her lips with an expression as if she was sulking about something.

“Guest… Hmph. Well, I guess I’m a guest.”

Today, as always, I couldn’t figure out why Sylvia-ssi was suddenly sulking.

＊＊＊

Meanwhile, Primo, who received instructions from Kyle, had somehow transformed into the form of an eagle and was flapping its large wings, arriving at Kaintreche Castle as he had told it.

It’s impossible to sneak inside with this large body, so it transformed back into a sparrow like the first appearance it showed in front of Kyle and diligently shook its small wings, descending downwards.

There happened to be an open window, so it wasn’t too difficult to enter.

“Huh? This guy…!”

However, since there happened to be a person inside, he shook his arms diligently to chase away the sparrow that had suddenly entered, but Primo stubbornly roamed around the room and escaped leisurely.

While doing so, he checked the face of the person who was trying to chase him away, and his eyes widened at that moment.

Because the slightly annoying and skinny-looking man that Kyle had shown through the portrait was standing there.

Seureuk.

“Leave it. More than that, I would like to ask for a detailed explanation as to why Sylvia Eleanor is not in the castle.”

And soon after, a figure in a navy blue robe appeared and stopped Creed’s actions, opening his mouth in a scolding tone, Creed hurriedly approached the window, closed the open window, and bowed his head in front of him.

“I-I’m sorry…! For some reason, she says she’ll be staying there for the time being…”

“Isn’t it your job to make that possible?”

“Y-You are absolutely right.”

At least from Primo’s point of view, the man named Creed also felt like a person of considerable high rank, but it felt very strange to see such a man bowing his head and trembling.

Then how great of an existence is the person hidden in that robe?

“You know the importance of this matter, right? Creed Eleanor.”

“Of course. As much as it is a great undertaking that may take a while, it is also something that should not be delayed even for a moment…!”

“I’m glad you know. Then I trust that I can expect good news when I visit next time.”

“Yes, I’m sorry for making you come such a long way.”

Seureuk.

After only conversations that Primo could not understand at all, the figure in the robe disappeared.

Primo, who was watching this closely, quickly transformed into a small bug when Creed’s gaze was briefly directed elsewhere and left the room through a very small gap in the door.

Although there was no word Eye of Dawn, two of the three most important words that Kyle mentioned were heard, so it was to quickly inform him of this.