episode_0048

“Uh…? Kaela?”

When I looked towards the entrance of the lair, contrary to what I expected, it was not Rube but Kaela. When I saw a face that I rarely see unless we were eating together, I felt glad rather than skeptical.

“Eujin…….”

But that welcome feeling did not last long. This is because I felt anger and sadness in Kaela’s voice calling my name. She always maintains a calm and subdued tone of voice, but this was the first time she had shown her emotions so openly and clearly.

“Why, why are you like this, Kaela? What’s going on?”

“……Smell.”

“Huh? smell? What smell…?”

I stuck my nose into my forearm and smelled it, just in case. Of course, there was no noticeable smell.

“I smelled blood. The smell of Eugene’s blood.”

“Ah.”

At those words, I looked down at my hands. Not only was it a very small wound, but Sylph healed it quickly, so the hand was in very clean condition.

It wasn’t like he was bleeding, but he was sleeping in his room deep in the lair when he woke up to the smell of my blood.

“It’s no big deal. Because I was just slightly cut by a blade of grass.”

I quickly made an excuse because I felt like if I told the truth that Sylph had done that, I would see with my own eyes the disappearance of a spirit today. And although it was obvious, these lies had no effect on Kaela, the dragon.

“It’s you…?”

“Hi!”

Kaela, who found the real culprit very easily, approached us with a frightening force. If this happens, there is only one way to stop it.

“Whatcha!”

“…Eujin, what are you doing now?”

No special means were needed. I just tightly hugged Kaela’s body as she approached me step by step. The fact that they hugged each other tightly does not mean that they were trying hard to prevent movement, but rather that they hugged as is often done in other romantic relationships.

“What are you doing? It’s a hug.”

“……Why now?”

“Why can’t I do it?”

Is there anything that can’t be done? I can assure you, there is nothing I shouldn’t do to her in affection. Kaela told me how angry she was that she couldn’t do anything about the sylph right in front of her.

“Please try again later.”

“I guess it’s now or never.”

“…Are you covering that spirit?”

What I’m physically embracing right now is you, Kaela. Of course, I couldn’t let this kind of pun out loud. Instead of answering, I put my hand on the back of Kaela’s head and forced her face into my chest.

“…….”

Kaela suddenly became quiet. It was an embarrassing truth for me to say, but Arjen, regardless of his personality, had a tendency to be indifferent to my body odor. I was going crazy and jumping around because I didn’t know my own smell, but it was nice to use it when I could.

“Su─up! Phew….”

Sure enough, Kaela started taking deep breaths. It’s a dragon in name, but there’s no way it could suffocate just by holding it in my arms, so it’s probably just a process of sucking as much of my scent into its lungs as possible. Thanks to this, Kaela seemed to have calmed down a little and grumbled quietly.

“It’s lethal. If it comes out like this, I can’t do anything.”

As I looked at Kaela with an expressionless face and puffed out cheeks, I wondered if she could be this cute. Kaela was more of a predator who preyed on me sexually, so unlike Arjen or Luv, it was extremely rare for me to take the initiative to express affection.

Maybe that’s why my hugs seemed to work better. As I thought about it this way, I felt something pitiful. From now on, I will have to show more affection to Kaela. Of course, if you do that, you will have to withstand Kaela’s hand-to-hand attack, which has become even more powerful due to the aftereffects, so alcohol is a must.

“So…? What were you doing with that spirit?”

The fact that I asked that question means that I have no intention of harming the Sylph. I relaxed and answered.

“Ah. I went outside to get some fresh air for a moment, but the grass was shaking back and forth, so I checked and there was this kid.”

Even while I was blocking Kaela, the Sylph did not manage to run away and stayed where it was. Like the dryad I met last time, it seemed like the spirits didn’t value their lives.

“Ah… Hello? I knew there was a huge mana presence nearby, but it turned out to be a dragon.”

I can’t believe you can speak informally even if you know it’s a dragon. I think this is the first time except for me and the warrior. Well, I thought there was no need to show respect to her since she was closer to a natural phenomenon.

“If it’s the wind, it can just fly away like the wind. Does hanging out with Eugene mean that you’re aiming for a contract?”

Kaela understood Sylph’s intentions as easily as if she had been there from the beginning. It seems that Sylph intends to maintain the brave concept as is, but instead of being frightened by Kaela’s force just now, she answered confidently.

“Yes! I want to sign a contract with Eugene!”

It was nice to see his confident appearance, but it was unclear whether Kaela would also be viewed favorably. Considering her personality, there is a high probability that she will be rejected.

“…Eugene, what do you want to do?”

However, contrary to my expectations, Kaela asked my opinion.

“Me? I think I would like to do it if there is no problem…”

When can I make a contract with a spirit again in my life? It was natural to be excited about the possibility of becoming a spiritist. Although I am long past the age of maturity, whenever things like this happen, I realize that a man is a child his whole life.

“Then it doesn’t matter.”

Kaela’s permission was granted. On the contrary, I was bewildered by the simple permission given.

“Huh? Is that the end?”

“Yes. I always thought that Eugene needed at least one means of self-defense… It’s not just me, all of us.”

The “us” mentioned over there probably refers to all of Argen’s personalities. That meant that Arjen would also agree.

“Like the last time the meteorite fell, just one necklace is not enough. If you make a contract with the wind spirit, you will be able to avoid any crisis.”

I wondered how many times in my life I would experience an event like a meteorite impact, but I looked at the necklace around my neck. It blocked all external threats, but that was its only role.

“Wow! It’s a contract!”

The sylph was happy, dancing wildly. But I still had questions.

“But is a contract possible…? I can’t even recognize mana, let alone handle it.”

Judging by my novel Jjambap, making a contract with a spirit means using the spirit’s power in exchange for my mana. But as it happens, I am an ordinary Earthling. I didn’t even have the talent to notice the existence of mana.

“…That’s no problem. What is needed to make a contract with a spirit is not magical power, but affinity.”

It was new information. You don’t need magic power to make a contract with a spirit and use its power. Then, I additionally wondered whether my friendliness was enough to sign a contract.

As if she knew what I was thinking, Kaela answered one after another.

” Affinity is determined by how little it interferes with the spirit’s mana wave. All living things have their own wavelength of mana, regardless of the strength of their magic power, and a contract with a spirit can only be made if there is no interference with that wavelength.”

“Ma, mana wavelength? Interference?”

My mind became confused when a term I had never heard before popped up. Kaela knew it was difficult for me to understand and explained everything one by one.

To paraphrase what I understood, when every living creature draws its own curve on drawing paper, only those who draw a curve that does not overlap with the curve drawn by the spirit can make a contract with the spirit.

“Huh?”

And I, who have no mana at all, am curved and bare and cannot draw. In other words, my drawing paper is blank. Even if the spirits draw a line according to their own will, there is still a lot of space left.

“In other words, Eugene’s affinity for spirits is at a level that makes no sense. You can make a contract with any spirit.”

I realized that there was a reason why the sylphs in front of me, the dryads from last time, and other small creatures that seemed extremely wary at first glance were friendly to me.

“Hurray~! It’s a contract, a contract!”

After the first permission was given, I wondered why the sylph was so excited and happy without even listening to our conversation… From the spirit’s point of view, I was a blue-chip stock that could unconditionally make a contract and profit as long as permission was given.

“So, how do I sign a contract?”

“Just give me a name. That spirit will take care of the rest.”

After all, all wind spirits are called sylphs, but there had to be that level of differentiation among the spirits that made a contract. I chose a word that was reasonably related to wind within my knowledge and had a connotation that made it easy to call it by name.

“Sirocco. From now on, your name is Sirocco.”

“Sirocco… Yes! lol…! Take care, Eugene!”

The sylph, or Sirocco, smiled brightly at my words, spun around me and entered my body, but I felt no touch, as if he were a ghost.

“Oh……!”

Before even thinking about the discomfort of having Sirocco enter my body, I couldn’t help but marvel at the strange sensation I felt throughout my body. With the slight wind blowing around my body, I saw unidentifiable lights that had not been seen before glowing here and there in the scenery before my eyes. No, I was wondering if I could express this as ‘visible’.

It felt as if the visible light range had expanded and the perceivable world had expanded. Those colors naturally harmonized with the colors of nature and felt fluid, as if the air was flowing and becoming wind. As I stared at it, unable to keep my mouth shut, Kaela spoke quietly next to me.

“I can feel it. That’s mana.”

“Ah……”

“Welcome to our world.”