“I have no intention of misusing it…”
“…I know that, but your power is quite strong… until now, you didn’t have any highly aggressive power, but now that magic is added…”
“I talked about lightning, but by simply knowing a small part of the principles, would I not be able to realize it?”
“No, if you know that much, you can do it… if you consume a lot of magical power, that is.”
Hearing Merdechalan’s words, Kuuga tilted his head and went “hn?“. Consuming a large amount of magical power… he’d heard that from somewhere before.
“…ahh, the fire arrow.”
When he recalled the matter when Uros said, “it consumes a lot of magical power”, Merdechalan nodded to it.
“A typical example… that kind of magic consumes extra magical power… it’s because the caster didn’t give proper instructions.”
“Do I still need to give instructions?”
“The spirit of fire could convert magical power to create fire, change the shape of fire, move fire, or heat up things… that’s about all you could do without saying any instructions.”
From a human perspective, that alone was amazing. For the spirit of fire, it might be as easy as moving its limbs to create and manipulate fire.
“But that kind of magic… can also stab.”
“…speaking of which, it seems like Gadi said that it could also stab someone for some reason.”
“That meant the flame had solidified into the shape of an arrow and could inflict wounds in that shape. Moreover, it could keep that shape and burn the things around it.”
“That’s strange. It’s strange to convert magical power into fire in the first place… I suppose I shouldn’t say it like that…”
Fire should be a phenomenon caused by combustion… he thought so and abandoned that theory when considering the spirit of fire.
“In other words, it’s impossible for the spirit of fire to manipulate fire into an object that could pierce another object. You have to tell the exact process on how to make it first. Perhaps the spirit of fire would be influenced by the word arrow written in the formation or the caster’s intention that the flame should move in that shape while also being able to stab.”
“Hmm.”
“When you ask that to the spirit of fire, it’d ask the world.”
“Haa?”
“It’s like forcibly creating a phenomenon in the world. For “those kinds of things”, the price would be to give a lot of magical power to the world.”
“Can the world do that?”
“You can do it. For the world is a part of you.”
He felt like the term “world” had changed meaning, so Kuuga rubbed between his brow with his fingers. Just what is that world?
“Ah-… that, what… so, does that mean the spirits wouldn’t refuse me even if I asked for the impossible…”
“You can do it. You’re a hard worker.”
The Merdechalan, who seemed to think that him asking the spirits for that was cute, was the person who made all this possible… Kuuga thought.
“If so, make the fire into an arrow shape and shoot it. If it hits the target, burn it… if I gave instructions like this, will they take extra magical power?”
“Well, that should be fine.”
“…is this something I could tell Gadi?”
“It’s not a secret. It’s just that humans haven’t realized it yet.”
“I-I see…”
Kuuga nodded, thinking that he had a good souvenir story. The attack power might be reduced but it’d become a popular theory, so it shouldn’t be a waste.
“Well, we derailed again, but I’ll continue. By the way, we finished the contract during the idle talk just now.”
‘Eh?”
The spirits of water and wind that came to Kuuga were spinning around him. He hadn’t done anything but it seemed like a contract was made.
“You have the contract, but I advise you to keep from using all your power.”
“…uh, I understand.”
Thinking about it, if he used it as much as he wanted, it’d bring too many consequences.
Although he felt disappointed, Kuuga nodded since he understood.
“Before that, I’ll teach you how to use magic. The method by which the Divine Beast uses this contract is to give magical power to the spirit. Just put magical power on your voice.”
“Voice? …ahh, like casting a spell?”
“Hn-… not exactly a spell, but all you have to do is pass the magical power… for example,
In response to the simple words that Merdechalan said in a powerful voice, a green light appeared from somewhere―― then the spirit of the wind swirled around to create a small tornado.
Kuuga, who saw something different from what he had expected, thought that she would firmly give instructions according to the previous conversation, but his version was too concise.
“…w-wait a minute. You just said dance, but is the result left to the spirits?”
“No, if you have this contract, you will be connected to the spirits. That’s why I only gave detailed instructions in my head. The word was just the trigger to give it magical power.”
“…u-uhm… I’ll pay for the transportation so move now according to the destination and route in the attached sheet, is it like that?”
“…I don’t understand what you mean… no, I kinda know, but I don’t want to.”
Kuuga’s parable seemed to have brought many things to think about for Merdechalan.
“…w-well, that’s okay. I’ll continue. The spirits that are orbiting around you right now… well, they’re like the representative of spirits, but the spirits of water and wind will be able to hear everything you say.”
“…I understand.”
“By the way, the spirits are always around even though you can’t see them. Even the Divine Beast can only see them when magic is cast.”
“Ahh, so that’s why it seemed to appear so suddenly.”
“You might not want to always see them. The surroundings are always full of spirits. They’re packed quite tight.”
“I-I see..”
He imagined colorful firefly-like lights tightly packed around him and Kuuga was glad that he couldn’t see that.
“Only those children who have signed this contract will always be visible. Once you get used to it, you’ll understand what they’re saying.”
“How?”
“…now then, let’s decide on what magic you can use from now on.”
As soon as Merdechalan snapped her fingers, a spirit of water appeared from somewhere and began to spin in front of Kuuga.
Kuuga was a little disappointed that he also couldn’t choose regarding this, but he still looked at Merdechalan to know what he could do with the spirit of water. Merdechalan smiled a little when she looked at the spirit of water in front of Kuuga.
“Oh my, a rare child arrived… ah-… I wonder if it’s a good match for you…?”
“I thought you’re the one choosing it.”
“I just let the child who goes well with you to come on a first come first serve basis… this child’s specialty is “recovery from abnormal conditions”.”
It seemed like the spirits had individuality and were good at different things.
“Recovery from abnormal conditions…? You mean detoxification, or something like that?”
“There’s that too. It includes poison, paralysis, petrification, hallucinations, sequelae of poison drugs, and weakness caused by magic. It also alleviates temporary excitement, confusion, hatred, despair, grief, and madness.”
“…temporary?”
“The most emotional time after something happened… I wonder when that is? It’s about calming people who have exploding emotions and can’t have a proper conversation. It doesn’t work for chronic things.”
“It looks like it can do a lot of things, but I can’t think of anything to use it for.”
Even after hearing a lot of the effects, in the first place, it’s the kind of magic that couldn’t be realized without an afflicted person. Moreover, he had no need for it.
“Oh my, it should work on that guy whom you broke the other day, right?”
“I broke him intentionally.”
“…hn-… then this is a service. Some people are hospitalized in a certain treatment center in the royal capital. A man who was the former leader of the White Knights. He was poisoned, and although it had been detoxified, the aftereffects remained.”
“…is that guy useful for Gadi?”
“Fufu, that depends on what you can see. Why don’t you pretend that you’ve been deceived and just move along?”
“…I got it. I’ll look into it.”
He’d greatly appreciate it if more people would be on Gadillas’ side. Kuuga nodded that he’d ask immediately when he returned.
“Of course, this child can do other things like the other spirit of water, but this time, the only thing you can use is “recovery from abnormal conditions”.”
“…that’s it?”
“Yes.”
“..maybe something a bit more――”
“You can’t do anything that wouldn’t work well with those eyes. This is the limit.”
He stared at Merdechalan with dissatisfaction, even using the wolf to glare, but it didn’t work. If this was Edallion, it would have been a one shot kill.
This was the end of this time’s seal release. The time he could be humanized would increase by 1 hour―― it was 33 minutes today, so it would increase to 1 hour 33 minutes―― and he could now do it twice a day. He could also use the magic of recovery from abnormal conditions. And something unexpected, the power of alter ego… which he acquired by himself.
Thinking about it like this… he felt like it’s too few, but he couldn’t make a judgement if it’s too many or too few. Since Merdechalan said this was the limit, this probably was the limit.
“This is the end of this time’s release. It’s about time to return.”
“Please wait. I have two questions to ask.”
“Oh my, what is it?”
Merdechalan was about to enter her cottage, so he stopped her in a hurry. Kuuga had a question ready when he came here today. Not just for the release of the seal.
“It’s about the witch.”