Although Wilhelm had gotten the Spiritual Contact Lenses, his job in Vyne City was not over. However, he needed some rest after the Ruins exploration and getting beaten up by Iris. He went to a local priest and got himself healed even more and rested for a day before he returned to the forest with Abraham.
Soon Wilhelm arrived in the ruins spot from yesterday, however, this wasn’t the place he wanted to come to.
‘Let’s see, it was to the right of the ruins.’
Wilhelm went right to the route he remembered coming from and after a few minutes, he could find it. A cute small bird with a transparent green body was sitting atop a tree. Even from afar, Wilhelm could sense the thick wind element coming from the bird, and no living being looked like that except for spirits.
The Low Ranking Spirit Chirpy.
Chirpy wasn’t an official name but the name given by the players since the bird likes to chirp.
‘Honestly, it's quite a childish name for me but… I guess it's fine.’
Wilhelm sent over bits and bits of his mana to Chirpy. Chirpy then noticed Wilhelm and flew over to Wilhelm, and as Wilhelm extended his hands, Chirpy landed on his fingers.
“Chirp, chirp.”
‘Aww~This guy is so cute.’
Wilhelm neither liked nor disliked animals, but he finds them cute when they are cute. Though he hated cats since he got scratched by them in the past.
‘But how do I make a contract with this guy? The game says for low-ranked spirits, all you gotta do is send mana to them.’
Just as he thought of this, he felt his mana and Chirpy’s combining and he felt a non-tangible weight on his soul. He also felt a soft breeze brush through his soul, and though it was weird, it was quite comforting. Wilhelm smiled.
‘So that’s the Spiritual Weight.’
The game explained the Spiritual Weight as a sort of non-tangible weight that directly influences how many spirits you can contract with. Some people are born with a low amount, while some are just naturally high. Though this weight can be expanded and increased to a certain extent, the more one trains as a spiritualist.
‘I didn’t feel much of a weight. Is Wilhelm quite a talented spiritualist? Though I doubt it's as good as that elf.’
That elf almost didn't feel anything when contracting with spirits. Her Spiritual Weight is probably a lot more than Wilhelm's. Of course, just because one has a ton of spirits doesn't particularly mean they will be strong. After all, it depends on the mana amount as well as other things.
‘Well, I'm satisfied with this guy.’
Wilhelm thought as he stroked Chirpy’s head.
“Nice to meet you, partner.”
“Chirp, chirp.”
Though this bird looked cute, it was one of the strongest Low Ranked Spirits out there in the game. If you build him well, he can even transform into a High Ranked spirit by the end of the game.
After Wilhelm stopped giving mana to Chirpy, its body became more transparent and though Wilhelm could still see him, others without Spiritual Sight wouldn’t be able to, and when Wilhelm called Chirpy from the Spiritual World, his body would become more opaque.
It was an interesting difference to know whether a spirit is called from the spirit world or not.
‘Alright then, time to go home.’
***
Wilhelm always moved fast. In this world where his possible death is counted by days, he truly had no time to waste. He needed to prepare, get stronger, and gain allies. That’s why he went home immediately after finding Chirpy.
After he got back home, he intended to send out invitations to Iris so that she could come as a royal guest and they could discuss everything that needed to be discussed. Though after getting home there was recent news that surprised Wilhelm.
“...Gaius beat up 10 squires of the Royal Knights?”
“Yes, Your Highness…The knights of those squires are complaining about how wild Gaius is, but after talking with Gaius himself, it seems like those squires are at fault. He said that those squires insulted him and also bullied his newly made friend.” Hendrick said.
Wilhelm grabbed his chin. Truthfully, this was just a minor problem. Though Wilhelm was surprised that Gaius already made a friend. As for him beating up 10 other squires alone…
‘Well, he is not at the level of a squire in the first place.’
Wilhelm didn’t particularly care much about the 10 other squires, especially when they were bullying other kids, and was just happy that Gaius seemed to be growing well.
“Your Highness, I apologize. It seems like my squire has acted up and sullied your honor. I shall give him a severe scolding.”
Wilhelm looked at Abraham, who bowed his head, though his tone seemed disappointed. He could see a slight smile on his face.
‘Is he proud that his squire is far stronger than the other squires?”
Wilhelm grinned and patted Abraham’s shoulder.
“No need, how can defeating mere squires and avenging his friend sully my honor? Just scold him a bit and then praise him for defending his friend.”
“I shall do as you say.”
“Ah, right Hendrick. Prepare a letter of invitation to the Emerald Palace.”
“As you wish, but to whom will you send it to?”
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“Iris De Felles.”
“Iris De-huh? T-the Young Lady of Felles!?” Hendrick was so surprised, he staggered backward.
Wilhelm just smiled and nodded.
“Yes, her. I want to invite her to have a talk together in this place.”
***
Although Hendrick was surprised, he worked extremely fast. He was even seemed a bit happy though Wilhelm didn’t know why. Wilhelm sent the letter the day he went home and immediately got a reply back that Iris would come as fast as possible.
Around 3 days later, Wilhelm was sitting in the outside garden where he also met Gaius. He even brought in a sound-blocking magic tool to ensure the discussion wasn't revealed to anyone else except for the two of them.
He sipped his tea and after waiting for a bit, he saw a group of people coming his way. The most eye-catching one is of course Iris, who is being led by Hendrick. Unlike before, when Iris wore clothing similar to that of a traveler with a cloak, the current her right now is wearing a luxurious purple dress with jewelry that enhances its wearer’s beauty. She even wore some makeup that made her already unrealistically pretty face even more pretty.
Wilhelm was awestruck for a bit after looking at her before he eventually calmed down. As they got closer, Wilhelm also stood up. Since on the outside, this is an official meetup between the Crown Prince and the Archduke’s Heir, they needed to dress for the occasion.
Even Wilhelm is wearing a luxury white and gold aristocratic outfit, and since he is extremely handsome and has a great build, every clothes fit him well.
Iris lightly raised the hem of her dress and bowed.
“I greet the Crown Prince.”
“Hello, Lady Iris. I’m grateful that you have come a long way to meet me. Please have a seat.”
Iris smiled as she went towards the chair in front of Wilhelm. There was a short-haired and tall servant whom Wilhelm had just seen for the first time. She pulled and pushed the chair for Iris to sit down. Wilhelm looked at the unfamiliar servant and recognized her from the game.
‘Natasha, Iris’s servant who has taken care of her since childhood and a bodyguard who protects Iris in the shadows. She is an important character who acts as the leader of Iris’ personal information-gathering group and is a top-class assassin. She is considered a recruitable character since you can recruit her for some missions.’
Natasha made eye contact with Wilhelm as she bowed and then stood behind Iris. Wilhelm also sat down in the chair.
“I wish to speak with Lady Iris privately, so I hope you all could leave,” Wilhelm said.
The servants all bowed and left except for Natasha, Iris made eye contact with Natasha and then Natasha bowed and left. Now it was only the two of them, and right after that, Iris sighed and stretched her body.
“Man~ettiquette is rough isn’t it?”
Iris said as she stretched her body in an unladylike manner. The change was so sudden that Wilhelm was a bit baffled. Wilhelm thought of it before but Iris had no intention of hiding her true self with him.
‘Not just that, I got the feeling that Iris is deliberately showing her true self in front of me. Though I don't why.’
Wilhelm didn’t mind though, since he needed to get close to Iris so that she could help him in the future.
“Well then, we have a ton of time, so let’s start explaining to each other,” Wilhelm said as he activated the magic tool that blocked sound from coming out.
“Wait, can’t we eat first? The desserts here looked delicious.”
“...Then let's eat first before we discuss it,”
Wilhelm and Iris started to eat some desserts. Wilhelm preferred oily foods instead of sweets so he didn't really take much, instead Iris in front of him had quite a sweet tooth.
“Aren’t you going to get sick eating that much sugar?”
“Nah, it's fine. My body is quite special.”
“That so?”
Iris then looked at Wilhelm and chuckled.
“...Why did you laugh when you looked at my face?”
“Well, I was just thinking that you are quite laid back as a prince. Different from your two brothers.”
‘Well, those two are just pieces of shit. Anyone would be better than them..’
After some time passed by, Iris licked her lips after eating the last dessert.
“That was good.”
“Ready to talk now?”
“Sure. What do you want to know first?”
Iris put both her elbows on the table and cupped her face with her palms. Wilhelm, who drank his 3rd cup of tea, put it down with a clank.
“First I want to know why you were following me that day.”
“Hmm, don't you feel a weird feeling with me? Like a sense of connection?”
“Yes, I do. I was planning to ask you that later.”
“Good, then it means it's really you.”
“?”
Wilhelm tilted his head but Iris just showed the back of her right hand to Wilhelm.
“What’s this about?”
“Hold on.”
The back of her hand was smooth however it changed after Iris put her mana on it. A faint glow shimmered in her skin, as silver lines that formed a star appeared on it. Now that he was able to look at it closely, he was able to sense a strange energy coming out of the star, it was not mana, nor starlight, instead, it was…
‘Holy Energy.’
It was the same mark that Iris showed before. Wilhelm once again acted stupid.
“What is that? You showed it to me before.”
“It's called the Mark Of A Hero. It's proof that I am truly the chosen Hero by the Goddess.”
“Why would it prove you're the hero? It’s just a mark.”
Iris released the mana, and the mark disappeared. She then took a sip of the tea and started to speak again.
“This is a top-level secret even in our family, therefore I hope you keep it a secret.”
Wilhelm nodded.
“When my family started promoting me as the Next Hero, it was not because of my talent that rivals the Hero Reinhart but rather something else.”
“Most people thought it was because of your talents, though?”
“Yes, it was intentional by our family as well. We worded it that way. But the real reason is that our family can receive prophecies from the Goddess herself. With the help of the Past Saint, Hero Reinhart was able to carve a stone where his descendants could receive prophecies from the Goddess herself when the time comes.”
Iris made eye contact with Wilhelm.
“The prophecy states that the dark times will come and I shall be the hero to save it. That’s when I got the mark. Hence, why this mark proves that I am the hero.”
“Is that why your family spread those rumors about the second coming of a hero?”
“Yes, for now, they would think of it as just a title because of my talents, but later on they would know that I am truly a Prophesized Hero.”
Iris tapped the table with her finger.
“However, the contents changed a bit on 2nd September 1035.”
Wilhelm’s face stiffened. It was the exact day he transferred into this world.
“Another prophecy appeared, and it said that Wilhelm Von Heinberg shall be the Hero’s greatest ally in saving the world from turbulent times. I'm guessing that’s the reason for the weird ‘connection’ feeling between us two. Because we too are designated as the Heroes who will save the world. I suppose the goddess did something to our bodies.”
Iris looked at Wilhelm. It was a cold smile, reminiscent of that of her game self.
“Because of that prophecy, I got curious about whether it was true or not. Are you really going to be my greatest helper? I came here to confirm it.”