“And so that’s how it is.” I finished.
I’d just finished telling Serenity all about the events that had transpired since she was last awake. It had taken about 4 hours, during which my companions had given me peculiar looks due to my silence, but I couldn’t care even if I wanted to; I mean Serenity’s back. It’s good to have someone who understands me around.
… As I was saying, I’ve recovered enough energy to talk to you again.
Hehehe, I just realised that Serenity hadn’t gotten a word in during the entire conversation. That takes me back! We’ve only been together for such a short time, but she’s the person I’m currently closest to in the world. Good old Serenity!
It sounds like quite a lot has happened. I’m pleasantly surprised to see you’re able to cast tier 6 spells now. Would you lik-
Oh! I never told you about chuckles, did I? He’s my favourite prisoner at the church. He was a pretty gloomy fellow to begin with, but after I was done with him, he was only smiles. I remember the first time we met, it was-
Sorry to interrupt, but I don’t want to hear about chuckles. Would you like to learn that spell?
I’ll be honest, I was a bit upset that she interrupted me. It was a bit rude… However, I quickly forgot about it when she mentioned the spell. I’d been waiting for this for a week now. That would be fantastic Serenity. Just do your thing, I’m ready fo-
AHHH! Sol dammit! It hurts. Act cool, act cool. Although no external signs were showing, that familiar blinding pain flashed through my head accompanied by those nostalgic images, texts and diagrams. It eventually faded away leaving the knowledge I needed. I can’t wait to learn this spell, hehehe.
“You’re looking pretty happy Cyne, did something happen?” asked a curious Rin.
She’d been trying to talk to me for ages now. Every time, a new conversation topic came up, she’d try to include me. Of course I was polite and friendly, but kept my responses short. I was too busy talking to Serenity after all, I have priorities.
I looked at my surroundings, at the green grass, the trees, the blue skies, taking in all of it with a deep breath.
“I just enjoy being out of the city.” I said.
It wasn’t a lie. I always felt like I had to watch my actions when in Sol city, and this outside environment just leaves me with this free feeling! Rin just smiled at my answer, looking a bit sad that she couldn’t get more out of me. Yuki had been talking non-stop with Deane… well at him, it was kind of sad to watch; whenever Catherine tried to talk to him he got all shy and red-faced. I often find myself asking the same question: why exactly was he chosen as a hero. In fact none of them have very heroic qualities despite that nonsense I’d said at the summoning. Well, there’s nothing that can be done now, they’re already summoned.
I decided to take my mind off of the unlikely heroes and started to turn my attention to the gritty dirt road. It would still take a few hours before we reached the village we’d be staying in. Plenty of time to get to know the heroes, now that I’d finished updating Serenity. Melissa had stayed as silent as Deane for the journey so far, sticking ridiculously close to me. She was about as close as you could get without actual physical contact. Serenity hadn’t really commented on my purchase, but I got a vague sense of disapproval. Don’t tell me she’s also against slavery… since when was slavery so wrong? It happens all the time; whenever we ran out of practice prisoners during inspector training, they’d just whip out a few slaves. Well… whatever, I guess slaves are an acquired taste.
“So Rin, I’m kind of curious about where you guys come from. What were you doing before you were summoned?” I asked.
Rin’s expression brightened with my initiative to start a conversation. She turned towards me, eyes glimmering with excitement. Calm down, I only asked you a question.
“We were all students. Yuki and Hina were in the same class as me, and we were all friends before we were summoned as well.” She replied cheerily.
“Students? What did you study?” I asked. Students was quite a vague term, I mean really, students of what? They don’t look competent in anything physical if their stamina was anything to go by; Yuki had already started to drag his feet. I know that there are a variety of schools and centres of learning in the kingdom of Sol; magic universities, Aristocratic Colleges, and the list goes on, so I suppose they could have studied something of that sort.
“Umm… You know, normal stuff. We studied maths, history, languages, sciences and that kind of stuff” she answered, a skip in her step. Does talking to me really energise you that much? Weren’t you extremely tired only moments ago? These heroes are such strange people.
It’s amusing for you to say th-
Sorry Serenity, I want to talk to you too, but I’m involved in conversation at the moment, so be patient. I prioritised you for the past 4 hours after all, so you should feel honoured. Ignoring Serenity for the moment I refocused my attention on the small girl with a spring in her step by my side. Melissa was using me as a shield from the view of the others, closely attached on the opposite side to Rin.
“Oh? That’s a strange curriculum… Over here, most centres for learning are aimed towards preparing you to join a specific profession.” I informed her. You can’t only demand answers after all. It’s only polite to exchange information, and I’m nothing if not polite.
“You also said, that you knew the other heroes before being summoned?” I continued.
“Yeah! I’ve known Yuki since we were kids, and Hina and I became friend when we entered high school.” she replied.
It sounded as though they had relatively deep ties… I guess Hina dying in a tragic accident won’t go down overly well… Shame. I continued to converse with Rin, getting an idea of the kind of life they’d lived before being summoned. It was a very peaceful existence, one that they were all content with at the time. Rin began to look a bit sad after talking about it for a while, the same going for Yuki, and Hina who had been listening in to the conversation. Apparently slavery had been banned by law, and there was very little violence… It sounded extremely boring. Serenity had also given her views on the topic, having positive comments on such a lifestyle, devoid of the extremities often seen in this world. Of course, from what I’d garnered, there were wars and violence in their world too, but they were far from where they’d lived.
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After chatting with Rin, I turned my attention towards Catherine, enquiring after the guild ranking systems. Apparently everything has a danger level between F and S; people, dungeons, magical beasts, shadows; the whole lot. It was pretty simple in the end. Each category was split into low, medium and high. Catherine, despite being at only the age of 19 had achieved a record breaking low B ranking, displaying her competence. I’d not yet seen her fight, but she should be able to compete with experts of their respective fields of battle.
When I asked what determined the rankings, she had been rather vague about it, saying that some guild officials dictated it. Well that’s not very helpful is it? But apparently, high S rank individuals would be those capable of tier 10 magic, or the older generation of magical beasts. Apparently they’ve yet to see any shadows surpassing A rank; the main problem is the endless hordes they travel in during uprisings. I wonder what rank I’d be at… Well the dungeon we’re going to progresses from F rank to high B rank difficulty, so I should be able to test my capabilities there.
After the remaining few hours of walking, we’d finally made it to the village at which we’d be staying. It was a medium sized village, dedicated to the maintenance of agriculture in the area, and was still relatively close to the capital, so it was comparatively safer than villages on the outskirts of the kingdom when it came to bandit or magical beast attacks. It was very quaint; personally I liked it.
All three heroes looked exhausted. Seriously? We’d only been walking for a few hours, well I suppose they’d never really had to do this much walking before. When they saw the inn, they all sighed with relief, looking ready to collapse. This is kind of pathetic to watch; look at Melissa, she’s been carrying all those bags and she hasn’t even broken a sweat!
We all entered the small inn, renting 3 rooms; one for me and Melissa, one for the girls, and one for Yuki and Deane, from a sleazy looking innkeeper. He was obviously looking the females of the party up and down as we entered.
When the others decide to turn in for the night, I informed them that I’d turn in later; I kind of wanted to just enjoy the night’s air, as well as absorb some moonlight, so I left the inn. After exiting, I was exposed to a refreshingly chilly breeze of air.
I decided to get my bearings, and went for a small walk around the village’s perimeter, admiring the night sky as I strolled. There’s just something about being out of the city. After experiencing the freedom on the previous expedition, I just couldn’t get used to that kind of urban area again. It’s so quiet, calm, cool… Serene. Serenity, I can see why you like this.
This is what I’m made of after all; the natural magical energy from the night. Of course I’d be comfortable here.
How is it to not have a body for yourself? Is it uncomfortable?
It is relatively comfortable here in your body, and I don’t mind giving up my body to maintain my consciousness.
To be honest, I kind of wanted to see her again, but talking to her is still good. Is there a possibility for you to get a body again?
Certainly, there is a way to allow me to enter another body and control it, but it will be a long time before I gain enough of my former power to manifest myself physically.
Hmm? How can you control another body?
I can enter through that symbol; the same one you carved into your hand to enter into a contract with me. As long as the body I’m entering has a weak mind, I can take over. Unfortunately, humans have too much of a sense of individuality to control.
Well… it was one of the compulsory inspector courses to understand how to probably perform a lobotomy; it’s a good way to convert people to the religion of Sol… at the expense of intellect and personality of course. Also, I don’t want to brag or anything, but I got a perfect score.
No, don’t do that.
So what then? Can you control animals?
Possibly; it depends on what kind of animal it is.
If you enter another body, will I still be able to communicate with you? Although I wanted Serenity to have some more freedom, it would be a problem if we couldn’t chat when I got bored.
Even if I enter another body, a part of me will be left alongside the contract in your body, so communication would still be possible.
Well, next time I see something appropriate, I’ll carve your symbol into it. I wonder what would suit her… something to do with the night… I’ll just browse next time we cross paths with a pet store.
…Thank you
With that, the conversation came to a halt. I just stood there amidst the darkness of the night for a few more moments, enjoying the silence, a complacent smile making its way to my face. After a while, I eventually headed back to the inn, planning to turn in for the night, but was stopped by the innkeeper on my way up. I’ll be honest, I was feeling pretty tired, so I wasn’t exactly in the mood to deal with others, but out of common courtesy I listened to what he had to say.