After sorting out the details a little more, it would seem that we would be staying here in this village for the foreseeable future.

We were granted one of the vacant houses, the woman and her son living there had already left. It was kinda small compared to our home in Fittoa, but it was good enough for our purposes. It didn’t have separate bedrooms (or beds, really. Just a futon-looking thing,) but it had enough structures to be a comfortable living space. I wasn’t worried about that.

One of the women came by while we were putting down our stuff, giving us clothing for each of us and then leaving right after. The people in this town could easily be described as flighty, but curious. They wouldn’t try to talk to us or anything, preferring to keep their distance and stare from afar. Not that we could understand them, with the language barrier.

Aisha woke up as soon as we tried to remove her old clothes to bathe her. She was scared at first, the last thing she remembered being the monster fight, but she calmed down enough for me to explain the situation. When I told her she would be learning summoning magic with me, she tilted her head with a confused expression, but she didn’t seem to object, so I took it as a win.

Truthfully, I wanted to give her as many advantages as I could. This world was dangerous. The only way to somewhat guarantee you still living in it three decades later would be strength, and strength alone.

"Alti-nee. What is summoning magic?"

I blinked at her. "That's a good question. I guess we'll find out tomorrow, huh?"

And so, tomorrow we were introduced to the schedule we would be keeping for now.

In the morning Aisha and I would have Summoning magic classes with the Shaman elder, Elbaradan of the Many Ghosts.

During the days, since it was so hot during this season we didn't do anything outside, just learning Fighting-God language with Sheo. It was determined that we would be staying here for as long as it took to get my new students to be self-sufficient or when they hit a ceiling. That could take several months to over a year, if the children were slow and especially due to the language barrier, they would be.

It wasn't an ideal situation, but we got something out of it as well, (on top of basically free food and shelter) so while both Zenith and I wanted to get out of the desert as fast as possible, it was probably more realistic to stay here for a bit first.

Digressing, in the evening I was to teach the grandchild of Shaman Elbaradan incantationless magic to the best of my ability.

I was essentially free at night, except for two nights in the week I had to join the Warriors keeping watch over the village at night. A concession to Aisha learning Summoning magic as well. A small thing really.

Aisha and I walked down to the Elder’s tent, where we would be taught how to use one of the rarer forms of magic in this world.

Sheo was there already, waiting for us at the entrance. Since he was the only person in the village who could speak Human Language he would be present during the lessons.

“Are you ready?” He asked.

I looked over to Aisha. She nodded firmly. I gave her a worried glance.

Ever since we had teleported to the Begaritto continent, she had been saying less and less. Compared to the veritable chatterbox she was before, it was certainly worrying.

“Yes. Please take us in.”

Shaman Elbaradan’s house was fairly modest, all things considered. It wasn’t any bigger than the other houses, like the older Elders of this village’s houses were. The inside similarly, reflected this as well. Sparse decoration. Only the essentials. Mats to sit and lay on. What passed for a kitchen here. Pots and cabinets to store his possessions, and that was kind of it. It made it feel very open.

Elbaradan himself wasn’t that tall. He had a long beard, an exposed midriff, and wore three different talismans around his neck. When he spoke, he spoke softly, with a deep voice.

Sheo had to lean in to hear him. “You’ve arrived. Please take a seat.”

We did as told, sitting directly across from him. “Good morning, Shaman Elbaradan.” I didn’t really know the customs of the place here, so greeting him just like normal would have to do.

“You are about to learn what it means to commune with spirits. I will teach you in the ways of not only summoning them, but working alongside them as well.” Oh? Those were different?

He gestured down and started writing on the floor with chalk with impressive speed. A magic circle, one with very precise and intricate little details within it. Curves, images, letters, and numbers.

He put the chalk down, and then infused magic into it. The magic circle lit up, and Aisha gasped.

Harsh blue light came out of the circle, coalescing into a sphere, who eventually grew eyes. It looked around, and settled on Elbaradan’s face expectantly, ostensibly waiting for a command.

“This is the most basic of spirits, a light spirit.”

Then he began to teach us. The light spirit was one of three different types of spirits. They were mana spirits, living spirits, and sapient spirits.

Mana spirits, like the light spirit, are essentially just your own mana in the shape of a living being. It’s not alive in the fullest sense. It’s usually summoned for a specific purpose, and only really does that one specific purpose. It was most like a computer, in a sense. It responded to the commands you gave it, and a program could only do what the program was designed to do. You can make it more complex if you want, but the mana drain increases exponentially. Since they come from a magic circle, some people power them by mana crystals, but it severely hinders mobility, since they have to stay tethered to the magic circle that way. Since it doesn’t have a will of its own, it is the easiest to summon, and the easiest to control.

Living spirits are beings summoned from the spirit realm. Their closest equivalent would be an animal, or the monsters of this world. In fact, you could make an animal or monster a living spirit by establishing a link (or a bond) between them and you and sending them to the spirit realm. Usually, you’d have to do this forcefully, as not many beasts comply with the will of man on their own. In order to summon and use living spirits, you have to set up a link. Which is easier said than done. Some spirits make connections willingly, and others have to be forced into a bond. Once established, they’re pretty much your slaves, considering the amount of control you have over them. Although, they can and have rebelled before, so it’s best to try to establish a relationship with whatever you’re linked to. In terms of mana consumption, both the establishment of a link and summoning the spirit are fairly intensive, but wouldn’t drain the average magician completely of whatever they had. Once summoned, they require a small continuing flow of mana to keep them in the physical world. Most summoners, who aren’t researchers or court magicians that have to use mana spirits often, primarily use living spirits.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Sapient spirits are a whole different ball game. As their name states, they are sapient, and quite a few of them end up more intelligent than their summoners. Their origins and temperaments are wide and varied. Some of them exist in the spirit realm, and some of them don’t. Some used to be humans, or demons, or anything in between. Some have never been mortal. Perugius’ Eleven Spirits and the Holy Beast God are good examples. You can’t really bend one of these to your will. Many summoners have tried, none have succeeded. The only way to utilize these spirits is by forming contracts with them or establishing a personal relationship with one. The cost to summon them is usually high, but there’s no cost to keeping them around. They’re also, almost always, stronger than living spirits in combat, meaning they’re highly sought after. Sapient spirits don’t usually enjoy the attention though. Many summoners have gotten themselves killed trying to summon things they couldn’t reason with, or tried to dupe.

I would be staying well away from those.

If I looked at it from a strictly utilitarian point of view, I would need at least two kinds of spirits. One, for transportation purposes to essentially function like a souped up camel. Preferably one that could function as a mount to more than one person. Two, for combat. The desert is harsh and dangerous, and not many choose to traverse the entire scope of it at all. The Begaritto continent is known as the second most dangerous continent for a reason.

Since mana spirits are bound to a magic circle, I would have to learn how to summon living spirits primarily. But Elbaradan didn’t want to start with that.

“In order to learn and understand the basic concepts of spirits, you will be learning how to summon a light spirit of your own.” Fair enough.

“Can I call you Elbie?” Aisha asked suddenly.

Sheo translated, a little bemused. The elder huffed and puffed for a bit. “I am your teacher. I am not your playmate. Do not get the two conflated, young one.”

Aisha tilted her head at the word conflated. “But Alti-nee allows me to call her Alti-nee and she teaches me! I can even call her poopy-head if I want!” Ah- “And she won’t protest!”

“Yes I would! That’s not proper language for someone your age.” I interjected.

“I’m old enough!” Aisha rebutted. “Five whole years!”

“Five years is nothing. Call me when you’re fifteen.” I crossed my arms.

“Fifteen!? That’s ancient!” She shouted, shocked.

“You know kaa-san’s like twice that right? You’re gonna tell her she’s ancient?”

She stiffened up. “Eh- Never mind!”

Elder Elbaradan looked at us confused as he completely lost control of the situation. Sheo just faithfully translated, a smile etched onto his face this entire time.

I probably should have stopped her from interrupting, but it was good that she was getting back to talking like herself again. She was so quiet and scared out on the road, I was worried she would stay like that forever. Thankfully, Aisha bounced back quickly.

“You were saying, Elder Elbaradan?” I encouraged.

“Yes… A light spirit.”

And so we learned how to make magic circles from chalk onto the ground. Elbaradan also added that in a last ditch scenario, a sufficiently sharp rock would also do.

Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, Aisha managed to get it down before I did, making her first complete magic circle right before the lesson’s end.

“I did it Alti-nee! Did you see?”

I smiled at her. “I do. Light it up. Summon a spirit.”

She dropped down immediately, wiggling in place with excitement as she pressed her hand down and imbued mana into the magic circle. It lit up, just like Elbaradan’s circle did earlier, and out came a blue magic spirit, hovering over Aisha and awaiting orders.

Her smile, illuminated by the spirit’s light, was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.

----------------------------------------

After finishing our first Fighting-God lesson with Sheo, which Zentih joined us on, we all headed back to Elder Elbaradan’s home to start, with the exception of Zenith. She split off from us.

I asked her what she would be doing during this time period and she said she was going to try her best to “socialize” with the other moms here. Knowing Zenith, it wouldn’t end up being all that hard if it weren’t for the way we entered town, and the obvious language thing. I rooted for her.

“Say Sheo. Aren’t you an elder too?” I asked.

“Hm? Yeah. Why?”

“Well you’re spending a lot of time with us. We’re not taking you away from important elder duties or something, are we?”

He chuckled inwardly. “No, not really. The other elders don’t like me much, so they don’t trust me with much either. Heck, this place was downright boring before you girls came here.”

Huh. “Why don’t they trust you? You’ve been nice to us.”

He smiled at me, and it seemed a little off, but I couldn’t tell why. “Let’s just say I’m not the traditional type.”

“Uh huh.”

“Alti-nee~ Why am I coming to Elbie’s house too? I already know how to do magic.”

Because I don’t want to leave you alone in a foreign country for even a second. “Magic isn’t something you ever finish learning, Aisha.”

“But my brain is poofed! We spent alllll day learning! I’m tired! I don’t wanna do it anymore!” She made little exploding noises with her mouth to accentuate her point.

“Don’t worry. I’ll still be teaching… Whoever this kid is the basics first. And he’s likely not going to advance nearly as fast as you. I’ll probably just set you up with some exercises first, to expand your mana pool.”

“Ookayy..” Aisha pouted, kicking a rock on the way to the house, which we were basically already at. Small village and all.

We had arrived at Elbaradan’s house again, but this time we weren’t there for him. He wasn’t here either, off to do some evening rites for whatever the people here believed would help them. We were here for a boy who I hadn’t been introduced to yet.

Stepping into the living room I to—

A blue flash of light sharpened and I drew my sword instinctively to block. It crashed into me with enough force to knock me back.

“What—” Aisha!

I took stock of my surroundings. More lights were appearing, solidifying into raised scimitars. I started a wind spell in my hand. I’ll have to cut them down individually as they pop up. Now where’s the source?

I heard Sheo shouting in Fighting-God, and the swords flickered. There!

In the middle of the room, a small figure’s eyes were glowing blue, the swords coalescing around him. I rushed him.

Two swords were knocked out of the way, blue sparks clashing out of the collision before I got to it, ready to—

“Altea! Stop!”

My sword was held at the top of its head.

…His head. I looked down. A small boy, tanned with large hazel eyes looked back up at me, frightened. He fell down, just after I stopped my attack, and the swords fell down with him, dissipating into nothingness.

“What’s going on?”

The child cried something in Fighting-God.

“This..” Sheo said, sighing. “Is the child you are going to be teaching.” Huh?

Under me, the boy started wailing and slipped out, running away clumsily. I sheathed my sword. “Why did he attack me?” I asked with a frown.

“He’s… special. His name is Navjot. And..” Navjot’s eyes started glowing blue again, short brown hair rising up as the blades did.

“And what?” I drew my sword again, anticipating another attack.

“Trying to find the word.. Ummmm. He’s a..” The blades sharpened, and rose, aiming their tips at me.

“Alti-nee! Watch out!!”

“He’s a miko!”

The swords flew to me. Just great.