I reached the city at noon the next day, but Senna was still not answering whenever I called out to her. Once I was inside the city, I made my way as quickly as possible towards the adventurer guild and requested to speak with the guild master.
Once inside his office, the guild master looked at me with a raised eyebrow and asked: "Why do you look like you are on the run from something?"
"That's not it, guild master. I just happened to stumble upon the city lord and his son in Pine Village and came back to report to you."
"Oh?" he seemed a bit excited about the news and continued: "Are you sure? I will have to mobilize quite a big number of soldiers to go after him and I need some sort of proof."
"There's no need for that. The city lord is already dead."
"Did you kill him?" asked the guild master with an incredulous look on his face.
"Yes, I got lucky and managed to catch him by surprise." I proceeded in explaining everything that happened to the guild master. Leaving behind all the parts about using magic and the demon related stuff.
"Ha ha ha." The guild master started laughing out loud as soon as I finished my story: "Good lad. Now I can finally stop sending people to search for that bastard. Once I send someone to confirm your story you can expect a great reward."
"Thank you, sir. Please make sure to send someone fast so nothing else happens to those poor women."
"Don't worry, we'll take care of it now."
'That's what you said the last time.' I really wanted to say it that but I managed to abstain myself and took my leave after some pleasantries.
Leaving the guild to deal with the aftermath, I went to the inn and grabbed a gold coin to buy myself another spear and started running towards the academy. I chose not to tell the guild master about the demonic ritual but I wanted to let Anise know about it and let her decide what she wanted to do with this information.
Once I reached the academy gate, I told the guards why I was there and soon found myself in front of Anise's living quarters' door. After knocking twice, the old butler opened the door and started at me with an unfriendly look.
"Weren't you supposed to be out of the city for a while? Why are you back?"
Clearing my throat to mask my awkwardness, I said: "Some things came up, is the miss inside?"
"She's doing some experiments and said not to let anyone inside."
"Can I wait for her to finish?"
The butler snorted and opened the door before placing himself in front of the laboratory and looking straight at me without saying a word. This awkward situation went on for about two hours before the laboratory door opened and Anise walked out with a tired face. Lifting her head up, she saw me and a surprised expression appeared over her tired face:
"Ethan? Why are you back so soon?"
"Erm.. Some stuff happened. Mind if we talk alone for a moment?"
"Sure. Can you give me a few moments to take a bath?"
"No problem."
"Great. Wait for me in my room." With that, she said a few more words to the butler and went straight to the bathroom.
Under the butler's intense glare, I awkwardly entered Anise's room and closed the door behind.
"What the hell did I ever do to that old man? He acts like I killed his family or something." I sat down on a chair while mumbling to myself.
After 20 or so minutes, Anise came back inside the room, wearing only a bath towel. I turned my head to the side to avoid staring at her again prompting Anise to immediately apologize: "I'm sorry. I forgot to bring a change of clothes and had to come out like this. I'll get dressed in a moment."
"No problem." I replied and ignored the rustling noises behind me. Once she was done changing her clothes, she said:
"So, why are you back so early?"
I turned towards her again and explained everything that happened, including the demonic summoning that was taking place there. The only thing I omitted was my use of magic and the summoning I made right after.
"I see. So the demon's reach already extended to our city as well."
I was a bit surprised by her calm reaction and I asked: "Why don't you seem surprised? Did this kind of thing happen before?"
She nodded and said: "Yes, some humans from other cities also conspired with demons but they never tried to summon them here. They usually resort to kidnapping and small stuff. This is indeed worrisome. Good thing you managed to take care of them before the ritual was completed."
"I was just lucky and managed to take them by surprise. I didn't tell your father about this because I wanted to let you know first. I also told the villagers that were left alive to keep it a secret but I don't think it will stay hidden for long."
"You did good. I'll let mother know and let her deal with it. Want to grab dinner with us? I'm sure she'll be happy to have you there and explain everything in person."
"I'm sorry but I had to backtrack and I'm already late for my goblin hunting quest. I was hoping I could rush to the azure forest as soon as possible."
"All right. Thanks for letting me know and be careful during your quest."
I exchanged some more pleasantries with Anise before going in the direction of the azure forest again. Two hours later, I had to stop since it got too dark to see.
Climbing up a tree, I sat down on a thick branch and asked Ai to send me to my soul space. I planned to try to learn some wind magic so I can reach the azure forest faster. Once I entered my soul space I was startled by the sight.
A big part of my soul space was completely dark and surrounded by a white barrier. On top of that barrier, the little girl version of Ai was sitting down and some energy was flowing out of her into the barrier. Confused, I walked up to Ai and asked her:
"Ai, what is with the barrier?"
"Nothing, just teaching that spirit to behave." Replied Ai while looking at me with an expressionless face.
"Erm.. Could you let her go, please? I'm sure she didn't mean it."
Ai looked at me for a good moment, unwillingness clearly visible on her little face. Eventually she dissipated into pure light and disappeared alongside the barrier leaving behind only a soft "Fine." Resounding in the area.
Once Ai was gone, the darkness slowly started spinning before taking the form of a woman. She looked older than even me, maybe in the late 20s or so. She looked up and yelled towards the sky.
"You little brat. Wait until I get my power back and I'll spank your ass until you beg me for mercy." After that she looked down and a stunned expression appeared on her face when she saw me. She was like the moon on a cloudless night, her stunned expression turning into a seductive smile, a smile that stole my soul away. Even the space around us started to tremble slightly when I peered into her red eyes.
"Oh my, I'm sorry for my rude behavior from earlier, just a small disagreement between me and your little friend. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" she said as she started walking closer and closer. Dark fog kept leaking out of her feet, turning the entire space around her in the same color, threatening to engulf both of us.
I shook my head to clear my head and, trying to ignore the fire burning inside me, I blurted out: "I just wanted to practice some magic in my soul space. Didn't know you will be here as well."
"Silly, where will I be if not here?" she said, finally reaching me, as she clasped my face using both her hands. The feeling of her soft hands as they caressed my cheeks made my mind become muddled again. A feeling of desire and lust was spreading throughout my body and just as I was about to lose myself in it, a bright ray of light fell from the sky and pushed Senna back. Ai, who materialized in front of me, grabbed my hand and, like pouring water over a fire, all the desire building up inside me extinguished in an instant.
Finding myself able to think again, I patted Ai's shoulder before saying: "Thank you, Ai. If she ever does that again you are free to lock her up."
Senna raised her hand in defeat before saying: "Fine, I give up. Can't blame a girl for trying, can you?"
"What did you do to me?" I asked. I wasn't really surprised since I expected her to cause trouble, but I was a little scared of the way I lost myself there.
"Only a small charming spell. It's just a small prank, don't worry about it."
"I'm really starting to regret accepting that contract. Try something like that again and I'll make sure I find a way to send you back, even if must lose half my soul in the process."
The playful expression finally disappeared from her face when she heard my words. Getting sent back to the dark dimension seems to be her Achilles' heel. She looked me in the eyes for a moment before she turned around and went to the depths of the soul space without saying a single word.
I ruffled Ai's hair before saying: "Thank you for cleansing her charm, Ai. How come you can use magic?"
"It's not magic. Those are soul attacks and I'm not using my spirit to cast them but yours."
"Huh? Can I also learn to do that?"
"Yes, but they will not be that useful in a material plane. If we ever visit a spiritual world I can teach you."
"Great. It's a deal. Now, please show me any spells that you recorded that can help increase my speed. Also something to help me see in the dark will be useful as well."
Soon, three spells appeared in my sight. Looking through them, one of the spells caught my eyes. It was a spell simply called Zephyr and didn't look that hard. You were supposed to form a steed out of wind magic and ride on it. While I was looking through the spell description with excitement, Ai was there to burst my bubble.
"You will not be able to sustain the mana cost required for this spell for long."
"How long are we talking about?" I knew that she was probably right but I didn't want to give up on the spell yet.
"To summon the steed you will use 9 mana and it will require a cost of 1 mana per minute to sustain it. You will only be able to use it for about one hour before remaining out of mana."
"Do you know what distance I'll be able to cover in that hour?"
"Around 5 hours of walking."
"Isn't that pretty good?"
"The other spells are both more efficient."
"That's because who wrote these spells is an idiot." Senna's voice came from her corner of the soul space. Confused, I asked Ai:
"How can she hear us from over there?"
"You're sharing your soul with me. Your senses are also my senses now." Replied Senna.
"Do you know a way I can improve this spell?"
"I do, but what do I get if I help you?"
"What do you want?"
"I want that brat to stop imprisoning me."
"Fine. If you help Ethan with magic and don't go speaking of my Lord again I will not bother with you anymore." Replied Ai before I even had the chance to.
"Deal" said Senna as she appeared right in front of us.
After we settled on some sort of deal, which I was sure Senna will break sooner or later, I started listening to Senna explain ways to improve the spell to me. After some brainstorming and testing between me, Ai and Senna, a new spell took form. She also took the time to teach me a darkness spell that allows me to see in the dark as good as during the day.
"Senna, how come you are so familiar with the magic system in this world?"
"Familiar? I am not. I'm just modifying spells from other worlds I saw before and adapting them to what the brat thought me about the magic system here."
I was impressed by her knowledge and the idea to let her reside inside my soul didn't seem that bad anymore. The new Zephyr spell now costs 15 mana to cast and 2 mana per hour to sustain, which means I could use it for an entire day. Also the other spell we made, that allowed me to see in the dark, we called Owl Sight. With two new spells under my belt, I slept for a couple of hours to recover my spirit and started my journey again.
I climbed down from the tree I slept in and started casting the new Zephyr spell. A pitch black steed with green stripes around it's four legs appeared in front of me shortly after. We used both wind and darkness magic to create the new spell. Darkness for it's body, to decrease the consumption of mana and make it harder to detect during the night and used wind magic to enhance it's speed. It was not as fast compared to the old spell but the cost was reduced to the minimum.
Climbing on it's back, I could feel the wind curbing around both me and the horse. With a thought, it started running between the trees in the direction of the Azure Forest. I was initially planning to hunt some animals or beasts along the way, but controlling Zephyr through hills and forests took all of my focus and I just decided to make my way straight towards the Azure Forest.
As the sun was about to go down, I finally arrived atop a small hill, which allowed me to see the forest right ahead. The Azure Forest stretched from the base of the small hill I was on into the distance, with no end in sight. Now, I also understood why it was called the Azure Forest. All the trees in the forest had an azure color instead of green, painting the most magical sight I saw ever since I first stepped in this world.
At the base of the hill, I could see a small town. I knew from the map that the town was the gathering place for everyone that wanted to take a rest from hunting inside the forest. I was about to ride Zephyr in the direction of the town when Senna's voice sounded inside my mind.
[*You should cancel the spell before stepping in the town. I didn't notice anything about bi-elemental spells in the information you shared with me about this world and you might attract too much attention.*]
"That's a good point. Thanks, Senna." I said as I jumped down from Zephyr and canceled the spell. Once I was back on my own two feet, I started running down the hill, arriving at the town 10 minutes later. A huge queue of people entering the town was right at the gate.
As I arrived there, I pinned the adventurer badge to my chest and went to queue with the rest. Once I reached the front of the queue, a guard stopped me and asked me to pay two silvers to enter. After paying the fee, I walked in and bought a room for the night which cost me another five silvers. Once I was in my room, I laid down on the soft bed and said in my mind.
'I'm going to sleep now to recover the mana I spent during the day. Wake me up when my mana is fully recovered.'
After saying good night to the girls, I went straight to sleep, a bit excited to finally start the hunt and grind some levels.