"I don't know what you mean..." I crossed my arms, looking at the spirit king with a raised eyebrow. "..but I am no prince."
However, the spirit king ignored my words and dispersed his throne, going to his knees as he bowed down in front of me.
"Oh, this foolish spirit apologizes for being so rude to you, my prince."
Everybody in the room just stared at the spirit king, dumbfounded. His sudden change of behavior just seemed bizarre to them.
"Is he really the spirit king?"
"Has the old man already gone senile?"
"I can't believe I was scared of that old man."
This still didn't faze the spirit king at all, as he kept uttering nonsense, completely confusing everyone in the room.
"How can I redeem myself for such a mistake..?" The spirit king clasped his hands and began to beg. His voice sounded sorrowful, as if he was scared for his life.
I just kept watching as the 'mighty' spirit king humiliated himself in front of the whole class.
While I didn't understand why, he called me a prince; I judged that it didn't matter, as long as he kept showing such respect toward me.
It was probably a misunderstanding, but it was one that came in handy.
I looked over to Amarinda, who still stood behind me, grabbing my coat.
However, she didn't look scared, but more flabbergasted. As if she couldn't believe what was happening in front of her eyes.
"Well," I began, turning my head back to the spirit king. "How about giving her a good familiar?"
"As you wish!" Immediately, the spirit king nodded, waving his hand to create a portal to the spirit world and pulling something out of it.
"How about a wisp?" In his hand, a grey ball struggled to escape his grasp, squirming around in his palm.
He then reached his hand out, showcasing the grey spirit ball.
It was a wisp. A high-level spirit that would adapt together with its user.
A wisp was a nature spirit, similar to the elementals, but doesn't have a set element.
Although its initial strength was weak, it perfectly adapts to the user and completes them.
From the magic type to the fighting style, a wisp will become the perfect partner for you with enough time.
While all spirits grow together with the user, a wisp is a spirit that completely exceeds all expectations of growth.
Its growth speed was usually two — no, three times — faster than the growth speed of its contractor.
"Will you accept it?" I turned over to Amarinda, glancing at the girl.
However, Amarinda didn't answer and just looked at me in disbelief with a frozen smile. "..W..what? ..Me..?"
She gestured to herself, still not being able to comprehend the whole situation, as she probably didn't expect to receive a wisp as a familiar.
Judging by her attitude toward the summoning process, I assumed that she researched about familiars by herself, as she didn't complain when she got the pixie.
Thinking about it now, she rather looked happy that she even got a spirit at all, as she knew that it wasn't as easy as everyone thought.
However, getting a wisp familiar? That was something she certainly didn't expect.
"Yeah." I raised an eyebrow. "Who else?"
Gulp.
She swallowed her saliva as she slowly stretched her trembling arms out, creating a mana contract and giving it to the Wisp.
"Queeek!" The wisp escaped from the spirit king's grasp and began to float to Amarinda's hand, grabbing the mana contract.
With its non-existent hands, it grabbed it and read it.
While reading, the wasp moved its head as if it was a human, even though it had neither eyes nor a head.
It was just a grey ball.
After finishing it, the wisp forced its own mana into the contract, agreeing to it.
Right after, the wisp floated into Amarinda's arms and absorbed her mana, turning into a light blue color.
An indicator of water magic.
"This is really true.." Amarinda muttered as she watched the wisp squirming around in her arms. She then raised her head, looking directly at me, as she gave me a bright smile. "Thank you, Mr.Voidwalker!"
I nodded to her, after giving her a faint smile.
"Hey, that's unfair!"
"Yeah, that's not even her familiar!"
Of course, a few students complained about Amarinda getting a 'wisp', but it just couldn't be helped.
"Is it?" I sighed, letting out pieces of irritation slip in my voice. "You guys were the reason why she couldn't form her first contract, so I helped her as compensation for your mistakes."
"B..but you have no proof that it was our fault!"
I rolled my eyes. "If that's the case, then I am just an unjust professor. Deal with it."
Irritated, I turned my head around to the spirit king, who still sat on his knees, waiting for my command to stand up.
"And why are you still here?" I raised an eyebrow. "You can go now."
While I knew that I was acting unfairly harsh, the inability to take responsibility from Baal-hamon's students just made me irritated.
"..Thank you, kind lord."
And with those words, the spirit king vanished into nothingness, leaving only a few mana particles behind.
"Pfuhahahah! That was great!" Baal-hamon clapped excitedly after the spirit king disappeared, almost as if he had just been waiting for a moment to laugh. "Oh, how the mighty spirit king kneeled down in front of you, Zenith! That was just great!"
Getting infected with his trombone laughter, I also managed to crack a small smile.
"I have to admit. It was a little funny."
After Amarinda's turn, everyone else got a turn. However, nobody else reached quite the same result as she did.
While some students managed to form a contract, they only also got low-level spirits. Not to mention that many of those students also didn't manage to form a contract, leaving the class with nothing.
Of course, that also meant that the students started to complain about the unfairness of the class, as I helped Amarinda get her familiar.
I massaged my forehead as I could feel an incoming headache.
While I did understand their frustration, it was solely their fault, and as such, I couldn't bring myself to care about their complaints.
***
***
After finishing helping in Baal-hamon's class, Acedia invited me to dinner with her, to which I agreed, especially because she always paid for the dinner.
Declining free food really was something only fools would do.
I waited in front of the fancy restaurant for Acedia.
She seemed to be very rich, as always when we go out for dinner, she invites me to a popular and expensive restaurant.
Being the head of the mage tower really was something else, wasn't it?
After a few minutes of waiting, and declining the invitations of some women who tried to talk to me, Acedia arrived.
While I couldn't understand the reason why they all invited me to dinner with them, I was reassured that I could get free food wherever I go.
As Acedia approached me, clad in an elegant-looking black dress, the gazes of the surrounding men followed her.
For some reason, that irritated me, but I chose to not respond to those feelings, as I was incapable of understanding them yet.
At least that's what I told myself.
"Soooo how do I look?" Acedia spun around when she arrived in front of me, after flashing me a bright smile. "Do I look good?"
I raised my head, watching the expression of the men, before cracking a sarcastic smile.
"Judging by the gazes of the men following you, I would certainly say so," I spoke through grit teeth.
"Huh?" Acedia just responded with a confused sound, before raising her eyebrow, as she leaned forward, a wide, delighted smile forming on her face. "Are you perhaps jeaaaalous..?"
"Why would I be?"
Crossing her arms, she huffed disappointedly. "Hmph. I just thought that you finally fell in love with me."
I rolled my eyes, sighing.
"Stop joking and let's go eat something."
"I wasn't joking, though!"
She raised her hand, massaging her forehead in irritation.
"Haaaaah.." Acedia sighed, her voice turning so quiet that I almost didn't hear her. "What else did I expect from a battle maniac like you?"
It seemed like she was more likely talking to herself than me.
"I am not a battle maniac." I responded, with furrowed eyebrows, confused as to why she would call me that.
"Yeah, and that's why you worked as a mercenary for more than ten years. Like, do you even have any social experience?"
I rolled my eyes. "First of all, I had my reasons. And second, I had some friends back then."
"And the reasons were? Being a battle maniac?" She raised an eyebrow before giving me a smug look. "And the fact that you count friends as social experience is kind of sad, to be honest."
Ignoring her nagging, I just went in first, letting the waiter lead us to our table.
After we sat down, Acedia leaned forward, resting her arms on the table and her head on her hands.
After only a few minutes our food and drinks arrived.
"You know..." Acedia tilted her head slightly while letting out a sigh. "..It is kind of sad that I can't meet you for a month or so."
I raised my eyebrow in response as I took a sip of my wine.
While I didn't feel any of the effects of alcohol, as my body adapted too quickly to the effects of it, I still drank it to fit in with the societal norm.
"Really? What is the reason for that?"
"Well.." She, too, took a sip of her wine.
Scrunching her nose, she remembered that she actually didn't like drinking alcohol. "Urgh. I forgot that I hate this shit. Anyway, you know that our neighboring kingdom, Transilvania, had a few vampire problems in the past, right?"
I nodded.
As Transilvania was located very near the vampire forest, Carnivores, it was the prime victim of vampire attacks.
Fortunately, those attacks got rarer with time, as the aristocrats of the vampires got gravely injured in an attack twenty years ago.
The people of Transilvania would've gone into the forest and tried to finish those vampires, but they weren't able to find them.
Many mages and scientists guessed that the reason for that was because of vampire magic, which envelops their home in an illusion, making it almost impossible to find them.
In addition to that, almost every raid team that tried to search for them got completely wiped out as soon as they entered the playground of the vampires.
A dark area like the forest was a vampire's territory.
There were some reports of survivors here and there that talked about the vampires appearing from nothingness and killing their teammates one by one.
While nullifying artifacts existed, they couldn't use them in a wide area, such as the entire forest.
And nullifying the illusion spell by normal means also didn't work, as that would require one to nullify it, right when it was cast. In addition to that, they would also have to locate the circle first.
In the end, Transilvania was left with no other options, then just waiting until the next attack or contacting mercenaries.
For the last twenty years, no attacks occurred.
However, that didn't mean that the kingdom still didn't keep trying to eradicate those vampires.
I, too, got such a mission offered, but declined it, as I wasn't specialized in tracking things, and trying to locate the vampire hideout would only be a waste of time for me.
"They contacted the empire and asked for support." Acedia poked around her food, watching it with an exhausted expression.
"Why?" I inquired.
"Well..." she chuckled lightly. "It's because of what happens in a few weeks."
"In a few weeks..?" I put my hand on my chin, stroking it thoughtfully. "..wait..you mean..?"
Acedia nodded.
"Yes, exactly. It's the blood moon."