“That’s a nine-tailed fox,” Marcus said, mouth agape as the spirit materialized on top of Stella’s hands. The small creature didn’t seem fully physical, however, as her form was quite transparent.

  It was almost like she was a ghost.

  They were on a deserted corner of Verveld, the growing afternoon darkness somewhat obscuring them from any potential onlookers.

  “L-lady Siris,” tears finally went down Stella’s eyes as she sniffled. “You’re alive!”

  “Of course I am,” the great spirit tiredly said. “I don’t have much time. They took…something away from me. I can’t maintain my form for too long…”

  “Then please, tell us what it is! I’ll do my best to resolve this quickly, Lady Siris!”

  “Don’t push yourself too hard for me.” Siris then turned to Marcus, who was still watching her with childlike curiosity. “You there…thank you…for protecting my little Stella. I have been watching observantly…since you both met…”

  “She’s not very little though,” Marcus said. “But, you don’t have to worry. You have my word.”

  The creature nodded, clearly quite thankful. Marcus never really interacted with a great spirit yet, as they were usually quite powerful and possibly important figures. Kitsunes, from his memory, even ruled a faraway empire in the eastern continent of Salea, which was called Great Wen back in Marcus’ time. He wasn’t sure, though, if that nation still existed.

  But, regardless, this creature on Stella’s hands was something rare, and they were usually held with great reverence. The fact that it was thanking Marcus…well…

  He somewhat felt flattered.

  “I’ll hold you up on that promise, young man,” the great spirit said. “Please don’t break it. Stella here considers promises as sacred.”

  “L-lady Siris! I can sense that you're turning weaker! Why?” Stella worriedly asked as the great spirit began turning more and more transparent. “What did they do to you?”

  “...Stella, a man who called himself ‘Archbishop Salvador Magath’ broke that magic crystal on your necklace,” Siris explained. “That pendant contained enormous mana attuned to me…allowing me to take on my physical form while contracted to you. He stored it…on a magic crystal he owned.”

  Siris coughed, almost as if she was sick.

  “The only way out is if we either break our familiar contract, and I return to my homeland, or you’ll have to take the magic crystal that Salvador Magath used to absorb your pendant’s essence.”

  “I…” Stella choked. Then, she frowned through her tears. “Then let’s break our contract! That’s possible too, right?”

  “You know that if you do that, I’ll be forced to return to Great Wen. Kitsunes like me are tied to the Heavenly Empire…and we cannot leave its borders. The only reason I am not there is that you summoned me and formed a contract with me.”

  “I know that. But at least you won’t be hurt any further. I know the longer that you are in this state, the higher the risk of you dying!”

  “Err…well, yes, but…”

  “Even if I lose you, I’ll be fine, knowing that you’re safe and sound. You’ve helped me enough, Lady Siris. This is the least I can do.”

  “Hold on,” Marcus spoke up. “Why don't we just kill this asshole Magath? Seems simple enough for me. I mean, the bastard is definitely a cultist.”

  “...Please…if you’re planning to do that,” Siris spoke up again. “Don’t…place…her…in danger…”

  Then, she finally disappeared at last. Stella’s sniffles turned into full-blown sobs. It seemed like she was ready then and there to just break their contract.

  Marcus was different.

  “How long?” Marcus asked.

  “What?”

  “How long does she have left?”

  Stella wiped her tears using her handkerchief.

  “I don’t know. Now that I’ve seen her condition, maybe a month at least?”

  “I thought it was a matter of days or hours.” A confident smile suddenly appeared on Marcus’s face. “Alright, stop sobbing. We’re going to find this cultist bastard, take what belongs to your familiar, and then kill him. Sounds good?”

  “Sir Marcus…what if we fail?”

  “Then you’ll break your contract before your familiar expires. But, of course, we won’t let that happen.”

  Marcus looked at the sky.

  “All we have to do is to chase that bastard Selena. You said that she’s most likely Sordalian, yes? ”

  “She’s definitely a fallen noble, at least,” Stella said. “That’s all I know.”

  “Right, that’s good enough. Let’s move. We can’t do much tonight, and I think you’ll need some food to clear your mind, right? Then let’s visit that restaurant you were talking about first.”

  Stella stared at Marcus, her eyes still teary. For a while, she was just silent, until she managed to laugh a bit.

  “Sir Marcus, this was supposed to be a serious moment. How can you always take everything in stride? It’s like…nothing will really go wrong.”

  “Things can go wrong,” Marcus said, smiling a bit. “But I won’t let things go too wrong.”

  It was night at the Parish of Abundant Arsenal, a small church at a remote village in the Sordalian countryside. While outwardly presenting itself as a part of the Holy Church, in reality…it was taken over long ago by the cult.

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  And inside it, two leaders of the Death God Cult were currently arguing in an office filled with splendor and glamor that would not befit any holy site.

  “I knew that bumbling fool would bungle up the ritual,” Archbishop Salvador Magath, the Minister of Justified Acquisitions, said boredly. “You two truly deserve each other.”

  “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You have no idea what we’re up against!” Archbishop Selena vi Lusbeck’s eyes practically bulged as she shouted at the man. “Those two, the White Watch…they have the power to rival the Great Dragon!”

  “And is that my problem? Why? Do they possess anything I can gain?”

  Salvador scoffed.

  “I’ve already retrieved what I need and desire from Valeon. I shall not assist you in any stupid revenge mission.”

  “They killed the man I love, Salvador. And they interfered with the gospel!” Selena practically dove to Salvador’s desk. “I must make them bleed.”

  “You love a lot of men, way too many men, in fact. Worse, they’re mostly not even men. Use them to avenge the unremarkable man you speak about.”

  “You're mistaken, my Hector was special! In fact, he was so handsome, so strong, so diligent, so meticulous…”

  She continued rapidly listing off Hector’s prime qualities while frantically pacing around Salvador’s office, face blushing beet red. The Minister of Justified Acquisition only looked at his colleague with blunt boredom.

  “Then go die for him,” Salvador said. “Easy.”

  “If you work with me, I shall give you ten starmetal ingots. They're fit for your collection!"

  “I will not be swayed by offerings that don’t exist. Quite frankly, a woman such as you could never—”

  Selena dropped a sack on Salvador’s desk. He looked at the small ingots inside. Indeed, they were starmetals, one of the most valuable pieces of metal in the world. Some say enough of it would be able to create armor that even a demon lord of legends wouldn’t be able to touch.

  Immediately, Salvador’s eyes lit up.

  This is almost as valuable as that elf’s pendant.

  How did this dirty woman acquire it?

  “...Mine,” Salvador said, reaching out for it. “Give it to me, or else!”

  “Not yours!” Selena angrily swatted the man’s hand off. “Not until you aid me in avenging my beloved!”

  “Fine. What even is this ‘White Watch’ you speak of?”

  Selena leaned close to Salvador, her voice turning predatory and hateful. She began to recount the events at Valeon that night when she met them, and for the first time, she, the most beautiful Minister of Wholesome Love, was defeated.

  Sordale.

  It was the northern kingdom of the Astrean continent, currently ruled by elves. It was also the only nation in Astrea that had a significant minority of demi-humans, according to Stella.

  Still, most of its population were normal humans. Much of its nobility too, especially the lower nobles, were humans. It was only the top, the Royal Family and the High Aristocracy, that were elves like her.

  Apparently, back during the war with the demon horde, the Holy Astrean Empire granted powerful elves who aided mankind land in the north. The House of Sordale was one of those families.

  When the Empire later collapsed, they then rose to prominence, eventually conquering much of the northern regions of Astrea and establishing a kingdom named after them. It was therefore no wonder that Sordale wasn’t exactly the most popular nation out there in Astrea, enough that it had its share of constant conflict with Ridia.

  The kingdom ruled by elves also didn’t seem quite welcoming to elves, Marcus noticed, as Stella had to keep her hood up when they visited the first town.

  “Sure, the king and the government are elves,” Stella said. “But the people are humans, like you. Recently, there have been famines and greater hardship for the citizenry, and they blame us for it. I might get in a bit of trouble if I show myself off.”

  She chuckled it off as the two walked, but Marcus groaned.

  “Are you sure it’s not because people will go nuts after seeing the literal daughter of the king?”

  “Well…that might also be possible. Either way, attention is trouble.”

  “That I agree with.”

  The two later visited a restaurant in town to briefly eat before moving out quickly on horseback. Then, they moved northwest, trying their best to race to the Sordalian capital of Kalthafen, where they would be able to better gather intelligence about the Death God Cult.

  Again, even with [Blink Step] and [Levitation], Marcus and Stella were still taking quite some time, and they had to take regular breaks. While it didn’t cause much trouble for Marcus, Stella at some point would be too nauseated for continued travel.

  Therefore, it was quite common for the two to take breaks in towns and villages that they were passing through. One thing Marcus noted about Sordale was that, unlike in other places, it seemed like horses were used less.

  Well, there were still a lot of horses, of course, but Sordale seemed to use these strange land dragons to pull heavy wagons and carriages. Even simple merchants seemed to use them, and they were capable of quite ridiculous speeds.

  Marcus commented about it once while passing through major roads, where convoys of merchants drove at ridiculous speeds.

  “One of the high elven families figured out how to domesticate and breed three land dragon species,” Stella explained while they rode on horseback. “They’re quite expensive, though. Both in maintenance and upfront cost.”

  “I’m quite surprised you know about that,” Marcus said.

  “Hmph. I studied about my country’s economy, Sir Marcus. Even if I’m not the heir to the crown, I can’t be too sure if I’ll suddenly be thrust into the role one day.”

  “It’s funny that you worry about that. Even if that's possible, it's probably centuries away. Most of us will be dead by then.”

  Stella winced a bit at Marcus’ morbid comment.

  “That’s true…but not me. Unless I die early.”

  Marcus noticed the shift in her demeanor. He rode closer to her.

  “You know, for an elf, you sure have quite the human-like outlook on life. Quite strange for someone who has a lifetime lasting a millennium.”

  She turned red.

  “S-sir Marcus? Is there anything wrong if I have a ‘human-like outlook’ in life? Are you saying I’m supposed to be weird?”

  “Well, I don’t know,” Marcus juggled through his memory. “It’s just, the elves I knew back then were quite a bit more mystical. And eccentric.”

  “Hmm…I suppose the elves in the eastern continent might be like that,” Stella shrugged. “But I’ve never been there, nor have I met them. All I know is that my older brother once said that they’re quite uptight and arrogant.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.”

  I guess, since Stella’s family and the elves around here have long assimilated to human society, they act like us.

  Marcus remembered that elven healer they had back in hell. She was treated quite like a demigod figure back then, not just because of her centuries-old honed powers, but also because she was truly quite strange, and people tended to make myths out of strange folks.

  Quite frankly, the dumb rookie who asked for her age truly had quite the balls, Marcus thought. He internally snickered about that memory.

  “We should be close to the Royal Capital now,” Stella said. “I think we’ll be able to use [Blink Step] undetected from here until we reach Kalthafen’s outskirts.”

  “You sure? I thought you were still a bit dizzy about me speeding things up earlier.”

  “Yes. I’m getting you used to you um…w-well, carrying me and stuff, so no worries.”

  “Heh,” Marcus chuckled. “That’s good to hear.”