/
It was the day they left Saint-Dermain.
Before that, they had a place to go.
“All packed?”
“Luggage? They are all going to be put in subspace.”
“True, true. Then let’s head over to Ars Magna.”
Ars Magna.
The shop is run by the famous alchemist, Kiriel.
Siegfried decided to purchase something from Kiriel at a low price on the condition that he obtained the ‘Shadow Sheep’s heart’ from the Gehenna auction house.
And Jamie too, signed a soul contract with Kiriel to help in the Shadow World in exchange for All Might.
“By the way, young lord.”
One the way to Ars Magna, Siegfried asked.
“What was that stone?”
He didn’t ask about it last night, so Jamie wanted him to forget about it, but there was no way a Great Magician would just forget something.
“Was it the power of the stone which let you attack Darius?”
“I can’t fool an elder.”
“Obviously. I am a Great Magician. So what is that stone? I was going to ask yesterday but then I didn’t since I didn’t want to spoil the mood.”
Siegfried really cared for Jamie.
“It was nothing.”
“It was not nothing, the power in the stone was absurd.”
It was certainly unreasonable to dismiss All Might which was immune to physical damage as nothing.
“Right, I was lucky.”
“How lucky does the young lord have to be to obtain the item from the secret auction?”
“I also made a deal with Miss Kiriel. Haha.”
Seeing Jamie say that, Siegfried was like ‘Ah! Has to be it!’
“… you will have to explain it, now.”
Jamie talked about everything which happened on the night street and the soul contract. He was going to meet her, and she would tell Siegfried.
“A Soul Contract?!”
“Ah. Don’t ask about the details of the contract. Because you know I can’t say that.”
A soul contract’s content cannot be disclosed to anyone except the concerned parties. It was a strong non-disclosure agreement since the soul is at stake.
Siegfried couldn’t ask because of that.
“Were you mad?”
“I was the one who signed it, so don’t worry.”
“… not worry, there is nothing a child wouldn’t do!”
Siegfried shook his head in disbelief. Jamie couldn’t help but laugh to himself.
‘This little guy, who does he keep calling me a kid and child?’
Although he was a child on the outside, he had the soul of a person who had lived for thousands of years.
So Seigfried’s reaction was cute.
“Are you listening to me?”
“I’ll be more careful next time.”
“Not careful! Just don’t do it! I am your guardian right now, so let me know things. Okay?”
“Yes, yes. I will.”
“Anyway…”
Siegfried continued to nag until they reached Ars Magna.
“Young lord, that is the problem. You are overconfident. I know you have great abilities, but even if you wanted that stone…”
Jamie wanted to cover his ears. At first it was cute, but now his ears hurt.
Was Siegfried always like this?
‘I thought the phase would pass, but…’
Siegfried was a persistent person. He could have stopped, but he kept saying the same thing again and again.
It was a natural reaction since an 8 year old child signed a soul contract, and now Jamie regretted telling him the truth.
“Phew. Enough for today.”
“Today?”
“I will teach young lord common sense till we reach the magic world. Be prepared.”
Jamie wanted to cry. What a wretched man Siegfried was.
“Let’s go in.”
When Siegfried opened the door to Ars Magna, a musty smell stung their noses. Jamie manipulated the air to stop the smell from reaching him.
“Miss Kiriel, I brought the thing you wanted.”
As if waiting, Kiriel appeared right away sitting on a large crystal ball.
Looking at Siegfried and Jamie, she asked.
“Did both of you get it right?”
“Before that, weren’t you being too much?
“Too much?”
“Even if he isn’t like a child, young lord is 8 years old. Even if he offered a soul contract you should have turned him down.”
“That one is a kid? Huhu. Siegfried. You little bastard. Since when was a magician who reached 6th class a child?”
Siegfried frowned.
“Magic isn’t everything.”
“Those words are stupid. A magician is one who seeks wisdom. Since when has magic simply been a talent?”
Magic was the product of all kinds of interests intertwined.
It wasn’t something which could be learned with a good brain and excellent mana.
When everything came together one could call it ‘talent in magic’.
“But you limit it through age?”
“That…”
“Siegfried. Should we be talking about your childish attitude now?”
Siegfried went silent which made Kiriel smile.
And looked at Jamie.
“Little one. This one seems to care a lot about you.”
Kiriel had been dealing with Siegfried for 5 years. She couldn't figure him out. A person who always smiled like he was happy and hid his true emotions.
He had been good at it too, but now that he met Jamie. He kept acting out.
Does that mean Jamie was special to him? It had been a while since they met, but does that mean there is something in Jamie that he likes?
‘But… thinking about that bold face…’
She thought of how he came here proudly and offered his soul.
“Anyway, did you bring it?”
“… before that, this.”
Siegfried pulled out a blank check in an annoyed tone. It was the slip which Kiriel gave him to use in the auction.
“Why didn’t you use it?”
“We got it for free.”
Because of what happened yesterday, he didn’t have to buy it, but Kiriel didn’t know it.
He looked at the blank slip and then the Shadow Sheep’s heart.
“We bought this without spending any money, and you want us to just hand this over to you?”
Siegfried said.
Kiriel had no shortage of money, she didn’t mind spending 200 million gold for this. And it wasn't that Siegfried couldn't do anything if he wanted to rip her off.
But he decided not to. It wasn’t the money he wanted and Siegfried was a good person.
“Wait.”
Kiriel went for a moment. The two of them sighed when Jamie said,
“That old woman has a point.”
“Right?”
“But that doesn’t mean what you did with your soul was right.”
“… I know.”
“Actually, it doesn’t make any sense to give any instructions to a 6th class.”
Aside from being young, Kiriel was right about other things.
A 6th class magician was high enough to take over the command of the magic corps.
He thought Jamie was young, but it was right to treat him like a full-fledged wizard.
And Siegfried admitted his wrongdoing.
“Still, try not to make soul contracts as much as possible. If the contract had gone wrong, it would have been a disaster.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Jamie nodded and Sigfried’s expression softened.
‘Luckily, Kiriel shut him up.’
Jamie sighed at the thought of being unable to hear the nagging any longer. And Kiriel appeared with a jewelry box.
He could feel the mysterious magic flowing through it.
“That is?”
“Finally here.”
Siegfried was excited.
“Take this.”
As Kiriel handed it over, Siegfried took it very carefully. And slowly opened the box which had a black brilliance come out.
‘Black mana?!’
No.
The same color but different properties.
Siegfried took out what was in the stone. To be precise, a rough stone wrapped in a shiny black crystal.
Similar to All Might, but not shiny enough.
A gemstone. It wasn’t known what it was, but the energy from the black crystal was far from ordinary.
“What is this?”
“Young lord must have heard of this too.”
Siegfried’s voice was trembling.
“Do you know of the asteroid which crosses the continent every 100 years?”
“Aion. Are you talking about Aion?”
“Right. Aion.”
The asteroid which crosses the continent from southwest to northeast every 100 years.
Its existence was discovered 200 years ago and all kinds of papers and analysis were published on it.
It was because many records of asteroid observations on similar dates have been found thousands of years ago.
But at first, it was just plain interest in it. It was a strange story for the people.
The problem came after that.
160 years ago, a meteorite that parted from the asteroid fell down and was discovered by someone. This one was known to have special powers.
“Eternal Mana.”
The meteorite was known to have a portion of black crystal, about two thousand times more mana than the natural mana around.
Accordingly, people called the mana in the black crystal ‘Eternal Mana’ and the asteroid which crossed the continent in a 100 year cycle was called Aion (eternity).
“Three years ago, Aion appeared. And disappeared in an instant, people expected the meteorite to fall, and they went looking everywhere.”
Siegfried lifted the ‘Fragment of Aion’ up and put it to light. The black crystal was pitch black and even light didn’t go through it.
“I was running behind this for 3 years, but couldn’t find it. And then Miss Kiriel called me.”
“Thank me more.”
“… I paid the price.”
“Do you really think that the Shadow Sheep’s heart can be compared to a Fragment of Aion?”
“…”
Siegfried was silent. Because she was right.
“Where are you going to use it?”
“There is something I want to do.”
“What is that?”
“Secret!”
Siegfried put his finger on his lip. Jamie only thought about wanting to take a peek at it later.
‘Because this one won’t do anything ordinary with that.’
“You, move out.”
As Jamie thought, Kiriel pushed Siegfried.
“It is time for me and my little guest.”
“… I asked for the details of the contract, but he won’t tell me.”
“Obviously, you idiot. Now get out.”
Siegfried clicked his tongue and walked out, and sent a telepathic message to him.
-If something happens, send me a signal.
He knew he was worried, but nothing bad was going to happen.
As the door closed, Kiriel swung her staff and locked the door and her eyes changed.
“Time to keep your promise.”
The heart floated in the air and flew towards Jamie. Seeing that, he smiled.
“Before that.”
“Have something to say?”
“What…”
When he showed the blank slip, Kiriel’s expression changed.
“I also got the thing I wanted for free. Should we make a new trade?”
Jamie smiled broadly, like a sneaky child.