Signing the Contract

"Ah?"

The Spirit King, who had been imagining Sordil's identity, was startled by Sordil's loud question. Seeing his unpredictable expression, the Spirit King felt that he had caused trouble. Whether Sordil was truly as he suspected or not, one thing was certain: his relationship with that person was anything but ordinary. If he did not want his Spirit World to become as small as some king planet, then he could not afford to offend the dragon before him.

"Oh! You want to form a contract? Of course you can! I just don't know which Celestial Spirit my old friend Sordil wishes to form a contract with?" Having figured it out, the Spirit King stared at Sordil and asked in a familiar tone.

"Can I choose freely? Don't you need a key to form a contract?" Sordil asked doubtfully upon hearing the Spirit King's question.

"A key? What key? As long as you obtain the Celestial Spirit's consent, the two sides can form a contract!" Sordil's words left the Spirit King utterly confused, but he still answered dutifully.

"Hm? As long as I obtain a Celestial Spirit's consent, I can form a contract? Doesn't that mean I can try forming a contract with you, Spirit King?"

The Spirit King's words made Sordil's eyes light up, and he immediately stared at him with burning intensity. When it came to the Spirit King's combat strength, perhaps no one in this era knew it better than he did. In the anime from his previous life, the Spirit King's first appearance had utterly shocked Sordil. Back then, the Spirit King had answered Lucy's summons, charged over with a giant sword in hand, and cleaved an Underworld Beast apart with a single strike. He had even fought Pluto Mord Giel to a standstill. If Lucy had not been unable to hold on, that battle might have ended very differently. Since he now had a chance to form a contract with the Spirit King, Sordil was more than willing to give it a try.

But Sordil's words gave the Spirit King a terrible headache. If he refused, and that person later invited him for tea, then would he go? Or go? Or go? Yet he was unwilling to form a contract with him, too. After pondering it back and forth, the Spirit King finally came up with a good solution.

"Of course you can form a contract with me, but first, you must pass my test!"

"What test?"

"I will ask you two questions. You will have a quarter of an hour to answer each one. If your answers satisfy me, then we can form a contract!"

"Fine! I accept the test. Please ask your questions!"

"Listen carefully! The first question is: What is a Celestial Spirit?"

"A Celestial Spirit is a companion who fights at your side, a friend who leans upon you, and two hearts that remain tightly connected despite being worlds apart!"

As soon as the Spirit King asked the question, Sordil blurted out the answer in his heart. He had only wanted to make things difficult for Sordil so that he would retreat in the face of the challenge, but Sordil's answer made the Spirit King see him in a new light. Though shaken, the Spirit King still asked the second question he had prepared. At the same time, he secretly decided that if Sordil's answer could satisfy him as much as the first one had, then forming a contract with him would not be impossible.

"Now listen carefully to the second question. What is a Celestial Spirit?"

When the Spirit King asked a question identical to the first, Sordil was completely dumbfounded. Staring at the Spirit King, he thought, Big brother, are you messing with me? You asked the same question twice? But based on the experience he had accumulated from over twenty years of exam-oriented education in his previous life, these two questions definitely did not mean the same thing. He absolutely could not be careless; he had to handle this cautiously. Sordil sank into thought, and the Spirit King, who had initially held great expectations for him, gradually became impatient. The favorable impression he had formed was also slowly fading away. Just as time was about to run out, Sordil finally gave his answer.

"A Celestial Spirit is the trust in a mage's heart, loyalty that lasts until death, and a bond that will never fade even when separated by thousands of miles—or even never meeting again for the rest of their lives."

After voicing the answer he had prepared in his heart for so long, Sordil felt his entire body relax. At the same time, he offered fervent thanks in his heart to his elementary and middle school Chinese teachers. Without them, he would definitely have embarrassed himself this time. After all, essay questions like this were simply too hard to answer. That was also why he had abandoned the liberal arts in his previous life. Seeing the Spirit King standing motionlessly, Sordil thought he doubted the sincerity of his answer and hurriedly explained, "Spirit King, I truly meant every word! It's just that you asked the same question twice, and my vocabulary is rather limited, so I had to think for so long. I wasn't lying!"

"Hahaha!"

Seeing Sordil's anxious, fidgeting appearance, the Spirit King burst into laughter. He had asked two identical questions to test whether Sordil had lied. When Sordil had failed to repeat those original words after such a long time, he had thought Sordil had merely spouted nonsense at random and therefore could not repeat it in full. Now, however, it seemed this dragon had misunderstood him. He thought the Spirit King wanted him to explain the question from a different angle, so he had racked his brains to come up with another answer. Realizing this, the Spirit King laughed even more happily.

"Spirit King, tell me already—does my answer count as passing?" The Spirit King's reaction made Sordil think that he had answered incorrectly, making him even more anxious as he urged him.

"You passed... hahaha... of course you passed!" the Spirit King said through his laughter.

"Then can we form the contract now?" Hearing the Spirit King's confirmation, Sordil finally breathed a sigh of relief. But thinking of Diphiya and the others still in Asland, he hurriedly pressed the question.

"Yes! As proof of the contract between us, you must give me a name—a name that represents your recognition of me!" At the mention of the contract, the Spirit King instantly turned serious and spoke in a solemn tone.

"As long as I give you a name, we'll have formed a contract?"

"That's right! Just a name!"

"I'll have to think carefully about this! My name is Sordil Orn. You are my family, and you are also the Spirit King, so how about Stall Rone Orne?"

"Buzz."

The moment Sordil decided on the Spirit King's name, a bright yellow light connected him and the Spirit King. A strange sensation enveloped Sordil. It was as though he had become the king of the Spirit World, with everything within it clear in his mind. Moreover, he could now enter and leave the Spirit World at will. He no longer had to use lengthy magical chants to summon the massive gate leading to the Spirit World as he had before. Likewise, it was as though the Spirit King had become Sordil himself. He clearly "saw" the mysterious woman send Sordil to Asland, "heard" what she had said to him, and even witnessed the entire process of Sordil's birth without missing a single detail.

However, the Spirit King did not see any of Sordil's memories from his previous life. Having personally experienced it and confirmed that it truly was the person he had suspected who sent Sordil to Asland, the Spirit King became even more curious about Sordil's identity. Of course, since the matter involved that person, no matter how bold the Spirit King was, he would not dare investigate it, much less spread word of it everywhere. After all, he had not lived long enough yet.