Aselos seemed to hesitate. His father and Miss Paul had been friends in name but master and servant in practice, and he knew this very well.
Although neither party had signed a master-servant contract, and Miss Paul had never placed any restrictions on his father to better control him, that tacit understanding had existed between them.
In some circumstances, such a seemingly nonbinding tradition was actually far more binding, depending primarily on the character of both parties and the inertia of history.
Finally, Aselos sprayed out crystalline water, forming a bridge of water, and said sincerely:
"I shall become the land upon which you walk in the sea. I shall take your will as the guiding principle for my actions. I shall answer your summons at all times and offer you my respect, friendship, and loyalty.
"My respects, Prince Kallen."
Kallen turned to Puer and asked, "We never discussed this beforehand."
Puer replied nonchalantly, "Did this even need discussing?"
"So, was this supposed to be a surprise for me?"
"Oh, no, it really wasn't. Aselos and I were genuinely very close back then. This counts as giving his son a little surprise."
"What do we do next?"
"You've watched me use the Summoning Spell Art to summon Aselos twice. I don't believe you haven't learned it."
Kallen raised his hand. A red star glow appeared in his palm, identical to the one Puer had used earlier:
"Like this?"
"Mm-hmm. Make contact with Aselos."
Kallen sent the red star glow in his hand into the air. A blue light emerged from Aselos, intertwining and merging with it. This meant that both parties had left an imprint of their aura with the other.
Once it was done, Kallen said, "Aselos, carry us to our destination."
"As you command, Prince Kallen."
"I'm not