Signing a Contract

With the lesser spirit helping him cast spells, Subaru had finally grown noticeably stronger. He turned his attention to the group of Oni children still chattering away beside him.

"Boom!!"

A fierce wind blasted toward him, strong enough to send an adult flying. It tore the grass out by the roots along the roadside and sent tiny stones flying wildly through the air. But Subaru stood firm, without budging an inch.

He began drawing on the lesser spirit's power.

"Huh? What happened to my wind magic? Where did it go?"

The Oni child who had cast the spell stared wide-eyed. The violent gust had vanished all of a sudden, without so much as a trace of wind left behind.

"Because the air is under my control," Subaru explained with a smile.

"Extreme cold cools the air, and when the air cools, it contracts and becomes denser. The airflow weakens and dissipates right away. Intense cold can deprive air molecules of their kinetic energy, so under those conditions, no wind can blow."

First, he used mana to strengthen his body and steady his footing. Then, he used ice magic to break down the physical basis of wind magic at its source. That was the countermeasure Subaru had devised in just a few practice bouts.

"Shamac!"

With a mischievous grin, Subaru raised his hand. Several sharp icicles abruptly formed above his head, their cold, gleaming points all aimed at the stunned child below.

"Waaah! I don't wanna play anymore! Big brother's picking on little kids!"

Subaru waved away the icicles he had never intended to drop, turning them into harmless snowflakes that drifted to the ground. He had fought several magic practice bouts with the little rascals, and every one had ended in a resounding victory.

Beating up children might not sound good if word got out, but he had seen what these children were capable of firsthand. They couldn't be judged by ordinary standards.

"Haha, I was only joking. Here, big brother will buy you some candy. Buren, Falin, Michel, Laxing, thanks for the effort."

Subaru pulled out a handful of copper coins and handed them to the children one by one.

The moment the little ones got their money, the hurt vanished from their faces. They ran toward the shop, cheering and chattering about what flavors to buy.

"So, mister! I count as one of the strong ones among the Oni now, right?!"

Subaru turned and called out to the Oni farmer who had been watching from the sidelines the whole time. The man's name was Hagen, and he was the one who had taught Subaru his first magic incantation.

"Yeah, you're pretty capable, kid. Looks like I underestimated you." Hagen folded his arms and nodded.

Subaru waited expectantly for him to continue.

"With a lesser spirit helping you, you can probably keep up with Oni children around your age."

"...Huh? Doesn't that just make me average?"

"That's right. What, you're still not satisfied, kid? Don't be too greedy. This little one has been working very hard." Hagen nodded toward the lesser spirit on Subaru's shoulder.

Subaru hurriedly looked down at the red ball of light. The lesser spirit's mood had visibly fallen, so he quickly reached out and touched it gently with a finger.

"Oh, oh, oh-sorry, sorry! Come on, if it weren't for you, I'd still be a combat-power-of-five weakling. With you around, even an ordinary human like me can be as strong as an Oni!"

The lesser spirit immediately pressed against his finger. Its dejection quickly faded, replaced by a warm, affectionate pulse.

Then a new thought came from the lesser spirit.

"...Make a contract? Huh? We haven't made one already?"

As Subaru sensed the emotions coming from the lesser spirit, he suddenly realized something he had overlooked. Until now, their relationship had remained at the stage of "borrowing mana from each other."

Although magic power already flowed between them and their emotions resonated, they had never established a formal contract. The lesser spirit's meaning was clear: it wanted to make things official.

"Okay! Of course I agree! Starting today, we're real companions! So... how do we make the contract?"

The lesser spirit slowly floated above Subaru's open hand and began circling the outline of his palm. Mana flowed between human and spirit once again, but this time it felt completely different. Subaru could clearly sense his own "gate."

It was a concept he had read about again and again in books but had never truly experienced. Now it was unmistakably real, somewhere inside his body.

This was no longer a simple exchange of mana. The lesser spirit's emotions, thoughts, and even something deeper were flowing into Subaru's awareness.

The sensation was hard to describe. Subaru felt as though he was about to become one with the lesser spirit in body and mind.

"I have to say the words of the contract? Me? What should I say?"

The lesser spirit conveyed a mixture of anticipation and bewilderment. It couldn't speak, so Subaru had to complete the final part of the contract: the oath that had to be anchored in words.

"I can set any terms I want? Like something out of a Western fantasy story? Wait, I have to make it up on the spot?!"

Subaru's mind raced. He couldn't come up with a formal, old-fashioned oath, but something too casual wouldn't do justice to the solemnity of the moment.

As he racked his brains, a memory suddenly surfaced: a line from the video game he had been obsessed with for an entire summer before coming to this world.

It was a little chuunibyou, but it couldn't have been more fitting!

He took a deep breath, held the lesser spirit up to eye level, and spoke, enunciating each word.

"...Thou art I, and I am thou."

"The direction I point shall be thy path. Wherever thou standest shall be where I return. Here, we forge our contract-"

The lesser spirit sent him a burst of joy. At the same time, a silent question came through its light.

It had no name. So Subaru still had to give it one.

Subaru gazed at the red ball of light in his hands. Like a miniature sun, it gave off warmth without scorching him, circling trustingly in his palm.

Scarlet, blazing, and full of life.

"Anta..."

"Thy name shall be-Antares!"

Antares

The name came from Antares, the fourteenth-brightest star in the night sky (it is usually listed as the fifteenth-brightest when the two brighter stars in Capella's quadruple-star system are counted separately), and the brightest star in Scorpius.

It is also commonly called "the heart of the scorpion."

Together with Aldebaran, Regulus, and Fomalhaut, it forms the group of stars known as the "Four Royal Stars."