STOM 04

Chapter 4

The Contract Ceremony

Once the naming was done, Mio let out a sigh of relief.

His first impression of Meina was a good one. She had a delicate, lovely appearance, yet carried a rich expressiveness and a natural ability to communicate.

That said, since she hadn’t shown any of her powers yet, Mio decided to hold off on judging her fully until he had seen more. After all, a companion’s strength determines the future.

“By the way, Meina, what kind of magic can you use?”

“Um, first of all, I can use telepathy with my Master.”

“Whoa, that sounds pretty handy.”

“And then… I can use a little bit of my Master’s magic. Oh, and also, elemental magic.”

“Elemental magic?”

“Wind, lightning, water, fire, earth, light, and darkness. By the way, Mio, you only have wind-element mana.”

“Huh… so I’ve only got one element? That’s weak!”

“And lastly, there’s one more ability. But that depends on you, Mio.”

“Depends on me? So I get to choose?”

“Yes.”

With a devout expression, Meina raised her right arm.

“Great Spirit Queen! Upholding the sacred tradition, please allow me to form a new contract with my Master!”

Before Mio’s eyes, a shimmering, mirror-like portal of mysterious green light opened up.

It wasn’t very large—about thirty centimeters across.

A warm breeze whooshed through, and a single brown sheet of paper drifted down into Meina’s hand.

According to her, this contract was an unchanging, eternal tradition between the Scarlet Clan and the spirit race—an indispensable ritual.

Simply put, without forming a contract spirit, one could not be recognized as a true member of the Scarlet family.

And now, the document summoned before them was the contract that would bind the two of them together.

“Whoa, this is getting interesting! Let me see that!”

Unable to suppress his curiosity, Mio’s eyes sparkled as he took the contract.

The rough texture suggested it was made from some kind of ancient animal hide.

But the real eye-catcher wasn’t the material itself—

(I… I can’t read this at all! No way any translator could help with this!)

Of course not. It wasn’t written in any known language—just strange symbols and odd punctuation.

(This must be… the language of Belsow.)

Mio swallowed hard.

He had barely managed to scrape by in English class—understanding an otherworldly language was nearly impossible.

“Uh, Meina…”

“What is it?”

“Embarrassing as it is… I can’t read the contract.”

“The part about the abilities?”

“No, I mean, literally—I can’t read the language.”

“I see… wait, what? Huh—WHAT!?”

Meina’s brows shot up in shock.

She leaned close to Mio, studying his face in disbelief as if to confirm she hadn’t misheard.

“You’ve got to be kidding. You’re a mage, and you don’t know the Belsow common tongue—‘Esparian’?”

“Can’t be helped! I’ve lived sixteen years in Windsea Castle—I’m completely from the Silphas side!”

“…”

After a moment of silence, Meina muttered softly:

“I see…”

Then she flew toward the window. In her eyes flickered a faint light of disappointment.

Her gaze swept over the view for several kilometers—the peaceful neighborhood, the cluster of skyscrapers beyond, and a clear sky untouched by industrial pollution.

And the people running through the streets, busy with their everyday lives.

What she didn’t sense—what this world lacked—was magic.

“The world of the Lost… Silphas. No wonder I couldn’t sense any mana from the start.”

The unfamiliar world outside her knowledge base filled Meina with a sudden loneliness, and she clutched her chest.

“Hey… why is my Master in Silphas?”

“…”

Mio frowned but said nothing.

The silence prompted Meina to repeat the question softly:

“Why are you living in Silphas?”

“Why do you even ask?”

“Because it’s weird!”

She turned, fixing her gaze on the stunned boy.

“A mage and the Lost living peacefully together? That’s impossible! And how could a mage be born in Silphas? I’ve never heard of that before!”

“Neither have I.”

Mio didn’t sound defensive—just tired. Lowering the hand that held the contract, he continued:

“I have no idea.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know…?”

“It’s the truth. The first time I even heard of magic was thanks to a late-stage chuunibyou case. Today’s my first day as a mage. Honestly, I can’t even tell if any of this is real—or just a dream.”

“Phew…”

Feeling guilty at his dazed expression, Meina sighed, placing her hands on her hips.

“I’m sorry, Mio. I shouldn’t have pressed you. It’s okay if you don’t know. What matters is what happens next. For now, let’s complete the contract.”

“Huh? You mean it’s okay? Even though I can’t read any of it?”

“It’s fine. Leave it to me.”

Taking a deep breath, Meina’s tense expression softened into a calm, reassuring smile. Her pure, gentle features glowed with warmth and cheerfulness.

“No matter the situation, it’s our mission to unconditionally support our Masters! Whatever Mio lacks, I’ll make up for it!”

“Meina…”

Mio felt a sudden urge to hug her—but quickly shook his head. She probably couldn’t withstand his emotional outburst.

“Okay, hand me the contract. I’ll translate it for—”

And at that moment—

Fssshhh.

Another contract drifted down from above, passing between their startled gazes before landing softly on the floor.

“Huh?! Why did another one just appear on its own?”

“Wait—didn’t you summon that, Meina?”

“No. I only called for the first one!”

They looked up.

The magic portal had somehow shifted to the ceiling, glowing with seven colors of light.

Instinctively on guard, Meina stepped back. Her sharp hearing caught something before Mio could—an explosion-like boom from the other side of the portal.

“Huh? Did you hear that, Meina? Something weird’s—”

Too late.

A thunderous roar drew closer—and then, hundreds of contracts came pouring down.

“Waaaah! What is this?!”

In the cramped room, there was nowhere to dodge.

Mio’s shocked face disappeared beneath an avalanche of paper.

Meina snapped her fingers, closing the portal just in time.

“Master! Are you okay?—Ahhh! I can’t even see you anymore!”

“Over… here…”

A hand reached out from the pile of papers.

After some desperate struggling, Mio finally emerged, panting.

“Phew! I thought I was gonna die! What’s with this ridiculous number?!”

“This is strange…”

Meina put a hand to her chin, scanning the mountain of contracts.

“There’s always been a shortage of contracts in the past… so why are there so many now? Don’t tell me… the Scarlet population has collapsed?”

“Y-Yeah… maybe…”

It must have been as Adelle had said—the Scarlet Clan was nearly wiped out.

Cold sweat trickled down Mio’s back. Unsure whether to tell Meina the truth, he decided to play dumb and move on quickly.

“Man, this is a problem…”

He clicked his tongue and scratched the back of his neck.

In this chaotic mess, making a choice was nearly impossible. What should have been a simple ability selection was suddenly a nightmare of indecision.

“Realistically, you’d need five hours to read through them all. Just pick one at random! It’s not like there are bad abilities mixed in.”

“You want me to choose randomly for something this important?!”

Even Meina, nodding, seemed oddly unconcerned.

“…Fine,” Mio sighed. “Guess I’ve got no choice.”

It was all probability anyway—luck-based, like in a game. He’d gambled plenty of times before.

“Alright, here goes!”

Closing his eyes, Mio thrust his hand into the paper pile, reaching deep until his fingers brushed the farthest sheet—and pulled it out.

“Okay! Let’s make this contract! Let’s finish and become partners!”

“Wait, Mio! Don’t say that phr—!”

But she was too late.

The moment he said the words, the keyword had already been spoken.

Instantly, countless rays of light burst from the contract, wrapping them both in brilliance.

“Ugh—!”

“Aaahhh!”

They shielded their eyes, their feet lifting half a meter off the ground as they floated helplessly.

Then—

“Wha…?”

Mio’s heart pounded violently.

He could hear something—inside his head.

It wasn’t his own voice. It was clearly Meina’s, who was experiencing the same phenomenon beside him.

(Wait… this isn’t just a voice. This is…)

It wasn’t sound.

It was an eerie, vivid connection—like a bridge linking their two hearts, allowing their thoughts, feelings, and emotions to flow together.

This was the telepathic bond unique to a Master and their Contract Spirit.

Within a minute, the glowing contracts dissolved.

As the room’s brightness returned to normal, Mio exclaimed, “That was awesome!”

“With that, the contract’s complete!”

Unable to contain his excitement, he spread his arms wide toward Meina.

“So? What kind of ability did we get? Something destructive? Or maybe—”

“I don’t know. The details and instructions were written on the contract…”

Her flat tone doused his enthusiasm instantly.

“The activation phrase you used was ‘Let’s become partners.’ After that, the Spirit Queen retrieves the document. To check again, we’d have to search through all the other contracts. It’ll take ages.”

“Sorry. I… didn’t know.”

Seeing his apologetic expression, Meina couldn’t stay mad.

Whether by accident or pure recklessness, it was done. She pressed her forehead with a sigh.

“You’re really impatient, Master… Oh well, it’s not an emergency. I’ll go look for it. But until I find it, I won’t be able to manifest for a while. See you later.”

With a snap of her fingers, Meina’s figure vanished in an instant.

She’d left to search for their ability—or perhaps, as Mio sensed through their telepathic bond, for another reason entirely.

“…I made Meina mad. I’ll have to apologize later.”