89 Summoning - Part 1

Orsted stood at the top of the stairway glancing my way, completely ignoring Lilia who had backed into the corner of the room and was frozen in fear.

"Rudeus! What happened!?", Sylphy yelled out from the Livingroom couch.

She came running up behind me and as soon as she saw Orsted she raised her hand and began to gather mana for a spell, but I dispersed it with [Disturb Magic]. 

"Wha? Rudy, why?"

"Everyone calm down!", I said in a loud voice. "He's a friend!"

"But he-"

"No buts!", I interrupted Sylphy. "You trust me, right?"

"Of course. It's just-"

"I know he looks scary, but he means us no harm. I promise you."

"..."

Orsted watched the spectacle and seemed more intrigued with my use of [Disturb Magic] than anything else.

"Sylphy, could you please help Lilia clean up this mess? I'll take our guest upstairs."

Sylphiette looked seriously towards me.

"Be careful."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry."

Sylphy could only furrow her brows at my response. She leaned forward and whispered into my ear.

"I'm serious. I don't trust him... Stay on guard."

"Believe me, I will", I whispered back to her. "But at the same time, please trust that I know what I'm doing."

"Thank you for coming", I said as I gave a polite bow to Orsted. "Please follow me to my room upstairs."

"Very well", he responded in a neutral voice. It seems like Sylphiette and Lilia's reaction didn't bother him at all.

The two of us walked up to the Master Bedroom of the house where I lived and I shut the door behind us.

"Sorry for what happened downstairs. We weren't exactly expecting you tonight."

"That's quite alright. I'm used to it. I've brought a way for you to protect your family from Hitogami's influence, as I promised."

'Straight to the point. I can appreciate that.'

"What did you have in mind?"

"It's nothing too complex. You need only summon a guardian beast with a strong destiny and order it to keep your family safe."

"A guardian beast? Will that really be enough to keep them safe?"

"Hitogami has no influence over anything but humans and he can't manipulate many individuals at any given time. In addition, if we interweave the strong destiny of the guardian beast with your family, it should cloud Hitogami's view of their futures. He will have his hands full trying to stop us. Given his personality, this should be more than enough to protect your loved ones."

"That sounds perfect! What beast are we going to summon?"

"Here, take this."

Orsted handed me a magic scroll with an intricate magic circle written on it. I could somewhat recognize the magic circle as a summoning spell but there were some symbols I didn't recognize on it.

"Imagine in your mind what guardian beast you wish to summon and channel mana into the magic circle. This spell will guarantee that your summons will be eternally bound to your commands. It is impossible for it to disobey you."

"Incredible."

I reached into one of my dresser drawers and took out a blank magic scroll and an ink quill along with some magic ink.

"You wouldn't mind if I copied this spell, would you?"

"It doesn't bother me, but if you're thinking of summoning more than one guardian beast, I wouldn't recommend it."

'Damn. He read me like a book.'

"Why not?"

"As soon as you summon a second guardian, the restrictions binding the first to you will be broken. The summoned guardian would then be free to do as it pleased. It may even attack you or your family if it is angered to have been summoned."

"Oh. Yeah, that's definitely a good reason."

I copied the spell anyway. It won't hurt to have an extra incase something goes wrong.

"Well, here goes nothing"

I placed the scroll down in the center of the room and knelt down to pour my mana into the scroll.

"You're doing it right here?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Well, no I suppose not. As long as the beast you summon isn't too big."

"I'll make sure I consider the size when I'm imagining the beast."

'Hmm.. But then again.. what should I imagine?'

It has to be something powerful. Something so strong that any would be attackers wouldn't stand a chance. It also shouldn't be crude or indecent. I don't want some slimy tentacle monster in my house.

'A creature of high moral character who is loyal and very strong!'

I concentrated on that thought as I poured my mana into the scroll. The circle began emitting a bright light.

For a moment, I felt some unusual resistance. It was as though something was trying to fight the spell. Perhaps it was the summons? I suppose it would make sense that a spirit wouldn't willingly be captured into servitude.

I ignored the resistance and simply poured more mana into the spell. Whatever was blocking the spell snapped.

"Aaaah!"

An ominous sounding voice groaned as though it were in pain. As the light from the spell faded, from within it appeared my new guardian.

It was a man in a yellow mask and a white uniform with a large dagger hanging by his side. He was down on one knee as he held his head with one hand as though he was in pain. Sure enough, I recognized this man. It was Arumanfi the Bright.

"H-how can this be... How could my contract with Lord Perugius be destroyed like this!?"

Arumanfi raised his head and slowly looked around. As soon as he turned towards the two of us his stare locked in on us... or more accurately on Orsted.

"S-sir Orsted!? Wha? Why? Why have you summoned me!?"

Arumanfi's voice was filled with panic and a hint of fear. When I looked over towards Orsted, however, I was even more shocked.

He was smiling.

A cheeky smile appeared on his face and he even began to laugh.

"Hahaha... That's an interesting choice, Rudeus. I would have never expected you to steal one of Perugius' summons. Arumanfi is quite strong. He's a good choice indeed!"

"Rudeus? Wait? You? It was you that summoned me!?"

Arumanfi stood up and walked towards me like he was going to grab me by the collar only to freeze midway there and begin trembling.

"What is the meaning of this!?"

"Ah. I appear to have summoned you by accident."

"By accident!? I demand you return me to Lord Perugius at once!"

'Hmm...'

I placed my hand to my chin as I thought. 

"What do you think?", I asked Orsted.

"He will make an excellent guardian beast. You should keep him."

"What!?"

Arumanfi yelled out in anger.

"You can't do that! Lord Perugius will be furious!"

"Hmm... He might have a point. Arumanfi is highly valued by Lord Perugius. If I keep him it might cause discord between us."

"It shouldn't be a problem. Perugius wouldn't dare to attack you once he learns we are working together. Not to mention that you're already stronger than he is anyway. Especially with Arumanfi fighting by your side, it is very unlikely Perugius could defeat you."

"I would never fight Lord Perugius!"

"You will if Rudeus commands you to", Orsted said with a snicker.

"Dissolve your contract with me. I am Lord Perugius' proud servant, not yours. Please! I beg of you! Do not make me an enemy of my master!"

"Calm down, Arumanfi. It's not like I'm planning to start a fight with Perugius."

Immediately Arumanfi's aggressive stance and passionate expression relaxed and he spoke in a calm and steady voice.

"Then let me return to him. I don't think you realize how serious the situation is."

"I'm not trying to make *Light* of the matter, I swear. I respect Perugius. I could never hold a *candle* to his *brightness*. He's a *shining* example of what a hero should be. Maybe this little mishap will be the *spark* that ignites our friendship."

Arumanfi scowled at the silly puns I was making at his expense but didn't say anything. I think I heard Orsted snickering some more from beside me though. It made me want to keep poking fun at Arumanfi. I never thought I'd see the day that Orsted laughed.

"Very well. I'll dissolve our contract. Please apologize to Perugius on my behalf. I didn't intend to steal his precious servant from him."

"Thank you", Arumanfi answered in a calm yet grateful voice.

I wrote up a scroll of my own that would cancel the contract between Arumanfi and myself and had Orsted double check to ensure it would properly work. I've canceled summonings in the past but the contract Orsted wrote up in his magic circle was unique in my experience and I wasn't 100% sure there wasn't some special method to canceling the contract.

After I canceled the contract, Arumanfi thanked me once again, albeit with far more annoyance in his voice and then disappeared from our sight.

I took out a copy of Orsted's scroll that I had made and decided to try again.

"As amusing as that was, I need to get going", said Orsted. "There's a lot going on behind the scenes that I need to control. I need to make use of every little roadblock, no matter how minor, to interfere with Hitogami's plans."

"That I can agree with. Before you go though, please take this."

I went into the adjoined research room and returned with a pair of Lithograph Stones and handed one to Orsted.

"Hmm? What is this?"

"It's a little something I came up with to help with long range communication. Let me show you."

I proceeded to write 'Hello World' on my stone. Orsted watched as I pressed the button on the far right side and surprise flashed in his eyes as the same message appeared on his stone.

"Press the button once more when you want to remove the message you've received. If you ever need to send me a message, just write it down and press the button. It will be instantly sent over to my matching stone."

"The concept seems similar to the monuments to the Seven Great Powers. This should prove useful. Good job."

For some reason, hearing those words coming from Orsted really filled me with pride.

"Where are you headed? If you'd like, I could configure the magic circle in my basement to send you to any other that I'm aware of."

"I think I'll take you up on that. Are you aware of the teleportation circle in the Begaritt Continent south of Bazaar?"

"Ah, yeah. I know that one. Come on downstairs and I'll prepare the circle for you."

Lilia, Sylphy, Zenith, Norn, and Aisha could all be seen peeking their heads at us from behind the corner of the hallway leading towards the kitchen as we walked by. Orsted turned to glance towards them only for them to zip back out of sight. I think I heard Norn make a small screech.

Orsted studied me intently as I modified the magic circle to send him where he wanted.

"Interesting. You seem to have become just as proficient in teleportation circles as Perugius himself."

"Yeah, I learned a lot from him. Even though the current Perugius might not know me yet I consider him a good friend."

"Oh? You haven't met him yet in this loop?"

"Loop?"

Orsted's face immediately tensed, sending shivers down my spine.

'That was a mistake. I shouldn't have said that', Orsted thought as he furrowed his brows. 'Is he not under the same reincarnation loop that I am? Perhaps he simply doesn't know it yet. Or perhaps the spell he used was a different spell entirely?

"Don't worry about it. It's not important."

"Uh... yeah. I won't."

'I don't know what I did, but something really got to him there. Did he begin to tell me something he wanted to keep secret?'

"Thank you for your help Orsted. I'll make sure to summon a proper guardian this next time."

"Don't mention it. We're allies. It's only natural that we help one another. I'll let you know if I need your help with anything. Take care."

With that, the engraved magic circle began to glow brighter and Orsted vanished from my sight.